Lupine Dreams----Chapter 4   Author:  Islador

							
	He heard the scrunch of pine needles under her boots long before she came into sight.  He could also tell she was carrying a heavy load.  He trotted out of the cabin and raced down the trail towards her.  She had her head down, just watching one foot fall in front of the other, lost in her own mind.  When he was just a few yards in front of her, she looked up to see this giant gray shape leaping through the air that was aimed right at her chest.  She squealed, dropped the pack and hit the ground; expecting the massive hit that didn't come.  She looked up from behind the backpack to see him imitating a sphinx, except this one didn't have a pharaoh’s head, just a shit-eating grin.  Just like earlier in the morning, his tongue whipped out faster than she could dodge and he got her right on the nose.  This time leaving a little more slobber than the last.

"EWWW!  Why do you feel the need to do that to me?  Never mind, I know."

She smiled at him, but before she could pick up the pack again, he had it in his jaws and was carrying it like it didn't weigh anything at all.  He started prancing back towards the cabin with her just behind him, wiping off the slobber from the end of her nose on her sleeve.  He really was a magnificent example of what a wolf should look like.  Sleek, yet packed with muscles on top of muscles, soft fur that shimmered in the sunlight, the long muzzle with an even longer tongue.  She started blushing again, even though he couldn't see her looking at him.  Those long legs that seemed to make him float above the ground, not across it, and then there was the package.  Rather large, with shiny black skin and that very long sheath.  Hiding the bright red shaft that seemed to grow in size the every time she looked at it or thought about it.  Now the blush was really creeping up her neckline.

	He could smell her fresh scent.  She had cleaned up before changing clothes and returning to him.  He didn't mind, not really, but the less adulterated her real scent, the happier he was.  Just before reaching the door to the cabin, the breeze shifted and the smell of exited female wafted to his nostrils.  They flared, and he dropped the pack to take in as much of that smell as he could.  Then he slowly turned around and gave her that ‘I'm hungry for you, too’ look.  She stopped dead in her tracks.  How had he known she was thinking that?  

"Are you reading my mind?"

He stopped and stared at her for a moment.  Then he deliberately pointed his muzzle at her crotch and took in another deep breath through his nose.  Then he looked up at her and grinned, then snapped his jaw a couple of times and let his tongue loll out of the side of his mouth.  Then he quickly straightened, picked up the pack and continued on into the cabin as if nothing had happened.  Leaving her frustrated that she hadn't been able to chastise him for his 'lewd' behavior, he pranced inside.  

She knew it was her morals that were causing her unease with the fact that the new love of her life walked on all fours.  Somehow, the fact that he didn’t seem to be having trouble thinking about doing anything with her just because she walked on only two legs, was really disconcerting.  He appeared to have no trouble thinking about anything.  Then she got a mental image of what they might look like together and thought, oh, it really doesn't matter how I walk around, I would still have to get down on all fours just to get things 'lined up'.
  
	She heard him sniffing again and realized that she had gotten rather excited while running all that imagery through her mind as she stood in the doorway.  

"Stop it."  

She didn't even put any real heat behind her words.  It was just a simple request.  He stopped.  While she slowly stepped into the cabin and sat at the table; he began rummaging in the backpack and pulling things out of it.  He could smell the food in there, but he hadn't reached it yet.  When he did get to it, he spun around and tried to hug her, but the lupine form prevented it.  Instead, he jumped over to where she was sitting and nuzzled her neck.  This sent her into shivering fits as his warm breath caressed her neck.  

"My name is Dominique."  

He stopped nuzzling her neck and pulled his head back so that they were eye to eye.  

"My name is Dominique Rhodehamel.  My friends call me Nikki."  

He leaned down to where her hand was resting on top of the chair arm and using just the tip of his tongue, kissed her hand.  She smiled at him slowly, but he could tell there was something else bothering her.  

"Do you have a name, my handsome brute?"  

He stared at her for a few seconds then nodded his head.  She smiled again.  Those smiles warmed him inside, made him feel whole.  

"How are you ever going to be able to tell me your name?" 

 He looked at her and almost shrugged, but decided not to, he could tell this was really important to her.  He began to look around and suddenly had a flash of an idea.  He opened his mouth and grabbed the tips of her fingers, pulling back.  She understood what he wanted and got to her feet.  He led her to a corner of the room; where years of dust had accumulated.  He stared at it for a moment, then closed his eyes and concentrated.
  
	He had to get this right.  There wasn't enough dust in the corner to start over if he screwed it up.  The big challenge was the fact that his given name was Roman Latin, not modern English.  So he had to remember what each Latin symbol was and then convert it to the English equivalent.  He opened his eyes and lowered his nose to the floor.  D-a-g-o-m-a-r-u-s.  Dagomarus, yes, that was right.  He spelled it like it sounded in his head.  Now for his family name, which wasn't Roman Latin, but had originated in Germania.  He closed his eyes again and concentrated.  D-o-e-r-r.  Doerr.  Then he remembered something else; he put two little dots above the O.  Yes, that was it.  Again, he wrote the name like it sounded in the thick guttural accent he could still hear in his head.  

He stepped back so she could see what he had put there in the dust.  She slowly came forward and read it out loud.  He stopped her a couple of times and tried getting her to change the pronunciation until she was so close it didn't matter.  After all, unless you spoke both Roman Latin and the dialect of the ancient German barbarians, there was no way you were going to get it right.

  She broke out in a huge smile, lighting up the room for him.  She thought about it for a second and then understood what these two words in the dust meant.  There really was a person inside that huge wolf's body.

	"Dagomarus!!  I am so glad to meet you!" 

Then she gave him that bone-crushing hug she liked to give out so much.  

"But how did…this…happen?" 

He stared at her, trying to decide.  This was going to be the moment of truth, did he let her in or would he have force it into her?  If he let her in, there was no hiding, she would be able to see and feel everything he had felt.  This could be very dangerous, he had done it once, and the poor girl had gone mad.  If he pushed it into her mind, he could limit what she saw and felt, but he could damage her in the process.  If he pushed too hard, forcing the sights and emotions into her too fast, it would overload her system; sending her into shock and possibly a coma.  He had done this to several people in his past; some he had never wanted to harm, others, he had tried to kill without leaving a mark.
  
	He had already accidentally let her into his mind once, just the jumbled surface, and she had seen a glimpse of HIM, not the body, but of his pure self.  She had seen a little of what he truly was and it had nearly wrenched her from this world and sent her to the afterlife.  It had been unintentional on his part; that meant she must have some minor ability at communicating on a level most humans think of as parlor magic tricks.  With her sensitivity to emotions and surface thoughts, forcing anything into her psyche could do serious harm.  He had to be very careful if he was going to do this.

She watched him go completely still, his eyes glazing over, staring into a distance that was far beyond the walls of the cabin.  She had seen that look before, in her grandfather’s eyes when she had asked him what it had been like during the war.  And just like in that afternoon with her grandfather, she could feel a chill in the air.  He had gone to a place in his mind that must have been very lonely and extremely disturbing. Her grandfather had come back to himself rather quickly and told her that no one should ever have to see or hear about those awful events.
  
Now, as she was standing a few feet away from Dagomarus, that cold, lonely feeling started to creep into her bones.  She felt dread seeping into her thoughts, and underneath it, his concern for her.  She realized that even though Dagomarus was somewhere else in his mind, he was thinking of her.  She tried to concentrate on what she felt coming from Dagomarus.  She started shivering, feeling a chill so deep that she thought her insides would freeze solid.

Dagomarus felt a caress in his mind and immediately knew that she was pushing at him, trying to get in without realizing what she was really doing.  He pulled back from his ruminations and clamped down hard on his thoughts, shutting out everything.  The effect was immediate, her head snapped back as if she had been slapped.  She looked at him in shock and just a touch of fear.  

“What was that?”  

Her shock from getting mentally shoved wore off quickly, but the fear remained.  He looked away from her for a moment and then slowly walked up to her and met her questioning gaze.
  
She couldn’t move, her muscles locked.  She felt light headed and her stomach felt like there were a thousand worms roiling in a massive ball.  Her skin felt hot and itchy, but her blood cooled quickly.  This contrasting and confusing set of sensations frightened her.  Then she felt a caress in her mind, like a gentle breeze.  She was falling into those deep pools of blue, the violet swirls caressing her as she sank deeper and deeper.  Her vision narrowed to a pinpoint, going dark around the edges.  Then there was a flash, an image.  It lasted only a millisecond, but the after effect hung in front of her, like the blue spots that float in your eyes after a camera flash.

She saw a soldier standing on a hilltop.  His dress was familiar; she had seen soldiers dressed like this in paintings and frescos.  He was a Roman soldier, the oiled leather breastplate gleaming in the sunlight.  His head held up proudly as he surveyed his surroundings.  Another flash; thousands of Roman soldiers lined up in a valley, facing thousands of screaming barbarians.  Flash: swords coated in blood swinging in the sunlight.  Her breathing became labored; sweat broke out on her forehead.  She could feel the sun on her neck and the weight of the sword in her hand as it hit flesh.

Flash: a barbarian running through the trees, screaming.  Her heartbeat thundered in her chest, her breath coming in ragged gasps.  Flash: the hacked and bloody body of the barbarian lying on the ground at her feet.  She could smell the bitter iron of fresh blood in her nostrils; the swollen, dry taste of fear was in her mouth.  The silence of the forest surrounded her, heavy and smothering.  Flash: two red spots floating in the shadows underneath dense treetops, a ground shaking growl shattering the silence.  Flash: black fur and teeth flashing in her face, searing pain crushing her chest, a ragged scream escaping her parched throat.  Flash: the headless body of a giant black wolf lying on the ground next to the hacked body of the barbarian.  She felt the torn flesh on her arms, the blood running down her chest as the wounds at her throat oozed.

Then she felt herself rising out of the blackness, her heartbeat slowing and her breath returning to normal.  She could still feel the sweat on her body, turning clammy as her body temperature cooled.  She saw now those deep blue pools of his eyes, feel the warming sensation of the love and concern for her filling her chest.  Suddenly feeling her muscles all relax, she swayed, trying to stay on her feet.  She reached out for something to help hold her up and felt his soft fur in her hands.  She grabbed onto him, leaning over his shoulders, her knees weak and shaking.  She let out a long shuddering breath.  

“Wha—“

Her voiced cracked, her tongue felt dry and thick.  She needed something to wash that horrible taste out.  She slowly raised herself off of Dagomarus, holding onto him with one hand.  

She turned, still slightly dizzy, and on wobbly legs walked over to a chair next to the table and flopped into it.  She reached over to her backpack and pulled out her canteen.  Her hands shaking, she slowly raised the canteen to her lips and filled her mouth with the tepid water.  She swished it around for a few seconds and then swallowed.  She leaned forward, lowering head between her knees.  She felt sick as the water hit her roiling stomach.  She fought the urge to throw up.  She took several deep breaths, finally calming her insides down.  She sat up slowly and took another small sip from the canteen.  Feeling herself return to almost normal after a few minutes, she finally tried her voice again.

“What was that?  I was looking through your eyes, wasn’t I?  You were a Roman soldier, weren’t you?  That giant black wolf attacked you and you killed it.  It infected you with something that turned you into this, didn’t it?”

Her voice was barely above a whisper; hoarse from her ragged breathing and the screams she hadn’t heard ripping out of her throat.

Dagomarus nodded his head, not quite meeting her gaze.  He took a deep breath and slowly let it out through his nose.  He was relieved that his effort to keep the deeper emotions and the raw pain of his experiences from overwhelming her had succeeded.  Still, he could tell she was drained from the experience.  He needed to give her time to truly comprehend the full ramifications of what he had shown her.  In the past, superstition and the belief in mythical creatures hadn’t been that much of a stretch for people to accept, but modern civilization had weeded out that awe of the supernatural.  She was going to have a hard time with what he had shown her.

She watched him nod his head and the thoughts racing through her mind jumbled together suddenly, coming together like a car wreck at an intersection.  Her body went still when it hit her, this creature had been a man, a Roman soldier almost two thousands years ago and now he was a giant wolf standing in front of her.  Before she could think to calm herself, her body lurched forward and the contents of her stomach shot out of her mouth onto the wooden floor.  She fell out of the chair onto her hands and knees and retched again.  Her back arched as her stomach contracted and yellow bile flowed out of her mouth.  She coughed and spit.  Her whole body began shaking in effort, she dry heaved several times.  Closing her eyes to the mess in front of her on the floor, she finally stopped retching and calmed down.  Still shivering from the effort her body had just gone through, she sat back and reached for the canteen to wash the bitter aftertaste out.

She drank some of the water after rinsing out her mouth and resisted the urge to heave it back up.  Finally her stomach settled down and she was able to push herself up into the chair.  She wiped her mouth on her sleeve and looked at him.  He hadn’t moved, just watched and waited for her.  He hated to see her in this much distress, but she had to get through it before he could finish his story.  She finally got herself under control and stared back at him, just shy of making true eye contact.  She wasn’t sure if the connection would reassert itself if she did.  She looked away finally and stared out the window, gathering her fleeting thoughts and trying to make sense of them.
  
“You really are almost two thousand years old, aren’t you?  You’ve seen it all; you’ve lived through what the rest of us only read in history books.  On top of that crazy idea, you’re a werewolf?  What kind of insanity is that?  How is that possible?  Immortality?  Shape changing?  Shit!”

  She sat there staring out the window; she never looked at him while speaking.  He didn’t make a move to answer her, he knew she comprehended the situation; now he had to wait for her to truly grasp it and accept it for what it was, the truth.  Finally, once it had sunk in enough for her to think calmly about it, he saw that she had accepted it.  She turned and looked at him, meeting his eyes with a level gaze.

“No wonder I could feel all that pain in you, you’ve lived a hundred, no, two hundred life times, watching everything you’ve ever cared about live and die, but you remained.  Oh my god!  How did you do it?  Why haven’t you gone off the deep end?”

  He looked right into her eyes; I have, love.  Several times I did, but I always came back.  That is my curse and my gift; I always come back.  The deep sadness came through as he looked into that beautiful face.  Now I have you.
  
She sensed what he was trying to convey to her in those silent moments.  Her tears began to fall, she understood.  She knew that even as her own life would wax and wane, he would go on.  Yet he was still willing to love her anyway, knowing the pain he would suffer when she finally passed away.  Her tears filled her eyes, blocking her sight.  She cried for several minutes, knowing that she would love him until she died, her soul mate, her friend, forever.  She wiped the tears from her face and looked at him, seeing the same thoughts within those deep blue orbs.
  
“Why me?  What made you choose me?  I’m not even your species, at least, not anymore I’m not.”  

She found herself getting angry.  Why did I have to fall in love with an immortal werewolf?  It’s just not FAIR!!  Then she laughed, fair?  When has life ever been fair?  Shit.  The Fates have really screwed me this time.  Oh, a couple of boneheaded boyfriends, her parents getting killed in a car wreck, a so-so job in a small town, these things were enough to teach her about life and unfairness, but what did she ever do to deserve this?  Her thoughts and questions finally played themselves out, and she brought herself back into the present and really looked at him.

He had watched her eyes glaze over while she asked her questions, so when she finally came back he stepped over to her and lowering his muzzle to her face, licked her on the end of her nose.  He kept his head right in front of her face, looking into her eyes.  Yes, love.  I will care for you until you are old and gone.  Forever.  The Fates are fickle and cruel with me as well.  I am not immune to their cruelty; in fact, I suffer more than you will ever know.  He crooned at her,

 “Aaaarrrrrroooooooooooahhhhrrraaahhhh! “ 

Professing his love to her.  She smiled.  That beautiful smile; it warmed his heart.  The happiness lasted for a few minutes.  He grew serious again, knowing that he needed her to see the rest.  He sent out a gentle caress into her mind, sensing that she was once again calm.

She felt it, that feeling he was looking into her mind, her soul, right INTO her very being.  She realized that there was more, and looking back into those deep blue pools, she nodded, and thought, ‘Show me.’

The edges of her vision clouded over again, and she felt herself falling into that deep blue water, those icy cold depths.  This time it was different, the deep blue wasn’t quite so cold this time.  All she could see was the color blue.  Then that bright flash; she saw the full moon shining in the sky.  The dreadful feeling that her skin was on fire and that the flesh and muscle was going to melt off her bones.  Then horrendous cracking and popping noises surrounding her, realizing that those sounds were her own bones shifting and twisting, then nothingness.  Flash: Waking up on the forest floor naked, covered in blood and feeling like she had just finished eating at a feast.  Flash:  A Centurion asking about the report of a missing villager that was found mauled to death.  Flash: Throwing up in the bushes with a horrible realization that feeling of being full that morning was part of the mauled villager filling her stomach.  Flash:  Vague dreams of seeing a half-wolf standing upright on its hind legs reflected in the still waters of a pond.  Flash: Horrible guilt over more missing and mauled villagers.  Escaping the Legions and running into the forest; forsaking civilization.  Flash: Running on all fours, leading a pack of wolves chasing down a buck.

She felt herself slowly coming back to the surface of the cold blue pool.  Her vision cleared, and her breathing returned to normal.  Finally, she found herself sitting in the chair again, looking into the face of her friend.  Her skin still itched and her bones ached with residual feelings from the visions.  Luckily, she didn’t feel the urge to throw up again.  She’d had enough of that for one day.  She felt that there was still a trace of him inside of her, calming her, soothing her emotions.  She was grateful for this, realizing that he was preventing her from going into shock over what he had shown her.  She briefly wondered, why didn’t you do this the last time?

  I had forgotten how, love.  But I remembered this time.

She jumped, hearing that deep masculine voice in her head.  It frightened her, having never heard another’s voice inside her head before.  Then all traces disappeared, she was all alone inside herself once again.  She shivered with the realization that he had spoken to her in her head.  The combined shock of the visions, the feelings, and the voice drove her into a catatonic state.  Her eyes remained open, but she no longer stared out from them.

He immediately regretted his decision to answer her in his own voice like that.  He should have known it would do this to her.  She sat staring at nothing, gone.  He sighed deeply, saddened by her reaction.  Gently closing his mouth over the arm of the chair, he dragged her across the room until they were next to the cot.  Grabbing her belt and coat in his teeth, he pulled her limp body out of the chair and laid her on the cot.  He gently arranged her legs and arms and then he grabbed the edge of the blanket and pulled it over her.  She never made a sound or moved a muscle to indicate that she was aware of any of this.  He paused to look down at her face, still expressionless and her eyes open, sightless.  He put his nose to her eyelid and gently lowered it; seeing that it stayed closed, he did the same to the other.  Leaving her asleep on the cot, he padded out the door and into the woods.  He needed some time to think.

Running, twisting around trees, leaping over the forest floor; everything became a blur.  He pushed himself harder, trying to rid himself of the guilt and anguish over what he had done.  He knew he had been too impatient to have her understand what he was and to just accept it.  She was so frightened of him, but he had also felt her attraction to him.  He could sense that because of the species difference, him with four legs and fangs, her being human, the conflict inside her was immense.  The cultural and religious teaching ingrained in her prevented her from wanting to get any closer to him.  Two thousand years with this curse, and he had long since released any moral misgivings on his part.  She experienced one day and it ate at her moral center to think of him like that.  He so wanted her to see him as the man he used to be, not the monster he was now.  Asinus Stultissimus!   Why did I have to push?  After two thousand years, I thought I had developed patience.  
  
He had to figure out how to help her without doing any more damage to her mind.  Her emotional state was extremely fragile right now.  This is a woman who had known, up until today, for a fact that monsters don’t exist.  Now everything she thought she believed was proven wrong.  Well, not completely, but who knows, maybe that Jew was right, all can be forgiven if you believe.  It hadn’t worked in his case, but maybe this was different.  He had seen others like himself before, but they avoided each other.  No one wanted to get any closer to another than they absolutely had to.  He still wasn’t entirely sure how his own curse had been passed to him.  Luckily, none of his victims ever rose up to become like him, and as far as he could tell, he had never passed this curse onto any living person either. 
 
He had to think of her now, how to fix what he had done.  He tried remembering what he had learned from those weird monks in those ragged peaks in the East.  They had accepted him at face value, neither judging nor fearing him.  They knew what he was and that was that.  He had traveled to them seeking advice and they had given it freely, without any expectation of payment, nor wanting any either.  He had lived with them for over a hundred years, and they never once revealed his secret to anyone.  He missed them.  The only reason he had left was because they didn’t particularly care for his interest in female company.  There wasn’t any there in those mountains and he had to go elsewhere to find it.

He started glimpsing memories of those lessons.  Yes, I remember now.  I have to get back to her before the damage I have done becomes permanent.  He turned his course and increased his speed back towards the cabin.  He flashed past a doe eating some grass next to the creek.  She didn’t even have time to register that a threat was close before he was gone.  He sped up to the porch of the cabin and stopped.  He was breathing rapidly and his heart rate pounded at several hundred beats per minute.  Using the teachings of the monks, he gathered his thoughts and calmed his speeding heart and breathing.  He further calmed his mind, driving out the demons of his past and the impatience of the present.  Within a few moments, one couldn’t tell that he had just sped through the forest at twice the speed of the fastest racehorse and had traveled several miles at that speed.  He looked and felt like he had just risen from a nap.

He slowly entered the cabin, pushing ahead with his senses; he felt her presence.  It was strange to feel her like this.  The radiance and joy that normally preceded her was gone, in its place was an empty shell, nothing.  He stepped over to the cot and looked at her face.  Using the lessons he had learned from the monks, he went about fixing his mistakes.

She was inside her mind, unfeeling, just lying there.  Then she felt a presence, warm, caring, and full of love.  It almost felt like her father at first, but she knew that couldn’t be, he was gone.  Was she dead?  Was this what heaven felt like?  No, she couldn’t be dead; she could hear her heartbeat.  The presence got stronger, and somehow, she could tell that it was male.  Comforting and soothing her; wanting to protect her from the dangers of the outside world.  She thought she heard a whispered voice, gentle and deep in tone.  She vaguely recognized it but wasn’t sure it was real.  There it was again.  That deep baritone was gently calling her name. 

Dominique, my love, wake up.  I am here for you.  I will always be here for you.  There is nothing to be frightened of out here.  My love will always be here for you.  Wake up, and join me.  Come on, love, you must wake up now.  Come to me, love, follow my voice.
  
She opened her eyes to see Dagomarus standing above her.  He had a serene expression on his face as she looked back at him.  He grinned, showing all those razor sharp teeth, but they didn’t frighten her, they comforted her instead.  She knew in her heart that he would never harm her; he would love her.

“What happened?  Did I pass out?”  

He nodded. 

“How did I get onto this cot?  Did you put me here?”  

He nodded again.  She carefully sat up and stretched.  

“Wow!  I feel like I slept twelve hours.  How long was I out?”  

He furrowed his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders.  She giggled when he did this.  Seeing an oversized wolf shrug was an amusing experience.  

“I dreamed that you were hugging me.  Strange, huh?  You don’t have the arms to do that.”  

He stepped up to the edge of the cot, put his head over her shoulder and dropped his chin, pulling her against his chest.  He squeezed her gently then released her, backing up.  He grinned at her.
  
She laughed and smiled back at him.  

“Yeah, I guess you can hug me.  That was nice, I liked that.”  

She felt warm and secure sitting on the cot.  She started to remember why she had passed out, but the fear and the pain weren’t there anymore, just the images.  She calmly reviewed everything he had shown her.  Coming to the last of the flashes, she concentrated on the reflection in the pool.  The upright werewolf with the hands and torso of a man, but the legs of a wolf.  She frowned, and looked at him.  Waved her hand over his body.
  
"So, if you were half man for a while, how'd this come about?"  

He gently nudged her with his thoughts, slipping them in without pushing too hard in the wrong places.  She couldn’t really hear his voice in her head this time; he just used body language and facial expressions with some minor vocalizations to get his meaning across.  She didn’t realize that he was slipping the answers to her questions into her consciousness.

‘Time; and guilt.  I could never really surrender myself to the pure bloodlust of the wolf creature.  When I finally did change into a full wolf, I ran and ran, deep into the dark forests of early Europe.  I took up with a pack and decided roam free and live like a wolf.  Only hunting animals and then only to eat, not just to kill.’

  "So, now you have the body of a wolf, but the mind of a man?"   

He shrugged.  Then nodded.
  
‘Most of the time, but not always; sometimes I forgot who I had been and would just live like a wolf.  The curse always kept me alive, no matter how bad my wounds were; eventually I would heal.  When I would wake up after one of these massive healing slumbers, I'd remember who I was, and start the cycle over again.’

He stopped pushing his thoughts into her mind.  It was too risky to continue.  He was out of practice and he didn’t want a repeat of his earlier mistake.  He would stick to the facial expressions and body language from now on.  Perhaps later, when she was more comfortable with his true nature, and his abilities, he would try again.  He nosed her arm and motioned for her to get up.  She stood up and stretched some more.  Then she wrinkled her nose, the smell of her earlier accident permeated the cabin.  She walked over to the table and picked up the canteen, after taking a few swallows she felt refreshed.  Using the last of the water in the canteen, she washed the vomit off the floor.  Turning to see Dagomarus at her side, she laughed; he had found an old towel somewhere and he had it between his teeth, waiting for her to take it.

“Well, aren’t you just the cutest helper I ever had?”  

She blushed when he grinned and winked at her.  She finished cleaning up the mess and carried the towel outside and tossed it over the side of the porch railing, away from any window.  Coming back inside she noticed Dagomarus sniffing at the backpack.  He motioned that he was still hungry and that he wanted to eat the special treat she had brought him.  She smiled and nodded, 

“Yes, let’s eat, and then we can talk about what we are going to do afterwards.”  

He gave her a sidelong glance after that last comment, noting the double meaning.  She sat at the table and pulled out the package of raw beef.  Taking out her Swiss Army knife, she started cutting the steak into cubes and feeding them one at a time to her love.  He licked her fingers clean after each piece was put into his mouth.  He knew how erotic the feel of his extremely flexible tongue could be.  He slid the tip of his tongue up her fingers and caressed the web of skin between them.  After doing this several times, he could tell his touch was exciting her.  A slight flush bloomed on her cheeks, her body temperature was rising, and a fine sheen of perspiration formed on her forehead.  She eventually warmed up enough to take her coat off.  As she did so, he finally got a look at her chest, not huge, but not small either—just right.  He also noted that even with a bra on, he could see her nipples poking through the shirt.

	When the four pounds of premium steak disappeared, she took out her own dinner and proceeded to prepare it.  She had a little Sterno camp stove and a skillet.  She cooked her steak over the stove.  

“I’m sorry, but I have to cook mine, love.  I just can’t bring myself to eat it raw like you do.”

  He nodded his head and went over to the doorway while she cooked hers.  It wasn’t that he didn’t like cooked meat; he could remember that when he had still been human that it tasted very good that way.  But now, he preferred it raw, bloody and juicy.  When she finished cooking the steak and had placed it on a plate, he walked back over to the table.  He watched her cut into the steak, and before she could stab the piece she had cut with her fork, he pushed his nose over her plate. 

“Hey!  You already had yours!  This is mine.” 
 
	He gave her a ‘Be patient!’ look and then lowered his muzzle to the plate.  Pulling his lips back as far as he could, he carefully picked up the piece of steak between his front fangs.  Tilting his head to the side, he offered her the piece of meat.  She watched the whole process with a bemused expression, and then she slowly put her face to his and extended her tongue out and hooked the piece of meat with it.  He could feel her tongue touch his fangs as she did this.  He released the morsel; she sat up and smiled at him as she chewed.  In his own way, he fed her like she had done for him.  He could feel her becoming more comfortable with his body as he did this.  When the last piece was gone, she sat back with that bemused grin on her face.  

“That was the weirdest sexy dinner I have ever had.”
  
	She got up and after wiping off her plate and skillet; she put them away.  She needed to do something while she thought about what might come next.  She had no idea of what to do now.  This was so far removed from anything she had ever thought about a romantic evening with a lover should be.  Him feeding her the bites of steak with his fangs was oddly erotic.  She could still feel the impression of his fangs on her tongue.  She shivered as she thought about how odd that had felt, touching those two inch hooks of ivory.  Tasting his saliva mixed with the flavor of the steak.  How weird.  She didn’t feel sickened or even disturbed to have done that.  What did this mean?  Was she really that comfortable with him now, that doing something like that was okay?  She looked up, becoming aware that during her little daydreaming episode, he hadn’t been idle.
  
	She watched him as he used his paws to pull out the remnants from a previous fire in the fireplace.  Once he had removed that, he walked outside and came back in with a log in his mouth.  He placed it in the pit and walked back out to get the next.  When there were several logs in the fireplace, he looked over at her and raised a single eyebrow, as if to ask ‘Is this okay?’  She smiled and nodded, 

“Yes, that’s perfect.”  

She reached into her pack and removed a magnesium stick and proceeded to light the fire.  While she was doing that, he nosed into the pack and removed a blanket and put it in front of the fireplace.  It took some maneuvering, but he laid it out and tugged at the corners to get rid of the wrinkles.  She marveled at how adept he was at using the body he was in to manipulate the items from her world.

	He lifted one paw and looked at her, indicating that she sit on the blanket.  She sat down with her legs folded under her.  He stepped over to her and nosed her legs, pushing at her.  She adjusted her position so that her legs stretched out lengthwise and she leaned back on her hands, looking up at him.  

“Is this how you want me?” 

Again, he gave her a sidelong glance at the double meaning, but didn’t respond.  He walked over to her feet, and lowered his muzzle to her bootlaces.  He slowly untied her boots and hooking one paw behind her heel, he tugged at the toe with his teeth.  She watched him do this, wanting to see how he would accomplish this task of removing her boots.  Once her boots were off, he tugged at the toe of her sock.  He couldn’t get them off like the boots.  He didn’t want to gouge her with his claws trying to roll down the elastic tops.  

When she had pulled her socks off and sat back again, she looked up at him with trepidation.  He was blatantly undressing her, and she wasn’t sure how far she was willing to let him go right now.  The wolf body was still very foreign to her idea as a lover.  He could see the look and knew what she was thinking, but he hadn’t planned on going any further than this right now anyway.
  
	He lowered his body to the floor, facing her straight on, looking up her long legs to her face.  He grinned at her, and then lowered his muzzle to her feet.  He sniffed them, reveling in the smell of her sweat.  Even though he hadn’t touched her yet, she wiggled her long toes and giggled.  He made eye contact and raised an eyebrow. 

“Careful, I’m very ticklish.”  

Instead of being his normal, ornery smart-assed self, he nodded and then slowly extended his tongue to her heel.  Using enough pressure to act as a massage, instead of a tickle, he proceeded to run his tongue up the length of her foot.
  
	He was in heaven now!  The feel of her soft skin on his sensitive tongue, he could detect every crease, every wrinkle, and that most sublime taste—HER!  He swirled his tongue up her arch, over the callus at the joint of her big toe, then pushed the tip of his tongue between her toes and flicked the end of her second toe, which was longer than her big toe.
  
	Her reaction was what he had hoped for.  She had tensed up when his tongue had touched her heel, but by the time his tongue had made it to her arch, she was relaxed, and moaning.  By the time his tongue slipped between her toes, she was quivering with excitement and from the looks of it, had had a minor orgasmic reaction.  She rolled her head back and the breath she had been holding exploded from her. 

“OHHH SHIT!!  That is intense!!”  

He could smell her excitement now.  That very distinctive scent, musky but sweet, very excited female!!

	She couldn’t hold herself up any longer; her arms were shaking too much.  She lay back and bunched up the edge of the blanket to cushion her head.  

“You don’t have to stop!”  

He had stopped, watching for her reaction after that first pass.  With her okay, he did the same to the other foot.  She was having a hard time holding her legs still.  The intense sensations shooting up her legs, through her center and up to her head were almost too much for her.  He hooked a paw over both of her legs to hold them down and then he really began to lick her feet in earnest.  Slipping his tongue between her toes, back and forth, pushing on the muscle of her arches, flicking the tips of her toes. 

 It didn’t take long, she was breathing hard, sucking in when he would run the entire length of his tongue between her toes, moaning when he pushed on her arches.  With him holding her feet down, she twisted her hips and arched her back, pushing her stomach into the air.  She held one breath in for several seconds, then it hit her hard—her whole body began to shake, contractions pulling her shoulders off the floor, whipping her head forward—their eyes met for the briefest moment and then her eyes rolled back into her head and she flopped back to the floor.  She twitched with the aftershocks, whimpering from the sensory overload.
  
“HOLY SHIT!!  That was intense!!  I’ve never had an orgasm from someone licking my feet.  Actually, no one has ever offered to lick my feet.  You’re the first.  I have to say, I REALLY enjoyed that.” 

She looked up at him and then she started laughing.  The expression he had on that face!!  A mixture of shit-eating grin, pride, and love; all showed on the face of the wolf.  She pulled herself up and sat forward, bowing her legs, and keeping her feet together.  She reached forward and grabbed his head, pulling him to her; she put her forehead against his and looked straight into his eyes.

“I LOVE YOU!  My fuzzy face, I love you.” 

She sat up, releasing his head.  He met her gaze, and then flicked his tongue out, just barely catching her on the tip of her nose.  She giggled and then leaned forward and hugged him, squeezing him hard, until he grunted.  She let go and leaned back, putting her arms behind her to prop her up.

He let his gaze follow the curves of her body, when he got to her crotch, he chuffed and then looked up at her face, then looked back down to her crotch.  She looked down to see what had amused him so much and then she cursed.  The light blue of her denim had turned very dark right in the center; she had soaked through her panties, leaving a large damp splotch in her jeans.  Before she could stop him, he stuck his nose right in her crotch and sniffed.  He kept his nose there, and then looked up to meet her gaze.  She looked down at him and grinned, blushing a very deep red.  When she didn’t push his head out of her lap, he went one step further.  He pushed his tongue out and licked at the damp denim.

OH, HEAVEN!!!  She tasted so good!  The musky scent filled his nostrils, burning a path straight into his brain.  His whole body quivered with excitement.  Then he heard her giggle.  He pulled back and looked at her, raising an eyebrow in question.  She was grinning and even when he thought it wasn’t possible, her blush had gotten even deeper.  She dipped her head and looked past him and down at something behind him.  He turned to see what she was looking at, and saw that she wasn’t the only one to have put out some moisture.  His cock had slipped out a couple of inches and he had left a small puddle of pre-cum on the wood floor.  The tip was still dripping, making the puddle larger as they both watched.  He turned back to her and as best he could, shrugged his shoulders, as if to say, ‘Well, what do you expect?’  She giggled again, 

“I did that to you, didn’t I?  I excite you that much?”  

The tone of her question puzzled him.  He cocked his head and flipped his ears forward, letting her know he was confused by her question.

“You really find me that attractive?  I mean, in that way?”  

Her blush was still full force red all the way to her scalp as she said this.  He straightened up his head and looked at her with an incredulous expression.  He pushed his muzzle into her face, and extending his tongue, ran it along her jaw, up to her earlobe and down her neck.  Before he had reached her earlobe, she sucked in a breath and held it.  When his tongue trailed down her neck, she let it out in spurts as her body shook from the sensations.  He sat back and looked at her, nodding vigorously.  The smile that lit up her face caused his chest to constrict and he got light headed. 
 
He lowered his muzzle back down into her crotch and sniffed again, licking the denim to refresh the taste of her on his tongue.  She jumped at his touch and he rolled his eyes to look up at her.  She looked down at him with a bemused grin, 

“You want to lick me there too, don’t you?”  

He pushed his eyebrows together, wrinkling his forehead and rolled his eyes.  He kept his muzzle in her crotch and continued to look at her.  She broke eye contact and looked up to the ceiling.  After a few moments, she sucked in a breath through her nose and then released it through her mouth, hissing between her teeth.  She looked back down at him, 

“Yes, I’ll let you do that.”

She lay back down on the blanket and unbuttoned her jeans, unzipped them and began to push them down past her hips.  He sat back and grabbed the cuff of one leg in his teeth and pulled.  This made her giggle.  

“Impatient, aren’t we?”  

With the cuff of her pant leg still between his teeth, he nodded rapidly, causing the jeans to flop around.  She really laughed this time, the sound filling the cabin.  He soaked it all in, the scent of her core, the sound of her laughter; he was so happy right now it almost hurt.  Once her jeans and panties were off, she put her feet flat on the floor, her knees bent slightly.

He sat there soaking in the sight, her slender feet, her ankles, the muscles of her calves flexing as she adjusted herself, getting comfortable.  His gaze slowly drifted up to her knees, and then her thighs, the soft white skin, it all looked so smooth.  She watched him, marveling at how he seemed to memorize every detail of her.  It made her feel so warm inside, to know that the sight of her body captivated his attention so much.  When his gaze fell upon her pussy, he was taken aback.  He cocked his head and met her gaze.  She suddenly got self-conscious and sat up.
  
“What?  Is there something wrong with me?”
  
He was staring at her bush, or more precisely, the lack thereof!  There was no hair on her mons, just a thin strip of dark curly hair that started just above the hood of her clit, went up three inches and stopped.

He was totally confused.  He had never seen any woman that had just a thin strip of hair down there.  It was either all over and thick; or if they were very young, not there yet, or just some fuzz.  His head was cocked at an angle and his ears were fully forward, his forehead wrinkled as he tried to figure out why it looked the way it did.  She saw his expression was one of confusion, not disgust as she had feared.  She relaxed a little.  

“WHAT?” 

 He looked at her and then lowered his muzzle to her crotch and with the tip of his tongue licked both sides of her mons, then pulled back and looked at her with that confused expression.  She had jumped when his tongue had touched her skin, but with both of them a little distracted, it hadn’t been all that erotic.  Looking down at herself, it suddenly dawned on her what had confused him.  He’d never seen someone shaved down there before!  She started laughing.  She fell back onto the floor and couldn’t stop.  She was hugging herself because her ribs hurt, tears streamed down her cheeks.  When she had laughed herself out and had regained her composure a little, she finally looked up at him.  He was sitting there waiting for her stop, but his expression was one of polite irritation, not confusion anymore. 
 
“I’m sorry, Love.  I really didn’t mean to hurt you’re feelings, but the look on your face!  I shaved it.” 

 When she said that, the light of comprehension raced across his face.  He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, as if to say, ‘to each their own.’   Now that they had settled down a little, he looked her over again.  She still had her top on, and he wanted to see all of her.  He scooted forward a little and reached out to grip the edge of her top with his teeth.  He pulled up on it and then let it go.  He looked up at her and raised his eyebrows.  She knew what he wanted, and she thought about it for a couple seconds, then made up her mind.  She reached down and pulled the top up over her head, tossing it over by her discarded jeans and panties.  She reached behind her back to unhook her bra.

He watched her every move.  Marveling at the play of muscles and tendons underneath her smooth white skin.  There were a few freckles on her chest just above her breasts.  Her stomach was flat, with just a hint of the strong stomach muscles underneath.  Her belly button was an inny, a small, slightly oblong cup in her perfectly formed belly.  As she released the hook on her bra and the cups fell forward, she slid the straps down her arms and tossed the bra over with the rest of her clothing.  She cupped her breasts in her hands and squeezed them slightly, rubbing the marks from the under-wire, and then lowered her hands and leaned back.  She looked at his face, but he wasn’t looking at hers, he was mesmerized with her breasts.  She thought this was funny and giggled, making them jiggle.

He had stopped breathing when her bra fell loose.  He was soaking in the image of perfection!  They were firm and slightly upturned, with large dark ruddy circles around very stiff nipples.  He watched her cup them and massage out the marks of the bra, and when she had leaned back and giggled, he watched every nuance of movement; burning the image into his mind.  He finally let out the breath he had been holding and looked into her face.  His expression said it all, absolute awe.  The blush started at the tops of her breasts and went all the way to her hair.  Nobody had ever looked at her like that.  Sure, a couple of her boyfriends had liked looking at her, but none of them had done so in awe.

He shuddered and then leaned forward, putting his muzzle within an inch of her right breast.  The tip of his tongue had poked out when he stopped himself and looked up into her eyes, raising an eyebrow.  She looked down at him and nodded, 

“Yes, you may lick my breasts.”  

She giggled again when she said it.  She had never had a lover take the time to ask her for permission before doing something.  She rather liked this; it made her feel in control, secure.

He knew what would drive her wild.  He snorted at his inner joke, blowing hot breath onto her nipple.  She shivered at the sensation.  His body temperature being so much higher than hers, it almost felt like a torch hitting her nipple.  This sent an electrical shock straight to her pussy, causing it to spasm and her inner moisture level shot up.  He watched this display of excitement and thought to himself, oh this is going to be so much fun!  He extended his tongue out as far as it would go and cupped her breast with it, spreading it out like a spatula.  He lifted up a little, supporting the weight of her breast completely.  Then he curled his tongue and spread his jaws open as wide as he could, letting the breast slip from the tip and as gravity took over, he pushed his tongue into her nipple and let it slide down the length.  Just as the tip of his tongue reached her nipple, he flexed it, flicking the nipple.  Before she could jerk back from the intense sensations, he slithered his tongue around the nipple and squeezed.
  
Her arms gave out at this point; she flopped back onto the floor and shuddered for a few seconds.  She covered the breast he had just licked, looking up at him with surprise and lust in her eyes.  

“OH MY GOD!!  Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”  

He snorted and grinned at her, nodding.  He lowered his head, resting his chin on her stomach.  Her legs were spread out on each side and he scooted up a little more so that his chest hair was just barely touching her swollen lips.  She shivered a little and looked at him. 

 “And just what are you planning, mister?”  

He met her gaze with a mischievous grin and slithered his tongue out and licked the crease just under the swell of her breast.  He licked up one side, then the other, using just enough pressure to not tickle, but to massage them.  She rolled her eyes back and moaned.  

“Oh shit, that feels good!  Do it again!”  

He slithered his tongue out once more, but this time he kept constant contact between his tongue and her breast, hooking it up along the side and just barely flicking her nipple once it was fully extended.  He kept his tongue there, just touching her nipple every few seconds, feeling her twitch every time he did.  Her moans were getting louder and her breathing deeper.  He could tell she was getting close.  He backed off a little, not wanting her to go over quite so soon.  He spread out his tongue, hooked so that the tip of his tongue was against her nipple and then started flexing it.  He did one nipple for a few seconds, and then switched to the other. 

 He kept doing this back and forth, until her breathing became ragged and her hands began waving in the air over his head.  He shifted his position so that he could look down at her breasts; still licking them, he moved to the left nipple.  She had her hands on top of his head now, playing with his ears.  He liked that.  Pressing his tongue down on her nipple, he swirled it around a couple of times and then slowly grazed his teeth over her entire breast until he reached her nipple, and then he lightly nibbled it.

She exploded, grabbing both his ears in her hands; she pulled him towards her and bucked up and down.  This caused her nether lips to rub against his fur and he could feel moisture spreading from where she was pressed.  The only noise coming out of her mouth was a gurgle as she fought for breath.  Her legs clamped against his shoulders, curling her toes as her heels dug into the blanket.  She froze like that for a second, then her breath shuddered out of her and her legs shot out straight, causing her clit to rub down his chest as her butt went to the floor.  This set her off again; the scream that came out of her mouth scared him for a second.  She continued to shudder and wave her arms around, her legs locked around him.

Finally, she came down from that glorious peak, and relaxed her grip on his shoulders.  She raised her head to look at him, smiling, still a little wobbly. 

 “You can do that to me anytime you want!  That was incredible!!” 

He grinned at her, rolling his tongue at her suggestively.  She watched this display and shuddered as she remembered exactly how that tongue had felt on her skin when he did that.  She rubbed her pussy against his chest and smiled.  

“You know, that feels sort of strange, but I kind of like it.”  

She looked down at where their bodies met and she giggled, blushing. 

 “I sorta slimed your chest.  I’m sorry.” 

 He couldn’t see it but he could smell it, and didn’t mind at all.  He leaned forward and flicked his tongue out, just touching the tip of her nose.  He pulled back and grinned at her again.

He scooted his body back, and she gave him a little moue of disappointment when their bodies separated.  He stood up and she looked at him, raising her eyebrow in question this time.  He turned, looked at the table and then back to her.  She understood what he wanted and jumped up to go over to table.  He took this opportunity to watch her ass in its full glory, noticing the little dimples on each cheek just above the creases on her thighs.  It made his mouth water.  

When she didn’t hear the characteristic clicking of his claws on the floor, she turned to see why he hadn’t followed.  When she saw him drooling from looking at her butt, she burst out laughing.  She was finally seeing in real life what all the guys had just joked about.  Her laughter snapped him out of his fugue state and he looked up at her, cocking an eyebrow.  Then he noticed the drool on the floor and gave her a contrite grin, as if to say, ‘so I drooled—so what.’
  
She finished cleaning the pack and other items off the table, placing them on the floor.  He watched her do this, marveling at her backside each time she stretched.  He had conflicting urges shooting through him.  He didn’t know whether to run his tongue up her crack or nip her in one cheek.  He chose the latter.  Sneaking up behind her, he got his muzzle within striking distance and when she bent over to put the last item on the floor, he nipped her right butt cheek.  
  
When she felt those huge fangs sink into her butt and graze the skin, it sent an electric current right up her spine and she leapt into the air, squealing at the top of her lungs.  When she landed, she whipped around and slapped him on top of his nose.  

“I did not tell you that you could bite my ass!!”  

When she said it, it dawned on her what she had said and it sent her into a giggling fit.  He knew she wasn’t really mad, just a little irritated at getting caught by surprise.  The rumble of his laughter echoed in the small cabin.

She reached out and took his head in both of her hands and leaned forward, placing her forehead against his, 

“I love you, Dagomarus.  With all my heart, I really love you, fuzzy-face.”  

She rolled her hands around his jowls, hooking her fingers under his jawbone, running her hands along his muzzle, feeling the stiff whiskers and the wet edges of his lips.  She kissed him on the end of his nose, noticing that it was wet and cool on her lips.  He snaked his tongue out and ran the tip around her lips and then flicked the end of her nose.  Both leaned back and smiled at each other, one with the face of an angel, the other with rows of razor sharp teeth.