Fiery Moon

As Cerek looked upon Sarina's sleeping body, and the bandage over the wound from the arrow that he had hit her with when he had come across her while hunting in the forest, he marveled at his fortune. When he had left to hunt, he had done so with many weights on his heart, most of which had been placed there by Clara, the woman he had sought after for years. Of course, he had not seen how cruel and heartless she was until he had begun to win her. All that had fallen away with his return from the forest with this strange and beautiful creature that slept next to him. He had thought that after such unequalled lovemaking that he would be exhausted and eager to slumber, but even after Sarina had drifted off, he could no more close his eyes than cease breathing.

At some point, he did drift to sleep, and morning came seemingly within the next breath. He felt Sarina stir, and opened one eye just a little to watch her stretch sinuously, yawning. She sat there for more than a minute, marveling herself, that she could be here with this man and not fleeing for her life from barbaric, twisted villagers. Granted, her shoulder was still sore from the arrow, but she easily forgave him this. After all, she had planned on dashing at him, knocking him down, and stealing his meal as it cooked over his campfire. She turned to gaze upon Cerek's...not quite sleeping form. He was peeking at her with one eye.

"I know you're watching me," she smiled.

Cerek opened his eyes and grinned, "Yes, I am."

She slid her feet off the edge of the bed and stood up. She tried to work her wounded shoulder and found it stiff. She winced as a dull pain resulted, and dropped her arm to her side.

"Do you think you'll ever forgive me for wounding you?"

"I don't know...maybe if you feed me."

Cerek pulled his robe from the floor next to the bed, and started to wrap it around her, but she stopped him.

"I don't mind being unclothed right now."

"Maybe not, but if you don't we'll never make it downstairs for food."

Sarina pouted and relented, letting him robe her. He quickly dressed and followed her downstairs, where he found her standing very still, staring at something that was blocked by the corner. He reached her and saw why she was not moving.

"Well, now, what is this?"

Clara sat in one of the chairs near the kitchen, her arms folded, her eyes twin flames of blue, except it was a coldness that radiated from them presently. Cerek slowed when he heard her voice, but did not stop.

"Who let you in, Clara?"

"Is that any way to treat the woman whose heart you've been questing for so long?"

Cerek grit his teeth, "That quest ended fruitlessly with the way you've treated me. You can find your own way out, I assume?"

Clara stood, but made no move to leave yet, "Now, Cerek, has this little trollop taken my place in your heart, and so quickly? You've only been gone four days."

Cerek turned to where Sarina still stood, right past the bottom step, "Sarina, please," and motioned for her to come over to him. She did, but her eyes never left Clara's icy-flamed eyes.

Cerek put his arm around her, "If you would, go into the kitchen and decide what you would like to eat this morn, and I'll deal with this."

Sarina did as he asked, taking one last mistrustful glance back at Clara as she disappeared into the kitchen. Cerek turned back to Clara and took a breath to calm himself.

"Sarina has been far better to me and for me in two days than you have since I first laid eyes on you, and I regret that I wasted so much of my youth panting after you."

Clara's eyes narrowed, "Oh, is that so? You're fortunate that I ever paid attention to you at all. You're nothing but a great dumb oaf, and that's all you will ever be! I could have my pick of the lot of men anywhere I go. What made you think I'd stoop down and pick you?"

"You say this, and yet you are still here after I told you to leave. I'll just wager that you loathe being replaced, being put in your place. If you can have your pick of the lot, then go have it someplace else. You're not welcome here."

Clara sputtered and fumed, but was at a loss for effective words, "Oh...You SWINE!!! You filthy, unkempt SWINE!"

On this, she whirled and left, leaving the door open in her wake. Cerek, feeling much better, closed the door behind her and joined Sarina in the kitchen.

She leaned against the wall, looking at nothing in particular, a look of worry in her green eyes.

"I am sorry to have caused this."

Cerek blinked, and then shook his head, "You haven't caused this. Clara had that coming for a very long time."

"If you had never seen me, would you still be with her?"

"I was never 'with her,' Sarina. Looking back on it, I wonder what it is that I ever saw in her. I think she enjoys being the center of attention and having clusters of young men lusting after her. I think that I should count my blessings for finding you."

Sarina left the wall and looked up at Cerek, a look of sheer vulnerability in her eyes, "Are you one day going to feel the same about me?"

Cerek looked back down at her solemnly, "Never...You are a better woman than she could ever hope to be, far better."

Sarina came into his arms, and he felt her shivering. He hugged her tightly, and she buried her face in his shirt. When she finally looked up at him again, he smiled.

"Now, what would you like to eat this morn?"

He cooked, and they ate, sitting close together, both relishing the closeness. She talked about her life before the fire that had claimed her family, and of her encounter with an old man in the forest.

"Only it wasn't a man I met. It was a wolf, and it greeted me by attacking me. It bit me hand as I tried to defend myself, and I thought I was already dead. But it stopped after biting me, which was odd. When the wolf began changing before my eyes, I was so frightened that I fainted dead away. I awoke feeling cold, and very ill. I found myself in a small cave near a stream, and an old man, the same one that the wolf had become, sitting near the entrance, building a fire. I wanted to move, to escape, but even moving was difficult. Each movement was like fire under my skin, deep down to my bones. Yet, I was deathly cold. The man finished building the fire, walked over to me, and sat down next to me. He began explaining why I had not been ripped limb from limb, saying that I reminded him of a daughter he had lost a long time ago. He also said that since I had been bitten by him, I would soon become what he was, and that the next few days would be excruciating for me as I became changed. He was right about the next few days. I felt as though I was being burnt alive. I spent much of that time asleep, since I could not bear the pain while awake.

"When I woke up on the fourth day, I still hurt, but it was nowhere near the pain I'd felt the previous day. I crawled to the mouth of the cave and found a cooked fish on a stone. I ate all of it as if I'd never eaten before. The old man came back later that day, surprised that I was still alive. He said he'd tried it twice before, but the victims had expired, unable to survive the sickness. I became angry, yelling and screaming at him, demanding to know why he had done this to me, why I had to endure such torture, why he had condemned me to die so. I began to notice changes, like fur growing on my arms, claws growing from my fingers, and my bones popping. It hurt almost as much as the sickness, and I screamed until I howled. He just sat by and watched me change, until I sat there, staring in wonder at paws where my hands and arms had been. When I tried to stand up, I couldn't. I got my paws under me, but when I tried again, I fell over, very weak from the change. I must have fainted again, because when I woke again, I had become a girl once more."

Cerek listened raptly to Sarina as she explained her struggle to control her changes, and her gradual success, about learning to hunt with the old man, whose name she found out to be Brundel.

"He taught me how to track animals, to change to wolf and back within minutes, and to fear man, which I had already had more than a few lessons in before I came across him."

Cerek asked, "What became of Brundel?"

Sarina sighed sadly, "We were hunting a few goats in a small village, hoping for easy kills, and then the villagers caught us. Brundel snarled at me to run, and then charged them, leaping right at them. Unfortunately, he leapt right onto a raised sword. I ran as fast and as long as I could, and then I smelled food...your food. I had hoped to just run in and steal the hare, but I guess you caught me by surprise."

Cerek smiled slightly, "So, you can change at will, then? What happened during the night, after...we made love? You said you couldn't control it..."

A little embarrassed, and pleased at his choice of words, she winced, "Sometimes, when I get angry, or scared...or as when we...made love, the change starts to come on its own. It gets hard to control then. When I am a wolf, I am not always in control of myself. So it is important that you be careful when I change. I don't want to hurt you, and if I bite you, you might...you just can't let me bite you."

Cerek nodded, knowing what she meant, wondering if it wouldn't be so bad to be able to change from man to wolf. He would share a connection with another that went far beyond just man and woman.

"What if...I...if you bit me...because I wanted you to?"

Sarina gasped, "Please, never ask me to do such a thing! You can't let me bite you; I don't think I could take it if you didn't live through the sickness. I have only known you for a short while, and my feelings for you go so deep that I think I would just...die...if you died because of me."

Cerek held her hands in his, "I wish I could explain to you how much you mean to me."

The way his eyes held hers aroused him greatly. He suddenly lifted her in his arms and carried her up the stairs and to his room. She yelped in surprise as he had scooped her up so easily.

Once he placed her on the bed, he removed the robe from her, and she pulled him down onto her. He kissed her with great passion, his hands roaming her body, his lips on hers, their tongues rolling over each other. Then he leaned back, hurriedly undressing. She sat up and helped, and when he was disrobed, she took his fully engorged member in her hands, and then quickly into her mouth. Her tongue seemed to take on a life of their own, and her lips could feel his rapidly pulsing blood through his skin. Applying what she had learned the night before, she worked him deep in her mouth, sucking and slurping, bringing groans and gasps from him. He plunged his hands into her silky red hair, and she worked at him with increased fervor.

He suddenly pulled back and fell back onto the bed, pulling her along. He swung her around, and soon had her atop him, her legs on either side of his head, with her sex only inches from his face. He wasted no time with teasing, going straight to it, and she cried out with the sudden pleasure of his tongue and mouth. She thrust his member back in her mouth eagerly, and they rocked against each other, each one working feverishly to bring the other to climax. Somehow despite her ministrations, he held out until he could feel her tighten on him, crying out around his manhood, and her juices flowed freely as she spasmed, bucking against his mouth. As she was mid-climax, she clamped her lips down and sucked hard, sending him over the edge. He emptied his seed deep into her mouth, gasping desperately while still managing to lap at her swollen clitoris, and she gulped the cream down as she rode the pounding waves of her own climax. As they gradually came to a stop, he could feel her wetness dripping from her, and as she looked down, she saw the juices dripping off his chin and onto his chest. She finally let go of him and rolled onto her side, still gasping a little.

He saw the ripples of fur erupt on her arm. She struggled with her concentration, and managed to hold the change back. When she felt she had control again, she moved back up until she was face to face with Cerek. She kissed him lightly, shivering as his hand cupped her pert, slightly small breast.

"I think you enjoy watching me try to stop the change, don't you?"

"It is nice to have such an effect on you."

She slapped his chest lightly, and kissed him. They kissed for a short time, and then Cerek found himself ready again. He rolled on top, still kissing her, and eased himself inside her, her previous climax having lubricated her enough that he slid right in, all the way in. Her legs wrapped around his waist, and she whimpered as he began pushing a bit harder than before, She rocked with him, her legs tightening around him with each stroke, and the rocking brought him deeper inside her. Her whimpers soon turned to cries of pleasure as their rhythm increased in speed and urgency, and then she climaxed again, not as much as before, as he slowed a little when he felt her tighten, and then quickened when she relaxed a little, again and again, and the smaller climaxes built up each time until she could barely breathe. When she thought she would collapse from such immense pleasure, she felt him thrust one more time, and hold it there, allowing her to find her breath.

He could feel her body shivering, the spasms just under her skin as once again she began to change. He looked into her eyes, which changed from that bright green to yellow. He held her against him, stroked his hands through her hair, and held himself within her. She struggled with her change, barely holding it back, taking deep breaths, willing herself furiously to hold the change at bay until she could regain control. Finally, she regained that precarious control, and her body relaxed.

Unable to help himself, he pulled her up, positioned her on her hands and knees, and despite her protests of her precarious control, thrust inside her, his hands on her hips. In spite of herself, she immediately pushed back onto him with each plunge, and was quickly on her way to another amazing orgasm, almost screaming in the moment, and he finally brought himself to his second climax, spilling inside her as she flooded his manhood yet again, and then the change was upon her, the popping audible to him. He stayed there, deep inside her until she grew so tight around him that he was forced out.

He fell backward as Sarina whirled around on him, fully in wolf form now, growling, her sharp teeth bared. Strangely, other than the initial cry of surprise, he made no attempt to flee or defend himself. Whether because she had some control, or because he didn't move, her growl tapered off, and her teeth disappeared. She sniffed, smelling his sweat, his seed dripping from her, her juices all over him. As she had the night before, she began to lick him clean. This time, he tentatively reached a hand out and touched her head, feeling the thick fur between her ears. He felt more than heard her growl deep in her throat, but began stroking her head, and she calmed, her long tongue lapping at his skin, and it was almost a surprise to him that his softened member began hardening again.

As the wolf continued to clean him, she took notice of the erection, and she paid more attention to it, sniffing at it, and then lapping directly on it, causing it to jump, and the breath to catch in Cerek's throat. He wished he could change form and continue to make love to this wonderful creature as he'd made love to her in her human form. Sarina licked more and more on him, and he pet the wolf gently. Perhaps this was wrong, enjoying it so much, but somewhere within this wolf was the woman he had only minutes ago made love to.

Finally, he could stand it no longer.

"Please, Sarina," he stuck his arm out in front of her snout. The wolf lifted her head and regarded him quizzically for a second before whimpering.

"Just do it. I need you to bite. It's what I want you to do."

With a shaky degree of control that Sarina appeared to have in her wolf form, her mouth opened and he put his forearm between the sharp teeth. He could feel the points on his skin, her hot breath on his arm.

"Do it, please. Don't worry about hurting me."

After a few more seconds of hesitation, he felt her teeth press down, and winced when the canines broke through his skin. Quickly, she let go, and whimpered again as she saw the rivulets of blood ooze from his punctured skin. She nuzzled the bite, and licked the blood from the wounds.

'This is it,' Cerek thought with a mixture of excitement and trepidation, 'I will become.'

Sarina suddenly leapt from the bed, and started to change back. As she stood upright in her human form, a cry flew from her lips.

"No! What have I done?"

She saw the punctures on his forearms and burst into tears.

"Oh no, please say I didn't!"

Cerek stood up and held her. She pounded on his chest, horrified, knowing that he had asked her to do this, and that she had complied.

"It's what I want," Cerek reassured her, "I'll survive this, and we'll be even closer than we are now."

She cried, "I barely survived it! Brundel said the men he bit looked to be healthy, smelled healthy! They died! If you die, then I don't want to live. I'll just curl up next to you and wait to die, too."

"I will not die. You'll be my reason to survive, if for nothing else."