FSE

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Despite the threat of the Devourer still present, Nathaniel slept like a baby. He awoke to the noise of birds chirping in the park, with the twins still snuggled up against him. Instinctively, he began caressing their backs. The whole ordeal in the kingdom had taken a huge toll on the Silver Bride, not only physically, but also mentally. Finding himself so many times in tough spots during the fight with the twins and the monsters birthed from their powers had made him realize how powerless he actually was. Of course he had access to a lot of different spells but they didn't mean much if the enemy has ways to counter them, like Umbra's shadow passing underneath the barriers he erected. His biggest fear was that he basically knew nothing of his opponent other than the ability to corrupt and take over other wolves' power Cores.

For about half an hour, the silver werewolf absentmindedly caressed his two new husbands, until they too woke up from their sleep. When their sleepiness had faded away, the twins returned the caresses to the Bride, rubbing his belly and chest lovingly. Seeing the two snuggle against him made his worries temporarily disappear, and he allowed himself to enjoy the moment.

"S-silver Bride..." muttered Luna shyly.

"What is it?" replied Nathaniel.

"I... I'm so glad we... we met you. I feel... I feel safe, and... and loved."

"Yeah!" interrupted Astor, "you're the best! Well, the best after me, of course!"

The silver werewolf smiled and closed his eyes. "I'm relieved I was able to save both of you. And King. And his servants. It's almost a miracle that we're all safe and sound with everything that's happened."

"The bastard that was our old master is still out here, though..." grumbled Astor before claiming loud and clear "We're gonna go on an adventure with you to help you kick his and his minions' asses, Bride!"

Nathaniel chuckled and said "I appreciate your support, Astor," he switched to a more sad, almost forlorn tone, "but I can't put you in any more danger than you've been. We need to find you a safe place to hide."

"What?! We're not going to fight the bad guys?!"

"Astor," intervened Luna, "c-calm down."

"But the Bride just said-"

"I know what he said!" countered the sibling, "but he's right! We're no match for... that wretched man! He... he already got us once!"

Astor lowered his ears and looked down, pouting, "but I..."

Nathaniel rose in a sitting position and put his hand on the flustered twin, "it's alright, Astor. Thank you for wanting to help. But you know, even when you're far away from me you can still help me. Look."

With that, the silver werewolf drew a tiny bit of power from Astor's Core and infused it into his own shadow to materialize it as a duplicate of himself. Then, the clone also began petting the bewildered twin, who quickly surrendered his poutiness to the rubs and petting to instead almost purr from happiness.

"That's amazing!" Astor cried. "Wait! That means you can do just like the ninjas in mangas and raise an army of clones of yourself!"

"Or you c-ould..." said Luna with a seductive gaze, "use these shadows to... y-you know... literally f-uck yourself if you wanted."

Astor, Nathaniel and his shadow clone all stared at Luna, almost in shock at the suggestion.

"W-what?" Luna said, backing away defensively, "y-you've got to admit... it'd be... hot. Right?"

Nathaniel leaned close to Astor and whispered, "is your brother always lewd like this?"

Astor nodded, and even added, "and once she's got her mind, GAH, HIS mind. Why do I fuck this up so often! Anyways, when HIS mind is settled on something, there's no convincing him otherwise. I mean, look, she's already fantasi- FUCK, I did it again! HE'S already fantasising about it!" he then pointed to Luna's crotch.

Nathaniel looked, and saw that Luna was slowly getting an erection.

"I... I can hear you two!" Luna said, flustered and putting his hands in front of his crotch to try to hide his sheath.

Both Nathaniel and Astor exploded in laughter. After pouting for a few seconds, Luna joined them and chuckled discreetly. When they all calmed down, the silver werewolf undid the shadow clone and went back to patting the twins on the head before wrapping his arms around their necks to bring them both in a hug. The three of them then silently hugged.

While nuzzling against Nathaniel's chest, Luna then asked quietly, "s-say, Bride, wh-what should we do n-now?"

"In all honesty, I don't know. I mostly want to enjoy this little respite for now."

"N-no, I... I mean... if we're not coming with you, then... where should Astor and I go? I... I don't think we'd be welcome in the Kingdom, considering... what we've done to them..."

"Oh, uh... that's a good question..." replied Nathaniel, stumped. "I'm guessing you two are stuck in your werewolf form, right?"

The twins replied in unison "Y-yes..." "Yeah!"

The silver werewolf gave it some thoughts. Maybe the gentlewolves would be able to help, so he telepathically started a conversation to inquire about it, "Sapphire, could I ask you something?"

"Good day to you too, my Bride." replied Sapphire coldly.

Unsure of why the gentlewolf was so cold, Nathaniel tried lightening the mood, "I'm sorry, Sapphire. I didn't mean to. How are you doing today?"

"I... I-I..." sighed the noble young werewolf, clearing his throat and continued, "I'm doing great, thank you."

The stuttering at the beginning of Sapphire's sentence made it obvious that he wasn't doing well at all. Nathaniel tried to get him to open up and said "I can tell you're not doing that great, Sapphire. Listen. We're friends, right? If there's something that bothers you, you can tell me about it, okay?"

There was a long break in the telepathic conversation. The Bride was somehow able to sense Sapphire's distress through their link, and right before he could ask what was wrong, the noble wolf answered, "the truth is... you're right. I'm... completely stressed out. Yesterday, while you were trapped in this domain over the Kingdom, I... I was desperately trying to find a way to help, but I truly felt the extent of my powerlessness... Even after you told us you were safe, I was still in a state of unrest. I have not slept since then, and spent the whole night thinking of a plan to provide you with some sort of assistance in case such a thing were to happen again, and... and I was scared to death about the idea of losing you, my very first friend. I..."

"I didn't realize I'd be worrying you so much, and for that, I'm really sorry. I want to apologize for putting you through that, my dear friend, and I'd like to thank you for telling me about your feelings."

"W-well, I... Silver, it's... it's alright, I..." Once again, there was a long break, during which Nathaniel could feel Sapphire settle down. He was then back to his old cold self, though he wasn't as bitter as earlier "I appreciate you looking out for me, Silver. Earlier, you stated you had a question for me, didn't you. What was it?"

"Before that, I want to make sure you're okay, Sapphire. Are you okay?"

"I... I can assure you I will not be fine anytime soon, Silver Bride. However, I am very grateful for your concerns. I promise I will try to get some rest when we're through with your request."

"Sounds good to me! So, my question was... would you gentlewolves have some way to hide my friends somewhere?"

"We have a few underground facilities. Most of them, if not all of them, are medical facilities that are unfit to be used as living spaces. May I ask the reason why you're inquiring about this?"

"Well, I have two new husbands, and they're the two who caused the whole situation in the Kingdom when their Cores were still corrupted. I managed to purify the darkness, and they wanted to become husbands and I accepted. So, now I've got two more husbands who just can't stay in the Kingdom because everyone here probably hates them."

"You sure have a habit to stick your dick everywhere, haven't you?"

"Actually... this time, I didn't stick my dick anywhere."

"I'm well aware, Silver. Our video surveillance cameras were back on as soon as the jamming associated with the domain fell down. I saw what you three did back there. That is all however of no relevance to the matter at hand. I suggest you guide your two new husbands to someplace safe. You have many allies, I am convinced you will find someone that can take care of them. If my memory serves me right, there even is one werewolf currently in the Kingdom who could help you with this."

"Many allies? Someone who could help me with this is in the Kingdom? Who could..." thought Nathaniel. And then, he understood what Sapphire meant, "Oh! I see, thank you very much, Sapphire! I owe you one!"

"You're welcome, Silver."

The silver werewolf then opened his eyes, finding the twins still snuggling against him, and told them, "I know where you two can go!"

The two perked up, looking at Nathaniel, who let go of them and stood up to start walking in the park towards his destination, gesturing them to follow him. The siblings looked at each other with a confused look, before they too got up to see where the Bride would take them.

As they approached a large open area, the three of them heard a bit of a commotion. They walked up on Aegis and Arkion, two more of Nathaniel's husbands. Arkion, the giant twenty feet tall black wolf with dark purple patterns on his arms and legs, was walking back and trying to dodge something. That something was Aegis, the twin-tailed seven foot tall white werefox with red markings, who was trying to use his nimbleness to jump at Arkion's sheath.

Arkion's ears perked up and he looked towards Nathaniel, suddenly crying out "Silver!"

"Hi Arkion!" replied the Bride, "seems like you two are getting alon-"

"Please save me!" begged Arkion, who had taken several large strides and stopped in front of Nathaniel. He was panting and hunching over, hands on his knees. "this guy... this guy!" he said, pointing at the white werefox who was walking closer.

"Wh-what?" stuttered Nathaniel, confused at this statement, "what happened?"

"He's a beast! A machine! No matter how many times he made me fuck him, no matter the positions, no matter how empty my balls are, he's never satisfied!"

Aegis walked next to Arkion, immediately leaning against the black werewolf and snuggling closer, whispering "ready for next round, big guy?"

Arkion looked at Nathaniel and pleaded "please save me..."

"Hey, uh, Aegis?" said the silver werewolf.

Aegis let go of Arkion to look at the Bride. "Oh, good day, Silver. I didn't see you here."

"Can you two tell me what's up exactly?"

"Nothing too important," said Aegis, chuckling, "We were about to have some more private time together, though I wouldn't mind having more people to please at once. One wolf can only fill one hole at a time," he added with a wink.

"Yesterday, he sucked me twice and made me fuck him thrice," complained Arkion, "we ended up going to sleep at an unreasonable hour, and then he woke me early by riding my cock! I mean, I like sex of course and he's really good at it, but I think he's lost any sense of how much is too much!"

Nathaniel sighed heavily. "Aegis, could you turn down the horniness for a bit, please?"

The white werefox pouted, "but I want my holes filled..."

"I know, but we've got stuff to discuss with Arkion," explained the silver werewolf, "Arkion is the chieftain of the Blood Tribe, and he's supposed to go back there. He only left his clan because he needed... urgent care due to me overusing his power."

"That's a shame," sighed Aegis, before turning towards Arkion with a smirk, "are you recruiting people in your tribe?"

Startled and unsure of how to decline, Arkion stuttered some unintelligible words.

Nathaniel chimed in, "Aegis, I would like you to stay here in the Kingdom."

The werefox looked at the Bride with puppy eyes and lowered ears, "W-what? W-why?"

"I think... we need allies everywhere. King may be powerful, but he's not invulnerable. That's why I would like you to stay around here with him." the silver werewolf explained. He then gave a knowing smirk and continued, "And besides, if everyone goes with Arkion there won't be anyone to keep company to King, right? I don't think King has anyone in his following who can handle him better than you do, Aegis."

"Oooh~" Aegis murred, "are you implying that King is looking for a... partner?" he said, sticking his tongue out in a playful manner. He stood up, seemingly cutting away his horniness to get more serious, "joking aside, I understand, Silver. It pains me to leave such a handsome stud go, but I will stay."

Nathaniel nodded, smiling. He had expected more resistance from the fox, but thankfully it went well. "Alright, then! Now that this is settled, Arkion, I would like to ask you something."

The giant black wolf stared at Nathaniel, waiting for the question.

"The twins here can't stay here in the kingdom, do you think you can take them in your tribe?"

"Of course I can!" boomed Arkion. "We'll welcome them, and maybe even celebrate with a festival and the arena!"

"The arena?" repeated Astor, tilting his head to the side.

"It's a tradition in my tribe," explained Arkion, who almost had stars in his eyes, "where warriors fight each other to prove their worth! Winners can amass the glory and fame and a chance at becoming the next leader of the tribe is they so wish. And, well, there's also this other side of things, where winners can 'shame' losers in any way they see fit. Usually involves... fucking."

Aegis chimed in "Silver, I don't think I want to stay here in the kingdom after all! I want to go in this arena thingy, pleaaaaaase?!"

"So you want to prove your worth as a warrior?!" asked Arkion, perking up.

"Nah, I don't care about battles." the werefox dismissively said, "Shaming, on the other hand..."

The giant black wolf sighed, "I should have guessed so..."

Nathaniel intervened "Aegis..."

Aegis whined, then half-lied "I was just joking, Silver..."

The tribe leader then pouted "the Arena has just become a tool for people to just fuck each other... no one cares about being a strong warrior anymore..."

Astor stood up and pointed his finger at Arkion, "I want to fight in the arena!"

Luna added "m-me too."

This made Arkion perk up. He looked at them, incredulous.

"I want to become a better fighter so I can help the Bride with his fight!" declared Astor. "Please, Arkion, train me into a strong warrior!"

"I..." Luna said, "I don't know about f-fighting, b-but... this Arena thing... sounds fun!"

"Let's do this!" yelled Arkion. "You guys will be welcome in my tribe, we need people who want to become worthy warriors!"

Luna pulled back a little bit, "w-well, I'm not that... that big into the fighting, more so into the... the shaming, b-but I'll do my best!" which caused Arkion's newfound motivation to falter slightly.

"I just want to learn to fight! I mean, the shaming is a little bonus, I guess, but that's not what the arena is about, right?! It's called the Arena, not the Brothel!"

Nathaniel wanted to facepalm hard, but for some reason, Arkion was completely fired up by that speech.

"Right!" Arkion said "Astor, was it? I'm going to train you just like my mentor trained me!"

"When do we start, coach!?" Astor almost yelled.

"Right now, my apprenti-"

"Guys, slow down," intervened Silver, "I can see that you're going to be doing well together, but let's not lose our way here and now. First, we move to the tribe, then you guys can do that warrior training, okay?"

"But-" the two fired up guys said in unison.

"No buts," said the Bride, "Think about it this way, the sooner we depart from here, the earlier you guys can start your training."

Astor's ears perked up immediately. He was fired up once more, and excitedly yelled "Then what are we waiting for?! Let's go!"

"Alright," the silver werewolf agreed, "Arkion, Luna, Astor, we're leaving for the blood tribe!"

Aegis let out a small whine when he heard about that. He tried to ask them to give him a 'parting gift' which was just him asking to get bred one more time, but he was turned down. Pouting, he bade them goodbye and then, to get his need taken care of, went to King's cave.

There was just one problem with travelling to Arkion's tribe. All four of them were basically giants. In his werewolf form, Nathaniel was thirteen feet tall, both twins were a foot shorter than that, and Arkion was just over twenty. They decided to get back the canvas used to transport Arkion earlier, Nathaniel used it to put all three of the husbands in there for the duration of the trip.

After Luna, Arkion and Astor were in the painting, Nathaniel went back to his human form, and wondered how he'd travel around naked. The clothes that Sapphire had provided him earlier were torn apart when he had first met the shadows. As if on cue, the gentlewolf's butler cleared his throat to announce his presence. It surprised Nathaniel, who wondered how long the old man had been there. Sebastian handed a small box to the Bride. Silver opened it; upon a silken bed laid a tiny five by three inches canvas held by a golden chain. It was difficult to make up what was painted on it because of its size, but there was definitely a clothes hanger rack. Silver looked at the old man, puzzled by the odd gift. The butler explained that there were several sets of suits hidden inside the canvas in case he should need them, and that he could use the rest of the painting as a sort of stash if needed. Nathaniel tried to ask how they knew he needed clothes, to which the old man simply gave a faint nod.

Deciding to not push the question any further, Nathaniel used Sapphire's power to pull a set of clothes from within his amulet-stash-canvas pendant, and put the suit on. It wouldn't be very convenient to walk around with this kind of clothing, but it would have to do. He wanted to thank the butler but couldn't as the old man had somehow disappeared as mysteriously as he had appeared earlier.

Nathaniel shrugged and started walking with his two paintings. One as a pendant around his neck, and the other one under his arm. The trip would take about two hours of walking for the Silver Bride, considering that he was in his human form.

While he wasn't in the painting himself, Nathaniel could feel the energy radiating from it. He took a peek, not really sure what to expect, and saw Luna gazing back at him with a face that showed his boredom, and with the other two wolves having apparently started the lessons on fighting.

"Sorry about that, Luna," said Nathaniel.

The werewolf in the painting perked up and said "i-it's okay, Silver Bride. I don't mind, I think..."

"You think?"

"W-well, yeah. You know, I think that... Arkion might be my brother's first real friend. He... never opened up to anyone but me, b-but he really is going all out."

"That's great! I'm sure you two will fit right in Arkion's tribe."

"Y-yeah! I'll try my b-best!" said the werewolf in the painting. Then his attention was drawn to the two other behind him. He looked flustered for a second, then turned back to Nathaniel and mumbled "t-they want me to come. I will come back later, Silver Bride."

"Alright, have fun, Luna!" said Nathaniel, watching the twin walk to the other two who were waving at him.

The Bride put the painting back under his arm instead of in front of him, and accelerated his walking pace. It seemed like the energy radiating from the canvas had increased yet again, most likely from Luna joining the other two.

An hour later, Nathaniel was back in the hills where the Blood Tribe was. At the main gate of the village, a familiar werewolf was standing. It was the bored sentry that had watched over him back when he was first captured by the tribe's warriors. The gray werewolf looked as disgruntled and depressed as back then.

"Listen, kid, you're not supposed to be here," said the guard in a monotonous voice, "turn back and forget what you saw here."

What struck Nathaniel most was that the whole place felt almost dead. There was very little noise and the main plaza looked completely empty.

"What happened there?"

The disgruntled sentry sighed heavily, "werewolf stuff."

"Well, I understand that, but that place was so lively last time!"

"Last time?" the guard repeated, "ah well, who cares. Our chief is missing, just when he finally became a somewhat okay leader."

"So you guys are depressed because of that?"

"I guess, yeah," the guard sighed.

"Why?"

"There's a reason why we had a chief. Without him, the tribe has no unity. Mini packs are forming and battling each other."

"Are you kidding me? How does that even happen?"

"Don't know. Don't care. I just don't want to get involved in the power struggle of these idiots," he explained, sighing once more, "If only our chief was still here... we'd be preparing a festival and an arena and have fun instead of baring claws and fangs at each other. I almost miss that damned fool."

"Things have gone... downhill since I fucked up, huh..." Nathaniel said, blaming himself for bringing this dire situation to the tribe.

"Listen, kiddo, I don't know what you're saying, but there's no way a human like you could have gotten in any of the shit going on here."

"If I took on my werewolf form, I guess you'd more easily recognize me, right?" Nathaniel said, putting the canvas against a rock, facing the stone to not show the painting to the guard yet. Then, he stripped naked, put the clothes back in his pendant-canvas-stash, and transformed into his werewolfish self.

The sentry frowned. "Wait, are you... the Silver Bride, the guy who fucked some sense in our leader's ass?"

Nathaniel chuckled at the wording used by the guard. "The one and only."

"You're like... almost twice as tall as last time."

"Yup. Lots happened. Anyways, I-"

"If you're looking for the chief, he's missing."

"Yup, I know. That's exactly why I came here."

"Gonna claim the tribe?" said the guard, a spark of life appearing in his eyes, "I'm sure no one would mind. I wouldn't."

"No way, I've come to return your chief."

The wolf stared at him for a minute and asked, "what do you mean, return our chief?"

Nathaniel grabbed the painting and flashed it to the guard.

"Is that..." the guard said, looking at the painting with surprise on his face, "look, bringing back a painting is not the same as bringing back the original, and besides... what is it even going on in this scene?"

Puzzled, Nathaniel turned the painting towards himself. Arkion was holding the twins, one in each arm, triumphantly up in the air, as if he was lifting them up.

"Guys..." grumbled Nathaniel.

The sentry stared at the silver Bride with a dubious look on his face, "Are you... talking to the painting?"

"Just... watch." the Bride said, conjuring Sapphire's power to plunge his hand inside the parallel world of the canvas. There, he grabbed Arkion by the neck and pulled the huge black wolf out of the painting, surprising him enough to let go of the twins. The giant black werewolf landed face first on the ground, inches away from the sentry's paws, and his butt was raised high.

Startled, the guard jumped from surprise and yipped. "Chief?" he asked, incredulous. "The painting? What? Chief came out of the painting? How?!"

"It's one of my newest powers. It would be too long to explain, so... just accept it, no matter how absurd it looks, okay?"

Arkion got on all fours, rubbing his head "What's going on?"

"We've arrived and you've got stuff to do, the situation of your tribe is a little bit concerning, Arkion."

The giant black wolf sat on his knees and looked down to see the guard, who was gawking at his frame. "Hey! Uh... I'm... back, I guess? What happened while I was away?"

The sentry sighed and smiled. He let out an exhausted "chaos, that's what happened."

Nathaniel drew both the twins out of the painting too, and as all five of the werewolves were sitting outside of the small village, the bored wolf quickly briefed them all on the situation.

"So, there you have it. As I said, chaos, that's what happened," the guard said.

"How come nobody even rose as the new chief of the tribe?" asked Arkion.

"No one is strong enough to take on the whole tribe, chief. Only the best warrior of the tribe can do that."

"Fair enough..." sighed Arkion. "In any case, let's go unify the tribe. I have a plan to do that, and it involves you two, Luna, Astor!"

"Aight!" yelled Astor, "what's the plan, coach?!"

"You'll see soon enough! Guard guy, you come too!"

"What a hassle..." grumbled the sentry with a faint smile on his face.

"Silver, you can come if you want, but I'd like you to not get involved this time, this is a matter that only concerns the Blood Tribe."

Nathaniel nodded, accepting his role as a spectator.

"But..." intervened Luna, "what about us, then? I... I mean, Astor and I, we... we are not really members of the tribe..."

"Consider it a welcoming ceremony, Luna! Either way, let's go, we've got a rebellion to quell!"

The five of them walked to the main plaza and already, stares from all around the village fell upon them. It was, after all, impossible to not see a twenty feet tall giant strolling around the place. Whispers could be heard all around, and some of the wolves already came to him, immediately abandoning their previous allegiance to the other sub-clans to go back to their original leader.

However, Arkion rejected them all. If one of them tried to come too close to him, he pushed them away gently, but sternly. A bellow echoed from within his lungs and he tried to let out a majestic howl to rally his people, but it ended up being a howl-bark that ended in a cough. Even though he failed at letting a decent howl out, he still managed to draw the attention of every single villager to himself. Then he said in an authoritative tone "I left you guys by yourselves for a couple days and this is the result? Dishonourable. Why must you guys bring shame upon us like this! For fucks' sake, we are the Blood Tribe, not just some uncivilized savages! A pointless civil-war-bullshit like this would never help with picking a new leader."

Most of the werewolves that were around had their ears folded backwards, or were looking at each other.

"If you want to pick a new leader, there's only one thing to do!" exclaimed Arkion, "and it's the Arena!"

A member of the tribe chimed in, "but... chief, you're here, now, so... everything is okay, right?"

"Laughable!" countered the giant black werewolf, causing all the members of the crowd to tuck their tails between their legs, "if you guys are going power crazy as soon as I leave the tribe for a few minutes, then it means most of you haven't truly accepted me as your leader. Today, I am not coming back as your chief, but as a contestant to become the chief!"

Many in the audience looked at each other, confused, and whispers arose louder and louder.

"Today," the giant werewolf stated, "we will hold the ultimate Arena festival. A tribe-wide battle royale that will help us decide who is the rightful leader! Teams allowed, and in the case of a team winning the arena, the leader of the team will be crowned as leader of the tribe. I myself will be entering the competition, in a team with my friends Astor and Luna." he explained, putting one hand on each of the twin's shoulder. "Shaming is obviously allowed, and the people who are incapacitated either due to exhaustion or due to being too..." mumbled the giant, blushing, "f-filled... will be eliminated."

All eyes were on Arkion. Most were in disbelief, some were hopeful, and some downright excited.

The guard leaned close to Nathaniel and whispered, "He would have never said that if you never fucked some sense into his ass back then. I'm glad you did, cause this might be the best arena festival ever."

The Bride chuckled at the statement, though he wasn't sure how or if to answer to that.

Clearing his throat after ridding himself from the embarrassment of spouting such words, the giant black wolf declared "the battle royale is on! May the best team win!"

It was instantly chaos. But a happy chaos. Werewolves were running after each other, half-battling and half-teasing each other, eager to force their opponent into submission so they could get to the shaming faster.

Arkion sat down on the ground and waited for opponents to show up, but just as he had expected, none showed up. He looked at the twins and told them "you can go have your share of the fun if you'd like. No using your powers, though, that would be unfair."

"Of course, coach!" yelled Astor, before asking calmly "but what are we supposed to do?"

"Battling the other wolves! And if you win, you can... shame the loser if you want to."

Astor happily ran in the village to chase after other participants to the arena.

It quickly evolved into a huge orgy, with almost all the tribe taking part in the festivities. Arkion was watching, though he was trying to look for any opponent that would dare challenge him rather than staring at the guys fucking each other. Luna was hiding behind the giant black wolf, trying to avoid any fighting if possible. Meanwhile, Astor was running to find another target. Nathaniel's cock was rising out of his sheath as he stared at the ongoing debauchery. The village guard was idly masturbating while glancing at the various dogpiles, fuck trains and split roasts. At this point, there was a lot more sexing than there was fighting.

In a matter of half an hour, the number of contestants had considerably shrunk down. The only two wolves who hadn't moved yet were Arkion, whom no one dared challenge yet, and the sentry.

"So..." the guard asked Arkion, "no luck with opponents yet?"

"Nope. I'm not surprised, to be fair."

"You didn't say I was on your team, right? I could feign fighting you so I can get eliminated."

"I'm not looking for 'fake fights', you know?"

"Well, guess I could try headbutting you and stun myself doing so. How does that sound?"

"Boring. Why don't you try to fight with other werewolves your own size? I'm like... almost four times your size..."

"You know, I've never been a big fan of fighting. Getting dicked by guys more than twice my size, though? Yes, please yes. Ever since the previous leader is no longer here to 'fill' that role, I've been needing someone to take it over," he said turning away and lifting his tail up high, wiggling his butt to the tribe leader, "and there aren't many people who could actually take on that role, if you catch my drift. Again, not a big fan of the fighting, but if feigning a battle gets my stretching needs sated with whatever this" he said, pointing at Arkion's sheath "is hiding, and then gets me filled with however much these" he continued, this time pointing at the leader's enormous balls, "are holding, then I'm in."

"Fine. I doubt I'll get to have any fights anyways. Show me why my predecessor thought you were so special."

For the first in a long time, the guard smiled.

Astor was trotting and huffing, trying to find a new opponent after defeating yet another werewolf of the clan, when he was pounced on from the back. He landed face first on the ground, and immediately a cock was plunged in his ass, making him yip, then moan. He flipped himself on his back, trying to get rid of the other wolf, but only ended up exposing his front side to other wolves on the team of the one who was still balls deep in his ass. The leader of that team - a nine feet tall grey werewolf - straddled Astor and pinned his lower body down, burying his foot and half of cock next to the other one in the twin's ass. Another wolf restricted his arms and upper body, and when he opened his mouth to moan, he found another large dick plugged in him immediately after. When his hands were guided to two more erections, Astor gave up his fight and instead surrendered to his assailants.

The guard climbed on Arkion's massive balls, walking over them until he was able to put both his footpaws on the giant black werewolf's sheath. Even when standing like that, the smaller male was still only reaching up to the clan leader's chest. He turned so that he had his back against the other's abdominals, and looked down at the sheath. Arkion had managed to not get an erection despite the heavy stench of cum in the air and the displays of sex all around him. Which gave the guard an idea. The sheath was easily as wide as he was broad. He sat on top of it, and brought his left footpaw to its entrance, pushing inside. The warmth of the sheath's confines spread around his foot, and his leg as he kept going deeper. Arkion looked down, confused, but huffing at the strangely arousing sensation of having his sheath toyed with like that.

Luna had been cornered against a wall by three wolves of the same team. Swiftly, he leaped at the one in the middle and lifted him up to toss him on a dogpile of four werewolves. Then, when the other two opponents latched onto his sides, he slammed one of the two on the wall behind him, and grabbed the other one and pinned him on the ground. Luna had single-handedly defeated the three remaining members of one of the teams, and had their leader pinned under him. The brother's dominant instincts kicked in and, with no hesitation, he began pushing his cock inside the vanquished leader's ass. Mercilessly, he pushed inches of his four foot spire inside the leader, whose belly was distending around the thick shaft. The brother kept on going deeper, and forced his knot through the abused asshole of the leader, who had been moaning non-stop from pleasure since the fucking had begun.

The guard had pushed his whole foreleg in Arkion's sheath, and brought his still free footpaw next to the other one to push it inside too. It slid inside easily, joining his other leg. Then, when he had both forelegs inside the tribe leader's sheath, he stood up as to let gravity continue with his diving. Inches of his body were sinking inside, until he had the entirety of both legs inside. His tail was wagging, brushing against Arkion's abdominals as he felt the warmth spread all around his lower body. His balls were resting atop the sheath, and his cock was leaking pre like a faucet. He grabbed his tail and forced it inside too, same for his balls, pushing the first one in, then the other, and resumed the diving. The guard went deeper and deeper, huffing from arousal and excitement. He only stopped trying to go deeper when he was down to his armpits. He wrapped his arms around the edge of the sheath, making it look like he was having a bath in the stretchy confines of the huge tube. While wiggling inside the tribe leader's sheath, his feetpaws touched what he assumed was the tip of Arkion's cock, and he grinned wide as he began rubbing it to erect it.

Astor had completely forgotten about the competition at hand, and he was enjoying himself as many wolves took turns in his ass or mouth, some of them coming for seconds. He masturbated as many cocks as he could with his hands, ravenously sucked on any presented in front of his nose, and clenched hard around the ones in his ass to milk them of all their worth. Several loads of cum had already been fired in or over him, and more just kept coming as the whole team were going at his holes again and again. His belly had slightly swelled from the sheer amount of semen that had been fired inside him. His own orgasm was getting close, so he let go of the cocks in his hands and the one in his mouth to bring them all to his own dick. Both hands wrapped around his three feet long shaft, and his mouth sealed tightly around the tip. It pulsed, and unleashed a torrent of jizz that he eagerly drank. Each shot was making his belly swell slightly more, and while the wolves that had bested him were frustrated that he stopped working on their cocks, they were in awe at the display of the brother's autofellatio.

Arkion's cock started erecting thanks to the skilful ministrations of the guard. It was leaking a lot of pre despite still being hidden deep down in his sheath, which caused the metaphor of the bath to become closer to reality. As the tip came closer and closer to his ass, the sentry adjusted himself to make sure that he wouldn't miss it. As it poked around his tailhole, he grinned in excitement. Moaning echoed loudly as the guard's butt spread around the impossibly thick tip that just began invading him. While he was used to deal with cocks of very large sizes, Arkion's was much bigger and thicker than what he had ever managed to handle. Still, as the giant werewolf's shaft kept erecting, it kept forcing its way inside the guard's body, completely distending it outward. The clan leader's sheath was so full with his impossibly thick cock and the guard that the outline of the guard's body could easily be seen from the outside. The sentry had to grip on to the edges of the sheath as to not be expelled out of it, and he managed to do so relatively well. Soon, the dick in him erected enough that his belly was starting to distend, becoming like a tight condom around the immense girth. As the second foot of Arkion's spire had sunk in his rear entrance, the tip of the cock started poking outside the sheath. Or rather, the huge protrusion in his belly was slowly rising out. He leaned and nuzzled against it, in an attempt to provide further stimulation to the giant fleshy pillar.

After a bit of knokfucking the other team leader, Luna stood up. The smaller wolf's belly was distended with the shape of the knot, and the bulge formed by the shaft reached all the way up to the male's neck. The twin began strolling around, holding the other wolf by one shoulder and showing him off as if he was some sort of trophy. He carried his cocksleeve proudly, still making small movement to build his orgasm up, and went in front of a dogpile that consisted of three wolves on top of each other. They all looked up at Luna, who smirked wide. He began pulling his toy up, forcing his knot out, and then ramming it back inside. After repeating this for a few times, Luna came. His cock unleashed torrents of cum, and due to how deep it was buried in the other, the first jet was immediately shot out of the smaller wolf's mouth. Upon seeing so much of his cum wasted like this, the twin snarled at the other guy and clasped his mouth shut. With nowhere else to go, semen backflowed in the wolf's throat and began filling his belly; though some of the liquid seeped between his teeth, then dripping down on his own chin and neck, and on Luna's hand. The wolf who was at the top of the pile stood up, his cock still firing spurts of cum, and walked to the brother, mesmerized by the show. He put his hands on the swelling belly of the team leader, and brought his snout close to the other's pre-dripping maw. Then, he began licking the extra cum, tail wagging from excitement. To make things more exciting, Luna let go of his grip on the team leader's maw every now and then so that some of his cumshots splashed all over his newest admirer's snout. The newcomer was all too happy and eager to drink the flow, so much so that he quickly sealed his lips with the inflating team leader impaled on Luna's cock.

Arkion's cock was rising as it erected, exiting the sheath one inch per second. The belly of the guard was completely distended by a shaft that was almost twice as wide as he was. He was in a constant state of orgasm, his cock shooting cum inside Arkion's sheath over and over again. He had still managed to stay deep in the sheath, though focusing on that task was getting increasingly difficult to do. His ass had never been stretched that wide, and it was sending him to heights of pleasure he had never managed to reach. It was slowly making him lose his grip on reality. Every inch of Arkion's cock that erected was immediately buried deep in him, every throb was sending tremors through his distended belly, he was completely entranced by the throes of bliss. Arkion was grunting and had brought both hands on his shaft, massaging it through his living cocksleeve. As the fifth foot of the tribe leader's cock was erected, the base of his sheath began bulging with an immense spherical shape of his hardening knot. It rose and grew, approaching to the guard's butt slowly but surely. The sentry had felt the expanding shape of the knot with his feetpaws, and he began rubbing it with his legs in the hopes of seeing it get closer to his ass.

Astor's belly had swelled quite a bit from drinking his own orgasm. The wolves that had ganged up on him were astounded at his stamina. Especially more so since as soon as he let go of his own cock, he mumbled a hungry "more", and he grabbed one of the guys around him by the hips to bring another shaft to his mouth. He kept on clenching his butt to try to milk the throbbing rockets in him. More and more and more, Astor needed more. Cumshot after cumshot was fired in his ass, in his mouth, over his swollen belly, and yet he just couldn't be satisfied. The team that had pinned the brother down was slowly becoming exhausted, both physically and sexually. At some point, after swallowing what was his fifteenth load of the day, there was no wolf who was able to present another cock for him to feed off of. Frustrated, he rose in a sitting position, completely ignoring the wolf who was under him, and looked around for a cock to satisfy him. But, there was none. He had worn out the whole team, and he needed to find another target to fill him more. Astor stood up, massaged his squishy round belly, and then went on to find someone else to fuck him.

The tribe leader's cock had erected enough that his knot was pushing against the overly distended ass of the guard, and slowly pushing him out of the massively stretched sheath. Try as he might, the smaller male couldn't maintain his grasp on the sides of the sheath as the giant knot was pushing him out. Soon, the knot had grown and risen in the sheath so much that the guard was completely pushed out of it despite his best attempts to stay in, and ended up looking like he was sitting on it. Meanwhile, the gigantic cock was leaking enormous globs of pre that were slowly filling the guard's belly far beyond what should be physically possible, making it look like he was some sort of water balloon. Arkion grabbed his living condom and pulled him up a whole feet before ramming him back down, making him huff loudly in pleasure. He did it again, and again and again once more. He was slowly losing himself to the need for release and accelerated more and more.

Luna forcefully pulled the wolf he had just completely inflated, letting the knot pop out of the abused ass and then letting the guy slowly fall on the ground, his hole leaking the excess of cum inside him. Despite having just emptied his balls inside that wolf, the brother wanted more. His balls were rumbling again. Ever since he had been grown by the Silver Bride, Luna had felt much hornier than before, and the groaning of his cum factories were proof of his increased libido. He ran his hands on the underside of his massive throbbing tool, causing it to gush a mixture of cum and pre that splattered a few feet away. He began walking around, trying to find another victim to inflate to relieve the pressure in his balls.

Nathaniel, who had been watching from afar, hadn't been able to refrain from masturbating at the view. The whole spectacle had been so erotic that he had already cum three times. Especially when he had the best seat to the three main attractions of the show: Astor who wore all his opponents out by milking them dry, Luna who inflated several of his rivals along with a couple of bystanders who were just having fun fucking each other, and Arkion, who was using the guard as an inflatable cocksock. Only when he was done with his latest orgasm did he see that both the twins were approaching him with hunger and lust in their eyes. As he prepared to relive the previous day's action of being splitroasted by the brothers, their gazes fell upon each other. Luna saw Astor, his inflated belly and his needy expression. Astor saw Luna, his large throbbing cock, groaning balls and his lust-filled predatory smirk. All of a sudden, there was no need for Nathaniel anymore. Astor got on all fours, and Luna rushed to his brother to shove all four feet of his cock all at once, causing both of them to explode in another orgasm. The bottom's shaft blasted cum all over the ground, while the top's dick sent wave after wave of semen in the already inflated belly of his brother. It only took half a dozen of shots from Luna's cock for Astor's stomach to almost double in size.

Arkion, who was so close to orgasm, grabbed the guard by the legs and began pulling him down. He moved him up several feet, until there was less than a foot of cock inside the guard. With his rear entrance less strained from the phallic obstruction, the smaller male's ass gushed torrents of precum all over the gigantic spire. Then, with an uninterrupted motion, Arkion began pulling the sentry down on his throbbing cock, shoving inch after inch in the bottomless asshole of the smaller male. As the tailhole was reaching closer to the sheathed knot, the protective tube began sliding over the massive ball of flesh, uncovering it slowly. It was throbbing hard, each of the pulses helping the sheath reveal a tiny bit more of it. The red sphere-like structure was absolutely massive; easily four feet in width and three feet high. And yet, with every throb that went through it, it seemed to grow a tiny bit bigger. When it was completely freed from its sheath, Arkion took a break from pulling the guard down. His cock was fully erected, all nine feet of it. Two thirds were already buried in the much smaller wolf whose belly was so distended by the outline that he looked like an undersized condom.

And yet, Arkion went back to pulling the sentry down. The smaller wolf's asshole began stretching once more to welcome the titanic knot inside of him, as he cried in complete ecstasy. Inch by inch he was forced down, until it had fully slid inside him. Arkion let go of the guard's legs - that were convulsing from the pleasure - to bring his hands to the distended skin around his cock. One arm around the cock head and one just above the knot, as if he was tenderly holding a lover by the neck and the waist. Except that he began rubbing his hands and arms as to try to bring himself to orgasm. Eventually, his balls began rumbling hard, his shaft trembled, and finally, he reached the peak of pleasure.

Arkion grunted loudly. The first of many blasts, while still being contained within the guard's belly, shot several dozens of feet high up in the air. As quickly as the sentry's skin distended around the shot, it went back to normal as the liquid spread evenly in him. And then, another blast came, making it look once again like someone was filling an overly stretchy water balloon with a high-pressure hose. So much cum was pumped into the stretchy belly that soon, the outline of the gigantic cock disappeared under the ballooning skin. The output of fluid was such that, even though his ass should have been sealed off by the enormous knot bulging his whole body, cum began overflowing through his asshole, dripping down on Arkion's sheath and balls, and on the ground. Semen kept on flowing in the guard's belly, so much so that some of the output travelled up the sentry's throat and he began leaking from the mouth. As the pressure in his belly kept increasing, what was a simple leak slowly became a steady flow, and then an uninterrupted hose-like jet of cum. He was on the verge of passing out from pleasure, as Arkion kept mercilessly filling him with his immense load.

Minutes went by of the tribe leader filling the guard like a balloon, and the guard shooting cum like a fountain. The whole village was in complete ecstasy.

Nathaniel was done shooting his fourth load and he was starting to feel sore. He stopped looking at the members of the orgy, and decided it was time to let them do their stuff. Judging by how Luna and Astor had found new partners yet again, the silver werewolf was confident in their ability to integrate the tribe. Relieved, the Bride huffed and turned tail to the lewd spectacle to go have a walk. His overworked tool retreated back in his sheath while he walked in the late afternoon sun. He hadn't decided where he'd go yet, but for now, he just wanted to wander around to cool down.

Half an hour later, while walking, Nathaniel stumbled upon an odd scene. There, leaning back against a tree, a werewolf stood. What was remarkable about this individual wasn't his appearance. The guy was a fairly small werewolf standing at five feet half, his fur was gray and white, he was frowning, eyes closed, and seemed in deep thoughts. What immediately drew the Bride's attention about this guy was that he was all chained up. Dozens of chains of various sizes and length were holding him tightly, with a giant metallic wolf head pressed against his chest over the chains. Seeing the state of this man worried Nathaniel, who stepped towards him with the intent to help.

"Are you okay?" asked the Bride.

Without batting an eye nor moving an inch, his interlocutor spoke "No need to concern yourself with my situation." he stated coldly.

"What about these chains? What happened to you exactly?"

"Mind your own business," said the guy with the same stone cold tone as earlier. There was no anger in his words, just disgust, "despicable monster."

Nathaniel was taken aback by the hostility. He however insisted, "come on, I just want to help, you seem to be in a... bind. No pun intended, I promise."

The gray wolf opened his eyes and looked at the silver Bride with a piercing stare. His eyes were bright orange with a slight red tint, and the insistence of the glaring made Nathaniel uncomfortable. "What exactly makes you think I would want your help?"

Nathaniel couldn't believe it. "I... uh... well, the chains are..."

"Yes, they're 'restraining' me. You should be thankful that they are."

The silver Bride tilted his head on the side, wondering what the guy meant. He stared at him for a little bit, and saw that at his interlocutor's waist, a large key ring rested. It was tied to one of the many chains, and several keys were dangling from there. He approached the man and brought his hand to the keychain to grab it. Upon seeing the larger male step closer, the bound stranger cleared his throat loudly to grab Nathaniel's attention. A shiver ran through the Bride's spine when he saw the menacing stare from the smaller wolf.

"Keep your filthy hands off me and my chains," he said coldly, continuing in a calm voice "Do you not understand me? Should I dumb down everything I say so your primitive brain can keep up with my words? I do not need nor want your help. Now, go back to whatever debauchery you guys usually do."

"Don't try to act so tough, you're in a bind and I just want to help you," argued Nathaniel.

"Three times already have I told you I need no help. How many more times will I have to repeat myself until you finally understand? Or perhaps it is not that you do not understand, but rather you have no intention of listening to me? Only egocentric morons would act like-" he said, suddenly interrupting himself and smirking, "oh, wait. You monsters all are exactly this. Primitive, savage, egocentric morons. Too idiotic to even try listening to me, let alone letting me deal with this 'problem' myself as I asked you to. Instead, you are completely ignoring me and forcing your interpretation of the situation onto me. Do the opinions of others matter so little to you?" he said, taking a pause. Then, with a haughty grin, he added, "Hmpf, you really are a prime example of your kind, not caring about anything but your own emotions and your abysmal understanding of what is actually going on." he said, chuckling to himself and finishing his tirade with, "Oh, my apologies, was that too complicated for you again? Should I rephrase all that?"

Nathaniel stared at the man wide-eyed. The barrage of insults had hurt him a bit, but he did his best to not lose his cool. "What are you talking about? It's not a matter of feeling or whatever, I see someone who could use some help, so I'm offering to help, that's all there is to it."

"I told you several times now that I need no help, and yet, you did not pay any mind any of what I told you. Even if I actually did need help, I would never rely on someone like you to assist me."

Puzzled by his interlocutor's speech, the Bride sat down and looked at him, genuinely curious. He simply asked, "Why wouldn't you want my help?"

"You werewolves are vicious creatures, I will never put my trust in any of you."

Nathaniel blinked several times, dumbfounded by the statement. He loudly exploded from laughter. As soon as he regained enough of his composure, he tried to articulate "'we' werewolves?" wiping a tear off his eye, "you're also a werewolf too, you know?"

"The fundamental difference between me and the likes of you is that I am civilized. I'm no savage beast; I'm capable of reason, unlike you monsters. Thus, the only one I believe in is myself." he stated, before looking away from disdain. "Just go back on your twisted quest for more power and size by traumatizing innocent humans or whatever. Be warned however that someday, sooner than you might think, retribution will come."

The silver werewolf felt deeply offended. He crossed his arms and frowned at the stranger "for someone who just criticized me about trying to assess a situation with limited knowledge, you are quick to assume that I committed this kind of atrocities against people."

The chained stranger coldly stated "all werewolves do. That's what they do, like the despicable monsters they are."

Nathaniel tensed at the ridiculous statement, so much so that his claws were close to perforating the skin of his arms. He closed his eyes and said through gritted teeth, "I have never transformed anyone ever since I became a werewolf. I would never ever do the sort of things that you just accused me of!"

For a few seconds, the smaller male looked at the giant Bride "I'll give that to you; you look very convincing spouting this lie." then, he went back to gazing in the distance in front of himself before resuming, "However, if you believe I will fall for it, you are sorely mistaken. I won't be fooled by the likes of you. You are just as guilty as any other of these monsters."

"I am no normal werewolf, I hold a power very different from-"

"Ah, yes, the 'I'm not like the other guys', a classic. Are you going to tell me you're an awakened one, well I've got a surprise for you, there are many others-"

"Will you PLEASE listen to what I have to say?!" Nathaniel growled. He saw the other flinch and ready himself in case things went downhill. However, the Bride closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, then exhaled every ounce of air in his lungs in an attempt to calm down. Slowly, he opened his eyes and explained, "I am not just any awakened one. I am Silver. Werekind usually know me by my title of Silver Bride. I have never ever transformed humans into servants, and as a Bride, my power is-"

"Silver Bride?" said the man, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. The one and only."

The stranger rolled his eyes. "How original. There are dozens of morons like you pretending to be the Silver Bride so they can get a following from even stupider idiots. Believe it or not, I'm smarter than your average idiot and can spot a lie when I hear one."

Nathaniel brought both hands on his face to half-facepalm and half-hide his frustration from dealing with all of this. He let out an enormous sigh and declared, "I'm not lying," he lowered his hands from his muzzle and stared right into the stranger's eyes, "I really am the Silver Bride."

"Of course you are. And I am the supreme leader of the gentlewolves, _pleased_to make your acquaintance, Silver Bride." said the stranger, bowing comically low to Nathaniel before raising his head and smirking, "Are we done playing make believe now?"

Nathaniel was slowly losing his patience. But at least, he knew he could provide proof of his claim. "Fine, I'll show you that I really am who I" he said, making air quotes, "'pretend' to be." he then began focusing his husbands' Cores, all while stating, "Your wariness is exhausting... In any case, as a Bride, I can use the powers that my husbands hold, like for example this fire," he said, putting a hand in front of himself and conjuring a purple flame from Arkion's power, "or this water," he added, putting his other hand next to the other while making a ball of water appear, "or this protective shield," he said, making a spherical barrier appear around himself. "Is that enough proof?"

The smaller guy stood upright once again. For a whole minute, there was a silence broken only by the fluttering and crackling of the flame in Nathaniel's hand. The stranger was staring at the silver werewolf's body and the three manifestations of power with a severe expression on his face.

Then, he looked to the side and said, "I was mistaken about the source of your power, and for that, I apologize. I still stand by my view of werewolves being monsters, although you might not be as bad as the others; and I apologise for bundling you with them. I suppose that since you gave me your name, I should also give you mine. I am Cain, a Silent One."

Nathaniel relaxed a bit and undid the flame, the water ball and the shield. "Nice to meet you, Cain. I'm Nathaniel, though werewolves usually call me Silver. I would shake your hand if I could, but... you're still kinda chained."

"So it seems." replied Cain, closing his eyes once more, "what brings the Silver Bride so far out of town?"

"Well, I was visiting my friends. We've had a big problem to deal with in the city yesterday, so I wanted to take it easy today. The visit ended up with a nice surprise, with a special version of the Arena!"

"Arena?"

"Yeah! The blood tribe is amazing! They live here in the mountains, and they have this fun tradition. The arena is like a big tournament with friendly battles, and the winner of each round may shame the other if they want it. It's usually one versus one battles, but this time it was a battle royale."

"Shame the loser, you say?"

"Well, you know, the winner gets to use the loser in any way they want. And no, before you try to say something bad, every participant knows the risk of getting into the arena. They're fully aware that if they lose, they might be sore or walk funny for the next few days."

"I fail to understand how that may even be considered funny. To each their own, I suppose. Did you partake in these... so-called festivities?"

"Not today. Three of my husbands participated in, and they gave us a great show!"

"Three, huh. Were there any more allies of yours there?"

"I think all the guys there consider me an ally. Only their chief is a husband of mine, though. The other two husbands that participated in the arena are actually newcomers who were welcomed in the tribe today. All the others are somewhere else."

"All the others?"

"Well, yeah," replied Nathaniel, looking up and counting on the fingers of his paws, "Aegis and King are in the kingdom. Runner, Howler, Tide and Kyle are in the forest, and Sapphire is at his house. With Arkion, Astor and Luna here at the blood tribe, that's all of them. Ah, wait, Kyle isn't a husband yet. He's the friend who transformed me into a werewolf, though I've had a crush on him even before that. Unfortunate events have prevented me from making him a husband of mine, but that's something I really want to do when I next get to see him."

Cain sighed heavily, opened his eyes and looked into the horizon. "Silver Bride, do you know what the deadliest weapon is when you're an underdog?"

"Eh? Uh... I... don't know?"

"Information. The key to striking down someone like you who has several deep bonds with friends is to target your friends, especially if that will weaken you not only psychologically, but also will prevent you from using your husbands' powers. And yet you have just told me, a complete stranger, many things about your friends. Why? You are way too carefree to be a danger to anyone, Silver. Aren't you afraid of what I might do with this information? Aren't you scared about being spied on?"

"Well, we're not exactly strangers. I know that my husbands are both my strengths and weakness and that I rely on them to do everything I do. I want to believe in people. I mean, you're particularly wary and sometimes hostile even after learning who I am, but still, I don't think that you're the sort of guy who'd attack me or my friends. You don't look like a bad guy to me."

"You know nothing of me, and yet you assume I'm an ally. How naive must you be? Many are placing their hopes on you, or praying for your victory over the Devourer. You will disappoint them with that attitude, and your childishness may very well be the cause of your downfall, Bride."

"I sure hope not." Nathaniel looked up at the sky. "So, I've told you about why I was here. Now, it's your turn to tell me more about yourself!"

For a few seconds, Cain stared at Nathaniel, incredulous. "Name's Cain. I supposedly am a member of the Silent Ones."

"Supposedly?"

"That's the name of the werewolves who live on the outskirts of the city. Before you ask, no, we are no pack."

"And what is it that you guys do?"

"That, I will not tell."

Nathaniel looked at the smaller male and tilted his head to the side, "Why?"

"There is no need for you to know, that is all."

"What if I really want to know?" asked the Bride with a playful smile.

"It'd be the same: no need for you to know."

"All right, then. Is there anything you'd be willing to tell me?"

"Take a guess."

"Right. Information is key when you're fighting against someone else, right? You won't tell me anything because you're afraid I might eventually use that against you, or because you're paranoid about being spied on right this instant."

"You might not be as simple-minded as I first imagined."

The silver werewolf shrugged, "Coming from you, I'll take that as a compliment. Will you at least tell me why you're chained up or what these chains are, or even why you don't want them removed?"

A whole minute of silence passed. Nathaniel was expecting the other to be uncooperative again, but, still wearing a stern expression, Cain said coldly "you may unchain me if you so desire, Bride."

The silver werewolf's eyes opened wide when he heard that. However, he unconsciously began wagging his tail, and smiled. "Gladly!" exclaimed Nathaniel, carefully reaching for the keychain and taking the large key in his hands. He was however puzzled as to where the lock of the restraints were.

After looking around for a little while, he noticed that the maw of the large cast iron wolf sculpture on Cain's chest was shaped like a keyhole. As soon as Nathaniel brought the key to it, the wolf seemingly opened its mouth wide and bit into the key, yanking it away from the Bride's hands. Startled, Silver hopped back and watched as the lock undid itself, freeing dozens of chains that began swirling around the bound werewolf. It was as if the links were alive, slithering around and either shrinking or disappearing. As the chains finally let go of Cain, the huge lock relocated itself directly over the werewolf's chest, acting as a sort of giant pendant whose chain was made of oversized links. Several other chains were still around Cain's body, though they were no longer restricting his movement at all. Four chains were seemingly coming out of his back, acting like sort of snakes or tentacles, and at the end of each of them was a deadly looking weapon. A steel ball, an axe, a sort of oversized key, and a spearhead. They were all pointed towards Nathaniel in a threatening manner, as if they were king cobras ready to strike their target.

"Rest." ordered Cain.

Nathaniel was feeling uneasy and looked at the other werewolf. The metallic weapons at the end of the chains shrunk considerably, and then the snake-like appendages began coiling around Cain's limbs, each going around one of them. Then, they tucked themselves in, the shrunk weapons now no more than pendants for the gray werewolf's wrists and ankles.

"What in..." began Nathaniel.

"Have you never seen an awakened one before?" asked Cain mockingly, "I expected the Bride to know about awakenings."

"Wait, that's your... power? Why was it restraining you?"

"That is none of your concern, Bride."

"Someone as wary and careful as you wouldn't just show this to me on a whim. I'm convinced that you purposefully made me unlock your chains. Why?"

Cain grinned and did some stretching exercises involving mostly his arms. "I wonder why, Bride."

"Is this your way to tell me you want to be friends?" teased Nathaniel.

The smirk on the smaller wolf's face immediately vanished. "How childish of you. I do trust that you are the Bride, and that you may not be as bad as other werewolves, but I still do not trust you. I don't have friends, and I need none. Friends are nuisances and additional weaknesses for oneself. Putting your trust in someone means giving them a knife for them to backstab you."

At this moment, Nathaniel felt pity for Cain. Genuinely concerned by the other's attitude, he asked "aren't you lonely, pushing away people who want to befriend you just because you don't want to trust anyone but yourself?"

"Better lonely than surrounded by hindrances or deadweights. Let me tell you something, Silver Bride. Werewolves are wild beasts ruled by instincts. Greed. Selfishness. Arrogance. They follow no rule but acting on feelings. Humans who transformed have forgotten about ethics and have forsaken laws, going around and relishing in the feeling of power that came with their change. All werewolves are murderers or rapists. They only want one thing, become stronger and bigger, regardless of the morality of the means to this end. In a world like this where there is no law, there can be no trust between strangers who have just met."

"I... most people I've met are good. Kyle, who transformed me into a werewolf, did it with my consent. I wanted this to happen. My husbands are good people too. Not everyon-"

"So you've had a pleasant upbringing into lycanthropy, then?" said Cain with disdain, "Oh how I envy you, Bride. My own path to this lycan underworld was made by a murderous rapist; a path splattered with blood and tears, a path made of deceit and treason, a path that I wish I had never been forced to tread upon. Just because you had it easy doesn't mean that all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. As a matter of fact, all is awful in this terrible world, Bride." growled the gray werewolf. He paused for a few seconds during which he regained his cold composure and continued "This ignorance of yours must be blissful. Your childish view of 'my lord was good and my friends are good' is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. You haven't even seen a fraction of the darkness that werewolves have brought upon this city, have you? Or perhaps you are putting imaginary blinds in front of your own eyes, filtering what you see to only see pleasant things because you're too cowardly to handle the ugly truth."

Nathaniel felt distressed at this statement. Not only because of the hostility coming from it, but because it contained several elements that were true. Although not every werewolf is like Cain described, some of them were definitely like this.

"Silence it is, then? Seems like I've hit a sensitive spot." said Cain with a smirk.

"I... know there is darkness. I know very well. Ebony, Glutton, the Guide, the Devourer, and that's only to name a few of them. However, just because you had it hard doesn't mean that all is awful in this terrible world. You have seen a lot more darkness than I have, and I have seen more light than you have. Regardless of what the truth is, Cain, I want to see the good instead of tunnel visioning on the bad."

"So you have chosen to ignore the problem. To each their own, I suppose." said Cain, turning away from Nathaniel and starting to walk away.

"I'm not ignoring the problem!" countered Nathaniel vehemently. He then added "It's true that I'd rather just spend time with the people I like over trying to save the world, but still, I'm trying to do good wherever I can."

Cain stopped walking to look over his shoulder, and said "You do you, Silver Bride. Whether you want to forge your path with delusions and denial is none of my concern. You do you." he then went back to walking away.

Nathaniel wanted to stop him, but he felt so disheartened by the accusations that he couldn't yell anything back to the other werewolf.