The World After: Blood for Blood
Please consider donating. Donations come with significant rewards! For more details, click here: http://www.sofurry.com/index.php?pid=269092
Prologue
The yearling ran, her legs pounding against the loose dirt. A spray of soil scattered behind Jaella's hind legs, though she doubted that would slow her pursuer.
She darted left and right, weaving between trees and praying her grip wouldn't slip. Should she fall, he would be upon her. Jaella's heart pounded against her ribs, but she fought on. Her mottled black, tan, and white fur blurred together: if she could put enough distance between herself and her pursuer, the camouflage might prove useful.
No, she thought, I mustn't hide! Her scent would lead the wolf straight to her, even were she to find a black and tan bush to cower within. Jaella was young, but she knew enough. My heat has drawn this wolf to me. The mindless brutes are canines, of a sort.
Her only hope was to reach her father. Surely he could frighten off or slay the wolf. Wolves were big, but driven purely by instinct. Her father was a thinking, speaking dog, more than a match for a mere animal. He was the reason she had braved the wilds. When her season had arrived, her father had said, "I cannot trust myself around you, Jaella; with your mother gone...I am no fit mate for you. Head east, girl, to the other Shepherds. I cannot go back with you."
So much said with so few words, Jaella thought. Would taking my father for my mate be so bad? Better or worse than leaving him forever; he, who had protected her all these months? Jaella had left, but she had gone west, not east. She could not risk luring one of the Shepherds to her, to claim her as his own. She would wait out her heat, and then return to her father.
She hadn't expected to run across a wolf.
Would that I had gone east, she thought, leaping off a fallen tree. She almost slipped when her paws collided with the earth, but she scrambled forward, losing only half a stride. A small delay, but enough for her to hear the ragged pants and barks from her pursuer. She could ill afford to slow again.
Jaella took off once more, but her strength was fading. Her tongue flew wildly out the side of her mouth, cooling her off, but not fast enough. Every step strained her muscles, but the wolf seemed tireless. Wait, I recognize that hollowed tree! I've been here before!
"Father! Father!" she cried desperately, her voice hoarse. "Help me!" If he were within earshot, he would drop everything for her, that much she knew. Jaella kept running; he could be ranging on the hunt, miles away. If he's gone, when he finds me, I will be well-and-roughly raped, she cringed. From what she had seen, the wolf was nearly twice her size; she could never fight him off.
Jaella chanced a look over her shoulder, but that was a mistake. The wolf's snarling face was just behind her, almost within reach of her tender flank. Her eyes caught his, and she lingered there a moment too long. His eyes are filled with hate and lust. I thought that animals knew no thoughts, no feelings...!
Her stomach churned, looking into his deep, hungry, vicious eyes, and she tripped. She hadn't been watching her feet! She rolled end over end, spinning to a halt in the dirty ground. Jaella struck the ground especially hard, rolled, and hit again, leaving what would soon be two dark bruises. The chase was over as suddenly as it had begun, and the wolf stood over her, victorious.
Suddenly a loud RRRARK echoed through the forest. The wolf stepped back, and when Jaella looked up, she saw her father. He stood thirty feet away, ears straining forward, tail lifted, eyes fixed on the wolf. Jaella had never been happier to see his mottled coat, with his dark black back that slowly faded to light brown and then white on his belly. He looked half a wolf himself as he roared, "Leave her!"
For a tenuous moment, silence hung in the air like the moment just before rain fell. The wolf had stepped away from her, at first, but now stepped forward again, staring her father down. Then, the unthinkable happened. "Leave us be, Shepherd, this is no concern of yours."
Jaella had been about to collect her feet beneath her when the wolf's words left her stunned. Wolves cannot speak!
Her father's tail wavered, but he kept it raised in defiance. She finally had her first good look at her pursuer. He looked much like a Shepherd, to tell the truth, but he was half-again her father's size, nearly 250 pounds. The fur of his back was longer, shaggier, and only darkened to shades of grey, and his muzzle was longer and wider. Where her father's head was tan, and muzzle pure black, the wolf was inverted. Dark grey fur tinged his forehead and ears, and his muzzle was pure white, accented by his large, dark nose. Beneath him, he was obviously male, Jaella's heat having driven him many miles after her.
Finally her father said, "Return from whence you've come, wolf. I am Daego, son of Megael, once first fighter of the Wardens. This girl is my blood; you cannot have her."
The wolf's lips parted, showing rows of gleaming white teeth. "Ah, blood. You've chanced across my own name. I am Blood, son of who the fuck cares, and I'll have your daughter's cunt, one way or another." Blood spat on the ground, narrowly missing Jaella's raised hackles.
Bristling, Daego spoke with a low, cold voice, "Then we fight."
The wolf stepped away from Jaella, circling to the right of her father, eyes locked on the smaller Shepherd. Daego circled as well, keeping low to the ground, his muscles tensed. Neither canine seemed eager to take the first move. Jaella cringed in place.
In the end, it was her father that struck first, leaping suddenly forward with a quickness unlike anything Jaella had seen before. But Blood was ready for him, kneeling to the side for half a moment, before turning and snapping his teeth closed around Daego's shoulder. The Shepherd darted away too quickly, turning the bite into a graze, but still, blood streaked the wolf's muzzle, leaving a red patch of fur on her father's flank.
Grinning, the wolf licked his dripping muzzle, and said, "First blood to Blood. These Wardens you fought for, were they pups playing at war?"
Daego said nothing, returning to the fight, crouched low and ready. He crept closer and closer to the wolf, who did the same, each warrior watching for any movement to betray an attack. Finally, the attack came, this time from Blood. The massive grey wolf leapt forward, high in the air with his jaws gaping wide, seeking the killing blow around her father's throat. Rather than dance to the side, Jaella's father instead slid forward, beneath the wolf. Blood yelped in surprise as his prey darted beneath him, the wolf's jaws finding only empty air.
Daego rolled along the ground, teeth bared as he closed them around Blood's back left leg, sharp teeth shredding skin down to the bone. Yelping, Blood began to kick and thrash, and his back right leg connected, striking the Shepherd a glancing blow to the temple. Even at an angle, the strike was fierce, and sent the Shepherd rolling backwards. But the damage had been done. Blood limped backwards to face his foe, red trickling onto the ground. Daego crouched, waiting and ready for the next attack.
Blood growled, "I won't underestimate you again, Warden. Our next skirmish will end with your throat in my teeth."
Eyes still locked on the wolf, Daego said quickly, forcefully, "Run, Jaella!"
Her eyes widened. Run? Why should she run, unless her father feared... The wolf had the weight advantage, surely, by over fifty pounds, but her father was a trained warrior; smart, brave, chivalrous. Her spine froze, and she couldn't hold back a shiver. He thinks he might lose.
Waiting no longer, the wolf barrelled forward with pure strength; no skill, no agility, no forethought. Daego darted left, and the wolf followed. He lept backwards, but Blood followed. The wolf left no opening, no weakness, pursuing the Shepherd like a dog chasing a deer. Her father shouted again, "Run!"
Jaella couldn't look away, though she told her paws to run. Slowly she stood, taking a tentative step backward - straight into a tree trunk. As much as the yearling wanted to run, she kept watching the fight. He can't lose...he can't!
Running forward is faster than sideways or backwards, and Blood soon caught up to Jaella's father. Daego pushed forward, shouldering himself into the huge wolf, but Blood barely budged. Dislodging the wolf had never been his intent, as Daego quickly spun underneath the wolf, teeth bared and seeking his soft throat. When the Shepherd's true plan became obvious, Blood simply pulled his head back, Daego's teeth snapping shut far too short. Daego only had time to shout, "Run, damn you!" before Blood placed a paw on either of the Shepherd's shoulder, flipping his entire body onto his back.
The wolf stood over Jaella's father, as the yearling stood, frozen in fear. No, no, no, no, she thought. Daego, lying helplessly on his back, held his front paws up to protect his face and throat, but he turned his head to look at Jaella, big, caring eyes. Mournful eyes.
"Stop!" she yelled, but the wolf ignored her. Even as she watched, the massive wolf brushed her father's flailing paws aside, his gaping maw descending to Daego's throat. She watched the interlocking teeth close around his throat, and saw the wolf pull back with his immense, brutish strength. A loud yelp filled the air for only a second before it was silenced, blood pouring out of her father's throat and spilling onto the warm dirt beneath him.
Jaella saw her father's big, caring eyes fade into dull, dark orbs. His body went limp, and the triumphant wolf stepped off of him, turning toward Jaella with a bloody grin. He spat, and the ragged remains of Daego's throat impacted the ground several feet away. The massive wolf trotted toward the paralyzed yearling.
Jaella broke his gaze only seconds before Blood was upon her. She leapt aside, but he was faster, pushing her into the ground. The teeth that had slain her father closed around the scruff of her neck, and he lifted her, shaking her until the world was spinning around her. He's dead! My father is dead!
"He's dead," she whimpered, helplessly.
Blood smashed her body against the ground. Her head struck the dirt with a crack, and she almost blacked out. She could still hear him say, in a harsh whisper, "You should worry about yourself, cunt."
Jaella lay on her belly, feebly resisting the stronger wolf's motions. He just laughed, placing a single, heavy paw between her shoulders, pinning her in place. His other paw snaked beneath her hips, lifting her entire rear end into the air. Her hind legs dangled uselessly beneath her. She felt his hips line up flush with hers, something warm and sharp jabbing her between her legs, poking at her heat-swollen mound. Jaella could only whimper, helpless to stop him.
With a sharp thrust, he was in her, chuckling at her plaintive yelps. She ached between her legs, burning as the wolf began to strain against her, shoving himself forward and back until she felt stretched impossibly wide. A low howl sounded from his throat, growing with each painful thrust as he violated the virgin yearling. "Thanks for not running, bitch," he growled, "I was beginning to tire of the chase."
Could I have escaped, if I had run? Jaella would never know. Deep inside her, he grew and grew, until his swollen girth strained at her sore entrance. Then, and only then, did he release his grip on her hips. She dangled still, held in place by Blood's swollen knot. He howled, and she whined, as he flooded her with his seed.
She lay panting, tied to the monster, and her gaze locked on her father. The Shepherd lay there, motionless in a pool of blood, his eyes glazed over, staring at her. If I had just done what he had said, and gone east... She steeled herself. The time for regrets was passed. Instead, she mourned - for her father, for herself, for the monstrous wolf puppies that might well violate her womb, even now. I have nothing left to lose, she thought.
Finally pulling free, Blood stood over her, panting. Almost as if he had heard her last thought, the wolf leaned down to whisper in her ear, "You've heard me speak. I can't have you telling others about this."
"What...what do you mean?"
Blood's only answer was a firm paw on her shoulder, spinning her onto her back. She had barely glimpsed his open maw before she felt his teeth sink deep into her throat, squeezing. Jaella coughed and sputtered, struggling futilely against the immense wolf as her lungs began to burn. He held her in place, his jaw closed tightly around her wind pipe, until shadows clouded her vision. The last thing Jaella saw before the world faded from view was the darkening sky.