FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 1

I smiled listening to Liet coo to her latest litter. They were triplets, and at her age probably her last birth. I'd come to help her through the birth a few days ago, though she'd mostly just needed another set of hands. She already knew what to do. I was back just to help with a few things around her house while she got through the first days of recovery.

"Oh Holly, thank you so much." Liet said with a happy sigh as I entered her room to change the bedding in her bedside cradle. "You're going to love being a mother." I just gave her a warm smile in return.

It wasn't that I didn't want children of my own, I just wasn't in a rush. I'd helped raise 11 siblings, was still helping with them. I didn't resent it, or dislike the fact, I just felt like my mothering instincts were sated for now. I also felt like I wanted several fewer than eleven. Now that Gendell and Sorik were nearly ten, I did have to admit I was missing having babies around.

Then there was the fact I didn't much like my options for mates. I had sexual urges, and even found some of my peers attractive, but from there I lost interest. No one grabbed my attention on an emotional level. A great many of the kin left it up to chance, going out on the full moon and hoping they ended up pregnant by a good man. I just wasn't so reckless, maybe because I knew how bad men could be, or maybe because I'd always had so much responsibility with my younger siblings I couldn't release control like that to chance.

When I was done with Leit's I headed for a calm little nook just out of town in the mountains. I wanted to have a little time to myself, and I'd always had good luck at this mountain stream. I sometimes took meals up there and spent a few hours at a time, and that's what I'd set aside time for today. I could lay on the thin strip of grass on the bank, get into the water at it's deep point just past a few large boulders, or walk down the generally shallow stream a ways just to enjoy the scenery and the feeling of the water under my paws.

When I got there I sat on the bank to eat, watching the clear water run under the sunshine. It was a good day to be outdoors.

"Holly." A quiet familiar voice came to me from across the stream. I looked over and was surprised to see my brother standing on the other side, his brown fur wet in places, dusty in others. He was in his wear form, and I could tell just by looking at him he'd been climbing in the mountains again.

This was one of his favorite places too, but he was often yelled at by several elders for his treacherous climbing habits. Wolves didn't care for heights, and he seemed to defy the convention. He had a reckless ambition to be higher up than any of the kin to come before him.

"I didn't expect to see you here." He said, stepping into the water and splashing himself to clear off some of the dust.

I smiled warmly at him. "Hey Flint." I wagged my tail since I was also in wereform. "I have some chicken, if you'd like some." I watched him clean himself, the sunlight glinting off the water as it washed over him. He was growing into a handsome man, strong too. I was happy he didn't remember our father, but I knew that was where he'd gotten some of his strength from. We had strength on both sides of our family tree. Thankfully Flint didn't seem to have inherited any of our father's mean side, I didn't think. I wasn't an angry person, but my own anger scared me because I'd seen what it could make a person do.

He splashed across the stream in my direction and sat down a bit away from me as he dripped dry. At sixteen years old he wasn't into his full growth yet, but he was a head taller than I was already, and broad shouldered. There were few fully grown men who would want to go toe to toe with him, though I'd never actually seen him fight. He preferred to be off on his own, climbing or exploring. He lifted his nose as he approached. "That smells good." He said, and he came closer and took a small piece of meat.

He gave me a somewhat shy look. "You won't tell mom and dad I've been out here again, will you? They get upset when I climb."

"They just worry." I leveled a look at him. "I worry, too." Then I went back to eating. "But you're getting old enough to make your own dumb decisions I can't control." I said with a shrug. "Pretty soon you'll be talking about going out on the full moon." I said, my own opinion of the practice evident in my voice. I thought he'd started having to chain himself, a sign that he was really coming into being an adult.

"I love it that you guys worry, but I'm good at climbing. It's how I contribute to the pack." He sighed, looking a little disheartened. "I always thought you'd understand that part of me. I suppose I just wanted someone to get it, why I do what I do." He laid back in the grass and looked up at the sky. "It's endless up there. It goes further than we can see, and we'll never get to touch any of it, Holly. . . . and I'm not sure about the full moon thing. There aren't girls in the pack that have caught my eye."

"Sorry Flint, I like being safe on the ground. But I suppose I can see where you're coming from, freedom is something a lot of people want and feel like they don't quite have." I supposed I might have felt that way with all the things I was expected to do and take care of, but I just didn't. I liked having a place I belonged.

He turned to me, his warm golden eyes lingering on mine. "I don't get to see you much anymore with your job taking up so much time. Mom keeps saying you'll be coming home to visit with a husband soon." He was quiet for a moment, and then added, "Are you with anyone yet?"

I gave a bark of a laugh. "No." I chuckled. "No one has caught my eye either." I shrugged. "Maybe the guys my age will grow into people I can be interested in eventually, but not yet. I suppose I'll eventually have to find someone if I want pups of my own." I nuzzled his shoulder affectionately. "I'm sorry if we haven't seen much of each other lately. I'll let you know when I'm coming out here. Sometimes." I added. Flint and i had always gotten on well, but I didn't want to give up my place and time for being alone all the time.

He chuckled and leaned into me, putting his head against mine. "I like this place, but usually I'm higher up the mountain. There is a bigger stream further up with a pond that actually feeds down into this one. It's why there are large fresh fish in here sometimes." He nipped lightly at my neck, and then he moved away from me and sat up, folding his legs up close to his body and wrapping his arms around himself. He seemed a little self-conscious all of a sudden.

"Are you ok?" I asked before thinking about it, then my inner ears turned red and I flattened them so he wouldn't see. He was my youngest full blooded brother, I already knew how unpredictable and insistent young men's erections could be at his age. I made myself relax and I gave him a small smile. "It's ok Flint, I know they can be a bit unpredictable, and you're not my first brother to get one around me." I didn't want to throw one of Tivald's most embarrassing moments out into the open, but I didn't want Flint to feel frightened to spend time with me or be disgusted with himself when it was natural at his age.

The insides of his ears turned dark red. "I'm sorry about that, it's a bit easier to get aroused after a big climb, and I've been going all morning." He tried to lean back a little to look more comfortable, his arm crossed over his manhood, but the pink tip of his member was hanging halfway from his sheath. It was larger than I remembered it being when he was younger and it had slipped out during some excitement while we were wrestling. Of course he'd been much younger then, and he hadn't even been aware that it was a sexual response.

He looked at me again, still blushing, but his eyes felt a bit heavier than they had before, more appraising of things that they probably shouldn't have been. I could feel them as they passed over my hips, and the flesh that marked my sex, and then my nipples as they peaked from my fur before he finally found my eyes. More of his length slid from his sheath and he got up and turned his back to me.

"Sorry, Holly. I think I need a swim." He walked a few feet to the water and dove in.

"Ok." I said belatedly and far too softly for him to hear. I swallowed hard, and realized I could probably do with a cold swim myself. I was happy my own signs of early arousal weren't so obvious as his were. I scolded myself, pushing any thoughts of his body away. I knew better than to let my thoughts wander in that direction. Though of course, he was right there to look at when he came up out of the water. I sighed at myself and slipped to the edge of the water to put my legs in, not wanting to jump in and invade his space, especially right then.

He swam to the opposite shore and slid out onto a rock, his legs up and together again as he laid back to let the sun warm his fur. In this position I couldn't see that pinkness hidden between his legs, and he was pointedly not looking at me.

"You've really beautiful, Holly." He said, though the words trailed off a bit at the end. "I mean . . . you're my sister of course, but you're still attractive. I guess I'm a little hormonally out of control. That hasn't happened to me around other girls." The full moon was just over a week gone, so we weren't even close to that, so his reaction was a little surprising.

I frowned at my feet in the water. Maybe it WOULD be a good idea for Flint and I to see less of each other, but i didn't like that idea. Flint had a fun sense of humor when he wasn't being shy, he was nice, and sweet. "Thank you." I said in a surprisingly normal voice. I slipped into the water since he wasn't in it anymore. I swam around much more leisurely. "I'm sure it'll happen around other girls eventually, you're just comfortable with me, you don't feel like you have to be shy or anything." I turned over on my back, looking up at the sky and thinking about what Flint had said about all the open space he could never touch.

I heard a splash, and a second later Flint was standing over me, his upper half out of the fairly shallow water, his eyes looking down at me again. His hand went to my chest, hot against my flesh, and his fingers lightly passed over my nipples that had become hard after being exposed to the air while wet. "I'm not sure I want it to happen around other girls." Flint said, his eyes on mine. Beneath the water something hard and warm pressed against my back.

A wave of heat passed through me, desire stronger than I'd felt for anyone else before. I stood up, my ears going flat with conflicting emotions and desires. I was sure he could feel my breath having picked up beneath his hands. His cock pressed lightly against my leg now that I was standing, and I had to resist the urge to shift and try to get it to rub against more sensitive places. I had every intention of pulling away immediately. Instead though, I leaned into him and licked his muzzle. Then I pushed my nose against the fur where his jaw met his neck, breathing in his masculine scent. My hands had gone to his hips, and one of them started to move over his thigh, shaking with nerves but heading for his penis.

I bit the inside of my cheek and stepped back hurriedly, pushing my fingers through my fur nervously trying to get it to lay flat. "Oh gods." I whispered, and I was sure my ears were bright red. I cleared my throat and moved away toward shore, my tail tucked against me in my upset and embarrassment. "I should go." I said, feeling awful anyway I turned. Flint was such a sweetheart, he couldn't really want me, but there was no mistaking his hands on my nipples, and what he'd said ... I felt I should have been angry and disgusted at him, but I was just sad for him that I'd had to turn away. We couldn't do that, even if I wanted to, and I didn't want to, right?

"Holly, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to push you too far." He said, and I heard him splashing after me, and then the sound of his paws on the ground. He came up behind me, but he didn't touch me. "It was wrong of me to do that. I know we're related. I shouldn't have . . . well, I don't know. It felt right. You don't have to go. This is your place. I'll go." He said, and then he turned and I heard him splashing back through the water to cross the stream. His footfalls vanished into the distance and then I was alone.

Good gods I'd almost asked him to stay. I'd wanted to hold him, tell him it was alright even though it wasn't. I wanted it to be alright, for us to not be related, or for it to just be some sort of joke between us. If I'd asked him to stay though, if I'd held him and stroked his warm brown fur, I wasn't so sure I would resist taking things even further than I'd let them get already and that was unacceptable.

I sat down in the grass and leaned against a boulder. Since he'd left I didn't have to, I supposed, and I had plenty to think about. I kept running over what had happened in my head, his hands, his cock, his words. As I relaxed though, as I wore the panic of it out and started to feel comfortable and alone again, I felt heat rise up in me. I stopped thinking how monstrously disgusting it was, and remembered the moment. I remembered his warm hands on me, how wonderful he smelled, how his muzzle had tasted on my tongue. I squeezed my inner thigh with one hand, and told myself I shouldn't think about Flint and feel this way. Then I shifted to my hybrid form and settled back against the boulder, this form the best for self pleasure.

I ran two fingers up over myself, finding my sex both swollen and wet already. I pushed them into my folds, exploring myself and quickly finding what I knew were the best spots to stroke. As I did these things I remembered what had happened, but also imagined I'd taken his cock in hand. I pretended I'd pulled upward on it, pumped it confidently in the water as I'd rubbed my sex on his leg and nipped at his jaw gently. I could almost imagine what he'd sound like making an aroused, drawn out groan of pleasure at my touch.

I needed a mate was all, it was overdue. Or sex, anyway, since I was still terrified of making the very permanent mating decision. Not that I wasn't nervous enough about the sex thing, even if it wasn't the full moon and I made sure we took all known precautions. I hadn't had sex with anyone, finding the risk outweighed the small amount of desire I'd felt up to now. Maybe i could find a nice, safe male who'd be content to just play around without fucking.

My house was a small thing Emmett had built for me next to their own house. He'd decided one day that I needed space of my own. I was grateful, but being a midwife, single, and a favorite adult among my siblings meant that I had to either lock my door or disappear into the mountains for much privacy. Still, it was nice to have space of my own to work with. To bring someone back to and bolt the door.

I had friends everywhere, but I knew that for most people I was someone they liked without knowing very well. I was always busy, and never taking risks those single people of my age took. I just didn't show up and hang out, which was why I was sure to cause some initial confusion for Syvald when I showed up at his door.

Syvald was a nice guy, so nice that he was now 20 and had yet to take a mate because he simply wasn't all that interested in fighting it out. I liked that in him, his peaceful nature. I was a bit bored by his whittling obsession, but that was a minor point. Syvald felt safe to experiment with, to try and relieve myself of whatever bug had gotten under my skin when it came to Flint. I thought maybe it wasn't really about Flint, just about men and sex.

Syvald was shocked to see me. "Holly, you . . . hello. Would you like to come in?" He seemed uncertain about exactly what was happening, but he remembered himself and gestured for me to enter his home.

I smiled. "Thank you." I said, blushing a little because of the business I was about and because it was so unusual I show up at a friend's house. "I just wanted to visit you." I said, leaving off the 'for sex' or 'for experimenting' at the end. I padded into his house and up onto a couch in my wolf form, smiling wolfishly at him.

He returned the smile and sat down across from me. "Well, you're always welcome here. If it wasn't for you my sister would have died in childbirth. You're a friend to my entire family, and always welcome." He leaned back a bit in the chair he was sitting on. He wasn't particularly large for a werewolf, and he was more lean than powerful. His fur was a mix of gray and brown, and he had light blue eyes that looked almost silver.

I was a little less sure of myself suddenly, and I felt a bit like an intruder. Saying I was welcome because I'd helped save his sister didn't mean we weren't friends, but it put our relationship into a sort of removed, business arrangement. Still, I needed to give this a shot. I found Syvald one of the more attractive males close to my age, both physically and in personality. I wished he had sat next to me on the couch, what was I supposed to do with him way over there? "I saw your sister yesterday, she seems to be doing well. How are YOU, Syvald?"

"I'm good. I've begun a chronicle of our village history in written form. A lot of the others believe it's a waste of time, but I thought that at some point we might like a written record of what had come to pass. It's difficult work because I have to maintain my hybrid form to do the writing, and I've never been particularly good with that form, but the books are going well. I've been interviewing those who participated in different historical moments, and trying to bring their accounts together into something close to factual, which isn't always easy. The stories tend to get bigger and more fabricated the further they are from their source. Would you like to see the first volume?" He looked excited and his tail was wagging.

Well this sounded more interesting than his whittling, and I was thankful to have something besides my troubles to get thinking about. I wondered why a man not very good with his hybrid form would pick hobbies that required it, but he'd get better at it if he kept it up. I grinned at him and hopped off the couch, shifting to my werewolf form so I'd be able to turn pages. "I'd love to! Dad always read to us kids, I don't know if there's such a thing as a book that's a waste of time."

His cabin wasn't that large, but he waved me back into his room where there was a desk and his bed. Beside the desk were stacks of papers in, what I assumed was, some type of order. On the desk itself was a hand bound tome that was the single largest book I'd ever encountered. He picked it up and handed it to me as I entered.

Every single page was covered in a small, delicate writing that was so neat it looked as though it had been artificially constructed for precision. The book began, after a brief foreword describing the purpose of the text, with a drought that had happened 80 years ago, and it seemed to cover every detail of the event from four different perspectives with cross references between them to cover validity, and side-notes that mentioned when things couldn't be confirmed or proven. It was a meticulous piece of work.

"I'm trying to design a press that I can use to reproduce it all, but carving all of the plates and letters is slow work, and I don't have a good example of the human machines to work from." He explained, but he was looking proudly at his book, like it was his first born child.

"This looks wonderful Syvald, very thorough." I meant it. As a factual text it was methodical. I thought the personal accounts really added to the facts, and allowed for the impact of all Syvald's facts to be seen. I smiled shyly at him from where I was looking through his book. I felt a little badly having come here to seduce him and not having known about this passion of his. Well, women entered mating knowing less during the full moon right? I handed him back the book, putting a hand on his shoulder and then letting it run down his side as I took a step closer to him.

Syvald looked a little surprised. "Oh," He laughed a little nervously. "That's the first time anyone has responded to my book this way." He leaned a bit closer to me. "I'm not very experienced." He said, putting his book down on the desk again. "I've been with a couple females, and a male, but that's it." The tip of his member had slid from its sheath.

"Well you've still got more experience than I do." I said with a small laugh. I nuzzled my head against his shoulder and neck. "I've been wanting to try some things out, and I like you." I touched his chest, looking down his body to his emerging member. I felt desire, though it was nothing like it had been with Flint. With Flint there hadn't seemed enough room in me for most of the other things I might have felt, nervousness jumped to mind, but it was present with Syvald. I wanted that overwhelming sensation, maybe it would get to that point as we continued.

He reached out and touched me, his fingers sliding down my body over my nipples, then between my legs. "I've never really thought of you this way, but then I don't generally think of others this way, but you are very pretty. I'd love to try anything you're interested in." He said, and more of his cock slid free from his sheath, the full length laying out for me to see. I found myself comparing it to my brother's. It was smaller and thinner, though not particularly small. Syvald took it in one of his clawed hands and stroked it a little. "How would you like me to take you?"

I pushed him lightly down onto his bed. I wasn't sure how to answer him, I wasn't sure I wanted to be penetrated, and we hadn't talked about him pulling out or anything yet. I licked his cock, the first pass tentative, and then I looked up at him as I began to give him more attention with my tongue. He tasted well enough, salty but otherwise much like the rest of a wolf. "I don't know EXACTLY what i want yet." I admitted, hoping he'd be patient while I worked that out.

He relaxed back onto the bed. "That's fine. I actually like this better than most things anyway." He chuckled, and then stopped to moan as his cock twitched a bit against my tongue. "That feels good, Holly. Touch my testicles too. If you stroke them while you lick it feels better."

I took his balls in hand, keeping in mind how sensitive they could be. His moan was exciting, I kind of liked the control I had doing this, it helped with my nervousness. I licked his testicles a few times, stroking him as I did.

He moaned and his hips thrusted forward as a stream of clear liquid began to drip down his length. To my shock he gave a bit of a yelp and his cock twitched hard, thick white seed spraying out of his shaft and up his body before his dick began to soften.

"Oh, that was really good." He said as his length began to slow down in its twitching. "We'll have to do that again some time." He said, looking down at me with a wink. "I'd like to try that inside you."

I smiled and blushed. I was glad he'd enjoyed what I'd done, but I wasn't sure what was going to happen next. Wasn't there supposed to be more? I got up and sat on his bed, feeling awkward and uncomfortable. I HAD gotten aroused, and now I was damp, swollen, and unsure what to do about it. I mean, I didn't want to masturbate when he was finished in his bed and everything. Was i going to have to leave and return to my house this way? That would be awkward if I ran into anyone, since they'd be able to smell it on me.

"Would you like to see my notes from the big fight that happened here between us and the humans?" He asked, as his cock began to slide back into his sheath. "I've even got notes from both of your parents!"

"Um..." I rubbed my thighs together a little. Then I took a deep breath and forced the arousal from my mind as best i could for the time. Clearly Syvald wasn't interested in continuing anything. "I'd love to." I gave him a warm smile. "But not today alright? I think I should probably go home ... For a little while." I added, feeling my ears flush even worse.

"Oh, alright." He looked a little disheartened, but not too much. "You can come back and do that any time you want!" He said enthusiastically. "I can show you more of my research next time."

"Right." I got up and licked the side of his face affectionately. "It really is interesting, wonderful work you're doing, I just can't concentrate like this." I nuzzled him briefly and then left for home getting a bit agitated as well as uncomfortably aroused. That hadn't gone exactly as I'd wanted, the point was supposed to be relief for ME. I arrived home and opened the door. It wasn't locked, of course.

When I opened the door the scent of my brother immediately hit my nose. I'd been around Flint long enough that I knew him exceedingly well, so even before I saw him I knew he was there. He'd been sitting on my couch, but when I came in he stood up. "Holly!" He said, seeming surprised. "I mean, of course it's you because this is your home. I uh . . . I wanted to talk to you about what happened between us. I didn't want to leave it the way I did earlier." He apparently hadn't smelled my arousal yet, but I was standing with the door at my back, so it wouldn't be long.

This was the wrong time for him to be here. A part of me was happy he'd come to talk, I didn't want things to be strange between us. Unfortunately, I was sure my arousal would just make things more awkward when he smelled it. And I could remember how his fur had felt against mine when I'd pressed myself against him, the way his cock had felt hard against my leg. I tried to push the thoughts away, but my eyes wandered his body, nearly completely grown with well defined muscles from all his climbing. I smiled at him nervously.

"Hey Flint." I said with a smile, tucking my tail against myself to try and help cover up the smell. I wondered if I should warn him, would that make it better? It wasn't close to a full moon, I could probably have him and not get pregnant even if I let him cum inside me. Maybe I could just have him and get it out of my system. I shoved that thought down viciously, I needed to be more responsible than that. I was older than Flint, his older sister, I was supposed to be in control, supposed to take care of him, not beg him to break pack rules and do disgusting sexual acts with me. Of course, he was just standing here now. I wasn't sure how much control I'd be able to muster if his wonderful looking cock started to slip from its sheath again.

I cleared my throat and sat in one of my chairs, trying to tuck myself away thoroughly. Gods I could smell myself so strongly. "We can talk." I said. "Anytime Flint, I'm always here for you."

He stepped in my direction and moved down to all fours to crawl closer, a supplicant behaviour that was similar to him asking for forgiveness, or saying that he was submitting to me. "I was too forward earlier, Holly. I had no right to . . . " His nose twitched sharply and he stopped advancing. He took another hesitant step forward, his nose testing the air again. "No right to . . ." His words trailed off, between his legs his large pinkish-red manhood was slipping from his body.

He stopped and took a step backwards. "Gods, Holly . . . you smell . . ." He stepped forward, coming to his feet, he leaned over me, his shaft sliding out in front of my face before he bent down to put his muzzle against mine. There was a low growl rising from his chest.

I was breathing heavily. HERE was the heat and desire I'd wanted to feel with Syvald, but hadn't. I whimper very softly, my hands going to his sides as I let my legs drop back to the ground from where I'd tucked them against myself. It didn't matter now, he'd smelled it, was responding to it. Then I opened my legs to him, the smell getting even stronger as I nuzzled my snout against his. "Oh Flint ..." I said quietly, my voice still holding a whimper to it. I wasn't sure if I just wanted his tongue or to risk him taking me and planting his seed. I needed something though, and he was here, and I wanted him as I hadn't been sure I wanted Syvald.

Flint dropped between my legs, his nose slipping up my thighs to my hot sex. I could feel his muzzle pressing against me, and then he pushed harder, a growl rumbling through his lips and into my sex. "Holly . . . " He said, a breathless, hot growl, and then his tongue lapped against me, then again, deeper. He moaned and buried his face in my heat, lapping deeply at the wetness between my thighs.

I gasped and brought a hand down on his head, my fingers and claws pushing into his fur and holding onto him. A tiny part of me told me to push him away, but I was far from listening to reason. His tongue felt amazing, the view of his familiar face between my legs horribly erotic. "Flint ... Oh that feels good. Don't stop." I said, hoping his own sense of right and wrong wouldn't kick in and have him pulling away. I moaned, my body starting to strain and quake under his attention toward an orgasm all the stronger for its delay in being brought about.

He reached around my hips and pulled my sex harder against his muzzle. I could feel his teeth nipping at my folds as his tongue buried itself in my wetness. The growl in his throat was causing everything to vibrate. I felt his claws push into my sides, sharp points of pain, a dark contrast to the pleasure he was giving me. I couldn't have got away without hurting myself now. Pulling away would only lock his claws into my flesh.

I came hard with a sharp yip and then a moan. I shook so violently beneath him that his claws pulled painfully at my flesh, but I didn't mind. I was pretty sure my hold on his head might have gotten painful. My other hand I gripped the back of the chair with, my claws sinking into the furs. "So good." I said softly through heavy breaths as I started to come down. I still wanted him. That, at least, hadn't been enough to rid me of my desire for him.

He pulled me to the edge of the couch and leaned over me, his clawed hand pressing into the seat next to my head. His golden eyes were bright, fierce and glowing. I felt the tip of his cock pressed against my entrance and I wondered if he'd hesitate, but he didn't. He pushed forward in a single powerful thrust that buried his considerable manhood inside of my body all the way to his base. His testicles hit my ass as he leaned down and nipped at my neck.

I gave a sharp cry, he wasn't small and he was the first man I'd ever had inside me. I gripped his sides hard, claws digging in, but my grip quickly loosened as the pain faded. I pushed my hips upward toward him and pulled on his sides as I licked the underside of his muzzle to let him know I was alright, that I was still wanting more. I nuzzled his familiar fur, smelled his familiar smell. Here was a man I knew, that I already loved, and who I definitely wanted. He was already within me, I was going to enjoy it and think about the rest later.

He began to fuck me then, sliding his length in and out of my sheath with increasing speed as the the growl in his throat rose in volume. His claws slid up my body, and soon they were wrapping around my back, powerful arms as firm as steel swallowing me up and drawing me against him. I could hear the grunt of his physical exertion each time he thrust into me.

"Holly, I'm going to cum soon." He panted the words, and I could feel his cock swelling with his impending orgasm. Something firm, round, and moist slammed into my outer sex, and I knew immediately that it was his knot. "Oh gods, I love you." He howled the words, just moments from his release.

I might have answered, but his howl of pleasure and the feeling of his knot made me throw back my head and gasp for air as I came around him. It was more satisfying with him inside me, the thought of him possibly cuming within me only seemed to make my body clench and pull at his harder. I wanted it all then, his cum, his knot. I moaned at the pleasure his body and my thoughts were giving me, my legs wrapping around his waist.

Flint let out a loud bark and he slammed himself into me as his cock jerked against the muscles of my insides. He was cumming, I knew. As he pressed into me again there was a massive pressure and then something almost too big to fit inside me popped in, and I knew we were knotted together. Flint's hips jerked against mine as he lost the last few waves of his seed into my body. Finally he seemed to relax against me, laying his head against my neck. He pulled me over against him so we could lay on our sides, facing each other.

I breathed heavily, nuzzling into his chest and neck with my eyes closed. It felt good to be close to him, to be locked together. I didn't want my brain to kick back on, I just wanted to enjoy being wrapped up with him. But in wanting to push off the coming thoughts, I of course started to feel them creep in on me. I was knotted to my own, full blooded brother. I nuzzled my head against his and licked his muzzle. The confusion was starting to shimmy in, but I still felt mostly good, happy. "I love you too." I said. I meant it, I just wasn't sure where romantic love had crept in, where it ended and my love for him as my little brother started.

Flint ran his fingers through my fur. "I've loved you for a couple years." He said quietly. "I've tried to hide it, tried to pretend it wasn't happening, but it just kept getting stronger, then we met at the stream and . . . well, I'm sorry I couldn't hold it inside anymore. I want to be with you, Holly."

Gods that was a lot to take in. He'd been wanting me since he was 14, I was still very new to the idea. So new to it, I hadn't yet allowed myself to think about us being TOGETHER, as a couple, a mated pair. It wasn't even possible, not within the pack. "I'm ... Really new to these feelings I have for you." I said, stroking his fur. Being so close I felt like he should have fit against my chest instead of the other way around, but he really was grown up. "I've always ... Gods Flint, I don't know what to do. I shouldn't have let this happen I think." I bit my lips, hating to say that but it was true, too. "If we want to be together, we'll either have to be very careful our whole lives in the pack, or we'll have to leave. Go somewhere they won't know we're ... siblings." I whispered the last word, feeling ashamed at my deep attraction to Flint, knowing we'd face terrible things if the pack as a whole found out.

"I thought maybe I just needed to find a mate or at least get laid, so I went to Syvald. Only he didn't ... He just got me aroused and then I came home to you. I've never wanted anyone as much as I want you. And you're really everything I've wanted, and I've had the time to love you before ... this." I motioned to our bodies joined. "I want to be with you, too." I said quietly, nuzzling into him affectionately again and holding him tighter. I couldn't remember the last time I felt so out of control, like so much of my fate rested in others' hands. I tried to think through options. If I wanted children, even Flint's, I'd have to find another mate as cover. I swallowed hard, that solution raised a lot of its own questions.

Flint took my muzzle in his hand and turned my face so I was looking into his eyes. "I don't know what we'll do from here on out, but we'll do it together. We can figure this out now. You don't have to be scared, or worried. Things might not be easy, but they'll be better for having each other to rely on." Flint smiled. He certainly had an idealistic view of the world, even if it was a bit naive.

I gave him a faint smile. "It's in my nature to worry endlessly." I said, though I had relaxed some to hear him say such things anyway. "I don't know what the pack will do to us if they find out. We should really keep this secret." I really wanted him to understand that, I didn't want him hurt.

He sighed and nuzzled into me. "That won't be easy, but if you think it's best then I'll do what I have to. I want to be with you, and now that we've been together, I want it more than ever. The number of times I've dreamed of you feeling about me the way I feel about you makes this almost seem like a dream. I've felt awful about these feelings for you for so long, like I deserved to be punished, then I was afraid that at the stream I'd ruined everything."

I sighed, I liked running my hands through his fur, that and the feeling of his knot with my swollen sheath made me feel so close to him. I hadn't known feeling so connected would feel so fulfilling. I was sure it had to do with it being Flint, that it was someone I felt strongly for. I still felt guilty, horribly guilty for my feelings. "You didn't ruin things, you definitely gave me something to think about." I blushed. "I still feel so guilty." I traced a circle in his chest fur with one of my claws. "We're siblings, the closest blood relation there is. And I feel like I've taken advantage of you, I'm supposed to protect you from the people that would take advantage of you." I pressed my head against his chest and wrapped my arms around him. "I hope I make you a good lover, because I feel like I've been a horrible sister." I mumbled, getting more and more upset with myself as I kept talking.

"You were the best sister growing up. I always felt safe with you, and I still do. There was just a point when I was thirteen or fourteen and I started looking at you differently. You were still my sister, but I suddenly noticed you were a woman too, and a beautiful one." He blushed a little. "We wrestled a bit when I was twelve and you pinned me to the ground, and I remember the feel of your body pressed against my sheath. I masturbated for the first time that night, and a lot of times to you after that."

He laughed a little. "When I was fourteen I came in here looking for you just after you'd moved in and when I opened the door you were leaned over this couch in your hybrid form with your fingers buried in your body. I used that for a long, long time. I still use that sometimes."

I blushed and gave a laugh of my own. "I always liked you more than our other siblings, but I never thought I'd admit that. I can't say I've thought of you sexually until very, very recently though." I nuzzled him and nipped his shoulder playfully. "I did masturbate right after you left me at the stream though."

He laughed. "I also masturbated right after the stream. I couldn't get the sight of you all wet and dripping out of my head." Flint sighed. "I suppose I've really complicated our lives now." He said quietly. "I didn't mean to, but I don't think I would have ever found anyone else I cared about as much. I've looked. I tried to get along with other girls in the pack. A lot of the people my age are getting married, finding mates, but no one was ever good enough when I put them up against you. I guess I'd just set the bar impossibly high." He gave me a grin and nipped my neck.

I grunted but also smiled at him. "This isn't your fault, I could have handled it better, warned you instead of letting you crawl right into my arousal." I laughed. "And I was clearly attracted to you at the stream, even if I was able to turn away that time." I nuzzled him. "I'm worried about so much. I don't know how long we'll be able to resist wanting to spend a full moon together, or keep from making love near enough to the full moon that resisting the moon will make a difference. They say our children might not be right. And if I turn up pregnant in the pack without a mate ... Well it's unusual for a male not to claim his offspring, very unusual. I've never heard of that happening here."

He looked a bit troubled. "I'm not sure what to do either. I don't want to avoid you, and I don't want to miss out on being with you on the full moon. I want to raise pups with you, but I also understand what that means, and what we'd be facing." He licked my face. "We could move outside of the town? Maybe not far, but perhaps I could build a place out there and you could come and stay with me. We don't have to say it's because we're lovers. Maybe you can say you just want a place further out?"

"I think we'll have to talk to the Seer. She can tell us what the results of our choices would be." I said heavily, knowing the toll to that knowledge might be high. But having him build a place just inside the mountains for us only to have it burned to the ground didn't sound appealing, or safe. I wasn't at all sure what the pack would do, or how to go about asking.

"I should go with you." He said quickly. "This is about both of us, and we probably can't hide what we're doing from her anyway. I've actually been to visit her a few times. There are some nice caves caves above her home, and she has been lonely since her mother passed away."

I sighed. "I wasn't going to try to hide it from her. I ... suppose you can come too." I said slowly. "I just wish I could be the only one to have to pay the price." I licked his muzzle again and wiggled a little beneath him to better feel our connection. "I love you." I said, feeling more sure about that now that we'd talked, and more sure of what kind of love it was, too. Both.

Chapter 2

I'd left Holly asleep in her bed when I'd slipped out of her home before sunup. I wanted to stay there to be with her when she woke up, but at the same time I didn't want anyone to see me leaving there in the morning. It had only been our first night together, but already I was paranoid about who might see me being too close to my sister. I felt like a criminal for being in love, and that made me sad. I had no doubt that the others in town would react very poorly if they learned of what my sister and I had begun. I felt guilty. Holly would have never come to me on her own.

It had been me that started this insane relationship, and there was little I could do to stop it now. I didn't want to. In fact, now that I'd had a small taste of how wonderful it was to hold the person I loved and to fall asleep next to them, I didn't think I could turn back, even if that meant being cast out of the pack entirely. I knew in my head that what I wanted was wrong, that sleeping with my sister was dangerous for many reasons, but I also knew that I couldn't make myself love someone else.

Maybe if given enough time I'd find someone else I could love nearly as much, but it wouldn't change how I felt about Holly. Seeing her with someone else would hurt me. Well, getting myself into trouble was my expertise. If a situation wasn't complicated it was barely worth my time. If my dedication to climbing hadn't proved that, my relationship with Holly certainly would.

I snagged my pack from home and headed for the woods. It was time to do my job. The kin loved King's Hawk eggs, but they also hated heights, and King's Hawks only laid their eggs in the tops of trees that broke the canopy. This fact had given me a particularly valuable position in the village. I could retrieve the eggs that no one else dared to go after. Normally they were considered a delicacy, but I'd been able to bring in fresh eggs three times a week for the past seven months, and I knew I could keep it going. I took only the ones I found that were infertile. It had taken me a while to refine my nose enough to pick them out, but I was good at it now. I'd increased the occurrence of these infertile eggs by thinning out the male population a bit. I had no intention of killing off the species, but a balance could be reached, and I'd done so quite well.

I spent the first six hours of the day tracking birds and climbing trees, and when I was done I had a full pack of carefully packaged eggs to bring back to the town. I headed for the food storage center where they would keep the eggs and barter for them from other folks. They would add the eggs to my credit, which was already incredibly well stocked. I had the resources available to have a nice cabin built, one like I'd grown up in if I wanted. I wasn't getting as much for my eggs as I had at first. My supply had made the demand thin a little, but the demand was still strong and the price wasn't bad. I'd had several females pursue me, telling me I was a good provider, and several others asked me ever day before the full moon if I would be running that night.

I never ran. My body certainly craved the mating, but I didn't want to end up with just any female. The pressure to find a mate was getting stronger all the time.

"Four hundred and thirty eggs." I told Beldor as I delivered the pack for him to unload.

He nodded. "Good run today. I'll add that to your credit at the trade post." He pulled out a book and thumbed through it with his clawed hands before making a few marks in it with a pencil. He gave a surprised growl. "Gods, Flint, you have more credit than just about anyone in town." He chuckled. "You know, I have two daughters that are about your age, and either of them would be happy to have a man like you."

I laughed a bit nervously. "Thanks, Beldor, but I'm not ready to settle down just yet. There are still things to see and explore."

Beldor sighed and shook his head. "A man in your position has a choice of just about any tail he'd like to tuck into his bed. I'm surprised you're so resistant. You trying to follow in your sister's footsteps, become old and lonely?"

My hackles rose a little, but I stifled them and laughed, though it was a bit forced. "Holly is far from old, and I'm sure she'll settle down when she finds the right mate. She takes her work very seriously." I said. "I mean, someone has to juggle all the babies we have popping up around here."

Beldor laughed. "I suppose so. I guess it wouldn't due to have one of our midwives not working because she was knocked up herself. Well, just you keep in mind that I've two very pretty young daughters who need looking after. Hell, you can have them both if you're inclined." He gave me a wink.

I chuckled. "No, I think one wife would be more than enough nagging for me." I told him as I turned and headed back into town. I wanted to stop by and see Holly, but I wasn't sure where she would be right at that moment. I was hoping we might be able to make our trip to the Seer later that evening, but I wasn't going to force it if she wasn't ready.

A part of me was afraid that when I saw her again she'd pretend not to remember what had happened last night, and I'd have lost it all. It was strange how such a concern could flash over me. I knew Holly regretted it to some degree. She felt guilty, like she'd betrayed me somehow, but I'd been the one to push what had happened. I'd wanted it, and I'd initiated our contact. If either of us was at fault, it was me.

I fooled around in town for a bit, and then finally made my way to Holly's house and slipped inside. She wasn't home yet, so I shifted down to my wolf form and curled up on her couch to await her arrival. She came in only a short while later. When her eyes found me she shut the door and dropped the lock in place.

Holly shifted to her wolf form as she padded over, tail wagging, and licked the side of my face. "Flint. How was your day?"

I pushed my head against hers. "Busy in the morning, then long waiting for it to be late enough that I didn't think it would be too strange for me to come here." I realized forlornly that I'd need to go home tonight or mom and dad would begin to wonder where I was. I could probably tell them I was sleeping over at Holly's place without raising too much suspicion, but the more things I did that put me around Holly all the time, the more people would start to notice.

"How was yours? Bringing anything kicking and screaming into this world today?" I asked, using humor to push away my worries a bit.

She smiled and got up on the couch with me, laying her head over my back. "No births today, lots of checking up on new moms, cleaning up for them." She bumped her head against my side, rubbing against me so that her ear sprung up as she brought it back into view from my fur. "I love you." She said, looking just a little nervous, as though I might have changed my mind.

I turned so I could push my head against hers. I nipped at her neck. "I love you too, Holly. Very much. I thought about it most of the day, in fact." I laughed a bit nervously. "I was worried for the last few hours that I'd finally see you today and you'd be trying to pretend yesterday didn't happen. I almost had myself convinced that's how it was going to play out when you came home."

Holly smiled a bit sadly at me. "I might have, if I didn't know you're already hopelessly in love with me. As much as I wish a lot of things were different, I don't want to break your heart." Holly grinned. "And I find you rather irresistible, I'd just end up boning you again sometime." She winked.

I growled and pounced on her, going for her neck and rolling myself on top of her. "Alright, how about we bone now, and worry about the consequences later?" I put my mouth down and nipped the base of her tail, near her sex. The thought had me already slipping free of my sheath. Holly was mine, and I could have her as I'd always dreamed of. The thought was intoxicating.

Holly yelped in surprise and then giggled cheerfully. She rarely had that kind of free laughter in her voice. She swished her tail back and forth, excited. She rounded on me to rub the length of herself against me, and when she noticed my manhood slipping out she wagged her tail harder and licked my cock and then my balls. Then she turned again and leaned her front end down into the couch before her wagging tail flicked to one side in invitation and she looked back at me, eyes flashing with desire. "I like your idea." She said, voice smooth and sensual as I'd never heard it before.

I pushed my nose against her sex and took a deep breath before I licked her, wetting her sex, and making sure she was well lubricated for when I mounted her. I circled behind her and mounted her in wolf style, tucking my front legs around her hips and pushing my hot, pink shaft into her warm entrance. She felt like tight, hot fire around me, her body squeezing mine as I began to work myself inside of her. I leaned forward and took the nape of her neck in my teeth. In this form her body was designed for me to do exactly this. Her skin was thick there, and I could get a good grip without hurting her. It allowed me to control her body as I mated her. As I fucked her I imagined spilling my seed deep inside her body and getting her pregnant. We'd have children that would be ours, a combination of Holly and I. That thought made me even more excited, and I began to fuck her harder.

Holly panted and a low, happy growl set up residence in her chest. "Flint, you feel so right. I like it this way. Every way." She bit the furs on the couch with her teeth, tugging at them briefly. "Gods we've only just started this round and I want you more already." She growled out softly, her body shaking slightly beneath mine as she built up for an orgasm. "My Flint." She whispered happily, possessively.

I wanted to talk back to her, but I couldn't make myself let go of her as I worked inside of her body. My balls were tightening, and my shaft was throbbing. I felt my knot slide out of my sheath, but I didn't want to knot her just yet. I wanted to make love to her again, and that meant using some restraint. I wasn't particularly good at restraint. I unclasped my teeth. "Gods, Holly, I'm going to cum, but I want to take you again, so I'm not going to knot you yet." I warned her. I didn't want to disappoint her. I thrust into her again, and the burning rush of my orgasm took hold.

"Alright." Holly managed to gasp, her body clenching around mine as she came with me.

The release was powerful, and it took a lot of willpower to stop myself from knotting my love as I reached my peak. As I finished I slid my cock out of her and stepped back, hopping off the couch and to the ground. I pushed my body through a shift into my hybrid form. It wasn't an easy transition, but I'd heard sex in that form could be exciting. Having a nearly human body gave me some different flexibility, and more precision with my hands. I moved up behind my sister again and put my hands on her hips. I storked her body, running my fingers down her sides, and watching as my cum dripped out of her sex. Any softening my cock might have experienced went away at this sight.

I pulled her back towards the edge of the couch and then gently rolled her over, running my fingers through her fur, up across her nipples, and over the smooth features of her beautiful coat, and then I pressed myself against her canid entrance and slid myself inside of her. Females in wolf form couldn't move much when mated on their backs, or so I'd heard, but it was still a pleasurable experience for them. I knew I would be doing much of the work, but I was alright with that.

I put my hands on her outer thighs, holding her in place as I began to stroke my cock into her tight womanhood. As I pulled back her insides gripped me, pulling at my shaft as though not wanting to let it get free. "Holly, you feel amazing." I told her, and she did. If I hadn't just cum inside of her, I knew this new position would have done me in quick.

I used a gentle rolling motion in a quick, but steady rhythm, pushing the tip of my cock upward as I entered her each time and making sure my balls touched her fur before I started to withdraw again. From this position I could see my flesh pushing into hers, slickened by my cum and her wetness. Watching the features of my length pull out of her to my tip, and then vanish again inside of her was intoxicating, as was the the thought that not only did I love this woman, but that she was my sister as well.

Holly gasped and yipped with pleasure as I took her. She looked at me, her light blue eyes clouded with her enjoyment and her expression blissfully happy. "Oh Flint ... I always thought I'd hate losing control like this." She gasped. "But I like it with you, I don't think I even would have trusted anyone else so much." She tipped her head back against the furs on the couch and rubbed it there before leveling her smokey blue eyes at me again and moaning softly as she tightened around me further.

I leaned over her body, loving the feel of her fur against my chest, and the smell of her body filling my nose. I flexed my abs and hips to pushing into her, deeply, grinding my length deep inside of her body. The end of my manhood was pressed against the back of her insides and I could feel her tightness all around me as I ground myself into her, trying to pleasure her as much as I was able before I had to release again. I doubted I'd have it in me for a third go quickly so I wanted to make this one count. I pushed my face into the fur of her neck. "I love you, Holly" I whispered the words quietly into her as the base of my shaft and my balls ground against her body.

"Oh Flint, I love you too." She licked my neck and then nipped my shoulder. She nuzzled her head against mine and then came with a whimper that turned into a moan, her chest rumbling against me.

A part of me really wanted to hold out and give her another orgasm, but my body wouldn't let me hold on any longer. I put my arms around her and pulled her tight against me as I released inside of her, a long, hot jet of my seed streaming into her burning sex. I thrust against her four or five more times as I emptied the last of myself, and then I rolled to the side, keeping her held against me as I did. I couldn't exactly knot her in this shape, but I didn't have to leave her body just yet either. I kissed the side of her face.

"You know, you're fantastic." I told her, breathing a little heavy from the exertion.

Holly giggled again and butted her head against my shoulder, snuffling in my hair. Her tail thumped against the couch. Then she seemed to settle against me, catching her breath. "We should go to the Seer soon." She said softly, some worry creeping into her voice again. "I hope she won't refuse us because of our ... because we're siblings that want to be together."

"I was thinking we should go tonight. If we go in wolf form we could make good time there and back. It would be late when we returned, but it wouldn't be too much of a problem. I was actually going to suggest we go when you first came home." I grinned and pushed my face into the fur of her neck. "But I suppose I got a little side tracked."

Holly nodded and sighed. "Tonight then. I'm nervous. I just feel like she'll hate us, like the pack would. And what if all our options to remain together result in horrible things? Well I don't want you hurt. We'll have to find other mates." She said softly, sounding sad about it. At least I could tell she really did WANT to be with me. "And then even if we do that, I think we'll both be unhappy even if we're alive and well."

I stroked her head as I slowly slid myself out of her body. It had to be done if we were going to leave anytime tonight. "We can only go and see what she says, what it will cost us to hear what she has to say. From there we can decide what our next move will be. Even if we have to find other mates, I don't think I can give up being with you entirely. I can never love anyone else the way I love you."

"Me neither." She said, eyes troubled as she rolled back to have her feet under her.

I hopped to my feet and shifted down into my wolf form, nuzzling against her side. I licked her face. "It'll be alright, Holly. We'll figure this out, and we'll find a way to live and be happy too." With that we headed out of Holly's house together, just two siblings going off into the woods for a hike together, the smell of sex still lingering on us. Had I been more clear headed I might have licked her clean before we headed out, but fortunately we were headed for the woods and then on to the mountains, so we would have time to let the natural scents of the woods in the evening chase away the smells of our lust. We couldn't hide things from the Seer anyway, so that didn't matter.

Even in our wolf forms running at full speed it took us a while to reach the mountain and the cave of the Seer. I'd been there enough times that I actually knew her quite well. I also knew that she had a real name, but that I wasn't allowed to use it if I came seeking information. It was against the rules of the process, and Neila had been very clear on what was expected of her by the goddess she served. For a twelve year old she was wise beyond her years, and somewhat sadder than I thought was fair. It had been a year since she'd lost her mother and taken up the full mantle of Seer now. The transition hadn't been easy.

When we reached the cave we stopped just beyond the entrance. "Seer?" I called.

"Holly, Flint, you may both enter." She called from inside, her formal acceptance of our purpose. We stepped into her cave and she was sitting before us, stark white fur with black markings in tribal designs that looked drawn across her fur, but I knew they were actually patterns that had grown on her. Her eyes were silver with little flecks of gold. She was technically my cousin, I knew, but I wasn't allowed to speak of that connection with her, and certainly never to specifically bring it up.

"Seer, we've come seeking information." I said as we entered.

The Seer nodded. "I know, but as you know, I must ask a price for anything I give. Are you both ready to hear my price?"

Holly looked sad, and she hadn't stopped blushing and nearly cowering. She wasn't as close to the Seer as I was, and she was afraid of her judgement. "Yes, we're ready." She said quietly. I moved closer to Holly, pushing my side against her for comfort.

"The choices before you will greatly affect your future happiness, but no matter what you choose your lives will not be in danger for your decisions regarding what to do with your unconventional love. In payment for your future, you must promise to build a cabin near these mountains, no further than a ten minute walk from this cave. Also, Flint, you will deliver eggs to me once a week, a large dozen. The final condition is that you must produce three litters of pups, no more and no less." She looked back and forth between us, waiting for an answer.

I wasn't sure what to see. The conditions seemed unusual, but nothing frightening, though it did make me blush a bit that we wanted me to produce offspring with my sister, and a particularly number of offspring as well. I looked at Holly, and gently nipped her neck. "I can do these things, are they acceptable to you?"

Holly seemed to chew it over a minute. "Will there be anything wrong with our pups that will cause their death or make them unable to live happy and full lives?" Holly asked, tipping her head to one side. "I don't know if I'm allowed to ask, but if the answer is no then I can definitely agree to those things."

"Your children will not be born with any disorders that pose a threat to their health." The Seer answered after a moment of thought. "So you are both agreed that these terms are acceptable?"

I nodded. "Yes. They are fine by me. Holly?"

Holly nodded. "Yes. Is the cabin for you? No saying how big or small it should be?" Holly seemed just generally confused.

"The cabin is a cabin. So long as you build it, it doesn't matter what you do with it." She answered with a grin and shrug. Her face grew a bit more serious.

"You have many choices in front of you, and all of them will present you with difficulties. You will never stop loving each other, no matter what way you might choose to go. There is a future where you both choose to stop being together entirely, and you choose different mates and try to live life normally. You'll both have children with your new mates, but eventually you'll be drawn back together and you'll . . . " The young Seer blushed. "You'll take comfort in each other, and you'll be caught. You'll lose all your children and be exiled from the pack."

"In another future you both try and carry on secretly while keeping separate relationships on the side. This works for a while, but eventually you'll be caught and exiled, but this time you'll have children from both side relationships, and offspring that are the result of you two being together, and those children will be taken from you again. The result of the loss pushes you both to an early death in despair."

"If you want to find happiness together you'll need to move out of the village proper, far enough away that your lives won't be under such heavy scrutiny. Your skills are too valuable for the villagers to question you closely, but this will lead to complications for your children eventually, though it's nothing life threatening. You will get to raise your children, and you will be happy together." She said the last with a small sad smile. "There are hard times even on that route, though. I'm sorry. If I could see a way forward that was all happiness, I promise I'd tell you." The Seer gave a small wolfish whine of sympathy.

"That's alright, thank you." Holly said, looking relieved. I supposed that was the benefit of thinking terrible things were bound to happen. She gave my neck a small nip, and offered a hesitant smile. Then she looked back at the Seer and blushed, looking down at the ground, ears lowered.

"I know how your village feels about your love, but I see the world differently than they do, Holly. To me the love that you two share shines like a beacon, and it is stronger than the adversity that faces it. Love is one of the more powerful forces of this world, and if it does not turn to hate, it is one of the most positively changing forces as well. You needn't feel shamed here." The Seer said,

"Thank you." I told her, adding an ear flick in the wolfish way. "I feel like we can keep some hope going forward."

"Please come and visit me again." She said with a shy smile. "It gets lonely here."

Holly nodded and stood, still blushing but looking a little less tense. She smiled at the Seer. "Thank you, I'm sure we'll see you again. We have a bit to think about." She said, looking at me.

"We'll return before long." I promised her, and then we departed the cave and started down the trail home. "I have the resources to build the cabin." I told Holly. "I've saved quite a bit in trade. Do you think we're intended to live in the cabin? This will affect your work a lot. It's a long trip between the cabin and the village."

Holly nodded. "It may be I have to become more mom's assistant than a midwife in my own right. I wouldn't exactly be available in an emergency, but I can still check on new mothers and make sure pregnancies are progressing well. I'll probably lose a lot of credibility anyway when we move out here together." She smiled at me. "I don't mind too much."

I nuzzled against her. She would be giving up a lot for us to be together. I knew that she was particularly dedicated to her work. She'd trained hard, and gone out of her way to study as much about what she did as possible. I'd always been proud of her for all that work and dedication. I had a thought. "We might be able build a clinic out here, a place with beds for pregnant women who are at risk for difficult pregnancies where they could come and stay for the later weeks, or even the last month, of their pregnancy. It would give them a quiet place to deliver, and you'd be close at hand."

Holly tilted her head in thought. "We'd only need a couple beds, there aren't many risky pregnancies like that." She grinned wolfishly at me. "That sounds really great though, Flint, I think that might be a good idea. Maybe mom would help me convince people to trust me enough." Her ears turned red and she shook herself in agitation. "Mom and Dad are going to know when we move, like everyone else. I feel like we should warn them but ... I think we should keep the secret while we build the cabin, so we have somewhere to go when we need to leave."

I felt a little sadness streak through me. It would hurt mom and dad, finding out what we were doing. It would be nice to keep it away from them, but they'd know eventually, and I had no doubt they'd be disappointed. That didn't change how I felt for Holly, though. I could no more stop loving her than I could stop breathing.

"That's probably a good idea. We should decide exactly what we want and I can talk to the tradehouse keeper tomorrow and tell him what I have in mind this way he can start gathering the things we'll need. Then we'll have to pick a spot." I leaned into her and nipped playfully at her neck. "I'm a little excited to have a place that's ours."

Holly rubbed her head into me, smiling. "Me too. And now we HAVE to have pups." She giggled. "Though I already knew I wanted pups with you, it was nice to find out they'll be alright. Our own place, our own family, we'll be a real mated pair." She laughed. "I feel like I should feel bad, but I don't. I'm relieved there's a way for us."

"Me too." I admitted. "I'm sad that we'll be leaving the pack behind, but I'm alright with it if it means that we can be together. I guess in the mean time we'll have to do our best to pretend we're not spending so much time together. I should head home tonight. If I keep coming out of your house every morning it won't look good, but I'm definitely sneaking over there for the full moon." I said, and then I thought about that a bit more. "Or should we avoid each other for this full moon? We need to have the cabin built before you start showing." I poked her belly with my nose.

Holly sighed and nodded. "You're right, we should wait to be together around the full moon until the cabin is well under way." She gave me an apologetic look and then nuzzled me. "Soon. And we have such an attraction even when the moon is far off, I bet it'll be amazing." Her eyes flashed at me, the thought of the eventuality enticing for her. It was equally enticing for me.

Our plans for the new cabin were put into effect quickly. Within a few days of letting the trading post know exactly what I wanted there were already supplies coming in, and within a week, after Holly and I had picked a place, construction began. I made weekly trips out to watch things being done, and it wasn't long before our home, with its clinic included, was coming together quite nicely. It still took nearly five months before we were just about ready to move in, and we were forced to spend most of this time keeping as far apart as we possibly could.

It was torture to have to avoid being around Holly, and to go home to my own bed most nights. I often spent time before bed with my shaft in hand, working myself into a haze of passion imagining how much I'd like to be with my sister. Even in my hybrid form I couldn't satisfy myself the way she did. The full moon cycles away from her were the worst. She filled my senses with passion and drove me mad with need. I often awoke from those nights still in my chains, my wrists bloodied, and my fur matted with the seed that I wanted to spill inside of her. Then we couldn't make love for days following that just to be safe. She chewed a leaf that made her less fertile, but it was far from perfect, and we knew an accident would cause us trouble.

Finally though, five months after it had all began, the full moon was fast approaching, but this time our home was nearly completed. It would be the first full moon that we could risk being together. It was difficult to get work done that day. All I could think about was what we would do later that night. I had to calm myself down with my hand three times over the course of the day, stroking myself until I released my seed and could think again to get something done. We would conceive our first litter that night, and I knew it. With both of us at our fertile peak, even if she was on the leaf she wouldn't stop us from doing what came naturally, and I knew she hadn't been chewing it anymore. She would be ready to accept my seed this time.

This was on my mind as I slipped quietly through the woods towards the back of Holly's house. She'd left a back window open for me, so I could sneak in from the tree line and no one would see me enter. The night was already up and my cock was fully free of its sheath as I crawled through her window and shut it behind me. My passion was rising. My cock was already leaking profusely as I thought about taking her. I'd barely been able to keep my head getting to house.

"Holly?" I growled, my nose lifting to the air. I could smell her heat. My cock twitched, a stream of slick precum dripping to the floor beneath me as I took myself in hand and stroked my length. I needed to be sated.

"Bedroom." Came Holly's answering growl. The window opened to a short hallway, but I knew which door was her bedroom. When I came in she was in hybrid form, sliding her fingers through the wet folds of her sex, her hips thrusting off the mattress and into the air in a rhythm. I didn't know if anyone who could hold their hybrid form all the way through a full moon, though. She saw me and turned over, shifting with a moan to her werewolf form. "Take me. Plant your seed." She snarled, pulling at the furs on her bed with her teeth and digging her claws into them already. Her tail moved to the side, her sex dripping her natural lubrication. "Want my brother's pups." She growled, her hips shifting back and forth, waiting for me. With the heat of the full moon upon her, she could apparently accept that she found the part of our relationship that was embarrassing also strangely exciting.

I moved up behind her and pushed my nose against her sex, taking in a deep breath of her sex, her heat. My cock throbbed hard, and I pushed my tongue into her, wanting her taste on my lips, but not willing to spend more time than that on the pursuit. I couldn't. I had to have her. I grabbed her tail in a clawed hand and jumped onto the bed behind her, bringing my throbbing, pink cock in line with her swollen heat. I gave a fierce growl and sank my shaft into her in a powerful thrust. I used my grip on her tail to draw her backwards onto me, and latched onto her hip with the other hand.

She always felt amazing. My sister's cunt felt better than anything I'd ever had before, but this time was different. We both knew what this mating meant, and every part of my instinctual being was on fire with the desire to mate. I began to take her forcefully, hammering into her sex with a maddening lust that I couldn't temper without cumming deep inside her body. This wasn't about love or affection, this was about me forcing my seed as deeply into her as I could get it, and then making sure that it had nowhere to go, and she couldn't get away until I was satisfied. This was all powerful instinct.

Holly cried out every time I slammed into her, but she pushed herself back at me with each of my inward thrusts. She was running on the same instinct, experiencing pressure even with the forceful nature of our mating. Her body was quickly coming around mine, her voice changing to a moan and howl in one as she did. She bit the bedding to quiet herself, grunting and whimpering around it in her teeth as I pushed into her throbbing sex hard and fast.

I felt a throbbing surge deep in my balls and I leaned over and took the scruff of Holly's neck in my teeth hard. Had she been in a wolf or hybrid form it would have torn her neck to pieces, but in werewolf form it probably only drew a little bit of blood. My knot slipped out of my body and my cock released a huge burst of seed. I groaned hard against her neck and pulled back with my teeth, drawing her up and backwards into me, pushing my cock as deep into her body as it would go and giving her nowhere to move to.

Holly cried out sharply, but her orgasm seemed to strengthen as her body tried to swallow up more of me, tugging at me even as I pushed hard into her. She bit the blankets again, doing her moan-howl into them.

I drew out most of the way and then slammed my hips hard back into her body, driving my knot deep into her sex and pushing my cock right up against the back of her sheath. I came in pure ecstasy and finally released my toothy grip on her neck as I panted against her back. The urge to mate subsided with the knotting, sanity crept back in a bit. If I hadn't been able to knot, it would have been far more frantic after the first orgasm, but this was the connection that my instincts told me was necessary. I licked Holly's back, cleaning the wounds on her neck. "I love you." I growled the words as I groomed her.

Holly sighed, the same satisfied instincts making her more sane for the time being. "I love you too, so much." She said, pushing her face against the furs she'd been biting a moment before. She laid down slowly on her belly, bringing me down also, and her claws released the bedding as well. She growled happily. "My Flint. We'll have pups soon."

I pushed my face into the fur on the back of her neck and gave a satisfied growl. Deep inside her body I could feel my cock throbbing, pumping more of my seed into her body while were sealed together, insuring she would carry my young.

"I'm excited." I said, a smile playing across my features. "I'm looking forward to raising them with you, living in our home together. I feel like we're so close to ending up exactly where we want to be." I nipped playfully at one of her ears.

Holly chuckled and her ears flicked in response to me teasing. "I hope Mom will agree to be at the birth, help me. Love the pups." She didn't have to say she was worried about how our parents would react. She got a bit more nervous about it every day the cabin came closer to being built even as she also got more excited.

I was worried as well. I loved my parents, and I knew Holly loved them as well. If we had to break from the family it would be really painful for both of us. We'd always been a close knit family. I almost laughed at that thought, seeing as my cock was buried to the hilt in my sister's sex, but the worry kept me from enjoying what should have been more lighthearted.

"I think it'll be hard on them, but I like to believe that they'll come around to the idea eventually when they see how happy we are together." I ran my fingers over Holly's body, tracing her shape and enjoying the feel of her fur beneath my fingers. I knew we'd be making love agian soon, within the hour when my knot released we'd be back at it at least once more, but for now it was wonderful just to be close. "Things will be alright." I assured her.

The rest of the night was a hazy blur of passion and hard sex, but when I woke up the following morning I was in my wolf form and curled up directly next to Holly. I nudged her gently with my nose, thoughts of our previous night of mating still dancing through my head. I wanted her to wake up, but if my nose nudge didn't work, I'd decided I'd let her sleep a while more.

Holly's nose twitched and then her eyes opened slowly. She smiled at me, her tail moving back and forth across the bedding in a lazy way. She stretched a little, not moving much really, and then she licked my muzzle. "It's nice to wake up to you after such a fulfilling night." A pleased growl was filling her werewolf chest.

"It's nice to wake up to you anytime." I replied with charming flick of my ears. I lifted my nose and scented her. She smelled warm, not quite hot like she had been the night before, but receptive. I hopped up and pushed my way between her thighs, and then pushed my snout against her sex and gave it a long, thoroughly lapping of my tongue. She tasted like us, like our sex. I began to slowly lick the sensitive bundle of nerves just inside the top of her sex.

I paused for a moment. "How would you like to spend some of the morning really close together?" I asked, and then dove back into her well used hole with my tongue.

Holly gasped and then settled into a pleased, humming growl of pleasure in response to my tongue. "I like that idea a lot." She said in her aroused tones. "Your tongue feels so good after how rough we were last night, so soft."

"I thought this might be a gentler morning." I said, taking a quick break from her sex to speak. "I figure if I knot you in this shape it won't be as hard on your body, but we can still enjoy being together. First, though," I said, giving her another lick from her moist opening up to the outer cleft of her sex. "I'm going to get you good and relaxed this way. I love the way you taste." I pushed my tongue deep into and lapped at her heated insides with savor.

Holly giggled. "You mean the way we taste, so much mating." She giggled again, clearly amused by our sexual appetites for one another. Then she gasped as my tongue slid over a sensitive spot and she moaned softly. "Mmmm, Flint." She said softly.

I centered in on the spots that she found most enticing and began to focus my lapping there, a slow, steady licking, pushing my thick tongue against her sensitive places with increasing hunger for her body. My shaft had gotten hard. I could feel it hanging between my legs, ready to take her as soon as she was ready. As I tongued her body I couldn't help but imagine how wonderful it would feel to be inside of her. We'd never had sex in this combination before, my wolf form to her werewolf form. I was intrigued. She always felt wonderful, but it was nice that there were so many different nuances to how I could take her. I gave a soft growl as I kept licking her, the vision of my cock buried in the place I was licking at that moment flashing through my head again.

Holly's clawed hand ran over my head gently in a pet, and then she found a grip in my fur just behind my ears when I passed over something sensitive. She would quake when I passed over a good spot, though keeping it slow was definitely adding to the buildup for her. She was growling lightly in her chest, and giving out small cries of pleasure here and there as her coming orgasm built up tension within her.

I dove hungrily into her sex, eager to have her cum once before I pressed myself inside of her, but also uncertain how much longer I could avoid her body. My desire to mount her and push my knot into her sex was becoming urgent. I was on fire with need and I knew the only way to quench the burning was to douse it in her wetness. I increased the pace of my lapping, focusing on the sensitive patch of nerves at the head of her and occasionally pressing my tongue against the circle of flesh that marked the entrance to her body. She released my head to grip the pillows behind her as she came, her body's shaking accompanied by a moan. She panted as she started to come down a little. She shifted her body around on the bed to be sure she was right on the edge of it for me and her eyes told me she wanted me inside her badly.

I almost ran to get into position, I mounted her and lined my cock up with her hot entrance, my tip pressed against her sex. "I love you, Holly." I told her, and then I crashed into her body, driving all of myself deep inside of her in one smooth thrust. After that I slipped into a calm and powerful pace, sliding almost all of my length back and forth inside of her, and relishing the feeling of her tight sheath begging me to stay as I pulled back, and swallowing me up as I pushed forward.

Holly's clawed hands pulled at my body as she enjoyed me, but she was careful not to hurt me. She moaned my name as her hands wandered my back, finally settling on my rump, one hand on either side of my tail. She nipped at my neck and licked my muzzle. Her body didn't seem to stop twitching before it was clenching full force around my cock again. Her hands closed a bit tightly in my fur and she nipped me hard on the shoulder as she used that grip to bring me harder against her.

I pushed hard into her as my balls tightened and I realized I was going to cum hard. I let loose a small howl as my knot slipped free of my body and then I was slamming it into Holly's sex. Even though it was smaller than it was when I was in full werewolf form it took me three good thrusts to penetrate her body fully, but when I finally did there was a satisfying pop as my cock began to leak liquids deep into her body.

I moaned in satisfaction and licked Holly's body before I laid down on top of her, my cock buried between her legs. "You feel amazing." I growled in satisfaction.

Holly nuzzled her head into me, smiling. "I'm glad, because you feel great to me too." She carefully adjusted us so that I could lay on top of her fully in the bed and then sighed as she relaxed into satisfaction. She stroked my fur with her hands and started licking me all over as much as she could reach in our current state. It was a deeply affectionate gesture. She threw in a few nuzzles here and there as she worked me over, finally giving it up because she was beginning to giggle softly too much to keep it up. "I love you." She said with a happy sigh.

"I love you too." I told her, wagging my tail. "We should be able to move into the house anytime from here on out. There are a few things that aren't finished, but we can do them ourselves, or have the crews come in and finish up. The living sections are complete, and I saw them put the finishing touches on your clinic last night." It was exciting to think about the future.

"Oh I knew it was close but not that close!" Holly grinned at me, her eyes lit up with excitement.

"Holly hun?" Dad's voice came through the door. Holly and I didn't even have the time to exchange a look before he opened the bedroom door to the view of us, knotted together the morning after a full moon. His initial expression was of concern, but it quickly turned to a well rounded surprised face that encompassed a wide range of emotions. Holly let out a loud, whimpering cry and scrambled to get one of the furs or blankets out from under us and over the top of us without hurting us. We were going to be connected for better or worse for the next while, making all efforts to do anything but lay together insanely difficult.

"Is she in there?" Mom's voice sounded from the doorway and she walked as we were still struggling to get the blanket into place, our bodies clearly linked for the world to see.

I was horrified as the blanket fell into place, leaving us staring at our parents as they stared back at us. Mom had recoiled as her eyes took it what she was seeing and it fully register. "You . . . why?! Gods . . . " She turned and ran back out of the room, her claws clicking across the floor. The front door slammed in her wake.

Holly finally got the blanket into place and settled, shaking beneath me. She shoved her head against me and looked away from the doorway. Dad seemed stunned in place, then he seemed to remember himself and he turned away, leaning on a hand in the doorway. "I called when we came in, but you didn't answer." He said, voice hollow with shock. "I ... Good gods Holly." He pushed a hand through his hair, clearly deeply distressed.

"Just go." Holly said, her own voice strained.

Dad seemed conflicted still. "I ... I'm going to find your mother." He finally said, firmly, as though it were come monumental decision. He vanished out the door the way he'd come in and we were left alone. I gave a small whine and pushed my head against Holly.

"I'm sorry. This is my fault. I should have left this morning before the sun came up." I was filled with guilt. We'd known we'd have to tell our parents at some point, but we never thought it would be like this. I couldn't think of a worse way this could have happened. I was awash with shame and sorrow.

Holly held me against her and cried, not speaking for a good while. "You know, the Seer didn't tell us if they ever forgive us." She finally said as her breathing leveled out some from all her whimpering.

Chapter 3

I had hoped the realization might come gradually. First we'd move out together, and maybe they'd resist realizing what that meant at first. Then I'd be pregnant, and they'd slowly, gradually realize that Flint and I were a pair. They'd come to terms with it as they slowly worked themselves into accepting the truth, and we'd find some way to awkwardly continue loving each other. Instead they'd found us knotted, in the house Emmett had built for me next to their own.

I didn't want to give them a chance to kick me out. As soon as the knotting ended I started packing up my things, being careful of what I took and left behind. I didn't want them to accuse me of taking something they'd given me. I didn't want to give them any more reason to hate us. The way Mom had run out, I knew it was bad. It should be easier for Dad, Emmett, he was just our step-father, he could see himself as somehow more removed from our betrayal. I kept having to stop and take a deep breath, realizing I was whimpering too much to get proper air in as I tried to run around and do everything at once.

I wondered what our siblings would do. Many were old enough to decide if they'd stay in contact with us on their own. Mom probably wouldn't tell them flat out, would she? I'd helped raise all our mother's pups, I loved them all. She'd probably refuse to let the younger ones come see me, Koll, Riven, Alisse, Gendell, and Sorik. I had to sit down and have another crying fit over that. It didn't feel fair that I'd spent ten years in the youngest ones' lives, and now I might not be allowed to see them at all.

Flint walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "I'll help carry your stuff to the new place, Holly. I . . . don't think I can go and get my things. I'll have to start over from scratch." He sighed and leaned against me affectionately. "We'll be alright. They . . . they'll forgive us eventually." He said the words, but I could hear the lack of conviction behind them. He didn't believe they'd forgive us.

"I'm sorry." I said, nuzzling him as I berated myself. I was the eldest, I was supposed to take responsibility and make sure these kind of hurtful things didn't happen to the younger ones. I'd left the door unlocked. I'd opened my legs and invited him in just down the hall in the living room. I miserably told myself there was no helping any of it now, we were set on our path. Hopefully Emmett and Runa would forgive us, but in the meantime we'd have to find a way to be happy without them. The Seer had said we could find happiness away from the pack, it was possible no matter how upset I was now, what we lost getting there.

I took a few deep breaths. "Alright, yes, we'll be alright." I said, scratching his ear and nuzzling into his shoulder again. I added a comforting lick. "I'll get things packed, it'll take me a couple hours if there's something else you need or want to do. And I want to write them a letter." I swallowed at the last, nervous. It might take me longer to write the letter than pack, even with the fact I could hold my hybrid form pretty well.

Flint put his powerful arms around me and pulled me against his chest. "Holly, this isn't just your fault. We're in this together. We knew things might be bad when people found out, and I'm going to miss them all too, but you're not going to be alone. I love you, and we'll be alright as long as we have each other." He nuzzled against my cheek and licked my face. "I'll go down to the trading post and get some supplies, things I'll need that I can't get at the house. When I'm done I'll be back to pick you up. We still get to start our new life together."

I nodded, feeling more like I was accepting what he was saying than agreeing with it even if I was trying to force myself into that mindset. "I'll see you soon." I said, and squeezed him back for a long moment before setting about what I needed to do again.

I ended up unable to part with a few things our parents had given me. I seemed that the things I'd bought myself just didn't hold the same value as the things they'd given me. I took a music box Dad had given me from one of his infrequent trips to the human realm, and the fine leather bag Mom had had made for me that carried my basic work supplies. I didn't know if I'd really ever need them again, but I felt attached to what I'd learned from my mother, attached to what she'd given me that had allowed me to follow in her footsteps up until now. I also took whatever I wanted that my siblings had given me. If they wanted any of it back, they could ask for it, but I doubted they would. It was sentimental stuff. 11 children's worth of sentimental stuff.

Then I sat down to letter writing. At first I just jumped in, letting everything pour out onto the page. Then I reigned myself in and started composing something a little more organized, as well put together as I could manage under the circumstances.

Dear Mom and Dad,

I know you must be disappointed in Flint and I. This isn't what you would have chosen for us and I understand that. I wish I'd fallen in love with someone else, but I didn't. I fell in love with Flint and I can't be happy without him, or him without me. I feel guilty, responsible as the eldest, so don't think I don't feel bad about it. Blame me, hate us, and I'll understand because a part of me feels the same.

Flint and I went to the Seer, and were told we can't be happy trying to live within the pack. We're moving up by her in the mountains, and the plan is for me to open a small clinic to take in patients that need a place to rest while they recover or work through a difficult pregnancy. I want to continue working within the pack as a midwife, but I know that aside from the clinic I will have to be content mostly seeing women before and after they give birth. If the pack will even accept me continuing to work among them. And I would, of course, need Mom's help both in sending people to the clinic and in supporting my continuing to work in town.

I mostly wanted to write this letter to thank you both, in case this is the last meaningful contact I have with either of you. You gave me a wonderful childhood, so don't think that any of this is your fault. I loved taking care of my siblings, playing games with them, reading with Dad. I'm still Holly, still the girl you both raised. I just happened to fall in love with someone you don't approve of me being with. I know Flint and I will both miss you and worry about you. We will always love you, and hope to hear from you.

Love,

Holly

I thought about putting in a plea to let the younger ones come and see me, but I didn't dare. I kind of felt like I deserved to have them taken from me. I sighed and folded up the letter, leaving it on a desk that I wasn't taking with me. Dad had made it for me when I'd been a young teen. I ran my hand over it's surface, and then I got up and tried not to look at everything else I was leaving behind as I waited for Flint.

Flint returned in short order, two large packs on his back, but they hardly seemed to weigh him down. "I'm as ready as I can be." He said as he entered. He looked worn, though I thought it was probably mostly emotionally. "I can carry part of your things if you need me to." He said, his eyes soft when he looked at me. He looked like he was hiding something. I could see it just behind his eyes, the way he couldn't quite meet mine for an extended period of time.

I gathered up everything. "What's wrong Flint?" I asked him as we started out. I was in my werewolf form, the strongest form I had. "What happened?"

Flint looked down. "While I was at the trading post, just before we left, uncle Fenrick came to see me. He said we're not welcome in town anymore. He gave us until sundown to leave." His voice had a hint of anger beneath it. "He also had our credit at the trading post stripped."

I whimpered just a little. Well, there wouldn't be any working in the town for me anymore then. "I'm so sorry Flint, I know you had a lot of credit built up." I said with a sigh. "At least we got the cabin built." I gave him an apologetic look. "Things have to get better at some point." I said, and believed it. We'd work things out. But I wished we didn't have to do it so alone, that we'd gotten some sign that someone's so-called unconditional love for us remained.

"They'll come around. This is just their immediate response. Uncle Fenrick has always loved us, and mom and dad can't hate us forever." Flint said, though he sounded crestfallen, defeated. "Come on, Holly. Let's go start a new life. This one was getting stale anyway."

We made it to the cabin eventually, tired and worn out from moving all our things at once, as much as we could carry. After lugging everything inside I sat down on the floor panting and looking around at our place. We were so alone now, it seemed like it was going to be our own, whole new world. I put a hand on my belly, though it was far, far too early for there to be anything noticeable there. We'd have our children here, the four litters we had promised the Seer we'd have. I worried, as usual. We'd be having and raising them alone, too, it looked like. I'd always thought I'd have Mom's help with how close we'd all been.

"I can see the worry in your eyes." Flint said, setting down his packs and coming to sit next to me. "You're an amazing midwife. You can birth your own pups, and I know how to hunt and gather. I can provide for us. With my egg sniffing ability we can eat like kings for the rest of our lives." He gave a small snort. "I know you're not a big fan of eggs, but you'll only have to eat them for every meal for the rest of our lives, so it's not like you'll have much time to get bored of them." He gave me a playful nip. I could tell he was actively trying to cheer me up.

I leaned against him and gave him a small smile. "I am worried. And emotionally drained. And physically tired. But I'm also excited, and happy to be with you." I licked his snout and got up. I laid out some furs, not feeling like dealing with getting anything unpacked and set up. Then I shifted into my wolf form and curled up, giving him a look that asked him if he were joining me. It had taken us a while to get here with all our things, but I had to admit it was still an early bedtime. "I know it's early, but I just want to end today." I said with a yawn. "Want to join me? We can start living our new lives tomorrow."

He smiled. "Sounds good to me." His body shifted into it's wolf form and he curled up next to me, laying his head on my back. "I love you, Holly, and I have no regrets. I'd give it all up again in a heartbeat to have you in my life."

I snorted, but also turned my head around enough to lick him right next to his eye. "Tell me that again when you have to play midwife in a few months." I chuckled at him. "I can't do everything myself when I'll be in labor." I let a moment of quiet pass between us. "I love you too, Flint. I wouldn't give you up to have any of it back either."

We spent two weeks seeing no one but the Seer, and we didn't see much of Neila either. Apparently when we weren't seeing her as the Seer, we were allowed to treat her as a friend and use her name. Flint knew her better than I did, but I was working on getting to know her. She was our only neighbor after all, and the only person so far not to have shunned us. For a few days, I hadn't expected anything, but when we got into the second week I had hoped we'd hear from our parents. Surely our own mother couldn't just treat us as thought we'd dropped off the face of the Earth even if Emmett could just push us aside?

When I came out onto the porch one day though, it wasn't Runa I saw sitting on a rock skinning a rabbit. Anthovis had always put me just a little on edge. I had a vague memory of thinking of him as dangerous and troublesome, something about his first encounter with the kin. He was large, both just a little taller than Emmett and definitely wider. He had a wildness about his appearance, a hardness in his eyes, but he'd always been either kind or silent to everyone I'd seen him interact with. In deed anyway. When he spoke he had a way of almost always being somehow insulting.

"Uh, hello there?" I said a bit nervously. Vise just didn't strike me at the accepting type.

Anthovis looked up and grunted at me. "I got back from trekking West through the mountains, sold some rare plants I'd run into, and heard about you and Flint moving out here. I've been thinking on it since." He looked back to his rabbit, which he was almost done with.

"Alright?" I said, not exactly sure how it had landed him here this morning. I was feeling defensive though, if he'd just come to tell me how gross Flint and I were he could leave. I still felt guilty about us, but this was our home, our world, and I was trying to make it a place where we could feel safe and happy without being judged.

"Way I see it, I was on the wrong side last time. I mean don't get me wrong, I was disgusted when I heard. But it reminded me of how disgusted I was when I found out my siblings had taken mates within the kin. I was wrong there, about that. I lost their trust for a while, lost them to some extent for a short bit." He shrugged one shoulder. "You and I have never been that close, and I'm pretty sure most people would agree I'm actually on the wrong side of things again here, but whatever. It's not like I'm being made to sleep with my sister, just like I'm not being forced to take a wife among the kin." I was actually very touched, and I supposed the look on my face must have told Vise that because he cleared his throat and seemed to remember his normally abrasive nature. "Besides, dogs do this kind of crap all the time."

I sighed heavily and gave him a stern look, then pointed to the rabbit. "Do you want me to put that on to cook for you?"

Vise nodded. "I've got a couple more, we'll make a right feast of it. I thought your ... Flint might have eggs around anyway and I miss being able to buy them easily."

I nodded and padded back into the house to get things moving.

Flint showed up not too much later, his pack full of things he'd collected in the woods. He didn't bring home all that many eggs since he knew I didn't care for them, but he was good at finding other things as well. Today his pack was full of vegetables, mushrooms, and a fresh dozen of eggs. He still brought them home, he just didn't expect me to eat them. When he came in and saw Vise sitting on the couch he stopped in his tracks, the smile on his face faltering.

"Uncle Vise . . . I, um . . . have you been to town?" He looked worried.

Vise laughed, a big, booming, unexpected laugh. The man just always looked serious. "I was there a week ago kiddo." He said happily. I came to stand in view so Flint knew I was alright, though I was a little back and behind Vise. "I already discussed it all with your sis ... uh, wife." Vise said awkwardly and scratched the side of his face. "Eh like I said, dogs do this kind of thing." He shrugged and I rolled my eyes at Flint and shook my head as I smiled to let him know that hadn't exactly beenall our uncle had said.

Flint smiled, looking honestly pleased. Even if it was just one part of our family, I could tell he was as happy as I was to have someone from our old life who didn't hate us. It was nice to feel like we had a family again, even if we were still missing large portions of it. "I brought a dozen eggs home. Do you like King's Hawk eggs?" He asked, holding his pack up in front of him.

Vise nodded. "I do! I brought rabbits Holly is cooking up, figured we could make a good feast of it, rabbit and eggs and whatever else."

"How is everyone?" I asked, feeling conflicted about the question, but desperately wanting to know. I still cared about the people we'd left behind.

Vise frowned. "Well, good enough I suppose. The youngest of your siblings seem a bit confused and upset, of course no one will tell them what's going on. Everyone else is taking their sweet time thinking on it. Imava won't say a word about it either way, and Emmett's more or less doing the same. I think they remember how disgusted I was too. Em's really troubled, I think he's fighting with Runa a bit about it all, but he hasn't talked about the details with me yet."

"I'm sorry if they're fighting about us, they shouldn't be." I said sadly as I fussed with the rabbits.

"We knew it would cause trouble, but we'd hoped it would only be us who felt the effects. This wasn't precisely something we could avoid. We fell in love, and then it was difficult to figure out what to do next." Flint shrugged, looking sad. "The last thing I wanted to do was cause problems with mom and dad. Does the whole village know, or just our family?"

"People assume, but don't know for sure. And there are wilder stories than the truth floating about. Most people have it right though. I mean you two moved off into the mountains alone together, then Fenrick cut off your funds, and Runa appears to have disowned you ..." Vise shrugged. "It adds up to incest." I wanted to be angry at him for using the word to describe Flint and I's deep connection so disgustingly simple like that, but it was true, and it wasn't like I was advocating everyone else should do what we'd done. "Some people think you're servants to the Seer now, and some people think Holly's pregnant by some beast and was whisked out of town to be cared for by her brother while she tries to birth it or abort it, I don't know. Crazy things, rumors. The beast idea gets really complicated, it's kind of fun to hear them try and make that one stick." Vise chuckled to himself.

Flint laughed. "Well, at least someone is amused by this situation. Have you considered starting your own rumors? You could go back and tell them that Holly had a litter of fire breathing demons and we're trying to tame them up here in the mountains and build an army of monster babies for the Seer."

"Ha!" Vise barked a laugh. "That'd be good, maybe I will! You know, more than anything the rumor mill and the kin's nosiness has made me really realize they're people, too." Vise made a face. "So much like humans, in all the worst ways."

I hit him with a pillow from the couch, which made Vise laugh again. It was nice to have another voice, another laugh in the house. I finished cooking everything and we ate very pleasantly together. Vise continued to make his sour remarks, but we knew him, knew his ways, and so it didn't dampen the mood. He was just a relative we'd had a little bit to do with growing up, but I was oddly joyful he'd come by even after he left. It was a relief to see someone who didn't think too badly of us.

It was a week after our first full moon out in our own cabin when I woke up to voices outside and nudged Flint awake. I sat up closer to the window to listen and heard Vise's voice. " ... such a pain about this? Clearly you've got something similar going on in your head or you wouldn't be here! So don't go grumbling at me about what I should be thinking. I have my own thoughts, and I can think them all I want."

"Alright, alright. It just seems odd to me you couldn't accept the kin, but you can accept them." I suppressed my instant desire to run outside and throw my arms around Emmett. I felt happy and worried, sad that he was here. That he was here though had to mean he didn't hate us completely, right?

"I did accept the kin eventually." Vise insisted.

"Mostly. You still insult them." Dad said, and I got out of bed and dressed, we were going to have visitors that morning it seemed and I liked to cook in my hybrid form when I wanted things to be neat.

"Eh I insult everyone." Vaise said dismissively. "As I grow older it becomes more and more acceptable. I'm going to be that grumpy hermit in the woods that yells obscenities. Look I'm going to knock, so if you wasted the four hour walk coming here just to go back you'd best go ahead and turn around now."

Flint was up and on his feet fast. He shifted to his wolf form and headed for the front door. "I can't believe it's dad." He said, and his tail was wagging, probably without him consciously making the decision to do so. He looked up at me, his eyes bright, and it was like he was a little excited kid again. He ran into the living room and sat down in front of the door, waiting for the knock.

I giggled a little despite myself, and then made my way to the fire to put on a kettle. There was a knock, the booming knock of Vise, and I hurried to the door to be there when Flint opened it. I'd let him do the honors though. I felt nervous and excited. I knew Flint had always been particularly fond of Dad though, so I'd let him do it.

Flint charged forward and hit the handle with his paw unlatching it. I saw him physically restrain himself so he didn't look overeager, but I knew it was a challenge as the door swung open for him to just sit there.

"Hey, Dad.' He said surprisingly calmly as the door opened. I could see his tail flicking like it really wanted to wag.

Em was standing to one side of Vise, he seemed to be fighting a grin. Vise looked between them and then slapped his brother hard on the back. Dad burst into laughter and came forward to wrap his arms around Flint. Which made me start crying I was so happy. Vise pat my shoulder awkwardly, looking a bit horrified and unsure of what to do. Dad gave Flint a scratch behind the ears and and then hugged me, too. Even though I'd been ten when he'd come into my life, I'd only ever felt as safe in Flint's arms and I took full advantage, shoving my wet face against his neck. He rocked me back and forth on my feet. "Shh, Holly it's ok." He said soothingly, though he also sounded a bit concerned. Vise grunted and moved past us to sit in the living room, in the chair he usually took up when he was over.

Flint circled both of us, wagging his tail and whining excited until we'd all settled down a bit and then we all came into the living room and sat down. "Dad," Flint said, his eyes warm and his expression happy. "We've really, really missed you."

Dad smiled a bit sadly at us. "I've missed you kids too." He said, sighing. "It's really, really good to see you're doing alright. I've been worried."

"How are Gendell and Sorik?" I jumped in to ask about our youngest siblings, they were ten and Vise had said they seemed confused about everything. That was all I'd heard or seen of them in over a month, and I had been accustomed to seeing them almost daily.

Dad sighed again, face getting a bit tense. "Well enough, confused. Runa has told them not to come see you, doesn't even want them talking about you, but they're ten and two people they love and care about have just vanished into thin air. I've tried to tell her ..." He shook his head. "Well, we've been talking a lot about it."

I frowned at my hands, kind of sorry I'd asked. "I hope they'll be alright." I said quietly.

Dad smiled. "Oh kids are resilient, they'll be ok whatever way the wind blows. I mean look at ... Well." He paused, confused for a moment, and then seemed to set his jaw. "All of you kids had it rough at first, and I think you've all turned out fairly alright all things considered." He nodded as though agreeing with himself. Vise chuckled at him and Dad shot him a short glare.

"We didn't mean to hurt anyone." Flint said, his ears low. "Things just happened, and we cared about each other. We couldn't see another way to live and be happy." Flint tried to explain, but he looked sad. I guessed it probably upset him that he had to explain his love, when to him it was natural. It was difficult to feel like you had to explain the best thing that had ever happened to you. "We saw the Seer, and she told us that moving out of town was the only way we could hope to be happy. We didn't know we'd do so much damage in the mean time."

Dad pressed his lips together and took a moment to answer. "I don't think you meant to fall in love, it just happened that way. I can't say it's what I wanted for you, or even what would have been ideal if you'd gotten to pick yourselves." He shrugged and shook his head. "It is what it is, and I just don't feel like I can hate you for something that I don't think was your fault. I don't think there's a way to 'fix' you, so I can't see the point in hurting you and everyone else by continuing to be angry about what we can't change. I love you, you're still my kids, how could I not?"

I started crying again. I had to admit some of that was the pups making their presence known, but it was also such a relief to hear him say such things. It also made me ache more for Mom to love us again, I wanted her soothing tones and kind smile horribly. Vise groaned softly, but didn't seem to want to interrupt the moment any more than that. "Oh shut up." I mumbled at him.

Flint crossed the room and sat down next to dad, leaning against his leg. "I love you, dad. Thanks for coming. As much as this place is nice, it can be lonely without the family, and Uncle Vise is routinely cranky, even if I keep him stocked up on all the eggs he can eat. Are you staying for breakfast?"

Dad grinned and nodded. "I'd love to." He leaned down to kiss Flint's head and then took up scratching him behind the ears.

I got up and gathered the things I'd need to prepare food for everyone. As I did I could hear Dad pulling out things from a pack he'd brought. They were some of Flint's things he'd had to leave behind, and a few food items that weren't available in the immediate area, things you got from town.

"Thanks, dad." I heard flint say. I looked over briefly to see that Emmett was giving Flint an old pack, the one he usually carried on his egg runs. It had been a gift from Dad when he was just a pup, a human made bag of high quality. Flint had used it for everything. He didn't have a lot of possessions, but that was one of the few things he really valued. "I missed this old pack. It's like having a long lost friend back."

"I have a bunch of your other things too, I just can't carry everything at once. You too Holly, you left a lot behind." Dad said.

"I know, I wasn't sure what you'd be ok with me taking."

Dad nodded and smiled. "You took the music box I gave you though, the one I brought back from my first trip back into the human lands to get medicine for Tivald."

I blushed. "It was one of the first really nice things I'd ever been given that was just for play and not to help me care for my siblings."

"It's ok Holly, I gave it to you as a gift. It and everything else I ever gave to you will be yours as long as you want it." Dad said. Then he took a deep breath. "How are you doing Holly? You two are ... expecting, I assume?"

I nodded and blushed a bit, embarrassed, ashamed that he'd seen the last portion of when Flint and I had conceived that first full moon together. "So far nothing unusual."

"It makes me nervous, you being so far out, away from help." Dad said and then frowned at his hands. I couldn't help but think he might be considering if Mom would help me even if things were going badly. That sent a stab of pain through me.

"She's really angry, isn't she? Do you think she'll ever forgive us? Does she still love us, even?" I asked, sitting down once everything was started.

Dad gave me a sad, helpless look. "I think she still loves you, it's what makes her so vehemently angry. But I don't know if she'll realize that anytime soon, or forgive you."

Flint whined a little. "If she'll listen, when you get back, tell her I love her, and that we didn't mean to hurt her. I'm lucky in that I don't remember my father much, but I remember just enough to know that she saved me from some horrible things. Even if she hates me, I'll never stop loving my mom"

Dad nodded, looking terribly upset. "She really doesn't hate you as much as she thinks she does." He said quietly and pet Flint more vigorously. Then he shook his head and smiled. "Enough! We're going to have a good day! I have funny stories to tell you about what people have been up to." He grinned and launched into telling us about Tivald's latest quest for the most beautiful, out of reach female he could find.

Vise stayed for breakfast and lunch, singing with Dad when he convinced Vise to drink during lunch. They sang a raunchy song about drinking. Then Vise left, and Dad spent some time just being with each of us. He helped me with dishes, and went out with Flint to check a few traps. I knew he wouldn't be able to come up often, but I was so happy he'd come, that we'd see him sometimes anyway.

When Flint and Dad returned, I could tell by Dad's face he had to get going home. "I'll be back up kids, but I've really got to get back home." He said, rubbing my fur covered head.

"Thanks again for coming. Send our love to the little ones, and mom . . . but only if it doesn't get you in trouble. I'd hate to cause any more trouble than we already have." Flint said. He nuzzled against Em's leg and then came to stand next to me. "Be safe on the journey home."

Dad grinned and nodded. "I will, I love you both." He said, and left.

I leaned against Flint, smiling, and I sighed happily. "It was a really good day, huh?"

He nipped lightly at my hip. "It was a really good day. I was afraid we'd never see anyone from home again." His tail wrapped around my legs. "I feel better than I have since we moved out here. How about you?"

I grinned wolfishly at him, tail smacking on the ground. "Me too. It's nice to know he wasn't lying when he told us he'd always love us and be our Dad. You probably don't even remember being worried about that but we all were that first year or so."

I nipped at Flint's shoulder, then his neck, and then I tackled him to the ground and playfully started darting around him. I wanted to play, though I was already planning on turning this play session to love making when I'd had my fun.

Flint laughed and rolled to his feet before pouncing after me, going for my neck in mock combat. He wasn't as fast as I was, but he was bigger and with a lot more weight behind his lunge. He tackled me to the ground and rolled us both through the grass, his teeth around my neck. He withdrew them and licked my nose.

"Got you!" He barked.

I giggled and scrambled out from under him, running up on the porch and then looking back at him to make sure he was chasing. Then I ran inside and had him chase me around the couch a few times. He almost caught me a few times by going up and over the center, so then I ran to the bedroom laughing.

He followed me into the bedroom and then pounced on me from behind, only this time I felt hands grab my hips and pull me backwards, and when I looked over my shoulder I could see that he was in his hybrid form. He pulled me back against his body, his bare skin rubbing against my fur as he wrapped his powerful arms around me, his partially hard shaft pushing teasingly against my hindquarters. He kissed my neck. "Going to try and get away again?" He asked, his fingers running down my chest, gently pushing against my canid nipples.

I gasped and chuckled, my tail going to one side as I wiggled my hips at him, against his hardening cock. "Hmmm, maybe not just now." I said. I turned around enough to lick his manhood with interest, keeping my hips facing him as much as possible.

He gave a pleased moan as he finished getting hard, his human looking shaft sticking firmly up between his legs. He leaned forward and kisses my muzzle, and then pulled my hips against his erection. He took my tail and pulled it to one side, his cock pushing against my entrance. In wolf form my clit was on the lower edge of my opening, and he pushed the tip of his member against it and rubbed his dripping tip across my most sensitive place. He pushed a finger into me from behind, sliding it deep inside my wolf-sex as he rubbed his tip against my nub of pleasure.

"Oh Flint, my love." I moaned. "I want that inside me, my handsome man." I said softly and blushed. I was always so vocal when he was touching me, it seemed like anything might spill out of my mouth.

He grabbed me, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me back against his body as he let his shaft slide deep into my body. He moaned against my neck. He picked me up off the ground, his shaft still in me and carried me to the bed where he put me down and began to make love to me, sliding his length back and forth beneath my tail, grindings his hips into mine with each inward thrust.

"Gods, your body feels amazing." He said with a groan. His cock was starting to twitch inside of me.

"Oh I love you." I whimpered in pleasure. "You feel amazing, so good." I clenched my inner muscles on purpose, to stimulate him, but the added friction caused my body to quiver and clench harder as I came around him with a howl of pleasure.

Flint grabbed the scruff of my neck and held on to it tightly as he began to thrust harder into me, his shaft twitching as he came hard inside of me. He let out a loud groan of satisfaction as his cock jumped with the explosion of semen. He kept sliding into me another dozen times, the inward pusshes getting deeper but slower until he buried himself hard in my body and leaned over me to kiss my neck. "I love you too, Holly. You're so amazing." He slid me onto my side so he could stay inside of me, my back pressed against his chest.

I giggled happily and then sighed, turning my head to lick his face. "Dad will know our children. They'll have him at least. I'm so happy tonight." I licked him again, and settled in for some good cuddles and happy affection..

Flint ran his fingers through my fur. "Me too. It gives me hope that maybe they'll have both their grandparents some day. It's good to be in a positive place for a change."

Chapter 4

Emmett coming back into our lives gave us some semblance of peace. We settled into our new life though, the weeks passing in a new rhythm that was relaxed and enjoyable for both of us, though I knew every time I caught Holly looking at the empty clinic that she was missing her old job helping expectant mothers. She was showing with our own cubs now, and I think that served to remind her even more of all we'd given up to be together. I couldn't help but feel guilty. I still had my work, but Holly had nothing but some books she'd brought with her to study, and the general care of our home. I took her out hunting a few times, and I took her gathering, but as she became increasingly pregnant I decided it was best not to expose her to the dangers of the woods.

After a while we started seeing a lot more of Emmett. Dad seemed to be spending a suspicious amount of time up in the mountains, but I wasn't sure what to make of it. Also, on occasion our older siblings had started to come and see us, which was a nice change of pace for us, and I knew it made Holly happy. She'd practically raised us.

I came home early from my trip out gathering and headed into the house, looking for my wife. When I found her she was sitting in the living room talking to Tivald. This was the first time I'd seen him visit. I tilted my head in greeting.

"Tivald, how have you been?" I asked, pleased to see the rowdiest of my brothers.

"Good, good, I . . . well, I wanted to come up and see you two, and to let you know that I don't care who you sleep with. You're still my brother and sister and I love you both." A grin spread across his face. "Just not as much as you love each other." He burst into loud laughter.

Holly even allowed herself a little laugh at the perversion. "Now don't get distracted, you were about to crack and tell me about Dad being in the mountains so much. You keep dropping hints, out with it you weasel!"

Tivald's face sobered and he sighed. "Going to insist on talking about that, eh?" He growled a little. "Mom and Dad have been fighting a lot lately. Loudly. Dad hasn't been sleeping there much, and when he does it's on the couch. Anytime they're in the same room for more than a few minutes at a time they start yelling and arguing." He shrugged. "Mom is being stubborn about this. None of us siblings have been telling her that we're visiting you."

I winced. "It's all over us, then?"

Tivald nodded. "You've definitely made them fight worse than anything I've ever done."

Holly whimpered once. "Maybe I should talk to Dad. They love each other so much, I couldn't stand it if we ended their relationship. He should just let her have her way."

Tivald shook his head. "No, I love mom, but she's wrong on this. Listen, what you guys are doing is . . . well, it's icky, and weird, but it's not horrible. It doesn't deserve the anger that mom is pouring into it. She's hurting herself by not letting this go. She's like a different person, and it's not healthy for her. The worst part is that I think she wants to forgive you, she wants to accept this, but she can't shake her belief that it's somehow her fault. If Dad can't convince her to let it go, she'll never be right again."

I gave a soft huff of frustration. "I've never known mom to be this angry."

Tivald shrugged. "I've got her close a few times, but never for this long."

Holly sighed. "What about Fenrick and Imava? Is Uncle Fen just going along with Mom's tune, or what?"

Tivald gave an apologetic smile. "Well, he's doing better than mom is. At first he was just as angry, but I think it has run its course. Imava seems to have calmed him down a lot, and he's listening to reason. I think it's easier for him since he's not a biological parent, but he still has to show an outward hard stance on the subject since he's the pack Alpha."

Holly nodded. "Uncle Vise said he thought Imava remembered how he'd been about Dad and her mating with the kin. She's diplomatic though, knows how and when to bring things up. Dad is a little less like that, and I guess Mom is a bit less receptive to having her mind changed on this."

Holly seemed to shake off the frown that'd settled over her features. "So, what impossible woman have you been chasing around now Ti? Last I heard it was Avidra, and she wasn't having anything to do with you."

Conversation settled into the more mundane after that, and it was nice to just chat about everyday things, the kind of conversation we might have had with Tivald if we hadn't left town to move out and carry on our incestuous relationship. Between him and dad it felt like life was getting back to normal, though the void left by mom was still painfully evident. Now we also had the weight of the argument between our parents resting on our shoulders.

After Tivald left we spent a quiet, somewhat morose evening together, sharing a meal and heading to bed without making love. The argument between our parents, I knew, was weighing on both of us. There was nothing we could do about it, but it still didn't feel good to know we were the cause of this mess. After a time, though, we both managed to fall asleep for what I hoped would be a long night of sleep that would leave me thinking more clearly and feeling better in the morning.

It wasn't to be.

I woke up to the sound Holly screaming. My eyes snapped open and I tried to leap up in a fury, but there were powerful hands holding me down. My eyes quickly adjusted to the dark and I made out some fifteen men and women, kin, in the room. Holly was being dragged off the bed opposite me, and she was kicking screaming, trying to resist her attackers.

"Holly!" I growled her named and reached for her, but then powerful arms were dragging me to the ground, and no amount of fighting could break the hold me. Holly's screams faded away. She was being dragged somewhere, and I was being dragged somewhere else.

"Lash his legs together!" Someone called and I was pinned down while some men tied me down.

"Let me go!" I growled, snapping at the arms nearest. "If you hurt Holly I'll . . . " A fist slammed into my head which only served to make me more angry. I thrashed with everything I had in me, and that's when more fists and kicks landed on me. I tried to fight, to break the hold on me, but I was pummeled until blackness took over my vision.

When I came to again I was in some kind of cave. There were torches around the room, and I was tied to a rock slab. I flexed my muscles against the bindings but the rope was heavy, braided cord that I couldn't hope to budge. I tried to open my mouth and demand to know who was doing this, but my mouth had been bound shut, and I was surrounded by wolf bane, a flower that forced me into my werewolf form. I couldn't shift while it was this close, which meant I couldn't slip my bindings.

"Flint." A voice sounded from a ways away. It was a woman's voice. "You're a disgusting thing." She walked up next to me, a werewolf I'd seen around town before, but I didn't personally know her. "Fucking your own sister, and then just laying there in bed with her like it was natural. You're a sick, sick child. We spent a lot of time deciding what to do with you two. Some of us wanted to kill you, to purge your disgusting filth, but I and a few of the others think you're young enough that we can fix what your whore of a sister has done to you. You need to be taught to not go sticking your dick in your sister's disgusting cunt."

From the shadows around the room other people moved towards me, females, all of them smelling of heat and sex. I didn't have to guess what they intended.

"You should relax, Flint. This will be a good experience for you, and at the end of the night you'll take one of these girls as your wife, so decide which one you like the best." The first woman said again.

I strained against my bindings, a growl rising up my throat to be muffled by the bindings around my muzzle. I tried to claw at the ropes around my wrists but I was bound too tightly to escape.

"Calm down, Flint." The woman said, and she climbed onto the slab next to me and grabbed my balls. I roared against the bonds, straining until my wrists began to bleed. "Look how powerful he is, ladies?" She said to the girls gathered around me. "All you have to do to win this stud is show him how much better you are than his whore of a sister. Come on, who wants to go first?"

Two of the females came forward at the same time, and they both growled at one another. The taller of the two flexed her powerful form in challenge, and the smaller female backed off. She came forward. I recognized her as one of the trade-post-keeper's daughters, Kally

"Flint, I know you've been doing awful, disgusting things, but I still want you. Let me show you how good it can be." She leaned over me, taking in my scent and moving her nose down my body. The other female had grabbed my sheath and was stroking it, trying to get my cock to slide free. The growl fled my throat. I tried to beg them to stop as a wave of pleasure passed up my shaft. She grabbed me hard and forced my cock to slide out of my sheath. It was painful, but then she slid her tongue down my length and I let out a low whine.

Kally put a hand on my chest. "Just let this happen. I'll make you feel really good, Flint. I'm good at this. Trust me."

My cock was getting hard. I couldn't help myself. I didn't want any of this, but I also couldn't resist the sensation. Kally straddled me, pushing her hips backwards, and the other woman lifted my cock and lined it up with Kally's entrance. She sank back onto me, enveloping my body in warmth. I couldn't escape what she was doing to me, and I couldn't stop being hard. She began to ride me faster, working my shaft in a way that Holly never had. She was making a strange circling motion, and flexing her interior muscles in a strange rhythm. It felt good, and I hated myself for feeling good. I yelped against my bindings and surged up again, ripping my wrists against the ropes, but all this did was slam my cock further into Kally. She moaned and began to ride me harder. Her body convulsed around my shaft and began to cum. I couldn't stop myself. She kept riding me until I was empty and shrinking inside of her.

She leaned close to me. "Come on Flint, pick me. The others aren't as good as I am." She licked my face in an affectionate way that just made me want to cry. That sort of affection was something special between Holly and I.

The wolf woman who'd started this whole thing came up between my legs again. She'd come back to tease me again, and she took my cock in her mouth and began to suck it. I was limp, spent, but she was sucking me hard again. My mating instinct was too powerful in my werewolf form, and before long my body was ready to go again, and another female came forward. I didn't know this one.

"I'm Tatyana." She said as she mounted me. She was far wetter than Kally had been, so wet that she slipped over me with no resistance at all. "I'll always be like this for you, any time you want me flint." She rode me fast and hard, using me like a sex toy until her body convulsed in a powerful orgasm and then she looked at the other woman.

"He didn't cum." She said, sounding angry. She looked at me. "You didn't cum. What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"It's not your fault, Tatyana." The woman assured her. "He's just had an orgasm. It's not as easy to make him go again."

Tatyana still looked angry. She growled and slapped me across the face hard, with her claws extended. I felt my face rip a little as the strike, and tasted blood. "I didn't want to fucking mate you anyway you disgusting piece of shit."

"That's enough Tatya, next?" She called, and Tatya slipped off my still stiff member and another girl came forward. She backed onto my cock quickly, her hot-wet sex swallowing up my shaft as I whimpered and strained weakly against the ropes.

"I'm Nagia." She said as she slid over me. She leaned forward and licked the cuts on my face, giving me a small whimper. "I'm sorry she hurt you. I will never hurt you if you choose me, Flint." She began to ride me, sliding up and down my poll as she began to pant and groan. She laid her head against me and nuzzled into my neck, a sweet gesture that just reminded me of my sister. I closed my eyes and Holly was there for me. I would have said her name, screamed it in defiance, but I couldn't. I came, hard, my balls tightening and shaft convulsing as it spilled out into Nagia while she came on me. She licked my face several times and made a soft whimpering sound.

"That was nice, Flint. I'd like to do that again, some time when you can really enjoy me. I promise to treat you well. Nagia. Don't forget me." She slid off my shaft that was quickly shrinking again. There was still one more girl in the room waiting for her turn. The first woman who'd talked to me began to suck and nip at my shaft again. It took her a bit longer, but with the smell of women ready for sex it didn't take as long as I would have liked. My body was betraying me.

The next woman approached me, another girl I didn't know. "I'm Silver." She said, sliding backwards onto my cock. I couldn't penetrate her at first. She was extremely tight. She also seemed nervous. She kept pushing, she was wet, but her sex felt like it had never been used before. Finally, with a sharp gasp, she sank me into about half my length. She let out a sharp cry and leaned over me.

"You're my first, Flint. I want you to choose me so that you will be my only." WIth that she began to move, her expression clearly pained as she began trying to work me into her body. Guilt flooded through me. I would never choose her. I would never choose any of these women. I couldn't. I didn't care for them. I didn't' know them. I certainly didn't love them. I just wanted Holly. What was happening to her? If they were doing this to me I knew they were doing the same to her, raping her. I tried to howl in emotional agony, but I couldn't draw the air to do it. Silver was breathing hard.

"Oh, Flint, gods, it's really good." She gasped, and then her sex tightened even harder on mine, and to my embarrassment I came again. She laid on me for ten minutes after she'd finished, her head rested on my chest. When she got up she licked my face affectionately. "Please, choose me." She said, and then she was gone. The women done with me had left the room. My cock was limp, used, aching from overuse.

The only woman remaining was the initial woman. She came up between my legs and grabbed my shaft again. She began to suck on me. "I'm not an option, but I do plan on having sex with you." She said, a malicious look on her face. She began to suck me more vigorously, her tongue running up my length. I could smell her arousal, and my body, even as sore as it was, responded to her. Once I was hard she climbed onto my body and slid herself down my length.

"Oh yes, that's a big cock you have, Flint." She laughed and began to ride me with a steadily increasing pace. I wasn't sure how long it went on, but she came hard after a while, and I thought it might finally be over, but she pulled off of me and then eased back down onto me, only this time I wasn't pushing into her sex. "Have you ever had a woman's ass, Flint?" She asked. "It's a special gift. I'm going to give that to you now. I bet your sister never let you have this." With that she pushed back onto me, and an impossibly tight orifice slid down around my cock. It was like fucking the virgin, only she didn't seem to be in any discomfort.

She began to move up and down my shaft, moaning and taking pleasure in my body. It was starting to feel good for me too. She came on me, and then a while later she came again, and wither her second orgasm I couldn't help but lose myself into her ass. I moaned as I came, a useless, whore of a man who'd let multiple women have me. I wondered if Holly could ever forgive me. I wondered if I could ever forgive myself. She pulled off of me, laughing, my shaft sliding back into its sheath.

"I'll be back soon to find out who you chose. Remember, it can't be me." She laughed again as she vanished, leaving me alone and shamed, tied painfully to the slab.

I wept in the silence by myself. Part of it was for me, but more of it was for Holly. I hated imagining what they'd done to her. I hated being helpless. I felt like I wanted to die. It seemed that death would be preferable to living with the shame that had completely enveloped my world. After a time four large men came in and unfastened my bindings. I found the strength to fight again, but there were too many of them, and I was drained. They tied my arms behinds my back and dragged me out of the cave back out into the night. The female was there, another male servicing her from behind. She moaned and panted as he finished inside of her and then pushed her aside. She stood up, fresh cum dripping down her thigh as she approached me.

"Did you have enough time to think about who you want, Flint?" She asked. She nodded to the men holding me, and one of them reached up and unfastened the binding on my mouth it fell away, and I worked my jaw, my lips going into a snarl.

"Which girl would you like? I'm assuming not Tatyana." Then she made a half laugh. "Or maybe you liked it rough?"

I growled my reply.

"So, which one? They're all sweet girls. A few of them even felt bad for you. One of them is just a little bit away from here crying right now for your fate. Isn't that sweet?" The woman said, her tail wagging in sick satisfaction.

"None of them." I said, my voice harsh. "I'm in love with Holly, and no one else will ever do." I felt guilt about the virgin I'd taken, and the woman who'd try to be sweet. I hated them for what they'd done to me, though. I couldn't have loved them even if I wanted to try. Thinking of them just brought me shame. It made me sick. "I'm in love with Holly." I growled the words, louder, calling them into the night.

"Well, I thought you might say that." The woman laughed. "I thought you were made of stronger stuff than she was. She only had to try one man before she picked a replacement for you. I mean, she didn't even try the others we had lined up for her. Just one and Holly was ready to trade you in."

Her words stung like a cut. "That's a lie. I know Holly, and she'd never do that. You people are the ones who are sick."

She shrugged. "Believe what you want, but I assure you, Holly is already back on her way to town with her new husband. Syvald."

The name made my heart skip a beat. Syvald was the man that she'd gone to when she was trying to avoid me. It was still impossible, but she'd known exactly what name to use to raise my hackles. "I trust Holly. I love her." I said, the words cold and determined.

The woman sighed and shrugged. "Guys, educate him for a bit. He's not being reasonable. I want you to keep beating him until he chooses one of our nice girls. Don't hit him in the head. I want him conscious."

The men closed in around me and the beating began. These were men that I could have taken one on one. I was bigger than any of them, stronger, but there were four of them, I was tied up, and I was completely worn. Bones broke, my blood colored the ground, but I clenched my teeth together, closed my eyes, and thought of Holly. I wasn't sure how long they beat me. It was difficult to hang on to time. It felt like forever.

"Give us a name, Flint. You're going to end up with one of those girls. You might as well pick one and save yourself some pain." One of the men whispered to me.

"I . . . love . . . Holly." I growled, spitting up blood. The beating resumed. I thought I was going to die. I wasn't even sure how broken I was, but then there was a massive growl, a roar that shook the air. Screaming sounded all around, and I was lost in a world of confusion as the abuse stopped. I was staring up at the stars and then suddenly there was a face above me.

"Uncle?" I asked, my words slurred, spoken between teeth that had broken as I'd clenched my jaw closed. I'd bitten my tongue several times.

"Flint, Gods . . . " Let me help you up.

My heart hammered in my chest and I tried to sit up, but I couldn't. I was too badly beaten. My muscles were seized up. "Holly!" I called out. "Please, find Holly!" I begged.

"Your sister . . . your wife is alive." Fenrick said, putting a surprisingly tender hand on my shoulder. "We got her first. Just relax. We'll take you to her." My heart was aching. He hadn't said she was alright. He'd only said she was alive. Tears of anger, frustration, crippling sadness slid from my eyes.

Chapter 5

I saw them start to beat Flint as they carted me away. My terror turned to anger, but it didn't do any good. For all the strength in me, it wasn't enough. They bound me roughly so I was forced to stop fighting so hard and then forced me to walk as I snarled and stewed. I wasn't sure how far they walked me from the house, but we ended up in a cave. They threw me roughly to the ground and lit the place up with torches they'd brought.

"She's got quite a little swell there already." A man I knew vaguely as Inco said with a chuckle. "I guess the perverted work quickly."

"I brought herbs for that, but we'll have to convert her to sanity before. If I give them now she'll lose the vermin and then be cramping and bleeding through everything." Another man said, he had a deep voice I recognized but couldn't connect to a name.

Hate boiled up in me. I had been angry, and that was bad enough. I never let myself get angry. I was too afraid of what anger could do, but in this case I wanted it done. I wanted to kill them, and I would, given a chance. It didn't even have to be tonight. I'd find them for what they were going to do to me, for what they thought they'd do to my babies. For whatever horrors they were doing to Flint.

Guilt tried to rise up in me like an old friend, it was always my fault, whatever happened to Flint because of our relationship. Here was a safe emotion I knew well. But for once, I put the blame where it belonged. We'd done everything we could to appease these people, left town to live and love far away, not stepped foot in town, allowed our fairly earned credit to be stripped from us. We'd given up our family and friends, and most of our possessions. Well we'd given up enough, and here were these people, come to take more.

The man with the deep voice turned toward me. He was in his werewolf form, as were all the other men present and myself. It was our strongest form. His fur was a brown flecked with white, his eyes a haunting, familiar blue. I nearly laughed aloud for how much he reminded me of Voltas, he had to be related. Were they really just going to replace one brother with a half sibling? Well, he probably didn't even know he was Voltas', and I supposed there was no way to prove it or know for sure. He gave me a sinister grin. "Holly. A lot of us, our group of concerned citizens, thought we'd just have to kill you. They said you were too old to change your mind, and surely carrying the diseased offspring your choices would have created. I thought you deserved a chance to change your mind, to see the way things are supposed to be."

There were seven men I could see clearly from where I'd been thrown. I didn't think this leader of theirs believed all he was spouting, but I thought some of them did. That was perhaps the most disturbing part, that some of these men thought they could 'fix' me by raping me. Others would just hope to see me break and submit to normalcy by the end, they'd know I wasn't cured, not really, but as long as I changed who I was doing it didn't matter. And there were men like their leader, this bastard child of Voltas, who just wanted to enjoy the violence this sort of thing would entail.

I glared at their leader with my own blue eyes flashing daggers. "Nothing to say to that? You should thank us for giving you this chance." He said, his own eyes were alight with their own driving forces. I wasn't sure which of us had darker things in mind.

"I'm going to kill you." I said after a short pause, voice holding only the barest hint of a snarl. He laughed, which was fine. I'd get him in the end.

"Well go on then, one of you can go first." He said to the men around me. It seemed rather disorderly to me. Three of them snapped at each other, and one backed down immediately but the other two had a short wrestling match.

"Aren't you all delightfully over eager to fuck the town's throw away." I said bitterly. My hands were bound behind my back, but when the first man approached I could still lash out with feet and teeth. I waited until he was close, throbbing shaft in hand, before I lashed out in a fury. I couldn't do much damage as I was, but I did a little before the other men got to us. They had to hit me three times on the head to get me to release my tearing, angry hold on the grey wolf's arm near the elbow. He was an angry, bloody mess when they got him free.

It was a black wolf that took me first, the one who'd lost the wrestling match to the grey one. His name was Krantin, and I knew him quite well. I'd helped birth many babies in his family, to sisters and aunts. I normally would have said he was a decent man, which made me hate him more. It was a worse betrayal somehow, that he could be a decent man but was being a horrible one instead. "Calm down Holly, I wont hurt you." He said softly to me as they tied my legs open, the cold air on my entrance sending a shiver of dread through me.

"Just take your fucking turn and be done with it!" I screamed at him and then spat in his direction. Their leader told them to bind my mouth, too. They didn't need any more injuries. I nearly took a couple fingers off the men who did it, but they got my mouth tied shut.

Krantin sniffed and my sex, nudging my entrance with his snout. I growled, wishing he'd just take me dry and not do what I was sure he was going to. I didn't want to enjoy it, or get aroused, but I knew enough to know that I wasn't going to be able to help it. It still didn't make me feel good that my body would betray Flint, even if my mind wouldn't. They were connected. I might feel pleasure, have an orgasm that sent my mind spinning.

He licked me gently at first, and then started in with deep, thorough strokes. He found my sensitive places and paid close attention to them, reading my body as it responded despite myself. He continued until my body was shaking under his, almost to the point of orgasm. He sat up, his cock hard and dripping. I gave him a look that begged him not to, I set aside my anger long enough to do that and whimper a long, mournful whimper. I was afraid, I didn't trust this man at all, and I'd only ever been with Flint. I wanted it to stay that way, but I knew it wouldn't. Even if I could turn this one man away with guilt and pleading, there were others to take his place.

"Go on Krantin! You've already wasted a ton of time getting her ready. What's she need to be ready for?" A white wolf said, it took me a minute to remember his name, Brent.

"We're supposed to be helping her, showing her it can be good with someone besides her own brother!" Krantin growled back at him. "That's why."

He stroked himself a couple of times and then lined himself up, pushing in slowly despite my attempts to move backward. He held my hips as he pushed in, keeping me though he could feel me fighting him. He nuzzled my neck fur when he was fully within me, and licked my muzzle gently. "It's alright Holly, see I didn't hurt you." Krantin pet my head affectionately, soothingly, the gesture only making me want to cry. I was caught between sorrow and that burning hate now. "It's alright Holly, you don't need to shake like this, it feels good and I'll make it feel better."

Krantin started making love to me, sweetly, all things considered. I really couldn't call it anything else. I realized he was really one of those that thought I could be cured. Worse, he most certainly had an affection for me I'd never realized. I still hated that he was inside me, even as he pressed all the right places at a rhythm that was driving my body wild. I still hated that I had begged him not to, given him all the signs I didn't want this and he'd done it anyway. But I wasn't sure I could kill him the way I was going to gut their leader for this.

"Remember not to knot her Krantin, there are others waiting." The leader said, his voice holding more than a little laughter in it. Someone had finally called him by name, Tas, though I assumed it was short for something.

I tried not to give in, but when Krantin picked up the pace after keeping me quivering on the edge for several long minutes I came hard around him and felt his seed pour into me. I was happy my own noises were suppressed by the binding around my mouth, but he moaned my name softly, his eyes closed. I was sure he was picturing me without bindings, enjoying him on every level as he was enjoying me. It made me feel sick. Krantin gave me a parting, affectionate lick and then withdrew.

I hardly had time to register all my feelings about what had happened, about how sick the feeling of Krantin's cum spilling out of me made me feel. The big grey wolf was back, a wicked grin on his face. He's gotten his arm bandaged while Krantin had been using me, but he was ready now, and I could tell I wasn't going to like his approach. I thought that was good, I didn't want to like it, I could just straight up hate him the whole time without a problem that way.

He turned me over. Without my hands to make things more gentle my head bounced a little, and then his clawed hand pressed down on my neck and the back of my head as he lined himself up and dove into me without any fanfare. I'd taken up snarling again as he fucked me, and not in any pleasant way. He snarled too, looked down into my flashing blue eyes with determination. He was rough, and it hurt, but I was slick with Krantin's attention and semen. Since he wasn't hurting me enough simply with the rape, he released my head in order to grab my sides with both hands and dig his claws in, using his hold in my flesh to pull me harder backward. I screamed despite myself, but then the pain settled into something I could endure.

"Don't gut her, like I told Krantin, there are other's waiting." Tas snapped sharply at him. The grey grumbled a response, but kept his displeasure below a snarling challenge to Tas' authority. "No more marks for you until the others have had her." Tas insisted.

"Fine Rotas! I get it!" The grey snapped and Tas gave him a sharp, warning growl.

The grey fucked me viciously from there, grunting himself as he slammed into me as hard as he could. He also picked up the pace. I hated his grunting sounds, they reminded me of animals going at food. He howled when he came inside me, and he came down from slamming himself into me with a laugh. He licked some blood off my side, a mockery of Krantin's affection, his eyes dancing with amusement.

Brent the white wolf was next. He was disturbingly quiet, treating it like some sort of business he had to take care of. Brent's brother was also white but he had dark eyes. He took me next in the same fashion, but he flipped me onto my back for it so I could watch his silent white frame as it pounded into me. I was almost bored by them, but also creeped out.

One overexcited young thing came on my leg before getting himself inside. I tried not to judge his age because I didn't want to know if they were making me take someone I would have considered a child. I'd only barely thought having Flint at 16 was acceptable. His friend, since they seemed to pretty much stick together and seemed roughly the same age, got it inside but only lasted a minute or so. They were probably family members to one of the older wolves, and this was somehow a way for them to become men or some nonsense like that.

Then it was Rotas turn. He toyed with me with his hands first, claws carefully kept from hurting me as he touched my sore, overused sex. It was overstimulated, it hurt, and yet my body responded somewhat anyway. He seemed to enjoy that, this mixture of pain and unavoidable sexual response. He was grinning that sinister grin at me as he touched me. He'd told the men to back away, keep their distance while he rounded things out. They were eating just a little ways off, talking and laughing like they hadn't just raped me.

"I'm not like Krantin, or Tek. You're going to enjoy it, but I'm here for myself. I'm going to fill you up like the whore you are, and then we'll talk about these pups." He ran his hand over the swell of my belly, an almost affectionate gesture that drove me wild with renewed anger and hate. He chuckled softly at me as he rubbed his cock against me entrance. "We can't let you keep them Holly, they're abominations, monsters. You need to take some responsibility and be rid of them." He pushed inside me as he spoke to me about killing my children, I couldn't understand how he was so hard and swollen while discussing something so vile. "So you can be a good girl and take the herbs when we're done, or we'll beat the creatures out of you." He shrugged one shoulder as he completed his insertion. "Your choice."

He didn't talk about them after that, or anything. His laughing eyes said enough as he moved within me. Tas took up a steady rhythm that wasn't as rough as the grey wolf's had been, but was clearly meant to give him pleasure. He made sure to rub himself against my pleasure centers, the steady movement building up the pressure of an orgasm for me that I really didn't want to have. He'd just been talking about murdering my children. I reminded myself of that over and over, but he was patient. He took to rubbing my clit, careful to avoid the claws again, and when he felt my body quiver with a build up he suddenly increased the pace of his cock against an overused but still pulsing pleasurable place within me. I came for him, growling and whimpering both as I did. He let out a low growl of his own as he came, the sound trailing off into a contented sigh.

Rotas called over everyone else and undid the bindings on my mouth. "There now Holly, how was that? Anybody seem a particularly nice choice?"

"I have a husband already, but thanks." I snapped, the last word heavily sarcastic.

Rotas shook his head. "Well boys, I told you if she wouldn't choose I'd take her. And she won't choose." He shrugged and grinning at me. "We're going to have a lot of fun, you and I." Krantin looked terribly heartbroken. I actually had to resist feeling sad for him.

"Next order of business, these pups of yours." Rotas continued, tapping a finger on my belly. He knew I hated him touching it now, that it drove me into a fury.

"Don't you hurt them! I'll kill you all!" I snarled, thrashing against my bindings and snapping at the air.

Rotas laughed at me again and held up a murky liquid made from herbs I knew well. Such concoctions weren't requested often, but I knew how to make them safely. And all the herbs used in it were also used for other things too. "We won't hurt you if you'll drink this. You can just lose the monsters, and then I'll take you back to town. When you're fertile again in a few months I'll impregnate you, it's really just a teeny tiny delay for you before motherhood happens anyway."

"No, I won't hurt ..." Tek tilted my head back, holding my jaws open as Rotas poured the liquid in. I choked, sputtered, and then managed to spit a good amount of it out and down along the sides of my face and into my neck fur.

Rotas sighed, exasperated. It was the kind of sigh you'd give if a child hadn't been able to follow simple instructions. "Alright, I'm not at all sure that was enough." Tek smiled an horrible smile and reached for my belly, his claws grazing my skin there as I thrashed against him, trying to get away. Rotas growled at him. "No claws! We want the pups to die, not her."

Krantin looked sickly. He shook his head and left, as did one of the younger boys. Everyone else stayed. I curled into a ball, trying to protect my little ones as they tried to beat them out of me. They focused most of their attention on my midriff because of their intention, though Tek was prone to just attacking any part of me he felt like.

My ears were ringing and my mind focused on the pain in my body, which was why it took me a moment to realize that the beating had stopped, and then that there was howling and snarling going on. Some kind of battle. I shifted from my ball enough to peek around, though one of my eyes was swollen nearly closed from someone's shot that had gone astray. Probably it had been an intentional 'miss' of Tek's. There were new wolves flooding in, and I quickly realized they were my lost family. Some of my siblings, my uncles. I laid my head back down without taking full stock of them, my body shaking through spasms as it adjusted to the injury that'd been inflicted on it.

Hands took me and I was being pulled against someone who was weeping. It only took me a moment to see that it was my mom. She was covered in blood, her claws dripping with more of it, but she nuzzled gently against me. "My baby, I'm so sorry this happened. This is my fault. I should have accepted you. I shouldn't have forced you out and away. I love you, Holly." She pushed her face against me again, and it was wet, covered in tears. "My poor little girl."

I saw Fenrick move nearer, Vise near him. "Flint's not here. Holly, do you know where they took Flint?" His voice sounded worried.

"No. They were beating him at home when they dragged me off." I said painfully through a constricted throat. I wondered if they'd tried to convert him too, or just killed him outright. I hoped he was alive, since I was, and I didn't know what to do or how to feel. Mom was holding me, saying she loved me, what I'd been longing for these past months, but it somehow rang hollow in me. It wasn't as satisfying and wonderful in that moment, because nothing could be. And I was angry with her. She was probably right, if we'd been more widely accepted by the influential people of the pack, these people wouldn't have gone out of their way to hurt us. Flint was consistent, my own little world of love and safety. He needed to be alright.

"Come on." Fenrick said to some of the wolves with him and then they were gone, and it was me and mom, and a couple others who'd stood nearby.

Mom was weeping against me. "Can you ever forgive me?" She kept asking, her fingers tracing my body lightly. She ran her fingers over my stomach and the tears started fresh. She finally gathered herself a little and turned to the others. "We need to bring her back to her home. She needs to be in a bed so we can treat these wounds." She said, her voice a growl to them, then a whimper when she turned back to me. "My sweet little Holly, I'm so sorry. I love you."

"My babies are going to die." I said flatly. "My husband is probably dead. We should have gone farther."

Chapter 6

I dreamt of Holly being stolen away in the night by demons intent upon killing her and I was helpless to stop it from happening. I'd been given something to put me to sleep so I didn't move while my many broken bones were set, but if I'd known the nightmares that would assail me for every minute of that awful sleep I would have just requested to let my bones heal bent and crooked. When I finally cleared the horrible fog of sleep and clawed my way back into wakefulness I found myself in my own room, staring up at the ceiling.

I might have thought everything terrible that had happened was just a dream but for the horrible pain I was experiencing in almost every part of my body. Things were moving again, though, which meant that I had been out long enough to start healing. I turned to my side and saw Holly laying next to me and tears of joy leaked from my eyes. I didn't know how badly hurt she was, but I could see her chest rising and falling, and that meant she was alive. I pushed myself painfully across the space in the bed between us and curled up at her side.

"Holly?" I whimpered her name. I had so much to confess. I'd been unfaithful. I'd failed to protect her. I was a horrible person.

Holly jerked and then lifted her head to me, smiling, though the expression looked a bit sad. Her right eye was swollen and discolored. She licked my snout gently. "Hey my love." She ran a hand over my head, being careful and gentle. "Are you hurting? They can give you something to help dull it."

"Yes, hurt everywhere, but it doesn't matter. I was so afraid you were killed." I whimpered and pushed closer. "I have things to tell you, things I don't want to tell you, but . . . are you going to be alright? Are our . . . " I swallowed hard. "Are the babies alright?"

"I think I'll be fine, some broken ribs and arm, a couple fingers broken, they'll all heal. We don't know about the babies yet." She admitted, her face falling into sadness that made her look much older than she was, but there was an anger in her eyes too. "I've had cramping, contractions maybe. If they're born now it's too early, they'll die. I haven't let Mom take a look yet." She added the last more quietly, some confusion coming across her features.

"Mom's here?" I was confused, surprised. "She didn't come with the people who . . . she wasn't a part of the attack was she?" I whimpered, horrified that she might have set something like this upon us.

"No, they rescued me first and she stayed with me while they moved me back home and some of the others went to find you." Holly jerked and licked her belly for a few moments. Her sides were bandaged, fur stained from blood in places. There was probably a lot of bruising beneath her fur.

"How did they know to come for us?" I asked, confused. If Mom had been part of it, she might have changed her mind and decided to save us, but that wasn't the case.

"Syvald was invited, they thought he'd have the best chance of converting me. He refused to go, and apparently let our family know what was intended for us." Holly explained. "It was one of the few things I thought to ask while they were moving me."

"Saved by Syvald. I'll have to make a point to thank him, but you should let Mom check you." I said. "She is the only person other than you I would trust for something like this, and you're not in a position to do a proper check yourself." I whined a little. "For our pups."

Holly whimpered and rubbed her head against the furs. "I know. I just don't want to need her. And I don't want her to tell me ..." Holly sighed and shook her head. "I'll ask her to, next time she comes in. She and Aunt Ava mostly come in to check on us, though Dad has come in too."

I sighed. I didn't want to know either, but I also knew we needed to know. I had to know. I wasn't sure my heart was ready to take it all. "Holly, I need to tell you about what happened after they took me." The words were difficult. "If you're ready to hear."

Holly scratched my ear and licked my snout again to reassure me. "You can tell me anything you feel you need to or want to ... A lot happened to me, too. And you don't have to feel guilty, none of it was our fault." Her voice had an edge of hardness to it, there was anger in her, and I wasn't sure I'd ever heard that from Holly before.

I was angry too, murderously angry, but I also just wanted her to be alright. I needed her to know what had happened to me because I didn't want to keep it wrapped up like a secret. I knew she'd probably undergone something similar and I didn't care. Well, that wasn't precisely true. I cared deeply. I was furious at what they'd probably done to her, and I wanted blood, but it didn't make me think less of Holly. I loved her just as intensely as I ever had, but I was male. It felt like I should have been able to not respond to what was done to me. I felt like I'd betrayed Holly.

"They forced me to have sex with different women. Five of them in total. I couldn't stop myself from getting hard. I wanted to, but they just kept teasing my body until I couldn't resist. I came in most of them." I said the words, my shame burning through me, making me feel like less than a man, less than trash. "I hated it, wanted it to stop, but I was tied to a rock slab and muzzled. Afterwards they tried to get me to pick a mate from the women they'd put me with, but I refused so they beat me."

Holly whimpered and snuggled closer to me, petting me, trying to be comforting without hurting either of us, which was difficult. "I know you would have wanted it to stop Flint, it's alright, it's still not your fault. They made me take pleasure from parts of it too, that was part of the point." She was shaking a little. "I love you, Flint. Do you still love me? Want to be with me after all they put you through? Knowing that you ..." Holly stopped to whimper. "I wanted to only ever be with you, but they took that from us."

"I will always love you, Holly. That will never change. They could hurt me and force me to do things all they wanted, but I never stopped thinking about you and how much I loved you." I told her, rubbing my face against her. "I feel like I betrayed you, and I just can't stop feeling that way. I've never been so out of control before. They kept trying to make me like what they were doing, and the more they tried the more disgusted I became. I hate them . . . all the women that did this, even the one who was kind, and the one who was a virgin. I still hate them, and I don't think I can ever stop."

"That's ok. I'm angry with everyone, and hate all those men. ... And even though I don't know anything about the women that had you, I hate them too. All the hurt they've caused you. I don't feel like you betrayed me love, I know that doesn't fix everything or mean you'll feel the same way, but I hope it helps." Holly pressed her face against my neck, nudging me lightly there. Opps.

"There were seven men, for me. I haven't asked who lived and died, or what happened when we were rescued to who. Krantin was first, I didn't realize he was ... infatuated with me. Tek was cruel, but I liked that because I could just straight up hate him the whole time. There were two younger men, younger than you I think." Holly flattened her ears and looked upset about that. "Boys. One came before he got himself inside me. And Rotas, who looks like Voltas did. He's probably a half brother to us. He entered me while talking about how they had to kill our pups." Holly shivered and let out a whimper. "The forced me to swallow some of the mixture they'd brought to end the pregnancy, but weren't sure it was enough, so they started beating me. Then our long lost family showed up." Holly sounded a bit bitter at the last, angry with our relatives who came just in time and yet so late.

I poked her snout with mine. "I'm so sorry, love. I know it's not my fault, it's not your fault, but I'm still sorry this ever happened to you. I can't help think that if I'd just restrained myself at the stream all those months ago this never would have happened." Rage was flooding into the place where sorrow had been. Now that I had names to go with the faceless shadows that had done this I desperately wanted to kill the men who'd hurt my wife. I could let what had been done to me fade with the scars, but they'd attacked my mate, and they'd attacked my children, and they would have to pay. Each of them. I put my head gently against Holly's belly, listening, as though I might hear something that would tell me my babies were still alive. I let out a soft whine. Whatever came of this, I loved Holly, and I loved these babies, whether they had a chance to grow up or not.

Holly stroked my head as it rested on her, whimpering, worried about the babies as I was. "Hello out there?" Holly turned her head to call out, finally deciding we needed assistance.

Ava came in, eyes sympathetic and sad, especially when she saw where I was. "Welcome back, Flint. Do you need something for the pain?"

"Can you get Runa too? I'd like her to look ... check on the pups." Holly said, stroking my head still. She seemed completely unconcerned now by the shame and embarrassment that used to haunt her. It'd been getting better as we lived alone in the mountains, but she apparently couldn't bring herself to care at all anymore in light of what had recently happened.

Ava nodded quickly, apparently we weren't the only ones worried about them. "Do you want the pain medicine Flint?" She asked as she walked to the door. "It may make you drowsy, but it won't put you out like what we gave you while we set your bones."

"Yes, thank you." I replied, in too much pain to argue. I'd fight with the drowsiness. It would be better than fighting with the pain. Ava gave a nod and headed out.

"I love you, Holly." I wrapped one of my wolven arms around her. I wasn't sure what else to say. I was afraid for what we might find out, but I wanted to be as strong as I could for my wife. I slipped up the bed and put my head against hers. I wasn't going to tell her we'd be alright. If the pups were dead, I wasn't sure we would.

Runa stepped into the room carrying a glass bottle of liquid that I guessed was the painkillers and carrying her work bag. It had never raised such a sense of dread in me before as it did in that moment.

She walked over and handed me the bottle which I quickly downed, and then she looked at Holly. "How are you doing, Holly?" She asked, timid, as if afraid her daughter might attack her, and with Holly as angry as she was I wasn't certain she wouldn't.

Holly shifted herself to the end of the bed. "I've been having cramping. I don't know if they're irregular contractions, or just the results of injury that will go away. I haven't felt the pups move. I haven't had a gush of waters, or bleeding, though I haven't checked for bleeding, honestly." She sounded nervous, but also somewhat businesslike. These were things they'd talked about before, just usually in relation to other women, other pups.

I moved myself clear of where they were working, though moving was painful. The pain medicine was slowly starting to work, but I was surprised how much everything still hurt. I didn't dare shift to my wolf form, though I just wanted to curl up and be as small as I could. My injuries could get much worse if I did that, though. I'd need to spend another day in my werewolf form.

Runa was removing things from her bag, her face set in a business like impassivity. She barely seemed like my mom at this moment. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. She started out by pressing lightly on Holly's belly, and then listening with a devise, one end in her ear, the other on Holly's belly. She moved this around a bit, slowly as though searching for something. "There's heartbeats." Mom said, and some of the tension seemed to leave Holly with relief. There was apparently more to do, but that was important. "Good heart rate, no stuttering or anything."

Then Holly parted her legs with a unhappy sigh, and Mom picked up other instruments as she got between them. Holly turned her head away, looking at me. She flinched a little, sore where Runa was checking on her. Holly reached out a hand to take mine, and I thought it must feel like behind violated again, but this was important to check on the pups. "At least some of what you're feeling has been contractions. I'll give you something to stop the labor. If they've been inconsistent, with some rest, everything might still right itself. You're probably still looking at early birth though, but we might be able to delay it for a couple weeks."

Holly's brow wrinkled in worry as Mom packed up her things. "In a couple weeks they'll be small, but they have a much better chance of living outside of me." Holly explained to me. "Their lungs will be better developed."

I nodded and lifted her hand to my my muzzle and gave it a lick. I smiled at her, somewhat relieved. I knew there was still danger, obviously, but this was better than I'd feared. "Our pups are tough." I had an impulse to say, 'I think they get that from their mother.' But, since we were siblings, I figured that statement was probably more trouble than it was worth. I pushed myself back across the bed to be closer to Holly again.

"It looks like we might get to salvage some of our dreams yet." I said soflty.

Runa had put up her things and she was looking at us, her face strangely serene, a small smile on her lips. "I was wrong . . . this is still hard for me, but I was really wrong. I love both of you very much, and I want to be a family again when you can accept me back into that. I don't expect you to right away. I don't deserve that. I'm sorry, kids. I lost sight of what was right about this, got lost in what I'd been taught was wrong."

Holly rolled to her side so she could face Mom, but pushed back against me too so that we were still taking comfort in touching. She pulled my arm lightly, carefully, and put it on her belly. "I wasn't sure how far your mind had changed when we were in the caves." Holly shot me a slightly fearful, confused look. I could understand that, we'd lost a lot of people, and letting them back in was scary because it meant they could hurt us again. "I still love you Mom, of course we can be friendly again, a family." She gave Mom a soft smile. "So you'll make up with Dad, too?"

Mom blushed, her hybrid features turning pink. "We made up last night on your living room floor. I know maybe it wasn't an appropriate time, but we were so relieved to have you both back alive . . . and, once I convinced him to accept my apology ..." She shrugged and blushed a bit more.

I couldn't help but laugh. "Well, that's good. We didn't like the idea that we'd driven you two apart."

Holly sighed, relieved, though she'd also blushed at the news. "Ah, well. Good." She nodded and laughed a little. "So how is everyone else feeling? Because I'm guessing you're going to want me monitored, and you can't stay with all your patients back in town, so I'm going to have to ask someone else and I don't know who's exactly friendly and who's still not."

Runa's face grew serious. "We had to cull a certain portion of the village last night. Fenrick handled it and made it clear that whether a person approves of your chosen lifestyle or not, it is none of their business. All werewolves who live peacefully within these lands are guaranteed safety. I do have to get back to town soon, but your siblings will be staying here, and I'll be back up to check on you at least every few days, and if something comes up, I'll be back sooner. I can make this run in three hours if I'm terrified for the life of my children."

She looked pointedly at me. "Holly is on bedrest for the next week at least, maybe until she gives birth. No funny business . . . gods, I can't believe I have to tell my own kids this." She sighed and shook her head, but she had a small smile on her lips. "I know you two probably want to rebond, try to repair what has been broken, but right now that could cause serious trouble with the pups. Refrain from making love until I give you the all clear or the pups are born, alright?"

I gave a small whine. She'd known exactly what I'd been thinking. I wanted to be with Holly, to rekindle our physical bond, to see if I could even still perform. Right now the thought of sex made me feel ashamed.

"I love you both." Runa said once more, coming to give us each a kiss before she slipped out of the room. Just as she was about to leave she popped her head back in. "Your dad will be in to see you when he's done hunting. He's staying here for the week to make sure you have what you need to get through until Flint is back up. To be clear, I'd like to have him home in my bed now, but you both need to take it easy." She gave us a wink, and popped out the door.

I nosed Holly. "A few weeks without making love to you. That sounds terrible." I said, trying to make it sound like humor.

Holly smiled and licked me. "Well, the thought of sex isn't appealing really, though I would have liked to have tried just to have you instead of them ... Well you understand." She nuzzled me. "It'll be worse if we don't get clearance before the pups are born, you'll have to avoid mating me for two more weeks, at least, and I'm being generous there." Holly nipped playfully at an uninjured part of my shoulder and then lay back again. "Bedrest sucks. I hope it's only a week."

"To be fair I'm not sure how I'd perform if we could have sex anyway. When I think about sex it kind of turns my stomach." I said sadly. "I think I might be afraid of it. The whole world seems much more terrifying now than it did a few days ago. I'm just glad you're still in it with me. I don't think I'd want to be here if you weren't."

"I was sure before they took me home that they'd killed you and the babies were going to die. All I could think about was how I was going to kill them all." Holly growled, body tensing and eyes flashing, but then it faded. "I don't know what I would have done after attempting that, probably decided to die I'd be so miserable. I still forgot to ask if they got everyone that attacked us. No one's asked me for details yet. I wonder if they know they got everyone, or if they just don't want to know who else they have to hunt down."

"It's difficult to escape from werewolves on the hunt. I imagine they tracked everyone down. I'm not sure what they would do with the ones they caught. When I saw uncle Fenrick last night he was terrifying. I don't think he was in any mood to be lenient." I thought of the girls who'd slept with me and wondered if they would be killed as well. A part of me liked that idea, thought they deserved it all for hurting me, but another part of me said that at least some of them had never meant to hurt me, and even if I hated them, maybe they didn't deserve death. Maybe.

There was a knock on the door and a moment later Dad stepped inside. "Flint!" He grinned in relief. He'd probably already seen Holly awake, but not me. He came in and sat down cross legged on the bed near us, kicking off his boots as he climbed on. Then he straightened his face to be sober. "I'm sorry this happened to you both. Horrible, really. I can't begin to pretend I understand." He pat us both on the heads and smiled a little. "So, now that we're through that grim little precursor that is oh so necessary, I bagged a goat for supper! Vayya and Tivald are cooking it, and arguing about that. It's like like being home!"

I couldn't help but laugh. Dad was excellent at making even the worst situations seem survivable. Maybe things were going to be alright.

I woke up with a start as Holly's hand grabbed my wrist in the night. I jumped and roared, coming to my feet, claws ready, my eyes scanning the darkness and looking for who I should kill. It only took me a moment to realize that there was no one else in the room but us. I looked down at Holly. "Love, are you alright?" I asked, leaning down to see her better in the low light.

Holly looked afraid, and thoughtful. "No. I've been up a while, contractions. Steady this time. Someone needs to go for Runa." She snapped her head back to look at me, horrified again, her hand grabbing my wrist. "Not you. You stay. Please stay." She whimpered, her worried other hand rubbing her belly.

"I . . . yes, of course!" I yipped, startled by this course of events. I'd known it was coming, but I found that I wasn't quite mentally prepared for it. "I have to go for just a second . . . "

I began to say, but then there was a knock on the door. "Are you two alright? Mom said no sex." Etris's voice came from the other side of the door.

"She's having the pups!" I yelled. "Go get Mom."

"Oh shit . . . " Etris yelled, and then I heard him scrambling for the door. "She's having the pups!" He yelled at someone, and then the front door slammed and Etris was gone I assumed.

"Can I come in? We're not like, dilated and pushing are we?" Em asked through the door. "I mean I'd come in for that too."

"Yes, you can come in, and no, they're still pretty far apart." She gave a whimper though as Dad came in, giving me a worried look. "It's only been a week, it's too soon."

"No, it's not. It'll be fine." I told her, taking her hand in mind and squeezing it. "Relax. We can do this, and you're going to birth us some healthy pups to chase after." I was terrified that my words weren't true, but I put everything I had into making myself sound sure.

Viyya burst in through the door. "Oh, gods, this is going to be gross. Can't you wait and do this while I'm not visiting?" She noticed Em and nodded to him. "Hey, Dad. You come to look at Holly's bits too?"

Em laughed. "Oh Viyya, I guess we never told the rest of you how your mother and I found out that Holly and Flint were a cou ..."

"Dad!" Holly roared. "Not now! Not ever!" She yelled, blushing and then letting out a soft groan as she held her belly for a contraction. Then she got up. "I need to walk around."

I stayed near her, following her closely. "I don't know much about this process." I told her. "If you need anything from me, just let me know." I leaned in and licked her cheek. "We're going to be fine, and so are the pups."

"Oh gods, it's so gross." Viyya said, tongue hanging out. "I mean, not the affection. That's kind of sweet, but the thought of a bunch of bloody disgusting fuzzy things plopping out of your in-hole is just . . . turns the stomach a little, doesn't it?" Viyya pointed her question at Holly.

"Well I guess we know who's not becoming a midwife." Dad said with a chuckle.

"No, it doesn't." Holly snapped at her. Then she took a deep breath and smiled at me. "You'll be fine. Just do what I ask, alright? As long as things progress at normal speeds, Mom should get here well before the birth." She sounded a little like she was trying to reassure herself, too. "This is the easy part of labor. I can relax, and walk around, do all sorts of things. Maybe a bath. Eat a little."

Viyya sighed. "Yeah, this is far less interesting than I thought it was going to be. I figured by now there would be blood and fluids everywhere and a lot more screaming."

I shot my sister a frown. "You know, you're not really helping all that much."

She shrugged. "I never said I was going to help."

For an early birth, it was going fairly normally, Holly informed me. Hours passed. Holly took a bath, and ate, and walked. She walked and walked and walked. When a contraction would hit she would wrap her and around me and lean against me, moaning softly, and rock back and forth. We were inside cuddling on the couch when Mom arrived, about seven hours after we'd sent for her.

I felt a massive wave of relief. It was nice to have someone there who knew what they were doing and wasn't the one giving birth on hand.

Viyya came into the room and waved. "Hey mom. Holly's vagina is still intact and she hasn't been ejecting anything of interest." She updated our mom on the situation.

Holly gave Mom a worried smile. "Still several minutes apart and not lasting very long. I think we've got a couple hours still before things get busy, but you can check."

Mom nodded and Holly got into position for her to check on Holly's insides briefly. Dad came in during this portion, but just stood off out of the line of sight. He smiled reassuringly at Mom when she was finished.

I sat next to Holly and held her hand reassuringly. "I'm nervous." I told her with a small laugh. "Do you think the pups are going to like me?" It was just now occurring to me that I was on the verge of fatherhood and I'd made absolutely no mental preparations for this. I briefly considered panicking. "I mean, I suppose we could trade them if they don't like me."

Holly smacked my shoulder, but laughed too, knowing I was only nervous. "We are keeping our own babies, and of course they'll like you."

Em nodded his agreement and squeezed my shoulder. "Of course they will. You guys liked me and I didn't even get to be there when you were born!"

Holly whimpered and moaned with another contraction, leaning into me and breathing in a practiced rhythm.

There were a couple more hours of 'easy' labor, and then Holly's contractions got much closer together and more painful. It only lasted an hour, but she was terribly uncomfortable. She liked me rubbing her back, then she didn't want anyone touching her at all. Then Mom took another look when Holly felt like she had to push, and the pushing started. This lasted only a couple of hours, but still wasn't gory enough for Viyya.

"Go help pull the baby out." Em said, pushing my back lightly. Runa well let you, she lets other dad's, and then we'll cut the pup free and bring it to Holly alright?"

I went down to join the birthing process and tried my best not to be terrified by what I was seeing.

Viyya had taken up a seat a few feet away. "Man, that is just never going to work right again." She said and patted my back. "Sorry, and there is no way you're using mine."

I ignored her and sat waiting for time to gather my first pup, hoping it would be alright, and terrified about the massive change coming into my life, but also excited. This was my pup. This was a child that Holly and I had created together, and soon we'd be helping raise it together. I found myself smiling somewhat dumbly, my tongue hanging from one side of my mouth in an idiots grin that I couldn't quite shake.

Em giggled at me. He had taken up holding Holly's hand as she pushed. Mom was down with me, and we were watching the top of a werewolf's head appear during a push and then disappear between them. Then Mom helped guide it part of the way out, and had me grab it from there as the shoulder came free and then the rest of the body slipped out easily.

I took hold of the little one as it slipped free, and then in werewolf fashion snipped its umbilical with my teeth before carrying it up to Holly so she could see it. It was a little girl, a mottled mix of both of us, beautiful and clearly alive and yipping at the world already.

I looked at Holly and smiled. "We've got a little girl." I handed her the first baby and went down to help with the next.

Holly whimpered and nuzzled the little one, licking it furiously before she had to stop and push with another contraction. Mom had me help the same way with the second one, it's head and shoulder coming with difficulty before the body slipped easily into my waiting hands. I quickly snipped the cord again, and then took our second little girl up for Holly to see.

"Look, love." I said, smiling. "It's another little girl." I looked down at mom. "Is that it?" I asked since most first time mothers only had a pair.

Mom smiled at me and shook her head. "One more." Runa got the head out as before, but I saw her features set in a frown and she didn't let me help this time, receiving that baby herself and then quickly taking him to the table of implements she'd set up. There was a terrible moment of near silence as Holly settled the girls on her breasts and there wasn't any sound from the last of our babies.

I moved onto the bed next to my wife and put my hand on her arm, my heart hammering hard in my chest. It would have been too much to ask that all of the babies would be alright after everything that happened. I let out a small whimper and ran my hand over Holly's head. I couldn't think of anything to say, and I didn't want to get in mom's way while she tried her best to save the last little one. We didn't even have a name prepared for him yet. That was far too cruel.

Holly whimpered, letting go of Dad's hand to stroke one of the girls. There were a couple strange suctioning noises, then Mom leaned down over the boy and a moment later there was a weak little whimper, and then loud yipping cries. Mom brought him over smiling, and Holly let out a sob of relief.

I let out a relieved breath as or little boy came over to us, all small but loud, and apparently alive and well. I smiled down at my and leaved forward to give her a lick. "Well, we have a family now. I have no idea how to do that, but I guess it's time to learn."

Having three very needy babies didn't make life easy on either of us. Sleep became a difficult thing to achieve in any quantity, and relaxing seemed to be almost as hard. Even with the help of our family we were kept busy The three little ones were always feeding which kept Holly occupied almost all the time. The first five weeks after they were born it felt like we barely ever saw each other, but I don't think either of us hated the experience. It was busy, but we were happy. We felt lucky to had gone through so much, and come out with all of us alive and intact.

We named the first girl to be born Tori, and her slightly younger sister was Lila. Our boy we named Sytas, and though they were slightly more needy than infants born at full term, they were doing well and getting stronger every day. I laid Sytas down with his sister's in the crib we kept in our room, and then crawled into bed with Holly. It was rare that all three of them were asleep at the same time. I stretched and let out a quiet sigh as I let my body shift into its wolf form. I found it easier to sprawl in that shape, and that was what I wanted to do.

I sprawled down next to Holly and playfully nipped her neck. "How are you doing, love?" I asked her. It had been a long time since we'd really had an occasion to talk. We hadn't had sex since before the incident of the abduction, and there was still a bit of darkness hovering over us regarding that. I hadn't even tried to initiate. In truth, I wasn't sure if I wanted it anymore. I felt ashamed every time I thought about it. I wasn't sure Holly would be happy without that kind of intimacy though. Of course, she hadn't pushed for it either. We'd let that part of lives slip away.

She laid on her side, smiling at me. "Good." She was in her wolf form too, and she wiggled close to me, sniffing and nudging at me affectionately. She pulled back to tilt her head at me in a quizzical, slightly worried expression. "How are YOU feeling? The full moon is only a few days away, and last full moon I was still recovering from birthing the pups." She paused, frowning. "I'll always love you Flint, I guess I'm just confused. Have we gone somewhat backward to just being close siblings?" She looked sad, and dropped her eyes from mine to look at the bedding.

"No, my feelings for you are stronger than they've ever been. I'm just . . . I'm scared of being intimate. Every time I start to get excited I get flashes of before, and then I feel ashamed and my urge to make love falters." I whimpered. "I don't know how to cope with this."

Holly licked my face gently. "It can't help we have three insistent interruptions now." She gave me a small smile. "I asked Mom and Dad to come up tomorrow and watch the triplets. I thought maybe we could go hang out by that stream nearby, with the fish. It reminds me of the one we used to go to near town." She blushed. "I'm really not trying to turn back time and say things can be just as they were. I'm not even saying we have to try to make love tomorrow. But I want to be with you for a few hours, and I would like to try and be intimate, if you're willing."

"Of course, Holly. I'm willing to try, as long as you're willing to be patient with me if I have problems. I still want you. You're still beautiful to me." I licked her face and nuzzled her. "I don't think we have to worry about going back to being just brother and sister again . . . not with three children that are quite clearly ours." I smiled at her.

She smiled back and snorted a little. "I know, but it's what I was worried about, becoming just ..." Holly shrugged and shook her head, still smiling. "I'm glad I'm still beautiful to you, that you still want me. I was getting worried that what happened maybe had changed the way you see me."

"No, it's only changed the way I see myself. I used to be confident about myself sexually. I felt like I could satisfy you, and learn to do it better if you needed me to, but now I'm just ashamed. I feel like I don't really have any say in what my body does. It's difficult to explain." I whined a little and nuzzled closer. "I wish I could forget it all and take things back to how they were before."

Holly grinned wolfishly at me and her tail swished across the bed. "I was never left wanting with you." She said, her voice taking on sultry tones. "I'll try not to be nervous myself tomorrow, but I am. I mean even besides what happened, I also have birth!" She licked my neck before resting her head over it. "I love you. We'll figure out all this other stuff." She sounded confident, happy.

Her confidence made me feel better. "I love you too." I told her serenely. Those words, though we spoke them often enough, always made me feel better. There was no feeling better than having your love returned.

It didn't take long for the two of us to drift off to sleep. Having babies had certainly taught us to get to sleep quickly.

We walked to the river shoulder to shoulder in our wolf forms. It was strange being outside together without having to worry about the kids constantly, though my mind did turn back to them more frequently than I was willing to admit. Our life had revolved entirely around them lately so it was difficult to change paces mentally. Still, we were together, the day was beautiful, and we finally had a chance to spark our romance back to life. We still loved each other, clearly, but the part of our relationship that contained intimacy had been lacking, and it wasn't all because the kids were keeping us busy. We could have found time if we'd wanted to.

We reached the river and I stepped out into it, feeling the cool water running over my feet. It was a beautiful location. We came here to fish frequently. It was only a ten minute walk from our home. I shifted into my werewolf form and sat down in the quickly running water, drawing my fingers through it, remembering how Holly and I had first come to see each other in a way unbefitting of siblings. Of course, I'd seen her like that before, but that had been the moment that had sparked the change in our relationship.

"The water's cool, but it's nice." I told Holly, swishing my tail through the water.

Holly shifted too and did much the same as I had before moving into a slightly deeper section with water that didn't move as fast and floating there. She sighed happily. "It is nice. I haven't gone swimming in ages." She stretched her clawed toes and grinned at the sun on her face.

I swam out next to her and dove under her, splashing up on the other side of her and grabbing her to pull her close to me. I put my nose against hers. "I love you, Holly. Thank you for loving me back."

Holly laughed at my sudden capture of her, and then smiled a big, unhindered smile at me. Then she tapped my snout with a clawed finger. "Now what am I supposed to say? You already said yourself I love you back." She pressed her nose to mine and licked the side of my mouth as she pressed up against me more firmly, her nipples hard against my chest from the chill water. "Thank you for coming out here with me today." She brought a hand up to stroke my head and scratch my ear as she looked me over fondly.

I put my hands on her body, running my fingers carefully town her torso, over her left and right nipples. Her breasts were swollen with the milk she was feeding the pups, larger than they normally were in her werewolf form. I gave one a squeeze, and then another, watching as a small amount of milk formed on the tip. I leaned over her and licked it off, curiously. I felt something stirring beneath the water. My shaft slipped from its sheath, and for a moment I was terrified, but then I looked up into Holly's eyes and I smiled and let it happen.

I put my mouth over one of her breasts and nipped at it, and then at another, before I moved back up to her mouth and gave her a loving lick. "I want you." I said softly into her ear.

Holly's own fingers were running across my side, holding my hip. She whined softly at my words and bumped her head against my chest briefly. "I want you too." She said softly. "On shore, where you can knot me."

I picked her up in my arms and held her to my chest as I walked back to shore, and the grass at the edge of the stream. I sat her down carefully and then laid down at her side, leaning forward to hip gently at her neck, and the skin on her chest. I flicked one of her nipples with my tongue, and then another, while I slid my fingers down her body to the place between her thighs that had just over a month before passed our children. I ran two of my fingers across her sex, rubbing gently at her entrance.

My cock had become completely firm, slid from its sheath. I took Holly's hand in one of mine and moved it down to my length. "Touch me?" I asked her.

She took me in hand, and after a few moments of timidity she figured out a good hold and began to stroke me, though not vigorously. She wanted me aroused, not brought to release. Holly wiggled slightly against my fingers, humming in pleasure. I could tell she was getting aroused too with the way her sex swelled under my touch and she began to accumulate her own fluid.

I pushed myself on top of her, pulling my shaft out of her hand and sliding to rest between her legs. I ran my fingers down hers sides, and then over her chest as my member pressed gently against her sex. A small rush of anxiety slipped through me, but I chased it away by burying my head in Holly's neck and taking a deep breath in, filling myself with her scent. As I did this I slid my hips forward, pushing into her body until I felt my balls pressing tight against her. I stopped and looked down at her, making sure she was alright. She felt good around me, amazing. My anxiety was gone.

Holly looked strained, but something in the way I looked at her, or maybe just that it was me made her face clear and her body relax under mine. She smiled slowly. Her hands ran down my back and she rotated her hips toward me. "I love you, Flint.".

"I love you, Holly."