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Boy Who Cried Wolf January, 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Spreading out into a line, the men from the village, armed with torches, pitchforks and other improved weapons moved purposefully through the thick underbrush. They swore and cursed as thick brambles clawed and scratched, branches struck like whips and boggy patches threatened to suck them down to their deaths. Animals fled in fear from the human's noisy search, scattering to the four winds, fearing for their very lives.

For four hours, they searched, backtracked and crossed each others paths, finding not even a hint of the wolf that they had all seen. It was as if it had disappeared like smoke - some unnatural beast of cunning and stealth, which came and went like a baleful apparition. Grumbling, one by one they reached their tolerance on this seemingly fools errand quest and gave up and returned to the village - hot, bothered and with numerous insect bites, scratches and rashes. Soon, only one remained - Gregory - Apellian's cruel and vindictive master. His courage bolstered by strong ale and wine, his eyes bloodshot and wavering from side to side, he gripped the rusty dagger he held and a drunken laugh escaped him.

"Here doggy, doggy, doggy - I got a present for you..." He giggled, and then frowned, as his eyes swept the thick undergrowth.

Silence greeted him.

"I know you're here - " He snarled, then beat his chest in a show of machismo. "So you like little boys do you? Then come to me - and I'll show you what a real man is capable of."

A twig snapped behind him and he spun about, brandishing the dagger. He trembled with fear, as adrenaline flooded his body - then he laughed as a young doe emerged from the undergrowth - took one look at the dishevelled man, then turned and fled back into the forest, her tail flashing the white fur of its underside.

"Come on you bastard - I know you're here - " He repeated, as he backed away from where the deer had been, then froze - his eyes widening in horror.

From behind him - come a low, soft growl - then a frosty puff of hot, breath rippled the hairs on his nape.

"Goddess save me - " He gurgled, as his bladder let go and he wet himself. "You're behind me - aren't you?"

He turned about - then his eyes bulged in horror - as he saw a creature from his worst nightmares, literally, standing right behind him. It stood taller than he did, covered with a silvery/grey fur - with the head of a wolf and the appearance of a woman. Muscles rippled beneath that furred pelt, and its fingers, tipped with sharp black claws, clenched and unclenched, as it stared at him with its golden eyes narrowing. There was something in its eyes - something that showed this creature was not driven by instinct, but driven by a pure human like mind - a mind, that was smarter and more cunning than he. It growled; the furred dewlaps curling back to reveal powerful sharp canines, as its golden eyes narrowed in pure, unbridled hate as it stared into his eyes.

"You're...not real!" He whined, as his hands went limp and the dagger fell to the loamy ground. "You can't be real!"

As it growled again, then the muscles tightened beneath the fur, he took a step backwards and began to scream...

It pounced - and showed him just how real it was...

*

Arpellian heard the fateful scream that broke into a choking wail of sheer terror and agony, before it was cut short and he burst into fresh tears. He wept, knowing that scream meant someone he knew - but not who - had surely met a terrible, agonising fate. Against his better judgement, he rose and pulled on his pants, then moved towards the forest. Something compelled him to go, even though his mind screamed for him to turn and flee back to the village. He wanted to run - yet his legs felt like they were not his, as he brushed aside the leaves and melted into the dark, forbidding forest.

His eyes wide like dinner plates, every nerve singing its fear and his stomach clenching itself in knots as he crawled under some low branches and brushed aside others. He had no idea where he was going, yet he seemed to be instinctive drawn along certain game trails and through thick, almost impenetrable shrubs and brambles. Yet he moved inexorably towards - what? What drew him against his will, like he was some puppet in the hands of some sadistic, divine puppeteer? Brushing aside more branches, he emerged into a scene that looked like a slaughter house - and he took one look, then spun away and his stomach gave way as he collapsed to his knees and began vomiting helplessly.

*

When his stomach finished flopping about within him like a fish, he gagged and stumbled away, then found his way to a small stream. Here, he collapsed onto the ground and began gulping down the cold, clear water - splashing his face and trying to shake the terrible scene from his head. Soon, his pale composure faded and he felt himself regaining his composure and self-assurance.

Just as he rose, he heard a soft growl - like an angry puppy, and he blinked, and then looked across the shallow stream. Here, a young wolf pup - barely a month old, stood with its short, stubby legs wobbling, as it peered at him and uttered its low growl - which was about as threatening as a feather. As he giggled nervously, then began to stand up - a hot, moist breath puffed past him and he moaned, eyes widening in terror. Furred hands grasped him savagely, and then he felt himself hoisted into the air as powerful muscles propelled him as easily as he'd throw a ball. He crashed back to earth ten feet away, the air crushed from his lungs and eyes blurred, as he heard some beast come thundering across the stream towards him, its unmistakable snarls of pure, unfettered rage chilling him to his very core.

Again, those savage claws wrapped around his neck and lifted him effortlessly from the ground, before he was shaken like a dog shakes a rag toy, and thrown savagely back down, as the half human/half wolf straddled him and lowered its head - blood soaking its muzzle as it snarled at him. Something in him gave him strength, and he opened his eyes to stare into the intense golden eyes of the savage wolf-creature that threatened to tear him limb from limb - and as her jaws cracked open and the sickening breath washed over him and made him gag - his eyes widened.

"You...you're the...the wolf who - "

She paused and blinked - the haze of hate and bloodlust washing from her face, as her dewlaps uncurled and she stared into his eyes - then there was that unmistakable flash of recognition that sparked between them and she blinked again, slowly releasing her crushing grip on his shoulders.

"You...killed him!" Arpellian wailed, as he struck her muzzle, snapping it to the side. "You murdered him in cold blood - I hate you, I hate you!"

She yelped as he struck her, then the anger built within her - but she choked it back and stared into his eyes - before she hesitantly reached out with a bloodied paw and laid it on his cheek and brushed away a salty tear. As he burst into tears, she grabbed him and enfolded him against her furred breast, holding him tightly as she began rocking him soothingly, the young wolf pup watching on, then its attention caught by a butterfly, it yipped and ran off to follow it.

*

Arpellian woke sometime later, feeling a rough straw pallet under him, and a warm blanket on top of him. Faintly, he heard the drip of water and voices talking in a low, sibilant tone.

"You can't be serious!" One snarled in anger. "Do you not know what he is?"

"Mind your tongue pup, less I tear it out and show it to you!" Snapped another, older voice. "I know damn well what he is - what YOU were - before I took you. Remember that!"

"You haven't even mated him once, now, you're infatuated with him!" Hissed the first.

There was the sound of a hand striking flesh, and the first one cried out in pain, then began crying and its footsteps fled the echoing chamber. Claws clicked against stone, as they drew closer, and Arpellian froze and tried to make it look like he was still sleeping. A warm furred hand rested on his forehead, and then the unseen creature knelt down and licked his cheek tenderly - the long, rough tongue rasped across it.

"I know you're awake - " Come the soft, animal like voice beside his ear. "I can smell it, now - stop trying to fool me child, it won't work."

Apellian's eyes opened slowly, then he screamed as he seen the greyish silver muzzle of the werewolf right beside him. With frightening speed, she clapped a hand over his mouth and silenced him.

"Shhhh," She whispered her voice rough and almost unrecognizable. "Please - I...know you're scared, hurting and...probably would like nothing better - than to drive a sword through my dark heart."

She rose on powerful furred legs which ended in wolf-like paws, then turned away as a sob caught in her throat and she bit a furred knuckle. "You...hate me - don't you?"

Arpellian rolled over on the crude cot, as hot, bitter tears welled in his eyes. "How can you expect me to feel? You...you kill for pleasure, terrorise my village - now, you expect me to roll over onto my belly and say I love you? How...how can I?"

Anger rippled through her body, as she bit back her snarl, then unclenched her paws and shuddered, looking back over her shoulder. "You think - I hunt your people, like some beast? I've never killed anyone in your village, for food. I kill, only if they threaten me, or mine. I take the occasional animal, which is my sole source of food, if I can not catch something in the forest."

"What about the blacksmith's daughter - well? That blood on the riverbank - and she was never seen again!" Arpellian snapped, his words lashing her like a scourge. "What about my master - who you tore apart in the forest? Yes! I hated and feared him, but he did not deserve - "

She tensed, then visibly swallowed and relaxed, calming her rising anger with her remarkable self-control.

"As for that girl-child - she is alive...and well. As for your master - I have watched him for months. I have seen how he beats you, how he despises you, and how he - took you as a man takes a woman!"

Apellian's eyes widened in horror, as his darkest secret came out. "You...knew?"

She shuddered then turned her head away as a sob wracked her. "Yes...I knew - what he did, and for killing him for the hurt and pain he put you through, I have no regrets...well - maybe one..."

Arpellian felt her grief and he tenderly laid a shaking hand on her furred back. He felt revulsion, horror and...more than a little pity for her, as she had acted not out of anger and hate - but out of some strange, confusing mixture of those and what seemed to be a genuine liking for him.

"What...I did with you, in the thicket - " She sniffed, then hung her head. "I'm, sorry - I should not have done that to you."

Tears welled in his eyes, as he shivered and gently reached out and took her long, slender furred hand in his and squeezed it carefully.

"I was - " He rasped, then his throat locked.

"Scared?" She asked, looking down at him from over her shoulder, her triangular ears flattening against her skull in shame. "Yes - I could smell that. Yet...you showed courage and you overcame your fear of me, to stroke my neck. Those are traits I can admire. Others look at me as a beast; as...a killer of sheep and other livestock, or if they see me - as you see me now...as a creature from their worst nightmares."

She rose and pulled away from him as she squeezed her eyes closed and felt the bitter tears sliding down her cheeks. When she regained her composure, she stared at the ceiling of the spacious cave, as if seeking the answers there.

"Your people caught and murdered my mate - " She whispered, her breath fogging in the cool air. "I wish he had of listened to me, had of stayed here in the forest with me and not gone after that humans child...he would not listen to reason. I will not lie to you child - he was a cruel, angry and resentful alpha male. So self assured of his prowess and abilities - it was he who caused the fear and terror amongst the villages we've hunted both around...and in before we came here. Here, his hunger for the flesh of humans grew, and he stalked one for hours. Watching. Waiting. Stealthy as a shadow, but unmindful that he was walking into a trap..."

Arpellian felt himself drawn into a world he had never known - he could see his lithe, slinking form in the shadowy underbrush, following the trail of his hunted quarry...

As a choking cry bubbled up in her throat, she bit it back and glanced over her shoulder at him, the tears tracking wetly down her cheeks to spatter onto the cold stone floor. "They never told you - what they did to him...did they? How his screams echoed across the fields - even reaching me here, as I lay in agony, birthing his firstborn..."

Arpellian shuddered, and then he felt his own tears welling in his eyes, as the images that came to him were truly horrific.

Sniffling, she hung her head and unclenched her fingers, splaying them out to her sides. "No. They never told you, how they kept him alive and tortured him for days, before he finally died. Did he deserve it? In some ways - for his crimes against your people, and others - yes...but he deserved to die swiftly - not...the way he did. That is what I hate about your kind. You say we are bloodthirsty killers and such, but we always strike swiftly - and seek to kill our prey as painlessly as possible. Humans - on the other paw, they delight in suffering and torture of others...."

"Not all...of us are like that - " Arpellian sniffled, as he sat up and pulled his knees to his chest.

She looked back over her shoulder, and then looked away again and a shiver rippled through her furred body. "No - you're right. Now, I am without a mate, taken from me by his arrogance and the cruelty of humanity..."

He rose, and then cautiously approached her, before laying a trembling hand on her hip. She turned to look down at him, those rich, golden eyes shimmering with tears.

"I...offer you a choice - " She sniffled, then knelt and bowed her head subserviently to him. "Become...my mate - and take me as you will...or leave, and I swear upon my ancestors who have gone before me - that I will leave your village and you will never see me again."

Arpellian felt cold chills seize him, as he stood before her and stared down at the trembling half-human/wolf that knelt before him. He had a decision to make - one, if his memories of what she had done in the thicket was any indication, promised such pleasure - the other - promised safety and peace for those who had scorned him, for being a slave. Hesitantly, he reached out and laid a shaking hand on her furred head, as he bowed his own, then burst into tears...

To Be Continued.