Whelp
#1 of Wolfpack
Non-anthro wolf story. Something different... Tell me what you think.
Fuz could vaguely feel the cold crunch of snow under his paws, and hear the hammer of his pulse in his ears. He could smell the elk, and all perception other than that smell seemed to fade dimly into the background behind a wall of pulsing adrenaline. He'd never felt so alive.
It was his first hunt with the pack. Ten of them fanned out across the snow in pursuit of a huge elk they'd hounded for miles. It was by far the biggest creature the young wolf had ever laid his eyes on - living or dead. Normally ten of them wouldn't attempt attacking such a beast, but fortune smiled on them this night. They'd found the elk wounded - the smell of blood was what attracted them. Although he didn't know for sure, Fuz thought the wound may have been inflicted by a human with a rifle. Too bad for the elk. Too bad for the human. One hunter's loss is another's gain.
The prey was weakening. A healthy elk could run faster than they could, but they could run further than anything alive. This wasn't a healthy elk in any case. It bellowed its pain and rage between massive heaves of air into its chest. The mist from its nostrils was clouded with blood. Fuz couldn't see its red taint, but he could smell it as it washed over him and the other pursuing wolves. The metallic taste of death incited an adrenaline burst so strong that it narrowed his vision and momentarily fibrillated his large canine heart. This is what he was born for. He'd never felt so good. He was running with all the most respected pack members, including the Beta male and female, and the Alpha male himself. He'd never been called anything other than "puppy" his whole short life, but once they drove this elk into the ground, he knew that would change. He'd have respect.
The elk began to scream with pain, terror and exhaustion as its pace lessened. The Alpha male - leading the pack - circled around to its left flank.
"Flank him! Flank him! Get around to his right!"
Another pack member just in front of Fuz sprinted into position to the right of the beast. The remaining wolves reduced their following distance. The idea now was for the flanking wolves to bite and wound the elk further - causing it to loose blood, and hasten its inevitable collapse. When it did collapse, it was the duty of every wolf to inflict as much damage on the beast as quickly as possible, to reduce the chance of it escaping or injuring one of them.
The elk was not going to give up without a fight, however, and it swung its head menacingly to its left - bringing its massive antlers to bear on the Alpha male, who just managed to avoid them.
"Keep on him! When he tries to hit me, bite him on the right!"
It would likely have been a good strategy if not for the fact that they were running on a sort of narrow path through thick, snow-covered brush. The hard, even surface was unnatural, which implied that humans had probably been involved in its creation. The path narrowed to a few feet wide - barely wide enough for the elk to squeeze through alone. The wolves flanking the elk had to pull back into pursuit behind him.
"Keep close. It'll widen out again eventually."
The path did widen out again, almost immediately. It terminated in a small clearing in front of a tall, human-built fence blocking off any further progress. The elk scrambled to a halt and quickly wielded round on its pursuers - its back to the fence and its formidable antlers lowered to face the snarling wolves. Its wide, white eyes darted to find an exit, but the wolves quickly fanned out to block its escape along the fence in either direction. Fuz felt himself growl automatically as he instinctively moved to corner the beast together with the rest of his pack.
There was near-silence for a few moments. Fuz could just hear the elk wheezing with pain and exhaustion over the low snarling of his peers.
"Easy..."
The Alpha addressed his pack.
"We're going to do this right. No one do anything stupid..."
Fuz could barely hear him. His ears were ringing with the adrenaline. He felt his lips curl up above his teeth. He wasn't the largest wolf, but he saw the elk's eyes widen as it caught his glare. He felt a rush of power. This massive creature was looking at his teeth - looking at him and quivering with fear. Fuz had never scared anything before. It made him feel invincible.
A human vehicle rose over the hill on the black tarmac behind the chain-link fence. Its headlights briefly bathed the morbid scene in painfully bright, artificial light. It distracted the elk, and Fuz chose his moment. It was impulsive - a more experienced wolf wouldn't have been so rash. The adrenaline took hold of him, and he broke ranks; advancing on the elk from the front. Even distracted and injured, this was exceedingly unwise. The young wolf didn't know any better.
"No, what hell are you doing?! He can jump..."
Too late. Fuz was on the elk in seconds, but not before it reacted to his charge. It moved amazingly quickly for such a huge creature. What was exposed neck moments before became a nest of jagged antlers. Fuz had time to turn his head away, but the antlers dug into his face, neck and flank. He yelped with pain as the beast lifted his head and threw him several feet into the air to land with a thud against a tree trunk.
The pack's Beta male rushed for the elk, and this may have saved Fuz's life. It was distracted from goring him to death, and instead chose to leap the fence behind it in a single bound. The remaining wolves looked on with amazement and dismay as it landed on the other side and loped painfully across the human's road... Hooves clacked on black tarmac as it disappeared into the night.
The Beta male leapt up onto the chain-link fence and roared his rage after it. The huge wolf's paws didn't even reach halfway up the fence.
"RAAAAAAAAAGH! BASTARD HUMANS!"
Fuz lay still where he'd been tossed. Pain rolled over him in waves from where an antler had obviously torn his flank. He felt the warmth of his blood begin to ooze, and smelled its particular scent in the air. The enormity of his failure became apparent to him, and he whined as much with the pain as with his humiliation.
The huge black Beta male rounded on the smaller, injured wolf.
"You!"
Fuz felt the huge wolf's hot breath in his face as the Beta snarled over him.
"You little whelp! If you hadn't played glory-boy, we would have had him!"
Fuz didn't look up at the wolf who was infinitely his superior. On the scale of Alpha to Omega, Fuz barely registered as a lower-case omega. Success in his first hunt may have changed this, but now he'd be lucky if his fellow wolves didn't finish what the elk had started.
"Speak when you're spoken to, you piece of human-slave trash!"
Fuz stuttered back whimpers of pain and humiliation.
"I... I'm sorry."
He really couldn't think of anything else to say. The Beta lowered his muzzle so that it was barely an inch from Fuz's own.
"I'll make you sorry, whelp..."
The remaining wolves had been silent, but Fuz heard the Alpha speak.
"Adlet. Take it easy."
Adlet was the Beta's name. Only wolves with close friendships or partnerships called each other by their names. The Alpha's name was Tyr, but no one other than the Beta male and the Alpha female ever called him that.
The Beta breathed onto Fuz's face silently for a few moments before fixing his friend with a cold stare.
The Alpha continued calmly.
"The pup's hurt. Leave him alone."
The Alpha and Beta males were old friends. Usually there was little disagreement between them. This time, however, the Beta dissented icily with his friend and superior.
"What he did was inexcusably incompetent."
There was an awkward silence. The Alpha male wasn't used to being contradicted in public - least of all by Adlet. He kept his cool, however.
"I know. And it's my job to make sure he doesn't do it again. Let me take care of it."
The Beta fixed his superior with his stare for a few moments before nodding curtly and moving away from Fuz.
"I'm sure you will."
The Beta skulked off, and the Alpha addressed the pack as a whole.
"Let's go folks. There's nothing we can do. There's no way around this fence."
The wolves turned to leave - following the Beta male. They were silent. None of them had the will to voice an opinion contradicting either the Beta or the Alpha, but their displeasure and disappointment was clear. Fuz caught multiple glances of disdain, and the odd low growl from his pack-mates as he struggled painfully to his feet. He thought they were going to leave him to his own devices, but the Alpha approached him.
"Can you walk?"
Fuz had barely spoken two full sentences to the Alpha male his whole life. Now he'd successfully humiliated himself in front of him, and in front of everyone else. He'd let the pack down, and that was utterly inexcusable. What was the Alpha going to do to him?
"Yes... Yes sir."
Every movement sent bolts of pain through his torn flank, but he found that he could walk, albeit painfully.
"Good. Walk in front of me."
Fuz struggled to keep from crying out as he limped along behind the hunting party as they trotted a relatively leisurely pace back to where they'd left the rest of the pack - mostly puppies and females nursing them, as well as sick or injured wolves. The Alpha male stayed behind him - presumably trying to make sure Fuz didn't get left behind. Dawn wasn't far away, and it was too late to attempt seeking out new prey. It would be impossible to do with an injured wolf tagging along regardless. They wouldn't starve from the loss of one good hunt, but if mistakes like this were repeated, starvation could easily become a reality for the pack's young, old and weak. Fuz tried not to think about it, but he had to think of something other than the burning pain in his side.
It was a long way back to the pack's temporary base of operations - a large drainage tunnel underneath a minor human road-bridge. It had seemed like nothing heading out - the adrenaline of the hunt coursing through his veins - but Fuz was painfully reminded of every step on the journey home. The sky was just beginning to lighten in the east as they arrived, and several wolves padded up to greet the hunting party.
It soon became clear to the pack-at-large that the hunting party had been unsuccessful. Young pups who had eagerly rushed forward soon fell back when they caught the severe expressions and brusque manner of the pack hunters. Tails quickly stopped wagging. Several pups whined from disappointment as they realised they wouldn't be eating that night.
The hunting party soon blended with the rest of the pack - wolves met up with bemused mates or close partners, and quietly explained the situation to them in no more than hushed growls and glances in Fuz's direction. Pretty soon it seemed as though every wolf who caught Fuz's glance returned it with a look of utter disdain. The young wolf wished he could melt into snow beneath him.
Fuz was about to start wondering where he should crawl to lick his wounds, when the Alpha male brushed past him and growled an order into his ear.
"You. Follow me."
Head lowered and tail between his legs, Fuz padded behind the much larger grey wolf, past his pack-mates who looked at him as though he were utterly worthless. He even heard a small, un-weaned puppy growl at him before turning and fleeing back towards his mother.
Fuz followed the Alpha through the drainage tunnel, and out towards the tree line on the other side. They brushed past the Beta male, who was sitting with a few of the pack's senior hunters. They regarded Fuz with disdain, of course, but the young wolf didn't notice how they also seemed to direct this disdain towards the large wolf he was following.
Once in the quiet of the tree line, several dozen yards from the rest of the pack, the Alpha stopped and turned to face Fuz. The young pup directed his gaze into the ground - not daring to look the huge wolf in the eye, or anywhere near.
"I don't think you appreciate the damage you've done."
The Alpha advanced on Fuz. The young wolf yelped out of fear, and cowered low on the snow. He would have rolled onto his back, but he was genuinely frightened of what the Alpha male might do to him.
The Alpha just sighed. He sounded tired.
"If everyone was as scared of me as you are, we wouldn't be in this situation. Stop cowering there like a dog in front of a human. I'm not going to hurt you."
Fuz dared to glance up at the Alpha standing above him. He wasn't going to hurt him? Then why had they come out here?
The big wolf lay down on the snow next to Fuz and began to lick the wound on the young one's flank. Fuz yelped out of surprise more than anything else.
"You're lucky, pup. Those antlers elk could have punctured a lung, and then you'd probably still be lying there dying. As it stands, you've got a scratched rib. Nothing that won't heal if it doesn't get infected... And it probably won't in this weather, provided you keep it clean."
The big Alpha gently licked clean the smaller wolf's wound. Fuz wouldn't have been able to reach it himself.
"Thank you... sir."
The Alpha looked the younger wolf in the eyes. Fuz quickly averted his gaze into the snow. The Alpha sighed softly again.
"Truth be told, pup, chances were that elk would have jumped the fence anyway. We may have been able to take it if two or three of us attacked it at once, but it didn't look good."
Fuz still felt like a prize idiot, but the Alpha's consolation made him feel a lot better. At the very least, the pack's leader didn't hate him. It was a tremendous relief.
"What you did was stupid. You could have easily been killed, or much more severely wounded. If you don't learn how to behave like an adult wolf, you won't live long as one."
Fuz felt a tear run down his cheek. Typical that he couldn't control his emotions. Still, he supposed it didn't matter much now. He was surprised when he felt the Alpha wolf's warm tongue lick it from his face.
"Nevertheless, you are alive, and you'll be fit again in a week. In a perfect world, we'd all forget about it and get on with our lives."
In a perfect world? Fuz dared to glance quizzically at his superior. The pack's leader suddenly looked tired, and quite old for his actual age.
"Sadly, we do not live in a perfect world. You may have noticed Adlet's unbridled hostility towards you earlier."
Fuz nodded mutely. The Alpha male sighed.
"I don't know if someone as... innocent as you has noticed, but Adlet has been chafing against my leadership for some time now."
Fuz hadn't noticed that. The news, and what the Alpha male implied by it, shocked him.
"I fear he may be looking for an excuse to publicly challenge my authority. I fear he may have found an excuse in your mistake."
Fuz didn't know what the Alpha male was talking about. Ten minutes ago he'd been consumed by his own selfish embarrassment. He couldn't believe his own pathetic blunder had political ramifications for the pack as a whole. Quite frankly, the notion scared him.
"You see... I had to prevent Adlet from attacking you earlier. I reminded him - and the pack - that it was my job, as Alpha, to correct your behaviour. Now, any rational wolf would know that, in this case, you don't need to be punished to learn from your mistake, pup. You're hurt and humiliated more than enough already..."
The Alpha paused to lick a few residual drops of blood from Fuz's flank.
"Nevertheless, I realise now the trap I'm in. Virtually the entire pack is angry with you, and no doubt Adlet is fuelling that anger as we speak. If I don't at least thrash you within an inch of your life, Adlet will assume grounds to challenge my authority, and he'll likely have popular support behind him."
Fuz began to cry. He couldn't believe what the Alpha was saying. He wished he had never been allowed to go on the previous night's hunt.
The Alpha gently licked away Fuz's tears without comment.
"On the other hand. If I abuse you simply to satisfy a political manoeuvre, then I will forsake any natural right to lead. Adlet will no doubt find another way to overthrow me, but it won't even matter... Because I won't be the legitimate pack leader any more. If I harm you, or any other wolf, without just cause, I might as well abdicate to him."
The Alpha stopped talking, and gazed absently towards the drainage tunnel. Two wolves a bit younger than Fuz were play-fighting noisily on the snow.
"Sir. Please... If you have to punish me..."
Fuz trailed off. He felt scared at how complicated things seemed to be getting. Why couldn't the Alpha just beat him, and then let things go on as normal?
The Alpha smiled at the younger wolf.
"I'm not going easy on you, pup. I don't care if you agree to it. It wouldn't simply be a crime against you... It would be a crime against the pack as a whole. It isn't anything personal. I simply cannot hurt you if you don't deserve it. My natural right to lead would be forsaken."
Fuz didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say. Should he be thankful? That didn't seem right, somehow.
The Alpha began to lick the small cut on the right side of Fuz's muzzle. Fuz gasped at the sudden, unexpected intimacy.
"Nevertheless, I do have to do something to you. Something that will let the rest of the pack know that I did at least deal with the matter in some way."
He stopped licking Fuz's face.
"What's your name, pup?"
It was a more significant question than you might think. As previously mentioned, only a wolf's mother, closest friends, and most intimate romantic partners of equal or superior rank would ever call him by his name.
For the first time, Fuz gingerly raised his gaze to look the older wolf in the eye.
"It's... Fuz, sir."
The Alpha smiled.
"That's a cute name."
Fuz felt his heart beat. He reflected fleetingly on how complicated his life had become in the last twelve hours.
"... Thank you, sir."
Even for a wolf as young as he was, it was obvious what the Alpha intended to do to him. He'd actually expected it from the beginning. He knew that mating wasn't simply a means of making puppies... It was also what close partners of the same sex spent much of their time together doing, and what close friends often experimented with when they were in private.
It could also be something darker than that, though. Mating between males specifically could be friendly and fun, but it could also be a horrible punishment, or a painful and humiliating act of domination. A wolf punished by a higher-ranking pack member would almost always expect rape as part of it.
Fuz had expected the Alpha to mate with him, but now he wasn't sure what type of mating he'd be getting. He'd expected the unpleasant kind, which would hurt his tail and humiliate him, but you didn't go around asking your victim his name, and then calling it cute if that's what you wanted to do to him.
"Sir... What are you going to do to me?"
The Alpha male chuckled softly.
"As I said, I'm not going to hurt you. But it would be best if Adlet thinks I have. He'll only know that we mated... And hopefully he'll assume it was painful. We won't tell him otherwise, will we?"
The Alpha smiled at Fuz. Fuz felt his heart thud against his sternum, and smiled back self-consciously at the huge wolf. He felt his tail extricate itself from between his legs, and begin to wag limply.
The Alpha gently licked Fuz's nose.
"Have you ever done this before?"
Fuz stuttered. Suddenly he felt quite silly. He'd never mounted anyone, or been mounted himself.
"Not... Not under the tail, sir. I've... licked with friends before."
"It's okay. It's horrible if your first time hurts. Don't worry, I'll be gentle."
The Alpha rose onto his feet. Fuz didn't know what to do, so he stayed crouched where he was. He assumed the big wolf would walk around to mount him from behind.
The Alpha softly nuzzled Fuz's neck.
"Roll over onto your back."
This surprised him. He was no expert on the subject, but he didn't think this was how males mated. Nevertheless, he complied with the wishes of the much more experienced wolf. Evidently the Alpha male noticed Fuz's confusion.
"Of course you don't punish someone like this. But no one besides us will know the difference later."
Fuz exposed his tummy to the Alpha male, but he wasn't scared of him any more. He couldn't put words to the mix of emotions he was feeling, but he decided that he liked the idea of mating with the Alpha. His tail brushed against the snow and he smiled at the big wolf towering over him. The pain and humiliation of earlier was briefly forgotten. He almost yelped as cold air made contact with his sensitive pink penis, just beginning to poke from its warm sheath.
The Alpha male moved to stand directly over his younger subordinate, his huge front paws on either side of Fuz's neck, and his powerful muzzle inches from Fuz's own. He slowly lowered himself so that he was resting on top of the younger wolf's lithe body. Fuz groaned softly as he felt the bulge of the bigger wolf's warm, hardening member gently press against his belly, into the concavity beneath his ribs.
The Alpha male began to lick Fuz's face - strong, affectionate licks across his cheeks and muzzle which wiped away any remaining tears. Fuz began to whimper softly as his breathing hastened. Their chests were pressed together, and he could feel the Alpha's heartbeat conducted through their rib-cages to reverberate together with his own.
Having licked its way across and around Fuz's muzzle, the Alpha male's tongue began to make in-roads into Fuz's mouth. It wormed its way through Fuz's fangs to wrestle with the young pup's tongue. Their muzzles preoccupied with each other, the two wolves breathed through their snouts - hot, misted snorts into each other's eyes.
After an age, the Alpha gently extracted his muzzle, and the two wolves panted foggily into the cool morning air. Fuz was almost yelping with need - his knotted member steaming needfully.
The Alpha shuffled his way lower down Fuz's lean body, flea-biting the younger wolf's neck and chest. Fuz gasped as he felt the big wolf's hot, solid penis tip find its mark just underneath his tail. The Alpha used his own pre-cum to lubricate his passage inwards. He gently eased his penis in a few inches at a time - gradually pressing it in further and further until his knot began to press up against the rim.
All the while, he continued to flea-bite the small wolf's chest - gentle, affectionate nibbles which tickled the younger wolf. Careful not to hurt him, the Alpha managed to ease his knot inside once the passage was lubricated enough. By now Fuz was panting columns of white mist up into the air. He watched the stars disappear through the forest canopy as the indigo sky lightened to shades of blue and pink. He had never felt like this before. Tears of pleasure ran down the sides of muzzle, and he softly whimpered up into the cool pre-dawn air.
The Alpha began to thrust with greater feeling - ultimately ceasing his flea-biting so that he could heave much-needed oxygen into his own lungs. Fuz's hot penis was brushing up against the big wolf's belly, leaving a trail of pre-cum between its pink tip and the Alpha male's coarse fur. The young wolf came first - sending a trail of his seed up into the Alpha's fur. The pup whimpered quietly in ecstasy, and clenched around the Alpha's member, causing the big wolf to succumb, and pump his own seed deep inside the young wolf below him.
They both moaned and twisted in ecstasy. When it was over, they panted their exhaustion mutely into the silence. The Alpha male began to affectionately lick Fuz's chest as they basked in the afterglow.
They lay there together for a while after the Alpha managed to extract his knotted member. Fuz watched the sky lighten, and rays of sunlight begin to illuminate the dark of the forest above him.
Eventually the Alpha got to his feet.
"Let's go back. Stay within my sight for the next few days, Fuz. Until Adlet and the others forget about last night."
The big wolf smiled down at his young subordinate.
"We must do this again some time."