{"sf1_id":851013,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Love and Lycanthropy - Chapter 14","author":"JakeXtraTall","words":12738,"posted_at":"2015-04-22T02:04:00.000Z","tags":["Human","Plot Development","Relationships","Wolf"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/851013-love-and-lycanthropy-chapter-14","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/851013","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=851013\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"I stretched and sighed contentedly as I emerged from the RV after having\nnapped for a short time through the afternoon.  I looked around at\nthe incredible beauty of the landscape surrounding us as I went over to join\nGrace, Elias and Cole who were sitting at the picnic table we'd parked\nbeside, chatting.It\nhad been three days since our run-in with\nthe spooks that tried to take Cole from us.  We'd been doing a lot\nof driving over those days to try to put ourselves as far from danger\nas possible, and we'd finally decided we could safely stop and take a\nmuch needed break.  We were now in a part\nof the Spring Mountains range in southern Nevada, a bit less than\ntwenty miles from Las Vegas.Normally, it would probably not\ntake\nmore than eighteen hours or so of straight driving to get from where\nwe'd started in northern Oregon to get all the way down to Las Vegas,\nbut since we had to stop occasionally to sleep, and because we'd been\nfollowing a meandering course along secondary highways and back roads\nin my somewhat paranoid attempts to avoid all contact with any highway\npatrol, it had taken considerably longer.  We were in no great\nrush to get where we were headed, more like we had been in a rush to\nget away from where we'd been.  Now we were far enough that we\ncould stop to rest a while before continuing our journey.We'd\ntaken a significant detour out of our way to\nstop in Carson City in order to get better outfitted for the rest of\nthe trip.  Grace had said she'd be alright with the clothes she\nhad for a while, but after watching her constantly fiddling and\nshuffling to try to get more comfortable in her own clothes, and seeing\nher sniffing at her own armpits, then stiffing at us and wrinkling her\nnose like we'd been wearing the same clothes for too long, I decided it\nwas best to go\nsomewhere where we could shop for more suitable clothes for her and\nmore changes of clothes for all of us, and\nto stock up on anything else we might need.  We'd left in such a\nrush that we were ill equipped for a long trip.We\nhad limited cash right now so we stopped at a thrift store to get\nclothes for\nourselves.  We were going to be\nsort of roughing it from now on and there was no point splurging\nwastefully on anything expensive.  We all purchased several\nchanges of\nclothes and fairly large quantities of socks and underwear.  My\npersonal preference would be for Elias and Cole to wear the same socks\nand underwear for as many days as possible so I could enjoy the scent\nof them more each day, but Grace and I didn't see eye to eye on that.\n She wanted us all clean since we were cramped into such close\nquarters.  She had no interest in sharing the foot odor of three\nmen\nall day every day.  We would only be able to wash our clothes\neasily any time we were in a populated area that had a laundromat\nfrom now on, so we bought enough that we could continue to change our\ndirty clothes and not run out of clean ones until the next chance we'd\nget to wash them all.  We were also going to be spending most of\nour time out in the wilderness from now on so we'd purchased a pair of\nrugged hiking boots for each of us.The\nstop in the city was also a chance to get several other things we\nneeded, like pots and pans and utensils for cooking, foam mattresses for\nthe floor of\nthe RV, and a folding table and chairs for us to use in case we needed to\nstay\ninside due to rain while we ate our meals.  We bought\nblankets, towels,\ntoothbrushes and shaving gear for myself and for Grace.  Grace now sported\na completely normal, natural and surprisingly lush growth of armpit hair and leg\nhair every day, since her\nbody was growing anew every morning when she changed back to human\nform.  Elias and I tried to convince her that it looked beautiful\nand\nnatural and she should just leave it, but she'd been programmed her\nwhole life that she must shave\nevery bit of hair off her body and she intended to keep it up.  I\ntold\nher she'd get tired of it soon enough since she'd have to do it every\nsingle day and she agreed she'd probably get sick of it before long,\nbut she needed to keep at it until then to try to feel more normal.\n As soon as she had the shaving materials, she disappeared into the\nbathroom at the back of the RV to shed herself of the hair she'd been\ncarrying under her arms and on her legs for the past couple of days, and\nthen we continued our shopping excursion dressed up in our fresh new\nclothes.At\none point we'd stopped in a mall and she decided to make good on her\npromise to herself to shop for bathing suits.  It was amusing to\nwatch her proudly display all the different outfits she tried on.\n It didn't really matter what the suit looked like, she was able\nto make it look that much better.  The really fun part was staying\nback and watching the people who were walking past the shop in the busy\nmall.  Each time Grace came out of the fitting room to show\nherself off, men were crashing into posts and tripping over benches or\npotted plants, or slamming full on into other men who'd been coming\nfrom the opposite direction who were also suddenly distracted.\n Husbands were getting punched in the shoulder or hit over the\nhead with handbags by irate wives as the men slowed or even stopped to\nget a better look at Grace and they suddenly completely forgot, or\nperhaps even temporarily\nregretted, their marital status.  She was absolutely stunningly,\nnaturally beautiful and she seemed like she didn't mind the\nattention she was getting in the least.  She'd been a frumpy,\nfrazzled, stressed-out,\nhard-working, dedicated mother for so many years, and now she was an\nenergetic, glowing, vibrant, transcendent beauty.  It's not like she'd become someone else, it was more like she'd gone\nthrough some sort of purification and enhancement process that stripped\naway all of the effects that modern life does to a human body, leaving\nbehind the purest form of a human being.  She was the\nbest possible example of the perfect female human form.Grace\nwas\nso attractive now that I'd even had a slightly surprising moment\nearlier that morning when she'd changed back to human form.  She\nhad quickly gotten used to the idea of being nude around us and that\nthe boys would be nude in front of her every night when they changed to\na wolf and every morning when they changed back.  The motorhome\nwas close quarters and she quickly realized there was no point trying\nto hide herself away or avert her eyes so she made no effort to\nseparate herself from the rest of us.  She would settle in for\nsleep as a wolf on the\nfloor in the pile of males even though she knew everyone would wake\ntogether naked when they changed back.  This morning when she\nchanged back to human form she'd been just getting up off the floor and\nhad initiated a long and satisfying stretch while she looked out the\nsmall window at the top of the side door of the motorhome to check out\nthe dawn.  I'd gone outside\nto conserve water in the RV by relieving myself in the bushes.\n I wasn't expecting her to be standing right there in the doorway,\nwith her arms were stretched up over her head and her\nback arched backwards in her long stretch, with her breasts thrust out\nin front of her.  I had opened the door quickly to climb the step\nback into the RV to escape the morning chill and I nearly bowled her\nover.  When I suddenly found my face nestled right between two firm\nbreasts I immediately pulled back and nearly fell over backwards.After\nthe initial shock that made us both jump and then laugh, I couldn't\nhelp but take a moment to gaze over her new form, lit warmly by the\nrising sun behind me.  Her skin glowed and her hair fell in\nbeautiful, clean, flowing waves down over her shoulders to cover the\ntops of her breasts.  Her pert nipples were raised by the slight\nchill of the air and stood out long and stiff.  She had a wonderful, fresh\nand natural scent.  Her body was curved and shapely and healthy and prefect.  She was\nbreathtaking.  Even the furriness under her arms and on her\nlegs simply added to the natural appeal of her for me.  As I gazed over\nher taught and toned body it actually caused a bit of a rustle in my\nunderwear that I was not expecting.I\nsuppose a big part of what\nturns me off about many women is the fact that they do everything in\ntheir power to present a painted facade to everyone.  From my\npoint of view,\nwomen walk around coated with so much gunk that if you could somehow\nmagically make only the woman herself disappear and not anything\nshe's wearing, you'd still see the perfect shape of her in all of the\nmakeup and clothes that would stay behind, and you would swear she was\nstill standing there.  They cover themselves in foundation and\nprimer and concealers and powders and rouge and blush and bronzers and\neye\nshadow.  They color their hair and abuse it with products to give\nit\nmore curl or less curl or more shine or less shine and to force it into\nshapes that it doesn't want to follow, and then they use crusty\nchemicals to hold it there.\n They paint their nails and brush on highlights and coat their\nbodies with lotions and balms and\nperfumes and deodorants and moisturizers.  They cover their lips\nwith fake-colored waxy grease and thicken their eyelashes with overly\nblack mascara and thin their eyebrows to the point where they actually\nhave to draw them back in with a pencil.  They reconstruct\nthemselves everyday from the ground up\nwith a myriad of products that are made of all sorts of nasty things\nlike\nwhale poop, crushed beetle shells, fish scales, snail slime, bull\nsemen, tallow rendered from boiled dead animals, bat guano, a whole\nhost of toxic chemicals, and God only knows what all else, all in an\neffort to look completely different from how they're really meant to.\n I find it all disgusting and I can't for the life of me\nunderstand why any heterosexual male would ever want to touch or kiss\nsomeone coated with all that goop.One thing I love about men is\nthat, for the most part, what you see is really them.  I like men\nwho don't use any sort of artificial scent like aftershave or cologne\nor even deodorant.  I like them natural.  It's not hard to\nfind men who are perfectly OK with their natural scent or the way they look, while women\nseem to want only to smell like anything other than a human being and\nlook like anyone other than themselves.Grace\nlooked so amazingly\nfresh and radiant and smelled so wonderfully natural, and I knew that\nthere was nothing whatsoever that was artificial or unnatural anywhere\non her.  She was appealing enough that she was actually getting a\nbit of a rise out of me and that had never happened before when I\nlooked at a woman.  I was still gay, but I had no problem\nrecognizing and appreciating beauty when it was right in front of my\neyes.  If she was able to stir the loins of a gay man I could only\nimagine how intensely attractive she must be to a straight guy.The\nbest part of it all was that it did not seem to change her.  She\nknew full well how beautiful she had suddenly become but it had no real\neffect on her attitude.  In a sense, her outer looks finally lined\nup to perfectly mirror the beauty she always had within her.  She\nwas still\nthe same wonderful, funny, intelligent, confident and personable woman she'd been\nsince\nthe first day we met.I\nsmiled now as I watched the effect she was having as she modeled her\nbathing suits.  I gave her as much time as she needed to\ntry on as many different suits as she wanted to, while the\ncrowd of men staring into the shop grew.  In the end she selected\na couple that were very simple and fairly inexpensive.After a\nfull afternoon of shopping we had all the various things we needed\nthat we'd run off without when we first made our escape days ago.\n We were now completely outfitted to make the rest of our\njourney more comfortable.We'd made one last stop before we left Carson City to\nhave a nice, sit down meal at a restaurant, and then afterward we spent\na bit of time in the parking lot while I tethered the laptop to my\nphone and plunged into the dark web to research our identity needs.I\nwas surprised at how many options I had to purchase ID.  It\nwasn't like the old days where you might get a fake driver's license\nthat was nothing but a card with your picture on it from some shady\ndude in a bar.  There were full package deals available now that\nincluded everything you might need to convince any official of who you\nwere, even if they went onto the system and checked, and the packages\ncould be purchased for entire families.  No doubt modern printing\ntechnologies and the fact that nearly any official agency either had\npeople working on the inside who were always looking for ways to make\nextra money, or could be accessed from the Internet and hacked, made\nsuch things somewhat trivial for the more advanced criminals out there.\n There's a full-fledged and highly competitive underground market\nfor all of these sorts of things that was well served by a number of\nsites that catered to anyone who needed anything, no matter how illegal\nit might be or how difficult it might be to produce or procure.\n All you needed was sufficient cash and you could buy anything, so\nlong as you approached them anonymously using untraceable IPs and\noffered payment in untraceable bitcoins.I spent as much time as\nI could chasing down comments and asking questions and chatting online\nwith many representatives of the various sites.  I was amazed by\nhow organized and professional they all seemed to be.  I'd never\nreally delved into the criminal world online and I had no idea it had\nadvanced so far.  I finally settled on a site that had established\na reputation for creating the absolute best new identities available.\n The cost was exorbitant but I was assured from several sources\nthat I would not be disappointed.  Grace and I and the boys took\nseveral photos of each other against plain backgrounds with our camera\nphones.  I used some utilities to strip them of all metadata and\nsent the photos off, along with a large down payment of bitcoins.\n I'd arranged to have the new identities delivered to an anonymous\npost office box I rented online that was located in Tucson, Arizona.\n We'd have to blow a few more days as it would take that long for\nthem to get our identities ready, but there were plenty of places we\ncould stop and enjoy camping along the way.Everything should be\nready and waiting for us in the box by the time we arrived in Tucson,\nand if it was all in order I'd send the rest of the payment.  It\nmay seem like a risky venture and I might find nothing but an empty\nbox, but there was a great deal of money involved in this business and\na fairly high demand, and if word would get out that a particular site\nhad screwed anyone over, the money would stop flowing instantly, so I\nwas fairly confident I would not be cheated.From Tucson we would\ncontinue down south and cross the border into Sonora, Mexico, and then\npass through Chihuahua into Durango, and continue onward until we\neventually settled in Campeche, Yucatan, or Quintana Roo.  It\ndidn't really matter where we ended up.  Anywhere on the peninsula\nwould do.  We'd play it by ear once we got there and could better\ndetermine what might work best.For now we had a few days in\nwhich we could simply relax, enjoy each other's company and take in the\nnatural beauty of the landscape before we needed to be in Tucson to collect our new identities.I'm thirty eight years old and\nyet somehow, in all of those years, I'd never once taken the time to\ndrive anywhere in my own country.  I'd certainly taken many\nvacations, but all of them, even when I was just a kid, involved a drive only as far as the airport\nto hop a flight to some other distant location.  I'd never taken a trip\nanywhere through the United States by car, so it was more than a bit of\na surprise to me just how incredibly beautiful the country is, and so far I've only seen a very small part of it.  The\ncampground we were at currently was nestled in a valley in the Spring\nMountains in southern Nevada.  We were not far from Mount\nCharleston, the highest peak in the\nrange and probably not much more than an hour's drive from Las Vegas.\n The view here was absolutely spectacular.  The whole range\nwas like a massive, cool green oasis rising up in the middle of a hot,\ndry, brown desert.  The landscape around the mountains was made\nup of stunningly beautiful alpine meadows and cool forested slopes\ndominated by evergreen trees and dotted with ice-cold mountain springs.\n One of the smaller mountains in the range rose up to the\nnortheast of us and a valley\nstretched out to the south and west on either side of one of the spurs\nof Mount Charleston.  Charleston Peak towered\nabove the other mountains and dominated the skyline to the south of us.The\nair was fresh and invigorating, in sharp contrast to the heat\nand dry just minutes away down in the desert lowlands.  The\ntemperature on the mountains is typically twenty to thirty degrees\ncooler than the desert surrounding them.  The height of the\nrange gives it a drastically different biome than the desert below and\ndue to its elevation and isolation from the 'sea' of desert surrounding\nit, the Spring Mountains range is known as a 'sky island' ecosystem.As\nI looked around I thought to\nmyself how amazing it would be to live permanently in a place like\nthis.  I may have been a bit hasty in my decision to settle in\nMexico.  This slice of beautiful countryside was likely just a\ntiny sample of what covered the better part of the Rocky Mountains\nstretching from New Mexico on up into northern British Columbia.\n It would also look a lot like this in summer up in the Northwest\nTerritories, the Yukon, and Alaska.  Maybe\nthose would be better places for the wolves to call home.When\nI'd decided on Mexico I was being a bit unintentionally selfish.\n I can't stand the cold so I'd wanted to settle in someplace warm and tropical and sufficiently remote, but what about the\nthickly-furred wolves?  Would they even be able to stand the heat\nof a tropical rain forest?  If I had a bit of a chill in a cool climate I\ncould just throw on a sweater, but the wolves couldn't exactly take off\ntheir coats if they found it too hot and humid in the tropical and subtropical forests of the Yucatan.  Wolves were built\nfor northern climates, that's why the largest populations are found in\nthe northern part of North America and Russia.I\nsuppose in this\ncase we couldn't only think of what the wolves need.  They spend\nmore time as humans.  The daytime isn't really a concern since\nthey're\nonly wolves at night.  If the nights are cool enough then it might\nwork.  We could enjoy our permanent tropical vacation during the\nday as humans and the wolves might be comfortable enough at night.\n Perhaps if we stayed close to the coast on the northern part of\nthe peninsula we'd be OK.  In any case, there was no point\ndeviating from the plan\njust yet.  We had, for all intents and purposes, an eternity to\nmake\nup our minds about where we should live.  There was no point\nworrying about it until we got\nthere and found out what it's like.  For now we could spend a bit\nof time here and enjoy the mountains and scenery.I joined the family at the\npicnic table just as Elias was saying, \"Don't worry so much about it.\n You just need more practice.\"\"I\ndon't know if practice would make any difference,\" Grace said,\n\"There was absolutely nothing I could have done.  I know it.\n I could feel the wolf's rage but there was no way I could calm it\ndown at all.  It was overpowering.\n When it just kept tearing at that guy and escalating the violence\nagainst him I got so scared I sort of turned away and looked inwards so\nI wouldn't have to see it happen.\n It was like the mental equivalent of closing my eyes, putting my\nfingers in my ears, and going 'la la la la la' so I couldn't even hear\nwhat was going on.\"\"That's the problem,\" Elias said, \"You need to face\nforward and stay in charge.  If you don't decide what needs to happen next, the wolf will step up and do it for\nyou, and what it wants to do might not be exactly what you want.\"I\nrealized they were talking about Grace's mauling of the man in the\nwoods.  She'd completely lost control.  We'd never really\ntalked about it since it happened.\"Are you OK, Grace?\" I asked, \"Have you been\ndwelling on what happened back in the woods that night?  That man\nhad to die.  You had no choice.\"She\nshook her head.\n \"No, I haven't exactly been dwelling.  Certainly not about\nhim.  It doesn't really bother me that that man died.  It's\nlike you said about Cole when his wolf killed the hunter or when he\ntook down the leader at my house.  It wasn't really him that did\nit, it was the wolf.  It was the same for me.  They had guns\nand they were after Cole.  They would have killed us if we got in\ntheir way.  I don't doubt that, so I feel no guilt about what we\ndid.  What bothers\nme is how close the wolf came to killing you, too, and how I felt\nabsolutely helpless to stop it.\"\"You'd\nbeen a wolf for all of a couple hours by then and you spent most of\nthat time in the back of a van,\" I reasoned, \"The wolf just didn't have\ntime to really lock onto my scent and feel the relationship you and I\nshare.  I was just another man with a gun and it figured I needed\nto be put down before I could do any harm.  We've had more time\nsince then with you as a wolf around me, and we'll have a hell of a lot\nmore time from now on, so I don't think I'll be in danger anymore.\"\"But\nhow do we know?\" she asked.  \"The way it felt then, I just don't\nthink I could ever do anything to get back control once the wolf decides to go crazy.\n If I ever hurt you, Jake, I couldn't live with myself.  It\nscared the crap out of me to come so close.  When I realized it\nwas turning on you, I was begging it to just stop, but it was like it\nhad tuned me out and had no interest in what I had to say.\"\"The\nwolf is almost all instinct in a situation like that,\" Elias said, \"You\ncan't reason with it, you just have to control it.  You might not\nrealize it yet since it's so new to you, but you're its master and it\nknows that.  Like any dog, it might start to get out of control but\nif you're a good master and you assert yourself strongly it will come\nback in line right away.  For me, killing those guys was not much\ndifferent than hunting and taking down a kill for food.  I've done\nenough hunting in wolf form that I'm a lot more used to it than you.\n When you killed that guy in the woods it wasn't really you, but\nthe wolf.  You were sort of fighting to make it all stop, but the\nwolf knew it couldn't stop until that man was not a threat anymore.\n I think that's why you lost control completely.  Instead of\nbeing against it right from the start, if you'd sort of gone along with\nthe wolf and did what needed to be done instead of trying to run from\nit internally, it might not have gotten so out of hand.  I had to\nkill that other guy, but the big difference is it wasn't just the wolf\ndoing it in my case.  We both did it.  I understand the wolf\nand we both knew what had to happen and somehow I sort of let the wolf\nloose, like a master commanding an attack dog to kill, but at the same\ntime I shaped his actions and that's how once I saw the man was dead I\nwas able to pull the wolf back and take over complete control again.\n It's hard to describe, but I think you'd figure it out if you had\nmore chances like I've had all the times I hunted deer in wolf\nform over the past few years before I met Jake.\"What he was\nsaying made sense.  Elias had so much experience letting the wolf\ndo what came naturally when it came to killing, he was likely more in\ntune and able to keep things controlled.  Maybe what Grace needed\nwas a chance to do some killing of her own.  The day we'd talked\nabout the possibility of her becoming a werewolf for Cole's sake she'd\nsaid she wasn't interested in hunting and eating raw meat.  She\njust wasn't into that sort of thing, but maybe that was part of the\nproblem.  She needed to come to terms with the wolf and let it be\nwhat it is and sort of find a way to be OK with all of that.\n Otherwise, anytime she'd find herself in a situation that\nnecessitated violence on the part of the wolf she'd mentally hide away\nand the wolf would run rampant once again.  She needed practice,\nand we just might be in an ideal place for her to get it.\"Elias,\ndo you think maybe you should take Grace out hunting tonight?\n Maybe it would help her to let the wolf make a kill under more\ncontrolled conditions so she could get used to letting it off the\nmental leash just enough to do the job and then pull it back.\"Elias's\nface brightened and he said, \"That's an awesome idea!  Cole should\ncome too.  I haven't tasted fresh meat in a long time now and I\nwouldn't mind gorging.  If we can bag something big enough the\nthree of us would eat enough to tide us over for a few days at least.\n Think of how much food we could conserve if Jake is the only one\nhaving to dip into the refrigerator.  You haven't lived until\nyou've hunted and killed your own food, Grace.  I think you'll\nlove it once you've tried it.\"Grace said, \"I don't know if I could do something like that.\"Elias\nkept pressing her.  \"Don't you get it?  That's the problem.\n You need to think of it sort of like it's a necessity and even if\nyou can't do it, the wolf sure as hell can, and it wants to.  It's\nnatural.  You need to sort of accept it and stick right with it\nwhile it's happening.  Try not to change what the wolf is.\n Try to get in tune with what the wolf feels when it's happening\nand you might find yourself feeling just as exhilarated as the wolf\ndoes when it makes a kill.  If you stay involved in the process\nyou'll be able to control it better.  I think it's important for\nyou to get some practice doing it.  Cole too.\"\"I really want to try that!  Can we do it, mom?  Can we go hunting tonight?\" Cole asked excitedly.\"I don't know honey.  It could be dangerous.\"Elias\nshook his head and said, \"Wolves do it all the time.  It's what\ncomes naturally to them.  It's their job to take down the food\nthey need to survive.  It's absolutely routine.  You need to\nthink about it as just another day at the office for the wolf.\n It's a hell of a lot less dangerous than what might happen if we\never come across those men again and you completely lose control.\n The wolf is mostly instinct so it might make some bad decisions\nand you need to get used to helping it make the right ones even in a\nscary situation.  You need to get used to staying in the driver's\nseat as much as possible.  I think it's important for you and Cole\nto try this.\"Grace looked a little hesitant, but after some\nthought she said, \"I suppose we could try if you think it might help.\n I don't ever want a repeat of what happened in the woods with\nthat man or the near miss with Jake.  I suppose if I could get\nused to not just turning away when the wolf is killing I can learn to\nlet it do its job and then take control back.\"Elias smiled and\nsaid, \"Good.  I'm not sure what there is to hunt around here, but\nhopefully there's something big enough that you and Cole could work\ntogether to bring it down, just the two of you.\"\"Shouldn't you help us?\" Grace asked, \"It would be our first time.\"Elias\nshrugged and said, \"Nobody helped me on my first time and it went OK.\n You're big enough as a wolf to handle it by yourself.\n Between you and Cole it will be a cakewalk.  Trust me.\n It might be your first time, but the wolves have millions of years\nof evolution telling them how its done.  They won't get it wrong.\n I'll run along with you guys and I could help to separate one\nfrom the herd if necessary but I'll hang back to let you make the kill.\"Cole was really getting excited now and he said, \"This is gonna be so awesome!  I get to go hunting!\"Elias turned to him and said, \"I think you'll like it little man, and you'll get to eat raw meat for the first time.\"\"What's it taste like?  Isn't it gross?\"\"No,\nnot even a bit.  I can't really describe exactly what it tastes\nlike.  Wolves taste things different than us.  It's not so\nmuch what it tastes like but how good it feels to taste it.  Think\nabout how you felt when you tasted the best thing you ever ate and\nmultiply that by a hundred.\"I thought about what he said and it\nmade sense.  Taste and smell are closely linked in humans, so it\nmakes sense that they would be in wolves, too.  If that's the\ncase, since wolves' sense of smell is so much more sensitive than\nhumans then it follows that their sense of taste might be, too.\n It must be an incredibly visceral, primal thing to experience for\nElias to kill and eat, and now Cole and Grace would get to feel it too.\n I wished I could watch it happen and get to see them living that\nway.  It would be amazing.\"Now I wish I could come along,\"\nI said, \"I'd love to run with you guys and watch Grace and Cole make\ntheir first kill.  I could never keep up with three wolves on the\nhunt, though.\"\"I don't see why you can't come along.  The\nwolves know how to get the scent and follow it and stay downwind as\nthey track so you'd just need to follow along right behind and you\nwouldn't get in the way or mess up the hunt.  We know to slow down\nto let you follow along with us even if the wolves don't.  It\nwould be even better practice for Grace and Cole if they have to keep\nthe wolves tightly enough under control the whole time so that they can\nkeep them going slow enough for you to keep up, while still letting the\nwolves be in charge of the hunt.  It would help them to learn how\nto let the wolves do what comes naturally to them while still directing\ntheir actions and modifying them as needed.  I think it might\nactually help to have you come along,\" Elias suggested.\"Yeah!  I think it would be awesome if you came too, Jake!\" Cole said.\"It would be a pretty amazing experience for me,\" I said, \"I'd love to tag along.  I'm looking forward to it.\"\"So\nit's settled,\" Elias said, \"Hopefully there's something around here we\ncan hunt.  It looks like pretty good country for deer at least.\"\"I\nwas looking over the brochure earlier that we picked up when we came\ninto the camp area this morning since we were going to be here a few\ndays,\" I said, \"It describes some of the wildlife around here and it\nsaid this range hosts the only herds of Rocky Mountain elk in Clark\nCounty.  The picture was of a really massive looking elk with a\nhuge rack of antlers.  It also mentioned other big animals that\nare normally found in Nevada like mule deer and burros and such.\n There's mountain lions too, so we'd need to watch out for those,\nbut I doubt any of them would risk taking on three giant wolves.\n They'd steer clear.\"\"That sounds great.  If there are\nelk or deer within miles of here the wolves will find them.  I\ncan't wait,\" Elias said.\"Me neither!\" Cole agreed.Grace\nstill looked a bit uncertain but she shrugged and said, \"I don't know\nif this is going to work for me, but I'll give it a shot.  Just\npromise me when the time comes to make the kill, you'll stay way back,\nJake.\"I smiled and nodded.It was late enough in the\nafternoon when I'd woken from my nap that I had been planning on\nstarting to get an early supper ready with Grace's help, but since the\nwolves were going to be gorging on fresh meat they decided to skip the\nmeal.  I quickly cooked up a couple of hot dogs to curb my hunger.\n While I ate, we talked about the planned hunt some more and it\nwas decided that it would be best if we did it as far away from the\nactual camping area as possible.  Not only would it be safer to be\nwell away from other people, but the area closer to the campground\nwould be more populated with scavenger type animals, and the grazers\nwould stay far away.  We would be more likely to come across\nsuitable prey for the wolves further up the mountain in areas not\naccessible by any vehicles.It would be best if we hiked along\nthe spur of Mount Charleston to the south and covered as much ground as\nwe could before sunset.  It was the night of the full moon so they\nwould change into wolves the moment the sun went down past the horizon.\n We would be far enough into the deeper woods and away from anyone\nelse that they could simply strip down and change right there.\n I'd bring a large backpack with a couple of blankets stuffed into it\nfor me, since we'd likely be spending the whole night, and I could put\ntheir clothes in it as well once they'd stripped out of them so we\ncould crash wherever we wanted and they'd have their clothes when they\nchange back in the morning.  We'd continue further towards the\nmountain, letting the wolves follow any scent they might come across\nfrom there.As soon as I was done eating we filled our water\nbottles and headed out.  It was still late afternoon so we'd have\nseveral hours before sunset and we should be able to put quite a bit of\ndistance between us and any other people.The\nhike was absolutely invigorating.  It felt so good to put all of our\nproblems, and the stuffy RV, behind us for a few hours and\njust live and enjoy each other's company while we wandered the great\noutdoors.  We\ncrossed meandering streams and climbed over massive piles of huge\nboulders\nand went down into cool shaded valleys and up onto breezy bluffs as we\nmade our way along the spur while the warm evening wore on.  We\nmoved through large stands of bristlecone and ponderosa pine trees, and\nfurther down the side of the spur in the deeper valley we saw pinyon\npine, juniper, white fir and aspen.  At the lowest levels away\nfrom the mountain were creosote bushes, Joshua trees and sagebrush.We\nsaw jackrabbits and kit foxes, chipmunks and antelope squirrels, wrens,\nhawks, jays and chickadees.  Cole's sharp eyes even spotted a\nbroad-tailed hummingbird with a dazzling red throat and shiny green\nfeathers as it hovered over an indian paintbrush plant, sucking nectar\nfrom its brilliant red flowers.We were surrounded by a lush bounty of life and we greatly enjoyed every bit of the\nmagnificent scenery that was presented to us.\n Once again I found myself wondering if Mexico had been the right\ndecision.  It was so breathtakingly beautiful here and the air was\nso fresh and brisk that the hike was enjoyable and I didn't find myself\noverheating from the exertion.  I doubt we could do this sort of\nthing in a sub-tropical rainforest, and trudging through a flat jungle\nhacking at thick foliage just wouldn't be the same experience at all.This\nwas the most fun we'd had together as a family yet.  I'd always\nbeen a city dweller my whole life and I'd never really had the time to\nthink about being anything else.  I'd been too busy with my career\nto sit down and imagine any other type of life.  I was a bit\nsurprised at just how much I was enjoying this.  The way I was\nfeeling now, it seemed I would have absolutely no problem leaving the\ncity life behind me forever.  I could get used to this life quite\neasily.  Grace seemed to be enjoying herself immensely too, even\nthough she'd sort of indicated in one of our conversations that she\nwasn't the outdoorsy type.  She seemed to be in her element out\nhere and I could see her coming to life more and more as we walked.\n I think a lot of her previous attitude might have come from the\nfact that she'd been so busy and tired and overworked trying to provide\nfor her son on her own, and then having to deal with his illness and\nall the pressure and misery that went along with that.  Now all of\nthose worries were behind her and she suddenly found herself physically\nfit and full to busting with energy, and she was starting to discover\nthe pleasure of burning that energy up doing something as simple as\nchasing her son through an alpine meadow while they laughed.My\nmind wandered to thoughts of how much human beings were out of their\nnatural element in the modern life we'd created for ourselves.  As\na species we probably used to measure our success in life by the level\nof joy we experienced from day to day.  Now we almost seemed to\nmeasure our success by the level of stress we were able to endure.\n If you could take a little more it was best to add more pressure\nto your life and raise the stress level a little since it would mean\nmaking more money and earning more stuff and being more 'successful'.Our\ndays were spent moving from one stuffy, closed-in, climate controlled\nbuilding to another, from a house to an office to a bank to a\nrestaurant to a movie theater to a house again.  We lived and went\nto school and worked and entertained ourselves and shopped for our food\ninside massive boxes, shutting ourselves away from nature and from the\nvery environment that shaped us over the millennia into what we are.\n We even moved between the various huge boxes we spent our days\nshut away in while riding in smaller metal boxes with wheels on them.\n It was all boxes all day long.The human race had evolved\nover millions of years to do just what the four of us were doing right\nnow; walking.  Humans were meant to get up at sunrise and pretty\nmuch keep walking, out under the canopy of the wide open sky, gathering\nfood and working on our shelters and hunting and just roaming and\nexploring for the entire day until it was too dark to do\nanything more.  Then we would settle down to enjoy each other\nand sleep so that we could do it all again the next day.  That was\nour true element, yet the human race was doing everything it could to\nchange all of that and compartmentalize ourselves into our artificial\nboxes, as if nature was a horrible thing we needed to protect ourselves\nfrom instead of the wondrous, life-giving force that had produced us in\nthe first place.  It was completely unnatural.I'd never\nfelt more alive than I felt now and I could only imagine how much\nbetter it would be if I were in the same perfect physical shape the\nother members of my family were in.  I was beginning to really\nlook forward to the change to being a werewolf.  I'd come to the\ndecision that as soon as we were completely settled and safe in\nwhatever location we decided to make our home, I would take the plunge.\n For now, I did my best as a normal human to keep up with the pack\nof supernaturally healthy humans that were bouncing and laughing and\nchasing each other around me.It was a good thing I'd kept myself\nin shape over the years with a lot of cycling and elliptical training\nand treadmill workouts or there was no way I could keep up with the\nthree incredibly fit werewolves in their human form.  We ate up\nthe distance at a good pace and while I was laboring a bit to maintain\nthe pace, the three of them kept up an animated conversation the whole\ntime and made it seem completely effortless.Hours passed and the\nevening wore on towards night.  The hike had started to become\nmore like a climb as the landscape steadily rose towards the mountain\nand I was starting to become a bit tired and ready for a break when we\ncame over the top of another ridge and Grace gasped and pointed.\n Elias raised a hand to stop us and we all looked to where she'd\nindicated.On\nthe smooth slope down the other side of the ridge\nnear the bottom we saw a small herd of reddish-brown animals grazing on\nthe long grass and low shrubs.  It looked like elk, though the sky\nwas darkening toward dusk and they were down in a shaded valley to the\nwest and the setting sun was in our eyes so it was hard to make them\nout clearly from this distance.  I wished I had a pair of\nbinoculars to get a closer look.  As far as I knew deer didn't\nhang around in herds of any more than four or five animals and there\nlooked to be more than a dozen large animals down there slowly moving\nsouthward\nwhile they grazed.  They had to be elk.  They were a fairly\nlong ways away but we didn't dare get any closer for fear of scaring\nthem off.  We weren't the hunters, the wolves were.  We\nneeded to leave it to them.We went back over the top of the\nridge to the other side to look for a spot to settle in and rest until\nthe sunset that couldn't be more than ten minutes away.We moved into a\nstand of pine trees with a soft bed of old needles making up the ground\ncover and we sat to wait for the change to hit.I reclined\nagainst the angled stump of a tree and Grace sat with her back to a\nmassive boulder.  Elias settled down with his legs crossed on the\nground. Cole came and sat in my lap and hugged me and I hugged\nhim back and gave him a kiss.  I brought my knees up and moved my\nfeet away from me and he leaned back against my legs to face me.\n \"This is so awesome,\" he said, \"It was really fun hiking out\nhere.  I wish we could do this everyday.\"I smiled and said, \"Me too.  I never thought doing something so simple could be so much fun.\"Grace\nsmiled as she watched us and said, \"You and me both, Jake.  Do you\nremember that talk we had just before the excrement hit the rotational\ncooling device, when I said I wouldn't enjoy roughing it in a remote\narea because I'm just not that kind of girl?  Well, I still think\nI was probably right, I wasn't that kind of girl then, but I sure as\nhell am now.  I love this.  I've never felt so good in my\nlife.  I've never felt so alive.  Maybe I was scared of this\nkind of life because I felt I wouldn't be able to handle it, but now I\nfeel like I could handle just about anything.  I'm dirty and\nsweaty and I'm sitting on the bare ground with my back against a big\nboulder out in the wilderness away from everyone else, and yet I'm\nabout as comfortable as I need to be and I can't think of anywhere else\nI'd rather be.  The idea of restaurants and bubble baths and soft\nbeds doesn't exactly seem abhorrent or anything now, but it certainly\ndoesn't seem like a necessity anymore.  I'd gladly give it all up\nforever to enjoy this kind of life every day.  Most of my doubts\nabout being a werewolf are fading fast.\"\"I lived exactly like\nthis almost every day for three years,\" Elias said, \"Apart from the\nloneliness, I loved it.  Like I told Jake, my dream was to\neventually settle somewhere way up north.  I wanted to have a\nlittle cabin that I could hide in while I was a human, in the middle of\na vast forest I would own when I was a wolf.  We've spent most of\nthe time as wolves in the past few nights sleeping in the RV while Jake\nwas driving, or just resting until you took your shift, but tonight\nyou're gonna find out what it's really like to be a wolf running\nthrough the woods.  The way you feel now is still nothing compared\nto how amazing you'll feel when you're stalking the herd and using your\nincredible sense of smell and sight and instincts to get set up for the\nkill.  You'll be amazed by how intense it is if you let yourself\nfeel everything the wolf does and let her share it with you.  I\nguarantee you, after tonight any last shred of doubt you might have\nabout how good a wolf you'd make will be gone, and from then on you'll\nmostly spend your time as a human waiting for when you get to be a wolf\nagain.\"Grace smiled at him and said, \"I think you're probably right.\"\"I'm so glad you changed, mom,\" Cole said.\"Me too, sweetheart.\"Cole looked back at me and said, \"When are you gonna change, Jake?  I wish you would do it right now.  We could all hunt together.  Wouldn't that be cool?\"I\nsmiled at him and nodded, 'It would be pretty cool, yes, but I think I\nneed to hold off just a bit longer, sorry.  We should be arriving\non the Yucatan peninsula within a couple of weeks even if we take our\ntime to get there and we'll find a place to settle in.  I want to\nstay this way for now in case there are any complications.  It\nwon't be long at all.  As soon as we're organized and settled and\ncompletely out of danger and our lives become much simpler I'll do it, I promise.  I'm anxious to\njoin you all, too.  The more I think about it the more I want it.\n It's something I'm really looking forward to.\"\"Good.  I can't wait 'till you change,\" Cole said.\"Me\ntoo,\" Elias added, \"This is all a dream come true for me.  It's\neven better than anything I ever imagined before.  I never even\nthought to add a family to my dream of a cabin back in the days when I\nwas wandering alone.  It didn't seem like it was in any way\npossible for something like that to happen.  We're so close now,\nthough.  I can't believe it.  I never thought I could be so\nlucky.  You're the last missing piece, Jake.  When you change\neverything will be in place and we'll be a happy family of werewolves\nliving in our own little slice of paradise.  I seriously can't\nwait.  It's gonna be so great.\"The alarm on my watch\nstarted beeping and I turned it off as Cole got up out of my lap and\nbegan to strip down.  Grace and Elias did the same.  While\nthey finished undressing and folding their clothes up into neat stacks\nI took the blankets out of the backpack.  I gathered up all of\ntheir clothes and put them in the pack, and then added the blankets\nback on top of them so I could get at them easily when it was time to\nbed down later on.  I gathered up their hiking boots and tied them\ntogether in pairs and then tied the pairs to various spots on the\nbackpack.The three beautiful naked humans moved to lie down on\ntheir backs on the soft loam together, spaced slightly apart, and each\ntook the hand of whoever was lying next to them as they calmly waited\nfor what was about to hit.All at once the three of them jerked\nin unison and I could see them tense up in preparation for the barrage\nof pain that was coming.I'd seen this process enough times by\nnow that I wasn't nearly as bothered by it as I used to be.  It\nhad become routine and there was no need to worry about it anymore.\n I still liked to watch over them closely to ensure they were\ndoing OK, but for the last few nights I'd been watching from outside the RV.\n I didn't want to push my luck with Grace's wolf until she'd had\nplenty of time to get used to me, but after three full nights hanging\ntogether the wolf had gotten to know me better.  Last night I'd\nkept the door of the RV open and stood just outside it, ready to slam\nit shut if Grace's wolf made any moves towards me in the moments before\nGrace slid into place and took control, but it went fine, so I knew I\nwas safe now.It all went normally and within minutes three\nexceedingly large wolves were in front of me, sniffing at each other as\nif to reassure themselves that everyone had come through OK, then\nstretching themselves and getting ready to move out.I put the backpack on and I grinned at them and said, \"Lead the way.\"Elias\nturned to Grace and raised a paw and tapped her on the shoulder.\n She nodded and moved ahead of the pack and the rest of us\nfollowed as she led us back up to the top of the ridge.There was\nstill plenty of light as the sun had only just set below the horizon\nwhile the full moon was already rising.  It was actually even\neasier to see down into the valley now that the sun wasn't in our eyes,\nbut we couldn't see the herd anywhere.  It didn't really matter.\n They'd been grazing as they walked slowly along towards the\nsouth, but by now they had likely moved into the trees and would\nshortly be bedding in to sleep.  They couldn't have gotten far.I\nwatched as the massive white wolf that was leading us surveyed the\nsmall valley that stretched out below us, then she put her head up and\nsniffed around.  She opened her mouth slightly as if to taste the\nair as well as smell it.  There was a very light breeze coming\nfrom the southwest and she suddenly put her head down and began to move\nat a steady pace down the slope at a ninety degree angle to the wind.\n She was moving slightly away from where the herd must be if\nthey'd continued the way they were headed when we first saw them, but\nshe seemed intent to get down off the grassy slope into the valley and\napproach the trees on the other side first before heading towards the\nanimals.Before long we'd reached the bottom and crossed the\ngrassy floor of the small valley and were approaching the trees.\n Grace stopped and began to sniff around.  We were right at\nthe spot we'd seen the herd grazing earlier.  She turned and began\nto move along the tree line southward, sniffing at the ground off and\non as she went.  Cole followed right behind her doing the same.\n Elias stayed well back with me as the two wolves followed\nthe trail of the herd ahead of us.We followed for quite a way\nuntil suddenly Grace stopped and Cole immediately stopped behind her.\n The huge white wolf sniffed at the air and turned to face back\ntowards Elias and me, and she cocked her head towards the trees ahead\nof her.  The forest of pine trees jutted out eastward ahead and to the south of us, and then turned\nback towards the west.  The herd must be just ahead around the\ncorner.Elias immediately moved past me and went to join the\nother two wolves and he sniffed the air a bit.  He nodded at Grace\nas if to confirm what she suspected.  He then turned to Cole and\nhe raised a paw and tapped his shoulder like he'd done to Grace\nearlier, and then pointed to the east back up the slope to the top of\nthe ridge.  Cole nodded and he turned and went down low as he\nquickly made his way up the ridge until he reached the top, then he\nturned and went down on his belly to wait.Elias then tapped\nGrace's shoulder again, but this time he simply pointed right at the\nground where she was standing.  She nodded and turned to face the\ndirection of the herd and went down on her belly in the tall grass.Elias turned to\nlook back at me, and when he saw I hadn't moved he must have decided he\nwas satisfied that I was still far enough away.  I sank down to my\nknees and pulled off my backpack to settle in and watch the hunt play\nout.Elias turned to the trees and slipped quietly into them.A\nbit of time passed as we sat in silence and I started to feel excited\nand anxious as I waited to see what would happen next.  Elias must\nbe slinking along through the trees, trying to get to the other side of\nthe herd so he could flush them towards Grace.  Once the animals\nwere spooked they'd want to come out in the open where they could run\nfull tilt.  Elias would likely pop out behind them and chase them\ntowards Grace.  Cole was in a good position to block them if they\nveered towards the ridge to try to make their escape that way.  It\nwould be up to Grace to pick one from the herd and chase it down.The\nlevel of tension rose as we waited for Elias to make his move.\n Suddenly there was a strange hooting and bawling sound of alarm\nand I could hear the sound of branches cracking and brush rustling as\nthe herd bolted out of the trees somewhere ahead, and it was soon\nfollowed by the thunderous sound of many hooves pounding at the ground.\n It had begun.Grace calmly stayed put as she waited for the\nfirst of the animals to come into view around the trees ahead that\nstuck out into the valley.  Within moments we saw the herd already\nheaded up towards the openness of the ridge and slightly towards the\ndirection Grace was still hiding while the massive wolf that was Elias\nsprinted after them, veering towards the south to get more behind them\nand trying to turn the whole herd more towards Grace's direction.\n As the herd started to turn more towards the north while still\nracing up the slope of the ridge, Cole popped up and began to run\ntowards them.  The herd saw him and panicked.  They were\nbriefly disorganized as some stopped and turned back down the slope and\nothers turned back towards where Elias was.  Before long they got\nback into an organized stampede as they realized they had no other way\nto go but down the slope, northward into the open valley where Grace\nwas still hunkered down in the long grass.I could feel the\nadrenaline rising in me even though there was nothing for me to do but\nwatch the exciting chase and mentally root for the wolves.  A\ncouple of large cows must have caught a glimpse of the white fur down\nin the grass ahead and realized something was wrong because they veered\nagain to head back up the slope and Cole switched direction to chase\nthem back down into the valley.  Grace must have liked the look of\nthem because she ignored the rest of the herd that was headed straight\nat her and bolted from her hiding spot towards the two females that had been\nsomewhat separated.  The rest of the herd panicked once again when\nthey saw the massive white wolf rise up out of the grass ahead and they\nwheeled around and headed up the slope of the ridge again.  Soon\nthey would be over it and safe.  The wolves were no longer\ninterested in them.The two cows that were separated had been\nrunning hard and were going slightly up slope so they were no match for\nthe speed Cole was going at as he sprinted down the hill at an angle to\ncut them off and send them back down into the valley.  They\npanicked again and turned only to see the streak of white death racing\nup the hill towards them.  Suddenly the two elk split up and one\nturned back towards the peak of the ridge and put everything it had\ninto escaping the massive white wolf coming at it.  The other put\non a burst of speed too as it changed direction just slightly to move\nat a right angle to Grace's trajectory, across her path.  It had\njust enough speed as it continued down the slope to narrowly escape\nbeing taken down by the huge wolf, but Grace quickly changed direction\nand sprinted down the hill towards it as Cole changed direction to join\nthe pursuit of the one Grace had singled out.The animal was\npounding down the hill almost directly towards me as the huge white\nwolf ran towards it from slightly up the slope, and Cole was coming\nfrom the south.  I was totally caught up in the exciting chase and\nI couldn't resist getting involved.  I sprang up and began running\ntowards the large female elk, flapping my arms and shouting as it\napproached and it immediately put on the brakes, which was its undoing.\n Just as it turned to look for the best way to escape this new\nthreat, Grace was upon it.  The elk made a plaintive, panicked\nsound as it realized it was surrounded and it leapt to try to get away,\nbut Grace slashed at it's flank and I saw blood spray from the wound as\nthe elk came back down and stumbled briefly, but began to try to run\nagain back towards the south.Cole was already there and in front\nof it and once again it bunched to leap over him, but just as it became\nairborne Cole leaped up and bit at its belly and hung on.  He was\nnearly stepped on as the elk came crashing back down to earth, but\nsomehow managed to stay on its feet.  I thought it was over at\nthat point as Cole began to shake at the animal and tried to bring it\ndown, but the huge cow refused to give up and it screamed and bleated\nas it stumbled along, half dragging Cole who was still holding fast to\nits belly and pulling backwards as if to try to tear it open.In\nmoments Grace had caught up again and she ran around to the front and\ngrabbed the animal by its massive throat and began to yank at it to\npull it over.  There was nothing more the elk could do.  It\ncould no longer make any sounds as the huge white wolf held fast to its\nthroat and cut off its supply of air.  In no time the elk was down\non the ground and weakly struggling to get back up, but it was\nhopeless.  Before long it fell completely still.Grace\nand\nCole both held fast for a while longer to ensure the animal was dead,\ntheir sides heaving from the effort they'd expended in taking it down.\n Then they raised their heads from their kill and yipped and howled at\nthe rising moon in celebration of what they'd achieved.  I jumped\nup and down and cheered at them.  The massive white wolf saw me\nand she went up on her hind legs and started hopping up and down too,\nthen Cole did the same.  I laughed as I saw them move towards each\nother and Grace's big front paw came up and Cole followed suit and the\ntwo shared a high five.They came down and suddenly the massive\nwhite wolf turned and began barreling towards me, ears back and\ncharging at full speed.  I felt a moment of panic but there was no\nneed as she stopped just before she reached me and went up on her hind\nlegs and her big paw came up yet again.  I laughed and gave the\nmassive wolf a high five and she went down and began racing around me\nin circles, then she bolted back towards her kill and ran around it a\nfew times.  Then she spotted Elias loping towards them and both\nher and Cole bolted and ran towards him.  He broke into a run and\nslipped between them and the two wolves wheeled around and chased him\nback.Elias wasted no time and as soon as he reached the fresh\nkill he began to tear into it.  The other two wolves came up and\nsat and waited.  It was as though instinct was now telling them to\nlet the alpha have his fill before they could start.  Elias ripped\nand yanked at the carcass to open rents in the hide, and then he dove\nin and tore out chunks of flesh to gobble down.  He looked over at\nthe other wolves and then jerked his head toward the dead animal and\nboth wolves moved in to claim their share.  Grace seemed to have\nlost any inhibition she might have had and she allowed the wolf to\ngorge.  Cole was doing the same.  The three wolves were so\nhuge that they would likely consume most of the animal before they were\ndone.I waited while the three wolves gorged, not wanting to get\ntoo close so it wouldn't seem like I was trying to steal their dinner.\n They were tearing at the elk in a feeding frenzy at first and I\nwasn't sure how in control everyone was of their wolves, but before\nlong they'd settled and were devouring their kill at a steady but\ncontrolled rate.  I heard yips and barks coming from the east and\nI looked up to see several coyotes running back and forth at the top of\nthe ridge.  They had smelled blood and knew there was a fresh kill\ndown here.  They also seemed to know they would not be welcome and\nthey kept their distance, hoping to get first dibs on whatever was left\nover.  Most likely the area would soon be visited by badgers,\nwolverines, weasels and other scavengers that the coyotes would have to\nfight off to get their share.  If the scavengers were lucky, no mountain\nlions would show or they'd all have to vacate.After a while,\nCole was sated and he turned away from the kill and loped over to where\nI was and lay down on the ground.  I sat next to him and began to\nscratch at his chest and belly as he whined his contentment.  I\nwas amazed at how hard and full his belly felt.  It must be\nholding twenty pounds of meat at least, and the other two wolves would\nlikely consume twice that amount each.  Wolves were binge eaters\nby nature and their stomachs could expand to huge proportions to allow\nthem to eat as much as they would need to keep them fueled for days to\ncome until the next successful hunt.I smiled at him and asked, \"How was dinner, Cole?  Did you like it?\"His\ntail began to thump hard against the ground and then he rolled onto his\nback to show off his round belly and his tongue lolled out the side of\nhis open mouth as his tail began sweeping the tall grass.  I\nlaughed and rubbed at his distended belly and said, \"You must have\nalmost half an elk in there.  Doesn't it hurt?\"He shook his head and whined as his tail kept wagging.Before\nlong Grace came over to join us and flopped onto the ground too,\nfollowed shortly afterward by Elias.  The three wolves lounged\naround lazily, fully satisfied and looking ready for sleep.\"That\nwas an absolute thrill for me.  I never in my wildest dreams\nthought I would hunt with a pack of wolves.  I couldn't help\ngetting involved.  I was totally caught up in it.  I can't\nwait to experience that for myself and get right in there and stuff my\nface.\"Grace whined and got up and came over to me and rubbed her big head against me.  I scratched at her neck for a bit.\"I\nseem to remember you saying hunting and killing was more of a guy thing\nand you probably would never be into it.  Well, you seemed pretty\ninto it to me.  You did great out there.  I guess the wolf\nknows what it knows and once you give it control it executes like a\npro.  You've proven you make a perfectly fine wolf.  Cole did\ntoo.  You were both back in control again immediately after the\nkill.  I could tell it was you because I'm pretty sure I've never\nheard of wolves in the wild high-fiving each other after a successful\nhunt.\"She whined again and wagged her tail and I heard Elias huff a couple of times like he was laughing.I\nscratched at the massive white wolf a bit longer, then I stood and\nlooked around.  It was starting to get much darker, though the\nrising full moon would likely keep it from getting completely dark so\nlong as the sky remained clear.  It didn't seem wise to stay out\nin the open through the night, though.  The wolves looked like\nthey were about to doze off from the torpor that was setting in after\ngorging themselves, so I suggested we move over to the trees to find a\nmore sheltered spot to sleep.  The other two wolves grudgingly got\nup and we made our way towards the trees as the coyotes descended from\nthe ridge and began to fight over what was left of the carcass.  There was no doubt none of it would go to waste.We\nheaded into the woods and found a spot that had enough room for all of\nus to crash out on the soft forest floor.  I brought the blankets\nout of the backpack and laid them down on the ground and crawled onto\nthem.  It was warm enough still that with my clothes on I didn't\nfeel any need to cover myself up.  Elias came and lay down next to\nme and Cole lay down on the opposite side.  Sandwiched between the\ntwo big, warm, furry bodies there was no way I'd get any chill tonight.\n Grace came and joined us and lay down right at my head.The three wolves were so groggy from the lethargy that followed their binge that they were all asleep within minutes.  I\nwas exhausted after the long, fun hike and the excitement of the hunt,\nbut I lay awake for quite a while afterward listening to the sound of\nthe coyotes fighting off other scavengers who came along to steal a\nshare of the kill.  Mountain lions might even show up eventually\nwith the smell of so much blood on the breeze, but I had no fear whatsoever while surrounded\nby three supernaturally giant wolves.This was an experience I\nwould not soon forget.  I thought about the incredible future full\nof nights just like this that awaited us.  I was excited by the\nidea that the next time this happened, I would likely be a wolf too\nright along with them.  I began to wonder what type of prey there\nmight be in the jungle and once again doubts about the choice of Mexico\nfor a final destination creeped in.  There were no herd animals in\nsub-tropical rainforests as far as I knew.  There were likely no\nbig grazers at all since there was really no grass.  It was more\nlike a primeval forest made up mostly of ferns and lush undergrowth and\nmassive trees covered in vines.  Again, I hadn't really thought\nabout the wolves and what they might spend their time doing out there.\n They seemed to love this and they wouldn't likely be able to do\nit down there.Perhaps I'd talk to the family about it tomorrow.\n There was still no point changing our plans just yet, but in the\nlong term we might like to consider the possibility of going north\ninstead.  I decided to wait and see how good our new identities\nwould be.  If they were as complete and convincing as had been\nadvertised, we'd be completely free to move anywhere we wanted at any\ntime.  We only needed to stay out of populated areas to remove any\nchance of having the type of problems we'd encountered back at home.\n We need a remote location to live in if we really wanted to stay\nout of trouble, but it didn't really matter where it was exactly.\n Perhaps we could head north and spend the remaining bit of summer\nand the first couple of good months of fall up there, then move back\ndown to Mexico for the winter.  We could go back north again in\nthe spring.  That way we'd get some variety and the wolves could\nbe true wolves for at least half the year, but we'd be comfortable year\nround.  We would be the first wolf pack to migrate all the way\nfrom Alaska down to Central America and back again every year.  At\nleast, most likely the first.Every once in a while the thought\ncrossed my mind that there were other werewolves out there.  There\nhad to be.  We know for sure there was at least one because he was\nthe one that had turned Elias.  How many more were there?\n Whoever it was that was after Cole had spoken as if they'd had at\nleast one in captivity before but somehow that had ended and they\nneeded another.  The hunter had said something similar before he\ndied.  Something about not letting 'them' get their hands on\nanother one.  I was now sure that the 'them' he'd referred to were\nthe men who'd showed up at Grace's house.  I wish he would have\nstayed alive long enough for us to question him further.  It was\nall a mystery that we might never solve.  In fact, it was safe to\nsay I hoped we'd never solve it, because that would mean we would be\nliving the rest of our lives in peace, never being bothered by any of\nthose people again.Still,\nI couldn't help but wonder just how\nmany more werewolves might be running around out there.  I wasn't\neven one of them yet but already I felt that this life was so good that\nas far as I was concerned, the world would likely be a much better\nplace if everyone in it was a werewolf.  Perhaps this was a sort\nof sudden lurch forward in evolution for the human race precipitated by\nsome sort of 'curse' that would slowly and inevitably spread through\nthe entire population by accident, or even on purpose, like what I was\nplanning to do to myself once we settled.  If we were going to\nlive for an eternity, then no matter how careful we were some accident\nwas bound to happen eventually and another person would be turned, then\nthey would eventually turn others, and so on.  Everyone who was turned\nwould live forever, so the population of werewolves could not naturally\ndecline, it could only increase.  How many werewolves\nthere might be right at this moment would depend somewhat on when it\nall began.  If it started thousands of years ago there might\nalready be thousands of werewolves.  If it started more recently\nthen there might only be a few.How many others were in the same\nposition as us?  Elias had said once that there was no way\nwerewolves could go around building their own community because most people\nwouldn't survive the attack that would turn them.  We now knew\nthat wasn't necessarily true.  I was safe among the wolves who\nloved me even while they changed and that would allow me to change\nmyself anytime I wanted just by cutting myself and infecting myself\nwith their saliva.  Who's to say it wasn't happening just like\nthis all over the world?  Someone gets infected by accident and\nthen a loved one chooses to join them.I chuckled to myself as I\nimagined other families doing the same thing as we were doing right\nnow, or doing like I'd thought of earlier and migrating back and forth\nwith the seasons.  I pictured dozens of them flying in groups to\nAlaska to spend the summer, then flying down to Costa Rica or someplace\nfor the winter to be jungle wolves.  In my head I saw happy\nfamilies, homes strewn with photos of mom, dad and the kids on the\nbeach, then another of mom, dad and the kids sharing a kill as wolves.\n Maybe someday this would become the new norm.  For all we\nknew there might be a whole werewolf underground out there somewhere\nalready who'd figured all this shit out long ago and were much more\norganized than we were.  In any case, even if there was, if we\nplay our cards right and stay out of trouble we would never know it,\nand they would never know of our existence either.  Still, it\nwould be good to know one way or the other.As I pondered the possibilities,\ndrowsiness crept over me and before much longer I dozed off under the\nstars, snuggled up in my warm nest of furry bodies.","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/848536-love-and-lycanthropy-chapter-13.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/851827-love-and-lycanthropy-chapter-15.json"}