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This story is set long before the events of either "Their Forest" or "The Princess' Paramour" before the harmonious balance was struck between humans and the animal-like Nobility...

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To most people a forest -when all is said and done- is just a forest, much like any other. One may make the clear distinction between groves of ancient olives with the sea air in rustling their finger-like leaves and tall pines bearing the burden of damp snow on their branches, but few would take note of how a forest changes the deeper one went into it. The edges are clearly not proper woods because they creep outward as growth spreads and recede as axes take their toll. Walking through those is no more a trek through the woods than striding shallow water is the same as swimming across a river. Past the edges the proper forest began, carpeted in layers of dead leaves in various stages of decomposition. Paths of beaten dirt made by hunters and woodsmen crisscross with the more subtle game trails and what sun does reach here is dappled and tinted green by the bright leaves unfurling in spring. But Mycah had left even that behind, going deeper in than he usually would.

His village was nestled against the old forest and he'd been venturing in as soon as he could walk, but even then he was admonished never to go too deep. Much of the woods were open to them but only by the grace of the Spirits that lived at the ancient heart of the woodland realm, and mortals didn't intrude there unless they were wanted. The reason Mycah was scared was that he wasn't sure that he was.

His tribe had sent a Bride to the spirits every spring, an offering of gratitude for all they provided. They permitted the humans to fell trees for their needs and made sure new ones grew tall and healthy to replace what was lost. The forest yielded wild game, herbs, wild greens and mushrooms, yet no monster ever issued forth to trouble the villages and homesteads along its edge, not even on moonless nights when such things are known to prowl. The river hat emerged from it always ran fast and cold, as much water as Mycah's people or their crops needed. And for all this, the spirits demanded just one of them every spring – the Bride of the Woods.

And every year in living memory the people of Mycah's tribe had sent a maiden of marrying years into the forest, a beautiful girl lucky enough to be offered a place among immortal beings in a land most humans would never even glimpse. Normally there would have been several young girls arguing which of them was the prettiest and as such a suitable sacrifice, but the winter had been a cold one and two likely girls had gotten ill and passed away while the third had kept the killing cold at bay with mead and a likely lad to warm her bed and as such was no longer a maiden by the time the snows melted.

With no suitable bride his people had been near panic until a few voices suggested that while they didn't have any virgin girls of the right age, they did have a virgin. The idea would have been absurd if the virgin in question wasn't the waifish boy even now trekking through the ancient forest. Mycah had always been a pretty child, and remembered many adults insisting he would grow into an exceptionally handsome young man one day. But while boys his age grew into men, his body seemed reluctant to leave boyhood behind.

Other boy's his age had beards by now while his lip and cheeks remained smooth as ever, his shoulders narrow and his body curving in all the wrong ways. His voice had barely broken and remained as soft and gentle as the young man's demeanor. And while girls had been very eager to kiss the beautiful boy he'd been, as they grew they desired men rather than boys. As such, Mycah's love-life had never gone beyond those shy touches and innocent kisses, leaving him suitable for the Spirits in at least one way.

No bride has ever returned, and as such nobody was certain what the divines might consider marital duties to be, but the Spirits did occasionally walk their domain in the form of large wolves. If they could take on bodies of flesh and bone when it suited them, the reasoning was that they would have the needs and desires that flesh imposed. If so, sending a male to them might be seen as a grave offense. But if their choices were that and sending no bride at all…

Careful treading on doe-skin slippers, Mycah couldn't help but blush at the preparation he'd gone through to ensure he didn't offend. His hair had grown almost long enough to reach his shoulders during the winter, and while most men had cut theirs as the weather grew warmer he'd been forbidden from doing so. All of his clothes had been replaced by dresses and he was told to spend as much time as possible in the company of young women, particularly the recently wedded ones. Those had been the ones who'd provided him on… practical advice, should he find himself in a situation where a husband expects him to perform his wifely duties, but since the young women had no actual idea how a male would accommodate such a request their rather animated speculation had been profoundly embarrassing to the young 'man' in their midst.

And so it was that whereas a maiden girl would have skipped along the meandering trail to her glorious new life, Mycah walked softly, feeling exposed in the white-linen dress that fit him better than it had any right to, after a gauzy ribbon of the same material had been wrapped around the bust, to compensate for those maidenly attributes he notably lacked. They'd all done their best, and even the doubters had agreed that he made an acceptable bride, but the final judgment would be that of the Spirits, and Mycah would be the first to face it.

He had gone beyond what he'd always known as the 'deep woods' and was anxious now that he found himself in a strange land so close to his home. The trees here were old and so tall that their tops were lost somewhere up above, in a mass of branches so thick that not a ray of sunlight could breach it. He walked in deep shade, and knew that the nights here would be even scarier – a pitch black above and below, without a hope of moon or starlight. The wind had been blowing strong when he'd left, raising goose pimples on his skin as it breezed through the light dress he wore, but there was no hint of it here. He doubted even storm winds could penetrate this far deep, to stir this air heavy with the scent of ancient detritus and the spores of unfamiliar plants.

The song of birds and bugs was just as alien to the young man as he made his way through the strange tableau of enormous fungi and thick ferns. Through all that a small mote of golden light broke through, catching Mycah's eye as it seemed to dance in the air before him. He might have thought it some strange firefly if the luminescent sphere didn't twirl back the way it came, trailing what liked like tiny fragments of soft-yellow light in mid-air. It looked magical and the boy had little doubt that it was. More to the point it was clearly marking a trail out for him.

Mycah found himself in a mossy clearing when the mote stopped and spun above him growing bigger and brighter until the circle of light he found himself in expanded enough for him to see it flashing in golden canine eyes.

"What's this now? Has the past year truly been so lean?" one of the wolves spoke. If the panting young man had any doubt these were more than common predators, the rich rumbling voice would have cleared them.

"I don't think so Karyak. This one smells wrong..." said another, and unlike the first one, this voice didn't sound at all amused.

"Yes, there's a name for that kind of wrong. What are you doing here boy? Have your elders not taught you never to venture this deep into our forest?" the first wolf spoke, taking a few steps closer and letting more light wash over him. The glow was golden but it lent little warmth to a fur coat that looked like it had all colors apart from black, grey and white bleached from it. The poised lupine form was also larger than any wolf Mycah had ever heard of, making the speaker even more menacing.

"I... I was sent here by my people t-to be your... bride..." Mycah said, speaking as he was taught. Since being given this role he'd been encouraged to emulate the speech and tone of young women, and if nothing else the fear gripping him had kept the pitch of his voice high.

"Is this a joke? Does your kind think they could possibly deceive us?" the wolf from the side growled as mutters rose from all around him. As the young man's worst fear materialized, he found himself too terrified to speak.

"Answer human. You do not look much like a male, but scent doesn't lie." asked the one called Karyak. Swallowing past a dry throat, Mycah found his voice in the hope it would save his life.

"My... my village lost all its maidens during the winter. It was hoped... please, don't punish my people! They've trained and sent me to be your bride! I promise I will serve faithfully and... and prove myself worthy of this honor..."

"Hmm, it certainly begs like a human. And it wants to be worthy of our 'honor'..." the large lupine mused, and if Mycah hadn't been raised to revere the Spirits as wise and benevolent he would have called the remark a sneer. The wolf circled him slowly, the boy's flesh goose-pimpling as those yellow eyes roamed over his body, with more and more sleek, muscular forms breaking away from the circle to get a closer look. "Fine then,, let us at least see what the mortals had wrapped up for us..."

The moment the words left the wolf's muzzle the stalking forms leapt and Mycah's heart almost froze as long white teeth flashed in the sorcerous light. Fearing the worst the young man closed his eyes and hoped for a quick death, but not teeth fastened on his flesh, and the sounds of tearing were caused by the fine linen dress covering him being ripped to shreds. Animal snarls filled the small clearing as both fur and teeth brushed against more and more exposed skin, and when Mycah finally gathered up the courage to open his eyes he found himself standing naked in a circle of huge lupines, most of them still clutching a shred of sheer white linen in their powerful jaws.

"Hmm, perhaps we weren't cheated after all. Even by human standards this doesn't look like much of a male." said one of the leering wolves. Mycah knew he should be relieved that their anger seems to have passed and that he would be accepted, but the looks directed at his naked body disturbed him in a way he couldn't put to words.

"You have a point Weir. 'She' lacks a slit, but the brides always did put up with things a bitch never would." said the wolf called Karyak, the large male others seemed to be deferring to. "So 'bride', have your people prepared you? Have you been told what your duties are?" he asked, padding on broad, heavy paws without a whisper until his muzzle was close enough for Mycah to feel his breath against bare skin.

"I... I am to serve you in any way you ask of me..." the young man said, gripped with fear as eyes continued to roam his naked form and a number of lupine muzzles lifted as the wolves took in his scent.

"You know that much at least. First thing to remember - never presume to stand taller than us. You may walk when alone, but when in the company of wolves you are to get down on all fours and show respect..." the wolf said, and after a second's pause Mycah immediately went down on his hands and knees, his face now lower than the large lupines. "Just like that. Know your place human, because if you don't we will have to teach you, and lessons are painful. Now, let's see how well you've been taught..." the wolf said, rearing up on his hindlegs before bringing his forepaws down on Mycah's back. The young man cried out softly at the sensation of dull claws pressing into supple skin, with the gathered wolves laughing either at his distress or what he was now face to face with.

"This, little human, is a male. Let that be clear to you - the little cocklet you've got between your legs merely means you are a freakish girl, but a girl nonetheless. Do not imagine it is only us males that stand above you - even bitches may do with you as they please, should they find you of interest. If you understand, then show me how well you were taught to serve us..." the wolf said, and there was little doubt in Mycah's mind what he expected.

With Karyak standing on his back the wolf's chest was just above the young man's head and his sheath was pointed at his face - a fat cylinder of flesh covered in fur such a stark white that the emerging red length was impossible to miss. And even though he'd never done this before, Mycah had spent a month in the company of young women who had. Once they no longer saw him as a male they spoke quite... freely and vividly about how a girl went about pleasing her husband, focusing on those methods and endowments available to the unusual bride.

So Mycah parted his lips end extended his tongue, bringing his face close enough to the lupine maleness that he could feel the heat coming off it. His nose was filled with the wolf's musk before his tongue even touched the tip. The taste wasn't objectionable, but part of him felt a revulsion at what he was doing. He'd come to terms that he'd most likely be expected to take the feminine role in his 'marriage' but the casual cruelty of the beings he'd been taught were benevolent protectors still shocked him. This was supposed to be a tranquil paradise, but he just felt alone and afraid, at the mercy of one brutal male while a dozen watched something he was sure would be private. He hoped none of that showed, because a part of him was slowly realizing that it would be dangerous to displease these powerful creatures. Without much choice in the matter, the young man wrapped his lips around the slick red length, only to see those hips buck forward.

"Keep those teeth out of the way girl! If I feel yours, you'll feel mine!" the male above him growled, and the sputtering youth did his best to obey. His jaw clicked as he forced them open as wide as he could, making sure to keep his lips wrapped around the manhood sliding back and forth in his mouth while keeping his teeth out of the way. He could feel the fuzzy sheath pressing against them as the wolf used his mouth to push the plump covering back and expose more and more of his thickening length. The girls of his village had told him he'd likely be expected to lick and suckle the male he was given to but nothing had prepared him for the possibility of having his face rutted by a beast this size. The young women had been divided on the subject of swallowing, but Mycah doubted the choice would be his. With every thrust of the lupine hips the heavy sack behind the sheath swung forward, an unsubtle indicator of the potency of the male mounting his head. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the others circling, coming near enough that he could feel their breath warming the air around him as both his drool and the juices leaking from the lupine length ran down his chin. And here and there he caught flashes of red, making him worry about what the other's expected. He was hoping that Karyak had claimed him and that he would be his sole husband, but that hope dwindled when he felt teeth nip his bare cheek without the big wolf challenging whoever had bit the 'bride'.

He'd squeaked around the length rutting his face and that seemed to amuse the wolves behind him, and soon he was shuddering in hear as teeth nipped at his rump, hard enough to hurt but not hard enough to break the skin. And while Mycah was doing his best to handle the tip sliding deeper and deeper into his mouth he was startled when a muzzle dove between his cheeks, hot breath puffing against his pucker before he felt a tongue dive out and swipe against it. It was by far the gentlest thing the wolves had done to him so far but it still made the boy feel vulnerable, because he couldn't imagine it being a display of casual interest. There was a hunger almost radiating from these strange beasts, a craving for flesh that went beyond the demands of the stomach. After a few swipes even the tongue lashing between his cheeks seemed to grow forceful, and a budding instinct told Mycah that he was expected to submit yet again.

The young man did his best, trying not to choke as the tapered tip of a hard red shaft poked the back of his throat and a disconcerting bulge grew in the plump white sheath. He arched his back as the girls of his village had told him, feeling his cheeks part and expose more of his most intimate areas to the hungry male behind him. That seemed to please the unseen wolf, and the next time the tongue touched on the pink ring served up to the big lupine Mycah could feel it push past his pucker. The sensation itself was not exactly unpleasant, but the casual way these males were using his body filled the boy with fear for what was to come. He knew that he was coming here to fulfill a bride's role but he'd been sure the spirits were kind and benevolent beings and that faithful service to them would be repaid by gentle kindness. With a lupine cock violently rutting his mouth and an unseen wolf probing deeper into his virgin behind, it was becoming clear to the boy that the best he could expect was mercy, not kindness.

"Right... now let's see how the new bride takes to a breeding..." Karyak said, dismounting the youth's face and leaving Mycah gasping for breath as a thick red rod slipped from his mouth.

The boy felt the licking stop, and looking behind him he could see an aroused wolf hesitate for a fraction of a second before making way for the leader of this pack. The unnamed lupine stalked forward, giving Mycah a glimpse of several thick red inches swinging under his belly. The big male behind him didn't bother with licking, rearing up and landing on the young man's smooth back, his claws gripping the boy's hips with practiced ease. Mycah gasped at the sensation of slaws digging into his flanks, paralyzed by the weight of a muscular predator resting on his back as something hard and hot began to poke at his cheeks.

The girls of his village had prepared him for this, of course. Even a few of them had admitted to having taken a man up their rumps, either by accident or out of curiosity. They'd ensured him that even though it would be bound to hurt, especially the first time, he could safely take a male back there without actual harm. Thus Mycah had known he'd be mounted, but he'd expected a lover, gentle and experienced, to ease his fears and anxieties about losing his virginity in the role of a female. He knew now there would be nothing gentle about this, but the movement of the wolf betrayed experience with mounting humans. His hindpaws shuffled closer and his hips shifted, pressing against the curve of the boy's plush rear as the tip slid along the crack, occasionally giving a testing prod. When the hot, leaky tip found his pucker Mycah's breath caught in his throat, only to leave it as a scream when the wolf mounting him thrust in earnest.

The invasion of a tongue had been disturbing but so very gentle compared to the fleshy spear driven deep into the terrified youth, his body clenching in a futile effort to expel the cock now firmly imbedded in his body. A choked cry was torn from his throat as the wolf bucked again until his sheath rubbed against the boy's straining ring. Mycah tried to remember what the young women had taught him, but none of them had warned him about this - the terror and pain of having something hard and cruel shoved into him, the terrible heat and cruel grip of a creature that could kill him on a whim. Stars danced in the corners of the young man's vision, his blood pounding in his ears so hard he could barely make out the bemused laughter of the gathered wolves. Only Karyak's growl was clear, but he wasn't sure if he heard it with his ears or if he could feel the rumble travel along the wolf's body and into his. His grip tightened, the claws dug in deeper and to the boy's horror the hips began to move, sliding the engorged length in and out of him as the brutal male took him for his mate.

"Mngghhh, the little whore is clenching already! Patience slut, it's too early for you to grab my knot. But don't worry, I've never failed to tie..."

The cruel words invaded the red mist of pain dominating Mycah's mind, conjuring an image of what the huge wolf meant. When he was little, he'd laughed along with the other children at the sight of the village dogs stuck together rear-to-rear after a vigorous bout of mating. The idea didn't seem amusing to him now that he could feel the still small lump of red flesh entering and exiting his tight rear with every thrust and yank, a sensation that hadn't been noticeable moments ago. It was growing, and since these wolves were twice the size of the biggest hound in his former home, he shuddered at the thought of what his body would be forced to take.

Out of the corner of his eyes the young man saw movement, raising his eyes to come face to face with an entirely unsheathed lupine erection, a terrifying example of what was even now being forced over and over into him. Almost pink in some places and blood-red in others, the shaft was smooth and viciously hard, with two walnut-sized bulges at the base and a cruel point at the leaking tip.

“Quit staring and start sucking human, or we'll let you go thirsty for a day or so. We know how to make your kind beg for a cock down their throat…"

Desperate to avoid further demonstrations of the wolves' cruelty, Mycah used one hand to brace himself while the other cupped the canine length and aimed it at his face. The heat of the thing make his hand tremble as he brought the tip to his lips and took the red rod into his mouth. Breathing was hard enough with the pack leader's thrusts driving the air form his lungs, and the boy didn't want to see if two wolves could mount him at the same time. He'd nearly choked when Karyak was breeding his face, so he did his best to keep this lupine from considering it.

The first time he'd tasted another male there had been revulsion at the idea, but it was hard to cling to that outrage with a hard, warm cock being driven over and over into him, a set of heavy canine testes slapping against his own and hinting at the final humiliation awaiting for him. Shame was a luxury Mycah could no longer afford, and it was shamelessly that he began to suckle on as much of the newcomer's shaft as he could comfortably fit into his mouth, using the hard length of flesh to muffle his cries as he lashed his tongue against it and swallowed everything that leaked out.

The brutal submission of the new 'bride' to the cruel pack continued to the wet sounds of soft human flash conforming to hard lupine erections. On his hands and knees, trapped between two aroused males and watched by almost a dozen more, Mycah was torn between hoping the wolf on his back would finish soon, and fearing how painful the wolf's finale would be for him. The knot was growing, and it no longer slipped in and out, even though he was sure the violent rutting had loosened his once taut pucker up.

The red mass was now punching against his straining ring, and on those occasions it did force its way in, it took several tugs to yank the engorged bulb out. Of the pleasure the women of his village had grudgingly admitted to feeling while having a man mount them like this, the boy felt no trace. Struggling not to scream around the lupine malehood he was nursing on, the best the young man could hope was an and to fear and pain, a reprieve he might earn if he pleased the two.

A strong thrust almost knocked the young male over, a fresh stab of pain as something far too big was nevertheless forced past his taut ring. Several vicious tugs failed to draw the throbbing lump out, after which Karyak gripped him even harder, dull claws digging into soft flesh as the cruel wolf growled on top of him. The pain in his rear grew worse by the second as every throb made the knot grow larger until Mycah felt the urge to try and squirm away, even though he was sure it was hopeless. Even the firm mating hold of the wolf mounting him was unnecessary and if Karyak chose to do so he could walk away and drag his bride behind him until his knot went down.

The moment the knot was pulled from his rear Mycah could feel the warm seed the wolf had pumped into him leak around the glass-smooth shaft, but once the thick length of lupine flesh slipped from him he could feel the watery load gush from his gaped pucker. There was a brief sensation of emptiness, a momentary relief before he felt another large, shaggy body land on top of his. The newcomer's aim was good and it didn't take him more than a couple of jabs to find the youth's sore pucker, nor did this new wolf have any more consideration for their 'bride' than the pack's leader. The force of the thrust would have driven the breath from Mycah's lungs, but he'd been caught breathless at the sight of what was swinging between Karyak's legs.

Either the sensation of being firmly stuck between a human's smooth cheeks provided more stimulation than a human's mouth, or the leader of the sentient lupines was particularly well endowed. Even as the male on his back began putting him in lightning-fast jabs, he couldn't help but stare at the monster his body had been holding until moments ago. The knot was so swollen that the color of the lupine member faded to pink where it stretched over the steel-hard bulge, and the boy knew that while the wolf had been firmly stuck the mass of hard flesh would have been bigger still.

The pack crowded closer, jostling a little and making it obvious that what Mycah had taken to patience was fearful deference to the strongest among them. A purplish-red length was shoved into his face and an unseen force guided his hand to yet another. On reflex the boy began to stroke the red rod, gripping it gently at first but tightening his grip when the leaking lupine juices made it slippery. He didn't like to think what these males would do to his hand should he lose his grip. the engorged knot stuck in his rear continued to pulse, flexing in time to the painful throbbing of his roughly deflowered pucker as the clenched ring formed a tight enough seal to keep the pack-leader's load inside him. The powerful wolf still humped against him, secure in the knowledge that the little tugs wouldn't pull the engorged mass from his mate and reveling in the way Mycah winced around the shaft in his mouth. He'd felt the powerful surges of the virile wolf's seed as they pushed into him, claiming him in a way more degrading than anything he'd imagined.

He could no longer feel the ropes of lupine cum shooting into him but a bloating sensation told him Karyak wasn't done with him. Through it all the boy did his best to suckle on the hard inches resting on his tongue and spraying against the back of his throat, worried that if he failed to please the wanting wolf throbbing in his moth the male might decide to mount and rut his face. He could see the male's swollen knot in grisly detail, and as the twin bulges on the base of his cock grew with every throb the boy was thankful that the mass wasn't doing it inside his mouth.

The paws wrapped around his waist grew slack and Mycah screamed into the lupine erection as Karyak's body began to shift. He was terrified the wolf would just yank himself out while his knot was still engorged, but after the lupine cock twisted inside him the pack-leader remained still. His swollen testes were now resting against the youth's rear and Mycah could feel every twitch as the powerful lupine continued breeding him.

The shaft in his mouth came to life with no warning apart from a few flexes and the pulsing of the knot that filled the boy's field of vision as the tip began to spray the back of his throat. He pulled his mouth half-way off the throbbing rod before remembering the threat of thirst. He heard the laughter of the assembled pack as his cheeks bulged with the warm seed spewing into his mouth before he began to gulp the bitter fluid down. He was still suckling on the wolf's shaft when Karyak grew bored with him and simply stepped away, tugging the youth's rear back before his knot slipped from the boy's rear and a flood of lupine seed spewed from the gaped ring. Mycah was still forcing the salty seed down his throat when he was mounted again, speared by an unseen male after a few vicious pokes.

He was loose after his first rutting but also sore and even the goo leaking from his rear did little to ease the savage thrusts of the male growling on his back. With the air being driven from his lungs he spat the lupine cock out to prevent the streams of the wolf's seed from drowning him, and gasped for breath as the male continued to spray his load all over his face. He'd stopped stroking the other male but the wolf had made due with humping into his hand, and as that lupine cock also throbed to life white streaks shot across Mycah's body, burning when the crossed the red lines rising on his pale skin where lupine claws stabbed and raked.

With his face a spider web of wet lupine seed he could smell little other than the sharp musk of rut as the pack used him without pity. Something unseen held his chest up even when his strength and consciousness failed, his mind going blank only to be brought back to grim reality by the stab of a red cock into his rear or the tug of a knot from the freshly bred hole. He had been wondering how much his body could take when his eyelids fluttered again, his mind bracing for fresh pain and humiliation when he felt a tongue sliding between his cheeks.

"Again Atos? So it's not just the females you're soft on?" a voice nearby asked.

The persistent licking continued and as it did Mycah could feel a warmth different than the torrents of lupine seed spread through him, soaking through delicate skin and into the muscle beneath. To his surprise the crowd thinned, the wolves walking away with their spent shafts back in their fluffy sheaths, all save the one behind him. The youth felt exhausted and degraded, but the sensation of pain vas fading as the lupine tongue delved deeper into his body. He thought that it might be a female behind him, possible a wolfess showing him some form of sororial affection now that he was almost a bitch himself, but a look behind him showed him a male and left little doubt what he wanted.

A minute later the lapping stopped and a heavy lupine head settled on top of his rump. The boy held still as the male easily climbed up, soft fur brushing along bare skin as the male mounted him, holding him in a firm grip but mercifully keeping his claws from scratching or poking him and adding to the red marks already crisscrossing the boy's flesh. There were a few tentative pokes against Mycah's freshly cleaned behind before one found his pucker and easily sank an inch into the well-used youth. As he submitted to this latest and hopefully last male Mycah could feel himself being stretched but the rutting wasn't as painful as he'd been dreading. Whether this wolf was genuinely being gentle or if he'd been rutted past the point of feeling pain, the boy wasn't sure, but he was learning soon that he needed to be grateful for any mercy in his new life in this pack...

*******

“Don't be afraid, I'm not going to harm you…"

The tone carried enough genuine concern to stop Mycah from scrambling away from the lupine form towering over him. He looked around, almost certain that the whole pack was just waiting for him to come to and resume the brutal orgy, but the blue-eyed wolf standing before him seemed to be alone. As he came to his senses twinges of pain and aches announced themselves, but not the agony he'd been expecting after the violent way the beings he'd been taught to revere as protectors had used him. To his surprise, Mycah even realized he was clean.

“Are you thirsty?" the wolf asked, and with some lingering dread the boy nodded.

He'd been half-expecting to have a red lupine erection shoved into his mouth, but the wolf merely turned his attention to a shallow stream gurgling nearby. Mycah watched in amazement as a stream of water rose from its pebbly bed and coalesced into a growing, wobbly ball hanging in mid-air. When the wolf turned back to face him the ball floated in front of him, glittering like some sort of soft gem.

“Drink." The wolf urged, and the promise of water overrode the fear and awe as the young man pressed his lips to the strange sphere. The water was cold and tasted clean and he found himself sucking it down greedily, seeing the strange liquid bubble shrink with every gulp he took until he drew the last drops into his mouth.

“Thank you…" he said, and the wolf acknowledged it with a nod.

“I'm Atos."

“M-Mycah…" the boy said, almost standing up before he remembered what he'd been told and settled for kneeling, hoping it wouldn't offend the male standing before him.

“I'm sorry for the way we used you, for what that's worth…" the wolf said.

“That… when you said 'you'…"

“I was the last one to mount you. My ways make me strange among my kin, but one doesn't go against the will of the pack…"

“The pack, the way you took the water… that was magic. You are the Spirits then?" Mycah asked.

“Yes, we're the beings your people revere, but your image of us casts us as more noble than we actually are. Your ancestors had a better idea, which is why they sent offerings to appease us…"

“Offerings… you mean the brides. Where… will I be allowed to meet any of them?" the boy asked even though his throat was tightening with a grim realization. The wolf's expression gave him the answer, but still the male spoke.

“There aren't any. You have seen a glimpse of my kin's cruelty before oblivion overcame you. And you will endure such for as long as you are among us. The brides… so far not a single one has lasted a whole year." The wolf admitted, and Mycah was sure he could hear both grief and shame in his voice over the pounding of his own heart.

The fears planted in his first encounter with these wolves was now taking root and he like weeping and wailing as he realized the story of a life of richly rewarded submission to the spirits was a lie, and that he had nothing but cruelty and pain to look forward to… for less than a year. And no kindness to look forward to except for what this large blue-eyed wolf could offer. And he was definitely no less of a male than the others, a fact brought to the boy's attention by the hint of red visible under the white fluff of the wolf's underbelly. He became aware of his own nakedness after seeing the gentle lupine grow aroused, and acting either on some instinct or the training he'd received before being sent here the boy got on all fours and nuzzled up against the wolf, preparing to repay his kindness the only way he could…

*******

"Try to relax. You're still tensing up..." chided a gentle voice, pausing the diligent licking only enough to offer the advice before a long, broad tongue was once again pressed against the little ring between Mycah's cheeks. The boy took a deep breath and did as he was told by the one kind voice he'd heard since coming here.

He soon learned that he could look to Atos for kindness, if not rescue. The wolf made it clear that the boy was the property of the pack, and that all he could expect from the others were varying degrees of cruelty. The lesson was soon driven home on the tip of an angry red shaft of a wolf whose name he didn't know. It had been a vicious mating and Mycah had been noisy enough to attract other wolves, all of them eager for their own turn. After it was done he was wearing fresh claw-marks on his skin and the salty lupine seed stung where it oozed on the angry red lines on his soft flesh.

But Atos always found him after and helped clean him and ease his aches. And then he would cover him. After never really experiencing intimate contact and then being thrust into the role of a rut-toy for a pack of viciously cruel predators, Mycah still felt anxiety every time Atos exercised his right to the pack's bride. The wolf even now preparing him was careful not to cause him pain, even though his size compared to the svelte human meant some was to be expected. There was no mistaking the way Atos treated him - as a mate, but more to the point a female. Even now when his tongue slipped lower to rub against the snug purse hanging between Mycah's legs there was something soft yet dominant to his demeanor that made it clear who the male was. It was something that not even the time spent among the young women had prepared him for - the vulnerability he felt submitting to a male, of surrendering his body to the powerful wolf's lust. He still couldn't fully understand why it made his pulse race and his breathing grow labored, why he felt a strange sort of fear from the one wolf he trusted not to harm him.

"You're tense..."

"Sorry..." Mycah replied, trying to keep his voice from wavering.

"Don't give in to the fear. The others enjoy it but what they really want is your body..." the wolf said, laying his head on top of Mycah's lower back before rearing up and smoothly sliding to cover the trembling youth. "You will not be given comfort or kindness by the others, but you can find something to ease your days. Your body is young, it has needs... yield to them and yield to your desires, and you might manage to find some joy in the act of mating, even when it is violent..." he said, shuffling his hindlegs closer.

Mycah felt a squirt against his pucker before he felt firm heat press against it, breathing deep as he felt the ring relax, allowing the tip to catch and gently spread him wide. It wasn't the painful stab, the terrible moment of heat and fulness that signaled a lupine male was in and he was about to be subjected to a fierce rutting. Atos went in slow, which was... unsettling in its own way. It allowed Mycah to feel the throbbing length, the erect shaft of another male sliding in, forcing his body to wrap around it as the wolf gripping his slander hips claimed him with the strength and confidence that betrayed experience with skittish bitches, lupine or otherwise. There was discomfort and a twinge of pain in spite of the gentle pace as his body struggled with something he suspected a she-wolf would find challenging.

Most of it came from his pucker, the ring of flesh he was trying to keep from clenching as the lupine rod pushed slowly into his body. The sensation of the inches already sheathed inside him were lest distinct, just a feeling of warmth and fulness until the male on his back started thrusting. Once he did the tip would poke and prod at something in him, something sensitive that would dim his reason with every stroke of the invading length against it. So focused was Mycah on that illusive feeling that he didn't even notice the still diminutive knot until it easily slipped in, his pucker clenching down on the slender part of the lupine cock as the tiny hairs on the edge of his sheath tickled the pink ring.

"It... it was easier this time..." the young man said, placing one hand on his lower belly as if he could feel the

The wolf mounting him didn't give a reply other than a low murr of satisfaction before pulling several inches of his smooth length out. The lupine male began breeding him, as surely as if he were a bitch with her tail raised, but even though the sensation of a cock sliding in and out of his body still felt weird and intense in ways the boy couldn't describe, the kind, gentle pace Atos set when he was mounting him was nothing like the brutal jabs and the body-shaking thrusts of the rest of the pack preferred. Most of the wolf's shaft remained inside him and so did the sensation of fullness never really left him even when the hard length of lupine flesh began to move.

But as gentle as he was, Mycah could still feel the strength of the wolf covering his back from the firmness of the grip on his waist to the firm slap of canine hips against his cheeks. There was a confidence and experience to the wolf's motions and posture, something that made it easy for himself to slip into the role of a female. His breathing was steadier now, helping him relax and keep loose back there, even though he doubted the male mounting him felt any discomfort when his instinct got the better of him and his pucker clenched up.

It felt uncomfortable for him when he did, but as long as he kept his breathing steady and his rear relaxed, Mycah had to admit there was something pleasant about this, and not just the fact that it was a respite from the savage mountings inflicted on him by the rest of the pack.Closing his eyes, the svelte youth arched his back, feeling his cheeks spread a little and his ass thrust out against the wolf's strokes. They were coming at a different angle now, seeming to rub and prod at parts of him that were more sensitive than others. It had happened before and even though it still felt shameful on some level, Mycah was curious to explore these sensations.

He'd known that submitting to a male would be his duty when he was sent out, but he'd never expected to be eager to feel a weight settle on his back and a tapered cock to prod and spread his pucker. His first introduction to lupine mating had been nothing but pain, fear and humiliation, but it felt different when Atos was the one on top of him. The wolf was heavy, a testament to his size, but he was warm against his back and the boy found his weight on him a strange comfort. His grip on the boy's hips was firm, but the male even now humping against him made sure his bride didn't feel more than a gentle poke of claws that looked intimidating. Looking down along his body, Mycah wasn't surprised to see that his own manhood had swollen and was almost fully hard. It never happened when the others were mounting him, and Mycah was glad for it.

The rest of the pack considered him standing on two feet a brazen challenge, and dared not think what would happen if they thought he was trying to assert himself as a male. He also thought it strange that his body should do this now that he was willingly submitting himself to the masculine affection of the wolf murring on top of him. Whenever Atos slid his cock between his cheeks he eased him more and more into the role of a female, but for some reason the slip of a canine cock in and out of his snug ring seemed to stir his own manhood to life.

"How does it feel?" He heard the wolf ask, the husk in his tone making the boy's pucker pulse briefly.

"N-nice... you aren't hurting me..." Mycah sighed.

"That's good to know, but I should be managing better than nice. Let's try something else..." the wolf said, and to his surprise he felt the weight shift on his back and the entirety of the lupine cock slip from his rump.

He was worried that he'd displeased Atos somehow, but the perked ears, slightly wagging tail and bobbing lupine shaft seemed to indicate a very good mood. The wolf concentrated on a batch of ground, covered by the thick moss that carpeted the pack's deep wood home and Mycah gasped in surprise as a narrow section of mossy soil began to rise up. The casual way the wolves could manipulate the word around him still amazed the youth. A few days ago, Atos had brought him a hare, looking very much like a wolf or hound as he carried the prey in his jaws. After Mycah had skinned it he began looking for something to start a cook fire with, but stopped dead when the gentle wolf just concentrated on the carcass of the hare on its spit. Before the boy's eyes the air around the meat shimmered and steam began to rise from the hare as the flesh blistered and grew brown. There was never a lick of flame or a hint of wood smoke, but in a minute the hare was sizzling on its spit, still hot to the touch. It wasn't the last meal Atos had served him. The rest of the pack left him to forage and let him nurse (the males, that is) but seemed to care little for him as long as he gave them what they wanted.

"Lie down on your back with your rear near the edge..." the wolf instructed, gesturing with his muzzle to the waist-high mossy dais. Mycah did as he was told, almost covering up his still erect shaft as the lupine male's attention settled on it. "Looks I'm doing something right..." Atos remarked, giving the pink shaft a quick sniff before positioning himself between Mycah's legs.

The boy gasped when tow wolf reared and planted his forepaws on the soft green surface, looking into the youth's face as he towered over him. From this angle Mycah could see the creamy fur that began at the edges of gray give way to a path of stark-white running from the male's chin and down to the insides of his thighs, a backdrop against which the twitching lupine length was impossible to miss. He could feel his pucker twitch briefly as the wolf positioned himself, bringing his tip close enough to the target for Mycah to feel a spurt of hot lupine juices against the bare skin of his cheeks. If he had any doubt what Atos had in mind, the sensation of hard canine flesh wedging into the cleft of his rump would have made it clear enough.

"It's a little different this time... try raising your legs..." the wolf said, shuffling a little as he tried to angle a red rod that was entirely out of its sheath and bobbing and swaying every time he moved.

All it took was for Mycah to lift his feet until they were level with the wolf's haunches, the change in posture angling his rear just right for the wolf to mount. The tip caught on his ring and the boy let out a shuddering gasp as the entire length slid back inside him in one smooth stroke. His eyes lost focus for a second and as he struggled to catch his breath he realized he'd missed having Atos inside him, and the waging of the big bushy tail made it clear the male was enjoying the way the svelte human body was welcoming him back.

"Let's see if this works. My knot's getting pretty big, so I don't think I've got much thrusting left..." he said.

Whenever he mounted him, Atos made sure to tie the moment he felt Mycah was starting to grip it. The feel of the canine shaft growing bigger inside him still made the young man anxious, but it was a far cry from having the swollen bulge yanked out and shoved beck in without any regard for the limits of his body. He could feel it as the wolf began to thrust - what had been just a thick ridge along the base now felt like two distinct bulges, dimpling his ring when the hot shaft was pushed in and making his ring cling to them a little every time Atos pulled out. As the wolf humped against him he could feel the long hairs of his underside tickle the pink shaft hard enough to stand a few inches above his own belly. Pulling his gaze back up from his own manhood (a tiny thing compared to the red length he could feel once again pumping him) his eyes traveled along the white-fur path until he was gazing into the face of the wolf mating with him.

In the few days since his arrival Mycah had been taken more times than he could count, sometimes with almost all the males of the pack in attendance, and sometimes when one or two of the cruel lupines found him and demanded their due. But in all that time he'd never looked into the eyes of a male as he took him as a wolf takes a bitch. Eyes had been on him while he was taken, cruel and hungry looks he could almost feel as they traveled against his exposed flesh, but none of that prepared him for the gaze of his current mate. Atos had striking eyes of a light blue shade, eyes that themselves should have been cold but that spoke of warmth as the young man peered into them. The wolf hold his gaze even though something in Mycah wanted to turn his eyes away, some inexplicable impulse born of a feeling of intense vulnerability.

It drove a point home, something that even the weight of a male on his back or the firmness of his shaft as it pumped smoothly away failed to do. The wolf was mating him, and neither Mycah's species nor his sex could change the fact that at this moment he was the willing bitch of the powerful wolf. Accepting the fact drove the tide of shyness and anxiety away and Mycah watched his own hands rise, his fingers disappearing in the dense fur of the wolf's neck as he felt the power hidden beneath it. This male could rut him as hard as any others, harder than most, yet he was making sure not to give the youth anything that his body couldn't except without pain.

Words rose in his mind, something Atos had mentioned about 'doing something right'. For the life of him the boy had no idea what the wolf was trying to do. Rutting, even at this gentle pace was a simple enough matter, especially since the male's posture and movements betrayed experience. Mycah clung to the thought, trying to puzzle out what the wolf had meant even though thinking was growing difficult as awareness shifted to physical sensations. There were a few soft, fleshy bumps of the knot against his ring before lupine legs shifted, the blue eyes still holding his own as the powerful male thrust and sank everything he had into his smooth-skinned mate.

"Nnnhaaaahhhhh!" Mycah cried out as his hands met and his arms wrapped around the wolf's neck

"Easy, I'm staying in..." the wolf murred, obviously feeling the way Mycah was clenching around the slender portion of his shaft that lie behind the knot now swelling inside the boy's pert behind.

Mycah was glad to hear that, but he hadn't clenched up because he was worried Atos would yank the engorged lump out. He wasn't really sure why he'd tightened his pucker or why he was clinging to the wolf's powerful neck, his eyes losing focus for a spit second before the image of the lupine face became clear once again. The wolf held still for a while, not counting the wag of his tail or the way his knot was swelling inside the panting youth. For a while Mycah felt like he could feel two hearts beating within his body - the one in his chest and another lower down. Every thump of Atos' heart made his shaft throb and the knot grow a little bigger, a sensation that should have been familiar by now. Usually this was a sign that the gentle male was close to finishing and that Mycah was in for a slow seeding as the furry body rested on his back. But even though Atos hadn't even started the slow grinding/tugging motion that would serve to bring him to climax, the youth found a tension building in his body as he stared at the face of the wolf mating him and let his hands explore the powerful predator's body. His breathing was growing shallow and something in his belly seemed to tighten with every exhale.

"You're -ngh!- clenching up..." the wolf said, gently grinding his sheath against Mycah's pucker and causing the trapped shaft to rub and stroke the boy's insides.

"I'm not... I can't..." Mycah tried to say, to explain that he had no idea what his body was doing or why he was doing it, but both breathing and thinking was becoming difficult.

"Relax... just let it happen..." Atos said, with the youth just staring blankly up at his knowing gaze.

The boy felt strange - even though he was trapped under and tied to the wolf his body seemed to insist on movement. His back arched and flexed, his fingers dug furrows in the thick lupine fur and he couldn't even put a name to what his insides were doing. Muscles he never knew he had were tightening up down there, his pucker clenching tight around the thinnest portion of the lupine length while his passage pressed tight against him. He caught a rhythm of sorts the act of gripping and then relaxing his insides rubbing something against the throbbing knot.

Atos seemed to have a better idea of what was happening to him, lowering his muzzle until Mycah could feel his breath on his neck. The lupine hips still ground against the squirming youth as the wolf's tongue flicked out against the soft white skin, a second and third lick soon following the first. The other wolves would deliver mating bites to the back of his neck, but there was no confusing their cruelty for this. The youth gasped and threw his head back, exposing his alabaster throat to his mate as his breathing devolved to gasps and his eyes narrowed to pinpricks.

The flexing of his insides became frantic as the boy felt his painfully stiff cock twitch just his lupine lover placed his paws on either side of his face and lowered his body closer to his. The feel of soft white fur engulfing his slender cock set him off, his voice breaking into boyish gasps as the tip erupted soaking into the wolf's fur and smearing the young man's belly. His legs wrapped around the wolf's hips and his arms did the same to his neck until he wasn't sure he was even resting on the soft green moss, his attention focused inward to the twitching of the hard red rod and the surge of seed that followed it. He felt his toes curl as the streams of warm lupine cum surged through him, drawn deeper into his body by his own climax. His own shaft had run dry after less than a dozen, but the lupine cock continued to twitch and throb as his lover growled lustily, the sound traveling through his chest and into the body of the human clinging to him. The boy's limbs eventually began to tremble and grew too weak for him to cling to his mate, unfolding away from the lupine body and leaving him to rest on the mossy dais with Atos draped over him. As the wolf moved his muzzle up the boy angled his chin down, kissing the wolf deeply as the powerful male continued seeding him. It would continue to do so for a time and Mycah was resolved to savor every second of this strange bliss. He realized he could live with being a plaything to cruel demons, if once in a while he could be the lover of a kind spirit.

*******

“Anghhh!" the boy groaned as the knot slipped out slow enough to cause discomfort, his pucker pulsing around eh rest of the lupine shaft before even that slid out. He clenched as hard as he could but as always he still felt some of the mess that was left in him leak out and trickle over his little pouch.

“Sorry…" Atos said before giving the pink rosebud a few tender licks.

“D-don't be… that was… that was…" the young man said, still draped over the mossy dais and still too dazed to speak.

“…your first time?" the wolf asked, and the panting boy nodded with a blush before managing to sit up.

“So is this how it works?" he asked, patting the soft green surface under him. “You command the ground to rise up and it just does what you want it to?" he asked and smiled when the wolf snorted in amusement.

“Almost. Our divine ancestry endows us with power the moment we are born, but it takes some time to bring it into focus, for us to learn how to achieve anything with it."

“That's amazing…" the boy said with undisguised awe.

“Hmm, to your kind it must seem so. Yet I am amazed at the way your people have found to live…"

“What do you mean?"

“Observe…" he said and a second later a small flame sprung to life in mid-air between them, as large as the kind dancing on the burning taper on an oil-lamp. “Our kind can conjure fire and sustain it with a small effort of will, yet we rarely even bother. If we want light, we can simply call forth a glow to light our way, if we want warmth we can command the ground, the air around us or any amount of water to grow hot. To us it's just fire, a pretty enough sight but little more. Your kind has built much on it and you have the most primitive yet curiously effective ways of conjuring it. It warms you, cooks your meals, bakes your bricks and shapes your metal. My people scoff at tools, yet your kind manages so much with so little…" the wolf said, sounding genuinely impressed by mankind's efforts.

“You… you know how we live?"

“Yes. My kind doesn't leave the woods but most of us can cast our sight, if we are curious enough to."

“So you do watch over us?" the boy said, and in his voice was a desperation to reclaim the belief that these wolves, although cruel were genuinely the protectors of his people.

“Not the way your people think. We do so very little for you. We preserve our own home and the surrounding lands, making sure the winters aren't savage enough to kill too much plants and game, making sure that enough rain falls in the hot days to prevent draught. Occasionally a human would venture to the edge of our realm, leave say that prayers and leave a gourd of spring water, and the generous among us would imbue it with the power to ward off illness or to make a child grow strong in the womb. It is mostly the females that bother doing this and even so it takes very little effort on our part. Your kind are grateful for even that, but we could do so much more. For each other…"

“Each other… what could we ever do for you?" Mycah asked and the wolf paused before answering.

“Many of my kind can look far away, but some of us learn to look into things that are yet to happen, or even things that might happen. It is often difficult to make the distinction, so many find it a waste of time and an idle fancy. But I have seen visions of my kin and your living side-by-side, carving out a new world rid of much of its savagery… A vision that will never come to be if we keep behaving as we do."

“W-why the cruelty then? Have we displeased you?"

“Not that I know. We saw the offerings as our due, and we are not gentle by nature to those we see as less than ourselves. We've grown worse in the long years of Karyak's rule, so much that I'm prone to hope that this darkness within us might die with him, should he be beaten…"

“Beaten how?"

“A fight to the death. It is how a pack-leader is chosen, except for the rare occasions he grown old enough and sensible enough to name a worthy successor. In Karyak's case, it would be someone at least as bloodthirsty as he is now. Deep down I feel I should make the bid and wager my life but…" the wolf said and trailed off.

"Are you affraid to die?" Mycah asked. Even after all that he'd been subjected to he'd been raised to believe these wolves were divine beings, and it never really occurred to them that they might have the fears of mortals.

"No, not really. I will die at some point, no matter what I do. But this idea that I have, this vision... I feel it should be made real, that it has the potential to grow and live on and on and on... when I die I don't want that vision to die with me. As long as I manage to bring it into this world, I can leave it with a glad heart..."

In the silence that followed, Mycah knelt by his side and ran a hand through his fur. The idea of a future where his kind and the Spirits they worshiped lived together and profited from it was alluring, especially since it might mean the end of his dreadful servitude. But the same vision rode on the hope of the gentle Atos defeating a beast like Karyak, and the images his imagination painted of that conflict made him shudder and press his body closer to the wolf, taking what comfort he could in his presence…

*******

"Will you look at that! She's presenting! Does she think we're males?"

"She's not presenting Tari, she's just rooting around. You know how humans are..."

The voices broke a long and deep silence and almost made Mycah jump up before he remembered that the wolves behind him would want him on his knees, even if they didn't have the growling undertone he'd come to expect. He'd been examining a cluster of bright-orange fungi to determine if they were edible since he could hardly live on Atos' gifts and the 'milk' fed to him by the other males. The deep woods were full of mushrooms both familiar and strange, but the lupines of the pack held them all in equal disdain and considered the fodder for wild boars rather than actual food. Careful to remain on his knees, Mycah turned around and came face to muzzle with three wolves examining him with piercing lupine eyes.

"It's not a she. Haven't you heard? The humans actually sent out a male this time round!" said the one in the middle, her tone as cold as the gaze she directed on the awkward boy kneeling in front of them.

"They didn't? So how come they didn't just eat him?" said one in a tone of casual surprise.

"They wound up finding a use for him. You know what they boys are like - they'll push into any hole, as long as you let them." the middle one explained.

"Well as long as it doesn't give them any ideas. I'm fine with a nose or a tongue under my tail, but if one of them wants to rut one they can just mount this runt..." said the wolfess to the right, breaking away from the group and slowly circling Mycah, examining him from every angle. "So this is a human male? Doesn't look much different than the usual brides... well, except for the lack of udders. I bet the males miss those. You could always tell from the bite-marks that they liked to play with them..."

"Hey, if he is a male shouldn't we get him?" asked the third wolfess in a lackadaisical tone.

"Don't be ridiculous Yosha!" barked the one in the middle. "You, manling - put your hands behind your back and straighten your back." she insisted, and Mycah wasted no time obeying. "Is that what you wanted Yosha? Would you let him mount you with that?" the dominant bitch asked, pointing with her muzzle at the young man's tumescent shaft.

"Well... it's the principle of the thing..." the sullen wolfess insisted, but seemed genuinely disappointed by what she was seeing.

"There's principle, and then there's tradition. The brides belong to the males, but we can still use them for what little they're good for. Do you hear that, smooth-skin? Are you going to give us what we deserve, or will we have to take it?" the wolfess in the middle asked, her voice trailing off with s subtle but chilling growl.

"I'll obey! I'll... serve you any way you want..." Mycah said, still confused. This was the first time he'd met the females of the pack - the sleeker forms occasionally glimpsed while the males were using him.

When it was first decided he'd be sent as the bride, the young man had fantasized that it would be the females who'd accept him as the yearly offering. That would at least mean he'd be fulfilling the male role in any intimate play, albeit with a different sort of 'woman' than he'd ever imagined being with. That notion had been shattered during his first meeting with the pack, and having taken the lupine males many times now he honestly didn't see how the bitches of the pack could possibly settle for what he had to offer. The one called Yosha had seemed the most curious of these three, but even she didn't bother hiding her disappointment with what she saw between Mycah's legs.

"You should be grateful for this chance to be anything other than a rut-toy manling. And I fully expect to feel your gratitude..." the fierce female in the middle said, taking a few steps before turning nimbly and lifting her bushy tail up, revealing her dark spade with a flourish and offering no other instructions. Taking care not to rise to his feet, Mycah edged his way closer and gently placed his hands on the furry haunches. He'd barely felt the firm muscle under the lush fur when the she-wolf turned back with a snarl.

"How dare you!? You think I was offering you to mount me you little freak?" she said, her heckles up as she turned to face the terrified youth.

"I... I'm sorry, I didn't know..." he stammered.

"Well he is the first male we've asked for this Harrah. You can't blame the poor thing for being hopeful. Not that you'd tell by looking at him..." the one called Tari remarked slyly from beside him, gesturing to Mycah's crotch and the shaft that had barely firmed up at the sight of the lupine femininity only to wilt back as the snarling female turned on him.

"Hmpfh! If this one had any worth as a stud they wouldn't have sent him out to take the pack's cocks. On your back then, manling, or I'll bite off the part of you that the males have no use for..." she growled, and Mycah scrambled to obey.

The three females had looked menacing while he was kneeling, but they were even more imposing now that they were looking down on his naked body. The one called Harrah that seemed to be the leader of the little group moved over him with her muzzle within easy reach of his crotch, leaving the young man breathless as he feared the worst. "If you want to keep this pathetic little worm, you better put me in a good mood, and fast!" the wolfess said just before sitting down and planting the dark spade squarely on Mycah's mouth.

The boy hesitated for a second with the soft lupine flesh against his lips but a low growl spurred him to action. Acting without a clue of what was expected of him and terrified of offering another insult, he opened his mouth and closed his lips around the supple lupine mound. The wolfess remained still and quiet so the boy guessed he was doing something right, but quite possibly not enough. Fighting down terror he slid his tongue over the spade and getting his first state of a lupine female, or a female of any kind. The bitch still made no response but he could see the flawless pink pucker lying inches from his pace give a brief wink so he licked again and again, hoping for some sign of approval.

He was no stranger to lupine flesh by now, but Mycah was surprised at the fact that he could tell by taste and scent alone the difference between male and female. In spite of her fierce demeanor and casual cruelty, there was something sweet and almost comforting about the musk of the wolfess mounting his face, and before he realized he was doing it Mycah found himself pushing his tongue past the almost ring-like folds and into the lupine sex. That brought a rumble from the female, but this one seemed approving, both encouraging him to keep going and reminding him of what would happen if he faltered.

"Is he any good?" asked one of the wolfesses. Mycah guessed it was Yosha, but with the lead bitch's rump filling his field of vision he couldn't tell for sure.

"We'll see. He certainly isn't getting up until I'm done, so if he wants to breathe he'll get good."

"You know who could really lick properly? That red-headed one we had a few years back. You remembered - skinny thing, with pink udders that almost looked like proper teats."

"Oh yes, I remember. She really got into it to. You could feel her moan while she bas burying her face back there..." came the musing from the opposite side of the trapped youth.

"Yeah, and she didn't even make it until fall! Males can sometimes be so inconsiderate..."

"Well she did it to herself. I heard she was under Karyak and he took his time getting his knot in. Apparently it was so big the bride kept screaming that he was going to 'break her' and got so panicked that she managed to wriggle away and slide off his cock. Karyak got so angry that he just lunged for her neck and... snap!" the wolfess said, not noticing that the human currently under her pack-mate had shuddered to hear that.

"So she killed herself. What else do you call a bride humiliating Karyak like that in front of the whole pack? Stupid, weak... human!" the bitch riding his face said, mashing her rump against Mycah's mouth with each of the three final words.

The boy tried not to focus on that, tried to forget that the pack-leader might very well find him that night and submit him to a rutting as fierce as the one inflicted on the red-headed bride from years ago. Prone and submitting to the female sitting on him, he did his best to catch his breath and ignore the way the fur of his rump was tickling his nose as every exhale and inhale moved the fluff around. He pushed his tongue deep as he could, licking and suckling on the mound that would reward him every now and again with a subtle twitch and a few drops of lupine nectar.

"I don't think I've got the patience to wait around today..." said the wolfess to his right.

"Me neither. Come on bride, spread your arms a little and lay your palms up..." said the other, and Mycah couldn't do anything but obey.

He wasn't sure what the she-wolves meant to do, and could see very little apart from fluffy white fur and a twitching pink ring under a raised tail, but got an idea when heavy, soft things settled on either hand. He could feel the weight of the wolfesses in each palm, the lush fur of their rumps and the hot, moist kiss of two smooth-skinned spades.

His attention now split three ways, the boy did his best to lick out the sex of the most temperamental of the wolves while finding a way to service her pack-sisters. He wriggled his hands against the lupine rumps and felt them wriggle back, finally managing to position slide his palms back and plunge a finger into each lupine honeypot. From the left came the growl of approval and he could feel a bushy tail brushing against his right arm as its owner wagged it. It was a good sign that he was doing something right, but with his hands trapped he was now entirely at the mercy of the wolfess leaning back against his face, trying either to get his tongue deeper or to suffocate him with her rump.

Every breath he managed to take in was filtered through the fine, dense fur of the she-wolf's most intimate regions as the lead female rested her weight on her face, oblivious or perhaps unconcerned with anything but her own pleasure. Her two packmates were by now humping his palms, his fingers squelching a little as the pumped the velvety spades.

"Will you look at that! He likes it!" the female riding his left hand noted, not giving the trapped youth a hint as to what she meant.

"Makes sense if you think about it - after having your tail-hole rutted in front of the whole pack this can hardly be seen as humiliating. It's the closest he'll ever get to feeling like a male..." quipped the female to his right. It was only when the bitch riding his face placed a paw heavily down on what he realized was his erect manhood.

"Still, he shouldn't be doing it. I don't think any of the males would like it if they saw him hard around us. Might decide it was better to make him a little more female..."

The words of the wolfess made Mycah cringe, especially with her long, blunt claws almost pocking the sack under his stiff length, but her paw was a mixture of warm, smooth-skinned pads and soft fur and he felt his member twitch against the touch, even though there was no tenderness behind it. Pinned under the three females, it was all the boy could do to keep working his fingers and tongue in and out of pulsing lupine spades, catching what breath he could through the curtain of fur pressed against his face. He was doing his best to placate the one they'd called Harrah, the cruel female sitting on his face while she kept her paw pressed against his erection, perfectly placed to cause serious pain and injury should he fail to please her.

The youth had been slobbering around the velvety spade in his mouth, drunk on the taste and scent of a bitch when a sharp clenching bellow his belly made him groan into the femininity his lips were wrapped around. He recognized what was happening but still couldn't believe it could have snuck up on him like this, but when the erection trapped under the she-wolf's paw began to twitch there was no mistaking it. It wasn't anything like what he felt when Atos was mating him but his vision of the pink lupine pucker still dimmed as the tip of his cock erupted and he felt warmth spraying across his belly.

"Is... is he...? Oh this is just priceless!" the she-wolf mounting his head said, removing her paw and no doubt staring as Mycah's slender shaft sent a few last spurts shooting across pale white skin.

"You mean he... that can't be it, can it?"

"Use your nose, Yosha!" came the amused voice from his right.

"I can't believe this wanted to mount me! I'd have a better time raising my tail for a squirrel!" the wolfess on top of him said, and Mycah could see her pucker twitch and contract as she burst out laughing.

That set the wolfesses to taunting him, but as much as they scorned his manhood they were getting more and more vigorous with the parts of him embedded in their quivering spades. Mycah had never seen an actual female climax, and had no idea if any of the females did, but the cruel remarks were interrupted every now and again by long, drawn out growls as the supple lupine sexes pulsed and drenched his hands and his face.

"Well, you're good for something, at least..." the wolfess mounting his face husked.

"And couldn't you have just taken that without cruelty?" asked another voice, a familiar and definitely masculine tone. Lupine bottoms rose form his hands and finally his face as Mycah gasped for breath unobstructed by white fur.

"You begrudge me the use of this one? After all the time you waste on the brides?" Harrah asked, the boy in question rising to his elbows as the bitches arrayed themselves in front of the newcomer. "And you don't even play the game right. It's a crime to see you waste your time and your seed on such as this. Surely none of us would ever turn you down..." the she wolf said, her voice a husky murr but somehow carrying a challenge.

"I've already given you a pup Harrah. Unfortunately motherhood hasn't softened you..." Atos replied, unfazed by the wolfess remark.

"It will take more than one daughter to soften me. Play with your little toy for a while, but find me next time I'm in heat, and we'll see if two will do the trick…"

*******

"You know you don't have to. We can just..." Atos said but still let Mycah lift a hindleg, the boy resting on his side as the big wolf did the same, albeit facing the other way.

"I know, but I'd like to. I'm kind of curious about your body..." the young man said, blushing since even after all they'd done togetehr he had a hard time telling another male that he found him beautiful. His fingers spoke when when his voice failed, slipping into the white fluff to find the now familiar sheath, a soft and plump cover hiding the hard, warm length of masculine flesh.

"Were you... curious about males before coming here?" Atos asked, giving his tail a wag and fighting the instinctive urge to hump into the boy's touch.

"No, just females but... well, I was sent here a 'maiden'..."

"So given a choice, you'd rather be with a wolfess?" Atos mused.

"No I... I love being with you and the others... they'd excite me if they didn't scare me. Harrah and the others... they didn't really hurt me and I do think they're pretty. But it's the way they act towards me..."

"You expected a little better from them?"

"A little. When I realized they wanted me to serve them, for a moment I had hoped..."

"It doesn't work like that with them. For pleasure they look to each other or for a pack bride to provide the same physical affection. They don't tend to see us males as lovers, but as mates. Karyak isn't much kinder to them than he is to you, but the bitches seek him out and don't hesitate to lift their tail if he should glance their way, because they see him as a means to an end - strong, healthy pups. They won't let you mount because you couldn't breed them if you did..."

"Well... I'd like playing with them the way I did if any of them behaved like you..." the boy said in a sullen tone, almost absentmindedly coaxing more of the wolf's shaft from the increasingly snug sheath.

He couldn't really understand why, but there was no denying that the sight of a canine male excited him, especially the gentle one currently stretched out next to him. The sight of Atos slipping out and the way the red erection grew thicker in his grip was causing his own pulse to quicken and his slender cock to stir itself part of him wanted to quit playing and to present to the male, to feel the weight on his back as the virile lupine mated him until he cried out in joy and spent his seed on the forest floor even as his body milked his lover of a more impressive load. But he felt it would spoil this, the lazy intimate fun of laying next to the wolf and just sating his curiosity as he serviced the gentle wolf.

Tugging the sheath back he was treated to the sight of the bulges on either side of the base of the hot shaft. Gripping the narrow bit just behind it he smiled as the while length flexed and the knot grew just a little. There was something about a mate who patiently waited for his affection that in turn made Mycah eager to give it, and even though he knew what he felt for Atos was something unique, servicing the entire pack would be less of a hardship if any of them treated him with a fraction of the kindness he got from the gentle wolf. He'd just brought his lips to the tip and was parting them around the canine cock when he suddenly felt sniffs against his own manhood.

"Wh-ahh!-at are you...?"

"I'm curious too, but I don't have hands..." the wolf replied and continued his exploration.

There were a few more sniffs before Mycah felt the touch of a cool nosepad against his privates just before a tongue swiped from his tip and down his shaft, finishing with a flick against his little pouch. The youth gasped as a second lick followed before turning his attention to the erection held in his hand. He figured that Atos must be enjoying himself back there because he'd done little but grip and kiss the lupine length and already the bulge at the base was growing a paler shade of red as it swelled up. He pressed his lips to the tip, swirling his tongue over it as the wolf's much longer appendage lovingly bathed a much more modest endowment. Almost on instinct he opened his mouth and slid his lips down, suckling on the tip like a hungry calf as he used his free hand to grip the knot and thrilling at the way it throbbed against his palm.

The large lupine followed his example and Mycah tensed up a little when he felt his slender shaft sink into the warmth of the wolf's muzzle. Atos seemed to enjoy licking him back there but then again Mycah had assumed he was extending him the courtesy he would any female as best as he could given his lack of either a human slit or a lupine spade. He was surprised to see the powerful predator engaging in behavior forced upon him by the other males of the pack and the kind he lavished on Atos as a token of his affection as well as submission. He was also surprised by how amazing it felt.

Mycah curled up against the wolf, taking as much of him as he comfortably could while paying with the knot that now took two of his hands to properly grip. He'd done this many times before but it felt strange to have the affection he lavished on Atos mirrored on the shaft currently nestled in the wolf's muzzle. Either the wolf's skill or his endurance proved too much for the young human, and as he moaned around the wolf's member he fought the urge to hump as best as he could as his little pouch pulled up and sent ropes of sticky seed into the lupine maw. Atos licked him clean and stopped only when Mycah began to whimper around his mouthful and pull his hips back, overwhelmed by the sensation of the big tongue lashing against his oversensitive glans. He was wondering if the wolf would want to mount but his lover proved happy to just let him finish up. And although he knew for a fact Atos' seed must taste no different than what the rest of the pack forced him to swallow the boy drank it down eagerly when the wolf started breeding his mouth, savoring every drop and feeling no shame once it was done and he curled up to sleep next to the male who'd poured it all down his throat.

*******

"Human! Get over here girl, you're the pack's bride, not his alone..." came a growling demand, and it was with some reluctance but no hesitation that Mycah left Atos' side, crawling on all fours towards Weir. As he awkwardly made his way towards the aroused male he didn't fail to notice the red length bobbing under his belly, and took some solace that the seed he could feel leaking from his freshly and gently bred behind would serve to make the rutting to follow more bearable.

Atos padded away, and the boy was glad he did. Although the presence of the only kind wolf he'd met would provide some comfort, he could tell the gentle lupine didn't like seeing him used roughly by his packmates. And for his part, Mycah found it easier to be the wolves' plaything and suffer their abuse and casual cruelty without someone he cared for witnessing his shame.

The large male gave his up-turned behind a sniff and a quick nip on one cheek, just sharp enough to make the boy yip before he mounted, strong forearms gripping the lad's slender waist as the red length stabbed wildly away, trying to find the cleft between the smooth-skinned cheeks. One thrust stabbed against the young man's snug pouch, and Mycah didn't bother masking his cry of pain, knowing that the male mounting him particularly enjoyed the sounds of his fear and discomfort.

"Nnghh, there we go!" the wolf growled as his next thrust sunk several inches past the youth's slippery pucker. "You're in for a real rutting now. You spend far too much time around Atos, little slut. You shouldn't pay any attention to him, you know. Just try to last as long as you can..."

"Wha-aaAaahhh!-at do you mean?" the boy asked, trying to speak even as the wolf settled into a savage breeding rhythm.

"What do you think? Where do you think the other smooth-skinned whores are?" the rutting male asked.

"I... he told me..." Mycah said, feeling fresh dread wash over him as he imagined the fates of the dozens if not hundreds of brides offered to the pack over the years.

"Really? Did he tell you how many he's killed?" Weir said, and through the shock Mycah could hear the cruel glee in his voice.

"He... wha..." he tried to ask, short of breath but from the accusation and the hard length being pumped in and out of him.

"I guess he didn't get to that part yet. You -ngh!- see, we all have our ways of using you two-legged bitches, but he has a bit of a kink. He's always there for the brides, with sympathy and a kind word even as he fucks them along with the rest of us..." Weir said, and Mycah almost told him that Athos alone takes him as one takes a lover, but his voice and his will failed him. "...and when they can't take any more, he offers to 'help' them. And if you accept that help, you cuntless little bitch, the next thing you'll feel will be his teeth ripping out your throat..." Weir said, driving the point home by driving his knot in. Mycah was so stunned that he barely felt the pain of flesh yielding to flesh, but he did cry out as the wolf mounting him wanted...

*******

After the typically brutal rutting Weir had inflicted upon him Mycah had been hesitant to seek out Atos for what little comfort he could get. Part of him wanted to forget what the vicious male had told him, to chalk it down to the cruelty of the wolves he was given to. And when Atos wound up finding him the young man almost flinched from the powerful lupine form padding silently towards him. The wolf he'd come to think of as his lover didn't ask him what was wrong. He never did because he always knew what was wrong when he could smell the musk of fresh rut on the exhausted human, so he just did his best to comfort the pack's bride. The latest bride. One every year for as long as anyone can remember. How many of them has he...

The thought had entered his mind while he was curled up alongside Atos, a comfortable interlude that would often lead to either of them becoming frisky enough to start them both on the path to more physical intimacy. But the idea of it suddenly made Mycah queasy. The wolf was always gentle, and would lick at any exposed bit of smooth skin that caught his fancy in a canine approximation of a kiss. How could he ever let the large lupine kiss his neck again without thinking of those powerful jaws opening, hard teeth fastening on his throat…

"Was it that bad?" the wolf said, probably after feeling the human shudder against him in spite of the warmth of a lupine body and the lush fur pressed against him.

"The... the others... other brides... how did they..." Mycah said, unable to voice his fears, worried that if he did the gentle giant might turn into a beast every bit as cruel as the rest of his kin.

"I told you, they... the pack was cruel to them. The matings themselves, even violent... a body in its prime can adapt to that. If that is all they wanted from the brides, they would have grown strong enough to endure the whole pack mounting them, even to take some joy from the physical act. But then they would have just been infertile females, and of little use or interest to them. They did to them what a bitch would never put up with – cruelty, humiliation and pain to a degree that none can endure day in and day out. Some, in the grip of crazed courage would try to resist them, even to lash out. Their ends were bloody but swift, for my kind tend to kill quickly in the red mist of anger. Some would try to run, or to sneak away in the night. Hopeless, of course. My packmates hunt better than any feral wolf ever could, driven not by hunger but by vicious glee. They would take their time running the girls down and then take even longer…" the wolf said, trailing off when he realized Mycah didn't need more fodder for his nightmares.

“I don't know what they told you, but I never killed of my own volition. Some of the brides had pleaded for me for mercy, knowing full well the only kind of mercy I could give them. I only killed those who begged me for death…"

After that the two just lay in silence, with the boy still against the powerful predator's body pressed against his own. When after a long and tense silence Mycah shifted, Atos had been sure the boy would slip away from him, possibly forever. But the smooth-skinned youth merely turned to face him, burying his face in the thick fur of the wolf's neck as a hand slipped down the white trail of the lupine chest. His fingers trembled a little as they touched his sheath but seemed to draw some strength as the grip tightened around the shaft hidden under fur and skin.

Laying his hand on Atos usually filled Mycah with a giddy anxiety as he took the almost-innocent first step down a road that inevitably led to something decidedly not innocent. It made him feel like he had control over his life, even as he submitted to the powerful but gentle male and assumed the role of his eager mate. The recent revelations till sat like a weight on his chest, and taking Atos inside him wouldn't drive the dark thoughts out, but moments like these were his refuge from life as the pack's bride and he sought shelter on instinct.

The wolf didn't say anything, but his squeezes and strokes still got a response, the slightly loose sheath firming up under his fingers as the rose tip of Atos' erection slipped from it until he could feel the heat and wetness of the lupine member against his wrist. His breathing quickened and he felt his own manhood stir, the slender length firming up against the soft fur of the gentle wolf. This wouldn't solve anything between them, but that knowledge did nothing to slow the boy's hand as it squeezed and stroked, pulling the sheath a bit further back and exposing more of his lover's shaft. He still had his face pressed against the fur of Atos' neck, but he could tell when the air he was breathing in changed from the usual scent of the kind canine to the sharper musk of an aroused wolf.

He slid the furry covering all the way, letting the still compact knot slip out as he moved his hand over the throbbing slick flesh of the murring male. During his brief stay he'd become familiar with every red cock in the pack, and even though he'd learned that Atos was more generously endowed than most of the other males the feel of him in his hand always felt reassuring to Mycah. Atos never commanded him to stroke him, to suck him or to present. He always let him take things at his own pace and seemed to enjoy it when the young man took the time to satisfy his curiosity with both the anatomy of his lover and his own burgeoning sexuality.

“Could… can you lay on your back… while we…?" he asked as a notion sparked to life in his mind and slipped from his lips of its own will. The wolf lying beside him didn't ask why, and simply gave Mycah's forehead one of his lick-kisses before rolling over as if he were some oversized but very well trained hound.

The youth took a moment to admire the predator's build, a sleek but powerfully muscled form with a thick neck that he knew from experience could hold his weight when he wrapped his arms around it, the swell of the wolf's chest and the sharp way it sank into his white-furred belly where the exposed lupine shaft lay, a study in reds and blushing pink against pale white fluff. Taking deep breaths of woodland air and lupine musk, the boy knelt beside his lover and bent over the twitching rod, feeling the heat of the lupine member before his lips even touched the slick surface.

The other males of the pack saw his mouth as just another hole to rut, and would use it until the boy's jaw ached and his lips grew numb, jabbing enormous erections half-way down his throat and savoring the way Mycah occasionally panicked at the thought of losing consciousness around the vicious males. Atos also enjoyed a human mouth and the paly of tongue and lips on his maleness, but was always content to let his smooth-skinned lover take him as he wanted.

Mycah's nostrils flared as they took in the scent of his lover, the musk that to his mind meant safety and affection, no matter the dark thoughts still swirling within it. He kissed up and down the glass-smooth length, thrilling at the feel of heat against his lips and the twitches of the wolf's shaft as it grew ticker. His fingers trailed down it as he wrapped his lips around the tip, brushing over the knot that was still a slender swelling as rosy-red as the rest of Atos' shaft, and not the pale bulge as hard and warm as some sort of living rock.

And as his hand slipped lower still he felt the soft sparse fur covering the plump pouch and the two swollen orbs within it. As much as they enjoyed a human touch on their hard shafts, the other wolves grew annoyed any time his hand strayed past their sheaths to the more vulnerable part of their male endowments. Atos always seemed to enjoy at, and Mycah knew it was a sign of trust. He felt a thrill as he cupped the wolf's pouch, something so soft yet also firm under his palm. Far bigger than the tiny pouch under his own erection, a reservoir for a deluge of warm seed that would spray for minutes rather than shoot out in a few gooey spurts.

When the other wolves bred him he always felt filthy and bloated, whether swallowing the bitter loads or feeling them forced into his body by a knot pushed up his rear. And even though Atos filled him with the same kind of thin lupine seed that Karyak and Weir and all the others, he was always happy to accept every drop. Harrah had insisted it was a waste but it felt right to Mycah breathe heavily under his mate as his body milked the lupine shaft of the physical token of his mate's love and warmth.

It was the memories of those happy moments spent catching their breaths with their bodies joined to each other that made the young man release the red tip he'd been suckling. He swung one leg over the prone wolf, settling down with his own shaft almost lost in the white fur of Atos' belly as his lover looked at him. The perked ears betrayed surprise, since Mycah had never been the one to mount him, but the rustle of dried leaves brushed aside by a wagging tale let the boy know he could go ahead. Mycah felt little squirts land on his smooth, perky cheeks as he arched his back and thrust his rear out, working blind as he tried to catch the tip of the wolf's cock against his opening.

The hard red point caught in the cleft of his cheeks and a few wriggles later the boy gasped when the leaky point wedged itself in the soft pink ring winking eagerly at the contact. Fighting his own desperate need, the youth took a few deep breaths, forcing his body to relax enough to take something a bitch built for knotting might have trouble with. There was a moment of pressure against his pucker and then the sensation of the wolf's tip squirting into him instead of against his rosebud.

He gasped as his pucker pulsed and winked but soon yielded to a familiar heat and the still overwhelming sensation of another person entering him. With the rest of the pack pain and fear eclipsed everything else most of the time, but Atos was always gentle with him and even though he was the one setting the pace now he was taking the lupine shaft at the same steady pace. The little tapered point in the tip would graze curious spots inside him while the rest of the canine shaft spread him slowly open, his body molding itself to the familiar length sliding smoothly deeper the more he pushed back.

It seemed to go on and on as the inches slowly sank in, the thickness of the lupine cock narrowing slightly just before Mycah felt the knot pressing against his taut ring. Atos usually made a point to drive the lump in with a short jab but the youth rising the wolf kept pushing gently back, taking deep breaths and feeling his pucker stretch further, imagining the pink ring spreading until it was wrapped around the widest point of the lump. Then all it took was the tiniest push and the clench of his muscle seemed to drag the bulge into him, his pucker tightening almost greedily as it held every inch of his lover inside him.

Even with him on top, there was no part of the smooth-skinned youth that doubted the wolf under him was still the dominant one in this mating. Even though he was the gentles among his kin there was a strength to him that went beyond his stature or the hard muscles he could feel under the lush fur. Looking down Mycah could see his own cock was fully hard and twitching, a pale shaft topped with a pink head almost lost in the white fluff covering the wolf's belly. Pain and fear kept him flaccid through most of his ruttings with the rest of the pack, but even with his shaft fully hard he couldn't see it as a serious challenge to the masculinity of the male sheathed inside him.

Mycah let out a soft grunt as he raised his hips, feeling the knot pop out as he slid off several inches of canine flesh only to push back and take everything his lover had to give once again. There was no longer any inhibition left in him, no trace of the idea that he shouldn't be doing this for another male. His body and his soul both welcomed the coupling, the youth's chest swelling as breathing grew labored and his hips started to move on their own. He hands were resting on the wolf's chest and he could feel his lover's heard beating through fur, muscle and bone, a steady rhythm that mirrored the throbs he felt inside him.

The act of mating drove everything else away, consuming focus as surely as a fire consumes straw as Mycah's rear rose and fell, his back arching and flexing as he rode his lupine lover. The knot would sometimes fail to slide in and sometimes it took more than one tug to pull it out but the young human still drove himself back and forth on top of the huge wolf, lost in the rhythm to the point he either couldn't feel the twinges of pain or welcomed them as a part of this dance. It was only when several pushes down on Atos' shaft failed to push the swelling mass in that the boy slowed.

“You don't have to…" the wolf said, but in this the usually timid youth was willing to defy him.

His first taste of a swelling knot had been nothing but pain and his first tie a mixture of terror and humiliation, but with Atos he usually cherished the sensation of being knotted, and now he felt desperate for it. Leaning back and taking deep berths, the young man reached behind him and dug his fingers into the cleft of his rear, spreading his cheeks as wide as he could before driving his hips down. There was pain in his gasp but it ended with something half-way between a whimper and a moan as he felt the engorged mass slip past his ring and swell almost instantly once the twitching pucker was clenched up behind it.

The whole length of lupine flesh began tow throb and flex, Mycah's breath coming in gasps and pants as his eyelids grew lidded, awaiting the moment he knew was seconds away. It always shocked him how distinct the first surge of the wolf's seed was, that sensation of warmth reaching out into parts of his body even the massive member couldn't reach. His thighs trembled and his belly flexed in time to the pulses of the canine cock and the warmth spreading through him.

Mycah grunted as he clenched down, feeling the tightening of the muscles back there press his most sensitive spot against the throbbing knot. It was enough to send sparks trailing along the edges of his vision, but not quite enough, so the boy settled into a rhythm, clenching his insides and pushing back against the wolf's crotch. His breathing grew labored, his voice rose in pitch until with a final whimper felt the tension break and saw his erection twitch against the soft white fur of Atos' belly, sending a few streaks of pearly go arcing over the fluffy coat as he took every single drop the wolf could give him.

He almost fell over on top of Atos but the wolf bore his weight without so much as a grunt, nudging his face with his muzzle until Mycah parted his lips and moaned as his lupine lover kissed him. The boy clung to him, his hands sliding along and through the dense fur as he writhed on top of the powerful yet gentle predator. Minutes later their breathing had grown normal and the stream of lupine spunk now merely felt like a slow and steady swelling as the virile male contained breeding his mate.

“Promise me that, even if I ask you… that you'll never do it. I… I don't want your last memory of me to be that…" the boy said before exhaustion took its toll and he slumped against the wolf.

“I promise…" Atos replied, unsure if his mate heard him.

*******

The oblivion of sleep had claimed Mycah, but the boy's words would give the wolf no rest. His ears were keen and he could hear nuances in his lover's voice that he doubted a human could even recognize. His tone had quivered a little but it hadn't been fear. Mycah had sounded concerned… for him. Even though Atos made sure to show the brides what affection and kindness he could he'd always been careful to hide the pity he felt for the humans sent to his kin over the years, knowing the fate that awaited them. Even the strong ones, the ones he once thought would grow hard and fierce enough to bear the cruelty of the pack and live with it the way one would endure frost or draught. And this doomed youth sleeping peacefully on his chest had felt sorry for him.

Am I to be pitied?

He thought of his acts of kindness and his gentle gestures and how insignificant they really were against the tide of cruelty and malice festering among his kin and fanned to a dark flame under Karyak. A fire fed by young innocent lives as surely as any flame fed by kindling. He'd felt something for them all and suffered pain when they inevitably passed. But he felt closer to Mycah, to this strange boy-bride than any of the others down the years. Did the human feel it too? Did he pity Atos because death would put an end to his pain leaving the wolf to suffer? He was still wrestling with this thought long after his shaft had shrunk and slipped from the youth, rolling gently over and laying curled up next to him, seemingly tranquil until a voice cut through the silence.

“Loosening the bride up? Come on Atos, you've had your fun. Now step aside and give the pack their due…" Karyak said, stepping out of the shadows with much of his court in attendance, leering as he eyed the slumbering boy. Atos knew that for all his strength he had no fire in him, that his temper was always cool. But as he stood up it occurred to him that ice had claimed as many lives as any fire ever had.

“No." was all he said.

“No? Atos we know you have your little ways, but there is a fine line between sentimentality and greed. Step aside so the pack can claim its due…"

“Not this one, or any other." The wolf said, almost amused by the surprise on Karyak's face. “I offer challenge…" he added, but the pack-leader's expression of shock was anything but amusing…

*******

“I offer challenge…"

The words had drawn Mycah from his slumber and still rang in his head as his eyes focused on a snarling Karyak and a growing circle of lupine bodies forming around the two. Both his dreams and his nightmares began this way, and now that he was witnessing the confrontation in the waking world the young man shuddered at what the outcome might be.

“Come along smooth-skin, you don't want to get in the way of this…" said a voice he was fairly sure belonged to the female called Yosha, just before an invisible force seemed to wrap around his chest and he felt himself being dragged behind the wolves as she took position at the edge of a wide ring.

“I had expected you to challenge me one day… so what is this over Atos? That vision of yours, or this cuntless wretch!?" the large male almost barked out, swinging a paw sideways in the direction of the wolf tensed on the opposite side. He was far out of reach but for a split second it was like Mycah could see four shining slivers lance through the air, fading back into nothing inches from Atos' muzzle.

He'd seen the hounds of his village fight, especially when a female was in heat and the strongest males contested for the right to breed. On some level he'd expected this confrontation to be much like that, but the circling canines didn't close to leap and bite at each other. The air in the ring became charged and the air seemed to shimmer, giving the youth a warped view of things he'd never seen before. Gouts of flame lashed at the wolves, arcs of tiny lightning sizzled in the air between them as each male marshaled his power and tried to land a strike against the other. It was hard to tell how the two were faring off, but it seemed to Mycah that Karyak was pressing the attack, and hoped that Atos was merely conserving his strength, and not desperately holding the other male off.

The pack sat and watched as if they were all cast in stone, without so much as a cheer or cry from any of them, including the ones Mycah knew walked at Karyak's heels. The air twisted around the ring and the distant branches shook above, unaccustomed to storm winds born under the canopy of the deep woods. Looking at the mossy ground Mycah gasped as the soil rippled like a gossamer sheet floating on top of boiling water. They're changing the ground! he thought in amazement, stunned by the command these creatures had on the world he lived in.

Just as he guessed, the only firm spots were the ones lupine paws settled on. The floor shifted as both males tried to turn the turf beneath their opponent's paws into sucking mud, slick ice or jagged shards, anything for an advantage do deliver a crippling, or more likely killing blow. It was hard for the youth to comprehend the energies invested in this battle or to gauge who had the upper hand. But Karyak seemed as confident as he was vicious, filling the boy's mind with images of what the pack would be like should Atos fail. He would lose the male he cared for deeper than anyone he'd ever known and the rest of his short life in the pack would be nothing but pain and humiliation without reprieve. And once he was gone, an innocent youth would be sent oblivious to the fate that was in store for them for years or centuries to come. When a fresh wave of flame rolled towards Atos barely missed, the young man leapt to his feet and cried out, shocking everyone including himself.

“I offer challenge!" All eyes turned to him as if he were a tree stump that suddenly found a voice and spoke out, but the eyes of the pack-leader bored into him.

“You offer... you dare insult me you worthless little freak!? You who are less than a runt would dare to challenge me?" Karyak growled, fleck of foam forming at the edges of his maw, his teeth seeming to grow longer and sharper as he padded slowly towards the youth with his heckles bristling. “I will make sure you live just long enough to realize what you have done!" the wolf growled, tensing for a leap as Atos leapt up on him.

The sentient lupines, bearers of divine blood and initiates of the mysteries of magic rolled together, fur flying and jaws snapping on empty air as they forgot everything but instinct and fought with the mindless ferocity of true beasts. The pack held their breath, witnesses to centuries of ritual mortal combat stunned by the savagery of the two wolves before them. The two rolled, kicked and bit, not separating as each wolf sought something to close his jaws on. When Atos wound up on top Mycah's heart skipped a beat and almost broke when he saw a dozen patches of fire blossom on the wolf's fur as Karyak remembered the true weapons at his disposal. A maw flashed down and even human ears caught the wet crushing sound as they closed and Karyak's flames died with him. Atos lifted his blood-stained muzzle and looked around to see if anyone contested his victory.

Not a single wolf did.

*******

"I've never seen one like this..." the Lady Anastasia said after carefully taking an offering of flowers from her servant's hand and laying it at the feet and paws of the two figures carved out of pale stone.

"Well styles change over time..." Alba replied, laying her own floral tribute before the pair. Several acolytes were going about their duties in the shrine but otherwise the two noble ladies were alone except for their personal servants.

"No, I mean they're standing together." the she-wolf said, pointing with her muzzle at the stone couple. They had been carved many times - the First King and his Priestess- but traditionally they would each be one separate sides of an altar. This rendering was more lifelike, with the huge wolf standing alert in front of the robe-clad maiden, almostprotecting the human female radiating a gentler sort of strength as she rested one hand on the wolf's back.

"Well the Faith has tried to downplay certain... that is, our senses of propriety are different than they were in those days..." Alba said, tip-toeing around a particular taboo. The wolfess was always less concerned with keeping up appearances, and it showed in the look she gave the awkward mare.

The statues were a new addition to the shrine, while at the same time being the oldest thing in it. A hunter stubborn enough to chase a boar into an old thicket of wild vines and brambles had stumbled -quite literally- over the site of the ancient temple. It dated from a time when worshipers still felt drawn to the woods rather than grandiose buildings, and their ancestors' idea of a proper place of worship was merely a ring of stone columns holding up a dome under which relics like this carving had rested.

Much of it was rubble, but by some miracle the statue of the King and Priestess had survived and had been carried with great care to this shrine. Sprigs of flowers were piled around the pair, a testament to the number worshipers arriving to see with their own eyes a work of art thought lost to the world. And gazing at the pair, Alba couldn't help but wonder how many were drawn here the same way she and Theo and Ana and Tobias were. The Faith had always taught the King had taken his Priestess as his mate, but it was often glossed over so as not to offend modern sensibilities. And it was easy to forget the fact with an altar separating the two, but the tableau before them was too life-like to deny - the proud old wolf was protecting his mate, and not even the passage of time had touched the two. The statues were the subject of much discussion, including whether there was any sense in clinging to the taboo of love between humans and the Nobility.

"Why wasn't she carved to look more feminine?" the she-wolf asked the pretty young man beside her.

"What do you mean?"

"Well you know..." Anna said, raising a paw high enough to tap two spots on her servant's chest. Alma folded her ears in embarrassment as she got the gist. Honestly, I can't take her anywhere...

"Well... she was mated to the King but naturally she couldn't conceive with him. To symbolize the fact she'd never borne children, she was sculpted with more... maidenly proportions." Alba said, feeling satisfied with her reasoning.

"Hmmm... I suppose you're right..." said the wolfess. An entirely different idea had occurred to her, but it seemed too silly to mention now...