4
Xander
This wasthe worst night of my life.
After telling Sage kindly to fuck off, I ran harder than I ever had, pushing until my muscles burned and screamed. I don’t know how much ground I covered and I didn’t care—all I knew was that I had to get away from him at all costs.
I ran until I hit the fence, then vaulted over it. Instead of feeling trapped, being within the fence’s walls was somehow comforting, like I was hidden in a secret den. One that wolves couldn’t enter.
I found a small hollow to sleep in for the night. But even though I was physically tired, my blood didn’t stop racing. I was on fire. I burned with need.
I gasped as I shifted to human form, and without wasting a second, wrapped my hand around my throbbing cock. It was shameful how horny I was. It was a miracle that I managed to keep myself under control around Sage, but I lost it now. The only thing on my mind wasmate, fuck, impregnate, breed—
A loud groan escaped me. The image of Sage’s sweet face popped into my mind. I came, messily and violently, splattering cum all over my hand and the dirt beneath me.
I thought that would be enough. It wasn’t. Sage’s heat-scent burned into my memory like a brand, unforgettable, impossible to ignore. I bucked my hips wildly, fucking my own hand, cumming over and over like some kind of sex-obsessed pervert.
I don’t know when it finally ended. Probably when my body was too exhausted to go on. It was, frankly, fucking embarrassing.
My eyes clenched shut. I forced myself to go to sleep, because it was the one place where I could fully ignore Sage’s existence.
* * *
The next morningwas bright and sunny, the air crisp with the promise of autumn. New day, new beginning. I pretended last night was a wild dream and promptly ignored it. Though I wasn’t hungry, I stalked the grassy fields just to have something to do.
The inside of the fence contained a far greater landmass than I expected. After a couple hours of casual journeying, I still hadn’t reached the end. But my exertion had made me a bit peckish. I could use a snack—perhaps a rabbit, or small deer.
The long grass was starting to turn yellow as autumn approached. It swayed against my legs and belly as I prowled the fields. This was definitely a lush area, pure from the lack of human interference.
I went still as the scent of prey whisked by me in the breeze. Deer. Young, without the gameness that came with age.
But along with the scent of deer came hare, and even more strangely, the stink of wolves. There was a sour note mixed in. Something canine-ish, but not as strong. Fox, maybe.
It was all so bizarre that I stood there in confusion. I shook my head, thinking maybe my brain had jostled. The scent remained the same.
There was no reason for all of those beasts to live together unless a pack of wolves were hoarding some kind of feast. But the scents were all neutral—there wasn’t even a scrap of fear or terror mingled in.
So what the hell was going on?
My curiosity won again. I followed the smorgasbord of scents to the source. A ring of trees, their leaves turning red and orange at the tips, stood in a peculiar circle in the distance. I saw bodies in its vicinity. That was definitely where the scent was coming from.
I ran closer until my sharp eyes picked out clear forms. A fawn and a wolf cub frolicked by a stream, watched by a man in his thirties. There was another man on the shore, smaller and younger than the other, sitting cross-legged in the grass. A hare sat in his lap, sleeping.
If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought I’d been drugged. The scene I was watching looked like a damn fairy tale.
My body moved closer, spurred on by deep curiosity and confusion, but I’d forgotten my sense of stealth. My paw snagged on a root, making me stumble.
Instantly, all the adult figures at the stream stopped.
It happened in a flash faster than lightning. The older man’s face twisted into a ferocious snarl as he shifted into a buck deer with a massive and admittedly intimidating rack of antlers.
“Len, call the wolves!” he commanded.
He charged. Startled, I backed up, but the buck was faster—and he was pissed. He bellowed as he threw his antlers at me. I was caught and thrown seven feet in the air, but as a cat, I quickly righted myself. Balance flowed naturally to me as I landed, shaken, on all four paws.
In the background, I heard the other man yell out, “Hugo! Dax! Sage! Come quickly!”
Wait.
