His only response to her question was to croon softly, causing her blood to run fast for a few seconds. Then he stopped when he realized what effect that was having on her. Ever so slowly, he stood up and backed away from her, standing just out of arm's reach. He stared off into the deep forest, listening to the birds as they began to sing again. Just having that much space between her and him felt like a chasm had opened up in the earth. She didn't like that feeling at all. She wanted to touch him again, have him touch her again. When she started to reach for him, he curved his body away from her outstretched hand and took another step away, just to make sure.
"Don't... I want to touch you. I have to touch you. I feel so empty when we can't touch."
Her eyes began to water, and she sniffled. He saw it out of the corner of his eye. He hung his head down to the ground, his nose almost touching the pine needles.
The thoughts racing through his mind were almost too much to comprehend. How could he forget what effect his gaze would have on this woman? It had been so many years. He had run away from the humans so this wouldn't happen again. He had spent so many years running wild with his distant cousins through the forest and the rolling hills that he had almost forgotten what he was, who he was, and what would happen if he ever got near the humans again.
Vae!!! I am so rapturous it isn't funny! It hit him like a bolt of lightning. Latin! I'm thinking in Latin again. Gods! How many years has it been since that has happened? He realized that he had started doing it last night.
The sound of soft weeping next to him brought him back to the present really fast. He turned to look at his new love, hearing her soft voice, almost too soft, but he could hear it just as clearly as if she had shouted it.
"Don't you love me?"
She was trying to get him to look at her. He took two steps to her and draped his head over her shoulder, rumbling deep in his chest, trying to get her to understand. Of course, I love you! Why do you think I'm so miserable! But all he could do was rumble. She started laughing into his chest when she understood what he was trying to say.
"You DO love me!"
She hugged him so tight he almost felt the squeeze through to his bones. He grunted, giving her a hard time over her hug of death. She pushed him back and then stood up.
"You aren't really a wolf, are you?"
Hope tried to surface in her eyes as she figured out that her new 'love' walked on all fours! He looked at her with a deep sadness in his own eyes, and then began to move his head up and down. Yes, I am. Well, not completely, but for right now, yes. Even though he couldn't say it out loud, she could read it in his eyes and the expression on his face. When the realization had a chance to sink in, she began to think about what new lovers are supposed to do to show how much they love each other, and then the blush started rising up her face until it was almost beet red, creeping all the way up to her scalp.
"Oh." Her voice got so small. He quickly caught on to what she was thinking, and he couldn't help it, the wolf actually started laughing. The deep rumble came out of his chest; the chuffing was almost continuous. He didn't have any problems with that act, or acts as the case may be, but he could see how that mental image scared her to death. Then he glanced at her face. Uh-oh. She's getting mad.
"Stop laughing at me! How can you be so crass! Good girls aren't supposed to do that! Hell! Bad girls aren't even supposed to do THAT!"
He backed up a couple of paces and stretched out his forelegs, putting his head down between them but leaving his butt in the air. He bowed before her, hoping that the incongruous image of a giant wolf doing this would diffuse her anger and shame.
"Oh, stop it. I'm trying to be serious here for a minute." He cocked his head and pushed his ears at her, in the classic "Huh?" face that all canines, and lupines, have.
"Quit it. Now."
Uh-oh, this isn't working. She's really pissed. He watched her carefully for the next few moments as he could see her thinking things through. She took several deep breaths, in through her nose, out through her mouth. Something clicked deep in his memory. Oh, yeah. Those crazy monks in those orange robes used to do that just before they kicked your ass. He scooted back, just in case this might be one of those times. She caught the movement and squinted at him, contemplating. He went still; like a deer caught in the headlights, he froze.
She's a hot one. She will make an excellent Alpha female! The thought of her being his Luna started causing things to flow, primarily, blood to a certain organ. Before he was fully aware of it, his shaft had slipped out of its sheath and had begun to swell. Again, the slightest movement caught her eye, and then her eyes went WIDE. The size of that thing!
"That is NOT going anywhere near me! You understand!?"
Her voice had taken on the heat of a blast furnace, but her face was cold as ice. He looked down at his expanding member and then watched it slip back to where it had escaped. The only telltale sign that anything had happened was a few drops of pre-cum dripping from the hairs around the opening of the sheath. He brought his head back up and looked at her with a Who, me? expression.
"Jesus Christ! I thought I was having a hard time trying to fight off 24 years of cultural stigma of doing anything with you, but then I saw that. My God! That wouldn't fit, even if I wanted to!"
He let her blow off some steam. He knew that actually, it would fit. Several past experiences had taught him that. As a matter of fact, there was that one woman in his past who absolutely adored it, no, craved it! What was her name... Catherine? Then he had a mental flashback of her face. Whew! Gods! She had been ugly, but she loved to sleep with her beasts. No way was I going to take sloppy seconds from some stallion. The hiss from his left let him know that his ruminations of the past just might get him in trouble again. He looked at her to see what she was hissing at. Oops. Once more, the shaft retreated into its sheath.
"Is that all you can think about? Sticking that monstrosity inside of me?"
He actually got a sheepish grin on his face and looked down at the ground. Gods! I have to stop doing that. He finally got himself under control and looked at her. Before she could say another word, he chuffed at her and then moved his muzzle to point over her shoulder. She turned and surveyed the wasted campsite. Her clothes, the food; the only thing left standing was the tent, and it was ruined as well. She'd never get all that blood out of the nylon. Then the events of the previous night came back to her. She stood there for a few seconds, then turned back to him.
"You're right. We need to get out of here before something or someone else finds this mess." She walked back over to the tent and retrieved her boots, plopping down on the ground to lace them up. While doing that, she paused for a second, then looked up at him. He tilted his head, waiting for the question.
"What's your name? I mean, I can't just go around calling you 'Wolf,' can I?"
The irony of the situation didn't escape him, but he waited for her to remember that with his mouth full of fangs, he had no speech. Then it was her turn for a light blush and a sheepish glance.
"Sorry, forgot. I just feel like you have been talking to me, when in reality, you're just looking at me, making funny noises and faces, and I can somehow tell what you are thinking."
He grinned. Not everything, my love.
She reached into the tent and rolled up her sleeping bag with her pillow and the flashlight. Those were the only three things that had survived the mauling intact. Well, almost. She spotted her wallet next to one of the trees and retrieved it.
"Well, at least I have this. Now I can buy us dinner."
She began walking uphill. She continued to talk, "When we get to my truck, I'll put you in the back, and we can go to my place in town."
He stopped right there and whooped at her. She turned to see what he wanted, and then she saw it in his face. Fear. Real fear.
"Oh, crap! That's right; someone shot at you yesterday and nearly killed you! And now here I am, trying to take you to the same type of people who wouldn't blink an eye before taking another shot at you." She sat back down and started to think about the alternatives. Then she had an idea. Yes!
"There's an old abandoned Ranger shack ten miles from here. It's over that way." She pointed toward the northwest. "I can go back to town, get more supplies, and then trek back out here. Luckily, the fire access road goes almost all the way to the old shack, so I won't have to hike far to get to it."
He nodded in approval of her plan. All of a sudden, she got a funny look on her face.
"Uhm... What kind of dog food do you like?"
He leaped right at her. She squealed and started running full tilt up the hill towards her truck. He snapped at her butt the entire way.