The Princess and the Woodsman

Everyone thinks I'm dead--for all tense and purposes, Even I think I should be dead. Instead I now find myself in the mountainous wildness somewhere along the river Tyne heavy with child in the dead of winter trying to keep myself warm. Fate can work in funny and mysterious ways. Even though this is not the most ideal or luxurious way of living, I have everything I need provided for me. Moving around has been getting to become more of a chore, and I worry about getting attacked again.

It was growing dark, and the fire was becoming tame. My four year old daughter tugged at my sleeve, while I was nursing my year old son. Her tummy grumbled, and I knew without her telling me. "Mommy? I'm cold and hungry...where's daddy?"

I did my best to hide my concern as I stroked her silky raven black hair gently. Her bronze skin glowed in the warm ambient light from our loving humble dwelling. "I fetch ye something to eat after I put your brother to bed" I told her.

My baby boy ate a lot just like his sister before him, and it took longer and longer before he was full. I'm glad that women were made to have two breasts instead of one. I'm going to need them both to keep him and our new addition well fed. I have no one to blame but my dear beloved for his ravenous appetite. He's only lucky that he makes the cutest blessed babies I ever did see. After my son had his fill, he drifted into a deep sleep where I could finally put him into a cot made from the wood provided from the forest. Our home was made in similar fashion. We were not impoverished by any stretch of the imagination. My beloved was an extraordinary hunter and warrior, but he just hated going to market or being around other people to shop around.

I put on my cloak and drew up my hood going out into the open. It was so cold that my nose stung and lungs burned so much that I started coughing uncontrollably. I could already see my breath in the cold, and the full moon shined bright overhead illuminating the forest and snow below. The pine and fir trees were burdened with snow and sometimes ye could hear the sounds of limbs breaking or snow sliding off and falling onto the ground.

My heart felt like it was about to jump out of my chest when I heard a loud monstrous otherworldly howl travel through the forest and echo off the mountains around us. I hope my beloved would come back safely. I did not like it when he spent this long out in the dark especially on a full moon. I felt my belly quiver to my anxiety, and I did my best to settle my little one down. "It's okay...he will be home soon" I muttered more to myself.

I took a deep breath and walked farther to the storage house and retrieved more firewood for the hearth. I looked back towards my daughter poking her head out around furs draped over the entry way to our humble peasant home. There was another terrifying howl before I felt a strong kick that took my breath away, and I dropped the wood onto the ground.

My daughter came out to help me, and my son started to wail. I knew I forgot to burp him, but I thought I could do this quick. I felt so overwhelmed, and sometimes I felt like I was way too young to be having children and now I had three. "Luna! Be careful honey!" I called out to her.

My daughter took the stack of wood piled up past her head and held it without difficulty. She looked back at me and smiled. "Don't worry mommy! They aren't heavy!" She said before she hummed to herself carrying the stack into the house. I cannot believe how strong my daughter had gotten in these past few years. There was no way she had gotten that strength from my side of the family. She dropped the wood in front of the hearth and looked at me staring at her dumbfounded. "I did it!"

"Ye did...good job Luna" I told her as I started to laugh to myself nervously. I thought about how strong she would be like in ten years. "I wouldn't show off your strength to the boys. They would get their feelings hurt"

"Do ye hide your strength from daddy?" she asked me.

I was caught off guard with this, and I could not help but laugh as I picked up my son. "No...No one is stronger than your father! Ye got your strength from him" I told her honestly as I started burping my son.

"Aren't ye a princess mommy? Aren't princesses supposed to marry nobles? How come ye married a woodsman?" she asked after I set my son back down into the cot.

"Yes, I am a princess, but I'm not married to your father...yet" I told her as I made my way to the hearth to stoke the fire and prepare supper, I thought back on my past and how I ended up with two healthy children and another strong one on the way. So I told my daughter the tale, and why I chose to live with the monster of a man I call my dear beloved.

"Well honey...It's a long story. My father was a very powerful King from Scotland. He ruled his kingdom with an iron fist. He obviously had a lot of enemies especially with the Viking invaders he fought off. My mother was from Iberia and it was said that she was a descendant from a Great Pharaoh and that's why our skin is so dark. We will never have that beautiful fair skin all other noble women have.

I was arranged to marry someone on the Isle of Man, which I had no choice but to obey his wishes. I was told that I was a rather attractive woman although all I saw myself as a short bloated cow with swollen lips that looked like I were stung by a bee. I think my mother kept me fat just to make herself look even thinner and slender. It took hours to get me ready, painful even. Those corsets and cages for dresses, and it made my already big butt look even bigger. I hated it! I could not go anywhere or do anything. I was trapped!

When I was of age, I was taken from the castle, I made a wish upon a shooting star that I would be set free. It was not that long after before our caravan was attacked by the Viking raiders. They killed all the soldiers and attempted to take me to hold me for ransom. I was so scared and repulsed by them grabbing my butt and my boobs and salivating over me. I thought I was going to be raped right then and there, so I screamed! I screamed and screamed as loud as I could, and your father was the only one who answered my prayers.

I was scared out of my wits that something way more fearsome and deadly than those savages come out from the dark. They all tried to fight him, but all it took for him was for one swipe, and he knocked three fully grown men off their feet into the darkness. The rest ran screaming while I was left bound and left for dead.

I closed my eyes thinking that my life was over, but he cut me free. When I opened my eyes, the monster was gone, and all I saw from then on was a man, a large handsome powerful man with a kind heart. I followed him to his home. He fed me and kept me warm and protected, and I nursed him back to health and gave him company. I lived with him ever since, and then I got pregnant with ye not too long after. I could have returned back to the castle many times when I go to market, but...I love him too much to leave him. I have been reborn and I devoted my life to him. After all, he did give me three precious babies" I told her before I heard a loud thud at the entry way.

A towering werewolf dropped a freshly culled stag onto the floor, which my heart jumped seeing his eyes aglow looking at me as if I was his next meal. I clutched my ladle tightly as my daughter ran up to the beast. "Daddy! You're back!" she shouted before she attempted to wrap her arms around him burying her face into his fur. Our son knew daddy was home, and he called out to him seeking his warmth and attention. At this point my daughter was trying to climb all over him, and I was about to smack him for making me worry, but I could not stay mad at him as he crawled over to my son licking him affectionately being a good father.

"Well, it's about time ye got back! Don't ye know we were all worried sick about ye!?" I shouted placing my hands upon my childbearing hips making sure to make my belly as pronounced as possible. He turned and looked back at me sighing heavily. I do not know why I started crying, but I started thinking what would happen if I would lose him. "Ye have another pup on the way! Please don't go so far away from home!" I told him while resting my hand over my enormous gravid belly. His ears flattened back and whimpered, for we both knew that I was very close to popping.

I turned to finish making supper while teaching my daughter the basics to cooking, and my beloved dragged his kill out back to skin and clean it. I knew he would eat half of the it, but since it was a full moon, I did not care. He would eat ten times as much as Luna and I combined when he took this form. After he fed, he would fall asleep on the furs on the floor, and I would grab a blanket and join him and often times make love to him. If ever things got too cold I would have my children seek refuge under our blanket, cuddle up, and keep warm, but sometimes I would have them do it if there were trespassers on his land.

After I ate stew with my daughter, we had a very peaceful night. My daughter fell sound asleep on our bed with a full tummy and covered in many fur blankets. My dear beloved and I shared a long passionate embrace on the bear skin rug in the dark corner before I went to pleasure him under the fur blankets. I made sure to do this with him every day in any way possible. This would most likely be the last time for a great while before I could do this with him again.

Eventually he too fell asleep after I had my way with him. I sat straddled on top of him exhausted and a little sore admiring the sight of my dear hombre lobo. On these nights he would almost turn completely into a wolf the only part of him that resembled a man was his torso and arms still he was very large and covered with white/crème colored fur on his cheeks, around the nose, lower jaw, chest, belly, and intimate areas. His back, tail, head, and limbs were grey/black. Brown buffered between the darker and lighter fur as well as on and around his ears.

His hands and paws were massive and padded. The claws were black and worn down from walking on all fours. On his hands they were more humanly shaped also the padding covered where ye were more likely to find calluses. On the fingers and where they met the palms. They were not shaped like that of his lupine feet. His head was that of a wolf, and his mind reflected his current physical appearance, Mostly wolf. He could get overly aggressive and very mean sometimes, but he never laid a finger on me or my daughter. He was protecting us or keeping us away from danger; however, if he was just having a bad day, I knew what would perk him up.

I traced shapes into the fur on his chest and arms not at all finding our love forbidden or immoral. They would not understand how unbreakable our bond was now. Despite the weight I gained becoming a mother and the stretch marks, he was always affectionate and very willing to make love to me. When we did, we were never dissatisfied, and his performance and stamina was exceptional. His sexual prowess was only enhanced with his perfectly oversized cucumber and plums no matter what shape it took.

If I had the choice, I would marry him, but then that would mean that everyone would know that Princess Silvia lived. I wondered if this was a dream...I did not want to be woken up from it. I have the perfect husband--only he so happened to turn into a wolf beast man on occasion.

When it was not the full moon, he could transform when he got really angry, relaxed, or aroused. He looked like a beast still, but his feet and head were human like while he had fur, fangs, and claws. His eyes and nose was still that of a wolf's, but at least he could talk. His voice was very deep, strong, sensual, and it carried well. I was terrified of it when I first met him, but as I got to know him, I began to like it or dare I say it--it got me feeling hot and bothered.

As I my eyes wondered, I soaked in the sights, sounds, and sensations around me. The fire popped and crackled in the fireplace as it died down. The haunting sounds of the forest no longer bothered me, for nothing was scarier than the sounds of my dear beloved's snoring or the gurgles from his stomach, but that too I have grown used to. I could hear my daughter turn over with a very happy smile upon her face despite living in a hovel. I do not know how she could tolerate living in such squalor, but then again I knew in my heart she was just as feral as my dearest. Maybe money was not everything to happiness. It still made me worry about finding her a husband. Who could truly understand what her needs are and what makes her happy? Would they be as accepting of her incredible strength as we did? Were there more wolf men out there like my dearest?

Then I began to think about my other children. Would they inherit their father's monstrous strength? Would they become monsters like him? How could I manage a large family of wolf people? Should I become a wifwolf? What if I was found? What if they tried to take me and my family back to the castle? What if they find him and find out what he is?

My muse was soon interrupted by my son's cries perhaps too cold. He was still far too little to keep warm to himself, so I struggled to get up, but my dearest got up instead. For a beast that large, he was incredibly fast and nimble inside such cramped conditions. He scooped up our baby boy from the cot and his crying waned. When he brought him back to me, I smiled at him as he settled back down with baby in his arms. "Ye are a splendid father" I told him.

I climbed back up into his arms and our son placed between his two parents with love. I looked at my precious little baby boy and he cooed at me. My heart warmed up, and I tickled his belly. I loved being a mother...I loved babies...I loved his babies. What was better was that my beloved did not seem too bothered with the crying or the messes.

"My dearest?" I called out to him. He looked down at me attentively as I reached up to stroke the fur on his cheek. "I've been thinking a lot lately, and...well...Luna has been getting so strong as of late. Will she have the same gift to change into a magnificent wolf beast like yourself?"

He gave me a nod before I glanced over to my daughter sleeping like a rock. "Are there more wolf people like you?"

He nodded again, but now I had so many more questions, and I knew he could not speak well in this form. His tongue was too long, and he did not have lips, which sounded like a garbled mess of unintelligible dog noises whenever he made an attempt. He could still communicate with me non-verbally of course, but I would not press him to talk. It could wait for the morning I suppose...my anxiety was going to prevent me from sleeping very well. He knew, and he cleaned my face with his tongue to soothe me. I clutched his fur tightly and started crying again. I was just too worried for the future of our children, and my pregnancy was making me hysterical like before.

My love's licking did do the trick, and I calmed down. My innards were still being abused by our new addition, and I knew he or she would be werewolves just like his or her siblings and father. He or she wanted out, and nothing I did would convince them to wait. I was going to have to endure this part of pregnancy. I awoke to my handsome hunk of a man sprawled out with a tent pitched. I laughed at him and got to my feet, but when I flipped open the furs draped over the doorway I grew very annoyed. There was a fresh blanket of snow on the ground and there was a lot of it, up to my knees now. I needed to go pee bad. "This is outrageous! A princess shouldn't put up with this!" I shouted.

I covered my mouth and blushed at my outburst looking over at my daughter then at my son hoping not to wake them up. I caught my beloved quickly close his eyes pretending to still be asleep, but I was not going to let him off the hook just yet. "Well!? Do expect your pregnant lover to tread through the snow just to get to the river to relieve herself!? I want a proper home to live in! Do ye hear me? I know ye aren't asleep!"

He soon sat up and rubbed his eyes looking at me. "Just go around...ye don't need to go to the river" he muttered.

"Absolutely not! I'm not leaving yellow snow around, and besides, it's cold! This is so undignified!"

He got up and walked out into the snow barefooted and naked, and I blushed when he went to a tree and peed on it. "Really!? Honestly? Do ye have any sophistication at all!? And another thing! Why do ye always have to pee on things!?"

"I'm a wolf not a princess! I mark my territory like any other would" He said plainly before he came up to me staring me down. "What's gotten ye so worked up!?"

"Worked up!? I have to go pee stupid! Just because you're an hombre lobo doesn't mean ye have to live like a beast! Ye have the money to build your own damn castle! I don't understand why ye have to bury every last shilling in the ground and make us live in this frozen hell hole!" I shouted. I did not notice that my daughter had gone out behind a log and already relieved herself. I only now noticed her coming back from behind the log barefooted looking at us confused. She looked at me strangely not aware of the controversy or why I was upset.

"Silvia, I cannot anything about it now. All my work has been going to building us a new bigger home"

I almost forgot and I relented looking away from his dominant gaze. "I see...well I hope ye finish our home soon...maybe if ye hired workers it would get done faster" I muttered before I put on my boots and put on my beloved's coat as mine would not fit my pregnant form. I walked out towards where my daughter went.

"It's winter, Silvia. They would freeze to death working at the site"

My hands stung and went numb after being out there for just five minutes. I rushed back over to him and stuck my freezing hands into his armpits causing him to jump. "You're lucky that you're so damn warm!" I muttered. Even after my hands got warm, I did not want to pull them away, but I had to.

My beloved got started on making a fire for me to start cooking, and my daughter was in the corner playing with a spinning top and her dolls. Though, right on cue, my son was letting me know it was time for breakfast. As I nursed him, I sat on a stool beside my beloved. "Honey...how do we arrange a marriage for Luna?"

Without even looking at me he struck the flint to a broken sword and caught a nest of dried moss aflame. "We don't...that is not our ways" he said sticking the burning moss onto some kindling wood inside the teepee. "When she's of age, a wolfman brave enough to enter my territory will answer her howls. We don't tolerate inbreeding like ye royals do" he said as he started blowing into the fire.

"When will she start to...change? When she becomes of age? Does it happen all at once or is it slow like how a boy becomes man and a girl becomes a lady?"

"Well, it starts slow, but then it happens more quickly. I grew into that magnificent beast when I was 16. I started my change when I was 11. It happens earlier for girls of course" He said as he had now gotten the fire going.

"What was it like? Did ye lose control? Were ye scared?"

"Nay, I had siblings who came of age before me. I knew it would happen to me. I was excited when it did...but I was glad that I didn't change all at once. I probably would have lost control getting drunk with power and flooded with all my instincts. Heh, heh, my sisters dreaded the change. They just don't like the thought of going into heat and giving birth...no wifwolf has ever died giving birth"

"Really? Never?" I asked in astonishment.

"Aye, ye remember how quickly I heal, do ye not?" he asked as he pointed to a spot on his arm where he took a viking battle axe almost severing it off. The grotesque wound was gone without a trace not even a scar or anything only perfect tan skin.

I nodded to his question before I reached over to touch his shoulder giving it a feel then a pat. "Well, ye did yelp and whimper like a pup when I tended to your wound, but ye do heal up nicely" I told him before I laughed noticing him pout in protest.

"Nay! I don't whimper!" He grumbled very offended.

"Ye did too! Even more that I did when I gave birth!" I teased him but I could not imagine how much pain reattaching an arm would be. Not having to worry about dying during childbirth, and not being cold sounded like a good reason to become a wifwolf. "Honey, maybe after I give birth...Ye can turn me...I want to be with ye forever and for always" I told him.

"But I already did turn ye"

I looked at him confused. "What? What do ye mean my love?"

He placed his hand over my heart. "Ye have been slowly turning into a shewolf with every moment spent with me. Ye may have not noticed it, but I have both inside and out. Ye have changed so much that only I can sate your appetite whenever ye crave meat, and ye have been craving it more often. Very soon ye will grow your own fur and..." he said before he lifted up my dress exposing my belly.

I was shocked and confused as I started feeling my skin. My stretch marks had vanished, but this was impossible! He never bit me hard enough to draw blood. "But how? How is this happening?"

"Ye are my mate...mother to our wolf children. Our bond is so close that the magic within me has penetrated and flowed inside ye changing ye little by little. It started with your soul, but now your body is starting to show it" He explained.

"Can ye just bite me and get it over with?" I asked.

"I could, but wouldn't ye prefer this instead of the alternative?" he asked as he let go of my dress.

"I hate having cold feet!" I grumbled.

"Heh heh! Don't have too high of expectations, princess. You'll keep using me like a stove just as ye have always before" He teased.

"Oh well...ye can at least bite me a little less delicate with me. I wanna be treated like a real shewolf...I know you've been holding back" I mumbled glancing over at him seductively. He smiled and looked away nervously.

"Eheh, I'll try to remember that for next time"