Stray Werewolf Life by Oridian

Stray Werewolf Life

Story by Oridian on SoFurryOctober 2023~89 min read

Oridian, Adventure, Boobjob, Breast Fondling, Compassion, Consensual, Cosy, Cosy fantasy, Cunnilingus, Fingering, Good boy, Handjob, Human, Kissing, Light fantasy, M/F, Male/Female, Mammary Intercourse, Music, Oral, Precum, Quadruped, Romance, Shower, Singing, TF, Tit Fuck, Tomfoolery, Transformation, Violin, Werewolf, Wet, Wolf, Worldbuilding, Young Love, Young Romance, adventuring, bath, good girl, shenanigans, soap

Here be werewolves!

Author note: __This story is a sequel to another story I wrote called Stray Werewolf. You don’t need to have read the first story to understand this one, though it was a good story, so nothing wrong with reading it first.

Synopsis: A recently-turned werewolf learns about what it means to be a werewolf, and it is nothing like what he ever imagined or expected.

Two werewolves approached the town of Ridgewood. Both were adults, though still relatively youthful by human standards, and certainly young compared to the average werewolf. Between the two, there was one key difference—experience. Teagan had been a werewolf all her life, and she was comfortable and familiar with that idea. Oliver was the opposite—a few weeks ago he had caught lycanthropy in a freak accident with an old, cursed book, and everything about this was new to him. As if to make up for the rotten luck by which he’d been turned into a werewolf, he’d met Teagan, and a quick friendship had formed between the two of them.

Because it wasn’t easy to be a werewolf. Yet like all things in life, it was better when you had a friend to figure things out with.

Oliver strolled down the road, walking at a modest pace. He carried Teagan’s violin case slung across his back, with her sleeping bag and tent packed neatly on top. He still wore his worn-out shirt and pants, but on top of that he also wore Teagan’s travel cloak. Teagan rather fancied the look of Oliver wearing her cloak—he looked better with some proper clothing, and her cloak fit him surprisingly well despite the slight difference in their heights. Also, him wearing her cloak made her scent cling to him which was pleasing in a mildly possessive way that she wouldn’t dare to admit.

Whereas Oliver was in human form, Tegan was in wolf form. She, by contrast, wore nothing, except for a loop of rope around her neck which had been taken from the tent as a makeshift leash. Oliver held the other end of the leash. “I sure hope this works,” he muttered anxiously.

On the other hand, Teagan was filled with a light, carefree energy. She pranced beside Oliver with a skip in her step, bouncing between her four legs, and sang happily. “We all want to know, where the breeze, it will blow! We all want to know, where the seas, they shall flow!” It wasn’t a proper howl, but her voice still carried a soulful, resonance as she sang. She rocked her body from side to side and gently tugged on the leash. “Come on, sing along. We all want to know, woah, woah, oh, oh…!”

Oliver had been nervously glancing around as they walked, but her song drew his attention. For a moment Teagan thought he was going to refuse, but then he sang the next line, “Uh… We all want to know, where together we shall go… Oh, ho.” The two of them hummed along for a bit longer, but Oliver stopped first. “How are you so cheerful?”

Teagan’s tail wagged. “It’s a beautiful day, and we’re going to have some fun. This is the most adventurous thing I’ve ever done. Aren’t you excited?”

Oliver shook his head. “I’m terrified! What if someone figures out what we’re doing?”

“They won’t. Werewolves are rare. Just act normal.”

“It isn’t normal for me to be coming into town with a wolf on a leash.” Oliver again surveyed their surroundings—they were approaching the town of Ridgewood, walking in through one of the lesser used roads. Traders and travellers usually preferred other routes into the town, so they were the only ones on this path. “The last few times I came to town, it was only in the middle of night as a wolf, to scavenge trash in shame because I was so hungry.”

Teagan hummed melodically. “Hmm, mmh. Just be calm. Everything will be fine!” Straightening up her stance, she walked closer to Oliver and tilted her head towards him. “Hey, pat my head. Please? And say the thing.”

That made Oliver chuckle. “Hah. You… fine. Good girl. But I can’t believe you talked me into doing this!” He patted Teagan on the head, then rubbed the side of her neck. While in wolf form, she came up to around his waist. Teagan’s tail wagged again, but Oliver stopped quicker than she preferred. “Ok, that’s enough. We’re coming up on the town. I have to treat you like a wild wolf.”

Teagan let out a huff, but she heeled beside Oliver as they entered Ridgewood. They had already been passing by buildings of increasing size and density as they moved through the outskirts, and now they passed through the large outer wall which surrounded the town proper. A sign that bore the town name adorned the wall, but otherwise this entranceway was unguarded and quiet.

Teagan wasn’t good with directions and would probably have gotten lost on her own, but Oliver knew the town and he steadily led them towards town centre. “Sorry this is taking so long,” he said to her, “but I’m using a roundabout course so we’re less likely to meet people.”

Teagan nodded, and she glanced curiously around at the streets. “No problem! This is nice. Oh, hey.” Raising a paw, she straightened her fluffy tail and did a pointing pose, gesturing with her nose towards a big rectangular building. “What is that place?”

“That’s Binsaw Printery. They print and distribute newspapers for the entire Greater Valley region.”

“Ah, interesting.” Raising her nose, Teagan sniffed, and she could smell the sharp scents of ink and freshly cut paper coming from the printing works. Ridgewood was only a small town, but there was a charming feel to the place. The buildings were aged but not worn down—they had been built many decades ago yet maintained by their inhabitants through constant care. Located at the mouth of the valley, traders and travellers frequently passed through this town on the way elsewhere.

Sniffing deeply again, Teagan picked up the rich scent of fried or baked food on the wind. “Something smells nice. Is that a restaurant?” Scampering ahead of Oliver, she went to check out the next building, which turned out to be a small café and diner. A scattering of local townspeople and passing traders from the nearby market square were seated inside, enjoying an early lunch.

Oliver tugged lightly on the leash, pulling against her neck. “Hey, don’t draw attention to us! Also, wolves aren’t supposed to talk,” he hissed. Teagan stopped talking, but she did stick her tongue out at him, which made him half smile, half scowl at her. Oliver glanced at the café, but he shook his head and walked onwards. “No, let’s get this all over with first, then we can get some food later. Living out in the forest has been rough. I could do with a good meal, and I’ve missed not being able to drink coffee these past few weeks.”

Desire for conversation made Teagan immediately disregard the fact that she was supposed to be pretending to be a wild animal. “I’ve never tried coffee before.”

“Never even tried it before? You’re missing out. Coffee is great, I love coffee. There are so many rich flavours, all sorts of different brews, and it keeps you alert and energized.”

Teagan shook her head. “Can’t drink coffee. It’s a werewolf restriction.”

Oliver frowned. “Wait, what? You mean we can’t drink coffee? That sucks.”

Teagan shrugged. “It’s a poison when you’re in wolf form. I’m used to drinking plain water.”

“Living the wild werewolf life…” Oliver muttered drily.

Teagan wagged her tail. “You know it!”

Together they strolled past shophouses, residences, small offices or factories, and all other sorts of buildings. Occasionally they passed by other pedestrians or a horse-drawn carriage rolling down a street. They drew more than a few curious but harmless stares. Finally they came to a medium-sized, humble-looking building covered in slightly faded white paint, which had signs declaring it was town hall.

The doors at the entranceway were propped open and welcoming, but Oliver stopped outside and Teagan halted right beside him. Oliver adjusted the straps for Teagan’s violin case, which he was carrying on his back. He took a deep breath. “Ok. Let me rehearse through my story. I’m here to claim the reward bounty for capturing the wolf that has been sighted scavenging in town. That wolf was actually me, but I can’t tell them that, so we’ll just pretend that it was you to claim the reward.”

Teagan bobbed her head. “Gold, yes, nice. Why is your town paying so much to hunt down a wolf anyway? Wolves aren’t so dangerous. It’s bears you want to be careful of.”

Oliver folded his arms and looked thoughtful. “Yes, yes. But how do I explain this? Because at no point can we let them know that either of us is a werewolf. So what’s my story for how I managed to capture the wild wolf?”

Teagan bumped her snout against Oliver’s leg. He was wearing long pants, but there was a small rip through which she could see his exposed skin. “Hehe. Tell them you just have a natural affinity to wolves…” she muttered.

Oliver shushed her, but not with any force. “Shh. Wolves don’t talk.” He glanced around nervously. “Ah, whatever. Let’s go.”

Stepping inside the town hall, they entered a lobby area with various chairs, and with doorways leading to elsewhere in the building. A middle-aged woman wearing thick round glasses was seated behind a desk covered with paperwork. Oliver briefly paused. “Hmm, that’s the mayor’s assistant, Juliee. I don’t think she would recognize me.”

Teagan nudged the back of Oliver’s knees encouragingly with her snout, and he stepped forward. The clerk, Juliee, glanced up from her writing as the two approached. “Yes, good morning. Can I help you? Oh, dearie me, no pets allowed in the town hall, please!”

“Good morning. No, this isn’t a pet. This is… uh…” Oliver cleared his throat. He gestured towards a notice board hung on one of the walls with various posters attached, several of which warned of wolf sightings near town. “I’m here to claim the reward regarding the… the wolf that has been spotted around town. I’ve captured the wolf. This is her. I mean it.”

“I can see that! I say, good job! It’s been a real fright these few weeks—I’ve been telling my daughter not to let the grandkids play outside cause there’s been a wild beast stalking around town! I’m glad to see that something’s been done.” Juliee nodded and pursed her lip. “Are you from around here?”

Oliver made a non-committal shrug. “Sort of. I grew up in the valley, but I’ve also lived in Ridgewood for some time and worked over at the archive… uh… yeah.”

The woman gave a warm smile. “Right then, good on you! You wait right there, please, and I’ll go fetch Captain Sid. He’s the captain of the guard. He’ll have the reward money for you. Twenty gold coins, was it? Just between you and me, I think you deserve more than that for doing the town a service. Have a seat, make yourself comfortable.” The woman stood up and strolled down the corridor deeper into the building. Oliver visibly relaxed when she was gone.

Teagan waited until the woman had turned around the corner, then she spoke quietly. “People here are much more friendly than in the city.”

Oliver smiled, but he put a finger to his lips. “Shhh.” He went to sit on one of the chairs beside the wall, and Teagan squeezed under the chair to sit between his legs. He idly stroked her head behind her ears, and Teagan’s tail wagged, thumping against the wall.

However, no more than half a minute later, Oliver jerked and abruptly leapt back to a stand. “Oh no. Oh no, no, no.”

Teagan also got up, and she tilted her head with confusion as a panicked expression crossed Oliver’s face. He paced around anxiously, briefly meeting her gaze, before he hurried towards the exit of the town hall. “We have to go. No, it’s too late!” Diverting to the side, Oliver sidestepped into a small adjacent meeting room which was empty except for a table surrounded by more chairs.

He had dropped the leash, and it dragged on the ground behind Teagan as she scampered after him into the meeting room. “Huh?”

Oliver pushed the door shut behind her, then he slid down against the wall, out of sight of the windows. “I’m sorry. I can’t do this,” he said with a grimace. Sitting down on the ground, he was at eye level with Teagan.

Teagan didn’t know what to say. “Oliver? What’s wrong? You were doing fine talking with that nice woman, don’t be nervous—”

“No, I mean I literally can’t! It’s… happening!” And then just like that, Oliver suddenly shifted back into wolf form. A lycanthrope transformation was something that could be controlled with enough practice and proficiency, but as a new werewolf, Oliver couldn’t voluntarily shift from one form to another. One moment he was human, then in the next moment he wasn’t. He was still wrapped up in his clothes and wearing Teagan’s cloak, as well as her violin case strapped to his back, but now he was a wolf—four legs and a tail, snout and pointy ears, covered in thick, greyish fur all over.

“Oh, I see. This complicates things!” Teagan reared up on her hindlegs to peek through the window leading back to the main room, but the lobby was still empty—the clerk hadn’t returned yet. “Right. Change of plans.”

Oliver had fallen to the ground. He straightened his forelimbs to push back up into a sitting position, shakily getting used to a quadrupedal stance. But Teagan moved faster—she shifted halfway, gaining a bipedal posture and some manual dexterity, while still maintaining wolf characteristics like her fur and muzzle, and then she pulled her violin case off Oliver’s back and placed it down on the floor. Twisting the latches, she flipped open the case and pulled out one of her dresses before throwing it over her head and patting it down over her fur-covered body.

Another push at that magic inside her, and Teagan shifted back to fully human. Her fur vanished away in a shimmer of magical energy, leaving bare skin, and her snout turned into a flat human face, lightly dotted with freckles. She tugged her boots out of her violin case and then pulled them onto her feet. No time for socks.

To his excellent credit, Oliver didn’t argue or object. Instead, he immediately recognized what she was doing and went along with it. He struggled out of the cloak and nosed it over to her so that she could pull it on over her dress. Teagan then helped him out of his boots, then his shirt, pants, and undergarments, which all didn’t fit a wolf at all, and had to be quickly stuffed back into her case—fortunately there was plenty of space inside her luggage, with one compartment for her musical instrument but also several compartments for other traveling things.

Teagan ran her fingers through her long, tawny hair to untangle it. No more being a wolf for her—she appeared as just a normal, regular young lady in a slightly wrinkled dress and a traveller’s cloak, with an excited smile. “Ok, you’re the wild wolf. I’m the hunter who captured you. No problem.”

Oliver glanced her over and nodded quickly. “The leash!”

“Got it.” The last thing to do was for Teagan to remove the rope loop from around her neck and then slip it over Oliver’s neck. In the span of seconds, with a quick efficiency that impressed them both, they had swapped. Oliver was now the wolf, and Teagan was now the human holding him by the leash.

Teagan was beaming with amusement as she opened the meeting room door and stepped back into the town hall’s lobby. The clerk still hadn’t returned yet. Teagan adjusted her cloak, and then she sat down on a chair again, putting her violin case down beside her. Try as she might, she couldn’t wipe the excited smile from her face. “Ahehe, this is great. This is the best.”

Oliver sat on the floor beside her chair. “This is madness. Wait, I could have just taken that… that special tea that you have, which can force a transform one way or the other? Why didn’t we do that instead?”

Now it was Teagan’s turn to pat him on the head. Oliver had nice soft fur. She grinned widely. “That tea is for real emergencies. And it’s too late to think of that now. This way is more fun anyway!”

Oliver nervously shifted his weight between his paws, and his fur puffed out from nervousness. “My life was much simpler before all this… this werewolf adventuring…!”

Teagan was still smiling. “Living the werewolf life!”

A few minutes later, there came the sound of booted footsteps approaching from outside, and then a pair of guardsmen entered the town hall. The two guards were wearing neat imperial uniforms, and short swords were sheathed at their belts, but they were carrying boxes filled with documents. Both guards stopped and stared at the sight of Teagan and her wolf.

“That’s a fine sight. Not something you see every day,” noted the first guard.

“Goodness me, that wolf is monstrously large!” exclaimed the other guard.

“The wolf, sure. But I meant the pretty young lady.”

“Hi there!” Teagan stood up and gave a friendly wave. She pointed towards the notice board and its Beware of Wolf posters. “I’m here to claim the reward. This is the fearsome wolf that has been scavenging in the town, terrorizing men, women, children, the elderly, and everyone.” She gestured dramatically at Oliver, who had gone completely stiff from nervous fear, with his head lowered, his hackles raised, and his fur all puffed out. In that regard, he much more accurately represented what an actual wild beast would have done if put into this scenario.

The second guard, who was huge and towered over Teagan, cowered back and looked scared of Oliver. He hesitantly made his way around the lobby, leaving as much distance between the wolf and himself as possible, until he could put down the document box on the desk. “That’s the beast? May the Emperor protect us, it’s much bigger than I thought it would be! Colwan told me he saw a tiny, skinny, starved wolf scavenging in a trash can—but that’s a monster!”

The first guard frowned. “It’s not that big, you coward.”

“It’s huge! Is that a dire wolf, there?”

The first guard snorted. “Bah! Certainly not. I’m sure it’s only a normal wolf.” He also went and put down the box of documents he was carrying. Then he adjusted the sword sheath strapped to his belt and squinted at Oliver. “I could take it in a fight. Gut it with my sword, cut it down easily… If the sergeant had given me leave from this week’s guard rotations, I could have hunted it down myself.”

The second guard rolled his eyes. “The fu—” he cut himself off and nodded apologetically to Teagan. “Pardon my language, miss.” He turned back to his colleague. “No way. Look at the size of those teeth! It would tear you apart!”

“I doubt that. Anyway, go tell the lieutenant about this. Either him or the captain can authorize a release of the reward funds.”

Teagan spoke up. “The woman at the desk went to get the captain already.”

The larger but more scared-looking guard nodded. “I’ll go check on that.” He backed out of the town hall and briskly walked away, though he occasionally glanced back at Oliver as if worried the wolf might somehow charge after him and attack. From how Oliver was frozen stiff beside Teagan’s side, the fear was clearly mutual.

Meanwhile, the other guard looked over Teagan with mild suspicion. “How did you catch the wolf? Are you a trapper? You don’t look like much of a hunter.” His tone was interrogative and demanding.

Sitting back down on the chair, Teagan smiled cooly. “I have my ways.”

The guard let out a dismissive snort. He stepped closer and extended a hand towards the wolf. Oliver inched back from the raised hand and his lips pulled back slightly, revealing his teeth, but the guard didn’t seem to care. “Hmm, now are you sure that’s even a wild wolf? It looks so tame. Perhaps it is just a dirty, mangy, feral dog. Look at this thing—no aggression at all. Pathetic!” He looked at Teagan. “I don’t believe someone like you could catch the wolf that has been bothering the town.”

Teagan kept her calm. “Well, I did. As you can see.”

The guard leered at Teagan. He reached towards her. “You go hunting through the forest in that dress? If this creature were a real wolf, I doubt a pretty, soft thing like you could manage to hunt it down alone.”

“Grrr!” Oliver growled loudly, and he snapped his teeth towards the guard’s outstretched hand.

The guard snatched his hand back. “You dumb beast—!”

Oliver’s response was bite at the guard’s legs, forcing him to step backwards, and causing him to trip up and fall onto his rear. Before he could get up, Oliver lunged forward again, and the guardsman hurriedly scooted backwards away from the bite, sliding on his rear.

Teagan yanked on the leash, holding Oliver back. “Hey! Behave!” Whether in human or wolf form, Oliver outweighed her and he could have dragged her forward if he wanted to. But despite how it appeared, he wasn’t really pulling hard at the leash, just enough to keep it taut.

With a fierce, threatening glare, Oliver kept growling at the guard. “Grrrr….!”

Teagan used her foot to nudge the wolf. “Shut up! Sit down.”

Oliver went silent, and he obediently sat back on his hindlegs. But he kept glaring, and he kept his teeth bared.

“Don’t attack unless I tell you too!” Teagan ordered. She turned back to the guard and put on her harmless, friendly smile again. “Sorry about that. You made him upset.” She offered her hand down to the fallen man.

The guard ignored Teagan’s hand and scrambled back up to his feet. He no longer looked doubtful. “Right. That wolf caught me by surprise, that’s all. I’m… I’m going to go see what’s taking the captain so long. You wait right here.”

Teagan waited until the guard had also left the town hall’s lobby, then she dropped to one knee and rubbed Oliver’s neck where the leash was tied. He noticeably relaxed when the guard was gone. “You are such bad boy, aren’t you? So naughty with scaring that guard—he definitely believes you’re a wild wolf now. Hehehe. Well done.”

Oliver looked a little embarrassed, with his ears flat against his head. “Sorry about the fuss. But I didn’t like the way he was looking at you, or the tone he used.”

“He was a little threatening, yes,” Teagan admitted. She hugged Oliver around the neck. “But how fortunate that I’ve got a big, strong wolf to protect me. Heh. You could have just barked to scare him off, though. You know you can’t bite someone—don’t risk spreading lycanthropy. That’s against imperial law.”

“Right. We have to comply with the law, while we try to cheat the town guard out of a reward…” Oliver muttered sarcastically.

Teagan winked at him. “It’s not cheating. You are the wolf that the town has been so fearful about and I’ve solved their wolf problem! It’s the truth, just not the whole truth. But you really mustn’t spread lycanthropy.”

“Noted. I wouldn’t have bit that guard anyways, I just wanted to scare him. It seemed more realistic to threaten to bite, rather than barking like a dog?” Oliver said.

“That’s true. A wolf would probably just bite. But wolves also don’t talk. You don’t need to act perfectly like a real wolf, only good enough to convince them.”

“Wolves don’t talk—this is a good point,” Oliver replied. “Woof.”

Teagan laughed. “Good wolfy boy. I hope I didn’t hurt you tugging on the leash? Sorry.”

“Woof,” Oliver insisted.

“The guards won’t be back for a few minutes at least. It’s safe to talk if you want to.”

Oliver looked around the lobby, watching the entranceway especially. “Woof,” he repeated clearly, and his tail wagged. It was a sharp contrast to see the intelligence in his gaze, but then to have him refuse to speak.

“Fine. I’m assuming that means you’re good then. Or maybe you just like it went I tug on your leash?” Teagan said with another grin. For emphasis, she tugged the rope and pulled Oliver closer to her, which made his eyes widen, but his tail wagged again. “Good boy!” She patted Oliver on the head, and he licked at her hand.

A few minutes later, a small crowd came to the town hall—leading the way was the mayor’s assistant, Juliee, as well as a man in a guard uniform that had a more elaborate captain’s rank on the shoulder epaulettes, who was middle-aged but muscled and walking confidently. Trailing behind them was a miscellaneous collection of guards, merchant traders, and various townspeople who had come to see the proceedings. Gasps and murmurs came on the sight of the wolf standing beside Teagan.

“Ah, yes. The wolf and the gentlemen over there in the nice red cloak.” Juliee walked over to the two werewolves and spoke to Teagan. “So sorry about the wait. This here is Captain Sid, he’s the one in charge of the town guard. And I must apologize, but I didn’t get your name earlier, young man…” But then her voice trailed off, because Teagan obviously wasn’t a young man. Juliee lifted her glasses and squinted at Teagan. “Oh, uh, young lady? But I thought… Perhaps I need to get new glasses.”

“Don’t worry about it. Hi, I’m Teagan. Nice to meet you.” Putting on a wide, friendly smile, Teagan stepped forward and extended a hand. She shook hands with Sid, then with Juliee, then a few of the other townspeople who made quick introductions.

The guard captain took hold of the conversation. He had a commanding, baritone voice. “Pleased to meet you too. I’m Captain Sid Flecher, commander of the guard in Ridgewood. I see you’ve captured the wolf that has been threatening the town.”

“Yup. Here he is!” Teagan pulled on the leash, and Oliver reluctantly came forward—he had been half hiding behind Teagan’s legs, staring nervously at the small crowd. Though he was clearly anxious, he made many of the townspeople even more anxious as he approached, and some of them backed away.

“Oh, look at that creature.” The captain crouched down to peer at Oliver, though he didn’t do anything foolish like trying to pet him. “What a sight. What an animal—the size of it. And you captured it alive. Uninjured, even.” Standing back up, her nodded at Teagan. “How did you manage this feat? You must be a beastmaster?” Raising an eyebrow, he nodded at the violin case that Teagan was carrying on her back. “Or a bard mage? No offence, ma’am, but a young lady like you doesn’t strike me as a regular hunter or trapper.”

Teagan put on a mysterious smile. “I have a special affinity with wolves.” She lazily patted Oliver’s head and scratched under his chin.

Captain Sid nodded. “Ah, you are a beastmaster then. You don’t even need a muzzle for the wolf, let alone a cage? Certainly you know how control a beast. I commend your skill.” Reaching for his belt, he took out a pouch of large gold coins and carefully counted out twenty onto the nearby table. The mayor’s assistant, Juliee, helped to put the coins into another empty pouch. “And that’s the reward—as announced, twenty gold pieces. On behalf of everyone in Ridgewood, thank you for your service. The town is safer now that you’ve captured that creature.”

The captain took the pouch of twenty coins and extended it towards Teagan, and she took it with a gracious nod. Some of the other townspeople applauded. “Well done!” “Good job there with that animal!” “Fine work!”

Teagan took the coins with a gracious bow of her head and pocketed them in her cloak, but now Sid was looking curiously at Oliver again. “That beast truly is large. It’s magnificent. I had been thinking what to do when someone finally managed to kill it. We could have stuffed it and made it a display for the town archive. Or McMillan…” he gestured at one of the townspeople, “…wanted to have its head mounted in his tavern.”

Oliver slid behind Teagan’s legs again.

“But since you’ve captured it alive and uninjured, that seems like a waste.” The captain looked thoughtful. “We have some patrol dogs in the town guard. If we could break that wolf and make it obey, it could be a valuable asset. How much would you trade it for?”

Still holding onto Oliver’s leash, Teagan folded her arms. “He’s mine. He’s not for sale.”

The captain glanced at Teagan, then back at Oliver with intense look, almost like admiration. “Even if the beast is too wild to be properly tamed, we could use it as a stud with some of the dogs. Breed a pinch of wildness back into the bloodlines. That creature has such a sharp, intelligent gaze. What about another twenty gold pieces? That’s a fair price.”

“Twenty more gold pieces? That’s a lot of coin. Hmm!” Teagan bent down and smirked at Oliver, making a slight waggle of her eyebrows. Of course he couldn’t say anything in return, surrounded by so many people, but his silent gaze said, “Don’t you dare!”

Teagan stood up again and shook her head. “No thank you. I’m glad to have helped you catch this stray wolf, but he’s mine. Thanks again. Goodbye now.” With a quick bow of her head, she turned and headed for the open doors of the town hall. Oliver was clearly relieved to be going, and he scampered forward with his head low, pulling against the leash and making her walk slightly faster. The small crowd parted readily as they approached, clearing space to let them go.

Out the building, down the street, and then away. Oliver led the way as he had before, though this time in wolf form. They turned down various streets and kept going, leaving behind the crowd and anyone who might have been watching them, until the pair ended up alone in an empty street corner.

Oliver glanced around to make sure they were truly alone, then he let out a long sigh. “Grrrrahhh, that was stressful.”

Teagan laughed. “Hehe. Really? I thought it was fun.”

Oliver shook his head. His tail wagged from excited agitation. “Stressful!! And you were going to sell me? You were thinking about it!”

That made Teagan laugh even harder. “Hahah! I was thinking I could take their money and hand you over, then you could just break out later on. You’re no mere wolf. And neither am I.” Crouching down, she rubbed the side of Oliver’s neck. “But I don’t think you would make a good guard dog. Hah, maybe a good stud though.”

“You’d know about that, wouldn’t you?” Oliver muttered. “Now can we get out of here?”

A young lady with a large wolf walking alongside couldn’t help but draw plenty of curious gazes as they went through the town. However when they entered the inn, the receptionist at the front desk was entirely indifferent to the sight—his facial expression was fixed as a warm smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, simultaneously conveying ingrained corporate friendliness and utter boredom. “Good morning. Welcome to Imperial Hotel Ridgewood. How may I be of assistance?”

Teagan smiled politely back. “Good morning. I’d like to rent a room for one night, please.”

Leaning forward over the desk, the receptionist peered down at Oliver. “We do have available vacancy. However, please note that we enforce a strict policy on pets. There will be an additional pet fee incurred, as you can see here.” He gestured at a board on the wall, where there were lists of prices for several types of inn rooms, along with additional services or fees.

Teagan’s smile faded slightly as she read the numbers. “But that… pet fee, that’s almost double the price?”

The receptionist was unsympathetic. “Yes, that’s correct. And you’ll also need to put down a deposit that will be forfeit if your pet causes any damage to the room or its furnishings. This is standard policy. I’m sure you understand.”

Teagan glanced down at Oliver. He looked back up at her with his dark expressive eyes, but didn’t say anything. Teagan had to give it to him—he was putting on a very convincing act of being just a normal wolf or dog. “What about if I booked a room for two people? Is there any fee for that?”

“Our smallest rooms already come with either two beds, or a double-sized bed. It’s the same price to book a room, whether it’s one person or two. But if you want a pet, that’ll be the extra fee,” explained the receptionist.

“I see. Thank you.” Turning around, Teagan headed out of the inn and stepped back onto the road. Oliver trotted along beside her, keeping plenty of slack in the leash as he stuck by her side. Both werewolves walked down the road and then turned into the alleyway right beside the hotel. “Double the price to bring a pet into an inn room!” Teagan muttered irately.

Oliver glanced all around, making sure that the alley was deserted except for them. There were no windows facing this way from either of the two adjacent buildings, and the doorways to the alley were all closed. Finally he spoke up. “Is that normal? Do inns usually charge fees like that?”

“I don’t know. I don’t own a pet,” Teagan replied.

Oliver looked up at her. “But you’re experienced with being a werewolf. And you’ve gone travelling around the country?”

“Yes, but when I stay at inns, or hotels, or even dormitories, I present myself as human not as a wolf. I don’t know anything about pet fees.” Teagan ruffled Oliver’s fur behind his ears affectionately. “I’ve never travelled with other werewolves except my parents. And they were really strict about always sticking to human form, and never being a wolf unless we were far out in the countryside. It’s fun to figure things out with you.”

“Sure. But what are we going to do? We could just use your tent and set up camp in the forest outside town again?”

Teagan dismissed this idea. “No way! I want a hot shower and a soft bed tonight. Normally when I travel on my own, I stay in a dormitory because that’s the cheapest. But since you’re not in control of your shifts, I think an inn room with some privacy is safer—with a dormitory, someone else could notice you turning back and forth. I guess we… could just pay the pet fee for this inn? Maybe we could negotiate it down a little, if you act like you’re a very well-trained pet for the receptionist.”

“I’m not going to bite furniture. Or pee on things. Hah.” Oliver let out a bark of laughter.

Teagan laughed too, but then she sighed. “Double the price for one person and a pet, compared to a room for two humans though. Double!”

Oliver nodded towards the pocket of her cloak. “We could afford it, after getting the reward from the town guard. They gave you a lot of gold for capturing me.”

“I sure did capture you, didn’t I?” Teagan grinned, but then she winced. “But it’s the principle. I don’t feel like it’s worth to be paying more for nothing. Now if only you could control your shifts. If you could transform back to human, then we’d avoid having to pay any pet fees when booking an inn room.”

Oliver shook his head. “But I can’t. I’m a wolf until… until I’m not.”

“Just practice and you’ll get the hang of it sooner or later,” Teagan said. She contemplated their options for a while, then another thought occurred to her. “Hmm, it feels weird for me to be to talking down to you like this, don’t you think?”

“I don’t mind,” Oliver told her.

Nevertheless, Teagan squatted down to bring her head level with Oliver’s as he stood on all fours. “Is this better?”

Oliver nervously glanced over to the alleyway’s entrance, but none of the pedestrians or the horse drawn carts rolling by on the main street gave them any attention. He still looked uneasy. “I thought you said not to let people know that we’re werewolves! Shouldn’t you act normal? Doesn’t it look suspicious if you’re crouching down next to me and we’re talking?”

Teagan grinned. “Not at all. I think it’s perfectly normal for a pet owner to crouch down and give some pats to their good boy, and also tell him what a good boy he is! Hehe. I find it weirdly fun to treat you like my pet.”

Oliver frowned at her, but his tail still wagged when she patted him on the head again. “Teagan…”

“Relax! Yes we’re not supposed to let people know that we’re werewolves, but you don’t need to be so paranoid about it! It’s not illegal to be a werewolf, just socially unacceptable.”

Oliver didn’t look relaxed or reassured. “We can still be run out of town by an angry mob. Maybe where you’re from, in the city, people understand werewolves more. But here, people treat werewolves like… like they’re demons or monsters. Like we’re demons or monsters.”

“Fine, fine. No one’s looking, right?” Standing up, Teagan let the power within her flow. Transformative change rolled over her body in an instant, and she turned into a wolf just like Oliver. With the last bit of dexterity in her hands, she tugged at straps placed at various points on her cloak, making it tighten and loosen in just the right way to fit her in four-legged form. She hopped out of her boots, flicked her fluffy tail to get it past the hem of her dress, that sat down next to Oliver with a playful wink. “See? Now anyone who looks into the alley will just see two dogs sitting together. Perfectly normal! Nothing suspicious.”

Oliver rolled his eyes. “Except that one dog is wearing a dress and a cloak, and also a violin case strapped to her back. And the two dogs are talking to each other. And they both are huge and look like wolves, not actual stray dogs. Yes, this is not at all a normal sight for the town.”

Teagan laughed again. “Haha, that’s true. But… oh, I’ve had an idea.”

“An idea about how to get an inn room without paying extra fees?”

“No. It’s not a useful idea like that. It’s a bad idea. I shouldn’t say it aloud, because you’ll judge me.”

Oliver threw an intrigued look at her. “You can’t say that and then leave me to be curious. Go on, say it.”

Teagan used a paw to gesture to the clothes she was wearing. “You were just saying that animals don’t wear clothes?”

“Yes…?”

“Well, I could take off my clothes and be as naked as you are right now, and then we’d both look like wild animals. And animals do animal things. You know. Things. Things that we did last night.” Teagan glanced away in embarrassment, but then forced the words out. “We really could do that. Oh my. You could mount me right here in this alley, and anyone who saw us would think we were just stray dogs mating each other. No one would know we were werewolves. Oh.”

Oliver was speechless for a few seconds. “Teagan! What a perverse, exhibitionistic idea you’ve just had,” he finally said. But both the young werewolves looked at each other, and they both knew they were thinking about it. “We could actually do that. Goodness.”

“Yeah.” Teagan kept thinking about it. For a long while now, she had wondered what it would be like to have sex while in wolf form, with another werewolf in wolf form. Now with Oliver, she had finally gotten to experience that. But she had never considered how social conventions might be different in this specific way—two humans having sex in public would be obscene and indecent, but if it was two stray dogs who looked a little like wolves, then that was just dumb beasts acting on instinct. Anyone who saw them wouldn’t know what was really going on.

“It’s a crazy idea,” Oliver muttered. “Definitely counts as a crazy werewolf adventure. If you told me just a month ago that this is what my life would become, I’d never have believed it.”

“So… I guess you don’t want to do that?” Teagan asked hesitantly.

“I didn’t say that. I’m open to the idea. If you’d like.” Then he leaned over and licked the side of Teagan’s snout, which made her ears perk up and caused her fur to puff out. Slowly she moved her paw towards the front of her cloak where the zipper was, but Oliver reached out and stopped her. “Not here though. Not now. Let’s get the accommodations settled first.”

Teagan swallowed. “Ahem. Mmhm. Yes. Right.” After another quick glance around to make sure that the alley was completely deserted but for them, she shifted back to human form and then readjusted her cloak to fit as she stood up on two legs again. She slipped her boots back on quickly. “So… what should we do for lodging? Let’s make a decision.”

“I really wish I could control my transformations.” Oliver sighed. “Can I just force it back? Force myself back into human?”

Teagan thought about it. “That’s one option. But it won’t be fun for you. We do have the gold so we could just afford to pay the inn’s pet fee.”

Oliver shook his head. “No need! I’ll turn back to human and we’ll save the money.”

“Fine, if you’re sure about that. Decision made!” Teagan put down her violin case against the alley wall, at a spot where the ground was dry and relatively clean. “Wait here and watch my bag. I’ll be back in a moment.” With one last pat to Oliver’s head, she walked out of the alley and back out onto the street, then headed for a nearby café.

Teagan returned a couple of minutes later, carrying two paper cups. Oliver had been sitting quietly in the alleyway, but he stood back up as she approached. Bending down, Teagan put one of the cups down in front of him and removed the lid. “Here you go.”

Oliver took a sniff at the beverage, and his ears twitched. “Oh, coffee! I thought you were getting hot water for that special tea of yours?”

“Coffee has the same effect as tea. It will force your body back to human once you drink it.”

“Good, good. That’s just what we need!” Oliver sniffed deeply of the coffee. “What a scent, a really rich roast. I know it’s just my wolf nose being more sensitive than human, but that smells lovely.”

“You might think differently after you’ve drunk it,” Teagan replied.

“Oh. Is a wolf tongue better at tasting than a human tongue? I’ve only been eating scraps these few weeks, which haven’t tasted very good.”

Teagan thought about the question. “As a wolf, your sense of taste is a little weaker, but your sense of smell is so much stronger that food usually tastes better anyway. But that wasn’t what I meant. A forced transformation can be uncomfortable.”

“Let’s do it.” Oliver stuck out his tongue and experimentally lapped at the coffee cup. “Mhm. Not as bitter as I expected. Did they add milk?” He kept lapping at the hot liquid. “Pretty good. I do like a good strong, flavourful coffee.” He managed to consume around a quarter of the drink before he started to retch, knocking over the cup and spilling the coffee across the ground. “Urrgh. I’m going to be sick.”

“Yeah, be prepared.” Teagan went over and opened her violin case, and then she took out the clothes that Oliver had been wearing when she’d first met him in the woods—a slightly tattered traveller’s cloak, a set of shirt and pants, some underwear and socks, and finally a good pair of boots. All the clothing was reasonable well-made but dirty, and his cloak looked particularly tattered. She laid them out even as Oliver shuddered.

Shudders ran through his body, and simultaneously he transformed back to human while also vomiting up the few gulps of coffee he’d drunk. It looked like an extremely uncomfortable experience, and it certainly sounded unpleasant from the way he groaned. “Uhhk! Hrrgh. Ohhh…” In seconds, a lean, fully nude young man replaced a wolf.

Oliver lay on his hands and knees, crouched in a dirty alleyway, naked except for the leash around his neck—Teagan politely averted her eyes, and she moved to try and block any view of Oliver from the alley’s entranceway. Oliver stumbled forward on all fours and grabbed his cloak to quickly wrap it around his body, but then he bent over and dry heaved a few more times before slumping against the alley wall and sliding down to the ground. At least he managed to avoid either the spilled coffee or his own vomit. Lying on the ground, he curled up on his side, hugging his arms around his stomach. “Arrgh…”

“Are you alright?” Teagan offered the second cup, which contained only water. “Here. Drink this. Rehydrate.”

Oliver shakily sat up and took the offered cup. “Thank you. That was… that was so much worse than the first time yesterday, when I drank your tea which forced me from human to wolf. Was it something about the coffee?”

Teagan patted Oliver on the head—but that was a little weird, now that he was human instead of wolf—so she patted him consolingly on the shoulder instead. “It’s the lunar cycle. We’re getting closer and closer to full moon, so your body wants to take wolf form and forcing against that is rougher.”

Oliver drank the water, swallowing it all down slowly until the cup was empty. “Is it… is it harder for you too?”

“Oh no. It’s not bad at all if you can control it.” Teagan pushed at the magical power within her, and she transformed her hand into a wolf paw, even as it still rested on Oliver’s shoulder. Then with a wave she reversed that change and took a step back. “See, this is why forcing a transformation is considered a bad habit. You have to learn control. It’s like the difference between being able to sit down carefully whenever you want, compared to tripping and falling.”

“Right. Lesson learned.” Throwing the cup into a nearby trash bin, Oliver stood up and grabbed the rest of his clothes, but he hesitated before removing the cloak that was loosely wrapped around his body. “Look away for a moment, would you?”

“Sure.” Teagan turned around, but then she chuckled. “Does it matter though? Why do you care if I see you naked? I’ve had you in my hands, my mouth, and let you stick it deep in my—”

“Quite different,” Oliver insisted, interrupting her. “I was a wolf when we did all that. You were a wolf too for most of it.”

“That’s true.” Teagan was tempted to glance over her shoulder as she heard Oliver pulling up his pants, but she restrained her curiosity. “You’ve seen me without my clothes, though. I haven’t seen you naked.”

“If you want a look, sure, but it can wait till we’re not in a dirty alleyway. How about we get that inn room first?” Oliver countered. He strolled forward, now wearing all his clothes, and then he picked up Teagan’s violin case from the ground. “Here, let’s go. I can carry this for you?”

“Yes please.” Teagan smiled. She pointed at Oliver’s neck. “One more thing—you’re still wearing the leash.”

“Oh. I forgot.” Using one hand, Oliver tugged the leash loose and lifted it over his head.

Teagan took the rope from him, but then she never let go of his hand, and kept holding onto it as they headed out of the alley. “Onwards!”

“Werewolf life,” Oliver muttered, with a faint smile.

There had been a change of shift, so the inn’s front desk was being staffed by a different receptionist than before—this was fortunate, because otherwise Teagan might have had to explain why her wolf pet was gone and she’d instead acquired an apparently human travel companion.

The inn was a three-story building, and the room they got was on the highest floor. Teagan was panting by the time they’d got to the top of the stairs. Instead of going down the corridor immediately, she stopped and leaned against the wall. “Whew. Hooh… stairs…”

Oliver laughed, but he also took a moment to catch his breath. He was still carrying Teagan’s violin case on his back, along with her tent and sleeping bag. “We could have taken the elevator.”

“No, no. Exercise is… is good for health. Keeps the body fit. Or so I’ve been assured. My father always says that there’s no point living to two hundred years old if you’re too out of shape to enjoy life.” Teagan shook her head. “Yeah, next time we’re taking the elevator though.”

“Fine by me,” Oliver agreed. The two of them headed down the corridor until they found their room, which turned out to be the last door at the end of the corridor. “Over here.”

“Excellent.” Holding up the key, Tegan checked that the key tag matched the room number, and then she unlocked the door and pushed it open. The room was a modest size, but it was neat and tidy with a single large bed, and a small balcony that overlooked the rest of the town and the wider valley. “Ah, civilization. A clean, warm room. A beautiful view out a window. Tidy sheets. How I have missed such comforts!”

Oliver pushed the door shut behind him. He put down the baggage. “Have you been doing a lot of camping on your trip?”

“Well, no,” Teagan admitted. “It’s been a week since I left Tiwani, and I’ve been staying in hostels or dormitories most nights. The only time I used my camping gear was last night, and I think you know how that went. That was the most fun night I’ve had in… in quite a while.”

“It was fun,” Oliver agreed. He threw her a curious look. “But it’s been a week since you left Tiwani? And you’re only halfway to the capital. Isn’t there an express train between Tiwani and Kadrin City that would get you there much faster? I’ve read that the most modern clockwork mechanisms are very speedy.”

“I’m not rushing to get to Kadrin. I’m on an adventure. A journey! It’s a great big world, and I’m happy to explore it one small town at a time. You find all sorts of interesting things when you go exploring—like say, a newly turned werewolf who needs help figuring out his new lifestyle?”

“Valid point.”

“Indeed!” Teagan kicked off her boots, then hopped backwards onto the bed and sprawled out across the bedspread. “Ahh, that’s soft. Much better than a sleeping bag.” Raising her head, she glanced at Oliver. “They gave us a room with one bed to share. Do we look that much like a couple?”

“You were holding my hand,” Oliver pointed out.

Teagan waved vaguely in his direction. “You were holding my hand too, so it’s equally your fault. Not that I mind. Unless you snore. Do you snore? You weren’t snoring last night, but that was when you were a wolf. I don’t know if it’s different when you’re a human. We’ll find out. But if you do snore, I will leave you to sleep alone on the bed and go curl up on the sofa instead.” She waved her arms and legs, rubbing them against the soft bedsheet. “Come to think of it, do I snore? I’ve never shared a bed with someone before. I’ve slept in the same room with friends plenty of times, but never the same bed.”

Oliver laughed. “You didn’t snore last night. In fact, last night I think I slept more deeply that I have in a whole month.”

“That was a good damn night.” Teagan smiled faintly. “Maybe tonight will be a good night too. We’re just friends, who are both werewolves, who’ll share the same bed and maybe do things on it. Or maybe not. We’ll see. It depends on what you want, and what I want. We’ll see what happens.”

Oliver was smiling. He had a nice smile. “You have such a… casual confidence about you,” he noted.

Teagan sat up. “Is that a good thing?”

“I think so! I mean, I like it. You just know who you are and you’re comfortable about that.” Oliver folded his arms and shrugged. “Sometimes it hits me that I’m a werewolf now, and I… I don’t know what to think. My whole life has changed. My body turns into an animal randomly and I can’t control it. For my mind, I feel like my personality hasn’t changed, yet surely I’m not still the same person I was before all this. But you? You’re so authentic, so human even when you’re not human. You’re a werewolf and you own it.” Oliver looked self-conscious. “I admire that.”

Teagan smiled too. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I just pretend to be confident and hope for the best. But that’s life! You can’t cure lycanthropy, but it’s not something that needs to be cured. Take things one day at a time. Werewolf life—awhoo.” She threw both hands in the air, and pretended to howl—but not too loud, because she wasn’t sure if the neighbouring rooms would hear. It still made Oliver laugh, and the moment felt warm and happy.

Teagan lowered her arms. “So now what? How about we get lunch? I’m hungry. Are you hungry?”

“I’m very hungry,” Oliver agreed. “Let me take a shower first though. I need to clean up.”

“Fine. I’ll just… I’ll wait.”

Oliver vanished off into the bathroom and shut the door, and soon came the sound of running water. Meanwhile Teagan laid back on the bed and stared at the ceiling, lazily kicking her heels against the bedframe. She hummed softly to herself, but inactivity didn’t suit her, and a minute later she sat up and hopped off the bed.

The carpeted floor felt soft against her bare feet as she shuffled across the room and went to her violin case. Teagan carefully took out her violin and her bow, and she examined them—the music instrument was simple but functional, nothing really special, yet every bit of wood felt deeply familiar to her fingers. Lifting it up to her shoulder, Teagan began to play. She started with simple, singular musical notes sweeping back and forth, before moving into a more complex series of scales, rising and descending smoothly. Then once she was warmed up, she took out a musical sheet and began playing a proper song.

Oliver had previously asked her why she had a violin—was it some special violin, with strings that played a pitch that only werewolves could hear? But no. As she had told him, the answer was simple—she liked to play music, she liked to listen to music, and that was all of it. Lycanthropy was a big part of who she was, but it didn’t define her in all ways.

Teagan felt the music flow through her with its layered patterns and rich harmonics, as her arms and fingers turned movements into melody. She played through the song, making a few minor mistakes where the notes didn’t come out quite how the notation said they should—Teagan paused at the end of the song to take a deep breath, then she played it again, and this time it was perfect.

She completed a quick practice routine, but even when she was done, Oliver still hadn’t emerged from the shower. Teagan felt a tinge of impatience, but then Oliver had been living in the wilderness for a few weeks, so he surely had a lot of cleaning and grooming to do.

Carefully she returned her violin to its case, then resumed looking around. Teagan paced around the room, then she opened the balcony doors and walked out onto the ledge. They were on the highest floor of the inn, and there was a scenic view over the surrounding buildings and to the rest of the small town. It was even possible to see out to the rest of the valley, which had rolling grassy meadows surrounded by hills and even mountains capped by snow. Windmills were dotted across the tops of the hills, with their tops spinning merrily, cloth sails turned to catch the wind.

The fresh air was cool and pleasant, but Teagan felt restless. Being hungry made it easy to be impatient. She went back into the inn room and stepped away from the balcony, and then she channelled her lycanthropy and shifted to wolf form. Dropping down to all fours, Teagan adjusted her cloak and dress so that they fit her quadrupedal stance, and then she went around the room to sniff at things.

With nose low, sniff, sniff, sniff. Wood, fabric, paper, paint, metal—most things had a scent to them, and a wolf’s nose was vastly more capable of discerning all those subtle differences. Pleasantly enough, the inn room seemed very clean and there weren’t any suspicious scents coming from under the bed or behind the furniture. Teagan walked around the room and sniffed at everything, but her attention was quickly drawn to a shelf up on one wall.

The enticing scent of something sweet was emanating from a glass jar placed on the shelf. Even better, Teagan spotted a card that read, “Complimentary, please enjoy this honey caramel candy, made locally in the valley. Thank you for staying at Imperial Hotel Ridgewood.”

“Oh, yes. Food!” In her excitement, Teagan acted too fast. It was a basic mistake—and given that she’d been a werewolf all her life, one for which she had no excuse for, other than impatience. What she should have done was to turn back to human, stand up, and grab the jar. Instead, she remained as a wolf and reared up on hindlegs, then stretched out her paw for the jar of candy. But the glass jar was heavier than it looked and more slippery than she’d expected, so it slid out of her clumsy grip and rolled off the ledge, before crashing right onto her head.

“Oww!” Teagan let out a pained, shocked yelp. The glass jar was solid enough not to shatter, but its heavy weight made for a hard hit against her skull. Stars briefly flashed in her vision, and the sudden impact knocked her down to the ground. The jar’s lid flipped open, and lumps of gooey candy poured all over her and stuck into her fur, also spilling out onto the ground as the jar landed with a noisy clunk. It bounced off the carpet and clattered across the tiles near the room door.

“What’s all that noise? Teagan?” Distantly she heard Oliver saying something from the bathroom, but his voice was muffled by the bathroom door and she wasn’t listening anyway.

Wincing, Teagan grit her teeth for a few seconds until that bright flare of pain faded down to a manageable soreness. “Ow, ow, ow…”

When she blinked her eyes open, she found that Oliver was out of the bathroom and crouching down beside her, giving a concerned expression. His hair was dripping wet, and he had a large bath towel wrapped around his midriff. He cautiously reached his hand towards her head. “Are you alright?! What happened?”

“Hhngg…” Teagan made a sad whimper—not entirely from the pain, but also from shame. She dipped her head, avoiding eye contact while her ears went flat. “Disaster!” she whined softly.

“What? What’s going on? Why are you a wolf?”

“Because I wanted to sniff at things! Don’t judge me! I was looking around the room and I found a jar of candy, but it was on a shelf and I dropped it onto my head.” Touching the spot on her head where the jar had hit made her wince again—was it only a bruise, or had the metal rim of the lid given her a cut? “Curiosity kills the cat! Or in this case, curiosity gets the wolf a head injury. Ow. I’m so stupid.”

“You’re bleeding. We need to find something to bandage—”

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” Teagan insisted immediately. “Sorry to bother you. I’m so sorry. I… you can go back to your shower. I’ll fix this.” Taking a deep breath, she called forth the magic that ran deep through her body and shifted her form. Teagan turned back to human, letting the transformative magic do its work—but the wound on the top of her head still stung when she touched it with her hand, so she shifted again in quick succession, turning back to wolf. That was enough. Her head still felt a little sore, but her skin and fur were fixed now. “Augh. Woah, ok. I’m fixed.”

“Wait, you can do that? You can transform and that heals you?” Oliver asked, sounding amazed.

“Yes. When you change your body form, injuries tend to get healed. Transformative magic is regenerative.” As a wolf again, Teagan pushed herself into a standing position and glanced back over her body. She was still wearing her cloak and dress, tightened to fit around her four-legged form, but there was gooey brown candy stuck all over the fur of her head and neck. It smelled sweetly of honey and caramel. Some of the candy had also spilled out onto the floor, leaving the jar half-emptied as it lay on the ground. “Euugh, it’s all in my fur.” Teagan pawed at the candy to try and get it off her head.

“So you’re fine? Did the bleeding stop?”

Teagan glanced up, and she finally looked at Oliver properly. He was mostly nude, with just a bath towel wrapped around his lower half. It loosely covered his groin and his legs, but this still left him naked enough to thoroughly distract her.

After accidentally catching lycanthropy and becoming a werewolf, Oliver had spent a few weeks living out in the wilderness with only the occasional scavenging trip through the town’s trash bins for food. That experience had left him a little lean, yet not to the extent of becoming properly skinny. He wasn’t buff like some bodybuilder or athlete, or too thin like someone malnourished, but instead just normal—a thoroughly normal human being—young, healthy, modestly muscled, tall, male, and covered only by a bath towel.

Teagan stopped picking at the candy stuck in her fur to stare. She stared at Oliver’s exposed arms, his exposed legs, and then his exposed chest, which didn’t have fur but did have some hair. “Oh. Heyyy,” she muttered, dragging the word out.

With a concerned expression, Oliver bent over and peered closely at her. His wet hair stood out from his head at different angles, and water dripped down his body. “Tell me if this hurts. There’s still blood here.” His hand gently brushed against her head and neck, his fingers damp but firm.

“It’s from the cut earlier. Transforming can fix injuries, but it doesn’t clean blood or dirt. Or candy. I’m… ooh… yes. Hnnngg…” Teagan’s voice trailed off into happy whine as Oliver’s fingers slid through her fur, dextrously picking the candy out and then tossing it into a nearby bin. She sat back on her haunches and let him clean her up.

“You’re a mess,” Oliver muttered.

Teagan’s tail had just been starting to wag a little, but that made it stop. “Uh… you mean a mess physically? Or you mean I’m a mess in the emotional, mental sense?”

Oliver chuckled. “I mean your fur! This candy is a sticky mess.”

“Ah.” Teagan’s tail wagged again. “Thanks for… I could have done this myself, but it’s easier if you help out.” She bumped her nose against Oliver’s forearm. His arms smelled clean and faintly of soap, but the underlying scent of his body was still there. It particularly emanated from his armpits, even though he’d just washed clean—a normal human wouldn’t have been able to notice, but a wolf’s nose was better. And it was surely just some cheap trick of biology, but she really liked his scent. Yet more than smell or appearance, Teagan liked how he was showing care and concern for her wellbeing. Friends took care of friends. “Sorry for interrupting you. But thanks.”

“I was already finishing my shower… uh…” That made Oliver pause. For the first time he appeared to remember how he was dressed—in a bath towel that only covered his lower half, and not particularly well at that. “I’m not properly dressed.”

“No, no, no! Don’t get dressed.” Even as Oliver tried to pull back, Teagan darted forward to lightly bite his hand and pull it back towards her head. “Keep touching me… Wait, I mean, keep helping me with the cleaning. If you don’t mind. Please?”

That made him laugh. “Hah, certainly.” He continued picking the candy out of her fur.

Teagan glanced at Oliver. “I thought… I thought you’d be angry.”

He let out a confused hum. “Hmm? Why would I be angry?”

“For making trouble and being silly? Or for bothering you, I guess.”

“Those aren’t good reasons to get angry. And you didn’t make trouble—you made a small mistake, and it’s all fine now. We’re all good.” With one hand Oliver keeping picking the candy out of her fur, but with his other hand he patted her on the head and neck.

Teagan tried to keep still, but it was hard to supress a slight shudder at the sensation of Oliver’s touch against her body. It was nice. It was so nice. Her fur puffed out a little. This was the sort of thing which, if she weren’t careful, she could probably get addicted to. “We’re all good!” she agreed.

With a nod, Oliver stood up and stepped back. “Alright, that’s all. I’ve tried to get as much of the candy as I can see, but your fur is still sticky. You need a shower too, if you want to be properly clean.”

Teagan moved her paw towards the front of her cloak, which was still clinging tight around her quadrupedal wolf form, and then she smoothly unzipped it. She shrugged out of her cloak and let it drop to the ground. Her clothing was custom-made to be quickly adjustable to fit either wolf or human form—but of course, wolves didn’t actually need clothing. Her dress swiftly followed her cloak, leaving Teagan in only her grey and tawny fur. “I’m… naked!” she playfully announced.

“And I’m more naked than I should be. Where are my clothes?” Oliver went to grab his clothing, which he had left on the bathroom counter beside the sink.

Padding forward, Teagan brushed past Oliver’s legs and went into the bathroom first. This made him readjust the towel, which had started to get loose and slide lower around his hips. Teagan wouldn’t have minded if he had dropped the towel entirely—actually, this would have been her preferred outcome.

The bathroom was clean, but very humid. Half the space was taken up by a shower. Teagan strolled in through the open shower door, and then attempted to work the plumbing. It was not straightforward. “How did you turn this on?”

“Turn the knob. No, not that one, the one to the left. Further left. No, the knob, not the lever.”

Teagan struggled to turn the indicated knob. It was slippery wet, and her paws didn’t have enough dexterity. She could have turned back to human and used her hands, but she intentionally didn’t.

This worked out as planned because Oliver came over to help her. “Oh, let me just get it for you.” He reached into the shower and twisted the appropriate knob, and water started to spray down from the showerhead.

Teagan wagged her tail. “Thanks.” She raised her head and opened her mouth, tasting the water on her tongue—fresh and clean.

Oliver paused to stare at her, and he shook his head. “Look at you—a werewolf taking a shower in an inn room. How unusual my life has gotten.”

Teagan spun about under the spray of water, getting her fur all wet. “I’m the second werewolf to take a shower here, because you were already the first. You are still a werewolf even when you’re in human form.” With her fur now wet, she reared up on her hindlegs and pawed at the shower knob until the water slowed to a trickle. Next, she reached for a large bottle of shampoo that was placed in a recessed shelf in the shower wall.

Oliver moved faster, darting his hand through the open shower door and grabbing the shampoo bottle before it slid off the shelf. “Maybe you should turn back to human before you drop another container on your head?” he suggested with a grin.

“Or…” Teagan put on her best, wide-eyed begging expression. “Maybe you could help soap me up?” she said in a low, teasing voice. Instantly she felt a little silly about her own attempt to be suggestive. It still worked.

Oliver pumped the bottle and got a dallop of shampoo onto his palm, then he rubbed his hands together to lather it up. He crouched down, standing just outside the open shower door. “Can you use normal human shampoo on wolf fur? Or would you use pet shampoo that’s for dogs? I definitely should learn this—it seems like useful knowledge for a werewolf to have.”

Teagan wiggled her body, feeling impatient for Oliver’s touch. “Soap is soap. It’s all chemicals anyway. I think? Or maybe that’s why your fur is softer than mine? I don’t know. But anyway, just rub me down…”

“Hold still.” Using both hands, Oliver worked the shampoo foam into her fur, starting with her upper back, then her sides, massaging the lather in. “All this thick fur. Your fur is this mix of grey and brown and a little orange, the same brown orange as your hair when you’re human,” he casually noted.

Teagan wasn’t quite listening. “That feels… good…” She shifted about on her feet, and a shudder ran down her spine until it made her tail briefly tremble. When she washed herself, it was only about getting clean, but now when Oliver washed her, it felt deeply pleasant as his hands rubbed over her body. It wasn’t a specifically sexual pleasure to have him touch her, but just a general feeling of calm, relaxing, well-being that was stirred up inside her from getting a physical, caring touch. “Please. Yes.”

Oliver grabbed Teagan’s tail and soaped it up too. “Ha. Just getting my pet wolf nice and clean! Hmm, I see what you meant earlier. It is weirdly fun to treat you like a pet.” He held out one hand, palm facing up. “Do some tricks, my pet. Give me your paw.”

Teagan sat back on her haunches and obligingly put her paw into Oliver’s hand. “Take it. Woof, I’m such a good pet.”

That made him burst out into chuckles, and hearing his laughter made her laugh too. Holding onto her paw, Oliver soaped up her whole foreleg, then did the same with her other foreleg. When that was done, he rubbed the side of her neck and patted her head, right between her ears. For a moment his touch was overly cautious as he moved over the spot where the jar had bumped her head, but the cut had been healed up by her transformations, and Oliver rubbed the blood off her fur. It hadn’t had time to dry, so it came off easily. “Good girl.”

Teagan’s tail had been swaying slowly from side to side, but this made it furiously wag, which sent soapy water droplets flying around the shower. Oliver laughed and recoiled, raising an arm to try and shield himself. “You’re getting the soap on me too!” But his quick movement loosened the towel wrapped around his waist, and he had to use his other hand to try and hold onto it. “Whoops—hey…!”

Teagan moved quickly too. Leaping to her feet, she darted forward and bit down on the hem of the towel. “Why don’t you lose the towel and get in here?” she asked with clenched teeth, and then she made a slight tug on the towel to illustrate her point.

Oliver kept trying to hold the towel around his torso. “Bad girl!” he hissed, sounding scandalized but not angry—in fact, he was grinning. “You… Teagan!”

Teagan’s tail was still wagging from excitement. Her voice was muffled as she kept biting the towel. “Curiously, I think I still like it whether you call me good girl or bad girl.” Then she yanked on the towel and pulled it off Oliver entirely.

Instinctually he covered his groin, but then after a second he lowered his hands and stood up straight, as confidence pushed back embarrassment. He picked up the bath towel from the floor, but then instead of wrapping around himself, he casually tossed it over the shower door. “Right. So is this what you wanted to see?”

“Yes!” Teagan bounced between her paws, and her gaze was fixed at Oliver’s waist. “You’re naked. Ooh, this is great. Wow.” Below the flat of his abdomen, there was a messy bush of curly hair, just as dark as his head hair—then below that, something even more interesting. Teagan knew what Oliver looked like as a wolf, but now she was finally getting to see him nude while human. He was… male, currently looking floppy and not yet hard, but Teagan felt a surge of curiosity and desire. “What have we here?” She pushed her head forward, only for Oliver to stop her with his hand across her snout.

“I haven’t finished soaping you up. Try not to get distracted.”

“It’s too late! I was already distracted the moment you agreed to shower with me. This was inevitable!” Teagan nosed aside Oliver’s hand and tried to get at his groin. “I want to sniff… Just one sniff, please oh please.”

Oliver continued to resist, playfully blocking her attempts while trying to keep getting the shampoo into her fur. “This is one… one very poorly trained wolf! Can’t even sit still for a wash!”

“Yes! I’m a bad girl and it’s your fault. You knew this was going to happen!” Teagan managed to get her muzzle at Oliver’s groin, and she got that sniff she wanted. He actually smelled pretty similar regardless of whether he was in wolf or human form.

Meanwhile Oliver soaped up her neck, and he was visibly holding back laughter. Fully nude, he entered the shower and stepped over Teagan, holding her body between his legs so he could soap up her hindlegs. It was oddly comforting to have him standing over her. “Over the past few weeks I have been thinking nearly non-stop about how my life would change, now that I’ve been cursed with lycanthropy. I definitely did not expect this!” Oliver muttered, and then he laughed. “It’s kind of fun, though.”

“Truth be told, I’m normally not this… silly? Or lively?” Teagan admitted. “I don’t know why, but you bring it out of me. It’s just fun, like you said.” Then she turned her neck to try and sniff at Oliver’s rear. Her muzzle let a spot of soap on his butt. “Uh, is this going to be only a shower? Because I would kind of like it if… if we did something more. If you want that too, that is.”

“Do two fully healthy adults get into a shower together and expect it to only be a shower? Seems unlikely. Anyway, you’re soaped up well enough.” Oliver stepped away and he put his hand on the shower knob, but he paused before turning the water on. “Question—so if you’re dirty in one body form, transforming leaves you just as dirty, yes?”

Teagan turned around and glanced up at him. “Yes.”

“Same for soap?”

“Definitely. Soapy wolf becomes a soapy human.”

Oliver nodded, and grinned. “Prove it!” he dared her.

“I can do that.” Teagan reached for the power within her and changed her form. It took only a brief moment for her body to turn, with her proportions shifting and her flesh altering in a shimmer of magic—and then she was back to being a young woman again, on all fours down on the floor and covered in soap. Transformations took magical energy, and though Teagan wasn’t at her limit, transforming again made her more aware of how hungry she was. Sitting back into a kneeling position, Teagan glanced up, and then she found that she wasn’t the only one who was hungry.

Oliver nodded slowly, his gaze intense. “Wow. You’re pretty.”

That made Teagan chuckle. “Hah. That’s exactly what you said when you saw me naked previously.”

“It was true then. It’s true now too.” He offered his hand to her, and helped pull her up into a stand.

Teagan nodded, but she crossed her arms across her stomach nervously. “Is it though? I feel like I’m very average in appearance.”

“No way. Not average at all. Not that appearance is everything, but if we are talking about appearance, you are so pretty.” Oliver licked his lips. He reached out his hands and held her arms, and Teagan stepped forward, closer to him. “I almost can’t believe it.” His hand slid across her soapy skin, moving up her arm to rest on her shoulder.

Teagan tried to suppress a shiver, but Oliver likely still felt her tremble. Her eyes were locked with his, gazing at his face, with his hair messy and wet. The unkempt beard he’d had from days living in the wilderness was gone now, shaved away either before or during his shower earlier, replaced by some light stubble that marked out his jawline. A handsome young man, wet, soapy, and naked, in the shower with her.

Even though she was looking at his face, Teagan felt deeply aware of his naked body so close to hers—she was covered in soap suds, but that did nearly nothing to shroud her own nudity. Their bodies were almost touching, but not quite, and it might have been her imagination that she could feel body heat radiating between them. Teagan uncrossed her arms and put her palm on Oliver’s chest, feeling that warmth. “Oliver…”

His hand moved from her shoulder, to press against her neck with his thumb cupping her chin. “You’re much more kissable like this than as a wolf.”

What an excellent thing to hear. Teagan bit her lip, and she drew in a short gasp. “Yeah, prove it,” she dared him.

He kissed her.

Tipping her head upwards to the right angle, he gently pressed his lips against hers, and Teagan let out a soft, needy sigh. Her eyes went half lidded as she focused on all the raw sensation—the feeling of his lips brushing against hers, the taste of Oliver’s mouth as they kissed, and the comfortable feeling of his hand against his neck. His other hand moved from her arm to touching her side, then it slid to her back and pulled her closer against him. Now it was the whole of their bodies pressing against each other, skin to skin, slicked up by soap that made every point of contact slippery and sensual.

It was good, and it made her want more. Even while still kissing, Teagan put her hands on his shoulders and pulled him against her, tightening their embrace, squishing their bodies together as if she could fuse them together. Oliver took a step forward, then another, pushing her back against the glass wall of the shower while he kept leaning against her. He bent his head, moving from just kissing her mouth to kissing her chin, and then he started licking and kissing the upper part of her neck, just above where she became soapy. Teagan shivered. “Oh yes, oh,” she murmured, her mouth now freed to moan.

Teagan had one of her legs going between Oliver’s legs, but then she felt something poke against her belly, and she moved her hand to grab it. Oliver let out a sputtering groan as she grabbed his cock, which was now stiff and pressed against her pelvis. Pulling back from the kiss but not entirely out of their shared embrace, he let out a soft laugh, sounding almost surprised. “Okay…”

Teagan was grinning too. She wrapped her fingers around Oliver’s erection, and the motion was made slippery by the soap. “Well, well. You’re hard. Nice.”

“That has a tendency to happen when kissing a beautiful woman.” Oliver looked over her again, and his hands ran down the sides of her body, then onto her belly, leaving trails in the soap suds, and finally he touched her chest. From the way his grin widened, this had probably been what he’d wanted to do all along. He cupped her breasts with his hands, feeling and lightly squeezing. “Boobs.”

That made Teagan burst out in a laugh. “Yes they are! And that is also exactly what you said previously when you first saw them.”

Oliver shrugged. “I like what I like. I’m only human… mostly.”

“As am I.” Teagan was still holding onto Oliver’s cock. It was fun to hold on to it, feeling that stiff length of arousal that was proudly standing up just for her. Then a thought occurred to her, and she voiced it. “Hmm. You’re saying that you… you like me more like this?”

“You mean naked? I can confirm that seeing you naked turns me on more than seeing you fully clothed. Not that you don’t look very cute in your dress, because you do, but naked is so much more… sexual,” Oliver drily replied.

Teagan laughed again. “No, not naked. I mean, human. You prefer me as human rather than wolf?”

“I…” Oliver started to say something, but then his voice trailed off and he appeared to contemplate this idea. He took her hand from his shoulder and lifted it up to stare, as if there was something fascinating in her palm instead of just soap suds. “I was going to say obviously. Obviously I’m more attracted to you in human form rather than in animal form. But then again, when I was a wolf, seeing you as a wolf too was really… attractive? It got me worked up in a way I didn’t expect it to. And it wasn’t about the way you looked, but just… you were… it wasn’t appearance, it was how you…”

Teagan smirked. “Smelled?”

That earned her a laugh. “Hah. No… Or not entirely. Although you do smell nice.” He tilted his head and gave a quick sniff at her neck, which made Teagan giggle. Oliver pulled back quickly though, with his eyes fixing on her. “But all that aside, it was about how you were the same as me. Another werewolf. Another person who understood.” He was still holding her hand, and he loosely weaved his fingers with hers. “I was a wolf, and you were too. And now I’m a human and… you are too. And that is nice.”

Teagan tightened her grip on Oliver’s hand. “That’s deep. But I know exactly what you mean. And I get it.” For a moment things felt quiet and intimate—just two people closely coexisting, feeling each other and a shared connection. Then Teagan tightened the grip of her other hand, which was still loosely gripped around a different part of Oliver’s body, and that made things a different sort of intimate. He was still fully hard—maybe even harder than before. “Look at this thing. Goodness.” She tapped a finger against Oliver’s erection, watching it bob up and down.

Oliver flinched and stood up straight. “So how are we doing this?”

Teagan wiped her hand across her belly to get more soap lather onto her palm, and then she again curled her fingers around Oliver’s cock. He was already all clean from having showered. With a casual motion she slid her touch down his shaft to feel up his balls, then she went back to holding his erection. “We can do whatever you want.”

Oliver made a low, needy sound from his throat—if he’d been in wolf form it would have been a growl, but now it was more like a deep rumble. He reached out and touched her body, sliding one hand against her side, and another hand feeling up her breasts. “Whatever I want?”

“Yeah… within reason. I’m fully willing to try things with you. But don’t hit me or… or call me mean things.”

“Of course not.”

“Good.” Teagan moved Oliver’s erection, feeling the tip slide against her belly. She grinned her best attempt at a seductive smile as an idea occurred to her, inspired by seeing Oliver’s fascination with her bare chest. “You ever try this before?” She pressed her body against Oliver and then slid downwards, with the soap letting them get lots of slippery, skin-to-skin contact.

Getting down on her knees, Teagan got Oliver’s cock against her chest, nestling his stiff erection right between her boobs. He let out a soft groan when he saw, and felt, what she was doing. “Agh, wow. Uh, no, I haven’t done this before but… but that’s hot. Teagan, wow.”

“I’ll be honest—I’ve also never done this before and don’t actually know what I’m doing. Hmm. Let’s figure this out.” Using her hands, Teagan tried squeezing her boobs together against Oliver’s cock. Admittedly she was more petite than busty, and she couldn’t completely encompass his erection in her humble cleavage, so all she could so was sort of rub herself against his cock. “How does that feel?”

Oliver’s mouth opened and closed a few times without him saying anything, before he finally groaned again. “Soft? Slippery. That’s really hot! Uh, not in the temperature sense—I mean in the attractiveness sense. That’s good…” Hearing his pleasured moans was arousing. Oliver’s hips twitched, and Teagan felt his erection throb against her chest.

Teagan had heard things from her more outgoing friends, or even occasionally read things from magazines, but she definitely was not an expert in sexual acts. The mechanics for this specific sexual activity were something they had to figure out—she had boobs, Oliver had a cock, and now these were put together. Teagan tried to move her upper body up and down, but this felt like a weird motion, and the silliness of this action made her chuckle. She looked up at Oliver. “Am I doing this right? I don’t know! I feel like a chicken bobbing its head back and forth.”

Oliver laughed too—not mockingly, but with playful amusement. Things felt warm and comfortable whenever they laughed together. “Hehe! Uh, maybe you hold still, and I try to move?” He put his hands on her shoulders.

“Ok, try that.” Teagan kept still, letting Oliver start to rock his hips, thrusting the stiff length of his erection between her boobs as she held them. It wasn’t pleasurable for her in a direct physical sense, but to feel Oliver humping against her chest and just using her for his sexual pleasure was arousing too.

He kept going like a machine, for a minute, then two, then more. At first Teagan merely observed, but curiosity soon got at her. “Does that feel good?”

Oliver’s reply was first just a soft, needy grunt. “Hnng, it’s good…! You’re good. Such a good girl.”

Those words sparked a burst of happy warmth through her thoughts. “Yes, yes, call me that. I like that.” Teagan bit her lip. “I am… disproportionately pleased by praise. Almost like I shouldn’t feel this happy just from some little compliment, but I do. Is that weird?”

“No,” Oliver growled. No hesitation. His hand shifted from her shoulder, lifting her chin so they made eye contact. “You’re a good girl and if you don’t know that then you deserve to know it.” The moment felt surprisingly intimate despite the blatant sexuality of what they were doing. Then Oliver let out a moan, and his thrusting slowed down a little. “Ahh. I’m close.”

“And I’m ready.” Teagan nodded, grinning up at him. “Go on, cum! Let me have it,” she murmured, trying to encourage him, and he promptly did.

“Really? All over your… ah…” Oliver’s breath caught and his muscles went tense, his whole body stiff like a board. Teagan still had her head raised, so she felt rather than saw that first shot of semen that Oliver spurted out onto her. She flinched a little, and glanced down just in time to see a second, then a third shot of that whitish, viscous bodily fluid splatter against her upper chest and her throat. Pressed against her chest, Oliver’s cock twitched repeatedly as it spat out stream after stream, and his hips jerked each time, thrusting that fleshy pole forward against her.

“Woah, there you go,” Teagan said. “All over me, yes.”

Oliver was less coherent. He made a series of mindless grunts, each sounding raw and from the back of his throat. “Hrrgh. Oooh. Ahah…” He was still staring down at Teagan, but his gaze was glazed over, and his face was twisted by a tortured expression of pleasure.

As intense as his release appeared to be, it was still brief. Just a few seconds—five, ten, fifteen—then it was done. He had finished making a mess of her, and awareness snapped back into his eyes. His hands had been clutching her shoulders tightly, but now his grip loosened and he took a step back. “Woah.”

“Hmm. Look at that.” Teagan sat back from her crouched position and rubbed her knees, which felt a little sore after all that kneeling, and then she reached out to grab the shower door’s handle. Oliver took her other hand, then he helped pull her up to her feet.

Teagan looked down at herself. Streaks of cloudy white liquid painted her skin, slowly starting to drip downwards from her neck and over her chest. She could even smell it—not that it was an inherently unpleasant odour, but it had a sharp, distinct scent—it smelled like sex. Using her fingers, Teagan rubbed some of that fluid, feeling how it was sticky yet slick.

Teagan turned to the glass shower door and wiped away the condensation with her arm, then she glanced at herself in the mirror. Then she turned and looked at Oliver. He was staring at her, with a surprised yet satisfied expression on his face. He’d made this happen. But she’d also made this happen.

Not knowing quite what to say, Teagan just grinned and gave Oliver a thumbs up. That made him burst into laughter, but he nodded and gave her a thumbs up in return. He took the showerhead from its mount and turned on the water. He checked the temperature was normal, then he offered it to her. “Uh, here.”

Rather than taking the showerhead, Teagan beckoned Oliver closer. “You made the mess… you clean it off.”

“Happy to oblige.” Oliver directed the water spray towards her, letting it wash over her chest and her body. With his other hand he wiped her down, rinsing away the accumulated soap suds and the additional fluids which he had just added. “It’s your turn now.”

“Hmm? My turn for what?”

“Your turn to say what you want me to do to you, so that I can make you moan.” Bending down, Oliver kissed the side of her neck, and that did make Teagan gasp. His kisses continued down her neck and to her shoulder, tasting her wet, freshly cleaned skin, then he held her breast and sucked on a nipple.

A warm tingle ran through her body, sending goosebumps over her skin and making Teagan sigh. “Heehh… Sensitive there.” She rested a hand on Oliver’s head and then slumped back at glass shower wall. “Yes…” Oliver appeared to enjoy playing with her boobs, and Teagan found the sensation distinctly pleasant.

After a moment he paused. “Hey, hold this for me, would you?” He handed the showerhead to her, and then he touched her with both hands and his mouth. His hand slid down her belly, brushing against her hips, then his fingers drifted against the inside of her thighs. That light touch was almost ticklish, making Teagan shiver while her knees knocked together, briefly trapping his hand between her legs. “Oliver… Oohhohooo, hey…”

Oliver’s hand reversed its downwards movement, now sliding up to cup against her groin. His fingers were gentle, his touch careful enough to almost be delicate, yet there was a firm strength behind his movements. Teagan held Oliver’s forearm and she could feel his muscles tensing as he touched her. He was so close to her, doing what he wanted, and she let him.

His tongue slid against her nipple, teasing but pleasurable, then Oliver pulled back and straightened up. His hand was still between her legs, and with a faint smile, his fingers explored her. “You’re wet.”

“Obviously.” Teagan waved the showerhead, which was still spraying water as she held it with her other hand. “We’re in the shower. I’m very wet.” She aimed the spray at Oliver’s back, even as he stood close to her. “You’re wet too.”

“Not in the same way that you’re wet.”

Something about the way he vocalized that sentence made Teagan burst out into laughter. Oliver laughed too, and the two of them laughed together. As silly as it was, that didn’t matter. They were just being playful and enjoying the fun of the moment.

“You could be wet in the same way I’m wet,” Teagan retorted. Then she lowered the showerhead and sprayed it at Oliver’s butt and between his legs.

“Haha, hey!” He jerked forward, pressing his body against hers, even as they both laughed. Reaching to the side, Oliver turned the shower knob and cut off the flow. “Ok, we’re wasting water.”

Teagan grinned playfully. “I don’t care.”

“How naughty,” Oliver noted. Then he got down on his knees and put his tongue to use.

It was such a hot, arousing feeling as Oliver’s hand brushed against her thigh, while he got his face right between her legs. A patch of slightly curly hair covered her mound, darker in shade compared to the tawny long hair on her head, and he shamelessly sniffed there before starting to lick at her folds. A tingle ran through Teagan’s body, followed by a flush of warmth that spread across her skin and gave her goosebumps.

“That feels good,” Teagan sighed, and Oliver’s only reply was to increase his tempo, as if she was some snack he was determined to devour.

His tongue slid against her clit, then darted around her entrance and even dared to push into her. Oliver pulled back just for a second. He licked his lips and said, “I think my tongue was longer as a wolf.”

Teagan was grinning, and she ruffled Oliver’s hair as he remained crouching in front of her. “Be a wolf, then.”

“If I could control it, I would. But no, you’ll have to make do with me, as I am.” He grinned back, looking up at her, and rested his chin against her thigh. She could feel the faint prick of his stubble against her skin.

With her hand still on his head, Teagan guided him to where she wanted. “Right there. Lick me, wolfy boy,” she commanded, and he did. “Yeah. That’s it. That is exactly it.”

A shiver ran through her body again, and Teagan let the sensations build within her. There was something very innately satisfying about having someone else pleasure her—not just working mechanically, but Oliver watched her patiently and he conspired to make her tingle as best he could. “Press a bit harder… yes, that’s it. Keep going,” Teagan sighed. Even as he kept gently licking at her clit, his hands rubbed her skin, then he slipped a finger into her.

“Heh…” Teagan made a noise, like a pleasured sigh, mixed with a relaxed chuckle. “Now that’s… that’s something which you have to be human for. That’s good. Fingers are… nice. You get a lot less dexterity as a… a wolf… and the claws are… Ahhh.” Her rambling cut off with a moan as Oliver added a second finger, filling her even more as he touched her inside and out. “Ahh, that’s good…” Teagan sighed.

Oliver’s mouth was busy and he didn’t say anything in reply, just an amused hum. “Hmm…”

Moving her hand, Teagan rubbed at her chest, teasing her nipples and savouring the warm, tingly feelings that flowed through her body. Everything else seemed to fade away, and nothing was important except for that growing pleasure, and the handsome young man crouched in front of her who was feeding it to her.

Lost in the moment, it was almost a surprise when all that tension reached a peak. “Owhh!” Teagan moaned and her body jerked, muscles tensing from as a climax rolled over her. Warm pleasure became unbearably hot, and all her thoughts were scattered away from the sheer, sharp intensity of the sensation. Oliver kept licking her throughout, his tongue soft but insistent as she made incoherent noises. “Rgggn… Oliver. Hey. Hey. Fuckkk, ngggh… ahah…”

When it was finally over, Teagan had to push Oliver’s head away as she suddenly felt overly sensitive. It was a struggle to remain standing. If she hadn’t been leaning back against the shower glass, she would have fallen. Instead her knees felt wobbly, but she remained standing, one hand resting over Oliver’s hair. “That was good. Phew, that was good,” Teagan gasped.

Oliver had a satisfied, victorious smile as he glanced up at her. “Good girl.” His fingers slowly slipped out of her, then he stood back upright. Before he could say or do anything else, Teagan leaned against him and hugged him tight. Both of them were of course still naked, and the feeling of so much skin pressed against skin was a warm, affectionate feeling that she basked in.

Oliver chuckled. “Are you okay?” But then he hugged her back and kissed her neck again.

“Mmhh.” Teagan felt like she would have been happy to let the moment drag on forever, but eventually Oliver lowered his arms, and she too released the hug. “I think this takes the record for the longest, most adventurous shower I’ve ever taken.”

Teagan turned on the water and started spraying herself down, washing away any remaining soaps suds and other residue that covered her body. Oliver had earlier made a mess of her chest, but at least he hadn’t made a mess inside her, which would be rather more difficult to get clean. Not that she would have minded.

Teagan’s thoughts continued to wander. Fortunately Oliver couldn’t read her mind and see all her filthy thinking. Those thoughts would stay within her head until the day she mustered enough confidence to admit them. Impulsively Teagan suddenly decided that would be right now. Why be embarrassed that she had enjoyed something? Oliver had certainly enjoyed it too. She shoved back her embarrassment. “Oliver?”

The other werewolf—the handsome young man with whom she’d just shared intimacy and pleasure—looked up and met her gaze. “Yeah?”

Teagan fidgeted with the showerhead, letting the water keep spraying at her. She gestured vaguely between her legs. “I enjoyed that. Everything we did—you to me, me to you, me and you. I think you could tell, but I’ll just say it anyway to be perfectly clear. That was sexy. And I kind of want you inside me, pounding me senseless, but I’m also hungry so maybe that can wait till later.”

“Ahem. Uhh…” Oliver’s erection had gotten half soft now, but it was still rigid enough for it to twitch a little as he cleared his throat. Now he also looked a little self-conscious, and somehow that made Teagan feel less embarrassed—almost like she was transferring shame, or maybe simply because now they were both mildly awkward. “That was fun.”

“We definitely have to do this again. This and other things. Me, you, in all sorts of different ways. Not right now, though, because I want lunch, but maybe after that. Or tonight.”

“Absolutely.” Oliver ran a hand through his wet hair, slicking it back. “I… should say something confident and suave. But I don’t have any witty remarks immediately coming to mind. Am I just allowed to call you pretty again?”

Teagan smiled. “Please do.”

“You’re pretty! And I like you and I just want you in a way that’s… primal? I enjoyed it too, what we just did. You’re so pretty and cute and hot.” He let out a chuckle. “Yes. That’s… yes.”

Teagan hesitated for a moment, then she winked and pointed a finger. “You too.” She resumed rinsing herself off.

Standing out of the way, Oliver waited patiently till she was done, then he took the showerhead from her—but before washing himself off, the first thing he did was to direct the flow of water into his mouth to drink.

Teagan watched curiously. She’d earlier lapped at some of the water, but she hadn’t drunk it like Oliver was doing. “Tap water here is safe to drink?”

“Oh yes. It’s all spring water coming from the mountains nearby.” Oliver wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Despite the intense sexual encounter they had just shared, their interactions swung back to a comfortable casualness with pleasant ease. With a grin, Oliver offered the showerhead back to her. “Stay hydrated.”

Teagan laughed, then she too drank from the shower. She hadn’t realized how thirsty she’d been until she tasted the cool, refreshing water, gulping it down one mouthful at a time.

Meanwhile Oliver stepped out of the shower and grabbed another bath towel to dry himself off. Seeing that, Teagan hurriedly cut off the water and stuck the hose back into its mount. She waved her hand for attention. “Hey, hey! Check this out. Shortcut.”

Making sure that Oliver was watching her, Teagan pulled the glass shower door shut between them, and then she shifted into wolf form. Then with as much vigour as she could manage, she shook herself all over—water droplets went flying off her wet fur, sprinkling all over the shower. Teagan shook until she had gotten mostly dry, and then she shifted back to human and stood up. Her skin and hair were still a little damp, but much dryer than before and certainly no longer dripping water. “And I’m dry… ish. No towelling needed. One of the useful tricks about being a werewolf.”

Oliver snorted. “You’re so weird!” At first Teagan felt a flash of embarrassment, but he grinned reassuringly. “In a good way.”

“Is there a good way to be weird?”

“Of course. You’re a werewolf, which is undoubtedly weird, but I’m a werewolf too, which is also weird. So we’re both weird. Anyway, is there any actual benefit to shaking yourself like a dog instead of just using a towel?”

“Yes. See this.” Teagan used a hand to flick her long hair over her shoulders. “My hair takes forever to dry with only a towel normally—easily a whole hour. If I couldn’t take shortcuts by transforming, I would cut it shorter just so its less of a hassle.”

“I see. I don’t have long hair, but still good to know. Thanks.” He gave her a nod. “Please keep telling me things about werewolf life. I find it very useful.”

“I will.”

Oliver went to go get dressed. But he only had the same set of clothing which he had been wearing before—the clothes weren’t too dirty or filthy, but they definitely weren’t clean. He pulled on his pants. “I wish I had clean clothes.”

“I could lend you a shirt, but I don't know if it’ll fit.” Teagan went back to the inn room and searched through her baggage to grab a clean dress, which she quickly threw over herself. Then she took out a large, plain green t-shirt, and passed it to Oliver for him to put on. “This is cleaner than that tattered shirt you were wearing. Try it? Hah. Nice. I normally sleep in that shirt so it’s oversized for me, but it looks to fit you well.”

“Uh, thanks.” Oliver looked at the shirt. It was a light green and didn’t really match his dark blue pants, but fashion wasn’t a priority. Teagan thought he still looked cute. In a faintly possessive way, she enjoyed seeing Oliver in her clothes.

Teagan went over to the bed and then lay back on it, lazily staring up at the ceiling. “What now?”

After a moment Oliver came and lay down beside her, with just a little distance between them. “Lunch?” he suggested.

“Excellent idea.” Her earlier arousal had distracted from her appetite, but now Teagan felt her mouth salivating just at the thought of getting a good, hearty meal. “That shower made me very hungry. Where can we eat?”

“I know a few restaurants that are around this part of town.”

Kicking herself off the bed, Teagan grabbed Oliver’s arm and pulled him up. “Let’s go.”

TO BE CONTINUED

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