Chapter 3 Seductive Touch

• I turned, still ducked low as I began sliding through the tall grass on my belly. Hesitant to go toward the human village she’d always shown me to avoid.
• I whined slightly. Fearing what would happen if I got to close.
• Thunder banged and I jerked. My ears moving forward and back as I listened for other threats.
• I heard mom yip in pain. My head shot up and I jerked in that direction. Wanting to go back to her, even though I was clearly too young to help her. Terrified, I crept on my belly toward the village.
• I lurked around it for the next few days.
• I came across a random wolf the third day and rushed over to greet him.
• He was infuriated, thinking me a challenger. Not realizing I was so young. He bit my throat several times.
• I screeched and tried to escape but he bit deeply into my shoulder. Badly wounding me.
• He chased me and I was barely able to stay ahead of him with a heavy limp on that front leg. I managed to hide under the step of one of the huts.
• The other wolf was snarling outside. Growling so loudly that he drew the attention of the resident.
• It was a young woman. Thinking that the wolf was threatening her house she came out with a stick and began violently swinging it at him until he whirled around to her. She managed to strike him soundly across the lower jaw. Stopping any attack he might’ve made.
• He gave a rebellious snarl but skittered away. Hunkering as he loped away into the dark. Pausing only to look back at me threateningly.
• Realizing that the wolf was paying her very little mind, she stepped off the stairs and peered beneath. Jerking when she saw me.
• I wondered if she too was going to attack me. I was exhausted.
• I’ve had enough.
• “What are you doing under there? You barely fit.”
• I blinked large yellow eyes at her. Catching enough of her words to know what she said. I’d often wandered through the tall grass to be close enough to hear the Skins. Mother had often joined me. Making soft noises next to me that taught me what many of the words meant. So, I could better understand when danger was near.
• My chest ached as I thought of her. Missing her warm company.
• With her front door open I caught a whiff of meat cooking. My stomach gurgled traitorously, and I made a whining sound as the ache there began to increase.
• She started to reach for me, but I gave a low snarl. She eyed me. “You’re not yet grown, are you young one?”
• I tipped my head toward her. Hearing the soft note in her voice, I eased from under the steps. I stepped warily back from her. Watching her as I gazed longingly within her home.
• A shelter from the cold.
• “Are you hungry?”
• She wasn’t chasing me away as she had the other wolf.
• As mother always warned me Skins would.
• I tipped my head side to side, trying to tell her I was.
• “Do you want to come in and eat with me?”
• I blinked hopefully at her.
• She put a hand on her knee and rose slowly. Taking great care to not move so quickly she spooked me. “If you come with me, Young One, I’ll help you get something in that hungry belly of yours.”
• That sounded so nice.
• My stomach gurgled again. Cramping when it did and making me crouch to the ground until the pain abated enough, I could move.
• “Oh, poor thing.” She crooned. She lifted her skirt and walked slowly up the steps. Casting me several looks to see if I’d follow.
• I wanted to.
• I looked at her, then beyond her into that house. Where I knew that delicious meat was.
• I whined.
• “Come in.” She urged. “Come with me.”
• She lowered to hold out her hand.
• It was pretty. Delicate and well-shaped. Soft and without callouses.
• I brushed my nose on it, sniffing cautiously.
• She smelled sweet. Feminine.
• It made me miss my mother.
• My shoulders slumped and I decided I had nothing to lose.
• I lifted a paw carefully and watched her as I took a step. Then another. Before rushing past her into the shelter.
• “Whoa…” She laughed. “Slow down.”
• She went to the fire where I was dancing side to side, lifting a paw in hopeful desperation as I considered trying to swat the cooking meat out of it.
• “Don’t do that!” She warned. Raising her voice enough to draw my attention.
• I turned my head to watch as she put a bit of cloth over each of her hands. Reaching over the fire to draw out the metal rod holding the meat. She took it to the table.
• I was pacing side to side behind her hip. Taking in the delicious scent as I sniffed the air.
• When she set the platter down and lifted a knife, I leaned up on my back legs to rest my paws on the table.
• She laughed again. A soft, tinkling sound. “Just a minute!”
• She cut off a bit of meat and blew on it a long while before setting it on the table before me. She barely had time to get her hand out of the way before I was scarfing it down.
• “Starved thing, aren’t you?”
• I was wiggling closer to her. Sliding my large paws over the side of the table to get closer as she cut free another piece of meat.
• “Just look at those paws!” She remarked. “You are going to be a big one!”
• I peered up at her. Taking in her pretty face. She was blonde and gorgeous. I knew even by human standards she would be pretty. She had hair like cornsilk and eyes like the summer sky and she smelled like flowers in the fields where I’d played with mother wolf.
• I gave a long whine.
• She fed me another piece of meat.
• Then another.
• Eventually she lifted her hand, slowly reaching for me.
• I sniffed it cautiously, eventually nudging it. Then licking it to tell her it was okay to touch me.
• She put a hand atop my head and it was the first kind touch I’d known since mother.
• I was so relieved I nearly collapsed from the exhaustion and tension I’d been enduring.
• I’d been so sure I was going to die alone, lingering around the village that to be warm, have food and a nice touch was the most wonderful feeling I could recall.
• She stroked my head a minute before feeding me more meat.
• She ate some and then fed me until my belly was distended and I was moving slowly. My eyelids heavy as I fought to stay awake.
• “Come, Young One.” She walked near the fire. “Rest your head.”
• I followed her. She sat on the edge of a large fur laid out there.
• It was soft, it smelled of something delicious, and it was warmed from the fire.
• I obeyed her. Resting on my belly on it. Finding myself blinking slower and slower.
• “I’ll feed you the few days I can.” She murmured. As she reached out to stroke my shoulders. “But I won’t be able to tend you for long. You’ll have to go.”
• But I was already falling asleep. Knowing that I could be in danger but too tired and comfortable to care.
• The dream I had was the first I would recall as an adult. And the most vivid I’d ever had.
• She was stroking my shoulders as she had until I’d fallen asleep. But as she did I rolled over. When I did the fur on my back rolled aside, as if nothing more than a blanket. Her hand was on my skin. And I had the flat chest of a human male. She was caressing me. Rubbing her hand over my tanned skin almost reverently. Touching me in a way that excited me. Her blonde hair lowering over my stomach as she dropped her lips against my skin. Bringing me great pleasure.