A.N.D. - Wolf Woods

“I knew it! I knew it!” As Wolf dropped back into his chair and bowed his head, the younger wolf leaned right over the table, exulting. “You are nothing but a sham! Now I am Wolf of Woooouuulph!”

Wolf rammed his tankard into Stephen’s gut, sending a wave of cider up his sleeve. “That,” he announced in ringing tones to the stunned crowd as he shook his arm dry, “is how you defeat an evil queen. You let her think she’s winning and you’re helpless, then you strike when her defenses are down.”

“That’s not very wolf-like,” a voice growled out of the crowd.

“Maybe that’s why I succeeded when other wolves would have failed,” Wolf snapped back. Stephen was starting to rise from the floor, his eyes flaring yellow and his teeth starting to lengthen. Wolf looked at him critically, then, without bothering to stand up, hit him on the head with the tankard. Stephen’s eyes crossed and he went down, unconscious.

The silence shattered into exultant cheers and howling as Stephen was dragged away and Wolf’s mug was refilled. Someone passed too near his chair, jostling him while the cider was being poured. Wolf made a quick jerk, and the one who bumped him squalled and ran, a perfect set of teethmarks bleeding on the seat of his pants.

Instantly the crowd turned servile. They still pressed around Wolf, but now they were keeping a respectful distance from his motions and they didn’t directly meet his eyes. Several wolves rushed to pile food offerings on the already heaped table.

Oh, that food looked good! At least now that all the shouting was over, she could go finish her dinner! Virginia tried to move and was stunned to find the hands held her just as tight as ever.

“Not a bad mate material,” one woman’s voice murmured in one ear.

“Yes, he is, now let me go...” Virginia squirmed, only to freeze as the woman on her other side whispered assent.

“My eldest is just the right age for him too.” As Virginia turned to stare in horror, the old woman jerked her head to someone in the crowd.

Instantly a beautiful wolf woman worked her way into the space around Wolf’s chair, kneeling gracefully, asking something softly before she put a hand lightly on his thigh. She peeped shyly up through long, batting lashes, her tail coyly curled around so everyone could see how fluffy and full it was.

Not with her husband that little hussy wasn’t! The outrage gave Virginia the strength to claw free of the imprisoning hands like they were daisy chains. One of the wolf women made as if to recapture her, but Virginia stomped on her foot as hard as she could. Turning on her heel, she marched back to her table.

Wolf’s tail was out now, and the little slut was combing it. Not that he was objecting! If it wouldn’t undo all the respect he’d just earned, she’d crack a chair right across that goofily grinning face. But it would, so she would just have to vent on the tailed trollop.

Said tail was sticking in her direction, so Virginia took the opportunity to grab it, twisting as hard as possible and rubbing backwards as she used it as a leash to drag the bitch away. Not that she was going quietly. After an initial shriek, the wolf rose snarling to her feet, towering a full head over Virginia. She was younger, taller, with the hard muscles of a born hunter and the sharp teeth of an outraged wolf. It would be suicide to mix it up with her, particularly with all those pounds of the next generation sitting on her rapidly refilling bladder.

Virginia bitch-slapped her down anyway.

The wolf woman snarled from the floor. Virginia marched over to stand astride her and snarled right back. Their voiceboxes were so different that she felt like a little kid saying “rahrr” next to a wild tiger, but she was still shaking with the urge to kill. The wolf tried to get to her feet. Virginia slapped her back down again, then settled into a steady right-hand, left-hand swing as she chased her backwards-crawling opponent across the floor.

“You [SLAP!] will [SLAP!] keep [SLAP!] your [SLAP!] filthy! [SLAP!] paws [SLAP!] off of [SLAP!] MY [SLAP! SLAP!] husband! [SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!] Capisce?”

Her opponent had backed against the wall and turned at bay. “What’s cap-eesh?”

Virginia lifted her half off the floor by the shoulder straps of her sluttily tight bodice. “You don’t want to find out!” She threw the girl back down hard enough to make her head whop against the wall, raising her hand for another slap. Whining, the girl threw her hands up in surrender, trying to cover her face.

With a last sneer, Virginia stalked back to her seat, only to find it filled with Wolf’s boots. Before she could say anything to him about it, he pulled her down to sit on his extended legs. “This is my mate Virginia,” he announced proudly to the crowd. “Isn’t she fantastic?”

There was a hubbub of applause as Wolf whispered in her ear, “Where were you?”

“A bunch of people grabbed me! Right over...” her voice trailed off as she looked back at the table. Three gigantic, furry wolves sat there, one of them licking a hind paw. Noticing her eyes on it, it shrugged with a ripple of its shoulders. “Oh, my God!”

“They won’t bother either one of us now. We’ve established ourselves with the runners-up.”

“The runners-up?”

“The leader’s seconds, the general citizens. Those kinds of folks.”

“What about...?”

The door opened with a bang, and the crowd silenced once again, then parted with whines. Virginia’s last words evaporated in a gulp of fear. Men, women, and wolves were walking in as if they owned the place. They probably did.

You can feel it boiling off them. It’s like some cops, you just feel the power even if they don’t say anything. No, it’s more like a gang. A dangerous gang of people with big teeth!

The Council of Wolfs had arrived.