CONTENT NOTE: This story explores themes of control, predation, and desire, often but not exclusively in a sexual context. The exploration of such scenarios in this story is NOT an endorsement of similar behaviour in real life. If the reader finds themselves at any point confused as to what is and is not consensual, they can refer to these resources for guidance:
--> https://www.rainn.org/articles/what-is-consent
--> https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/relationships/sexual-consent
--> https://www.thehotline.org/identify-abuse/domestic-abuse-warning-signs/

sex scene begins

Gaetan felt better every moment he was in the hunter’s grip. He licked long kisses through the man’s beautiful hair and blew away the other’s scent with his panting breath. He flexed his arms around the other’s diminutive shape and drew over his delicate waist with his claws. Fragments of memories emerged and disappeared again in his mind as colour popped in and out of the world around him.

“Nowuuu”

Noel froze at the strangled howl, unsure of what it signified.

“N-Noowuuu-eh”

There was something deeply unnatural about the utterance. It didn’t sound like anything he’d heard from an animal before. Rather than dwell too deeply on it, he decided to redouble his efforts. The cock had by now swelled to its full size, and Noel used both hands to stroke it, no longer delicate but instead as insistent as he dared to be. The monster cooperated by bucking its hips into his embrace, and together the push and pull left his arms tingling from the force.

Gaetan panted in the man’s ear as he felt a pressure building up inside of himself. He groaned and whined in pleasure as he struggled to articulate a fractured impulse in the pit of his throat. “Nouou-ehh-uuu,” he whined into the man’s shoulder.

Noel had no energy to spare for the strange noises, it took all his strength to keep up a tempo that satisfied the monster, focusing on each stroke like it was a competition sport. He panted with exertion as the monster licked sweat off his forehead and left sticky residue behind. Just when Noel wasn’t sure if he could keep going, the monster stopped moving and a stream of thick cum shot out from the cock in his hands. He flinched as it landed squarely on his coat.

sex scene ends

The arms and claws around Noel retracted while he caught his breath, his whole body shaking. When he blinked open his eyes again, the blond wolf was laying at his feet. He massaged his hands and looked down at it as it shook its head in apparent confusion.

Gaetan looked up at Noel from the ground as he struggled to understand what had happened. He howled softly. Noel looked down on him in distain, then glanced away, searching for something in the distance. Gaetan realized with a start that the other man was looking for his gun. He nervously tested his injured leg again, and found to his surprised that it could hold his weight. He had no time to piece together cause and effect, or try to communicate with Noel; if he stayed any longer, he would be a sitting duck.

Noel left the wolf’s side and walked at a measured pace towards the gun lying in the underbrush a few feet away. By the time he picked it up, the creature was long gone. He could see from the tracks it left that its foot had improved. He didn’t pursue it.

Noel stood numbly in the chilly air while his head cleared and his body cooled down. He was more certain now of some things, and less certain of others. He called Apollo back, and set about disguising the stain on his coat. He buried the broken trap where none of the others would find it, and returned to the hunting party with a grimace on his face.

Noel didn’t sleep well that night. Every time he came close to drifting off, some aspect of his encounter with the monster would flash in his mind and jolt him awake. He was in turns frightened, disgusted, and ashamed by what had happened, but his mind continued to cogitate around the event as if there was something unresolved at the heart of it. He didn’t want to consider the matter too deeply, but he also couldn’t seem to let it go.

Noel woke for the last time when dawn light was starting to seep through the window of Gaetan’s guest bedroom. He gasped as his mind once more wrenched him back to the woods and the creature. The sounds it had made replayed in his mind, this time with new meaning. It had been trying to say something. Had that been his name? Noel was seized with the thought and couldn’t let it go. He was sure now that he’d heard an N and an O, at least. He pulled his blankets over his head and huddled in the dark as he considered the possibility, however egotistical it seemed.

If it were a dog or a wolf, or even a crow, Noel would know that he was imagining things. But the monster wasn’t a wolf, or at least it wasn’t entirely one. It reminded him most of the loup-garou the raconteurs described, although he had never believed such things could exist in his own bucolic community. At the very least, the monster had not killed any people or even animals, yet. Nevertheless, it could stand on two legs, and use its hands like a human, so it seemed almost reasonable to suppose that it might be able to speak, too.

If so, how would it know his name? That was a question that Noel didn’t dare dwell on even in his most private moments. He threw off the comforter and resolved to get dressed and carry on as normal.

Shortly thereafter, Noel arrived at breakfast, where Alcide was talking to Madelaine about the hunt the day before. He, Manon, and Noel were sitting with her in front of a tasteful spread of cold cuts, cheeses, and fruit. “One of the traps is missing, and we found more scratch marks, but that’s all, I’m afraid,” he told her.

“Do you think you’ll catch it next time?” Madelaine asked, “It’s just so nerve-wracking knowing that wolf is still out there,” She played with her food as if she’d lost her appetite.

“We don’t know for sure that it’s a wolf,” Noel countered, “the one I saw the other day wasn’t big enough to cause the damage to the door.”

“There’s probably more than one, and the others might be bigger,” Alcide took the middle ground, “At any rate, there’s no sign of bears nearby.”

“I don’t like the idea of wolves running around,” Madelaine pursed her lips and pouted. She directed a pleading look at Noel. “Do you think you can get them all?”

Noel blinked at her. “Sure,” he said. It was true that he planned to sort out the monster one way or another.

“Fantastic!,” Madelaine sighed and fluttered her lashes. “That blond one you mentioned sounds like it would make a beautiful wrap…” she added wistfully, as if it were an afterthought.

Noel flushed slightly as he remembered what that fur felt like. It certainly had pleasing qualities, but he tried to convince Madelaine otherwise. “Wolf fur is too scratchy and indelicate. A woman like you should like sable more.”

Madelaine pondered the option as she watched Noel eat. Finally she smiled at him and replied, “You’re so thoughtful. Of course you’d know what suits me best. Still…” she picked some more at the salami, “it would be nice to touch wolf fur at least once.”

“I’m sure you’ll get your chance,” Manon assured her. She kindly put some fruit on the young widow’s plate.

Noel wasn’t interested in further conversation and came up with a reason to excuse himself. Later that day, he and Alcide went out to check the traps again, but nothing had been caught. With so little to show for their efforts, men were starting to lose interest in continuing. There was still work to be done in preparation for winter, and many couldn’t afford to spend so much time hunting for nothing.

Noel was relieved to have less scrutiny on the forest. He wanted to see if the monster really knew his name or not before deciding what to do with it. He planned on waiting for an opportunity to go out alone and see if he could find it again. In the meantime, he did his best to hole up in the St Germain estate and avoid Madelaine whenever possible.

Unfortunately, Madelaine made herself very difficult to avoid. When it came time to go to church, she once again sat beside him in the carriage. The jingle of her chatelaine chased him as she pushed him further and further on the bench and gave him no space to himself. While Alcide and Manon shared the other half of the carriage in peace, he was pressed up against the side the entire way and peppered with questions.

“Oh those are such pretty little flowers!” Madelaine cooed at the posy in Noel’s hands, “any girl would be so lucky to receive a gift like that.”

Noel held the flowers away from her and smiled apologetically at the others. “I thought it would be nice to leave something on Gaetan’s father’s grave, since Gaetan isn’t around to do it anymore,” he explained. It was a sorry and mottled assortment of small buds, the very last of the season, spared from the recent frost by the gardener who’d brought a few indoors.

“That’s a nice gesture,” Manon replied, “Don’t you think so Madelaine? You’re the only family the St Germains have in the area.”

“I feel terrible for being so preoccupied with everything else,” Madelaine sighed delicately, “I’ll pay my respects with Noel after the service.”