Welcome to Layman-upon-Waters. This story takes place in the same timeframe as my Laymen series with the same central protagonist. However, my hope is to have this be a stand-alone narrative that doesn’t require readers to be familiar with the main series. It can take place at almost any point on the timeline (provided you ignore the weather!), and it doesn’t develop the series’ underlying narrative. You’ll have to let me know if I’ve succeeded in that!

This is also a novel-in-a-month challenge, so chapters will release much quicker than the main series. On the flip side, I won’t have time to edit chapters to the same standard, so you can expect errors here and there. Wish me luck!

Current wordcount: 16,218 / 50,000

Chapter Two – The Werewolf

The moon was high at the closing of their third day on the road. Elliot sat back against the wagon driver’s seat with the reins of his horse in his lap. The first few times Jayce had gotten him to drive, Elliot had been terrified of losing control of the chestnut beast. Since then, he’d learned that Willow was as docile as they came. She knew what she was doing, she didn’t need his constant attention.

Elliot’s teal eyes shone with the light of the moon. Full, and unfettered from cloud in a rare show for this time of the year. The moon’s silver reflection illuminated the rushing river to their east, wide enough to obscure the far bank. And to the west, the impenetrable gloom of the forest of Ilvarith. The home of the elves. Even the moon’s divine light hadn’t revealed any of the mysterious creatures to Elliot tonight, but the forest was still alive. Fireflies, shining blue in defiance of the winter’s chill, floated back and forth between the branches. Or maybe those were ghosts, lost on their way to the next life.

The rumbling road, currently empty of traffic save for their two wagons, had worn Elliot’s anxiety down from a constant pulse to a weary, underlying rhythm. He didn’t have the stamina to keep up being afraid all the time. He yawned, covering his mouth with the sleeve of his winter coat.

“Just a little further, then we’ll stop for the night,” Sasha called over her shoulder from the seat of the wagon ahead. Her sharp grin shone in the moonlight, and she’d shed her helmet to let out the spikes of her short, dirty-blonde hair.

Elliot waved to acknowledge the message. The four travellers had pledged to push their steeds as far as they could go each day. The Layman army marching in their wake would be doing the same, though they would be limited by the foot speed of their soldiers. To maximise their time with the Sorceress, Elliot and his cohort would need to proceed at pace. But he trusted Jayce, their assigned navigator, whose map of the region had so far kept them abreast of good camp locations.

On thinking of the man, he appeared, emerging down to his shoulders from between the folds of the wagon ahead. Jayce had also removed his helmet to show off his sleek locks, and his smile was bright and refreshed. He would be taking first watch tonight and had been napping in preparation.

“Ever been this far north, Elliot?” he asked.

“Never been outside the city before three days ago,” Elliot replied. “Every step we take is the furthest I’ve ever travelled.”

“That’s right, you said. Well, north isn’t my preferred direction. East is where you want to go.”

“Is that right?”

Sensing that his expertise was valued, Jayce sat himself down on the back of the wagon with his hands braced on the wood. He wasn’t armoured yet, dressed only in a woollen overshirt and thick leggings, and his slippers tickled the nose of Elliot’s plodding horse.

“There’s a town about six days east of Layman called Bran’s Spire,” said the guardsman. “Lovely people. Fresh air. And they make this drink they call branwine, which is just to die for. You should go some time. I’d happily show you around.”

Elliot laughed. “Isn’t six days of travel a bit much for a good drink?”

“You say that ‘cos you’ve not tried it.”

“Have you ever been to the Dancing by Lantern in the Low Town?”

“No. Elliot…” Leaning forward in his seat, Jayce cast him a coy grin. “I’ve heard of that place. It’s a brothel.”

“I mean… that isn’t the only service they offer,” Elliot retorted. The heat in his cheeks melted the winter chill. “There’s music, dancing. And some good drink, is why I brought it up.”

“You go there a lot, do you?”

“It’s the closest place to the office that serves drinks.”

“Uh huh.”

“A-And Madam Lantern is a friend of the c-certificate of aegis process. I need to stick my head in now and again.”

“Stick it in, yep.”

It was clear he wasn’t going to win. Tossing back his head and rolling his eyes, Elliot sighed. “You say all that because you haven’t been there.”

Jayce laughed. “You got me! In that case, I’ll gladly follow you into any den of iniquity you choose on our triumphant return to the city, Ambassador Elliot. That’s my sombre promise to you.”

“Planning a sordid night out, I see. How droll.”

Jayce’s beaming smile fell at the sound of Sam’s dry tone, and Elliot’s shoulders stiffened. None of them had enjoyed the Accord auditor’s holier-than-thou attitude these past days, and Elliot had welcomed the long afternoons she had spent in the warmth of the girls’ wagon with her books, keeping out of the way. But she did like to have her say. She did like to remind Elliot of his place.

So it was doubly infuriating when Sam hopped into view on the left side of wagon, keeping pace with Willow’s plodding, and Elliot was reminded of how lovely she was. Sam had dressed in a long, cream-coloured tunic that reached her knees, and the plain tones of her casual outfit set off the remarkable flame of her long hair. Her cheeks were red in the cold, and her blue eyes sparkled in anticipation of prim mischief. When she hoisted herself up and into the driver seat beside Elliot, bumping him aside with her hip, Elliot’s heart thudded. She was lovely. Even when she was putting him down, she was lovely.

“Why don’t you two maintain an eye on our present engagement before thinking of celebration?” she said, crossing one leg over the other. “I want you all fully in the moment when we decide the fate of the continent.”

“Yes, Princess!” said Jayce, snapping her a mocking salute. Then he retreated into the wagon with an unrepentant snigger.

Leaving Elliot and Sam alone. The heat of her body beside his, drawing lewd memories out of the past and into the forefront of his mind, drove him to distraction.

“Did you want to take over?” he asked.

“No, I wouldn’t dream of stepping on your toes. You stay in your oh-so suitable lane of driving the wagon, and I shall remain in mine, leading our operation. That is fair, yes?”

Elliot gritted his teeth and held his silence.

“I have been thinking of our destination,” Sam continued. “Your father the castellan has encouraged me to make use of your particular experience in our negotiation with the Demon Sorceress, so I thought I ought to test you.”

“Test me?”

Sam nodded. “I wish to see how the wise Elliot of Layman plans to handle an enemy aggressor at the diplomatic table. So, let us try it. I shall play the role of the Demon Sorceress, and you be you. Now, convince me not to slaughter mankind.”

When Elliot set his eyes on her, silently demanding more context for her request, Sam turned her nose up.

“I am waiting.”

He sighed. “O Demon Sorceress. Pray tell, um… Why are you doing all of this?”

Sam laughed. To her credit, she did a good demonic overlord. Her straight back and confident smirk were malicious and powerful. Sexy, Elliot was forced to admit.

“Because it is my nature,” she sang with a demonstrative wave of one hand. “I am a bloodthirsty tyrant, so I thirst for blood.”

“There has to be more to it than that.”

“Are you so sure?”

Elliot nodded. “Positive.”

Sam’s lip twisted as she considered her answer. For a wonder, she seemed to be taking the question seriously. “My father,” she replied in the end. “In vengeance for his death at the Battle of the Plain of All Lords, I shall see his broken dream realised.”

“A dream of… what? Wanton carnage?”

“Oh yes.” Sam giggled with theatrical evil, and Elliot tried not to get too excited.

“And where do you see yourself once this carnage has been completed?” he asked. “Sitting on a throne of ash? That sounds awfully lonely.”

Sam clicked her teeth. “Elliot, this isn’t going in your favour.”

“N-No?”

“All these questions! If anything, I am now more committed to tyranny than before you opened your mouth! Your naïve begging has allowed me to solidify my dreams into plans of action! You have single-handedly doomed us all!”

“And how would you have done it differently?” he growled. “Let’s do you next. I’ll be the Demon Sorceress, and you-…”

“No, let’s not. The basis of wartime diplomacy, Elliot, is strength, the same as it is on the battlefield,” said Sam, rolling over his protestations. “Our role in negotiating peace is not to plead for mercy from the Demon Sorceress. Imagine how she will regard the soldiers your father is sending after she hears you bleat like a lost sheep. If you are their vanguard, your armsmen cannot be so fearsome. Do you see?”

“I-…”

“First, we remind her of her place. She is one woman, one leader with a small force of monsters to her name. The Accord of Regents is a union of many nations. She is hopelessly outnumbered. A smart woman would be begging for our mercy. Then, we set our demands. Disarmament, exile or imprisonment. Her intelligence is valuable in understanding the nature of monstrous creatures like herself. She may offer us that wisdom in return for a lenient judgement.”

“What did you have in mind?” sighed Elliot.

“Ideally? A swift beheading,” said Sam with a wide smile. “A much kinder fate than what the other regents could cook up, I assure you.”

Elliot shook his head. “I think she’d just kill us if we said any of that.”

“Then you are more hopeless a case than-…”

A wooden crash broke her flow. The wagon ahead shuddered as the front wheel clattered over an obstacle in the road. In the driver’s seat, Sasha cursed, and her voice was joined by an unhealthy rumble from her wagon’s axle. Sam, one hand pressed to her chest, let out a grating sigh.

The front wagon came to a halt in the middle of the road, and Elliot only needed to supply a little encouragement for Willow to do the same. The sensible horse had no intention of bonking her head on the vehicle in front. Once they were still, Sasha and Jayce, emerging from inside the wagon in a full set of padded leathers, investigated the damage.

“That was one hell of a stone,” Jayce tutted, kneeling in the dirt and scouring the road for the offending rock.

“And it’s cracked the bolt in the front here,” said Sasha. “We’ll need to bind it with something. Grab the cord from inside.”

“I am so pleased to share this journey with such competent workers,” said Sam. “So quick to leap into action. Elliot? Do you have something to offer here?”

Even this she laid at his feet. Simmering with anger, Elliot pushed off the wagon seat and landed on the road.

“No,” he snarled. “I’m better off out of the way, aren’t I?”

“Where are you going?”

“To piss!”

His snapping voice sounded petulant in his own ears, but Sam had pushed him to his limit. Hands deep in his pockets, he stormed off towards the tree line. Fireflies danced out of his way as if sensing his mood. Maybe the arboreal gloom would cool his nerves. He could feel Sam’s eyes on him as he retreated from the battlefield, so he pointedly put a line of ancient oaks between them.

“Cruel, spiteful little…” he hissed as he relieved himself. He didn’t have a great need, so there wasn’t much to speak of. What little he provided to the roots of the tree steamed in the cold. But the solitude was soothing. “How dare she be so…!”

Elliot shook himself off with an angry flick. His hands on his cock weren’t providing any stimulation. But still, he experienced a rush of lust from the depths of his belly, jolted to life by the spark of his contact and the bubbling rage in his heart.

Sam, so proud and noble. So smart and ambitious. She delighted in putting herself over him. She revelled in pushing him down! Well, she hadn’t looked so proud bent over in front of him with his cock in her pussy! She hadn’t been able to hold to her arrogance while she was begging him to keep pounding her!

Before he knew what he was doing, Elliot was pumping his cock. He was fanning the flames of his desire with a tight grip of his fingers. His breath misted in the air before him. When he hit his momentum, he lashed out and held to the jagged bark of the tree for balance.

Sam, bent before him and offering herself to him. Sam, on her knees and apologising for her rudeness with her lips. Screaming his name as he ploughed her. Holding tight to him. Overwhelmed by her need for him.

Overwhelmed…

Gasping for breath, Elliot slowed his hand. His cock throbbed with unspent tension, ready to let out its payload. But he couldn’t do it. Not with so nasty a tale playing out in his mind. Not at Sam’s expense. She couldn’t help the way she had been taught to negotiate, all bull-headed and spiteful. She was a creature of the Accord now. But she would see sense, as smart as she was, if Elliot was willing to just give her a little respect.

Elliot stretched out his spine with a grunt. His balls were full, since he’d not had this chance to masturbate in three days. His cock was an awkward, perpendicular pole sticking out of his breeches. But he had the moral high ground. And that was a victory he could afford to-…

A long-fingered hand tipped with hooked claws landed on his shoulder, and Elliot stiffened all the way down to the head of his erection. Hot air against his ear preceded a sharp-toothed voice, dripping with predatory, feminine threat.

“Oi,” his aggressor growled, “what the fuck are you doing to my tree?”

* * *

Sam’s legs swung from the wagon seat as she waited for the two guards to complete their repairs. Sasha was on her back below the front wagon, swearing under her breath as she bound the cracked joint with thick cord. Jayce was underneath the seat of her rear wagon, searching for a rock.

“We could have done with bringing a proper Castle craftsperson with us,” Sasha said, punctuating her words with a creak of leather as she tugged at a knot.

“You seem to be doing very well,” said Sam.

“Your Highness is too kind,” the guardswoman growled. “I only know how to do this because I was friends with someone from the transport guild. She wasn’t free often, so I had to watch her work if I wanted to talk with her.”

“I see.”

Sasha wriggled on her back until she was grinning up at Sam. “I did enjoy seeing that girl use her hands, though,” she said. Then she winked.

Sam flushed, but she held her calm. The impish woman was trying to shock her. A good thing Sam was so open-minded.

She realised she was composing a letter in her head. Sam stowed her mental stationery and returned to Sasha her smile.

“Sounds charming,” she said, and earned a narrow-eyed look in return.

“Aha, here’s the bugger.”

Jayce emerged from under the wagon with a victorious smile. He had marks of dust on his cheeks and armour from where he’d been digging, but he held a long stone in both hands. The offending object was shaped like a sharp wedge, and Sam saw wet earth around a fat plug of stone on the rock’s underside.

Sasha crawled forwards and knelt in the road beside her partner, her arms on his shoulders. “That’s a weird-looking rock.”

“Isn’t it just? This bit anchored it into the road,” Jayce explained, “and the dust covered it up so it was camouflaged the same colour. And this sharp edge along the top was just right for…”

He trailed off, staring down at the rock in his hands with a frown. The man’s face suited a smile more than this speculative scowl. And his musical voice didn’t match the severity of his next question.

“Where’s Elliot?”

The stereo bellow from the forest pushed Sam’s soul out of her body. She clung to the wagon seat as the shouting voices were joined by a rapid clunk of metal straps and thuds of booted footfall. Her vision swam.

“Princess!” Sasha leapt to her feet in front of Sam and broke her paralysis with a firm hand on her arm. “Get inside!”

She did as she was told. Sam pushed through the cover into the wagon’s warm interior. With the bloodcurdling cries of the approaching robbers muted by the thick fabric, she was able to return to a measure of sensibility. Sam went for her satchel and grabbed the knife she’d stowed inside, and this also helped her feel in control.

“I am an ambassador of the Accord of Regents,” she whispered. “I am powerful. I control the movement of nations.”

She repeated the words over and over as the shouting voices approached the wagons. And each repetition made her voice a little less pathetic, a little more respectable.

“I am powerful,” said Sam, and this time, she believed it. “I am brave.”

Sam stepped back out into the winter night. Jayce was nowhere in sight, but Sasha was braced against the rear of the front wagon with a crossbow aimed at the woods. She shot Sam a furious glare on seeing her.

“I said, inside!” she snapped.

But Sam was brave, and she disregarded the advice. She turned to face the enemy.

There were five of them in total, which wasn’t as many as she had imagined. Four appeared to be male, and one female. Their leather clothing was rough and piecemeal, each a unique scrapbook of protective materials, and they each proudly showed off a great deal of rugged, muscular flesh. Some had metal plates bolted around their shoulders or up their ankles. One held a short spear, one a sword, and the others axes. And all were armed with a joyous, rictus grin. But they had halted their charge. They danced at the roadside, completely at ease with their distance from the wagons.

Sam’s heart lurched when she regarded the eyes of the bandits, which seemed to be glowing. But that must have been the moonlight. She swallowed her cowardice once more.

“What an embarrassing display!” Sam called out, and the whooping calls of the five reduced to manic chuckles. “Do you not recognise the colours of these vehicles? We are a delegation from the Accord of Regents, the most powerful military union in history! And you think to stand against us?”

The closest bandit, a tall, bald male with a black streak of paint across his face, bared his teeth at her. “Ooh, we’ve got a real character here! What’s your name, sister?”

“I am the Lady Samantha of High Tower, Audit Official of the Accord.”

The robbers whistled with mocking appreciation, and Sam flushed. One of the rogues said, “Sounds like the Boss!”

“Well, Sister Sam, pleasure to meet you!” called the bald man. “We are the Mercury Fang, and we’ll be your dance partners for this evening!”

“Pity, I am not much of a dancer,” said Sam with a keen smirk. “Perhaps one of the battalion of armed soldiers in our wake would be more to your fancy. You shan’t have to wait long, I promise you that.”

The bald man, to her amazement, sniffed the air. “I don’t smell any iron, sister. I reckon your party is actually quite a ways behind you.”

“Regardless, an attack on this caravan is an attack against the Accord, and you can expect lethal retribution sooner rather than later.”

“Sounds like a tomorrow problem.” This appeared to be an in-joke among the cohort, as they howled like hyenas, calming only slowly. “Tomorrow’s still a few hours away,” said the bald man once he’d collected his breath, “and that gives us all the time we need to take what we want from you. And I think you know what we want. So, sister, let’s get started…”

His head was bent, and he took a heavy, confident step forward. He licked his lips. Sam’s heart was pattering, bravery faltering. At her feet, Sasha braced herself to fire her weapon.

“Hand over your tasty horses.”

The night fell silent. Sam stared at the line of robbers. Their eyes were not on her; they were on the two wagon-pulling beasts. Again, the bald man licked his lips.

“Excuse me?” asked Sam.

“We’ve gone all month without decent meat!” the female bandit suddenly bellowed. “The forest guards its morsels too well! C’mon, hand them over! Those flanks would make a delicious fucking stew!”

The horse drawing Sam’s wagon, somehow sensing the mood, shook its mane.

“W-Well…” said Sam, then cleared her throat and tried again. “We are travelling at speed on a… a quest of dire proportions. We need these horses to reach our goal in time.”

The bald man shrugged, and his thick arm hoisted a heavy-looking axe with ease. “Not our problem, sister. We’re hungry, is the long and short of it. And on this most auspicious of nights, you passed by our doorstep. You’re going to have to do something about our hunger.”

Sasha hissed for Sam’s attention. “Ask about Elliot!” she whispered.

“We may negotiate,” said Sam, “but first, a member of our cohort is currently missing. I cannot engage with you in good faith without knowing of his safety.”

“He was back here?” called the female, pointing over her shoulder. She grinned a fiendish, bloodthirsty grin. “Then he belongs to the Boss now. You won’t be saving him from his fate.”

The Mercury Fang let out another howl into the night sky, and Sam was forced to acknowledge that she was worried.

* * *

Elliot was yanked backwards through the air. He fell into a roll on the soft undergrowth of the forest. Lying on his back and dusted with moss, he could see the full moon through the canopy of the trees.

But then, a shadow pounced upon him. A humanoid figure, silhouetted by the light of the moon, pushed him down with lethal claws and the weight of its hips. A wave of hot breath washed over his skin, followed by a purring voice.

“Been a while since I’ve caught something in these woods,” the ferocious woman said. “You have a name, my little morsel?”

Elliot stared. His tongue was still in his mouth. This woman was more wolf than human, with fine, blue-white fur coating her flesh and a long, canine snout inches from his nose. Her ears were long, fuzzy and folded, and the silver moonlight illuminated a swishing tail like a broom head at the base of her spine. Her eyes were a brilliant topaz yellow, and her long limbs were tight with muscle.

The feral woman was naked, as far as Elliot could tell. Her breasts and abdomen lacked her animal coat, revealing the points of nipples on rough, grey flesh, but her vagina was buried under a thicket of fuzz. The shape of her body, however elongated by her canine nature, was still familiarly feminine, enough to make Elliot’s confused cock, yet hard with need, twitch against her pubis. And this tiny motion provoked a cackle from the wolf.

“You can’t remember your own name, can you?” she laughed. Elliot marvelled at how her long lips were able to produce words with such clarity. “You’re too far gone! I can smell the lust on you, morsel! All pent up…”

She leant forward and sniffed his skin. Her nose was wet. “But I want your name, and I’ll have it.”

“E-E-Elliot,” he managed. “Elliot of L-Layman.”

“Mmm… Elliot. So nice to meet your acquaintance. I’m Ana.”

The wolf ran her rough tongue over his ear, and she chuckled when Elliot let a nervous gasp from his lips.

“Let me explain what’s happening,” said Ana. “I’m not wasteful. These woods teach you to not take anything for granted. So I won’t kill you unless you make me. Understand?”

He nodded with a sharp jolt of motion.

“Good boy. But you’ve got shit in your wagons that my people need. And I don’t think your friends want you hurt. So you’re gonna march out there with my claws around your neck, and they’re gonna let us grab all we want from your cargo. Including those… horses…”

Ana’s belly gurgled. Elliot could feel hot saliva on his cheek.

“But first, we have something else to discuss. This thing.”

To Elliot’s terror and joy, Ana pushed her hips forward and rubbed his cock with her firm, fur-lined body. She growled with pleasure as a wet slit of flesh beneath the fur slipped across his turgid member.

“You were giving it some attention just now, but you stopped. Poor morsel.” Ana chuckled, but the sound broke into an excited croak after another roll of her hips. “Must be so pent up. And I have my own needs. The moon makes me hungry, angry. And horny!”

She nuzzled his neck with her snout and ran her teeth over his skin. “I’m fucking horny, Elliot! And this thing of yours is just what I need. So, in the spirit of banditry to which I am accustomed, I’m gonna take a load from you before sending you home. And I’m thinking…”

Ana grunted as a rotation of her body brought her slit up to his swollen head. “I’m thinking… you want to come in me too. You smell ready, you randy morsel. Am I wrong?”

Maybe this would be how Sam would treat him, Elliot’s mad mind wondered. Maybe in the last five years, she had adopted the nature of a bully not just in her work but also the bedroom. Maybe she would hold him down and drain his frustration from him with a roll of her hips. Just like this…

“No,” he whispered. “You’re… not wrong.”

“Marvellous.”

Ana wasted no further time. Releasing his shoulder with one claw, she dragged her nails down his coat and into his pubic hair, then wrapped her long fingers around his cock. She was gentle, Elliot was relieved to find. Ana held him upright as she manoeuvred her body over his. She rubbed herself with his head and chuckled with pride at his needy gasping. Then she lunged forward and sat herself down.

Elliot entered the wolf. The intense heat of her insides was a shock to his system, enough to make him judder. Ana held him in a hot vice of wet flesh, soaking him in her fluid. She threw back her head and gasped up at the moon.

“A-Ahh, there it is! Right there! Good boy…”

Still holding him inside her, Ana loomed over him. Her long, canine feet were planted firmly in the undergrowth and her angular knees pointed straight ahead. She sat up on his cock and braced herself with her hands on his shoulders. Elliot was reminded of a house hound listening for the commands of its master.

But Ana was the master here. She was the one in control. And she demonstrated this control by slamming her hips down on his cock.

It hurt. Ana’s powerful body punished Elliot’s bones with the force of her rutting. She held him tight and used his cock to bring her pleasure, snarling all the while. It was all Elliot could do to stay conscious under the pummelling he was receiving.

It hurt, but it also felt spectacular. Elliot was squeezed and kneaded by Ana’s alien vagina. He was rubbed with the ferocity of a mating beast. His skin was aflame with the friction of her primal lovemaking. If anything, the pain was a delicious accent, drawing attention to the luxuriant pampering of the rest of the experience.

Ana relinquished Elliot’s shoulder and put her claw on his temple, holding him down in the dirt. Her yellow eyes rolled as she continued to fuck him with rapid pumps of her body, and her long lips parted to let misty breaths of ecstasy into the winter air.

“Ah-ah-ah-ah!” she howled. “Ah! Ahh! Fuck!”

“M-Mmph!” agreed Elliot, pinned beneath her.

But for all the exquisite pleasure of being fucked by the wolf, his pelvis was aching. His mind was reeling as it began to acknowledge what was happening to him. Flustered, aching and confused, Elliot realised that he was not going to climax like this. Not when he’d had no time to prepare.

Ana was lovely. Her soft fur shone in the silver moonlight, and she was warm where he had been cold. Her eyes were alive with passion and wit. He liked the growling tenor of her voice. And being controlled like this, having a partner who knew exactly what she wanted, was appealing. He didn’t need to worry that he was disappointing her, since their coupling was entirely out of his hands.

But it had been a long day, and there was a stone in the soil under the small of his back. And Ana had threatened his friends. Once she was done with him, she would feed on their cargo, and that would impact the success of their quest. The way Sam would look at him for failing her… However much he wanted to let his mind off its leash and just enjoy being fucked by this powerful woman, he could not bring himself to come.

Ana didn’t care about any of that. She bent forwards as her pumping body reached new, punishing heights of speed. She shut her eyes tight and gripped him with her claws.

“Fuck! Fuck! F-F-F-Fuck!!”

With an animalistic snarl, Ana pressed her body against Elliot’s and climaxed around his cock. Her open jaws clamped about his neck and pricked him with her teeth. And a flow of hot fluid ran down his shaft and into his hair. His cock throbbed inside Ana. Then it shivered as she pulled herself off him and revealed it again to the air.

Ana staggered away from Elliot, panting for breath. Her loping strides took her out of sight, and Elliot was bathed once more in the light of the moon. He lay in the undergrowth and tried to put his dazed mind back together.

“Fuck…” Ana repeated. “I needed that. I really needed that. You okay?”

Elliot tried to speak, but all that emerged was a choking cough. Ana barked out a laugh.

“Yeah, I did a number on you, eh? Get yourself clean, then let’s go meet your friends. Feel free to brag to them about how well I fucked you.”

He did as he was told. Elliot put a hand over his eyes and willed his heart to slow. He’d been through quite an experience. He’d likely never view sex quite the same again.

And yet… Ana was now his enemy.

Elliot pushed up onto his elbows and regarded the wolf-woman. She was facing away from him. Ana had her claws around one of her lithe thighs, and she was inspecting her fur with a canine scowl of discontent. When Elliot peeked through the fur on her leg, he saw a narrow, dark smudge on her flesh. An old wound, now infected? He was no physician, and he’d never met a woman with Ana’s physiology before. But she was snarling as she touched at the mark. It clearly bothered her.

And that vulnerability was enough to grant strength to Elliot’s legs. He pushed up to his feet, planting his hands on his knees while his lungs recovered their spent air. If he was going to convince Ana to spare his friends and let them leave, now was the time to do it.

Can’t we come to an agreement? Maybe there’s something you need that we can offer you. Don’t you see how the threat of the Demon Sorceress affects us all?

But as he plotted, Sam’s cackling voice resounded in his skull. Bleating like a lost sheep, she had said. Naive begging would only encourage Ana to bully him some more. And as fun as that sounded…

“Hey.”

Ana, still clutching her leg, glanced at him over her lupine shoulder. “What?”

He drew up his anger, his insecurity, his shame. He let it burn like a forge in his belly. And he grabbed his erection.

“I’m not done.”

Ana bared her teeth. “Well, now. I did promise you a climax, didn’t I? Too bad.” She turned her head and dismissed him. “Don’t feel like it now.”

Elliot hissed in a breath. He steeled his nerves. First, Sam had said, we remind her of her place. He charged.

Ana stagged forwards with the force of his impact, barking her surprise. Elliot held to her strong body and made to bend her forward. But she was so much stronger than him. Ana chuckled.

“I respect what you’re trying to do,” she said, “but you aren’t in charge here, morsel. I-…”

Reaching down, Elliot grabbed her injured thigh and tugged. With a canine yelp, Ana tumbled forward onto her hands and knees with Elliot clamped onto her waist.

“Fuck!” she snapped. “You sneaky twat! Get the fuck-…!”

Now looming over her back, Elliot grabbed his cock and pushed. To his relief, her found her at once.

“…-o-o-off!!”

Elliot pressed his hips against Ana’s rear. He anchored himself inside her vagina and held tight to her furry waist with both hands. Her powerful limbs kept his partner steady as he drew back and delivered a thrust into her, as deep as he could go. When gasping breaths were all she could retort, he began in earnest, rutting into Ana’s slit with pumps of his hips.

It felt good. This time, it felt very good. And Ana’s shocked laughter fuelled the flame in his heart.

“S-Sneaky little morsel!” she hissed. “You’re besotted with me! Fine. Let me take care of you.”

The wolf began to roll her hips in time with Elliot’s thrusting, and a strangled moan of joy left his lips. His throbbing, desperate cock was set alight with sweet flame inside her.

“You like that?” she laughed. “Y-You like my wolf pussy on your cock? Huh?”

Elliot grunted as he worked, saying nothing.

“I asked you a question, morsel.”

Ana choked with shock as Elliot leant forward over her body, stroked one hand up her back and gripped her at the base of her neck. He hissed into her ear.

“Quiet. I’m busy.”

Ana’s bright, yellow eye widened. “Wh-What? What the fuck?” Then it rolled back in her skull as Elliot delivered another pound into her.

He needed to be firm. He needed to come to the negotiation table fully in control of the situation. That was the only way a strong woman like Ana was going to give him the time of day.

And she had come to him as a beast. So, Elliot needed to become the same.

Ana tried to lift herself up and dislodge him, sensing what he was doing. But while her limbs were powerful, her will faltered under his aggressive treatment. When she made to toss him off, Elliot gripped her at the scruff of her neck and pounded her firmly. She slipped in the dirt over and over. And her ferocious snarls of defiance turned slowly to needy grunts as she gave up her resistance.

He rutted into Ana for what felt like hours, and it was hard going. If he was going to come out of this on top, he had to hold back his climax until it was needed. He sweated and grunted as he rubbed himself inside his partner. His cock ached for release. But with the strength of his will, he held it back.

Ana was beginning to soften under his treatment. The squeeze of her pussy tightened, and her breaths sang with restrained desire. Her claws made tracks in the dirt beneath them.

“Y-You’re gonna…!” she moaned. “You’re gonna… make me…!”

She tipped back her head and howled, giving herself to the pleasure of his cock. Ana rolled against him, devouring him greedily. It felt incredible, but Elliot gritted his teeth and forced the orgasm back down.

“I’m gonna…!” wailed Ana. “O-Ohh, I’m gonna…!”

Elliot pushed himself deep inside her, held her body tight. Then he stopped. Ana’s panting breaths were sharp as she turned her head towards him. She bared her teeth.

“Hey!” she snapped. “You stopped! Fuck you! Keep going!”

“Hm?” asked Elliot. “You want me to keep going?”

Ana growled. She wriggled her body against Elliot’s, trying to force him to thrust into her again. But holding to her as he was, Elliot remained perfectly still.

“Morsel…!”

“Let me explain what’s happening,” panted Elliot. “If you want to come, you’re going to have to be a good girl. Can you do that?”

When Ana drew back her lips in preparation to bite, Elliot tightened his hand on the back of her neck. And in a moment of inspiration, drawing from a conversation he’d overheard from the Castle kennel master in his youth, he took one of Ana’s ears between his teeth and bit down.

“A-Ahh!” she sang.

“Can you be a good girl?” he asked around her ear.

Ana whimpered. Her big eyes were shining, and her pussy was quivering. “Y-Yes,” she whispered.

“Hm?”

“Yes, I-I’ll be good!” she said. “I’ll be a good girl! J-Just let me finish!”

Elliot released her. He stroked the soft fur at the back of her neck. “Glad to hear it.”

He began to thrust, and Ana keened with joy. Elliot was finally able to relax his hold on her, safe in the knowledge that she was staying right where she was. And finally, finally, he let himself go.

“Y-Yes, yes, yes!” he groaned. “Oh, yes! Oh, Ana!”

“Ah-ah-ah!” she replied. “E-E-Elliot!!”

They bucked in sweet concert. Elliot and Ana danced together in the moonlight. Their motions synchronised, heightening the penetration and the gorging both. Beast and human were made one by the wordless, primitive dance of sex.

Elliot cried out. “Ana! Ahh!” And then he was coming. Gripping her hips, he pushed himself inside her and unloaded his cock into her pussy. He painted her insides with his come. After so long without release, and after Ana’s ferocious treatment earlier, it was more than a little painful. But what a relief. What a spectacular relief.

And inspired by his orgasm, Ana joined her voice to his. “Elliot!!” She shivered and howled as a powerful climax rocked her body. Her voice shook the undergrowth and made the fireflies flutter away in terror.

They came down together. Elliot panted over Ana’s bent spine. He staggered backwards and fell onto his rear in the dirt, cock and brow dripping with moisture. He tipped his head back and took in the shining moon above, the endless witness to his ‘negotiation’.

“You okay?”

He looked down, and then stared. Ana had transformed. Her limbs had shrunk and her fur retracted into her soft flesh. Her snout had returned to a human nose and lips. Her hair was familiarly thick and shaggy, a messy flow around her shoulders. The same blue-grey as her fur had been. And her eyes were the same glorious topaz yellow. Her cheeks were flushed red, and Elliot’s semen was dripping from her exposed vagina.

On seeing his alarm, Ana looked down at her own hands. Her body was lined with muscle, just as she had been as a wolf. But Elliot found new admiration for her body in its human form, with its soft breasts and thick thighs. She looked a little older than he was, perhaps her thirties.

“Oh, shit,” said Ana. “Guess the beast’s done for the night.”

In the distance, the sound of hooting laughter. Elliot and Ana turned towards the sound. That’s right, they still had work to do.

Ana met his gaze. Her wide eyes watched him carefully. No more the master, no more the one in control. She gazed at Elliot as if he was the only thing she could see. She said nothing. She waited for him to speak first.

Elliot sat up onto his knees, and he smiled. “So? What do you say?”

And Ana beamed, showing off her sharp teeth. “Thanks for the fuck!” she said.

“Good girl.”

* * *

The Mercury Fang were growing impatient. Sam watched the bald man’s pacing, back and forth in the grass beside the road. Sasha’s crossbow didn’t seem to faze him at all. He spun his axe around the joint of his wrist.

“What’s taking the Boss so long?” hissed one of his male companions. “She doesn’t normally drag her heels!”

“So hungry…” moaned the female Fang.

Sam raised her voice. “You are welcome to leave at any time!”

“And waste an evening?” Bald Man tightened his face into a scowl.  “Nah. Nah…”

He glanced over his shoulder at the dark of the trees. When nobody emerged, he nodded to his compatriots.

“We can handle this ourselves.”

“Princess, seriously, get inside,” whispered Sasha. “Jayce and I will keep you safe.”

Sam held her knife tight. “I can keep myself safe,” she made herself say.

Sasha clicked her teeth.

“If you’re sure you don’t wanna just give up the goods,” called Bald Man, “then we’ve got no choice! Fang! Let’s-…!”

“Hold!”

The effect was instant. All five members of the Mercury Fang went stiff as statues. Their eyes shot down to their boots, and their lips sealed tightly shut. Down on the road, Sasha shivered with tension, letting out a gasp of relief when she didn’t reflexively put a bolt in one of the bandits.

From the line of trees stepped two figures. One was Elliot, and he appeared to have been scuffling. His thick, brown hair was mussed, and it was home to a pair of twigs. His face, especially his right cheek, was marred with dirt. His uneven gait suggested he’d tumbled. But he was smiling, and that made Sam worry. Whatever reason did the stupid boy have to be smiling?

Beside him walked a woman with shaggy, grey hair. She was wearing a winter coat and, based on her bare legs and feet, nothing else. Sam started – that was Elliot’s coat! No wonder he was shivering! The bandit queen’s brilliant, yellow eyes were fixed with a savage glower on the five others, and her teeth glinted when she barked at them.

“Giving the orders now, Randolf? Fuck you think you are?”

Her sharp voice, matching the sharp points of her teeth, made the five bandits jump with fright. Randolf, Bald Man, quivered in his boots.

“S-So sorry, Boss,” he whispered.

“None of you maggots move a muscle, you hear? We’ve made ourselves a little deal with these travellers! You hurt them, and I’ll show you the inside of your own arse!”

Elliot crept around the savage berating and made for the wagons, and the eyes of the bandit queen turned to follow him. And for a wonder, her expression softened. Her big eyes gazed moonishly at the boy’s back, and her smile was rosy and doting. And… was that a tail wagging under her coat?

Elliot’s mouth was open by the time he reached the two wagons, but Sam didn’t give him the chance to speak.

“What kind of ludicrous deal did you make with these savages?” she hissed, hopping down from the seat and marching towards him. “Have you sold us into slavery, you stupid boy?”

The ‘stupid boy’ put up his hands to defend against her tirade, but he didn’t shrink back from her as he’d done on days past. “I just agreed to give them some of our meatier travel rations,” he said. “The castellan took me through the numbers, and we have more than we need to get to the dungeon and back. We can afford it, and the Fang are willing to let us pass with just a small donation. It’s a good deal.”

“A-A good deal?” Sam’s tongue tripped over the words. Her mind was spinning. But he wasn’t wrong. If all they needed to surrender was a few packs of jerky, which Sam didn’t really care for anyway, then they had gotten off lightly. The question was, of course, how Elliot had achieved such a deal.

In her fluster, she missed Elliot disregard her and turn to Sasha. “Do we still have some of the anaiae root in our medical supplies? The stuff we use for infection?”

“Uh,” said Sasha, and it soothed Sam’s pride to see the bowwoman equally bemused. “Sure we do.”

“I’d like to give them some of that too, if we have it to spare. I think they could use it.”

“I’ll go grab some, then.”

The cold air was devoid of tension. A breeze blowed playfully between the ten travellers. Elliot and Jayce, once the guard had returned from his flanking position, assembled a wrapped pack of food and herbs, and Randolf, after a clip on the ear from his master, gingerly crossed the road to receive it. He bowed his head like a humble beggar.

“S-Sorry about the shouting and that,” he said quietly. “The full moon does shit to us, but we’re not bad people. Honest.”

“I believe it,” said Elliot with a wide smile.

“B-But… if I could maybe just get a lick of one of your horses?”

The bandit queen was behind him in an instant. She grabbed Randolf by the scruff of his armour and tugged his ear down to her level.

“Cheeky twat!” she snarled. “Get outta here!”

“Sorry! Sorry!” Randolf scurried away, an impressive feat for a man of his size, hugging the supplies to his chest. When he reached the rest of the Fang, they gathered around the wrapped package and began sniffing it. The air filled with joyous howling.

“That’ll keep us going for a while,” said the queen with her hands on her hips and a sharp smile on her lips. “Cheers.”

“Are you sure you’re alright living in Ilvarith, Ana?” asked Elliot. Sam watched the shorter woman’s eyes shoot plaintively to his face just at the sound of his voice.

“You mean ‘cos of the elves?  We don’t cause them any fuss. It’s not like we’re raiding their towns. Can’t even find the things!”

“So long as you’re staying safe.”

Now the bandit was blushing. Sam could hardly believe her eyes.

“Did you want to stay here tonight?” Ana asked. Again, the shape of a tail moving rapidly back and forth by her bare bum. It must have been a trick of the moonlight.

Elliot looked over his shoulder at Jayce, their navigator. But the look was an acknowledgement, not a question.

“We should press on,” said Elliot. “We’ve got a long way to go, and this delay has set us back. I-It was fun, though!” he amended on seeing Ana’s glum expression. “I… I had fun.”

I had fun?! Sam must have let some of her exasperation into the air, as Elliot cast her a curious frown. But his attention was once more taken by Ana, who bounced playfully against his chest with a fiendish giggle.

“You remember that,” she said. “Remember how much fun you had with me, Elliot of Layman.”

“Since you seem to be in a good mood,” said Sam, and it upset her how out of place her own voice sounded in the conversation. “Has your new friend Elliot shared the nature of our journey?”

Elliot slapped himself on the brow in admonition, though Sam would have happily done that for him.

“We’re going to meet with the Demon Sorceress,” he told Ana. “We’re hoping to stop her from declaring war on the whole continent. Do you know anything about that?”

Ana folded her arms and scrunched up her nose. “North? I dunno anything about no Demon Sorceress, but something is going on up north. I can feel in my blood.”

“What kind of feeling?”

She scowled. “A… pull. Something is pulling me. But I don’t know what, so I’m not gonna listen to it. Maybe you should be worrying about yourself more than us forest-dwellers, Elliot. Weird stuff is afoot in the north.”

In short order, they were on their way. Ana and the Mercury Fang waved from the roadside as the two wagons rattled along the north road once more. Elliot had borrowed a new jacket from Jayce, and Sam was frustrated to see that the thinner outfit suited him. It showed off his forearms, where his bigger coat had only hidden him away. He waved back to the howling bandits, then turned about and settled in the rear wagon’s driving seat next to Sam.

He only resisted her insistent glare for a moment. Elliot’s teal eyes were wide and nervous as they regarded her.

“Go on, then,” said Sam. “Explain. How did you do that?”

Elliot looked down at his lap. “I… took your advice. I didn’t let Ana think I was weak. I showed her I could be tough.”

Sam let out a derisive chuckle which Elliot, frustratingly, ignored.

“But I also saw the way she wanted to be treated,” he continued. “I didn’t wait for her to come to me to fill out a form, or discuss military ethics or something. I went to her. I met her where she was. And…”

He was blushing as he said, “And she was very receptive to me when I did.”

Sam folded her arms. She’d heard only a few lessons akin to Elliot’s from her tutors at High Tower. Establishing empathy, learning a diplomacy target’s culture and acknowledging such in discussion, was an increasingly unpopular stance in the era of the Accord of Regents. Nations were expected to conform to the status quo in the modern day. And the Demon Sorceress would be no exception.

But he had listened to her and made use of her advice. And Sam couldn’t contain her swell of pride. In a sense, it was she who had saved all their lives tonight.

“I am glad you learned something,” she said. “Perhaps there is hope for you yet.”

“Thanks.”

Elliot was smiling at her. He held her gaze for just a moment longer than was professionally appropriate. Then he put his eyes on the road again.

And Sam did the same so he wouldn’t see it was her turn to blush.

laymenstory