"Wha-" she squeaked, cleared her throat, tried again."What happened to your wounds? They are almost completely healed. Your eye is normal. That shouldn't be able to happen over night. The hole is sealed; grown back. How?"He shrugged with his eyebrows. Still not daring to move anything more. Then she turned and looked at what remained of the grizzly, waving her hand in the general direction of the carcass."And this? How? Nothing's meaner than a grizzly."Again, he shrugged with his eyebrows. She took a tentative step towards him. He scooted back on his belly, keeping the same distance between them.That made her stop. She looked into his eyes and understood what was happening. He was scared of her, or more accurately, for her. He didn't want to show anything but utter submission to this woman. Her vision blurred as her eyes overflowed with tears. This great big giant of a wolf had not only saved her life, but he was trying to make peace with the fact that he had scared her senseless

He brought his head back up, and looked at her with a 'who? me?' expression."Jesus Christ!! I thought I was having a hard time trying to fight off 24 years of cultural stigma of doing anything with you, but then I see that. My God!! That wouldn't fit, even if I wanted to!"He let her blow off some steam. He knew that actually, it would fit. Several past experiences had taught him that. As a matter of fact, there was that one woman in his past who absolutely adored it, no, craved it! What was her name... Catherine? Then he had a mental flashback of her face. Whew! Gods! She had been ugly, but she loved to fuck her beasts. Then he remembered that she had graduated to horses and he had left before he became twisted. No way was he going to take sloppy seconds from some stallion. The hiss from his left let him know that his ruminations of the past just might get him in trouble again. He looked at her to see what she was hissing at. Oops. Once more the shaft retreated into its sheath."Is

He had already accidentally let her into his mind once, just the jumbled surface, and she had seen a glimpse of HIM, not the body, but of his pure self. She had seen a little of what he truly was and it had nearly wrenched her from this world and sent her to the afterlife. It had been unintentional on his part; that meant she must have some minor ability at communicating on a level most humans think of as parlor magic tricks. With her sensitivity to emotions and surface thoughts, forcing anything into her psyche could do serious harm. He had to be very careful if he was going to do this.She watched him go completely still, his eyes glazing over, staring into a distance that was far beyond the walls of the cabin. She had seen that look before, in her grandfather's eyes when she had asked him what it had been like during the war. And just like in that afternoon with her grandfather, she could feel a chill in the air. He had gone to a place in his mind that must have been very lonely and

He kept his head right in front of her face, looking into her eyes. Yes, love. I will care for you until you are old and gone. Forever. The Fates are fickle and cruel with me as well. I am not immune to their cruelty; in fact, I suffer more than you will ever know. He crooned at her,"Aaaarrrrrroooooooooooahhhhrrraaahhhh! "Professing his love to her. She smiled. That beautiful smile; it warmed his heart. The happiness lasted for a few minutes. He grew serious again, knowing that he needed her to see the rest. He sent out a gentle caress into her mind, sensing that she was once again calm.She felt it, that feeling he was looking into her mind, her soul, right INTO her very being. She realized that there was more, and looking back into those deep blue pools, she nodded, and thought, 'Show me.'The edges of her vision clouded over again, and she felt herself falling into that deep blue water, those icy cold depths. This time it was different, the deep blue wasn't quite so cold this ti

'Time; and guilt. I could never really surrender myself to the pure bloodlust of the wolf creature. When I finally did change into a full wolf, I ran and ran, deep into the dark forests of early Europe. I took up with a pack and decided roam free and live like a wolf. Only hunting animals and then only to eat, not just to kill.'"So, now you have the body of a wolf, but the mind of a man?"He shrugged. Then nodded.'Most of the time, but not always; sometimes I forgot who I had been and would just live like a wolf. The curse always kept me alive, no matter how bad my wounds were; eventually I would heal. When I would wake up after one of these massive healing slumbers, I'd remember who I was, and start the cycle over again.'He stopped pushing his thoughts into her mind. It was too risky to continue. He was out of practice and he didn't want a repeat of his earlier mistake. He would stick to the facial expressions and body language from now on. Perhaps later, when she was more comfort