(Jenny)
I can’t say that my life hasn’t been interesting since I met the Sheikh. First I got to go to a fancy party, followed by me landing a job where I met the coolest people in the world. Then I learned what it was like to turn into a wolf once a month and destroy people’s lives. I was practically Kim Kardasian.
Though I’ll admit that unlike Kim’s life, mine isn’t all glamour and body hair issues. For example, I’m currently living in the woods with a bunch of weird strangers because I can’t be trusted around normal humans. Another example is the whole turning into a wolf thing, because when I do, I apparently kill people.
So my life isn’t exactly KK’s life. It’s a lot more disturbing and there is a lot less body waxing. Interestingly enough though, there is just as much nudity.
I guess the whole living in the woods with a bunch of weird strangers thing is a little different too. For me that’s new. That happened after a wolf showed up at my door and told me that I had to help him catch the Sheikh—my old employer and onetime lover.
The wolf man said that the Sheikh was turning people into werewolves … Sorry, I mean wolves. I’m still getting used to the whole politically correct thing. After I helped David and we caught the Sheikh, David chained my ex-boss to a tree at his wolf campsite and told me I couldn’t leave until after the full moon.
Honestly, the way David handled everything was a little shady. It’s fine though. I would kind of prefer to be around others like me right now. I’ve never turned into a wolf before … I mean, I don’t remember turning into a wolf before.
I believe it’s happened, but it freaks me out that somehow my full-figured body is going to squeeze into the body of a wolf. My bones are going to break and hair is going to shoot out of my skin like porcupine quills. I’ve seen it happen to other people—it looks terrifying.
So, do I want to go through that by myself back in my apartment where my roommate Samantha could walk in at any moment? No. I can already feel her subtle judgments about my weight. I don’t need her starting on me about electrolysis. Oh, and I would also prefer not to kill her and then wake up with her half eaten body on the floor. I’ve been trying to eat healthier and there is nothing natural about that party girl.
I’m kidding, of course. My biggest fear about being a wolf is that I’m going to hurt someone. Samantha, my hot boyfriend Luke, somebody walking by—everyone’s in danger with me around. So turning into a wolf in the woods with people who know what they’re doing, that’s as good as it gets.
The Sheikh, however, doesn’t seem to agree. For some reason, ever since he has woken up tied to that tree, he’s been a little upset. Sure, he hasn’t been yelling, but he’s been doing a lot of loud talking. And since he’s a sheikh it has mostly been him ordering people to do things like “know your place,” or “unchain me,” or “get me some pants.” David has told us to ignore him, however, so we have.
Ignoring him did get harder for me when he started calling to me by name. It used to be my job to do whatever he asked so I still have that impulse. And does my memory of his broad shoulders and rippling chest create a further challenge? Sure. Can his deep, rumbling voice sometimes trigger thoughts about his thick manhood and make me want to run to the tree and ogle his naked body while I touch my throbbing flesh? Of course it does. But like I said, I’ve resisted.
Luckily the camp is big enough that I haven’t had to see him since he’s woken up. That’s a good thing. I have a boyfriend now and Luke is the best guy you’ll ever meet. He’s tall and gorgeous with crystal blue eyes. He’s a bit of a grizzly man but in the best way possible. And on top of that, for some reason, he really likes me.
Luke is a thousand times better than the raging asshole I worked for, excuse my language. He would never use women the way the Sheikh did. And most certainly, Luke would never turn a woman into a werewolf and then wait to see what happens instead of telling her about it.
Of course to be fair, Luke probably wouldn’t kill people to save my life like the Sheikh did either. I still can’t believe that the Sheikh did that. With my memories coming back to me from that night, I remembered his wolf tearing a man to shreds when he tried to stop us from leaving. He was protecting me—I’m sure of it now.
Oh my god, my body feels like it’s on fire just thinking about him. It is taking everything in me to not run to him, throw myself on his hard cock and ride him until I’m quivering in orgasm.
I keep imagining his large hands gripping my breasts, his powerful thrusts pushing inside of me and his animal taking hold and ravishing me. I would moan so loud that everyone in the camp would hear me. They would gather around us watching and I would let my head fall back showing them a face awash in violent ecstasy.
As my body shook and twitched in his arms, my pussy would strangle his cock. Overcome with pleasure, he would explode. And as his manhood throbbed inside of me, he would wrap his arms around me, swallowing me with his body.
More exhausted than I’ve been in my life, I would collapse into his arms knowing that he would protect me. Warmed by his body heat and drunk on his musk, I would then fall asleep. He would hold me like that forever and in turn I would never let him go.
“You need something, Jenny?” David asked, touching me on the shoulder.
Startled, I turned to him. His intense eyes and wiry frame made him look unhinged. “No, I’m fine,” I said though my face felt like it was on fire.
“You know I can smell you. You’re in my pack now and I’m your alpha. I’m here to help you with things like this,” he said, grabbing the bulge pushing on his pants.
For a moment I considered it. It would be so easy. I needed a hard cock in me and the way I was feeling, any cock would do.
“I have a boyfriend,” I said dismissively.
“You mean that boy hiding in the room this morning? You know you can’t ever be with him again. Too dangerous. You gotta find one of your own kind.”
Whatever attraction I briefly felt towards David to consider sleeping with him immediately went away. I wasn’t planning on staying in the woods forever. I had a life. Once I got my final paycheck from the Sheikh, I was going to begin my senior year at UCLA. In a year I would graduate and go to law school. I wasn’t woodspeople. I wasn’t going to wake up every morning and check my hair for ticks.
“I’m good,” I insisted, ready to fight him if I had to.
He stared at me for a second as if deciding if he could take me. He must have realized that he couldn’t because he let go of his bulge and backed off.
“Suit yourself. It’s gonna be a full moon in a few hours. You ready for this?”
Whatever strength I felt suddenly drained out of me. I had forgotten for a moment but David was right. In a few hours I was going to transform into a monster and I didn’t know what would happen next.
Would I run into the city snatching people’s pet chickens? Would I spend the night scratching the back of my ear and dragging my butt across the ground? I didn’t know.
“What’s gonna happen when we turn?” I asked him, submitting to his experience.
David smiled smugly. “You’re gonna turn and then you’re gonna join my pack.”
“But what if I don’t want to join the pack?”
“You’re a wolf now. A wolf follows its instincts. You’ll join my pack and I’ll lead you. You won’t be able to stop yourself.”
David approached me again, this time putting his hand on the back of my neck. “And maybe I’ll help you with that other thing you’ve been wanting.”
Between his advances and the emotions bubbling within me, I didn’t know how to react. I twisted my head away from his hand and he clutched tighter, restraining me. I locked my eyes onto his feeling threatened, but when he was sure he had my full attention, he gave me another smug smile and let go.
This was no longer the awkward man that I had met yesterday in the bar. This version of him was much more dangerous. What he didn’t know, though, was that I wasn’t the same insecure girl he had met either. I wasn’t scared of him. And if he wanted to test me, I was ready for him.
David stared at me a moment longer and then abruptly walked away. As he did I heard the Sheikh yelling in the distance.
“I can smell you, Jenny. I know you’re here.”
I turned towards the sound of his voice. Even after what had just happened with David, his voice had its usual effect on me. What was going on with me? My emotions were swinging from one to another like I was going crazy. I felt out of control.
Once again I considered going to him. I didn’t. I had more important things I had to do like preparing to turn into a wolf. That was more important than scratching an itch, though to be honest, at this point it was only barely so.
Walking around in the fading light, I headed towards the tents. The only other familiar faces were there. Adib and Salil were Arab men who had worked for the Sheikh. When David had pointed them out to me, he said that the Sheikh had turned them. Approaching them now, I was hoping they could fill in some of the gaps in my memory. I wondered if they could tell me what happened to the men I killed.
“Your name’s Adib, right?” I asked, addressing the friendlier looking one.
“Yes. And you’re Jenny,” he replied.
“Yeah. David said that the Sheikh turned you two. Me too.”
“The Sheikh is a dangerous man. He shouldn’t have been kept alive.”
I couldn’t help but hear the judgment in his tone. I was the one who had insisted that the Sheikh be brought here instead of being taken care of. I couldn’t just let them kill him. As big of an asshole as the Sheikh was, he had saved my life. I couldn’t forget that. So with him needing my help, I had to do the same for him.
“I couldn’t let you all kill him.”
“David said that you might not remember what happened that night, but I do,” Adib explained.
“What night?”
“When you first became the wolf and he turned me.”
I froze. He had been there that night. He probably knew the men I had killed. He could have seen me do it. As scared as I was to hear what I did, I was desperate for him to continue.
“So, what happened?”
“He attacked us. All of us.”
“But he was the wolf, right? He couldn’t control what he was doing,” I said, justifying my own actions.
“He could. I watched him turn from the wolf into his human form to tell us to leave. Then when Gerard refused, he became the wolf again and ripped out Gerard’s throat.”
“Why would he do that?” I asked confusedly.
“Protecting you. Gerard had threatened you and he killed him for it. After he was done with him, he sprang across the room and did this to me.”
Adib pointed at the scar across his left cheek. “He was trying to kill me too.”
I paused considering what I had just heard. “But he didn’t,” I said reactively.
“No. He turned me. Salil too. He turned us into monsters.”
“Like me,” I reminded him.
“He should die for what he has done to all of us.”
“But wasn’t the same thing done to him?”
I wasn’t sure what had inspired my reply but it silenced Adib. I was about to walk off when he spoke again.
“What is it like?” he asked me with a hint of fear in his eyes.
“What?”
“Becoming a wolf.”
“I don’t remember,” I admitted.
“Then we will find out together.”
Adib offered me a tight-lipped smile and I nodded in reply. David had said that there would be a number of us turning for the first time tonight. Other than Adib, Salil, and me, there was also Bayhas, the large Arab man who had worked for the Sheikh’s brother. Bayhas was still barely conscious from when the Sheikh had attacked him back at the house, but David explained that he would be better after he turned. Apparently turning into your wolf had some sort of healing effect.
I continued to study David’s pack as the night progressed. None of the rest of them seemed as intense as David. There were about thirty of them and most of them looked like average people. Only five of the adults were women and all but one of the nine teenagers looked like street kids.
After checking out everyone I found that I was the only full-figured girl in the group. I wondered what they thought when they first saw me. I wondered if they would all be watching me when I turned to see just how fat my wolf would be.
“Would you like something to eat?” A girl with short black hair asked me. “It’ll stop you from eating anything weird when you turn.”
“You mean like a hipster?” I asked with a smile.
“No. Like snails or something,” she replied, missing my attempt at humor.
“I was making a joke.”
“Oh.” The girl thought for a moment. “Oh, I get it. Yeah.” She offered me a pity laugh and again held up the can of beans.
“Sure.” I took it trying to figure out how she was expecting me to eat it. “Do you have a spoon or something?”
The girl offered a genuine laugh. “You’re funny.”
Not trying to be funny this time, I got her message. I was supposed to pour the beans into my mouth. I did and I had to admit they hit the spot.
“What’s your name?” I asked her with my mouth full.
“Toni.”
“How did you end up here?”
“I don’t know. Like most of us, I guess. I came to L.A. and ended up living on the streets. I decided it would be safer to sleep in the woods and when I didn’t get murdered on the first night, I kept doing it. One night I woke up because I thought I heard a dog, but before I could get away, it bit me.”
“It attacked you? How did you get away?” I asked horrified.
“I didn’t have to. After it bit me, it just took off. Then when the full moon was coming I noticed I was feeling strange. That’s when David found me and told me what I was and that I could come here. I’ve been here ever since.”
“How long ago was that?” I asked.
“About a year.”
“It’s lucky David found you,” I suggested.
“Yeah. I was lucky.”
There was something unconvincing in her eyes as she said that.
“What?” I asked, digging for an explanation.
“No, I’m lucky. This pack is my family. I never had people who actually cared about me before.”
I looked around at the other kids. It was easy to imagine that they all felt the same. I was sure that a few of them, like Toni, were gay. But what are individual prejudices when turning into a wolf is what you have in common?
As the full moon approached, I understood what Toni was referring to when she said that she started to feel strange. It was an uncomfortable feeling. It felt sort of like I ate too much. I felt bloated. In the beginning I thought it was just me, but looking around, I could see it in everyone’s face. We were about to turn.
Starting to feel stiff, I twisted trying to relax. When my spine suddenly locked it sent a stabbing pain down my back. Unable to move I began to panic. And as my heart pounded, the general stabbing pain became an ice pick through my bones. I screamed.
As what felt like a bolt of electricity flashed through me, I lost control of my body. My arms shot out in the shape of a crucifix and when the bones in my feet snapped like matchsticks, I fell to my knees.
Agony! I was in such agony that I could barely see through the tears in my eyes. Blurry pale bodies were dropping to the ground around me. And feeling my jaw bone stretch from my body and my shrinking skull distort my senses, I blacked out.
When I came to, I was running on all fours. It was a lot brighter than it was moments ago and I was surrounded by a pack of wolves. It was like I was trapped in the wolf’s body and there was nothing I could do about it. David was right. I had joined his pack and it felt amazing. I could run with them for hours and I probably would have if I hadn’t heard a howl.
My wolf was the only one to react. Slowing to a stop, I wished for her to catch up with the pack. But watching the thirty wolves disappear into the darkness, I knew I wasn’t in control.
When the distant wolf howled again, my wolf turned towards it and ran. Picking up speed, I couldn’t be sure where she was going, but when the camp came into sight I understood. She was headed for the wolf leashed to the tree. She was going to the Sheikh.
The Sheikh’s wolf spotted me as soon as my wolf entered the clearing. As he focused his full attention on me my heart thumped. He was much bigger and thicker than all of the other wolves. His shoulders where higher and wider and he looked intimidating. I wanted to keep my distance but she had other plans. Locked behind her eyes, I could do nothing but watch as my wolf followed her instincts.
The Sheikh’s wolf scent was so familiar to me. Raw and sexual, I had smelled it every day when I worked for him and hadn’t realized it. The scent made my wolf’s heart race and made me feel intoxicated.
While I did everything I could to stop her, she approached him. Bringing our noses closer, we were about to touch when he growled. She froze, twisting her ears for a moment, but then moved towards him again.
That was when I realized that my wolf was bolder than I was. I was scared to get any closer to him. I was afraid to reveal how I truly felt about him. What if he didn’t feel the same way? I didn’t want to be hurt again.
My wolf didn’t care about any of that though. She wanted him and that was all that mattered. She put her snout next to his, and although he growled again, this time she didn’t stop.
Moving closer she licked his mouth. It felt so intimate. It made me terrified of what he would do next. Would he attack? No—the Sheikh’s wolf stopped growling and licked her back. His touch sent a shiver down my spine that ebbed in my loins and then washed over me like a warm wave.
Trapped behind my wolf’s eyes, I became desperate to get away. This was too much for me. It felt too revealing. I was mad at the Sheikh and I didn’t want to like him. I didn’t want to let him off so easily for everything he had done. But when he wrapped his furry neck around mine and tingles cascaded across my skin, I couldn’t help it. My wolf body ached for him.
Smelling my arousal, he then pressed his leg against my hind quarters. Slipping behind me, his paws clutched my chest. Barely able to breathe as I waited for what came next, he held me tight and entered me.
Knowing I couldn’t resist, I gave in. Giving in felt good. Through my wolf I experienced pure animal lust. It was a desire beyond anything our wolves could quench in one night. And when I fully let go and lost myself to my wolf, the pleasure that followed exceeded anything I could have ever imagined.
When I woke up the next morning, it was in the warmth of the Sheikh’s muscular body. With his arm around me I was completely content. The feeling lasted until I remembered where I was and what had happened the night before.
Opening my eyes I quickly looked around. Everything was bathed in an early morning light and I was lying naked on the ground with the Sheikh’s thick body on top of me.
“I have to get up,” I suddenly announced.
Pulling out from under him, I woke him up. I felt him stir but I didn’t look at him. I couldn’t. I just had to get out of there. I wasn’t sure why I had to leave so badly, but I did.
Scurrying across the camp I heard someone calling my name. Since the grounds were still empty I knew it had to have been the Sheikh. I ignored him. After what we had done there was no way I could face him again.
Approaching my assigned tent I climbed in. Scrambling into a pair of borrowed sweats, I curled into a ball hugging my knees. I did what I could to forget the night before, but no matter what I did, I couldn’t not think about it.
As the images cycled through my mind I kept telling myself that it wasn’t me who had done it, it was my wolf. The problem was that in the light of day, it really felt like it was me. The distance that I experienced trapped behind my wolf’s eyes suddenly felt like an illusion. I could feel how much I wanted to be with him. The desire was overwhelming. And trying to process it all I broke down and cried.
It wasn’t long after that when I heard the leaves rustle in front of our campsite. Wiping my face and pulling myself together, I peered through the tent’s thin cloth. It was everyone else, naked and seeming comfortable with it.
I looked for David knowing I had to talk to him. Not seeing him, I decided to wait for everyone to dress before I left my tent looking for him. That took about thirty minutes and I found him eating scrambled eggs and campfire toast from a plate as he walked the site.
“David, I want you to unchain the Sheikh,” I said, catching up to him.
“We can’t do that. He’s too dangerous,” David said continuing to survey the occupied tents.
“I know him. He’s not going to hurt anyone here.”
“What about back in town? He’s not gonna stay here if we uncollar him. He’s a shifter. He’s not just dangerous during the full moon.”
“What if he promises to stay?” I suggested, not sure if the Sheikh would agree to it.
“He couldn’t be trusted to keep his word.”
“But what if I could get him to?”
“You can’t.”
I grabbed David’s arm forcing him to give me his full attention. “Please, David.”
David looked at my hand on his arm and then into my eyes. He stared at me so hard that it felt like he was trying to read my mind.
“You want me to unchain him? Then promise me you’ll never leave here.”
I let go of his arm and stepped back. “What?”
David stepped towards me. “I’ll let him go, but only if you say that you will never leave the pack. And if you do, you forfeit your life.”
My mouth dropped open as I struggled to breath. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that if you leave, it will be under penalty of death. And I mean both yours and his.”
The intensity I had seen in David’s eyes the night before was back. Was he insane? Would he actually kill the both of us if I left?
And what about the Sheikh? Was freeing him worth such a risk? What if after he was free he decided to leave the camp without me? I would be stuck here alone. Was I really willing to sacrifice so much for a man I barely knew?
(The Sheikh)
There is nothing like being collared to a tree naked in the woods that makes you appreciate when pine cones aren’t lodged between your butt crack. It seems like only yesterday that my butt crack was pine cone free and that’s probably because it was yesterday.
Jenny is going to be the death of me. I don’t know why I keep risking my life for her. What is she, fifty, or maybe even a hundred pounds past what any guy in their right mind would consider acceptable? And I’m not just any guy. I’m The Sheikh. Beautiful women throw themselves at me. So why am I fighting so hard to get her?
And even if I get her, what do I think is going to happen? That she and I will run off somewhere, get married and have a litter of wolf pups? That’s ridiculous. I would sooner swan dive into a meat grinder dick first than do that. So why do I keep ruining my life to be with her?
Before I met her, I was living in a luxury condo with Britneys throwing themselves at me, and today I’m chained naked to a tree. I never understood how a woman could ruin a man’s life before. But thank you, Jenny—you’ve shown me the light. I understand.
Now if I could just get out of this collar and find some pants, I could get out of here. No more chubby chasing for me. Praise Allah, I am cured! How can I be sure? Because that thing that happened between our two wolves last night meant nothing to me.
A wise American philosopher once said: What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas … as long as all of your friends agree to never talk about it again. So, what happened between Jenny and me last night in wolf form, never happened and meant nothing to me. We shall now never speak of it again.
The only thing I needed to talk to someone about was getting out of here. Oh, and pants. I really needed to talk to somebody about pants. And when I saw the shifter who captured me approaching, I knew that conversation was finally going to happen.
The wiry, dark-haired man with the intense eyes walked towards me holding two things—a pair of jeans and a plate of food. With my senses still cranked to eleven I could tell it was scrambled eggs and toast. I hadn’t eaten since early yesterday and I was starved.
“Here,” the man said handing me the jeans.
This obviously wasn’t just a gift. He was after something. So I put them on without saying a word and then stared at him, waiting for whatever he was going to do next. He must have expected me to crack smelling the food but I didn’t. He was the first one to speak.
“You hungry?” he finally asked, knowing that I would be.
I broke my silence deciding to take a different approach. “Is this how you treat guests?”
“This is how we treat guests who we aren’t sure we can trust.”
I didn’t want to show how much I wanted the food, but as he talked my eyes peeked down betraying me. He caught me and used it against me.
“I’ll give you this,” he explained. “But first we need to talk.”
“What do you want to talk about?” I asked as casually as I could, considering I was starved.
“About you and us.”
“There is no ‘you and us’ as far as I’m concerned,” I told him. “Let me go and I promise to forget I ever met you.”
“Unfortunately, there is a ‘you and us’ because you are one of us and you’re a dangerous man.”
“No more dangerous than you.”
“Perhaps. But the difference is that I can control myself. I not goin’ around turning people left and right.”
“Neither am I,” I said, not sure what he was talking about.
“I have four people in this camp that might disagree with you.”
I paused suddenly confused. I didn’t know who he was talking about. Yes, Jenny was here. And when I heroically tried to rescue her at Virginia’s house, I thought I recognized one of my jailers from the condo. That would make two. But who else was here?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I told him sincerely.
“And that’s the problem. You don’t know anything about being a wolf. You can’t control it and you can’t turn without killing someone. You probably don’t even know how to hunt.”
I had mixed feeling about what he was saying. He was clearly exaggerating to make a point because he saw me shifting like a champion back at Virginia’s. But there were things that I didn’t know.
I was turned by some freaky Japanese royal and then caged by my parents soon after. I learned more in the seconds that my brother had his gun pointed at my face than I had learned during all of my time as a wolf combined. So if he was offering to teach me things about being a wolf, then his offer would be hard to turn down.
“If you promise me that you’ll stay here, I’ll unchain you and I’ll teach you,” he said making himself clear.
I looked at him closely. “And what’s to stop me from taking off.”
“Your word. And if you leave here, we’ll have to stop you.”
“So you’re trying to tell me that I don’t have a choice?”
“I wouldn’t put it that way,” David said unflinchingly.
“Then how would you put it?”
“Either accept that you’re a wolf and be a part of a pack, or die alone.”
I thought I was smug—Okay, maybe I am a little—But this guy? Did he really think that he could stop me if I tried to leave? I took out three men before someone knocked me out, and the only reason they had the chance was because seeing Jenny made me hesitate. If it wasn’t for her, I would have taken him out as well. Whatever control he thought he had over me was an illusion.
However, at the same time, he was the first shifter I had ever met. He probably knew things. He could tell me who I am. He might even know about a cure.
Wow, I’ve never even considered that a cure could exist until now. But what if there is one? I could be normal again. I could go back to The Kingdom and maybe even become king.
“Yes,” I heard myself saying. “I agree. But I wanna know everything you know about shifters. You can’t hold anything back.”
David gave me a look I couldn’t decipher. It made me wonder if he would tell me everything. It also made me wonder if I would have to kill him. Because at some point I was going to have to teach him that threatening a sheikh had consequences. His look made me think that when that time came, only one of us would survive.
“Then it’s settled,” he said, handing me the plate of food.
I was starving but I held myself together mentioning one last thing. “The collar,” I said calmly.
David paused staring at me again. Either he was making a final decision about trusting me or sadistically watching me salivate. Whatever he was doing, it was beginning to piss me off. Enduring that for what felt like forever, however, he then reached into his pocket and retrieved the key.
I’ll admit it, once he freed me, my first thought was to shift into my wolf and kill him. I went with my second thought though. I gave him a tight-lipped smile and ate the eggs.
They were the best eggs I had ever had in my life. The only reason I didn’t wolf them down was because I knew he was watching me eat it. I decided to show him that he hadn’t broken me by trying to hand him the plate when I was done. If he was going to watch me eat, then I was going to treat him like a waiter. When he refused to look down at it, I smiled. He had gotten my message.
Frustrated, he said, “When you’re a part of my pack, you contribute. Report to Flo.”
“What’s a Flo?” I asked innocently.
He sneered and began to walk away. “She’ll tell you what you need to know.”
I was still confused. “About what? Being a shifter?”
“About being a dishwasher,” he replied not looking back.
He was gone before I realized what he had said. “Dishwasher?”