Howl Together 1
Fantasy. M/F, human/wolf, trans
In future parts I plan to have a threesome, things involving werewolves, hermaphrodites and possibly a dragon or griffin. This is my first Nifty Archive story; I'd love comments and suggestions for what should happen next! Email me at: sunandshadow@excite.com
Disclaimer stuff: This is X-rated, if you don't want to read erotic fiction or you're under 18 you're very lost and should go elsewhere. All characters and the world are my original creations. This story may be freely reproduced, but please don't write any sequels to it unless you ask me for permission or I post a note saying I'm done with the series. If for some reason you do fan art of this story I'd love to see it. :)
Howl Together (Part 1)
When a wolf howls alone, it is a cry of loneliness. When two howl together, it is music.
by: sunandshadow
Sassafras, 18 yr. old male human:
The playful summer breeze caressed me as I sat on the broad lowest limb of a grandmotherly tree, contemplating the moon. It was a peculiar moon, hanging huge and smoky orange just above the horizon. Really, it looked not so much like a moon as like a perfect circle of white paper through which one could catch a glimpse of some celestial campfire. It was full dark an hour past, and the full panoply of stars spangled the sky, although the faintest few were drowned out by the moon's radiance. The night was lovely and very lonely.
I toyed with my howl-flute, but did not put it to my lips -- I was too disgusted with the way my life was going to feel like making sweet melody. The source of my disgust was simple: I was having absolutely no luck seducing a wolf. Here I was, full 18 years old, and more clueless than some toddlers who my wolf-other would be. My yearmates, including, as of two days ago, the lovely Rainsong, were all bonded with wolf-others and now considered adult members of the pack. In my more pessimistic moments I was sure I would have to live out my days as a full human, like old Stars.
It just didn't make sense! I was the best young howl-flute player in the pack, already learning to play the intricate Nightmusic; I was caring and creative and very smart (if with no modesty whatsoever); and not only did the wolves not come courting me, they ignored me when I came, flute-in-hand, to court them! Even my parents, when they were in wolf form, ignored me. Well, not quite all the wolves shunned me; Stormwind was perhaps my best friend, she hung around with me a lot, but I couldn't court her because she was, after all, a she, and a he-human has to bond with a he-wolf. I sighed and shook my head mournfully.
"Who are you saying `no' to, Sassafras?" asked Stormwind, almost scaring me out of my tree. She padded silently out into the moonlight, white muzzle and paws looking oddly detached from her chocolate-colored body, which was barely visible at night. I could tell from the spring in her step that she was laughing at me.
"Just myself. Now please pardon me while I stuff my heart back into my chest, you scared it out and now it's hiding around here somewhere." I patted around on the tree branch in mock search.
"Lemme see..." * sniff sniff * "Aha, here it is, hiding in the grass." She reached down as if to pick up the imaginary heart in her mouth. * Mmph mmph gulp * "Oops. I swallowed it. Now you have to go around being heartless." She sounded so remorseful that I cracked up in spite of myself.
"Yep," I chuckled, "I guess so." I scooted over, being careful not to scrape myself on the rough bark. She jumped up on the branch beside me and I gave her a big hug around the neck.
"How's my favorite cub?" she asked. Now Stormwind is only a year older than me, but she's always liked to rub that fact in.
"Oh, without a wolf-other, as usual, and now heartless, but other than that pretty good. You?"
"Still haven't found a human worth courting, but I'm feeling good because I've just had a nice `hearty' meal."
"Ohhhkay, that's quite enough. Seriously, Stormwind, I'm worried. You know Rainsong just bonded? So she'll be picking a mate soon, and Nightriver's been bonded for a while, and he'll court her, and I'm stuck unbonded, not an adult even though I'm as old as they are. If I came courting Rainsong without having bonded to a wolf-other she wouldn't spare me a second glance. Can you think of anything to help me? Why do all the wolves except you ignore me?"
"Do they really ignore you? Maybe they're just busy with their own business."
"Well it seems like they ignore me. You would think at least the unbonded males our age would think I was interesting."
"I dunno. You smell plenty interesting to me."
"Oh, now I'm heartless and I stink too? I guess I'll go jump in the river."
"I wasn't teasing -- I meant that that scent that you always have, the smell that means `you', is interesting."
"Oh. Thanks."
"You're welcome."
"Um... well anyway, do you think I might be playing the courting song wrong?"
The courting song was the primary reason for carving and learning how to play a howl-flute. Mankind's partnership with wolves began when a man heard the cry of a lonely she-wolf and carved flute after flute until one could match the sound.
He learned to play the she-wolf's courting song better than the she-wolf could sing it, and when a he-wolf came to investigate and reply in kind it was the man he followed the song to. Caught up in the music, the man and the wolf courted each other, and when the wolf approached near enough to touch the man the magic of the song melted the two together into one lycanthrope.
When a woman courts her wolf-other she must use a different type of howl-flute, one that mimics the deeper voice of a he-wolf. And correspondingly, the courting song she plays is that of a he-wolf. The two versions of the song are the two parts of a duet, and it is only when they are sung together that magic things happen.
"Do you think that could be it Stormwind? Do you think I'm playing the courting song wrong?"
"I suppose it's possible. Play it for me and I'll tell you how it sounds."
Knowing that I had a sympathetic audience made me feel more like playing. I put the flute to my lips and poured my soul into the music. Stormwind started howling along, also singing the she-wolf's part, of course. I compared my song to hers and they matched well enough. When the song was over Stormwind pronounced my effort perfectly acceptable. So much for that as a possible cause of my difficulties.
"You know," ruminated Stormwind, with a dreamy look on her face, "it's a shame neither of us knows the male part of that song. I've never actually heard the two parts together, because they're only played that way in private you know. I'm curious what the duet would sound like."
"Yeah, I've never heard the parts together either. But you couldn't sing the male part anyway, your voice is too high."
"You could play it, if you had the other type of howl-flute." I could indeed, I realized. Suddenly what had been idle speculation leapt into the realm of the possible. But if I played the courting duet with Stormwind... what would happen? Would I bond with her? But she was female... Maybe nothing would happen. Maybe I would suddenly find myself sharing a form with a female wolf-other -- a disquieting idea. A male mind and a female one trapped in the same body might result in madness. And anyway, Stormwind had just been joking. Probably.
To cut the conversation off before it got any weirder, I said, "But I don't have the other kind of howl-flute, and even if I did I still wouldn't know the part." Not that I couldn't convince someone to teach it to me...
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Hey, I'm hungry. If you scare a rabbit my way I'll share it with you. And you can get some raspberries for us because you can keep your fingers away from the thorns that would tear my poor nose." Stormwind was a sucker for raspberries -- more than once she had scratched herself up getting some, until she figured out that, be it for trade or by flattery, she could usually talk me into getting some for her.
"Sounds good to me, Stormwind. And you dig up some yams and I'll make a fire to bake them and roast the rabbit." I put all thoughts of courting out of my mind and we set about getting ourselves some dinner.
* * *
The next morning, in full, warm daylight, things looked more promising. I saw Rainsong, looking beautiful as always. Overnight she had gained a foot of height and the mass of the wolf she had bonded with, and now she clothed her full breasts and squeezable ass in living fur rather than dead leather. She looked like an adult, not like a girl a bit younger than me. She was practicing controlling her form shift. She launched herself across the meadow on two legs, long red hair and fluffy black tail streaming behind her. She leapt into the air and came down running on all fours, tongue lolling. She was poetry in motion, and I was overwhelmed by jealousy and hopelessness.
I continued on my way, thoughts streaming through my mind. There really isn't that much difference between the male mind and the female mind, is there? Any wolf-other is better than staying human all my life. Any wolf other puts me in a better position to compete for Rainsong. And my best friend as a wolf-other would be a lot better than some wolf I barely know. And maybe nothing would even happen. Maybe I should just try it and find out, or I would never know. These thoughts ran through my head as I did my daily chores: gathering food for the communal noon meal, cutting firewood, then washing myself and my laundry in the nearby stream. Returning fresh and clean to collect my share of the lunch that had been prepared from my and others' gatherings, Rainsong caught my eye again -- she had her male howl-flute in her hands and was piping a light hunger/anticipation-of-eating song on it. She then lowered the flute, collected her portion of lunch, and sat down to eat, her long fiery hair falling around her like a cloak.
"Hey Rainsong. How's bonded life?" I smiled sociably and settled myself beside her.
Bright green eyes smiled at me. "Fun!" She grinned. "I'm getting used to having two minds in my head."
"Cool. I saw you shift forms -- very smooth. You and your other look like you fit together well."
"Thanks!"
On the spur of the moment I asked, "Say, would you mind if I took a look at your flute? The design caught my eye and I realized I'd never taken a close look at it before."
"Uh, sure." She passed me the flute.
I scrutinized it, carefully estimating the width of the bore and mentally marking the length of the shaft on the comparable spot on my forearm. It was made out of the same wood as my howl-flute, and was really of very similar construction. The design was actually mediocre -- a howling wolf head etched in black -- but when I handed it back to her I carefully complemented it. A little flattery never hurts. She politely admired my howl-flute, we finished our meal, and we went our separate ways. I headed straight for the den of Wheat, the man who did most of the flute teaching.
"Hey Wheat."
"Hey Sassafras. What's up?"
"I wanted to try carving a new howl-flute; I thought maybe with a different one I might have more luck with the wolves." Even though it was a lie, it was close enough to the truth that it embarrassed me to admit it.
"I think your flute has a lovely tone, but it's your time and effort, you're welcome to try. The tools are on the shelf where they usually are. Be careful not to damage them -- but of course, you know that."
"I know, I know." I did indeed know that, having had to laboriously replace a sandstone rasp I had accidentally broken making my first flute. I collected the necessary tools: sandstone rasp, awl, serrated flint flake for sawing off a tree branch, and notched flint flake for removing the bark from the branch. Then I set off to make my flute.
* * *
I cut a tree branch thicker than my thumb to the length of my forearm. The forked tip of the notched flint flake took the bark off. An awl started the hole for the sound column, then the real work started -- hours and hours of spinning the sandstone file to hollow out the center of the flute. Hours and days and a week and another... at last after two weeks it was done. And during that time Rainsong and Nightriver had been spending a lot of time together.
A bit more work and the mouthpiece was done, and I could play the lowest note on the flute. Then back to the sandstone file, widening the sound column to make the sound deeper. At last came the delicate work of adding the finger holes. And finally, it was finished. It played the right notes in the right octave, and I was exhausted. Really, I ought to have decorated it, but I didn't immediately think of a design, and the more I looked at it, the prettier the smooth wood looked.
I caressed the flute's smooth shaft, checking for rough spots, and somehow the motion made me think of Stormwind. She was smooth and silky and clean-scented just like the raw wood. So was Rainsong, for that matter. At least, from the few opportunities I had had to steal a caress I remembered her being silky. The instrument matched the ones it courted -- a good omen if ever I've seen one. I decided to leave it plain.
* * *
Now I had a flute, but no song to play on it. To get used to the flute, I played some of the everyday songs that were the same for both genders. It felt strange to hear my music come out so deep-voiced; it felt like with every note I was stating that I was someone different than I had always assumed I was. To learn the song I would have to ask either a female human or a male wolf. But all the male wolves ignored me, and if a woman saw my male howl-flute, much less heard my odd request, she would probably report me to Wheat and my parents and anyone else she might think needed to be informed. That wouldn't do at all. Spying on a young girl while she was taught the song might be possible, but managing to be around for that particular lesson would take either a phenomenal amount of luck or a huge amount of patience. But maybe I could get a girl to teach me the song -- and I would have to trade her something in return, so she would have a reason to keep my request a secret. Who would take that deal...?
Ibex? She was 14 years old, old enough to have been taught the song. She would keep a secret for the right price. But what could I trade her? I pondered but couldn't think of anything.
I looked for her near the river because she spent a lot of time playing with the river clay and firing it into pottery. She was there, but today she was occupied with weaving a basket out of reeds from the river. I carefully looked to see if there was anyone else, wolf, human, or bonded, anywhere in the vicinity. Finding no one, I squatted beside her.
"Hey Ibex. Makin' a basket?"
"Hi Sassafras, haven't seen you in a while. And yes, this is indeed a basket-in-progress. At least, I'm trying to persuade it that it's a basket, but it's insisting that it's a large snarly knot."
That was Ibex all right. She had a very peculiar sardonic sense of humor. I settled myself more comfortably onto the grass beside her. "Supposing I wanted to know something that you could tell me, but I wanted you to keep it an absolute secret that I told you..."
She looked at me speculatively and raised an eyebrow. "Hmm... what do I know that you don't know but you want to know, and you don't want anyone to know that you want to know? Let me think... It's not a craft technique. You don't want anyone to know either because it's either embarrassing that you don't already know, or not something your supposed to know." She was watching me for my reactions, so I did my best to keep an impassive expression and relaxed posture. "What's different between us? Our age, our gender, the people we know. Your age includes mine, so something about gender or people. Something about girls in general or something about someone I know better than you do. But why would you need to keep that a secret?"
I let out a breath of relief. It was scary how smart she was, but she hadn't puzzled out my question, so now she was curious and I was in a good bargaining position. "I'll ask you my question if you promise to answer me and keep it a secret."
"I promise I'll answer if I can." Her eyes sparkled as she deliberately held reassurance away from me.
I played dumb. "And you'll keep it a complete and total secret?"
"Well..."
I saw that I could probably get her to promise just so she could satisfy her curiosity about what my question was, but if she thought she'd gotten a bad deal she might change her mind later. So I made an offer. "I'll trade you something for your secrecy, if you ask for something reasonable."
"Goodness, you really want to know whatever it is. Okay, here's the deal: I'll answer you and keep it a complete and utter secret if you will, um, if you'll help me make marigold dye tomorrow. It's smelly and your arms will get tired, but it won't take that long."
"Deal." We shook hands to seal our bargain. Then I brought out the male howl-flute.
"Whose is that?"
"Mine, I carved it last week. Ibex, I want you to teach me the part of the wolf courting song that you know."
"Fascinating. You're going to try to court a female wolf?"
"Yes."
"What a cool experiment. I can't wait to see if it works. You'll have to come see me after you make your attempt. I'll teach you the song, help me weigh this basket down so it won't unravel." There was a pile of flat stones on the other side of Ibex. I walked around her and helped her pin down the unruly reeds sprouting out of the unfinished top of the basket. Then we went over to the stream, washed our hands, got a drink, and sat down on the bank.
"Okay, this is the song." She played, quietly for fear someone might walk by and overhear, and this first time I just listened. It was like the female part, but sometimes where the one had a single sustained note the other varied before returning to that note. Sometimes one varied upward in pitch while the other varied downward. I could almost feel the magic getting woven between the two parts, so for safety's sake I deliberately stopped imagining the female part.
When Ibex was done I had her start again at the beginning, playing 4 measures at a time then pausing to let me mimic and memorize them. In a little more than an hour I had the song down pat. I thanked Ibex and promised to come back the next day to help with the dye.
* * *
I knew the song perfectly. My male flute sounded good. Tonight was a full moon. It was the ideal time to carry out my plan if I was really going to do it. Following the advice Wheat had given me long ago I packed a carry-bag full of food -- as a newly bonded wolf-person Stormwind and I would be too uncoordinated to hunt or even to do much gathering. If the song worked and we bonded successfully. Nervously, I called Stormwind's name on my female howl-flute and waited to see if she was in hearing range and would appear. A few long minutes later she bounded up.
"Sassafras! My favorite cub! Isn't it a great night to be alive?" Despite my nervousness, I grinned.
"A wonderful night, with a beautiful moon. Wanna go for a walk, smell the smells, listen to the night?"
"A most excellent idea!" She grinned her lupine grin, white muzzle fur making it stand out eerily against her dark body fur, which I could barely see. I grinned back and started leading the way to a secluded spot, far enough from the village, that I had picked out earlier. It was a long walk, and I kept up our usual idle chatter until we were almost there. Then I carefully led the conversation around to the discussion we had had on the previous full moon.
"Hey Stormwind, I had a strange thought the other day."
"Do tell." Stormwind always liked hearing my bizarre ideas because they amused her, and I liked telling them to her because she actually would consider them seriously, unlike anyone else I knew.
"What do you think would happen if, say, a female human bonded with a male wolf?"
"I don't know whether it's possible. I really don't have any idea what would happen..." her voice trailed off, and I was afraid she was going to say she just wasn't interested in such speculations. "...Whatever happened, I'm sure it would be interesting."
"I think it would be interesting." I offered tentatively.
"You do?" There was a different note in her voice. I hoped she was realizing that I might be interested in personally experiencing how interesting it could be. At this point we reached the clearing I had in mind, so I paused, and Stormwind stopped too.
"Are there any female humans you like, Stormwind?"
"I haven't yet met one I could talk to, much less share a brain with."
"I like talking to you. You're my best friend. Do you think you could stand sharing a brain with me?"
"Ah, but you don't have a male flute and don't know the male part, remember?"
I held the male howl-flute where a ray of moonlight would reveal it. "I carved one. I got Ibex to teach me the song."
"Oh!" she exclaimed softly. I waited nervously while Stormwind paused for thought. "If you court me, I will answer." A wave of relief washed over me, but then I got twice as nervous because now we were committed to taking the risk, testing whether our minds were really compatible. Whether the attempt worked or not, our friendship would be changed.
"Is this clearing okay? I brought food, like you're supposed to have for while you're uncoordinated."
"Ah, that's why I smelled food, and why we walked so far. This is a good place, nice soft grass and far enough from the village that no one will hear or bother us." I could hear the smile in her voice, and it reassured me. I smiled back, despite my nervousness. Stormwind settled herself in the long grass on one side of the clearing, and I sat down on the other side. I untied the neck of the bag because we (hopefully) wouldn't have the coordination to muck about with a knot, then set the bag aside. I stepped out of my clothing and set it aside also, reflecting that this might be the last time I would ever need to wear leather, or do laundry for that matter.
Now all I had was the flute. I licked my lips and, gazing across the clearing at Stormwind's white grin and shadowy body, I raised the flute to my lips and began my song. Stormwind... I called, through the music that sounded more vibrantly alive than it ever had before. And her song joined mine, calling back Sassafras.... The duet meshed perfectly, and suddenly I felt warm, despite the cool ground and the night breeze. The parts of the song took turns introducing simple variations, building a musical cocoon of warmth and light around the two of us. It felt like invisible strings were drawing Stormwind and I together.
Every inch of my skin tingled, and I was surprised and a bit embarrassed to find that I sported a straining erection. But the music was warm and oh-so-comfortable, and it smoothed away all feelings except the elemental lust pulling me towards Stormwind. Still singing, she began to belly-crawl towards me, sneaking up on me like I was a shy rabbit she was about to pounce on. Silky cheek fur brushed the sensitive inside of my knee, and I shivered. I ran out of notes to play, and my hands fell limply to my sides, but the music obeyed its own imperative and continued weaving itself without my direction.
Stormwind's nose was almost touching the tip of my cock; the in-and-out of her breath tickled it unbearably. Suddenly her tongue darted out and bathed the underside of my shaft. I instinctively grabbed her into an embrace, fondling the base of her ears and running my fingers through her thick neck ruff.
The flute lay forgotten in the long grass. She lapped at me again, and my eyes slitted with pleasure. The thought, "This can't possibly be how bonding with a wolf is supposed to go..." flitted through my mind, but I refused to acknowledge it; I had to protect the heat and magic of the moment.
"Stormwind..." I breathed. She painted a kiss across my lips, and I tasted her breath, my own musk, and the spicy scent of her fur. I ran my hands over her shoulders and she arched her back up into my hands, growling her need.
I found myself standing over her. While her tongue bathed my balls and cock, I massaged her shoulders, her back, her hips. Suddenly she spun in place, her fluffy white tail whispering across my sensitive groin and tickling my chest. Her arching hips were beneath my hands, her warm opening before me. I burrowed my fingers into her thick fur, savoring the heat of her hidden skin against my fingertips. She whined for me to hurry, and at last I plunged into her hot depths.
The courting song still echoing in my ears, I closed my eyes and concentrated on the story my skin was telling me. Fluffy tail arcing beneath my right pectoral, fur and heat beneath my hands, fire enveloping my cock as I thrust and her ass rose to meet me, then ebbing as I drew back, then enveloping as I thrust again... with every stroke the fur of her hips teased the inside of my taut thighs, and the long grass brushed against my tensed calves.
I could feel my balls rise and tighten, my seed rising from them and pooling deep within me, ready to overflow. I forced my muscles to relax, prolonging my swim through the fires of ecstasy for a few more aching moments... then the tremor of Stormwind's orgasm broke the dam of my resistance, and I cried out and spilled myself into her. In a blinding moment her warmth beneath my hands and around my dick seemed to open and swallow me into her. Then I was sprawled on the grass, panting in afterglow, my thoughts dizzy and echoing.
* * *
"What did I do?/What happened?" I thought, "I just fucked a wolf/_I just has sex with a human!/_What?/What?/That wasn't me!/That wasn't me!/Stormwind?/Sassafras?/It worked?/It worked?" I opened my eyes and tried to focus them...
My hand... well, it wasn't exactly, it was a tangled mess of hand and paw -- thumb emerging from halfway up my forearm, deformed nail-claws, patchy fur... for I moment I was horrified. But I caught my rising panic and soothed it back to sleep -- this too Wheat had warned me to expect. A little concentration should set it right.
"Stormwind, we need to work on this body./Yes./Wolf is better for sleeping on the ground./Hehehe humans are wimpy." A laugh tried to emerge from my twisted throat, and it was strange to know that Stormwind's thought directed it. "Anyway, let's concentrate on making that mess into a paw./Yes, I'll begin."
I concentrated on my `hand' and thought paw; I could feel Stormwind doing the same, giving my thoughts that echoey feel they got when we thought the same thing. And quite obligingly it became a paw -- specifically it looked like Stormwind's paw, shining white in the moonlight, twice as large now because this body contained both our masses. Having a paw felt very odd, and I had to fight not to imagine it into being a hand.
Wolf paw, wolf foreleg, wolf shoulders and other foreleg -- we worked together to spread the change over our body. Wolf neck, wolf face, wolf ears and nose and tongue and teeth -- that felt truly strange. The color leeched from my vision (wolves can't see colors) and my nose was suddenly telling me a multitude of things about the clearing we were in. I could still smell sex.
"That can't be the usual way a bonding happens." It was not a thought I would have spoken aloud, but the thought was shared with Stormwind as I thought it -- I couldn't take it back, I couldn't have not thought it. Before I could start worrying her thought answered mine: "I don't think so either. That would be a big secret for all the adults to be keeping from us. It was fun though./And it worked./Ha, yes, it certainly worked. Tough to do it again if we're in the same body, unfortunately./Oh! Yes, that's true..." I mulled this concept over a bit but couldn't decide what to make of it. At least at that moment I had no desire for sex of any kind, and I was quite happy to be bonded to Stormwind. "I'm happy too." We shared a smile across our lupine face. "Back to work now?/Okay."
I was wolf from the shoulders up -- now for the other half. My chest was an odd mixture -- breasts a bit too large to be male and too small to be female, and below that a smaller pair and another pair smaller still, trailing away to the normal nipples of a female wolf. A thought and my keelbone expanded, deepening my chest, and the breasts smoothed away to plain nipples. We concentrated further, and my torso got wider and rounder than I was used to, and fur warmed my belly. A plumy tail unfurled from my behind and my legs shifted to wolfish proportions. My crotch... "What???/Oh fuck, this is wrong." I was all wolf, but what was down there was a cock and balls but also a vagina.
"Male and female don't overlap perfectly/so we get both." Stormwind finished my thought for me. "Crazy./...but possibly fun./Who would have us?" Images of a few male wolves flitted before my mental `eyes', accompanied by an alien stir of attraction. "Whoah, stop, that's just wrong!/What?/I felt attracted to them!/Well they are attractive." A close-up of the curve of a cheek and a flash of a grinning muzzle flickered across my mind, and again my stomach felt unsteady. "They're not supposed to be attractive to me!" I pleaded for my world to make sense. "Don't go nutty on me now, I need you my other. Have you considered that the reverse might be true?" Involuntarily, I thought of one of my fantasy versions of Rainsong. "Oh, freaky... I can see why you were unsettled./Maybe this really was a bad idea... maybe now we're trapped..!/Be calm my other! Don't worry about what is or isn't attractive -- let's concentrate on the practical. This position is uncomfortable -- let's rearrange ourself."
She started to bring us to our feet, and I allowed myself to be distracted by the new sensation. Then I tried to move a forefoot while Stormwind tried to move a hind foot, and we fell in a heap.
"Okay, let's try that again..."