Into The Mountains(COMPLETED)

Chapter Two

She could work out my conflicting signals for herself, I was in no condition to interpret them.  At some point I fell asleep, exhaustion getting the better of me. When I finally woke back up, the sunlight was beating down on me and I was wrapped in a warm, soft blanket. Though I soon realized it wasn't a warm soft blanket, but the black furred arms of the creature from the night before. I wasn't sure where we were, somewhere far out in the woods, but I was naked and laying on this monster's chest, her arms tucked around me as her deep breaths lifted me and lowered me in a steady rhythm.  I turned my head in and took a deep breath of her scent. Well, at least I'd always liked dogs, I thought bitterly and sighed. Would, could this creature provide for me? I was under no illusions I could do well by myself, or find my own way back to the society and family that would shun me. I had images of raw meat being thrown to me and living naked in a hole in the ground. I started to cry a little, not big shaking sobs, but with plenty of moisture. I sat up carefully. 

The beast beneath me stirred, sitting up, though it kept an arm around me as she did so. She looked a little confused, and she shook her head. "Who are you?" Her voice was shockingly human, though edged in a wolf's growl. She squinted, and then let out a small whine. "Oh, the full moon was last night. You must have walked into our territory. I remember mating you. Are you injured?"  "My back hurts. My wounds are probably filthy." I told her after looking at her in shock for a few moments, then I looked away, crossing my arms over my breasts. Mated me. Surely she couldn't have gotten me pregnant, could she...i mean she sounds just like an woman and...she has a dick? I didn't think that happened between humans and animals, maybe though, how was I to know? My heart hammered hard at the thought, I'd have puppies, Hell-demon puppies. 

"I don't see any serious wounds, and your back will get better. Is there anything actually wrong with you?" She asked with a growl and a huff, apparently unwilling to acknowledge my plight.  "Anything actually wrong with me." I muttered. "I assume you mean besides having my future taken from me. In that case no, I don't think so." I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them as I shivered, cold without her warm fur around me.  "Future taken? I could have left you to wander around the woods all night until you ran out of supplies and died. Or I could have let the kodiak bears have you. No, I have given you a future. You've a wife now, and I have a home for you to keep. You will raise my young and join my pack. I have given you a bright future." She answered with another huff.

She walked over to me and put her arms around me again. "When we get home I'll find you clothes."  So now there was a pack, and a home, and she thought we'd have children anyway. She was apparently my wife. Well, that was better than getting killed, or shut out by my own people. Right? I wasn't so sure. She could talk, but she still seemed more beast than a woman/male? Maybe. It was hard to see past her copious black fur and snout, but she didn't sound much different from the men and women I knew back home in her thinking or her tone. I leaned against her slightly, but didn't open my arms and hug her or anything. "I was set to marry someone else, but he wouldn't have me now anyway." I said morosely. I didn't see I had much choice but to go along with her plans, but she could at least feel bad about what she'd done. 

"Of course he wouldn't. If he tried, I'd kill him and eat his heart. You're my property now." The wolf said with a snort.  I sighed, exasperated with her. "What if I'd loved him!" Not that love had much to do with marriage. I didn't really think the feeling existed. I supposed I had a fondness for my father, but that was as far as I could see things going. It was almost comical to recall my father when he'd come to tell me I was going to marry Kai. Kai was handsome enough, I didn't care. My father had tried to comfort me, hugging me to him and telling me I'd learn to love Kai. "Never mind. I forgot. Hell-beasts probably don't have the whole 'love' thing down properly anyway." I snapped, knowing being property meant feelings played little role in these things.

Then I thought maybe I shouldn't go around insulting said Hell-beast and I swallowed hard.  The wolf grabbed me and turned me around in her arms so she could see me. Her eyes were still yellow, but they seemed to hold less menace than they had the night before.  "Our laws are in place for your protection. We mated on the full moon. You will carry my young. If I were to let you go back to your kind, your people would kill you. After the birth of my young you may leave and do whatever you like, but I will keep my children. You don't have to love me, but you will provide the services of a wife, and I will protect you until you give birth to my young." She explained it all like it was the simplest arrangement in the world.  "My ... your young? I will for sure? It doesn't work like that for people, sometimes we get children and sometimes we don't...plus aren't you a female by chance but the confusing thing is that you have an...dick." I pressed, voice high with concern.

I was close to panic, honestly. I told myself to calm down, but she was also talking about me leaving and who would have me after giving birth to anything?  "During the full moon we're always fertile. As long as I mate with a wolf, a human, or one of my own, my seed will carry. I maybe a female, but I was blessed with such gift...now you will give birth to my young now, and I will see that you're well until then, longer if you want to stay with me, but if you choose to go I will not force you to help me raise our children." Again, she explained it all like it made perfect sense.  "Hell-puppies." I said quietly, actually quietly, I was a rather shocked. I sat back from her, feeling rather depressed. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Alright. We'll go to your home. Get clothing." I said, trying to focus on more immediate problems.  "I have exceptional hearing, just so you know." She growled, but then she put her arms around me and started walking again. "You don't have to care for my children, but I do. I would prefer if you didn't insult them."  I wanted to ask if they were somehow just his, or if these children would be part of myself too. Since things weren't working the usual way. I was too afraid of the answer. Either way, my body was going to change and nurture creatures she was assuming I'd have nothing to do with afterward. Could I like children half as monstrous as she was anyway? I shook my head, trying to shake the thoughts loose.

I had to focus on one, small problem at a time. Or anything but birthing Hell-puppies, really. "Do you go by names, where you're from?" I felt unsure about everything.  "I'm Lalisa Manoban." She answered. "Pack huntsmen and defender. You?"  "Jennie." I left off titles and my father's name. Now that I was married to a monster she'd probably not want me to use it anyway. I also didn't add Lalisa name though, finding it strange to do so. There hadn't been a ceremony, or anything, and she expected me to leave once I gave her children. Well, at least if I was already pregnant there was a chance she wouldn't want to take me again. That thought was not quite as comforting as I thought it should have been.  She grunted. "Jennie. Sorry you're unhappy with this. Can't be helped. Shouldn't have come into our territory during a full moon. At least I got to you and not one of the mated males. They aren't allowed to keep females outside of their mates. You would have been killed. I will only use you when it's necessary. When the pups are born, I'll take you back to your own lands."  I decided not to say how much taking me back to my own lands wasn't a good idea. For me anyway.

I was her property though, so she could do as she pleased. Maybe I could make her like me enough to want to keep me around. Of course, I wasn't very good at making people like me. Especially if I didn't like them. Maybe it'd be different since this was clearly something I had to accomplish. I kept quiet, thinking things over, trying to be 'good.'