Lycanthrope

Chapter 9

Clawed hands stopped their delicate ministrations to my self. The beast had frozen completely, even its breathing ceased; I craned my neck to look at its face, the black of its eyes seemed darker- like it was lost in its own mind.
Slightly worried, I placed my hand on its chest, partly to make sure the beasts heart was still beating. Then suddenly my hand was vibrating, the shiver crawled up my arm as the beast growled in a sub sonic pitch unheard by my human ears, he began panting, body shuddering more so with each sob like heave.

"Back." The beast grunted hoarsely, breathing accelerating to the point of hyperventilation.

"Hey, calm down." I tried, reaching up to rub soothing circles into the fur beneath its ear- which had miraculously healed seamlessly. "It's okay... We can work on your name later, just calm down." I was stood now, cradling the beasts head awkwardly against my chest.

"No! Back!" He exclaimed, pushing out of my hold frantically in turn sending me flailing backwards as I rolled my ankle. I resurfaced as quickly as I fell, completely oblivious of the object that had just shattered beneath my hand. The beast was silent, staring at me with what could only be described as horror as I approached.

I raised my palms in a calming gesture; the beast whimpered, hands behind its back to brace itself against the edge of the spring and eyes trained on my hand. Curiously I looked down, my hand was dyed red with blood- I uttered a curse and drew the extremity closer to inspect. It wasn't nearly as bad as it looked, the water had thinned my blood and made it look much gorier than it really was, shallow cuts littered my fingers and the fleshy part of my palm, some small shards of ceramic embedded themselves in the cuts- superficial at most, but at least I found where my former weapon had gone. The irony was duly noted.
I hid the injury behind my back, "I'm fine, it's okay." I said.

"No..." It choked brokenly, "Hurt mate." It covered its head in its hands, whimpering pitifully and murmuring the words repeatedly like a mantra.

"Look, I'm alri-" as soon as I was within arms reach the beast let out an ear splitting howl, one that almost made me fall to my knees at the intensity as I covered my ears. The sound ploughed through the air with great animosity, the pitch was both low and high in such that it sounded like a chorus of wolves joining together in a sad, doleful melody.
The beast had leapt out of the water before the howling had even ended, still in a mild daze I jumped out and rushed down the path of newly made gouges in the rock towards the den.

The fire had died down to smouldering coals making it harder to see however the sounds gave away the beasts position; he had tucked himself into the farthest corner, perfectly camouflaged into the surroundings with his dark coat.

Reaching its hunched back, I was a hairs width away from touching him before he swung around and snarled, I jumped back just before the beast swung one of its clawed hands at me. It's eyes widened then its body convulsed before it flopped to the floor making sounds of what I assumed to be pain.

Dim wittedly I looked on, not sure what to do as the beast looked to be fitting at my feet; should I be making sure it didn't choke on its own tongue or start running in the other direction?
When its bones began to move beneath its skin, as if they had never been attached to anything to begin with, I took an unconscious step back. The scene made me clench my fists in cringe but it was the sound of bone snapping and joints dislocating that made my stomach churn in revolt. I watched with a grimace as its body remoulded itself, fur recede into flesh and stature shrink until all that was left was a man curled into himself in an awkward foetal position.

The mans skin was tan, speckled with slight scars and pulled taunt over muscle; with out a doubt he possessed power, for a body with such contour could only be made through years of training and discipline.

A heavy growl like groan came from the man as he moved into a seated position, hand brushing back the long dark locks of his hair then tracing the features of his face down to his beard covered chin. He wiggled and flexed his fingers in front of his face like an infant discovering the dexterity of their hand for the first time.

I must've made a noise, breathed in too loudly or maybe let a drop of water fall from my drenched self, because the mans head snapped in my direction so fast that I could've sworn I heard the muscles protest. His eyes were a spectacular hazel and even with the wild facial hair he was the most handsome man I'd ever seen - and one of the most naked, I noticed as he stood on unsteady feet.

Despite better judgement, I turned my back to the newly metamorphosed lycan and grabbed a towel from the chest; I jumped when I went to turn only to find the man less than a foot away. Before I could react, and as if the tendons in his legs had suddenly snapped, he slumped forward eyes rolling back into his skull. Unprepared for the weight, I stepped back only to fall as I tripped against the chest.

The quick procession of events left me slightly perplexed as I sat on the ground with a man half-hazardly draped over me. I slowly shuffled said man down my torso until I settled him so he rested soundly on the floor, then, out of courtesy, I laid the towel so it covered his male pride.

Just as I was reaching for another towel, to wipe the coagulated blood from my hand, he groaned and cracked open his eyes before giving me a lopsided grin and stretching to take my head between to hands- they were incredibly hot on my cheeks as they gently guided me to lean over until our foreheads met and noses touched in a soft Eskimo kiss.

"Adam, my name is Adam."

AN: Finally... Hope you enjoyed it, sorry for the late update this chapter was a pickle, too many ideas ad outcomes, but I think I like this one.
Remember to leave a vote, I love reading the comments and thanks for reading xxx