Gwen
Her tail had wagged. I wasn’t sure if Tori knew it or not, but her tail had wagged while I was petting her. I had wanted so badly to take a quick video clip of it, she was so adorable - she’d be cuter with a husky’s upcurled tail, but her tail was lovely in its very wolf-appropriate shape.
Getting that video would have ruined the day, though. She was still so stubborn about her pride, but we had made a lot of progress today. Much more than I had expected.
Tori had gone back into the cage willingly. She hadn’t growled, she hadn’t threatened, she didn’t force me to put her back in - I wasn’t sure I could without hurting her leg. She had trusted me to fix her wound, she had relaxed and watched movies with me, and I was pretty sure she had been trying quite hard to pretend not to notice me petting her.
I cleaned up after breakfast, I tidied the kitchen, took a couple more ibuprofen for my own battle wounds, and went into the attic. Granddad hadn’t been a packrat, per se, but he did have a habit of keeping things that would probably come in handy later - a habit he passed down to me. I didn’t come up here very often. There were some of Granny’s things up here, old dolls and quilts, an old box of jewelry, a few keepsakes from the few times the two of them had traveled. Granddad’s things were still all throughout the house.
I didn’t feel like I lived alone here, I always had Granddad’s company in one form or another. His writings, his tools, his photos, and half my lifetime of quips and sayings. I spent a while going through boxes, looking for one in particular. There was something I needed to find, but I hadn't taken them out in years. I should have started with the boxes in the far back. Of course that's where it was.
I remember stumbling onto Bear on the street when I still lived in the city. A mean fucking dog, and hurt. How I got him back to our place without being eaten at the wise age of nine years old would forever be a mystery, but Mom helped him recover, helped him learn to trust, helped him adjust and we were close for the rest of his life. He had been fiercely loyal, guarding our place from his hated enemies, the squirrels, and any other dog who looked at the place sideways.
Thing about Bear was though, he had liked snapping at things. Things in this case being me. A muzzle helped that out while mom was training him. She got him a harness to wear. Said it gave more control over him than a collar did. We had kept both when he passed on and I'm glad we did. Once I had them cleaned up I might be able to take Tori outside.
I was giddy at the thought of taking her for a walk.
Like she’s mine.
After I put the boxes away it seemed like the time to go and practice. I needed to give her time to rest before I bothered her again. The fact that Tori had outmaneuvered me and very nearly took a bite out of my leg showed that I needed to step up my practice anyway. A stronger wolf might have gotten me and I could have lost a foot before I got them with the spear.
I bundled up and headed out behind the workshop, debating whether I should bring more of my less ethical weapons into the house with me for protection. I hated thinking about ever using them. Not just against Tori, I didn't want to use them against any werewolf. I kept them around for a reason though.
The problem with my current situation was Tori was always close. Granddad said the best way to defend against a werewolf was distance. All my best weapons worked on that principle. Silver tipped arrows. Silver BBs for slingshots. I even had a few silver bullets, but I tried to stay away from guns. Traditional ones, anyway. They were loud and attracted attention - and werewolves were pack animals. A gun might get you one, but it would tell all the others exactly where you were. The silliest weapons in my collection I knew were the most dangerous though. They were the ones I had pulled off a hunter's corpse.
After some spear practice, I decided to brush up on my archery for a while. I had been considering going hunting before Tori crashed into my life. I held off on it during the summer, gave River's pack their pick of food. It wasn’t like I couldn't afford to buy food. But it didn't hurt to add a bit more to my food supply during the winter, and with the climate all weird the way it was, not all the deer vanished in the winter.
And venison tasted great. I had a jerky recipe that was to die for and I hadn’t made any yet this season.
After an hour of target practice, I gave up. Tori was distracting me, the way she had pushed into my hand while she was asleep in the night, how her tail wagged when I pet her during the movie. The way it just felt nice that I could let her out of the cage without us needing to be at each other’s throats.
I blamed the cold, that it was getting to me, lying to myself as I packed up to head in. As I was putting the weapons away I looked at one of the oddballs in my collection. A hunter’s weapon. A paintball pistol. It looked real enough if you didn't know a lot about guns. I had made my own ammo for it when I had dissected what he had on him. A paint made with silver dust. It lost some potency because of the mixture, but it was hard to get off. Without help removing it, it could lead to a bunch of burns very quickly. I stared at it for a bit before grabbing a holster and bringing it with me back to the house.
I hated the thought of using it, but it was the one weapon I had that she couldn't use against me. A silver knife she could use against me, if she worked hard enough to ignore - or if she tore off - the silver studs in the hilt’s wrap. The spear didn’t even have that protection. But if she shot me with this, all I risked was some small bruises.
With lunch cooking I took the time to clean Bear's old harness and muzzle, then back in the box they went - I didn't want Tori to realize what they were when I brought them down. I'd probably have a tantrum on my hands if she saw it.
When the chicken was finished cooking I gathered my things and headed down to the basement. I wasn't sure what the afternoon would bring, but the morning had been pretty good.
"Tori? You awake?" I asked as I walked down the stairs. "I have lunch."
* * *
Tori
I perked up when I heard her come down the stairs, and my tail thumped against the bars of the cage. And stopped immediately.
My tail had wagged.
It's just because I'm bored! I don't like her! She doesn't make me happy!
The wolf was rapidly becoming my enemy, not a part of me. I laid back down, flattening my ears and intentionally ignoring her.
So what if we had a nice morning. So what if she let me pick movies and her hand felt amazing stroking my ears and my fur. So what if she fed me jerky like licorice during the movie and cracked jokes for me.
So what if she gave me the most casual, comfortable affection I had probably ever had in my entire life.
She kept me in a cage. She wouldn’t let me leave. She was holding me against my will.
She had taken advantage of me while I was in the throes of the Blood Moon. She had sex with me while I couldn’t say no.
The best sex of my life that I loved every moment of.
Her words interrupted my thoughts, thankfully. Instead, my eyes fixed on the nasty purple-yellow bruise around her eye. The mix of guilt and pride was uncomfortable, and I wasn’t sure which feeling I wanted. I couldn’t even say definitively that she had brought it on herself… I had faked sick. I had exploited her kindness and we were both wounded in the process - although I had taken much more damage than she had.
"Let's try and have a good afternoon." Gwen set some box on the table before setting a bowl of baked chicken breast on the floor outside the cage. To my surprise, she didn’t push it in - she opened the cage and stepped back. "We had a pretty good morning. Let's just keep that going."
It wasn't enough food. She was feeding me like a dog and I wasn't a dog. Pulling myself over, I stepped carefully out of the cage.
The chicken in the bowl was gone in one bite, slurping it into my mouth and barely chewing, swallowing quickly - like I was stealing something from Fang.
I didn't want to nibble, I wanted a kill. Moving back over to the blanket-bed, I laid down gingerly, resting my head over my front paws.
"I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that's not enough?" There was that sarcastic amusement. "You were wandering by yourself for sometime, I'm guessing you hunted for your own food. I'm going to do some hunting later tonight. If I'm lucky I'll get a deer. Probably get some rabbits at least if you like those."
I gave a snort, thumping my tail on the ground for emphasis. I didn't want her scraps, I wanted to tear into the deer myself. I could eat a rabbit whole... though it wasn't pleasant if I shifted soon after.
But what did we do now? I didn't want to watch another movie, but I didn't want to do anything else either. I wanted to leave. I wanted to shift.
Neither was really possible, though.
"Yeah, I'm guessing you'd rather do it yourself. Kind of out of the question though." She looked at me, folding her arms over her chest, considering something. "The way I see it we have two options. One is that you can choose another movie." Ugh, two was plenty, I didn’t want to sit through another. The way she paused before she presented the second option was suspicious. "Or, if you'll agree to some reasonable concessions, we can go outside for a little bit."
I looked up at her, wondering what she considered reasonable concessions. I cocked my head at her, raising one eyebrow. It was a fun human gesture that translated well.
"Alright, I can see you're at least interested." With a smile she stepped over to the table and grabbed the box. "Look. I know this stuff is gonna make you mad. But it's my offer." She pulled out a heavy chain leash, and my ears immediately went back as I started a low, threatening growl. Which turned into a snarl full of the promise of violence. "The harness will help me get a better hold on you and it won't choke you like a collar will. It also has a strap so I can help you go up and down stairs. This chain is pretty strong and I don't feel you have a great chance of breaking it right now." If I had been human just then, my eyes would have bugged out at the final item. I was too stunned to even growl. I fell silent as she lifted a muzzle out of the box. "I don't trust you not to listen to that shoulder devil that might say to bite me and make a break for it. So if you want to go outside, you'll be wearing this."
She was crazy if she thought I was going to wear that willingly. I was wounded, I couldn't even run away from her. I could hobble off... but she was right, if something absurd happened like her tripping and falling outside, I'd tear her throat out in an instant and limp off into the snow.
I wasn't going to wear those things. I wasn't a dog. I sure as fuck wasn't her pet.
I flattened my ears back again, resuming my snarl. If she took so much as a step toward me with that, we were going to have an issue.
"Oh you can hush." Gwen rolled her eyes, unintimidated. "I grew up around a dog that was bigger than you with a meaner disposition. I'm not afraid of a few snarls. Now, are you gonna put this on and go outside where no one but me will ever see you in it, or are you going to have a temper tantrum and choose more 'human propaganda' to watch instead?"
Oh now I was mad. I knew I was small. I was sensitive about it. Fang's wolf was surprisingly large for his relatively modest height and it was unfair. My wolf was not nearly as impressive.
But she didn't have to tell me she'd known dogs bigger than me. That was just mean.
I dropped my jaw a bit lower, growling louder and giving a snap in the air to let her know that she was on thin ice.
"Aw, don't get your tail in a bunch. He was some kind of mutant kutta. One of the biggest breeds in the world. Being bigger isn't everything. Average sized wolves and large dog breeds are generally about the same height. You gonna be mad that you ain’t as shaggy as a mastiff? A normal wolf gets top speeds of thirty miles an hour while a greyhound can go forty-five. Doesn't make you any less cool."
I decided to try and push my luck. I stopped my growl, it wasn’t intimidating to her anyway, and limped over to the stairs. I looked up at the door, then pointedly back to Gwen, my ears forward.
Crossing her arms, she looked at me with a stern expression. "I gave you your options. I want this to be a nice day. Movies and gettin’ to enjoy the weather outside. But you already attacked me yesterday and there are consequences to your actions. You showed me I can't let my guard down at all because the moment I tried to help you, you jumped out of the cage and smashed my face." I took some smug satisfaction in that as she shook the muzzle at me. "Now, do you want to wear this and have no one but me ever see you in it so you can go outside? Or are you gonna keep being a baby and complain you aren't getting your way? Work with me here."
I put a front paw on the step, looking back at my hurt leg, then back up the stairs, then back to Gwen.
And I did my best to speak as the wolf.
Hurt badly. No danger.
To her it likely sounded like a huff and a whimper, Wolftongue was as much body language and scent as it was vocalization.
...and then I decided to compromise, and I demeaned myself. I gave one very doglike bark before letting out a whine.
You work with me, you bitch.
I could tell she was at least considering it, which gave me some hope. She let out a long sigh. "I will compromise. No muzzle." I lit up at that, my tail high. "Harness is non-negotiable. You'll need to go up these stairs and down another short flight to get to the backyard. Then you'll have to do them again. I'm not gonna have you slip down the stairs because you're being grumpy. I am bringing the leash with me. Any sign you're doing anything but walking or you stray too far from me then I snap it on. End of story."
I nodded my assent. If the cards fell perfectly and I managed to escape on this trip - a risk I wasn't going to take unless it was an absolutely sure thing - I could chew through the harness once I got away, before I made my way back to my pack.
A quick fantasy of limping back to the pack and telling them about the werewolf hunter flashed through my brain. Warning them of silver weapons and pointing out where she was... so we could take her and she could be my pet. Taking her myself. Fucking her like she had done to me.
But I snorted, chasing the daydream away. Even that short fantasy had gotten me going more than was strictly wise. I waited, holding still so Gwen could buckle the stupid thing into me.
So I could give up yet more dignity.