Moon Blood (COMPLETE)

Chapter Twenty: A Day for Training

"Again! Go again!"

Neil was panting, but persevered. This was only the second day of the week, and Ruby had promised much more of this to come. She'd put him on a strict diet to build his muscle and prolong his endurance when running, and every day after school they went to the hut previously abandoned by the three women to train. There were two types of training to hone both his human and lupine physique and it was exhausting.

However, it didn't deter him, and with sweat pouring off his naked body, he pulled himself up on the bar wedged between the door frame. Ruby had insisted he be naked in order to freely practice transforming by surprise, and as a compromise to make him feel more comfortable she too had stripped. It was proving however, to be much more of a hindrance than a motivation, and they had already been far too distracted by each other to focus on training.

"Good," said Ruby, hands on her naked hips. Your fitness is finally catching up with your changed body."

Neil grunted. He was already running several miles a day, but this was core and muscle building work on top of that endurance training. He noticed Ruby was looking approvingly at his trunk, and couldn't help but flush, causing him to drop and shake some life back into his shoulders. He was panting, drenched with perspiration, and endorphins pumped through him, making his head spin. He looked at Ruby, and hunger snaked between them. He could smell her, their sweaty bodies steaming in the cool air.

"You want a reward for doing twenty pull-ups?" Ruby had a wicked glint in her eye, which Neil answered by lunging at her in a throe of passion.

After their tryst, Neil was outside shivering. He was still naked, and standing by him was Ruby's beautiful lupin form, sleek and slender, black and beautiful. Concentrate, she ordered.

So he closed his eyes, and concentrated. His body was still on the comedown from orgasm and oxytocin flowed fast and free in his body. It helped with the anxiety of what had happened with Rachel. His paws dropped to the floor.

Good, he heard Ruby cooing to him. It only sent his heart spiking. He wanted to show her what had happened to his body during his escape from Hettie: the way his shoulders had burned and the fact his paws were clean off the floor. Could he have been flying? Sprouted wings like Ruby? Ruby's didn't seem functional for flight but Neil was convinced he had flown on that night. Or maybe it was just floating. Whatever it was, Neil wanted to work it out and confirm it.

Sniffing the air let him know his other form had taken hold, and he opened his eyes to see Ruby waiting for him. Her wings were tucked away, somewhere within her body, maybe his were too.

Let's go, she said, bounding off over the grass and towards the rolling fields. Almost on instinct more than anything else, Neil followed, tongue lolling out in the pleasure of sprinting faster than he ever could have imagined on two feet. He didn't think he would ever get past the sheer joy of feeling the wind whipping past his ears as his paws pounded the earth. As he ran, Neil tried desperately to invoke the sensation he had on that night. What had it been? Terror? Exhilaration? A whole cocktail had been swimming in him at that moment. Which one would unlock what he did? Could he even do it, still?

His mind was wandering, thinking of Ruby's body, the way her hair would fall down past her neck and her soft, smooth skin under his palm.

With his rising arousal came another, unbidden and much scarier sensation he hadn't really felt before. Had he? It seemed familiar.

He was hungry. Hunger for Ruby and Hettie and Rachel, for their flesh to slide down his throat, for their blood on his muzzle. His back burned.

Neil? What the... ?

Ruby had stopped, quivering and her tail between her legs. He could see she was tense however, scared but ready to act should she need to. He stopped too, but the rustle and scritching of feathers in the stiff breeze. He froze, looking over his shoulder.

It was true: great grey wings stretched out from his back. Feathers shimmering in the afternoon chill. They were huge, and beat as Neil shifted his muscles without realising. It made him jump, and Ruby too. Without warning, her silvery, furry wings unfurled and her tail extended, and she looked just as she had done back in the summer when she had loped through Neil's window.

Is this what males can do? That's never been documented by our mothers or anything before them. "Neil." She had transformed to her human form in her surprise, and sat on the grass in the sunset. "You're beautiful."

He couldn't smell her anymore, and he was cold. Naked once again and human, with only one difference. A whisper shushed behind him, and he looked behind him and panicked. The wings hadn't retracted, and individual feathers rippled in the autumn breeze. "What the hell?" he said, trying to reach around and failing, just ending up turning in a circle rather crudely. "Are they permanent? Ruby. what the hell is this?"

"No idea. They're incredible. I've never even seen a male wolf before, but there was never a mention of wings. It doesn't even make sense. And they're feathered, for crying out loud!"

Beautiful boy.

Neil was grappled to the floor before he could see the origin of the voice, but he knew immediately who it was. Hettie in her huge, lumbering lupine form, his wings in her maw. She bit down and wrenched her head to the side.

Neil screamed. He screamed and wailed as warm, red blood poured over his back and he heard the crunching of soft bones. Bloodied feathers scattered about him and fell in clumps, tangled in sticky blood..

"Neil!" But Ruby was also pinned down. They were trapped by Hettie and her family, two of which had their jaws growling at Ruby's throat. "Get the hell off of me, you cowards!"

"Not yet. Not until he gives us what we want."