Chapter One

 

The pictograms were fascinating!

Lauren eased the canoe in closer to the tall rocks, then very carefully stood up, phone in hand. It wasn't the smartest thing in the world she'd ever done but she wanted close up pictures! She'd always been fascinated by ancient history, and had already been accepted into Cornell's undergraduate program in Archaeology in the fall.

She snapped her pictures and sat down quickly, relieved her foolishness hadn't dropped her, and worse, her phone, into the river. She was a good swimmer but the phone was not. And even trying to explain to anyone how she'd lost it would just draw laughter at her expense. That was the sort of thing she had long striven to avoid!

And not always with success.

She was a nerd, and knew it. Sometimes she regretted it, when she saw the blonde party girls in their short skirts and tight tops with boys swirling around them. They seemed to enjoy themselves a lot, and had an awful lot of friends and admirers.

Lauren was neither a party girl nor a blonde. Nor was she terribly comfortable with being the center of attention. She certainly never sought it! When she received it, therefore, it was usually for something she wished she hadn't.

Certainly the popular kids liked to make fun of nerds like Lauren with her thick framed glasses and earnest, bookish ways. And she had been mocked more than a few times once books on ancient peoples were discovered to be her favorite reading material.

Her parents were weird, too. Her mother was a natural scientist for the forest service, and studied herbs and wildflowers. Her father ran the visitors center at Allegheny National Forest, a few miles from where they lived, in a very large ranch style house on the banks of the Tyre River.

She paddled on for a short distance, then pulled the canoe ashore, hopped out, and drew on a pair of crocs, bare feet not being the best for walking in the forest. Not that she was going especially far, but Lauren didn't generally take chances.

It was late spring, and the woods were filled with life. The half million acres of Allegheny National Forest were some of the most beautiful in the world, in her opinion. She delighted in knowing no one had built on the ground she walked over, no one had developed it, and no one ever did. Only the first peoples, the local native bands, had ever hunted the animals here.

 There were a number of designated historical areas in the park where archaeological sites had been found dating back thousands of years into prehistory.

She traced the path of the banks of a creek whose waters tumbled merrily along, capering over rocks and pieces of fallen timber, and given the surprising heat today, she gave in to temptation to step into the creek herself.

The crocs would not be damaged, after all, and she was wearing shorts. The water felt quite cold, at first, but she adapted. It was only up to her ankles, but it cooled her off as well as slowing her down. She wasn't in any great hurry, however. She had nowhere she had to be.

School was over forever. Well, at least, high school. Her parents didn't feel she needed a summer job, nor did she. They were comfortable enough to pay for her tuition. So she intended to enjoy the upcoming summer and explore the park more.

She let her mind slide back over the centuries, and even eons, imagining the natives traveling this route before America was even born, before Columbus had ever even found the place! She was a romantic at heart, and a dreamer, and had an excellent imagination.

She followed the creek as it angled around tall strands of beech trees, and heard the water sounds growing much louder. Ahead, she saw a large rock outcropping, and water spilling over its edge. She paused, shaking her head at the beauty of it, and whipping out her phone for pictures, then slowly slogged forward, the water deepening almost to her knees.

It was easy, in the deep quiet of the forest, disturbed only by the sound of birds and the falling water, to imagine herself alone in the world. This was not one of the recreation areas which had trails and campsites, let alone roads. The only way to reach it was by water, and no powered watercraft were allowed on the river.

And it was hot...

She made her way closer to the rocky outcropping, feeling a sense of uncharacteristic excitement at the thought of doing something... naughty, or at least, daring. Well, daring for Lauren. But there was no one around, and it was hot, and the water tumbling over the outcrop, while not exactly a big waterfall, was certainly plentiful and beautiful, and very attractive.

 She climbed onto the bank and stripped off her shirt, then skinned out of her shorts, feeling a little breathy, and now a tad paranoid as she looked around anxiously. The chestnut and beech trees made it impossible to see for any distance, but it was exceedingly unlikely anyone else was within miles of her.

Still, as she slipped off her bra, she felt a sense of daring and excitement, not to mention a sense of sexual arousal at her own, well, sluttiness, at stripping naked outside, practically in public!

Of course, if there were any public around she'd not have done it, and would have run screaming in horror, but the odds against that were vanishingly high.

She hesitated, the thought of removing that last strip of clothing, the small bikini panties she wore, a bit daunting. She looked around once more, nervous, but filled with anticipation, then slipped her thumbs into the string and peeled them down and off.

She waded slowly into the water, reaching up behind her head and undoing the elastic which bound her long brown hair back. Long, thick bangs cut across her forehead, some spilling over her glasses, and reminding her.

She paused, slipped them off, shook her head to get the hair out of her eyes, and tossed them over beside her clothes on the bank. Slightly breathless, she moved carefully forward, the water deepening to her lower thighs.

Then she was in beneath the water, gasping at its coldness as it splashed down over her head and shoulders. Instantly, the heat she'd been feeling disappeared. She almost shivered at the cold, crying out softly.

But then her body adjusted. It was still cold, but gloriously clean and refreshing! It poured over her as she moved directly beneath, tilting her head back, eyes closed, feeling a timeless sense of energy as it washed over her.

She turned around slowly, lowering her head so she could open her eyes, looking around anxiously again. But there was nothing to see. Nor could she likely have seen it if there was. Without her glasses the world began to soften and blur only a few yards away.

She slid her hands up through her hair, angling her head back again, feeling again that sense of strange excitement at being naked out of doors. She might not be heavily sought after by the boys, given her glasses, her shyness, and the kind of clothes she wore, but Lauren knew very well there wasn't one who knew her who wouldn't be wildly excited to see her like this.

Spending far more time out of doors than watching television, she had a lithe, slender body. Her bottom was firm and tight, and her breasts, while not large, were pert, round, high on her chest, and at that moment, had very, very stiff pink nipples!

Daringly, she plucked them with her fingers, then slid a hesitant hand slowly down the smooth, wet skin of her belly, lightly cupping her sex as nervousness returned. She drew her hand away, turning slowly as if under a shower as the water poured over her.

She opened her eyes and they widened as she saw a shallow cave behind the water. She slid forward, then climbed a waist high bank to examine it. Just within, there was a cave going off at an angle, a shallow one, with bones on the ground.

More interestingly, there were pictographs on the walls!

She gasped, moving closer, squinting in the low light, and wishing she'd brought a flashlight. She wondered if she could get her phone in without the water damaging it. She let her fingers trace the stone alongside them, dropping to hands and knees as she looked to the bones. Were they human!? If so this was an unexplored find and she'd have to quickly report it!

A low growl behind her was audible even over the splashing water, and she turned around, eyes going wide, jaw dropping, and a jolt of shock and terror hitting her as she saw the huge wolf behind her! She screamed and threw herself forward, twisting around, but her back was to the stone as the wolf growled fiercely at her!

She searched desperately for some kind of weapon, finally picking up a bone of some kind, holding it out in her trembling hand.

“Shoo! Go away! Go!” she cried.

The wolf snarled, its lips drawn back. It was a simply huge wolf! She'd never seen a bigger!

“You can't be here!” she squeaked! “Wolves are extinct here!”

And then it leapt! She screamed as it landed atop her, knocking her backward! It drove her to her back and landed atop her, snarling as she grabbed desperately at its ruff and tried to hold its teeth away from her face!

And then... somehow, impossibly, the hair she was gripping slid out of her fingers, and the snarling jaw over her began to … shrink! It shrank right back into the wolf's face! The face itself widened and the hair disappeared and she was gaping up at the sight of a man above her!

Which was patently, flat out impossible!

He was a youngish man, if older than Lauren, a handsome man, a very broad shouldered man with long dark hair and a square cut jaw. He was also a very naked man. But she was too shocked to even think about complaining!

He stared at her with almost as much shock as she stared back! Then he drew himself up and off her so fast he was halfway across the cave before she noticed it! He crouched in the corner, staring at her, then at himself, then at her again.

He sagged down onto his haunches, knees drawn up against his chest, and hugged himself, trembling and shivering as she continued to stare in terrified disbelief!

After long seconds she slowly sat up, eyes darting to the water behind him. Could she make it past him!? She started to rise on one knee, crouching, edging as far from him as she could.

Then his head came up and his eyes bored into her!

She gasped, wondering where she'd put the bone, or anything else she could use as a weapon!

His eyes narrowed, and then... they dropped, flicking down the length of her body. Lauren might not be as sexually experienced as blonde party girls but she knew that look! It was the look of a man who liked what he saw and wanted it! Still, that was better than the look of a wolf looking to eat her!

A werewolf!? That was impossible! There couldn't be such things!

Still, he was definitely male, and outweighed her by a considerable degree. His arms were large and muscled, and despite her relief at not being threatened with being imminently savaged by a wild animal, she felt a flush of heat come to her face.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

She gasped at the words, then gulped and crossed an arm across her bare breasts. She dropped her other hand down between her legs.

“L-L-Lauren!” she squeaked.

“You've seen me,” he said shortly.

She gulped anxiously.

“You have to die.”

She gasped and jumped for the water. He grabbed her ankle as she half hit the stream, and she screamed, her upper body falling into the water before being dragged back up and out and flung to the back of the cave.

“Please!” she cried, back against the wall.

He glared at her, but his face was filled with uncertainty.

“I've never killed a woman,” he said. “A girl,” he corrected himself. “I've never killed anyone as a human before.”

He glared, seemingly troubled. “Never killed anyone who wasn't trying to kill me.”

He crouched directly before her, the water just behind him, and stared at her.

Lauren stared back, terrified. He was a big, powerful man, after all. He didn't need fangs and claws to kill her!

“I-I won't tell anyone!” she blurted. “Who'd believe me anyway!?”

His eyes narrowed.

“I don't even believe me!' she cried.

He nodded his head slowly, still studying her, and his eyes flicked downward again to her bare breasts. She gulped and crossed her arm across them again, her own eyes dropping involuntarily to his crotch, where his cock hung fully exposed and very... large!

It was soft, at least, and unthreatening, but the size of it emphasized the raw, naked maleness of the … whatever it was in front of her!

“I haven't lost control like that in some time,” he said. “When I saw you on all fours with your bottom towards me, I shifted into animal form almost instantly.”

She flushed hotly, her mind squirming and stomach churning.

“That's shocking enough. But then, somehow... it left me, just like that, when I was over you. I could feel the wild animal hunger, and it just... fled, like a tap being turned off. That's never happened before either.”

He shifted his stance, kneeling now, his shoulders going up and back. They were indeed very broad, she thought. His chest was muscled, and his torso narrowed somewhat at the waist to slim hips. But even kneeling, well, his knees were comfortably apart. He seemed to have no concern about his nudity whatever.

He took a deep, shuddering breath, then seemed to refocus on her.

“Lauren,” he said, as if tasting the word. “I'm sorry I frightened you, Lauren.”

She nodded jerkily.

He sighed. “I don't like to frighten people.”

Lauren gulped. That at least sounded promising!

“Especially beautiful women,” he said with a half-smile.

Lauren's raw terror had been fading slowly. She was still afraid, but she could think, now, at least, and the best way to disarm an angry man, though this one didn't seem all that angry, was to talk to him.

“I-I'm sorry I... I startled you,” she gulped.

“You didn't startle me. I could scent you as I approached, even in man form. I knew it was human and female. I wasn't prepared for my first sight of you. That seemed to... touch something very wild and animalistic inside me.”

She flushed again.

“Then again, I guess a sight like that would touch something animalistic in any man,” he said.

Lauren's mind squirmed and her eyes darted to either side of him.

His arms reached up and out to the sides, one hand grasping a bit of tree root growing near the low ceiling, the other flat against the rock. She sucked in a breath, for he had, without question, the most gorgeous male body she'd ever seen, even in pictures!

“I won't harm you,” he said, decisively.

“Th-that's good!”

“I know how you brought me into my wolf form. I need to know how you brought me out of it.”

“I have no idea!”

“I need to know!”

“How would I know!?”

He scowled.

“Turn around.”

Wh-what? Why?”

“Do it!”

Lauren nervously turned her back to him, gulping anxiously.

“Get on your hands and knees.”

“What!? Why!?”

“Like before. I want to see if I can keep myself in check at the sight of you.”

“No!”

He growled, though the sound was more human, and suddenly jerked forward, his big hands grasping her hips and yanking them backward! Lauren cried out, her hands slapping down to the ground to keep from falling on her face!

“Don't move!” he barked.

She moaned and twisted her head around, blushing and frightened, but he didn't seem intent on anything... sexual.

He drew himself backwards, his hands sliding off her hips, his body moving back to the entry to the little cave, and she turned her face away, blushing furiously as he looked at her!

“Lower your head, like before,” he ordered. “Lower yourself onto your elbows, like before.”

Heart pounding, she obeyed.

“Spread your legs.”