Ash Ch. 01

He'd left it too late. His muscles burned like they'd melt the skin from his bones. Ash braced his palm against the rough brick of the shop front. That would teach him to push his body to resist its instincts. Sweat beaded his face; he gave a swift glance to check that nobody was around to witness his weakness. The street was deserted; it was the wrong end of town for a Samaritan to come to his aid anyway. Ahead of him music pumped into the damp night air as the door to the club swung open and then back on itself. Voices, sharp with temper, exchanged a cursed parting, a car door slammed once, twice, and the street was his again.

He should have headed to the park hours ago. Instead Ash had forced himself to pace the dishevelled Friday night streets. Litter blew around his ankles as he braced for another wave of pain. Gritting his teeth he shoved away from the wall. He didn't want to slip skin out in the open; he would head to the park and give in to the need to change. Damn it but he was in control of his own body.

It took a moment to get his bearings. With a nod to himself he focused on putting one foot in front of the other. The pain wasn't severe enough to block out his thought process yet, but it wouldn't be long. He could cut through the alley beside the club, follow it around back and be in the park within five minutes. Ash ignored the tremor in his muscles and turned left into the alley.

The scents of rot and filth filled his nose till he wanted to gag. Bags of rotting food billowed from the overfull bins almost masking the stench of urine daubed at regular intervals along both walls. It was all he could do not to whip his cock out and scent the area with his own piss.

This was his town. Nobody else's. Just his. But that was the wolf in him that was thinking. The scent was the smell of lazy human, too drunk or too inconsiderate to find a toilet to relieve himself. They weren't marking territory like he would be. Despite that knowledge a growl rumbled deep in his chest.

There was a sound; he cocked his head trying to focus over the throbbing pulse of his blood. It was almost a whimper. It made his heart skip. A predatory urge to flush out potential prey deepened his growl. His wolf was too near the surface; if he didn't find somewhere to change soon he was going to lose his tenuous grip on his control and shift where he stood.

Too exposed. He glanced behind him to the mouth of the alley. He could be seen from here. There weren't many other wolves in this city but he'd be vulnerable for the time it took for his bones to break and reform. He surged onward, staggering deeper into the alley.

Slap. It was the sound of skin hitting skin. Another whimper. Soft. Feminine? Ash shoved his hand over his face, pushing the sweat from his eyes. His nostrils flared. He stood at the end of the alley with his nose in the air, had he been able to in this form he'd have cocked his ears to place the noise.

Sex. He could smell it. The unmistakable musk of aroused male. It rose above the background filth of the alley to swell his cock and curl his lips back from his teeth. The whimpering was the noise of a woman getting fucked, hard judging by the sound of flesh hitting flesh.

Ash glanced over his shoulder once more. He should turn around and take the long route to the park. He might just be able to make it. In the adjacent alley a door creaked and then slammed. He frowned; he was running out of time. Better to just charge past the lovers. It would make them jump but he'd be gone before they would even be aware of him. He was just shifting balance to push off for the dash when the woman screamed.

"No!"

"Aww go on darling, we don't mind sharing." A man chuckled. "Oh yes, swallow him down bitch."

Ash ducked his head around the corner. A girl was crouched on all fours, her pale skin glowed in the sparse light of the club's rear door. Behind her crouched a man, trousers dropped to his thighs, bare arse clenching and unclenching as he worked his cock in and out of the girl's cunt. Before her knelt another man, though he faced Ash his attention was taken up by pulling his growing cock from his trousers. The girl, pale skinned and dark haired was shaking her head. As much as she could with the first man's hand fisted in it to hold her still.

The girl bucked and fought, trying to rise off her knees but the first man pressed his palm to her shoulder blades and kept her in place. The second guy pressed his clawed hand to her jaw, working it open.

"No. We agreed..."

"Yeah, yeah, one at a time." The second man nodded, laughing. "Buyer's market baby. Bite it and I'll snap your neck."

In one forceful movement he thrust his cock into her mouth. His hands gripped the girl's ears halting her attempt to pull back. The sound of her gagging on the cock filled Ash's ears until it drowned out the pounding of his heart and the howl of his rising wolf.

The scent of sex and fear was overpowering. The noise of the girl's whimpering and gagging was intoxicating. Ash had an urge to charge ahead, toss the two men aside and shove his own cock into the vacant cunt. How long had it been? Even longer than it had since he slipped skin. He'd been pushing himself to go longer and longer between shifts. He'd had little choice about the enforced chastity.

Ash shook his head to clear it. The girl broke free with a squeal of panic. They guy who had been fucking her mouth drew back a fist, aimed it at the side her head. Ash surged forward. His wolf instinct might have wanted him to take the girl for himself but she was one girl against two men and that spoke to the scrap of human being left inside him.

Too late. Ash recognised the scent of wolf only when he had left the safety of his hiding place. The two men whirled on him. They rose. Their trousers hanging around their thighs and their engorged cocks bobbing at him. Ash steeled himself for the impact. He drove himself head first into the first guy's gut, sending him sprawling backwards into the second. If they had been human they wouldn't have survived, the first guy would have snapped his spine, the second would have cracked his head open on the wall. Ash didn't wait. He scooped up the girl under his arm and dashed for the other end of the alley.

She screeched and writhed in his hold but he didn't stop until he felt grass under his feet. The park. Ash stopped in his tracks. He turned a full circle scenting the air for any sign that the two wolves might be pursuing. There was none. Evidently a fuck was not worth fighting over. He looked down at the girl he still held under his arm. Her head was twisted so that she could see his face.

"Yeah remember me now?" She hissed at him.

It was not the reaction he had expected. Ash frowned and shook his head to himself. He dropped the girl onto her knees at his feet. Just for a second he thought about taking up where the two wolves had left off. He could thrust his throbbing erection into her exposed cunt or maybe shut up that big mouth of hers instead.

Slowly she stood up, making a show off dusting herself off. She wore and tiny pleated skirt that barely covered her bare arse and a cheap white shirt unbuttoned and tied in a knot between her bare breasts. The situation in the alley and then her rescue had left her bunches in disarray. So that her dark hair was lopsided, one bunch high up on the top of her head, one almost undone and dangling below her ear.

Ash did a double take. One the one hand the girl looked like she'd just stepped off the school bus; on the other she was wearing a school uniform like a porn star. A three-inch skirt, no panties and way too much flesh on display. Only when he reached her eyes, and it took a good few minutes of thorough inspection to reach that high, did he confirm that she was long out of school. Mid twenties minimum, thirties if you took account of the hard-edged glint in her eyes.

He was just thinking that they were nice eyes when she slammed the heel of her hand into the centre of his chest. He'd caught the tell tale intent in her moves but he was a wolf, what could she do to him?

Send him flying backwards on to his arse is exactly what she did. His feet actually lifted from the ground, his landing so unprepared for that he bit his own tongue when his head bounced. Ash gave a snarl and swallowed blood. His blood.

"I don't need no fucking pimp so think again mister." She screeched at him, pointed finger jabbing the air as she advanced on him again.

Pimp? "You're a fucking whore?" He yelled with disbelief.

"Disappointed?" She placed her balled fists onto her narrow hips, feet braced far apart as she sneered at him. "Got you all hot watching some poor girl getting fucked around in an alley, now you're all put out cos it was paid for huh?" She shook her fist at him; he could see the corners of the crumpled bills she clutched there. It must have been why she had remained on her knees when he took down her would-be attackers. Collecting her damned payment.

Ash could have kicked himself. "I thought I was rescuing you, not fucking up your work place." His lips curled derisively around the words. In his mind he was adding up the change in his pockets, wondering if he had enough to purge the pain in his cock.

The girl kicked at the loose stones on the path, sending a spray of gravel at Ash's face. He held his hands up to protect his eyes and then felt like an idiot being intimidated by a girl. A girl who had just put a wolf on his arse. He pushed up from the ground with a snarl but she had already turned her back on him, stalking in circles jabbing at the air with her money filled fist.

"Rescuing. Those guys just like a bit of fear with their fuck, that's all. Bloody wolves, they like all that whimpering shit. Taking the piss trying to get a two one for deal though, the bastards." She rounded on him again; her lipstick was smeared up to her cheek, distorting her angry pout. "Now I'm down twenty quid cos of you."

Ash opened his mouth to argue but a surge of fresh pain ripped his breath from his lungs. His knees gave way and he buckled before her. Clutching at the hem of her skirt to save himself from landing on his face. She dodged out of his way in a blur of movement. She caught his shoulder before he toppled over, helpless Ash simply hung there letting her take his weight whilst he fought to breathe.

"Oh babe you smell real bad." The girl sniffed the air around him, her nose wrinkling in disgust, still she moved closer, running her nose across his cheek.

Ash fought for air, he tried to shrug the girl away from him, all thoughts of fucking erased.

"Get away from me." He growled, pulling his t-shirt over his head. His wolf was coming too fast to stop now. "For your sake run you stupid bitch."

The girl cuffed him about the ear; already off balance he toppled aside, landing hard on his bare shoulder. Ash blinked blindly up at her, his body curling in on itself as his wolf fought to claw its way out of his body. He shouldn't have left it this long; he should have shifted weeks ago. He was going to kill the stupid girl if she didn't get moving soon.

"I don't need a pimp and I don't take orders from anyone boy." She snarled.

It was more of a growl than a snarl. Ash gazed up at her trying to follow just what she was wittering on about. His eyes went wide when she lifted his right foot and tugged off his trainer. He'd thought he was rescuing her and now she was going to steal his shoes? He would damn well eat the bitch when he shifted.

"Your going to turn darling, you don't want to ruin your clothes when you do that." She tugged off his left shoe and dropped it beside the other before pulling off his sock.

Ash couldn't speak. He was curling into a rigid foetal position, unable to move, his body taking back control. Sweat poured over his skin, it blurred his vision and chilled on his skin. He shivered even when it felt like his body was on fire. Why wasn't she running? Ash's eyes went wide as her fingers reached for the snap of his jeans. He wriggled away from her reach, holding his hands out to ward her off; unable to comprehend what she was doing.

Linda rolled her eyes at the wolf. If he wasn't careful he was going to ruin a fairly decent pair of jeans. She lunged forward, batting his hands out of her way. She yanked at the buttons and then dragged them down his long lean legs. She bit back a smile at his confusion; poor thing didn't know whether to hide his nakedness from her or gouge her eyes out for stealing his clothes. She wrinkled her nose again, he smelled really bad, stale. The full moon was two whole weeks ago yet this guy was in the grip of change. It wasn't her concern; she should get back to the club and make some more money. She glanced over her shoulder and then looked down at her 'rescuer'.

"Some rescue." She muttered dryly. She cocked her head and watched the dark fur sprouting over his naked skin. It was like that time-lapse photography stuff where you get to see a plant grow real fast. Hair poured out of him, covering the naked skin, disguising all that nice taut muscle. She winced as he reached the painful part. His arms locked, lengthened, and then shrank back a little. His hand almost melting away as it reformed into a paw.

It was the first time she had witnessed a werewolf changing skin this close up. It was not pretty. She rolled her eyes at her own stupidity, duh werewolf approaching. She dragged the guy's jeans over her bare legs, pulled his tee over her shirt. When he the wolf raised it long muzzle to sniff at her all it got was a good whiff of himself. It made her smile to see him huff and snort in disgust.

"Told ya you smelled bad." She glanced over her shoulder towards the club once more then looked at the money still clutched in her hand. A hundred and fifty was enough to get by on. She could more than double it and live it up for the next week. Whoring wasn't only weekend work but the money was definitely better on Friday's and Saturdays. She looked down instead at the wolf, it was stretching, its mouth wide open in a yawn. That made her giggle, a bored wolf, go figure. Shrugging off the idea of going back to work Linda followed the wolf when it trotted ahead. "What the hell, I'll make it up tomorrow." She sighed and took in a deep breath of fresh air. "You're gonna want your clothes when you wake up in the morning."

Ash sat bolt upright. He was in a bed. His bed. Naked. He looked around him; he was home. That made him frown. He remembered the change coming over him the night before. Interrupted by the girl in the alley. That memory caused a surge of heat in his groin. His mouth watered at the memory of white skin getting ploughed from behind. The heat subsided quickly at the memory of a sharp tongue and a thump to the chest that had sent him sprawling like some kid. He shook his head to clear the image and then wondered if he'd eaten her when he'd changed. Smart-mouthed bitch.

"I could use some coffee if you're getting up."

Ash jerked backwards and tumbled from the bed. He rose slowly, peeking over the edge of the rumpled covers to see dark red hair sprawled over his pillow and one bright blue eye looking back at him. He started at the sight before getting a hold of himself. Making himself stand up to look at the woman more closely. It was the girl from the alley, the whore. She was wrapped in his duvet, her hair free from its bunches and spread out like lava across his pillow. From beneath the quilt two feet poked out, he recognised his own trainers and, considering her clothing the night before, his jeans.

"Why are you wearing my clothes?"

"Didn't want to get bit again." She yawned. A huge gaping unabashed yawn. When she finally finished she grinned at him, wide fleshy lips stretched across an impish face.

Again? Ash blinked and shoved his hair out of his face with both hands. His senses had been all over the place last night but now he inhaled deeply. The scents of the familiar surroundings filtered out, he was left with only her. She smelled of sex, woman and... wolf. Confused Ash took another whiff. Just in case he was scenting himself on her, she wore his clothes, was wrapped inside his quilt.

"You're a wolf."

She cocked her head and eyed him blandly. "No shit Sherlock. You'll be telling me I'm a girl next."

Ash sat back on his haunches. A girl who was a wolf. He corrected himself, a whore who was a wolf.

"Stick your tongue back in your head Fido. Unless you've got some money tucked under your mattress you can't afford my services. You're pretty enough but not so much that I'll be handing out vouchers."

"Then piss off and fetch your owned damn coffee." He growled, stalking from the room.

Her giggle followed him. It teased him as he stood in the bathroom. While he peed he checked his face in the mirror. He looked brighter than he had done for days. No unexplained cuts or bruises meant that he couldn't have done too much damage the night before. Running his tongue over his teeth turned up no surprises either. No unexpected fibres trapped between his teeth, only the regular unpleasant taste of morning. He gave a grimace, he'd probably be better off if he had taken a bite out of the cocky bitch last night. At least he wouldn't have to put up with her now. Actually he didn't really have to put up with her at all.

"What are you doing here anyway?" He didn't stop to listen to her, just headed of to the kitchen to make coffee. After a moment's hesitation he pulled down another mug for the girl too. In all the time he'd been here he couldn't remember ever needing to use the extra mug.

"Soaking up your gratitude for making sure you didn't lose your clothes and for letting you in so you could wake up in bed rather than shivering in the woods."

Her tone was bored rather than mocking. Ash had to concentrate to keep up. He had woken up in his own bed, which did make a pleasant change from the woods.

"But why?" He interrupted his own question by asking her preference for coffee, he may turn furry but he was raised with good manners. He added milk and sugar and carried the cups through to the bedroom.

"Well you had thought you were doing me a good turn when you kidnapped me."

"I didn't..." She was teasing him. Had he been away from people that long that he'd forgotten how to interact with them? Probably.

"Why didn't you change at full moon?"

Ash had to concentrate on the question, the girl had sat up, she was wearing his t-shirt though he could see the outline of the shirt she was wearing beneath it. He'd never made that tee rise and fall the way she did. It strained across her breasts, rippling wonderfully as she stretched her arms over her head for another full out yawn.

"I didn't want to." He muttered, snatching his eyes away from the breasts he couldn't afford to drool on. He wondered briefly how much those two guys had had to part with to fuck her. Spit-roast her in an alley. The thought dried his mouth and tightened his balls. He was naked; he couldn't hide his arousal from her, not without spilling boiling hot coffee on himself anyway. "I don't like being a slave to the moon; that's all." He added so that he didn't sound like some sulky kid. His cock bobbed as he shrugged. Ash's cheeks flushed. Hard not to sound like some kid when you can't control your own cock because there's a girl in your bed.

Linda watched him pretend that his cock wasn't rock hard. She nodded at his words as though they made sense, even though they didn't.

"You don't like being a wolf then?"

His hard on dissolved, he set a steaming mug of coffee beside her and stalked around to the other side of the bed. "You do?"

Linda combed her fingers through her hair thinking that over. "Well I was pissed off at first. I'd have charged more if I'd known that was what he intended at the time."