The Babe and the Beast

by Dragon

Cast:
Seth - a werewolf who has lost himself to the Wolf inside.

Mindy - a very young baby

the female Alpha - a werewolf who Seth, as a human, has grown to trust and call friend.

Cole - a werewolf Seth is not as familiar with


Seth was one with the Beast. He'd let it take over and now the Beast was all that was left. The man that was Seth was now hidden deep inside the animal mind of the Beast, huddling in fear of what the Beast was. This amused the Beast greatly, because it knew the little fool and he should be one and the same. But if the man inside wished to be a coward, then the Beast would live as it chose to.

It had been running in the dark hours before dawn. The grey and white wolf that was the Beast surprised a deer and brought it down. It was slow, difficult work to drag his kill all the way back to the cabin, but the Beast understood the place to be his den now, where the female Alpha was. Therefore, it was his duty to make sure she got first choice of the meat. So he'd shoved the kitchen door open and sat waiting for the Alpha and her mate to awaken. He was pleased to think how glad they would be at the meal that was waiting for them on the porch. He hoped he would not have long to wait.

But they did not come to the kitchen. Impatiently, he sniffed around the door and detected their scents. But it was fainter than it should be. He put a more muscular than lean shoulder into the door. With a slam, the latch ripped through the wood, the door slammed open and nearly hit him in the face when is bounced back. He push more gently the second time and passed into the room. He was surprised to see that the room was not empty.

Upon the bed was a woman-cub. The creature must have been asleep, but the slamming of the door awoke it and it commenced a high-pitched wail that hurt the Beast's ears. He walked over to it, placed his large, heavy paws and looked over at it. His paws made dirty, muddy tracks on the sheets, but he paid no attention to that. He sniffed the woman-cub curiously, wondering if it was an interloper he could. He imagined how happy his Alpha would be that he protected the communal den.

But the scent was not completely foreign. It was sort of... familiar. He licked the things face that he might taste and smell it better. The woman-cub stopped screaming, instead staring at the the Beast with surprised, curious eyes. This woman-cub thing was of the female Alpha's mate's line. A name floated to the for of the Beast's mind unbidden. 'Cole?' It did not sound familiar to the Beast. He did not identify with names. That was a human thing, and not really very noteworthy. But a remembered smell came with it. The Beast remembered the Cole-smell. It raised the hackles on his back. The Beast was afraid of the Cole-scent. It reminded him of the man-beast that hit him once. He was afraid of this man-beast.

The Beast realized it had, without thinking opened his cavernous, fanged mouth in a huge yawn to bite the head of the woman-cub. He thought better of it. He withdraw his fanged maw and licked the woman-cub again. Yes, this one belonged to the Cole man-beast. Best not to eat it.

The Beast starred at her with cold, yellow eyes. The great female Alpha had not returned. But she liked the Cole man-beast. Perhaps she would like it if the Beast fed this woman-cub. Yes. That seemed like a good idea. It was acceptable to a female that the cubs should eat first. She would not be angry.

So the Beast that was Seth trotted out of the room, through the kitchen and out onto the porch. He sniffed out the tastiest portions of the deer and spent much effort ripping the heart and liver out. He would give the woman-cub a choice. She would learn what tasted best. He was certain the female Alpha would be very pleased with him.

He hopped up onto the bed, dripping deer blood and gore everywhere. The weight of the massive Beast bounced the woman-cub high into the air. He had to nudge her back onto the bed or risk the delicate thing falling onto the floor. Then he nosed a hunk of liver over to her with a gory snout.

Mindy stared at the liver and back at the big, fuzzy wolfie. She blinked, too astonished to cry, too young to know she should be terrified. The Seth-Beast? thought it very strange that this woman-cub did not know what to do. So he scooped up the liver, chewed on it (but was careful not to swallow any — it was for the cub) and spat it back down in front of the child.

The woman-cub crawled/rolled over to the lump of meat. She was getting an idea now. She tried to pick it up with one hand, but the liver was too heavy and too slippery. It slid out of her hand with a wet plop every time. The Beast laid down next to the woman-cub, nudging it upright with his body, although it caused more of his fur to become blood-stained. He decided it might be a while before this woman-cub figured out how to eat. He wondered if the Cole man-beast would be ashamed to know his woman-cub did not know how to eat liver.

Finally, Mindy picked up the over large piece of live in both hands and held it up to her face. The baby hesitantly tested it with her tongue. It didn't seem like the formula she usually got, but to really know what something was, she knew, as all babies did, that one had to put it in one's mouth. Dark, slimy blood decorated her face as she worked at it, but try as she might, the liver was simply too big. It would not fit in her mouth.

Suddenly, the Beast understood the problem. This woman-cub had no teeth! She could not bite off any of the meat. It must still be nursing. The Seth-Beast? looked around unhappily. He had tried to feed meat to a nursing cub. He would be in trouble now. He looked around for some way to hide the evidence.

Then he heard a screen door open. He tried to hide under the covers of the bed, leaving the woman-cub covered with gory red blood and her slab of deer liver on top of the bed. The female Alpha would beat him for certain this time.