The Taste of Blood

Light shafts cut through the forest, beaming down through the dense canopy like searchlights and cast the quiet wood in an unreal, almost fantastic glow as small half-humanoid bugs and birds buzzed through the air or sang from perches hidden high in the boughs. Crawling down out of the Dragon Spine Mountains, fog swirled and spread out across the valley floor moving slowly like a gray tidal wave engulfing everything and enshrouding the landscape in gloom. Wherever it went it muffled the sounds of the forest as the birds and bugs settled down and the darkened wood grew eerily quiet.

Ahead of the fog, I trotted deftly through the forest following the sandy colored tail of my lovely vixen, Huxian. Having left Glenna behind at our roadside campsite over five hours earlier to hunt for food, we were both shapeshifted into our pure fox forms which made us rather small, and immensely more stealthy. Now, we were seeking the source of a pleasant scent of honey that seemed to fill the basin for the last several miles with its sweet aroma as we closed in on a dark ravine with a ridge up above.

Huxian paused and looked back to see if I was still behind her. When my emerald green met her glacial blue eyes, I tried not to see the smeared stains of blood that coated her snout and speckled her fur. We had been hunting for only an hour when she found and killed a fat little groundhog while I was a few hundred yards away picking berries.

——(!)——

4 hours earlier-

Shrieking screams cut through the silence of the forest like a knife and scared me nearly out of my skin. Dropping my satchel, I shapeshifted and bolted off to find Huxian. I was a gold and white bullet streaking through the woods until I came upon her and a pretty groundhog.

Both were in humanoid forms, wrestling and thrashing around. Huxian was larger, her curly sandy blonde hair tossing back and forth as her rippling muscles moved and flexed beneath her fur as her long, thick, fluffy tail wagged aggressively back and forth as she bore the much smaller Animal to the ground. Her breasts were so large that I could easily bury my face in her cleavage, and she would have been able to prop them up on my shoulders. Her waist was slim, but her belly protruded in a large round curve that bespoke of her being mid-term in her pregnancy. Below her belly she was graced with wide hips and a plentiful buttocks that led to thick thighs that slimmed at the knees and curvy calves and lower legs that were a hybridization where the fibula and tibia bones met a fox's ankle and long calaceum, astragalus, tarsal, and metatarsal bones before reaching her furry pawed feet with long claws on all five toes.

The groundhog woman was short and portly, and would have only stood a little taller than four feet had she been on her feet. Her hips were nearly as wide as her legs were long, her buttocks was round and plentiful, and she had a short fluffy brown tail that was quivering from shock. Her thighs were short and thick before thinning out to hybrid lower legs and small paws. Her belly was thick and rounded with fat, as were her breasts whose size would have been on par with Huxian's, if she were the same height. She was covered in thick brown fur and had lustrous brown hair in a long braid. She had a kindly triangular face with big brown eyes, a short, slightly turned up, wide nose, and an oval mouth with a thinner top and an overly plump bottom lip. However, at that moment, her pretty face was contorted by pain and fear. Huxian held her braid tight in her grasp and was pulling the pretty little groundhog's head sideways as she bit down on her throat repeatedly.

Blood squirted across the ground as the little female struggled to crawl out from under Huxian while gasping feebly, "Please! No! Please…"

Huxian wasn't listening, she was fully caught up in the thrall of her hunting instincts. I remembered all the times in my previous life watching National Geographic or Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. I knew what it looked like, from the safety of a couch and watching through a television screen, as a predator hunted and killed its prey, but this, this was so much...more!

Shapeshifting out of my fox form, I shouted, "Huxian! What are you doing?!"

With blood and spit dripping from her mouth, she pulled back and chortled happily, "Hunting, my love! Hunting!"

The scared little groundhog's eyes fluttered as tears poured down her cheeks. Her eyes crossed and her lips trembled as she gasped once again pitifully, "Please," as she mustered up a last, feeble surge of strength, and struggled to break free.

Huxian snapped her head back, and with a growl, bit into the female's neck puncturing and tearing the rodent's carotid artery as the gristly crunch of her esophagus rang in my ears. Turning away, I stumbled behind the nearest tree and vomited loudly. Once I was finally able to return to the scene of the hunt, that felt more like a murder scene. Huxian was standing up, her overly plump breasts heaving from her exertions as she carefully licked blood from her hands to half way up her forearms. Beneath her, the little groundhog lay on the ground dead, her little body giving momentary involuntary twitches while her deep brown eyes stared vacantly as blood slowly dribbled from her mouth to run down her fur from several punctures in her neck and lacerations across her arms and belly.

"Oh my goddess," I gasped as I walked over and knelt down and caressed the little groundhog's cheek and hissed, "You...killed her!"

Looking up from her grooming, Huxian's expression firmed when she saw the horror and disgust in my face. Her mouth was stained red, and blood was splattered all across her breasts. Her nipples were erect and her pregnant belly seemed larger than it was just a few hours earlier. She was aroused and feral as she sashayed her way to me with exaggerated thrusts of her hips. In my alfar form she was several inches taller than me when she ran her clawed fingers across my chest, then slid her fingers up my neck and along my rapidly pumping carotid before continuing to my jaw.

Sliding her finger from my earlobe to my chin, she tilted my head up so that I was looking her in the eyes as she purred, "I see now that you have never truly hunted. Well, except for me that is, and we both know you were never going to kill anything with those toys. Regardless, I love that about you, but we," She said as she pointed to herself and the dead groundhog before continuing, "...are Animals. She is a herbivore while I am a carnivore, the hunter and the prey, and that is just the way life is," Turning to me and placing her hand on my chest, she snuggled up until her belly was rubbing against mine while she rubbed it with her other hand and continued, "And, if our children are going to be healthy, then I must eat meat! Raw...bloody...meat!" She growled ferally in my ear.

"Mmm, yes," Quebracho purred in my head as I felt her giving me a soothing mental caress, "It's a savage world out here Virdy. It's best you learn that now, and quickly. There are always hunters and prey, and sometimes they are one and the same. Out here in the 'Wilds', whether you are prey or hunter can change as quickly as the wind changes direction."

Running her hands across my chest, Huxian moved quickly to caress the chestnut skin of my shoulders and biceps with one hand while running her other up to grab a handful of my golden hair. She snatched my head so that I was staring fearfully into her hungry eyes when her plump, red, puckered, mouth pressed against mine in a frenzied kiss! She kissed and nibbled and suckled at my mouth until she took my breath away, and then reared back just enough to move to my ear and growl, "I...am...so...hot! Hurry! Breed me! Breed me now!"

Looking around behind me at the dead groundhog I couldn't believe what was happening. This was the last thing I wanted. Not right now. Not like this!

"The instincts to hunt and the blood of the groundhog has put her in a frenzy," Quebracho warned, "Different Animals react differently when this happens. For vixen's, it ramps up their sexual desire to near insane desperation. If they aren't pregnant when this happens, well, they usually are by the end of it, and if they are pregnant such as Huxian is then, well, you may be a little sore and have a few bites and lacerations before she's finished with you. However, if you don't breed her she may very well attack you, or leave you completely. If I were you, discard your disgust at the moment and do what your mate needs you to do to sate her...compulsions...right now!"

Huxian wrapped an arm around my waist, grabbed a handful of my ass, and pulled my hips toward her as she thrust hers forward so that she was grinding her pubic mound on my dick!

I could feel her need and smell her arousal. With an aggressive push backwards, she held onto my arms as I fell backward into the bed of straw and leaves that made up most of the forest floor below it's canopy. Hurriedly, she moved to mount me, spreading her thighs before kneeling down and straddling my hips. Deftly grabbing my organ, she squeezed and stroked me until I was swollen with my desire to mate her. Then she placed one hand on my abdomen and lifted herself up while hunching over her pregnant belly and guiding me inside the pink folds of her warm embrace. As she sank down my length, she sighed in profound relief while I growled and thrust up inside her. Leaning forward, she inhaled deeply as I ran my fingers through her soft fur and followed the curve of her belly up until I was squeezing two greedy handfuls of her fat, overflowing breasts until her flesh was bulging out between my fingers like marshmallows.

Part of me wanted to change into my hybrid-fox form, but if I did I would no longer be able to kiss her the way I wanted to. So I tried to settle myself down as Huxian began slowly grinding her pussy on me. Closing her eyes so she could feel every sensation of my phallus rubbing the walls of her vagina, she ground her feral need on me. As I felt my nerves settle down, with a growl I rolled us over so that I was on top and reached up and grabbed her by her hair and snatched her head around so I could nibble on the corner of her jaw and ear while thrusting inside her aggressively!

She moaned then inhaled deeply, expanding her lungs, and arching her back thrusting her breasts up and out for my attention. Releasing her hair, I ran my hand across her furry breast and squeezed before twisting a thick pink nipple that peaked out of her fur. While my hand was busy with that one nipple I leaned in and latched onto the other and filled my senses with the smell of her scent as I suckled, and nibbled, and thrust inside her in time with every twist and bite!

Huxian exhaled explosively as her hips began gyrating, her belly shuddered, her bottom lip quivered, and she fell into a rhythm so that every rock and rotation of her pelvis sent my every thrust slamming all the way to her core. She was in no mood for a long drawn out lovemaking session. Setting her feet, she thrust her hips and flipped us over so that she was on top again. She sat up and tossed her hair back out of her face with a laugh and started grinding her sex down on me as she closed her eyes and focused on every internal sensation stimulating her over sensitized body.

A low moan from deep within burst from her barely parted mouth and grew in fierceness until it was a snarling growl that climbed in octaves until she was shrieking. Her pace increased until she was bouncing on top of me. Sliding up my length only to come crashing back down, sliding back up and then crashing back down. With each collision she ground her sex on mine until she slammed herself down my length, in doing so thrust me deep inside. Her climax built until I began to wonder if she was ever going to take a breath, and then, in a sudden reversal, she was inhaling loudly as her eyes opened wide. She looked down into mine and then her eyes rolled up into her head as her lips peeled back in pain and she orgasmed as she ground her clitoris on my pelvis as all the air in her lungs exploded from her in a long howling exhale!

Running fingers through her soft fur, from her pregnant belly to her hips, I held her to me with all my strength as my fingers, my nails dug into her buttocks and thighs as I lifted my hips off the ground and thrust as deep inside her as I could and blasted all my precious life-force inside her!

Once her orgasm peaked and started ebbing away, so too did her strength. Collapsing forward, she fell onto my chest and sighed, "Oh goddess!"

We must've fallen asleep after that. I light doze, a short nap. It was all that was needed to turn the tables, and for the hunters to become the hunted.

——(!)——

A prod against my shoulder roused me enough to register that Huxian had settled down from laying on top of me to laying to my left side. Her head was nestled on my shoulder while her shoulder was beneath my armpit, and her right breast was squished between her body and mine while her left breast was draped across my chest. Her belly pressed into my side, and her left leg was draped across my thighs.

Another prod, and I opened my eyes in sudden panic only to stare up at the tip of a spear inches from my face! It's wielder took a careful step backward, and I was finally able to see and evaluate whomever had come upon us. My mouth dropped from shock. I had never seen a bunny-girl before. From where I was lying on the ground she looked like she was nearly as tall as Huxian. She was wearing clothes in direct violation of the Seven Laws. Not that I found it offensive, rather I found it strangely appealing, and to be honest, she wasn't wearing much.

Her skin was pink and almost completely bare of fur from her head to her elbows and knees. She had long, straight, white hair that fell down her back well past her buttocks. At each temple she wore a stunning array of purple, blue, green and copper feathers that were bound in a clip. She had long, thick eyebrows. Long white eyelashes that accented large pink eyes. Well, one large pink eye, the other was covered by a leather eyepatch. In my opinion, it was the least attractive item she wore, and yet, her rugged, athletic, beauty was such that even with the missing eye she was stunning.

Her ears were long with white fur that covered the backs of her lobes, from there she didn't have one hair on her body. The only body hair she had started at her elbows. Soft white fur ran from her elbows all the way down to clawed hands, and from her knees all the way to clawed toes. Her body was strong and hardened from what I imagined were long hours training with her spear. She had a pretty, plump mouth that seemed to be given to pouting, but was very much turned down into an angry sneer at the moment as she shifted from side to side from one pawed foot to the other as a long white bunnies tail wagging up and down with her agitation.

Scanning down from her face I noticed that her breasts were rather small and sleek, easily handfuls, but not anymore than that. Around her neck hung a beaded breastplate that immediately brought to mind the old Native American breastplates made of bird bones and semi-precious gems. Bunny-girl's seemed to be made of some hollowed out pieces of bleached wood, green turquoise with veins of copper, and red coral. The breastplate draped from her neck like a necklace. It was rectangular in shape, and just barely covered her nipples where additional strings tied around her back to hold it in place. Below her breasts the breastplate fell down her belly and ended just above her navel where there was another set of strings that tied around her waist.

Her abdomen, obliques, and back were hardened muscles that didn't exactly lend to a graceful sweep from her chest to a tiny waist. Rather, her waist was taut muscles that reluctantly swept out to broad hips equal to Huxian's in breadth and depth. Her broad hips and thickly muscled buttocks and thighs leaned out to long, strong legs built for running, and I imagined that when she had the mind to, not many could keep up with her either. To confirm my theory that she was a runner, she only wore a simple linen loincloth, tied at her just tightly enough to ride on her broad hips and thick buttocks. It had no back so that it wouldn't bother her tail, and the front was short enough that it wouldn't obstruct her ability to run as fast as she could for long periods of time. It also had the added benefit that from were I was lying on the ground I could see the cleavage of her sex very clearly.

"What have you done?" She hissed in outrage as she cut her eyes to the groundhog, "Why did you kill Noama? She never hurt anyone! She was a good girl! Even if she never listened to the Council's warnings to not roam the forest alone!"

"Mmm, I'm hungry," Huxian answered as she roused from her slumber, "So, if you don't want to lose your other eye I suggest you get that spear out of our faces."

"Who are you," The rabbit hissed.

"Who's asking," Huxian countered.

"I'm the one asking the questions murderer," The bunny snapped back in outrage.

Huxian sat up and looked around, and seeing no one else with the formidable looking bunny, she cut her eyes back to her and growled, "Spear or not, you are all alone and there are two of us. Seeing as I've killed to provide food for me, my babies, and my companions; what makes you think I won't kill you too?"

The bunny's one good eye squinted while her otherwise pretty mouth peeled back in a hiss. She dropped into a crouch and tightened her grip on her spear. Seeing that this was escalating quickly, I pushed Huxian back so that she was sitting up before I climbed to my feet. I was completely nude when I turned to the bunny and introduced myself, "I'm sorry, you're right, where are our manners? My name is Viridian Vale, son of Summerset Vale, Lord of the Valeland, and this is my mate Huxian."

"Your mate?" The bunny sneered as she looked me up and down reproachfully, "Primes don't take mates, they take slaves!"

Looking down at my nakedness, I reached inward and begged Quebracho, "Please could you cover me with something! Anything!"

"Anything?" She snickered as if she were just behind my ear.

In the meantime, the bunny cut her eyes to Huxian as a nasty smile spread across her face as she looked down at her pregnant belly before continuing in a spiteful purr, "Got more than you bargained for when you took her, didn't you Prime?" Looking up to meet Huxian's gaze she congratulated her with a nod, "Good for you!"

Quebracho's magic roused from the tree on the bracer on my left arm just before two limbs shook loose and started growing vines that twisted around my arm up to my shoulder, and then around my chest and down my abdomen before creating a small loincloth of woven vines.

The bunny turned back to me and watched as the vines grew, and once they stopped with the loincloth, she smirked as she asked sarcastically, "A little late, and a little small, don't you think?"

Smiling cattily, with a great deal of teeth, I retorted, "Quebracho is showing her sense of humor today."

"So, who are you," Huxian interrupted with a sigh of impatience as she proffered a hand for me to assist her in rising to her feet.

Ignoring Huxian's question for a second time, the bunny pointed to Noama and announced, "Murderers don't deserve recognition or my name. Pick up your kill, and follow me. I will take you back to our village to be judged by the Village Council."

"No," Huxian growled menacingly as blue Fox Fire bloomed in each of her hands as she settled into a stance that readied her to pounce, "I told you, there is only you, and two of us. Virdy, change into that humongous lion and show that bunny what she's messing with!"

I was still trying to calm everyone down. I raised my hands to try to pacify both women, but as I waved my hands the bunny laughed derisively just before whistling loudly. From behind the ten nearest trees stepped a very menacing looking bunny squad. Each of the ten wielded swords, long knives, axes, or short bows.

"Yes," The bunny leader sneered, "Do something stupid. Put up a fight. Give me a reason to kill you both right here, right now!"

Stepping close to Huxian I put my hand over her belly and stood in front of her protectively. Quebracho, sensing the sudden change in the atmosphere and the sudden sharpness of my attention and temper, started fleshing out the vines that entwined my arm and chest and the ridiculous loincloth, and grew a full coat of deep crimson wooden platemail that fell from my shoulders all the way to my knees. Simultaneously, reaching inward I found the Book of the Moonbeast in the quiet void in my mind where I communed with my Wells, and I opened it. Flipping to the page I wanted, I concentrated on the shape I wanted to take.

Bunny-girl and her squadron all jumped back, their eyes opening wide with fear, and their mouths dropping in shock as I grew from five feet to nearly eight feet tall. My much slimmer shoulders broadened out until they were nearly five feet wide, and short white fur grew from my chestnut skin while my golden hair became a mane. Lastly, my humanoid face changed to some hybrid version of humanoid and Lion with long curved canines.

"By the Moon Goddesses grace," The bunny hissed, "What are you?"

While watching everyone very carefully, I walked over and picked up Noama and slung her over my shoulder before moving back in front of Huxian before reintroducing myself again, "As I told you before, I am Viridian Vale, son of Summerset Vale, the Lord of the Valeland and a Druid. I am also the son of Glenna Moonlilly, the Oracle of the Moon Goddess Seline, and I am the Moon Goddesses Champion. Now, little bunny-girl, take me to your Village Council."

The bunny leader's mouth seemed to drop further and further with each progressive title. When I finally commanded her to take me to her leaders, her mouth snapped closed. She looked around at her squadron as if searching for an answer as to what to do, and then decided to turn in an about face as she twirled her hand in the air signaling her troop to fall in and move out.