The Crimson Tithe

The Beta who originally dissented stood up and walked up to the front of the hall where he looked Geir in the eyes. Geir steeled himself to change into werewolf form the moment this pup threw a punch. They stood there, staring at each other eye-to-eye for some time, each one's eyes searching the other.

Then the Beta bowed his head and knelt. "You are the Alpha Male," he said in a ritualistic tone. As if waiting for this as a cue, the pack stood as one and dropped to one knee. Even Hagen, standing behind Geir and Kara dropped to a knee and repeated the phrase.

"So does this mean what I think it means?" Kara asked in a side whisper.

"Yes; we are now in charge of the pack," Geir said with a wink and a smile. He then rose his voice to the pack. "Rise. We have many changes to make in order to ensure that both the humans and we have a future. Kara will fill you in on the details."

*

The third day of the festival back at the Five Villages was a somber occasion. Kara noted that instead of the usual revelry that people were merely going through the motions. Apprehension seemed to rise when the pack returned led by her and Geir.

This visit, however, the pack all came in human form. Kara had explained that this would help soothe things over as a way of saying: See? We're just like you. You have magic, we have shapeshifting. Instead of meeting at any single village, today's meeting was being held around the gates to the woods and the Sacrifice Stones. The mayors of each of the villages waited patiently at their assigned stone for this year's sacrifice while the villagers all gathered outside of the circle to see what the pack had to say.

Geir walked into the circle along with Kara. Kara handed him the scroll that she carried and gave him a nod of encouragement. Geir accepted the scroll with a nod of thanks before stepping forward. "My name is Geir Jarlson and I now lead the pack along with my mate; Kara," he said. Ripples of whispered conversation erupted though the villagers, especially from those from the Crimson Village. The Priestess from her old village caught Kara's eye and smiled in vindication.

Unrolling the scroll, Geir continued. "Our people have fought, bled, and died together during this year's festival and so we have decided that the old treaty that my grandparents laid forth is no longer applicable. These are the terms of this new Lupercalia Treaty between the Mages of the Five Villages of Mormor and the Werewolves of Mormor Woods," he said, reading off the scroll that the pack's scribe had drawn up earlier that morning. "Open trading will henceforth be allowed between the humans and the werewolves. The Five Villages agree to develop a passable, maintained road between their villages and the Den Village in order to promote higher trade and commerce in exchange for the Den Village's continued protection of the humans within Mormor Woods."

Geir looked up to the assembled villagers from each of the Five Villages as they hung on his every word. He knew what they wanted to hear. "From this day forward the mandatory tithe of a single woman to be selected from the pool of eligible single maidens of child bearing age is hereby abolished. Men and women from the villages are free to intermingle and marry whom they see fit. The annual Lupercalia Tithe shall now be on a purely volunteer and ceremonial basis from here on out."

The expressions ranged from disbelief to outright joy. The terror of having to live under the threat of losing a single girl to a bunch of unknown beasts that lived in the woods was now over. Young lovers clutched at each other, some of which were openly weeping with joy. Parents who had girls coming of age had a look about them as if a giant weight had just been lifted from their shoulders. It was everything that they wanted and more.

Then the cheering started and the real party began in earnest.

***

CHAPTER 10:

The party lasted long into the night as humans celebrated alongside of werewolves to bring this year's Lupercalia to a close. Kara's heart was warmed to see that already there were some of the younger werewolf males making advances to catch the eye of a human woman and vice versa. She'd already caught Diana behind one house screwing Hagen senseless and her new heightened sense of hearing could catch the sounds of other such interludes occurring all over.

Kara made it a point to see her family after the proclamation had been made. Erika was ecstatic that she did not have to look forward to possibly being the chosen tithe in eight years' time. Kara simply smiled and patted her on the head before giving her a big hug. "Not unless you want to be the tithe and who knows; maybe in that time we'll do away with it altogether," she'd told her little sister. Her sister's stock would go up in all of the villages now that Kara was the Alpha Female of the pack.

Her parents were proud as not only was their daughter this year's chosen tithe but she was also the last mandatory tithe and was the one instrumental in doing away with it. Her father's business would boom now that he access to more lumber in which to do his wood carving with and her mother would have more work as a seamstress in taking orders from both humans and werewolves. Already she was busy planning a more appropriate dress for Kara to keep on when she was both in human and werewolf form. "No sense in you going through clothes every time you have to change, dear. Now you be sure and come back tomorrow in your other form so that I can properly measure you."

Kara laughed and promised that she would. After all, with the gates now permanently open, everyone could come and go as they pleased. She'd heard that the merchants of the Five Villages were going to make the trip out to Den Village later on in the week to set up trading posts.

It was late when Geir and Kara finally said their goodbyes and started walking back home to the Den Village. It was refreshing to be able to walk out into Mormor Woods through gates that would stay open unless there was a direct attack on the villages now. As her and Geir passed the Sacrifice Stones, Geir nudged her to ask her what she was thinking.

"Oh nothing, really," Kara said, "I was just thinking that I had feared this year's Lupercalia because of the tithe and it has, overall, turned out to be more fun and rewarding than I'd ever thought possible."

"Well, if you think this is fun now, wait until you see how we celebrate Samhain and Yule." Geir said with a smile. "Should be even more fun with the inclusion of the humans this year."

"So I take it that you enjoyed this year's festival?" Kara asked, matching his smile while giving him a sideways nudge back with her shoulder. "Everything you wanted and more?"

"Well... the Minotaur was a surprise." Geir admitted. "And there was just one thing that I wanted to do that he had interrupted."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"Well, I didn't get to chase you down. I had intended to herd you up into the mountains a bit where there are some secluded hot springs that I know of," he said indicating the general direction with a quick lift of his chin. "Then when we got there it had been my intention to take you there for the first time rather than in front of the whole den," he said with a hint of disappointment.

"Well..." Kara said thoughtfully, looking up at the night sky through the breaks in the trees above. "The Lupercalia isn't over yet; the moon hasn't even reached her peak yet. You only have one problem, though." When she caught Geir's questioning look out of the corner of her eye, she gave him a sly smile. "I'm not tied up this time!" she gave him a playful smack on the shoulder and took off running in the direction he'd motioned towards.

Suddenly overcome with lust and the thrill of the hunt, Geir threw back his head and howled as he immediately turned into werewolf form. His keen eyesight caught sight of his mate as she dashed though the trees ahead... still in human form. Just to be sporting, he gave her a head start before dropping down to all fours and dashing after her.

Kara's light laughter seemed to echo off of the trees as he pursued her, dogging her flight and herding her in the right direction. Whenever he caught up with her he'd nip at her heels in order to get her to turn one way or another until they were on the right path heading up the mountain. Once they were close, Geir pounced on her and they tumbled to the ground with him on top of her pinning her down.

Flat on her back, Kara couldn't help but laugh. The chase had been exhilarating but she was ready to get laid now. "Mmmm... my, what big eyes you have there, Geir."

"All the better to see your beauty, my dear," Geir said, taking a single claw down the front of her dress to sever the laces and open it up.

"Would you stop doing that? Do you know how many laces I've gone through these past couple of days?"

"Only a couple," Geir said, then picking her up, tossing her dress aside, and tossing her over her shoulder to march up to the hot springs. She gave token resistance by pounding on his furry back with her fist and he gave her a swat on her perfect round bottom in response. When she hummed, he did it again.

"Oh yes, punish me you big, bad wolf you," Kara muttered as she was spanked. Geir obliged her with a few more spanks until they got next to the steaming pools of water on top of the rock cliffs. There he put her back down onto her back in the center of three pools out in the open where they were bathed in the light of the full moon.

Geir pinned her down by placing his hands down on the rock overtop of her biceps. Kara squirmed again in a token gesture of resistance but then stopped when he ground his cock down past her moistening pussy. "Oh my, what a big cock you have."

"The better to fuck you with, my dear," Geir said, pumping his hips once and driving into her. Kara arched her back and screamed in pleasure as his massive cock penetrated her much smaller body. She imagined that if she were in werewolf form along with him, he'd be the right size. But there'd be time enough for that later. Right now, she wanted to enjoy being taken by the beast while giving her mate what he missed out on the first night they were together.

Kara bucked against him in a way that implied fighting back but ultimately just drove her clit up against him every time the thrust down into her. Geir let her arms go and then clamped his hand down around her throat in a show of dominance. Gasping in pure erotic bliss, Kara's eyes rolled back into her head as she came hard in that moment. Her pussy clamped down around his cock still pumping in and out of her.

Watching his mate get off underneath of him sent Geir over the edge. He let out a primal, guttural growl as his cock blew forth its seed deep inside of her. Kara's whole body began to shake in the throes of her orgasm when she felt her womb be filled once again to the point of overflow. "Oh Gods," she whimpered while she twitched from head to toe underneath of Geir.

Geir pulled out of her and changed back into human form. Then he gingerly picked Kara up and carried her into one of the hot spring pools so that he could clean her up. Kara was still moaning and shuddering as streams of his cum seeped out of her. The orgasm had been so intense for her that she barely had the strength to wrap her arms around his neck to hold on to him. Geir made soothing sounds into her ear while he eased her into a straddling position onto his lap so that he'd have easier access to clean her up.

Once Kara recovered enough, she felt the fire pool in her loins again with Geir's hands roving all over her wet body. Moving her head slightly to the side, her lips found his and she started kissing him passionately. Her hips ground down into his and she felt his cock stiffen in the water between her legs. Before Geir had time to properly react, she was already raising herself up, grabbing his cock to position it properly, and sinking back down onto it. Both of them let out a long, languorous sigh of pleasure once she was settled back down.

Taking control for once, Kara found a good place to put her knees on the rock and started riding him. She was slow at first but then picked up a good pace. Geir let her do what she wished by simply placing his hands on her hips as she bucked against him. She felt his cock become quickly engorged inside of her and she sensed that he was holding back. "Give it to me!" she cried out, thrusting her breasts up into his face while riding him hard and fast. "Don't hold back."

Groaning while burying his face into her cleavage, Geir let loose again. His cock seemed to pulsate endlessly inside of her while she continued fucking him. Sliding his hands around to her ass, he squeezed and pulled her close to keep his cock fully entrenched inside of her sweet sheath. In the back of his mind, he worried about whether or not she'd be able to reach her own climax until he felt her body shudder in his arms. "OOoohhhhh!" Kara cried out while wrapping her arms around his head to keep him there while she came.

When she was finally finished, she sank back down onto his lap with his cock still throbbing and sputtering a bit inside of her. Humming, Kara smiled at him and kissed him gently on the nose. "That was amazing even if I am feeling a bit sore now. We're going to have to come up here more often."

"Whenever and as many times as you'd like, my love," Geir smiled up at her. "We have as much time together as we want as we are just like our wolf counterparts in that we mate for life... and our lives last hundreds of years."

"Hundreds?" Kara blinked at him as her mind wrapped around that. Centuries of pure bliss with the werewolf of her dreams? She could live with that. Her face melted into a smile until she realized that her clothes were still halfway down the mountain. "Hm, it's going to be a cold walk back home."

Geir rolled his eyes. "Just change," he said, "even wet fur will keep you warm my dear. Besides, I would like to take you in wolf form as well whether your sore or not."

"Tell you what," Kara replied with a sly smile as she got up and out of the pool of water. Her body gracefully changed into that of a werewolf. "If you can catch me before I reach our cabin; you can have me." Then she took off running down the mountain path at full speed.

Swearing under his breath, Geir hastened out of the pool and ran after her, changing into werewolf form while in full stride. He caught sight of her lovely tail disappearing down the trail in the distance and he howled with joy as he realized that he'd be willing to chase his mate... his wife... his love... all over the ends of the earth if need be.

The chase was back on.

THE END

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Author's Notes: I hope everyone enjoyed my take on an old pre-roman (and possibly pagan) tradition of Lupercalia that eventually became a part of the Valentine's Day that we all know and love. Granted that some historians reject this claim but then again I'm not exactly here to be historically accurate either.

I hope that you also enjoyed my interpretation of the Red Riding Hood legend. If people are wondering where the Grandmother was at during this whole story then you need not look any further than the name of the Villages and surrounding Woods. "Mormor" is the Scandinavian (Norwegian/Swedish) word for "Maternal Grandmother". ;)

In the event people are wondering; this story is set in the Late 17^th/ Early 18^th Century, prior to the popular version that appears in the Grimm Brothers' "Children's and Household Tales" in 1812. I didn't even want to attempt at being historically accurate in the speech patterns so we can just say 'dialog updated for modern audiences' and be done with it.

In any case; I thank you for reading and ask that you please place a vote, be it good or bad, for every story that you read in the Valentine's Day Contest. Thank you for your participation by reading and rating the stories in this contest!

-AlexClayton/DieselJester

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