Rind.

Kellan took him thrice more under the moon before they slept, Gustin curling quietly into his arms and the smoke rising from the heating fires. Sleeping, Gustin dreamed of snow. When he woke again, strong hands were on his shoulders and Kellan was burying himself in Gustin's body. He moaned, tried to readjust; his relaxation had made the initial penetration easy, but now, just thinking of the act itself - thinking of Kellan's cock buried solidly in his ass, anticipating the burn, the pain of swelling, the intensity of the fullness he felt inside him - made him tense up, want to pull away. Kellan growled low against the back of his neck. Gus went still, closed his eyes, focused on his breathing and bit hard into one of the furs beneath him to help with the discomfort bordering on pain. The soreness was growing already. He stayed quiet through it, wishing for another few hours' sleep, a little respite; Kellan finished inside of him, hesitant to pull out, laving with his tongue the mark in Gustin's neck. Gustin let him linger for a few minutes before urging him away, squeezing his eyes against the slick pop of removal and the throbbing sensation of reversion.

They slept again and Gus only woke a little after dawn, with the dark blue of dawn still in the sky, when his dream world exploded into pain.
"Aauugh!"
Kellan's eyes opened immediately at the strangled cry, and he was on his knees on the bed, growling, eyes bright and wild, tail flagging to see what had harmed his mate. Gustin couldn't talk, tried to breathe, tried to remember. What was happening? For a moment, he wondered if he were dying. Then he remembered. The Change. The herbs. Kellan. With great effort, he reached to the right of him, to beside the bed where the mixed-up bowl of herbs still rested. He picked a pinch - enough? too much? - and stuck it all in his mouth. Don't swallow, just chew. The first bite didn't seem to do much, second time tasted strange; after that, the pain began to subside in his extremities first, then, working its way inward, relieved his entire body. He tried not to choke as it reached his balls and aching cock, sucked in greedy breaths of pain-free air. Kellan was staring at him, composed now but still looking a bit wild. Gustin pushed himself up on both arms, chewed steadily and eyed his mate. Kellan seemed to be calm and he had to pee. He tried to get up to go to the bathroom. Kellan growled. Gustin considered this. It was an unanticipated consequence. How long was this going to go on? He chewed thoughtfully on the mixture, thankful Kellan had had the foresight to put it together for him. He tried to get up again. Kellan growled, put one hand around his arm. The grip was tight, but it didn't hurt. Must be the chew. Could he feel anything at all? Gustin glanced down to the wolfe's cock, which was once again damp and standing at attention. He exhaled, rolled onto his stomach across the bed, and waited patiently as Kellan took him one more time.

Afterwards, when the wolfe lay panting on the pile of furs, hair fanned out and tail sloping next to him, Gustin let himself out of bed and snuck as quietly as he could to the baths to relieve himself. When he reemerged, Kellan hadn't moved. He breathed a sigh of relief, tried to think of what else he could do. He went to the dish stacks, retrieved two bowls to fill with stew and water. When he turned around, Kellan was right behind him. He dropped both bowls. The wolfe looked angry. He bared his teeth at Gustin; Gus backed away slowly, tried to anticipate the lunge he knew was coming. Gus planned for the right, but confused himself and went left and so ended up facing the carving bench and table with one arm twisted behind him and Kellan breathing heavy on his mark.
"It's OK, it's OK, I'm sorry, Gus is sorry, Gus won't leave, mate here, mate OK, Gus isn't going, it's OK, see?"
he babbled, trying to assuage this wolfe who had become a stranger in his heat. Kellan released his arm, caged Gus's body around with his own, breathed heavily in his scent and nibbled at the mark. Gus shivered with the sensation as teeth brushed over the place he knew he'd been bit before. One heavy hand pushed the back of his head forward; he bent over the carving table. Another hand wandered his back, travelled south to slide down the dip in his ass, slip forward to play with his balls. Against Kellan's cool touch, they felt hot and tense; Kellan released them and moved back up to spread his ass apart. Gus anticipated pain, but it didn't come, and Kuskellanar groaned as he buried himself deeply inside of his mate. Gus bowed his head as the slipping-in feeling of Kellan thrusting inside of him began to ignite his own sex drive. The sun was almost risen now; light reflected on Gustin's skin, in his eyes, bounced off the worn-down surface of the carving table. Gus felt open, naked as he never had before, exposed in the daylight to his mate's eyes. Behind him, Kellan was knotting. At least he was getting quicker about it now. Gus chewed resolutely, wondering how long each serving was supposed to last. His jaw was beginning to ache from munching the chew; he stuck it under his tongue. Kellan's knot faded quickly and he was thrusting again, shoving deeply into his mate so that Gustin felt it in his stomach and throat, then pulling out again, then shoving all the way back in to make the little human moan tiny noises of satisfaction. When he came, Gustin wasn't far behind, spurting hard over the table and his own hand, holding his mate tight inside of himself for long moments before easing forward and pushing the wolfe away.

~:~

On the morning of the second day, Kellan tried to take him as a female, and he had to fight tooth and nail to refuse. His Change had been incredible - fast and, thanks to the chew, almost imperceptible. Kellan had calmed a little by the early evening of the day, had let him out of bed so that they both could find food and water; he took the opportunity to wash as well. He felt sticky and gross, and was sure he smelled pretty rank, even if Kellan didn't seem to mind. In the shower, he stroked himself, checking as he had a hundred times before to be sure that, even with the Change through and his balls gone, he could still elicit a reaction from himself. His cock rose to the occasion and he breathed a sigh of relief. He felt dampness in between his thighs and moved one hand there to touch himself, slipping a finger inside of his entrance. It was tight, and new, but healing quickly, and, Gustin estimated, would be functional by next daylight. The chew he had now should last through the night; how much longer would the pain persist? How much longer would Kellan be in heat? It was only two days now, but it felt like forever. Kellan's heavy footsteps paced outside, stopped by the bathroom door. Kellan had taken him twice in the showers and it wasn't a very exciting experience. Water had taken away the natural slickness of his mate's cock, and so the penetration had been rough and forceful. He'd rather not have a repeat. He stopped the water, wrapping himself in a long dry cloth, and left the room.

~:~

Kellan woke him in the darkness, the night before the third day. Gus had slept on his back, had the moon on his face and his hands in Kellan's hair. The wolfe hadn't seemed interested in him since earlier in the evening, when they'd downed a half bowl of stew and three bowls of water each, then Kellan had rubbed himself to completion between Gustin's thighs, his nose buried solidly in the human's hair. He'd laid like that for a minute, disentangled himself and gone to wander the room a little bit and shift a few times before coming back to bed after Gustin had gone to sleep. Gus had felt him come to bed in the late evening, but didn't remember being touched and had dozed off quickly. When he woke, Kellan was stretched out between his legs, his hands splayed on Gustin's hips and his mouth working resolutely at his female entrance. Gustin whined, wiggling his hips to try to dislodge his wolfe, who only looked up with a sour expression and went back to partaking of the taste of his mate. Gus tolerated it, wondering where it was going when his mate suddenly stopped, rested back on his haunches and regarded Gustin with a tender look. Gus met his eyes, examined the reposeful face in the half-darkness. With great purpose and a sudden sense of reverence, Kuskellanar looked out the tiny window, up, at the single bright light from the moon, then back down, at Gustin, at his human, his mate. Bowing slowly, he laid gentle lips to Gustin's belly, kissed a line down his stomach to stop just in the middle of the mass of curls that cradled his cock. He stayed there for a moment, breathing in deeply before lifting up to smile, honestly and thankfully, up at his mate. Gustin's breath caught in his throat. Kellan lifted up, rested back on his knees, settled himself into position between Gustin's legs, then put two hands on his hips and hauled him close. Gustin's heart beat faster. Something in the air, in the way Kellan kissed him and bowed and touched him so solidly, felt strange. Felt different. Felt significant. Kellan was still smiling at him, a half-aware, steady smile, and Gustin wondered if maybe the wildness had faded. The wolfe's brow furrowed as he leaned forward, balancing on one arm as he guided himself into Gustin. Gus tried not to, but felt himself get tense anyway; the feelings were all so new and he was hungry and half-sleepy and more than a little confused. This time wasn't like those before, though; Kellan took his time with Gustin, easing slowly and fully inside of him before slipping back out. The going was gentler now, and much slicker with Gustin's female parts contributing their own excitement to the effort. Gus felt a burning begin to build inside of him, and when Kellan knotted, it swelled to monumental proportions before bursting, exploding, slipping clear-white fluid down his cock and thighs in little droplets to where he and Kellan were still joined. The wolfe was watching him closely, let the human ride out the waves of his own orgasm before coming himself, pushing deeply and roughly inside his mate with a desperate groan before collapsing, boneless, on top of the little human he'd claimed for his own. Gustin winced when Kellan pulled out of him and rolled away, his cock smearing wet across his thighs and leg. Kellan was staring at the window, panting happy breaths and dimly smiling. Gustin nuzzled his way under one arm, curled up close to his wolfe's side. Kellan permitted it, held him close, let him stay that way until morning. Above them, the moon shone bright.

~:~

When he woke in the morning, Kellan was bathing and the stew was hot.