The Mating Game

Synopsis: Claire's night has just been smashed to hell when her weekend away with her new boyfriend turns into an episode of the dating game werewolf style. She's never going to look at a game of fetch the same way again.

Chapter 1

It had all seemed so civilized at dinner. Theo had smiled and talked about politics. I wasn't particularly interested, alright I wasn't interested at all, but I kept on smiling and nodding as he talked because he happened to have to bluest eyes I'd ever seen. They were spectacular, and he had a spectacular everything else to match. So what if all he cared about was the economy, the school system and global warming? He was gorgeous, so gorgeous that I didn't pay much attention to anything else. So what if Theo and I had nothing in common, it wasn't going to keep me from taking him up on his offer of a weekend at his friend's house party on a private island in the Chesapeake. I was just going to look at his beautiful blue eyes and messy blond hair and ignore all the words coming out of his mouth as he talked on and on because my luck was changing.

I laughed at myself. I luck was SO not changing, at least not for the better anyway. Mesmerized by a pair of blue eyes and a mouth full of capped teeth and what did it get you? Apparently right where I was. Standing outside on a cold, wet, November night in nothing but a night gown and bare feet running for my life, well maybe not my life, but my livelihood I was sure, judging by the gleam in those guy's faces most likely my chastity. I giggled to myself making my lungs burn, well burn more than they already were from my sprint through the scrubby underbrush on the island. Chastity, what a quaint work, old fashioned and almost charming, so much better than a stinkin' old virgin. But these freaks were virgin lovers apparently, not trying to profile but judging by the fashion, awkwardness and eyebrow bushiness of the handful of other girls around me they were all virgins too. Just my luck, I wanted to have a nice hopefully romantic weekend where my cherry could be popped . . . I gasped for breath and I grimaced, hitting my toe on a root. Ok, maybe "pop the cherry" wasn't the classist way to put it but after I was so sure Robby Martin was going to make love to me, and Judd Collins was going to screw my brains out and Joaquin Mendoza was going to shtup me, I was ready to just pop the damn thing and be done with it. Hopefully, Theo didn't have a girlfriend to get back together with, any questionable homosexuality he wanted to suddenly embrace or a particularly aggressive strain of genital herpes he was considerate enough to warn me about. Instead of herpes Theo had a mild cause of clinical insanity that was more than a little off putting, and at that exact moment in time the herpes were looking better and better.

When I first arrived it had struck me as odd that there was a disproportionate about of men to women, but maybe the old guys who had sat in the lounge drinking some kind of brown liquor my income bracket never allowed me sample were having a guys weekend. They looked like old guys who had been friends for years, and most likely their wives were friends too, maybe they were off at a spa for the weekend.

Theo led me to the back patio after dinner and held my hand as he introduced me to literally everyone in the room, well the men anyway. Every other girl in the place seemed to be making the same rounds I was, shaking hands with people she didn't know, awkward small talk, leering looks from the every guy under thirty-five and amused glances from all the older gentlemen.

I had started to get a really weird vibe. The whole thing was just off, I couldn't put my finger on it but I knew it had been off since the beginning, when the boat had left us and the skipper had given me this odd pitying look. I tried to ignore it in favor of thinking about the mega handsome, seemingly rich, exceedingly polite, man who asked me to go away with him for the weekend. He said it was a social business thing and a date would make it more causal, and that she was just the girl he wanted with him. So he was boring? So what? A party at some private island or a weekend alone in her studio apartment in Adams Morgan? That was a real tough call.

So what if I thought they were all cult members when the clock struck eleven and each man who brought a date took her hand and walked her up the "Go With the Wind" stairs to her door, where Theo bent down and kissed my cheek before ordering me to bed. I tingled a little bit by that the gleam in his eye. I was sure he would be sneaking back here later, even though he told me more than once the owner of the house didn't let unmarried people share a room. It was an idea as equally quaint and charming as the idea of chastity, and what was the point of rules if not to be broken? It was our third date, everyone knew what happened on a third date and I was desperate for him to come. I tried to wait up for him, but I really was tired and before I knew it I was very rudely awakened when Theo yanked me out of bed, with bruising hands and dragged me to my feet. Once I realized it was him I calmed down. I laughed again, the laughter turning into a wheeze.

"Theo, what's wrong?" I asked sleepily.

"It's time for you to run," he told me as he leered, reminding me of the looks I had been given by the other men that evening. I shivered, Theo had never been anything but polite and respectful before. I had thought he was just some boring, but utterly gorgeous, politician wannabe who was most like more sexually repressed than I was, but boy was I wrong. No wonder all those people on the news said, "He seemed so normal."

"What?" I asked as I tried to rub my eyes but was quickly reminded that Theo still had a death grip on my upper arms and I couldn't move.

He just laughed and dragged me to the landing at the top of the stairs. All the younger men had gathered and started whistling and shouting things I hadn't heard since my last walk past a construction site and I felt shame like I hadn't felt since I TPed my English teacher's house the Halloween of my sophomore year. As I scanned the faces in the crowd they were covered with the same look of desire. All my life I felt like that was a good thing, to be desired, but never in my life had I felt less like a person and totally like a thing. It was dehumanizing and as my eyes skimmed the crowd terror built up in me, just imagining what was going to happen. And then I saw him. He was standing in the back, leaning against the velvet paper on the walls, with a look of desire on his face, but it wasn't a desire for me, it looked like he was having a hard time deciding if he wanted to leave or punch the closest guy to him in the face. I honestly wouldn't have been surprised if he did either, or both, but to my shock he did neither. Suddenly his eyes were on me and I a thrill unlike any I'd known shoot through me. The man was gorgeous; honestly it should be illegal to be so tall, dark and handsome. But since I currently had one gorgeous man gripping my arm with one hand as he pulled up the hem of my nightgown with the other, I wasn't too impressed. As I tried to squirm out of Theo's grasp he slapped my ass and the men howled, well except for Mr Tall, Dark and Handsome who's jaw ticked as he clenched and unclenched.

"I'm going to fuck this bitch tonight! You have my word on that!" Theo boasted as he tugged me closer and grabbed my breast making me grimace.

"I wouldn't touch you with a ten foot pole, you fucking pig."

Theo looked down at me with cruel eyes as he tightened his hand on my arm making me yelp, "I'm not a pig, I'm a wolf and when I do fuck you I'll make sure you don't enjoy it."

"You're crazy!" I shouted at him before I turned to the men standing below, "You guys are all fucking crazy!"

Theo just laughed and dragged me down the stairs, through the back patio where we had all had those oh so civilized after dinner cocktails and out to the damp grass behind the house. When I got there I noticed the other women were already there, each of them had a large hand manacling their arm, some cried, some screamed, some were visibly bruised, others looked to be in shock, but in the end it didn't matter, we were all in the same boat.

A chill settled in me as the congregation of men from the foyer came outside and quieted. The quiet was the worst part because that meant it was coming, whatever the hell it was it was coming and coming now.

"Men!" came a shout from the upper level balcony overlooking the back terrace and all eyes shifted. "The time has come!"

The silence instantly evaporated as a roar rose from the horde of men.

"Men, silence!" he shouted again and I couldn't help myself, I snorted. Yes, he kept saying men, not gentlemen because there was nothing gentle about them, "Tonight we run. You all know if this is your first or your last chance to run but the rules are all the same. The women run, ten minutes later you give chase; if you catch her you have the right to mate her. If another male comes alone before you've mated he can challenge. The one who mates her keeps her. Keep your inner beast caged or you all know the consequences."

My mind was a blank when I heard them, the only thing I could think of was they had all watched way too much animal planet, or else were all insane, which was really starting to make the most sense. But then it hit me, everyone knew about werewolves. There were rumors they lived in Montana and Wyoming. The ranchers hated them, middle America feared them, teenaged girls lusted after them and me, well I didn't usually bother to worry about things that weren't a part of my daily life, like say werewolves. But I didn't have time to ponder what exactly was going on, well besides the obvious when the man shouted, "Run!"

Theo let go of my arm and I quickly ran a head about ten paces to turn around and glare at him. The other women did the same, no one ran we just all joined together not turning our backs on the monsters.

"Run," the man shouted again.

We all just stood there until one of the men charged us, shifting a single hand, forming a terrifying looking claw as he came closer. We all squealed and made for the trees. I was so sure that any second Theo was going to come up from behind and attack me. As I darted though the trees I felt branches cut my arms and grass that seemed as sharp as razorblades slice at my legs but I just kept on going, the sound of my feet slamming at the ground and the movement of trees reverberating like a sonic boom in my head as I knew I had to stay quiet but that seemed to be the last thing I was able to do. In the distance, but far too close for comfort, I heard other sounds. Maybe it was the other women, but judging by the burn in my calves it had to have been at least ten minutes. Who knows, maybe it was less, I hadn't run for anything further than the bus since my masochist gym teacher thought to get her jollies making the whole senior class run a mile just for shits and giggles. There was no one giggling now.

I kept running until I hit the water. I had run clear across the island and there was nowhere to go unless I wanted to swim. The nearest island had to be at least half a mile away and the way my everything was burning I couldn't make it. I always thought I was a strong swimmer but I definitely didn't have the endurance to compete in a triathlon, usually I had to resort to taking the bus to work because I didn't have the endurance to walk. I stood there taking big gulping gasps of air and thought what to do, where to hide. The only thing I knew for sure that I had to be safer away from the shore, where the trees disappeared and I was painfully visible. Or, maybe I could swim out and try to find a sandbar I could stand on and hide until I could figure a way off the island. But just then as my body started to cool a bit and I shiver brutally reminded it was November and the water had to be no warmer than 65 degrees, maybe less.

After closing my eyes and saying a prayer I turned around and started walking back thought the trees, slowly this time, quietly. The only thing not quiet about me was my head that buzzed with crazy innocuous thoughts as I tried to focus on what was currently happening, which was hard to do when what was happening was so crazy, so unreal. But as a scream pierced the night I suddenly realized just how real everything was and jumped into the first hiding spot I could find and stilled. It wasn't the best spot I could have found, but it wasn't bad. There were a circle of bushes with thick broad leaves circling an apple tree and as I pulled up my knees and leaned against the trunk I actually felt protected, it was a total false sense of security but I would take whatever I could get at that exact moment. My feet were wet and dirty not just from the mud and dew but I noticed I stepped right into a rotten apple. That would have had be cussing under normal circumstance but it barely registered, the only thing I cared about was picking up a fallen apple, ready to peg it at anyone who go too close.

It wasn't until I was suddenly looking at a pair of male legs, that I realized just how utterly unsafe I was. He stood there, naked, proud and erect and he was on me before I could even think to throw anything at him. The only good thing I could really say for him was he wasn't Theo, but judging by the feral look in his eyes he wasn't a big step forward on a evolutionary scale than my darling date. As he yanked me roughly to my feet and tore at the shoulder of my nightgown possible hypothermia and death from a night spent in the bay was looking better and better. All I needed to do was get there; I could see the moon glimmering off the water behind this behemoth's shoulder. All I could do, was do what momma always told me and hit 'em where it hurts, it was just too bad I couldn't move my arms as he held my wrists behind my back with one hand as he groped me with the other. There was only one way to him to let me go and that was charm, charm was something I had lacked since the day I was born but all I could do was try. Who knew, maybe werewolves had balls of steal, all I knew was I don't just stand there waiting for him to violate me.

As he groped my breast with a bruising hand I held in a grimace and locked away all my fear. Fear wasn't going to get me anywhere.

"Oh, that feels good," I sighed and tried to keep the tremble from my voice. Whatever the guy heard was enough because he stilled and finally looked me in the eye.

"You like that?" He asked sounding almost embarrassed, as if he just noticed he was groping a random woman in the middle of the bushes.

I nodded and licked my lips, he gulped as he watched.

"I could make you feel good, too," I told him as I looked down at his cock. It was large, larger than I even wanted to contemplate when I thought about what he might do to me with it if this didn't work.

His eyes glazed over as I managed to get one hand free and put it where he wanted it most. He groaned as I pumped up and down and squeezed the wrist he held captured in a tighter and tighter grip the more I worked on him. I'd never done this before, but I guess I was a natural because this guy sure wasn't complaining. When his eyes literally rolled back in his head and he let out a guttural groan I let go of him and reached back punching him in the balls as hard as I could.

As his groan of pleasure turned into a groan of pain he let go of my wrist and grabbed at his balls, as if trying to stop any future attacks, but none where coming. I jumped from the bushes and ran, gasping but not slowing down as I twisted my ankle on a fallen apple, trying not to notice that the ripped the left side of my night gown exposed my breast almost to the nipple. All I did was run towards the safety of the water. Hearing threats hurled at me had me picking up the pace but was abruptly stopped as I ran face first into a very large, very warm, road block. With the other guy still shouting from where I left him in the bushes, I knew I wasn't going to be able to trick this guy so easy, before I could even think of a plan to escape my arm was once again manacled in a strong male hand, but it didn't hurt. Ok, it did hurt, but only because of the bruise I knew was forming there, a lovely little reminder of Theo, that bastard. Even thought it didn't hurt much it was getting really fucking annoying to be manhandled by everyone.

But my annoyance was immediately forgotten as the shock set in when instead of ripping off my panties and raping me he started to run, this time back towards the house. It was all I could do just to keep up as I stumbled over rocks and twigs, my sprained ankle in agony. We didn't stop until we were back to where we started, on that back patio that I was seriously considering removing brick by brick.

"Shush," he told me as I saw the men wandering around the patio, still drinking their brown liquor and still looking awfully pleased with themselves.

The man nudged me towards the front of the house and since he had yet to do anything to actually hurt me I followed. It wasn't until I saw he was walking towards the front door that I dug in my heels and turned to actually look at the man who had dragged me all over the island. It was him, Mr Tall, Dark and handsome and he was still scowling.

"You'll be safe inside," he told me, and since I couldn't imagine him doing anything to me inside that he couldn't do to me outside I followed. The foyer was empty as I our bare feet hit the cold polished marble, leaving greasing looking foot prints in our wake and lead me to the stairs. I got a hollow feeling in my gut at the thought that this guy wasn't any different than the others, he just was a little to classy to fuck on the ground like an animal. The knot in my stomach didn't leave until he dragged us back the long hallway of bedrooms and up yet another set of stairs to the attic. He didn't turn on the light, but managed to guide me without letting me hit any of the mounds of junk I could sense surrounded us as he walked down the long corridor that ran the length of the house. He opened a door at the end of the long hallway and pushed me inside, then abandoned me in the middle of the room as he walked towards the windows and pulled closed the musty curtains, causing dust to float though the air making me sneeze. It wasn't until all the curtains were closed and he double checked that the door of the room was latched that he turned and looked at me, "You're safe now."