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Chapter 26: Rape on Swift Wings

A dozen or so winged wolves stood around the little boat, peering in with hard expressions. They were all males, darkly gray in color, with magnificent gray wings, each pair with a span to make Avi's look like a sparrow's. They were each covered in a green sort of muddy clay. The clay was drawn in circles around their dark, glinting eyes, was painted over their sharp nipples, and was drawn in lines down their rippling bellies. These were obviously warriors, though very savage in nature, for they spoke in short grunts and guttural noises, even growling and snarling at each other to communicate. To Kilyan's dismay, they each carried crossbows, and across their chests were straps so that they could sling the crossbows on their hips.

With a dozen crossbows trained on them, Kilyan and Ryo lifted their paws and sat rigid and glowering in the boat.

The grim warriors peered down at the strangers with their ears pricked forward, their great wings rustling softly in their curiosity and suspicion. The largest one -- the one that seemed to order the others about -- had an earring in his lip and another in his nipple. Kilyan had only ever seen winter wolves pierced in this manner and couldn't stop himself staring. Their smell was also overwhelming: an incredibly strong musk, the oppressing scent of sweaty balls and large cocks, rough bristly fur and unbrushed fangs. They each of them had a darkly colored cock the same shade as their rigid nipples, and when they moved, their hard thighs flexed, their tails and wings twitched.

The pierced wolf elbowed a shorter warrior in the head and nodded at Kilyan. Kilyan's eyes went to the shorter wolf: he appeared to be very young and was wide-eyed and fascinated by Kilyan and Ryo. He hesitated, but after glancing nervously at his pierced leader, he took a step toward the boat and suddenly snatched Kilyan's spear from its depths. The young wolf then stood there holding Kilyan's spear and staring down at him. Kilyan blinked in disbelief and confusion: this young wolf was silently apologizing! The young warrior swallowed thickly, then made a sudden move with the spear. Stars exploded before Kilyan's eyes: he had just been hit in the face with the butt of his own spear! A dull rush of anger coursed through him, but he was too dazed to retaliate and darkness washed over him.

Kilyan later awoke when he felt something hot and wet prod his anus. He shook himself and his eyes flew open wide. His head spun, but as the spots cleared, he slowly began to realize that he was surrounded by many wolves -- all of them male warriors -- and he was tied down to something! Kilyan tried to move and heard laughter. When his eyes cleared, he saw his own paws stretched away before him. His arms were bound at the wrists, and he was bent over a rock, his legs spread wide, his ass pointed at the air, and his ankles bound to the stone! He strained to move again and heard more laughter. With a rush of anger, Kilyan tried to speak and realized there was a gag in his mouth. He could taste the foul rag tied so cruelly tight against his tongue, and then the hot wet thing prodded his anus again.

Kilyan grunted and strained. It was soft, the thing that kept prodding him, and furry. A wet finger! He clenched his anus tight against this prodding and felt the sticky crack of dried blood. So they'd already raped him while he was passed out! Frantic and enraged, his green eyes darted from side to side. Dark winged wolves were everywhere, erect and dripping cocks, laughing males with long dark manes stroking their own erections as they looked over Kilyan's body. He could see huts with smoke rising from them, meat hung out to dry, tools and pots and pans hanging from the ceilings of a dark hut nearby -- all the usual things that comprised of a village. And he realized suddenly that he was in the village square and that this entire village of winged males was taking turns raping him!

Kilyan trembled with silent rage in his ropes. A tall male approached him and he quickly recognized him as the one with the pierced lip and the obvious chief of this village. He smiled down at Kilyan -- a smirking, self-satisfied smile -- and Kilyan growled behind his gag when the tall wolf touched a finger to the head of his own cock. He drew off a sticky string of pre-cum and smeared it lovingly on Kilyan's lips. He did this thing as carefully as if he was creating a work of art, then dragged his finger against Kilyan's tongue, smearing his watery juices there. Kilyan could taste the sticky cum sinking on his tongue, in his teeth, and shuddered angrily again.

And then that finger. It sank sharp and fast in his anus and twisted. Kilyan grunted, tears springing to his eyes. The pierced wolf looked down at him with something between pity and amusement, then shocked Kilyan by leaning down and licking away his tears. He started stroking Kilyan's mane, and his dark eyes were full of admiration and lust. Then he looked beyond Kilyan and snapped his fingers.

Kilyan turned his head and saw to his horror that a dark wolf with a hugely erect cock was standing behind him. This was obviously the one who had been prodding his anus. He smiled at Kilyan and braced one paw on the small of Kilyan's back as if he was preparing to plunge himself in. Kilyan shook his head vigorously, a silent plea, and the crowd laughed. The pierced wolf grunted some happy, amused words in his language, and it happened: Kilyan's tail was grabbed at the base of the shaft, and he squeezed his eyes shut and whimpered as that big cock, so largely intruding, sank slowly between his squirming, flexing ass cheeks with a slow and careful squelch. His attacker leaned down over him and started moving his hips very slowly against his ass. Kilyan sobbed as he was held wide open, as the wolf raped him with little sighs and grunts. Blinded by his tears, he looked around and saw that the other winged wolves seemed to enjoy watching his rape, his helplessness, his suffering. They watched his tears fall, watched his muscular body straining and squirming in his ropes, watched that great cock feeding in and out of his stretched anus.

Kilyan let out a choked cry when he felt what was undeniably a tongue on his cock. His penis was flat against the stone and hanging down between his thighs. And he knew even as he was being fucked so slowly and deeply in the ass that some other wolf had gotten down on his knees and was licking his dick. He squeezed his eyes shut and shivered and it happened: he got hard. The wolves laughed again at this, and then there was no end to the hard, loving licks this unseen wolf was giving him.

Kilyan grew red in the face as he strained to hold back, as he strained to ignore the frantic, eager, wet slurps of the wolf who was pleasing him. But the wolf's tongue was very skilled, and Kilyan could not stop his moans of pleasure, which were sudden and loud and seemed to amuse the watching crowd. His cock throbbed thicker and harder with every flick and lick until he could hold back no longer: Kilyan came with a whimper behind his gag. His humiliation increased tenfold when the crowd cheered: they had been waiting for him to come! They had wanted to see his cock flinch and release its passion! And as if he'd been given permission, the wolf raping Kilyan came in his ass with a loud snarling cry. He pressed his hips hard against Kilyan's buttocks -- almost as if he was purposely pressing his seed inside -- and his hot fluids filled Kilyan before he withdrew.

Kilyan sagged in his ropes, trying to ignore the wet tingling of spit on his cock. What had been the point of all this? What had been the point of his rape and humiliation? He clenched his teeth when he realized it had all been for their leader's amusement: the pierced wolf cheered and clapped his paws. He lifted his paws to the crowds and they cheered again.

Kilyan miserably closed his eyes, reflecting that after all the times he'd been raped, he should have loathed and despised tail chasers by now. For this was obviously a village of tail chaser wolves: there wasn't a female in sight. All of these wolves were winged, and all of them had cocks. Not a tit, not the scent of a pussy on the air.

Kilyan sniffed for Ryo, hoping he might catch the scent of her sex among all these laughing wolves, but the smell of his captors was just too oppressing. He sagged again in his ropes and groaned. How the hell was he going to get out of this one?

Kilyan was glad when the wolves started to disperse, chattering happily among themselves as they went back to their lives. It was twilight and the first stars winked in the purple and pink canopy that the sinking sun left in its wake. Palm trees swayed under the salty breeze, silhouetted against the sky, and Kilyan could hear the distant chirruping of insects. He sagged deeply in his ropes, relieved that perhaps now they would let him be. But his entire body tensed again when the pierced wolf turned to him with a smile. He started talking to Kilyan in his language, grunting and growling and making those base noises. Kilyan grew very still when the winged wolf leaned down very close, and after sniffing Kilyan's neck for a moment, he reached under and pinched his nipple. Kilyan jerked from the sharp and sudden pinch and glared after the pierced wolf as he strolled away. Miserable and exhausted from the rape of his ass and cock, he fell asleep in that ridiculous position: his ass still pointed at the air, his arms and legs tied to the rock.

When Kilyan awoke sometime later, his strength renewed, he knew it was the middle of the night. The village of winged wolves was deathly silent and he noticed with a snort that they were fool enough to not post sentries around him. Desperate now to escape, Kilyan started gnawing at the ropes wound so tackily around the rock. It took him several minutes, but he managed to get his paws free, and after that, it was only a matter of seconds before he was completely free and standing with his ears pricked forward. That was way too easy. A trap? Kilyan suddenly didn't care: trap or not, this was his chance to escape with his ass intact.

Kilyan flared his nostrils and tried to find Ryo's scent. She just had to be in the village, where else could she have been? He hoped to god that she wasn't dead and thought with a flutter of joy that he caught the faint musk of Ryo's fur when the breeze lifted again. Following the scent, Kilyan started his careful journey through the village. He still felt uneasy. It was too quiet. Wolves usually sat in front of their huts together smoking even in the middle of the night. These wolves were also warriors: they should have been disciplined enough to have guards on night duty. What was going on here? The village was as silent as if the winged warriors had all suddenly disappeared!

Kilyan was darting from the shadows of one hut to another when the sudden rustling of wings made him look over his shoulder. To his horror, the pierced wolf was lunging down on him out of the sky, a rope in his paw. Kilyan ground his teeth and took off running full tilt now up the street. He glanced back and saw to his dismay that the pierced wolf was grinning, whirling the looped rope about as if he was about to pull in a runaway goat. There was a swish as the rope flew through the air. Kilyan felt a surge of rage when the loop found its mark and fell over his head. It closed tight around his neck after a laughing jerk from his pursuer, and he was dragged down in the dirt, pounced upon at once, and fucked.

They were silent as it happened, though they both grunted and strained as they rocked together. The pierced wolf was not very rough, only insistent in his thrusts, but his fist was tight on the rope and yanked it back taunt during the quiet rape, so taunt that Kilyan -- gasping and sobbing as he was rocked on his knees -- could barely breathe as he sought to pull the rope slack around his throat.

Kilyan hated himself when his cock grew hard and even started to spurt a little from this urgent rape, but he couldn't deny the tingling pleasure when his attacker's big paw reached around and slowly stroked him. The pierced wolf bowed his head over Kilyan and grunted in his ear as he hunched his back to get inside. His wings were fluttering in his eager lust, and suddenly very desperate to get in, he dropped his hold on the rope, braced his arms on the ground around Kilyan, and started humping him with little whimpers and moans, as if Kilyan's ass was the best thing his cock had ever tasted.

Kilyan scrambled to get the rope off his neck, but the pierced wolf suddenly wrapped a bulging arm around his throat, trapping him once more as he was fucked. They continued rocking together, gasping and straining, and Kilyan was still sobbing when the big wolf started biting his neck, tearing at it with his teeth, and then licking it. His knees had been kicked wide apart and his anus was held wide open as that thick shaft sank itself in and out beneath his tail. He heard the wet squelching noises, could feel the pierced wolf's balls slapping his ass as he was fucked, and he cringed, sobbing again to himself. He was rode heavy and hard, and when the pierced wolf had come, he stroked Kilyan's mane and -- to his dismay -- gathered him in his big arms and took off into the sky.

In a daze of pain after the rape on his knees, Kilyan lay across the pierced wolf's arms, his head falling back, his humiliation and rage increasing tenfold when that doting beast gave him a loving lick on the cheek and grunted something in his language. Kilyan ignored him. He let his head roll to the side and saw the village so tiny beneath them, falling away into a wreath of trees. Just beyond the village, he saw a small grove of trees. And in the center of the trees, a small pool of water winked in the moonlight. The pierced wolf swooped for the pool, holding Kilyan tight to his chest as they made the dive.

When they landed, Kilyan was led by his rope toward the water. The pierced wolf grunted and gestured that Kilyan should wade in with him. Feeling there was no point in arguing, Kilyan did as he was told. The pierced wolf held him from behind, his arms about him, his lips in Kilyan's mane. Then he turned Kilyan to face him, and after placing Kilyan's arms around his neck, started scooping up water in his big paws, and with gentle fingers, he brushed Kilyan's tail aside and started washing his sore and bleeding anus.

Kilyan tensed and clenched his teeth, bowing his head against the big wolf's hard chest as the pain was renewed in this sensitive area, but the pierced wolf's fingers were gentle, and seeing that Kilyan was in pain, he kissed him apologetically on the cheek and muttered some soothing words in his language. Kilyan relaxed in spite of himself, calmly wondering if Ryo wasn't some place being raped as surely as he'd been raped. Had they tied Ryo down in the village square and had their way with her as well? Was she in the arms of a strapping winged wolf even now?

Finished bathing Kilyan, the pierced wolf led him by his rope from the water. Kilyan followed, his mind preoccupied with some chance of an escape. His green eyes darted every which way, searching hungrily for an opportunity, a rock, a stick, anything he could use as a weapon. Once he'd knocked the pierced wolf out, he could escape into the trees, and hopefully find Ryo and hightail it out of this place.

Kilyan was brought back to reality by a sharp tug on his rope. He looked down and saw to his dismay that the great winged wolf was sitting on the sandy ground, his hard thighs wide open and a small smile on his lips. His cock was erect. Kilyan silently groaned and fell to his knees when the rope was yanked again, very hard this time. He gasped for breath and grabbed the rope in an attempt to pull its cutting braids away from his throat. The pierced wolf was not pleased by this and slapped Kilyan's paw away. Grunting some words in his guttural language, he cupped the back of Kilyan's head and brought his face down very close to his cock. Kilyan closed his eyes miserably: he was expected to give this massive creature head. He could hear the pierced wolf's little moans of anticipation. He glanced up and the wolf was smiling. He muttered some words of encouragement in his language, then cupped the back of Kilyan's head and brought his face down even closer.

That thick and throbbing cock was pushed past Kilyan's lips, and sobbing around its salty taste, Kilyan closed his eyes and started sucking it. He could hear the winged wolf groaning as he flexed his tongue, as he worked his lips slowly up and down, hating his own good looks with each deep and wet suck he gave to the throbbing cock. The pierced wolf grumbled a complaint and pressed Kilyan's head down even lower -- so low that the beast's big dick prodded the back of his throat. He choked and his spit gushed and the pierced wolf seemed to be in some deep and distant state of heaven.

Kilyan dared to glance up every now and then and saw that the pierced wolf was slowly twisting his own nipple ring, licking his lips, smiling as Kilyan's lips brought him such deep pleasures that his cock was throbbing harder and thicker against his mouth. The pierced wolf eventually became so hard in his passion that Kilyan's lips were sore, his jaw was straining to hold on. At last it happened: the pierced wolf came. But to Kilyan's horror, the beast pulled Kilyan's head by the mane from his cock before it happened, and yanking Kilyan's head back, he came all over his face and neck. Kilyan closed his eyes just in time: the sticky spray clung to his lashes, to his lips, and he was reminded of that time so many years ago when Tyne had mockingly come on his face. Why was this such a turn-on for males? He would never understand. But when he opened his eyes and dared to glare up at his captor, it was to the find that the pierced wolf was smiling and sighing with satisfaction. He stroked Kilyan's mane and even leaned down and kissed him, but they both went rigid at the sudden sound of feet pounding through leaves and underbrush.

The pierced wolf's ears pricked forward and he whipped around. Kilyan peered beyond him and never thought he'd be so happy to see such a sight: Ryo was charging toward them out of the trees, Avi draped across her arms, her hard breasts heaving. In her wake came the young male wolf whose apologetic black eyes Kilyan remembered just before he was knocked out.

The pierced wolf was incensed to see one of his own running not after but with his prisoners. He let Kilyan go and sprang to his feet. The younger wolf skidded to a halt, his face pale with fear, his wings fluttering behind him. Ryo suddenly shoved a limp and moaning Avi into the young wolf's arms, and turning back to the pierced wolf, she kicked him in the nuts without warning.

Kilyan grinned. Ryo always was a dirty fighter. He was still grinning when Ryo stood over him and grinned back. She pulled the rope over Kilyan's head and tossed it away.

"What Kilyan waiting for," she said, pulling Kilyan to his feet. "Let's get outta here!"

Kilyan grimly nodded. But before he followed after her, he turned and splashed his face, scrubbing off the pierced wolf's sticky cum.

The pierced wolf, meanwhile, had sank to his knees and was sobbing, holding himself. As Kilyan and the others moved away toward the trees, he started screaming in his grunting, growling language. Kilyan turned back, and without hesitating, he snatched up a large rock and dashed it hard against the pierced wolf's head. The great wolf crumpled to the ground unconscious, his wings shriveling around him like a dead bird. Kilyan turned away again and saw to his dismay that the young wolf was standing there staring down at the pierced wolf and his face was strained with sadness and shock. Kilyan started to apologize, but the young wolf shook his head and something angry flashed in his eyes. It became apparent to Kilyan at once that this great pierced wolf had been the boy's father -- and he had not been loved by his son.

"No time," Ryo snarled, grabbing Kilyan by the arm.

They could hear the distant crashing of feet in the underbrush, and Kilyan realized that Ryo and the young wolf had not been running merely to escape: they were also being pursued. It sounded as if the whole damn village was after them and Kilyan suddenly understood why he had awoken in the village to find it silent and empty. Great.

They took off into the trees, ignoring with pounding hearts the shadows that passed over the moon, the howls that were given as the winged warriors stormed the sky in search of them. The young wolf held Avi's limp body tight to his chest, and Kilyan wondered with a pang what had happened to his Avi. He noticed with a leap of his heart that her wings were torn and bleeding, blood was coming from the pink pussy lips under her cock, blood was smeared on her plump little buttocks and dribbling from under her tail. Those monsters had raped her! They had raped Avi as surely as they'd raped Kilyan. And not only that, but they had mutilated her wings to make sure she couldn't escape!

Rage coursing through him, making his heart pound, Kilyan pressed on with the others through the trees. Branches snagged their manes, slapped their faces, and there were a few times when the young wolf's wings became tangled between the trees. He would twist around like a fly trapped in a web, and after Kilyan or Ryo had helped him get loose, the group would take off again.

It wasn't long before they came to a cave in the woods, which Ryo urged them all to enter. The young wolf didn't hesitate to enter with Avi in his arms, but Kilyan halted. He thought this was madness and protested at once: they would be trapped here for the winged wolves to slaughter! But Ryo was adamant, and when Kilyan would not enter the cave, she grabbed him by the head and shoved him in. She didn't enter herself. To Kilyan's horror, she started straining with her super strength to close a huge boulder over the entrance.

"Ryo!" Kilyan called in wild disbelief from the other side. He could hear the winged wolves approaching, could hear the clash of their weapons and wings, the snarls of their rage. And he realized as the roaring crowds drew nearer that Ryo was giving her life to seal them in this cave! He glanced back at the young wolf, who was still holding an unconscious Avi in his arms. The male gazed at Kilyan with the same apologetic black eyes: he had known this would happen!

But Kilyan wouldn't let it happen.

Kilyan rushed at the large boulder as it was creaking into place and strained like a scrawny mouse to stop Ryo from closing it and thus sealing herself out. But it was no use: he wasn't shemale and did not possess super strength. There was nothing he could do to stop Ryo, and when only a crack of moonlight was left to pour into the cave, he peered through the crack and whispered, "Ryo, please! Don't d-do this!"

Ryo's dark eye filled the crack and it smiled sadly at him. "Ryo must. Must keep Kilyan safe. Must keep Avi safe. Must keep Wynn safe."

Kilyan stared at her, bewildered. "Wynn?"

"Take care of them," was the somber reply.

As the roaring crowds grew louder in their approach, Ryo started pressing the boulder over the crack, slowly sealing out light and air. Kilyan protested again, but his shouts went ignored: the boulder was pushed into place, and only seconds later, Kilyan could hear the slaughter that was Ryo's death at the paws of the winged warriors.

Kilyan bowed his head against the boulder as it was happening, closed his eyes against a sudden rise of tears, and started slamming his fists on the boulder again and again, screaming at the top of his lungs, "RYO! NO! WHY DID YOU -- WHY DID YOU!" He sank to his knees and sobbed himself hoarse. After a long time -- hours upon hours, it seemed to Kilyan -- he looked up to find himself kneeling in silence, a silence so grim in its meaning that more tears blinded him: Ryo was now most certainly dead. He felt a paw on his shoulder and looked around. The young winged wolf gazed down at him with the same sympathetic eyes. Avi was no longer in his arms.

Kilyan sniffed and blinked out tears. "Where's Avi?" he whispered hoarsely. "What have you done with --?"

The young wolf jerked his head for Kilyan to follow, and turning away, disappeared down a tunnel.

Kilyan stared after him. For the first time ever, he realized that this cave was not one dark and gloomy hole. There was light at the very end of the tunnel, a light so pale and blue. Moonlight. He scrambled up and after the young wolf, his feet crunching through the loose scattering of pebbles and dirt. When he caught up at last, he found himself standing on the edge of an immense cavern, in the ceiling of which was a hole just large enough to admit the slenderest fingers of moonlight. There was a small pool under the hole where rainwater had gathered. And stretched out beside this pool was Avi's battered form.

Kilyan rushed to Avi and fell to his knees at her side. Her pretty little face was slack but the brows knit together every now and then and she moaned. A slender paw pressed a wet stone to Avi's forehead, and at first, Kilyan assumed this paw belonged to the young male. But he saw out of the corner of his eye that the young male was standing against the wall, his wings quietly folded behind him and the saddest expression on his face. Then who . . .? Kilyan looked up.

What was undeniably his daughter was pressing the cold stone to Avi's feverish forehead. Kilyan sat very still and his heart warmed at the sight of this small creature, whose vivid green eyes smiled shyly at him. She was black, just as Avi had said, but her ears were silver and they went back on her head when Kilyan looked at her, pressing into her mane. Her black tresses were pulled back in a single long braid but loose strands fell in her eyes, and at the early age of ten, she was sprouting small and pointy little breasts. Around her throat was a choker of bones, and she sat with her slender legs folded thigh to thigh, leaning against one paw as she worked.

"Hi, Dad," Wynn said, her smile more of a smirk.

Kilyan couldn't speak. His voice was caught in this throat. Tears rose to blind him again, and he whispered, "Wynn?"

Wynn set aside the stone and nodded with a shy little smile. Kilyan snatched her into his arms and held her tight. His entire body trembled and he didn't know why. But here she was, this pretty little thing who he had abandoned for ten years! He held her very tightly, and hearing her sudden girlish laughter, he pulled back to gaze down at her with a smile. She was beaming up at him, strands of black mane in her slanted eyes. Kilyan laughed too: she looked so much like Aliona around the mouth and cheeks! And she looked like his Avi. Kilyan didn't see himself in this child at all . . . except for her vivid green eyes. They echoed of the boy he used to be.

"How did you . . .? You're so . . . thank god," Kilyan sputtered and held Wynn tightly again. He let her go when Avi moaned, and with a sad expression, watched as Wynn dipped the stone in the pool and pressed it to her mother's forehead once more.

"She'll be okay," Wynn whispered with a trembling lip. "Mom was always strong."

Kilyan lifted his eyebrows: Wynn was speaking his language clearly and correctly, without any skipped words or misused possessives. Why, she spoke his tongue as if she had spent her entire life in the summer village!

Wynn blushed a little at her father's surprise. "I wanted ta be able ta talk to you," she explained, "so I worked very hard to -- to learn to speak your language right."

Kilyan gazed down at her sadly, reflecting that she had probably longed for her father as deeply as Avi had. But why wasn't she angry? He had abandoned her! And for ten years! He had impregnated her mother and left her in disgrace, the illegitimate and probably despised heir of the jungle. Perhaps Avi had not told Wynn the truth. Or perhaps . . . she had. Knowing that Roriana would have killed Kilyan had he stayed was probably enough to make Wynn forgive him.

"So you came for me," Wynn said happily, but her slanted eyes were fixed anxiously on her mother.

Kilyan looked at Avi too. She was so bloody and torn! He scooped water from the pool and started rubbing the blood gently from her fur. He felt a sad pang when Avi's little wings trembled against the stone floor, like a convulsing creature on the edge of death's release. But Avi didn't look bad enough that she should have died. There were only small holes in her wings, and her raped vagina and anus . . . that would heal. Who should have known that better than Kilyan?

"Wynn," Kilyan began gently, "do you have any idea what you've put us all through? I held your mother in the night as she cried for you, unable to sleep because she thought you were dead! Tell me why you did such a thing. What was so terrible about the jungle that you would risk your life to escape!"

Wynn stared at the ground with a trembling lip. "I had ta know!" she said miserably. "Why you left us -- I had to!" She looked up at Kilyan with large, imploring green eyes, and Kilyan stroked her mane and pulled her under his arm.

Even in her misery and confusion, Wynn closed her eyes, loving Kilyan's wild musk and the feel of his rough fur against her. He was strong and handsome and tall and everything her mother had told her! His hard-bodied presence, his loving green eyes made her feel safe. She wanted his big arm to hold her and never let go.

"Didn't you want us?" Wynn whispered sadly. "Didn't you love us?"

"I hadn't known your mother for very long," Kilyan admitted.

"Then why were you with her!"

Kilyan winced. Wynn was a sharp ten-year-old indeed. His two boys hadn't bothered to question their father's sexual appetite when he revealed that Avi had come for him, but a girl was so quick on the moral uptake.

"I was wrong, I admit that," Kilyan answered his daughter. "I had washed up on the shores of the jungle. I was heading home to my wives and I missed them very much. I had been kidnapped, you see, and taken across the sea, far from my home in the summer village."

Kilyan noticed out of the corner of his eye that Wynn was gazing up at him, enrapt, her mouth slightly open.

"I had managed to escape my captors and was on my way home when I wound up on the shores of the jungle. Your mother imprisoned me and made me her slave. This isn't to say she was cruel to me, but the shemales didn't know if I could be trusted and I was kept on a leash.

"Your mother was so beautiful," Kilyan said with a reminiscent smile. "She reminded me of one of my wives back home. My wife Ohana. I felt something for her . . . it's called sexual attraction."

"Sexual attraction?" Wynn repeated with fascinated eyes.

"Yes," Kilyan nervously explained. "It's when your whole body wants very badly to . . ."

"To what?"

" . . . to be beside another wolf's body," Kilyan finished, noticing with great relief that Wynn didn't seem inclined to question him further. God, it'd been so long since he had to explain these things to a pup. He figured he'd better get to practicing again for Lea's pup.

"You'll understand when you're older. God forbid, but it'll happen to you," said Kilyan, already scared out of his wits for his little girl. "You'll meet some young male who you'll want very badly and he'll want you. And you might want this male so greatly that your body won't be able to say no . . ."

Lost in his thoughts about Avi, Kilyan didn't notice that the young male standing against the wall and his daughter were avoiding each other's eyes.

"But I had to leave your mother because Roriana didn't want us together. She would have killed me had I stayed. And I already had a family back in the summer village that I missed very dearly."

"I know," Wynn said in a low voice.

"So that's why I left you," Kilyan whispered, squeezing his daughter tight in his arm. "It wasn't because I didn't love you or because I didn't care. I would've taken your mother with me had I the chance, Wynn. But it was hard to make her understand anything I wanted to say. We didn't even speak the same language."

"So all this time," said Wynn slowly, "you've been in this place called the summer village with your wives?"

"And my sons. Your brothers."

"So you weren't across the sea," said Wynn miserably. "Ryo was right: I shouldn't have listened to Mom." Her ears pricked forward as a sudden thought hit her. "Hey! Where's Ryo!"

Kilyan and the young male glanced wretchedly at each other. Seeing this silent exchange, Wynn burst into tears. Kilyan held her tightly to his chest and rocked her, stroking her mane, kissing her head. She sobbed very hard, sometimes moaning Ryo's name, other times just sobbing incoherent words that Kilyan realized were in the quick language of the shemales. He held her tightly and rocked her back and forth and felt his own sudden rise of tears as he shushed her, assuring her that Ryo had gone on to be with their ancestors.

"But why?" Wynn sniffled.

"She died saving us," Kilyan explained. "She pushed a boulder over the entrance --"

Wynn burst out sobbing again. Kilyan kept holding her and looked sadly past her head at the young winged wolf standing so wretchedly against the wall. Why had he helped them? Why was he here?

Kilyan closed his eyes, his cheek against Wynn's head, and started singing a low lullaby as he rocked his daughter back and forth. It was a song Lea used to sing to Roan when he fell and scraped a knee, and little Roan -- screaming and wailing at the top of two-year-old throat -- would quiet in Lea's arms. Wynn eventually did much the same, sniffling and silently blinking out tears until they slowly stopped coming. Kilyan ended the lullaby and kissed his daughter's head again. Her soft mane smelled of flowers and grass and was steamy like the heat of the jungle. She was so soft, so small and delicate, like her mother. But Kilyan knew that -- again like her mother -- laying dormant in Wynn's skinny arms was the super strength of the shemale. Wynn could move the boulder! Wynn could get them out! And Ryo had known this: all hope was not lost!

_Bless Ryo, that brave soul! _Kilyan thought with a sad little sigh. She had once called herself useless, but she had saved them all.