It was like bullet-time from those movies.
The adrenaline seared through Stargazer's body, heightening senses, but seeming to slow the world down and allow him to react to the leaping wolf-queen...but more importantly, it allowed him to think.
*She's beautiful...but...why so much hate?*
The answer came immediately. *Too much male subjugation...but this is a new century!*
He saw that she was thinking and moving just as fast...the acceleration in reflexes merely leveling the playing field. Stargazer looked her right in the eyes...and wolf and man seem to harmonize in a thought...
*I am werewolf. I am not a monster. I am wolf and man. I am Philip and Stargazer. I will not simply kill to rend flesh or hate to find prey. And if I am to mate one for life...I will prove myself...and in time grow to find harmony with my mate...*
That decision seemed to drive Stargazer, as, instead of bringing claws and fangs to bear, he twisted aside and brought his arms ahead of him...a weak move but enough to divert the female away. Swiftfang might have crashed into the opposite wall but for her innate reflexes. She hit the ground, rolled, and came up, as ready as before.
"I will not die here...but I will not kill you either."
Swiftfang snarled. "You will die before you even THINK of making me one of your whores!"
"I don't want a whore..." was all Stargazer managed to get out before Swiftang leapt again. He couldn't evade, no time, so he brought his own paws to lock with hers, and ended up in a nose-to-nose grapple, each one trying to force the other's arm into a painful state.
"Lying...pig!" The two werewolves locked eyes. In the wolf instincts, it was a challenge...but the two were already locked in the combat. Neither one was willing to back down. Swiftfang, however, knew males had a disadvantage, and brought her knee right up into Stargazer's groin. Stargazer dropped to the ground in pain, the kind of pain that a male kicked in the crotch knows well...a pain combined with paralysis.
Stargazer, however, was not only a male, but a werewolf, and knew only one thing to do to this beautiful creature that was going to kill him. While he couldn't call up strength, he could call up a fist into the right place...and Swiftfang drover herself onto Stargazer's fist, right at the solar plexus.
Both werewolves were dropped to the ground.
"Why, Swiftfang?" Stargazer said, grunting through the pain.
"You'd...have taken my sisters...my children..." Swiftfang said between gasps. "For your harem!"
Stargazer-Philip had to think for a second...yes, yes. He was as guilty of succumbing to pure instincts...to become less than animal, to debase even the wolf. But wolves mated for life...and humans and wolves knew of love.
*Wisdom so fast...is this how a werewolf thinks?*
"Young and stupid..." Stargazer said. "Maybe it's the change? Like going through puberty all over again?"
"Making excuses for yourself? Sisters...KILL HIM!"
Stargazer snarled. "Stay, or I take your queen with me!"
Swiftfang glared at Stargazer. "You dare..."
Stargazer looked back. "Yes, I do. Yeah. I was stupid. Young and stupid all over again. But maybe I can give you something...better."
Swiftfang looked dubious. "What, you plan to sell me your cock?"
Stargazer blinked. "No. I offer you an equal. Me."
Swiftfang looked surprised. "You're presumptuous. A man cannot pass on the howl of the pack...and if you were infected by one with the howl, you would become a woman."
"Am I? Maybe it's my instincts talking. But the moon is calling. A world of lethal females would exterminate us all. I don't need a PhD to figure that out. Maybe I don't need some magical feminizing. But..."
Stargazer took Swiftfang's paw. And the words he spoke came right from the very core of his being, where human and wolf met.
"I'd rather fight to the death for someone than from someone."