The Company of Wolves

“Man is the Reasoning Animal. Such is the claim. I think it is open to dispute.”

-Mark Twain, “What is Man?”

***

“What‘s wrong with ‘The Wolf Man‘?”

The apartment was quiet. The lights were turned down low. Sean sat on the couch, a respectable distance from Nia, sipping his wine slowly so that he wouldn’t lose his head. “There’s nothing wrong with it,” he said. “I just would have gone with something a little more highbrow.”

“But it’s a classic!”

“So is my father’s Yugo, but I wouldn’t want people seeing that on the first date.”

Nia slid an inch closer to him on the couch.

“I like ‘The Wolf Man,‘” she said, refilling their glasses. “I think it’s sexy.”

“A grown man, covered in hair, panting like a German Shepherd is sexy?”

“A man who completely loses control. That can be sexy. If you do it right.“ She looked at him.

“But why a werewolf? It’s so tacky.”

“People think of themselves as civilized, but secretly we’re all afraid that we might just be animals after all. With the right pressure, any of us might…”

“Lose control?”

There was another pause. Sean looked into his glass. Nia looked at him. He leaned for an insant—but then he pulled away. “What kind of pressure?”

Her hand was on his knee. Sean saw a quick flash of pink as Nia licked her lips. “Maybe you want something but you’re afraid to have it. So your body takes over and you just…get it.”

“But—”

He never finished. They nearly fell off of the couch as Nia threw herself onto him, her lips pressed against his in an open-mouthed kiss. Her mouth tasted hot and wet and the soft underside of her breasts pressed against his arm as she leaned over him. One strand of her hair tickled his cheek.

“Like that,” she said when they came up for air.

“Oh,” he said.

Nia straddled him, kissing his neck and then nibbling his earlobe. He squirmed She giggled and bit the ridge of his ear. “You’ve got me really curious honey,” she said. “Can I see what’s going on down here?” She put her hand on his crotch.