# HNTBL 55: Share Your Friends

By: TheDragonBoy

## Content

How Not To Become Lunch: 55 - Share Your Friends

“You ready to go, honey?” Mrs. Eten asked.

“Yeah,” her son replied, somewhat despondently.

She gave him that sad-eyed, encouraging smile that she’d been giving him all weekend, and he did his best to muster a smile back.

It had been about two days’ time now since the incident at school, and the thoughts and feelings, while dulled by the broken sleep of a couple nights, still whirred through Jack’s head.

It didn’t help that he hadn’t had anyone to talk to about it, either. As far as his mom knew, he’d been sent home for picking a fight with a pred which resulted in a noisy scene and damage to the lunchroom. And that wasn’t necessarily a lie; he had gone over into pred territory, started screaming, and blasted one across the rest of the room into a table. But as far as he was concerned, that was the least of what had happened that day.

His mom just thought he was a bit shaken or something. She hadn’t been mad at him for a moment. In fact, she’d been quite proud when she found out he’d used his magic so effectively against- what she was sure must have been- a dangerous, threatening predator. But Jack hadn’t wanted to talk about the details, so the principal’s few words were really all she had to go off of.

Of course, Jack did want to talk about it. He needed to talk about it. But what would he tell his mom? ‘I had a big fight with Fiona’? ‘She ate one of my friends’? ‘She’s hanging out with kids who threaten to eat me’? She’d freak! She might pull him out of school! She might never let him see Fiona again- and they’d just reunited after all those years of missing each other!

Of course, their relationship was a bit more complicated now than when they were pup and child…

But all this is why he was feeling so relieved- happy, even- that today was the next meeting of Survivors Anonymous. This would be his second attendance at the weekly marked human support group, and boy did he need some support. He needed to get this off his chest; needed someone to lean on.

And that led him to his most encouraging thought of all, the one thing that managed to get him a smile as they walked through town: Ruby. Ruby would be there, she’d offer her sympathy and her encouragement, and afterwards, he’d have her company. He could imagine the warmth of her presence, helping to melt away all of this lingering turmoil. At the very least it would give him something pleasant and hopeful to focus on. This was his first date, after all. Who knows what could come of it?

Those were the types of thoughts he tried to hold onto as he and his mother trekked the last of their trip to the edge of town, around the nearby park, to the lone, prominent house tucked away at the end of the road.

Jack felt a twinge, and his step faltered for a moment. The memory of Fiona walking him there the first time flashed to mind; that look in her eye when she’d smelled who was inside, but also the considerate, caring tone in her words when she’d held back for his sake.

He shook it off. He wasn’t sure he could take another trip down memory lane. It was best he kept himself present, at least until he was inside.

*knock* *knock* *knock*

Despite that decision, it was the sound of his mother’s knuckles against the door that actually brought him back and made him realize they’d arrived. He looked up as the door opened to reveal a familiar, stern-faced man, with his wand drawn at the ready. The man’s expression lightened as he set eyes on his newly arrived guests.

“Good to see you again, Jack. And you must be Mrs. Eten then. Do come in.”

He ushered them inside quickly, closing and locking the door behind them as soon as they entered.

“Good to see you again too, Mr. Artor,” Jack replied, mustering all the social graces he could. “Mom, this is Sebastian’s dad.”

“Happy to meet you. I think you’ve raised a fine boy, if he’s one to put together something like this.”

“He was largely his mother’s work,” the man admitted, but he smiled and seemed to take the compliment warmly.

“Mr. Artor… do you have anywhere my mom could sit while we’re inside?”

“What do you mean, Jack? Won’t I be in there with you?”

“It’s just I… I’d appreciate it, if you waited outside,” Jack replied.

“Jack… Okay, whatever you need,” his mom agreed, reluctant but caring.

“We have a lovely sitting area out in the back where you can enjoy yourself,” Mr. Artor said in his rather softspoken voice. “I’ll show you to it. Jack, you’re free to take your seat inside as last time.”

Jack gave a small appreciative smile and nodded. They started down the hall together, but Jack took a right before too long, waving his mom goodbye, and came to the now familiar door. It opened with the same creak as before, and he stepped inside.

…

Fiona’s tail wagged cheerfully as she followed two steps behind Arthur. She still could hardly believe he’d come by personally to pick her up from her place, all by himself, while the rest of the pack were just given directions and told to wait.

Today was their special hunt, the one he’d planned especially for their pack. And despite everything else on her mind, she found herself almost bubbling with excitement (and maybe one or two other feelings as well). After all, there was something about Arthur that just seemed to… melt away all the troubles from her life.

They’d been walking for several minutes now, but she still hadn’t even bothered to ask where they were headed or how much further it was. She just let Arthur lead, taking in his masculine scent and handsome features, the way his fur caught the sunlight… Thoughts of such things as time and destination were largely forgotten; who could think of the past or the future with such a good-looking boy in their present? She hardly noticed the stores they passed as they made their way through town, or the trees in the park as they carried on further.

What did pull her from her infatuated trance, was a certain sound accompanied by a familiar sensation in her belly.

*guuuurgle*

Fiona felt a surge of embarrassment.

“Oh, um, excuse me,” she apologized.

“Can’t blame you for getting hungry over a scent like that,” he replied.

At first, Fiona thought he’d been talking about his scent- the one she’d been surreptitiously basking in ever since he’d picked her up. Her tail shot up stiff and straight along with her ears. But then she noticed something else, something that her body- and more specifically her belly- seemed to have noticed even before she did thanks to her little distraction.

There was another scent in the air.

A marked human! No… *sniff* *sniff* a lot of marked humans!!

Arthur motioned for her to follow before she had a chance to ask questions. They were on a road at the outskirts of a park, and at his instruction they slipped off the main path and into the greenery, trekking a short distance through the brush until they suddenly came upon a number of familiar faces.

Pyre the dragon, Mortimer the toad, Udon the naga, and Chelsie the neko all sat in wait, gazing through the leaves. The rest of the pack turned to greet Arthur and Fiona as they arrived.

“About time,” Mort said, smiling in good humor with a clear touch of excitement in his voice. “Don’t know how much longer I’d be able to just sit here with this smell teasing me.”

“Couldn’t start without Fiona,” Arthur replied. “After all, she’s the one who found this place.”

“I did?” Fiona replied.

“You told us about it at lunch a few days ago, remember?” Udon offered helpfully.

‘At lunch a few days ago’? Fiona couldn’t quite recall. Where were they, exactly, and why did it smell like there was a whole buffet of marked prey just through the…

Fiona took a moment to poke her muzzle slightly through the brush in the direction everyone had been looking before they’d arrived. She saw the road she and Arthur had been taking just a moment before. And at the end of said road, was a moderately upscale house, sitting nestled away all by itself.

She felt a memory stirring at the back of her mind, and then suddenly it hit her.

That… that’s where I took Jack last weekend! The meeting with all the other marked prey! Is that- Is that today!?

And as she came to understand where they were, Arthur’s remark ran through her head again and she realized how they’d ended up there as well.

“A house by the park on the edge of town where all the most delicious humans meet up every Sunday? It sounded too good to be true,” Arthur said. “But I asked Chelsie to scope it out after school, and sure enough.”

“Smells true to me,” Pyre said with hushed enthusiasm.

“Smells amazing,” Udon added. “You’re the best, Fiona.”

“Are they already inside?” Arthur asked.

“They stopped arriving about ten minutes ago,” Chelsie replied. “More than enough for all of us.”

Fiona felt a little pit in her stomach as she realized what was happening, what she had allowed to happen. She’d tipped them off to the existence of Jack’s meeting; told them right where it was! And now a whole pack of skilled, hungry predators were lined up and ready to fill their hungry bellies with everyone inside. Enough marked prey to fill every one of their bellies with a delectable, squirming treat… The thought mingled with the distant scent to tease at Fiona’s head and belly alike.

“But Jack could be in there!” The concern stumbled through her confused mind and out of her mouth before she could stop it.

She noticed a number of less-than-pleased glances from the other predators, and even a tiny flash of teeth from Pyre.

“Is that right?” Arthur asked. “I’m sure we all remember that human from Friday, don’t we? Anyone spot him go in?”

“He’s in there,” Pyre half growled.

“Well, seeing as we’re all familiar, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. It sounds like there should be ample marked prey for each of us without having to pilfer yours,” Arthur reasoned quite logically.

Marked prey that could be Jack’s friends, Fiona thought. She couldn’t help but have the worry after what happened with Zach. She didn’t want to accidentally eat anyone else that Jack might be close with, but…

She glanced over her packmates, all itching to pounce with hunger in their eyes. And she felt the draw herself, egged on by the heavenly scent wafting through the air.

…It’s not like she could really stop them at this point, could she? They wouldn’t leave a feast like this just because she asked. Now that other preds knew about this place, there wasn’t really anything she could do to stop the (delicious) humans inside from slipping into bellies even if she wanted to.

…Maybe she could sit it out? Jack couldn’t get mad at her for eating his friends if she didn’t eat anyone. But her mind, heart and belly all balked at the thought. Jack would still know she was the one who tipped them off; it wasn’t hard to figure out. And imagining Arthur running in there without her was just too much to bear.

Besides, the more she thought about it: she had to go in there to make sure Jack got out okay. Could she really trust all her packmates to leave him alone in the thrill of the hunt, surrounded by more marked humans than most preds could dream of? She eyed Pyre briefly. Surely, if any of them were capable enough to resist Jack’s scent enough to keep him safe, it was her. Of course, to make sure she stayed focused, she’d probably have to eat someone herself. A nice, full belly always took the edge off her hunting instinct, which would certainly make it easier to keep Jack untouched- by the others, of course.

And really, how close could Jack be to the humans in there anyway? Honestly? He’d only been there once before. Could you really call someone your friend after just chatting for a while one time?

And aside from all of that, whomever organized this meeting must have known the risks, right? Getting all these mouthwatering meals together in one place? It was just asking for hungry preds to come by. She could not be held responsible for a human’s poor planning, or the actions of all the other preds in her pack for simply doing what came naturally and claiming their prey.

“Fiona?” Arthur asked after a moment of silence.

“Oh- uh- sorry, you’re right. I was just making sure.”

“Good,” Arthur replied warmly with a slight smile, “I was hoping to have you next to me in there.”

Fiona’s tail fluttered and she gave a little smile of her own.

Yes, that sounded very nice.

…

“Hey everyone, welcome back to Survivors Anonymous,” Sebastian began. “It’s great to see your familiar faces again.”

He noted a frown or two from the crowd as they looked around, and frowned for a moment in turn.

“As I’m sure you can notice, attendance this week is… less. Quite a few of us were taken this past week, more than would be comfortable to name.”

It was true, as Jack looked around, he noticed far fewer seats had been set out than last time, and even still there were a number of empty ones. And what’s more, out of the seats that were filled, he found he actually recognized every face.

“You might also notice there aren’t any newcomers today. I take that as a positive; that there are fewer humans who are in the position to need our support. But we are still here for you; to help remind you that life after the mark is still worth living, that it’s still possible, even if for a short while. And I think the best example of that can be found right here in this room.”

Sebastian concluded his statement with a rather obvious glance at Jack. Or, to be more accurate, Jack and Ruby. They had taken seats next to each other, and in a moment that had nearly melted Jack’s young mind, Ruby had asked if he wanted to hold hands. Now, under the attention of everyone else, both of them grew bright-red blushes, but neither let go.

Sebastian, now with a smile again, took the attention back unto himself after a moment.

“Well, since we’ve all been here before, I suppose there is no need for introductions. But maybe just a brief reminder of your name for the rest of us. And feel free to share how long you’ve made it; every day you stay alive with that mark is an achievement to be proud of. I’ll start, then we’ll go around the room. My name is Sebastian, and I’ve been marked for ten weeks. Who’d like to go next?”

“I will,” came a light voice after a moment. It came from Ruby, as she raised her hand gently (the one not holding Jack’s). “My name’s Ruby, I’ve been marked eleven days now.” There was still a slight quiver in her voice when she spoke those words, but she said them with a smile, and all present could feel the newfound happiness lifting her up.

“Looks like you did well in those eleven days,” chimed in the only other girl in the group. Ruby blushed again, and Sebastian took that as his cue to move on, gesturing next to Jack.

“I’m Jack,” he said with a little wave, and shyness reminiscent of his date-to-be. “I’ve been marked for, um, about ten years, I think.” He felt a bit awkward saying that, knowing it was so much longer than anyone else in the room.

“Add one more week to the count, huh?” remarked the boy just one empty seat away. Jack remembered the kid’s beefy arms, and a bit of his story from last time: he used magic to boost his strength so he could fend off preds when they went after him. Last week he’d managed to fight off a hungry neko. Jack couldn’t quite remember his name, though, but a moment later, Sebastian gestured to him and he gave everyone a reminder.

“My name’s Randy. I’ve made it three weeks and two days.”

“George,” came the next kid from the circle of chairs. “I’m still here three and a half weeks later…”

Jack remembered the heavy tone in that voice. He was the one whose friend got swallowed by a toad right in front of him. Jack felt a deep, newfound sympathy.

Sebastian moved on, now reaching the far side of the room, across from Jack.

“I’m Ashley,” came one of a pair sitting close together. “And this is my brother.”

“Ashton,” the other chimed in.

“We’ve kept going… ten days now?”

“Yeah, ten days.”

“Nice to see you again,” Ruby offered to Ashley, clearly happy to return the kind words she’d been given earlier.

Sebastian gestured to the last kid in the room- though ‘kid’ was a bit of a stretch, maybe, as he was definitely on the older side.

“I’m Lance,” he said, “I’ve been wearing this nineteen days.” ‘This’ was, of course, referring to the rather obvious plate of metal armor he had strapped across his chest. Now that was a guy Jack couldn’t possibly have forgotten; you didn’t see many people walking around in armor these days, not now that nearly all confrontations with preds involve a burbling stomach rather than teeth and claws.

“Well, now that we’ve all been reacquainted,” Sebastian transitioned. “Who has something they need to share? I’m sure this past week couldn’t have been easy.”

As far as Jack was concerned, that was an understatement, and as a short moment of silence filled the room, he realized that that was about as clear an invitation as he’d ever get.

“I do,” he said, taking a deep breath. All eyes turned to him, but he glanced to the floor as he mustered the words he’d been thinking over all day. “Friday, one of my friends got eaten. …He was a kid named Zach, who was helping me learn new spells to protect myself. …I wasn’t with him when it happened… I talked with him between classes, and then the next time I saw him, he was digesting in a belly.”

“Jack…” Ruby muttered.

“Sorry,” Ashley chimed in.

“It-” George began, but stammered for a moment, “It’s not your fault, you weren’t even there.”

“Yeah,” Ashton agreed, “sometimes there just isn’t anything you can do.”

“No,” Jack replied, swallowing. “It was my fault. It was Fiona who ate him…”

“‘Fiona’?” came a mildly confused echo from the crowd.

“Is that the werewolf you told us about last time?” Sebastian asked.

“Yeah,” Jack nodded despondently.

There was a long moment of silence before one of them spoke up again.

“…I didn’t say anything last time, but I should have,” Randy started a bit reluctantly. “Jack… it’s one thing when you’re both little kids, but being around a predator when you’re like this is… well, it’s crazy.”

“Yeah, I mean, you’re lucky it wasn’t you,” Ashton agreed.

“The other kid shoulda known better,” Lance muttered.

“Wha- no,” Jack replied. “It’s not like that. He knew about Fiona- that she’s my friend- but I- I never told her about him…”

“You mean she was your friend,” George corrected, clearly expecting him to agree.

“No. Fiona is my friend, she just-”

“Wait- you’re still calling that werewolf your ‘friend’ after she ate the kid who was teaching you spells to keep you alive!?” George interrupted.

“Sure sounds like she’s trying to get to you,” Lance added.

“Hey! I’m mad at her, but she is still my friend, she would never try to hurt me.”

“And eating your friends doesn’t hurt you?”

“Of course it does!”

“Jack, predators are monsters, you can’t trust them with your life like this.”

“No-!”

*BANG*

The door to the room flung open, and a wide-eyed Mr. Artor burst through with a terror-stricken expression.

“Predators!! They’re coming in-”

He was cut off when something gleaming and red burst through the door behind him. A large, pale-red wing knocked into him hard and sent him sliding almost to the far corner of the room. And in his place, stealing the gaze of all, as eyes grew wide and jaws fell agape, stood a dragon boy.

The predator spread his wings, bared his teeth, and roared.

Various members of Survivors Anonymous began to scream.

Jack felt a horrible pit form deep in his chest. And the rest happened far too quickly for him to do much more than just barely follow.

*thwack*

The next thing he noticed, was a tongue. But not the dragon’s glowing tongue, seeming to flame out from his bioluminescent maw. This tongue was opaque, and long. It shot out in a flash from somewhere behind the scaly firstcomer, heading frighteningly close to Jack himself, but instead it hit somewhere nearby.

It hit Randy, the next kid over. More specifically, it hit him in the hip. Jack felt an instant jolt of fear. He’d seen tongues like that before, and he knew what happened after they made contact. But much to Jack’s surprise, Randy didn’t fly out of his chair. Instead, the pink blob retreated almost instantly, and Jack just barely had a split-second glimpse of the little, brown, vaguely cylindrical object it had stolen in its visit.

George, a further seat over, jumped up the moment he saw that amphibian appendage, like he’d seen a demon. He tore his wand from its resting place and jerked toward the door.

That’s when Jack noticed the neko. Or rather he heard the twins scream a bit louder. And when he looked over, there the catgirl stood, holding both of their wands. She’d moved like some kind of demon herself. Jack hadn’t even seen or heard her come in.

But she didn’t stay standing there for long. In the blink of an eye, she dashed through the center of the encircled chairs, heading right in George’s direction. Jack, in a flash of terror, expected to see her wrench the wand from the boy’s hand milliseconds before cramming his head down her throat, but Jack only grew even more terrified when half a heartbeat later she ducked underneath the boy’s arm and instead continued in his direction.

Jack’s eyes bulged wider, he saw the neko’s arm reach out, saw the flash of her jagged, white teeth as she parted her muzzle… and felt the rush of wind as she sped by him, and the crash as she tackled wandless Randy right out of the seat just next to him.

That’s when Ruby got up, leaping from her chair with a frightened yelp, still holding Jack’s hand- squeezing it even tighter now- and pulling him closer. Jack got up with her, his heart thumping, adrenaline pumping, legs tensed, but with nowhere to go. There was only one door, and it was the one with a dragon standing in front of it, and more preds pouring out by the second.

That first obstacle took care of itself, however. As Lance rose from his own chair and drew his wand, the dragon locked eyes on the boy and his tarnished chestplate. There was a brief flick of glowing orange tastebuds against red scales and white teeth, and then the dragon rushed forward, intense hunger burning in his predatory eyes, another roar shaking the seats.

Lance roared back, a feeble sound in comparison. He narrowed his eyes and trained his wand, and began to utter the first syllable of a spell.

And then the glowing orange maw enveloped his head before he could manage anything more. The dragon’s hungry gullet stretched across his shoulders in an instant, teeth pressed the chestplate against his chest, forceful, scale-clad hands clasped his arms, and in one powerful move the predator dragged the human up off his feet, lifted him full into the air, and gave a huge, gluttonous swallow.

*GULP*

Jack watched the chestplate Lance had been so proud of slip with all-too-much ease down the dragon’s gaping throat, disappearing nearly all at once. And then, finally, some feeling and thought within him began to overcome the shock, and he found himself drawing his wand. But a commanding voice interrupted him before he could act.

“Everyone over here! Quickly! You need to get out while you can!”

It was Sebastian, he’d rushed from his seat over to one of the walls, tall and lined at the top with large windows- though they were all fairly out of reach.

Jack faltered, caught between his urge to help, and the authoritative call.

He saw the twins turn to run, when suddenly, barreling in behind them from the open door at frightening speed, came a huge naga. The anaconda girl crashed right into them, between them in fact, knocking them apart and sending them both to the ground. And then she turned on a dime, her serpentine body trailing in her wake, and she flowed her quick movements into circle upon circle, and before they knew it, her mounting coils had encircled both brother and sister, now suddenly pressing them together tightly in the naga’s scaly embrace.

*GULP*

That had been the sound of the dragon boy, squeezing Lance and his chestplate down into the glowing inferno of a stomach that rested beyond the bulging scales.

“Ahhh- *SQUELCH*”

And that had been the sound of Ashley’s scream being cut short by the gaping maw of the naga, now claiming the first of two meals.

“Come on!! We have to go now!!” Sebastian yelled.

“Jack! Come on!”

He turned when he heard Ruby’s voice. And he looked over to see her terrified, desperate face, and to see Sebastian’s hand now on her far arm, tugging at her imploringly- and him by extension. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Mr. Artor doing his best to pull himself from the floor and stagger in their direction.

Jack took a step toward Sebastian.

And then Jack heard a sound.

In the growing cacophony, a single, new sound somehow split through it all, straight to his core. It was a growl, one he couldn’t mistake, one he’d often longed to hear amidst the chaos of hungry predators. He looked back to the open door.

Fiona burst onto the scene with Arthur at her side, heart pounding, head rushing. She could hear the constant grumbles of her hungry belly as if they were coming from inside her ears. The nearly overwhelming deluge of muzzle-watering scent flooded her nostrils and set her fur ablaze.

Her voracious eyes swept over the room in an instant and took in every last detail. In the mere seconds since the first of their pack had entered the room, Chelsie had already nearly finished her meal, with Pyre close behind and Udon halfway through her first of two catches. But that still left plenty of unspeakably delicious marked prey unspoken for, for instance-

“No!!” one of the human’s cried.

Jack looked away from Fiona for a moment to catch the side of George’s determined, angry face.

“I’m not going to run and hide again!!” he yelled. And he pointed his wand straight at Fiona’s chest.

The boy had hardly even finished aiming when Arthur started to move. He dashed in front of her and straight on at the attacking mage.

George saw the werewolf coming and reacted, he opened his mouth to begin a spell, but he just couldn’t respond faster than the agile, hunger-fueled pred.

Arthur barreled into the human boy, shoulder-first, knocking the wind from the mage’s lungs, and with a powerful shove sent the human flying up into the air.

*thwack*

Mort, still standing by the door, seized his opportunity. He shot out his tongue and snatched the flailing mage from the air like a fly, reeling the marked meal straight into his huge, amphibian mouth.

*GULP*
*GULP*
*GULP*
*GULP*

The simultaneous swallows of four different feasting predators rang out in the air together.

“Fiona!! What’s going on!!? What are you doing here!!? WHAT DID YOU DO!!?” Jack screamed. Whether he actually thought he could reason with them, or whether he was just so shocked and enraged at her involvement, even he probably couldn’t tell. But either way, nearly all remaining eyes glanced his way.

Fiona’s eyes fully settled on him, and she consciously recognized him for the first time, standing there among the two other marked prey, the only ones still left unclaimed.

*GRUMBLE* came the loud, insistent demand from her belly.

And in that moment, from the corner of her eye, she noticed something else: a flash of red.

“NO!” the werewolf snarled.

Jack hadn’t even noticed, so busy glaring at Fiona, but Pyre had finished his meal, and had started eyeing up a second. By the time Jack had just shifted his gaze slightly to the side to catch the sight, the dragon was already a mere fifteen feet away, wings spread, all limbs off the ground in a full-on pounce with his glowing maw yawning wide and aimed straight for Jack’s face.

*SLAM*

Fiona crashed into the leaping dragon at the last moment, tackling him out of the way.

Jack caught a flash of fur and scale and teeth and then he felt impact. Air left his lungs, his back hit the ground, Ruby hit the ground next to him, and on top of them both landed…

Fiona snarled, eyes bulging, saliva dripping from her parted muzzle, arms encircling the pair of marked humans she’d swiped away from that greedy dragon, pinned down under her painfully empty belly, now longing more than ever to be filled, with two delectable meals so close.

She looked down.

JACK!! The familiar face brought her wits back to her again, remembering the reason she’d taken that charge only a second earlier, when she’d seen Pyre was about to lunge at him.

*GUUUURGLE*

Her stomach rumbled wildly, ravenously, atop the two trapped humans. Her instincts screamed, stoked and magnified by the swirling whirlwind of scent, threatening to drown out all conscious thought. The girl beneath her squirmed and shrieked, only further fueling her hunger. She parted her jaws further just to breathe as her chest heaved, and a waterfall of drool flowed past her teeth.

In Jack’s eye, behind the anger, she saw a hint of fear.

Somewhere, almost completely buried, deep beneath the instincts and hormones and hunger, Fiona felt a hint of fear too. A single, not even half-formed thought pulsed through her mind, that if she didn’t get someone in her belly right now, with Jack this close-

*Raar-NOMF*

Fiona slammed her dripping maw down into the face of the human girl in her grasp, and all at once her tastebuds exploded with blissful satisfaction, all but blasting the rest of the world from her mind.

*GULP*

She swallowed greedily, needily, pulling the delectable marked girl down her hungry throat with all her might because she just couldn’t get her meal into her belly fast enough. Every little twitch, every wriggle was a rush of delight. The feeling as her throat bulged out with this succulent new meal sent sensation bounding through her whole body, overflowing in the form of saliva to wash down over her meal and carry it further, deeper and deeper into her hungry depths.

*GULP*

Her claws flexed and tail stood on end as the struggling bulge finally pressed into her waiting stomach. Like a drop of water after a drought, or a bite of food after months of starvation, but with all the vigor of intense and dynamic and powerful predatory youth.

“Jack!! You need to go now!!”

Jack felt a pair of hands on each shoulder grab him and pull.

He’d been shouting and shoving rowdily, but it was almost like Fiona couldn’t even hear him. Even still pinned under her belly- the belly he could feel filling itself as Ruby was pulled further down Fiona’s throat- it was as if the werewolf, in that moment, hardly even knew he was there, completely consumed by her meal.

She didn’t react when Jack began to slip from her grasp, pulled out from under her gut, but Jack did.

“No!!” He yelled as his hand was torn from Ruby’s, just before another voracious-

*GULP*

Jack saw the hand disappear down the glistening, pulsing gullet, before a firm jerk forced him to look away.

“Out the window!! Now!!” It was Mr. Artor, with Sebastian in tow. The man dragged Jack back to his feet, as the boy pointed his wand to the high-set windows and declared:

“Splittras!”

The large glass panes shattered, crumbling down to the interior floor and to the exterior ground beyond.

Sebastian looked to Jack, and Jack could tell the other boy was no longer asking people to leave, he was determined to save anyone he could even if he had to throw them out. He pointed his wand toward Jack.

“Levito!”

Jack felt his own weight suddenly leave him. And before he had a chance to grab his bearings, much less react, Sebastian flicked his wand forcefully up and out toward the window, and with that motion cast the spell:

“Pellere!”

The floor shot away from Jack as he was sent skyward, and for a brief moment he could see the entire, horrific scene in all its detail. The deft neko had reduced muscular Randy to a large, squirming bulge; Lance was buried behind a wall of red scales and was most surely being drenched in a digestive slime that no chestplate could hope to defend him from; George was writhing in the belly of a toad, just like his late, unfortunate friend; Ashley was a bulge slipping down the naga’s serpentine form with her brother Ashton close behind, destined to be digested together; the last trace of Ruby’s red dress was disappearing down Fiona’s even redder throat-

And just before Jack passed over the edge of the window, he saw Arthur leaping through the air, right at Sebastian’s turned back. And as Jack’s view was cut off, he watched the werewolf make impact, and over the sound of rushing air and his own thundering pulse, he heard one last, sickening squelch- the sound of fresh human meat pressing firm into the maw of a hungry predator.

“Ahhhhhh-OOF!!”

“Jack!!” came a familiar cry of concern.

He felt his mother’s touch before he saw her. He’d landed in a low bush without much pain, though whether he was actually uninjured or he was just too full of adrenaline was beyond him. Panting, grunting and trying to right himself and regain his bearings, he glanced to his mom as she reached down to help and simultaneously bombarded him with questions.

“What’s going on!? What’s happening in there!? I heard shouting! And then the window! And you came flying out and-!”

He felt her hand press against something wet and then hastily jerk away. A long, unmistakable line of thick drool followed in the wake of her fingers. The drool that had spilled onto his chest from Fiona’s hungry jaws.

“Predators!!?” Mrs. Eten screamed. Now she grabbed her son. She practically tore him out of the bushes with just a single hand, while the other grabbed instantly for her wand. Pointing it at herself, she shouted a spell: “Vegeto!!”

With newfound magical strength, Mrs. Eten hoisted her son under her arm, turned and sprinted. Jack watched the walls of the house speed past, the screams and squelches fading from earshot, and then finally the entire house itself gradually trailing away as his mom hauled him off down the road.

…

*gurgle*
*blorp*
*gurgle* *glorp*
*squelch*
*groooan* *urp*

The sounds of churning, squirming bellies filled the room, now otherwise quiet in the aftermath of the pack’s legendary hunt. A whole room full of marked humans? The other preds at school wouldn’t even believe it, especially since by the time they got to school the next day, there wouldn’t be much left to show.

For now, however, the blissfully stuffed preds were reclining with their wriggling bellies in the convenient circle of empty chairs, all except Udon, of course, who was resting in the center with her humanoid half propped up against a length of her serpentine tail, a short distance away from the distinct twin bulges wiggling in her scales.

“Wow… that was- *URP*- amazing,” Mort muttered, resting a hand on the kicking lump in his gut.

“Best catch of the year,” Arthur agreed, shifting his hips a bit to give his wriggling occupant a jiggle, widening the smile on his muzzle.

“Yeah,” Udon sighed dreamily.

“You got two of them,” Fiona remarked to the naga. “Just having one inside is-” she failed to find the words and instead ended up drooling a bit, which she quickly swallowed down to land atop her meal- “I can’t imagine having two.”

“You almost did,” Arthur pointed out.

It took Fiona a moment to realize what he meant. She sort of had pinned two marked prey, but she wasn’t big enough to stomach two at a time. Oh, and one of them had been Jack, so it didn’t really count; she hadn’t done what she did to hunt him, she’d done it for his own protection, otherwise-

“I almost had two,” Pyre grumbled. “But someone got in my way.”

“You should have known better than to try and go after Fiona’s human,” Mort jabbed.

“How do you know I was going after that one? There were three of them right next to each other.”

Fiona held back a growl. He’d seemed awfully focused on Jack when she’d seen him. But at the same time- and coincidentally just as her belly gave a nice, deep rumble- she felt a swell of pride; not only had she managed to catch this delicious meal for herself, but she’d also managed to help Jack get away safely. He couldn’t say she’s ‘never around to protect him’ anymore.

“Come on, guys,” Udon said, “let’s just enjoy ourselves.”

“Yeah, who wants to fight on a full belly,” Arthur agreed. “Actually, speaking of a full belly, Pyre, your meal was wearing armor wasn’t it?”

“Heh, yeah,” the dragon boy replied with a cocky chuckle. “But that’s nothing for a pred like me. My great grandad, he used to go after knights in the Great Hunt, he practically invented the art of swallowing humans in armor, passed it down through the family. That little chestplate was nothing, I could swallow a human in a full set and just cough up the junk once all the meat is gone.”

“What, so you can’t digest the armor too?” Mort teased, leaning into his friend’s ego.

“Of course I could! It just takes forever and gets in the way. Why would I wait for a bunch of metal to digest when I could be snacking on another human?”

“Wouldn’t it have been smarter to just cut the chestplate off by the straps?” Chelsie pointed out, astute and pragmatic as always. “Especially if you planned on having enough room for two?”

“But then he wouldn’t have been able to show off,” Mort countered.

“W-well you’re all lucky I didn’t! When I tackled that other human, my meal’s armor is what knocked him out!” He was, of course, referring to the unmarked adult lying unconscious in the corner of the room, whom Pyre had- debatably by accident- whacked with his bulging belly.

“Yes, we are in your debt,” Chelsie replied, in her normal matter-of-fact tone, but the obvious sarcasm was not lost on her packmates.

Arthur laughed, and Fiona found herself chuckling along as well.

*gurgle* *glorp* *urp*

She savored the marked taste rolling back over her tongue. Today had been a great day, an amazing day. She just hoped Jack wasn’t too shaken up.

Originally Published: 17-Mar-2022