On my next character I plan on just saying no to the Companions when they try to get me to be a werewolf.

My question is though, if I do that, does Aela remain a werewolf sitting in the underforge forever waiting for me to come back and change my mind, or does she eventually go back to the mead hall and give out quests as normal.

I'm pretty sure she will wait for you forever.

She'll remain hopeful forever. Alduin could destroy the entire world and she'd be waiting there for you to come back. For your approval. To validate that her choices in life weren't wrong. That joining the circle herself wasn't the biggest mistake she ever made. That she could've got out like you did.

Are you going to continue to make her suffer like that?

I've never turned it down, I will cure it after.But according to Wiki the companions quest do not continue until you choose to become a werewolf, so I assume that Aela will stay put until then.

i am. aela's a filthy, dogb**ch heathen, and i hope she sits there in heat, for all of eternity. waiting. for my wondrous, argonian seed.

You really have no choice if you want to progress in the Companions storyline, the rest of their main questline revolves around the whole werewolf thing. IIRC you can't really "refuse," you can only say you're not ready. In which case everything comes to a standstill until you are. I'm guessing you wouldn't even be able to get jobs from Farkas or Vilkas at that point, since once you get the place where Skjor wants you to join the Circle, they just start telling you that he's looking for you and they won't give you any work to do. At least that's what always happens to me, otherwise I would do a lot more radiant quests for the Companions before taking that step.

I've heard or read in some places that you can do unlimited small jobs before starting the Circle and Silver Hand stuff, that's never been the case for me. I think the most I've managed after being inducted into the Companions is two radiant quests, after which everybody tells me I need to talk to Skjor and after I join the Circle I can get maybe 1-2 more jobs before everybody tells me to talk to Aela. From there it seems like a very short trip to the end of the questline.

I was really surprised there was no way to turn down that "invitation" and remain an active member of the Companions but oh well. The first time, I left them standing there and there they remained forever. The second time, I never went to where they invite you and so the Companions quests came to a screeching halt. The only reason I join now is so I can access that restricted word wall in the quest with Farkas. I sure do miss him but I don't want to be a werewolf (or a vampire in other quests). I miss Modryn Oreyn too. He was a good teacher in the Fighters Guild.

I would take this time to put this quote into the list of quotes you see in hentai.

Wow. That's about the saddest thing I've ever read.
...
...
But yep, it looks like I'm just going to leave her there.

Man that really ... svcks. Honestly most of my characters, if I really role-played them to character, would refuse this offer. I only say yes to move the quests along. But I'm determined to not do that on my next role-play ... so I guess ... dang that just really svcks.

Now I wonder if we will be forced to be a vamp at some point in Dawnguard just so Bethesda can force us to check out their new gimmick. Man I hope not.

It would be nice if Bethesda added a way to refuse to become a werewolf but still being able to continue doing the companion quests

I skipped the entire Companions questline because I'm a regular Nord and have no interest in being a Werewolf (or Vampire really, tbh). What word of power do you learn on that quest? I am missing a couple and I would kind of like to have them (3rd word of Fire Breath comes to mind)

Agreed. I wanted an option to say "This warrior needs no assistance from daedric princes. The glory of my deeds in battle shall be wrought by my own hand."

Companions can not be continued till you become a werewolf unfortunately..... but you can cure it later

Yes, that's the one and it's an important one to me. It's the only reason I join, do the quest with Farkas and then leave them hanging. It's a shame it was set up that way. There's a slim chance to be sent to that Cairn for the Forgemaster's Fingers by approaching one of two possible Orc Strongholds but no matter how many times I reloaded to try and be sent there, it didn't happen. I finally got tired of trying.