Reports of werewolves from historical sources are particulalry rich in France. The idea of the satanic link is just church propaganda in dealing with people who dabbles in the occult. There is sometimes a theme of a 'curse' like in classic werewolf films but all too often it is someone who embraces the beast for the power it gives him-think Jack Nicholson in the were wolf film he was in in the early 90's. a victim of an attack he begins begins to revel in the force it gives him in the business world. A great many stories are about nobles who become undone by their excess of horror inflicted on their peasantry. Think Elizabeth Balthory but in serious serious need of shaving her legs and plucking her eyebrow.
If not a curse in the blood it was often associated with a magical object-most freaquently a wolf skin that could be belted on to transform the wearer