Wolves can use unarmed abilities that require claws(like slashing strike) when they have empty hands, but for some reason equipping weapons disables that, which defeats the point and makes no sense but oh well. If you equip a cestus and claw they get full compatibility though.

I'd like to give lycan/unarmed a proper try, but getting my hands on a decent pair of unarmed weapons is not happening any time soon and is keeping me from trying the combo.