Role Play
Sean heard the chime that told him that Marty had responded. The fox had been so insistent that Sean have a role play with him that, finally, the German Shepherd had relented. Marty had made an opening gambit suitable to summer, with lawn-mowing and...
Collar 11 -- Memento Mei
I woke slowly to morning light trying to peek around the drawn curtains in a bedroom warm with the scent of recent lovemaking and the feel of a beautiful young wolf in my arms. Like me, he was shifting gently, not yet awake, not entirely sure he wanted...
Collar 12 -- Pax Vo Biscum
I gasped and pulled Fletcher tightly into my embrace, feeling him grip me closely to him. The words clanged inside my head:_I think he sold me._ Nothing in my life had prepared me for the horror that I felt from those five words. Even Elizabeth's...
Collar 14 -- Numbers and 1 Corinthians
Fletcher and I took our evening calmative in the kitchen, to sit at the table and talk about "small stuff," as he called it. Showing excellent discretion, Mrs. Whitson made sure that we had exactly two fine snickerdoodle cookies each to go with our...
Waking
Eoin McCracken's superlative canine nose was usually the first and best sensor to changes in his immediate environment; many was the morning when scents from the kitchen of the Spenser Manse would wake him slowly to new treats for a new day. This...
Long After Midnight
"Make a hole, bagger." Malcolm Lamar grinned and made some room for his lover to flop onto the sofa in a manner quite undignified for the usually graceful lion. At the moment, there was no one else to observe either the flop or the subsequent cuddle...
Readership, Part 1
The cards that lay face up on the table were in a pattern of his own devising. He had studied and listened to his deck for several decades, and they had eventually been able to help him understand what both they and he needed in order to read properly....
Model Behavior
Emerson wondered if it really was cold in here, or if it just seemed like it because he was clad only in underwear. Specifically, boxer shorts. More than that, boxer shorts that weren't even his. Seated on a bare wooden bench, the only furniture in...
Chip Chip, My Little Horse
I'm never sure if she's quiet because she's pensive, or because my driving makes her nervous. I hope it's the former, because I'm not likely to get that much better at driving anytime soon. I was glad to be able to borrow my mate's car, just as he was...
A Single Candle, Part 2
"That sounds as close to impossible as makes no odds." "You're friggin' well told." As a rule, Dr. Newton Augustus Gutenberg did not use such language. This was, he thought, an occasion to break any number of rules. His experience in Chase's quarters...
A Single Candle, Part 1
When the flickering light beneath the door had faded at last, he knew it was over. It had taken longer this time. The red panda, cautious but prepared, waited another pawful of seconds, just to make sure that no more flickers could be seen. Padding to...
A Single Candle, Part 3
"Are you going to tell me now?" "What, and spoil dinner?" Newton offered a rueful smile as he looked over the happy ruins of the dinner that the two of them had shared in Chase's quarters. The coyote had done them proud, with his...