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The Scent of Prey Part Four: The Hunter and the Hunted by peppygrowlithe

Volibear was being hunted, and he knew it.

If one had asked how he was aware of his pursuer, the great bear would not have been able to say. He had left the League's capital by dawn of the previous day, and the wind blowing in his face was a perpetual reminder that he was upwind of the trail he left in his wake. He traveled north, and had heard no twigs snapping out of place, no subtle tremor in the earth beneath his massive paws.

By all accounts, it was a peaceful day in northern Valoran. Though the everwinter snows of the Freljord lingered just beyond the crest of the distant mountains, the grass still showed green here, and a comfortable coolness swept over the land in a breeze, constant yet not overbearing. Pine trees peppered the landscape, and the occasional patch of vegetation or babbling brook would have given most other travelers a sense of peace.

But Volibear was tense inside. Fear was a feeling long burned out of him, but even an Ursine can feel the churn of anxiety in the pit of his gut, an almost painful wrenching that spoke of excitement, anticipation, and uncertainty. The shaman did not know how this encounter would pan out, if he would be strong enough, brave enough to do that which he knew he had to; he only knew one thing.

I must keep going, he told himself. I cannot look back. I'm almost there.

When the Ursine chieftain said he was going away for a while, none of the administrators of the revered League of Legends questioned him. Every season had its lulls, giving the champions of Runeterra time to tend to their own factions; most of them were leaders, some even kings and queens of their homelands, and even the most bloodthirsty warrior couldn't always justify spending all of his or her time plinking towers and stomping minions when there were economies to regulate.

So, Volibear traveled north toward the Freljord, back to his village in the far reaches of the continent, just beyond the territory of his closest ally: Sejuani, the warmother of the Winter's Claw. There, the summoners who knew him best figured he would rouse the spirits of his people, regale them with tales of his heroic -- no, legendary exploits, and inspire them to prepare for the inevitable war against the Ice Witch once and for all! Little did they know that Volibear himself doubted he would see the snow this season.

An hour passed, and the tenseness in the Ursine's stomach had not unwound. He ducked his head under the branch of a low-hanging fir tree and stepped out into a grove of pines. The sight filled him with some small comfort.

I've made it, at last.

Though these lands were untamed wilderness, Volibear had often thought this grove to be planted by some specific design. The clearing was too perfect. Trees ran in a tight perimeter, forming a tangled boundary of green and brown about fifty feet in diameter. The edges were wilderness, but in the midst was only grass, and the occasional upturned stone or patch of mud. It was an arrangement too exact to have been nature-made, and Volibear made a mental note to interrogate that bizarre treelike champion upon his return.

Because no matter how this pans out, he promised himself, one large hand balling into a fist_. I am going back._

The clearing would provde enough room to maneuver while maintaining a veneer of being hidden from the world. It was the best location Volibear could find for the upcoming confrontation. Ashe's territory lingered over a day's travel east over a treacherous mountain pass, and Sejuani's beyond it. He had passed the closest hamlet before sunrise, and it was well past noon now. To best of his knowledge, he was all alone. All alone, save for himself, and one other lurking nearby.

Pridestalker.

Volibear stood, arms tense at his side. He closed his blue eyes, willing himself to listen, to wait, to ready his will. He knew his pursuer was a patient hunter, but he would have to spring sometime.

Time passed. Even with his eyes closed, Volibear could feel the sun overhead gradually moving across the great blue sky. His nose itched and his feet hurt, and his shoulderpads were starting to chafe, but the great bear scarcely moved. Only the steady rise and fall of his massive, dark-furred chest broke the statuesque illusion.

A sudden whoosh on the wind, and Volibear sprang to action. Pivoting on his right paw, he turned his body, pulling his arm up just in time to block the bolas swinging through the air. The interconnected cords swept around his forearm like a maypole ineffectively.

Volibear allowed himself no smirk, no look of triumph. He peeled at the bolas with his free arm, effortlessly able to remove them.

"Pridestalker!" he called out, yanking the loose rope three and tossing it on the ground. "Your games end, here and now. Reveal yourself to me." There was no response, but Volibear hadn't expected one. His eyes scanned the perimeter of the grove, seeing no telltale patch of white amidst the green and brown. His nose twitched, catching a hint of a scent that made his stomach churn once more.

Another swish in the air, nearly ninety degrees perpendicular to the bolas. The bear caught the sight of movement out of the corner of his eye and dropped to all fours, narrowly catching the flung dagger against the side of his golden helmet. He snatched the dagger out of the air as it fell, tossing it into the pile with the bolas.

"Enough toys, Pridestalker, and enough games! I have had my fill of your trickeries. Come and face me, unveiled."

A throaty laugh echoed behind him. Volibear turned, taking in the full sight of his pursuer, lounging against a rock and picking at his claws. Rengar, the Pridestalker, the leonine hunter of Runeterra, was clad in little more than a cloth and a utility belt, carrying dozens more daggers and bolas and other weapons the great bear had no words for. He scraped the dirt out from the claw of his index finger, clicking his tongue and shaking his head.

"What good is a bear's honor to me?" he asked, raising his one good eye to regard the Ursine chieftain. "This goes the same way every time. I win, you pout, I make you promise you won't attack me, you do it anyway, and then I win again. I thought you'd be used to it by now."

Volibear grit his teeth. The toeclaws of his right foot scraped back against the cold, hard dirt as he braced himself against it. "An Ursine can grow accustomed to the deepest cold, Pridestalker. We can endure the coldest winter o--"

"Yes, yes, I'm fully aware of highly you think of yourself. You think everybody sees you as a tough guy with a stick up his arse. But I know better, don't I?" His grin toothy, the loincloth-clad hunter snapped a bundled rope off of his belt and began to casually twist it around into a lasso. "I've seen you whimper and beg. Seen you trussled up like a Snowdown ham."

"Pridestalker, hear me." Volibear snapped his massive jaw shut, and the resounding clamp of teeth on teeth echoed in the grove. His gruff appearance belayed a powerful beating of his heart, and he hoped the lion could not hear. "Hear my words as they are, for I speak only the truth. You have no need for these bindings on your belt. You've no need to try and draw my blood. I bid you, on your honor, cast aside your weaponry."

The eyebrow over Rengar's eye raised, then lowered into a look of petulence. He gave the impression of rolling his pupilless eye. He pushed himself off the rock, exaggerating the effort, and took one slow step forward. "Must you take the high ground every time? You..." His brow furrowed. "What are you doing?"

With careful, deliberate movements, Volibear stretched his left arm in front of his chest, palm upward. His right unclasped his gleaming buckler, which toppled to the ground. Eyes lower, expression a stoic frown, the Ursine mirrored the process for his other arm.

Rengar watched, his tail flickering behind him. He held the lasso by its neck, lazily twirling it around. The other planted on his hip. He, too, was frowning thoughtfully, but his curiosity outweighed his call to action.

Next came the great bear's pauldrons, those polished golden shoulderpads that served to increase his already massive appearance. These, Volibear handled with care, settling them down beside his armguards. The guard across his upper back came next, also removed with similar grace. As he was unclasping his helmet, the lion spoke.

"Let me guess." Rengar put a thumbed claw up to his forehead, scratching it idly. His dreaded mane shook along with his head. "You're challenging me to some garish bear ritual. Sumo wrestling, I bet. You'll call me a coward when I refuse to fight you without weaponry or stealth." He leaned forward. "I know you're simple-minded, bear, but even you have to know that isn't going to work."

Volibear's response came quiet, and it perked Rengar's ears up. "You misunderstand me, Pridestalker." He knelt, placing his gold-lined helmet beside the rest of his armor.

He did not rise. He bowed his head, breath steady but loud, and waited.

Silence reigned. Rengar's tail had begun to flick and sway, betraying an outwardly calm posture and thin scowl. But as Volibear did not move, the great cat couldn't help himself. Gradually, unbidden, the corners of the hunter's maw began to curl upward into a grimace only just barely restrained from becoming a full-on grin.

"You've given up, haven't you, bear?"

The Ursine's black-furred shoulders stiffen, but he otherwise did not move. Rengar's smile burst force, toothy and menacing. He began to pace from side to side, casual as he could muster. "No, that's not quite right." He stuck his hand through the loop of the lasso, swinging it around like a vertical hula hoop. "That implies cowardice, and you're... could we call what you're doing brave?" Swish, swish, swish. "I don't think you fat bears have any words for feeling besides 'angry' and 'hungry'. But I'm going to guess you're feeling, let's see, what's most on the mark..." Swish swish swish. "Something like fear, humility... excitement?"

Volibear didn't move, but the predator's tuned sense of hearing picked up on the slightest increase in the kneeling bear's breathing. He thought if he were a little closer, he could even hear the Ursine's pulse quicken. His grin widened.

"Whatever it is, it's bravery. If you had truly given up, you'd be suckling your thumb in your room with the door locked and the windows barred. No, you haven't given up. You've given in."

Here, Volibear lifted his face, his striking blue eyes taking in the lion in full. His mouth pursed, and when he spoke, his rumbling deep voice was as waves lapping against a glacier's edge. "I will not... grovel before you, Pridestalker. Nor I am a... petulant cub to be leashed, and mocked. We the Ursine see honor, in... gracious defeat. And you... Pridestalker, you... have..."

The words caught in the bear's throat. His eyes lowered. His chops pressed together, and Rengar could see the effort Volibear was putting into finishing his sentence. He let the bear fumble for a few moments, taking some amusement in the humongous, bestial warrior's inability to articulate such simple words. Once he tired of seeing the bear squirm, he leaned forward.

"I've bested you."

Volibear nodded a single time. He closed his eyes and bowed his head in what the Pridestalker could only guess was shame.

Rengar snorted at the sight. A hundred and one snappy insults sprang to mind, and he gave voice to none of them. He could feel the furs on his arm rising, could feel the blood rushing through his veins. His tail could scarcely stay still. And behind his loincloth, well...

His meandering path took him a pace closer to Volibear. "Answer me this, bear. How long ago did you make the choice to come out here?" Volibear did not answer.

Rengar counted internally to ten, with only silence to mark the gap. Then, with the swiftness that made him a Legend among men and beasts, he whipped forward and grabbed the bear's head between the ears. He yanked the larger Champion's head up with force, causing a sudden surprised cry from his hapless prey. He stared down into the Ursine's widening eyes, snarling down against his muzzle.

"I've bested you, bear. You've submit. When I ask a question, you answer it. We'll iron out the rules of this little arrangement soon enough, but consider that as rule number one. Do you understand me?"

Volibear was silent for a few moments. Just as Rengar was bracing to extend his claws to drive the point across, his muzzle opened, and he spoke.

"Yes."

"Yes what?"

The great chieftain fell silent again, but Rengar could see the bear's brow furrow, his mind searching for the right answer, and the predator let him piece it through. Slowly, the words tumbled out, a quiet rumble that was almost a question.

"Yes, Pridestalker."

Rengar barked a short sound of laughter. He ruffled the bear between his ears approvingly, and began to meander away. "I'll take it, bear. Did you know you're the only one in that stinking pit of an arena who doesn't call me by my real name?"

The question caused a confused expression to cross Volibear's face, but when the lion looked back at him, he rumbled, "No... Pridestalker."

"Right." Rengar made an impatient gesture with his hand. "Answer the question. How long?"

Volibear couldn't keep his gaze steady. Looking at the grass, he swallowed and said, "I've... known for... a long time, what I am to do."

Rengar smirked. "A long time, hm? You must think of me often."

Volibear crinkled his black nose. His shoulders raised. The word was slow to come, and the effort to speak it seemed great. "Daily."

The lion turned, his dreads sweeping behind him. He scuffed below his chin with the back of his wrist. "Just daily?"

Hot beneath the black fur of his cheeks, Volibear grimaced. It was a question he truly didn't want to answer, and he strongly considered enduring the blow that would come by refusing. Physical pain was easy to withstand.

Still, his own inability to articulate was frustrated. Volibear had a reputation for being eloquent and reasonable, to the surprise of many. Yet so, this conversation felt insurmountable, a task more difficult than scaling the highest mountain with ankles and wrists bound on the coldest winter day.

He reached deep, and found an answer.

"Hourly."

Rengar had to laugh. He paused in his pacing, tilting his head to the sky and roaring with delight.

"Hourly? Do the bears have a word for 'obsessed'? I suppose I should be shocked you think about more than your next meal and nap."

Here, the lion turned, expecting to see the Ursine clench his fist, to protect or to snarl. But Volibear simply kept his head bowed, silent and still. Rengar's grin fell into a thoughtful frown. He tugged at the braid of hair below his chin, watching his prey. He tapped his foot, tail flitting behind him. He had wandered about twenty yards from the kneeling champion. He let the silence hang for several long moments. Then, he lowered his eyes, fixating on his claws. He resumed cleaning them as before, using the claws of one hand to scrape the dirt from the claws on the other.

"Take off your pants, bear."

Unlike the insult, this did get a visible reaction out of Volibear. The Ursine winced, and when he looked up, his face was scrunched, one eye closed as though enduring a great pain. Rengar gave him a cool look in return, and when Volibear was slow to act, the lion made an impatient whirling gesture with one paw.

Still breathing, slow but heavy, Volibear did as bade. He lowered his head, watching his own massive paws pull and tug at the belt keeping this final piece of armor stationary. The Thunder Lord's legguards were in truth more of an oversized crotchguard, though it came attached with two thigh-bucklers, almost small shields, that covered the Ursine's knees. He pushed them down and sidled out of them, still kneeling.

And there the Ursine knelt, naked as his naming day. This was far from the first time Rengar had seem him as such, but still did the Pridestalker regard the warrior's hulking form with interest. His freshly picked claws knicked the air as the lion made a beckoning gesture.

"Come here."

Volibear started to rise.

"On all fours."

This was too much for the proud shaman. Gritting his teeth, splashes of pink just faintly visibly beneath the dark furs of his cheek, Volibear roared his protest.

"You -- you seek to demean me, Pridestalker! This is a provocation I will not endure! A Chieftain of the Ursine will not... not withstand such disrespect--"

Rengar made the impression of rolling his good eye. His sigh cut through the bear's words, and Volibear remained tensed, half-standing half-kneeling, teeth clenched and chops bared, trying to mask his inward humiliation.

"And you were doing so well." Rengar scratched the side of his head, voice sounding passive, bored, not a little condescending. "If this is going to work, you know I'm going to be calling the shots."

"If this is to work," Volibear growled through clenched teeth, brow furrowed. "You will not liken me to some brute animal, crawling on his belly through the forest. I will bow because you--" The words caught in his throat here, leaving only gulps in their place. To his surprise, Rengar did not speak to fill the gap, but let Volibear spits the words out for himself. He waited almost a full half-minute. "Because you... are strong. But not," Volibear's voice grew louder, angrier, "Because you tried to render me weak!"

Rengar's tail flit behind him, a clear sign of excitement, near exhilaration, betraying his calculatedly blasé expression. "Of course you aren't weak. I have no intention of making you weak, bear. If you were weak, I'd have ignored you, or maybe slit your throat during the many..." He leaned forward, emphasizing the points. "Many opportunities I had." He shook his head, continuing. "Consider this. When are you at your most terrifying?"

Volibear swallowed, but said nothing. He found it hard to hold on to his fleeting anger, through he bared his teeth. He shook his head at the question.

"When you're set to pounce. When you're lunging for some ugly squawking Yordle or scrawny coward with a gun. When all you can see is their back as they flee in terror, and all you can hear is their cries of panic as you close the gap between yourself and them. What position do you see yourself in?"

Volibear said nothing, but he lowered his gaze. He lifted his two massive handpaws, staring into his palms.

Rengar smirked. "I want you on all fours because I want you at your most primal. 'Brute beasts' don't spend all this time stammering and worrying. Now, quit yammering, and approach me, before I decide that tying you up is worth the effort."

Predictably, Volibear took a long time to move. Rengar watched him plainly, his low smirk confident and cool. Finally, the lumbering brute of a champion fell forward onto his palms. His strong fingers gripped the grassy ground as he lurched himself forward, hindquarters in the air. He strode toward, arm after leg after arm after leg, slowly crossing the distance between himself and the predator. His head bowed low, nose nearly scuffing the ground, but as he took the final step, he looked up, awaiting further instruction.

Rengar showed his teeth in a wide grin. He lowered his arm and pet the bear between his ears... then began to push down upon him, lowering the huge warrior's chest to the ground. Volibear sputtered his surprise, and he pushed back against the feline's hand until the standing Champion began to speak.

"Put your hands around my foot." As the bear balked, Rengar lifted his right footpaw, nudging the Ursine's muzzle with his calf. Volibear grumbled his embarassment, but complied.

The lion's foot was digitigrade -- toe-heavy, and Volibear's humongous hands nearly enveloped it entirely. He held on tight, one thumb pushing against the largest of the cat's brown pads, the other wrapped around his ankle. Once secured, he looked up, eyes a startling blue.

Rengar pushed his head back down again. "Do I have to spell it out for you? Suck, lick, nibble. Show some reverence. One bite and I snip your balls off and hang them for a trophy next to your eyeballs. You remember how this goes, don't you?"

Volibear did, but still he hesitated, gradually guiding those sharp-clawed toes toward his muzzle. He spared one final moment to grit his teeth, then opened his mouth, gently guiding the lion's foot onto his lower jaw.

His tongue brushed along the Pridestalker's big toe, sliding along the brown and squishy pads. He began to relax almost at once. Memory gradually overtook him, the kind of familiarity only a smell or taste can rekindle. This was a taste forgotten yet remembered now; he wondered how he could ever forget. The scent was earthen, masculine, the scent of Valoran soil, the scent of Freljordian grass. The scent of the Pridestalker.

That last thought sent a jolt zipping down his spine.

As Volibear held the lion's paw, he braced himself for a kick, a nudge. He knew Rengar would force his leg forward and bop him on the nose, claiming it as punishment of the Ursine's stubborness.

But the lion was now almost gentle. He seemed to have no difficulty remaining suspended on one leg, and he did not hop or sway. Nor did he kick or stir as Volibear gradually explored his toes, the bear's sloppy doglike tongue weaving inbetween each padded toe and licking at the white furs sprouting between them.

Tilting his head, Volibear drew the other male's footpaw deeper into his muzzle. He winced as he felt the lion's toeclaws scratch against the insides of his mouth, but did not pull back. He knew that Rengar was enjoying this, and he wondered which gave the lion more pleasure: the physical sensation of having his padded toes glossed over, or the emotional victory of having Volibear do it willingly. Or at least, willingly enough. In the back of his mind, Volibear knew he should resent the Pridestalker's superiority. He knew without looking that a smug grin plastered the feline's face, that he was reveling in his victory. The very idea should have made Volibear furious, if not also shamed and disgraced. Volibear couldn't put the words to his own emotional state, but he knew he felt none of these things. What Volibear felt was a churning, powerful emotion for which he had no words, and no mental capacity to explore it, too single-mindedly focused on his task at hand.

His hands squeezed the arch of Rengar's foot, and the thumb of his right hand kneaded the big central pads. He suckled upon each of the predator's toes, one by one and then all as a whole. The lion didn't move much, but the rare scrunch or wriggle caused the bear to stir, and he lapped at the twitching digit almost reverently.

Volibear closed his eyes, focusing on the bestial taste, and the smooth and furred and only occasionally sharp texture. He became vaguely aware of some activity happening near his face, and he slowly creaked one eye open. Looking beyond Rengar's white-furred calf and thigh, Volibear could see the predator dragging his now-unbound loincloth away from his body and dropping it carelessly in a heap nearby.

The lion was fully erect, as he had been for some time. His scrotum hung low in the cropped fur between his legs, and his penis covered half the gap between his crotch and bent knee. The sight of that pink shaft jutting out from the brutish hunter's snow-white fur was the one thing that could shake Volibear from his focus. He stared as though not comprehending, his jaw still.

Rengar took the momentary lapse as a chance to withdraw his foot from the bear's mouth. With a series of quick jabs and leg shakes, he dislodged from the Ursine's weakening grip. He set his foot down and let out a sigh. There were words in that sigh: Satisfactory. He lowered his clawed hand and began to scritch behind Volibear's ears, much to the Chieftain's outward chagrin.

"You see how much easier this is for both of us, bear?" Rengar rumbled, a gentle and almost affectionate growl. His long fingers stroked through the short black furs atop the Thunder Lord's head, the tips of his claws applying the slightest pressure to his scalp. "No ropes, no knives, no blood."

Volibear crinkled his nose. The kneeling bear lifted his arm to swat away the lion's hand, which was now a full-palmed stroke along his inner ear. "To your disappointment, I have no doubt. You wait for me to lower my guard, eager to show your cruelty and savagery."

Another sigh escaped Rengar's maw, this one longer, louder. It was exasperated, dramatic, but genuine too, and Volibear found himself falling silent. The predator moved his hand back to stroke the bear's head once again, lifting his eye and looking beyond him.

"Why do you say things like that, bear?" He continued to speak before Volibear could open his mouth. "I know you don't believe them any more than I do. This misplaced sense of... honor, or whatever you'd call it, has proven you more deceitful than me by far. No, bear, I've said it before, and I'll say it again until you tire of hearing it. I have no urge to harm you. I'm not some petty housecat toying with a mouse before I bite its head off. I don't gain any pleasure out of harming you. Pain's an ends to a means, but not a preferred one."

He looked down, locking eyes with the quiet Chieftain. They stayed silent for several long moments before the great cat continued.

"I reward prey that knows its place. Sound familiar?" When Volibear didn't answer, he rolled a shoulder back, and dug his nails in just a little more intently. "Answer me, bear. It's important that you know this. If you think I'm simply waiting for the right moment for you to expose your neck so I can rip it out, then we may as well get to fighting so I can hurry and hog-tie you up, and we can do this the..." He snorted, unable to suppress a growing grin at his own words. "The normal way."

Volibear realized his breath was becoming uneven, and his chest was heaving. He maintained eye contact for as long as he could, as he mustered up the response. "I understand, Pridestalker." Cheeks burning hot, he turned his gaze aside, and added in a whisper, "... I misspoke." Rengar lowered his hand and scooped it around the Chieftain's chin. He jerked the bear's head back to face him, chops curled back into a faint snarl. Volibear took in his breath and held it as they stared at each other in silence.

After a minute or more, the corners of Rengar's mouth curled up into a low, approving smile. His tail gave a little flicker-flick behind him. He let Volibear's muzzle go, along with a firm nod and a readjustment of stance. "Good bear. Now, open your mouth, and take me in."

Volibear's swallow was so audible that Rengar didn't even try to supress his laugh. He Volibear stared at his tip, the creases of his mouth crooked. His insides were roiling like molten lava; he felt the heat coiling up his throat and scalding his cheeks and forehead. He looked up, and, at Rengar's slightly impatient tilt of the head, slowly started to raise his arms toward the lion's body. "Mm-mm. No hands."

Another loud swallow from the bear, and another bout of laughter in reply. Volibear lifted his shoulders, breathing shakily. He started to look around the clearing, but Rengar lowered his hand to clasp the side of the ursine muzzle, pulling him back to line it straight with his shaft.

It took the shaman a moment to steel himself, but the lion could see the kneeling male's expression change. Volibear slowly parted his lips, lowering his gaze; his eyes crossed to focus on the base of the lion's penis. He opened as wide as he could and leaned forward, and Rengar closed the gap by pushing his hips forward, sliding into his mouth. He felt his body freeze up. His jaw hung open, paralyzed, unsure of how to proceed.

Rengar narrowed his good eye, his expression stern. His clawed fingers dug into Volibear's mane, and he began to rotate the bear's head around until the Ursine took the hint.

The bear began to bob his head forward and back. The tip of Rengar's dick seemed to press against a different part of the inside of his mouth with every slow thrust. The lion seemed to be in no hurry; Volibear had expected the hunter to be remorseless, to plunge in mercilessly until the bear was coughing for breath. The gentle pace was a surprise, and a pleasant one; it gave the inexperienced bear time to accomodate the flesh in his mouth, to taste and move it around his maw while avoiding his sharp ursine teeth.

His tongue slid along the lion's shaft, but he only became aware of this once he felt it throb back against him. He lifted his shoulders a bit, but relaxed an instant later. His jaw churned, his tongue swept, and he found his thoughts becoming blurry, his mind focused on the activity. A gentle thrum stirred him from his haziness. Sliding his tongue under Rengar's penis, the bear slowly creaked his eyes open, peering up the hunter's toned, muscular body. His chin-tuft was shaking gently, and it took Volibear a moment to realize the mighty Pridestalker was growling. "Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr... Bearrrrrrrrr..."

The bear felt a stab in his stomach, an emotion he couldn't express, and he took the lion's malehood in to the hilt. Rengar snorted, responding with a virile buck of the hips, and his pace quickened as he stabbed at the bear's maw.

Thoughts and emotions danced at the edge of Voli's cognition. He felt no urge to grasp them too firmly, but on a primal level, some indescribable gut feeling, Rengar's enjoyment amplified his own. He didn't want to admit that his body was reacting to the taste, that his heart was beating faster and his stomach was roiling as though fit to burst. He didn't want to admit that he was moving his head in an effort to have the predator's tip dab against every single inch of the back of his throat.

He didn't want to admit that, below the surface, he had wanted this for months.

The lion's growling grew louder, and Volibear redoubled his efforts, rubbing his tongue from dribbling tip to pulsing base. Despite the Pridestalker's earlier commands, the bear lifted his right hand. He could see Rengar's scrotum dangling just beyond his shaft, swinging with every thrust and withdrawal. His great padded hand reached out, cupping the lion's furry ballsack.

Rengar snorted, and Volibear looked up, fearing that the Champion hovering over him would punish him for even this insubordination. He braced himself as Rengar's sharp claws hovered near his face. But the Pridestalker reached out only to pat, scritch, and then to pull his head in closer. "Rrrr-hrrrr-hrrrrrr... The simple bear gets creative," he rumbled, and Volibear actually something marginally resembling pleasure at the backhanded compliment. He pressed his palm up against Rengar's scrotum, feeling the weight of his testicles sag against his hand. He snorted quietly and his snout forward until it bumped against the feline's lower stomach, taking him fully into his mouth.

Rengar shivered, standing; he had stopped thrusting, seeming content to let Volibear do all the work. Long moments, ones that could have been seconds or hours for all the kneeling Chieftain knew, passed before Rengar finally started to withdraw. Strands of spittle connected maw to meat as the lion pulled out. Keeping one paw firm on the bear's head, he used his other hand to indicate an area below his left thigh. "Hold here."

Volibear was staring crosseyed at the tip of Rengar's penis, seeming dazed. He looked up in bewilderment at the hunter. The cat's insistent tapping of his thigh saved him the effort of making the command again, and Volibear shakily extended his arm to hold Rengar by the leg. The instant Voli had a hold, Rengar lifting his leg and guided his foot closer to the bear's body. Volibear opened his maw, blue eyes furrowed in noncomprehension. He grit his teeth, expecting a swift kick to the gut, a retribution for his defiant use of one hand.

He started to breathe in -- to protest, beg, or curse, he could not have said -- but it came out as a sudden, astonished gasp as he felt Rengar's padded toes bump along the tip of his dick. Though he held the lion by the leg, Rengar was doing all the work, guiding his foot forward and sliding it along the top of the bear's aching shaft to the sheath. Once it bumped against the furred sheath, Rengar opened his toes, sliding his big and second ones slowly, so slowly, back up Volibear's erection to the head.

Volibear squeezed his eyes shut and let out a long, guttoral groan, bumping his head forward and rubbing his face against the side of the lion's crotch. He had never felt so hard in his life. He hadn't realize he was erect at all. Unable to see his bearhood, he hadn't known just how far it extended from his crotch until he felt those furred, padded toes squeeze him, guiding themselves up to the very tip of his head. The foot glided back over the top of his shaft more easily now, and Rengar knew the bear's tip must be leaking, and heavily at that.

The thought didn't cross Volibear's mind. In fact, the bear couldn't think at all. He nuzzled his cheek against the Pridestalker and let out a deep, baritoned whine. He kissed the side of the lion's shaft, desperate to show his appreciation, a silent beg for the lion to not stop, to please never stop, to please--

"I can be creative too." Rengar's sultry voice was amused, aroused, but controlled. He massaged the bear's scalp with his hands as easily as he massaged the bear's penis with his foot. The effort of balancing on one leg seemed trivial. "You see now, bear? The predator rewards good prey that knows its place."

A loud groan came in response. Volibear slobbered over the base of the predator's dick, grinding his hips against the soft smoothness of his thick footpaw. His hand reached up and thumped against the lion's side, gripping him as though holding on for dear life. "P-Pridestalker," he managed, his blue eyes pleading as he looked up the hunter's body.

And Rengar grinned.

"Hrrrrmmm... you're all pent up, bear. Don't you ever do the job by yourself when you're bored at night?" He plucked a stray hair from between Volibear's eyes, lifted it for inspection, and flicked it into the wind. "Or maybe you save it up for our encounters. Hah!" He barked a harsh laugh over Volibear's kneeling form. "I suppose you think it's a matter of willpower, to not crank one out when you think of me." His grin widened, his touch affectionate. "You really should release now and then instead of waiting for me. Good for the mind. Spit one out on a cold, frozen night in your village, some night when all your bear chums are fast asleep, and think of this... right here."

The bear stiffened. His eyes widened, and he froze in place. His hips refused to buck, even as Rengar squeezed the bear's penis with his toes. He looked stunned -- almost scared, a rarity for one of the Ursine. His mind was reeling, as though witnessing a horror slowly dawn upon him.

The cat started to tilt his head. "Eh? What's wrong?"

Volibear closed his eyes, lowering his head. As Rengar lowered his hand to the bear's shoulders, he could see the great kneeling beast was trembling faintly. His feline ears flickered as he heard the tiniest of whimpers escape from the black-furred Champion, then a quiet, "No... no..." "Bear-"

"No, this is -- it cannot be right!"

Suddenly, Volibear sprang up from his kneeling position and rammed his head into the Pridestalker's chest. Balanced precariously on one leg, Rengar could not help but sprawl backwards, letting out an astonished choke as the bear rampaged forward.

"I cannot do this!" Volibear cried, a panic in his tone unlike that which the hunter had ever heard. He lunged, diving atop the supine hunter, striking at him with his massive paws. "I will -- I cannot surrender to you! Villaneous Pridestalker!" There was a shakiness to his voice, but his swipes were powerful as ever, desperation and terror unifying as one.

"Whoa! Whoa! Stupid bear!" Rengar lashed his head to and fro, narrowly dodging the worst of Volibear's swipes and using his arms to withstand the others. He was pinned down by the hulking beast, but -- ever one good in tight spaces -- he managed to bring his leg up, push his knee into the center of the bear's solar plexus, and kick himself out from under him. He slid along his back and scrambled up to a crouch. "Where the hell did this come from?"

Volibear collapsed as Rengar squeezed out from beneath him. He looked up, bared his teeth, and charged on all fours, roaring his fury. "The Ursine do not submit!" His erection almost scraped the ground as he plowed forward with the speed of a freight train.

Rengar narrowed his eyes. A thin sneer pulled at his maw as he took a step back and lowered his body. He waited until Volibear was within swiping range, then dived forward and to the side, claws of one hand extended. The bear sailed right past him, but not before Rengar could catch him by the ankle, sink his claws in, and heft as he passed by.

Volibear's own forward momentum caused him to lose balance. He tumbled onto his chin and slid ten feet in the dirt, a clattering mess of limbs and fur. Rengar pivoted on his feet and sprang, careening though the air and landing full-force on the bear's back, just as Volibear was pushing himself up.

"Get off!" Volibear cried, feeling the lion's arm wrap around his throat. Like a raging bull, Volibear bucked and shook, his claws gripping the ground as he tried to shake the lion off. He could feel the Pridestalker's shaft -- still three-quarters erect -- stab and slide along his lower back as the lion held on.

Finally, Rengar got the frenzied champion's throat against the crook of his elbow. He grabbed his wrist with the other arm, and pulled with all his might, choking the bear.

"R-release me--" Volibear managed, his body shakes growing more vigorous for two heart-stopping seconds before tapering off. He shivered, squeezing his eyes shut, struggling desperately to breathe, claws scraping at the dirt, head a swirling mess of chaos and confusion, pain and regret and fear, and no means to express it. "P... pri..."

"Bear."

The hunter's voice was icy cold. Volibear barely squinted an eye open.

"That was a very stupid thing you did."

He couldn't have responded if he wanted to.

"Stupid, and slow. Slow as honey dripping down a tree into a fat, lazy, stupid bear's mouth. A fat, lazy, stupid bear who doesn't have the sense to know what he wants."

"... P... Ph..."

"So, now, here I am," the Pridestalker sighed, rolling his good eye. "With two choices. Three, actually. I could keep my arm here until you pass out. Why, I could even keep it here until after you pass out. I could keep it here all night. Then in the morning, I'd cut you up into a stir fry, and have myself a new rug to boot. How does that sound, bear? Hm? I like that one. An Ursine throw rug would look just lovely in my den." Volibear closed his eyes. His claws still scraped at the ground, slower now. The world was getting dizzy, and the weight of the smaller male on his back seemed to grow heavier and heavier.

"I could tie you up again," Rengar considered, mulling this one over. "For old time's sake. I'd get what I want, and you, well -- less so, but you'd come around in the end, as you always do. How about that, bear? Say 'I would like that very much'."

Volibear gurgled quietly. His body shook. His fingers splayed, palm clutching the grass.

"Or, I can give you another chance. But... haven't I already given you so many?" Rengar sighed once more, shaking his head with dramatic remorse. "We've been down this road before, bear. I say I'll let you go if you don't attack me. I hold up my end of the bargain, and what do you do? You make a lot of noise and charge like an elephant, and then I have to tie you back up with more threats of cutting off body parts. It's tiresome, bear, and helps neither of us."

Volibear was still, and Rengar relaxed his grip. He patted the Chieftain on the side, and the great bear coughed, sputtered, and began to gasp for air. His body convulsed, shaking Rengar along with it, but he made no efforts to rise, to turn, to fight back against the predator on his back. When the coughing ended, Rengar snuck his arm back around the side of the bear's throat. He did not strangle him, however; he merely ran the tips of three claws through the black fur. A threatening scritch. He leaned forward and growled in the bear's ears. "Why did you do that, bear?"

Volibear took a moment to reply, but did so sooner than Rengar had expected. "Sh... shame."

"Go on."

Volibear sunk his chin into the mud and closed his eyes, defeated. The words spilled out, quick for the normally slow-speaking creature, and his face felt hot. "I felt the eyes... of my people upon me. I felt the eyes of my ancestors. No... Chieftain would... surrender himself to such..." He fell silent, but Rengar gave him the time to find the right words. "Unconventional desire."

"But you did surrender."

The bear winced at that. "... I did."

"And you said yourself, there is honor in graceful defeat."

"... Yes."

Rengar wet his lips. His clawed fingers stayed stroking the side of the Ursine's thick neck, but his left hand reached for the bear's side. He placed his padded palm against the side of the prone Champion's chest and began to rub. "You wanted it. Badly, if the stains on my foot mean anything."

"My... enjoyment shames me, Pridestalker." He swallowed, eyes still closed. "I am... torn. The Ursine do not have the words. They are not... discussions we have. An Ursine does not... engage as we have. He does not have these untraditional feelings."

"You have them." Rengar pulled his paw back from Volibear's neck, but the second remained at his side. He reached a little further. The bear's bulk was massive, and though Rengar was no small creature himself, he had to shuffle along the larger male's back in order to feel the pads of his fingers slide along Voli's left nipple. The lion was pleased, as he moved, to feel his penis still mostly hard, sliding along his mount's lower back. The hand once threatening the bear's jugular now traced a picture on his shoulder. "How much sleep have you lost to these..." He sneered, unable or unwilling to hide the bile from his tone. "Untraditional feelings?"

Volibear growled, but it was a quiet, unaggressive sound.

"The truth is this, bear." Rengar slid forward again, murmuring the words into the great Ursine's ears. He could feel the excitement churning in his chest as he spoke. "Your ancestors are gone. Your people, a hundred miles away. Right now... right now, there is you, and me. Nobody else. If you feel shame about people who can't see this, who won't ever know of it, whose opinions you value more than your own, then so be it. I can't keep your stupid bear brain from having stupid bear thoughts. But make no mistake." The corners of his mouth curled, and his final words came out in a harsh whisper. "I will take what is mine, as a hunter makes claim over his kill."

Volibear did not move, even as he felt Rengar nibbling at his ear, felt the great lion reach further around his body. His eyes were still squeezed shut. His response, squeezed out of him like a pressed waterskin, surprised them both. "I am not... weak, Pridestalker. You... will slit my throat before... you'll have such a confession from me."

Rengar laughed.

"Weak?" he exclaimed, letting out puffs of hot air against the Ursine's ear. "Are you still obsessing over that? I don't want you because you are weak. I'll say it again. If you were weak, I would have ignored you. Maybe killed you, if I thought I could get away with it." His chops curled into a smile, and he snuck his hand beneath the bear's chin, pulling his head up.

"No, bear," he continued. "You have it wrong. I am uninterested in stamping my foot against your face and grinding you into the dirt. I have no desire to render you weak. Helpless, perhaps, if I have no other choice. But weak?"

Rengar could feel the bear's pulse quicken, just barely hear the thumping of his heart. As he spoke, the lion gripped his prey by one shoulder, using both hands.

"No. Never. Not if I am to reign over you."

Extending his legs to dig his toes into the ground, Rengar pulled, rolling the Ursine chieftain onto his back with a grunt. Volibear's hands moved instinctively to cover his crotch, but Rengar quickly grasped him by both wrists, pulling them away. He was pleased to see the bear's hardness had not entirely left him, as a distinct blot of pinkness rose from the black furs just below his belly.

Volibear protested, but Rengar could see the gears working behind the Ursine Chieftain's eyes, sifting through the swirling chaos in his head with every passing word. "Rrrrphh... You... confound me with every breath, Pridestalker." Slow inhale, slow exhale. "A predator does not respect his prey as he rends it open."

Rengar smirked at that. He once more saddled the bear; he was not tall enough to open his hips wide enough to dig both knees into the ground, so he lay prone on the bear's rising and falling belly. One hand propped his head up on his chin, elbow pressed against Voli's sternum; the other traced a bored pattern below his shoulder.

"Most predators. Yes, that's right. That wolfman wouldn't give his victims a second thought. The cloaked one, the assassin, I'm sure he fancies himself a 'predator' too. And that... creature." Here, Rengar's voice lowered. His mouth pursed into a tight snarl, and he turned from Voli, staring off into the forest.

Just as the perplexed Chieftain opened his mouth to pry, Rengar shook his head, turning back. "It's irrelevant. The point is, I'm not like most predators. I do respect my prey. I hunt only the strongest, because I delight in beating the best. My arrangement of trophies is testament to that." He pushed himself up off of Volibear's chest, only to turn and stradle him. His tail flickered, smacking the bear in the face a couple times -- much to Voli's growling irritation. His annoyance built him up just enough anger to speak.

"Will you move to sever my head and hang it on your wall, Pridestalker?"

Rengar chuckled. He turned his head only just enough to spot the bear out of the very corner of his good eye. Even from his side profile, Voli could see most of the predator's teeth as he responded simply, "Shut up and listen, and I won't have to."

With that, the cat crept back onto his chest. He slid forward, his erect shaft sliding through the bear's fur. He could feel Volibear's own genitals stirring beneath his chest and upper belly as he reached for the brute's thick left ankle. He grabbed and tugged, and when it scarcely budged, he commanded, "Bend your leg at the knee."

Unsurprisingly, Volibear took several long moments to respond, but he obeyed in the end. As he did, Rengar reached out for the thickly padded toes and, pressing them against his palm, he pulled the bear's foot in as tight into the spare between his thick thighs as he does. He pressed the tips of his fingers against the toes and slid them down the entire run of his sole. Volibear shivered beneath him. "Umm..."

"I know you're trying, bear."

The lion's words were soft, and more importantly, personal. He pressed his fingers back against the bear's sole, pressing against the softness of his pad just below the Ursine's giant toes. It caused him to scrunch automatically, and his sharp toenails scratched against Rengar's paw. The predator paid them no mind.

"I don't understand why this is so difficult for you, bear, but I recognize that it is." Volibear's foot instinctively tried to jerk away, but Rengar held it in place with one hand. He dug his knuckles in with the other, massing the bases of his toes. "We all have our hurdles to leap, and mating is complicated business. You're lucky I consider you... worth the extra effort."

Volibear squirmed beneath Rengar, his chubby toes opening up and allowing the predator atop him easy access to the fur between them. He felt a strong pressure whirring in his gut, and as Rengar craned his neck to peer over his shoulder, he noted with something like horror -- no, surprise? Excitement? Embarassment? -- that the lion, sitting atop his naked body, could feel the growth of his malehood as it pushed against his stomach and slid up to his lower chest.

"You're also lucky," Rengar added, shifting his weight and dragging his balls across the bear's chest. "That I know what buttons to press." He slid his fingers in between the bear's toes from the top, pulling his sole taut. His clawed fingers scritched the center of the padded foot gently, until Volibear began to grunt and his leg started shaking.

His fingers soon left the bear's sole, and withdrew to the pocket of space between Voli's thighs. Rengar pushed his body forward until the tip of his full erection pressed against the bear's swelling one, and he grinned as he felt the other's maleness twitch against him. He brought his hand in closer, pressing it against the pucker of Voli's tailhole.

"Rrrph..!" the bear cried out in surprise. Rengar could feel the supine champion's arms tense. A moment passed, and he felt a smile creep at the corners of his mouth as the bear consciously relaxed himself. What better a sign of surrender could he hope for? Voli's legs parted, and Rengar was given free reign to his tailhole, an opportunity he took to immediately.

Rengar slid his fingers between Voli's cheeks, pressing the tip of his fingers against the larger male's entrance. The bear's heavy ballsack sagged against his paw, and Rengar had to twist his hand to cup them in his palm. He could felt as easily as he heard the pained grunt, the sharp intake of air. He massaged the entrance gingerly, before lowering his head and sticking his muzzle into the space between his legs.

It was a bit of a stretch with his dicktip smeared against the other's, but Rengar was just able to crane his neck to the point where he could lap at the bear's sagging scrotum. An inch further, and he was kissing Voli's scrotum. The black fur of his sack was soft and thin, and it squished pleasantly against his muzzle. He growled, sending thrumming vibrations up the bigger Champion's spine. The scent was intoxicating, and Rengar took big long sniffs between each lick.

"Pridestalkerrrrr..." Volibear groaned. His face had twisted in a look of near torment, a grimace showing all teeth. Beneath the dark fur of his cheeks, splashes of pink were readily evident. Rengar's butt was mere inches from his nose, the lion's tail dangling inches from his face. Voli watched it through squinted eyes, enduring -- savoring? -- the treatment below his waist. "Huff... rrrrph..."

Rengar plied at the bear's rump and balls for minutes longer, long after he felt the swell of the bear's full erection sandwiched beneath his chest. He knew his own penis was smearing droplets of gooey precum against Voli's -- the hunter was hard as steel, and, as he thought with a sly grin, unlike his prey, he had no reservations about that -- but it wasn't until his sensitive nose could just faintly detect the first hint's of the Ursine's own leakage that Rengar finally moved to action.

He dismounted Volibear, one leg at a time, until he was kneeling beside the great bear. Volibear looked at him uncertainly, eyes half-closed from sweat, each panting breath wet and hot in the dewy spring air. Rengar looked upon the supine Champion, from the bear's panting face to his thick, muscular arms, his robust and rounded tummy, and yes, of course, that pulsing pink prick quivering just over his navel.

Rengar nestled against Volibear's side, digging his muzzle just below the other's chin. He reached for the bear's needy malehood, took it firmly in his padded palm, and began to jerk him off.

"Huff... hnnnf..." The sudden grunts were backdrops to what Rengar could already detect by Voli's rapidly increasing heartbeat, his shifting hips, his tensing arms. The Ursine's penis was pulsing rapidly in the predator's grip. It was slick and wet with the pre of both Champs, and Rengar found his paw sliding effortlessly up and down, up and down, head to base, a rousing rhythm at a fast pace. "Rrrr... unn... ummmmm..."

"Good bear, goooood bear." Perhaps unwittingly, Rengar's voice could only be described as a purr. He couldn't hide the affection from his tone as he teased the helpless shaman. "He doesn't want it fancy, does he?"

Rengar gripped him tighter and plunged his hand down, squeezing the bear's shaft. Volibear's grunt become a rising groan as spittle flew from his chops and collected on his teeth. He wriggled in the lion's grasp, plowing upward against his fist, slobbering his frustration and desire in snarls and whimpers. Rengar held him there, regarding him for a moment, before resuming his up-down pumping, driving the bear further toward completion.

"No," Rengar continued in that same light tone, hardly audible over the din of the writhing bear. "No, a simple bear wants simple things. He wants to be pampered. He wants to lie on his fat butt, getting his fat belly rubbed and his fat toes touched and his cock diddled before dinner. Isn't that right, bear?"

Voli showed no sign of hearing the cat's taunts. His teeth were grit so hard they threatened to snap, and his face was red beneath his dark fur with the effort. "Pri-- hrrrrphhh -- Pri -- hffff -- Pride-- unnngh!" he tried, but the word wouldn't come. The snarling, the panting, the grunting. He looked as though he were in pain, and in some dim way, Rengar supposed he was.

He jerked him off harder.

Volibear's powerful hips plowed upward against gravity, pushing for purchase against the lion's fist. His heels dug into the soft grass, slid, pulled back, dug in again. He couldn't keep his body still. "Rrrr -- rrrrnnngh -- haa, hrraah, hrrrrnnngh-uh..." One eye was squeezed shut, the other barely open, seeming mesmerized by that bouncing catspaw. Mouth open and panting, tongue lolling against his lower jaw, sweat trickling down his muzzle, the unbound bear was as helpless as he had ever been.

Rengar could feel his own dick aching for attention, but he forced it out of his mind. He was curled up against the larger Champion's side, cheek on his chest, right arm reaching to keep up the task at hand. He had slid himself on top of Volibear's left arm, and he reclined against the bear's bulky biceps. He could feel the bear gripping his side in nigh-desperation, and could feel himself in turn tensing, growing closer, his own excitement rising with the other's. He knew dribbling against the bear's flank, and he couldn't help humping against the side of his hips.

His arm was getting sore, but he wouldn't let up for a second. They had done so much more than 'mere' masturbation in the past, yet the touch felt personal, relevatory. He could hear the bear's heart pounding like the drums of war in his chest, and, just like a hunter on the final leg of the trek to catching a particularly slippery prey, he knew he couldn't slow now.

His grin widened as he felt the bear's breath catch, heard him stop mid-grunt and churn his hips up in just such a way. A thrill -- triumph! -- jolted down his spine, and Rengar pushed himself up closer to a sitting position. He squeezed Voli's shaft and twisted his palm, pads squishing and squeezing against his slick thickness as he drove him past the point of no return. "Give it up, bear," he growled, good eye going wide. "Show me what is mine by right."

"Hrah -- HRAH -- hrrrr -- rrr -- rrrggrr-- grrrrrrgh... guhh!" Mustering his force into one paramount upward thrust, Volibear bucked his hips and rammed upward with all his might, holding his body arched, head thrown back. Rengar had the flash-freeze image of a great splash of milky seed erupting from the bear's tip, a great blast of white suspended in midair; he had just enough time to part his teeth before the blast caught him in the face, binding him.

Sputtering, Rengar could do little more than squeeze, but it was enough; Volibear's grunts grew into deep whines and whimpers as his follow-up bursts splattered against his chest and dripped heat down the lion's hand. The mighty male bear's body spasmed, twisted, jerked upward, each upward twist spilling a new rush of seed. It felt a long time before he finally came to rest, exhausted, panting, spent.

Rengar finally let go. He made a deliberate show of wiping his hand off on the bear's belly -- which didn't accomplish much -- before pawing at his face. "Clumsy fat bear," he complained. "You got it in my eye. It stings!" He wiped a gooey fleck from his muzzle and, again, wiped it off on Voli's tummy. "Rrrf! You could've drowned a Yordle in that. Don't you ever do the job by yourself?"

But Voli could only look at him as though he had just ran a marathon. His every sensation was overwhelmed. His cock twitched once, twice, still as hard as it had been. He made no moves to move away, nor to clean his now-cum-splattered chest; he only looked at Rengar dimly. Awaiting orders.

Rengar's heart felt fit to burst -- not to mention the tension just below his waist. He rolled over onto his own back, reclining against Volibear's arm. Using his own hands, he slid his fingers between those of the bear's massive paw, and guided down onto his aching leonine cock.

"Hff... hfff..."

Like his foot, Voli's left hand was almost all pad, and it slid effortlessly along Rengar's slick length as the lion gently pushed up against it. The bear seemed almost paralyzed, fingers stiff. Rengar still held Voli's paw in his own, and he started to slowly guide it up and down his length. Before long, the bear was able to grasp the concept... so to speak. He wrapped his chubby padded fingers around the predator's length, and as Rengar slid his hand free, Voli was allowed solitary reign. His fist went up and down, up, down, a little clumsy but with growing fascination. "Rrrrfrrrrph! Just like that, bear," the Pridestalker snarled, leaning back indolently against the Ursine's shoulder, which tensed and relaxed with every downstroke. "Now it's my turn to be lazy."

Unsurprisingly, Volibear was an amateur. His movements were slow and arythmic, grip a little too tight; he seemed more captivated by the sensation of holding the lion's pride in his grasp than in focusing on the task at hand. Rengar didn't care; he was wound up so tight that he felt sure climax if the bear was perfectly motionless. Besides, Voli's clumsy, earnest motions were endearing in their own right -- genuine was the word that came to mind -- and the lion felt his back arching as he put more of his weight against the other's body.

"Rrrrr... mmhmm..." Despite a claim to be lazy, Rengar took his own fair share of effort in the process. The most experienced of the two, he rotated his hips as he bucked upward, stirring his rod against the bigger male's fist and careening himself headlong toward a finale he knew wasn't far off.

Over his own beating heart and rising pants, he could hear Voli thrum with interest. He turned his head, and that's when the great bear moved. For one horrified split second, Rengar thought the Ursine was attacking -- that Volibear had, for the first time in all their meetings, finally caught the cat in his most vulnerable moment, had set a trap so complex that even the shrewd hunter could not have predicted it.

An instant passed. The horror subsided; the surprise did not. Rengar's entire body went stiff as a board, his good eye going wide as a saucer, his heart skipping not one but three beats.

Volibear had lowered his head and was kissing the lion noiselessly on the mouth.

His eyes were scrunched close, his expression desperate, cheeks alight with heat. His right arm had tensed to bring Rengar inches closer, but he was otherwise still; even his fist had frozen, wrapped as it was around the Pridestalker's shaft.

Rengar was frozen too, unable to think, unable to speak, unable to act. He would later not remember the seconds that followed as more than just a swirl of sensations. He would not precisely recall the way he pushed back against the bear's muzzle with his force, nor the way his arm squeezed and clawed against him, nor the volcanic force of his ejaculation, rushing from the exposed tip of his otherwise smothered malehood and bursting in long, arcing ropes across his heaving chest.

"Hrrrrr-- grrrrrrrrrrrrr... rrrrrrummmphh!"

He was vaguely aware of having mounting the bear, sliding up atop his belly and wrapping his arms around his neck, but could not have said if he had waited until his climax had trickled his last or, indeed, if he was still pulsing seed even as he slid on top. It didn't matter. All that mattered was the urge to keep his muzzle locked to muzzle, to press chest to chest and belly to belly and length to length, and to hold them there for as long as the elecricity in his body said it felt right.

And it felt right for a long time.

When the mists cleared, Rengar lay atop his partner, ear just below his neck, breathing hard. Volibear's tongue lay out of his mouth; his arms were up against the grass, his supine body sprawled out in a look of near exhaustion, and he watched Rengar through nearly closed eyes. Rengar had wiped his mouth clean on the side of the bear's neck, but Voli's spittle remained hanging from his jaw, translucent and shiny in the afternoon light.

They made eye contact for two long seconds. Then they averted their gazes, each to his right. Volibear, face flush beneath his cheekfur, didn't make so much as a peep. The lion atop him cleared his throat quietly, kept looking off to the ground, and began to groom himself, cleaning his sticky paw partially with his tongue, and partially with little sweeping wipes along the bear's chest.

Silence reigned for a long time, and Rengar was the one to break it. He made a gruff little snort, turned his head, and placed his chin upon Voli's chest. He looked up into the bear's face, those closed eyes, and he grunted a question.

"How do bears fuck?"

Voli creaked one eye open. He raised that eyebrow in a silent query.

Rengar elaborated.

"Go on. You said you don't engage like this, like it's something strange. Don't you bears ever tug one another off?"

Voli took a long time to respond, and Rengar gave him the chance to collect his thoughts. He knew the bigger male had been dozing.

"No... not typically. This..." The brow furrowed. "Tugging does not beget offspring, and is thereby frowned upon."

Rengar snorted at that. He lazily slid his leg over and bumped the bear's crotch with his knee. He rubbed against it, more teasing than seductive. "You only mate to make cubs? No wonder your kind look so pissed off all the time."

Volibear actually snorted at that. He shook his head. "Ursine mating rituals are complex. A boar and sow contribute equally to the courtship, which--"

"Hold on. Hold on." Rengar moved his head forward, his chinbraid sliding along Voli's neck. He gave the bear a comically disbelieving look. "Bears are called 'boars' and 'sows'? Like pigs?"

Volibear nodded.

Rengar flashed his teeth. "I shouldn't be surprised. I always knew you were a boar."

To Rengar's surprise, and possibly his own, Volibear let out a laugh, a great, bellowing bark that was as loud as it was quick. "Let us say, that the Ursine do not quite participate in tomfoolery so readily as you would you."

Rengar gave him a look. It took him a moment to realize the bear had matched him pun for pun, and he groaned so loudly that Volibear had to laugh again. "Eugh! Bear, that was miserable! I've half a mind to tie you right back up just for the chance to gag you."

But his tail was flickering, and Volibear's smile so rare and so bright that Rengar found it hard to fully mask his own joy -- was that the word? Joy? Surely not. He lowered his eye, scratching indolently at the fur on the bear's shoulder.

"So what about, whatever you'd call it, boar-boar courtship? Is that also frowned upon?"

Volibear's smile faded at once. His voice was serious, expression grave. "Unheard of. Any pairing that does not produce fertile offspring would be separated. The triumvirate would not stand for it."

"The same triumvirate," Rengar drolled, "Whose asses you kicked to become king of the tundra?"

Volibear blinked. He opened his mouth, then snapped it shut. He looked aside, brow furrowed in thoughtful puzzlement, as new and unusual thoughts came up and joined the sea of others beget this day.

"Some call you the King of the Tundra, bear. What you say goes. Just remember that if you piss of your elders, well -- they can die mad about it." Volibear shook his head, but said nothing. He did not dismiss the lion's words; they were simply too much to absorb on top of a day that was already bursting at the seams.

Rengar let him off the hook. He opened his mouth wide, affecting a great yawn that only a cat can muster, before setting his cheek down on the bear's chest. "No wonder you're so pent up all the time. You'll make bad decisions when you're stressed, and there is a war coming. I suppose," he sighed with his eyes closed, as though this were some great laborous chore. "I'll have to stalk you more frequently. The fate of the Freljord depends on you getting your rocks off."

Rengar snickered, but Volibear didn't move. He lay there with his eyes open, watching the canopy of leaves overhead stir in the spring breeze. Minutes later, he felt the gentle half-snore half-purr of the mighty, fearless hunter, and he allowed himself a quiet snort at Rengar's expense. He brought his paw down upon the other's back, then closed his eyes, settling into a restful slumber.

***

He awoke alone in the clearing. His head was groggy, and even after rubbing his eyes he couldn't quite see through his blurred vision, so he relied on his other senses to tell him the two foremost questions on his mind: where was it, and what was the time?

A clearing in north Valoran.

The sun rose only a few minutes ago.

The wind has picked up. The air is less cool.

It'll rain by noon.

Volibear rubbed at his right temple as understanding flooded in. Spirits, he thought, I slept more than half a day. Where's...

He realized suddenly that the Pridestalker was nowhere to be seen. He was dismayed, but not surprised. Another thought crossed his mind, and he looked around again for his pile of armor. Surely he didn't...

No, he hadn't. Volibear exhaled through his nose, relieved as the garments of the Thunder Lord lay in a neat pile some twenty paces away. He slowly got to his feet and padded toward them. Halfway there, he caught sight of something unusual, and, with a curious frown, he turned.

There, lying atop a stone surrounded in mud, was a big trout. The fish was fresh but dead, long clawmarks running down its neck to its fins. As Volibear picked it up, he could still feel the sliminess of the creature sticking to his pads.

"To keep your prey plump and lazy, Pridestalker?" the bear rumbled out loud, though he knew the hunter was many miles gone by now. He snorted, looked down at the fish one more time. Then he took a large bite, chewed, and spat out the bones.

The trek back home could wait a few hours yet.

I have my fish, he told himself, pounding through the underbrush. Now all I need is a bath.

~The End