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Amethyst's Advent Calendar of Kink 2018

Romance

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Three Little Words

Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)

Commissioned by D.C. Yote

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He'd said it, of course, not all that long after they'd become an 'item', although it had not been public knowledge that the coyote and the German Shepherd were together at that point. Danica, Dora's sister, did well enough at keeping things under wraps. She knew, after all, just what her sister was like and it wasn't something that she wanted out in the open. They were the Shepsisters still, regardless of their love lives, and needed to protect themselves the best they could, as well as they could. However, sometimes that meant protecting one's heart just a little too much in fear of having old wounds ripped open once again. And vulnerability wasn't something that Dora did all that well at the best of times.

Still, it hadn't stopped the course of their relationship, those elusive three words. She and Yote were engaged and happily so, even if their relationship wasn't the most traditional of them. Dora knew him inside out, even if he sometimes marvelled at how she knew his own mind better than he knew himself, and he liked to think that he knew her better than anyone else, the canine revealing new layers of herself the longer they were together. And, if he was truthful, that was one of the things that he loved the most about her, that sense of always learning something new.

One thing was for sure: their relationship would never be boring.

But they had to do the normal things too, the couple things and the relationship things that no one else but them could experience in the same way. It was a very individual thing, a personal thing, and yet something that was to be shared or else it was meaningless as to what it truly was. The getaway to the cabin in the mountains was one of those things that couples did but, well, Dora wasn't usually all that keen on. Her holidays had usually consisted of adrenaline boosting adventures - not that the course of her work wasn't exciting enough as it was - while D.C. Yote was the one to introduce her to a quieter, softer way of experience time off 'duty'.

The snow fell softly, the lights of the cabin glowing through the windows, curtains open so that they could watch the snowfall. Coniferous trees that never lost their needles lined the slopes, hardy and rugged, although the snow would soon coat them completely, weighing the boughs down as the storms of the winter season worsened. Sure, skiers and snowboarders who were truly devoted to their sport would brave the weather and risk getting stranded at resorts all in the name of that elusive thrill but Yote and Dora would be long gone back home to celebrate the rest of the holidays by the time that the bad weather closed in.

For the moment, they were content to watch the snowfall, the mountain town below them in a sprinkling of lights, so small that it could have been a toy set out beneath a child's paw in a nursery. Bleary-eyed on the sofa, Dora snuggled in closer and exhaled a contented sigh, a strange and foreign sensation in her chest. Relaxation was something usually only gleaned in the realm of sleep for her but, despite his penchant for being captured by a certain lovely pair of sisters, she knew in her heart of heart's that Yote would protect her. For once, she didn't need to be on guard all the time, relaxing into his warm arms and embrace as everything she had ever needed slotted into place.

Warmth. Happiness. Peace. The past didn't matter when there were so many more adventures to come, a wind licking at the window panes that would not reach them inside. Safety. Yes, that was it... Dora tucked her nose down into the fluff of his chest, the two of them naked but for their fur beneath the thick warmth of the woollen blanket for that added sense of closeness. It was safety that she'd wanted all along, first and foremost, yet that was something that she had never once been able to take for her own despite her best efforts.

Maybe that was just one of the many, many reasons that she needed Yote. And what a funny story that had been about him coming into her life... The Shepsister rumbled a giggle, lips barely twitching and she nuzzled in closer still to him, even though it seemed like she couldn't possibly get herself any closer.

"Hey... Do you remember the first time we met?" She murmured, her eyes half-lidded, although sleep was the furthest thing from her mind. "Back... Way back then?"

"Mm, yes," he breathed, breath ruffling her blonde hair, tickling her ears. "It was a long time ago, wasn't it? You took my breath away even then."

Oh, she would not have admitted it but Dora blushed, hiding it beneath her paw as her eyes prickled. But not with tears - oh no, she would not admit to that! There was just something in her eye, emotion building up and swelling in her chest like the crescendo of a song. Yet she was so very warm and comfortable there and the flames crackling in the massive fireplace seemed to beg her to spill her innermost secrets like the silence of the night, stars twinkling so very high above. There was something about words that could be said under the cover of perfect darkness or before a raging blaze of a fire when they could not be said anywhere else.

Something to be said, that was, not that she was all that sure what that something was just yet. Maybe she'd work it out one day.

"It was on assignment, back in the early days," she whispered, barely raising her voice as she reminisced contentedly, happy to be right there where she was in the moment. "We were both on the same side that time, although we crossed paths even early than that, working for opposing companies. I like to think that we were always striving for the greater good in the end, although interpreting that individually, as all do...it's open to that interpretation."

She took a deep breath as if she simply did not have enough air in her lungs for what she needed to say, eyes flicking between the dancing, crackling flames and the snow drifting by the window. Each was mesmerising in its own right but she had a coyote there, the coyote of her dreams, to occupy her and she could not afford to be so distracted from him. No one knew how much time they had left, after all, and Dora knew all about living each moment as if it was her last.

"That long ago... You didn't like me back then, I know you didn't," she continued, tipping her muzzle down as if to hide just how misty-eyed she'd become. "You tried to brush past us to storm in and you had a hard set to your jaw... Only later did we exchange words and, even then, they were brusque. Nothing like we have now."

She giggled, the sound lightening her tone from husky memory even as the coyote joined her in chuckles.

"I was silly to not spend the time with you that I could have back then," he said. "I was trying to focus on the mission, be stern, take everything seriously."

"Yes, that may be true, but you really didn't have to make us capture you just to get that sweet tongue of yours talking," Dora teased, poking him lightly in the ribs as the coyote yelped, affecting a greatly injured tone. "I knew there was more to you than that serious face and, wow, was I right with the body under there..." She licked lips, exhaling breathily. "Just wow."

"And here I was thinking that you were all about the guns and thorns."

The German Shepherd quirked an eyebrow, looking up at him as her blonde hair, swept back from her cheeks, fell away from her ears.

"Not roses?"

"I think you'd rather have the thorns."

Dora smiled, dark lips tugging up as her lover smirked beautifully.

"So you do know me well."

And that he did, even if it was something that they had never gone through in detail. Although he loved learning more and more about his lover, there did come a point of knowing where there simply was nothing more to know and that was the most beautiful thing of all, their closeness rising to such a point that one lover knew and understood the other through the rise and fall of their breath alone.

Yet...there was still the matter of those three little words to be said. Dora tensed minutely and, instinctively, Yote tightened his arms around her, drawing her in close to his chest. However, he did not poke or pry into what was happening, knowing that she would tell him when she was good and ready, regardless of just when that was.

And that time had come, blood roaring in her ears as if she was charging into a fight, gunfire blazing and sickening blades flashing under artificial light. Her pulse pounded viciously, vision a little too grey and shaky for comfort, sick to her stomach and yet that was all due to excitement in the best kind of way, nerves all that she needed to know that everything was right. If it didn't matter so much to her, of course, she would not have been so nervous and she needed to be nervous to know and understand and, above all else, feel that, this time, it was real. It was true.

Dora shuddered. She needed it to be true. Oh, she so very badly needed it to be true. Feeling her against him, the coyote inhaled sharply and turned her muzzle gently up to his, a finger brushing the underside of her lightly-furred jaw, tan and cream lines slicing down her body into stark cuts of black. He smiled at her, somehow managing to be both warm and reassuring, yet that question of the words unspoken still remained, looming in the air between them.

She wouldn't allow it to darken their mood any further.

"Your pulse is going so hard, sweetheart..."

She couldn't hold back any longer.

Dora licked her lips.

The coyote hugged her a little tighter, supporting her even while he was ignorant to the true turmoil in her mind. He was there for her, just like he always was.

Taking a deep breath that did absolutely nothing to steady her nerve, Dora rolled her shoulders back, holding the tension there. Maybe it was time to say that thing. Finally. At last.

She just had to do it.

"Yote?"

He turned his eyes on her and she caught her breath, near enough drowning in those pools. The canine knew well just how others said that her eyes were icy but there was a softness to them too as she leaned into the only one that she had ever allowed that close, forgetting herself as she kissed his neck, nipping and lapping over his creamy throat with the utmost tenderness. It would have seemed strange if she'd allowed any other fur to see just how sweet she could be with her pet and fiancé but that was why it was something reserved solely for the two of them. That level of closeness, after all, was not for just anyone.

It was theirs.

"I..."

Oh, why did the words stick in her throat like that when she so very desperately wanted - no, needed to say them - the coyote blinking at her, dumbstruck in the moment. It wasn't like her to be lost for words, not ever, and she groaned at herself, rubbing her throat as if that would unblock it enough for her to, finally, say what she had wanted to say from the first time she had ever laid eyes on him.

For she'd known even then. Inhaling slowly, she held up a paw to stall him, eyes meeting his with the usual icy determination that he was used to.

"Yote?"

Time seemed to slow, each pulse of her heart and breath dragged out, mouth dry and yet the words, oh, the words, blessedly coming as she'd always intended them to. It was time. And there was no time like the present.

Her coyote waited, a smile on his muzzle.

"I love you."

She said it.