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Unconventional Engagement By Green

The car pulled into its usual spot in the parking lot, came to a halt, and shut down, the engine pinging for a few moments as the metal within slowly began to cool down. Most of the time, the door would be opening before the first ping, but today, the car just sat there, as if it had come here all by itself. This was not the case, of course, its sole occupant was merely rather pre-occupied. The German shepherd sat in the driver's seat, his seat belt still buckled up, his attention focused on the small box in his hands, on the velvety coating, and of course, on the words. Always with the words. "Y-you've made my life so much better in so many ways..." the dog started, before trailing off with a frown. That was true, but it didn't feel right. "These last few years have been the best of my life, Kai, and..." Hmmm. That was a good start, but where to go from there? Popping open the box, he removed the relatively simple, yet undeniably beautiful engagement ring from within it, and held it up before his eyes. Sometimes, he liked to skip to the end. "Kailyn... will you marry me?" Even whispering the words to himself in his car sent a powerful tingle down the shepherd's spine, and he grinned to himself. Maybe he could just throw the question out there, catch her off-guard. She definitely seemed to be expecting it these days, so the element of surprise might make things more interesting. Carefully putting the ring back in its box and the box back in his pocket, Darryl Oedic gathered his things and stepped out of the car, locking it remotely as he walked towards the entrance to the apartment building where he lived with the love of his life.

While he had never been a fan of how long it took for the water in his shower to warm up, Darryl had always appreciated how fast and how smooth the elevator in his building was. In no time at all, he was unlocking the door to his apartment and stepping inside, feeling that familiar swell of relief within him the very instant he crossed the threshold. It helped that the first thing he saw was his girlfriend on the couch, turning towards the door as he entered with a wide, beautiful smile. "Hey babe," he said, his tail beginning to wag behind him as he closed the door, "God, I love seeing you right when I walk inside, such a relief to be home. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love the job, it's just... sometimes I feel like I'd rather be one of those whackos who lives naked in the woods than sit at that desk for one more minute." Standing up, Kailyn Lockwood crossed the floor, whatever was playing on the TV forgotten, and threw her arms around her lover, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. She was a German shepherd too, though her fur was slightly lighter in tone than her boyfriend's, and she was a few inches shorter. Darryl had yet to put down his briefcase, but he reached up with his free arm and embraced the other canine warmly, the two of them sharing a brief kiss of a more sensual variety than the first, before Kailyn stepped away. By the blush on her cheeks, Darryl suspected it was one of those occasions where the shepherdess had ended a kiss to prevent the two of them from getting carried away. "I'm making spaghetti, it's almost done," she murmured, walking over to the kitchen part of the large front room, which was isolated from the rest of the apartment by a waist-high counter and some cupboards hanging from the ceiling above it, neatly defining the kitchen's area while still making it easy to talk to people outside of it or even bend down to watch TV across the room. Slipping out of his shoes and putting down his case, Darryl followed her as she checked on a pot of boiling noodles, stepping in close behind her and placing his hands on her hips as he leaned down to kiss her on the neck, not quite done savouring her presence. She giggled, but looked over her shoulder briefly to give him a rather obviously fake grumpy look. "C'mon, hon, quit it," she said, without much enthusiasm, "Dinner's almost ready, and I don't want it to be ruined because we were too busy fooling around... again." Lightly touching his nose to the base of her neck, Darryl inhaled deeply of the female's scent, shivering as it filled his lungs, and chuckled. "Mmmm... we could always order takeout..." he teased, nipping at one of his lover's sensitive ears, "We keep talking about trying that new Chinese place down the road, what is it, Royal something Wok?" As she stirred the noodles rather distractedly, Kailyn groaned exasperatedly, even as she leaned her head to the side as if offering more of her neck for kisses. "Darryl, you know I don't like doing it in the kitchen," she quietly scolded, but the male just chuckled again. "I know, baby, but it's so much easier to clean up in here," he said, slowly sliding his hand up her side. Before he could grope one of her pert breasts, the other dog slipped out of his grasp and held up her stirring spoon as if it were a weapon. "You are in a mood!" she said, shaking her head even as she smiled, "Look, try to keep it in your pants until we've eaten, we've got the whole weekend to ourselves, remember?" Darryl laughed gently and shrugged, turning to walk towards their bedroom. "Well, hey, can't blame a guy for trying, right?"

Soon enough, Darryl had changed from his office clothes into something more casual, and the young couple sat at the dinner table, exchanging little tidbits about their respective days over pasta. "I was honestly floored how grateful he was," Darryl was saying, "I mean, you've met Leroy, right? It's not like he's normally a hard-ass or anything, but all I did was warn him his fly was open before he went to meet with the board, and he's acting like I saved the company or something." Kailyn grinned at that. "You should see if you can get a raise out of that," she playfully suggested, pointing in his general direction with a noodle-laden fork. He grinned back, but as he swallowed a mouthful of spaghetti, Darryl was suddenly struck with a curious moment of courage. "Soooo, Kai, I was wondering something..." he started, slowly reaching towards his pocket, as though he were trying to grab a weapon without drawing attention. Before he could finish his thought or retrieve the ring box, though, Kailyn suddenly lit up, and for a moment, he thought she had somehow seen through even this vague introduction and knew he was about to pop the question. She quickly proved this was hardly the case, though. "Ooh! Me too, actually, can I go first?" she asked, innocently. Feeling his bravery seeping away, the male did his best to keep his disappointment out of his voice. "Oh, s-sure, babe, what is it?" he replied. The slender shepherd leaned forward and put on one of her best smiles. "So, I've been thinking," she said, "About how you were adopted when you were a baby." Her lover's ears flattened, but she quickly interrupted him before he could speak. "I know, I know! We've talked about it before, and you don't feel like you're missing anything not knowing who your re- your biological parents are." Darryl silently awarded her a few points for catching that slip-up herself, as he was quite close to the family whose surname he was proud to be known by. Without a word, he took a drink, waiting for her to get to the point, and she continued. "It's just, let's face it, baby, we're probably gonna get married one of these days, and, well..." Kailyn started, looking down into her spaghetti just long enough for Darryl to force his face back to a casual expression, "I kinda want your bio parents to be there, it would mean a lot to me." She looked back up, giving him the Puppy Dog Eyes. "Can't we just try and look into it, sweetie, please?" she asked, but Darryl crossed his arms, uncertain. "What if we look into it and find out my mother's a junkie who got knocked up when she was sixteen, and wasn't sure who my father was?" he asked, "What if - what if I'm better off not knowing who they are?" Kailyn frowned, her ears lowering. "I - I'm sorry, Darryl," she said, softly, "I guess I didn't think about the bad possibilities, the -" He lifted a hand, cutting her off. "It's alright, Kai. I... the truth is, I have looked into my past, a few years back, and I didn't really get anywhere," he admitted, "Just ended up with a bunch of official documents that don't really help, since it doesn't really tell me anything about who my mother is or where I could find her. I... I've actually still got them, in the closet I think, and if you want, we could go over them together, but I don't want you to be too disappointed if it goes nowhere..." Kailyn perked up a little, smiling as her ears stood up again, and relaxed in her seat. "I'd like that, hon, thank you." After a moment of gathering noodles on her fork again, she looked up and winked. "I love you, Darryl." The response wasn't so much automatic as it was instinctual, like Darryl couldn't imagine not saying it. "I love you too."

Once the two shepherds had polished off the last of the spaghetti, Kailyn went and cleared off the table out in the main room, normally laden with remote controls and TV guides, and Darryl searched through the boxes they'd stuffed into the hall closet, eventually returning with a smaller box which he placed on the table between them. Opening it, Kailyn withdrew the stapled papers on top of the stack and scrutinized them. "Hmm... I think this is the record of you being adopted by your parents," she said, flipping to the second page and frowning slightly, "But who's John Jones?" Darryl raised a hand, smiling thinly. "That would be me, or at least it's the name the adoption agency gave me before the Oedics adopted me," he said, "I was just a baby, so I don't actually remember. Honestly, if they weren't huskies, I would have no idea I wasn't theirs." For a moment, his expression soured. "...Ever since I got a look at those forms I've wondered why my mother didn't name me," he muttered. Kailyn reached forward and placed her hand over his. "We don't know who she was yet, baby," she said, soothingly, "She might have been some scared teenager in over her head or something, and she did care for you enough to give you away, to make sure you'd be well taken care of." One of his ears twitched as Darryl smirked. "You know, I never thought about it that way," he admitted, "It was always 'the mother who didn't want me', maybe... maybe she only did it because it was best for me." His girlfriend smiled supportively, putting down the forms as she brushed her hair out of her eyes. Over the next while, they carefully went through the forms in the box, including legal forms, a doctor's examination of "John Jones" on behalf of the agency, and photocopies of the correspondence between the agency and the Oedics. Darryl shook his head as he scanned one of these papers, sighing. "Ugh, I swear, this Mrs. Doe must be a lawyer on the side," he muttered, "you need training for your writing to be this boring." Kailyn snickered at that, leafing through a faded old 'So You're Thinking of Adopting' brochure. "There's gotta be something that can help us..." she said, distractedly, "maybe we could call the newspaper and make a big deal out of it, they love stories of heartwarming reunions... Do you actually have any of the documents from when you were, you know, given up?" Nodding, the taller dog put down the sheets he was currently looking at, and began to poke around in the box. "Let's see... here we go," he said, withdrawing a group of legal papers held together with a small clamp, "These are the forms right here, signed by my mother and everything. I tried googling her name a while back, but it's really common, got a zillion hits, need something to pare down the results..." Kailyn nodded as she accepted the forms, absently picking up a cup of coffee she'd made herself during their search (decaf, as it was late and she simply liked the flavour), but it never made it to her lips. She flipped to the second paper in the stack and cried out in abject horror as if the form had described in minute detail the way she was going to die. "Oh - oh my God, no! No!" she gasped, the cup slipping out of her hand, forgotten, spilling coffee all over the carpet. "This c-can't be right! It can't be! Oh, Jesus Christ, p-please, tell me this is a mistake!" Darryl watched, alarmed, as his lover stumbled to her feet, taking deep, heaving breaths, eyes locked on that form before her. "Kai? What's wrong?" he asked, all thoughts of the documents they'd been sharing gone from his mind, replaced with concern for the woman he loved, who now seemed almost hysterical, close to tears. "God, Darryl, if this is a p-prank, I'll fucking kill you... b-but it has to be a prank, please tell me it's not real!" she stammered, now visibly trembling, shaking her head at the paper before her. Darryl stood up, but she stepped away as he approached her, her tail hiding between her legs and her ears flattening against her skull. "Baby, I have no idea what you're talking about!" he said, "You're scaring me! What is it?!" She finally looked up at him, and her eyes were filling with tears. She turned the forms around and held them up to face him, pointing with her free hand at the bottom of the paper that had so upset her. "Oh Jesus, Darryl," she whimpered, "This - this is my mother's signature! I've s-seen it enough to recognize it! If - if this is real, then... then it was my mom who gave you up for adoption... which m-means that..." Overwhelmed with emotion, the girl dropped the forms to the ground, letting out a pitiful moan as she collapsed into the chair behind her without looking, burying her face in her hands and openly sobbing, as Darryl began to feel a bit light-headed as the repercussions of what she'd said sank in, finding himself finishing her horrified thought. "...Which means we'd be brother and sister."

Seeing the shepherdess weeping, so obviously miserable, in such pain, Darryl's first instinct, albeit not a very well thought-out one, was to go to her, to comfort her, but as he reached in, she looked up, looking ashamed, almost panicked. "D-don't touch me!" Kailyn cried, leaping out of the chair and stepping away from him as if he had some terrible, contagious disease. "There's - there's got to be another explanation," he insisted, without a lot of strength behind it, his mind refusing to accept what he'd just learned, "Please, sit down, baby, we can think this through, and -" Holding up one hand, Kailyn let out a canine whine and cut him off. "Oh God, d-don't call me baby, if - if I'm really your sister, then..." she crossed her arms in front of herself, whimpering, "...Then what we've b-been doing is sick!" Before Darryl could say anything else, the other dog turned and ran to the door. "I'm - I'm sorry, I j-just can't deal with this right now! I can't deal with this!" she cried, grabbing her shoes from the floor and her car keys from the hook next to the door so quickly, part of Darryl's mind briefly wondered if she'd practiced the motion. She slipped into the hallway without even turning around or putting her shoes on, and he heard her heavy steps far enough away that he suspected she was sprinting to the elevator. Feeling dizzy again, fairly numb, he walked back over to the couch and flopped down, trying to make sense of anything that had just happened. It seemed ridiculous, unreal, impossible even... could he seriously be Kailyn's long-lost older brother? What were even the odds of that? He'd known, on some level, that the name on his adoption papers was, like her mother's name, Diane Lockwood, but it had never occurred to him, even theoretically or as a joke, that they could be the same Diane Lockwood. He'd met Kailyn's mother on many occasions, wouldn't she have recognized him or something? He answered that one himself, sighing and shaking his head. Of course she wouldn't have recognized him, because even if - if she was his mother, he would have been an infant the last time she saw him, and he wouldn't have been 'Darryl Oedic' back then, so her daughter's boyfriend would have appeared no different from any other German shepherd to her. He glanced down to the floor and saw the coffee soaking into the carpet, and frowned slightly, idly thinking that they were going to have to rent a steam cleaner. It was only when he caught himself thinking 'Kailyn is going to be pissed, she loves this carpet', that he suddenly found his vision blurring from tears of his own. Because no matter how firmly he tried to convince himself that it was over, no matter how sure he was that it should have been like a switch that flipped off once he learned they might be related... he was still deeply in love with her. Hunching over, he followed her example and buried his face in his hands, crying.

He sat there, he didn't know how long, reeling from the feelings flowing through him, unwillingly going through every memory of Kailyn, from the moment they met in college to this very day, re-examining every facet of their relationship. The casual way they'd flirted during their study group, even with the other members right there. The day he gave her a ride home from class in an unexpected rainstorm, only to be invited in for dinner, and received a kiss on the cheek for his troubles. Despite the horror within him, remembering their first real kiss, their first date, made him feel warm inside, even if he couldn't muster up a smile. He groaned, shaking his head as if trying to dislodge the pain. Had there been signs or clues to all this that they should have seen? Should they have noticed something familiar in that first lingering glance? Surely a pair of siblings should instinctively feel disgust when they kissed, for Christ's sake! But no, there had been no ignored warnings, at least none that Darryl had noticed, in fact he felt happier, more comfortable with Kai, than he had with any of his previous girlfriends. The first night they made love, he had felt like a virgin again, discovering a whole new level of pleasure to share with another person. And it was hardly the only time they'd done it. But shouldn't he have felt disgusted, or at least guilty, on some instinctive level? To be - to be touching his own sister like that? He didn't even have anything to compare it to, the Oedics didn't have any children of their own and he was the only one they'd ever adopted. Finally, it grew to be too much for him, and he stood bolt upright, wiping away the tears and clearing his nose with a single strong sniff. "Right," he said, to no one in particular, "Fuck this." Walking determinedly over to the phone, he picked it up and dialed the number of one of his best friends from memory with one hand while he retrieved a pad of paper and a pen with the other. While it rang, he jotted down a note describing his intentions, on the off chance that Kailyn came back, which he left on the otherwise empty dining table, where she couldn't miss it. "Hello?" came the voice on the other end. "Jason? It's Darryl. Uh - you guys doing anything tonight?" he asked, forcing his voice to stay calm. "Oh, hey dude, nah, nothing much," his friend replied, "We were gonna veg out in front of the TV. Why?" Darryl took a deep breath. What the hell do you even say in a situation like this? He still refused to 100% accept that he and Kailyn were blood relatives, so he decided discretion would be the better part of valour. "I... Look, everything's gone to shit tonight and I need to get drunk. You in?"

Half-an-hour later, Darryl was on the bus with his friends Jason and Clark, a human and a dingo, respectively. They'd ridden in silence for most of the trip, but now Jason cleared his throat and interrupted his brooding friend. "So, uh, Darryl... you wanna talk about it?" he said, somewhat reluctantly. Darryl looked up warily, glancing between the other two men. "About what?" he asked. Clark adjusted his glasses and clicked his tongue. "Come on, man, even if you hadn't told Jase that 'everything has turned to shit' or whatever, we've known you forever, we can tell when something's eating you," he said, reaching across the aisle and placing a hand supportively on his friend's shoulder, "Come on man, I haven't seen someone this moody since - well, since me when my parents weren't exactly thrilled when I came out." Yeah, Darryl thought, but at least they got over it. Kai and I can't get over our DNA. Out loud, though, he just sighed, letting a little of the stress leak into his voice. "I... it's Kailyn," he said, after a moment, which clearly surprised his buddies. "Are you two fighting?" asked Jason, incredulously, "Shit, I didn't think you guys had serious fights. What happened?" They fell silent as the bus stopped and some people walked past their seats, and then, once it started moving again, Darryl shook his head. "I really don't wanna talk about it, guys, not yet..." he said, "But... it's bad. Really bad. Might mean... might mean the end of everything." Clearly saddened by the news, Clark shook his head and slumped down slightly in his seat. "Oh, fuck, man..." he muttered, before speaking up, "I'm so sorry, dude, I thought - I thought you two had something special." Reaching into his pants and retrieving the ring case he'd forgotten to leave behind, Darryl popped it open for emphasis and briefly stared at the jewellery inside. "You're telling me." Clark and Jason were obviously dismayed by the revelation of how close, exactly, Kailyn and Darryl had been before these mysterious events, but before they could say anything, the bus pulled up to their stop, and all three men stepped off, where they were greeted by their mutual friend Ed, a mixed breed feline who lived in the area. As they walked the short distance to the bar, Clark put his hand on Ed's chest to slow his pace, the two of them hanging back so the dingo could quietly explain the reason for Darryl's melancholy, at least as far as he knew it, so that he wouldn't have to repeat himself. Darryl was so lost in his thoughts, though, that he wouldn't have noticed even if they'd been standing right behind him.

The Fiddler's Boots Pub was comfortable and familiar, and they wasted no time helping Darryl drown his sorrows. Even in his sorry state, the shepherd couldn't help but crack a smile when a human girl approached the group and started flirting with Clark, who played along at first before letting her off gently. "Sorry, sweetie," he said, holding up his left hand and wiggling his ring finger, "Afraid I'm married. But I prefer my humans to have beards anyway. Better luck next time." As she left, blushing furiously, Ed turned to him with an incredulous look on his face. "Dammit man, this happens every time we go out!" he said, laughing, "Why do you get all the tail chasers? I'd love me some human honeys to keep me warm at night!" Darryl snorted, the first noise he'd made in ten minutes. "Gee, I dunno, Ed, that's a pretty loud shirt," he deadpanned, "Maybe they think you're gay." That earned him the laughter of his friends, a high five from Clark, and a light-hearted middle finger from Ed. The cat turned towards the other canine present, smirking. "I have to admit, you handled her pretty well. Do you practice those lines in front of a mirror or something?" he asked, "All 'I prefer my humans to have beards!'" While Clark gave him a look for his poor impression, Jason snickered and scratched his chin. "Is that why my razor keeps disappearing?" he asked, poking his husband in the shoulder. Clark held up one hand, palm-forward. "I plead the fifth." After some more snickering, Jason finished off his beer and stood up. "I'ma be right back, guys, I'm busting for a piss," he said, as Ed slipped out of his own chair, already buzzed enough to be grinning like a Cheshire. "That makes two of us, but don't you be getting any funny ideas while we're alone in the can, I'll totally rat you out," he teased, "Clark's teeth are scarier than yours." The human playfully whacked him on the back of the head as they walked off, and Darryl and Clark were left alone. The shepherd was quietly relieved, truth be told, he hadn't anticipated how much it would hurt seeing Jason and Clark playing the part of the doting married couple, underlining the painful idea that he and Kailyn would likely never experience that life... and shouldn't want to. Something odd popped into his head as he took another swig, something he should have immediately pushed out of his mind... but didn't. Turning to his friend, Darryl hesitated for a moment, then asked a question while they were alone. "Hey, uh, Clark? I've been kinda wondering for a while... How do you and Jase feel about the people who say you're, you know... 'living in sin'? How do you deal with that?" he asked. Raising one eyebrow, the dingo picked up his mug, his answer brief and casual. "Fuck 'em," he said, pausing to take a drink before continuing, "Those people are going to think we're horrible deviants no matter what we do, so we try not to think about them at all. I mean, they don't respect us, so why should we respect their opinion, you know?" He shrugged as he adjusted his glasses again. "I have to admit, it's making this whole 'starting a family' thing more of a pain in the ass than it should be," he said, "They're doubly afraid to let us adopt. Both because we're gay, and because they think I'll eat the baby." This sudden reminder of both the ideas of adoption and starting a family struck a nerve within Darryl, but he managed to get the pained look off his face before Clark finished laughing at his own joke.

The rest of the night wasn't so bad, the shepherd actually managed to have an okay time, and Darryl's friends wished him the best of luck in his mysterious situation as he stepped out of the taxi and wobbled back over to his apartment building. "Kai?" he called out, as he entered the home they'd shared, but the lights were off, the note he'd left remained where it was, and there was no response. Sighing, he walked to their bedroom, trying to think of it as a good sign that her things were still there. When he lay down to begin sleeping it off, he discovered that the bed still carried Kailyn's scent, and found himself thankful for the alcohol in his system as he began to nod off even as tears silently rolled down his cheeks.

He awoke the next morning, and for a few blissful seconds, he couldn't remember why his girlfriend wasn't in bed with him, wondering if she was up early making breakfast. Then it all came crashing back down on him, and he sighed. At least he wasn't hung over, he felt like shit as it was. He briefly pondered the idea of just lying in bed all day feeling sorry for himself - it was the weekend, after all - but then decided if he was going to be miserable, he might as well be comfortable, and got out of bed to wash off the beer sweat in the shower. Walking into the bathroom in his boxers, he let out a deep sigh at the sight of Kai's many toiletries, and tried to focus all of his attention on the shower, idly scratching his sheath while he waited for the water to heat up. It was actually easier than he would have thought to let his mind empty while he stood beneath the cascading water, and something about getting fresh and clean actually made him feel a little better. Soon enough, he walked naked back to their room and got dressed, avoiding sitting on the bed, avoiding her scent, and he was just going out to the kitchen to find something to eat when the lock rattled and the door opened, revealing a somewhat subdued-looking Kailyn Lockwood. A billion thoughts danced chaotically through his mind, so many questions, so many things to say... so he picked the simplest of them all. "Oh! ...Hey." The female smiled a little weakly and stepped inside. "Hey yourself," she replied, her common response to that particular greeting. She set down her purse on the table and looked to the note. "Oh, uh, nevermind that, I went to the Boots with the guys," he said, "I... are you okay, Kai?" He'd caught himself at the last second, about to call her 'baby' again, and now he tried to hide his sorrow that he probably never would again. "I'm alright..." she said, before sighing, visibly slumping her shoulders, "No... no, that's a lie, I feel awful." He nodded in the direction of the main room, where they'd made this horrible discovery. "Come on, have a seat," he said, "We need to talk, huh?" She nodded, and as she sat down, hugging her arms close to her chest, he put the coffee on and absently grabbed a muffin from the pantry, to put something in his stomach. Then he joined her in the front room, taking a seat next to her on the couch. Seeing her discomfort, Darryl's instinct was to put his arm around her and hold her close, and resisting this impulse hurt more than he would have expected. "So... your mother's signature," he started, not sure what else to say, "I suppose it goes without saying that you're sure..." Ears flat against her head, Kailyn closed her eyes and made an unhappy noise. "I'm s-sorry I ran out on you last night. It's just... realizing who we might be to each other... what we've done..." the slender shepherd opened her eyes and somewhat reluctantly regarded the man whose heart she'd stolen. "It was a bit overwhelming," she said, "So I spent the night at my parents' place. They were... concerned... but I..." she trailed off, before tensing up and flinching, "I didn't tell them, Darryl, I tried, but I - I just couldn't! How could I look my mother in the eyes and tell her I'd found the long-lost brother she'd never wanted me to know about, and I'd - I'd been fucking him for years now?"

Kailyn whimpered, clenching her eyes tightly shut like a child afraid of a movie in front of her, before looking back over at her - her lover? Her brother? Darryl had no idea what they were anymore, he just knew it hurt. "I... I got Mom alone last night and started asking questions, you know, discreetly, it was just killing me not knowing," she said, before answering the question that burned inside Darryl's soul. "It doesn't look good, swee... Darryl." Pulling her legs up on the couch and hugging them against her chest, Kai rested her chin on her knees and stared down at the carpet, though her eyes were a thousand miles away, lost in her thoughts. "I didn't come right out and ask her if she'd ever given up a baby for adoption," she said, softly, "But I asked her... when she'd met Dad, what they were doing, uh, how long they were dating, how did he propose, that kind of thing... Jesus, Darryl, the dates... the dates line up." "What do you m-mean?" he asked, suddenly angry at himself for letting that stutter leak into his voice, for showing the sorrow within him. Kailyn didn't comment on it, just kept going. "The year you were born... my parents were going steady, they were college sweethearts. L-like we thought we were. She got all evasive about what things were like when they were dating, and I want to believe it was, I don't know, maybe they were having crazy amounts of sex and she didn't want to tell her daughter that, but with that adoption form, I can totally see it; they loved each other, but they were college students living in shitty apartments, there was no way they could afford to start a family, to raise a kid..." When she looked up again, there were tears starting to roll down her cheeks. "Oh, J-Jesus Christ, Darryl, it's not even like she got knocked up by some ex-boyfriend and we'd only be half-siblings, Mom and Dad have been together for ages..." she whimpered, "You're... you're most likely my full-blood, honest-to-God older brother..." Averting her eyes, visibly trembling, she finished the thought in a subdued whisper, as if she was only just realizing it now and saying it to herself. "...And I wanted to have your kids someday."

There was a moment of profoundly heavy silence, then, as they absorbed the full impact of this revelation, as Darryl felt the last shreds of hope that they'd been wrong, that they weren't related by anything but their feelings, melt away. Kailyn seemed to be trying to curl up into a ball and disappear, hanging her head down and letting her hair fall in front of her face. "I - I read about this thing online, 'genetic sexual attraction' or something, where family members who don't meet until they're adults find each other sexy..." she muttered, "Ohhhh, God, I can't believe this has happened... I - I feel like my whole life is coming to an end... I just... I just..." Releasing the grip she had on her legs, Kai reached up and rather firmly took hold of her head, as if she was afraid that the stress would cause it to explode, sobbing as the tears really started coming. As he sat there, though he didn't really think about it, Darryl felt more pain from watching Kailyn suffer than he did from his own grief. In that moment, he made a decision, and found himself moving towards her, arms out. Kailyn sensed his approach and looked up, looking dismayed and conflicted. "Noooo, don't - don't touch me, I'm your s-sister!" she protested, cringing away from him. Despite this, he reached forward a little forcefully and wrapped his arms around her tightly. "Then let me be a brother for the first time in my life and comfort my sister when she's hurting," he said, the first thing that came to mind. The shepherdess tensed up in his embrace, as if she were afraid of this contact between them, and then she went limp, returning his hug and sobbing into his shoulder. Then, as he had done on previous occasions, he just held her close and rubbed her hair soothingly, but as he felt her warmth against him, he couldn't bring himself to whisper to her that everything would be alright, feeling the tears starting to form in his own eyes. And then, once she had cried herself out, Kailyn said something that caused Darryl's ears to stand bolt upright, to light a fire inside his chest... to bring hope back to his eyes. When she had collected herself enough to speak, Kai looked up and blearily murmured, "S-so... should we t-tell everyone the truth, let M-Mom know you're her son... or do we just make up an excuse for breaking up and take the secret to our graves?" Looking at her brother's face, she frowned, unable to understand the reason behind his expression. "What?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. Starting to tremble himself, heart beating so fast he was light-headed, Darryl slowly turned his head to face her and whispered a single word of his own. "No." "No? What do you mean, no?" she asked, clearly unhappy that he chose this miserable moment to be cryptic, "No to which?" "No to both!" he cried, reaching up and placing a hand on her cheek. Kailyn was so absorbed in his inexplicable reactions that she didn't think to flinch away from his tender touch. Before she could demand an explanation, he kept going. "You said you didn't tell your parents, right? They don't know I'm their son yet, right?" he asked, not giving her a chance to answer before barrelling on to the next thought, "I - I didn't tell the guys anything specific, just that we might be breaking up. Kailyn... All night long, I tried to tell myself that you know your own mother's signature, that I should stop hoping you were wrong, but I can't. Because I... I still love you, Kai. I love you more than I love myself. And I can't imagine the rest of my life without you in it, I just can't!" Now, the she-shepherd pulled away from him, disgust in her eyes. Disgust, mixed with... something else, something harder to read. "Are you listening to yourself, Darryl? For fuck's sake, it's not like we just found out one of us has a disease or something, I'm your sister!" she cried, jabbing him hard in the chest with an accusatory finger, "Even the idea of us still having a future together, it's... it's sick!" Without warning, Darryl lunged forward and grabbed her by the shoulders, startling her slightly. "I know. It would be incest. It's illegal in a lot of places, and it's considered just slightly above fooling around with ferals in almost every major society. And I absolutely don't care," he said, his voice dead steady, thick with emotion, "Kailyn, you don't even know how much you mean to me, there isn't a single aspect of my life that you haven't improved, not one! You've given me the strength to keep going at some of the worst times in my life, and made the best parts even better just because I get to share them with you. I love you more than I thought it was possible to love someone! There are a million reasons why we shouldn't stay together, but none of them matter to me as much as the one reason why we should. Kailyn Lockwood, you make me whole."

Kailyn lowered her ears, the tears once more running down her cheeks as she shook her head. "D-don't you say that! Don't you dare say that! You're making me w-want to... want to..." she stammered, trembling in his arms, "Oh, God, Darryl, you're making me want to listen to you! I'm still in love with you too, dammit, but - but we're grown-ups in the real world, we can't just ignore the truth!" Reaching up to brush his fingers against her cheek again, softly, soothingly, Darryl leaned in a little closer. "Why not, babe? I mean it," he whispered, "Right now, the only people in the whole world who know that your mother is also my mother are sitting on this couch. Let's just not tell anyone, keep it a secret, and keep going as if nothing was different. Because the most important things, the way we feel about each other, haven't changed, even though we know the truth!" Kailyn was staring intensely at a spot roughly two inches above the other dog's shoulder, clearly more invested in her thoughts than in her eyes at the moment, but as she pondered these words, she absently pressed her cheek against Darryl's fingers as he continued to stroke her fur. When she finally looked up again, the disgust in her eyes had been replaced with fear, which was probably what the feeling had really been all along. But now, the other emotion was clearly identifiable... as hope. "...We w-wouldn't be able to have k-kids, the way we always wanted," she whispered, finally, "Even if no one else knew, it would s-still be... in-breeding." Pain and hope battled it out in her tone, the voice of someone daring to believe in something impossible. "We can adopt, like my parents did," Darryl replied, "I speak from personal experience when I tell you they'd love us just as much as if they were our own." Her eyes stared into his, uncertain and fearful, and Kai slowly reached up and placed her hand over her brother's, holding it against her cheek. "Do... do you think we could really do that, Darryl?" she asked, barely audibly, "Could we really just..." As she struggled for words, the taller shepherd leaned in and gently nuzzled against her other cheek, before leaning back and smiling at her. "I'm willing to try," he whispered back, "If you are." They sat there like that in silence for another few moments, and then, feeling his heart beating at least as fast as the first time he'd tried this, Darryl slowly began to lean in, not hiding his intentions, and though he hesitated out of nervousness, Kailyn made no movements to stop or slow him as he closed his eyes, pursed his lips, and kissed the woman who was both his girlfriend and his sister.

Darryl felt a shiver run through Kai's body when they made contact, and he found himself marvelling, as if it was their first kiss again, at how soft and supple her lips were. It was only when she moved to kiss him back, her tongue shyly coming forward to mingle with his, that Darryl realized he'd been holding his breath from fear that she could still reject him, and exhaled through his nostrils in the form of a whimper of relief. As if they'd sealed a pact to take this secret to their graves, the shepherds began to get more and more comfortable with each other, reaching up to embrace as their kiss grew more involved, more sensual. When they finally broke it off, they were both blushing, feeling nervous and excited in ways they couldn't completely describe. So neither of them tried. "I love you, Kailyn," he breathed, pushing a stray lock of hair out of her eyes. "I love you too," she replied, wiping a tear of joy off of his cheek. They held each other close for a moment longer, and then Kai looked up, blushing a little harder. "Uhh... Darryl? I don't know if this sounds weird, but I... since I thought I was going to lose you, and now I know we'll still be together, I kind of..." she trailed off, making vague hand gestures, and Darryl grinned. "...Want some?" he suggested diplomatically, letting one of his hands slip a little south, giving her butt a squeeze. She giggled. "Okay, not weird then." The other dog shrugged and winked. "Well, we're secret siblings, so it's a little weird, but I won't tell if you don't. Now then..." Without warning, he suddenly swept her up in his arms and stood up, much to her delight. Carrying her towards their bedroom, Darryl leaned down to kiss his lover, and was happy to feel (thanks to it bumping into his stomach) that her tail was wagging just as hard as his.

Soon, they lay on the bed, kissing hungrily and undressing each other. Kailyn pulled off Darryl's shirt and let her hand wander his chest, one finger tracing his muscles approvingly. "Mmmm, baby, this bed felt so big and empty without you in it last night..." he whispered, bending down to kiss the curve of her shoulder as his hands worked on her belt buckle. Glancing up at her face, he cocked an ear to the side. "Y-you're okay with me calling you 'baby' again, right?" he asked, "You didn't say anything that last time, so..." She giggled and licked his nose, unzipping his pants and reaching in to fondle him through his underwear. "It's music to my ears, sweetie," she happily confirmed, "as long as you don't call me 'sis' in bed, we'll be just fine." They both laughed softly at that, though they quickly found something more enjoyable to do with their mouths. This kiss lingered, though they inevitably broke it off to shed the last of their clothes, embracing each other's naked bodies, running their fingers through soft shepherd fur, both of them savouring the sensations they never thought they'd get to experience again. Darryl shivered with delight as he felt his lover's hand cup over his sheath, before going to work on his most sensitive parts, Kailyn's slender fingers teasing at the opening and stroking along the short, fuzzy length, chuckling into his ear as she felt his flesh waking up, beginning to stir and move within, using soft, sensual strokes in exactly the right spots to send joy dancing along his nerves and flooding through his body. Soon, with a groan, surrendering to her expert touch, he felt his hardening prick begin to slide out, inhaling sharply as she switched her tactic and wrapped her fingers around his oh-so-sensitive shaft before it had even fully emerged from its hiding place, the shepherdess licking playfully at his throat as her fingers rubbed and stroked the tapered head of his cock. When she was finally satisfied that he couldn't get any harder, she gave his penis one last loving caress and then let go... for now. Naturally, her lover was only too eager to thank her properly for her care and attention. As Darryl lowered himself to Kailyn's chest, kissing and licking at her nipples, the shapely canine arched her back and whimpered with pleasure, instinctively wrapping one leg around her lover's thighs in an almost possessive way.

For his part, Darryl wasn't just doing this for her sake, he really, really enjoyed playing with his lover's breasts, squeezing the soft, malleable flesh with hands they seemed to fit perfectly into, teasing his lips and tongue along nipples that grew hard and pointed from his adorations; on more than one occasion, he'd gotten so wrapped up in Kai's chest that she'd had to ask him to focus his attentions elsewhere, as she'd gotten so turned on that the rest of her body was begging for his touch. Keeping this lesson in mind, he let one hand slip down along her stomach and between her legs, gently running the backs of his fingers along her cleft the way he would rub her cheek while staring adoringly into her eyes. She moaned softly in approval, so he let his hand linger, running one finger along his lover's slit, impressed at how wet she had already become, before quickly giving into temptation and parking his hand on her vulva and working his fingers inside her, shuddering in anticipation from the heat alone. But he'd barely begun to explore her wet warmth, had only just started paying any attention to her clitoris in fact, before she groaned with need and pulled him away from her boobs to talk to him. "God, Darryl, I - I need to touch you so bad," she whispered, her voice husky with raw desire, backing up her 'story', "Let me do this for you sweetie, please..." Not being able to read her mind, and rather addled by hormones at the moment, Darryl was about to ask her what 'this' was, before she urged him with her hands into a most curious position; he found himself sitting up, with her lying on her side before him, one of his legs tucked over her in order to give her access to his groin, where she wasted no time in running her tongue along his shaft. He couldn't hold in the moan, and from the sparkle in her eyes, that was exactly what she'd wanted. Soon, Kailyn was kissing and licking at his erection, bathing it in her saliva, and he was having a lot of trouble sitting still, or at least having trouble sitting still and keeping the embarrassing noises contained. When she finally, finally parted her lips and took his tool into her mouth, his entire length sliding smoothly into her muzzle, Darryl couldn't help but throw back his head and moan. "Mother of God!" he cried, his ears flattening as he savoured the feelings, "K-Kai, I haven't seen you this, this eager in forever!" She didn't take her mouth off of him to answer, but he swore the corners of her muzzle turned up after he said that. Unable to just sit there and watch while such a beautiful shepherdess lay nude before him, and with his attention drawn by her rapidly wagging tail, he reached forward and slid his hand between her thighs, picking up where he left off earlier. This was clearly her show, so instead of trying to get her off, he just gently fingered her, teasing her clit occasionally, as if rewarding her for the incredible pleasure she was bringing him. But as her tongue swirled around his shaft, lovingly rubbing against the underside, as her soft lips ran up and down his sensitive flesh, as she took his testicles in hand and began to rub and massage them, Darryl felt himself getting closer and closer to the edge, and began to squirm. "Oh f-fuck," he panted, "you're so good at this... I - I'm getting close babe, s-slow down..." To his surprise, his lover just redoubled her efforts, and he felt her inner walls clench down hard on his fingers, clearly turned on by the idea of making him come. He couldn't quite bring himself to push her off his cock, but he found his ears lowering again and staying down, embarrassed that she was so easily bringing him to the brink of orgasm. When the base of his cock started to swell and his knot began to form, and still she showed no signs of stopping, there could be no doubt about her intentions. "K-Kailyn, wait -" he started, before interrupting himself with a wordless cry of pleasure; the other dog had closed the first two fingers on her free hand on the flesh just behind the base of his knot, squeezing hard as she continued to bring heavenly pleasure to his prick, a simple, though effective means of simulating the feeling of tying with a lover for a canine like Darryl, which only sealed his fate. "Oh, oh, oh God - ohhhh!" he moaned, arching his back and burying his forgotten fingers in his lover's pussy as his climax overtook him, his dick beginning to throb and pulse, spurting thick, wet gouts of his seed directly into Kailyn's muzzle, painting her tongue and cheeks with his flavourful semen even as she continued to lick at his tip, even as she stroked him through his spasms, her tail wagging delightedly as she urged him to come and come and come.

When he finally finished, when he could spill no more seed for now, the shepherd felt dizzy, and he fell backwards with a rather undignified groan, his fingers slipping out of his lover's cleft as he did so. Her tail still wagging so hard it was a wonder it didn't fly off, Kailyn crawled up next to him, loudly swallowing his hot, gooey come before leaning in to playfully nuzzle at his cheek even as he absently began to lick at his fingers, gathering the juice she'd left there. When he'd finally gathered his thoughts enough to think, he turned to her and found her giggling at the dazed expression on his face. "That good, hmm?" she teased, booping his nose with the tip of a finger. He couldn't help but smile at her delight. "I - I'm just surprised, baby, I've never seen you like that," Darryl said, "And I thought you'd want to, you know, skip the foreplay and -" She shushed him with a finger pressed against his lips, and reached her other hand down to grip his cock, which was still rigidly stiff, thanks to his knot. All the self-control in the world couldn't have helped Darryl contain the shuddery ohhhh that escaped his lips as she began to stroke him again; since he'd just climaxed, his penis was still amazingly sensitive, but she didn't keep up the feather-light strokes for long. "Awww, sweetie," she said as he writhed, "That was just round one! Don't you worry about it... and if I seem a bit more into it today, well, I thought I'd never get to have you again, so I'm kinda revelling in this. Sorry if it's a bit much." He laughed softly at that. "Oh, don't get me wrong, babe, this is awesome," he replied, "I could get used to this!" Giggling, Kailyn got up, whipping her head to one side to get her hair out of her eyes. "Well then, why not give me a proper thank you, hmm?" she asked, throwing her leg across his body and lowering her glistening vulva towards his delighted smile.

Only too happy to return the favour, Darryl wasted no time in reaching up and placing his hands on top of her thighs, pulling her the last few inches down until he could open his mouth and reach her with his lips, pressing his muzzle against her dripping labia and burying his tongue between them, to lick at her inner walls and rub at her sensitive spots, knowing from experience every contour, every texture within her vagina, and savouring her sweet taste. As he placed one hand on her pelvis to tweak and rub at the stiff little nub of her clitoris, Kai clapped one hand over her mouth and let out a muffled moan. "Ohhhh, yessss, just like that, God..." she murmured, "Fuck me, you're good at this..." Tilting his head to the side long enough to deliver a playful response, he winked up at her and licked his chops. "Yes I am, and I fully intend to, but one thing at a time, love, one thing at a time..." he teased, delighted by her giggles. "You know, D-Darryl, I..." she started, blushing, "One of the things I kept thinking last night was h-how much I was going to miss the sex, because we're s-so good for each other... does that make me a pervert, thinking about sex at a time like that?" Leaning away from her heated cleft, moving his free hand to replace his lips and tongue, working them into and out of his lover's trembling, squeezing channel, he looked up at her with a smirk. "Awww, baby, of course not," he replied, soothingly, "Truth is, I'm relieved to hear you say that, because I - I couldn't stop thinking about it either. I was hoping it was just the booze, but hey, if we're perverts, at least we're perverts together." As Darryl wriggled back into position, his girlfriend began to scratch him behind the ears, and as he pressed his tongue between the shepherdess' lips once more, he found that he couldn't help but think; If that doesn't make you a pervert, sweet thing, sucking your brother's dick probably does. Like I said, at least we're perverts together...

Darryl closed his eyes (though he did enjoy the view) in order to better focus on the sensations of the moment, the way her inner walls flexed and reacted to his touch, the way Kailyn gasped and whimpered when he worked his tongue against her more sensitive spots, and the way her fingers grew more and more energetic scratching his ears as she grew more aroused. Soon, her hard little clit began to throb against his fingers, and the female began gently grinding against his mouth, wanting more of the wonderful pleasures he was bringing her. "Ohhh, Jesus, Darryl..." she sighed, "Just like that, k-keep going, you - you know me so well, mmmm..." He would have smiled had he not been otherwise occupied, as he could tell she was getting close just by the noises she was making, by the way she tensed and squirmed above him. It helped that she was getting much more productive; her juices were dripping off his short whiskers and a drop would run down his chin onto his throat now and then. So he focused on her love button, and sure enough, a short time later, she began breathing deep and hard, hunching over him, her hands having come to a stop, holding onto his ears tightly and making it a little hard to hear the wonderful moans she was making. "Oh God, D-Darryl, I'm so close, fucking hell... F-finish me, baby, make me c-come, I wanna coooome!" By the way she was riding his face at this point, you could be forgiven for thinking she'd been locked in a chastity belt all year, when they'd actually had a pretty good session of doggy-style (appropriately) just a couple days earlier on this very bed. But Darryl was more than up to the task, and he licked and kissed and nibbled with gusto, doing everything he knew from experience drove this wonderful woman crazy, and he felt a strange sort of pride when she finally threw back her head, arching her back and crying out his name as she was drowned in pleasure. The shepherd worked like a man possessed as his lover was overwhelmed by her climax, her vagina clenching down on his tongue and her clitoris pulsing against his fingers in time with her ecstasy; she'd spurted so much juice at the big moment that it had gotten in his eyes and he couldn't even see, going entirely by touch as he guided the woman he loved through orgasm.

When she finally went limp with a satisfied sigh, Kailyn got off her boyfriend's face, only a little wobbly, and lay down next to him, immediately cuddling into his arms and licking his cheek lovingly. He could feel the little naughty shivers she got as she licked her own nectar out of his fur. After a moment, without a word, as if it had been pre-scheduled, they turned to each other and kissed, much less hungrily than before, emphasizing their romantic feelings for each other. When they broke it off, the shepherds were both all smiles. "Thank you," Kailyn whispered, resting her cheek on his shoulder. "It was my pleasure," Darryl replied, running his hand up and down her back. After a moment, he leaned up and got her attention with a sly grin. "Hey..." he started, "Who's my bitch?" If the couple had been anything other than canines, Darryl would have been in some seriously hot water, but dogs had made great efforts to reclaim the word over the years, and so Kailyn just giggled. He'd never call her that in public, of course, as it still unfortunately carried a tone of serious disrespect in most other species' ears, but when they were alone, they used it now and then in a playful way. Hugging her man tight, Kai sighed happily, at peace with the world. "I am," she replied, nuzzling her cheek against his chest, "and don't you forget it." It wasn't long at all, though, before one of the hands wandering Darryl's body once again made its way to his penis, which of course was no less erect than it was before he'd gone down on her... though the knot had deflated somewhat. Darryl clenched a muscle and made it throb in her hand, and she grinned. "Interested in round two, hun?" he asked, "Or would this be round three? You know what, it doesn't matter..." Suddenly, he flipped over and pinned his surprised girlfriend to the bed, making her laugh with shock and delight. Tail wagging happily, erection jutting forth proudly, he lowered himself to kiss her on the cheek, acting as if he didn't notice his hard-on brushing against her leg. "Mmmm, let's forget about numbers and just go with what feels right, what do you say?"

They quickly made themselves more comfortable, and then Darryl leaned in, cock in hand, ready to line it up with Kailyn's entrance. But just before their flesh made contact, he froze, as the thought forced its way into his mind that it was his own little sister's pussy he was about to bury his prick in. He denied the guilt that tried to manifest at that point, as Kailyn was still the same girl he'd fallen in love with, sister or not, and it certainly hadn't stopped them from fooling around so far! Unfortunately, the perceptive shepherdess picked up on his hesitation, or perhaps on his ears lowering. "You okay, baby?" she asked, frowning slightly with mild worry. Blushing, not wanting to admit the truth, Darryl fortunately found something else that might have given him pause. "Ah, you're still on the pill, right?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck, "I mean, I know we weren't exactly trying to get pregnant before, but now that we know we're, uhh..." He trailed off, not wanting to say the words out loud when they were about to do The Deed, but Kailyn nodded, not needing him to. "Oh, uh, y-yeah, don't worry about it, we're good to go," she said, blushing and smiling self-consciously. Trying to relax, Darryl forced his ears to stand up and managed a smile, before he focused his attention southwards again, this time more successfully. Both shepherds, brother and sister, moaned softly as Kai's labia parted welcomingly, as the tapered head of Darryl's prick slid smoothly and easily into her tight, wet heat, her slick, silky inner walls clenching down on his shaft as if greeting an old friend. "Yes, God yes," Darryl gasped, unaware he was doing so, just as he was unaware that he was no longer forcing his ears to stand up. It wasn't just the pleasure he felt - though the amount of pleasure he was receiving just from being inside Kailyn was extraordinary indeed - it was more the fact that this pleasure, along with his feelings, were not tempered by guilt, this didn't feel like a furtive, shameful act, this felt like something wonderful, something magical, something he could never imagine being wrong, and this made him absolutely certain; that piece of paper hadn't changed anything, this beautiful, thoughtful woman was who he was meant to be with. So he drew back, shivering from the feeling of the cool air of the room on his juice-coated cock, and then drove it back into Kai's body, where it belonged, until his half-inflated knot bumped into her vulva. "Ohhhh, don't stop, baby," she moaned, digging her fingers into his back and shivering against him. With a somewhat feral groan, Darryl kept going, his prick sliding back and forth in her tight, gripping channel, and he leaned in to kiss her as he groped her chest, much to her appreciation. Soon, all thoughts of their secret relationship left his mind entirely... along with almost all the other thoughts in his head, until all that remained was the pleasure, the emotion of how much he loved this girl and how much he wanted to make her feel good. "What do you know..." he muttered, his voice heavy with lust, "make-up sex really is the best..." Kailyn laughed, laughing which turned to delighted whimpering as he leaned down to lightly nip at her neck and shoulders, holding her closer with the hand that wasn't currently fondling her breasts.

The shepherds continued for quite some time, sometimes rutting fast and hard, like ferals in heat, sometimes going quite slow, focusing more on kissing and caressing each other, but always, their eyes were locked together, their attention entirely on their lover. It was because of this, then, that Darryl was taken by surprise when he felt one of Kai's hands wrap itself around his knot and give it a squeeze. "K-Kailyn?" he asked, trying not to slow down his thrusts. She lowered her ears slightly, he thought deliberately. "Darryl, baby... I want you to t-tie me," she said, blushing. That surprised the male enough that he actually stopped what he was doing. "Wh-what?" he asked, not so much out of disbelief as it was that he was certain he had to have heard that wrong. "I mean it, love, I - I wanted to die when I thought I was gonna lose you, and b-being with you now, the way you make me f-feel, I'm sure..." she said, reaching up to caress his cheek, "You're the one for me, babe... Tie with me." This was much more than a kink, carrying deep personal meaning for morphic canines, so this request was not one to be made or fulfilled lightly. Darryl wasn't sure, worried that she might just be overreacting after they almost lost each other, but before he could even mouth the words, she caught his gaze, and, looking him straight in the eye, nodded slowly with a calm, confident smile. Finding himself smiling back, feeling the excitement within him and realizing that he shared her confidence deep down, Darryl returned her nod and began thrusting again, psyching himself up as he took her hand in his own, holding her tightly against him. When he felt ready, he looked her in the eye one last time and winked, then paused the next time his knot bumped into her. This time, he kept pushing instead of withdrawing, feeling the pressure building against her mound, feeling Kai squeezing his hand in anticipation... and then feeling the pressure giving, her pussy spreading wide and allowing entry to his knot, closing tightly behind it. Both shepherds cried out as Darryl hilted himself in Kailyn's body. "God, so full!" she gasped, at exactly the same moment he groaned "Fuck, so tight!" to their mutual delight. Darryl held her close and trembled, having trouble dealing with the sensation of her inner walls gripping the swollen bulb, of her outer lips clenched together around the sensitive base of his knot, a feeling he'd had simulated many times, with his own hands or a lover's, only to now realize that fingers paled in comparison. He could only imagine how different it felt for Kailyn having the knot inside her, but she was shivering against him just as hard. Suddenly realizing there was something much more satisfying he could be doing as he got used to this new experience, Darryl leaned back just enough to reach her mouth with his own, and the lovers kissed like it was going out of fashion.

When the trembling had ceased, when their grip on each other had lessened (save one location in Kailyn's case, obviously), the shepherds broke off their kiss and grinned delightedly at each other. "How - how is it?" Kai asked, searching his eyes with genuine curiosity. "It's everything I hoped it would be, lover," Darryl whispered, "You ready for the big finale?" "Oh, fuck yes..." she groaned, wrapping her arms around his neck and licking his nose playfully. "Then let's dance, beautiful," he said, the first thing that popped into his mind. Neither of them pondered the words for very long, though, as Darryl began a series of much faster, much shallower thrusts into her tight channel, moving along the short length of flesh behind the knot, driving himself into her again and again, putting a lot more muscle behind his thrusts than before. The male put one hand on the bed to support himself and the other just above the point of their union (getting weirdly turned on to discover he could feel the knot moving through her skin), so that he could toy with the shepherdess' clitoris, while Kai just held onto his neck and showered him with kisses. In this way, it wasn't long until Kailyn's hips were bucking off the bed, and her moans and sighs had turned into a long string of urgent, needy whimpering, with Darryl close to the edge himself. But his lover beat him to the finish line, hunching over and burying her face in his shoulder, to muffle what would have been a veritable howl of pleasure as she was swept away by her climax. As her vagina clenched and rippled along her brother's achingly stiff cock, Kailyn pulled him into orgasm with her, and he arched his back and drove himself into her one last time, grunting through tightly clenched teeth as his prick began to throb, the pleasure so intense it almost hurt as his erection spasmed again and again, spilling his hot, wet come into his sister's pussy, feeling the semen rapidly filling up what little space existed around his dick like a seal of approval on their incestuous love.

After both shepherds finally rode out the ends of their orgasms, limply slumping to the bed, completely spent, they rolled onto their sides and just held each other, breathing hard and panting like ferals as they shuddered through the occasional aftershock. When they'd recovered a little, Darryl did what came naturally to every male in his position for the first time, and leaned back, looked curiously down at the point of their joining, and gave his hips an exploratory tug, which accomplished absolutely nothing except making his lover giggle tiredly. "Feels like it got even bigger when you came, love," she said, pulling him back in for nuzzles, "We're not going anywhere for a while." He chuckled softly and licked her cheek. "It's a good thing, then, that there's nowhere else I'd rather be," he replied, rolling onto his back and pulling her up onto his chest, for optimal cuddling. After a few moments of working something through his mind while he held and caressed the woman in his arms, he nodded towards the side of the bed. "Ah, humour me, babe," he said, "we need to roll over a couple times." She raised an eyebrow, but she was smiling curiously at the same time. "I need to get to my pants," he said, deftly answering the question she hadn't yet asked while simultaneously replacing it with another. Reaching up and holding onto his shoulders, the shepherdess went along with it as they tumbled across the mattress, unable to help giggling at how silly the moment was. They reached the edge with Darryl on the bottom, which seemed to suit him just fine. "Okay, now, uh, sit up, and close your eyes," he said, grinning in a way that suggested his tail would be wagging were he not lying on top of it. Kailyn pushed herself into a seated position atop his pelvis and crossed her arms, while Darryl reached down to his pants and somewhat clumsily retrieved the case that was still in his pocket. His heart beating like a jackhammer, distantly wondering if she would be able to feel his pulse through his still-hard penis, he held the case up, facing her, and took a deep breath to settle himself. "You remember the stuff you said about why you were sure you wanted me to tie you, babe?" he asked, forcing his voice to remain even and calm, "Well, I'd kinda come to the same conclusions myself, if you'd like to open your eyes..." Just as she did, he popped the box open, the distinctive click drawing her attention, and the way her eyes widened and her ears swivelled back in astonishment were almost so endearing that Darryl forgot what he'd been about to say. Almost, but not quite. "Kailyn Lockwood, you complete me. You're the stars in my sky, and I love you more than life itself," Darryl said, his eyes locked on hers, "...Will you marry me?"

Staring at the ring as if it contained the answers to all of life's mysteries, the female began to breathe short, shallow breaths, just shy of hyperventilating, as her hands rose up to her mouth. "Oh... oh my God... oh my God, really?" she asked, sounding stunned, "Even though we're..." Darryl nodded evenly. "Yes. Nobody else knows we're related, no one will have a problem with us getting hitched... and I can get a vasectomy or something so we never have to worry about the, uh, practical problems," he replied, "I mean it from the bottom of my heart, Kai, I've had this ring for weeks, just been trying to work up the courage to ask. So... what's your answer, babe?" Tears of joy forming in her eyes, her tail springing into motion behind her, Kailyn lunged down to wrap her lover in her arms, the movement so quick and sudden she almost knocked the ring out of his hand. "Yes! Oh God, yes, Darryl, of course I'll marry you!" she cried, following it up with a barrage of kisses. Soon, both shepherds were laughing giddily, and Darryl would remember the smile on her face as he carefully manoeuvred the engagement ring onto her finger for the rest of his life. Setting aside the box, he just held her close and nuzzled against his girlfriend's cheek. Wait, no, he corrected himself, as of right now, she was his fiancée. He liked the sound of that, though admittedly not as much as he liked the promise of the title of 'wife'. "You know," she said, bringing him out of his thoughts, "There's no way we can tell anyone you popped the question when we were tied after doing it, right?" He laughed out loud at that, long and hard. "Shit, I didn't even think of that," he said, shrugging, "Tell you what, once we're free and cleaned up, we'll go do something romantic, maybe I'll make reservations for that fancy restaurant you love or something, and we can tell everyone I asked you there, okay?" Settling her head onto her fiancé's chest, Kailyn sighed happily. "It's a date."

Before the night was through, before they put their plans into action, when they and only they knew of their engagement, Darryl and Kailyn took a moment to just stand on the balcony of their apartment, overlooking the twinkling lights of the city, and share a bottle of champagne to celebrate all they'd overcome together, and the big step in their lives they were so excited to be taking together. Darryl held his glass in the hand that was currently wrapped around Kai as she leaned back against him, because his other hand was holding the phone's wireless handset against his head. "...Yes, that's right, for two, by the south window if possible," he was saying, "Yes. Right. Ah, good, good. And, ah, I'd like to make a special request for tonight. Yeah, you see, I'd like my guest to have an... engaging find in her drink, if you catch my meaning." Kailyn grinned silently as he squeezed her tight, and tapped the finger wearing her engagement ring against Darryl's arm. "Really? Perfect, I didn't know if people actually ever did that or if it was just in movies," he continued, "Thanks so much, I'm sure this is going to be magical. Okay. Goodbye." As he set the phone down on the patio table next to them, switching his champagne to his free hand, the shepherdess chuckled. "I hope I'm convincing enough when I find it," she teased, "Wouldn't want anyone figuring it out." Leaning forward, he kissed her on the cheek. "You'll do fine," he assured her, "Just remember how you felt when you actually saw the ring, and aim for that... I love you so much, Kai." She raised his hand to her muzzle and kissed the back of it gently. "I love you too," she said, quietly, the quiver in her voice making those words speak volumes. As the two shepherds, who had turned out to be closer than even they realized, continued to gaze out over the sea of lights, as if they were stargazing, they didn't exchange any words. There was time for words later, after all, and for now, as they clinked their glasses together and enjoyed some fine champagne, they just wanted to take a moment and savour the love they both thought they had lost. Off to the side, a light breeze brushed at a small pile of ashes that had until recently been a form with Kailyn's mother's signature on it, but neither of the lovers took much notice. Their attention was focused entirely on each other, and on the beautiful future they would share together. Whatever happened, Darryl wasn't worried, because if their relationship could survive the last forty-eight hours, then this unconventional engagement could withstand anything.