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__________________________________ Lagomorphs Copyright © July, 2015, FurryWurry All rights reserved

Chapter 19 -- Addiction __________________________________

After the cool air and excitement of the outside, it felt much too hot in the snug. Jeff rinsed tomato juice off his hands, wincing at the color, took off most of his clothes, and collapsed on the bed.

Images of the attack kept running through his head: racing animals, bloody fur, toothy snarls. Other Rabs had been playing near the treeline, too, obviously feeling safe, so attacks like that must not happen often. The wolf pack must be new to the area, looking for better feeding grounds. The wolves had looked gaunt, famished, so they must not have been getting much to eat. Maybe they were fleeing from some enemy of their own, an apex predator that was even more dangerous. What could that be? Saber-toothed tigers? Or maybe Terror Birds? Kalenken? Cloudy and Singer had seemed worried about something like that when they were quizzing him last night.

A scratching at the rear entrance interrupted his thoughts. It was Diver and his brother.

"Hi, guys. What's up?"

"We need to talk to you. Find out if you'll do something for us. You probably won't, though." Diver seemed almost nervous.

"For him, he means." Swimmer snorted.

"You, too. I heard what you said. Not the same thing, though," he hurriedly assured Jeff.

"Well, come on in. Don't just stand there. If you don't ask, I can't say yes, can I?" Jeff pushed some of the pillows, including his favorite red one, up against the wall at the head of the bed and leaned back against them. With just briefs on, he felt a little self conscious although the Rabs weren't wearing much more.

They both got up on the bed. Jeff didn't object. There was plenty of room.

Diver crawled over, getting close to Jeff. Swimmer held back, though, just like the previous evening. Despite his size, he seemed shyer than his brother.

"This is really gonna sound weird, and you can just say no and we'll go away. Really, it's no big deal, just something that came over me. But... well... would you let me suck on your thumb again? Please?

"You don't have to," he added quickly. "I know it's strange, but I just can't seem to get the taste out of my mouth. I really need to know if I was imagining things, or if it actually tastes that good. And it'll take my mind of this morning's attack. Please?"

Jeff stared at him. First Rabs were telling him he smelled friendly and trustable, one felt it strongly enough to have sex with him, and now here was one who seemed to be almost addicted to his taste. Could it be something like pheromones? But how? Why? He was from a different brane, he was sure of that now, with no possible biological relationship to them. None at all. Surely.

"See? I told you it'd weird him out. Come on, let's go." Swimmer started to back away toward the edge of the platform.

"No, no, I'm not weirded out, I'm really not. You just took me by surprise. That's really all you want? Just to suck on my thumb? You don't want to, well, bite it off?" The attack was still too fresh in his mind. Although these two certainly weren't raging predators. Far from it.

"Bite it off??? No! How could you think such a thing? I don't want to hurt you! I'm no wolf! And blood tastes horrible, anyhow." Diver shuddered. Jeff wasn't sure he wanted to know how the Rab had found that out.

"OK. Sure." Why not? Cuddling with a warm Rab seemed like a good idea just now. And what was the worst that could go wrong?

Of course, as soon as he'd agreed, he could think of several scenarios, each worse than the other, like disease. Or maybe Diver was lying about his intent. No, he was just getting paranoid, like Nathan, who he might never see again. The Rabs actually liked him, he told himself. They did. For whatever reason.

"You mean it? Really?" Diver stared at Jeff's left thumb, the one he'd sucked the previous evening. "You'll let me do it?"

"I mean it. Really. I'll let you do it. Come over here. Pull up some pillows and sit down next to me. That's it. Closer, so I can put my arm around you. After all, we want to be comfortable, right?"

With Diver's warm body pressing against his side, it almost seemed reasonable. He enjoyed Diver's musky, grassy odor.

But Diver flinched when Jeff started to put his arm around him. "I'm sorry, I can't sit like this. I can't. I trust, you, I do, but...." He whimpered. Jeff could feel him trembling.

Just like Cloudy. They reacted much like four-footed rabbits: on their backs, or with their bellies exposed, and held in position, even loosely, Rabs felt trapped and much too vulnerable. As if they were prey about to be gutted. As had happened to several Rabs not very many minutes ago.

"That's OK. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking." Jeff spoke quietly, trying to calm the stressed Rab. "Let's try something different. Why don't you get up on your knees and turn around. Face me. That's it. Get your toes under you so you can get up quickly. Dig your claws in. Get traction." Ignore what it might do to the pad.

"Now look at me. Watch what I'm doing. I'm just sitting here. I'm not coming after you. Nothing's going to happen. See?" Jeff spread his arms, palms down on the bed.

Jeff waited as Diver's panting slowed, then asked "Is that better?"

The Rab sighed, and nodded. "Yeah. That helps." He sat up with his hands on his knees, arms still protecting his front. "I thought my heart was gonna jump right out of my chest. It's not now." He sighed again and rolled his shoulders, relaxing a little.

"Here's my hand, see?" Jeff slowly raised it, kept its back toward Diver, and folded his fingers into a loose fist, not extending them toward the Rab, not like claws to grab. "Now take ahold of it. That's it. Do what you want. Feel it, sniff it, lick it, whatever. I won't stop you."

Swimmer had been silent through all this, but his eyes were wide.

"Wow. Diver, you OK?"

Diver took a deep breath with his nose pressed against the back of Jeff's hand. "I am now." He turned Jeff's hand around and pushed his nose in among the curled fingers, breathing deeply again. His eyes closed. "Mmmmmm. That smells so good. Worth the scare. Almost." He gave Jeff a quick smirk, then went back to smelling his palm.

The Rab slumped down on his side, his furry back soft against Jeff's legs, almost in a fetal position. He held Jeff's hand tightly against his muzzle, and Jeff felt a rough tongue against his palm. "Did you eat tomatoes this morning?"

Jeff grinned. "Yeah. They made a mess. I thought I'd washed my hands pretty good, though. You can still taste them?"

"Uh huh. Doesn't matter. They just add a little tang. I can still taste you just fine."

Warm moisture surrounded Jeff's thumb as Diver slowly sucked it in.

"Mmmm." It seemed he could only mumble now. His eyes closed and he curled closer around Jeff's hand, tucking it under him as if to keep it safe, away from where others might get at it. His long ears relaxed. Now he was making slurping noises, as if he were a kit at his dam's breast. Jeff could feel the varying suction.

Jeff wanted badly to pet the Rab: caress the warm side gently, sliding his free hand along that soft, blond fur. But he didn't want to scare him again, either. That wouldn't be fair.

Swimmer had crept closer, peering over Jeff. "He's really doing it? Sucking on your thumb?" he asked quietly.

"Yes, he is. I don't know why, but he's obviously enjoying it."

"Why're you letting him do it? You don't have to. You coulda just said no."

"I'm really not sure about that, either. He's certainly not hurting me, although it's a bit of an inconvenience. I'd like to get some sleep this morning. I sorta like him, so I guess that's part of it." Jeff smiled down at the Rab curled around his hand.

"Do you think you could like me, too?" Jeff looked up to discover that Swimmer was looking at him somewhat wistfully.

"Uh, do you want to suck my thumb, too? That might be a little awkward."

The paler of the two Rabs snorted. "No, of course not. That'd be dumb. Like Diver. We may be littermates, but we're way different. It's something else. But not right now. Could I come visit later? I don't want to bother you, but if it's OK...."

Oh, Lord. What now?

"Sure." Why not? Swimmer had the same pale fur as Sky and was almost as cute, but more muscular and with curly head fur. And shyer. "Please. Feel free to come by any time."

There came another scratching at the back entry.

"Hey! What're you guys doing? Can I come in? Mam said you'd be here. She wants you home." Jeff was sure he recognized the smiling face. She'd been the one leading the sunrise singing.

Swimmer winced. "Hi, Sunny. Jeff, this is Sings-the-Sun-Up. We have the misfortune of having her as a littermate. You gotta be careful with her. She's bossy. She even kicked out Gran'Sir once."

"I'll kick him out again the next time he comes sniffing around me. See if I don't. Horny good-for-nothing." She sniffed.

Obviously he wasn't going to get any sleep for a while, even if his own thoughts would let him. Hopefully their whole family didn't plan to come visiting. "Sure, come on in. Join the party. I'm Jeff."

"Party?" Her face lit up. "I'm always ready to party. Even this late in the day." Late? It was still early morning, wasn't it? It couldn't have been more than half an hour since the sun had come up, since the attack. She jumped up on the bed with her brothers. If anything, she was slightly larger than they were. Not obviously pregnant, though, and as flat chested as Cloudy but without the protruding nipples. No litter of her own yet, maybe?

"What's he doing? Or do I really want to know?" She stared at her darker brother, who was still sucking gently on Jeff's thumb. He didn't seem quite as frantic as at first. Maybe he was even starting to doze off like Jeff wanted to. He was not a morning person and was having problems keeping his eyes open. Having a loud kit wake you up much too early didn't help, and he seemed to have already crashed from the morning's adrenaline rush.

"He seems to really like how my thumb tastes. I'm not sure why."

"You really gotta learn to say 'No!' to him. He'll run you over if you don't." She sniffed. "Bratty kid. He won't admit it, but Mam says he was the last one out when we were kindled. The youngest always gets spoiled."

She sniffed again. "What's that smell? Is it you?"

She pushed Swimmer aside so she could get closer to Jeff. "Hey!" her brother complained.

"Oh, hush, Swimmy." She sniffed Jeff's face and side. "That is coming from you. Why do you smell so good? And not like food, either," with a disdainful look at her sucking brother.

Jeff sighed. The Rabs' enthusiasm was rather embarrassing. The morning's fright hadn't helped his pungency. He obviously was going to have to take a thorough bath soon. He wished he'd put some deodorant in the backpack. "I just smell like me. I dunno why you Rabs like it so much."

"I dunno about other Rabs, but I like it. Huh. I guess that kinda explains him, though." She reached across Jeff to poke at her youngest littermate. "Tastes good too, does he?" The only response was an indistinct mumble. He seemed to have stopped sucking.

"Don't pester him. I think he's gone to sleep. Maybe I can...." Jeff gently pulled his left hand out from under the unconscious Rab. His wet thumb was as wrinkled as a prune. He wiggled it. At least it still worked.

"Yuck. Looks disgusting. Not like the rest of you." She smiled. He liked her smile.

"Uh, Sunny..." Swimmer started.

"What? You think I'm gonna do something here and now? Right in front of you and Diver? I don't think so. Maybe later, though." She winked at Jeff. "Comon, Swimmer, we gotta get back. Mam has things she wants us to do before we go to bed. I don't wanna drag Diver back, though. He'd just get in the way. Can we leave him here, Jeff?"

"I guess. I want to try to get some sleep myself. Does he thrash around much in his sleep, do you know?"

"Not usually," Swimmer reassured Jeff.

"You should know!" Sunny pushed Swimmer off the bed. "Come on, she's probably pissed we're taking so long. And I'm tired."

Finally!

Jeff started to pull a pillow over his head to shut out the lights, but they faded to almost nothing on their own. He cuddled into his favorite red pillow and let the world fade. Hopefully not to dream of blood.