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Windfall: Something Big

by Tempo

Max, a big husky, is a little nervous about taking charge in the bedroom. Meanwhile, his otter girlfriend is in pursuit of otherworldly baked goods.

~ ~ ~

Max was used to strangers staring. Sometimes they took pictures. Sometimes they whispered and giggled. Mostly they asked if he was "that shirtless guy from that show with the monsters." And he'd say yes, even though he was only shirtless in a few scenes in that one time travel episode, no matter how many times they showed it in the opening credits. Those interactions embarrassed him, sure, but he'd had years to get used to them.

Since coming to Windfall, though, the stares had sharpened and the whispers had lost much of their mirth. Most of them were directed at Kylie: his co-star, his best friend, and now his girlfriend. The whispers always stopped when she got close, which made her tense up.

With a huff of concern, the husky settled into a booth at Pinchy's Diner and worked his tail into the bench's slot. "We may need to throttle back a little."

"On what?" His otter lover crashed into the seat across from him, poking at her phone and muttering. Her round little muzzle never diverted from its screen. She never stopped making tiny, anxious motions and noises as she searched for clues. Never exactly an easygoing little thing, Kylie had been growing more and more tense over the past few days. The two of them had run into one dead end after another while chasing down local legends and weird rumors in an attempt to prove what they already knew: that Windfall's tacky paranormal tourism industry was at least partially based on truth, and that her family's history of chasing monsters wasn't as wacky as it sounded.

He'd have loved to help her unwind, but her focus seemed unshakeable, each disappointment only adding to her resolve. She hadn't wanted to play old video games or take him for a walk. She'd barely slowed down for a smooch or two from him in the last few days, let alone anything more intensive. He'd probably been too subtle in his flirting, but not everybody could be as bold as an otter. Plus, being twice her size, he didn't want to come off as pressuring her for sex. No, better to just let her usual horniness catch up to her. Typically he didn't have to wait this long. "Our more obvious supernatural investigations. The direct approach hasn't really done much for us."

She crossed her arms over her vest. "I can't prove my family wasn't crazy without evidence."

"True." His paw pads traced over the worn corner of a menu.

Her paw swept at the window, finger webs aglow in the sunlight. "Plus, the whole town is full of paranormal crazies. They're just weird about actually handing over the proof."

"Also true. Acting sane would help our case, though." Under the table, he bumped a sneaker against hers. "At least where people can see. You know I'm on board, but it looks bad to climb around inside sinkholes in residential neighborhoods at midnight. Or to buy all the butter in town."

"That wasn't even for anything paranormal!" She chittered in objection and flung her arms in the air. "We had a lot of crabs to cook."

"Right, but it looks like the kind of rich-person crazy that made people think your ancestors were nuts." His eyes scanned the seafood restaurant. The various patrons chatted and ate, mostly done staring. A pair of foxes yapped back to lapping up gossip. Some teenagers stuck napkins on their deer friend's antlers without his knowledge. A twitchy mongoose emerged from the backroom, accepted an envelope from the manager, and waddled over to slip into a booth. Out the windows, autumn sunlight painted a pleasant view of the sea. His stomach growled. In an effort to drag her from her phone, he tapped the table. "Are you going to look at the menu?"

"I'll just have the chowder, like always." She grumbled at the device. "Ugh, why do aliens have to be so hard to find?"

Max glanced around the dining area. His gaze returned to her with a question.

"Don't give me that look. Everyone in this town talks like a crazy person." Her webbed fingers flicked through a series of images for the tenth time. "Most of them are."

The heavily-built husky interlaced his fingers. "You told me to warn you if you were obsessing."

"An alien trashed my living room, Maxie." Those hazel eyes flicked up to him. "An alien who convinced the town my family was crazy."

He steepled his index fingers under his chin. "Yes, I know. I was there. And acting like a weirdo in a public place will clear their name?"

An argument bottled up inside her chest as she tried to come up with a rationale. A second later, it rolled out over the table as a sigh and stirred the napkins. "Fine. You're right."

A lynx waitress padded past and set down a basket of rolls between them. Before she could say anything, though, a splash and a clatter sent her trampling off toward a pack of wolf cubs, their two tired-looking parents, and at least one spilled soda.

The scent of fresh-baked bread drew in Max's nose immediately. With his girlfriend still diving into her phone, he lifted the undyed sailcloth, revealing a half-dozen dinner rolls, shiny with glaze and steaming. The dog swallowed to keep from drooling. He plucked one from the basket and nibbled at it with delicate teeth. The stretchy, wholesome texture dissolved into a burst of heady slow-risen flavor on his tongue. The roll felt exquisite to chew, luscious to taste, and warm to swallow.

Kylie arched an eyebrow at him.

Halfway through his second roll, the canine slowed his chewing.

"Hungry?"

He swallowed. "I guess so."

His girlfriend eyed the the rolls, then leaned back to where the lynx server had finished mopping up beverages. "Did you guys change something in the bread?"

"Nah, the good stuff is just usually gone by now." Putting the mop and bucket back behind the counter, she inclined her tufted ears at the far booth. "The delivery came late today. All-natural, stone-ground: good stuff."

A few booths over, the wiry mongoose unlocked a small case handcuffed to her wrist, which opened with a pressurized hiss. She unshackled the cuffs and cooed at a lump of dough within. "Are you hungry, my pet? I bet you are..." She uncorked a glass flask and anointed the blob. "A little water first? You must be parched. Wouldn't want you to dry up, would we?" With great care, she opened another vessel and shook pale powder onto the object of her affection. "A new version of the Mother Flour, yes. No more coarse grounds wreaking havoc with your gluten." Snap! Snap! Two rubber gloves stretched over her quick paws. Her digits caressed the dough first, then kneaded the layer of fresh material into it. "Oo-hoo-hoo! You like it already; I can tell."

Transfixed, the otter stared. "Weird..." She snapped a picture with her phone. "And she's like this whenever she drops off bread?"

"I guess." The waitress shrugged fluffy shoulders. "Doesn't always massage the starter dough on-site, but whatever. She's a bit eccentric, but you can't argue with the results." She took out a small notepad and pencil, sharpening the lead of the latter on her paw pad. "What can I get ya?"

Kylie didn't even look at the menu, still studying the mongoose. "Fried clams."

Max dug through the menu and found the tiny sandwich section in the back. "Cheeseburger. Could I get it on one of these buns?"

"So long as the cooks haven't eaten them all since I was back there, sure." The lynx tossed them a toothy smile and slunk back to the kitchen.

The otter's tiny ears perked toward her boyfriend, even as she kept spying on the baker. "Maxie, do not tell me you're still eating it."

With a shrug, the husky obeyed and continued eating the rolls. "Thought you were getting the chowder."

"Soup doesn't travel well." Her whiskers hung with nonchalance, though her keen hazel eyes peered with interest at the baker.

With a jolt, the mongoose finished massaging her sourdough starter. Max turned his muzzle to the window, wondering if their staring had caught her attention. But then she jolted to digging in her purse and smacking on some lip balm. Apparently, she always moved like she was being slightly electrocuted.

Meanwhile, the husky had reached the bottom of the basket of rolls.

The mongoose trotted past. Her suitcase said "Yeast India Company - All-Natural Breads" on the top in an ornate script. She zipped out the door, scooted to a moped with a massive bread box on the back, and locked the briefcase inside.

Kylie vibrated in her chair, beaming.

With a sigh, Max waved to get their server's attention. "Could we get those to-go?"

~ ~ ~

On a deserted stretch of backroad, Max crouched in a ditch, fighting back the urge to slink back to the car for his cheeseburger. Under an overcast sky, the husky watched a lone figure totter and curse her way down a rocky path to the ocean. She scampered along the shore using a small strainer pail to fill a larger bucket, maybe fifty meters downhill.

Beside him, Kylie rolled over in the grass, her cream-colored middle exposed as her t-shirt rode up. "Ugh! Is she still messing around?"

A low woof of confirmation escaped his muzzle.

Her webbed hands stuck up toward the color-washed sky. Her sneaker heels scuffed dry autumn grass. "We should get some camouflage clothes." She brushed some of the dust from her pastel purple Sugar Gliders band t-shirt, which she'd had since middle school. What little growth she'd gone through since then made it tighter in interesting ways. "You know, for our spying."

"Few things are as conspicuous as camouflage." He flattened his ears to his skull as the mongoose peered around, oblivious to them. "It makes people ask questions."

The lutrine fished the takeout container from its plastic bag, opened it on her stomach, and began eating fried clams. "Questions more awkward than 'why were you two laying in that ditch?'"

"I can think of a good lie." He looked her up and down. "Or at least a good eyebrow waggle."

She stuffed another fried clam in her muzzle. "You can't just wag your way out of every situation."

"It's worked on you so far."

The otter chittered at him, the popped another fried clam into her mouth. She wiggled in contentment, scooting closer to him against the evening chill. Her body lay along his, a warmth he couldn't ignore.

He felt the familiar pumping of primal hormones through his veins. It didn't help that she'd waded back into the deep end of paranormal research, meaning he'd been running around with a sexy otter for the last few days with little or no time to lend his libido a paw. Jumbled fantasies filled his head: play-wrestling with her, tossing her on the bed, tearing her clothes off...but she was such a tiny little thing. Acting on those canine impulses could hurt or scare her, so he always let her take the lead.

For the moment, she seemed to have no intention of leading him to the bedroom. She'd rolled to her stomach and watched as the mongoose hauled the sloshing bucket of seawater back up the path to her moped. The scrawny female slapped a lid on the container and chucked it into the storage box on the back of the vehicle, then hopped on and puttered off.

"She's making a break for it!" Kylie popped up and raced back toward her own car, juggling fried clams. "C'mon!"

Max followed her around the bend of the road and wedged himself into the passenger seat of the otter-sized car. He carefully avoided sitting on the still-wrapped cheeseburger. He took her container of fried clams so they wouldn't spill.

With a chatter of pursuit, the otter cranked the ignition. The tiny aquatic car sputtered to life and trundled off after the vanishing moped. They bounced down the uneven road as grey clouds rolled up the coastline toward them. She whipped down a turnoff, the box on the back of her moped at a wild tilt.

Undeterred, the otter tailed her at an inconspicuous distance. The Amphicar bounced along the uneven gravel. The harpoon gun tumbled from the back seat to rattle around with a pawful of ancient pull-tabs and oyster-shell shards. He'd never met her great-uncle who'd owned this car, but the guy could've at least vacuumed under the seats before vanishing from the face of the Earth.

Another bump in the road smacked the canine's head on the rods of the ragtop roof. His ears lowered as he slunk down, only to have his knees whack against the dashboard. A quiet whine trailed from his muzzle. "Could we slow down?"

"Gotta keep her in sight." Kylie double-checked that the propeller weren't engaged as the underpowered little car struggled with a modest hill. The center console consisted of chrome levers and knobs shaped for webbed paws. Her fingers danced over them with obvious relish. Otters liked gripping things, and his girlfriend was no exception. Pleasant memories about what she liked gripping distracted him for a lovely instant.

Then his shin whacked the glove compartment. Old maps and scrawled notes spilled onto the floor. He growled. The ocean sparkled to their left as he strained to pick up the various dry pens and yellowed documents. The maintenance log stated the car was thirty years past due for having its propeller sharpened.

With another reckless turn, the mongoose motored around a bend. Kylie revved the Amphicar as much as she dared, but arrived at a four-way stop with no sign of the baker. The woods around them lay silent. The roads snaked around hills, obscuring any view they might have had of their quarry.

The cheeseburger sat, faintly warm, in his lap.

"Stubborn, spikey crab carapace!" The otter whipped her head around looking for any track or trace of the moped. "Where'd she go?"

Quietly, the husky unwrapped his cheeseburger. Best to take advantage of the stopped car before she picked up the scent again.

She flashed him a look of frustrated desperation. "What're we supposed to do now?"

Stopping a millimeter away from his first bite, he cocked an ear at her. "I just wanted lunch. You're the one who wanted to follow the bread lady." He handed her back the box of fried clams.

"She's seriously suspicious." She popped open the box, placed it between her thighs, and munched on the breaded mollusks. Her sleek paws fished the little binoculars from her fishing vest pocket as she surveyed the woods. "What'd ya think? Alternate wheat dimension? Secret grain cult? Ghost flour?"

He sniffed at the cheeseburger bun. It smelled tasty. Weren't ghosts supposed to not have a smell? Or be just a smell? He didn't remember, probably because he was too hungry. He bit into the cheeseburger. It was as delicious as expected: succulent beef, balanced condiments, fresh lettuce and tomato, and of course a nice springy roll.

"And now she vanishes?" The binoculars never left her eyes, even as she neared the bottom of the oyster pail of clams. "Pretty weird, right?"

"Yesf." The husky took another bite of his burger. It really was very good, even if it was going cold. Juices and sauce had soaked into the bun. Wasn't soggy yet, just mingling flavors. He wagged. He might be in a cramped car on some back road outside a supernatural tourist trap, but at least he was with an otter who loved him--and eating a really good hamburger. "Mmm."

"We need more info." She poked around on her phone, finding few damnations of the Yeast India Company beyond its limited production. "Internet's not turning up much. Even in Windfall, 'uses supernatural ingredients' isn't something you put on your website."

"Well..." He chomped another bit of the vanishing burger. He really had been hungry. "Unless you can think of a better idea in the next five seconds, I say we call Karl."

She took a breath to object, halted halfway through it, and rolled her eyes. "Fine..."

He wagged and wolfed down the last of the hamburger.

~ ~ ~

Max knocked on the heavy steel door, where a coat of cheery paint obscured years of dents. Beside him, Kylie groaned, arms crossed.

Footfalls vibrated through the concrete stoop. The door opened to reveal a burly rhino in a well-worn fleece shirt blocking all light from the interior. His beady black eyes sized Kylie up, which didn't take long, then locked with Max's gaze. A stoic moment ground away. "Ain't you those kids from the TV?"

Max nodded, in the unusual position of having to look up at someone.

He shorted an unreadable huff, then jabbed his horn toward the living room. "Better come in then."

A matronly rhinoceros with tiny horn-rimmed glasses stomped in from the kitchen. "Oh! Hello! Can I help you?"

"We're just here to see Karl."

"He's downstairs." She offered a thick, grey hand. "I'm June, his mother. Are you two staying for dinner?"

"No-o-o-o-o." The little otter vibrated as her paw was vigorously shaken. Once released, it opened and closed a few times. "We just had a couple quick questions."

Karl's dad snorted. "You kids these days and your questions. Don't know when to leave well enough alone. I was friends with Joe for twenty years and he never asked me a damn thing."

Karl's mom tipped her head back, knocking a little plaster from the ceiling. "Maybe if you'd had more actual conversations, he'd have told you where he was going. You've talked more about that beaver since he disappeared than you did in the two decades before that."

Her husband only repeated his snort.

She turned her head to shout to the basement. "Karly, honey! Your friends from television are here!" Propping her mighty fists on stalwart hips, she gestured for them to head down. "You'll recognize his room. You're on the door!" Her laugh shook the walls a little.

The husky smiled and nodded. Placing a paw at Kylie's back, he guided her downstairs. They tromped down into the dim basement and knocked on the partly-open door. The Strangeville poster taped there had been signed by the whole cast, so he must've actually touched it at some point in the past. Life as a minor cable TV star was weird like that. When a moment passed with no sign of their fan, he knocked again--louder.

A series of crashes and stumbles progressed toward the door. Electronic music started playing the middle of a song. The door swung open to reveal a tall, plump rhino. Headphones swung wildly from his horn, cord dangling. His tiny eyes went wide. His breath sped, spiking his tone higher and higher. "Uh, hey guys! Didn't hear you come in." A frantic hand straightened his disheveled hair. He finally noticed the headphones hanging off his horn and gave an embarrassed grin as he disentangled from them. "What's up?"

"We're on a case." The otter flipped the phone into her paw like a police notebook, then showed him a photo of the mongoose. "What can you tell us about this lady?"

He blinked. "Isn't that the lady who sells bread to Pinchy's? It's good stuff."

Kylie looked up at a considerable angle, very serious. "We need whatever you can tell us."

"You might want to grab a seat." His horn bobbled in the affirmative. "I'll see what I can dig up."

They walked into the messy, but large bedroom. Karl took a moment to frantically closed some browser tabs. Max pretended not to notice. Kylie appeared genuinely oblivious. The husky sat on the sofa, which was surrounded by podcast recording equipment. Instead of squeezing in next to him, Kylie sat on his lap.

The husky buried his nose in her hair for an instant, before remembering where they were. Trying to look casual, he eyed stacks of Mana Clash cards on the desk. Looked like the rhino was building a new deck.

Kylie wiggled in his lap. Her thick tail brushed against some interesting places, which she seemed oblivious of. "So she sells them bread?"

"Oh yeah." The rhino grabbed a seat on the office chair before his computer. His hands settled over a massive keyboard. The grey and white brick of plastic pinged under his thick fingers. It had to weigh at least two kilos. He pulled up a file of notes on his computer. "She makes all their bread bowls too."

The otter gasped, paws to her muzzle. "I've already been contaminated!"

Max patted her shoulder. "Anything in your files about her?"

"Heh, well, I don't have big dramatic filing cabinets like on the show, but..." He paused for a blink. "Wait, you're asking me for help on a story for your new Strangeville blog?"

"Well, yeah." Max nodded. "You're our expert on mysterious local happenings."

His pointy ears popped up. "I'm the Egbert? Wow. Aw..." The perk of his ears faded with slight disappointment. "I always saw myself as more of the Damon, ya know?"

The husky suppressed a snicker at the notion of Karl squeezed into the porcupine badass's signature leather jacket. "I guess you've got the natural armor angle."

Kylie chattered with impatience. "Boys, can we focus?"

Karl tapped his massive fingers together. "I mean Max is still the Serge, and you're still the Cassie, so..."

Trying to let the fanboy down easy, Max twirled his paw between them. "I don't know if you're really the motorcycle type."

The rhino perked up. "They make motorcycles for rhinos!" He started to search the web for pictures. "They start with a forklift--"

"Karl! Karl." She waved webbed paws. "What can you tell us about the bread lady?"

Max smirked. A part of him wanted to hear where that was going.

"Right." The rhino clicked back to the text document and searched for bread.

A series of deep thuds announced Karl's parents walking around upstairs. It occurred to Max that he was standing directly under at least two full-grown rhinos. He cast a suspicious eye at a nearby support beam.

Their fan didn't even look up. "Don't worry; basically the whole house is made of steel."

Max shared a concerned look with his girlfriend.

"Hmm. Not finding very much. Looks like she runs her company out of her home--the addresses are the same." The rhino pulled up a map. "She's south of town, in the hills."

"Any reports of death from eating her baked goods? Or possession?" She looked at her husky boyfriend. "Or brainwashing?"

"Well, that Yeast India Company has really positive reviews." His thick fingers scrolled through a string of social media comments. "So maybe brainwashing?"

Kylie bounced on the husky's lap. "Wait, you have an address?"

Max cleared his throat, trying to pretend he didn't have a sexy lutrine grinding on him. "I thought you said you didn't have that much information on her."

"Yeah, it's on her business card. Or, at least, it used to be. The new ones just have a FoodieFoto link and a bunch of weird symbols." He tilted his horn at the screen. "She must take orders through there, since I still see her catering events."

The otter wiggled with excitement. "You never went there to investigate?"

He shrugged his heavy shoulders. "I didn't think 'makes tasty bread' was a good reason to break into her house."

"Yeah, that'd be crazy." She waggled her phone at him. "Could you send me that address, please?"

"Sure!" He copied it into an email for her. "Do you guys have any questions about other residents?"

"Nope!" The otter popped up from her boyfriend's lap like a fishing bobber. Her tail curved for balance as she angled for the door.

Max stood, glad that his hoodie was long enough to help hide his erection as he stood to follow. "Not today, but I'm sure we'll have more soon."

Ears drooping a little at their sudden exit, the rhino hooked a thumb at his computer. "Because most of my files are way more thorough."

The husky snapped a finger at him. "That's why you're the Egbert."

Karl grinned, ears waggling sheepishly.

The husky trotted after his lover up the stairs. On their way out the door, they swept past Karl's mom, who had somehow produced a large glazed squash in the time they'd been there.

~ ~ ~

Armed with the address, they poked along the back lanes surrounding Windfall until they came across a nondescript strip of land. It had a little house, a modest barn, and plenty of tree cover. Most importantly, it had a familiar little moped parked in front of it.

Letting the car putter to a stop, Kylie whipped a pair of small binoculars from her fishing vest. Her paw on his chest pushed him back into the seat for a better view.

Max rubbed the top of his head and the front of his shins. His tail felt oddly comfortable, however, in the seat's generous tail slot. Maybe if he started wearing skateboard pads whenever Kylie drove, he could learn to tolerate the Amphicar.

She watched as the mongoose emerged from the house toting a massive grain sack. "There she is! I bet she has alien mind-control spores in there."

The dog sniffed absently. Smelled like rain. "You mean like in Season 1?"

"Hm?" Her paw rested on his thigh as she leaned forward. The binoculars tapped the windshield.

The canine tried not to think about how good her touch felt, or the gradual swell of his arousal. "Strangeville. Before I joined the show." Max watched both her and the house warily, unsure when she'd dash out of the car and drag him along. "One of the first episodes in the Tribunal arc."

"Ah." A smirk quirked the corner of her muzzle. "Sometimes I forget I'm dating the show's biggest fan."

His massive paw covered hers. "Or at least yours."

The otter lowered her binoculars to flash him a quick smile, then looked back at the property. "Ugh!" The otter wiggled with displeasure. "How is she still not doing anything?"

A few dozen meters into the property, the baker tottered across the driveway. Her middle did a belly dance under the heavy sack. With a yowl of strength, she let it thud to the earth and flung open the door to the shed. Inside sat a huge granite millstone.

Max lowered his ears and sunk lower in his seat, hoping she wouldn't turn around and notice them.

With a chatter of excitement, Kylie shoved the binoculars into his paws.

He took them and peered at the strange baker. She hauled the grain sack up to the massive stones and began to pour it onto the stone surface. The instant the sack was empty, she streaked under the mill's heavy crank and slammed the barn door. A sharp chatter carried through the mossy trees. Seconds later, a massive grinding sound followed. The husky found himself reminded of the canned sound effect of stone doors sliding open.

The otter held up her phone, recording. "What's she doing?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Wheat magic?"

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "You can't have magic and aliens."

His eyebrow rose without permission. "I'm not sure that's an actual rule."

A sputtering light, weak at first, flashed from the gap around the barn door. Brighter and brighter it became, until it flared like a welding torch.

Max lowered the field glasses and rubbed at his eyes. A whimper trailed from his muzzle.

Kylie kept recording. "Whoa!"

He blinked away the afterimage. A purple blob obscured the center of his vision, forcing him to look at the building sideling. "What was that?"

"That was totally some kind of magic!" Her webbed finger jabbed toward the windshield. "Her all-natural bread is all-supernatural!"

Still blinking, Max watched as the runes and spirals sparked as the millstones ground on. "I don't know if we can conclude that yet."

She gripped at his shoulder, tugging on sleeve fabric. "We have to tell the world."

"Assuming you're right..." He thought back to the juicy cheeseburger of hours before. "If we expose her, won't she stop making the bread?"

They sat silent for a long moment. The slim mongoose kicked open the door, toting a massive bucket of flour. A faint cloud followed her to the house. Back on the grindstone, only a faint spark here and there on the great stone wheels spoke of the energies that had crackled there seconds before.

"Okay. Fine. Maybe." Her eyebrows sunk like river stones. "But we're putting this in the blog."

His tail thumped against the otter-shaped seat. "Warm people up to the idea. Preheat them for the coming proof."

"But we still have to figure out exactly what she's doing." The lutrine wiggled in her seat and flailed at the events that had just unfolded. "For all we know, she's using nightmares to power her magic."

"So it's magic?" He cocked an ear.

She stuck her tongue of her cute little muzzle. "Shut up."

The big canine clicked the covers back on the lenses of the binoculars. "So much for that."

Phone still in her paws, Kylie popped open the car door and hopped out. With a whisper of footsteps, she slunk toward the barn.

His triangular ears dropped with a groan. "Or not."

He followed her across the cluttered and brambly woods. Moss dangled from ancient trees. The distant crack of thunder rolled in from the sea. Together, they dashed across the driveway and around the back of the barn.

Under Kylie's paw, the old wooden door squeaked open. She eeled into the dim space, over boxes and around dusty machinery.

By the time Max stubbed his toes down the same path, she stood rubbing her paws together over the massive granite millstones. Upon inspection, the great stones appeared to have been retrofitted for this purpose from some kind of forgotten shrine, with some faces of the rock freshly cut and others still covered with ancient lichen. Its massive wheels lay etched with strange symbols, jagged things arranged in no pattern Max could discern. As Max examined them, they almost seemed to shift and rearrange when he wasn't looking. He found he could never find a particular symbol again after he'd looked away from it. As he opened his mouth to give voice to his growing unease, Kylie took a step toward it, eyes glittering. Her fingers stretched out for the surface...

He grabbed her by the back of the vest and yanked her out of reach of the rune-etched stones.

"Hey!" Her voice came as a choked squawk. "What's the big idea?"

"Sorry." The big dog shrugged. "It looked like you were going to touch it."

Her eyes carried the special kind of pity reserved for beloved but daft dogs. "I was gonna touch it."

"Then I'm not sorry." His grip tightened on her garment. "We did five years of TV show on this. Touching random artifacts is how you summon demons."

Her fists propped on her hips. "Oh, there're demons now."

"Magic alien demons." He nodded and let her go. "Don't touch it."

With a displeased chitter, she settled for just taking video of the apparatus. "But we're getting a sample." She pulled small plastic bag from her fishing vest pocket.

"Deal." He took the bag and stooped to collect a bit of flour from the ground.

She looked a little disgusted. "Ew, from the floor?"

"We're not going to eat it. We're going to study it." Whispering, he scooped a pile of the white powder into the bag, then zipped it sealed. "I know that's going to be tough for someone who forgot not to eat the giant dumpling squid."

She sputtered, leering at him from around a stone possibly repurposed from some occult altar. "That's not the same and you know it!" She poked the crank. Nothing happened. She gave it a quick turn. The millstone rolled, but no weird lights appeared. She braced to turn it one more time...

Thunder boomed. Close.

The walls shook, rattling loose dust in thin plumps and helixes.

The husky found himself stepping immediately to her side. A glance revealed his otter girlfriend standing very straight and looking around with concern.

A serious look passed between them. He pocketed the evidence. "Quit while we're ahead?"

She only hesitated for a second, then reached for his arm. "Sure."

Footsteps.

Faint snaps of profanity neared, sounding quite a bit like the mongoose straining under another heavy weight.

Max ducked. The otter did likewise. As one, they started shuffling back toward the side door. He strained to listen, even as he tried to keep his ears down and out of sight.

The mongoose staggered into view, face obscured by another burlap sack of wheat. Dumping it on the wheel, she seized upon that massive handle and cranked it up and down, ripples of effort translating down her long spine. One granite wheel rolled atop the other, grinding the grain to powder. The old female began to mutter, low and continuous. The words were too low to hear, but the cadence was bizarre, and many of the sounds seemed to be produced at the back of the throat. Green light sparkled along the etchings, gathering at the point of contact between the stones. Here and there, little licks of lighting flicked out, curling around the wheels or arching to nearby pillars. By the growing light, Max saw her eyes had gone glazed, unfocused.

The pair of intruders stood at the side door, a fair ways from the action. Max glanced to his girlfriend, assuming she'd be about ready to leave. Instead, he found her recording the proceedings with keen interest. With his quietest groan, he picked her up around the middle and backpedaled out the open door. Sometimes, it paid to be big.

The outside air hung heavy with moisture, drizzle spraying down in fits. Sweeps of wind stirred the trees. The birds had gone quiet.

The otter finally turned off her phone. "Fine, fine."

Clouds darkened the sky, deepening the shadows of the forest below. After ducking into the trees, they beat a swift retreat. Max found himself actually pleased to be crammed back into the Amphicar, at least for the moment, as his girlfriend fired it up.

He shot her a testy look. "What happened to quitting while we were ahead?"

Those webbed paws waggled on the steering wheel. "Um, she came back and started grinding alien flour in front of us? And there was a big crazy light show?"

"Yes, and we know a ton of special effects professionals." He crossed his arms over his damp hoodie. "I thought we were letting this one go."

"We are!" She pulled back onto the main road. "I did!"

"And you stuck around recording her because...?"

She grinned, still riding the endorphin rush. "I was just getting 'special effects' footage for the blog."

"That really upped our odds of being caught. She could've called the cops."

A second or two passed while rain pattered on the windshield. "Okay, so maybe we need to back off."

"A little." He wiggled the water from his whiskers.

She drove on a little way, then her bright laugh splashed against the gray din of rain.

"What?" He couldn't help a small smile.

"Nothing." Her hazel eyes shone his way. "It just occurred to me that nobody's going to believe us about a magic bread lady."

~ ~ ~

The threatened rainstorm met them in the driveway. Max unfolded himself from the confines of her aquatic car and squished up the gravel to the front porch. His fur soaked up the rainwater as he tried to shield a takeout bag of rolls.

Kylie padded along as raindrops bounced off her sleek pelt. Once inside, she kicked off her shoes and spun on tiptoe to face him, scarfing down the remains of a roll. "These are actually really good."

A quick shake cleared some of the water from his fur. "Hand-milled, you know. You could almost say they're out of this world." He waggled his eyebrows as he stashed the remaining rolls in the fridge. As he passed the stairs, his ears popped up. "Judging by the classic rock coming from your mom's room, she's deep into some project."

"You don't think she got talked into working on that 'kid lawyers' show?" She snagged her laptop from the kitchen table.

"I don't think even she could salvage that." He eyed her computer, hoping she wouldn't dive back into research instantly. Padding across the dining room, he followed her to his room. She smelled really good. She always did. "What are we going to do now?"

With a leap and a chitter, she bounced onto his bed. "Keep researching Bread Lady, obviously. She could lead us to something people might actually believe." She wiggled forward to her laptop.

His paw settled atop hers on the trackpad. "Or we could watch a movie."

The otter looked up at him with automatic defiance.

He met her eyes and cocked an ear. Without a trace of shame, he drooped his muzzle, dropped his ears, and opened his eyes extra wide.

Her expression softened in a moment. A sigh of surrender left her a little slumped. "Okay, that might be a good idea. Bread Lady isn't an obvious threat."

The husky wagged. It was nice that she listened to him once in a while. "What do you want to watch? Vow of Violence? Kevlar King Charles?"

They settled on a low-budget action flick from south of the border. Rain pattered down the window panes. Wind whipped tree branches outside, the forest a dark rollick. Imperfect subtitles sprung up like dandelions along the bottom of the screen.

He sighed with contentment. Watching bad movies together on the bed, just like the old days: the only difference now being how close he got to cuddle her.

Max sniffed in disbelief. "I get that she's really good with spatulas, but you'd think the Federales would make her carry a gun."

The otter rolled her eyes, then rolled a shrug down her body. "Then she wouldn't be La Espátula."

He squinted at the screen. "We've also had no explanation for why these spatulas are so sharp." Onscreen, the lead actress hurled one such implement through the bulletproof windshield of a getaway limo and into the chest of its driver.

The movie exploded onward until the credits rolled.

Kylie gave the scrolling names and theme music a sidelong look. "So the intrepid Mexican cafeteria worker singlehandedly destroys the drug cartel...with spatulas." She tilted her head at the screen. "Is this sexist? I honestly can't tell."

Beside her, the husky nodded. "The jury's still out, but justice...has been served."

She punched him in the shoulder. "Dork."

His arms closed around hers, a hug to impede any further strikes. He took a deep breath of her scent; it always calmed him, reminded him of old times.

As the movie file ended, she reached for the keyboard. Closing the media player and switching to her web browser, she clicked over to a site Max recognized as one of Windfall's local supernatural forums.

With a woof of offense, he pushed the laptop to the headboard. "Oh no, you're taking the night off."

"Hey!" She squirmed to reach it, but his arm around her middle kept her in place. "Lemme go, fluff brain!"

He chuckled and made no move to release her. "No way."

"It's my computer!" Her deft fingers poked at his ribs, unleashing a burst of tickles. "I can investigate on it if I want!"

With a yowl of laugher, he snatched up her paws in one of his. It just made sense to get on top of her, since she was being such a scallywag. It was important to restrain her paws if he wanted to win: after years of rooming together, she knew all his ticklish spots.

For a short little otter, Kylie was actually pretty strong. Her whole body rippled in a wave atop the bed, the combined force of her legs, tail, and back flinging him back. The mattress springs creaked under the strain, not for the first time, of their bodies moving against each other.

Heartbeat picking up, he pinned her back to the bed and unleashed a playful growl in her ear.

With a giggle, she nibbled at his neck fur. "Nah-om-om-om!" Her hips bucked up into his, bucking him just far enough back to break her hands free. She gripped around his back, wrestling him into a roll, trying to get the upper paw.

Unfortunately, they ran out of bed.

For an instant, they teetered in limbo at the edge of the mattress, then slid into an inextricable flop to the floor. Max winced as he took the brunt of the impact on his elbows, cradling Kylie to his chest to keep her from hitting the carpeted floor. His eyes opened a half second later. "You okay?"

"Yeah. No harm done." She sounded winded and wry as she squirmed in his grip. "You can let me up now, Maxie."

He pondered her, still panting from the exertion on the bed. She was warm against him, her scent stirred up by their roughhousing. Her butt pressed against his belly, her long tail between his legs. The position made his sheath twitch, and for the first time in days, he didn't feel the need to stifle the urge. He slipped his paw from its protective position against her sternum, slipping it up instead to encircle her smaller paw, pinning it in place as he gave a playful growl in her ear. "What if I don't want to?"

The shiver that passed through her was intensely gratifying. Curling her fingers against his, she twisted to look up at him with those big, pretty hazel eyes. "Okay, then. What do you want to do?"

Still keeping her gently pinned, he nuzzled her throat, drawing a long lick along her jawline. "I want you, rudderbutt. Just like this." As he slipped his paw under the hem of her shirt, he rocked his hips forward, pressing the growing heat of his crotch against her upturned ass.

She gave a strained little moan, arching to press against his caress as he traced her ribs. "Oh, wow. That's so much better than my idea." Her rump waggled against his crotch.

He ground his hips forward. The steady return of his erection did not pass under her radar as it pressed under her tail.

"Ooh, bad doggy." A more insistent grind followed. "You'll do anything to distract me."

"Mmmhmm." His deep growl breezed through her silky auburn hair. His paws migrated between her thighs, teasing along the underside of her rudder, pressing its ample curve against his crotch.

Those bright white top teeth pressed her bottom lip for an instant of anticipation. "Or do you just like humping my tail?"

He gave it an extra grope. "You do have a cute tail..."

With a scoundrel's snicker, she writhed free, her spine arching like liquid sex. Her glance simmered up at him. "I think I like this plan, Maxie. We've never done it doggy style..."

He got up to his knees for a better look. His erection prodded a tent in his pants. Idly, his paw traced atop it as he watched her.

She rolled to all fours. Legs spread, the otter arched her back to present herself to him. With a mischievous snicker, she waggled her jeans-clad backside his way and snaked her tail under his t-shirt. "Better get these clothes out of the way."

Led by the nose, he tripped over her scent while getting to his feet. He shimmied out of pants and boxers, then danced out of his socks. With a final moment's thought before her scent overtook him, he double-checked his bedroom door was closed and locked. Trotting back to her, the red tip of his erection gleamed against the snowy white of his belly. He took her by the paw and helped her back to her feet.

As soon as his crotch was within reach, webbed paws teased and toyed with his emerging cock. Her touch flowed over his length, tugging his sheath back and smoothing the fur of his balls. She stretched up and nuzzled teasingly close with a kiss-me look. He obliged her.

Embracing her, Max fell through a haze of arousal into her kisses. He drove his tongue into her mouth, mind spinning as he struggled to divide his attention between kissing the otter and removing her clothes. Fumbling to undo the tail clasp of her pants, he slid them and her underwear down enough to let them fall to the floor, then returned to squeeze her ass and draw a squeak of pleasure from her. They were forced to separate as she hauled his shirt up over his head, and he took advantage of the interruption to peel her out of her vest and shirt, pulling her back to him and resuming the kiss and hooking his arms around her to tackle the clasp of her bra. He was getting pretty good at it; only a few seconds of fumbling and the light, practical garment fell away, exposing her small, pert breasts to his eager paws.

Kylie moaned as his paw pads played over her nipples. Then, with a mewl of regret, she pulled back and out of his arms, dancing away to lean against the footboard of his bed, and Max had to pause to admire the sight of her. She was panting slightly, her chest heaving, those perfect little breasts swaying. He followed the smooth lines of her body over her rounded hips, past her flare of auburn pubic fur to her plump, ready sex.

He swallowed, his fervor buried for the moment as he felt the need to speak, to tell her how amazing she was. There needed to be a new word for Kylie, something that encompassed "fun" and "gorgeous" and "adorable." Especially "adorable," as she bit her lower lip and gave him the same hungry look right back.

But, as he opened his mouth to fumble for something halfway romantic, she beat him to it. Gripping the footboard as though to steady herself, she blurted: "You're really, really good looking, Maxie. Like, crazy sexy. I love watching you get turned on." Then she was turning away, vaulting up onto the bed, tail swaying for balance and seduction. She crawled until she was near the pillows, turning back to look over her shoulder at him with fluid grace. "This is the way you wanted me, right?"

Max could freely admit the sight of his best friend and lover with her rump in the air, tail raised in eager invitation, was one of the best things he'd ever seen. He joined her on the bed, drinking in the curves of her body, the scent of her arousal filling the air. Seeing how eager she'd become, he couldn't resist tormenting her just a bit, caressing the backs of her thigh up toward her rump, stopping just short of her slick, gleaming sex.

"I can't believe we've never done it this way before." Kylie murmured into smooth fabric, rubbing her face against the blankets, chasing his scent. She gave her upturned rump a wiggle with a chitter of giddy anticipation.

He was still enjoying teasing her, running his hands along her sides, brushing his fingertips along the curve of her ribs. He leaned in to plant a kiss to the small of her back. "Why's that?"

She caressed her tail against his naked chest, eyes drifting shut in pleasure at the petting. More of his weight settled on her hips as he slipped forward, and she turned her head a bit so he could nuzzle against her jawline. His cock brushed the fur of her inner thighs on its unhurried path to its destination, a wonderful inevitability, and she shivered in obvious anticipation. "Well, you know..."

A pause, as he struggled to finish her thought through the haze of his lust. Then he heaved a sound somewhere between a sigh and a groan into the fall of her hair. "Because I'm a dog?"

She had to twist to grin at him, and despite her best efforts she didn't look very apologetic.

With a deadpan glare, he sighed. "I don't know why we're the ones who got saddled with the name. It's not like every other species does missionary."

"Maybe you have some crazy inborn talent for it." She bit her lower lip, bouncing her hips up against him emphatically. "We should find out."

That got a smile from him. He leaned up to lick her ear, rocking her forward slightly to get her rear end higher. One paw took hold of her tail base, thumb caressing the sensitive underside. "You're lucky you're cute."

She gave the tiniest of happy squeaks as the slick tip of him brushed her entrance. "It does come in handy."

A playful growl rumbled down his throat. He pressed his hips forward, sinking into her a millimeter at a time. Her folds parted with slick welcoming heat.

The otter spread her legs further. A chirr from her round little muzzle begged wordlessly for more. Those cute webbed paws clutched his pillow to muffle her louder noises, even as her tail waved across his chest like a winding river.

His sheath slid back as he sank further into her. Once he'd hilted, he paused a moment to soak up the sensations. Hot breath filtered through her hair, each pant an affirmation of how much he loved her. The urge to thrust overwhelmed him, though, and soon he was riding her with an increasing rhythm and enthusiasm.

His lover, his co-star and best friend for years, squawked into the pillow --a sort of high-pitched keen of pleasure-- as he penetrated her again. Her toes curled against his thighs, tugging at the fur there. Back and forth her hips waggled, working his shaft against every surface of her passage.

He thrusted harder, damp fuzzy balls slapping against her mons. The room filled with the sounds of the lovemaking, the slick slurp of him pulling back audible over the rain. His paws gripped her hips, shoving them back against his. He grunted with effort as he claimed the sexy little otter under him.

Her every squeak urged him on. The bed rocked under them, her laptop tapping against the headboard.

He rocked atop her, driving his canine length into her lovely depths. Those paws, massive compared to her own, stirred her pelt with care, even while gripping her for carnal leverage. His hips slapped against hers with urgent force, flattening her breasts on the mattress. Wet slicks echoed through the room, counterpointed by the deep grunts of pleasure.

A squeak of joy escaped her throat: high-pitched and super cute. Her ears flicked back in a blush. She shoved her face into his pillow.

Max growled into her round little ears; the raw vibration rocked her to the core. Pressing himself flush as he could against herGiving an experimental little thrust, he relished the soft flesh of her labia against his sheath. "How're you holding up, squeaker?"

"M'good." She groaned, spreading her legs a little wider to give him easier access. "You feel really deep like this, Maxie. And don't call me that."

Her obvious enjoyment only upped his determination. One paw gripped her hips, while the other slipped under her midriff to massage her clit. As he work it in steady circles, her body bucked hard against his.

For a moment, all she could do was squeak back at him, face still buried in the pillow. Then she cleared her throat and attempted a sultry purr. It came out more like a balloon squeak.

The husky froze, then woofed a massive laugh.

"Shut up!" She squirmed to escape his gaze, but not his dick. "I can't help that I only make stupid unsexy peeps. We can't all sound like sexy diesel engines."

"I like it when you peep." Leaning up to nuzzle her hair, he shifted inside her. "Tells me I'm doing a good job. You're the best squeaky toy ever."

"That's not helping!" She hid her face in a pillow again to bury a giggle.

"Kylie..." His paw pads caressed her silken cheek. "I think you can feel just how much I like our soundtrack." He let a rumble of his lust creep into his voice as his hips rocked forward to press a growing knot into her.

The otter shuddered as he spread her legs wide. A slight vibration to her hips told him one of her paws had slipped between her legs.

His balls swung with every thrust, slowed only by the fluff on them. He unleashed a growl of passion past her ear: "So you like how I sound, rudderbutt?"

Face-deep in the pillow, she squeaked in agreement.

"And you like the feel of a big hard husky cock inside you?" He teased her with his knot, never quite going inside.

"Maxie!" Her tail bumped back against his chest as she tried to capture that canine bulge.

After a second, he relented. He pressed his whole length inside her, knot a tight fit past her slick entrance. His hips worked faster into her than ever, dragging it in and out of her. As her passage clenched down around him, a sudden wave of ecstasy swept him away. The tight tension of her around his knot squeezed a gasp from him. His world crashed into a single sensation: that of climax within his mate. Every shudder of his straining body spurted hot passion into her. Satiny slickness spread his seed along every surface within her passage. Surge after surge of pleasure lifted his balls and raced down his length to flood her waiting wetness, leaving her all the wetter.

Not that the otter ever complained about being too wet. She panted. That telltale wiggle returned, swishing her ample tail through his stomach fur.

He shuddered as his orgasm faded to afterglow. Pushing her tail a little further to one side as he leaned in, he mouthed a deep growl to her ear: "You gonna come for me? I want you to come on my cock when I tie you."

A sharp squeak answered him. "Since when can you talk dirty?"

His shrug translated across her back. "It's easy when I've been having dirty thoughts about you all week." He slipped back into a deep, seductive tone, still panting. "I want you to, you know." His paws found her breasts and toyed with her stiff nipples. "I love seeing you cum." He rocked his hips to tug at the knot within her. "I love feeling it around my knot."

She tensed under him and muffled a mighty squeak into the pillow. Her toes gripped the sheets. That tight passage pulsed up his length, squishing his hot cum around. Her eyes closed as she shoved her hips back into him.

Max straightened, still tied. Not wanting to kink her tail, he carefully lifted it and resettled it on his other hip. This motion, of course, caused all manner of pleasant sensations to press around his knot.

The otter appreciated them too, from the low chitters that rippled through her voice. The sound sharpened as her tail base rubbed along his stomach. Endorphins making him adventurous, he slid a hand between them to explore the spot's sensitivity, letting her hand guide his. His gambit paid off, eliciting a dreamy coo from Kylie. Her body relaxed against and around him. Her tail uncurled and drooped atop his thigh. Her whiskers drooped to the pillow.

His lutrine lover turned to gaze up at him through messy auburn hair.

He leaned for a nuzzle, which melted into a kiss on the side of her muzzle. One disadvantage of this position was that he couldn't make out with her. It had other benefits, though. Her body felt lovely up against his. Every little move her body made brushed it against his.

A tender moment passed in calming silence. Rain traced down the window as their heartbeats slowed and the familiar spell of sleepy satisfaction crept over Max. He rested his chin on her shoulder and sighed a happy sigh.

She patted his arm. "Wow. You were pretty pent up."

He blushed and buried his muzzle in her hair. "Yeah."

"Why didn't you say something?"

"You were sniffing out clues. You seemed really set on it." He shrugged. "And I didn't want to be pushy."

Her little ears went up. "Pushy?"

He rolled his shoulders, feeling a tinge of embarrassment. "Yeah. I mean, I'm like twice your size. I can't just throw you into bed and have my way with you."

"Not sure I'd complain about that." Her hazel eyes watched him in the reflection of the slightly-fogged window. "You're my boyfriend, after all. You're allowed to have needs."

The term made him smile. He rubbed a paw down her flank. "You're small, though, and sometimes I worry I could hurt you. Or make things awkward."

"We did all our own stunts, remember? I can handle a big fluffball like you." She toyed with the fur of his wrist. "In case you didn't notice, I like how big you are."

That made him smirk. "Oh?"

"Not just like that." She placed a gentle kiss on the inside of his wrist. "You make me feel so safe, Maxie. Sometimes I feel like I could just bury myself in your fur and be safe from everything. All this crazy paranormal stuff feels so much less insane if I have you watching my back. Besides, I like that I can trust you."

"Oh?"

"Yeah." She nuzzled into his palm. "To be good to me. And I know how much work you put into being careful." He was close enough to her ear to watch the pink inside darken with her blush. "And if you want to toss me onto bed or pin me to a wall and have your way with me, I don't think I'd object."

He nodded, nose between her round lutrine ears. "Mmm. This was pretty good."

"And your bigness has all sorts of benefits." She squeezed down on his buried cock, eliciting a woof of pleasure from the dog. Her paws spread across the head of the bed. "I don't know if I'd even have the courage to track down monsters without you."

Still tingling, he rested his muzzle atop her head. "Pretty sure you still would, but that you'd just die."

"Hey!" Her elbow prodded his ribs. "I'm tough!" She squirmed with outrage, tugging at his knot, unable to turn and face him. "I totally bit an alien handyman that one time."

Chuckling, he patted her shoulder. "I'm kidding; I'm kidding. You're tough."

The otter sniffed, placated. "I had no idea you were holding back."

His ears lifted.

"I mean, I kinda noticed I was always the one to initiate sex. I thought that just meant I was the horny one."

He smirked. "I get horny too."

She squirmed. "Yeah, but when we're in friend mode, you totally pick me up and toss me over your shoulder when I'm being a brat."

His ears flicked up. "So you admit you can be a brat?"

"Not the point here, mister."

The husky rolled his eyes. "Pinning you to the couch because you've deluded yourself into thinking you can win a wrestling match with me is one thing." He swished his whiskers with an anxious whimper. "Pinning you to the couch because I'm horny and your tight jeans are driving me crazy...makes me feel like I'm controlling you."

Still tied, she scoffed. "Yeah, good luck with that."

He laughed a little. "Tell me about it..."

For a moment, she pursed her lips. "Remember the episode where everyone but me and Egbert were turning into feral monster versions of themselves?"

The husky kissed his lover's neck, rumbling as he caressed her belly. He could tell she had at least one more climax in her, and to his mild surprise he found he did as well, his knotted cock pulsing once more in the incredible tightness of her passage. Automatically, he recited: "'Throwback:' season three, episode fourteen. Something like six and a half stars on IMDB."

The tilt and bob of her head told him she'd rolled her eyes. "Right, that one. Well, remember the part where you changed right in front of me and chased me around the house?" She reached for her computer, which had been forgotten against the headboard. She woke it up with a flick across the touchpad and opened a site from her favorites.

With an absent kiss to her shoulder, he peeked curiously at the laptop as the screen lit up. "Yeah, I think so. Mostly I remember tripping over the coffee table because reflective yellow contact lenses make it hard to see, and then I remember the makeup people yelling at me for ripping out my fur extensions.

The otter chuckled. She clicked a link and the screen transitioned to a column of text. "Well, it was worth it to inspire this fic. One of my favorites. Basically, what if I hadn't locked you in the basement and escaped up the coal chute?"

He raised an eyebrow. "I seem to recall my motivation being that I was out for blood."

"Yeah, well, turns out you had other bodily fluids in mind." She gave a little shiver that made his cock surge. "Mmm, it's all feral and passionate, but still with a tender core, ya know?"

"Sounds fun." Slipping his paw down to caress a brazen finger along the joining of their bodies, he let his teeth graze the shell of her ear as he whispered: "You should read it for me."

Her nervous chuckle lasted just long enough for her to brush hair from her face. "Okay, um, let's see. Cassie peered over Serge's shoulder, watching him pore over the recipe to the counterspell. Part of her wanted to insist that she take the risk, since she had more experience with magic stuff, but another part of her was glad he had offered, happy that he wanted to protect her."

This scene felt familiar, and a little ways off from where it needed to be. "Skip ahead." He moaned, giving a little thrust that jostled his reawakening cock inside her and grinning as she squirmed.

Scrolling rapidly through the paragraphs, his otter murmured. "Mmmph, oh gosh, okay. Let's see, you start to change before you finish, can't make it in time, big scary transformation scene, chase me out into the living room... Okay, here we go: Cassie moaned into the carpet, the tatters of her shirt and panties swaying as Serge bucked into her. Monstrous hands held her wrists, pinning her down, but she wouldn't have gone anywhere if she could. He --mm!-- claimed her and she loved it, arching her hips to meet every thrust of his huge, hard cock inside her. She felt hot breath on her nape and shivered, picturing him bent over her, covering her, pressing as much of his body against hers as he could. When Serge's tongue slipped along the arch of her neck, she turned to meet it, completely trusting. This was Serge, after all, her Serge. She knew in her bones he would never hurt her." She twisted to look at him, her mouth open just enough for a gasp. "See, Maxie? Even in crazy primal sex stories you're a big softie."

Max grunted, willing his eyes to focus as he kept up the steady roll of his hips. He couldn't get much motion going --she was super tight-- but whenever he could coax a shudder out of her she would clench wonderfully around his knot. So he teased and caressed her, his free hand traveling up and down her body, fluttering over her nipples and navel and clit as he pretended to be patient so she'd continue.

"S-She felt a sudden extra resistance to his thrusts, a growing swelling at the base of his cock as it sheathed itself in her. With a jolt, she realized it must be his knot, and that the sex-crazed creature that had once been her best friend wanted to stuff it inside her and--ohmygosh, Max!" She whimpered into the sheets. "Faster. Ah! Please-- Ah, yeah. J-just like that."

The husky abandoned mere teasing as the story approached its climax, sinking his paw between her legs for a merciless assault on her core. He caressed the straining bud of her clit, grinding his knot against her inner walls in an inexorable rhythm. "You're almost there, rudderbutt. Just a little more."

She shook her head, squirming against his chest, fists buried in his bedsheets as her body convulsed in pleasure. "It's too much, Maxie. I can't keep re-reading--"

"You can." His voice rumbled against her shoulder as he arched over her, feeling her body rippling around him, wanting more than anything to see her hit one more peak. "I know you're close, Kylie. You can do it. Just keep reading."

Kylie strained for the laptop, struggling to get the screen back into view. "Sh-she didn't have time to wonder if it could fit before it was inside her, stretching her out wide, filling her with his hot flesh! Serge only managed a few more thrusts before it was too big to come out of her, locking them t-together. With a howl of triumph, Serge gripped her tight as wave after wave of white-hot cum filled her tender womb, claiming her innermost places with his essence." She shuddered as the husky's cock throbbed at the description, but persevered, too stubborn to back down now. "Then she felt him twist, bearing down on her until his jaws closed on her scruff. She felt a pinch and sting of teeth as he gripped her, marking her outside as well as in, making her entirely his!"

This was just the sort of opening Max'd been waiting for. With a slowness that hid his growing desperation, he threaded his muzzle through the short, silky fall of her hair, nuzzling along the line of her spine. At the appropriate instant in the story, in just the right pause in her reading, he opened his jaws and gave the back of her neck a sharp, playful nip.

The otter squeaked in shocked delight. Her whole body stiffened. That cute little muzzle rolled against the mattress as she wiggled, still tethered by his buried cock. Those round ears tipped back through her dark red hair as her form undulated against him, body-surfing on a wave of climax.

His knotted length throbbed within her, somewhat sore but not yet ready to come unstuck from her. He found himself teetering on the edge of another orgasm, the side effect of being teased all day. Frantic need compelled him as he curled fingers around his sheath and under his balls, rubbing as much as the space between their bodies allowed. Arousal spiked fast within him, overwhelming him in seconds. A deep growl rattled his throat as he emptied his balls into his writhing lover, her passage welcoming every drop with gripping passion.

Max's second climax turned his muscles to overheated gelatin, and his vision swam with the buzz of pleasure. Rather than put his faith in his trembling arms and risk squishing Kylie, he slipped an arm around her middle and guided them both down onto their sides. The otter didn't protest, merely snuggling back against his chest and pulling his arms around her.

They lay like that for some time, the husky caressing her belly as he listened to her heartbeat slow. He considered trying to get one of his blankets over them, but that would have taken too much effort. With a kiss to the back of his lover's neck, he murmured: "Does that fanfic have any more chapters?"

She made a sleepy sound, drawing his other arm tighter around her chest. "Eh." Her webbed paw waved a vague gesture in the direction of the still-humming laptop. "It does, but it gets weird. Long story short: half-monster husky-otter babies and hardly any more sex scenes."

He huffed a laugh into the warm scent of her hair. "Alas."

Her tail teased his shins. "So, you liked the fic?"

"Mmmmm, pretty good, but I like the real thing better." His fading knot slipped slowly free. Muzzle over her shoulder, he watched as thick fluids beaded down her waterproof pubic hair to drip on the sheets, like rain down the window glass.

"And did you catch the part where, even though Serge was big and strong and being a little rough, Cassie was right there with him because she trusted him? Think there might be some kind of message there?"

He chuckled. "Yeah."

Her trembled gasp concluded with a sigh. Free now to move about, she turned to snuggle closer against him. Her smooth pelt mingled with his fluff, her muzzle slipping perfectly into the hollow of his shoulder. "You have my permission to throw me over furniture anytime."

His arms curled around her. "I'll remember that next time you're obsessing."

She giggled against his arm. "Not much of a deterrent."

"I've known you long enough to know you can't be deterred..." He kissed her hair. "...only distracted."

~ ~ ~

Two or three times as long as my average story here, but I think it came out well. I'm prepping for my trip to be guest of honor at Abando, the Brazilian furry convention, so I figured you guys might like a little reading material while I'm away. *wags*

Art: Slate

Edits: sillyneko345, archaesophilia, Kohaku Nightfang, Slate

Windfall, physical copies: http://furplanet.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=798

Windfall, e-books: http://baddogbooks.com/?product=windfall

• Tempo