FSE

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I savored the fast-food burger, knowing I would never eat the processed junk ever again. Unhealthy, warm grease dripped between my fingers, and not wanting to let it trickle and stain the interior carpeting, I lapped it up before taking another large bite.

Sitting back in the driver's seat of my paid-off, reliable Neptune Anion car, I used all my ursine willpower not to scarf down the tasty, greasy, and well-done double hamburger. It was a delicious concoction topped with grilled onions, extra mushrooms, secret sauce, extra cheese, extra bacon, and a not-so-subtle lathering of honey mustard. It tasted like a party in my maw, and my tongue was making out with the hottest guy on the dance floor. I couldn't remember the last time I'd had a burger. It must have been before Autumn came into my life.

I paused midway through chewing my food. Guiltily, I swallowed my bite and grabbed my large soda nearby, sipping down the aftertaste. By the end of the night, I'd be saying goodbye to city life, city living, and the processed food that often came to cities.

“Remember," I told myself, nose wrinkling at the sweet, addictive smells. “After this, it's cold turkey. All for him…"

My brown eyes wandered from the car's steering wheel to glance out the windows. I was parked at a random Burger Knight somewhere deep in the Washington outlands, in a small town that barely had a town hall and a Main Street as old as the businesses. One or two appeared brand new, but didn't stand out as gaudily as the Burger Knight, and several appeared to be co-op eateries and eco-living restaurants my husband would've no doubt felt at home in. Some residents on the sidewalks dressed like the Sixties and Seventies never truly ended. The bored college-aged beaver in charge of the tiny Burger Knight didn't look like a hippie.

“Wonder if I'll be dressing like that soon," I chuckled.

I tried not to be worried. I tried not to think about the future, instead wanting to finish my on-the-road lunch. However, seeing the orange and dark reds in the trees further reminded me of my husband. Gold-painted trees were already beginning to shed their leaves like fur in springtime. I noticed at least a few dozen houses starting to put up Halloween decorations, despite it being a several days into September. From the parking lot, I could see plenty of homes with overgrown gardens. Did they all used to be part of Autumn's commune, but yearned for civilization again?

What if it ended up being a mistake?

Shaking my head, I glanced back down at the half-eaten burger cooling gripped in my paw. Suddenly, the guilt from before filled my once-hungry stomach. Not wanting it to go to waste though, I chewed down the rest of the lubricious hamburger, used a napkin to wipe down the excess grease in my paws' fur, then started up the car to drive out of the lot. Though not before dumping the doggy bag into a roadside trash bin. With Autumn whispering in my ears, I made sure not to toss the aluminum can in the same bin.

Without looking away from the road, even with a lack of cars, I placed my palm to the car's interior speaker. “Call Juniper," I commanded, then waited.

“Hello, namaste," a relaxed female voice answered from the other end. “This is Juniper Barnes, village elder for the School of Ecological Coexistence, speaking. Who am I talking to?"

“This is William," I said after a moment. “William Gunderson? I'm Autumn's husband."

“William!" Juniper's voice brightened, and I could imagine the older vixen giving me that same bright smile from when I first mentioned the possibility of joining them years back. “I hope your trip here is going well. Everyone's looking forward to having you here!"

“It's going well," I replied, a small grin forming on my muzzle. “Just wanted to call ya and say I'm about thirty…maybe forty minutes away. Can you do me a favor and tell Autumn I'll be right there. It's been too long and I wanna—"

“Say no more, William! Say no more!" Juniper chirped on the other side. “One of the cubs volunteered to take over Autumn's tasks for the next few days. We want you to feel welcomed and figured you two would wanna catch up first before helping with the harvest."

My grin turned into a grateful, happy smile. “Thank you, Juniper. Thank you."

“No worries," she said. “Autumn's been so excited to show you what's changed and what the School's planning for the future, and having you here's gonna help out immensely. Oh! I gotta answer another call, but I'll see you soon, Willy!"

“No worries, June," I said. “See you soon."

Before hanging up, the older vixen mentioned, “Oh! And happy retirement!"

The line went dead, and the smile remained until I glanced into the rearview mirror. My eyes darted from the disappearing road to the cardboard boxes that filled the entire backseat; one contained clothes, another held dozens of hardcover books, personal possessions like business awards, framed photographs, a tablet I hoped to charge by solar, and a wooden box decorated with various New Age symbols. Inside were small carvings sitting atop all of Autumn's letters. A few of them dated all the way back to when we were mere friends.

Warm, happy memories filled my being. The smile returned as I glanced back to the road, and silently, I hoped to no longer worry about filling up the box. Not later or ever again.

***

The first time I'd ever visited the Washingtonian School of Ecological Coexistence, I'd been a student attending Docklands University. My then-girlfriend—back when I still thought being in a straight relationship with a fellow bear would change my sexuality—had been going through an environmentalist phase that included an obsession with finding inner peace as well as reducing her carbon footprint. She no longer shopped at retail stores, walked everywhere she could, and tried to avoid eating an all-tofu diet. It all eventually led to her befriending a free-spirited lynx confusingly named Autumn Treeleaf. Not only was he attending D.U. as a sophomore student, but he also lived at a local eco-village.

So, one weekend, Autumn gave me and Vanessa a tour of the commune, back when it only had a dozen members. Admittedly, the self-sustaining technology interested me more than the philosophies and lack of Internet, but my attention was more on the lynx. Before I knew it, we started getting along extremely well, trading letters every few weeks even after Vanessa and I broke up, and she remarried on the East Coast. From what I'd been able to see on recent MuzzleScroll posts, she recently traded her old car for an electric hybrid. She also started joining organized protests against the oil industry. Good for her.

While Vanessa had stopped visiting the commune, I didn't though. Not only to see the lynx who would eventually become my first boyfriend, then my separated husband, but to find sanctuary from the inner city. As I parked my electric car, seeing the entrance again brought a smile to my brown-furred muzzle, especially at seeing two familiar faces beneath the School of Ecological Coexistence's wooden archway. One was a sixty-something red vixen in a colorfully embroidered, quilted shirt dress, walking over to me with a carved wooden cane. Behind her were a few identically-dressed men I recognized as her teenaged grandchildren.

My eyes instantly fell on the handsome, bright cerulean-eyed lynx standing next to them. He was a few years my junior, early thirties, wearing old denim jeans and proudly wearing an oversized t-shirt that went down to his knees. I recognized the image of Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot being printed on the old shirt. My own shirt.

“Autumn…" I stepped forward.

A crescent smile formed behind those adorable whiskers. “Hey, big bear!" he cheered. The way the lynx spoke my nickname sent a nostalgic shiver up my back, and I pulled him into a hug, feeling the feline plant a kiss on my neck. “Mmmm, I've missed you so much, Willy. You have no idea how happy I am…you need to see what we've been up to!"

I squeezed my arms around the smaller mammal, letting go if only to plant a kiss between his ears. “You've got no idea how long I've waited to move here, kitty," I murmured into his right ear, then nipped his left, making him giggle. “And to be here, with you."

“You go give William a tour, Autumn," Juniper suggested. “Me and my boys can handle moving your luggage in, and it's clear you two wanna catch up."

I stepped over to give the elder fox a mighty hug. Surprised at first and laughed and patted my shoulder, pushing me away. “Thanks, Juniper," I repeated. “Thank you!"

“Now, now, you can make it up to us during harvest," she informed me. “Ever since Lilly and her wife moved out last summer, and the Jordan family had to move to Utah a couple months ago, it's been difficult with limited volunteers."

“Oh, don't worry about me moving away," I said, my eyes travelling to Autumn. “I don't think I'll be leaving here any time soon, Juniper."

***

The tour never got old for me. Not when my lynx was the one to give it.

The lively lynx eagerly explained the changes made in the months since my last visit, from the new wind turbine installed on the southern end of the property to a couple of new, naturally-built buildings that ranged from a coffee shop to a three-story home. The small power grid finally allowed Wi-Fi access in the community center. A wildlife sanctuary several miles away was planning to let the School host a conference promoting their way of life to interested patrons. When talking about a recent 'Shakespeare in the Park' that was hosted, 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', the way that Autumn described playing the role of several dozen interested visitors made his eyes light up like fireworks.

“I figured you'd make a better Oberon," I quipped at one point.

“That role went to Dave," he mentioned.

“Ah, I take it back then," I chuckled. “That moose would make a perfect fairy king."

“And Juniper got to be Titania. She really loved playing the role like a queen," Autumn laughed, then sighed in remembrance. His bright smile further entranced me as we walked down a winding path wedged between organic permaculture gardens. One smelled of tomatoes and the other beets. “So, how does retirement make you feel, sweetie? You miss work already?"

“Yes, and no." My ears swiveled up and down, and I inhaled the smell of pine coming from somewhere. “It's…weird. The past few days, I woke up each morning before the alarm. I got up on instinct, went to the bathroom, showered, leisurely brushed my fur, then panicked at the time before remembering I no longer needed to go to work."

That had been my routine since late high school. During college, I spent a good chunk of my free time working part-time for a loaning company. It certainly helped pay the bills as well as fill up the resume. Then, I used my post-graduate freedom to not only work full-time for Cascadia Insurance but use the management major to rise through the ranks until I eventually became vice-president and eventually chief executive officer. I worked hard, paid all my student loans, and lived debt-free…but I never did feel as happy whenever I visited the School, and Autumn was there to enjoy it with me.

“You won't need to worry about being bored, Willy," he informed me, smiling. “There's always something to do around here. Oh, and there's one more thing I need to show you!"

Before I could object, Autumn grasped both pairs of digits around my right paw, then pulled me in a sharp direction away from the main pathway. We walked over a handcrafted wooden bridge where couples fastened locks or rope knots around the joints. We swiftly passed through a grove of apple trees where a few residents that recognized me waved, and I waved back, wondering where my husband was bringing me. No matter what I tried to say or ask though, he shushed me to be silent. That mischievous look in the lynx's eye told me enough.

It wasn't until my eyes darted to a gathering of trees on the other side of a thick corn patch—the same one depicting a scarecrow built from discarded metal and torn clothing—that I finally understood where Autumn was taking me. The confusion turned to clarity, and suddenly, I started to feel my erection harden through my jeans. The memories of our youth flooded back.

Autumn waited until nobody was in sight. I did too, feeling a thrill run up my back, then followed him directly through an opening of tree branches just wide enough for my bulking frame to fit through. We stepped carefully through for what felt like minutes, but likely a dozen long seconds. The yellowing leaves and harsh stems brushed my shoulders and face until at long last, I exhaled pure nostalgia at the sight before us.

I could feel emotions well beneath my exterior. “Is this our…?"

“Sure is!" Autumn chirped.

I tried asking, “How long has it been since…?"

“Years and years, Willy." Autumn held my trembling paw. “Too long, in my opinion."

The narrow, natural trail that the lynx and I just used wasn't known to many residents of the School of Ecological Coexistence. Or, if some of them knew, it appeared that they heavily followed the 'leave no stone unturned' doctrine. Everything at the hidden pond looked just the same as it did years ago, when Autumn first introduced me to it. When Autumn and I shared our first kiss. Then, when Autumn and I made love under the pale moonlight of a bright waxing crescent during spring break.

My vision was drawn to a large towel laid beside the crystal-clear pond, like a blanket. And an assortment of bottles, plus a small candle sitting atop a ceramic plate. I smirked down at the lynx, who attempted to look innocent and distracted by something. A wandering butterfly, perhaps. Except I knew him better.

“Have you been planning this for a while, kitten?" I asked.

“I have no idea what you mean, big bear," he said.

Our eyes met. That passion and uncertainty from that wonderful night reflected back and forth between our irises, then solidified into amused joy. I laughed. He did too. As I wrapped my arms around his shorter frame, pulling the feline up by his toes along the grassy ground, our lips met in a kiss I'd been looking forward to…for a very long time. Not a kiss of hello or goodbye, but one for a promising future.

Our tongues feverishly danced in our maws. They danced and danced and danced around each other to carnal music, with players wielding tambourines to produce enticing shivers, drumbeats that raced beneath our chests, moaning flute notes that squeaked past our lips, and I remembered the rest of the world disappearing for ten seconds. There was only me and Autumn, a grizzly bear and lynx each approaching forty. Yet we kissed like teenagers; passionate, excited, and yearning to be even closer than we were. I could feel it in the way my erection pressed into his through my shirt he wore. A part of me wanted to tear it off him.

Instead, I reluctantly parted for air. A small strand of saliva bridged our flushed muzzles, and we were left panting for sweet oxygen. Yes, it was just like our first kiss.

“Tasty," he giggled, only to wrinkle his nose while licking a lip. “Did you have a burger—"

“Shhhhh," I whispered mischievously, “I did. Thought I'd have one more meal."

“This isn't a prison sentence, honey." My beautiful, handsome lynx husband rolled his eyes and giggled. “And out of all the restaurants to eat in town, why'd you have to go to that new Burger Knight? The kids who work it turn the meat into rubber anyway."

“I dunno." My shoulders gave an apologetic shrug, although I couldn't stop grinning madly down at him. “I'd been driving for several hours straight, I wanted to have one more helping of fast food before officially giving up the junk, and…" A smile formed on my ursine jaws. “I did consider one of those eco-restaurants, but I…I really didn't want to wait another two hours to see you again."

“Aww, you flatterer," he said, then leaned up to give me another kiss. That coarse yet luscious feline tongue licked my fangs. “I'll admit, you do taste delicious, hehe."

My heated ears heard not only our heartbeats, but the peaceful sound of nature, rustling leaves, and swaying branches. “Isn't this nostalgic?" I chuckled. “So, is the pond still safe, or…?"

He pulled away from my hug, then began to peel his pants down. “Sure is," he replied, “but I'm more interested in getting wet another way…"

My tongue licked both the upper and lower lips, and they smiled down at him.

“Same here, Autumn," I growled eagerly. “Same here."

I helped my lynx out of the large t-shirt that blanketed his tiny frame. His eyes then sparkles like a pair of rare blue diamonds when they surveyed my shirtless body. The resonant purring became louder, more lustful.

Trimmed claw nails roamed my belly fur the moment I exposed my chest. My arms raised high in the air as they discarded my shirt, then descended to wrap a smaller feline into a big bear hug. My own trimmed claws explored every inch of his body; his sensitive nipples that shivered into hard nubs against my fuzzy chest, his trembling back which let loose musky sweat when I caressed his power back, and the rough lynx tongue that cleaned my lowered neck. Soon, the pants fell away, as did the underwear. My crotch pressed against his, and like a coal on the fire, my cock radiated heat against his legs.

“Mmmmm," he moaned into my shoulder. “Oh, Willy…!"

Without waiting for me to say anything, he buckled to his knees and started sniffing my member. His whiskers tickled my shaft, and his nose pressed deeply against my balls, which retracted and then returned to hanging low from the wet cold of his inhaling and exhaling. My legs too started shaking from the way Autumn grasped my thighs, breathing my musk deeply in and huffing in delirium I rarely seen him in outside of the village sweat lodge. The only difference was that Autumn wasn't sweating or drooling as much as he sucked my dick.

“Hehe, for being vegan, you're eager to suck—Ow, ow, ow! Easy!"

Autumn had left a sharp warning on my scrotum. Nowhere near enough to pierce the skin but just enough to make it clear it wasn't a love bite. He didn't look pleased.

“Remember what I said about joking that I suck cock, but can't eat meat, sweetie?" he asked me like an innocent friend discussing the weather. “I love you, Willy, but don't forget what I promised to do if you kept at that stupid joke."

The lynx dramatically comped his fangs in front of my cock.

“Yessir!" I flinched, letting out a nervous laugh. The lynx stared up at me with a not-so-innocent smile, his paws still lingering as it slowly stroked me before finally, I let out a cacophony of words the moment is magical fingers resumed their work. “Ahhh…Oh, fuck—Ngh, mfh, damn—Ahhhhh!

He licked it like a saucer of wine. That rough tongue tickled the underside, causing my winces to turn harsher. Then more pleasured as soon as a rhythm was found. His fangs barely scraped the skin on contact. My ursine member pulsed inside of him, begging for a release that never came just yet. It begged for release and euphoria though. It had been a few months since I let myself or the love of my life touched me. My scrotum desired emptying pleasure. It almost compelled me to start fucking the soft muzzle of my kneeling husband as if he were an expensive fleshlight, my breath haggard and raspy, paws roughly grasping his feathered ears for support, then use him until my bear cock shriveled into a flaccid husk, and I was lying on my back with him cuddled beside me.

I held back though. Or rather, Autumn reminded me to, pulling his right lips away from the head as soon as it leaked a lot more.

“Mmm, ahhhh….!" I whimpered to myself, grinning. “Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck…p-please, Autumn. Please!"

“Awww, the Big Bear wants to cum," he purred mischievously, then stood to saunter over towards an oak tree, pushing his ass out while clutching his fingers around tall branches. “Don't you wanna…take me? Reclaim me as your mate?"

I stood hypnotized at the naked feline leaning against the tree. My jaw hung slack at the two beautiful globes begging to be pried apart, how his tail wiggled alongside his hips. My legs wobbles until I knelt at their level, grasped each spotted and golden-furred glute, then spread them further wide to give me access to that winking tailhole. I could smell the scent of organic lubrication as well as his earthly musk.

It filled my sweating nose just as I rammed it into the source.

“Ahhhhhooooohhhh, Wiiiiiiillllly!"

The cry of pleasure Autumn let out was music to my ears. It rose high and fell low with his moaning as my dexterous bear tongue explored his depths, my right paw grabbing his hip for support as my left teased the base of his spasming tail. He absolutely loved that, and I did too. He always loved it when I munched hungrily on him as if he were fast food. Especially whenever I ate him out until he came all over everything. However, I wanted more than just making him cum.

I would begin by rotating my tongue and a finger clockwise around his sphincter and tail base respectively, enticing the feline for what was the come. I could hear it from the way his claws dug right into the oak wood of the tree he was leaning against. His claws scraped at it over and over with every slobbery lick. Then I would curl my tongue to slowly pry his entrance as gaping wide as possible, all while my fingers rubbed at a certain joint in his tail that made him instinctively kick at the forest floor.

From the fluffy tip to that hidden joint, I'd thoroughly caress his tail. And for several minutes, I rotated clockwise and counterclockwise in intermediate patterns that suited me, letting me test how much I could make Autumn quiver and sing to the forest.

If anything, it distracted me long enough from stroking my raging boner without letting it grow flaccid. I could also tell from the way his ass convulsed and quavered around my oral appendage when I was reaching his limit. Soon enough, I Felt him start to near the verge of the cliff and I pulled my tongue back.

My hot breath kissed his puckered and ready hole. Musky sweat and my drying saliva coated it like sweet glaze on a donut. One that I had to resist devouring until I covered it further in my…well, additional cream. The thought of that caused me to laugh aloud, to Autumn's delirious confusion.

“What's funny?" he asked, panting and purring as he glanced behind him.

“I just love you so goddamn much," I murmured, reaching behind me to grab the bottle of lubrication and pour a liberal amount all over my length. It wasn't cold, much to my surprise. “I love you, Autumn."

“I love you too, Willy." He purred even louder as I placed the head of my bear cock at his entrance, then leaned over him until my belly pressed into his squirming, sweating lower back, and my mighty paws enveloped his clawing still into the tree. “Now fuck me. Fuck me, Willy…Make love to me like an animal…!"

Normally, whenever we made love in any location, The two of us wanted to take our time. I wanted him to tease my nipples for him to let me lick every inch of his amazing body. I wanted to go as slow as possible and let him experience a climax building up after a few hours of methodic euphoria. We loved doing that ever since the first time. However, we had two exceptions for it; whenever we had sex after a big argument, or whenever we hadn't seen each other in months. In this case, it was the latter, but also a permanent reunion.

We were going to have plenty of opportunities for slower, spectacular lovemaking. For the moment, we both wanted the same thing: fast, unfiltered, carnal release. The same thing that our animal ancestors did thousands of years ago.

My hips thrust forward, and together, I sang alongside Autumn. The words that came out were nothing but animalistic noises and guttural groans, followed by sweaty movements, his ecstatic feeling purrs, cat-like meows, and the delicious sensation of my cock taking him as my mate.

A horny part of me wished it went on for much longer. I wanted to pound his feline ass all the way into the middle of the night, patiently make him orgasm several times before finally painting his insides white. The romantic side of me wanted to cuddle with him and frot with his smaller frame until we came together under the moonlight. Still, I didn't complain. A couple of minutes rutting like horny school boys was more than enough with Autumn.

It all happened so fast, yet I remembered every heavenly second. The tight clenching around my slick cock, feeling my balls slap against his while that bushy tail tickled my belly. Sweat and drool trickled down my chin. All at once, I could feel everything from my lynx as he leaned against my chest, pushing himself back and forth on my shaft, meowing incomprehensible words that would nevertheless translate into how much he loved me, and to go faster.

Finally, we collapsed together against the tree. I spun us around so my back would take most of the impact, even though it barely registered. Despite being drunk on our lovemaking, I was still conscious enough to remember the previous time I had accidentally crushed my husband post-coitus. By the time Autumn collapsed into my arms, I felt the evening chill wash over our sweaty bodies, and fully realized how dark it had become.

Above us, the fall branches practically melted into the sky, with the stars and a half-waning moon barely visible beyond a patch of golden leaves resisting the changing of seasons.

We lay panting together against the bark of that beautiful oak. We gathered our breath and tried to say something. Only for my first words to be a deep moan as I not only felt my cock disengage from his filled, currently leaking tailhole, but a pair of fingers squeezed one of my nipples. They expertly did it like I were an instrument.

“You still make great music, hehe."

“You teasing lynx, hehe."

In retaliation, laughing with him, I lightly smacked his backside, not caring that some of my cum stained my fingers. It wasn't long before we found ourselves distracted by a deep and sensual kiss, so familiar and yet so welcomed.

***

We eventually crawled towards the swimming hole to clean ourselves up. Autumn required much of my help due to is incredibly sore legs and aching lower back, but I couldn't complain about rinsing him. Once we finished, I helped clothe Autumn and carried him out of the private woods towards his place—no, our place. I needed to mentally remind myself of that fact several times, including when I held his keys.

The one-story cottage hardly changed since my last visit. The front door and foyer reminded me of a fairy tale home, and the interior still possessed recycled decorations and pottery, as well as some crafts I'd remembered helping create with Autumn during my later visits. One example was the kitchen table made from reclaimed wood.

Speaking of which, we found my luggage and moving boxes gently placed on that same kitchen table, waiting to be unpacked.

“Later in the morning?" I murmured to Autumn and made a mental note to thank Juniper after breakfast the next day.

He yawned in agreement. “Later in the morning…"

I almost entered our bedroom when Autumn stopped by the refrigerator, pulling out a pitcher of ice water and pouring it into a wooden cup. After remembering which cupboard they were kept in, I grabbed one for myself, let the lynx pour some for me, and we 'clinked' our cups together before taking deep sips.

“Ahhh," he sighed. “How do you feel about the insurance company no longer…?"

“…being mine?" I finished the sentence. “Honestly?" We poured another swig, then drank it down again. “It feels like waking up from a hazy dream. Stuff I worried about back in the city no longer matters as much as it did. No more electricity, gas, Internet bills. No more paying for parking. No more deadlines or filing paperwork. It's weird…but I'm happy."

Autumn didn't say anything, only grunting as we put the cups and pitcher away, and I followed him into our bedroom. The massive king-sized bed sat ready for us, welcoming me back. However, my attention was drawn to the sudden silence coming from its original occupant, who was sounding distant. Especially as we crawled into the bed, shedding our clothes once more, and he didn't notice me wrapping my larger arms around his shoulders.

“What's wrong, sweetie?" I asked. When the lynx didn't answer, bowing his head back down at the table, I clasped both my paws around his smaller digits. “Autumn, please, you know I hate seeing you so sad. And we promised each other…no more holding stuff in."

It required three or four years for us to make that promise, especially since the ceremony where we made our vows. My poor lynx had been miserable living in the city with me after we had our honeymoon, often spending much of his time looking out the window or going to a small park whenever he didn't work retail. It wasn't until we had a massive fight that Autumn decided to move back to the School of Environmental Coexistence. Permanently.

Our relationship barely survived by a few strands of hair. The separation especially got hard on us each time we inevitably needed to talk about it. Once or twice, the option of divorce was brought up, but immediately forgotten each time we met in-person. We just kept falling back in love with each other all over again, rinse and repeat. Something needed to change.

“I'm not sad," he whimpered. “I'm just…" The feline lifted his head up, smiling teary-eyed and brushing his hair aside. “I'm so happy you're staying here, and while a…a part of me is still worried you'll regret giving up so much—"

“I didn't 'give up so much'. If anything, you gave up so much for me after our honeymoon," I reassured him. One of my fingers tenderly lifted his chin up so I could look at him in those bright blue orbs looking back at me. “Autumn Treeleaf, I love you. I've always loved you. And if you'll let me, I want to do more than just continue our marriage."

I gently turned him to face me and held a finger beneath his chin.

“Let's renew our vows."

“Are you serious, Willy?" Autumn asked. “Do…Do you mean it?"

“Just as serious as when I suggested moving here with you," I chuckled lightly.

My handsome lynx started to purr again, like a beautiful engine.

“Yes…Of course, yes!" he whimpered, kissing me again. “I…I love you, Willy."

I nuzzled his whiskers. “I love you too, Autumn."

Outside our bedroom window, ambient birds chirped, crickets trilled, distant windmills spun, and owls hooted. I fell asleep to the sounds of nature, as opposed to the urban jungle I spent most of my life in. As Autumn and I lay our heads down and drifted off to sleep, my smile wouldn't disappear. Not as I hugged my lynx husband close, not as I imagined the rest of my life going forward at our new home, and certainly not as I felt happier than the day we met.

We were finally together. We were finally home.