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At the Roadhouse

"Is there much more to do, Juusi? My paws are going numb."

"Not much more. And you're right, it sure is biting tonight. Plus it's gotten dark. Ah, you know what, Milo, let's call it a night. We'll finish it off in the morning."

Milo nodded, and set his greasing rags on a nearby workbench. The workshop was illuminated by an oil lantern on a hook. The older dog, Juusi, took the lantern down, and led on.

"By the way, kid, thanks for your help."

"You're welcome."

The younger dog, Milo, pulled open the wooden barn-doors. Together, the two sled dogs stepped out into the snow. It was one hour past sunset, and the temperature at the roadhouse station was already minus ten Celsius and dropping. There was no snowfall that night, but with a clear sky, what little heat had shone through in the day had long dissipated.

Trudging across the yard, snow crunching under their boots, the two dogs headed for a large wooden house, where most of the windows still glowed with firelight. The huskies climbed two steps - the rest were buried under the snow - up to the veranda and the front door. Inside the house was a large lounge, filled with the scents of multiple sled dogs, some familiar, some not. Three teams were overnighting at this roadhouse, including Juusi and Milo's team. Tables and chairs were set around the lounge. Animals sat at many of them, talking and drinking: the huskies, a few avians, even a pair of raccoons who huddled together, their voices low and growling. A wide fireplace burned in the far left corner, and several of the dogs had taken up places in front of it, on chairs or sprawled on reindeer-skin rugs, some talking and swapping stories, others simply giving their bodies and their paws a well-earned rest. Most of Juusi and Milo's team were by the fire, so that was where the pair headed.

"Uh oh, Juusi's got the face on."

"When doesn't he?"

"Okay then, so what's the damage?"

Juusi grunted and sat on his haunches. "Left rail was completely snapped off, we'll need to finish fixing it in the morning. A fair bit of structural damage too, but nothing that some fresh wood and a few nails couldn't fix."

"Yeah, that's the spirit. Anyway, your tucker's waiting for you both in the dining hall. Oh, and we've got the upstairs bunks this time, the ones right above the kitchen. So should be pretty warm for us."

"Nice. So where are Helena and the boss?"

"In their cabins, I think. You can imagine they'll have some pretty choice words to share with each other."

"Oh I certainly can," Juusi replied. "The boss was really not pleased."

"Yeah, animals tend not to make threats like that when they're pleased."

"Can you imagine? Firing our lead dog?"

"Wouldn't be the first time," Juusi stated. "Anyway, it's probably best I wait until morning to report on the sled. The big guy's probably got a lot of steam to blow off."

"Heh, and you know how he vents his frustration. Luckily we're safe. Why take a tail when you can take a snatch?"

"Who says he won't take her tail?"

"Oh seriously Mags, I've just eaten!"

"Besides, if the boss wants tail, you know he prefers males. So keep 'em low, boys!"

"Hahaha! Like that's ever stopped a husky before!"

The chatter had turned raucous. Milo watched without speaking, until Juusi clapped him on the shoulder. The copper-furred dog turned to his senior.

"Come on, kid, they've got plenty to chat about. Let's go eat."

Milo followed Juusi through to the dining hall. A 'coon was tidying up in there. When she saw the pair, she went through and retrieved some cuts of steak - rare, and still just a little warm. Juusi and Milo sat beside each other, at a long table in the empty canteen, and tucked straight in.

"You really not going to report tonight? That was the order."

"Kid, believe me when I say the alphas have other priorities tonight. Anything I say will just make things worse. It can wait until the morning."

"They're not going to fall out, are they? I mean, it was a bad crash, sure, but nothing that can't be fixed."

"I wouldn't worry. Once you've got a season or two under your harness, you'll get used to this. The two of them scrap like a married couple. But they always work things out."

"But the way the others were talking, it sounded really really bad. Like, worse than usual. What if the team breaks up?"

Juusi laughed. But there was a feebleness to the laugh, or so Milo thought.

"That ain't gonna happen. Trust us, just leave it for tonight, eat, and try to relax."

After food, they re-joined their team-mates. Milo wasn't much in the mood for chat, so after a few minutes, he excused himself, saying he wanted some fresh air. He slipped on his boots and gloves, and outside he stepped, back into the snow and the cold and the darkness of the Far North. Behind him were the lights of the roadhouse, and the occasional sounds of laughter from his pack. Both faint, but still there. Before him, the ground sloped down towards the snow-covered, frozen riverbed that served as the main trail in winter. Sled-tracks and paw-prints had marked the snow, the final trace of the day's miles. And beyond the river, vast, immeasurable, the snows and the forest stretched out, the moon and a tapestry of stars shining through on this clear sky.

A door opened behind him. But it wasn't the main roadhouse door. It came from one of the smaller, triangular-roofed, wooden cabins set back from the yard. Milo turned, just in time to see a dark figure slink through the doorway, and pull the door closed. He knew that fur-pattern, that self-assured gait. And he knew there wasn't a single other dog at the roadhouse that large.

Quietly as he dared, Milo padded through the snow. He kept his eyes and ears and nose alert, but nobody else was around. As he approached the cabin, two growling snarling canine voices carried through the timberwork. Milo knew both voices. He pressed an ear to the wall, to hear the argument within.

"I'm still waiting for an explanation."

"I don't owe you an explanation."

"Yes you do!" the animal inside roared at his team-mate. "You may be lead dog, but once that harness is off, I'm in charge. And it's not just me. You owe the whole team an explanation. Twelve dogs almost died today, and it was all because of you."

Silence. Then a scoff.

"Oh? Nothing to say to that? How very unlike you, you smart-mouthed little bitch. Seriously? No retort, no witty reply? Of course not. Because you know it was your fault."

"Liar."

"Twelve dogs. And all of them nearly dead. And all because of you, Helena."

"You liar!"

There was a sound of snarling and snapping. Milo could well imagine the canines within, fifty and seventy kilograms of pure muscle, locking together with teeth and claws. What did that look like? A sudden thump or two made Milo jump. That sounded like a blow or two landing. Had the boss drawn blood? Had Helena? Milo snuck to the cabin window, peering through the corner into the cabin. A copper-furred bitch was crouched, not bleeding, but standing her ground. Meanwhile a massive male husky, his fur black and white and his eyes a piercing ice-blue, paced the small cabin, his tail straight down and his thick fur on end. And a slip of dog arousal had emerged from his sheath.

Tonrar. The boss dog and the alpha of every dog in the team.

"Oh it's the truth, you moody bitch, and you know it."

"Moose shit."

"You know! You led us through those switchbacks, when you know there are a thousand other ways to reach the river."

"Yeah, but the switchbacks are the quickest way..."

"Irrelevant! We had time, we could have gone another way. But you had to put all of our lives in danger, just to gain, what, an hour, if that."

The larger black-furred male closed the gap, muzzle-to-muzzle with Helena. The bitch did not flinch.

"And another thing. If you are going to lead us through switchbacks, you have to read the terrain, and know when to make each turn. But you led us the wrong way, and almost straight over the cliff. So it's your fault our sled is now wrecked, and it's your fault we were nearly all killed."

"Oh, like you were helping. I was leading the team just fine. You were the one driving them on, threatening them, being all 'Rawr, I'll bite your ear off' and all that shit. You're a real bully sometimes, you now that?"

Tonrar paused for half a second. But then he faced Helena dead on, those icy eyes drilling into the bitch.

"No, Helena. I am not a bully. I am a sled dog. A sled dog thrives on pack, on hierarchy, on order. It's been bred into us, for a thousand seasons and more. And I am getting the best I can from our team. After all, a sled dog lives to run. He's mad to run. And he's never happier than when he's out there, in the wilderness, his team around him and the call to run spurring him on. We're harsh animals, and we've got to be. Why? Because our job is harsh, and our home is harsh. So I'm just doing my job. And you need to up your game, and do yours. Properly."

"I do do mine properly. I would never have made this team otherwise."

"And I can end your sledding career, just as quickly as it started. Do not for a second think you are special, just because you won a single sledding race. Because I have been winning them since you were still a whelp. For every dog who's heard of you, another ten have heard of me. So I can fix it that you never run another mile in your life, young girl."

The bitch lunged towards the male, teeth at the ready. "I'm no young girl and you know it."

"So what? You're going to get angry about it?"

Tonrar barged his shoulder into Helena, before wrapping himself tightly around the bitch's body.

"Oh, am I winding you up? Am I making the little bitch angry? That's good. Use that anger. You want to win and keep winning? You'll need that fight in you. Otherwise every dog north of the Circle will take his fill of you."

While Milo couldn't see every detail, he could imagine it. Tonrar was rubbing himself on his bitch, and the bitch herself knew better than to resist. Didn't stop her little snarls though.

"Oh you would love your fill of me. You'd love this pussy. Put your shrivelled little prick in here, feel my cunt walls gripping and squeezing you till you're yipping like a newborn pup, hungry for its mother's milk."

Tonrar flexed his great shoulders as he chuckled low. "Now where did you learn language like that? From Shiva? You wish you were Shiva. But you never will be."

"And yet, you still want my cunt."

A duet of lethal snarls, and the canines locked together again, wrestling each other hard. Helena was fierce, the well-mannered college-educated dog finally giving way to the wild animal within. However, Tonrar would not be denied. The instant he got a good hold of Helena, he cocked one leg over her rear, and began to hump. Immediately Milo saw the fury of her resistance drop. Make no mistake though, she still wasn't making it easy for Tonrar, what with her writhing and bucking beneath him all feral and foursquare. But now the male had a firm grip, on her sides, around her front, across her rows of nipples, and his haunches settled into place behind hers. Now Milo could glimpse it: the first few inches of Tonrar's erection, slipped from that thick furry sheath and probing, questing, for his bitch's treasure. Helena braced her back to the dog, and kept her tail low, but nowhere near low enough. Just as he'd done before with many a reluctant dog, Tonrar directed his bucks, slipping lower and lower before he gave the slightest of jolts, a proud growling smirk spread across his muzzle, and then came a wet squelch.

That made Milo's sheath jump.

Tonrar sunk his hard, boned cock deep into his bitch with a single powerful thrust. Both dogs were panting, their breaths laced with growls, even before Tonrar kicked into a hard pounding, his upper body rock-steady but his hindquarters slamming into the bitch underneath him, sending her stumbling a step or two across the cabin before Tonrar grabbed her midriff and hauled her back onto his erection, a move which wrung a scratchy howl from Helena. Suddenly she bucked and snapped, twisting her head to try and bite Tonrar's face, and the black dog, rather than pull away, actually met her challenge, looming right over her to snap with drooling jaws. The two dogs writhed together, carnal and athletic, a triple-coloured flurry of snow-dog and muscle, with Tonrar's ice-blue eyes gleaming though it all, as focused and determined as when running through a blizzard. Two things which he made look so effortless. How much experience did that dog have?

Milo could hold back no longer. Through his glove, he took a firm grip of his sheath, where his own erection had started to emerge. He glanced through the corner of the window, careful not to frost it with his breath and give the game away. He slipped his sheath back a little further, precum drooling from his arousal, leaving everything nice and sticky in the palm of his glove. And then, Milo started to paw, gasping at the sight before his mismatched eyes. He saw every second, every thrust, how strong the two sled dogs were, Helena standing strong on all fours, taking every fearsome thrust. She writhed, as best she could under the male's weight, and when she heard the occasional break in Tonrar's growl, she smirked, and ground back harder. With their thick pelts, and the closeness of their mating, Milo could see few intimate details, save the occasional flash of Tonrar's tight husky balls. No matter though. He could well imagine how those two canines were locked together. Imagine, even, that he were the copper-furred dog underneath Tonrar, not Helena.

And then he yipped. He couldn't help it.

All movement stopped inside the cabin.

"Milo?"

And Tonrar and Helena were looking through the window, right at him! Tonrar raised his hackles.

"Oh fuck off Milo! You can see we're busy in here!"

"Oh hold on now, wait a minute boss." Now Helena was the one smirking, even as she laboured under the big dog, her breath heavy, and her rump pressed back hard to Tonrar. "I know you prefer not to be disturbed when you rut. But if the rookie is curious, I see no harm in giving him a show. Just this once. After all, he'll be seeing all this and more come the Revel."

Tonrar growled low and long. "Oh, alright then. Just this once. Besides, I wouldn't say no a tongue on my balls."

Milo practically burst through the door at that.