Chapter 14: Out of Love
#14 of The Mating Season 5
Chapter 14: Out of Love
The world spun before Keeno's eyes and blood actually flew when Wynn, with a warrior's scream, socked her uncle a good one in the mouth. Keeno had succeeded in grabbing Wynn by the arm and yanking her around, only to receive such tidings. Now free of his grasp, Wynn took off running again. Keeno chucked his spear to the ground in a sudden flash of anger and pelted hard after Wynn. He overcame her switching hips and bouncing breasts easily, and after wrestling her thrashing arms behind her back, he stood holding her wrists as they both panted to catch their breath.
"Wynn . . . have you lost . . . your mind?" Keeno demanded breathlessly after some time. He touched a finger to his bloody lip and looked at it. Still holding her fast with his other paw, he jerked her wrists for an answer.
"I think . . . . so," Wynn panted, her breasts riding as she gasped. "How. . . . about you?"
Keeno shook his head. "Nope. Still got mine. That's why I'm not gonna smack you into tomorrow."
Wynn laughed. "So we calling a truce, Uncle Kee?"
"A truce."
Keeno let his niece go, and Wynn turned to face him. She gasped when she saw just how bloody Keeno's mouth was, and overcome with shame, she looked at her feet. Keeno nodded grimly, as if to say, "Damn straight."
"Siddown," he growled, nodding at the ground.
Feeling dismal, Wynn did as she was told.
"And fold your legs," Keeno added.
Wynn obeyed once again, knowing that she had been given the order so that taking off would be a bit harder this time.
"Wynn," began Keeno, still nursing his busted lip, "I know you're pretty pissed at your father. I know you've been pissed at him for a long time. But I also know why he does the stupid shit he does. I should know: we've been best friends since before we could walk. I know Kilyan better than anyone, Wynn. Better than his wives or his lovers - better than his goddamned parents - because I've spent every single day of my life with him. We trained together, we played together, we snuck off from patrol duty together --"
Wynn grinned, and Keeno smiled too.
"And at our first mating season," went on Keeno, "we raped mouths together."
Wynn looked at her uncle in amazement, not that they had raped mouths but that he had admitted such a thing.
"The point is, I know your father. And I can tell you right now that when Kilyan makes his stupid mistakes, he does it out of love. He does it because he's a kind and caring wolf. He does it because . . ." Keeno shrugged and gave a lopsided smile. "Because he's Kilyan. He didn't sleep with Nontik-whatever out of some empty lust or some wild and uncontrolled desire for instant gratification."
"How do you know?" Wynn demanded. "You weren't there."
Keeno smiled down at her and folded his arms. "And were you there in the bedroom with them? Were you watching and listening when they talked for hours?"
Wynn stubbornly averted her eyes.
"No, Wynn, you weren't. But Kilyan told me what happened there because we tell each other everything. That's what best friends do. So I can confidently say I know more about it than you do. Nontikkamu - mah - whatever -- is more than the wicked seductress you've made her out to be, Wynn. And Kilyan knows that. So trust your father's judgment, okay? Hell, if he thought I was worthy of his sister, he's gotta have something more than rocks under that mane."
Wynn laughed in spite of herself. "Yeah, okay . . ." she said to her lap. "It's just -- I was a little kid, Uncle Keeno. I didn't understand - I - I only knew that my mother hated Nontikmah and that trading my father for her help was wrong."
"And how does Avi feel about Nontikmah now?"
Wynn smiled and shook her head as she reflected. "She and Nontikmah could have been the best of friends that day we sailed away for home."
"I thought so. So trust your mother's judgment too, won't you? And in the mean time . . ." Keeno offered his paw and pulled Wynn to her feet. "Don't ever punch me again." He winced after touching a ginger finger to his lip. "God, this shit stings!"
Wynn laughed and apologized, vowing she would never let herself get that wild again. She bounced up on tiptoe to kiss her uncle's cheek, and Keeno tried to keep from looking pleased. Sometimes he thought Wynn might as well be his daughter too. It was so much like having Enya again that his heart ached - except Enya would never have punched him. Taking up his spear as they made their way back, he reflected that all that punching and wildness was probably the shemale in Wynn: she had inherited the super strength of her mother, among other things.
"So how was it when he met my mother then?" Wynn asked as they walked back.
They moved side by side, Wynn with her tail curled at the tip and her eyes trained toward the ground. Her ears were back flat, and Keeno could tell that she was worried: what if it was true what the shemales had often said? What if Kilyan had slept with her mother out of nothing more than lust, then left her pregnant and heartbroken? After knowing her father and the kindness in those green eyes, Wynn had told herself that such rumors were just that: rumors. But she needed to have that confirmed by someone who knew the truth.
Wynn kept staring at the ground as they walked and didn't notice it when Keeno glanced sideways at her, his dark eyes full of pity. He took a deep breath and decided that, out of love for Wynn and her already-torn and confused heart, he would do the best thing he could. He would lie.
"Kilyan loved Avi the moment he saw her," Keeno said, though he did privately believe that this part, at least, was true.
"Good," said Wynn, closing her eyes in great relief. "So he performed the first intimacy ritual with her out of love, not lust."
"Yes, Wynn," lied Keeno, dropping a comforting arm around her shoulders as they walked, "out of love."