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What Was Broken -

Chapter 5

He was given his phone back when they made their way out, standing in a line of others waiting for their own restricted devices. Anthony was still on edge about the twisting of his testimony and said little while they waited. Sean sent a quick text to Oda explaining the lunch recess and that he was going to grab lunch, with company, in the courthouse restaurant. He got no response.

There were actually two places to eat, a relatively low key cafeteria, and a proper restaurant dubbed First Chair that catered more toward the well-to-do. Sean made his way that direction but Anthony balked. "I can't afford that place." The young man observed morosely, his hands shoved in his pockets.

"No problem, I can. Let's get a proper sit down." He swept an arm toward the dark oak and glass doors to the restaurant. He amended his earlier text as they pushed through the doors. A pretty vixen seated them and brought heavy, actual leather menus for them to peruse. Their server was a distinguished looking human wearing something that doubled as both butler's attire and business suit. Sean ordered iced tea and Anthony a soft drink and latte. "Menu's open, Andy, so don't worry about it. Sorry that hopped up grass monkey worked you over like that."

Anthony shrugged behind his menu, "He's on the defense. I knew he'd be on the attack the moment that Frencheman sat down."

"Lethal."

"Eh?" Anthony lowered the menu slightly to look over the top, "Lethal?"

"The prosecutor, Lethal. Or, rather, Le'thal, but you can see how it comes out."

"Hell of a damn name for a lawyer!" The young man's gaze shifted to one side, and then up, with a look of fearful surprise. "Speaking of lethal -"

"Howdy, Oda." Sean said without looking up at the presence standing slightly to one side behind him. "Pull up a seat and a menu. How was your day?"

The wolf did as he was told, dragging out a seat and lowering himself into it with a stare at the young man. "Paperwork. Full of paperwork, like always. Who's this?"

"Anthony Blane, one of the prosecution's witnesses." Sean folded the menu and handed it over to the wolf. "The defense raked him over the coals a bit. The judge, a weimeriner, called a recess when they were finished with him. I'm not sure who's next, the only other witness besides me who has not testified is a doe."

"Weimeriner - that would be Bachman. Pretty level across the board, neither a hanger nor a pushover."

"That's him." Anthony nodded, laying his menu down. The distinguished waiter drifted over to ask what Oda would like to drink, which turned out to be another iced tea and coffee. Sean ordered the calamari as an appetizer and, at Anthony's moue of disgust, some teriyaki brazed sirloin shish kebabs. Oda maintained his public bearing in the restaurant, speaking flatly as they conversed but maintaining more neutral topics pertaining to collaring crooks when asked what he had been filing paperwork about. They nibbled their way through the appetizers and garlic bread while they waited for their main courses to arrive; a heaping plate of king crab legs on ice for the wolf, salmon steak for Sean, and almond duck for Anthony. Through the idly wandering conversation Anthony kept staring at the wolf as if expecting him to bite at any moment, or some familiarity that was nagging him.

"I remember you!" Anthony finally cut in with wide eyed surprise. He touched his lips with one finger, narrowing his eyes as he stared at Oda, "Yeah, three years ago, or thereso. Used to come into Pillars of Desire pretty regular, usually with this dark colored coyote, almost black. Flaming freakshow he was, always staring at folks like a cat in a box full of mice. Then a shaggy black retriever, just a couple times. Once, with a blue-gray mearle collie. That one you liked, a lot. The others were - I dunno - jobs? Clients? Marks? Not the collie."

"Marks." Oda rumbled levelly, his expression uncompromising. He picked up a crab leg and bit through it with a sharp crack, chewing the whole thing with a series of unsettling crunches that made Sean wince. "Your memory is peculiarly sharp to pick one face out of a thousand, and on more than one occasion, as well as who they were with three years after the fact." The wolf rumbled from one corner of his muzzle as he reduced the shell and meat alike with no apparent notice of how the noise unsettled the two men.

Anthony stared at Oda, the muscles of his jaw clenching with each noisy crunch of Oda's teeth. His gaze fell to the unused shell-cracker that the waiter provided with an uncomfortable moue, only to turn away entirely a moment later under the steely regard of the wolf's flat stare. "You'd stand out in a football stadium with that white fur and dead-man stare." Anthony shrugged, uneasy, tapping his temple as he attempted to hide his discomfiture behind a sip of his latte. He tried not to shudder when Oda took another noisy bite of chilled crab. "That's what I'm good at, remembering faces, putting them to names though I only got yours as Jack, or Joe, something like that. Bodyguard."

"Jaques, bodyguard." Oda nodded.

"Argh, again with the French," Anthony muttered with a shake of his head while he took fork and knife to his finely roasted duck. Unlike the wolf, who hardly needed anything with those flesh-rending, bone crushing teeth, Anthony and Sean actually had to carve up of their respective meals, not simply chew through them undaunted.

"French-Canadian, actually. Manitoba. Now, if you're that good at the who and where and when, and you've been to some of the private shindigs in places like Becket One, you should help the social forensics team. They're pretty overwhelmed with the current flood of information, and don't know what the associations are. I'm sure the pay for a CI would be pretty nice."

"CI?"

"Confidential informant."

"Oh. Yeah, well, maybe. Who was the collie, anyway? The coyote was a people smuggler, illegals. Same with the retriever. The collie was someone else, not a local."

Sean quirked one corner of his mouth in a sly grin, "My brother-in-law."

"Dude." Anthony's brows shot up in surprise, "He's gay? Damn, nice. Him and the wolf here looked pretty sharp together."

Sean shook his head, "He's not, why?"

Anthony's gaze flicked over to Oda, raking him up and down appraisingly, "Uhm... Pillars is the top gay club in Vegas."

Oda caught Sean's surprised stare without changing expression, "We were on the job, tagging marks." He lied with a straight poker face.

Anthony tittered a light laugh and smiled knowingly, "He might've been tagging marks, but you were all about tagging something else." Sean saw Oda's throat move under the thick ruff of his neck as the wolf's indomitable mien cracked a little under the effete young man's scrutiny.

He decided to jump in. "You know, for someone who says they don't favor furs, you have a pretty sharp eye when it comes down to it."

Taken a little aback, Anthony blinked and turned towards Sean. "It's the details which stand out that I remember. Look, like I said, furs are not my thing. Pillars is mixed though, and honestly, if you're going there you're pretty much flinging hangars anyway."

"Y - eah." Oda rumbled uncomfortably with a frown, "At any rate, what do you do, kid?"

"Whatever I can find; service jobs usually, with some dancing on the side." Anthony shrugged, letting the topic shift. "Plenty of work like that around here, but the pay's a crap shoot."

"That it is." Oda observed, lazily conceding the point with a leg of crab before crushing it with those efficient, deadly white teeth and then washing it all down with a long draught of iced tea. "But, as I said, someone that's good at picking out faces in a crowd can make more money in other areas. Would you like me to put in a word with some of my associates?"

Anthony looked at him dubiously. "Who are your associates?"

The wolf shrugged noncommittally, "Bounty hunters, federal agencies, things like that. They pay good money for a sharp eye and a good memory."

"I'd be grateful, yes." Anthony seemed only slightly reassured, "I've seen a lot, actually, if you're above board and all I'd love to help supply what I've managed to pick out over the years. It's funny, really, the underground big wigs don't pay enough attention to their staff, and certainly don't pay them well enough to keep quiet. They rule by fear, and with the town shaken to its foundation a lot of that fear is evaporating."

"That it is." Oda flicked a business card out of the inner pocket of his suit so deftly it looked like a magic trick, "Call me next week and I'll see about setting up some interviews."

Anthony regarded the card, mouthing the name a few times, "Aniwh- ahh?"

"Oda, kid. Don't try to choke on the name, it's Native."

"Yeahcool, thanks." He shifted his chair back and stood with a sigh, extending a hand toward Sean, "I've gotta be at work in forty five minutes, so I better hit it. Thanks for the lunch and the chat, Sean. Good luck when you sit in that chair." Sean shook his hand and then Oda did the same, both watching the youth's back as he disappeared through the heavy front doors.

"Good kid." Sean observed after a moment, glancing up as the waiter brought the tab. He barely glanced at it before slipping his plastic into the billfold. "Gay as a May pole, but still good."

Oda whuffed after taking a sip of coffee, "You say that as if being gay is a bad thing."

"It isn't, I was just noting -"

"Mmmhmm."

Trying to pull his foot out of his mouth Sean glanced at the clock on his phone, "Recess is about over, I should head back to the courtroom." The waiter returned and Sean signed the credit card slip before rising. Oda set down his empty ice tea glass and finished his coffee with a quick toss of his head.

"It's back to the office for me, but I should be able to wrap up a bit of paperwork today. Scuttlebutt says that Bechaise has fled the country, leaving his whole organization floundering." Oda paced along beside him like a taller shadow of white wearing, today, even more white. "Things are already pretty tense on the street. This might escalate the gangs and mobs to damn near outright warfare."

"Bad for everyone all around, then."

"Bad for the whole city, but hopefully most of the cancer can be excised and they can get back on their feet on a better course." Oda gave Sean's shoulder a grasp as they parted at the elevator bank.

Back in the court Sean sat all alone on the first row of chairs in the gallery. He chose the furthest chair from the aisle nearest the juror's box, where he could lean back against the wall and watch the entire floor. The puma and defense team had arrived, as had Tracy and Le'thal and two of the others on the prosecutor's side, Sean could not remember their names. He had yet to see any sign of Sammuels. The doe sidled in a few minutes later, taking a seat in the row directly behind Sean. She gave him a look and a slow nod, the expression in her soft brown eyes haunted.

They rose once again as the judge entered, and then seated themselves while the bailiff reiterated the docket number and purpose of the trial. As the defense had concluded its questioning of the entertainer usher Anthony Blane the prosecution called it's next witness, the doe Anna Dancer. Quietly she stood, steeling herself for the tribulation to come, and made her way to the witness stand. Sean turned to lean back against the wall and watched the puma, catching his crooked gaze from across the courtroom and holding it with a level stare.

Tracy interviewed the doe, showing remarkable compassion and restraint as she coaxed out the particulars of her particular case.

"You worked in the Diamond Mine Casino, did you not."

"Yes." Anna replied with her quiet, tenor croon.

"In what capacity?" Much as Le'thal had earlier, she kept most of her attention on the jury, without looking to the gallery and not once toward the defense.

"I was tasked to care for the ladies in the kennel, ma'am."

"The kennel?"

"Where they kept the human ladies they brought in, until they were broken and trained properly."

"Objection, privileged!" the baboon shot up from his seat with a raucous hoot of indignation.

"We're merely establishing her job duties, your honor, nothing more." Tracy purred with a roll of her eyes. While she stood with her back mostly to the defense she kept her tail up level behind her, lazily twitching it back and forth.

"Overruled."

The baboon snorted irritably and pulled himself back in his seat.

"And that is how you came into contact with the defendant?"

"Yes, ma'am, he worked there as well, in security and sometimes in collections."

"And, in your words, what occurred on the night of July first, 2012?"

"I was cleaning up one of the rooms after one of their ladies left, he came in and stuck me with a needle. It had the same drugs in it they gave the ladies to keep them compliant."

"Do you happen to know what those drugs were?"

"I knew what they were for, but not what they were exactly, no. It's all in the statements I filed for the court, when they closed the Mine. I was just housekeeping, I never administered the sedatives or managed the ladies." She looked down at her hands in her lap. "I have accepted my complicity with what they were doing, and have asked no leniency of the court."

"Which is not germane to the case at hand, Anna, I will not trouble you further about it. After you were - allegedly - drugged by the defendant, what happened?"

Anna glanced up timorously at the puma and then back to Tracy, "He kept me locked in that room four or five days, and - and came and did - things. Unspeakable things. Things that made me bleed, because he said I would. Things that made me scream, because he wanted to hear me scream." Her voice gained strength and volume as she spoke, as if re-visiting those horrors awakened a spark of anger and fanned it into flame. "He said that, so often, that he would make me scream, that he would make me bleed." Sean caught the puma's gaze wandering, their stares meeting and locking as the doe spoke. Sean did not look away, leaning forward slightly in his seat to bore into those angry bronze orbs. "He did things that left me unable to ever bear children of my own."

"How did you escape?"

"One day I found the door unlocked. When I managed to make my way home my mother took me to the emergency room, I was so badly injured. That's when they took the rape kit, and DNA samples."

"You did not tell them who did this at the time?"

The doe shook her head vehemently, "I didn't dare. Like that other fellow said, it would've gotten me dead."

"You're here, though."

"Yes. Your department called me when you got a DNA match. You shouldn't even need my testimony, but here I am." She sighed and brought her gaze back around to Tracy. "Why?"

"Because others need to know what you've suffered. So that you may have justice."

The doe snorted and frowned, "Justice won't let me have children. Justice won't take away the scars that frighten men away if I don't have the lights off. I -" She lowered her head, a hitch in her voice that she quashed with an angry murmur. "I can't even be alone with a male, anywhere, and male cats make me break into a lather. He's here," she raised a shaking hand to tap her temple, "every night, telling me he's going to make me scream, that he's going to make me bleed, raking my insides with his lust!" she finished with a breathless bellow. Sean, still holding the puma's furious glare, raised a fist and pumped it in the air with a single violent jerk. Glowering, the cat's twisted visage contorted even further in anger and he jerked his gaze away.

Tracy, as well, seemed to find renewed confidence in the demure doe with that outburst. "Now, miss Anna, I really, really hate to do this, but I would like to reveal to the court some of the events that happened in the five days you spent in captivity."

Anna nodded slowly, "I live those five days every time I close my eyes, ma'am. Telling you about them now would hardly change that."

For the next three very long, excruciating hours Anna recounted, in often horribly disquieting detail, every assault the puma visited upon her when she had been semi-lucid. Compared to what she endured Sean's encounter was naught but a paltry non-event. By the time the judge chose to recess them, before the defense team had an opportunity to rebut her testimony, though numerous interruptions to object, Sean was more than ready to leave. So, too, was the puma who found that each time he chose to look away from the proceedings always found Sean staring at him with cool, flat regard. The more the doe talked, the more angry Sean felt.

Angry, and ashamed. How could he equate what he suffered in having the demon of the cat's memory in his head after listening to what the doe had gone through for not a few minutes, but days.

Sean said nothing when he met Oda in the atrium, walking with his hands thrust in his pockets and his attention more toward the floor than the wolf beside him. He gazed down one of the side streets while they sat at a traffic light, watching the flashing bright lights of the strip a mile distant even in the glaring brightness of the day. He had never imagined that such a corrupt place could exist. While he had to admit that New York had its fair share of horribly cancerous people, this was a town that seemed to be built upon a very foundation of intentional criminality.

Sean sighed and shrugged, not looking at the wolf. "Somebody needs to shoot that motherfucker, they really do."

"You did."

"No, I mean - shoot dead. Not cripple. Dead."

Sean fell into a brooding silence after that outburst, wound up with his own thoughts while Oda worked his way out of the city. For his part the wolf let Sean stew, figuring that sooner or later he'd bring up whatever was on his mind. The ride back to the little ramshackle old house was made in silence but for the news playing quietly on the car radio. It had nothing spectacular to report. Sports and stock shifts, a few comments about upcoming legislation dealing mostly with gambling and vice tax increases, and the weather; Hot, even for so late in the year. Rain was expected sometime before midnight.

At the house Sean ambled into his room and just stood there for a few moments staring at the rumpled bed dusted with white fur, wondering why he felt so listless. Then it dawned on him. Shucking his fancy business suit he carefully hung it up. The one he wore the day before looked much less pristine; rumpled and wrinkled and still stained at the underarms from the copious sweating. He tugged on a pair of snug, but not constricting, shorts and a light cotton shirt that was just as snug. He dug his foot-shaped shoes from the suitcase. With those dangling from his fingers he padded barefoot back out of his room. He found the door to the bunk room Oda had disappeared into slightly open and stopped just beyond.

Within he could see the wolf stripping out of his own suit, carefully arranging it on a hangar while he stood, his back to the door, completely nude. Sean admired his handsome physique; toned and strong but not burly, with broad, square shoulders tapering down to narrower hips. The bush of his tail, extended out in a relaxed downward arch, concealed what would have otherwise been plainly visible had Sean been so admired in a similar state of undress.

Raising his hand Sean rapped lightly on the door. One of the wolf's ears pivoted rearward and he turned, unabashed at his nudity.

"Hey, Oda. I'm going to go for a run." He said as the wolf looked across the room at him. Sean felt his eyes roving downward, settling on the dense ruff of fur that mostly obscured the outline of his sheath and completely hid his balls from casual view. He quickly lifted them back up. "I just... I have to get out," he explained with a grimace. "Taws and I have been running cross country for a few months now and I haven't done that for almost a week. Right now I just want to get out, just run, and clear my head, see if I can find some calm. You want to come along?"

"I suppose I should, seeing as how I'm playing your escort and all. Would look bad if you vanished on my watch. We're pretty remote, it shouldn't be a big risk." He shot Sean a toothy grin. "Just let me see if I have some shorts around here."

Sean followed the wolf at an easy lope when they set out, following a dusty trail along one side of the canyon that switched back and forth toward the crest along one side. It was steep going in places, steeper than Sean was used to on the manicured trails of the park behind his house in New York, but he found it challenging without being grueling. Each of them carried a couple large bottles of water slung from bandoleers they had fashioned from the belts of their dress clothes slung about their shoulders. At the crest they slowed to a walk as they climbed from the shadows of the canyon into the blazing heat of the lowering evening sun.

The view was hardly impressive; if anything it was oppressive to Sean. An endless expanse of boulders and dust broken by low scrub and criss-crossed by countless off-road trails. Compared to the forests of the northeast it was positively bleak. "How did anyone think that this would be a great place to build a damn city?" He commented between swallows of water.

Oda, panting heavily, shrugged and shook his head, "I have no earthly idea, either. I grew up in the forests of southern Manitoba." He poured water into his muzzle, long tongue curled about the throat of the bottle as he gulped thirstily. Finishing half the bottle with a few lusty swallows he poured a bit over his head and then replaced the cap, shoving it back into the loop of his make-shift bandoleer. They hastened their walk for a few dozen paces and then resumed an easy run.

"Why the hell are you here, then? All that thick fur, I couldn't imagine it's pleasant!" Sean huffed as they ran along side by side.

"White fur sheds the sun pretty well, better than those thin clothes of yours. Damn suit's a bear, though, when I'm out in the summer." Sean picked up the pace a little further, forcing the wolf to keep up. "No mosquitoes here, though!" Oda admitted.

Sean huffed a laugh and nodded; there was that caveat. Mosquitoes in New York were horrible, especially in the shade of the forest. Taws, with her thick coat of fur, was hardly discomfited by them but they tore Sean up like nothing else when they were out running. Leaning forward he pushed himself harder still, his trot becoming an all out run but not a flat sprint. Oda whuffed a rumbling curse and surged to keep up. Their conversation died in the exertion and evening heat, moving up to the end of the valley where the road leading into it split from the paved road. Turning there they made their way back down the bottom of the valley. In all it was only a couple of miles, but Sean pushed himself hard, leaving Oda panting in his dust in the last half mile. Sean slowed until the haggard, panting lupine caught up and then took the last quarter mile at a walk.

"You're out of shape, wolf." Sean joked good naturedly as he finished off the last of his second bottle.

Oda snorted and guzzled his own remnants dry, "I'm wasted on cross country.We wolves are natural sprinters. Very dangerous over short distances." He growled, his tongue lolling with a toothy grin. "And I don't get out in this baking, dusty desert to run. If I want to do that I use the training track down at the Federal building. They've got one on the roof, and a fucking huge track that goes all the way around the parking deck beneath the whole complex. It's something like one and a half miles long, all underground, all air conditioned."

Sean paused at the steps in front of the house to stretch his legs, "Softie." While they spent a few long minutes stretching down from the jog the gathering clouds in the sky above faded to pink, then a deep crimson before fading to gray. "That was good. A good run." Sean observed when they finally climbed the stairs and entered the welcome cool of the air conditioning. Oda could only nod, being too tired to try and speak around his lolling tongue. The house's meager AC was a blessing all the same, and the pitcher of water from the fridge, sweet ambrosia. The two had it empty again in a matter of minutes. "I'm going to grab a shower, get all the dust off me? You want..?" But Oda waved him off, instead slogging his way over towards the AC unit.

Sean left the shower on the cooler side, though far from frigid, as he had that morning. He rested his brow against the age worn tile and let the water sluice the dust of the desert from his sweaty skin. For several minutes he just luxuriated in the cool caress of the water. Only once it began to run clear and he felt his pores cease their desperate expulsion of sweat did he take up the soap and shampoo to make himself human again. After toweling himself dry, which was hardly necessary as the dry air of the desert did almost as much as the towel did, Sean draped the pale-red robe over his shoulders and padded out of the room.

He found the wolf sprawled back on the couch, his fur tousled from standing in front of the air conditioner. He had shucked the shorts he had worn on the run and was now wearing nothing more than that white pelt, eyes closed and muzzle open. At least his tongue wasn't dangling out the side any more, Sean reflected. "You still alive?" he asked.

"Mhrrrghfmph," growled Oda, half-heartedly waving Sean off.

"Heh, well, you just stay there then, I'll see what's left in the kitchen." There was not a whole lot left; a couple slices of lunch meat, plenty of condiments, and five slices of bread if he discounted the heel. "Cupboard's bare, big guy. I don't really relish a grocery run." Sean's legs were feeling the strain of his workout, but nothing beyond what he would have expected. He knew the low ache would fade in a couple of hours.

Dinner, when it was finally figured out, was settled on as Chinese delivery. Oda got back into his robe when it came time to pay their delivery driver, and they ate on the deck under the fitful yellow glow of the lone porch light. Sean haltingly recounted the testimonies he had witnessed that day; how the defense tore the first unfortunate lady apart on the stand, and frustrated Anthony by leaving the questioning unresolved and making it look like he had initiated the events. Of the third he said little; just remembering the horrors she had suffered was unsettling. And he knew that there would be more of that in the morning once the prosecutors finished their line of questioning and the defense moved in for the kill.

After enjoying the cooling night air over dinner they retired to the house, disposing of the miracle meal boxes of filling stir fry and rice. Oda wandered over to sprawl in the corner of the couch with his tobacco pouch. He dug out the pipe and assembled it before packing the bowl and lighting it. A popular science-fiction movie, End of Stars, was next up on one of the movie channels so they sat down to watch it. Oda admitted to being partial to science fiction and Sean didn't mind it either so it was a good choice for the evening. Sean settled himself comfortably in the opposite corner of the couch while Oda smoked. The smell was sweet; redolent of vanilla with a berry undertone that smelled quite pleasant as it wafted about the house. When the movie ended Sean went to the kitchen for a drink, bringing two beers out to the couch and sitting back down while they watched the news.

Much of it dealt with the city's recent chaos and wave of violent crime resulting from the disruption of so many criminal entities that had become so intrinsic to the city that their loss was leaving a gaping power vacuum that was fought over, tooth and claw. While the weather played Sean pushed out of his chair and stood with a stretch, turning toward his room. He paused at the end of the sofa, looking down at the wolf. Oda was partially engrossed in the line of violent looking red sweeping from the west toward Las Vegas, and partially zoned out as sleep crept stealthily up on him.

Relaxed, unpretentious, not hiding behind his mask of indomitable will, Oda was quite handsome, Sean had to admit. Clad as he was in a robe that was not tied and lay about him in a way that lent no modesty he looked utterly unarmed, his mask set aside. Sean had admired men before, that was true; for their particular style of handsome, athletic physiques, or more often for their sharp minds. So many left Sean feeling the uneducated bumpkin he could not help but find them impressive.

But not in the same way he found the wolf impressive.

He dropped a hand down toward the wolf. Oda's golden gaze shifted from the television to that hand, and then up with a questioning forward twitch of his ears. "Heading to bed?"

"That way, yes." Sean nodded. The fingers of his hands curled into a loose fist as he dropped his gaze from the wolf's golden regard. "But not -" His words faltered and broke off with a blink at the thoughts that stumbled through his head. "Not to bed yet. I mean -" He sputtered into silence again and took a breath. "I mean, about what you said last night."

Oda tilted his head slightly to one side, "I made an offer," He conceded with a slow nod, his eyes shifting slightly as they focused on each of Sean's in turn.

Sean nodded slowly as he felt a rush of cold and warmth together blossom within his breast and race outward with a crash of his heart; fear and excitement, he was not sure which, or if it was both together. Fear of stepping forward into an unknown, fear of what Taws might do if she discovered what he was doing, but excitement all the same for taking another tentative step into the unknown; the forbidden. He started to talk but found that he couldn't. He looked down at his hand, held out toward the wolf, fingers opening again. Finally he managed to find his voice, "You did. I - I accept."

Oda levered himself upright on the couch and the television went dark with a single touch on the remote control. He reached up to rest the claw tipped fingers of one hand upon Sean's open palm, bringing the man's gaze back around until their eyes met again. "If that's so, it'll be the same rules as last night," Oda intoned in a gentle rumble. "You can stop whenever you want to. By the same token, I'll stop if I feel it's too much. And you lead."

Sean nodded with a slow, unsteady jerk of his head, so unsure of himself but still desperate to know if what he was doing was working; or even right. His fingers closed about the wolf's hand and he pulled. The wolf rose smoothly from the couch and rested his free hand on Sean's shoulders. "Don't be afraid, Sean. You're doing this for a reason, for someone other than yourself. What you're doing is noble." Tipping his head down to eye level with Sean he drew his hand from the human's grip to rest both of them on his shoulders. "I am honored that you ask this of me. And knowing that you do this, afraid and unsure, for someone you love, honors you." Oda nodded with a small reassuring smile, his long lupine whiskers lifting.

While Sean tried to get control of the rampaging emotions charging about within his breast the wolf's thumbs slipped under the neck of his robe and pushed back as his hands drew out. Even tied as it was, loosely, the robe gave not the least resistance as it tumbled back from his shoulders and spilled inelegantly to the living room floor. Sean blinked, looking down at the heap around his feet, then back up at the wolf. Strong hands dropped to his waist and warm eyes of purest gold gazed down the length of Oda's long canine muzzle. The wolf's hands moved upward along Sean's sides and returned to his shoulder before the wolf stepped back, breaking the momentary tableau of awkward closeness and shedding his own robe.

Sean was not sure if he was about to get kissed, or was expected to offer one and could only swallow, momentarily lost. Dropping his hands away Oda turned and padded over toward the front door to flick off the main lights of the house, plunging them into darkness but for the light spilling out of Sean's room.

Their room, perforce, with Sean's acceptance of the offer extended.

He sensed Oda's presence behind him as he walked into the light of the bedroom, reaching down to hook his thumbs through the waist of his shorts. Before he could push them down, however, he felt the wolf's strong hands grasp his hips and draw him back. A cold nose brushed the back of his neck and nuzzled upward into his hair as Sean was drawn back against the fur softened solidity of the wolf's chest. He could feel the slender, firm ridge of his white sheath pressing against the crack of his ass through the thin fabric of his shorts. Gentle hands slipped downward a little, lupine thumbs sliding alongside Sean's own under the elastic waist of his shorts and slowly, almost playfully, inching downward while the nuzzle of that cool nose became a slow, warm stroke upward with a broad tongue.

Sean twitched and shuddered as he froze in place, his head tipping forward slightly and his body relaxing back against Oda's chest. The only sounds in the small safe house were the distant hum of the air conditioner, the patter of rain on the roof that had started several minutes before, and his own ragged breathing. As his shorts were teased down the firm ridge of the wolf's sheath transitioned from a suggestion against his ass to a warm, soft fact as it settled against him, shifting as the wolf moved behind him.

It really was now or never, Sean thought to himself. Taking a deep breath he placed his hands on Oda's paws and pushed down, guiding them through the act of eliminating that last shred of modesty. He felt the shorts pile around his feet and the smooth glide as Oda ran his flattened paws up his thighs to rest on his hips again. Those paws softly tugged at him, urging him to turn. Doing so brought him once more under the yellow gaze of the wolf, his hands instinctively bracing against the soft, white chest before him. That wasn't enough to stop Oda from pulling him in closer.

"You're shaking," Oda whispered in his ear before beginning to gently nibble down Sean's neck, "Scared?"

"Shitless," Sean stammered as he lifted his chin and clenched his fingers into the thick pelt of the wolf's chest. "This - this isn't like last time. No alcohol." Sean half closed his eyes, letting his mind drift as he felt the warm caress of Oda's tongue along the hollow of his throat and shoulder, so much like Taws but - still different. He found it easy to draw that memory forward; the feel of thick, warm fur under his fingers, the moist heat of breath against his skin, and the broad stroke of heat gliding up to the lobe of his ear. "This time I'm stone cold sober. I can't - hide behind a fog of being shitfaced drunk."

"Would you still want to try this drunk?" Oda asked quietly as he nosed along the hollow at Sean's neck and shoulder. Sean's hands slid downward, plowing furrows through the thick white fur as they worked outward to settle on his hips.

"No," he whispered back, clutching the wolf closer to him. "I've got - I've got to do this without hiding behind a fog of alcohol or I'll never get out of the bottle, or away from the demon." He shook his head, letting his fingers trace along Oda's muscular hips to his lower back, digging into the fur just above the root of his thick, bushy tail. "This is my choice, and I'm going to do it sober, now, or not at all. I've got to see it through."

"That's good," Oda reassured him, his hips pressing forward slightly as Sean's fingers raked into the fur at his lower back, above his tail, where he knew Taws enjoyed being scratched.

"But that doesn't mean I'm not still scared shitless." He admitted.

Oda chuffed a soft laugh and nodded. Raising his head, he sought Sean's gaze as he brought his muzzle closer, the short, soft fur of his lips brushing against Sean's mouth. Once more Sean could feel the soft moistness of the wolf's tongue on his face. "What would you have in mind?" He asked as his lips touched Sean's, brushing them as he spoke. Sean tried not to draw back, still unsure if he could bring himself to kiss another male.

"If I... have to relive - it - in court, what happened between me and that damned cat." Sean said, his voice still holding a tremble, "I want to relive it with you first. So, on my back, with you above. I need to see your eyes."

Oda nodded and leaned in for a warm nuzzle, pulling Sean in tight once more. He whispered in his ear. "Then have a seat on the bed. We'll get you good and relaxed first, and go from there."

"Oda, just be..."

"Gentle?" Another nuzzle, ending with a lick against his ear. "Of course. Nothing but." Turning slightly he reached out toward the wall beside the door but Sean caught his arm, bearing it back down.

"No," he muttered, surprised at the tightness in his chest and the constriction that tried to steal his voice. Fear, he wondered, or expectant excitement? "I - I need the light." Fear, most definitely, but fear was not alone. "I need to see your eyes." Oda raised his head to meet his eyes, his gaze curious, and then nodded slowly and brought his hand back down to rest upon Sean's hip.

Shifting back slowly through the room, with his hands sliding around to rest on Oda's hips and the wolf's on his own, Sean moved until he felt the edge of the bed against the back of his legs. With a little gentle guidance he shifted back up onto the yielding surface until he was sitting, with the wolf standing between his knees. Bringing one hand up Oda rested his fingers against his chest. "Lie back now, and just try to relax a little." Resting his knees against the edge of the bed Oda leaned over as Sean lowered himself back until he was resting on his elbows. "This is probably going to be emotionally trying enough, you don't need to be wrought up. I'm here, remember that."

Sean tried to smile but his lips trembled at the attempt, his heart beating about in his breast like a maddened bird in a cage. "I know, Oda, but still -" He watched as the beast's great white head lowered, a cool touch brushing against the center of his breast below his heart, stilling his words. That cool touch drifted upward, followed by a slow, warm caress that slid lightly across one of Sean's nipples. Not being terribly sensitive in that area Sean barely registered it as an attempt to bring pleasure. Taws had long ago learned to ignore his nipples as a source of stimulation, whereas Sean found that her own - all six of them - had differing levels of sensitivity, and different effects entirely when stimulated. Of course, four were entirely vestigial and quite the enjoyable challenge to locate in the lushness of her fur.

So, he satisfied himself just watching his handsome white-furred paramour; the cuckold he brought into his bed for the sole purpose of killing a less desired intruder. Oda's hands, so predatory in appearance, were gentle as they stroked his outer thighs and hips, the stroke of his nose a cool streak followed by his tongue as it sought out the other, neglected nipple. After a few exploratory licks provided no responding reaction from his prey, Oda's attention shifted... southward.

As Sean watched, his fascination growing as he let himself relax a little and just enjoy watching the wolf work. Somewhere beyond the house a growling rumble overcame the hum of the air conditioning and Sean palpably felt the overworked thing chill the house further as the air outside began to cool. That he could observe with only a distant part of his brain that was cogent to things that were happening well beyond the slow ministrations of a predator's muzzle tracing lazily down the center of his chest and stomach to his navel.

By the time the wolf's cool nose brushed his navel Sean was pleasantly surprised to find that he was quite fully erect, the sensitive tip of his cock brushed by the fur of the wolf's throat. During the entire attention paid to his chest and the slow trip downward that fur was caressing and teasing his tender flesh in ways that Taws had learned to use both tantalizingly and as pure torture as she left him pent and needy for entirely too long sometimes, just to work him thereafter into a fit of writhing that left him panting and exhausted.

Fur and a tongue; a year ago Sean never would've found them nearly so erotic.

He shifted his hips a little as Oda's alternately cool and warm attentions moved downward. When the wolf's teasing work shifted to one side, across his hip and down the front of his right thigh, Sean huffed a groan and stretched, his back arching with the sudden loss of stimulation. "Okay, now, damnit... don't fucking tease."

Oda raised his head, tongue lolling past grinning lips and flashing white teeth, "You don't seem so tense, now." The wolf chided with a humorous growl, tipping his muzzle down and catching Sean's cleanly shaven balls with a warm lift of his tongue that made his hips rise upward to follow its hot stroke. Oda's lick playfully, teasingly, pressed Sean's erection down against his stomach, but drew away before it reached his glans.

"F - fuck," Sean muttered, his fingers fisting into the coverlet. Oda's eyes gleamed gold through his brows as he pressed the damp, cool pad of his nose into Sean's navel, the fur of his chin tickling the tortured man's erection. Sean felt the wolf's hands move, dropping down below the edge of the bed for a moment as Oda slowly stood, leaning forward over him. One hand came up to rest beside Sean's chest while the other one drew up and slid between his legs, the back of his thumb lifting his balls.

Sean twitched a little at the slick, cold touch that slid into the cleft of his ass and drew across his entry, hissing in a surprised breath. "What the - ?" Oda's finger pressed gently but firmly against him, the wolf lifting his head a little to look up at him while his hand flattened upon his chest.

"Something to make things a little... easier." He rumbled softly, the unexpected chill of the lube warming rapidly under the slow, slick circles of the wolf's fingerpad. Sean could feel the stout claw tipping that finger, and the pressure of that hand against his rump, the other fingers spreading his tight clenched cheeks a little while the thumb rubbed the small span below them that sent short, blunt thrills exploding through his loins.

Sean writhed slowly, like a snake suddenly dropped on a block of ice, his eyes rolling as he grunted and sighed, "Lube? When the hell did, mmhhh, you get lube?" His cock jumped against the fur of Oda's throat and the wolf smiled, tipping his head down and dropping his muzzle to pin Sean's erection down with his nose. A hot breath tantalized Sean's needy flesh but no other pleasure was forthcoming.

"While you were in court. You think I only did mundane paperwork the entire day?" He whuffled a laugh and gave the underside of Sean's glans the most brief of licks with only the tip of his tongue before drawing his body up again. He loomed slowly upward over Sean, his hand pushing down gently upon his chest, until they were poised, wolfish muzzle to human face. "Are you relaxed, Sean?"

Stupid question! Sean felt himself tense as soon as the wolf asked, but forced himself to relax again, "'S much as I'm going to be." Letting his weight fall back off of his elbows he reached up to rest his forearms against Oda's shoulders and looked up into the golden regard of those fierce, predatory eyes. "Please, if I'm ever going to get through this, it needs to be now."

With a slow nod Oda removed his hand from between Sean's legs and rested it next to his other shoulder. Lifting his legs a little and spreading them further apart Sean just continued to look up, even as he felt the wolf's powerful hips slide forward against his inner thighs. He blinked, swallowing, his eyes going wide as he saw Oda's gentle, concerned gaze harden, pupils shrinking and gold darkening to a deeper, angrier bronze. Light flickered blindingly from one side and, a few seconds later, a rolling growl filled the room.

"What, no fight in you?" the heavy, eager rumble of a thick throated feline burned through Sean's hearing and he tensed with a hiss of breath. "No more fight, because you know you'll die, don't you fucktoy?" Sean could feel the hot breath and smell the meaty fetor as the cat snarled down at him. "You'll bleed when I take you, bitch." He could feel the warm brush of fur against the cheeks of his ass and the cool waft of the network room's air conditioning across his naked skin. Desperately he clutched at the coarse fur of the puma's neck and gasped for breath past the crushing weight on his chest. "Bleed, bitch! And scream! Oh, fuck yes, you'll howl!"

Sean's eyes sprang wide and a tremulous squeak exploded from his throat at the touch of the cat's slick prick against his ass. His muscles fluttered and tensed, but there was no keeping the monster out. Slowly, unstoppably, he felt the pressure against him building, pushing inward against his tight clenched asshole until, with a slick slip of overstressed flesh his anal ring twitched and let the cat in. Sean's head snapped back against the already smashed computer monitor but he neither felt nor heard it as his hips jerked, trying to escape the inescapable power of the cat over him.

Something slipped within Sean, a sense of disjointed separation. A cold, dispassionate presence slid forward even as the cats unusually smooth, slim length drove further into Sean's protesting ass. His hands slid along the heavy thick fur of the cat's neck, stroking it, yes, stroking it has he had before. He had done it once, he could do it again. Yield, don't break. Feel his neck, the fur is thick, but feel under it. Find the pulse, yes, there. Sporadic light flickered and flashed, likely from the monitor that Sean's head had crushed, the distant rumble of some manner of entertainment filtering through the room.

The cat's weight pushed down upon him further, a rumbling note of inquiry as Sean's fingers slipped into the strangely deep fur that adorned the cat's neck. "You try, fucker, just try!" the beast snarled, bronze eyes so close, a cool touch against Sean's nose. "I remember, but this time - no, bitch, this time I'll fuc -" Sean humphed in surprise at a warm pressure against his lips, pushing his head down, his hands fisting into the fur of the cat's neck and pushing. He felt a slow upward jerk of the cat's hips plunging several inches of slick, smooth heat into his ass as another heat -- flat and warm and damp -- pressed against his lips. He tried to fight against it, tried to push the beast's head up, but he lacked the strength. The powerful feline head tilted slightly, cocking to one side, short fur brushing Sean's lips as he felt the cat's tongue invading his mouth.

The cat never kissed him, before.

That's because the cat was not kissing him; would not, could not.

With a start and a blink the cat vanished away and Sean found himself lips to muzzle with Oda, the wolf's thickening length pressed half way into him and throbbing as the wolf slowly drew back. His fingers were fisted into Oda's heavy throat ruff, his thumbs pressed into the hollows just to either side of his wind pipe. Beneath them he could feel the steady thump of Oda's pulse. The wolf's tongue was in his mouth, slipping beneath his own tongue as the partially opened muzzle was pressed against his lips. Thunder cracked a few seconds after lightening outside turned the heavy drapes translucent.

It was Oda that was kissing him. And it was not just a friendly or inquisitive peck like the one the night before but a full on, intense kiss. It was so unexpectedly jarring that Sean's eyes went wide and he froze in shock, his bowed body locked rigid in fearful tension. That frightened rigidity slowly began to melt when he realized that the demon had been forced into retreat again. He settled a little, feeling the slow outward slip of the wolf's smooth length, and no pain whatsoever, not really even any discomfort. He had no way of knowing how thick the wolf had become, but what was resting, pulsing, just within him was certainly quite a bit thicker than a finger or two. Oda's concerned golden gaze looked into his eyes as he slowly lifted his head, the invading warmth of his supple tongue withdrawing from Sean's mouth. His hips pressed forward just enough to keep the first few inches of his rapidly thickening cock nested within the heat of Sean's ass.

While the troubled man slowly fought back the all-consuming fear and gulped a breath he did not realize he had been lacking Oda remained quiescent and still, only the steady pulse within Sean continuing unabated, but not rushed. "Are - are you okay, Sean?" The wolf's rumble was concerned.

"Fuck." Sean gasped, realizing what he had almost done. "Are you, Oda?" He unclenched his fingers and ran them through the heavy fur, "I tried to choke you!"

"You did." A slow nod of that regal white head, "Had my fur been shorter you would have come very close to succeeding, too." Shifting his legs Sean hooked his ankles inward, pressing them against the back of Oda's legs and pulling. His eyes fluttered at the slick slip of flesh against flesh as he drew the wolf in. The cat was gone, the pain - even the memory of pain - was simply not there; only a low ache that flared in time with pulsing length within him. Oda groaned softly, lips peeling up as his eyes half closed. His hips dipped forward, pressing ahead a little more swiftly. Sean could feel that thickening length moving deeper into him, presaged by a shifting, warm liquidity.

"I'm sorry! I - "

"You saw the cat." Oda affirmed, somewhat breathlessly. "I saw it in your eyes, I could feel it in your body. When I took you, the cat came back." The curve of the wolf's still sheathed knot pressed gently against the tight clenched ring of Sean's ass and then drew away with a slow lift of his hips.

"He just won't stay away." Sean sighed, dropping his head back and half closing his eyes, "But ... hnnn, that kiss was so unexpected." He chuckled and dug his fingers into the fur of Oda's shoulders, his cock jumping as the wolf slowly withdraw, paused, and began another slow thrust. "So unexpected it just... wshh, blew him away." Sean relaxed his legs as Oda withdrew, then tightened them as his hips shifted forward again, pulling his own hips toward the wolf's thrust even as his legs pushed him forward with urgent strength. "Put... a little more into it, Oda. It doesn't hurt, this time."

The wolf's ears pricked up a little and his whiskers twitched, "A - a little is asking a lot, Sean. You have no idea how insanely good it feels right now; not too tight, but just tight enough. Hot and -"

Sean cuffed his shoulder lightly with one hand and pulled again with his legs, prompting the slow relaxing hips to press forward again as his body shifted closer, slipping a couple of smooth, hot inches into him. "I know, wolf, I know very well. Taws loves - she loves to be right where I am now." He smiled and dropped his head back, eyes shut, letting his body fully relax. Only the recalcitrant muscles of his anal ring refused to easily obey his desires, clenching in fitful twitches whenever the thickening heat moved. The brief pain of Oda's entry had long vanished away, like the cat, and even the dull ache was beginning to fade into the background of something else, some other sensation that Sean did not find in the least unpleasant.

That, in itself, was both surprising and somewhat alarming. Before the cat, before Oda, Sean had never even considered doing what he was doing right then. The thought of having something placed in him through that entrance had been anathema. Only Taws' ready desire for it brought Sean around to the idea that it was not unpleasant, but he had still never contemplated trying what he offered her.

Offered her, at least, until the demon arose in his mind with his rage and remembered agony, to make Sean feel that it could never be pleasant, even for Taws. Now he was beginning to win past that, to recover what the demon had stolen away; the understanding that it was not always an agony suffered for the pleasure of the giver alone while the receiver endured the discomfort for their lover.

Opening his eyes once more, Sean looked up and found the golden eyes of the wolf above him looking down, warm with a gentle concern that warred with the lust of the moment. He could see the compassion in them, see how strongly Oda felt. There was no anger, no malice, no cruelty like in the cougar or his demon counterpart. But in addition to the reassurance they held a growing passion. Sean could quite easily read how well he was getting into things this time.

Above him Oda shifted, adjusting his feet upon the floor and moving his hands to steady himself as he drew outward to the limits of the legs that wrapped about his hips, then pressed forward. Sean's back arched and he hissed a breath at the smooth heat that slipped against the begrudging embrace of his entry and moved about within him. The two sensations were distinct, as if offered by two distinct sources of stimuli. The one; sharp and hot and very tactile, was the sensitive nerves of his anal ring as the wolf's smooth motions slipped inward and then drew out. The other; deeper in his body, a dull moving pressure and liquid shifting that Sean simply had no experience to describe.

That filling, throbbing presence within him was so strangely alien, and so strangely pleasant, that it had at some point awakened his own maleness to firm alertness. The fur of Oda's belly brushed against the underside of his erection teasingly as his thrusts increased in pace but never changed the power with which they were delivered. Sean found his body moving in time, back pressing downward with each thrust to lift his hips, causing the inward thrust to angle upward slightly. With each thrust it pressed something deep within Sean's body, sending jolts of dull but profound pleasure washing outward through his loins from somewhere in his groin just above the base of his cock. Each thrust caused his erection to tighten and thicken, pressing up into the fur to twitch with that warm, tantalizing caress. Only as the wolf withdrew did it relax, the taut fullness subsiding briefly before the next thrust claimed his deflowered ass.

Oda's head bowed and his breathing became short and ragged, the need in his golden eyes growing. His body moved with increasing swiftness, then abruptly slowed for several thrusts, slowly building speed once more. Dipping his muzzle and pushing up with his arms, Oda looked down across the heaving planes of Sean's chest and stomach, as if he might spy himself disappearing and reappearing from betwixt Sean's wantonly spread thighs. All he saw, however, was the swaying, naked human cock nestled in his white fur. Pressing forward with an especially deep thrust, Oda's knot rested heavily against Sean's already well stretched ring as he shifted his balance once more. Pushing up, he stood, his hands sliding down to Sean's hips.

"Not only does it feel unspeakably wonderful, Sean, but I cannot fault the view." The wolf panted with a toothy grin, his long tongue lolling as he held Sean's hips and slipped back almost the full length of his erection. He glanced down to admire his lupine pride outthrust, its tip disappearing in the glistening flesh that enwrapped it. Watching, Oda eased forward ever so slowly, causing Sean to gasp as the solidity drove into him with the unstoppable force of desire, each pulse of that girth sending a warm rush of liquid heat into the darkness of Sean's body. Moving one hand Oda brought it across to wrap the strong, gentle fingers around Sean's own needy erection.

The reflexive clench and full body jerk elicited by that touch made Oda gasp a breath through his nose and briefly close his eyes. "And you're - well, rather larger - than I expected." He admitted with a stuttering, strained hiss.

"Hnngh?" Sean's thoughts were lots within his mind, pleasure chasing guilt about like a playful dog after an old, irascible cat. The pressure brushing against the base of his cock from within was now doubled by the motion of Oda's paw upon his cock. The slow, warm stroke of the wolf's paw pads and fur never quite meshed up with his thrusting hips, leaving Sean floundering in a sea of sensations that mirrored his muddle of conflicting thoughts. He felt desire, now, rather than trepidation. With the fading ache had gone his fear of what he had committed himself to, simply to have his guilt over effectively cheating on Taws attempt to rear its ugly head and dash the pleasure he was finding in it. Only the knowledge that all he was doing was _for_her kept that guilt from overwhelming him.

The pad of a thumb brushed across the sensitive apex just below Sean's glans, rubbing slow inch-short strokes along the underside of his erection, using the lubrication of his own pre to soften the coarseness of that pad. His focus snapped back with a jolt of pleasure. "You're pretty handsome, here." Oda offered with another firm yet gentle thrust, the impact of his hips soft as with a breathy grunt were lifted the hips of the recipient of his lupine passion. "More than I expected from what little I'd seen of you before."

"Nnh, oh, yeah." Sean had to fight to collect his thoughts as they threatened to spiral downward completely into blissful oblivion. "Grower, not a shower." He tried to joke.

"Oh yes, quite the grower indeed." The wolf's gentle hand continued to stroke Sean in counterpoint to his often slow, equally swift thrusts. Each one was delivered at a slightly different angle; sometimes downward, depriving Sean of that tantalizing, dull explosion of pleasure within his loins while other times slightly to one side or the other, and then once more upward sending Sean's eyes rolling up and his cock to jumping with solid jerks. Despite the alien carnality and the guilt chattering about under dogged pursuit by pleasure Sean felt his balls roiling and the building sensation of eminent culmination of his cock's need. "Yes, Sean." Oda leaned down slightly, keeping the slow ministrations of his gentle hand in time with his thrusts. His muzzle hovered inches above Sean's face, yellow eyes gazing down into his blue, handsomely toned muscular body moving with ripples of white fur. "I can feel your need. It's wonderful." With each downward stroke and teasing caress of his thumb pad below Sean's glans his ass clenched and his body tensed. "Let it go, Sean, hon. Let it go."

And Sean did. With a gasping whoop Sean's back arched, his head thrown back and his hips bucking upward. His balls drew up taut and his cock throbbed with urgent tightness as his ass fluttered and clenched with such power that Oda gasped as well. Then the hot rush boiled upward with a powerful, muscular spasm of Sean's cock within the wolf's grasp. Each jerk of his erection sent a sympathetic clenching through his ass, bringing a hiss of breath from Oda's nose. Warmth spattered across Sean's stomach and lower chest as he clutched at the comforter and his body writhed in release, culminating all too soon with thick, slow oozing dribbles of heat that seeped onto his belly.

With a grunt of forced breath Sean's body slumped. His mind was a whirlwind of scattered thoughts and motes danced in his unfocused vision. Oda's body slowed to stillness but Sean could still feel the steady, throbbing pulse of the wolf's heart deep within him. "Oh... God." He gasped at length, his eyes rolling up, and then gasped when the room was suddenly plunged into a darkness so absolute he imagined that the wolf's gift had struck him blind. Thunder crashed so loudly he twitched in surprise, his ass clenching down with a sudden powerful spasm. Oda whuffed a surprised rumble as the house shook and his length was squeezed with unexpected strength. "Shit," Sean tittered in muddy-headed surprise.

"Yeah," Oda agreed with a breathless huff. Slowly he eased himself back, slipping from Sean with a soundless slither of slick wetness. The roar of the pounding rain on the roof drowned out all but their heavy panting and the petulant whistling hiss of the powerless air conditioner in the other room. "How're you?"

Fumbling up with both hands Sean found the thick fur of the wolf's chest in the darkness, "Fuck, I'm great. Holy shit that was... pretty intense."

Oda leaned forward, a shift in the mattress as one hand settled near Sean's shoulder. "No pain? No - discomfort?" Lightening lent the room momentary flickers of illumination accompanied by almost immediate cracks of thunder like mighty hardwood trees being wrenched apart.

Sean ran his fingers into the thick depths of the wolf's fur, "Oh, hell no. Just the opposite, if anything." He relaxed back, his body sagging as his muscles finally relaxed completely. He felt like a zodiac that someone had shivved; all deflated and limp yet almost giddy all the same. "But I know I'll ache in the morning." His chuckle was breathless. A cool touch brushed Sean's nose and a warm caress drifted across his lips.

"Good, and yeah, you might at that." The wolf's breathy approbation was a warm waft of air against his lips accompanied by the brush of short, stiff fur. The only light now was the diffuse flickering through the heavy shades as lightening slashed the sky outside and thunder crashed with a deafening, house-rattling report short seconds later. Sean accepted the light kiss and returned it against the soft, warm fur of the wolf's lips. He'd spent the last nine months and more kissing another dog, how could a wolf be that much different? Just because the wolf happened to be male seemed a rather paltry excuse. And, in the lassitude of a truly profound orgasm, Sean just didn't give a damn.

Sean waited for the house-rattling crack to rumble off into the distance under a fusillade of secondary thunderclaps. "How about you? Did you -" He tried to find the right words but only found those that came to mind to be needlessly trite, "Did you, well, you know?"

Oda's chuckle was breathless and relaxed, "Get off, mmh?" His predatory head nodded slowly. "I did, but it wasn't in quite such a...spectacular fashion as yourself," Oda replied with a soft chuckle and turned his head to nibble and tease lightly at the lobe of Sean's ear with the tip of his warm tongue. "I couldn't help myself." His rumbling voice admitted as the teasing tongue traveled down the line of Sean's jaw to his throat and upper chest. Slowly he began to work his way downward, his tongue slowly taking broad strokes over sweaty flesh. "It felt so damn nice." Sean moved his hands to the wolf's shoulders and neck, burying them in the dense, mane-like ruff. "It's been rather a while, for me." Moving from neck to chest, Oda's tongue continued those slow, broad strokes, his nose a cool counterpoint to the warmth of his tongue across Sean's sweaty, furless flesh.

"Why?" Sean breathed as he enjoyed the calming, post-coital attention of that tongue. Taws enjoyed licking, similarly. Sometimes Sean would simply let her enjoy that simple pleasure, her tongue exploring him everywhere. "You're quite the prize." The wolf snuffled lightly just below the line of Sean's lower ribs, then gave an especially slow, lingering stroke.

"That's just it; I'm a prize." Oda commented softly, "Made quite the mess, you did." His tongue followed the questing snuffling of his nose, seeking out the pungent spatters left behind by Sean's explosive release in the darkness and wiping them from his flesh with slow, warm strokes. "The past few I've gone home with were interested in the physicality of me, nothing more." His tongue worked across Sean's belly where the majority of his spilled release had spattered in blissful culmination. "You... are very much different." The fur of his chin brushed Sean's flaccid length, followed by a curling lift of his tongue that made him twitch and shiver. His fingers clutched into the fur between Oda's ears. "You ... ahh, hmm, nice."

"Careful there," Sean muttered, a shiver running through his body as Oda swiped his tongue over Sean's glans. The wolf chuckled softly as he finished the last of the cleanup around Sean's now wilted manhood. Languidly he pushed away and stood, a wobbly shadow in the brief moments of diffuse lightening flickers.

"And now you know what it's supposed to feel like," Oda softly rumbled in the darkness, his gentle growl accentuated by a deeper, lingering roll of thunder.

"And knowing is half the battle, yes." Sean flopped back, too bonelessly spent to bring himself to move. He saw the shadow move away as Oda retreated to the sole bathroom with a squeak of floorboards.

Sean felt him return a few minutes later as a hazy half-sensed presence in his fast-approaching slumber. The bed shifted as the wolf slid onto it. A moment later Sean felt a strong arm slip across him as the wolf settled close behind, a warm presence of soft fur over hard muscularity close against his back. The wolf's sheath was slightly damp and cool against his backside and, after a few slight shifts, it settled into the still-slick cleft of his ass comfortably. "Sleep well, Sean."

"With you, I surely will." Sean mumbled as sleep rose up and drew him into the deeper darkness to the accompaniment of nature's rumbling overture.

Chapter 4 < ** **> Chapter 6