FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The Seduction of Seleste

from the world of the mating season

I Remember You

Chapter 45

The next day, Honiahaka seemed to sleep forever. Everyone was concerned, and Taigi pretended to be as clueless and concerned as the others. But Keme knew Honiahaka had simply been drugged by his brother. Nonetheless, he did as Taigi had asked and remained silent about it - not for Taigi's sake but for Honiahaka's. Honiahaka seemed so close to Taigi, and with the death of both Kota and his mother, the last thing the sun chief needed was to have a falling out with his favorite brother.

Sitting around the breakfast fire with everyone, Keme could tell that Seleste seemed to sense something was amiss. She kept watching him anxiously, and he knew she wanted to say something to him but could not because he was just a "bodyguard." Her large gray eyes would then flit to the stairs, as if her worried gaze could make Honiahaka manifest, smiling and well.

Seleste was so beautiful. Keme watched her and felt an ache inside. Gosheven had taken Seleste's ragged and torn chieftess attire and had given her new clothes. Her small breasts were now swathed in a white shawl made of bear fur, and a long silky white skirt flowed to her ankles. The skirt was split down the side of each thigh and was nearly transparent. Seleste's long straight mane had also been washed and brushed and was glossy with mane oils. As a finishing touch, a blue flower had been woven in her mane. She sat as prim and proper as ever, her legs closed at the thigh, her mane flowing around her pretty face and over one shoulder. But she looked so weak and strained, and Keme remembered that she had been sick the night before. Keme looked frantically to Talisa, his eyes asking silently after Seleste. He was relieved when Talisa smiled, as if to assure him Seleste was fine.

"He should have been up by now," Seleste said anxiously. "Taigi, I'm getting worried - please --"

"Oh, Seleste," laughed Taigi. He looked at her fondly. "You love my brother a great deal, don't you?"

"And why shouldn't she?" said Gosheven and straightened up proudly where she sat beside her husband. "Sun wolf royalty come from a long line of superbly breed males. Fine leaders and warriors and thinkers. It is no small wonder those of the sun are most respected by our chieftess!" She lovingly fed Taigi from her spoon, and Taigi playfully took the spoon in his teeth.

"Oh, you!" Gosheven cried. She pushed her husband's pink nose like a button and he spit the spoon from his mouth, as if popping it out. Gosheven caught the spoon deftly, and the couple laughed together.

Keme watched them from his seat across the fire. Taigi seemed to love his wife a great deal. They seemed so happy together, the ultimate bickering, grumbling couple that had been together a very long time. After being raped by Taigi, Keme had wanted nothing more than to burst the bubble of his life by telling Honiahaka what had happened - and perhaps Gosheven too. But he knew now that it wasn't worth it. Gosheven was all Taigi had. They didn't even have children. And why hurt Honiahaka by telling him what had happened? No. There were better ways to get back at Taigi . . .

Keme noticed Enayape hunched in a corner and smiled.

Seeking to ease Seleste's mind, Taigi sent Enayape to check on Honiahaka numerous times. The slave girl would start each time Taigi growled her name. She seemed as preoccupied as Seleste. Her dark eyes kept watching Keme sadly, and he knew she was thinking of the night before and her clumsy attempt to seek his help. He tried to smile at her to let her know everything was alright, but as soon as he caught her eye, she would look away in defeat. Keme watched her miserably. He wanted to help her, he really did. He just didn't know how. But glancing darkly at Taigi, Keme knew one thing was for certain: he was going_ _to help her.

Talisa was as worried about Honiahaka as Seleste, but because she must masquerade as his bodyguard, Keme knew she was struggling to keep her anxieties to herself. She sat at breakfast looking solemn and pointedly avoiding the glares of both Taigi and Gosheven. Keme felt sorry for Talisa: to be the focus of such hatred must have been painful indeed. After all, by agreeing to let Honiahaka take her virginity, Talisa had ruined Taigi's life. He lost everything because of what she and Honiahaka had done.

Keme caught Talisa's eye and wanted to say something. But what? What could he say that could possibly make the situation better? And what could he say in front of Taigi and Gosheven? Defeated, he dropped his eyes to his bowl and continued to eat.

"Oh, thank god," Taigi said and everyone looked up.

Honiahaka stood at the bottom of the stairs, bracing himself against the wall. Keme leapt up without thinking. Seleste tried to rise, but Talisa cautioned her not to get up. She rose instead and rushed to Honiahaka before Keme could even set down his bowl. She helped the wobbly sun chief to sit with them around the fire and gave him her own bowl to eat. Taigi and Gosheven noted this darkly.

"All morning!" Seleste cried. Her small paw squeezed Honiahaka's knee. "What could possibly make you sleep like that?"

"Something Wihio gave him, no doubt," said Gosheven dismissively. "You know how those shamans are, Seleste. Their mysterious remedies and such. Important thing is, Honiahaka is well again." She gestured at Honiahaka's arm, and Keme noticed for the first time that the bandage was gone.

Honiahaka smiled and playfully flexed his arm. The muscles bulged up, tight and strong.

"Goof," Talisa said happily under her breath.

"Still feeling a little woozy from the medicine, but I'm fine," Honiahaka assured Seleste. He pinched her cheek playfully and she shrugged him off, squealing out, "Honia!" Visibly relieved, she smiled at Keme across the fire.

"Okomi's not here yet? That's not like him," Honiahaka said. He eagerly set to finishing off Talisa's bowl.

"Oh, he's here," Taigi said. "Been here since before we woke, in fact. He just didn't feel like 'loafing' about my house, to put it in his words." Taigi rolled his eyes. "He should be outside making the local adolescents sigh with arousal." He snapped his fingers at Enayape. "Go and get him, what are you waiting for?"

Keme glowered at Taigi as Enayape flinched. As she hurried past Taigi, he slapped her on the ass, his eyes fixed in quiet triumph on Keme. So that_ _was why Enayape's tail was tied to her back! Keme's glower deepened. Taigi licked his lips slowly and still would not look away. Keme's ass cheeks tensed just thinking of the night before, and he dropped his eyes to his bowl.

When Keme looked up again, Seleste was watching him and Taigi and frowning. Oh crap. She seemed to realize something had happened between them and gave Keme a meaningful stare. Keme carefully avoided her eye and was glad to see that Honiahaka and Talisa hadn't noticed a thing: Honiahaka was too busy stuffing his face and Talisa was too busy watching him stuff it.

Seleste would not stop her anxious studying, and Keme wished desperately that she would. He glanced at her large frightened eyes, and he knew she was thinking that Taigi had threatened him or argued with him or perhaps even smacked him around, and Keme - in order to keep up appearances - had not unleashed his super strength but had continued pretending to be a simple bodyguard. Keme glowered at his bowl. If only one of those things had happened instead.

A moment later and a large wolf lumbered through the front curtain, blasting them with his delicious musk. Keme looked up from his bowl, and his mouth fell open. This new wolf was even taller than Honiahaka and Taigi, perhaps seven feet. He towered above them all and his head practically touched the ceiling. The pretty shape of Honiahaka's eyes was in his face and he had Taigi's same tuft of fur on his chin, but white stripes streaked the fur around his eyes and cheeks and also ran in a line down his rippling belly. His eyes were such a bright, pale blue they shone like crystals in his face. His thick silver mane was woven into a long braid that fell down his back, and on his great biceps were feather talismans tied so tight they looked as if they might spring off. Much like his brothers, his was a body hard and toned with muscles. His face was somber, his eyes flat as Enayape humbly offered him a chair. He took the chair without even looking at Enayape, and lifting it in one paw, he set it between Honiahaka and Talisa and eased himself onto it. He didn't take his eyes off of Honiahaka. When he saw Seleste, he smiled.

Honiahaka set down his bowl and offered his arm. "Okomi," he said fondly.

"Baby," returned the apparent Okomi. He pulled Honiahaka close in a hug and slapped him on the back. Honiahaka choked but laughed happily.

Sitting across the fire from this scene, Keme sat in amazement. He never thought he'd see the day when a wolf could actually make Honiahaka look small. And Okomi . . . he was delicious. If all Honiahaka's brothers were this handsome, Keme wouldn't mind attending the next family reunion! As he sat lusting, his eyes caught Seleste's: she was watching him with her ears flat, her eyes sparking irritation. He scowled and went back to his bowl. God. Couldn't a guy even look?

"At last," Okomi said in his deep voice. He pulled back to gaze happily down at Honiahaka. "You finally convinced Seleste to marry you! So what did you resort to? Magic? Drugs? You knock her up?"

Seleste squeezed her eyes shut and laughed girlishly. "Shut up, Okomi!"

Okomi chuckled. He let Honiahaka go and sat rubbing his hard thighs as he watched Seleste. "And still as feisty as ever, I see. I always said Honi was crazy for wanting to marry you: I'd fear for my nuts every night!"

Seleste laughed. She made a face, "Stop it!"

Okomi grinned. "I'm just teasing, Sel. You know that." His bright eyes shifted to Talisa, and Keme was surprised when they looked at her with soft concern. "Talisa?"

Talisa had been looking miserably at her knees, but upon hearing her name, she looked up and managed a sad smile. "Hi, Okomi."

Okomi smiled back. He took Talisa's paw and kissed it gently. His lips touched her fur a long a moment, and Keme realized he was looking into her eyes. He couldn't believe it when Talisa's big breasts began to heave. She quickly pulled her paw away and averted her eyes. Okomi watched her in quiet amusement, and Keme saw Taigi looking on in disgust.

"Yes, yes," said Taigi in a bored voice. "Talisa's the same loose-pussy slut turned on by anything. Big surprise."

Talisa glowered at her lap, and Honiahaka took up his bowl again and miserably continued to eat. Keme knew they wouldn't say a word to Taigi - not after what they had done to him.

Okomi, however, scowled at Taigi, "Taigi, I'm getting an inkling just why_ _Talisa gave her virginity to another male."

Keme fully expected Taigi to make some insult or retort, but Taigi just stabbed his spoon angrily into his bowl and continued to eat.

"I thought you were a big enough male to have moved on from that by now," Okomi continued, "but it seems I have given you too much credit. Talisa did not want you, Taigi. A kind male would not have forced her to marriage. But you did. And that is why you lost her."

Taigi squeezed his eyes shut, as if he couldn't bear to hear the truth. He looked at his brother and pointed his spoon at him. "You may be my elder, Okomi, but this is my house --"

Okomi snorted. "The hell it is. I built you this house when you ran from Father with Gosheven. He disowned you, stripped you of your wealth - I gave you everything, I kept you off the street. Stop pretending otherwise. And stop being an ass."

Keme wanted to laugh when Taigi bit his lip and said nothing.

Keme looked at Okomi again, and his heart skipped a beat to realize the big male had noticed him at last. To have those bright blues zero with such fire on his face! Keme sat as if someone had turned a spotlight on him.

"Who . . .?" Okomi cleared his throat as he eyed Keme and stroked the tuft on his chin. "Who is that?"

Honiahaka laughed at his brother's amazement. Keme looked from face to face and realized for the first time that all three brothers were staring at him, their eyes dark with desire: Honiahaka and Taigi stared at him over their bowls and Okomi just . . . stared. Talisa watched this in much amusement, and Seleste blushed beet red - but why? Why was Seleste blushing? Perhaps she was thinking of Keme being taken by Honiahaka and his brothers. Keme held down a shiver just thinking of such a thing. Group sex with only males had never occurred to him before, but now? Now the very idea sent all sorts of nasty thoughts through his mind. He squeezed his eyes shut and went back to his bowl.

"That's Keme," Honiahaka answered at last. "My bodyguard." He went back to his breakfast and frowned, and Keme knew he was irritated by Okomi's obvious attraction.

"Keme," Okomi repeated softly and continued stroking thoughtfully at the tuft on his chin. Keme lowered his eyes as he was studied.

"You are married, Okomi, are you not?" said Taigi pointedly.

Keme wanted to laugh: Taigi had raped him the night before! The hypocritical piece of shit.

"As are you," Okomi returned, "and yet it does not stop you from taking Enayape under her tail at every given chance."

Keme scowled. That bastard! The real reason Enayape's tail was tied to her back was now abundantly clear.

Taigi looked as if he wanted to protest, but when he moved his lips, he could only sputter angrily. Okomi stared him down until he dropped his eyes and returned to his bowl in bitter defeat.

Keme looked at Gosheven for a reaction, but the plump moon wolf was as embarrassed as her husband.

"It's n-none of your -- business, Okomi -- what my husband does," Gosheven said briskly, and she was stammering as guiltily as if she were the one raping Enayape. "Taigi and I decided Enayape would bear our child. Since I - I can not."

Okomi frowned. "But does Enayape have a say in this?" He waved his big paw at the slave, who was crouched in the corner with her head down.

Keme looked at Enayape and pitied her. She squatted in the corner like a lowly creature, her paws supporting her as they rested on the ground between her thighs. With her head down, her long stringy mane swung forward to hide her expression - but Keme knew it was miserable. Her stringy tail lay along the earthen floor and wrapped tightly around her knee. Her small sagging breasts hung down. Keme wanted to give her his breakfast: he could see her ribs from here!

To hell with it! Keme thought, and startling everyone, he rose from his seat and crossed the room to Enayape. Everyone watched as he started to feed her from his bowl. She blinked at him in surprise, then began happily eating from the offered the spoon. When Keme looked up again, he noticed Honiahaka and Okomi watching him fondly. Seleste was beaming, and Talisa's brown eyes were bright with delight.

"I love you, Keme." Seleste mouthed the words, and quickly blew him a kiss that no one noticed.

Keme's heart fluttered. He looked back at Seleste with an ache in his eyes. To think - she had come so close to a fate like Enayape's!

"Slaves do not have voices," Gosheven retorted loudly into the silence. "Nor choices, nor rights, because they are not equal citizens under the law of the moon wolf."

Okomi glared at her. "You haughty moon wolf bitch," he said in disgust. "You and Taigi deserve each other, that you would put such misery on another!" He shook his head as he watched Gosheven. "What happened to you, Gosheven? You used to be so gentle and kind. Now you've got rocks glittering from your every crevice, and you think it gives you the right to be a snob and a cruel bitch to boot."

Suddenly flushed, Gosheven rose from her seat and adjusted her big breasts, then smoothed her bun. Keme thought she looked on the verge of tears. "We should be going. We have a gathering with the rest_ _of high society to attend -Taigi!"

Taigi rose as well. He primly brushed himself off and snapped, "Come, Enayape!"

Keme watched as the three wolves moved from the hut. He couldn't believe it when Seleste's eyes followed Gosheven sympathetically. How could she feel sorry for a creature like that? In Keme's eyes, Gosheven was the epitome of the word "bitch."

"You should have come to me," Okomi told Honiahaka when Taigi, Gosheven, and Enayape had gone. He shook his head darkly. "With Talisa here, I can only imagine Taigi acted like the royal brat he is."

Honiahaka frowned at his bowl and shook his head. "You mustn't be so hard on Taigi . . ."

Okomi lifted his brows. "Mustn't I? His behavior is a disgrace to the family. If father could see this, he'd throw Taigi over his knee!"

Honiahaka laughed sadly. "Yes. He's still strong enough to do it."

"How is ol' Pop?" Okomi asked playfully. He rubbed his thigh again and grinned at Seleste. "I bet he split out his fur when he heard Seleste would be the new chieftess. Did he kiss you on both cheeks and hug you til your sharp little tits squeezed together?"

"Okomi!" Seleste cried.

Okomi laughed. "Come now, Seleste. You know you have nice tits. Did you doll them up for the wedding? And hell - why wasn't I invited? I can understand Taigi not being invited - he was kicked out by Father. And he's an ass. But me? Honi, I'm hurt."

Seleste and Honiahaka avoided each other's eye.

Okomi's eyes moved between them. The bright blue spheres narrowed. "Geez, Honi," he said. "You and Seleste are terrible liars. Only dumbass Taigi could have been fooled by you! What's really going on here? Tell me." He closed his big paw on Honiahaka's shoulder. "You know you can trust me."

Keme saw Honiahaka hesitating and rolled his eyes. "You might as well tell him, Honi."

Okomi grinned. "Ah. Your 'bodyguard' is on a nickname basis with you? Now I'm intrigued."

"Keme and I are friends," Honiahaka said at once - almost defensively. He frowned at Okomi. "And that's all he'll ever be with you. So don't go getting any ideas!"

Okomi put up his big paws in mock fear. "Point taken, point taken! Now tell me what's going on."

"God, where do we begin?" Talisa said and exchanged miserable glances with Honiahaka.

They told Okomi everything, the four of them, and the big male listened grimly as Keme and Honiahaka relived Kota's death, as Seleste and Talisa detailed their abduction, as well as their time among the plains wolves. When they had finished, Okomi gave a long whistle.

"My god, Baby," Okomi said, and eyed Honiahaka sympathetically. "I almost want to never let you out of my sight again!" He took Talisa and Honiahaka by their paws. "I am so sorry for the both of you," he said. "So sorry. Kota was a great warrior, did his job well, and he could punch like a motherfucker."

Honiahaka laughed sadly and Okomi fondly slapped his cheek.

Keme saw Talisa drop her head on Okomi's shoulder. He watched Okomi put his big arm around her and wondered why he was surprised: Talisa had grown up around Honiahaka and his brothers. She should have been on a familiar basis with all of them. Watching her now, he even thought she might have had some sort of romantic history with Okomi. It was there - in her every gesture, in his every glance. Honiahaka felt it too and cleared his throat. Talisa started and lifted her head from Okomi as if she was ashamed. Okomi looked anything but ashamed, just amused.

"It was very wise," Okomi said thoughtfully, "for you not to explain any of this to Tai. He would have told Gosheven, and being the uppity moon bitch she is, she probably would have run and tattled to Iyira. Then Seleste and Talisa would be her new sex slaves. Probably Keme, there, too." His eyes searched Keme, warm with desire.

Keme's ears flattened and he looked away. Why did Okomi have to keep staring at him like that?

"So what's on the agenda?" Honiahaka said.

"I escort you to the chieftess," Okomi answered, "she prepares a ship for your return -- as a favor to the plains chief, but she would do it regardless - I always thought she was secretly in love with Father. You'll spend the night with me this time, and in the morning, you'll sail home."

"Sounds like a plan," said Talisa, greatly relieved. She sighed and pushed a small paw back through her curly mane.

Okomi smiled at her. "I'm good with plans." He looked at Honiahaka. "Just promise me you'll survive the journey home, eh? We already lost Mother. I couldn't bear losing Baby too." He kissed Honiahaka on the cheek, and the sun chief laughed when his mane was ruffled hard.

With breakfast finished, they set out for the hut of the moon chieftess. A litter was waiting outside, carried by a group of big males who had been sent especially from the great hut to bear Honiahaka and Seleste. Okomi waved the litter away. "A litter is an honor but not a necessity," he said dismissively and set off down the street. Honiahaka moved at his brother's side, and Seleste followed with Talisa.

Keme just stood watching Okomi's muscular back. Okomi's brisk walk and disgust for leisure of any sort made his love of physical strength apparent - not to mention all his damned muscles. Keme lustily drank him in - his thick neck, his strong shoulders, his tight ass cheeks as they moved under his tail - and thought that big Zaldon could have easily looked that way when he was young. No wonder his grandfather had fallen in love.

"Comin', Super Boy?"

Keme snapped out of his lusting to see Talisa. The others had moved on, but she had hung back, one small paw on her hip as she smirked at him. Struggling to follow Okomi's quick pace, the others were rapidly drawing out of earshot. Good. It was the perfect opportunity to question Talisa.

"Or are you gonna stand around drooling over Okomi?" Talisa said when Keme had moved to her side. She laughed, then folded her arms and watched Okomi's retreating back. "I can hardly blame you. Okomi is famed for his beauty here. He and his husband used to have a fling with Iyira's husband back before he died. Used to play sex games with the chief - and his slave."

"How do you know?"

Talisa's happy brown eyes grinned at Keme. "Okomi used to write me. We were good friends for a long time."

"How good?" Keme asked playfully. He couldn't believe it when Talisa started to blush. He could feel the heat creeping up in her face as if it was emitting steam.

"Go on," Keme said. "If I can talk to you about me and Honi, you can talk about Okomi."

It was true. One of the dismal nights they spent at the abandoned log cabin, Keme found himself outside taking a leak. He had slipped out to escape the argument that was more than likely pending, and sure enough, Talisa stormed out a few minutes later, looking ready to explode. They sat together under a tree for a long while, just talking, and somehow or other, Keme found himself talking about his experiences with Honiahaka, until the two of them were reminiscing about Honiahaka's skill in bed.

Talisa bit her lip. "Well . . . Okomi and Honi . . . they fucked me once."

Keme lifted his eyebrows. Why was he surprised?

"Okomi came home to visit with Timoe," Talisa explained. "Chief Argon - their father - threw a festival for him. We all got drunk. Honi, Okomi, and Timoe walked me home . . . and wound up staying the night." She smiled.

Keme felt the heat creeping to his groin to hear such a thing. Just imagining Talisa suspended between three males with her big tits riding . . .

Talisa laughed when Keme's eyes glazed over at the thought. "Yeah," she said, "I enjoyed it about as much as you imagine. Kota was pissed, though. He and Okomi actually got in a fight over it. Kota always saw red anytime another male showed affection to me. He busted Okomi's nose, and when Chief Argon found out . . . well, there's a price for assaulting a prince. Kota was slapped in the stocks on the sun village's great balcony and left there for anyone to spank . . . or rape."

Keme stared. He hadn't expected to hear something like that!

"Honi always regretted what happened," Talisa said softly and shook her head. Her brown eyes followed Honiahaka's back miserably. "He wouldn't talk to me for a long time after. It was like he blamed me for what happened to Kota."

"And you feel the same way all over again," Keme said quietly. "You think he blames you for Kota's death."

Talisa swallowed and stared at her feet. "Sometimes."

"But you know that's not true," Keme said and placed a careful paw on her shoulder.

Talisa nodded. "Yeah. But it doesn't change how I feel."

Keme rubbed her shoulder a moment as she stared at her feet, and he suddenly wanted to see Talisa with Honiahaka as badly as Seleste wanted to - Seleste!

"Talisa," Keme said earnestly, "what was the matter with Seleste last night? That - Gosheven - said she was sick! And this morning, she looked so tired --"

"She miscarried," Talisa said.

Keme stood as if someone had slapped him with a sack of bricks. He barely felt it when Talisa slapped his cheek fondly. She moved to catch up with the others and he followed blindly.

Seleste . . . miscarried. Keme stumbled along at the back of the group and didn't know why he felt so miserable. After all, the birth of their child would signify her death, wouldn't it? He should have been happy. But he just felt . . . sad.

They passed through the village streets, and everywhere, young males and females alike stopped to ogle big Okomi and his handsome brother. A few females looked over Keme and fanned themselves with their paws, their big breasts shifting from side to side as they switched quickly toward their friends and began giggling and whispering in their musical tongue. Blue fur - it was everywhere, vibrant as the glowing moon. And the moon flowers, they hung over doorways, wound around stone pillars, snaked over the windows of huts. Small children darted about with them in their manes, and elderly wolves sold moon flower potions on fur mats spread before their homes.

Keme barely noticed anything that was happening around him. All he could think about was Seleste, how red she was when she climbed down from the litter, how weak she had sounded later upstairs with Gosheven. What had happened during this miscarriage? There must have been blood - blood and a tiny pink fetus, all curled up tight, hardly more than a sprout having just unfurled from a seed. His seed.

What was it like for a female to miscarry? Was it painful? Frightening? Keme remembered how Aiyana would tell him the stories of her failed attempts to birth pups. All her life, all she had ever wanted was a pup, a son or daughter to give her husband. She and her husband had tried so many times, and each time, she either miscarried or gave birth to a pup that was dead. Keme imagined it was hardly surprising given the life she had just come from: before taking the shemale village, Aiyana's tribe had lived in a wasteland, where food would not grow, where the sun beat upon them until they wasted away. There were no nourishing foods, hardly any water. To have a pup in that environment, it was viewed as a miracle among the pygmies, for the chances of a pup's survival were very slim.

According to her stories, Aiyana had a small graveyard on the edge of the jungle, where all her children - unborn and born - were buried. For though they had been banished by the shemales, the pygmies still managed to enter the jungle to bury their dead, to forage for food and water before they were discovered and run off.

"I can not count the times," Aiyana told Keme when he was a pup, "all the dismal times I crept into the jungle with yet another dead child in my arms. My husband would stand guard as I buried the pup. Yet another failed attempt at new life. We would weep, and together, we would return to our wretched land. The Nothing. That's what Finivive called it, for nothing was there.

"And then we took the jungle," Aiyana had said through her fangs, "we took it, and we could live once more! And Aquene and I, we thought our chance to have a child had come. I grew large with child. Nine months of waiting, hoping, and then . . ." Keme remembered how Aiyana had looked at her empty paws, paws that she clutched miserably on the air. "Nothing. Another pup - stillborn. I named her Ahyoka - 'she who brings joy' because she brought me joy. For so many months, she brought me hope.

"But your mother," Aiyana had smiled at Keme, and he remembered how she pushed his mane behind his shoulder with the back of her fingers, "she gave me more joy than I would ever know. She gave me you."

Keme dragged himself from thoughts of Aiyana when they reached the village square. Here, several large three storey huts stood around the edge of square, towering to the pale blue sky. Keme could only assume these giant huts belonged to important wolves within moon wolf society, and the largest hut of them all would naturally belong to Chieftess Iyira.

The group followed Honiahaka and Okomi to the chieftess' grand hut, and two burly blue guards nodded them inside. They stepped into the gloom of the throne room, and Keme felt his head spin momentarily from the barrage of new smells: incense, flowers, delicious foods, the scent of leather, metal, and all the musky scents of the many guards standing around the throne room. It was intoxicating.

Keme stood a moment to let the various smells hit him. He could see a flight of stairs curving away against the wall of the mighty hut. Pots of moon flowers woven with feathers dangled everywhere. An intricately woven matt of moon flower vines spread from the entrance to a pair of throne chairs, which were raised on a stone dais. Much like any of the throne chairs Keme had ever seen, these were covered in black bear fur. But instead of wood, they were carved exquisitely of stone and seemed to melt into the dais. The shape of flowers and vines had been applied with careful skill to each chair, and upon the headrest of each was the horned moon, pointing its sharp fingers to the ceiling.

When Keme and the others entered, the melodious chatter in the room stopped. The muscular guards standing about eyed the new comers. Keme could see recognition - and lust - click in their eyes when they saw Honiahaka and Okomi. Some looked Seleste and Talisa up and down. Keme saw one swallow hard as his eyes drank in Talisa big breasts, as if he was cautioning himself not to get hard. Talisa seemed to notice the male's staring and smiled to herself as she pushed her curly mane back over her shoulders.

Keme's heart leapt when a huge male with a big cock caught his eye. The male passed his spear to his other paw, his muscular body shifting as he briefly touched his own soft cock. His dick was so huge Keme found himself unable to look away for a long moment. He finally managed to turn his gaze, and the guard laughed softly.

As Keme and the others passed up the woven mat and toward the empty throne chairs, Keme noticed yet another big male. But this one was definitely not a guard. He was big enough and muscular enough to have been one, but his body was bare of feathered talismans, necklaces, war paint, or beads. He was completely naked and bereft of dagger or spear. He crouched beside the empty throne chairs, and his long gray mane tumbled away behind his powerful shoulders and thick neck. He . . . was a slave! Keme couldn't believe it, for the big male was such a sharp contrast to miserable, underfed Enayape. He hadn't a mark on his body, so he had never been beaten or harmed. His body was not thin but filled out to a healthy weight, and he looked anything but miserable or frightened. In fact . . . he looked bored! Keme stared in disbelief. But he supposed there must have been some perks to being the slave of the chieftess. The slave squatted with his big paws supporting him and his head up - not down like Enayape. He was a comfortable slave indeed.

When Keme and the others had stopped at last before the throne chairs, Okomi addressed the slave, "Aren! Go and announce our arrival to your mistress, will you?"

The apparent Aren nodded and rose out of his squat. He was about to move toward the stairs, but his brown eyes fell on Keme. He froze. Everyone looked between Keme and Aren, and when Seleste looked at Keme questioningly, he shrugged. He was as confused as everyone else.

Aren shook his head and his thick neck flexed. He pushed his mane back from his face and said in amazement, "Is it you? It - it can't be! . . . can it?" Keme stiffened as Aren moved close to him, and after hesitating a moment, the big slave leaned down and carefully sniffed Keme's neck. Keme felt his body tingling as this intimate sniffing happened. He felt everyone's eyes on him and wanted to sink into the floor and disappear.

"Kilyan . . ." Aren whispered happily, and before Keme had time to express his confusion, he was being kissed.

Keme's ears went forward in alarm as Aren's insistent tongue filled him. He struggled and grunted a moment, then Aren's big paws were on his body, touching him, pulling him close in a passionate embrace. He melted into the kiss, and before he knew it, he was kissing Aren back. Breathless, the slave pulled his lips away and rested his forehead against Keme's. He stroked Keme's mane, and his mischievous brown eyes crinkled up in a smile.

"Don't you remember me?" Aren whispered. "I remember you."