Chapter 1: Better Late Than Never
#1 of The Mating Season 4
The Mating Season 4: Wild Wolves Forever
Part 4 of a Six Part Series
Chapter 1: Better Late Than Never
Kel stood at the window gazing out at the night and listening happily to his wife's low humming. He was a tall black wolf, a hardened warrior getting along in years but still very muscular and solid, a warrior at the end of his prime. His green eyes could be very biting and hard, but glancing over his shoulder at Aliona, Kel's eyes were gentle, thoughtful, and content. Kel's long black mane streamed into his eyes from a sudden gust that swept through the window, and he turned away from his meditations to face the room. He was standing in the curtained bedroom of his hut, and his wife Aliona was kneeling at a low table, her buttocks resting on her heels, her long gray mane falling to the small of her back in a braid Kel had playfully insisted on plaiting.
Aliona looked up when Kel crossed the room to her. She was a dark gray wolf with bright blue sapphire eyes. Her breasts and hips were large after bearing two pups and she grew a little heavier as the years went by, but Kel would never stop finding his wife desirable, this sweet creature who had bewitched him since they were children. He knelt behind Aliona and gently pulled her long braid loose, watching happily as it tumbled to the small of that slender waist. Aliona knelt smiling as the thick tresses fell full around her shoulders, her head tilted, her long black lashes angled down. She felt a thrill of happiness when Kel put his arms around her and squeezed her tightly from behind, kissing her on the cheek. But Kel was worried. After years of living with Kel, Aliona could hear worry even in her husband's little sighs.
"He'll come, Kel," Aliona assured her husband and squeezed his big arm with her slender paw. "He's never failed to come before."
"And he's never been this late before," Kel returned, and Aliona could tell from the sound of his voice that Kel was giving the old worried frown: that anxious frown she had come to love so much over the years. She remembered how cute he had looked, frowning that way in their youth. And nothing had changed, not even after more than thirty years of marriage.
"I just wish . . . I wish I knew everything was all right with him," Kel continued, and when Aliona felt her husband close his paws tight around her, she glanced down at the golden ring. It glinted innocently in the moonlight, nestled as it was in the black fur of Kel's finger, and Aliona wondered if the ring had not lost its magic over the years.
For the last ten years, the golden ring on Kel's finger had never failed to instantly summon their lover and friend, the great sorcerer Zaldon: a white wolf very muscular and tall and a childhood friend and lover of Kel's. After Kel fell ill for want of Zaldon ten years ago, Zaldon had given Kel this ring -- this ring that was supposed to solve their problems. For Kel, unlike a male with two wives, could not have both a husband and wife. The ring was supposed to solve the issue of Kel's desire. And it had. For a while. But tonight?
"Tonight is the third night," Kel whispered anxiously into Aliona's mane. "The third night that we've tried contacting him without an answer! Aliona, I have to admit . . . I'm getting a little scared."
"If another night passes and Zaldon doesn't come, then I will worry. He always promised to come within three days, Kel," Aliona struggled to assure her husband, and though she sounded confident, she wasn't. What was keeping Zaldon? Never had Kel twisted his ring and had to wait more than a few minutes -- sometimes seconds -- before Zaldon appeared in a puff of black smoke. The longest Zaldon had ever kept them waiting was during a few hours after which he arrived red-faced, his white fur limp with sweat, only to bashfully admit that Kel had summoned him in the midst of making love to his partner Julyan. Kel and Aliona had grinned at this (to Zaldon's further embarrassment) and Zaldon seemed so tired after making love to Julyan that the three of them had merely cuddled together in the sheets: Aliona snuggled between Kel and Zaldon, who happily rested their big arms across her. And this cuddling as the years went by (and that hot blood they had carried in their youth grew cooler) had become somewhat of a routine with them until it almost became the only thing they did when Zaldon dropped by. But Kel was determined that cuddling would not crush out his sex life with Aliona and Zaldon. Not for another ten years, at least.
Aliona smiled to herself when she heard Kel's moan of longing. She could feel him standing stiff against her and knew that whether Zaldon came tonight or not, someone would have to make Kel's hard-on go down. Aliona was only too happy to do it. She felt her husband's paws on her breasts, gently caressing the pink nipples until they were standing out very hard, and then that big paw was smoothing down her belly, was reaching between her thighs. Her head fell back and she closed her eyes, sighing at her husband's touch. His fingers were sliding in her sex, caressing her vagina opening, the swelling lips. She shivered and whispered Kel's name as his kisses trailed hot up her neck.
"I can't wait until he comes," Kel whispered in Aliona's ear. "I can't wait to have him inside of me while I'm inside of you . . ."
"I can't wait to have you both lifting me up," Aliona admitted and smiled when her husband gave a soft laugh.
"Oh, Aliona. You are never so beautiful as when we are holding you up between us, as when your eyes are closed and you are gasping as we make love to you . . ."
"So I'm still beautiful after all these years?" Aliona asked with a cocked eyebrow.
"You have no idea," Kel moaned, and his paws became more frantic on her body.
"Oh, Kel . . ."
Aliona moaned and her head fell back against Kel's shoulder when he fingered her deeply. His paw lifted her breast, and it spilled over his fingers, a great mound of softness, that pink nipple still rigid with Aliona's obvious arousal. And now he felt her juices gently releasing over his gliding fingers, a slow rush compared to the hot gushing he had known in their youth -- but that sweet fragrance, it had not changed. And just like always, it drove Kel wild. He crushed Aliona suddenly to the bed, and his kisses were frantic, his paws caressed and squeezed her in a frenzy. Aliona, in her building excitement, could not hold back her shrill gasps as her husband awakened her body into the hot, rushing arousal that had come from his touch for the better part of thirty years.
Kel's teeth sank into her neck, nibbling playfully. His big paw massaged her breasts, his lips sucked tenderly at the pink nipples, and then he was inside of her, hot and thick and pumping, and Aliona twisted beneath her husband, moaning her pleasure.
"How can it be?" Kel whispered, thrusting himself deeper. "You get more beautiful as the years go by." He ran his paw up her thigh, and Aliona moved her hips hard against him with a power and a hunger that was startling for her age. They pressed close and came together, both crying out and moaning, and when it was over, Kel cuddled close to his wife and kissed her warmly on the lips.
"I love you, Kel," Aliona whispered, giving her husband's black ear a playful flick.
Kel smiled, and they kissed -- and Zaldon appeared in a puff of smoke. Kel and Aliona sat up in alarm. Towering in the doorway, great white Zaldon was breathless and red-faced, his fur limp with sweat. He was still as tall and hard-bodied as ever, still as handsome, but something was wrong. His black eyes were anxious, not embarrassed (as they usually were when he turned up in such a state), and he looked so miserable . . . and tired. He stood hunched over in the doorway, his great paw on a stitch in his side, his tail low, and when Kel and Aliona rushed him into a chair, he did not protest.
"Zaldon!" Aliona cried, cupping the sorcerer's face. "What is the matter!"
Kel peered anxiously into Zaldon's face, his paw squeezing his shoulder.
It took Zaldon a second to catch his breath, and when he looked up, he bit his lip and said wearily, "I'm getting too old for this. . . ."
Kel and Aliona looked at each other and laughed.
"Better late than never," Kel said, stroking Zaldon's ears with great affection. "We thought something was really the matter. So what kept you?"
"I'm raising a teenager," Zaldon answered with a half-smile, and Kel and Aliona understood at once: they'd raised two teenagers at the same time. It was no small feat.
Kel marveled that Zaldon hadn't lost it yet: raising a teenager at fifty-one was undoubtedly a grueling task. But Yuri (unlike Enya, Roan, and Zane) was typically well-behaved, and so Kel had a hard time understanding what Yuri could have done to prevent Zaldon from coming. When Kel asked, Zaldon sat back in the chair and heaved a deep sigh.
"With Arorta, Nisma, and Nasma, you know -- passed away -- Yuri has found it a little difficult to talk to us about . . . her changes as a female. And we've found it difficult to talk to her. It's gotten so bad that recently, she ran away."
When Kel and Aliona looked alarmed, Zaldon waved a big paw. "No, no, we found her. She'd run away to Julyan's sister's. You know, Ceara. Insisted on staying with her for a while. Maybe even living with her."
Zaldon looked so heartbroken by the prospect that Aliona rubbed his paw. It was common knowledge that Zaldon loved Yuri like a daughter: he had found her and raised her from a child, had taught her their language, had loved and protected her for the better part of her life. And now . . . she was leaving him. And not because she had grown up but because he was an inadequate parent: she needed a female.
"Oh, Zaldon," Kel said sympathetically. "So you couldn't find Yuri for three days?"
Zaldon shook his head miserably. "She didn't go straight to Ceara's, Kel."
Kel and Aliona looked at each other anxiously.
"Well . . ." said Aliona slowly, as if she feared Zaldon's answer, "where did she go?"