FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

“I need you to wait for me here."

Zula had to put on the mom voice again, that subtle shift in tone demanding a level of respect and unquestionable obedience. Words which were punctuated with a careful albeit dangerous look, and the slow fall of the larger hyena's hand atop the human girl's shoulder.

It's not the first time Zula had pulled this card on Mariam; more than likely wouldn't be the last. Something about Mariam's own safety — as if she couldn't fend for herself. It more often felt like a test.

“The hell are you going?" Mariam asked, her voice close to annoyed as she watched Zula step up to the crest of the crater. The land before them dipped into a smooth-sloping though treacherous descent of jagged rocks and petrified wood, flattening out after what looked like miles before once again ascending even further along the unseen horizon. Like a spoon had carved out the earth itself, rending it of all life and colour. “That's – you're going down there?"

“You just wait here," Zula snapped with a glare over her shoulder. “I need to see something. It'll be quick."

“If you're going down there then I'm coming with you." Mariam could barely hide the look of concern etched on her furrowed brows and twitching nose.

It almost softened Zula's temporary frost.

“I don't want to repeat myself, little rabbit."

“Fine. Fine! God…" Mariam swung a leather bag from around her shoulders and allowed it to drop with a heavy thunk on dry grass and coarse weeds. She sat at the edge of this expansive crater, dangled her legs over that sloping drop, and glared up at her companion. The hyena's shirt was damp with sweat which trickled from the ends of her mess of brown fur like the weak stream of a dead river. “Just hurry, will you? I… I don't like this place."

The ice melted. Zula got on one knee, close enough now to get a good lungful of Mariam's scent, and curled her fingers beneath the girl's chin. Mariam almost leaned into her touch.

“Don't worry, I'll be quick. Won't even leave your sight. You just keep your eyes on me, hm?"

“Just be careful." It was all Mariam could add before she was hushed by the outward projection of a confident smile and the brush of Zula's thumb across her lips.

At least the girl had good instincts. Good enough to know when something was… wrong.

Like this zone. A rot, the roots of which spread deep into the earth and sprouted its suffocating miasma across the surface. At times no more than a shimmer and a shift in the air, similar to the refractive waves of a summer heat. A place where every step felt like sloshing water in the lungs.

It might have been a bad idea to scamper down the slope and tread ground on the blackened remains of a once verdant stretch of land. Every one of Zula's instincts told her not to do so, the way her fur stood tall and the thick muscle of a heart hammered hard against her chest. But then, she couldn't really help herself to pull of the zone's frail little strings.

She was careful, fully intent on keeping her promise to Mariam.

Zula looked back at the sloping edge of the crater's lip and waved at the little black dot sitting at its edge. The girl waved back and called out to her: “Hurry!"

But Zula could feel the cloying embrace of decay like a raw tear of meat through her gnawing teeth, while beads of sweat dewed between her eyes and soaked into the skin and fur and suffocating cloth. The air trembled with the echoes of her every step. The zone reacted to her presence.

No trees… no grass… soil blackened to a burnt char of hell's own fury. This terrifying visage spoke to Zula, and there it threatened to devour her whole. Skin, meat, bones. Leave nothing behind but another speck of burnt dust to be gathered and held close to the zone's beating heart.

Thumping, growing, so silent and loud. Calling to her again. And how would she answer this time?

The girl's voice called out to her, delicate and weak, its message from the heavens bringing the throbbing ache in her jaw into a sharp focus. And here Zula realised that she could no longer control her breathing; every quick jab of oxygen only seemed to further stoke a fire in her gut, warming every crawling inch of terrible skin that begged for the touch, the feel, the soft caress of tender skin and moist flesh and the warmest, sweetest, bitterest of nectar.

A simple message: “All good?" Something that made Zula turn and stare up at that dark speck on the horizon with a hunch to her stance while her ears and nose zeroed the rest of her senses on the source of that noise.

Zula raised a shaky thumbs up.

“Are you sure you're okay?" Mariam asked once Zula had scrambled back up the slope, stopping only for a moment midway through to catch her breath and clear away those nagging thoughts before lifting herself onto the lip of that carved land. The two sat by one another and stared into the great divide, her tail brushing across the lower end of Mariam's back as answer to her question.

Somewhere out there, at the centre of it all, was home.

“I'm good." Zula lied, her obvious tells cleverly hidden by the sudden squeeze of her arm around Mariam's shoulders. She choked the air out of the girl's lungs and pressed her face into the pit of her arm. There now… cradled and safe. “Thank you for waiting."

Mariam pushed off enough for her to say, “Not like I had a choice," before Zula's strong embrace once again smothered her quiet. She could have struggled and complained but – one deep breath of Zula's particular scent was all it took to calm her down.

And in that absence of noise Zula felt some semblance of peace wash over her. Piercing brown eyes were trained on what she perceived to be the centre of this zone. It still seemed so impossibly far, but she knew differently.

“Almost there."

Her arm finally fell limp beside Marian's body, though the hand remained firmly in grasp of her shoulder. She was afforded a moment to breathe, think, and ask: “How much farther?"

“We're on the home stretch."

“I don't know about that. A few more months. Maybe more? It's a long way around the crater."

Zula's claws dug into Mariam's shirt, their sharpened ends threatening to pierce the sullied fabric so as to grasp at the soft flesh beneath. She didn't follow Mariam's eyes, didn't consider the trek around the zone's perimeter, didn't realise that the day had come when she finally had to tell her…

“We're not going around."

“W-What?" Mariam's reaction was quick but predictable. She was held in place by the strength of Zula's grasp while words of disbelief were immediately hushed by the warm motherly tones of Zula's soothing voice telling her:

“I need you to trust me."

“There's no way in hell." The girl could only focus on the zone before them. A boil on the world's flawed skin. “You can't be fucking serious."

“Language," Zula teased before ripping her eyes away from the crater. Mariam needed to trust her. “Don't you trust me?"

“You haven't given me a reason not to, but this-"

“-Will be just like any other day," Zula interrupted as she turned and focused all of her attention on the girl. She was all smiles and confidence, the warm brush of her fingers up and down Mariam's arms exuding an air of… calm.

Mariam counted each of the little scars on Zula's face, some fresh and others worn down by the slow-moving tread of life. The hyena's lips moved and curled up around her wide muzzle and there she saw the glint of saliva fresh across her chipped teeth. An old wound on her ear had left it deformed – the scar crawled down her face and curled around the sharpness of her jaw, marring an otherwise beautiful coat of short fur with a glaring divide so perfectly worn that Mariam was convinced no one else could sport it so seamlessly.

Without really thinking she put a hand to the side of Zula's muzzle, wrapped her fingers across the bridge of her nose, and traced her thumb just below the hyena's large wet nose. She felt the puff of hot air so approving of her cautious advance. Caught a spark of truth in Zula's brown eyes.

It would be just like any other day.

And yet, “This is so stupid."

“We could go around if you really want to." Zula leaned into Mariam's touch and briefly flicked one of the girl's fingers with the tip of her tongue to taste and savour. “It's going to take a lot more than a few months. We both know it."

“But…"

“It's a zone like any other."

“Zones are bad."

“Only when you don't know what you're doing. See over there?" Zula pointed out to the centre of the crater. “We cut through there to get home." Mariam didn't need to say anything. That look in her wide wet eyes said all. “You know that I won't put you in any danger, little rabbit."

“I know you won't, but…" Her voice trailed off as she was coaxed into resting her head against Zula's arm. Mariam could feel the damp kiss of the hyena's shirt smear against her cheek but even then she remained, somehow finding some small comfort within Zula's warmth. Even here, at the fringe of a zone. “God help me — I don't like this place."

“I don't either, little rabbit, but I'll be damned if I let the world lay a finger on you." Zula's slow shake of her large head carried a sombre thought. “Never again. It'll be safe. You just stay by my side, do as I do and follow my instructions. Same as always, hm?"

“Same as always," Mariam repeated with a shaky breath and the hard swallow of an oversized lump. “I trust you, Zula."

“That's my good girl." Her hands came up to cradle Mariam's head. Her skin was so soft, delicate, frail… However did this girl survive so long without her? Alone and terrified out of her mind. So bloodied and damaged on that cave floor. “Just hold mom's hand if it makes you feel safe."

“Zula…" Mariam smiled for the first time in what felt like a lifetime, and it was…

It was something that made Zula smile and laugh beneath her breath. Goodness, she could've just pulled the girl onto her lap and kissed, and licked, and kissed, and savoured, and salivated, and… She felt a weighted bag of stones settling deep in the pit of her stomach. It did little to quiet the thoughts. The only thing would be…

“Hah! You know I can't help myself. Listen, I know you're worried so if you need some time-"

“No… no." Brave face, sturdy and stubborn. Even then Mariam refused to look into the crater. She kept the whole of her focus on this hyena who saved her life time and time again. She had no reason to doubt her. “I'm good to go now. No point in waiting."

“Are you sure?"

Mariam nodded, and with Zula's help stood her full height. She was still leagues shorter than her companion, but at the very least that made her feel safe.

“I'm sure. Maybe we can find a place to set up camp by sundown."

“Absolutely." Heart quickened. The skin beneath her fur burned. God, she was thankful for Mariam being what she was: human. So out of touch with her senses. So trusting. The things that her own body so willfully screamed. Agonising, that painful jab to the gut only swelling to a bursting point as the two dived head-first into the zone. “Careful on the descent, it's steep."

Her sweet little rabbit… they'd be there soon.

***

Zula cracked into the fat end of a femur with an accompanying sigh warm and satisfied. Teeth scraped clean a tight ball of marrow, cupped lovingly within a curled tongue then savoured and swallowed whole.

It was an almost ritualistic act performed with the same reverence that worshipers would show their god. Wasted shards of bone were haphazardly tossed into an open flame as tribute while the rest got neatly laid out in a wet pile to be adored and consumed throughout the night.

Such was Zula's routine whenever she had a moment to indulge, so brutal and intimate that it made her companion feel all the more like some unwelcome observer.

But Mariam had made peace with it. She could stand to watch in equal parts awe and horror as bone was snapped and crunched in effortless glee. No further need to disassociate from the wet slurp of a tongue dragging along a moist line of marrow or recoil against those pervasive gurgles and self-satisfied groans.

“Mmf – Ish good, right?" Zula punctuated her remark with a hard puff of air from between parted lips while giving Mariam an intense stare. She drew cracked bone from within her maw, slathered the side of it with a long draw of her tongue, then casually presented it to Mariam in a… rather grim show of affection, one which Mariam gently declined with a small shake of her hand. “Damn good. Nothing beats a nice meal to end the day."

So calm. So at ease with the world around her. It wasn't Zula's animal-like savagery that caught her so off-guard but… this. Her efforts at making everything feel so normal.

Mariam's light huff and forced laugh enticed a wag of Zula's short tail and a twisting flick of her ears. All she could say was, “It's certainly something," before diving back into her own chunk of charred meat, so tasteless and bland.

“A warm fire, beautiful stars, nice and quiet night…" Zula turned her attention down to another bone she'd plucked from her stash. “Hah… this is nice."

The light of the fire made the hyena glow in orange splendour. “Yeah, it's nice."

“What's that?" Zula put a hand to her ear and barely even tried to hide a cocky grin.

“Fuck off – you heard me."

“Say it again," Zula commanded with a mock tone of authority. “Say it loud."

“God… I said: this is nice."

“No, no. That's not what you wanted to say. Come on, little rabbit. Don't be shy. No one here but the two of us."

“Do you ever let up?" Zula didn't reply; kept a hand around her ear and eyes toward the sky. “Fine. I'll give it to you this time. You weren't wrong"

“Mhm. Mhm. And what was mom right about?"

Their campfire crackled in response as the surge of a cool southbound wind fed its deepest embers. The shadows of its light tangoed around the stumps of dead trees and rested in long, jagged brushstrokes of painted black across the ground.

No harm in stoking her ego a little more, right?

“About this place not being so bad." Even if its stench rotted her lungs. Even if her head swam within the droning howl of its atmosphere. “It's been pretty calm."

“Mhm. And?"

“You're pushing your luck."

“Come on, little rabbit." Zula turned to hold Mariam's gaze with the sharp strike of a playful glare. A look that dared Mariam to say anything besides… “Say it."

… besides, “I trust you."

Good enough.

“Apology accepted, little rabbit. Don't worry, I won't hold it against you! Just try not to be so stubborn next time, okay? I know what's best for us. I mean, look!" She waved around herself, directing Mariam's attention to the endless swathe of this charred desert, its blackened dirt stretching out for miles in every direction. “We've saved ourselves days. Isn't that worth the cost?"

The cost: what exactly was the cost?

“I still don't like this place, Zula." The burnt end of her meal no longer seemed so appealing. Mariam didn't bother offering it to the hyena. She tossed it into the campfire and watched as the sinew and fat momentarily lifted the flames into a spirited dance. “It's wrong."

“Nothing out of the ordinary so far. We've barely pierced the fringe."

“How can you tell?"

“I just can." Zula shrugged and tapped a finger against her nose. “A mother's instincts."

“You're impossible," Mariam remarked with a roll of her eyes. The zone responded in kind – a little shiver down her spine as cold air licked at the inside of her ear.

“And you're still so terribly afraid. You know how I can tell?"

“Because I'm an open book?"

“I could read you from a mile away!" She sat up abruptly and turned to face her companion. “Like right now. It's written all over your face."

“Hardly." Even then, Mariam looked away in some admission to Zula's truth.

“Here, I'll prove it to you again. Just… Just let me have a good look. And lean back a little? Gotta get the light just right."

“I'm not posing for you."

“Oh quiet down and let me work my magic."

And there it was, another one of her little smiles, so bright and kind from Mariam's thin dark lips. All that pouting and complaining and concern just made these genuine glimpses of her personality flash all the brighter. Zula couldn't help but take her in, all of her.

The soft texture of her dirty cheeks, tight and refined from all the months she's spent out here on the roads, playing nicely with the gentle curve of her jaw, that pointed end to her nose, and the small divot just above her upper lip. Full dark eyebrows curved into fine little daggers at the edge of her narrow brown eyes, which alongside the mess of tangled black hair complemented that rugged look of a girl far out of her depth.

“Well?" Mariam impatiently asked, but all Zula saw was a small pink tongue peek between parted lips before slipping back into its warm cradle.

“One more minute," she dismissed, now paying close attention to how Mariam stared back. Her eyes darted back and forth from her face to her body, then back up to hold her gaze for a second or two just to quiver, cower, and flee for the fire to her left and the dead dirt beneath her feet. The girl would bite on the inside of her lip, then furrow her brows and straighten her spine as if denying herself some intrusive thought or hankering impulse.

All those nights she's spent watching over the girl in her sleep, and all those days where Zula purposefully slowed herself down just to get a better look at her stride, stance, and figure. Moment after moment after moment of tending and caring and nurturing and loving and adoring, even if the girl didn't need or want it.

“Zula?" She asked with some concern, but her expressive eyes smiled bright from behind the sweltering veil of a tender blush. Why'd she have to stare so hard, for so long, and with such a ferocious longing? “Everything okay?"

“There," Zula finally breathed, and there she savoured a good lungful of Mariam's scent, “I've read you."

“... And?"

“And I think those are answers I'll keep to myself. Just know that I can see it in… your eyebrows, and that little twitch at the edge of your lips."

Mariam visibly swallowed – Zula could almost smell her reaction, like an explosion of sweet citrus emanating from every pore on her skin. “You're full of shit, you know that?" Delicate fingers nervously stroked a coiled fringe of hair. “You're just making shit up…"

“Am I?" Zula replied a little too excitedly, her expressions as animated as the eyes she spoke to. “You're lucky we found each other, you know that?"

“And where's this coming from?"

“Just another one of my clever observations." Zula tapped her nose again, and smirked. “The roads don't care; the world keeps spinning. You won't always have a cool mom like me to keep an eye out for you."

“Cool mom?" Zula just nodded, a strand of slobber escaping her lips. “You know I can take care of myself."

“So says the little rabbit I found with barely a candle of life left in her."

“That's… I…"

Wait… what did she say? Zula could barely remember her bluster of words – the aftertaste lingered, bitter and wrong. Why would she…? The girl visibly deflated before her eyes.

“Mariam that was -" She scrambled, stopped, rethought her approach and simply said, “I'm sorry, little rabbit."

“No, it's fine. It's…You're right."

“That doesn't excuse me." Zula inched a little closer to Mariam, slowly, like the careful approach of a hunter on its prey. “You can take care of yourself. I know that. I just meant… I mean… it doesn't hurt to have a little help, right?"

“No." Mariam breathed deep of the campfire's embers. It didn't quite match up to the blossoming warmth she felt when Zula put a hand atop her own and squeezed, gentle and kind, just like a mother would. “You're right though. I'm lucky you found me. I wouldn't be… well, you know."

“You'd be just fine," Zula reaffirmed, “and I mean it. My little rabbit's a survivor. You know that better than anyone."

“You're too nice to me." She turned her hand around and scratched nails against the inside of Zula's surprisingly soft palm. She felt the hyena's fingers twitch in response before they formed a protective shell around her hand. “I don't deserve that."

“That's not for you to decide." She moved to sit a little closer to the fire; closer to Mariam. “Everyone deserves some help, except for the assholes – excuse my language – who don't. You don't seem to fall into that category. Lucky you, huh?"

“Lucky me…" Mariam swallowed hard just. “Luck runs out."

“Sure it does. Sure. But you know what I think of that? Don't dwell on it till the time comes that you're forced to. Not here. Not now. We don't really have that luxury."

“It feels like we do." Mariam continued to stroke her fingers against the cusp of Zula's hand, such an apprehensive gesture but a welcome one at that. “Even here, in this fucking place… It almost feels normal. Must be your terrible influence finally rubbing off on me."

“About time," Zula answered with a soft chuckle. “Don't get stuck in the past and try not to torture yourself too much with the future. All those what-ifs and maybes are going to do your head in. We're still a long way from getting through all this. You don't need all that unnecessary pressure."

“You make it sound easy."

“Trial and error, little rabbit. And a lifetime of mistakes."

“And you're sure I'm not one of those?"

Zula sighed hard. Not exactly disappointment but maybe just a bit of frustration. How many times now had they gone through this conversation? The same words, the same conclusion. The girl spiralled quickly, as if the light in her heart had suddenly burnt out.

At least Zula knew what to do.

Lean in a little, narrow her eyes, pretend like she saw something wrong and ask a stupid question like, “Hey, what's that on your cheek?"

And Mariam fell for it like clockwork, her hands slipping from Zula's hold just to brush at some invisible fleck or phantom insect while stammering out a, “What? Where?"

“Here, right there! Right-" Giving Zula an opportunity for her to close the gap, wrap long arms around Mariam's body, and force the girl to settle right up against her lap in one quick motion. “Right here."

And there was nothing that Mariam could do about it. All complaints ignored, every shrug of the shoulders and hard yank of her arms thoroughly controlled by Zula's strong hold. Nothing left for Mariam to do but accept it with a low groan as the woman's hands comfortably crossed atop her stomach, the barest of distractions from the moisture of a wet nose sinking into the crook of her neck or the softness of the hyena's breasts as she sank into the her chest.

“You could have asked…"

“And you would've said no." A hard chuff tickled Mariam's skin, made her squirm within Zula's arms, and somehow eased some of that unneeded tension. “It's funnier when I don't tell you."

Mariam couldn't even distract herself with the clear view of the sky or the blaze of their campfire. Her sole focus were those hands that held her so perfectly still, claw-tipped fingers idly scratching at all the tender spots she actually enjoyed.

“This is," absolutely unnecessary. She didn't need to be held. She hadn't asked to be comforted by the low hum of the hyena's voice seeping into her skull. Wasn't exactly expecting the surprising softness of her body swallowing her into a bed of flesh and fur so warm and safe; “ridiculous."

“You sound just like my kids." Zula rested her chin on Mariam's shoulder, the sound of her tongue licking at her own nose loud against the girl's ears. “They'd always complain and moan whenever I did this to them. Ranted on and on about how it was 'embarrassing', or that they were 'too old for this crap'." She laughed, a moment so wistful and long. “And every time, without fail, they'd stop their complaining, and close their eyes, and let mom hold them nice and tight. Whatever thoughts they were spiralling into… whatever awful darkness might've been clouding their day… all of it could wait. Feels good, doesn't it?"

She asked, of course, but didn't exactly expect an answer. She didn't want an answer. All she needed was a response, like that soft puff of relaxed air or the feeling of Mariam's body shivering when she slipped her hand beneath the girl's shirt and held her palm softly against bare sensitive skin.

Exactly what she needed.

“You're a lucky little rabbit and, yes, luck does run out. You don't have to be scared of that day. You're strong, smart, and resourceful." She could feel Mariam's breath hitching when her claws raked across her stomach. Every sensitive inch of skin made itself known with each twitch and swallowed moan. “And if all that fails, you've still got me. You deserve the help. Finding you out here and travelling with you is not a mistake. You got that?"

“Y-Yeah. Sure… I mean…" Mariam could barely get a word out. It shouldn't feel this good – Zula shouldn't know her so well but she did. Night after night of this game had exposed every one of her triggers and tells.

Zula's words droned dangerously low, drowning all of Mariam's senses with some primal instinct to listen and obey. “You got that?"

“I got it. I got it." She couldn't keep Zula's hand from exploring her stomach, nor did she really even try to stop any of her advances. Some part of Mariam cracked whenever this happened, each fissure growing deeper after every beating moment heightened by the absolute silence of the zone. “You really… You really mean all that, don't you?"

Zula's answer was always the same: “I never lie."

No choice but to hope and believe.

No lingered on the past, not with the hyena's hand blooming upward along her torso, every brushing stroke of her fingers edging some deep ache within the frail shelter of her ribs. Not with how the larger woman rubbed her muzzle against the side of her neck and allowed her large nose to tickle the curve of her jaw.

She could almost taste her breath, the bone and soiled meat hanging loose between her teeth. She could smell the dampness of her fur, that salty aroma of stale sweat mixing with the allure of burnt wood and clean smoke.

“That's it, little rabbit. You just sit right here and relax. Don't you worry about a thing. Mom's got you." Zula pushed her luck, like she always did, and gently placed a kiss on the curve of Mariam's neck where her throat met collarbone, then licked that same spot because she wanted her to know exactly what she'd done. She wanted to feel the reward of Mariam's body shuddering hard, squirming, tightening up before finally releasing itself. A shaky breath of approval. “That's right. Mom's got you nice and safe. No words, okay? You just relax. Nothing's going to touch you out here. Nobody's going to harm you."

She tasted divine. Like meat on the bone, so succulent and sweet. Nothing bitter to the grime and sweat. Nothing off-putting about the texture of skin, smooth and soft against her tongue. No need to see the wordless movement of her lips quietly asking, 'again'. Zula could smell every little shivering desire from the poor girl.

“Relax, little rabbit." She indulged herself – one more kiss and a careful lick that threatened to break her resolve. One more hounding sniff of a scent so intoxicating it swirled within her head like the heavy air around them. One last scratch upward along Mariam's chest before her fingers curled around the soft curve of a breast, plush and warm, malleable to her tender, controlling grasp. “Easy… easy…"

“Zula." Mariam closed her eyes, shut away the zone around them, and dove into the hyena's embrace. Her hands clawed at her own stomach, trailed down along her thighs, grasped at Zula's legs for some kind of support… She never knew what to do with them. Never knew how to hold her head. Never knew how she should breathe. “O-Oh, fuck…"

“Let mom take care of you," Zula breathed into the girl's neck then licked upward along her jugular. Two fingers carefully settled around her nipple as the rest continued a painstakingly slow massage; “sweet little rabbit. Hah, you taste wonderful."

“Don't say that. Your – your hand."

“This one?" Zula teased before punctuating a slow lick along Mariam's jaw alongside a slight squeeze of her tit. It earned her a nod, then a shake of the head, another nod, and finally the gutteral frustration of a girl who didn't know quite what to do with herself any longer. “You're too easy – say it."

“Please…"

“Tell mom exactly where you want the other hand."

Mariam grasped at Zula's wrist but the woman didn't budge. The hyena's response was to give the girl a pinch; nothing more than a slight twist of her nipple to make her moan and squirm.

Literal seconds. Mariam could scarcely believe it. Turned into a mess with just seconds spent in her roving hands.

“Fucking tease."

“Language." Zula nipped her cheek, the cold graze of her teeth enough to make Mariam whimper with excited anticipation. “Now take a deep breath…" She felt the girl's chest rise deep just as she turned her head to breathe in the musk of her sweaty shirt, “... and use your words."

Her words? She could barely get a word out. Every thought sat heavy and lethargic in her head as all her senses hyperfixated on calloused fingers tugging on her nipple over, and over, and over again, so successful in their attempts at dragging her into the depths of comfortable pleasure and eager lust.

Mariam mouthed the request, lower, while tugging on Zula's free hand, the one that'd kept such a warm hold over her stomach. Bring it lower, down to the depths of her core. Tease at the hem of her pats, dig into the soft mound of her groin, and trample every sensitive nerve like she'd done time and time again. How many times now? Seven… eight? A dozen?

And every time Zula hammered home the nail of her desires with such striking precision. Their first time had felt like the hundredth – the hundredth like the first.

“I want you to touch me," Mariam stammered, the bombardment of sensations between Zula's curious tongue drawing lines of saliva across her face and the ceaseless tug-and-pull of her pinching fingers enough to stamp out her final few words into nothing more than a pathetic, “please."

Zula's answer was to grope her breasts, one after the other, till each of her nipples were left aching and sore for attention. Her answer was to drag a tongue around her throat, her slobber a translucent guide to where her teeth should nip and scratch. Her answer was a kiss, so sudden that every one of Mariam's desires instantly melted away, yet lingering long enough for both to feel the burn of each other's scalding lips.

Then snapped back to reality with another pinch, another squeeze, and the tips of the hyena's fingers slipping into damp fabric with a bold confidence.

“You should have told me that you were so eager." Zula murmured right into Mariam's ear as she allowed her fingers to slip between the folds of the girl's sodden cunt. “Can you hear that?"

“Mhm…" Barely a whimper of a reply as the drowning silence of the zone was parted by a slick drag of Zula's long fingers against tender lips. “Slower…"

“Like that?" The hyena did as asked, the roll and curl of her fingers slowing to a crawl. “Oh yeah, just like that." The tips of her claws barely scratched the pulsing bud of Mariam's desire, barely itched the surface of a deep-set hunger. “Tell mom how much you like it."

“I-" Mariam gasped, short and ragged, as her focus was split between the pinch of a nipple, that flat hot tongue rubbing back and forth against her throat, and two fingers gently caressing the hood of her clit. Once… twice… She bucked her hips but found no reprieve nor the shot of adrenaline-fueled lust she'd been searching for. Nothing but the disapproving click of Zula's tongue before it dove right back to the sloppy mess she'd made of her skin. “I love it."

But Zula didn't hear it. That begging – the confession. Couldn't hear anything now beside that… that low hum emanating from the distance. Like the slow rumbling of a far away engine. Buzzing, clawing, drilling into her head. Ringing… ringing…

And thumping ever louder.

Demanding more than what she gave. To tug on Mariam's small nipples till she whimpered from the pain, or the pleasure, or that wonderful mix of both. To force a finger into the cavity of her desire and feel her clench tight and strong, wet walls clamouring for every inch of her thick finger as it curled inward and scratched the spot that made the girl arch her back and moan into a night. To clamp her jaw around the girl's throat and dig, dig, dig with teeth aching for a sweet taste. A small bite. The smallest nip. That slight little flick of the tip of her tongue against a jumping artery.

Another scratch of her innermost core, so hot and wet. Another hard pull of her nipple to keep her steady and still. Just a nip. Just a little taste.

One small taste to quiet the droning in her head.

“Easy now," Zula repeated like an adoring chant into her little rabbit's ear. She felt the human girl writhe beneath her strong hold drilling her finger deeper into her cunt, nearly down to her knuckle. She took it like a champ, but deep down Zula knew that the girl wanted to reach for a higher bar. “Ready for more?"

Mariam nodded, craned her neck up, and planted an unsteady kiss on the underside of the hyena's chin. That weak strand of saliva she left behind trembled beneath a strong breath and collapsed beneath Zula's oppressive weight. Her fingers clawed at the hyena's thighs in some display of adoration – cloudy eyes could barely keep the woman within a steady gaze.

“That's my good girl. You're always so eager and sweet." She rolled her finger back and forth, every little nudge spreading a little wider, every little curl of her finger coaxing out more of that stringy, sweet nectar she so coveted. “Deep breath." From somewhere deep in the throes of her own ecstasy Mariam listened, breathed, and swallowed a gasp right when Zula threatened to ease a second finger inside her.

Slowly, gently, accompanied with a tender kiss as the orchestra of Mariam's lungs bowed before their maestro.

“How's that, little rabbit?"

“P-Perfect." She breathed sharply, one hard lungful of Zula's earthy, smoky aroma. Desperate, as if this would be her last. “I love-"

“Hush." Zula slowly drove her fingers inward, curled them, then drew them out till the cold lick of a nighttime air chilled the thin layer of cum they'd been soaking in. “Just ride it out." In, curl, out. Her cunt clenched, clenched, a vice-like grip threatening to rip fingers from her own hands with how badly the girl's body craved to be filled forevermore. “Let mom take care of you."

“Don't stop," Mariam begged as she arched her back, closed her eyes, and swam within the torrent of sensations. “Don't stop. Please. Don't stop."

“Never," Zula finally reassured with a hint of a chuckle while seeking out that perfect little nerve that drove the air from her little rabbit's lungs. Close now – she wouldn't last a few more seconds like this. Pinching her nipples, licking her neck, breathing into her ear, all the while spreading her wide and spearing her deep the way only Zula knew she could do.

All wrapped around her fingers. So vulnerable. So trusting.

“So beautiful," Zula breathed as Mariam rode the high of her own pleasure through ragged gasps. She loved the way the girl's chest rose and fell fast and hard, poor little lungs struggling to burst forth. Mariam's beating heart was a wardrum of joy. “Easy… lean back on me. I've got you."

Zula's fingers shimmered under the light of the campfire with a stringy mess that she licked, and suckled, and swallowed clean with an audible moan content and satisfied.

And the girl? Her little rabbit leaned back onto her, tense shoulders and knotted muscles finally relaxing as all concerns simply melted away. Why worry? A, “Thank you," was all she could say as the world around them slipped from her grasp.

“Oh, come here." Zula held her closer than ever before, nuzzling their heads together, granting the odd lick and playful nip here and there. “You see? Nothing to be afraid of."

“Mhm." Mariam was lost in her bliss, the faculties of her mind only now coming back in bits and pieces. “You're… you're fucking crazy."

“Crazy for making you feel good?"

“Out here?" The words were barely loud enough for Mariam's own ears. She couldn't bother – all that really mattered now was Zula's warm fur. “You're… you're…" She shifted within Zula's arms to better link their bodies together. “You're incredible."

Words that would have made even the most stone-faced killer beam with satisfaction, pride, accomplishment. Enough to make some like Zula trip head-over-heels once again. Mariam could hear the brushing wag of her tail scrape against coarse dirt; Zula could feel the relaxed thump, thump, of a casually beating heart that'd finally allowed itself one long moment of tranquillity.

“Come here." The hyena laid back and in her arms she carried her human, who so easily rested atop the soft bed of her stomach and the pillows of her breasts. Not heavy enough to cause Zula any discomfort, but just enough that she could feel every tensing muscle, twitching skin, and careful breath. “We've got a long day ahead of us. Best we get some rest."

“But what about you?"

“What about me?"

Mariam crawled up for about as much as Zula allowed her and planted the smallest kiss against the hyena's jaw. “You know…"

“Ah. Well," Zula swallowed hard but refused to avert her eyes, “you'll have to excuse me tonight. Mom's a little tired. Oh, don't you worry. I'll make sure you repay the favour soon enough but now? Now I just want us to rest – I want you to get some sleep."

“Fine. Fine. You get some rest too, if you can."

“I will. Sweet dreams, little rabbit."

“Goodnight."

She stroked the girl's hair, caressed her cheek, drew little shapes with the tips of a claw across her lower back, and gently nudged her back where she belonged whenever her body strayed left or right.

Miles downslope, toward the centre of the crater… thunder. Lightning coursing through a cloudless sky. The earth crackled white hot, cooled into a fine sheet of jagged glass, shimmered with winter's frost, then melted into a thick, dusky broth to be drunk and reshaped.

***

“Hey, wake up. Look over there – Isn't that something."

Zula pointed south, down the slope and to the heart of the zone. The living, breathing, beating mass of a heart. Her finger – the whole of her arm – twitched as if it were drawn to that ball of overcharged air; the corners of her lips curled upward in the smallest of smiles.

“Stunning, isn't it?"

Truthfully? Mariam couldn't look away, mesmerised as she was by the way this pulsing mass shrank and expanded like a breathing pair of lungs. The very air around this heart glowed a neon blue, the crackles of electricity it produced so loud that she could hear them out here, on the slope of this crater, so many dozens of miles away.

It tugged on the strings of her heart. It wanted to make itself known.

Mariam recalled falling asleep on top of the hyena. She remembered the world around them clearly, this barren land scorched out of the earth. A sea of blacks and greys so devoid of colour and life that she and Zula stood out on its craggy surface like a pair of angry sores. So this…

“It wasn't there last night." That's all she could really say.

Zula huffed, her eyes locked on the beating heart. She shook her head and said, “It's always been there."

“That doesn't make any sense."

“Did you expect it to?" She laughed. Barely a hint of caution or concern on her. “Trust me, it was there. It's always been there. At the start of it all… at the end… it'll always be there."

“Zula?" Mariam put a hand on the hyena's leg and it burned.

“Just thinking out loud," the hyena replied. “It wouldn't have shown itself if it didn't want to be seen, right?"

“I don't know. You tell me."

Zula nodded, reaffirming more to herself than to Mariam her own suspicions. “About time."

The air crackled once more as a surge of lightning forked from within the earth itself, crawling out from the ground around the heart just to slither over the surface of the crater like a mass of coiling snakes.

Her tongue darted past tight lips to savour the taste, that ammonia and sickly sweet carrion. She put her hand to the ground, dug her fingers into the soil, and very nearly felt every single pulse surge between each of her digits like the ebb and flow of ocean water on a sandy shore. Every pull begged for Zula to come a little closer.

Just a little closer.

“We'll go around it," Mariam suggested when she finally forced herself to look away from the zone's heart. Her companion was still transfixed on its centre, parted lips miming out a string of silent words. “It doesn't look very friendly."

Zula dug her fingers from the earth and captured Mariam's body with an arm wrapped tight across her shoulders. “Nonsense."

“Uh… come again?"

“We're not going around the heart."

“Yes, we are." Mariam felt herself get dragged to the hyena's side with a forceful pull. The woman's claws burned into her skin though they, at least, could be somewhat ignored. “We didn't get this far just to jump into that, Zula."

Zula swallowed. Zula breathed. “You don't get it." Zula felt every tensing muscle ready to explore outward. Zulla suffered that encapsulating headache that battered and beat the inside of her skull. “It's our ticket home."

“That's death," Mariam argued.

“No. No." It was enough for Zula to finally look away. Her eyes burned raw behind a slowly curling visage that trembled. Her body fighting against its very nature. To snarl at the girl, bare her fangs, and put the little human in her place; to mother her, just like she knew she should. Her smile was not at all comforting. “Little rabbit, please… just do as I say."

“I think we should reconsider-"

“And I think," Zula cut in, “that you need to trust me. Trust. Remember? When have I led you astray? Think back for me." She allowed her hand to slip, falling from around Mariam's shoulder to settle by the centre of her spine. “When I found you, I healed your wounds and nursed you back to health." She scratched down to the girl's lower back. “I've shown you love. I've protected you like I would my own children. I made sure you'd never feel alone again. Have I not done these things?"

“You're…" laying it on thick. She was right, of course. Absolutely right. Mariam sighed, closed her eyes, and leaned into the hyena's chest as she felt fingers explore beneath her shirt. Those claws always knew exactly where to scratch. “... that's not the point, Zula."

“But that's exactly the point. I don't ask for much – I never have – besides trust. What've I done to break your trust?"

“You haven't."

“So?" She slipped her hand farther up Mariam's back and forced the girl to feel every nick and prick of her claws. Zula did know exactly where to scratch. Her little rabbit was more than just an open book. “Why the lack of trust now? Are you scared?"

Why shouldn't she be? She'd been scared since the moment they slid into the zone. Perhaps even before that.

But she'd always put on a brave face because… because she didn't want to worry Zula's heart.

Mariam cast her eyes downslope. Though it had no clear face, that battered mass seemed to turn and face in their direction. The invisible strings tethered to every inch of scarred land trembled with a satisfying twang with every one of their spoken words.

She ignored the question – of course she was scared – and asked, “How exactly will it get us home?"

“Don't you worry about the details," Zula answered before she turned her head down and planted a kiss, so loving and kind, right between the girl's eyes. Enough to silence Mariam, who just stammered and sighed. “Just follow my lead, do as I say, and remember," she licked down the bridge of her nose, kissed her lips, nibbled on her chin, “I won't let anything bad happen to you. Not again."

The truth. The truth.

***

It was the light of the heart that now guided them through these wastes, ever present in its ethereal glow of cool blues, deep-sea purples, and vibrant pinks. It was the warmth of the heart that now kept the cold at bay, waves of simmering heat hotter than a campfire and much more comfortable than a blazing sun. It was the beating of that heart, its ka-thump… ka-thump… scratching grooves in their inner minds, that made every step feel both like an infinite stretch of endless miles and an agonising snail-like crawl.

Had it been… days? Mariam tried to think back, tried to count down the hours, but it all slipped away. It stopped mattering once the zone had swallowed up the light of the sun, right around the time when she stopped trying to understand the nature of this place.

Her curiosity now far outweighed the fear. When trees aged a thousand years sprouted from the dead ground in a matter of hours only to wither, rot, and sink back into their graves right before their eyes; how couldn't she be curious? When a cloudless sky rained a black oil, salty and sweet, that momentarily raised a blade of grass or a flowering bed wherever it struck ground; how could she keep denying her curiosity? When Zula turned to her, eyes clamouring for more than just a kiss, a touch, a gentle massage of tongue against tongue; how couldn't she want to keep indulging in her curiosity?

Zula spoke little now, her words a mix of praise and harsh commands. 'Keep low. Watch the ground. Give me your hand. On your knees. Beautiful girl. Mom loves you.' Disjointed, thoughtless, almost like an animal first learning to form words but Mariam couldn't bring herself to question it because she felt the power behind each pronounced syllable.

And when they argued, the heart screamed. And when they cooperated, the heart hummed. And when they touched each other, the heart sang.

“Can you hear it now, my sweet little rabbit?" Zula's words slurred between drooling teeth as she sank her body down to smother the girl in a mass of soft fur and naked skin. “The song – that beautiful song. Every strummed note tickling the throat," she licked the girl's cheek with a rough, wet slide of her tongue right as a hand slipped between her own thighs to part the flowering petals of her own arousal, “and every angelic hum resonating in your chest. You feel it. I know you can feel it. Nod. Say yes. Tell me you can."

A strong hand lifted Mariam's left leg. Zula's hips sank. The girl gasped and arched upward, right up against this body of heat so strong and soft, the moment their lips kissed, licked, and slid against each other. The whole of her body burned with tingling ecstasy, down to the tips of her toes and up to the very ends of her scalp, and in that fire she felt the song:

Humming, droning, strumming away at an invisible harp. Diabolically angelic. And it made her so pleasantly aware.

Aware of Zula's grunting pleasure as the hyena rolled her hips down against Mariam's own. Aware of how incredibly soft the hyena's nether lips were against her own. Aware of how… how she could drag her nails down Zula's lower back and actually feel it somewhere near the bare back of her own sweaty neck.

Of a tongue she licked as a careful request, and accepted into her mouth in quiet admiration, and suckled on with wanton adoration.

Of eyes that hungered for far more, more, more. Grinding labia, kissing clits, a sharing of femcum that left their thighs slick wet with combined arousal. Nipples carving pleasant scars into her delicate skin with every pendulous sway of her chest.

The sudden jolts of Zula's pleasure, bolts of purple-hued electricity that slithered across every little vein and arced with a sting and a kiss wherever their bodies made contact.

That beating heart.

“Y-You look at me, rabbit." Zula snatched her head with a strong hand and forced Mariam's eyes on her. Only her. Just her. “Me! Your mother – sweet, loving mother. Show her how much you love–" She cut herself off with a gasp as her hips buckled, and the mound of her cunt smothered itself against Mariam's flatter groin, while the wet drag of their lower lips rang out with the same ferocious intensity as the heart's overwhelming pulse. “L-Love me. Say you love me."

Too lost in her own pleasure to say anything. Too busy trying to keep pace with the hyena to even mutter the low, long, lust-tinged 'Yesss', that now ran circles across her mind. Mariam barely found the strength to respond with a kiss of her mother's jaw and the adoring touch of her hands sliding around the hyena's waist, across a wonderfully sensitive stomach that made the woman hitch and blush, and up to a heavy pair of breasts that she cupped and pinched over and over to the same beat and rhythm as the wet slam of their hips.

“I love you too, rabbit." She shuddered when those soft, delicate little fingers rolled around the dark beads of her nipples. “It-It'll work this time. I know it will. It'll work… fuck. Hold still for me." Zula crawled down, leaving behind a trail of wet licks and smothering kisses in her wake: one for each of Mariam's breasts, another down the valley of her chest, two for each of those sweet little zones on the girl's stomach that made her whimper and squirm, and one last kiss just that steaming vent of pure lust and unbridled arousal. “Here – for you. One last treat before we go home."

One last lick, a slow and careful slip of the tongue between her sensitive folds so wet and hot. A hum, loud and full of adoration, little vibrations to tease the girl deep within her core. Tease her entrance with the tip of the tongue, just briefly parting her open to taste of that nectar straight from the source and make her beg with clawing hands buried deep in her waves of brown fur. Drag upward, making sure to leave no part of that sweet pussy unloved. Circle her clit, lightly stroke its twitching surface, massage every buzzing nerve, kiss her into a building climax, tease her with words of praise and genuine adoration, dig the claws into her hips till blood trickled down her fingers, hum the choir of the heart that now loomed so high overhead, make her squirm and writhe and scream, and drag the tongue down to fill her whole, the fullest she's ever been, walls painfully contracting and pushing in a mess of confused, joyous, painful, and exhausting love.

But no rest for Mariam's limp form and no self-indulgent climax that Zula strived to reach for herself. No – it would all come when they were finally home. She found the strength to slip the girl into the cradle of her arms and hold her close to her own chest. To hold her tight and close and say to her, “I can't wait for you to meet my kids."

A lazy smile should've been enough. A nod of approval perhaps. Maybe even just a weak, 'Yes,' to really hammer home the end of their journey. Months… so many months for this sweet girl but Zula? Oh god, how long has it been? How long…

But Mariam offered no comfort or words of affirmation to the hyena's own delusions. She just sighed low and found the strength to cup the mother's cheek with a fingertip touch, her eyes wide and wet and so full of terrified sorrow. All she could say was: “It spoke to me."

“No."

“Zula…"

The hyena gulped. “It's going to work this time. I… I know it will. You just hold on to me, okay? Hold on. I'm coming home."

One more try. One last jump into the abyss. She had no other choice. This beautiful heart, its tendrils spearing holes through her chest, drawing her in for the thousandth time.

Zula smiled, ignored Mariam's weak pleading, held the girl tighter to her own chest, and allowed herself to be carried home.

***

Zula scrambled up the hill and followed that trail of blood, the crimson streaks smeared bright through the green foliage of this lush, dense forest.

She could have followed the trail by scent alone, so strong it was and so freshly smeared across the ground. She could have closed her eyes and simply… moved. No sight, no smell, no sound. Every precise step practised over lifetimes and lifetimes.

But… no. She went through the motions because it felt like the right thing to do and followed the blood for hours, and hours, and hours till, at last, she came across a cave, and a frightened girl barely able to hold a dirty knife between her hands. Shuddering in the cold, naked as the day she was born, ugly scars carved across the skin of her back.

“Rabbit."

The girl looked up at her, those wide brown eyes scanning up and down while she weakly tried to scamper back and hold the knife up in some act of self defence.

Zula simply stood at the mouth of the cave and counted out the seconds in her head.

Five seconds total before the girl collapsed beneath the weight of her own exhaustion. Five seconds for Zula to know that she hadn't been recognised – again.

Where was the pity she'd felt the last time around? Why didn't her heart soar at the sight of the girl, or ache in empathy of her pain? Why'd she curl her lips back to bare her fangs and spit, more annoyed than she was glad?

Why this? Why again? What did she do wrong? Why didn't it let them leave?

She swallowed hard and stopped herself from leaving the girl to her fate. That hadn't worked before. At the very least she could make herself useful.

No. She needed a mother. Someone kind. Someone she could feel safe with.

But that didn't work either.

“Come on, rabbit." Zula couldn't force herself to sound remotely interested this time. Maybe it would come with time. They had months ahead of them, after all. She could learn to love her again. Maybe. “We're burning daylight."

She held the girl in her arms and close to her chest, carried her out of the cave, and began that slow trek back to the heart.

Maybe this time…

This time. It'll work this time.