The Collaring Ceremony
Katja Weiss glanced again at the printed directions next to her in the passenger seat, nearly slamming into a car stopped in front of her at a red light. The snow leopard jammed her foot on the brake and her SUV screeched to a stop inches from the...
Going Down on the Farm
Olivia Jones woke up with a start, still clutching her sheets, breathless, her heart pounding against her chest. Her eyes were still semi-vacant, her vision hazy and fuzzy as she tried to open them in the semi-darkness and look around her bedroom...
A South Pacific Fantasy
Karl Kratt took a long look across the blue Pacific, clutching the railing of the deck as the _USS Coronado_ cut through the churning waves, making her way for a speck of land approximately a mile out. He inhaled the sea air, enjoying the fine mist...
Welcome to the Rabid: Cry of the Wolf
It's been one crazy week. Sure, I guess we all get them at times, and I'm sure you're going to remind me that life is unpredictable and sometimes unfair. We have our bad days, and they can sometimes string along, one disaster after another, becoming...
Unfinished
The wombat waited with the most infinite patience in all of Arcadia as her father continued to berate her, stopping every so often to shake a paw at her, which she truly loathed. She was 24 and hardly a child, yet sometimes she could hate her father...
The Slumber Party
"Brenda, it's your turn now..." All eyes turned to the vixen and she giggled, running a paw through her blonde hair nervously. "Um...oh, I don't know. I don't think I can top that one." "You promised..." The skunk pressured, her silky, thick tail...
Shark Bait
The sea otter crept up cautiously across the wet sand, her deep green eyes intently fixated on the large polar bear spread out on its side, half in and half out of the roiling surf, a few feet away from her. He hadn't moved since she had spotted him,...
Welcome to the Rabid
_Are you sure you want to quit? (yes/no)_ I'd see that option coming up in my video games all the time, when I'd been going at it a little too long and I felt my eyes going bleary and watery. There's a time to just quit living that virtual life,...
Collared and Knotted
It was 5:05 on a Friday and the worst day of the week to be staying after work. Corbyn Jones got up from his desk, nearly knocking over a stack of papers as he hurried to put on his sport-coat, clamping the cordless against his ear. "No, sir. I've...
The Dragon in the Reef
The one thing that frightened Leilani more than the rolling thunder of lightning during a tempest, which caused what her people termed "the angry sea", was the rare tremor or rumble from an earthquake. Where she could usually tell by the way the sea...
Beyond the Hold: Chapter Two
_"One may fight against the will of Ka - and sometimes win..."_ The two youngsters ran through the shallows, diving in once the beach fell away from dry sand. They swam around each other like playful Ora'ka, spiraling down to a depth of several...
Beyond the Hold: Chapter One
_"A spirit born 'tween brothers brings fire..."_ To the Malima'ka, fire meant many things. That which had protected them from the beasts on land, and served them with its heat for warmth and for food, was also a subject of curiosity,...