by Tempe O'Kun
Kylie eeled through the door with a roll of paper towels, dabbing at the wet mark on her shirt. She plopped down in front of him with liquid grace, tail curled around her crossed legs.
With a shy little look, he pulled on his clothes, then leaned in close to her. As he helped wipe clean her whiskers, he whispered into the silence: “So quick question about that door… Does it lock?”
She tossed a wad of paper towel into the waste bin and turned to lock the door.
With her distracted, Max rolled to his knees and grabbed her around the midriff. He nuzzled under her shirt and into smooth stomach fur.
The otter squeaked, wriggling in his grasp against the antique desk. Her sneakers traced little lines across the tile, tail in a shy curl. “What’re you doing?”
He unzipped and spread the fly of her pants with a wolfish grin. “Returning the favor.”
The garment slipped down with a rustle of fabric over fur. Relieved of her pants, the lutrine lifted her legs and rested her ankles on his shoulders.
Max nuzzled her crotch through the thin cotton of her panties, then nosed it aside. His tongue traced her folds. Her flavor teased his tongue. Eager otter juices slicked her thin fur, coating his muzzle to the whiskers. Gentle paws tugged her panties down to give him more room to lick.
She gripped his ears and rocked on her tail. “Mmmmm, higher…” Her cute little butt scooted onto the desk, legs spread to give him better access. “Yeah, right there…”
He stroked her tail base, blunt canine claws scratching fur so often hidden under her shorts. Deeper he licked, tongue sinking into silken folds. His lips massaged the hood of her clit, making her whole body wriggle.
“Ooooohhh…” Webbed toes gripped his shoulders, tugging his pelt through sock fabric. Her tail swished atop the desk, powerful enough to jostle her whole body. The heavy desk knocked against the wall in time with her wiggles of pleasure. Her breath caught on a moan, slender paws slipping under her bra to play with her nipples.
Max licked on. Saliva slicked over sleek fur, past the curve of her rump to her muscular tail. He lapped faster and faster, as deep in her as he could reach. His nose ground to her nub. A grin spread on his muzzle as he drove her wild.
Her streamlined form shuddered atop the desk, one paw to her mouth as she squeaked in delight. Ankles hooked behind his head pulled him tight to her passion. The lutrine bucked against her lover’s mouth, tossed on waves of ecstasy. Rapture enwrapped her, even pinning those cute little ears down against her auburn hair. After a moment of exquisite tension, she relaxed, her gasps the loudest sound in the stockroom. Tiny aftershocks traced through her limbs and left her twitching at his every breath.
As her legs released him, the dog licked his chops, looking up from his girlfriend’s crotch with a head tilt. He laid his muzzle on her stomach and reveled in the intimacy, affection, and tasty flavors of lutrine cunnilingus. Breathing together in a sticky cuddle, he decided he should bring her lunch more often.
“Mmmmm. That was lovely, Maxie.” She glanced at the evening glow spreading through the window shade. “I should probably get back to work, though. I’ve gotta close up shop soon.”
He stroked her bare knee. “I’ll help.”
The otter giggled and stroked his relaxed ears. “Aren’t you sweet.”
Still reeling from his orgasm and her scent, he rose to give her ear a brazen lick. “I’ll be even sweeter when I get you home.”
Her wiggle of scandal and delight made his heart soar as his thoughts raced back to the house and between the sheets of her bed. It was going to be a fun night.
As he helped her tidy up, his thoughts wandered back to what Cindy had said about her. Kylie might not be a canine. She might be wiggly and manic, but she cared about him and tried to make him happy. Thinking back on the best packs he’d seen, the most stable and effective ones, they’d always looked out for each other like that. He’d just have to keep making her happy in return. A pretty cool deal, now that he thought about it. No wonder canines made such a big deal about packs.
In the Dark
Kylie’s webbed fingers rolled over the steering wheel. “I just don’t like the idea of haunted houses anymore.” She tapped the breaks as a family of foxes bobbed across the street, dressed as a string of papier-mâché traffic cones.
As the orange sunset cast the autumn night in ember hues, aliens, undead, and monsters of all ages filled the streets of Windfall. Idling through the middle of it, an otter sat in her mom’s hatchback.
Her big canine boyfriend sat folded up in the passenger seat, paws on his lap, dressed as a green dinosaur. Sunset light cast an orange halo through his fluff. The husky turned from looking at a platypus dressed as an aircraft carrier and cocked an eyebrow at her. His sky blue eyes studied her over that blocky white muzzle. “Okay.”
She pulled back her little red riding hood for a better view of the road. The trouble with dating the dog who’d been your best friend for years is you can’t pretend not to know his body language. “I mean, we found an alien running around my actual house who was totally willing to kill us.” Two enterprising young giraffes had dressed as a pair of telephone poles. She slowed again to let them cross the road. “I just don’t like being scared. What if I freak out next time something crazy happens?”
“You won’t.” He patted her thigh, looking infuriatingly earnest.
Her sigh left her chest feeling empty, though under less pressure. “Easy for you to say.”
The husky nodded, thought, then spread a thick paw in the air between them. “It is. But I know you’re a tough little thing.” He adjusted the fabric hood of his dino costume, its serious eyebrows judging the automotive upholstery. “Anyway, Shane and Sarah are our friends. It’s good to do things with friends.”
A string of muttered squawks trailed from her round muzzle. He had a point, which made her feel unreasonable and grouchy.
He set a heavy paw on the shoulder of her bright red bodice. “Look, if you need to bail, tell me and I’ll kick down the nearest wall or something.”
She flashed him a little smile of trust. “You’re a good dog, Maxie.”
His tail thumped the seat, the sound dampened by the spiked, fabric tail-sleeve. Out the passenger window, in a rather meta move, a ferret had dressed up as a candy bar for trick-or-treating.
She steered her mother’s hatchback into a residential neighborhood. Max didn’t like Kylie’s car, even though it was the best car ever. It could drive on water, after all. Sure, it was a little small, but he looked cute with his knees crammed up against his chest.
“I didn’t think we were doing costumes this year.” He wiggled his fingers at her, clad in overlarge dino-claw gloves. “Usually, you try to coordinate a matching one with me.” He woofed a chuckle. “Those matching costumes were always a hit. Remember when we went as Saturn and Soyuz rockets?”
“Oh, I remember.” She rolled her eyes, then returned them to the road. “Even with you and your appetite around, we were eating oatmeal for months to get that many cardboard cylinders.” Her tongue poked out at the memory. “Anyway, I wanted this one to be a surprise.”
Muzzle aimed at the windshield, his gaze flicked to her ruffled white bodice and crimson knee-length skirt with matching cape. “It certainly was…”
“Besides, you’re already coordinated with it.” Her paw reached over to caress his thigh. “You’re my Big Bad Wolf.”
“Okay, so you’re sexy Red Riding Hood on purpose.” He patted her paw warmly. “I wasn’t going to say anything. I wasn’t sure you knew.”
She squawked in mild offense. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
The husky shrugged. “The skirt’s a little bit short for grandmother’s house, but I didn’t know if that was for my benefit or for easier swimming.”
Straightening her skirt, she leaned in close and whispered. “You like my skirt, Maxie?”
His gaze traced over her supple form. “Uh huh.”
“Wanna hear
a secret?” She wiggled from hips to shoulders. “I’m not wearing any panties under here.”
His ears popped up. Those bright blue eyes flicked to her hemline. “Seriously?”
“Nah.” She punched his shoulder. “But now I’ve got you thinking about it.” Pulling up outside the Warren residence, she beeped the horn once.
Sarah bounced out the front door and down the sidewalk. A clear plastic dome sat over her head like a soap bubble, curling her ears forward. Her moon boots glittered in the street light. A plush alien carrot peeked from the pocket of her puffy silver jumpsuit. Matching gloves and a jet pack with ribbon streamers completed the costume.
Her brother, a bored orange cat, padded after her in a t-shirt and jeans and got in the car. Not even adopted, though Kylie’d been fooled for months. Thanks to the magic of in vitro fertilization, they were, as Sarah put it, “uterus buddies.”
As she dropped the car into gear, the otter peered at him around the driver’s seat. “Shane, you seem to have forgotten your costume.”
“Nah.” He gestured to his white t-shirt, which had “Error 404: Costume not found.” written on it in black marker.
Sarah’s groan of disgust echoed in her homemade space helmet.
“We should get moving.” The feline pointed from between the front seats. “The haunted house closes at midnight.”
Jack-o-lanterns flickered on every doorstep. They passed a pair of armadillo twins, dressed as a matched set of pill bugs. Along the side of the street, a store called Wibbly Warbles advertised “the largest selection of theremins on the East Coast.”
Kylie watched the proprietors demonstrate their wares to a couple of platypus clients. She tilted a webbed thumb in its direction. “Does that theremin shop only open for Halloween?”
Shane rolled his slitted eyes. “It should. I don’t know how they stay in business the rest of the year.”
His sister fought to keep the seat belt from pulling off her space helmet. “You know, just like the rest of Windfall.”
The otter snorted.
The slim tabby poked a claw between the front seats. “Turn here.”
She pulled into the parking lot. The Windfall Chamber of Commerce event center displayed a canvas that read “of Horrors” over half its sign. Kylie navigated the hatchback into the parking lot. The entire building glowed with strings of flickering electric candles.
The otter’s eyebrows lifted, whiskers spread. “I was expecting somebody’s house.”
Sarah leaned up from the back seat, bumping her helmet into the dome light. Her excited breath fogged the front of the sphere. “Windfall takes Halloween seriously.”
They exited the car and crossed the parking lot. Kids of all ages ping-ponged between the parked cars, fueled by candy. The great glass doors stood half-lit, cloaked in cobweb fabric. In a line around the second story, demonic skulls blasted fire from their eyes with a distinct odor of propane. Streaks of fake blood traced down from the roof and onto the off-white walls.
Kylie gaped up at the transformed civil building, feeling small. She fought the urge to cling to Max’s arm. “I, uh, thought these haunted houses were supposed to be all plastic skeletons and jack-o’-lanterns.”
Shane thumped her shoulder. “Yeah, that’s not how the folks in Windfall roll. My dad spent a couple years helping with this thing. He said they feel like failures without at least one ambulance visit per year.”
“I guess it was two or three competing houses at some point, and they got really competitive.” Sarah orbited around them in her homemade spacesuit. “Lucky for us, they decided to combine their efforts before anyone resorted to property damage.”
They padded in through the front door. Kylie stifled a groan when she saw who was taking the tickets.
Cindy. The cocker spaniel who worked next door to her and had decided Max was too hot to date outside the species. She stood in the lobby, taking the occasional ticket and looking bored. The busty canine was dressed as a witch, to the extent as she was dressed at all. The broad-brimmed hat contained most of the costume’s fabric. The cape had the acreage of an unfolded napkin. The skirt appeared to be underwear. The bat-shaped bra struggled to stay aloft under the weight of her bust. Luckily, her boots made up for the lack of modesty, easily reaching mid-thigh. Spider-themed lingerie-grade mesh covered her arms, in what could only be considered sleeves in a technical sense.
“You’re here?” The spaniel crossed her arms over her cleavage. “Don’t you have your own spooky house to haunt?”
The otter chattered with displeasure and shoved all four tickets into the spaniel’s paws. “Don’t you get cold, riding a broom in that?”
Her eyes distributed glances like nasty little trick-or-treats. A dagger-sharp glare at the otter. A nasty glance sent Sarah scampering ahead. A look of mild recognition for Shane. A jealous leer for Max, which turned to a head-tilt when she saw his rudimentary costume.
Max raised his dinosaur-claw gloves with a shrug. He offered a helpful: “Rawr?”
“Wow, Max, you look…” Tilting her head back and her muzzle away, Cindy stepped back, unsure what to make of the larger dog. “Is that supposed to be a dinosaur?”
He shrugged, sharing a smirk with Kylie. “It’s the only thing I could find that fit.”
The smaller canine crossed her arms with a predatory smirk. She looked him up and down. Mostly down. “I can think of something else you’d fit into.”
His eyebrows closed ranks. “I already have a costume, though.”
She stepped forward, one hip at a time. “Then maybe I could interest you in my goodies.”
Max didn’t react, except to look around, feigning confusion. “I don’t see a candy bowl.”
As usual, Cindy refused to get the message. She put a paw on her hip, her long silken tail stirring the short skirt. “Not yet, you don’t.”
“Aaaaaand we’re leaving.” Kylie turned to go.
The husky clamped a paw on her shoulder and towed her toward the lobby. “Bye, Cindy.”
Snickering, the cat caught up to them. His sister’s ears blushed against the inside of the space helmet.
The otter grumbled. “I knew I should have had an axe with this costume…”
“Just ignore her.” Sarah moon-bounced up with a shrug. “She’s at a weird place right now.”
Kylie cast her an incredulous glance. Cindy had been a jerk long before Max visited for the summer and ended up staying. She suspected the rabbit just didn’t want to believe she’d been friends with a total bitch, but said nothing.
They continued into the lobby, which had been infested with zombie lawn gnomes and electronic portraits that morphed in sinister ways. Beyond lay a darkened hallway, constructed out of painted chipboard.
Cindy’s dad popped out from just inside the tunnel, clad in a black and crimson cape. “Ah! Fresh blood! Welcome to Windfall’s oldest and spookiest house of horrors.” The spaniel cackled, showing a set of plastic fang extenders. “Stay together. Stay on the track. Stay alive. For legal reasons, we must ask that you not touch the actors. Bwahahahaha!”
Kylie rolled her eyes and pushed the group onward. Whatever lay ahead, it couldn’t be worse than sticking around near the lobby where Cindy could come back and perv on her boyfriend. They passed through a curtain of heavy, tattered, black felt.
When rubber snakes dropped down from the ceiling, Kylie jumped, but managed to laugh. When a creature with a mishmash of predator traits prowled past, she grit her teeth until her jaw hurt. When a cycloptic elephant skull peeked around the corner, a chill welled in the pit of her stomach. When what she’d assumed was a mannequin jumped up —clad in filthy pajamas and bloody eye bandages— to paw at her, she screamed at a pitch that only dolphin sopranos normally reach and clung to her boyfriend.
Without even flinching, the dog’s thick paw closed around hers. He smirked down at her and wagged his cloth dinosaur tail.
“Shut up.” She didn’t loosen her grip.
The gr
oup pressed on, past fog machines and sickly-green strobes. Small air cannons blasted tiny plastic spiders at them. The hallway twisted and turned, with hidden hatches opening at random. Usually, masked faces hid behind them, but at least one reached out with a sticky tendril and caressed their ankles.
They passed into a nautical section of the haunted house. A pirate skeleton draped over a ship’s wheel, while two others lay on the floor with cutlasses jabbed through each other’s ribcages. Piles of rigging and rotted sail lay atop mounds of seaweed.
Kylie scampered up, eager to get to something more familiar. The floor had been warped to give the impression of moving over waves, but any otter worth her salt was never a step or two away from sea legs. It took more than piles of flotsam to spook a lutrine.
A massive heap of seaweed in the corner rose to leap at her. Its cold tendrils whipped out at her. “Blllaaaaarrrr!”
The otteress shrieked and wrapped herself around her large canine boyfriend, almost tripping him. Her paws gripped at his shirt and costume as she clung to him for dear life.
Sarah likewise sprung about a foot in the air, then landed with a giggle.
A very familiar horn stuck out of the top of the swamp creature as it retreated to its hiding place.
“Wait—was that Karl?” She realized she was hiding behind Max and popped upright with embarrassment.
Shane’s tail lashed in silent amusement. His green eyes flicked around the room, catching the strange light in unnatural flashes.
“Oh sorry!” The monster lifted some of the fake vegetation to reveal a small, dark, excitable eye. “I thought you were a little kid!”
A sputter of outrage issued from her round little muzzle. “I’m older than you!”
“I’ve gotta get back.” The rhinoceros called above the spooky soundtrack and thumped back into position for the next group. “Have fun!”