Holiday Howlz: Tails and Scales
Tuesday Richards
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Copyright ©2009 Tuesday Richards
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Holiday Howlz: Tails and Scales
Tuesday Richards
Going on vacation during the holidays is stressful enough, but to going spend Christmas with your girlfriend’s family — whom you’ve never met — could have a person committed.
Bryce has a surprise planned for Dolly, but wanting to keep tradition, he must leave Barkus, Kansas, and head to New Orleans to meet Dolly’s family. Will Bryce survive the trip?
Dolly is nervous, and rightfully so. She’s taking her cute and cuddly boyfriend to meet her family of gator shifters. Can she keep her boyfriend from falling prey to her carnivorous family?
What is a prairie dawg to do when a family of gator shifters asks him to dinner?
Chapter One
Midnight flew down the highway as if she was brand new and off the assembly line. When, in fact, she was a fully restored — twice — 1965 chopped-out panhead Harley Davidson, black metallic paint and chrome… well, everything else. Dolly, being motorcycle stupid, usually just smiled when Bryce and BD were jabbering on about it.
A small Prairie Dawg… err… dog… sat — or bounced excitedly — around in her backpack. BD had shifted and came along for the ride because somebody needed to take Midnight back to Barkus, Kansas.
Arriving at the airport, Bryce parked, BD jumped out of Dolly’s backpack faster than a joey finally free of its mother’s pouch, and all she wanted to do was pick the bugs out of her teeth. Will I ever get used to riding this thing? She opened the saddlebag and removed her purse and the animal carrier.
Bryce unstrapped the suitcase from the back of the bike, letting it bounce off the pavement.
BD pulled his clothes out of Dolly’s bag after he shifted back to human, and dressed quickly. “All right, kids, I’m outta here. Try not to behave.” He was on the bike, peeling out the tires before either Bryce or Dolly could say anything.
Strong hands slid around Dolly’s waist and drew her into a rock-solid chest. “So tell me again why I’m the one going into the cargo hold of the plane in a Pet Taxi.”
She sighed, laying her head against his shoulder. “We’ve been through this, Bryce. One, they’re not going to allow an alligator into the cargo hold. They’d be afraid I would eat the other pets. Two, we couldn’t afford two tickets, and three, it was your idea to begin with.” She kissed his stubbled chin, pushing away from him. “Now, suck it up, big man, and get in the carrier.”
Bryce shifted without further argument. She scooped him up and placed him gently inside the carrier, closing the lid before he could think about escaping. Meeting her parents, traveling at Christmas, and in a pet carrier to boot, would drive any man to run for the hills and hide till New Year’s Day. Dolly folded his clothes neatly, placing them in her backpack, and pulled it over her shoulders, picked up the carrier and began the walk to the ticket counter.
The woman behind the counter stared at the furry critter in the carrier and smiled. “At least you’re not going to the West Coast. I heard those states would confiscate a wild animal, have them spayed or neutered and then send them to a rescue facility without ever telling the owner.”
Bryce chirped nervously from the carrier, moving as far to the back as he could go.
“Then I guess New Orleans is the best place for us, considering I don’t want him neutered.” Dolly watched them put the tag on the carrier. Kissing her finger, she placed it to the door. “I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”
* * *
The plane ride was nothing special. It took off, it flew, it landed, and Dolly got a bag of peanuts for her trouble. She waited anxiously at baggage claim for the suitcase and Bryce. No one on the plane’s staff could tell her how he was doing in the belly of the aircraft, and she slowly became more worried about him as the two-hour flight from Kansas to Louisiana seemed to drag on forever.
The black suitcase slowly came around the conveyer belt of baggage claim. Dolly quickly snagged it and set it down next to her. She waited with growing anxiety and fear when the bags started to dwindle away to where there was nothing left. The conveyer belt stopped and the flight information changed.
Yanking up the suitcase, she ran to the lost baggage counter. Shaking uncontrollably, Dolly tried to catch her breath. “I’m… I mean… My boy… pet… didn’t come off the plane,” she finally blurted out as she dropped the heavy bag at her feet.
“Okay, ma’am, please calm down and tell me what flight you were on.” The woman who was wearing too much makeup seemed bored, as if she dealt with hysterical passengers all day.
“Flight 2830 from Kansas City, Kansas.”
The woman’s fingers ran smoothly over the keys. Her forehead crinkled at the screen. “That flight was loaded with baggage and refueled. It’s on the runway now, on its way to California.”
Dolly’s heart was going to come out of her chest and beat bloody smears all over the counter. “It can’t! You have to stop it. My pet is on that plane! Why was he not taken off with the other animals?”
“Please calm down, ma’am. One question at a time.” The woman glanced up at her, reaching for the phone. “Allow me to call flight control and see if I can stop the flight.” She hit a few quick buttons and cradled the phone between cheek and shoulder. “Yes, I need to see if I can momentarily stop Flight 2830 to San Diego. There is an animal in cargo that was supposed to unload here.” Her pause worried Dolly. She hung up the phone a moment later and sighed. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but that plane just left the runway. It will be rerouted from California and be back here in eight hours.”
* * *
It was stuffy, but only because it was crowded. Bryce couldn’t believe how many animals were in cargo. Dogs, cats — annoying — raccoons, and weird as it seemed, there was even an aardvark. Bryce couldn’t complain too much because the woman tending them was nice. Her name was Trixie, and she was particularly smitten with him. She fed Bryce little bits of peanuts and assured him that nothing would happen to him while in California, and he would get back to his owner before he knew it.
The flight to California wasn’t bad, but Bryce was worried that Trixie wouldn’t be able to keep him from those that wanted to remove the family jewels. He chirped nervously every time someone other than his beloved animal lover came down to check on them. Bryce was worried about the state of mind that Dolly was in, certain she was freaking out and pacing th
e airport, drinking more coffee than the Starbean could produce in a twenty-four hour period.
Bryce could feel the landing gears engage by the vibrations under the cages. Trixie came into the cargo hold and picked up his carrier, weaving her way through the other cages to get to a curtained area in the back of the plane. She moved the curtain to the side, revealing a shelf. Placing his carrier carefully on the shelf, she said, “You’ll be safe here, they won’t look for you.”
The only thing he could do in this form was to chirp at her and hope she got the meaning.
“You’re welcome, little one. I want you to get back to your family.” Trixie closed the curtain and left Bryce in the dark.
It didn’t take too long for the plane to land and park at the gate. Bryce could hear the animal handlers taking the cages from the hold and placing them on the conveyer belt. Once the animals that were getting off here were unloaded and the ones that were coming to join them were on, the door closed, and all went dark and quiet again. Bryce had no sense of time really, and couldn’t tell how long it was before the door closed and the plane taxied away from the gate. It didn’t seem to be too long before the plane lifted off the runway.
The curtain moved slightly, and Bryce assumed it was just a breeze going through the cargo hold from the AC unit that kept the space cool, but then Trixie’s lovely face was in front of his cage. He sighed with relief. “Hey, little buddy, here’s some water for you.” She attached the small animal bottle to the door of the cage and he drank vigorously. “I also managed to swipe you some bacon. I hope you like bacon.” Holding the bacon, she put her fingers through the bars, and Bryce crept to the front — he didn’t want to startle her — and gently took the meat from her fingers. She grinned and stroked the tip of his nose. “Won’t be long now and you’ll be back with whoever is waiting for you.”
* * *
Dolly was crazy on caffeine, her manicure ruined, and her nerves shot. After she’d checked the arrival board for the fortieth time in twenty minutes, it finally read that the flight Bryce was on was arriving. She turned on her heels and ran for the gate it indicated, pushing people aside and fighting with the suitcase the entire way.
She made it to the gate just in time to hear which baggage claim had been assigned to the flight, and ran there as fast as her feet would carry her. As she paced in front of the carousel of baggage, Dolly’s stomach was in knots. She hadn’t been this worried in her entire life.
“Excuse me, are you Dolly Madison?” a soft feminine voice asked from behind her.
Dolly turned and saw a petite, round-faced woman. She had a pixie hairdo and a sweet smile. “Yes,” was all Dolly could say around her nerves.
“My name is Trixie and I believe this little guy has been waiting to get back to you.” She held up the carrier, and Bryce chirped madly.
“Oh, my God! Bryce, thank God.” Dolly glanced up with tears streaming down her cheeks. “Thank you so much.” Dolly couldn’t get her hands on the carrier fast enough.
Trixie handed over the animal with a smile. “He was a very sweet traveler, much better than most domestic animals. You’re very lucky to have a little man like him. Good luck with the rest of your trip.” She turned on her heels and strolled out of the airport.
“Come on, handsome, let’s get to my parents’ house. I’m sure you’re tired of being in this cage.” She left the airport and hailed a taxi.
* * *
They arrived at Dolly’s parents’ house with everybody waiting on the front porch for them. She got out of the taxi with the carrier in hand, and grabbed the suitcase the taxi driver had set on the sidewalk.
“Dolly, my dear, what took so long?” her mother asked as her father, William, took the suitcase and they all went into the house.
“Sorry, Mom, Bryce ended up taking a side trip to California.” She followed her mother through the house to the back porch.
“Well, when will he be joining us? We were just about to have tea on the porch.”
“Mother, Father.” Dolly looked at the rest of the family and set the carrier on the porch. “This is Bryce.” She opened the carrier and Bryce walked out onto the porch and stretched his legs.
Before anybody knew what was happening, Dolly’s brother Billy shifted to gator and clamped his jaws around Bryce.
Chapter Two
“Billy! No!” Dolly screamed and leaped off the porch after her cold-blooded brother. The snorts escaping through his nose were snickering. “Billy, spit him out right now! He’s not an appetizer!”
The hysterical laughter resonating from the porch only led to her blood pressure rising. Between the issues at the airport, her brother eating the man… err… prairie dog she loved, and her idiot family on the floor laughing at her, she would need a “hug me” jacket by the end of the week.
Billy came to a log and had to move around it, which slowed him up enough for Dolly to leap over the log onto his back. Remembering the rodeo when she was a child, she held on with knees and hugged his body tightly while smacking the gator in the nose. “Hey, Billy, how about a little hide and seek?” Dolly covered his eyes, and he swerved a bit and slowed down. When his nose bumped a tree, he stopped and opened his mouth. She jumped off his back and scooped up a dripping and highly upset Bryce.
He chirped frantically, pushing as close as he could to her chest. Without saying a word to anybody, Dolly took Bryce inside and upstairs to their room.
* * *
Dolly set Bryce on the bed and he jumped to the floor and shifted. His naked body sent heat waves through her loins. Despite being slimy and smelling bad, he was still the sexiest creature ever created.
“Yuck! I need a shower!” Bryce turned and headed to the bathroom. A second later, she heard the water turn on. The thought of him naked, glistening with water as it cascaded down his muscled torso, soap bubbles mingling in the crevices of his abs, had her insides igniting into a flame of lust. She shed her clothes while making her way to the bathroom, and didn’t even trip over her jeans.
Bryce stood under the stream of water, his eyes closed, shampoo gliding down his torso, trailing seductively over and around his luscious semi-hard cock. His twenty-two-inch – they’d measured — biceps flexed as he rinsed shampoo out of his short brown hair. He was built like a Greek god, and she couldn’t get over how muscular he was. She had never seen that much muscle in the bayou and every inch of that body belonged to her.
His full lips were pressed together to keep the soap out of his mouth — those lips were perfect. Her nipples peaked in anticipation of those lips taking them hostage and suckling gently. His cock was long and thick. Licking her lips, she yearned to taste its salty sweetness and feel the helmet-shaped head glide between her lips, slide over her tongue, and bump the back of her throat. She wanted to cup his balls as they tightened and rose.
Fire raced through her body as she pictured his shaft filling her completely, sending her to the edge of orgasmic insanity — to be just pushed over by him pulling her hair or nipping her neck. To have those work-roughened hands moving over her body, exploring curves, and stroking the little spots that turned her on faster than a light switch.
“That’s the hottest thing I think I’ve ever seen.” His voice brought her back to reality. Her hand, slick with her own juice, moved slowly between her legs. Two fingers of her other hand worked her aching nipples with a slowness that had her panting.
His piercing blue eyes looked her up and down. “Please don’t stop on my account.” His cock was hard and inviting. Dolly put a cream-covered finger into her mouth and pulled it back out slowly. Bryce’s eyes clouded over with lust, and he moaned softly. “Join me?” His voice was deep and controlled but his eyes begged her to step into the shower.
“I would love to, but we need to keep it quiet so my parents don’t hear us.” She had always been self-conscious about her family and her boyfriends, which was why she never brought any home.
“Your brother tried to eat me, so I’m not worried
about what they think.” Bryce stepped forward and gazed down at her. He laced their fingers and held her hostage with his eyes, pulling her into the shower. “I want them to know that a prairie dog can be a perfect mate for their baby gator.”
She couldn’t help but believe him about the perfect mate. Every word he said was filled with more love than she had ever felt before. His hand slid up her arm slowly, resting lightly on her shoulder. “I would sit in your brother’s mouth every night at dinner as long as I could look at you from across the table.” His arm looped around her waist, pulling her to his solid chest.
“Bryce, I…” She had an argument — at least she thought she had one. “It’s just not the proper thing to do in a Southern family’s home.”
His lips pulled together in a crooked smile, and then he leaned forward until they were an inch away from hers. His breath smelled of bacon and peanuts, not unpleasant but not the minty fresh she was used to. “I’m not from the South, nor do I care to practice their prudish ways.” He pressed his lips to hers, and his tongue slipped between her lips, exploring. His dick hardened further against her belly.
The heat in her body rose to scorching levels and Dolly thought she would melt right there in the tub. She moaned into his mouth, loving the feel of his heated hard-on against her flesh.
Releasing her mouth, Bryce changed spots with Dolly and ran his fingers through her shoulder-length hair as it got wet. “All I want right now is to hear you scream my name.” He poured body wash in a loofah, lathered it up real well, and slowly washed between her shoulder blades and down her spine. Cleaning her back had never been so erotic. Her body tingled everywhere the loofah touched. He moved it over each breast, her nipples at painful peaks silently begging for attention.
Bryce took a pink nub into his mouth, biting down on it gently. Her head fell back and she moaned as water cascaded over her face. His mouth was warm and his lips were as she knew they would be, smooth and soft.
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