by Tempe O'Kun
Upon reaching the front steps, he creaked through the door, then locked it behind him. Only then did he relax. The old house might be ancient and creepy, but the inhabited part brimmed with warm light and the smell of people he knew. He gave the lutrine on his back a gentle shake. “Kylie, we’re here.”
The otter oozed off him with a sleepy groan.
A plump figure in a fuzzy pink robe emerged from the living room. “There you are.” Her gaze caught on her daughter slipping down from the piggyback ride. “Awwwww.” She leaned against the stair rail, trashy romance novel in one paw, favorite mug in the other. “You two have fun out looking at shacks together?”
“Uh—” He looked to Kylie.
Her eyes told him to say nothing.
Shrugging, Max flashed a weak smile. “Just a leg cramp.”
“Ah.” She took a sip of tea, heading upstairs. “Make sure she gets to bed before she tips over.”
He stood up straighter. “Yes, ma’am.”
Up the stairs padded the middle-aged otter, while her daughter leaned against the door, arms crossed, waking up.
Max watched her with curious eyes, listening as Laura’s bedroom door shut. “Shouldn’t we tell the police or coast guard or something? Somebody with guns?”
“And say what?” She gave him a bleary look. “Our TV show was real? Everyone’ll just say it was a publicity stunt.”
“Ugh, you’re right. The Season Five DVDs just came out.” Max rubbed the scruff of his neck. “Does your family own any firearms or other weapons? Artillery? World War Two flamethrowers?”
“Aside from kitchen knives, I don’t think so.” She shivered. “But if these things were as dangerous to people as they are to deer, I think people would know about them.” Her eyes darted to the window. “Something else is going on here. Something is keeping that thing from rampaging through town.”
Ducking into the living room, he grabbed a throw blanket and draped it around her shoulders. “You think it’s smart enough to avoid town.”
“Lots of animals do.” She glanced to the window. “Wild predators especially.” A pensive moment gripped the air. She pulled the blanket tighter. “Max, this could actually be dangerous—that…thing cut a deer in half. I’m not gonna ask you to stick around just for the sake of my family’s crazy.”
The dog gave her a wry look. “Of course I’m sticking around.”
“I don’t think you understand.” She cut the air between them with webbed paws. “You need to leave. It was wrong of me to drag you into this in the first place, but things have gotten dangerous now. You could get hurt if you stay.”
He brushed her arm. “You could get hurt if I don’t.”
She looked up at him. Something bright and warm burst into being in her eyes and, before he could guess was it was, she had grabbed him by the front of his sweatshirt and pulled herself up to kiss him, with more passion than he’d thought possible. Her mouth felt softer than he’d even expected, and her nose warmed his. The blanket fell away. She wrapped her sleek arms around his neck and practically hung off him. As time slowed to a crawl around them, his hands hesitated against her ribs, then settled on her hips.
Finally, slowly, she drew her lips off his and let her eyes open again. A bounce to her posture lit the dim room.
Max stood, stock still, ears stiff, blinking down at her. His pulse raced over the chill in his veins, to the thrill in his heart. His mind raced to catch up. He was pretty sure he’d just spent a solid minute making out with his best friend. An unfamiliar taste teased his breath.
Kylie’s beaming smile faltered as she searched his face. “Max?”
A moment passed. Max felt he ought to say something, but his brain had turned to cotton candy, his thought only able to circle endlessly on the fading tingle her lips had left on his. “You…just kissed me.”
The otter nodded, eyes focused on his collarbone. “Umm. Yeah, I kinda did, didn’t I?”
His ears flicked up, then down, then up again as he tried to get a handle on the situation. “Umm…why?”
She bit her lip, paws smoothing neurotically over the front of his shirt. “It just kinda happened. I mean, not that I haven’t been thinking about it. I have. A lot. Since, like, before the show ended. And you’re right here and you’re being so, I dunno, heroic and I thought since you didn’t seem to be getting any of my signals I should just go for it.” She bounced on her heels, clutching fistfuls of his sweatshirt. She dared to raise her eyes to his. “You’ve been really, really amazing with all this weird junk and I don’t think I can stand to go any further without you. I didn’t mean to scare you or make you feel weird or anything, Maxie. If you want, we can just—”
Without really thinking about it, he reached up and clamped a paw around her little otter muzzle. He’d been instructed in the early days of their friendship to stop her when her mouth got a little ahead of her brain. “Kylie, calm down.” His emotions were still a bit of a jumble, but he knew one thing for sure. “I’m not mad. I…liked it.” The canine noticed, faintly, that his tail was wagging. He was having trouble looking away from her lips.
She blinked. “You did?”
He nodded, still dazed. His hands drew her hips toward him, holding her closer. “Can I…kiss you back?”
A shy, webbed paw traced his arm. “If you want t-oomph!”
His muzzle pressed hard against hers and her words vanished into a second kiss.
She melted against him, her body pressing close as his arms wrapped around to properly hold her. She was curvy and warm and had always felt so right against him. She wriggled in closer and he was abruptly aware of her breasts pressing against his chest. This time, the kiss broke to leave them both panting.
Max’s tail wagged a mile a minute, dusting his hips.
Kylie giggled, what must have been weeks of tension escaping all at once. She bounced over to the sofa and collapsed onto the cushions. She tapped his usual spot beside her in invitation. Her eyes glimmered like stones in a stream bed. “I’ve been teasing you on purpose, y’know.”
The husky stopped to cock his head at her, sinking into his customary spot. It was good to sit; the hike had made his legs rubbery even before she’d sucked his brainpower out through his tonsils. “You have?”
“Sure. You know, tighter pants, no bra.” She licked her lips in a way that had Max’s cheeks burning. “Leaving my bathroom door open.”
Max tried to laugh off his embarrassment, pinching the bridge of his nose in his finger and thumb. “Thank goodness. I thought I was going nuts, or that I’d become some huge perv since the show ended.”
She smirked at him. “Well, if you weren’t at least a bit of a perv you probably wouldn’t have noticed.” Her face fell. She picked up a pillow and held it against her chest. “Maxie? This doesn’t change…us, does it?”
He reached out and gently gripped her forearm, hauling her across the couch into a hug. “You’re still my best friend, rudderbutt. Whatever else changes, that won’t.”
She squeaked and, with a nervous giggle, kissed him again.
Minutes drifted by in the dim room, the only light coming from the kitchen. Once in a while, one would remember the crashing reality of that evening, but it paled in comparison to this moment, which felt so much more real.
After a long spell of silence, the husky sighed. “We should get to bed.”
She buried her face in his shoulder, making no move from the sofa.
He patted her arm. “Your mom said I should take you to bed.”
Lithe arms tightened around him. “Mom can either find you sleeping with me here or in bed, but I don’t wanna be alone tonight.” Her voice, muffled in his shirt, held a note of weary imploring.
Max wasn’t sure what Ms. Bevy would think about him sleeping cuddled up with her daughter, but it was probably better than what she’d think about him sleeping in Kylie’s bed. Besides, with monsters stalking the woods outside, he couldn’t abandon her. And it felt so right, so natural,
to hold her. With a nod of surrender, he curled himself around her and dared to sleep.
— Chapter 11 —
Research
Kylie floated back to something resembling consciousness to the sound of chirping birds. She found herself on the sofa and muzzle-deep in Max’s warm fluff. As she cuddled closer to him, something stiff poked her thigh. Assuming it a fold in his jeans, she reached down and felt more than denim. A blush flared under her fur, waking her fully. She didn’t dare move her paw. She’d always figured morning erections were an urban legend perpetuated by horny fanfic writers. A wild notion of how to wake him up gripped her, tempting her to grip him. Mom had probably gone shopping and wouldn’t be back for a while…how long did it take to give a handjob? Then reason caught up to her and drew her paw back up to her chest, willing herself to slow down. No need to rush. He wasn’t going anywhere. The otter resolved not to go anywhere either, in particular not off the sofa and out of his embrace. Minutes passed as she lay there, feeling safe in a newly dangerous and unpredictable world.
With a deep breath, he shifted to nuzzle her ears.
“Hey.” She squeezed his wide paw.
“Hey.” His warm breath breezed through her hair.
“This is nice.” Kylie buried her nose against his shirt.
He nodded. Those soft whiskers brushed hers.
“Can we just stay like this?”
His arm tightened around her shoulders. “Sure.”
They sat silent as Kylie rested her cheek on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.
“Hey, just to, you know, verify…” He looked her in the eyes. “We totally saw a monster last night, right?”
Her arms squeezed a little tighter around him. “And then I kissed you and instead of running for the hills you kissed me back and we made out for a while?”
“Wow.” The husky blew out a contemplative sigh. “Big day.”
“Yeah…” With an unsteady smile, she nodded.
He breathed deep enough to lift her head. “Are we going tell your mom?”
Heat drained from her face as she blinked up at the dog. “Tell her about…us?” She cringed. Her mother had been super supportive up to this point, but she probably still had an “I told you so” stashed away for a special occasion.
Max rumbled a laugh at her expression. With only the barest hesitation, he leaned in and kissed her brow. “If you want to. I was talking about the flesh-eating monster killing deer on her property.”
“Oh.” Kylie flushed. “Oh, right. That.”
The husky nodded, somber. “Why wouldn’t you want your mom to know?
A sigh breeze from her chest as Kylie admitted the day had started. “Writing Strangeville was her way of denying any of this existed. She thinks our family was eccentric. I don’t know how well she’d handle learning they were right.”
The dog’s stomach grumbled for attention, grinding the conversation to a halt. He offered a sheepish grin.
She perked, glad for the distraction. “Breakfast?”
His tail thumped the sofa. “Yes please.”
They stumbled to the kitchen. Kylie piled various food components on the counter. “So…monster. We’re calling it that, right?”
“I think that is the only biologically correct term for it.” He nodded, spreading butter in a skillet. “Montana’s really nice this time of year: wheat’s growing in, weather’s nice, hardly any flesh-eating monsters…”
“I dunno.” A shrug trailed down her body. “Your family’s always intimidated me.”
He gave her a serious look, then raised a question with his eyebrows.
“We can’t leave Mom.” She wrung her paws and looked around. “This house is big for two people—I’m not going to make her live here alone. Especially not with something like that on the loose.”
He crossed his arms, spatula in one paw.
“Fine!” She squawked, confounded. “I can’t just walk away: I need to find out what’s going on.”
“Even if it’s dangerous?”
“Not knowing anything is dangerous too.” She gripped his arm, a tinge of desperation in her tone. “I need to figure out what’s going on, Maxie.”
Eggs landed in the skillet with a sizzle. “We need a plan.”
The otter smiled. “Like what?” She set a frying pan on the burner next to his. Into her pan, she stirred her own ingredients: milk, onion, bay, thyme.
He shrugged. “Maybe we should stay inside for a while.” His big white paws sprinkled seasoning on the eggs. “Like long enough to order a katana or two.”
She raised an eyebrow and dropped kippers into the simmering mixture. “Katana?”
“Sure. You’ve watched just as many bad horror movies as I have.” He loaded bread in the toaster. “Name one where someone gets killed while they have a katana.”
Kylie’s fists propped on her hips. “We’ve been safe outside all this time; just because we know about this thing now doesn’t change that.”
“True.” He flipped the eggs as the toast popped up. “Wakizashi then?”
“Sheesh, Maxie, we’re solving a mystery, not fighting demons.”
“Don’t think we can rule that out just yet.” He buttered the toast with two elegant swipes. “Riot gear?”
The lutrine looked down at herself. “I don’t think they make it my size.”
The dog nodded. “Fully-charged cell phones?”
Watching the kippers cook, she laughed and grabbed a bottle of ancient fish sauce from the fridge. “That I think I can manage.”
He scooped the eggs onto plates, placing hers on toast, since she was going to anyway. “And I’m walking you to work.”
“Okay.” She plated the kippers. “Anything else?”
His soft white paws settled on her shoulders and rotated her to face him. His ocean blue eyes met hers as he leaned down. The kiss came soft and sublime, strange and so familiar.
After their lips parted ways, she giggled. “Oh, right.”
His nose bumped hers. “I’ve never had a girlfriend before and I’m not going to have her battling otherworldly horrors without me.”
“You’re sweet.” She gave him a peck on the cheek as she carried breakfast to the table.
Max wagged and followed, a paw caressing her back. Amazing how easy him going from best friend to boyfriend had been. It’d seemed silly she’d worried so much about it. Now she only had to worry about alien monsters living in her backyard.
Hours passed and Kylie admitted she ought to go to work during one of them. Max joined her by the door without a word as she prepared to leave, ready to walk her to town. They kept to the main roads and watched every shadow for signs of predation. Tension only lifted off them as they entered Windfall proper. It looked oddly normal, though he now gave wary glances to the stuffed monsters leering from every shop window.
Ignoring a sultry look from a sunbathing Cindy, he followed as Kylie eeled into the consignment store. “Okay, so the show totally jumped the shark when they had you date that girl who turned out to be a computer-generated banshee.”
The husky padded in and gave this notion real thought. “What about the alternate timeline episode where we were played by the winners of the look-alike contest?”
“Oh right! I hear the director still has that Worst Episode trophy on his mantle.” She perked as she noticed her co-worker. “Hey Shane.”
The feline gave a bored wave from the counter.
“One second. Gotta put my bag in the back.” She skipped off. At least she didn’t seem worried about monsters at the moment. Maybe because work was to boring to be dangerous.
Alone with the cat and without anything obvious to say, Max clicked his claws together.
A cell phone buzzed on the countertop. Its owner made no move to answer.
With a nod at the mobile, the dog offered a genial smile. “You going to get that?”
“Eh.” The cat shrugged. “People know not to call me about anything urgent.”
&
nbsp; Moments passed, but brought no obvious topics for small talk. The canine fidgeted. “So…still watching the show?”
“Yeah.” The tabby sat up a little. “It’s pretty good.”
“How far are you?”
His slitted eyes flicked to the laptop beside the ignored phone. “Bad boy character’s bubblegum girlfriend dumped him in the middle of a demon battle.”
“Ah yes.” The husky nodded. “He took that really hard.”
“Totally.”
Max flexed his paws, unsure what to talk about. “Say, we keep bumping into a rhino named Karl. Do you know him?”
The cat scoffed. “I seriously don’t know what that guy did before your show…”
The canine nodded.
“Had to chase him off a few times when he found out Kylie was working here. I guess he’s one of the people who thought the town got a lot more interesting once the show aired.” Shane shook his head, whiskers swaying. “As opposed to the ones who were already believers and thought the show was making fun of them.”
Max’s ears rose. “What do you think?”
“It is what it is.” The tabby examined a claw. “Kinda pointless to wish the show had never happened, or that it had gone on forever.”
The husky took out his phone, intending to take notes, but wasn’t sure what to jot down.
The cat managed a shrug.
Kylie returned and kissed the husky’s cheek. “Talk to you later.”
The dog’s tail whipped up a small whirlwind. “Sure.” He padded out the door, looking back at her and telling himself she’d be safe.
As soon as the door closed, Shane lifted an eyebrow. “You work fast.”
“Didn’t take as much convincing as I’d thought.” The otter beamed after her co-star. “It’s really great.”
“Great.” He batted his phone from the counter to his waiting palm, paw pads dancing over the screen in a flash. “I’ll text Karl.”