by Travis Kerr
“Why, what's wrong? I'm not upsetting you am I? I can go if that's what you want me to do.”
“You're still not getting it. I'll be in heat for another day or two. I'm only in control now because I just woke up, but if you stay here too much longer we might both lose control again.”
“I'm in control right now,” he assured her. He could still smell the pheromones she gave off, and he knew they were getting stronger, but now that he knew what it was he thought he could fight against it, for a little while longer at least.
“You're in control right now too. If you had a choice, would you want to do this with me again? I mean, I saw how it affected you, so I know it's not comfortable for you. If you wanted to, we could make the choice right now, while it's still our choice. We don't have to make any sort of a big deal out of it. I mean, it could just be two friends enjoying a good time together.”
“You'd do that for me?” she asked, her voice sounding almost pleading.
He hoped that what he suggested wasn't bad for her. Still, he understood what her body was craving right now, and it wasn't as if he found her distasteful. When he had asked he had fully expected her to turn him down flat.
Maybe she really doesn’t think I’m all that bad after all, he hoped.
“We can if you want,” he answered, giving her the final decision. His mind was starting to feel fuzzy again, and he knew that soon neither of them would be able to help themselves any longer if he stayed.
She needs to make the choice now, while it’s still our choice to make.
“OK. It's just two friends having a good time, right?” she replied, fidgeting slightly. He could tell that her heat was affecting her again, and only hope that it had really been her choice, and not her body making her decisions for her.
“Exactly,” His voice was starting to slur again, and he knew that he was falling under the spell her pheromones put him under. In no time, his choices would no longer be his at all. There was still one thing he wanted to do before his mind was pulled into oblivion. He bent down and kissed her softly on the lips.
The kiss lingered for a moment before changing into something harder, rougher. In moments, the powerful scent of her body chemistry took over, controlling their actions. Drunk on the powerful lust that descended on them, they each fell into the others embrace once more.
When they woke again the sun was dipping low on the horizon. This time Raine woke before Drom did. Drom woke only a moment later, with Raine playfully running a hand down his body.
Her heat was still on her. The scent she gave off was already strong in the room, intoxicating him almost instantly. They had no choice anymore, their wills sapped by the powerful force of her pheromones.
When Drom finally woke again it was early in the morning, the sun only just beginning to brighten the sky outside Raine's bedroom window. Drom gingerly sniffed the air. The scent was still in the room, but only slightly, already beginning to dissipate. Raine lay against him, her head resting lightly on his shoulder, her light breathing sounding like a purr to his ears.
He lay there for nearly a half an hour, not wanting to wake her, before she finally stirred. When she did he was glad for it. He desperately needed to relieve himself, and get something to eat. He hadn't eaten anything in over two days, as far as he could tell anyway, and had not even left the bed the entire day before. As far as he knew, Raine hadn't either.
“How do you feel?” he asked her as she opened her eyes, squinting in the bright light coming in from the window. Bright to the two of them anyway. The light was not coming into the window at all, Drom was certain. His window faced north, and the sun would be further to the south. Yet right at that moment he felt as if looking at the walls was little different than staring directly at the sun.
Now I know what people are talking about when they drink too much. This must be what a bad hangover feels like.
“Great actually,” she answered. “Don't worry, I don't think I'm still in heat. We should be alright now. I don't know about you, but I'm absolutely starving! I feel like I could eat an entire boar by myself right now.”
“I know how you feel,” he said with a chuckle. “How about you stay right there, and I'll go cook us up something for breakfast. When was the last time you were served breakfast in bed?”
Raine laughed lightly. “You're sweet. I appreciate the thought, but really I need to get up anyway. I have to relieve myself and stretch out my legs. So how about I cook you breakfast in bed instead? After all, you were doing a favor for me really, and I'm sure after yesterday you must still be exhausted.”
Not too bad, he thought, but it certainly wasn’t for lack of enthusiasm.
Drom laughed merrily at her joke. She certainly seemed back to her old self. Still, it felt to Drom as if something was a little different. It was as if the last barriers she had put up had crumbled in the wake of what had transpired between them.
Her mood was better than he had ever seen it, for which he was thankful. He wasn't certain what he could expect from her once their time here was done. He had feared she might distance herself from him, but it seemed that wasn't going to be the case.
“How about we cook breakfast together,” he suggested. “I need to do a few things myself.”
He was rather surprised when he tried to stand. It was as if his legs didn't want to stay underneath him at first. He swayed slightly, and it took a few moments for him to get his legs to work properly. Raine watched him with amusement.
“I guess you must have taken more out of me than I thought,” he admitted jokingly. “I'm sure I'll be fine after I get some food into me. I'll meet you in the kitchen in about five minutes?”
“That should be fine,” she laughed, then her manner changed abruptly, growing serious. “Listen, I really want to thank you for what you did. I mean, I know it's not really a chore or anything, but you really helped me more than you know.”
“Not a chore? I don't know about that. I don't think I've been this drained since I overused my magic that first time,” he teased.
“No I'm serious,” she chided. “When I'm in heat, the strong cravings can be almost painful. It's horrible. Most times when I, well, get rid of those cravings, it turns out even worse. Some of the men I've found myself next to I would never have chosen to be with, but I have no control over what I do when I get like that. Honestly I'm glad that it was you.”
“I'm glad I was able to do something to help you. I'm sure that you probably wish that it never happened, and I don't fault you for that, but it's a nice thing to say all the same.”
Now that she’s back in control of herself, I can’t blame her if she sees me for the grotesque creature that I am. I’m just glad that she didn’t run out of the room screaming.
She punched him hard on the arm. “That's not true!” she said. “You gave me a choice remember? I've never had that choice before. I chose to be with you.”
She remembered that?
“I wasn't sure if you had remembered that,” he confided. “You had said that it wasn't a choice you would normally have made, so I wasn't sure if you were really making that choice, or if your hormones had taken over again.”
“It might have had a part in it,” she admitted, “but my hormones didn't make that choice. I did. I gave it some thought last night, and I think that, with the way things were going between us, it's possible that it might have happened anyway. It would have been better if we could have come to that decision on our own, but I don't feel upset because it happened.”
It might have happened anyway? Wow!
“Good,” he said, stopping her before she could go on. He tried his best to hide the elation he felt by what she said. If she noticed it, she hid it well. “I didn't think that you thought about me that way, and I admit I hadn't thought of you like that either, but I've enjoyed the past few weeks I've spent with you. What are lovers really but friends who've decided to take it a little further, right? There's nothing to be ashamed of.”
&nb
sp; As long as you feel the same way anyway.
“Well, thank you anyway,” she said finally, grabbing him and pulling him toward her to kiss him soundly, surprising him. For a brief instance he feared that she wasn't completely out of heat yet, but this was not the hard, demanding kiss that he had felt from her then. Her kiss now was soft and velvety, lingering only for a moment before she broke away and rushed out through the door.
He hadn't expected that at all. There was more to that kiss than just a thank you, unless he was reading more into it than what there really was. Slightly dazed, this time from confusion, he left the room. Stopping in his own room to quickly wash and dress, he stepped out to relieve himself before heading to the kitchen.
Raine was already there. Not only did she already have a fire going, but she had a fairly large slab of pork cooking on it already, as well as a stew pot with several vegetables already cut and boiling inside.
I wasn't away from her for that long, he thought with amazement. How did finished such an amazing amount of cooking in a short amount of time?
“Would you like celery in your stew?” she asked. “Oh what am I asking for? Of course you would.”
Before he had a chance to say a word one way of the other she had four stalks of the vegetable on the counter, and was deftly chopping it into small pieces. Her hands were a complete blur. In less than three seconds she had all four pieces cut and in the pot.
Drom was glad he like celery. He wouldn't have had a chance to tell her anything differently. He had seen her with a knife before, but this was different somehow. He wasn't sure if he could have been so fast while using his magic, and Raine didn't have any magic whatsoever.
“How did you do that?” he asked her. “That was amazing!”
“What do you mean?” she asked innocently. He thought for a moment that she was joking with him, but after a few seconds realized that she really didn't know.
“What you just did with the knife,” he said. “I've never seen anyone move that fast or precise before.”
“Oh, I didn't realize. When a feral goes into heat it can go two ways. If we don't, well, get our needs met, it can last for five or six days, and we're miserable and lethargic for days more. If those needs are met, however, it's the exact opposite. It took me a minute to get up, sure, but now I feel completely revitalized. Well, mostly anyway. I still need something to eat. I'm famished!”
“It has been more than two days since either of us ate anything. It only makes sense that we're hungry.”
“Has it really been that long? I hadn’t realized. Well, now at least you understand why I told you before that what you did helped me so much. If we hadn't spent those days together than I wouldn't feel like eating anything for another three or four days, and I would be absolutely terrible to be around. Just ask Raiste about it some time. He's not affected, so he can be around me even when I'm in heat, and it doesn't bother him in the slightest. I'm not the best of company during that time, so he usually finds some reason to be elsewhere, but he doesn't have to worry about losing control. He could have taken advantage of me while I was in heat if he wanted to, there have been plenty of other men who have, but he knows I wouldn't want to do that with him.”
“I hope you don't think I took advantage of you,” he said. The first time he hadn't had a choice, they both knew that, but he could have left after that if he had chosen to.
“Not at all,” she assured him. “I was a little worried that you might think I took advantage of you. You were basically drugged after all.”
“It wasn't anything you did on purpose, and like you said before, it wasn't like what we did was a chore or anything. I thought it was rather pleasant, even if it's still hard to remember it all. It's sort of like everything was happening in a dream. A very good dream.”
“Good, I'm glad you enjoyed it.” She stepped forward to hug him warmly.
It wasn't until that moment that Drom realized that his friend was still nude. Thankfully, she was no longer in heat, so he could look at her naked body with a clear mind. She had taken the black coloring out of her fur shortly after they had arrived at the Hut, once again returning to the tan, white, and black spot pattern he had seen when he first met her.
Now, seeing her fully in her true form, his first thought was that she was strikingly beautiful.
She had a deep tan colored fur covering most of her thin, muscular frame, with small black spots spaced throughout. The exception to this was the fur on her chest and belly, which was a soft, snowy white. The white fur started at her upper chest, moving down over her breasts and coming to a point at her loins, forming a triangle across her body. The only hairless part of her body was the pert nipples at the tips of her small breasts, which were pink and perky.
She’s gorgeous! How was it that I never really noticed it before?
As splendid as her nude body was, he quickly began to realize that the activity of the past few days hadn’t worn him out nearly enough to keep his body from reacting to the thoughts that were floating through his mind. The harder he tried to stifle it, the worse it seemed to become.
“Um, you do realize that you're still naked right?” he stammered finally.
He thought it best to say something before his involuntarily reaction became apparent. She wasn't in heat anymore after all. Surely she wouldn't want to do anything with him now, nor did he really want to. It wasn't that he didn't have desires; he just didn't think he had the energy for anything else.
“Oh, I hadn't realized. It's not as if you haven't seen me naked already,” she teased. “If it makes you feel better, I'll go put something on. Keep an eye on the cooking while I'm gone. I'll only be a minute.”
That said she turned and walked out of the room, her feline tail swaying behind her as she walked away. Just before the door closed behind her, she turned back to see Drom staring at her. With a giggle she headed up the stairs, the closing door blocking Drom's view.
She knows exactly what she’s doing, he thought with some amusement. He found he wasn’t as bothered by that knowledge as he would have expected.
She returned a few minutes later, dressed in a thin, light blue dress. Drom was mildly surprised; he had never seen her wearing a dress before. Usually she wore a tunic and breaches like a man might, or a longer tunic with no breaches at all. Certainly he had never seen her in such a clearly feminine garment. When they traveled she had wore a cloak over her clothing as well, though Drom suspected that the cloak was more to hide her features than for warmth. She had not worn it at all since they had arrived at the Hut.
“Better?” she asked with mock innocence. He wasn’t fooled.
“Beautiful would be more accurate,” he replied honestly. “I've never seen you wear a dress before. I didn't think you wore them.”
And I think I would like it if you wore them more often, he thought, though he decided not to add that out loud.
“I don't very often,” she admitted. “I'm just feeling a little too hot. It's an aftereffect of going into heat. This isn't as heavy or warm as what I normally wear. I hope this doesn't bother you.” The back of the dress swung back and forth where her tail poked out. Drom knew at once she was teasing him.
Considering that they had spent the past two days together without him feeling embarrassed, even when she had nothing on at all, there was no reason for him to feel that way now. He knew that, but still felt that way anyway, and he knew she was purposefully teasing him to make him feel that way. Still, the dress was not really provocative or revealing.
She’s alluring enough all on her own, he decided.
“No, it doesn't bother me,” he lied. “I've just never seen you dress like that before is all. You can look very beautiful when you want to.”
“You mean I didn't look beautiful before?” she pouted. Drom could see the merriment in her eyes and knew she wasn't serious.
“No, I mean, of course you did. It's just that before you always dressed in ways that covered your looks. That dress a
ccentuates your beauty, instead of hiding it.”
“Good answer,” she replied merrily, moving into him and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.
It's not really flirting; she's just joking with me as a friend, he thought.
The two friends finished the cooking quickly. They ate their meal in the living room, in front of a small blaze in the fireplace, side by side on the soft sofa. After they finished they sat together there for quite a while. Drom idly read one of the books on magic theory that he had found in the library. He hardly paid attention to what he was looking at, too absorbed in his thoughts of the past few days.
Raine rested her head lightly on his shoulder, a soft purr coming from deep in her throat. He thought for a moment that she might have fallen asleep, but one glance in her direction told him otherwise. Her bright amber eyes blinked back at him, gazing into his face. Even when he turned his gaze back to his book, he could feel her eyes on him, though what she might have been thinking he couldn’t begin to guess at.
After a short time he put the book back down on the small table. He hadn’t been able to pay much attention anyway, not with Raine staring at him like that. His mind kept drifting back to the last few nights he had spent with her.
We agreed that it was nothing more than two friends having a good time together, but could there possibly be more there?
He wasn’t sure, but knew better than to question it. He was enjoying this moment, just as he had enjoyed the many moments over the past two days. Trying to question things now would only make things harder.
Much better, he decided, to just leave well enough alone for now.
“Would you like to join me on the rug?” she asked after a few moments. “We could stay here if you’d prefer. I was just thinking that we might feel more comfortable there.”
“Sure,” he agreed. In all the time he had been there, he had never considered lying on the bright white fur of the bear on the floor, but if she thought it might be more comfortable there, he had no problems with indulging that wish.