by Logan Jacobs
“Uh, Emma, do you want to take that one?” I asked, and I started to work my spatula under the frying fish. “I’m going to guess that you’ve read a lot more of that particular book than I have. I didn’t even know Solomon had more than one wife, and my father was named after the guy.”
I poked at the trout and listened to Emma try to explain the creation story in Genesis to Fela, and soon we were all silent as we scooped hot flaky fish into our mouths. I’d never tasted fish as delicious and fresh as the simple fried trout, but the half-dozen bites of fish that were my portion didn’t really satisfy my hunger. I was pretty flattered to see that Fela gulped down her portion without complaint, though, and the way she gazed at me as she licked the remains of the trout fat off her fingers flattered me even more.
Emma got through Noah and the flood as we built a fire in the hearth and waited for the turkey to roast. She seemed like she was enjoying the chance to chatter away to an audience and add her own commentary to the story, and Fela seemed captivated by the narrative as she knapped her stones for blades and stripped the sticks she’d collected for spear shafts, so I didn’t talk much as I relaxed on the wicker sofa next to Emma. The black-haired girl didn’t seem to mind my relative silence, and sent me small smiles and fond looks as she answered Fela’s questions.
It was after dark by the time the savory smell of the turkey and roasted vegetables started to waft through the bungalow. The rich gamey turkey, sweet caramelized parsnips with tart cranberry preserves, and crunchy Brussels sprouts were gone from my plate in just a few minutes, and I finally started to feel like I was recovering from the physical exertion of the last few days as the meal settled in my stomach.
“That was really good,” I sighed as I leaned back against the wicker sofa.
“This was very easy to eat.” Fela curled her pink tongue around her fingers as she licked the last of the turkey fat from her hand.
“Well, thank you both,” Emma declared, rose from her chair, and began to collect our empty plates. “I’m going to put the rest of the turkey in the root cellar so it doesn’t go bad, and then I think we ought to see ourselves off to slumber. We’re going to need to get an early start if we’re going to salvage everything we can from town tomorrow. What time did you say your machine was set to leave?”
“Two in the afternoon, day after tomorrow,” I said. “We’ll need to get up early to get there if Floppy’s going to be pulling a load of stuff, too.”
“Yes, he is strong, but I do not know how fast he will be able to go with one of your carriages strapped to him,” Fela agreed. She glanced out the window. “He is sleeping on the stone outside of your house. I will sleep in here to make sure that he is safe and that I can get to him if he is in danger.”
“Of course,” Emma agreed. “I’m afraid I don’t have any extra pillows, but do take advantage of the quilts.”
“Yeah, I think we’ll be fine out here,” I said. “There are lots of quilts. You know, unless you have a guest wing you didn’t tell us about?”
“I’m afraid mine is the only bedroom.” Emma pointed at the closed door that sat on the opposite side of the hall from the kitchen. “If you must have a bed--”
“I was joking, bad joke.” I held my hands up. “Out here with Fela is great. I’m looking forward to having a real blanket.”
“Well, do feel free to come bother me if you’d like anything at all.” A pink blush spread across Emma’s porcelain cheeks as she bustled toward the kitchen. “Good night.”
“Uh, thanks,” I called back. I still wasn’t totally sure how to respond to Emma’s flirtations, especially when she seemed a little embarrassed with herself for being a tiny bit bold. “You, too.”
I took a quilt off the wicker sofa, unfolded it, and spread it out on the wooden floor next to the rag rug by the hearth.
“Are you already tired?” Fela asked. “The sun did not go down that long ago. We are safe inside here. We even have light, thanks to the fire-cave.”
“I don’t know what a normal day is like for you, but this has been a pretty intense day for me.” I grabbed another quilt, folded it up a few times, and tossed the makeshift pillow onto the head of my makeshift bed. “And you heard Emma, we should get some sleep. Take some quilts, get cozy...”
“I do not know if I can sleep yet.” Fela glanced at the pile of stripped sticks she’d stacked in the corner so that they would be out of the way during mealtime. “This is a time when I would normally be hunting again, since the night creatures will be waking, but I do not need to do that today.”
“I guess your folk don’t do the sunrise-to-sunset thing, huh?” I asked. “Makes sense when you can see in the dark.”
“We sleep when we need to.” Fela went over to the corner where she’d stacked the sticks, grabbed two, and held one out to me. “I wanted to show you how to use a spear properly before tomorrow. Emma Newbold has her lightning-powers to protect us, so I am not worried about her, but you only have your gun. I do not want you to rely on a weapon that will stop working when you run out of bullets.”
“What, was I doing it wrong?” I held the stripped stick over my shoulder like a baseball bat, took a few practice swings over the table, then twirled it around like a baton in my fingers. I’d hoped to make Fela laugh or at least smile, but the cat-woman just shook her head.
“Your form was not good,” Fela explained, and she sauntered over to the expanse of bare wooden floor, gripped her stick with both hands, and fell into a fighting stance. “If you are going to protect your women and our cubs, you are going to need to learn how to use your weapons correctly. I will not mate with a male who cannot stand with his pack and fight.”
“Okay, that is also something I wanted to talk to you about.” I tucked the stick under my arm and leaned against the wall by Fela.
“If we are going to talk about something that is not spear-fighting right now, then we will move while we talk.” Fela raised the tip of her spear. “Come here and look at the way I am standing.”
“Alright, so the whole mate thing.” I went over to stand next to Fela, curled my hands around the end of my stick and held it out in front of me, and took a good, long look at the position of the cat-woman’s tawny, furred feet. “Just because we’re stuck together for the foreseeable future doesn’t mean that we have to mate. It’s not, like, a requirement or anything.”
“You do not wish to mate with me?” Fela looked up at me and frowned. The cat-woman had positioned herself with her left foot pointed forward and her right foot back and pointed to the right. Her right hand was wrapped around the near end of her stick, and her left hand gripped the stick in the middle. “If it is my fangs--”
“No no no, you’re really gorgeous even by human standards,” I assured Fela as I copied her stance. “That’s not it. We are sort of trapped together, and I am the one who has the world-moving cave, and I don’t want you to think that you have no choice but to mate with me.”
“Because you are the only male in the pack?” Fela bent her knees, leaned forward, and slid the stick through the curled fingers of her right hand. Her soft-furred muscles bulged through the leather thongs wrapped around her biceps. “Do you see how I am pushing with my left hand and aiming with the right?”
“Ooh, I gotcha.” I bent my knees, leaned forward, and slid the stick through my hand a few times. “Yeah, that’s a lot easier to aim and control now. I meant, like... because of the implication.”
“That you will leave me behind if I displease you?” Fela squinted down the shaft of her spear, then straightened up and turned to face me. Her brilliant yellow eyes gleamed in the soft orange firelight as she pointed the stick at my nose.
“No,” I sighed. “I’d never leave you behind. I just don’t want to feel like you are forced to--”
“Have you not been paying attention, Dave Meyer? Or do you not understand?”
“Um, that you could kick my ass into next week if I pissed you off?” A hot blush of arousal spread ac
ross my chest as I gazed at the gorgeous cat-woman holding the spear to my nose.
“I could have killed you when your back was turned to me, so I could take your watch, but I did not,” the cat-woman growled. “I could have ridden Floppy into the forest and taken my chance with the lightning-beasts if I wanted to leave you, but I did not. And you could have killed me with your gun if you wanted to--”
“I kinda tried,” I gulped.
“But you did not.” Fela lowered the end of her stick to the ground. “You offered to replace what you took. You gave me your food. And when I lost my weapon, you gave me yours, and you demanded nothing in return. A good male shares his food, trusts his mates, and protects them. You have already proven yourself to me.”
“So you really do like me because I’m a nice guy, huh?” I mused. Now that I didn’t have a stick pointed directly in my nose, I could feel a little of the tension leave my body, so I straightened up out of my ready pose and leaned on my stick like it was a walking staff. My muscles were starting to feel pleasantly wobbly after the long day of exertion and stress. Even though I wanted to learn more cool, sexually-charged staff moves from Fela, I was very ready to wind down for the day. “If that’s your thing, I’m good with it. I’ll take it.”
“No, I have not chosen you for my mate because you are nice.” Fela snarled. The tip of her pink tongue flicked up against her pearly, curved fangs as she spat out the word ‘nice’. The gorgeous cat-woman tossed her stick onto the wicker sofa and began to advance on me. Her tail curled up behind her as she stalked toward me, and her brilliant yellow eyes gleamed with something that wasn’t just the firelight. “It is because you are fair-minded, you are generous, you are brave... and you smell amazing.”
The gorgeous cat-woman leapt toward me as she growled out the last word.
I barely had time to register Fela’s attack before my back slammed against the whitewashed wall, my stick clattered to the floor, and I could feel Fela’s round, full breasts pressed up against my chest. I inhaled a lungful of sweet, musky air as I gazed into the cat-girl’s wide black pupils.
“I want you to love me like your human people do,” Fela purred.
Chapter 14
“Breed with me, Dave Meyer,” Fela purred, and I could feel the low rumble of her voice in my chest as she spoke. “I want your cubs. I need to grow a pack with you. I need it badly.”
The cat-woman’s petal-soft lips brushed against my cheek, and her warm breath drifted over the sensitive hairs in the shell of my ear. Her fingers were wrapped around my biceps as she held me against the whitewashed timbers of the living room with her iron grip, but the warm, insistent press of her hips against mine and the way her knee slid up between my crotch made being shoved up against the wall the most erotic experience I’d ever had in my life instead of the most intimidating.
“I, uh, I’ll do my best,” I stammered. All the blood in my big head had clearly rushed right to my little head, because I’d just completely failed to deliver a sexy line and my pants were almost painfully tight. I didn’t actually know if I could give her babies because we were obviously different species, but my mushy brain in my skull had kind of stopped doing puzzles when she said the “breed” word, and the brain in my penis had decided to take over my thoughts.
“That is all I want from you.” Fela bumped her nose against mine, then nuzzled against my cheek. Her smooth fangs pressed into my vulnerable skin, but their inward curve meant that I didn’t feel anything sharp. “How do you initiate?”
I turned my head so that my lips brushed against Fela’s, and pressed my closed mouth against hers. I stayed there for a moment as I got used to the feel of those smooth fangs against my mouth, then ran the tip of my tongue across Fela’s full, trembling lower lip. I couldn’t help but press my tongue up against the sharp tips of Fela’s pearly fangs as I came to them, and the faint, dull ache that blossomed in my tongue each time sent an extra little shiver of pleasure through my crotch. I sunk my teeth gently into Fela’s lower lip, then pulled slowly away.
“Mmm,” Fela purred. Her big yellow eyes fluttered open to show her wide, black pupils, and there was a faint red tint to her chiseled tan cheekbones. She slowly lowered her foot to the floor. “My toes curled a little. How strange.”
“That was a kiss,” I said. “It’s how most of us start. “
“I see.” Fela tilted her head to the side, and her grip on my arms relaxed a little. “Instead of biting the female on her neck, you bite her on the lip to initiate.”
“I... guess that’s one way of putting it, yeah,” I said. “Did you like it?”
“I think so.” The pink tip of Fela’s tongue poked out and ran across her lower lip like an echo of mine. “I would like to try it again, just to be sure.”
I leaned forward again, parted my lips a little, and pressed my mouth against Fela’s.
The cat-woman slid the tip of her tongue into the space between my lips, started to run the velvety tip across my lower lip from right to left, then gave up halfway through and pushed her tongue into my mouth.
I moaned deep in my throat as Fela’s velvety tongue explored the inside of my mouth. I could taste the lingering tartness of the cranberry preserves on Fela’s lips, but her mouth held the rich gaminess of the turkey and the sweet musk that I was coming to associate with the sexy cat-woman’s flirting.
Fela sucked the front of my lower lip into her mouth, bit down hard, then pulled away.
“I like kissing,” the cat-woman growled. Her fingers relaxed, and she flattened her palms against my shoulders. The tips of her claws rested lightly on my arms, sharp enough to ache just a little but gentle enough not to pierce the skin, a tactile reminder that she could tear me to shreds at any moment. “Now, Dave Meyer, how do you mount me and deposit your seed? Should I get on all fours and raise my tail so you can insert your--”
“Oh, no, babe, we’re not there yet.” I deepened my voice a little to imitate Fela’s husky growl and slid my arms around her waist. I’d never really paid attention to my voice during sex before, but Fela’s smooth purrs were so erotic that I wanted to sound sexy for her, too. “I’m going to make you feel so, so good...”
“Then make it happen instead of making promises,” Fela pouted. “If you are not going to mount me yet, what comes next?”
I kissed Fela again instead of answering, and this time I could feel the sharp tips of her fangs dig into my lower lip as our tongues battled for dominance. I moaned again as the pleasurable ache of those fangs shot a line of pleasure straight to my crotch, then dragged my mouth over Fela’s sharp jawline and down the smooth, tanned skin of her neck. When I got to the hollow of Fela’s throat, I pressed my teeth into the salt-sweet silk of her skin and started to suck.
“Ohh, Dave Meyer.” The cat-woman tilted her head back and purred deeply in her throat as I gently worried her skin between my teeth. “That is where I would bite my prey to kill it. I would never let another male do this to me. I feel so vulnerable.”
“I bet it doesn’t feel this good for the prey,” I murmured into Fela’s skin. “Do you like it?”
“Yessss,” she moaned.
I licked my tongue over the skin I’d been nibbling, pressed a moist kiss to the site, and pulled back to check out the mark I’d made. My biting and sucking had already produced a deep red patch on Fela’s tanned skin. I raised my right hand to brush the pad of my thumb along the crimson mark.
“We call that a love bite. It leaves a little mark that shows people you’ve been making out.”
“So the whole world knows that we have been mating,” Fela purred. She pressed her lips to my cheekbone and started to drag the soft tip of her tongue and the sharp tips of her fangs down along my jawline to my throat. “And that I am yours.”
“Yeahhh,” I breathed as Fela’s tongue, lips, and fangs made their hot, wet, and deliciously sharp way down my throat. Sparks of pleasure sizzled through my neck and shoulders as Fela’s teeth scraped along the sensitive s
urface of my skin. I’d never thought of hickies as a mark of ownership, just the evidence of a really hot date, but it was unexpectedly sexy to hear someone as strong and bad-ass as Fela say that she was mine. I’d never had a girl say that to me before, not even in bed.
“The whole world knows I belong to you,” she repeated, and her body actually began to vibrate against me like she was purring.
The rest of the whole world consisted of Emma and Floppy right now, and I had a feeling that Emma might not understand the hickey and that Floppy wouldn’t care, but it didn’t matter.
All that mattered is that Fela loved it enough to actually purr like a happy cat.
“It feels like you are ready to mount me.” Fela pressed a kiss to the hollow of my throat, then trailed one hand down the front of my Omnicorp Consumer Products T-shirt. Her fingers came to rest on the bulge in my jeans, and she pressed her hips against me so that her palm cupped my denim-clad cock. “Are there any more steps in the process, Dave Meyer?”
“Yeah, we gotta get ourselves out of all these clothes.” I slid my palms up Fela’s muscular abs until my fingers brushed the curve of her full, round breasts, then dragged my fingertips up those tantalizing silken globes until I was pushing up the hem of her brown leather tube top. “Humans don’t like to make love with their clothes on. Well, not most of their clothes. Well, not most of the time.”
“I am starting to get the feeling that there is more than one way to mate as a human,” Fela murmured. Her yellow eyes fluttered shut and her full, petal-pink lips parted as my hands slid over the satiny bronze skin of her breasts. Her nipples were already hard nubs against my palms, and the light brown skin of her areolas puckered in arousal as I rubbed my thumbs gently around those tantalizing ovals. “Ohh, Dave Meyer, I did not expect that to feel so good...”
“This is all about making you feel good,” I told her. I bent my head to lap at the hard brown nub of her nipple, grinned as I heard the cat-woman purr like an engine, and bit down gently before I pulled away. I slid my hands around her taut waist, then down the silken curve of her back, until my fingers brushed the soft swell of her buttocks. “Let’s get this loincloth off, huh?”