by Geonn Cannon
"Am I intruding on your brooding?"
Ari shook her head. "C'mere."
Dale crossed the room and slipped her arms around Ari's waist, hugging her from behind. She kissed the back of Dale's neck. "As hot as you look in it, you must be freezing in that skirt. Come sit on the couch with me."
Ari turned away from the sun-gleaming snow, squinting as her eyes adjusted to the relative dark of the room. Dale took Ari's hand to guide her to the couch, but Ari was more concerned with her partner's outfit. It was a giant red plaid shirt that hung to her knees and obscured her hands with billowing sleeves. A belt was cinched at the waist to make it a skirt, and she was wearing pants that were at least twice her usual size.
"What are you wearing?"
"Don't mock me."
"No, no." She stepped back and ran her eyes up and down Dale's ensemble with an appreciative head-tilt. "You are a lumberjack and that is very okay. Where did you get these, though? They're not Milo's, are they?"
"No, they're from a bag her grandpa left here when he left. Unlike the canidae in this house, I have things like breasts and hips so I can't borrow Milo's clothes like you can."
"I know you have breasts and hips. I'm a big fan of both. And I've enjoyed those skintight little T-shirts you've been wearing."
They sat on the couch and Dale tucked her feet up under her. Ari settled against her side, and Dale stretched her arm across Ari's shoulders to toy with her hair.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Everything that's happening. If this storm had hit while Jenna was still missing, or if Melody Scott is still out there somewhere. I mean, if she was just lost instead of abducted, there's no way she's still..." She let her voice trail off and Dale put her head on Ari's shoulder. Ari kissed Dale's forehead. "And I'm thinking about this whole mess with the canidae. I'm so sorry you got involved in it."
"You came with baggage. Who doesn't?" She sat up and they kissed. "You're worth a little global conspiracy." She settled closer to Ari. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"You and Milo both said that this whole thing is based on a bedtime story...?"
Ari shrugged. "Well, apparently it's a bedtime story that was based in reality. Do you want me to tell it to you?" Dale nodded against Ari's shoulder. She searched her memory for a time when Ari's mother was a mentor and guide instead of a manipulative monster. She remembered her bedroom, and her mother sitting on the edge of the bed and quietly speaking as Ari drifted off to sleep.
"This is an old story," Ari began. Without thinking she had slipped into the same cadence and tone her mother had always used. "A story of a hunter who disguised her gender so she could go to war. It's the story of a canidae who was so determined to protect her pack that she did the unthinkable and trusted the hunter. And it's the story of a dog that thought himself to be a messiah." She stroked Dale's hair and quietly told the story.
"Children were being killed throughout Prussia. It was a time before Grimm, a world where canidae were known threats. The soldier Johanna Brion, recently returned from a decisive loss with Napoleon's forces in Russia, returned to protect her people from the beasts in the woods. Agatha Westreich, whose pack was endangered by the families of young victims, was also determined to find the true culprit and bring him to justice.
"The wolf and the hunter clashed when they met. But they were as strong as they were wise, and they knew they could only find the truth together. So they put aside the hatred and mistrust of centuries and joined forces. They found a canidae named Simon Lehner whose followers killed children in order to incite the humans to war with the wolves. The wolves would then retaliate."
Dale frowned. "To what end? I mean, what does that accomplish?"
"Humans would kill wolves, and wolves would kill humans. By the time the dust settled, the only canidae left standing would be those loyal to Simon. He would become the leader of the species just by default. And then his army would grow and he'd sweep out across the continent."
"But Johanna and Agatha stopped him."
"They did." Ari stroked Dale's arm. "They learned to fight together, to trust each other, and then they fell in love. It was the first time anyone had ever heard of a human and a canidae becoming intimately involved."
Dale put her hand on Ari's stomach and chuckled. "I think I have a new pair of personal heroes. I owe them a lot."
"So do I," Ari whispered. "They defeated Lehner and then traveled around stopping his word from spreading. Eventually they were able to create the truce by marrying each other."
"Mm."
Ari stroked the back of Dale's hand. "You know I'd marry you, right?"
Dale lifted her head and looked at Ari to see if she was joking, or maybe if she'd misspoken. "What?"
Ari shrugged. "Come on, Dale. We've been together for five years now."
"Yeah, but we both slept with a lot of people during the first four years of that."
"We took a while to get where we needed to be, sure. But now that we're here, I'm not giving up what we have. Not if we have some stupid fight, not if anyone tries to come between us, not even if breaking up with you would stop a war. I can't see a life without you, and I can't see a life with you where we're not partners in every sense of the word. When you take all of that into consideration, marriage seems microscopic in comparison. I'm going to marry you someday. This would just be moving up the time table."
Dale smiled. "But it wouldn't work. For the ceremony, I mean."
Ari shook her head and decided not to go into her parentage. "No. The summit chose Milo, so apparently it has to be her. And with my hunter's blood... neither side would ever let me represent them."
"Mm. Too bad. That would have been a nice compromise."
"Yeah." She bent down and lightly brushed their lips together. Dale tilted her head up, wet her lips, and Ari took advantage of the move to capture Dale's tongue. Dale whimpered and put her hand flat on Ari's chest, curling her fingers in the material before gently pushing her away and turning her face so that Ari's lips brushed across her cheek to her ear.
"Stop, stop..."
"Sorry."
"No, it's not bad." She cleared her throat and sat up a little straighter. She was flush, something she tried to hide by raking her fingers through her hair. She dropped her hand to the collar of her borrowed shirt and glanced toward the door to make sure they were still alone. "You and Milo aren't the only ones who are feeling an 'itch' that they need to scratch."
Ari mouthed, "oh," and glanced toward the door as well. They had been sleeping in the same room, but neither had really felt up to being romantic considering the way sound seemed to carry in the large, quiet house. Without the white noise to drown them out, every whisper seemed to echo. Ari pressed closer to Dale.
"I didn't know you were feeling amorous."
"Amorous?" She snorted dismissively. "I'm horny, Ari. I want to be with you. But with this damn snow..." She took a deep breath to steady herself, eyes locked on Ari's lips. "We just need a moratorium on the kisses that make me think naughty things."
"Or," Ari suggested in a low voice, "we could just be very quick and very quiet." She pushed herself forward and twisted, easing Dale's legs apart with her hips as she dropped to her knees in front of the couch.
Dale's eyes widened. "Ariadne... no... oh, wait..."
Ari undid the lower buttons of Dale's shirt and bowed down to kiss her navel. Dale pressed herself into the couch, trying to escape by passing through it as Ari teased with the tip of her tongue.
"Okay..." She ran her hands through Ari's hair and closed her eyes, sighing heavily with resignation. "Hurry, hurry..."
Ari smiled. "I can already tell it won't take too long." She wet her lips as she tugged down Dale's borrowed pants. The waist was wide enough that they came down easily, Dale working her hips from side to side and then lifting her feet. Ari kissed the inside of Dale's knee, making her hiss, and then eased her legs apart and began kissing her thighs. Dale whimper
ed and brought her hand up to her mouth, biting her index finger as she watched with half-lidded eyes. Her toes curled as Ari moved her hand higher.
"Did you borrow Benjamin's underwear, too?" Ari asked. The Y-fronts actually looked sexy, and she slipped her finger under the flap to tease Dale's hair. Dale dropped her leg heavily on Ari's shoulder and tried to pull her closer.
"I thought you said you were going to make this fast."
"I never make promises like that." But she relented. She pushed her finger and thumb apart, spreading the underwear to reveal pink flesh, and she lightly teased with the tip of her tongue.
Dale sucked in a breath through clenched teeth and arched her back. Ari pushed her hand up under Dale's shirt to her breast, squeezing it gently. Dale had been forced to go without a bra until the one she'd worn to the house was hand-washed, and Ari circled the nipple with the pad of her thumb until it was hard enough to pinch. Dale squirmed and murmured softly, dropped her hand to Ari's head, and opened her eyes to look down.
Instead she saw a shadow moving along the hallway outside the library. "Shit." Ari looked up, then flared her nostrils to indicate she had picked up a scent. Dale was frozen in place as Milo stepped into the room, saw what was happening, and froze. She looked at Ari, at Dale, and then took a step backward.
"No--" The word was just barely uttered, but as Dale had feared it was loud in the silence of the house. "Stay."
Ari and Milo both looked at her. Ari's head had lifted slightly, her lips still only wet from her own tongue instead of Dale's juices. Milo put a hand on the wall to pivot away, shaking her head in apology as she tried to shrink out of sight. Dale swallowed, dipped her chin once in confirmation, and then gently guided Ari's head back between her legs. Her hand was shaking and she was holding her breath, but after hesitating a moment to give Dale time to change her mind, Ari kissed her again.
Milo slumped against the doorframe, a blush rising in her cheeks and her hands resting limply on her hips. Dale brushed Ari's hair with her hands, focused on her, lifting her hips to meet Ari's tongue, moaning quietly and resting her head against the back of the couch to focus on her pleasure. She flattened one foot on Ari's back, bringing the other up to rest on her shoulder. Ari kept her hand on Dale's breast, the other holding her underwear out of the way, moaning as her tongue pushed deeper with every stroke.
When Dale opened her eyes again, Milo's jeans were undone. The fingers of one hand were under the waistband of black panties, and Dale wet her lips as she watched the muscles of her forearm move. She rolled her eyes back in her head and wriggled lower on the couch, angling her lower body up to meet Ari's mouth. Ari thrust her tongue deep and Dale cried out softly.
"Don't stop, Ari."
Ari dropped her hand from beneath the shirt and blindly sought Dale's hand. They linked fingers and squeezed. Dale bared her teeth, grunting as she fought to hold off her orgasm. She forced her eyes open and saw Milo's hand moving faster, her thumb hooked on her underwear, her mouth opened so that her ragged breathing was soft and inaudible.
"Puppy," Dale sighed, almost unaware she had spoken aloud until she felt the rumble of Ari's responding moan rolling across sensitive skin.
Dale pulled her lips back against her teeth, eyes squeezed shut, and tightened her grip on Ari's hand as she came. Ari stayed in position for a few seconds, then moved Dale's underwear back in place and patted the soft cotton of the crotch. Dale's entire body hitched at the light slaps on such a tender area, and she pulled Ari up to kiss her. Their tongues dueled and Dale sighed as she let Ari's weight settle on top of her and between her legs.
Ari finally broke the kiss and looked over her shoulder. Dale looked as well and saw Milo had vanished. They looked at each other again and kissed.
"How much did she stay for?"
"Most of it." Some of Ari's hair had fallen forward so Dale twisted it around her finger. "Are you mad I told her to stay?"
Ari shook her head. "No. She needed to see for herself... she can't get between us."
Dale sighed and dropped her hand to Ari's collar. "Never."
"How's that itch of yours doing?"
"Scratched. For now." She kissed Ari again and then looked past her at the door. She lowered her voice to a whisper. "And I don't think I'm going to be as nervous about Milo hearing us if you had an itch of your own."
Ari chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind." She kissed the tip of Dale's nose. "Love you."
"I love you, too, puppy." She licked her lips and looked down. "Don't take this the wrong way, but it's cold in here and I would really love to put my pants back on now."
"Oh... right."
She sat up and retrieved Dale's pants. As she put them on, Ari looked toward the hallway and wondered how far Milo had retreated. She smelled the air and could tell immediately that Dale wasn't the only one who'd gotten scratched. She smiled and went to keep Dale warm on the couch.
#
They didn't see Milo again until that night. The pantry was running bare, which meant that going out would constitute an emergency. And if they left for groceries, it only made sense that they would go back to one of their apartments until the weather allowed them to go back to work. Ari found Milo in the kitchen preparing a hodgepodge meal from what they had available. She coughed quietly into her fist to announce her presence before she approached.
"Need a hand?"
"Sure, if you've got one to spare."
Ari smiled. "At the moment I have two." She joined Milo at the center island and examined what they had to work with. "What is this?"
"Rice with various things chopped up in it. We don't have any meat so it's all veggie."
"Do you have any salad dressing?"
Milo tilted her head to the side and went to the fridge. She searched the door, clucking her tongue until she found a bottle. "Italian. And..." She clicked the top open and gave it a whiff before handing it to Ari. "Ah, it didn't go bad. What are you planning?"
"Well, it's not going to be much without chicken, but I think I can make a nice vegetarian soup. You have broth, right?"
"I got more broth than I know what to do with."
Ari motioned for her to bring it over as she chopped the vegetables. "I got an education in how to make a lot out of a little after I left home."
"Cool." Milo rested her elbow on the island, chin in her hand as she watched Ari. "This is probably as far as we can go with the ingredients on hand."
Ari nodded. "Yeah. I talked about it with Dale earlier. We should probably try to leave tomorrow. The neighborhood streets are still pretty icy but I heard it's clear sailing the closer you get to Downtown."
"Yeah. I just hope it's, ah, not... related to what happened earlier. In the library."
Ari looked up. "Not at all. Dale and I both knew you were there. If it was going to be a problem we would have told you to leave."
"I'm sure. I just wanted to be sure you weren't regretting what happened."
Ari let the knife hover over the broccoli clarets as she considered it. Finally she said, "Dale and I agreed that you needed to watch so you'd know you couldn't get between us. But I think you needed to see it because it was symbolic to who we are. Dale literally saved my life the day we met. She didn't create my business, but she made it workable and she made it a career that could support us both. I love her. I adore her. And you saw me on my knees to her because I really do worship her a little."
"Um."
Ari turned and saw Dale standing in the door. She chuckled and shrugged.
"So I guess Milo and I are all matched up on the 'walking in on intimate moments' tally board." She closed the distance between her and Ari and rested her head on Ari's shoulder. "I adore you, too."
Ari stroked Dale's arm. "Milo and I were just talking about the fact tomorrow we should venture out into the wilderness and get back to our lives."
"Good. I'm getting a little stir-crazy here."
"I saw," Milo muttered, making Dale burrow tighter against Ari. Milo smil
ed and winked before adding the chopped vegetables to the broth. "Anyway, we've only got a few days before Gwen comes back. She's not going to leave this alone."
"What about Ben?" Ari asked.
"He went back to England. Once you made it clear the ceremony won't be going forward, he wanted to make sure everyone back there was prepared for wolf manoth."
"How bad is it going to be?"
Milo thought for a moment and then just quietly said, "Bad. There hasn't been one for over two hundred years. The hunters have a lot of pent-up rage they want to take out on us."
Dale stepped back from Ari and took a position on the third side of the island. "I've been trying to come up with a way out of this mess, and I might have one. What if Milo and I just go through with the ceremony?"
Ari coughed and raised an eyebrow.
"I mean for appearances sake. It's just a ceremony to help seal the treaty, right? It wouldn't be an official handfasting."
Milo said, "So you'd marry me but you'd keep sleeping with Ari?"
"Yeah. We make it look good for the peanut gallery, and then everyone shakes hands and goes home. Wolf mammoth avoided."
"Manoth," Milo corrected.
Ari said, "Would that work? There's not some primae noctis thing where they force you to, you know, do the deed?"
"I have no idea what the procedure is. This was only done once in history, two hundred years ago. I doubt they would gather around to witness the actual consummation. I'm sure the ceremony is the important part."
Dale held her hands up. "Well, then fine. A ceremony is just playacting. If it's not, then I've been married to David Howell since the second grade."
Milo seemed willing to consider the plot, but she looked to Ari for the okay.
"Run it by them. If it'll work, it's worth it to stop a war."
Dale covered Ari's hand. "If you're uncomfortable with this at all, we'll come up with another way."
Ari reached up and touched her collar. "This is the only thing that matters. Everything else is just appearances."
Dale smiled, and Milo seemed utterly relieved as she joined them at the island. Ari didn't know if it was the best solution, but it was the only way she could see out of the mess. Now that she knew what Milo's endgame had been, any jealous or mistrust was alleviated. If Dale had to be sham-married to anyone, Milo was the only candidate Ari felt comfortable with. But just in case it wouldn't work, she was going to keep thinking of alternative courses of action.