A Tail of Woah: A Reverse Harem Academy Tail (The Fox and the Hounds Book 1)

by Jacquelyn Faye

  A rumbling chuckle filled the room. Or my head. It was impossible to tell, but when I lifted the jar to my lips, the dry smell of sake wasn't there, but the sweet smell of honey was. Shrugging, I drank.

  It burned like sake but didn't taste anything like it. Sweet fire glided over my tongue and burned my chest as I gulped it down. When I pulled the jar from my lips, I stared in wonder as the taste of honey filled my mouth. "That isn't sake."

  Mead. The name filled my head and I nodded in appreciation. After years of drinking the same damn thing, day after day, the reprieve was well earned. I waited for the vomiting that usually accompanied me trying any other liquor, but it never came. I lay back against my headboard and smiled as I sipped my new friend.

  The soft, subtle sound of a knock at my door caught me off guard and I gasped. It wasn't Hiroki, he had a key. Chances are it was a professor who had caught me sneaking my way back into the dorms in an effort to skip afternoon classes. Sighing, I got up to face the music. It wasn't as if my life could possibly get any worse.

  With a sense of indifference, I turned the knob and stepped back in shock. I'd been expecting a professor, but secretly hoping it would be David, come to tell me he forgave me. But it wasn't. Remy stood in my doorway, an almost worried look on his face. At least it wasn't Rome. I don't think I could have handled that.

  "Uh. Hi?"

  "Are you okay?"

  "Don't beat around the bush much, do you?"

  "Not one for mincing words. Want some company or would you prefer to be alone after I have completed my health and safety check?" He gave me a wink.

  "Come on in," I said and walked back into the room, leaving him standing in the doorway. I grabbed my jar of fermented honey I had somehow made from rice off the dresser. It was official, the day couldn't possibly get any weirder.

  "Is that alcohol?"

  "Um. No. It's fruit juice."

  "I can smell it from here…"

  "You gonna rat me out?"

  "No. I was going to ask for a sip. How the hell did you get alcohol into the school?"

  "One of my many wonderfully hidden talents," I said and handed the jar over, leaning back on the bed and motioning for him to sit.

  He plopped down on the end of mine, instead of Roki's, and I tucked my feet up a little to give him some room. He took a swallow of the mead and his eyes widened. "That's good," he said, handing it back to me.

  "So, were you really worried about me or did you come to berate me."

  He shrugged. "What's done is done. I'm just happy it didn't go horribly wrong. And for the record, I agreed with Headmaster Tatsuo."

  "Great." I didn't really care. The one person I wanted to have stuck up for me was David. I took another drink and passed it back.

  He held up his hand and shook his head. "I have guard duty tonight."

  "That's kind of boring."

  "Well, being here isn't a reward. It's a punishment. And guarding is what the Hounds of Hel do."

  "Yeah. I heard about the car accident. Sorry."

  His face darkened. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned knowing about it, but if it was a secret, David should have kept his mouth shut. "Thank you," Remy mumbled and stared at the sea of duvet between us.

  "Want to know a secret?"

  "What?" He looked up.

  "When you fuck up, you don't need to worry about forgetting about it. People will keep reminding you about it over and over and over until the mere thought of the incident pisses you off instead of making you feel bad."

  "Speaking from experience?"

  "Years of it."

  "You do seem to attract trouble like Rome attracts blondes."

  "You're twins. I'm sure you're not hurting from attractive blondes."

  "I prefer my girls with lighter hair," he said with a wink.

  "Lighter than blonde?"

  "Sometimes."

  "You prefer me?" I gulped audibly.

  "No way. You're too much trouble," he answered with a smile.

  I nodded emphatically. "You have no idea…"

  That caused him to break out in a grin. I probably would have denied it if asked, but it was even better than his smile. His smile made him beautiful, but his grin…his grin made him ooze sexiness like an overripe sexmelon. I washed away the drool with another swallow of mead.

  "That was quite the show with Sabine you put on."

  I frowned, having mostly forgotten about punching her in the chest and setting her on fire. "She okay?"

  "Little singed, but I'm sure she deserved it. What did she say to you?"

  "That I was basically a piece of shit who fucked up, and she was there to have lunch with David because he hates me now? Or something like that. I have a tendency to drown out unpleasant memories."

  "You mean drown, as in drink away?"

  "Yeah. Pretty much," I nodded and drank some more. Unpleasant Sabine memories were still swirling around, so I drank some more after that.

  Remy reached over and took the jar. "They're only unpleasant because you let them be." He stood and set the jar on the dresser, far from my grasp. "What you should be doing is fun things to make you forget about the unpleasantness. And for the record, David doesn't hate you. He's just hurt, but he'll get over it. He was on his way here when I stopped him, telling him to give you some time. Want me to go send him to you?"

  "I don't know," I answered honestly. Giddy as a schoolgirl on the inside, I didn't know how to react.

  "I think you do," Remy said and cocked an eyebrow.

  "A little."

  "You like him. A lot."

  I nodded.

  "Good. David is good people and has been afraid to get close to girls since Sabine."

  "You don't seem to like your sister very much. What about all the blood thicker than water sayings?"

  "Sabine is…Sabine. Family is what you make of it, not what you're born into. There is another saying among the hounds. Littermates do not a pack make."

  "There is a saying amongst kitsune, too. Want to hear it?"

  He nodded.

  "Hand me my drink."

  He sighed, but reached behind him and grabbed it, handing it to me slowly. I took it, upended it, and finished it with a small burp.

  He chuckled softly. "What's the saying?"

  "That was it. Hand me my drink. Kitsune love their booze," I answered with a grin.

  "I should get to class. Lunch is about over. Want me to tell David to skip and keep you company?"

  "Yes," I said, getting up to walk him out. "Please."

  "Will do. Glad you're okay."

  Walking up to him, I threw my arms around him, giving him a hug as thanks. "Thanks for caring."

  He went rigid in my arms.

  "What's wrong? Not a huggy person?" I pulled back, not wanting to offend him.

  "No…it's just..."

  "What? I stink?"

  "No. You smell…really good. Really good."

  I grinned up at him. "It's my body wash."

  "Uh…let's go with that." He pulled away and practically ran to the door.

  I made a mental note to hug him more.

  Chapter 15

  The second knock came, and I practically leapt from the bed and did a somersault. Remy had said he would send David to play hooky with me, but I didn't think he would actually show up. In my excitement, I pulled the door open before fully turning the knob and it ripped out of my hand. I took a deep breath and tried again with a little more success.

  David was standing there, a basket hanging from one hand, and a bouquet of hastily ripped flowers in the other. Some of them even had clumps of dirt still attached to their roots. It was the sweetest thing I'd ever seen.

  "Hi," he said questioningly, giving a little smile, but I could still see the worry in his eyes. He was afraid I was going to slam the door in his face.

  I opted for kissing him instead, reaching up and pulling his face down to mine and refusing to let go with my lips. Unfortunately, even supernatural creatures
need oxygen most of the time.

  "Woah," he said and gave me a dreamy smile.

  I punched him in the arm. "The kiss was for coming back. The punch was for ignoring me at lunch."

  He coughed. "Yeah. Sorry about that."

  "It's okay, Remy told me you were on your way to see me. But seriously, David… When I fuck up, and it will happen from time to time, maybe even minute to minute, be angry. Be pissed. Be whatever, but don't ignore me. I'd rather get yelled at than have you not talk to me."

  "I don't think I could ever yell at you."

  "I just told you to."

  He thought about it for a moment. "Nope. Still couldn't do it. How about I scowl at you and call you a dumb fox?"

  "You think I'm a dumb fox?" I pouted.

  He lowered himself until he was looking up at my face. "When you don't listen and almost bring about the end of the world? Yep. But I still love you," he lifted his head and kissed the end of my nose.

  All nine of my tails burst into being. I lost complete control. The tears started falling down my cheeks and my legs were threatening to give out. I may have even started hyperventilating.

  "You're not dumb! You're super smart. A genius fox!" He was starting to panic.

  "You…you… You love me?" I stared up at him incredulously.

  He stopped for a moment, looking down at the bouquet of flowers and the picnic basket. "Yeah? I thought you kind of knew that?"

  "No. I mean I knew you kinda were into me. An affectionate toleration. But…love?"

  "Do you not want me to?"

  "Yes!"

  There was a momentary look of relief on his face and then he lifted an eyebrow. "Wait. Yes. You do want me to, or yes, you don't want me to?"

  "That hurt my head. Dumb fox, remember?"

  "Kaede," he said and swung his arms around me, flower and picnic basket and all. "I only say that to show you I'm mad at you. I don't think you're dumb."

  "Would you say that if I had blown up the world?"

  "I wouldn't be here to say it, but yes."

  I rubbed my face against his chest. His wonderfully firm, smelling of pine and sexiness, chest.

  "Just to clarify, you want me to love you, right?"

  "Yes, David. Please love me."

  "I think I can do that. Want to have lunch with me?"

  "Didn't you eat?"

  He pulled back and shook his head. "Do you honestly think I could have eaten after watching you run out of the dining hall like that?"

  "I thought you were eating with Sabine?'

  "Why would you think…because that's what she said to you when you lit her on fire." He wasn't asking. He figured it out all on his own and sighed in frustration.

  "Sorry," I mumbled.

  "For thinking she was telling the truth or setting her on fire?"

  "I'd never apologize for that. The fire part."

  "Kaede, it's you. It will always be you. And it will never be her. Okay?"

  "Kay."

  "Lunch?"

  "Food!"

  "Quickest way to a fox's heart."

  "Nope. That would be by being the sweetest, handsomest, sexiest wolf on the planet. Care to eat me, Mr. Wolf?" I wiggled my eyebrows at him.

  He chuckled and kicked the door closed behind him, setting our food down on the dresser and stuffing the flowers in my empty jar of mead. He was lucky it was empty.

  Two steps and he closed the distance between us, grabbing my hips in his now free hands, and pulling me in for another earth-shattering kiss. He walked us backward toward the bed and slid one arm behind me, gently lowering me to the mattress, but never breaking the kiss. I barely had enough sense to dispel my tails as my butt touched the mattress and I finally pulled back from his kiss. "You're not going to make me say it back first?"

  "That you love me?"

  I nodded, giving him an impish grin.

  "I never want you to lie to me. I never want you to feel like you have to. So, only tell me if you mean it."

  Reaching up, I covered his cheeks with my hands. "I love you."

  "You mean it?"

  "Or I wouldn't have said it." I kissed him again gently.

  He gave me a dreamy smile and kissed my neck, letting his lips trail over the buttons of my shirt as he moved lower and lower.

  "Where you going?"

  "You wanted Mr. Wolf to eat you…so that is exactly what he's going to do, Little Red Riding Hood." He grinned at me, settling himself between my legs and slowly pushing my skirt up. With every inch of thigh that he exposed, he planted two kisses, one on each leg. I felt myself grow exponentially wetter with each pass of his lips, too. I was wearing the standard issue, white cotton panties. By the time he reached his destination, I was pretty sure they were going to be translucent in one very large spot.

  He stopped lifting the skirt for a moment and just sighed in contentment. "You don't know how long I've been waiting to do this," he said with a grin.

  "My…what big teeth you have."

  "The better to eat you with, my dear."

  I shuddered and spread my legs a little further as he flipped my skirt over my stomach, completely exposing my panties to his hungry eyes. "You smell incredible."

  "Shush. You're going to embarrass me."

  "I mean it. I've never wanted to taste anything more."

  "Less talky, more licky."

  He chuckled and touched my clit through the soft material, making a small, gentle circle. I hissed in pleasure as my hips rolled on their own. His finger traced the valley between my lips and swirled in the wetness that had leaked through. Slowly he brought the tip to his lips and he let out a moan of happiness as he sucked it into his mouth.

  "Holy hell you taste like honey."

  I grinned and made little mewling noises, bucking my hips at him, hoping he'd take the hint.

  He slid his fingers behind the front of my panties, grazing my flesh with the back of his fingers, and pulling them away and moving them to the side. I wanted him to attack me, but he just paused to stare.

  "What?"

  "Even in your most hidden of places, you are absolutely beautiful."

  "Huh?"

  He smiled at me, leaned down, and kissed me in my most sensitive of places. I hissed in pleasure again, wanting more. "I said," he paused and kissed me again, "that you…" He opened his lips and really kissed me, tongue sliding between my lips and dragging across my clit. "Are beautiful." He pulled me apart with two of his fingers and lifted the hood covering my pearl. His lips sealed themselves over it and he sucked gently as his tongue gently teased it.

  I saw stars. Thousands of them as his mouth became the center of my existence.

  He didn't relent. Every guy who had ever orally administered had used it as a prelude for getting what they wanted. David was an artist who loved to paint. "You're going to make me come," I whispered and ran my fingers through his soft, wavy tresses.

  He paused to answer. "That's the whole idea." He attacked me once more and slid a finger inside as he closed his lips back over me and drove every remaining thought from my brain with his tongue. He brought me to the edge, and when he sensed my imminent release, he slowed, letting it slip from me. I growled in frustration and practically grabbed a fistful of his hair.

  I felt his chuckle, my legs pressing against the sides of his chest. "Do you want me to finish you?"

  "Yes!"

  "Do you want to come?"

  "Yes…please."

  He gently kissed me, not on my clit, but just below. On the juncture of my lips. "I love you," he whispered and gently slid his tongue inside me.

  "Oh, fuck. I love you, too."

  He pulled his tongue from me and slipped it back inside just as quickly, using both hands to pull me open. His tongue felt a thousand times better than his finger, hard, wet, and delving as far as it could.

  "David…"

  "Come for me," he answered, swiping his tongue from bottom to top, and mashing against my clit.

  I screamed some
thing between his name and a string of obscenities, and my hips thrashed against his mouth. He used his arms to pin my legs down and it made it all that much hotter. A trapped fox in the jaws of a predator. As I lay there panting, he finally released me from his mouth, gave me one last gentle kiss, and rubbed his cheek against me before smiling up at me.

  "Woah."

  "You look very…relaxed."

  "I guess you could call a coma somewhat relaxing." I closed my eyes and let the world spin around us for a moment, smiling.

  "You're not in a coma. You wouldn't be able to speak."

  "Who said I could? Holy fuck that was amazing. Next time you stop, though, I might squish your head between my thighs like a watermelon. That was mean."

  "But it made you come harder."

  "Maybe, but I'm not entirely convinced that was a good thing. I can't think."

  "Don't then." He reached up and ran his fingers through my carefully manicured tuft of white fur. "So soft."

  "Do you like it? I was thinking of shaving it off."

  "Please don't. Ever. I like it a lot. Not a huge fan of the clean-shaven look. Plus, I like the white…"

  "You should see the rest of me," I said and let my ears pop into existence. I wiggled them for effect.

  He chuckled. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

  "I've seen yours," I said with a laugh.

  "You know what I meant. I'm actually kind of jealous you can do parts of you. With me it's the whole shebang."

  "She bang?" I grinned.

  "Only if she wants to."

  "She does," I answered and nodded, opening my arms for him to crawl up into.

  He stood and slid his pants over his hips without unbuckling the belt or undoing the button. I licked my lips hungrily as he stood out in excitement as he stepped out of his shoes and slid out of the rest of his clothes. I just reached down and slipped my panties off and dropped them on the floor next to me, spreading my legs to let him know how much I wanted him. Needed him.

  He crawled back, naked, between my legs and reached out, unbuttoning my shirt from the bottom button, up. "What are you doing?"

  "I want to see you naked."

  "No, you don't," I said with a little blush and kind of covered my breasts with my elbows.

  "Um. Pretty sure I do," he said and stopped what he was doing. "Unless you don't want me to?"