The Prisoner's Release and Other Stories (32 page)

As the fox raised his muzzle, Streak raised his paw to brush its underside gently. Volle looked at him and gave his paw another lick. “Thank you.”

“There’s more.” Streak winked, reaching into his shirt pocket.

“More?” Volle stared in disbelief as the wolf’s paw emerged with a thick slab of cake wrapped in a cloth napkin. He felt saliva pooling in his muzzle at the rich smell.

“Here, take a bit at a time…” Streak fed him the cake, piece by piece, and when he was done Volle licked his paw again.

“Thank you. Again. You didn’t have to.”

“I know. I wanted to. I can smell what they feed you. At least this is something nice I can do.”

“You’re too nice.” The heaviness in Volle’s stomach from the rich food was turning to unease, but he tried to ignore it.

“I like seeing you enjoy it.”

“Glad to oblige. Were you…always this nice?” The turmoil in his stomach was getting worse. He just hoped he could keep it down until Streak left.

The wolf’s ears flicked again, and he smiled that bashful smile. “I try to be. My mom always said to treat others as you’d want to be treated.”

“You do…a good job.” He was fighting a losing battle.

“Are you okay?” Streak leaned forward.

“Yes. No. Oh, I’m so-sorry.” Volle gulped and then lurched toward the wolf, hanging his muzzle down into the channel as the meal came raging back up. His body shuddered and coughed, and when it was over he lay there, the sour taste still in his muzzle, his ears flat in embarrassment.

“Oh, Canis, I’m sorry. All that rich food.” The wolf’s paw was stroking his head, as grimy and matted as the fur was.

Volle lapped some water from the wall, spit it out, and rolled back over with a little effort. “Not your fault. I probably ate too fast.” He gave a wan smile.

“Here.” Streak took the cloth napkin and wetted it in the water, then gently wiped off Volle’s muzzle. The fox held perfectly still while the napkin brushed the vomit from his muzzle and worked around his head, cleaning the fur between his eyes, along his cheek ruffs, and up his soft ears. Streak had to rewet the cloth several times, and when he was done it was filthy; even in the torchlight Volle could see that. But Streak stuffed it in his pocket without looking at it, his eyes fixed on Volle’s muzzle.

“You do clean up nice,” he said softly. Volle looked back at him without saying anything, looking into the clear eyes that were blue even in the dim torchlight. They came closer, slowly, until Streak’s nose was touching his own. Then, gently, their muzzles parted and met in a soft kiss.

Volle closed his eyes and sighed. He kept his tongue in his muzzle because he still had some of the sour taste on it, but he could feel the light flicker of Streak’s tongue against his lips. The wolf’s scent at this distance filled his nostrils and made him forget the queasiness in his stomach.

Too soon, it was over, and Streak was sitting up. “I guess I should go.” But he didn’t get up, or move to the door.

Volle nodded. “I guess so.”

They held each other’s eyes for the space of several heartbeats, and then Streak got to his feet slowly and fluidly. “Bye.”

“See you soon,” Volle said.

Streak nodded, and then was gone.

Volle dreamt that night that Streak returned, naked and holding a glittering sword. He held it over the shackled fox and said, “I can cut you free, but you must renounce your country. Promise you won’t give them the plans you stole. I’ll take you away with me and keep you safe.”

In his dream, Volle couldn’t take his eyes off the sword. He could see its edge, sharp and menacing. “I can’t,” he breathed.

Streak’s eyes pleaded with him. “It’s the only way we can be together.”

Yes
, his body screamed, but he couldn’t make his muzzle form the words. “I can’t give up my country.”

“If you die here, they still won’t have your information. Why should you die?”

He could see his friends beyond the cell, mute and staring at him. Beyond them, the country he loved spread out: the red mountains behind the rolling plains, the sparkling expanse of Kell Lake, and the shining towers of the palace. “We’ll know,” they seemed to be saying.

He moaned and turned away. “I can’t.”

Streak’s blue eyes closed. Without a word, he raised the sword and swung it viciously downward.

Volle woke with a start. The torch had gone out and the cell was pitch black. His heart was pounding in his chest and his wrists were sore where the shackles held them. He flipped over, pressing his muzzle between his arms and waiting for his panic to subside. What would he do, if Streak came back and gave him that ultimatum? It would never happen, of course, but wasn’t that what he was being asked to do?

No, it wasn’t. He was simply being asked to betray his country and his friends. There was no chance he would have a life with Streak. He was going to die in this cell, or possibly in an execution chamber somewhere.

When Streak visited him the next evening, the dream was still lingering in his head, but he managed to force a smile. Streak returned it, and sat down across the channel in the floor, looking up at Volle.

“What’s this all leading to?” He said it quietly, but the intensity of his gaze betrayed the emotion behind it.

“You’re being used to make me betray my friends,” Volle said dully. “They sent you here to make me fall in love with you so they could use you as leverage on me.”

“They wouldn’t…” Streak began, and then stopped, thinking.

“They would. They are.” Volle looked away, at the stone wall on his other side. He traced the familiar pattern of cracks with his eyes. “Sometime soon, you’ll be told that this duty is over. Depending on what I do, maybe you’ll get to see me one more time. Maybe you’ll get to see me when they kill me. Maybe not at all. But then it’ll be over. You’re better off forgetting me.”

“I asked to be transferred,” Streak said, and Volle turned to look at him. “After that first time. I’d been living alone in the guard barracks for two weeks, and I didn’t think I could be the horrible thing they wanted me to be to you. But they wouldn’t transfer me. And it’s been over a month now, and you’re the only person who’s said more than two sentences to me in that time.” He drew in a sharp breath. “And you seem so much better than the other guards. They just care about their pay, and what pretty things they stuck their cocks into last time down at the pub. You care about your country. You care so much that you went through being whipped and tortured, and you didn’t tell. That’s honorable. You don’t deserve this.

“Maybe I would be better off forgetting you. But I don’t think I can.”

Volle’s eyes misted over. He fought to control his emotions. “It’s really the best thing…” he began, but Streak closed his muzzle with a paw.

“Oh, shut up,” he said, and leaned over, pressing his muzzle to the fox’s in a deep, warm kiss.

Volle arched his entire body into the kiss, his ears coming forward as his eyes closed in pleasure. Streak’s tongue was cool and slick against his, and he pulled it into his muzzle as though his life depended on it. He felt the warm caress of the wolf’s breath against his muzzle, the soft touch of his fur, and the hard points of his teeth as they slid against his own. The kiss was full of passion, hunger, and longing, and Volle returned it in kind.

He didn’t want it to end, but of course it did. Slowly, gently, Streak pulled his muzzle back. Volle lay back and opened his eyes. “Wow.”

Streak bit his lip, and rested a paw on Volle’s chest, tracing the line of one of his ribs. “I know I shouldn’t. But I can’t let go. I keep thinking if I can find some way to get you out of here—”

“Don’t think like that,” Volle said sharply, though his fur was tingling at the touch. “If you have hope then I might have hope, and I don’t want hope. That’s what they want me to have.”

“I think you’re being paranoid,” Streak said. “They can’t know what’s going on here. For all they know, I’ve been torturing you.”

“I think they know, somehow. You’re too…too beautiful. I thought when I first saw you that you were too perfect to be a coincidence. I’ve always had a bit of a thing for wolves, and you’re just…” He sighed, and smiled. “Sorry. I wasn’t expecting you to be as sweet inside as you looked outside. I don’t know if they were either. But they (
he
) could easily have found out (
knows
) that I like wolves. I wasn’t exactly discreet about my liaisons during my time in the palace.”

“I bet you could have had any male or female you wanted.”

Volle smiled. “Now you’re just saying that to be polite.”

Streak smiled back and lowered his muzzle, ears flicking. “So…what do we do now?”

“Now?” Volle flicked his ears and let his smile widen. “Well, I have an idea…”

Streak watched, amused, as the fox flipped over and lapped several gulps of water from the wall. When he turned back over, the wolf grinned. “What?”

“I don’t want to think about the future any more. And there’s something I’ve been wanting to do since that first day.”

“Oh?” Streak’s eyes flicked to Volle’s sheath, which was showing signs of life. The wolf grinned. “What’s that?”

“Mmm. Maybe you could kneel up here and let me see that equipment of yours up close.” Volle tried to sound more bashful than eager, but he couldn’t stop his tail from smacking the stone floor as it wagged.

The wolf smiled and stood up, unfastening his pants and sliding them down to the ground. He cupped his paw around his groin for a moment, self-consciously, then dropped it to his side, leaving his sheath exposed with his shirt hanging down on either side.

Volle followed the plump white ridge of fur, already showing some red at its tip, as Streak stepped over him and slowly knelt astride him. The fox craned his head forward until his nose was just brushing the soft white fur, panting with the effort until the wolf’s paws slid behind his head to support him. Slowly, he drew his tongue up the warm length of fur, and was gratified to see how quickly it swelled and pushed the wolf’s shaft further out.

Above him, he heard a gasp, and he felt the warm rumble of pleasure in the wolf’s chest. He started the next lick lower, giving the dangling sac a curl of his tongue before sliding up the thick sheath again. He stopped just below the top, though his eyes were drawn to the length above it. On the next lick, he didn’t stop, letting his tongue travel all the way to the tip and stopping there.

Streak breathed harder, and Volle wagged his tail as best he could. His sheath was hard and full too, lying on his belly, and the wolf’s tail was tickling the skin of his member as it wagged back and forth. He licked again, and though he’d done this with many other males, was struck by how happy he was to be making this white wolf shiver. Streak had become important to him, and so this act was more than just the hedonistic enjoyment of a male in his muzzle, or a return obligation; it was an expression of his feelings. He was prevented from using his paws to caress the wolf, and this was all he could do.

He licked again and again, and at some point Streak’s hips shifted and Volle found himself staring down the glistening length of the wolf’s erection. He smiled and slid his muzzle around it, feeling its warmth on his tongue and its familiar hardness against his teeth. He held it for a moment, marveling again at how the feeling could be so new when he’d done this a hundred times.

The wolf’s paws guided his head with the impatience of passion, and Volle could taste the wolf’s need in the thick musk on his tongue. He slid obligingly back and forth, and the wolf’s hips met him and pulled back with him. The musk grew stronger, the wolf’s movements quickened and became more erratic, and Volle found himself tensing with excitement. Streak was moaning now, and Volle’s erection shivered in sympathy as he felt the thick length in his muzzle drip musk onto his tongue. They were moving together now, as easily as if they’d been together for years, and Volle couldn’t say how he knew the moment was coming, but he did.

He braced himself just before Streak let out a breathless squeak, pushing Volle’s head into his hips. His knot pushed past the fox’s lips, his whole length trembling, spurting musky warmth on Volle’s tongue. He swallowed around the thick spasming member as the lovely white wolf above him bent forward, entirely focused on his climax.

It was over entirely too soon. Volle swallowed again, though he was trying to savor the rich musky taste of Streak. Slowly, the wolf sat back, letting his dripping erection slide out of the fox’s muzzle. Volle looked up and gave the wolf a warm smile.

“I liked that a lot.”

“
You
liked it? Oh, gods, fox.” Streak leaned over and let his paws slide down so he was holding Volle’s chest. “I’ve been with a couple, but…never like that.”

Volle licked his lips and nuzzled the wolf. “Mmm. I’m glad you liked it.” He sighed happily.

Streak held him for a long moment, and then slid off to lie between Volle and the wall. He let an arm rest on Volle’s chest, and rested his head on the fox’s shoulder. “I liked it, yes. And now I don’t want to go.”

“You’ll always have to.” Volle sighed. He nuzzled Streak again.

“You’re right, though. I will. But not just yet.” He slid his paw down Volle’s stomach and smiled. “I think I have some unfinished business.”

“You really don’t have to.” The protest was weak.

“You can’t stop me.” Streak grinned, eyes half-closed as his paw closed around Volle’s erection.

Volle shivered, and closed his eyes as the wolf started to stroke. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Again, he was amazed at the freshness of it. Even compared to the last time the wolf had masturbated him, this felt subtly different, even considering that it hadn’t been two months since his last release. Streak’s muzzle lay next to his, his soft breaths passing across Volle’s matted fur. His taste lingered in Volle’s muzzle. His body was warm and close, and his paw’s strokes seemed each to be lovingly planned and executed.

It took longer this time, but not much. Volle felt the climax building a long ways off and panted more quickly as it grew. He felt Streak’s body respond and felt as though the wolf could feel what he was feeling. And when it came, he felt the warmth between their bodies feed into it, holding him and Streak together in a trembling moment of bliss before he fell over the edge, moaning loudly as his seed spurted out over Streak’s paw.