Volle (24 page)

“Mmm. You win.” The cat paused in stroking Volle to feel his knot, which was quite swollen. “But I think your friend isn’t far behind. Just lie still. You can watch if you want.” Volle squirmed, whimpering slightly, as the stroking resumed, and he saw Helfer’s head flop over towards him, the half-lidded eyes watching him lazily.

And now, if the cougar had asked him if he wanted to stop, Volle would have moaned “No” as well. He dug furrows in the dirt with his claws, staring at the sky as he felt himself shiver and tense, and then felt the familiar rush of climax. His body shuddered, and his semen spurted out onto the cougar’s paw and his skirt, warmth flowing into his belly fur as the musk filled his nose. He let out a long, low moan, not as concerned with Helfer about keeping it quiet, and then lay back, panting.

The cougar rolled Helfer onto Volle and got to his knees, looking at his paws. Both were rather sticky, and he sniffed them before sticking them into the nearest bush and rubbing them on the leaves. After a few moments, he was apparently satisfied, and knelt with his paws on his thighs watching Volle and Helfer.

“Now, will you tell us what that was about?” Helfer had recovered a little more quickly than Volle and sat up. The front of his skirt was stained dark from his orgasm, but for the moment he was more concerned with the cougar, staring up at the big cat defiantly.

“I was supposed to scare you two.” The cougar shrugged his broad shoulders. “Dunno why. The rat said it’d be funny to see you two wet yourselves and come running into the castle, but you didn’t at first.” He licked his lips. “So I thought of a more fun way to do it.”

“Rat…” Volle propped himself up on his elbows and looked at Helfer. “Dereath.”

“Yeah, that’s his name. He said you guys play jokes like this on each other all the time.”

Helfer rolled his eyes. “Not really. He hired you just to frighten us?”

The cougar’s smile faded a bit as he looked from Helfer to Volle and back. “Nah. I’m here on other business. But I’m staying with him—for a bit.”

“You know him?” Volle was still leaning back, but his ears were perked.

“Nah. He’s just who they put me with.”

“Who’s ‘they’?” Helfer asked.

The cougar shook his head. “I think my work here is done.” He got to his feet, looking down at them as he brushed the dirt from his haunches. He was still smiling, but the smile looked almost apologetic now. “Maybe I’ll stick around to see you two come back into the castle.”

Helfer spread his arms. “What more could you want to see?”

The cougar shrugged, and jogged back toward the front garden, tail lashing behind him.

Helfer sighed and looked at Volle. “This is definitely the strangest morning run I’ve ever been on. You really must’ve gotten that rat stirred up.”

Volle shook his head. “I don’t know. I thought he’d forgotten about that, or at least let it go. I saw him in the main hall just before we left. What do you bet he was watching out one of those windows?”

“I don’t think he meant for that cougar to show us such a good time.” Helfer grinned. “He’s probably more irritated now.”

Volle’s adrenaline had subsided, and with it the immediate terror of the attack. He was still worried, but it was a more theoretical worry than the visceral fear he’d felt earlier. “I don’t know if that’s a good thing, Hef. We could’ve been hurt. What’ll he do next time?”

The tension of the initial fight had obviously vanished for Helfer, too. “Oh, he wasn’t going to hurt us. And I think he’s too good to let us hurt him.”

Volle shrugged. “Maybe.” He looked down at his stained skirt. “So now what do we do?”

“Well, we can either wait here until it dries, take the clothes off and run naked, or just finish up as we are.” The weasel grinned. “I’ll run naked if you will.”

“Isn’t there some rule against that?”

“I think there’s a rule against shooting your load in the gardens, too, but we’ve broken that one already.”

Volle grinned. “How about we just turn the skirts back to front and let our tails cover the stains? It still smells, but at least it won’t show.”

Helfer scowled. “Easy for you to say, with that carpet you’re dragging behind you.” He twisted to look at his small, black-tipped tail. “You think it’ll cover?”

“Yeah, I think so. Try it and let’s see.”

Helfer stood up and loosened the drawstrings of his skirt, then slid it around his hips. “Aw, come on,” Volle teased. “Take it off. You got to see mine.”

The weasel just stuck his tongue out at Volle and tied the strings under his tail. He wriggled his hips. “Feels funny, but I think it’ll stay. Does it show?”

“Nope. Not unless someone looks under your tail, and I think you can get back to your room without that happening.” Volle grinned. “Unless we run into a big scary rabbit soldier maybe.”

Helfer put his paws on his hips and glared down at the fox. “You know, I could take that skirt completely off for you.”

Volle’s grin widened. “Yeah, I saw the way you took care of that cougar.”

“Oh, like you did better. At least I got away. I only came back for you.”

“Yeah.” Volle got up, his smile gone. He reached out to Helfer. “Thanks, Hef. That was really brave. You risked a lot for me.”

Helfer stepped into the hug briefly, then stepped back. His dark eyes glinted in the sun as he looked into Volle’s. “Well, you know…” He scuffled the ground, ears flicking self-consciously. “I, uh, couldn’t just leave you here to have all the fun. Come on, let’s jog. Just finish the one circuit and then in. I think we’ve had enough exercise for one morning.”

“Definitely.” Volle fell into step beside his friend, and chuckled.

“What?”

“Oh, just that…it was kind of fun having him on top of me. Except for the part where I thought he was going to rip my throat out.”

Helfer grinned. “It was fun being on top of him too. That arm…ooh.”

“Tell me about it.” The cougar’s hazel eyes lingered in Volle’s memory. They were clear and honest, playful and humor-filled, and he remembered the strong embrace of the muscular body as the eyes had met his. He remembered the cougar’s groin pressing against him, his excitement palpable even through the sturdy leather of his armor, and he found himself wondering whether he’d see the cougar again.

Those thoughts led him to Dereath. What was the rat doing with a soldier in his quarters, and who had ordered him there? “Is it common to have soldiers in the palace?”

Helfer shrugged. “From time to time. Depends on what’s going on, I guess. I usually don’t know what’s going on. But I’ve seen soldiers around before.”

“I wonder what he’s doing here.”

Helfer wagged a finger at him. “Don’t get mixed up in politics, I’m telling you.”

Volle grinned. “It’s just weird, is all. The first soldier I see attacks me.”

“No wonder, showing off your butt like that. All soldiers are gay, didn’t you know?”

Volle laughed. “No.”

“Think about it. Cramped together in close quarters, separated into male and female units…”

“Sounds like a great life.”

“Except for the lousy food, the curfews, the orders, the constant exercise, and the going off to be killed.”

“Right. Except for that.”

They passed through the large archway and back into the main garden. Except for the rapidly stiffening stain on his skirt, and the musky odor he could still smell, Volle could almost have believed that the whole episode had been just a daydream. The morning sun was brighter here and birds chirped gaily in the trees. He shook his head and followed Helfer back into the palace. Renaldo was standing on duty at the door, and as they passed, he bowed slightly to them. Volle saw his nose wrinkle as they passed, and he hurried on with a quick wave.

“Want to change at my place? It’s closer,” Volle said as they approached the Wolf stair.

“No thanks. I’ll take my chances. Want to come use my private bath?”

Volle considered it, then shook his head. “I’m right here.” He gestured to the corridor, then lifted his nose. He caught the cougar’s scent a moment before the shadow appeared behind Helfer. “Hef,” he said warningly, and the weasel heard his tone and saw his look, and was at his side in a second. Together, they watched the cougar approach.

He stopped at the base of the stair, looking at the two of them. He still looked cheerful, though his ears were laid back. “Hey, just wanted to say I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have frightened you. And then I just got kinda carried away. Friends?”

Volle felt the tension melt away from them, and heard Helfer chuckle. “I don’t mind the carried away part, but next time, buy me a drink first or something, okay?” He slipped past the cougar and up the stair. “I gotta go get changed. Volle, see you tonight?”

“Oh yeah. See you then, Hef.” The weasel darted up the stairs and disappeared.

“I should go, too.” Volle started to turn towards the corridor.

“Wait.” The cougar was shifting on his paws. “Look, there’s something else I wanted to ask.”

Volle turned back and caught the warm hazel eyes in his. There wasn’t much guile in the cougar, if any, and what he was about to ask was plain in the arch of his eyebrows, the uncertain flick of his ears, and the way he was kneading his paws. Volle grinned even before he heard the question. “Go ahead.”

“Well, I told you I was staying with that rat. But I didn’t like him all that much, and he’s pretty upset with me. I guess he saw what I did after the scaring part.” He scratched the back of his head. “So all in all, it looks like I need another place to stay. It’d just be for a few days,” he added hurriedly. “You know anyone who has an extra room?”

Volle looked at the tall, powerful body, the cougar’s scent in his nose, and heard himself say, “I’ve got an extra half a bed.”

The cougar grinned, and Volle’s ears flicked back. “Oh, Fox, I can’t believe I just said that.” He returned the grin abashedly.

“That’s okay,” the cougar said, tail waving more animatedly now. “I was sort of hoping you might.”

Volle glanced to the left as a raccoon and weasel wandered into view in the main hall. “Maybe we should go look at it now. More private there, and I still need to clean up anyway.”

“I’ve got a few things in the rat’s chambers. I’ll just grab them and meet you back here. Which door are you?”

Volle walked him along the corridor to his chambers. “This one.”

“Okay. See you in a couple minutes.” The cougar wrapped his arms around Volle and squeezed him. “Thanks. I really appreciate this.”

“Oof. Sure. Hey,” he called as the cougar padded quickly away, “I’m going to take a water bath, so if you get back and I’m not here, just make yourself at home, and I’ll be back soon.” The cougar gave a wave of understanding and disappeared.

Volle opened the door and saw Welcis tidying the parlor. “Ah, Welcis…”

“Sir?” The skunk turned to face him.

“We’ll be having a guest here, for a few nights, I guess. A big cougar. He’ll stay in the bedroom with me. I think.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’m going to take my bath. If he comes by while I’m gone, er, show him to the bed. Bedroom, I mean.”

“Yes, sir. Might I remind his lordship of his dinner plans tomorrow night?”

“Oh. Arrin.” Volle chewed his lip.

“Will I be setting a table for three, sir?”

“Let me think about that.”

“Very good, sir.”

He walked over to the bath, still thinking about Arrin and what he would say. The large hot water bath that lay beyond the main archway was occupied, so he headed to one of the two smaller private baths behind it. He didn’t mind bathing with others—had done it all his life—but he preferred to be alone at the moment. Besides, he wasn’t sure the stain on his shorts had dried, and a stain that appeared to be on the back was even more embarrassing than one on the front.

The water was clean, if not very hot. He grabbed some soapstone and started scrubbing his fur. As he cleaned the area around his sheath, he thought about the cougar’s warm paw, his confident touch, and easy manner. What harm would it do to have him stay for a few nights? It would save him some money at the Jackal’s Staff, anyway. Arrin already knew about his trips there and tolerated him, and this wasn’t that different, really. It wasn’t like he had some attachment to the cougar. He didn’t even know his name.

All the same, he probably should cancel his dinner with Arrin. There’d be no way to juggle them successfully, and if Arrin wouldn’t sleep with
him
, there was absolutely no chance he’d end up in a three-way with the cougar…

Volle jerked his paw back from his sheath, where his erection was growing quickly. He looked down at himself and grinned. This could be a very interesting week. He wondered if he had enough stamina for it.

When he returned to his chambers, towel wrapped around his midsection, Welcis greeted him. “Your lordship’s guest is in the bedroom, sir.”

“Thank you, Welcis.” He slipped through the two doors, holding the towel, and found the cougar examining the bricked-up doorway.

“That used to lead to a bathroom. Before I lived here.”

The cougar turned and smiled. “I was wondering. How long have you lived here?”