Chapter 1 Love #3
He gaped up at it for a while. Well, he thought. That certainly is…something. It was tall and smooth, made of small red…stones? Perhaps. But the red stones were identical in size and shape, which is unusual for rocks.
The pile itself seemed to do nothing besides block his way.
He sniffed it, then gave an experimental nibble.
It baffled him on many levels—not just what it was or how it came to be, but what purpose it might possibly serve.
It didn’t feel dangerous, exactly—at least not immediately—but it made him uneasy.
Still…whatever it was, the scent that drew him here lay behind it. She’s not a wolf, he thought. But, oh dear lord, that smell. And the hunger he felt was not to be denied.
He concealed himself in the shadow of a bush and knelt beside the red stone. “Ah. Excuse me?” he barked politely. “Is anyone there?”
The response was immediate and furious. “Here? Did you say here?” The answering bark was indeed canine.
She sounded a little cranky. His tail drooped at the sound of it.
“Yes. I’m here. Of course I am. But the question is, why are you?
I’ve told you drooling inbred fleabags that I’m not interested in being wooed by mangy-ass trash bandits. Go…away!”
“I—”
“Oh, so you’re deaf as well as stupid? Lovely. I’m sure you’d make a fine father. If your sister’s busy, go bugger a knothole.”
Blacktail blinked, paused a moment, and tried again. “May I—”
“Are you still there? I tell you what—why don’t you save us both some time and bite off your own prick?” Then she muttered, “Prick.”
“Beg pardon?”
“No. I’m completely serious. If you can manage it, I’ve no doubt that your service to your breed will be rewarded in the afterlife.”
Blacktail cocked his head. He stared at the wall, horny and puzzled.
“Have you gone away? No? Yes? Perhaps even died? Could I be so fortunate? Helloooo?”
Blacktail sighed, then crouched low and sprang up the stack of red rock.
He could not leap high enough to clear it, but he caught his forepaws on the top.
After a few moments of mad scrabble with his hind legs he cleared the top, only to tumble over himself and land with a thud that knocked his breath away.
The world grayed out for a moment.
When his vision cleared, he stared up at the sight of beauty such as he had never known.
A great she-dog was padding toward him, cautious but not afraid.
She was his size, give or take. Her coat was pure black.
Muscles rippled beneath her fur when she moved, rolled like waves, glinting in the moonlight.
Blacktail opened his mouth to speak but found he could not.
I have never seen anyone so beautiful.
“Just who do you think you are?” she spat. “Hop back on over that fence lest I bite you about the ass and hindquarters. You shouldn’t be—Say…”
Now she stood over him. The scent of her drifted down like spring sunlight after a winter storm.
She gave his rear end a quick sniff. Her nose was cold.
It tickled. He wasn’t used to the greeting of equals after his long time alone on the hill.
His eyes popped open wide, and only with great effort was he able to stifle a giggle.
Mercifully, her head popped back into view after only a moment or two. Blacktail rolled over and got his feet under him.
She backed up a step to watch him stand. “You’re not a dog,” she said suspiciously.
“Um, no.” The sight of her in motion washed away all thought. He stammered for a few moments, finally managing, “I’m Blacktail.” And her tail. Oh dear god, her tail. “Hello.”
“Are you a wolf?”
“Half wolf,” he said. His own voice sounded distant to him. His nostrils flared. Dear sweet god, what is that smell?
“Half wolf, you say?” She sniffed him over again, more carefully this time. “My, you are a big one,” she said. This time her nostrils flared a bit as well. “Where are you from? Not around here, that’s certain.” She went around to his hindquarters. “May I?”
“Hmm?” Blacktail had his tail tucked between his legs. He raised it now. “Oh. Of course.”
Her nose was cold, but at the same time, the best thing he’d ever felt. With embarrassment so deep it bordered on horror, Blacktail realized his prick was poking out. It was poking out quite a ways, actually.
She didn’t seem to mind, though. After a moment she moved back around to face him. Her chain clanked as she moved. “I think I’d remember if I had seen you before.”
His tail drooped back down. “I, ahem, that is to say, I have traveled from the far hill where I live. It has no name that I know of.”
“And your master? He lets you roam freely?”
“You mean my pack lord?” He was honestly puzzled. “I don’t, ah, have one. As such.”
“Beg pardon?”
“There’s only me.” His tail had somehow progressed from “droopy” to “tucked between his hind legs.” He raised it back up now, twitched it once—just a little—then went back to the defensive posture. “I am the whole of my pack.”
“Let me make sure I’m understanding this properly,” she said. “You live in the woods. By yourself.”
“Yes.”
“What about food?”
“Food?”
“Yes. Food. How do you eat?”
“Ah…well…When I get hungry, I go out and eat something. Several somethings, if they’re little.”
“You’re a hunter?”
She sounds impressed, Blacktail thought, honestly confused. He had known no other way of life. But his erection cranked up another notch. “Yesss…?” he said, cautious. “That’s pretty much it.”
“Hmph. A likely story.” She considered for a moment. “Let us pretend for a moment that I am dumb enough to believe you. What would bring a wild hunter to this place?”
“When standing on my hill, I caught a…a scent. It was…”
“Ohhhh…Oh, I begin to understand. Yeah. That was me.” She twitched her rump. Seeing this, Blacktail began to pant. His knees trembled a bit. “It is my time. For mating.” She wiggled her hindquarters again. His vision went blurry. “You know about mating, right?”
“I, ah, that is to say…no.”
She looked at him for a moment and saw that he wasn’t kidding. “Wow. You really are from the woods, aren’t you?”
Blacktail scowled at her. He drew in breath, though he could not immediately think of anything to say.
“Never mind,” she said. “I’m convinced. You’re too dumb to be lying. Come over here, big fellow. I’ve got a surprise for you.”
Blacktail held back for a moment, his mind whirling. What am I getting myself into?
Sensing his hesitation, she turned around and smiled at him over her shoulder. She lifted her tail. At the sight, Blacktail’s erection rose up, eclipsing rational thought.
A moment later they were husband and wife.
—
When the mating was done, they dozed beside each other in the clover, cuddling and saying nice things, the way one does at such times.
She was scratching her back against the dirt when the setting sun caught the long, supple piece of metal attached to her collar.
It was shiny. When she scratched, a bit of it reflected sun into his eyes.
“Can I ask you something?”
“No.”
When Blacktail didn’t argue, she rolled over and nudged him with her nose. “Oh, for gosh sakes. I’m kidding. Of course you can. Ask me anything.”
He nuzzled the chain. It stretched from her neck to a metal stick pounded in the ground.
“What’s this thing?”
“Seriously?” She seemed surprised. He didn’t answer.
“Oh, right,” she said. “I forget you’re not from around here. No disrespect, you understand.”
“None taken. It’s just…this place takes some getting used to.”
“Yes. I imagine so. I’ll keep that in mind. Or try to. But to answer your question, that is the leash of my collar. My two-legs tied it around my neck…god, ages ago. I hardly notice it anymore.”
Blacktail nibbled at it, experimentally, with his small front teeth. Nothing. After a couple of tries he positioned it on his back teeth, as if he were cracking a femur. “Ow,” he said after he tried biting down. “Shit. Ow.”
She wagged her tail grimly. “Yeah, probably don’t do that again. It’s tougher than it looks. I broke a tooth on one when I was younger.”
When he spit it out, the chain links clinked. The sound wasn’t unpleasant. It pissed him off, nonetheless. “How do you run with this thing on?”
“Run?” She blinked. “Mostly I don’t. I’m pretty sure that’s the whole point.” She cast her eyes down. “I slipped free a couple of times. When I was younger. But it angers them”—she glanced over at the man-den behind her—“a lot. Quite a lot, actually.”
Blacktail sat up and perched on his elbows.
Her chain was short. He’d been too distracted to notice earlier, but the boundaries of her world were plain to see.
The length of the chain traced a circle of stony gray earth.
She can run from this end to that, he realized.
Then, if she likes, she can run back again.
Beyond that circle of stony earth lay all of the world, bounded by the lush grass of summer.
But it was worse than that.
She has no den, he realized. No shelter.
Not even much of a sleeping hole. His mind flashed back to the last storm of winter, just before the full moon.
It was a bad one, the kind where even bunnies stuck to their burrows.
It went on for days. He’d been chilly, yes.
But in his mother’s den the wind was broken by the deadfall.
Curled in Mother’s old sleeping hole was—well, not cozy…
but warm enough. But here…on her chain…there’s nowhere to take shelter when the wind bites deep.
“Where do you sleep when the snow comes?”
She cocked her head, confused. “I mean…right here-ish? Or sometimes over there, beside the wall.” She nodded toward the wall, then at the shallow sleeping hole near the end of her chain.
“It depends on the wind. If it’s from the south here, from the north there…
you get the idea.” She rested her head on her forepaws.
“It’s comfortable enough, I suppose. For the most part.
But every now and then I wish they’d let me stay in House. It—”
“House?”