Volle (34 page)

“Listen,” she said. “We didn’t think commitments would be a problem for you, given your…history. It worries me a little bit, because you’re a good fox. Maybe too good to be a good spy as well. I just want to be sure you know that you need to keep a part of yourself outside.”

“I know,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean I’ll be able to do it. But I know the risks. I’ve thought about it a lot, but sometimes you don’t have a choice in what you feel.”

Seir grinned. “Spoken like a youngster. Well, if you ever really need to talk to someone about your double life and your entanglements and all that—I know it’s hard not being able to talk to anyone—just leave a note in the drop box with my name on it and I’ll meet you in the park the following afternoon if I can. Deal?”

“I thought we weren’t supposed to be seen together.”

“We’re not. But once in a great while, as long as we’re careful, we can risk it. And I don’t want you doing anything stupid like telling your cougar boyfriend about your secret life just because you’re frustrated that you can’t talk to anyone. All right?”

“All right.” He smiled and hugged her. “Thanks, Seir.”

“You can thank me best by never taking me up on it.” She nuzzled him, then hopped down from the bed. “Now I’ll let you get on with your evening. See you in two weeks.”

“Bye.”

He lay back on the bed as the door closed behind the mouse, closed his eyes, and sighed. After a moment, he heard the door open and close, and a familiar scent reached his nostrils. “Hi, Richy,” he said without opening his eyes.

He felt the motion and heard the soft chuckle. A moment later, the wolf settled beside him. A gentle paw tugged at his shirt fastenings. “I haven’t seen you in two weeks. I thought you’d forgotten me.”

“How could I?” Eyes still closed, he lifted his arms to permit the wolf to lift off his shirt.

“You want me to blow out the candle?”

He realized Richy was wondering why his eyes were closed. He opened them, looked up at the wolf’s clear green eyes, and smiled. “Sure.”

“Just a minute.” He folded Volle’s shirt and laid it on the table near the bed, then cupped the flame in his paw and puffed softly on it. The room grew darker, but Volle’s vision adjusted quickly. He could see as well without the candle as with it, but the colors were more muted and the room seemed more peaceful and serene.

Richy had already removed his loincloth, he saw. The wolf’s silvery pelt was bright as he knelt on the bed, and his sheath hung invitingly between his thighs. Volle lifted a black paw and cupped it, stroking gently with his fingers as Richy worked with the fastenings of his pants. He was rewarded with the slow emergence of the wolf’s member, dark against the light belly fur. Volle smiled and brushed a velvety finger up and down the length as it appeared, making the wolf raise his head and smile.

“Patience, foxy,” he said with a smile as he slid a paw into Volle’s pants and found his sheath as well. Volle lifted his hips to allow the pants to slide the rest of the way off, revealing his erection under Richy’s white paw. The wolf drew his pad up the length and smiled. “And what is sir’s preference tonight?”

By way of answer, Volle reached back under Richy’s sheath and drew a single claw down his tail hole. “I think I’ll have a wolf,” he said softly. “On his back.”

“Yes, sir.” Richy grinned and laid down on the bed as Volle scooted to one side. He raised his knees and lifted his rump slightly. “Will this do?”

“It’ll do wonderfully.” Volle leaned over and drew his tongue along the wolf’s length, tasting the soft musk and filling his head with the wolf’s delicate scent. “I think I would like a muzzleful tonight as well.”

The wolf’s gently protesting paw fell back. He murmured, “I guess that would be okay.”

Volle lifted his muzzle and smiled. “I hope it’s more than just okay. The cream’s in the chest?” Richy nodded assent, and Volle lifted the lid of the chest and peered inside.

He found the cream immediately, but paused to look at the rest of the contents. He held up a silk rope and chuckled. “You use this often?”

Richy turned his head and smiled. “More than you’d think. You want to use it?”

Volle shook his head. “Not my thing. What about this?” He held up a polished wooden dildo with a knot at the end. “Good heavens, it’s nearly as thick as my arm.”

“That’s a popular one.”

Volle eyed it, and considered trying it just to see if it would fit. It was slightly larger than even Xiller had been, but not so much larger that he thought it would hurt. But he was trying to let his memories of the cougar settle and rest, and so he put it back in the chest. He grinned at the wolf. “Some other time.”

He closed the chest and returned to the bed, kneeling in front of the prone wolf to give him a good view of his erection as he rubbed the slick cream up and down it. He took another pawful and rubbed it gently on Richy’s pink opening, pressing a knuckle into it to push some of the cream inside too.

“I’m fine,” Richy said softly, his tail thumping the bed.

Volle set the cream down and guided himself gently into the wolf, his tail wagging as well. He sighed at the warm tightness surrounding him as he pushed his length further into the panting wolf. He slid easily in, looked up at Richy and received an encouraging smile, and bent over to take the wolf’s erection into his muzzle.

He held it without moving as he began to thrust in and out, feeling the motions through the wolf’s hips with his paws. Then, slowly, he lowered and raised his muzzle, tongue caressing the long stiff length as he did so. Richy moaned appreciatively and pushed his hips up into Volle’s muzzle as Volle was pushing his own hips forward into the wolf, his shaft sinking in all the way over his growing knot and then back out. Richy clenched his muscles expertly around the fox’s tip, making him shiver and moan himself around the hard length in his muzzle.

He could feel the swelling of his knot, both as a pressure at his groin and in the resistance with each thrust into the wolf. He moved his paw, still slick with cream, to the base of the thick shaft, feeling the knot there grow along with his. He wrapped his paw around it and stroked in time with his muzzle’s movements, tasting Richy’s musk with every lap of his tongue.

Time seemed to slow for him, or maybe he was keeping his thrusts deliberately slow in an attempt to keep the moment going. Richy’s knot was full and he was ready to come; Volle had been teasing him with tongue pressure on his sensitive tip until the knot in his paw was nice and hard. Volle himself was close, to the point that he was waiting to push his knot into the wolf. The back and forth was exciting but also relaxing, in a blissfully hazy sort of way, and maybe it was five thrusts later or twenty-five that he pressed his hips all the way in, his knot resisting and then sliding in all at once, sealing him to the wolf.

He squeezed Richy’s knot at the same time, licking quickly, and the wolf cried out, tensing on the bed as he came onto Volle’s tongue. Volle shuddered himself, lapping at the musky fluid as it spurted onto his tongue, his hips moving with a life of their own until his body matched Richy’s shudders and he emptied himself into the wolf, moaning loudly around the dripping length in his muzzle.

They stayed locked like that for several heartbeats, and then Volle let Richy’s length slide out of his muzzle. He panted and smiled at the wolf, who gave him a bright smile in return. “That was great,” he said.

Volle nodded. “Me too.” He arranged his knees until he was sitting a bit more comfortably, and then rested his paws on Richy’s taut stomach. He rubbed the fur gently, and Richy’s tail, which had been wagging, wagged harder.

“How many clients do you usually get a night?”

“I really shouldn’t talk about that. I don’t think.”

“I’m just wondering how much business I might have made you miss.” Volle licked his lips and smiled.

“Oh, that.” Richy giggled softly. “It’s okay. I have enough time before the next one, and I’ll just tell Tally to send in someone who doesn’t want me to be on top. I don’t get a lot of bottoms anyway.”

Volle leaned over and licked a few white drops off of the wolf’s pink member. “You always seemed reluctant to finish, though.”

“Well…” Richy reached up and touched his muzzle. “It does keep me more enthusiastic if I haven’t come that night. But for special clients I can make an exception.”

Volle smiled and nuzzled Richy’s paw. His mind wandered as his paws roamed through the soft white fur, and he said, “What happens if you fall in love with a client?”

Richy stiffened, and his eyes became instantly wary. Volle saw this, and hastily amended, “Not me. I’m just curious.”

The wolf relaxed somewhat. “It’s all business,” he said softly. “We’re not allowed to meet clients outside the building.”

“Have you ever wanted to?”

The wolf shook his head slowly. “I don’t mean that I don’t enjoy my time with you, Volle. But you understand. You don’t really know me. And I don’t really know you.”

“I think you know me better than I know you. You just react to me. You’re pretending to be someone else, someone I want to be with. So you have to know me, at least a little bit.”

Richy shrugged, with a smile. “You know the business.” He covered Volle’s paw with his. “But I do enjoy being with you.”

Volle grinned. “You don’t have to worry about losing my business. I’m just wondering. Trust me, I’ve been very happy with your service.” He wriggled his hips, tugging at their tie.

Richy grinned. “There have been some clients who I wanted to see again here.” He traced a fingertip over Volle’s paw. “I usually tell them so.”

“Don’t you tell everybody that?”

“No. Really, I don’t. Sometimes I just wipe up and smile until they leave.”

“Do you ever play with any of the other workers?”

Richy’s eyes slid to one side. “I shouldn’t be talking about the others.”

“About yourself, then. Have you ever been in love with someone who wasn’t a client?”

He continued to run his dark paws through the wolf’s white stomach fur, waiting for an answer. He felt Richy draw in a breath and let it out slowly, and felt the vibrations as he said, “Once.” He didn’t look at Volle as he said it.

“What happened?”

“He died.”

“I’m sorry.” He rested a paw on Richy’s stomach. “How?”

Richy moved his hips, and Volle slid out of him easily. “Let’s get you cleaned up,” he said softly, sitting up and grabbing a towel from the side of the bed. He bent over and wrapped the towel around Volle’s member, rubbing gently. As he did, Volle leaned over and nuzzled his ears.

He glanced up and smiled at Volle’s contrite expression. “It’s okay. It was three years ago. He had his leg stepped on by a horse. It got infected…” He sighed. “Nothing I could do.”

“I’m sorry,” Volle said again.

Richy finished, and licked his nose. “Not your fault. Nothing you can do either.”

Volle started to put on his clothes. “I hope you can find someone to be yourself with. I think that’s pretty important for everyone.”

Richy gave him a questioning look, but didn’t say anything. He rubbed the towel along his own glistening member, smiling when he saw Volle watching him. “I’m all right. I may not have chosen this life, but I’m not unhappy.”

“All right. Would you mind if we talk a little more next time? If not, I won’t bother.”

Richy shook his head. “As long as it’s just about me. Or you,” he added, “if you want.”

“Of course.” Volle did up his shirt and smoothed it out, and leaned over to touch his nose to the wolf’s. “Thank you, Richy. As always, it was delightful.”

The wolf smiled back, his tail thumping the bed. “Thank you, Volle. See you in a week?”

“Yes, I won’t miss it this time.”

“Good. Your weasel friend wears me out.” He winked. “At least, you can tell him that.”

Volle laughed. “I will. Until then, wolf.” He walked back out to the front, where he gave Tally a tip for Richy that was equal to his regular fee for the night, making the green-dyed cougar mock-swoon.

After his morning run with Helfer (“Well, of course I wear him out!”), Volle tried unsuccessfully to get Oncit to talk over lunch again, and then met clandestinely with Tish, Dewanne, and Ryngs.

“Volle thinks that Oncit might have something to do with them,” Tish told the others after the greetings.

Dewanne stroked his whiskers. “Oncit, eh? Certainly possible. He’s on the border. We hadn’t thought of him before because he doesn’t seem to be interested in much of anything. Why do you think he’s involved?”

“He invited me to dinner, with no servants and without his wife, apparently only to talk to me about whether I wanted to invade Ferrenis.”

“He said that?”

“Not in those words,” Volle conceded. “But he asked if I would fight on the front lines if the country went to war, if I would do anything to get the Reysfields back.”

“Did you tell him they weren’t yours to begin with?” Ryngs interjected.

“What did you say?” Tish asked, ignoring the raccoon.

“I said I would. If the country went to war. Then I asked if there were any indication we’d be going to war, and he changed the subject.”