A Fox's Alliance (American Kitsune Book 10)

by Brandon Varnell

  “What can they do at the beach in the middle of winter?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine, sir.”

  “I see. How interesting. The beach, huh? Do you know which beach?”

  Jack looked at Jill for an answer. She rolled her eyes. “The closest beach is Manhattan Beach, so I can only assume they went there.”

  After relaying her information to their superior, Jack waited to receive orders.

  “Hm, Manhattan Beach. Kukuku…”

  Jack told himself that the shudder passing through his body was from the cold. Not fear. Navy SEALs feared nothing—certainly not creepy laughs from a superior officer.

  “Return to base,” Sergeant Justin said after he finished laughing. “It looks like we’ve been given an invitation, and it would be wrong of us not to accept it.”

  Jack didn’t really understand what the sergeant meant by that, but he wasn’t going to question the man… boy… how old was the sergeant anyway?

  “Understood sir.”

  Cutting the line, Jack turned to his sister.

  “Orders to move out?” she asked.

  “We’re returning to base. Our mission here is done.”

  “Good. I need to scrub my body with rubbing alcohol.”

  I’m not gonna ask, Jack decided as he followed after his sister.

  ***

  The beach, huh? It’s been awhile since I’ve been here.

  Kevin remembered his last time visiting the beach. Back then, he and Lilian had been swept up in a yōkai technique that nearly killed them. He really hoped that didn’t happen this time.

  The beach was pretty crowded that day. There were plenty of people around. Most of them weren’t humans but yōkai. Water yōkai. Kappa lazed about in the ocean, letting the sun warm their blue-skinned bodies as the waves gently swelled underneath them. Further out, several ningyo swam. Appearing similar to merpeople, they leapt out of the water, fins glistening in the sunlight as droplets flew around them.

  It was all very scenic, Kevin would admit. However…

  “Am I the only one confused? Why are we at the beach in the middle of winter?”

  Kuroneko’s smirk could have tongue-tied most men. It was a good thing that Kevin wasn’t most men—not anymore, at least.

  “Everybody needs a break every now and then, child. If I am going to be taking a more active part in this war, then I would like to have at least one day to relax. That’s not a problem, is it?”

  Kevin ignored the chill crawling up his spine. It was just the nekomata pressing her aura down on him.

  “No, I suppose not.”

  “Good. Now, then, let’s have some fun.”

  Taking Lilian and Iris by their hands, Kevin followed Kuroneko as she waltzed up to a mixed group of humans and yōkai. All of them were men, and the moment they laid eyes on her, every single one of them jumped to their feet, backs straight and faces red.

  “K-Kuroneko! To what do we owe the pleasure?!”

  She smiled at them and slowly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I know this might be a bother, but would you mind letting me and my companions use this spot?”

  Only then did the men realize that Kuroneko wasn’t alone. Iris, who’d been huffing at the nekomata stealing what she probably felt was her rightful attention, suddenly became all sultry and seduction. Lilian hid behind Kevin when several lust-filled eyes turned on her. Once the group noticed him, however, the salacious looks became heated glares. These men apparently didn’t like the fact that he was with the girls.

  “Of course… Kuroneko,” one of the men said, a kappa, who tore his hateful gaze away from Kevin and bowed to the nekomata.

  “Thank you so much.” Kuroneko slowly raised one hand, fingers curled, and formed it into a paw. Her smile widened as she winked at them. “Nya.”

  “So hot!”

  The men were felled. Like the tail end of a comet, blood gushed from their noses as they hurtled backwards, plowing into the sand, rolling along the ground, and coming to a stop several yards away. There they lay, dazed eyes staring at the sky, crimson fluids dripping from nostrils, and dopey smiles plastered on asinine-looking faces.

  Kevin facepalmed. “Seeing this makes me sometimes regret that I’m a man.”

  “Don’t say that, Beloved. You wouldn’t be able to please me like you do if you were a woman. Now, do you think you can put some sunscreen on my back?”

  Kevin didn’t ask Lilian where she got the sunscreen. They’d gone to many shops the last few days, not including the one where all three females had bought their swimsuits. He simply took the sunscreen from her, and bade the redhead to lay down on one of the towels that the men had vacated.

  “Would you mind putting sunscreen on me, too, Stud? Make sure to be thorough. I want that sunscreen rubbed into every nook and cranny of my body.”

  “I would also like some sunscreen put on me, child.”

  “Wait your turn, you two,” Kevin grumbled as he squirted some suntan lotion onto his hands. “I swear, some people are just so impatient.”

  “Ufufufu, most men wouldn’t complain about rubbing suntan lotion on three beautiful women, Beloved.”

  “Most men think more with their dicks than their heads.”

  Straddling Lilian’s legs, Kevin gently applied suntan lotion to her back, enjoying the feel of her warm, silky smooth skin as he rubbed his hands up and down. He smiled when Lilian let out an appreciative moan, though her previous comment made him sigh a bit.

  “Can you at least act like a jealous girlfriend?”

  Closing her eyes, a content expression plastered on her face, Lilian sighed in rapture as Kevin massaged her lower back.

  “Why should I? I’m secure in our relationship. I know you’d never leave me.” Lilian paused, biting her lower lip. Kevin’s hands had dipped into her suit and were massaging her butt. “Although, if you want me to, I could feign jealousy. Would you like me to do that?”

  Kevin chuckled a bit. “Nah, I think I’m good. Front.”

  After making sure to rub sunscreen onto both Lilian’s front and back, he moved over to Iris, who’d decided that tops were unnecessary. Kevin rolled his eyes as he began rubbing sunscreen into her skin. As he began massaging it into her lower back, Iris let out a low, lustful moan that even caused him to become somewhat stiff.

  “Do you really have to do that here? You’re gonna attract attention.”

  Iris’s low chuckle filled his ears. “I always attract attention.” She rolled over after Kevin had finished with her back and legs, displaying her breasts for everyone present. Like two large hills, they rose from the surface of her chest. The pink nipples that capped them were like the twin peaks of a small mountain. “Make sure you get my front, too, Stud,” she said, winking.

  Kevin scowled. “There are such things as public indecency, you know?”

  When Iris just continued grinning at him, Kevin resigned himself to his fate, knowing that this was just how she acted.

  He straddled her legs and applied sunscreen to her front, starting at the neck and slowly working his way down her front. When his hands reached her breasts, he paused. However, upon receiving a “hurry up” glance from Iris, he slowly let his hands roam down.

  “Harder,” Iris stifled a moan as he began rubbing sunscreen onto her breasts. “Make sure to rub it in good. I don’t want to have any streaks—ahn!”

  Kevin froze like a popsicle when his hands touched her nipples. They had already stiffened underneath him. Just like Lilian, Iris had extremely sensitive nipples. They might have been even more sensitive than Lilian’s.

  Everyone was staring at them. Whispers broke out. Kevin felt his face burn.

  “Would you stop that?” he hissed.

  “Huhuhu,” Iris’s dirty old man chuckle caused him to grit his teeth. “So you can still blush like that, even after everything we’ve done? How cute.”

  Kevin growled, which merely made Iris’s smile widen.

  “Well, aren’t
you going to continue?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “Or do you plan to keep your hands on my chest?”

  Her words made Kevin’s anger dissipate. He looked down to see that, indeed, his hands were cupping her breasts. Jerking them back as if they’d been scalded, Kevin released a resigned sigh as he realized she’d gotten the better of him, and then began applying sunscreen to the rest of her body.

  “You do such good work,” Iris complimented, grinning. “Remind me to reward you later tonight.”

  Kevin scowled at her, but he didn’t say anything and instead turned to Kuroneko.

  He deadpanned.

  She wasn’t wearing a top either.

  “What?” she asked, her indolent cat-like smile every bit as seductive as Iris’s “come hither” look. “Everybody else was doing it.”

  Kevin slowly stood up, then turned away from the woman.

  “We’re done here.”

  “What?” Kuroneko moaned in complaint. “What about my sunscreen?”

  “Do it yourself!”

  Kuroneko actually pouted.

  “Hmph. How unfair. Oh, well,” she said, shrugging before she turned to look at the horde of drooling men who’d seen what was happening. Giving them the same smile she gave Kevin, Kuroneko held up a bottle of suntan lotion. “Would any of you big, strong men like to rub suntan lotion on me?”

  “ME! ME! I WILL! PICK ME!” every male, be they young or old, shouted at the same time.

  Plopping down next to Lilian as she luxuriated in the sun, Kevin buried his face in his hands and groaned. He really was embarrassed to have been born male sometimes.

  ***

  “Sir! Deployment preparations have been made!” a soldier informed him.

  Gunther heard the report and grunted, pleased to know that everything was proceeding as planned.

  He stood in the bridge of a Navy warship, a Littoral Combat Ship, or LCS, of the Freedom variant. Fast and agile, this ship was designed for operation in near-shore environments, and it could easily circumvent anti-access threats, such as mines, quiet diesel submarines, and fast surface crafts. While it lacked the firepower of a destroyer, cruiser, or amphibious assault ship, its tactical abilities more than made up for it.

  Surrounding the ship were dozens of other vessels, war faring naval ships: massive destroyers, aircraft carriers, assault ships, the works. This was the fleet that was going to break Kuroneko’s hold over Los Angeles, California.

  “Good. Have the troops get ready for deployment,” he ordered.

  “Yes, sir!”

  The soldier offered a stiff salute, warily eying the person behind Gunther before departing.

  “It’s not gonna work,” a singsong voice said, causing Gunther to grit his teeth.

  Whirling around, Gunther glared at the impudent child trying to play soldier. Brats like this needed to be in school, not commanding officers who’d been fighting for longer than he’d been alive.

  “Listen here, boy. You may think you know what war is all about, but I’ve seen war. I’ve taken part in it, unlike you. Do not tell me how to do my job. Your part in this operation is over. I’m in charge of this mission now.”

  Justin raised his hands in a placating gesture. His smile, however, was quite mocking.

  “If you say so. Be warned, though. When this mission fails, and your troops all lie defeated, I’m going to say ‘I told you so.’”

  Scowling like he had tasted something foul, Gunther spun back to face the front.

  “We’ll see about that.”

  As the man walked off, Justin chuckled to himself.

  Well, I warned him. Whatever happens now is all on his head.

  Grinning, he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

  Now, then, Kevin, Lilian, Iris, show me something interesting.

  ***

  Bodyboarding was tough. Certainly, it was much tougher than Kevin had expected it to be. He wondered if it was because he didn’t have a board underneath him. Did that increase the difficulty level of catching a wave? He really didn’t know, but he and Lilian weren’t having much success.

  “One’s coming! Beloved, it’s coming!”

  “I see it. Get ready!”

  Placing their backs to the wave, Kevin and Lilian began to swim.

  “Faster, Lilian! Kick harder!”

  “Hawa, what do you think I’m trying to do!”

  “We’re not gonna make it!”

  Unfortunately, Kevin and Lilian kinda sucked at swimming. The wave passed them, and they were left staring at its backside.

  “I can’t believe we couldn’t catch it,” Lilian muttered.

  “So not cool,” Kevin agreed.

  “Hey, you guys!” Iris called out to them. She grinned when they turned her way, bouncing a large beach ball between her hands. “Come on, let’s play a game!”

  Deciding that trying to catch a wave was a bust, Kevin and Lilian joined Iris and Kuroneko in a game of beach ball. It was basically just them bouncing a large beach ball between each other. Of course, the one they tossed around wasn’t the only beach ball bouncing.

  Kevin didn’t know where to look as they played beach ball. He’d like to say that his eyes stayed on Lilian—or at least, her chest—but that would have been a flat out lie. When a man is surrounded by several bouncing breasts, looking at a single pair of them was impossible.

  “You’re such a perv, Stud!” Iris laughed—and received a beach ball to the face for her troubles, when Kevin spiked the ball at her. “Oh, now it’s on!”

  “Ha! You think you can get back at me? You’re welcome to try—ooof!”

  Kevin’s eyes widened when Iris pounded on the ball, which slammed into his stomach. He fell on his rear, the ball bouncing into the air where Kuroneko hit it. Growling, he leapt back to his feet.

  “That was a cheap trick, using reinforcement to hit the ball harder.”

  Iris merely gave him an impish grin. “Don’t you know that old saying, Stud? All is fair in love and—gya!”

  Lilian laughed as she used her tail to spike the ball into Iris, who retaliated by sending it right back. Not one to let herself be outdone, Lilian decided to return the favor again. Unfortunately, she’d put too much youki into her tails, and the ball popped as a result.

  “Um, oops!” she said, wrapping her knuckles against her noggin and letting out a girlish, “Tee-hee!”

  “Tee-hee, she says.” Kevin and Iris sighed at the same time.

  After their beach ball popped, they spent several hours kicking and splashing around in the ocean, having water fights and tossing each other around. The water was freezing. Honestly, Kevin thought something must have been wrong with them to enjoy the water during winter. Whose bright idea was this again? Oh, right. Kuroneko’s. Damn that woman.

  “Iyah! Kevin, so ecchi!”

  “Oh, shut up! You’re the one who stuck your hand down my pants! If anyone is gonna be called ecchi, it’s you!”

  “Uhuhuhu, you really do know me too well.”

  “No fair! I wanna be ecchi with Beloved, too!”

  Lilian jumped on Kevin’s back. He stiffened at the feel of her jiggly joggers pressing into his neck.

  “W-wait, Lilian! Don’t—waaaaahhh!”

  Splash!

  Kevin coughed and sputtered as he fell face-first into the ocean. Water filled his mouth and nose, invading his senses and causing him to choke. His eyes stung from the salt, which also made his mouth pucker. He surfaced several seconds later, gasping for air and coughing out several mouthfuls of water.

  “Whoops! Sorry, Beloved,” Lilian said. “I guess I got over excited.” She rubbed the back of her head. Kevin sighed. At least she had the decency to sound sheepish.

  “Uhuhuhu…”

  “That does it.”

  Growling, Kevin bum-rushed Iris, tackling the girl and sending them both splashing into the ocean. Water sprayed everywhere as they wrestled.

  “Don’t think I’m not on to you! You did that on purpose
!”

  “So what if I did? What are you gonna do about it? Spank me?”

  “That’s not a bad idea!”

  The two rolled around in the sea, kicking up water as they tried to stay on top of each other. Kevin locked hands and grappled with the succubus lily, but she had the advantage of two extra appendages, and she wasn’t so honorable that she’d refrain from using her tails just because he didn’t have any himself.

  Standing on the sidelines, Lilian pouted, her eyebrows furrowed and her cheeks puffed up like a balloon. “Don’t think you two can exclude me from this!”

  Lilian jumped on top of the pair, wrestling them both. She then upped the ante by stealing Iris’s top. Several men suddenly passed out from epic nosebleeds when Iris, uncaring of her own nudity, chased after her sister. Kevin thought briefly about joining in but, honestly, he rather enjoyed the view.

  “I have said it once and I’ll say it again: You’re a very odd human.”

  Kevin glanced at Kuroneko. She stood before him, her bikini nothing more than a set of strategically placed straps. Her left hand rested on the curve of her hip. She was looking down at him, her eyes gazing into his as if he was a paradox that she couldn’t understand. Eyes like jades appeared older than time itself. They were like nothing he’d ever seen. Only the Pnevma Matriarch’s eyes looked so old, so ancient and unfathomably wise.

  For some reason, that made him uneasy.

  Kevin opened his mouth to ask her what she meant.

  He never got the chance.

  Because in that moment, a loud sonic boom rocked through the entire beach, followed by an intense shock wave. Ferocious winds slammed into him and everyone else. Kevin heard screaming, shouts surrounding him on all sides. He could hear Lilian’s and Iris’s surprised cries. He wanted to help them, to do something, but he could do nothing. His own body refused to move.

  “Sage Arts: Aether Shield.”

  Kevin gazed in shock upon the shield that sprang from the nether in front of him. It was a blue half-spherical barrier. Strands of light like woven fabrics composed of ethereal composite materials formed a cohesive shield that stood against the onslaught of massive waves and wind. Kuroneko stood behind this barrier, which was large enough to shield more than half the beach.