He was more confused than ever. Rules about who a man may lie with? Surely An neal was making up a tale to avoid telling him the truth. But there was no lying man smell.
"I do not understand," he admitted with a growl.
Shoulders hunched, the sad look Feris began to recognize on his face, An neal nodded. "It is perhaps difficult to understand unless you were raised there. There is... a strong taboo, Feris, against a man loving a man. Where I come from, it is a terribly unclean thing."
That was stupid.
"Men are stupid."
An neal laughed, looking surprised. "Yes. Yes, we are. But it makes no difference what I think. Were it not for my young betrothed killing herself I might have gotten a reprimand, perhaps house arrest. But they decided to make an example of me."
"She killed herself because you and another man mated? And then they banned you?" He shook his head. "Men are really stupid."
He would not have reacted so. "If you were mine and you slept with another I would kill you and this other, not myself."
An neal looked at him from under long eyelashes. "Yes. I imagine you would. You always protect your territory, Feris." There was a flash of a smile, An neal teasing him.
He rumbled and rose to the bait. "What is mine is mine, An neal."
Nodding, An neal set the basket aside, folding his hands in his lap. "Yes, well, ladies of the court are not taught to be territorial, Feris. They are taught to do nothing for themselves, frankly. Villia was not as strong as her training was. I fear I quite pushed her to desperate measures."
"If you did not wish to lie with her, why were you to be hers?" Men's ways had always confused him so. They paraded and pretended among themselves in ways that made no sense at all.
"Because our fathers thought it a good idea." An neal shook his head. "And it was not so much Villia I was opposed to, as it was women in general. I have never been drawn to them,"
"Living alone is better than having such stupid rules, An neal. It is good you are here now."
He thought his words would be a better comfort if he did not think that men and their rules made no sense and were stupid, but An neal was a man he liked, so he tried.
"Yes. I am glad I am here, too, Feris." No lie smell for that, either, though something flashed in An neal's eyes for a moment, something odd.
"Himself likes you very much." It was true, himself did. Very, very much. He did, too.
"I know. I like you both." An neal held out a hand to him, like he did much more often these last weeks, holding his when he gave it over, squeezing for a moment before letting go.
He liked that and shifted to sit closer, feeling the warmth of An neal's body along his side. He liked that very much.
The man leaned against him, quiet and still, heart thumping slow and steady as they sat together.
It was nice. Maybe even nicer than cake and lemon drops.
***
Anneal was happier than he could ever remember being. Feris was a quiet, but excellent companion. Life was simple, full of small tasks that meant something, rather than a series of useless fetes and meetings.
Even more importantly, Anneal had learned to make his own crude paper, and ink from various plants, and was busy recording his adventures.
He wondered if Feris could read.
Of course, when one was clinging to a tree branch, attempting to get to a beehive in order to extract honey, it was rather a pointless thing to wonder about. Feris would, no doubt, growl at him for risking life and limb for honey, but he wanted to make cakes. Feris liked cakes, and it pleased him to please his friend.
He only received two stings, having practiced enough in recent weeks to know how to get in and out without doing so, and he wrapped the honeycomb in his small dish and hide, clutching it to his chest as he inched backward. Which was, naturally, when he lost his balance, rolled out of the tree, and landed on his back on the ground, a cry bursting out of him with his breath.
He was just catching his breath, trying to assess the damage when Feris bounded up, low growls worried. The big tongue licked at his face.
Wheezing, Anneal put up the hand not still gripping the honey and patted Feris' head. "I am quite all right, Feris. Simply winded."
Bruised. Humiliated. But only winded.
The cat nosed along the length of his body, Feris obviously checking for himself.
All the way down, then back up, Feris licking at his honey -- obviously he was found to be whole.
"Stop that. I almost killed myself getting this for cakes." He grinned, pushing Feris' snout away. "The least you can do is let me make the cakes."
Feris growled and nuzzled his hand before ducking the big head and taking another swipe at the honeycomb -- the man loved the cakes, but obviously the cat preferred the honey.
"Ow!" Anneal would be content to let the cat have it if his ankle had not been stung. "Feris, I am getting stung. Please, can I move now?"
Feris growled and backed off, swatting at several more bees that were buzzing in annoyance at having been disturbed.
Slowly, Anneal got to his feet, limping off toward his cave, Feris trailing behind. Oh, he would be sore tonight, paying for that fall.
When they got back to the cave, Feris morphed, the man taking the place of the cat. "You're sure you're alright?"
"Yes. I am simply sore. I feel very silly." He smiled in the face of Feris' obvious concern. "By the by, can you read?"
"What?" Feris frowned at him. "Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Feris' hands went to his head, big fingers sliding gently and then pressing a little harder.
"No no. I was wondering that before I fell down." The touch felt good, though, soothing, and Anneal leaned into it.
"I could. A little. A long time ago."
Feris' hands moved down along his body, checking his limbs slowly, carefully.
"I could teach you." So nice, to have someone touch him. It had been so long. "So do you remember anything about where you were born, Feris? How you are the way you are?"
Feris shook his head and didn't answer until he'd been felt up from head to toe and then the man crouched down next to the fire. "I do not remember anything before the cage. We would go from place to place. I was displayed in the..." Feris frowned, searching for his words. "Freak show."
Feris growled, the sound unhappy. "If I did not change back and forth they would hurt me and not give me food. I did not like it. Himself hated it and hurt many people when we ran."
"Then I am glad you got away." He was. Fiercely glad. No one deserved a cage, least of all his proud and wild Feris.
Feris nodded. "Yes."
Then the man looked up at him, the gaze intense. "I am glad you were banished."
His cheeks heated, and he would have looked away, but Anneal felt compelled to hold that golden stare. "I... I am as well, Feris."
Feris made a purring noise and then shifted, the big cat coming to him and putting that large head on his leg, the purrs louder now, deeper.
He scratched Feris' ears, his neck and back, feeling warm and happy, even though his back ached. They were together through an extraordinary set of circumstances, but Anneal was grateful for it nonetheless. He would make cakes and save some honey for Feris himself and they would go on.
For the first time since it had happened, Anneal was glad he had been banished, just as he'd said.
~Chapter Eight~
Winter.
Snow.
Cold.
Cave warm.
Man warm.
Man good.
Smell good.
Purr.
Rub.
Good.
Clothes not good.
Man skin better.
Paw. Growl.
"Feris. Stop it."
Man growl.
Growl louder. Paw harder.
Clothes wrong. Man smell stronger with no clothes.
"Oh, for..." Man sit. Pull off shirt.
Purr.
Rub.
<
br /> Better.
Purr. Purr. Purr.
Lick.
Man smell grow stronger.
Musk.
Good.
Lick more.
"What in the world are you up to?" An neal push.
Growl.
Want lick man.
Want rub man.
Man good.
Man scratch ears. "You are odd, Feris."
Purr.
Scratching good.
Rub.
Lick.
Scratch.
Purr.
Good.
***
There was one problem with living in a single chamber cave with someone; it afforded no privacy.
Anneal had grown used to bathing in front of Feris. He had become accustomed to frequent rubbing and tongue bathing and sharing a sleeping spot with the big cat. He was even somewhat at peace with the fact that the man Feris went nude constantly.
What he could not figure out was what he should do when he awoke hard and needing.
In the past he had simply changed the pattern of his thoughts from remembering sweet hands upon his body to remembering the men setting the tattoos upon his cheeks. That would deflate even the strongest passion. But what was one to do when one woke from a dream and one was snuggled up against the object of that dream?
Quietly, furtively, Anneal tried to slip away.
Feris growled lightly, pushing back against him again, fur warm and unbelievably soft against his most sensitive skin.
Oh dear. This would never do. He was so hard he hurt, and it was not going down no matter what he thought of. Anneal rolled, putting his back to Feris, hands covering his hardness. Feris seemed happy enough with that, the big cat rubbing and pushing and finally settling again. He was not as happy, trying once Feris settled to again move away. Feris' growl was louder this time, the sound one of annoyance.
Well. He tried. Truly he did. But Feris was hot and soft against his back and no thought could banish his need, so Anneal began to touch himself, slow and quiet, hand barely moving.
Feris purred gently, sending soft vibrations along his back. That only added to his pleasure, the purrs ringing down his spine and into his balls, making him throb. A whimper escaped him, and his hips pushed forward as he stroked harder, faster.
Feris rubbed against his ass, soft purrs continuing.
Lords above and below. His skin was so sensitive that the slightest touch made him shake, Anneal kept rubbing, pushing back against the unbelievable softness that was Feris, pushing up into the hard grasp of his own hand. The big cat seemed quite happy to have him rubbing, the purrs increasing. That simply was too much to bear. Anneal spent with a soft cry, whole body shaking as seed pumped from him. So long. It had been so long.
Feris got up then, warm body moving away.
Then Feris was in front of him. First his face was licked, followed by his belly and hands, cock. Feris cleaned him and then settled down against him again, purring.
Oh, dear. Surely there was something perverse about that, something he should feel was worse than the act that got him banished. But he could not seem to worry about it. He was too sleepy and sated. He would simply have to worry about it later, when he and Feris woke from their nap.
~Chapter Nine~
Big snow.
Cave safe.
Cave good.
Too much cave.
Growl.
Sleep.
Groom.
Purr.
Bored.
Man smell good.
Man make sleeping noises.
Pounce.
Man scream.
"Feris!"
Lick.
Rub.
Grab man. Roll.
"Feris? What are you doing?" Man still scared. Not awake.
He shifted, still rubbing their bodies together, nose sliding along An neal's cheeks. "An neal."
It was only him, An neal should not be worried.
"Oh! It is you." An neal smiled, awareness coming into An neal's eyes.
"Who else would it be?"
"You woke me rather suddenly." An neal reached up to ruffle his hair.
"I'm bored," he told An neal, rumbling and nuzzling into the touches.
An neal was warm underneath him.
It was nice.
It felt good.
Maybe not so good to An neal, the way he scowled. "You woke me because you are bored?"
He growled. "Himself woke you."
"Oh. I beg your pardon." A spark lit An neal's eyes, and they rolled again, An neal on top this time, crowing. "I did it!" An neal looked ridiculously pleased.
His eyes narrowed and he rolled them again until he was once more on top. He pushed against An neal, making sure the man was stuck this time.
"Oof." The breath whooshed right out of An neal's lungs, and the man clung to his shoulders, blinking at him.
He blinked back.
An neal felt very good.
He wanted to rub and purr.
He wanted to a lot.
"Feris?" An neal looked red, like when the man took a bath.
"Yes, An neal?"
"What are you doing?" That was a most amusing squeak.
"I was bored." An neal was not usually so stupid like other men. Maybe he was still sleepy.
Now An neal looked at him like he was the stupid one. "Yes, Feris. We have been through that. I mean now. Why are you... you're still on top of me."
"Because it feels good, An neal. If you do not feel good, I will stop being on top of you."
"Oh. I. Oh." An neal was very, very red. "No. I mean, yes. I mean it feels good."
He nodded. An neal had said he preferred to lie with men and was he not a man?
He rubbed, watching the grey eyes going dark. It felt very good indeed.
An neal must think it very good, too, for he made that noise once more, and through the clothes An neal insisted on wearing, even to sleep, he could feel the hardness.
He rumbled and rubbed harder. So good. He had never lain with another man. Never lain with anyone before. He liked it.
"Feris. I don't think you should do that." An neal said that, but the hands on his shoulders stroked and touched.
He closed his eyes and scented the air. Musk. Strong and good, his and An neal's. Pleasure. Want. Need.
He did not stop.
"Oh. My." One of An neal's legs came up and wrapped around his hip, holding him close.
Oh! So good. So very good. He could feel the good going up his spine, settling in his balls and he was so hard, like when himself would rub against a tree.
But An neal was not a tree.
He opened his eyes again. No, not a tree.
The eyes that met his were wide and inky dark, ringed in silver. An neal tugged him down, not his bottom but his top, pulling their faces close and setting their lips together.
He gasped, breathing in An neal's scent, his flavor. So soft! An neal's lips were soft.
Rubbing against his, An neal's lips opened his mouth, tongue coming out to touch his teeth.
His eyes widened, the pleasure shooting from where their lips met to his hardness.
"An neal!"
"Mmm." The touch came again, An neal pulling him close and pressing into his mouth, tongue moving about.
Shuddering, he cried out, heat spraying from him.
"Oh! Feris!" An neal shook, breath coming very fast, the scent of him suddenly much stronger, the hard against him jerking under its cloth binding.
He purred, collapsing against An neal.
Shifted.
Purr.
Good.
Shifting Page 5
