Maneuvers in the Dark Revisited

The other side of Maneuvers in the Dark. . .

~~~~~~

"Deanna, wake up."

"What is it, Zakhad? Is Zerin -- "

"No, there's a strange noise coming from the guest room."

Deanna sat up and listened. Gwaheer stirred, awakened by the movement. "What is that noise?"

"Oh, that's Will! I'd forgotten about that -- he snores."

"Snores?" Zakhad repeated. Every now and then, Deanna came across a human concept or word that was completely foreign to her Ryxi family; this was one of them, apparently. Ryxi sometimes whistled, purred, grumbled, even hissed, but never snored. It was one of the more satisfying minor details of sharing a bed with Gwaheer. Worf had snored like a, well, like a Klingon would snore -- a cross between overworked heavy machinery and rutting Arcturian *ruda* beasts. Will had a normal, but noisy, snore, usually fixed by rolling him over. Shehady must be used to it by now.

"It's something humans sometimes do when they sleep. It's normal, and they can't help it."

"Oh. I was only concerned that something might be wrong." Zakhad, tinged purple by moonlight through the open blinds, turned toward the door, paused, and flicked Gwaheer's nose with the tip of her tail.

The chase was on. Deanna curled up, smiling, vicariously along for the ride -- empathic bonding had its rewards. Gwaheer pursued Zakhad a few laps around the halls, sounding like a posse of cowboys in hot pursuit of Jesse James; 'khad laughed breathlessly as they ran four-legged. Deanna almost laughed when Zakhad got caught and squealed up the scale. Gwaheer had astonishing aim and could be across the room and achieve penetration in a flash. Of course, with a very fast wife like Zakhad, he'd need that ability. And Zakhad probably wasn't even running as fast as she could.

Zakhad never made it simple, either, not when she was in a playful mood -- which, with any of the Ryxi, was most of the time. She escaped him, he of course wanted it that way, and the chase began again. The next time around the house, they took corners at speed, running on the walls.

Deanna always smiled when people asked why there were no decorations on the walls. She'd smiled when Shehady had asked her the previous day. And judging from what she could sense of her guests, they were awake and listening, and Shehady wouldn't ask again. Will was dismayed, a little frustrated, then aroused. Deanna turned her attention back to Gwaheer and Zakhad at that point -- she knew they didn't care if she eavesdropped on them.

Zakhad had let him catch her at last, and in her current mood she wanted it rough and fast. Deanna climaxed along with them, but didn't linger in the reverberating echoes of pleasure -- he'd be there shortly, she sensed. She didn't have much time.

She had only just gotten up when he slid to a stop outside the door and leaped to the bed. Squealing, she dodged his hands and ran around the room -- she'd turned the wrong direction in panic and put him between her and the door. His lazy attempts at catching her were almost insulting. Darting past him and leaping over his tail, she raced toward the front of the house, running silent, passing Zakhad, who lay in the hall purring.

Zakhad tripped him up for her. Deanna heard him wrestling with her and Zakhad's light laughter, and then his footfalls pattered rapidly behind her as she turned the corner into the kitchen. The difficulty with this game was that she had a husband descended from night hunters, who could smell, see and hear with far better acuity than she. Once in the front room, she ran in a circle around the table to leave plenty of scent, darted toward the front door, then back around the table and hid under some cushions on the sofa. She almost didn't make it in time. He skidded into the room and hesitated, then followed her scent right out the door.

The assumption that the night breeze had swept away her trail outside would keep him out there for a moment or two, until he figured out she'd tricked him. Slipping out of the pile of pillows, she raced for the back of the house, passing Zakhad again, passing her room, then the guest room -- Will and Shehady were awake and Will was frustrated again, and she giggled maniacally on the way by -- then she was at the back door.

She let it fall shut behind her, took two steps onto the lawn, and Gwaheer dropped off the roof and caught her. She screamed, then laughed wildly, squirming out of his arms as they rolled in the wet grass. More wrestling, more screaming, and she shoved at him recklessly, knowing he could take anything she could send his way -- his reflexes were such that he would be able to counter any potentially dangerous blow she could attempt. On his part, he never lost control of himself; his claws were always tucked safely against his palms, his movements always measured and gentle. He let her go the instant he sensed she really wanted to be let go, always. Another advantage of an empathic bond.

The grass was too cold, too wet. She got away from him and ran again, glancing back one too many times and colliding with the back of the house, shoulder first.

He was there in an instant. "Are you all right?"

She pressed her back against the wall. It, too, was cold, but not wet at least, and the synthetic surface warmed quickly with just the heat from her bare body. "I think so. Clumsy me."

He stood with his hands against the wall on either side of her head, a little winded himself, and let them catch their breath. Then he touched her shoulder gently, testing it for himself as if afraid she'd lied to him and it might be damaged. Then his touch became more than concerned.

She imagined his fingers left burn marks down her side, over her hip, down her butt cheek, then under and up around her thigh. He stepped forward and buried his face in her hair. Leaning against the wall heavily, she broadcast her intent through their bond as she raised her legs to circle his hips, and he moved inside her without hesitation, their effort so coordinated she didn't drop an inch.

Arms around his neck, she pulled his face between her breasts and played with his hair and ears, then his neck ridges, which were swollen with desire. The rhythm of her butt bumping the wall quickened; his tongue found her nipple and his mouth closed on it. A pinch just above his shoulder, and suction drew a good mouthful of breast in for inspection, then a flick of her nipple.

He stopped and shifted his grip. <I'm losing leverage, here.>

Deanna glanced up at the sky. <I don't want to stop. Don't want to go inside. It's so beautiful out here. Can't you just put us on the roof? The ground's too cold.>

Teleportation was a wonderful thing. He did a line-of-sight jump to the roof, the second of weightlessness disorienting her briefly, and laid her down, withdrawing in the process, but before she could complain he substituted his tongue, and in moments had her pounding the roof panels with her fists and heels, demanding more than just the quick titillating flicks and nips. It made it worse that she could sense his amusement, and that he was only a second away from leaping on her, but he held her legs apart and continued until she yelled and arched her back.

"Now, dammit! NOW!"

He was grinning. Sitting there, waving the tip of his tail near his ear, grinning like a fiend. She realized where they were. Will and Shehady's room was in this corner of the house. As she thought about it, she also realized that, after a brief moment of irritation on Will's part, the couple was doing the same thing she and Gwaheer were.

"Oh, you bad person, you," she blurted, then laughed. Gwaheer nudged her knees further apart and appeared to be about to give her what she wanted, but as he leaned forward and reached for her, his grin went sly and she felt the tip of the *wrong* appendage --

She wasn't up to the torture of the tail. She caught him by surprise, caught the curl of his tail with her foot and shoved it away, then grabbed the lower edges of his wing membranes and pulled. He half-shrieked, then purred urgently and joined her in gleefully whomping the roof panels until they rattled.

~~~~~

Deanna felt tired the following morning, but it'd been worth it. Will came into the kitchen first, following the smell of Zakhad's answer to a Terran-style breakfast, and Deanna was ready with his coffee, just as he liked it.

He thanked her, then stared at her, chewing his lip. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

"Did what?" Deanna noticed Zakhad's lips curving up; 'khad turned away from them and stirred the closest thing to hash browns she could come up with.

Will stared at her a moment longer, then took his coffee out to the table. Shehady came through a few moments later. She wasn't a morning person, she'd claimed. Taking her coffee, she mumbled a greeting and joined Will. Both of them were dressed in somewhat rumpled civvies, and Shehady hadn't combed her hair yet.

Zakhad's tail coiled repeatedly across the floor while she finished cooking. Deanna knew she wanted to laugh, but didn't dare, not knowing how their guests might take it.

While they were putting the food on the table, Gwaheer came out and took his place at the table. They ate in complete silence. Breakfast yesterday had been the opposite, with Shehady's usual constant volley of questions, but then, that had been after a night of relative silence and uninterrupted slumber. Deanna fed Zerin, who sat in his usual spot in her lap, his breakfast between bites of her own. For once, he seemed more interested in the food than the people around him.

Finally, Shehady looked up from her nearly-empty plate, and Deanna realized she'd been waiting to see what would happen before asking. "Did you hear something last night, Deanna?"

Deanna tucked a spoon of cereal in Zerin's mouth and endured a head butt to her left breast when he tried to evade the next bite. "Well. . . I did wake up unexpectedly when I heard Will snoring. . . ."

"I heard that, too," Gwaheer said. Out of the corner of her eye, Deanna saw his tail begin to shorten into loops on the floor.

"I thought it was an animal. It frightened me," Zakhad said.

Will blinked and looked from one innocent face to the next, disbelieving what he was hearing. Shehady crumbled first, putting a hand to her stomach as she laughed with abandon, and Zakhad joined her. Deanna smiled and wiped her eyes; if she started, Zerin would become unmanageable, and he was already starting to squirm because they were laughing. She gave up on feeding him and stood, pacing in a slow circle near the table and holding him to her chest while making soothing noises.

Gwaheer rose, picking up the last pastry. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go fix the roof." As he passed Deanna, he swatted her posterior resoundingly with his tail, coiling it in the air behind him as he went out the front door.

Will began to guffaw at last, which only made Zakhad and Shehady laugh harder. Deanna dropped Zerin to the floor, covered her mouth with both hands, leaned against the wall, and joined them.