Maerchentic Infatuation

Story by K.M. Hirosaki on SoFurry

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#1 of Maerchentic


"Maerchentic Infatuation"

by K.M. Hirosaki ([email protected])

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This story and all characters within are copyright (c) 2004 K.M. Hirosaki

Please send any and all reviews, complaints, compliments, and other feedback to [email protected]

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Keaton wasn't drunk. He just really wished that he were. His night had been a wash. The guys who had slipped through his fingers tonight would have been real memorable ones, too, he was sure. As it was, he didn't even know if he had enough money to buy himself enough booze to get trashed before last call came around. He felt pathetic.

To make matters worse for the coyote, he'd had to put up with an awful tease all night long. He could hardly help but notice the fluid gyrations of a pair of leather-clad hips and the smooth waves of a long, fluffy tail out on the small dance floor. The annoyingly perfect body belonged to a young male linsang, whose mottled fur could be seen along his sides, thanks to his skimpy black leather vest, which was obviously designed for the sole purpose of showing things off. As he'd move, the light would occasionally glint off of a tiny spot on his chest: a nipple piecing. The shiny band around his neck looked like a loose chain choker.

Keaton knew this guy's type, though: not worth the time. It wasn't so much that the coyote didn't have a chance, but rather that a chance wasn't even part of the equation. A boy like this one came to clubs like this one for the sole purpose of making everyone want him. When the night came to a close, he'd go home, content in his knowledge that he was a hugely successful cocktease, and likely have to put up with disapproving stares from his boyfriend when he saw the flesh-baring getup he was in.

Sure, the coyote was bitter, and he full well knew it. That was a big part of his reason for wanting to get drunk. Better to be alone and in a happy daze than alone and in a foul, lonely mood...

Just then, the music stopped. But it wasn't just the music. The crowd at the bar, the sounds of footsteps, and even sound of his pulse in his own head just went away. It was just for a second, but it was enough to make the coyote disoriented, and he almost fell off of his stool. Maybe the alcohol was hitting him harder and faster than he thought, after all.

But no... that couldn't be right. In the midst of the eerie silence, there had been one sound, for one fleeting moment. It was a word, or a voice, and it belonged to someone. Keaton didn't have any evidence or details to go by in thinking that, but he knew that it was true. He just knew it.

The sound had returned, and the rest of the club seemed entirely undisturbed. Was it just his imagination? Or maybe someone had slipped something in his drink. Panicking, the coyote started to gather up his cigarettes and his coat, and stood up, intent on getting out as soon as possible. He turned around to scan the bar for his pack of cigarettes through the tangle of arms reaching for drinks, and then he felt a pair of hands clasp him on the shoulders.

"You'll do," a silky voice said. Keaton recognized the voice as being familiar, but when he spun around, he was face to face with the linsang from the dance floor, who was grinning up at him.

Up close, his face was almost angelically beautiful, Keaton thought. The young man's eyes were a rich hazel color, and as the coyote looked into them, he felt his panic from before begin to drain away. But it didn't make sense; it was illogical. He shook his head, flustered.

"Pardon me?" the coyote asked, stammering as he tried to sound overly polite. He didn't believe what he was seeing, and, moreover, he didn't believe what he was feeling.

The linsang winked and clicked his tongue. "I said 'you'll do,' silly," he replied, leaning up close to speak. "You don't look like you're having any fun at all! Come dance with me."

"I don't think..."

Tugging on Keaton's hand, the linsang tried to drag him along as he headed back to the dance floor. "Nonsense! At least one," he said, winking at the coyote as he clutched at his wrist. That banded tail rose up and drifted back down again as the linsang skittered back on his feet.

Compelled, the coyote followed. Something was nagging at the back of his brain, and it made him want to follow the flirting little tease out onto the floor. His brain spun within his head as he plodded out into the crowd, drawn into the music. As the loud thumping of the dance beat echoed in his ears, he tried to tune it out, and that's when the answer hit him.

It was like déjà vu mixed with a delayed reaction. Suddenly, the familiarity all made sense. The sound he had sworn he had heard in the silence was those two words.

"You'll do."

Keaton was sure of it. He couldn't explain it, but somehow, he had heard the linsang's voice before the fact. Any yet even without any rhyme or reason behind it, he was happy to be following along. Besides, there were worse fates than having a drop-dead sexy young guy drag you out for a dance, even if it wasn't anything more than that.

When they got out to the middle of the floor, it was like a tiny space opened up just for them. Maybe it was because folks all wanted to get a look at that long-tailed bombshell. In any case, despite having a bit of room to maneuver, the linsang stayed in nice and close to Keaton's body, and the coyote was having a hard time hiding his excitement in his eyes.

"Auri," the linsang said, smiling into Keaton's eyes.

"Excuse me?" Keaton asked, bending down to the linsang's ears to avoid needing to shout so much over the music.

"My name. Auri."

Even such simple words bore the weight of something fiercely sultry to them. It didn't seem right, and yet Keaton still didn't doubt what was happening. It felt honestly as if this Auri fellow was actually here just for him.

Keaton opened up his mouth to reply, but Auri spoke first, cutting him off. "Your name's Keaton, right?" he said, with a glimmer of mischief in his eyes. The coyote stammered, but once again, the linsang got his words out first. "I overheard you talking to the bartender, that's all," he said, winking.

The coyote chuckled somewhat nervously. Auri was doing a good job of keeping on his toes while still keeping him too interested to even think of breaking away. "So why me?" he asked, feeling like he should have sounded more suspicious than he really did.

Auri slid his lithe body closer up against him, and brought his face nice and close. "I already told you, silly," he said, clucking his tongue. "You looked downright miserable, sitting there. Why should everyone else get to have fun but you? Doesn't sound fair, does it?"

Everything about the linsang's words seemed to make Keaton's bitterness and anger from earlier just melt away, and now, here on the dance floor, he was actually thoroughly enjoying himself. He decided to take a brave bit of initiative, and he set his hands onto Auri's hips.

The linsang grinned back up to him. "See, you're having fun, just like I said you would," he said, leaning up to lick the very tip of his tongue at the coyote's chin. With their bodies pressed close together, Auri ran his hand where nobody else could see easily, and tailed his fingers up Keaton's thigh before softly closing them around the coyote's crotch. "That's what I'm all about, really--having fun."

Keaton let out a quiet moan that couldn't be heard over the music, and instinct made him press himself back against those slender fingers down between his legs. Almost as soon as they were there, though, they were gone, and the linsang's hands slid their way up the coyote's sides and gripped the backs of his shoulders. "Dance with me a bit more, first," he breathed into Keaton's ear.

Music and flashing lights assaulted Keaton's senses as the minutes went on, and he felt like he was the envy of the dance floor. Auri's movements were perpetually bordering on lewd, without ever actually crossing that line, and the coyote knew that the linsang was just deliberately trying to make him want him more.

It was working. And he liked it.

Things felt like they were beginning to slow down. Auri brought a single claw down to Keaton's lower belly and trailed it along softly. "Don't want us to get too tired from dancing," he said, smiling a smile that said everything that Keaton needed it to. The linsang took the coyote by the hand, and led him off of the dance floor much the same way he had let him onto it.

There was hardly need for questions as they walked off together; heading outside, flagging down a taxi, and driving off could mean only one thing. Keaton was surprised, however, when the cab let them off at a respectable hotel, rather than at an apartment or some run-down motel.

Auri seemed to have no problems waltzing into the hotel lobby in his flamboyant, revealing gear, and Keaton, trailing along behind him, inwardly thought that he ought to be more embarrassed by it, as well. The linsang turned more than a few heads--most of them in shock or disapproval--as they made their way to the elevator. Once inside, Auri swiped his keycard in the slot and pushed a button for one of the exclusive floors near the top.

"Travel in style, do you?" Keaton asked, speaking for the first time in what felt like forever.

The linsang winked and nodded. "Oh, always. Why leave the comforts of home just to go someplace else?"

Keaton stared at the numbers above the door as the elevator rose up. For some reason, it felt like it was taking forever. Waiting for the elevator to pass from one floor to the next was agonizing. Never before had he felt so damned impatient about anything.

His train of thought suddenly derailed right when he felt about to burst, as Auri placed a kiss on his cheek, letting those soft lips linger for just a moment longer than they needed to. "Patience," the linsang whispered with a silk voice. "Not much longer now."

Patience. Yes, he could be patient. In a matter of minutes, the coyote would be where he needed to be, and it would all be all right.

The bell sounded with a loud ding, and the doors slid open to reveal the hallway. Auri trailed his fingers over the coyote's wrist gently as he stepped out and started to lead the way. Keaton followed, silent, feeling his heartbeat grow louder and stronger with each step he took. Every time that Auri passed a door without stopping, Keaton felt an urge to whine pathetically. But finally, a little more than halfway down the hallway, the linsang stopped and took his key out again.

Keaton watched the card swipe like it was in slow motion, and Auri bowed with an outstretched arm as the door opened. "After you," the linsang said, stepping back, staying bowed. The coyote nodded once, and trotted into the room as quickly as he could without coming across as overeager.

The room itself was exquisite. A large bed caught Keaton's eye first, covered with shimmering black sheets that could only be satin. One of the walls appeared to contain a fully stocked bar, and a trio of couches were arranged around a low table, triclinium-style. The table itself bore a large, overflowing bowl of fruit, with a number of serving plates laid around it. He only registered it all peripherally, for his attention was definitely elsewhere. The coyote's ears perked up when he heard the door click closed behind him.

"Make yourself comfortable," Auri said, sauntering over toward the bowl, before plucking a fat, juicy grape from its bunch and popping it into his mouth with a single, fluid motion. Everything about he way he moved was sensual, Keaton thought. He needed to have him, and he needed to have him now, now that they were alone, behind closed doors.

It must have shown, because the linsang gave him the wriest of smiles as their eyes met. "I think I know what you need to be comfortable, though," he said to the coyote as he walked back toward him, putting one foot in front of the other as his hips swaggered, the leather of his pants accentuating every perfect curve. Keaton only had a moment to think that he was too perfect to possibly be real before the linsang's fingers were back on the coyote's crotch.

"My, my, my," Auri said, clucking his tongue and shaking his head teasingly. "Must not be very comfortable in there." Keaton winced his eyes closed as the linsang fondled his erection through the fabric of his pants. He could feel his blood surging at the touch, so close, and yet so far away.

The coyote's jaw dropped open, and just as he whispered the word "please," there was a snap, as the front of his pants was torn open, sending his button skittering across the hotel room floor. "You didn't need that, did you?" Auri asked, voice hushed as he leaned his face against Keaton's cheek. The linsang's fingertips felt along the coyote's straining shaft through the thin fabric of his boxers, and then squeezed gently when they came to the somewhat damp spot framing his glans.

Keaton just shook his head as he gasped, not caring about anything more except for that touch. He felt Auri's breath against his ear as the linsang whispered again. "I think I know what you do need." With that, those lovely fingers were gone, and when the coyote opened his eyes again, the linsang was sauntering his way over toward the bed.

"Come. Sit," Auri said, his invitation sounding almost like a command. Keaton waddled over, trying to be nonchalant about the need to hold his pants up with the button broken. As he went to sit down, the linsang made sure to pull those pants down, letting them pool around his ankles before his rear rested against the mattress. Auri moved like liquid as his slid off of the bed, tail spilling behind him as he knelt down in front of the coyote. Both sets of fingers hooked into the waistband of Keaton's boxers, tugging them down just enough to free his trapped hard-on, and the canine let out another pleasured sigh as the cool air flowed over it.

When he opened his eyes, Keaton saw that Auri had already wrapped his slim thumb and forefinger around the base of his shaft, and the linsang smiled thinly as those two digits squeezed, coaxing a nice clear bead of fluid from the coyote's tip. "You need this," Auri said, and it wasn't a question. His thumb pressed against that fresh droplet, and rubbed it down the veined underside of Keaton's stiff shaft, turning it a thin, slick smear.

The linsang began to stroke that hard flesh slowly, adding one finger after another, until he had it throbbing in his dainty grasp. Furred fingers slide along bare, sensitive flesh, moving more smoothly once they had worked Keaton up to a steady drizzle. "Hard, full, and thick," Auri said, with his face so close that each word blew out a soft breath onto the coyote's twitching member. The linsang looked up, and the pair's eyes met.

Keaton wanted to reach out. He wanted to take both of his hands, grab Auri by the sides of his head, and plunge his aching cock right into the pretty linsang's mouth. And part of him felt as if he just knew that Auri would let him. But he didn't. He sat, watching, transfixed, and shuddered as the linsang teased him.

Auri's head dipped down, and Keaton held a breath as he waited to feel the warmth of a mouth enveloping his tip, but it never came. Instead, the linsang lowered his snout further, and pressed his nose full and firm into the crease between the base of the canine's shaft and his furred scrotum. Auri snuffled down into him, air hissing in through the linsang's nostrils, before his tongue smoothly lapped a wet swath from the bottom to the front of those heavy, dangling balls.

"Oh, please," Keaton groaned, heavy with need. He closed his eyes for a moment as he tensed along the spine, and then gazed back down into Auri's face. Those rich eyes were brimming with mischief.

"I can feel how bad you need and want me," Auri said, closing his fingers down while he nuzzled the underside of the coyote's shaft with the front corner of his muzzle. For a while, all that Keaton seemed to be able to see were those eyes, pulling him in and taunting him.

The linsang's lips stayed just out of contract with the hard flesh jutting up in front of his face, and then kissed down for a fleeting instant at the tip of the glans. "I can... taste how badly you want me," he said, hissing, as he crawled up onto the bed. His long, striped tail flicked up in a sweeping flourish, and curled its way through Keaton's lap. "Come on, then," he whispered, kneeling behind the coyote's back. "Have me."

Keaton immediately turned around, kicking his pants off of his ankles. Auri began to lie back as the coyote crawled forward and used his hands to work his underwear off of his legs. The linsang let out a soft, enticing sigh as Keaton placed his hands on his shoulders and hurriedly started pulling his skimpy leather vest off. His svelte body arched upward along the spine, almost as if he were offering himself up. Keaton could barely contain his lust now. He tore into Auri's tight leather pants as fast as he could without wrecking them, and the linsang just grinned at him smugly the whole time.

Auri's slender legs curled up and pulled back, allowing the coyote to strip him bare. The coyote's gaze followed up from the linsang's feet, along his legs, and then to his crotch. He wasn't quite erect yet, but was certainly on his way there. His furred scrotum hung down to cover up that puckered hole that Keaton so desperately wanted.

Before the coyote could grab onto those lovely legs and bring him into position, the linsang slipped out from underneath him. He crawled along the bed, and brought himself up onto all fours. That beautiful black and white tail rose up and curled over his back, putting his rump on shameless display. He looked back over his shoulder and winked, lowering his shoulders closer to the bed.

Without even bothering to strip himself of his shirt, Keaton crawled on up behind the linsang as he presented himself. His hands went to Auri's hips and clutched them firmly, making the young man breathe louder. The coyote pulled the linsang's rump apart with his thumbs, and the base of that long tail lifted up a bit more, giving a perfect view of that tight-looking, furless hole.

"That's it," Auri rasped. "You're almost there. It's all yours." His voice wasn't dull or dry or emotionless, but Keaton thought somehow that it sounded distant and disconnected. It was almost as if the tone of his words didn't fit with what was going on.

Now was not the time to care, however. The coyote took one hand off of the linsang's rump, and gripped the base of his cock firmly. He shifted his weight forward, watching with unbridled lust as his swollen tip slid up along the short-furred cleft dividing the linsang's rear. Finally, his tip rested against that warm, tight ring, and he took a deep breath as he went to bear his weight forward.

He tried to, at least. For some reason, he didn't. He wouldn't. He couldn't. He stared down at Auri, at this waiting, willing body, at this perfect piece of ass, and just held still. It felt like his mind was tearing and screaming. He wanted to just plunge his cock down into the linsang's rear more than anything, to feel that warm, tight passage clenching down on him, and yet his body refused to move.

"Something the matter?" Auri asked quietly. Keaton shook his head, and bit his lower lip. He drew his hips back, and then shoved forward again. But when his tip got up underneath the linsang's tail, his body just refused to go any further. He wanted to whine or howl or scream, but that was just as impossible as pushing further.

Auri turned his head partially. "What is it? Can't bring yourself to?" That was when Keaton finally registered it. Auri's voice was dripping with smugness and mockery. Somehow, for some fucking reason, that bitch of a linsang knew what was going on, and it was making him happy, damn it! The sound of his voice would have almost been sexy to Keaton if it weren't for the fact that he couldn't have that one thing that he wanted so badly.

"Silly man," Auri said, almost but not entirely under his breath. "Why don't I show you how it's done?" He pulled away from Keaton's hold at his hip, and turned around, squatting down with his knees out to the sides. His erection was full now, poking up between his spread thighs. It was long and slender, like the rest of his body.

Keaton started to crawl back away from the linsang. "What the Hell is..." Before he could turn away or turn around, his neck jerked to a stop, just as if someone had tugged a leash hooked to a collar. The coyote brought both of his hands to his throat. Sure enough, there was nothing there, and yet when he tried to move, the restraining sensation remained. "What the fucking Hell is..."

Auri held up one arm, and made a 'come-hither' gesture with a single finger. Suddenly, Keaton felt a sharp, jerking pull from around his neck, making him lurch forward and fall onto all fours on the bed. He stared up into Auri's face, and saw then that the linsang's eyes were no longer that deep hazel, but were now rather an unearthly, turquoise blue.

Miming the gesture of holding an invisible leash in place, Auri sank down onto his knees, and 'pulled' the coyote forward so that his face was staring into his crotch. "I can feel how much you want my body, Keaton," the linsang whispered, using the same sultry tone as before. "Why don't you just have it?" He leaned forward and raised his hips, making the tip of his member brush along the whiskers and short fur on the coyote's muzzle.

The urges in Keaton's mind conflicted violently. He wanted to pull away, and part of him felt like he could if he just tried hard enough, and yet he remained still, staring up helplessly into the linsang's face as sweet-smelling drizzle matted the fur next to his nose, tingling his senses. The coyote could feel his jaw quivering.

"Go on," Auri said, coaxingly. "Lick. It's the sweetest thing you've ever tasted."

Keaton's mouth snapped open, like it had been held shut with wire that had just been cut. His tongue pressed flush against the underside of Auri's shaft, and he swiftly and thoroughly lapped along the length, getting the full-on taste of the linsang's precum. He could see Auri's eyes close as his face went slack with pleasure. "Yes, that's it," the linsang purred. "More."

It wasn't right. The struggle remained in the back of his brain, and yet Keaton gave Auri another slow lick, and he felt a surge of incongruous pride well up within him when that slim shaft twitched against his tongue. His humiliation was abject, as he found himself helplessly wanting to beg the bizarre linsang for more.

As if Auri had read his mind (and Keaton wondered if maybe that's exactly was it was), the linsang reached a hand down and cradled the end of the coyote's snout. "You're hungering for it. You're insatiable," he said, eerie eyes piercing downward. "I won't let you be denied. It is yours to have."

With those words, Keaton hungrily shoved that stiff cock right into his mouth, not stopping until his lips were down against the fur of the linsang's crotch. He whined like a pup around that shaft, and began to nurse on it needily while he lavished it with his tongue. Auri moaned with sheer delight, and Keaton's ears drank those sounds in with a fervid sense of glee, channeling his happiness into effort for his suckled prize between his lips.

"Wonderful!" the linsang cooed, jutting his hips forward, shoving his crotch into Keaton's face. "Oh, you simply must, must know how this feels!" The coyote was momentarily put off by Auri's overdone sense of drama, but that feeling was short-lived, as once the linsang spoke those words, the canine felt the unmistakable sensation of his own achingly hard shaft being engulfed by a warm mouth.

Keaton stopped his sucking for a second, and indeed, felt the sucking down between his own legs stop. The coyote tested, slurping his tongue in a slow spiral around the linsang's member, and was treated to what felt like the selfsame lick working around his own shaft. He swore that he heard Auri giggle, but it didn't matter, because soon, Keaton was putting all of his effort and concentration into pleasing the linsang while pleasing himself.

It was amazing. His tongue trailed along the ridges and bumps of the linsang's flesh, getting that sweet, sweet taste, while his own throbbing shaft experienced that bizarre yet wonderful phantom sensation. He bobbed his head along, feeling himself draw closer and closer and closer to climax, and to that much-needed release.

With a smooth motion, Auri pulled his hips back, making a wet popping sound when the seal of Keaton's mouth was broken. The coyote whimpered, his balls drawn tight against his body, and his shaft trembling in the air, begging to be brought to completion. But Auri just reached back down and cupped him by the chin. "Not yet. You know it's not yet," the linsang said.

Not yet. No, not yet. Keaton looked into Auri's face, letting his expression do the pleading.

"You know what to do," the linsang said, and, sparing no hesitation, Keaton lowered his head down against the mattress. "That's it," Auri said, crawling around the coyote's submissively hunched body. The striped tail brushed the length of Keaton's side as Auri crawled up behind him and brought himself up against the coyote's raised rear end. "You want this. More than anything, this is what you want..."

He was right. The cruel bastard was right. And it wasn't just right--it was true. In his mind, and in his heart, Keaton knew that it wasn't a trick. Whatever was compelling him to act the way that he was--that didn't matter. He actually, really, truly wanted, just as Auri had said.

This time, there was no painful teasing of time, no unbearable wait or impatient hesitation. Auri pressed forward, letting his tip spread the sensitive ring under the coyote's tail. Keaton buried his head into the sheets, and whined happily. The linsang used one hand to lift the canine's tail up, and once his glans was past the entrance, smoothly shoved his entire, thin length down into Keaton's warm, tight backside.

"Please," Keaton begged, eyes welling with tears as he felt the linsang fill him. "Please, please, please..." His muttering was met with laughter.

"Gladly," came the delicate whisper from the linsang. At some point, during Keaton's simpered begging, Auri had leaned himself down over his back, bringing his mouth next to his ears. The coyote first felt the linsang's hands press at his sides, and then felt the silky movement of the warm shaft withdrawing from his tight rump. Bearing his weight forward onto his arms, he waited for the linsang to push back again, desperately wanting to be filled again.

Auri slammed his hips back down with a faintly audible sound against Keaton's ass, making the coyote yelp a little as their scrotums smacked together. The linsang ground his hips forward for a moment, pulled back halfway, and again drove himself home under the coyote's tugged-up tail. "This is where I take you," Auri hissed. "This is where I make you mine."

Keaton kept his eyes screwed shut, and weakly nodded his head against the mattress. There was a satisfied snickering in his ear, and then, only the sensation of steady, deep thrusts. Sound vanished again, as it had back at the club, and it was replaced instead by Auri's voice, repeated an endless number of times in his head, overlapping, echoing...

"More than anything..."

"How's it feel?"

"You're mine."

"I can feel you wanting me."

"...let you go?"

"This goes beyond words."

"Bitch."

"My perfect, perfect body..."

"What you wanted..."

"Cry for me."

"...fucking you..."

"This goes beyond the physical. You're completely mine, forever and ever..."

With a start, Keaton opened his eyes. Somehow, during that rush of words and voices, Auri had flipped the coyote onto his back and shoulders. His shirt was gone, and his legs were now spread obscenely and lifted up, making it so that Keaton's view was full of the linsang thrusting down into him, hard and steadily.

Keaton looked back into Auri's eyes with awe and fear. And Auri smirked back, bringing his hips down again and again, pounding the coyote full of his length. Then, with a howled moan that drowned out all other sound in the room, Keaton finally hit his climax. His eyes closed as felt himself go, and he heard Auri chuckling with satisfaction as he came all over his own face and chest from the angle.

"Yes!" Auri gasped, throwing his head back, and Keaton opened one eyelid to briefly see the irises of the linsang's eyes glow brightly. "Oh, I can feel it! I can taste it, touch it, have it... all for me!" The linsang's voice sounded like it echoed off of the walls, and the air in the room seemed to drop sharply in temperature.

Like he had wished for back at the club, Keaton suddenly felt like he was drunk. It looked like the room--like the world itself--was spinning, and Auri's face was the most perfect display of unadulterated bliss that he felt he could ever see. Those awesome, frightening eyes finally closed, and the linsang pulled out completely. There was another orgasmic cry, and that beautiful shaft pulsed and twitched, adding the linsang's warm, sticky seed to the mess that the coyote had already made of himself.

And he had made a mess of himself in more ways than one.

A smile crossed Auri's face. It was warm, inviting, friendly, and not the least bit sinister. Keaton closed his eyes, and suddenly felt as if sleep were the only option he had.

There was no telling how long he slept, or even telling when he fell asleep, but the next thing that Keaton remembered, he was waking up. The room was just as it was before. The smell of stale semen tinged his nose, and he checked with a hand to find the fur on his face and chest still matted. There was still fruit in the bowl on the table, but there was no Auri.

Keaton stood up, and for a second, he wondered if his body would still even move. He tested his feet and legs, and, satisfied with the results, padded around the room, shaking off the haze. Then, on a small stool in the corner of the room, the coyote spotted his clothing.

He walked closer. His clothes were all neatly folded, and on top of them lay a small white card with a stylized gold "A" on it. Cautiously, Keaton reached down, picked it up, and flipped it over to read the back.

"You're welcome."