FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Just on a quick note; this story is partially a spin-off of my other story "An Intergalactic Halloween." It's not a chapter 2 or a direct sequel, but it takes place in the sci-fi universe from that story. You don't HAVE to read that story in order to read and understand this one but the two stories do kind of complement each other so it might be worth reading anyway. I haven't decide if I'm going to do a chapter 2 for this yet; maybe if it's well received, I will. Oh, and this was also supposed to be a New Years story, but I was unable to get it out in time for New Year's Eve. It ended up being longer than I had anticipated so it took longer for me to finish. Anyways, enjoy, and please comment...it makes me giggle!

Main Characters:

Mike Sanborn- Human, Federation marine

Liz Sanborn- his wife, Human, Federation marine

Rajah Oc'thello- Kataaran (anthropomorphic tiger alien), Federation marine

Akaya Oc'thello- his mate, Kataaran, Federation marine

Characters from "An Intergalactic Halloween" that make a brief cameo appearance:

Nick Meyers- Human, former Federation fleet engineer, now an ambassador

Valhala Raahana- his girlfriend, Yvon (purple-skinned humanoid alien), ambassador in human space

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"The shuttle will be landing in New York in about five minutes. Please ensure that your seatbacks and tray-tables are in their upright and locked position as we make our final descent to Earth. Thank You."

All the passengers of the shuttle looked out of their side windows as the blue and green terrestrial planet came into view and grew larger and larger as the ship made its descent. All around them, an infinite ocean of stars and the deep, majestic void of space expanded out in all directions.

Toward the center of the ship sat two humans dressed in the blue regalia of the Federation marines. On the left, closest to the window was a black-haired man with a muscled physique. His attentive brown eyes were gazing outwardly onto the approaching Earth, taking a relaxed breath from the solace of being able to return home after so long.

Beside him sat a slender light-brown-haired human woman dressed in similar uniform colors. Her hair was tied back into a pony tail as per military regulation while her flawless face was both delicate-looking and yet hid a plethora of past experiences from her military duty behind her gleaming deep blue eyes. She, along with the man beside her, had the shoulder of her blue uniform tagged with a single stripe, indicating her as private first-class, as well as four letters: GASF (Galactic Alliance Systems Federation).

She turned to the male soldier, giving his arm a gentle squeeze. He turned away from the window to look at her with a smile.

"How do you feel, Mike?" she asked him sweetly, her hand moving from his arm to give his hand a gentle squeeze.

He leaned across his seat to her and drew her to him. His face honed in on hers before their lips met in a gentle, loving kiss. Their smiling faces pulled back to look at each other while their hands continued to stay intertwined.

"Glad to be home. And even more glad to have you back with me, Liz," he softly replied back to his wife, punctuating it with a kiss on her cheek. The two immediately fell into another loving, passionate kiss, oblivious to the flight attendants and other passengers walking up and down the row near them. When they disconnected from it, Liz laid her head onto her husband and compatriot's shoulder as they both stared out the window to the approaching Earth.

"Michael, Elizabeth," a rich, thickly accented feminine voice spoke from across the row to Liz's right.

Liz lifted her head from Mike's shoulder and the two spun around to look over at the source of the voice.

In the middle row, across from Mike and Liz, were two more seated passengers adorned in the dress blues of the Federation marines. These two, also a male and female, were not humans like Mike and Liz. The uniforms of these soldiers were rather filled by two distinctly alien figures with physical features reminiscent of felines, or rather tigers in particular.

The female tiger-marine on the left that had spoken out to the two of them had a slender build similar to Liz's although she was taller by a scant couple inches. Unlike Liz, her head of brown hair wasn't tied back into a pony tail but was trimmed down short enough that it was left flowing behind her unhindered. The felinoid female, although bipedal, had features blatantly similar to that of a tiger including a maw with whiskers and a pink button nose, paws, a bushy, waving tail, tapered ears, and finally, a rich fur coat across her entire body. Although striped like that of a tiger, the fur coating was dissimilar to the colors of the animals commonly found on Earth; instead of a coating of orange and white with black, she instead had a light brown coating that matched the hair on her head, along with black stripes lining her fur.

The male beside her had many similar features but with a few differences. Like his human counterpart, Mike, he had a tall, muscled, defined build beneath his uniform and was about the same height as him. Instead of a brown coating similar to the tigress sitting beside him, he instead had the quintessential tiger exterior found on Earth's common Bengal Tigers; a vibrant orange and white fur coating with the intervals of black stripes lining his muscled build. He, like the tigress, had striking golden eyes complimentary to his race and even similar to the distant feral counterparts on Earth.

Mike and Liz, who had turned to the two anthropomorphic tiger marines, nodded their heads at them.

"Rajah, Akaya; you guys excited to be visiting our humble backwater mess for the first time?" Mike asked with a grin.

The female tiger, Akaya, smirked, raising her eyebrows at him. "Backwater, surely you aren't serious? There's so much more excitement on Earth than back home on Kataara," she replied.

"Exciting? Please. When we went with you guys to Kataara on our last furlough, we almost got mauled by that giant...gl-, what was it?" Liz asked the two tigers.

"Glilox," the male tiger, Rajah, replied to them with a grin.

"And yes, that may have been exhilarating, but I hear that Earth is the place to be during your New Year's Eve celebration," Rajah continued.

"No argument there. I plan on getting soooo drunk that my dear wifey here is going to have to carry me home," Mike chuckled, giving a playful nibble on his wife's earlobe. Liz shoved him away jokingly in response.

"Dream on, soldier, it's going to be the other way around and YOU are going to be the designated driver for tonight after me and Rajah and Akaya drink ourselves into a coma," his wife laughed, giving him a kiss on the cheek afterward.

Mike gave a mock grimace, pretending to wipe the kiss from his cheek, causing Liz and their two felinoid compatriots to laugh at the display.

Mike turned back toward Liz and the other two and said, "So, let's go over the details again; we start off by getting wasted and kicking it back tonight for New Year's Eve, tomorrow me and Liz take you guys on a grand tour of the big apple..."

"Wait, we are going to visit a giant fruit?" Rajah interjected all of a sudden.

Liz and Mike both grinned at each other. "No, Rajah, the 'big apple' is just a name we give for New York City," Mike replied.

Rajah wrinkled his whiskers with a confused frown before nodding.

"So as I was saying; we spend the first week taking in the sights of the U.S.A, Los Angeles, Texas, Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, the whole shebang," he continued.

"And don't forget that you and I are going to take some time in there to visit our folks," Liz added. "Our parents will want to see us alive and in person after we just survived a sector rebellion light years away."

They both nodded before their travel plans were interrupted by scaly green female flight attendant passing by with a cartload of beverages in tow. The female, a species known as the Galkron, turns toward both the two humans and the two Kataarans with a courteous smile across her green face.

"Would you like a drink before we land?" the flight attendant asked.

Mike and Liz nodded, kindly asking the flight attendant for a Bourbon each. Afterward, Akaya and Rajah requested a foreign Kataaran beverage each, all four of them thanking the attendant as she passed on.

The took a few sips of their respective drinks as, outside the shuttle, a blazing light engulfed the ship as they began to break the Earth's atmosphere. Akaya reached over and gently squeezed Liz's arm to get her attention again.

"So, as we were saying before, we will be visiting the African Savannah during the second week of furlough, correct?" Akaya asked with an eager smile across her striped face.

Liz smiled and nodded along with Mike.

"Yup, I know you guys are eager to visit your distant cousins," Mike joked to his two tiger-like compatriots.

Rajah rolled his golden eyes, waving the other male marine off with his paw. "You've made that joke numerous times already," he sighed with a grin.

"Nah nah, it's cool. Yes, we will be visiting Africa right after we hit the states, I swear," Mike replied.

"Yeah, I hear they have a preserve that houses some of the last two-hundred African tigers alive in the world. It's definitely something worth seeing," Liz agreed.

Mike nodded. "Yup, then we hit Europe, then the Middle East, Asia and finally we end up back in the U.S. for the last couple days of our glorious four-week furlough and I'd say that's a job well done," he concluded with a smile.

Rajah smiled and raised his drink glass to the three of them. "I propose a toast to celebrate our furlough together," he pronounced to them in his elegant, accented voice.

Mike, Akaya and Liz raised their glasses to him with smiled. Liz craned her head to whisper to Mike, "That's cute, he learned another Earth custom."

The four chuckled in unison but continued to hold up their alcoholic beverages.

"Here is a toast...to Earth, and the Federation...and here's to friends," Rajah said to them sincerely, giving a smile to Mike and Liz. Akaya nodded and looked over at them as well, meeting his smile and giving one of her own across her maw.

Mike and Liz gave sincere smiles back, raising their glasses in response to his toast. "Amen to that. To friends," Mike said, nodding to them.

The two humans and two Kataarans drank down in unison before leaning back in their chairs. Mike once again had his hand intertwined with that of his military spouse just as Akaya and her tiger mate held paws as the shuttle broke from the atmosphere. Below them, a huge body of water gave way to the large North American continent familiar to Mike and Liz but unfamiliar to Akaya and Rajah. The two tiger-like aliens looked out the window with anticipation and eagerness as they descended toward New York.

After only a few more moments, the shuttle approached a sprawling metropolitan area before almost immediately coming to a smooth, easy halt upon a platform. Outside, other platforms of robotic machinery and workers of various species were busy loading and unloading other shuttles.

After a few more moments of waiting, the overhead lights in the symbol of a seatbelt shut off and the various passengers aboard the shuttle immediately stood up to begin gathering their belongings from the overhead compartments.

"This is your captain speaking, and we here at the Federation Mass Transit would like to formally welcome you to John F. Kennedy Intergalactic Spaceport. We hope you enjoy your stay here on Earth and hope you fly the galaxy with us again soon," a voice said over the loudspeaker, bidding them all farewell.

Mike and Liz stretched out their muscles before they retrieved their single duffle bag each and Akaya and Rajah did the same. Afterward, they walked out through the doorway of the shuttle in single file as they were funneled out into the spaceport.

As soon as they stepped off the chrome, oval-shaped shuttle, the platform gave way to a massive sprawling spaceport with the skyline of the New York metropolitan area looming over in the background. Swarms of travelers of various species scattered from place to place across the terminal, all of them going in and out of shuttles that would take them to other parts of Earth or the galaxy.

In the center of the terminal, standing high and large enough for everyone to see, was a holographic wall of arrivals and departures for all the shuttles in the port. On one side of the chart was 'Interplanetary Destinations', signifying locations across Earth. Places familiar to both Mike and Liz including Orlando, Los Angeles, Beijing, Madrid, Moscow, Quebec, London and so on lined the chart, shifting and blinking every time a flight time changed. On the other side of the chart was a listing of 'Intergalactic Destinations', listing various sectors and planets within GASF space where members of the Federation's cooperating species could travel to. Mike found it funny that the latter part of the chart was really the only thing that distinguished this intergalactic spaceport from a traditional 21st century airport.

Mike was walking in a trance beside his wife and their two Kataaran companions, staring up at the destinations chart looming over the terminal. He was so captivated by it for whatever reason that he accidentally bumped into a pair of passersbys making their way over from another shuttle platform. The collision caused him to drop his duffle bag as Liz, Akaya and Rajah spun around to observe the brief scuffle.

"Oh, I'm sorry, my apologies," Mike said suddenly, reaching down to gather the fallen duffle bag of the person that he'd bumped into.

"Yeah, likewise, I wasn't watching where I was walking, sorry too," the man, another human male replied back.

Mike turned his gaze upward, handing the duffle bag back to the other man before his eyes widened in recognition of the one he'd bumped into. The other human, adorned in a casual long-sleeve shirt and jeans, also had curly brown hair, light complexion and green eyes, as well as a muscled, well-toned build that nearly matched Mike and Rajah.

"Nick?" Mike uttered in recognition. "Nick Meyers, is that you?"

The other man cocked his head and squinted slightly as he tried to recollect that familiar face. His eyebrows then rose as it came back to him.

"Mike Sanborn? You-, what are you doing on Earth?" Nick suddenly asked, flabbergasted as he dropped the fallen bag that he'd been retrieving.

Mike crossed his arms and frowned as he stared the other man up and down for a moment.

"That's all you have to say to the man who pulled your ass out of the rubble?" the human marine laughed, immediately hooking his arm around Nick's neck and giving him a rather forceful noogie like an older brother would do to a younger sibling.

Liz, Akaya and Rajah all rolled their eyes at the display even as the slightly shorter man in casual clothing tried to avoid Mike's knuckles digging into his scalp. Mike grinned but then cast his gaze upward as he had only now taken notice of Nick's companion who was also grinning from ear to ear as she too watched the amateurish display take place.

Beside Nick was a slender, violet-skinned woman, obviously an alien but with anatomy that wasn't entirely dissimilar from that of a human. She also had slightly pointy ears, striking red eyes, radiant silver hair that flowed to her shoulders and a slim form beneath her casual clothing.

"Oh...hello, mam," Mike said to the purple-skinned woman, blushing with embarrassment after having just roughed up her travel companion even as his arm still had Nick's head locked in a hold.

"Hey...Liz, want to get this creature off of me, please?" Nick laughed as he looked back at Mike's wife standing beside the tiger and tigress marines behind Mike.

Mike smirked before finally giving Nike freedom to move his head again. Nick craned his neck, grinning at his former compatriot.

"A warm welcome, as always, Private Sanborn," Nick chuckled.

He then turned his gaze over to the purple woman standing sheepishly separated from the rest of the group. Nick gave her a knowing, kind smile before gently taking her hand in his and introducing her.

"This is my girlfriend, Valhala Raahana," he said, pointing out the slender purple female. "And Val, these are PFC's Michael Sanborn and Elizabeth Jameson of the Federation marines," Nick said, introducing his girlfriend to Mike and Liz.

Val gave a welcome smile, reaching out a slender purple hand and shaking hands with both Mike and Liz.

"Pleased to meet you; I'm always glad to meet proud soldiers of the Federation, especially friends of my Nick," Val said to both of them with a kind smile.

Mike and Liz nodded back to her with friendly smiles of their own. Liz then turned to Nick and said, "It's actually Elizabeth Sanborn now," she proudly stated.

Nick's eyebrows rose as he looked at both of them. "You two are married now?! When did this happen and why did I not get an invitation to the wedding?" Nick gasped.

Mike laughed. "Five months ago. We would've invited you but we didn't know how to contact you. You kind of fell off the face of the galaxy after you left the fleet. Anyway, the wedding happened while we were still in active duty so we didn't really make it a big thing anyway."

Nick nodded before he looked past Mike and Liz to see the two other marines standing back. Nick had come into contact with the Kataarans before but this was the first time in a while that he'd met them in person. Mike took notice of this too and stepped aside to give the orange-striped tiger male and his brown-striped female counterpart room to be introduced into the picture.

"These here are me and Liz's furry partners in crime, Rajah and Akaya Oc'thello. And this here is Nick Meyers, the man who can rework a blown transmitter with his eyes closed," Mike introduced them.

Nick and Val pleasantly shook hands and paws with the two tiger-like aliens. Akaya smirked at Nick, saying in her rich accented voice, "That's a rather useful talent if I do say so myself."

Nick rolled his eyes. "He exaggerates, as usual. Although I can probably rework a shuttle's air conditioning system with my eyes closed," he laughed.

Nick and Val looked at the two humans and two Kataarans. "So, what brings you four here?" he asked.

Mike and Liz shrugged. "We weren't about to miss the New Year's Eve hype, were we? The four of us are on a month-long furlough and we're going to make the most of it with a good old tour of Earth," Mike explained.

"This is Rajah and Akaya's first time here so we're also showing them around our humble planet," Liz added.

Mike nodded. "And you?" he asked Nick.

Nick looked over at Val and smiled. "Well Val here is one of the Yvon ambassadors in human space and, as of two months ago, I am now the human ambassador for Yvon space. So, essentially we are going to be spending the next few months visiting each other's homeworlds together," he said as his hand and snaked into Val's to intertwine together.

"Hey, congratulations Mr. Ambassador! I'm glad for both of you," Mike said to them. "What's the salary of an ambassador like?"

Liz snorted. "Above your paygrade, that's for sure," she giggled.

"We'll also be swinging in for the celebrations a bit while we're here too," Nick added.

Val nodded. "Yes...Nick assures me that I have to be in Time's Square when the New Year's Eve countdown happens tonight," she laughed.

"Indeed, everyone does like to gather to watch that ball drop. We humans have been doing every year for about two hundred years now," Mike laughed.

Nick and Liz smirked in agreement. Mike then turned back to Nick and Val.

"But anyway, you say you'll be sticking around the states for a few days like us? Maybe we can meet up somewhere and catch up, just like old times," Mike said

Nick looked at Val and they both smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that would be great. Is your number still the same?" Nick asked Mike.

"Yup, same old," he replied.

Nick nodded. "Alright well, maybe we can catch up again soon. Me and Val have to go check in to our hotel before we head out into the city later."

Liz and Mike nodded. "Yeah, same. The four of us have a couple apartments already rented out in Upper Manhattan so we're going to check them out, maybe kick back a while until tonight," Liz explained.

"Alright, well, take care, guys," Nick said, before turning toward the tiger and tigress, "And nice meeting you too."

Mike, Liz, Rajah and Akaya waved and said their goodbyes to the human and violet-skinned alien girlfriend.

"Take care of him for me, Val. Who knows when he may need to be saved from a falling satellite dish again," Mike chuckled.

Nick rolled his eyes and smirked. "Very funny, Sanborn."

They waved each other off one last time before Mike and his three companions slung their bags back over their shoulders and continued off in one direction of the bustling terminal while Nick and Val continued off in another.

As they were walking away, Liz looked over her shoulder at Nick and Val with a smile. Nick had a slight limp in his step as he walked but his loving girlfriend was more than happy to maintain the pace and help him along when needed. She had her hand intertwined with her human lover's as they walked away.

"Are you hungry yet? You know I'll let you at any time, baby," Nick said to Val, which Liz overheard.

Val gave Nick a playful smack on the arm, saying, "Shhh, not here."

The two hooked their arms around each other and their conversation faded off as they rounded a corner and were gone. Liz turned back to her husband and two companions.

"They're a cute couple," Liz said to the three, smiling.

Akaya nodded her striped muzzle at the human. "I agree. Anyone who claims that interspecies matings don't work can take a look at those two," she replied.

Akaya and Rajah gave each other a quick knowing glance after that comment, smiling at each other oddly as if they knew something that Mike and Liz didn't. Mike looked at his wife with raised eyebrows for a brief second before shrugging and continuing on through the spaceport.

As they continued on to security and the baggage claim beyond, Mike and Liz walked close to each other, the two humans both just glad to be back home with each other. Their hands entwined together and they simply smiled and gazed at each other even as they winded their way through the humans and aliens alike that shuffled around them.

At one point both Mike and Liz cast their gazes behind them to look at Akaya and Rajah. They too had been walking close together as dedicated mates would, but they also appeared to be debating something with each other as they walked. Akaya had leaned over to whisper into Rajah's ear as the two seemed to be looking at their human friends ahead of them. Only when they took notice of Mike and Liz looking back at them incredulously did they cease their hushed conversation and pretend like nothing had happened.

Liz turned back toward Mike with a slight frown.

"Have you noticed that they've been acting a bit strange since the shuttle flight? I keep noticing them having hushed conversations with each other, like they're hiding something from us," she whispered to Mike.

He shrugged. "Cmon, we've been friends with Rajah and Akaya for longer than you and I can remember. They wouldn't deliberately hide something from us. It could be they're nervous about being on Earth for the first time." His eyes then lit up as an idea came to him. "Or, could be that they have some sort of New Year's surprise planned for us tonight. I bet that's what it is; maybe they are actually hiding something from us like you said," he laughed.

They continued on for another few minutes until they arrived at the baggage claim. Liz spun around and abruptly shoved her duffle into her husband's arms with a smirk.

"You're on suitcase duty. I'm going to head outside and see if I can find us a hovertaxi to the apartment," Liz said.

Mike nodded in acceptance before Akaya and Rajah looked at each other a moment. Akaya ran up after her friend as she was walking toward the exit doors.

"Liz, may I come with you?" Akaya asked, propping her paw up on the female human's shoulder.

Liz looked at her a moment and shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

Mike and Rajah looked on as their wives made their way out the exit doors before they turned to face the baggage claim. Mike looked at his comrade who was idly tapping the claws of his feet (Kataarans wore no shoes) on the conveyor belt of the baggage claim.

"So, how you find Earth? I mean I know we haven't left the spaceport yet but how so far?" Mike asked Rajah.

Rajah wrinkled his whiskers and looked around at his surroundings, rubbing the back of his neck. "Quite a lot of people. Kataara isn't nearly this populated. It's something to get used to," he replied.

Mike nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it probably is a lot to adjust to at first. I spent my childhood growing up in this city before I moved out to the colonies so I'm used to it. Don't worry though, the whole planet isn't like this. We'll be visiting less populated areas in a few days," he assured his friend.

Rajah shook his head. "No, no, I'm not worried. It's because Kataara had such a small population that me and Akaya joined the marines to visit other places and meet new people. It's fascinating to see so many people in one area," he replied eagerly.

Mike laughed at the other marine. "You'll definitely fit in with New York then. And just wait until we visit China."

By now the bags had started flowing down the baggage claim for the shuttle passengers to begin retrieving them. Mike and Rajah however were at the very end of the baggage claim away from everyone else; therefore they'd probably have to wait some time before they could retrieve all four suitcases.

Mike turned back toward Rajah, who appeared to be twiddling his paws as if he were nervous about something. After a few more moments of the awkward silence, Mike finally decided to press him about it.

"Rajah," he said, causing the tiger to look over at him. "Is there anything you need to get off your chest, bud? I couldn't help but notice that you and Akaya seemed to be in a heated discussion about something."

Rajah gulped and looked down at the conveyor belt. "Unless, you'd rather not talk about it," Mike then said.

Rajah then shook his head, replying, "No, in fact I really need to 'get this off my chest' as you put it," he said, turning to the human. Mike gulped, readying himself for what might be said to him now.

Rajah looked around to make sure no one was near enough to eavesdrop before he began.

"First off, let me just say that me and Akaya are both grateful that you brought us with you on this furlough, we're both very honored to be visiting your homeworld."

Mike smiled. "No problem, man. I told you before, we're glad to have you here with us. That's what friends are for."

Rajah nodded. "It really does mean a lot to us though. Still, recent circumstances have me...dwelling on things. Me and Akaya both," he continued.

Mike frowned. "What things? And what recent circumstances?"

Rajah took a deep breath to calm himself before going on. "Well...as you may have figured out a long time ago, Akaya and I aren't very much involved with many of the more dogmatic traditions of our own people. It's yet another reason for us leaving Kataara and joining the marines. Don't get me wrong, we are proud of our species, but we just consider some of our more rigid customs to be a bit of a hindrance," he explained.

Mike nodded with a smirk. "I can understand that. Me and Liz have never been ones for the religions of our own species either."

Rajah nodded. "But, as much as we try to avoid a lot of those customs, we do have to adhere to them to a certain degree. And I fear that one of the most important customs of our species has finally caught up with us after all these years."

"What is it?" Mike asked.

"It's a ritual called Sahaia. Essentially, at least once in a Kataaran's lifetime, one must undergo a social experience of sorts with another sentient being. Early in our people's history, this started off as a way of strengthening bonds amongst clan members. Now though in recent centuries, as Kataara has run low on resources and we've had to resort to diplomacy with the other races to attain a livelihood, Sahaia has become far more than that. Now, at least once in our life, we Kataarans must have a bonding social experience with a member of another species, in order to be considered a fully contributing member to Kataaran civilization," Rajah thoroughly explained.

Mike took this all in before he slowly nodded. "Well that's good, because isn't that what you're doing now? You and Akaya are bonding with me and Liz by visiting our homeworld and spending time with us, right?"

Rajah rubbed that back of his neck again and let out a brief laugh. "Yes...err, well, there's a little more to it than that. The ritual I mean."

Mike frowned and his eyebrows rose. "What does Sahaia actually involve?"

Rajah frowned and his pointed ears drooped with embarrassment. "This is where it becomes terribly...awkward for me," Rajah said with dejection.

"Come on dude, you can tell me. We've been in combat together; after all that you shouldn't be afraid to tell me about some ritual," Mike chuckled.

Rajah looked back up at him. "Promise me you won't be angry. And give me some time to explain myself before you jump to conclusions."

Mike looked at him with a rather nervous frown before he slowly nodded. "Ok, I promise."

Rajah stared at him intently before he nodded and continued. "Very well; Sahaia, as I said, involves a social experience shared with a member of another species. However, the social experience in question is one of an...intimate nature," Rajah said before cringing after the words left his maw.

Mike froze up and his eyes grew larger with lethargic understanding. "You...mean?"

Rajah nodded as they both made the same connection. "Yes...a Kataaran must mate with a member of another species."

Mike was practically speechless at hearing this. "Every Kataaran is expected to do this? How does that even work?" he gasped.

"Please understand that the ritual is meant to be an acceptance and trust ritual. After all, it takes a great deal of trust for one person to expose themselves physically and emotionally to another being. It's not merely a...what is the human term, 'one night fling.' Becoming friends with the other species of the Federation has become an essential part of our culture; without it, our entire way of life may have well crumbled without the support of our alliance with humans and galkrons and vithians and all the other Federation races. Sahaia is merely a way of bonding with friends of another species and extending our gratitude that we value their friendship and cooperation," Rajah said.

Mike nodded before a revelation hit him like a flying brick. His eyebrows rose and he looked at Rajah with a frown.

"You've got to be kidding me...you don't mean, you and me...and THAT! We're both married and friends and..."

Rajah's laughing drowned out his outburst. He waved his hands to put Mike's argument to a halt.

"It's not like that, Michael. I didn't mean that you and I would be doing it," he laughed.

Mike relaxed and wiped a sweat from his brow. He then laughed too, thinking of how foolish he'd been by thinking that. "Phew, that's a relief," he chuckled.

Rajah frowned again though. "You were partially correct in one regard though. The fact that Akaya and I are already mated does complicate Sahaia for us. Ordinarily, a Kataaran would undergo this mating ritual in their adolescence and prior to mateship in order to prevent infidelity and mistrust between mates. However, me and Akaya have foolishly pushed this ritual off for too long and now we really have a problem on our hands. We love and cherish each other with all of our hearts and souls. The last thing we would want to do is deceive the other for the sake of this ritual."

Mike frowned with concern. "What happens if you go your adulthood without performing Sahaia?"

Rajah shrugged. "Akaya and I will basically become pariahs of our own species. Some Kataarans who have forsaken the ritual have been permanently exiled from Kataara as a result. They are considered dead weight in our people's diplomatic relations with the Federation, since they are not willing to sacrifice for the sake of friendship. Ordinarily this wouldn't be an issue in our case because we haven't been back home on Kataara in years. But...permanent exile is something else entirely. The thought of never being able to visit family on our own homeworld because of this ritual is something neither of us relish," he grimly stated.

"Exile? That's pretty harsh, and all because of some supposed mating ritual!" Mike said.

Rajah nodded. "Some think so as well. However, our people take the ritual very seriously. To partake in this ritual means that you have cast off your selfish shackles and have opened yourself up to friendship with another being fully and completely. It's actually, in a way, the lifeblood of our entire culture as we know it today."

Mike nodded with understanding. "I see. So, what are you two going to do? If you're already married, how will this work?"

Rajah shook his head to himself. "We...have a solution in mind already. Me and Akaya have both agreed that we will both not pick up a random person each to fulfill our commitment with. That is not trust and that is not a true bonded friendship. We have both decided that, in order to fulfill Sahaia, we will both bond with close friends...friends who we would trust our lives with."

Mike sat back and once again felt his cheeks redden with embarrassment as the situation finally dawned on him, as well as a full understanding of how he and Liz factored into this.

"Mike; Akaya and I need your help. We need you and Liz's help with this. We don't want to be ousted by our own people because we are considered noncontributory to our species' well-being. So...what I am asking of you, the burden that I ask of you personally...is to mate with Akaya. As shocking as this will sound to you, I need you to open yourself up and have sex with my mate," Rajah concluded.

Mike was still at a loss for words. He looked around to see if anyone had overheard them. It was then that he realized that most of the people had already left the baggage claim and that they hadn't even retrieved their suitcases yet.

He couldn't believe this. His best friend had essentially just asked him to have sex with his wife, and a member of another species at that. But then it just hit him: Liz. Surely that meant that Liz had to come into this somehow.

He turned back toward Rajah and gulped. "And...Liz?"

Rajah bit his lip and rubbed his arm. "Mike...I'm sorry...I don't know what to say. Please know that Akaya and I don't take pleasure in laying this burden on you."

"Liz would be your mate for Sahaia, wouldn't she? This is what you're proposing: a wifeswap. Am I right?" Mike asked in all seriousness.

Rajah looked him in the eye briefly and sheepishly nodded. "It is."

Mike shook his head, flabbergasted at what he'd been told over the past few minutes.

"Rajah...I don't know what to say...I," his voice trailed off.

Rajah shook his head. "Forget it. Me and Akaya will find another way. We should never have forced this pressure on you, especially after you welcomed us onto your planet and everything. Please forgive me and forget that I ever mentioned this. If you so wish, we can go back to the way things were before and never bring this affair up again."

Rajah frowned sorrowfully and picked up his suitcase as it passed by the conveyor belt. Just as he reached out for the next one, he heard Mike softly curse under his breath and turn back toward him.

"Rajah," he said.

Rajah looked back up at his human friend with glistening eyes. Mike didn't look angry but actually appeared to have understanding on his face.

"Look...I still can't believe what you've told me...but...something else that just occurred to me is that, you and Akaya truly do love each other. He looked into his tiger-like, striped face and asked, "You do love her don't you?"

Rajah didn't even have to hesitate to answer that. "With every fiber of my being. She is my love, my life; I'd do anything for her," Rajah affirmed shamelessly.

Mike nodded, hearing the truthfulness in his voice. "I feel the same way about Liz. She is literally my entire life. I'd be lost without her in my life. I'm just as faithfully devoted to her as you are with Akaya," he said.

Rajah nodded. "Yes, you're right. I've yet to see a couple as utterly devoted to each other as you and Liz are with each other."

"Which brings me to my next point; as long as I am in love with my wife and you are in love with yours, then...what is really the problem with this? You don't see this coming between our marriages or friendships, do you?" Mike asked Rajah.

Rajah immediately shook his head. "No, absolutely not. This will never come between the bonds that we have for our mates. And I assure you that this can just be a one-time ritual and after that, everything can fall back to the way it was, if you and Liz so wish."

Mike nodded as he still reconciled this entire situation with an open mind. Truly he found Akaya to be attractive, even despite the obvious differences between their species. Still though, the thought of actually mating with one was...daunting. Not to mention of course, the thought of his beloved wife doing the same with his best friend was... He didn't know what it was.

With a little more optimism, Mike's mouth spread into a grin. "So...Rajah, what do you think of Liz?" he asked.

Rajah's eyes widened as he raised his hands as if to defend himself. "Mike, please...I meant no offense. I swear that I would never want to come between the two of you! I have the utmost respect for you and Liz!" he gasped.

Mike chuckled. "Relax, Rajah. It was a sincere question. What do you really think about Liz?"

Rajah relaxed when he realized that Mike wasn't angry, but was rather asking him out of all honesty.

He sighed and said. "She's a very good friend, an honest person at heart, very intelligent and strong. I dare say that I don't know of another female that I'd more depend on, besides Akaya of course," Rajah replied.

Mike smiled and his eyebrows rose. He leaned and close and whispered. "Is that all? Surely you must think something else of her."

Rajah gulped and looked away in embarrassment, the fur of his cheeks standing up on end, almost like a human would blush.

"Well...alright, I must admit that...she is quite slender and with a very pleasing face...and soft skin," Rajah sheepishly said.

Mike couldn't help but burst out laughing after this. "Oh this is rich, Rajah! You totally have the hots for my wife!" he joked.

Rajah shook his head quickly. "No I don't! I was merely pointing out her positive attributes!" he defended himself.

Mike gave a mock nod. "Uh huh...sure," he joked.

Rajah laughed along with him. "Well, if it's any consolation, Akaya has told me several times that she is actually quite attracted to you."

Now Mike shut up and gulped as he was put under the spotlight. "She...is?" he croaked.

Rajah nodded, crossing his arms and grinning. "That's right. She told me that she would have mated with you in a heartbeat if she wasn't already mated with me," he said with all honesty.

Mike blushed, picking up his conveniently-passing suitcase to ease his awkwardness. "Geez Rajah," he replied shyly.

After the two had taken a few more minutes to gather the two remaining bags, they turned back toward each other. Mike now wore a more serious guise as he gathered he and Liz's suitcases.

"Look...I need to talk this over with Liz in private, alright? I can't make a decision without her," he said.

Rajah nodded. "Of course. But...I just want you to know that, regardless of what you both decide, Akaya and I will respect your decision. We do hope that you'll accept, but if you don't then our friendship will remain just as it was and nothing will change," Rajah said, clasping Mike's shoulder.

Mike gave a nod and a sincere smile. "I know, Rajah. I appreciate that. I'll...we'll, get back to you by tonight with an answer," he said.

Rajah nodded and gathered his bags and suitcases just as Mike did his. Mike made a motion for the exit doors.

"Cmon; the girls are probably waiting for us," Mike said, leading him out the doors to the port.

They passed through the automatic doors which led them to a large circular landing platform where hovercars and taxis were landing to pick up and drop off people at the terminal. Off in the distance, more hovercars flew off into the towering metropolitan area and Manhattan beyond.

Mike spun around in both directions scanning for the two familiar women even as he bore the burden of four bags. Then, far off to the left near the edge of the circular ring, he saw the brown striped form of Akaya enthusiastically waving her paw in the air in their direction to catch their attention. Both she and Liz were standing by a yellow hovertaxi even as the driver honked the horn in an attempt to also catch their attention.

Mike and Rajah hurriedly scrambled over with all of their belongings as the taxi driver, an anthropomorphic wolf-like alien called a vithian, stepped out to help Mike and Rajah load the bags into the trunk. As they loaded the suitcases, Mike turned to Liz, who appeared to be looking up at the sky introspectively.

"Sorry we took so long. There was a problem getting our last suitcase, but we got it sorted out," Mike lied, withholding telling her about what Rajah had said, at least for the time being.

Liz idly nodded but was still looking away with a strange expression. Mike gently squeezed her arm to get her attention.

"You alright?" Mike asked his wife, concerned.

Liz quickly shook her head and looked back at him with a smile. "Yeah, yeah, fine. Just glad to be home is all. You ready to head for the apartment?"

Mike looked over at the cab driver who nodded back to him as he closed the trunk. "Uh, yup, ready," Mike replied.

The four entered the rather spacious interior of the hovertaxi before Mike gave the driver the address to their apartment complex in uptown Manhattan. The taxi lifted off the ground, rumbling slightly as the driver engaged the hover thrusters, making a smooth arc up into the air before following a steady line of other taxis and cars away from the spaceport and toward the city.

Inside the taxi the seating of the roomy interior was shaped like that of a semicircle, with Akaya and Rajah situated on one side near and window and Mike and Liz on the other side. The tiger and tigress were practically glued to the window; their buggy eyes shifted back and forth like two curious cats stalking birds and squirrels as they watched the activity taking place around the city above and beneath them. Mike and Liz occasionally interjected to explain the nature of their surroundings to their two visiting companions, however, for the most part they were both rather quiet as they sat in the taxi, both deep in thought.

Mike, looking over and seeing that his wife was being just as silent and ponder-some as he was, reached his hand out and caressed Liz's arm. She looked over at him and smiled, scooting herself over and laying her head down and snuggling into his shoulder even as their taxi zoomed past skyscrapers and other city buildings. Rajah and Akaya both saw the gesture and gave Mike a knowing smile each and a nod before they turned back toward the window and continued to look at the city's dazzling modern surroundings.

After a mostly-silent trip to upper Manhattan, the taxi came to a halt at their apartment complex. The building was rather elegant-looking; with a fresh new look and a sleeve white exterior that marked this building as recently-built. As the four stepped out of their taxi and the wolfish cabbie began unloading their bags, they stood there in awe and admiration of the building that they would be staying in for the next few days.

"Wow! It looks even nicer in person! Since when did we become royalty?" Liz said, eliciting laughs from Akaya and Rajah.

Mike smiled, helping the cabbie with the last two bags.

"Yeah, it cost us a pretty penny, but hey, you only live once right? We'll only be staying a few nights anyway so I thought we may as well kick back in style in celebration of our furlough," Mike said, grinning.

Mike handed the cabbie the fare and a generous tip for helping with the suitcases. The cabbie gave a kind nod before taking off with his taxi, leaving the four off-duty marines to continue admiring the exterior of their opulent apartment building.

Rajah grinned, turning to the three companions, motioning with his head to enter. "Shall we?" he asked.

Akaya eagerly rushed up the steps, her tail swaying behind her with her excitement while she hefted her bags inside. Mike and Liz followed too albeit slightly slower as they were both in introspective thought about the day's events as they simultaneously remained transfixed on the building.

As they entered the four admired the perfect blending between elegant old-fashioned and state-of-the-art modern. The lobby looked like that of what an old English manor may look like, while having the modern amenities that they were used to ingrained perfectly, such as automatic doors, omni-generator lighting and high-speed elevators that carried its occupants up and down the building's twelve floors.

They brought their suitcases into the elevator, squeezing themselves inside to make room for each other as the automatic doors close behind them. During this time, Mike gulped as he realized that he was pressed precariously close up against none other than Akaya.

Akaya's tail swished with the close contact as Mike could have sworn he saw a wry grin form at the corner of the Kataaran's muzzle. He did his best to turn his attention somewhere else as her tiger-like tail swished and battered his leg even as he tried to ignore the pleasant scent radiating off of her from being pressed near her. Her ears twitched and she bit her lip as a scent filled her advanced nostrils from the attractive human male pressed near her: the faint scent of his rising pheromones.

Unbeknownst to him and Akaya, Liz herself found herself on the other side of the confining elevator pressed close to her muscular Kataaran comrade and her best friend's husband: Rajah. The male tiger appeared to also have his tail swaying back and forth as he was crammed along the wall beside a slender female human. As he snuck a brief glimpse out of the corner of his eye at her, he secretly swooned at her delightfully slim form and her flawless silky face that was pleasing to look at it. Meanwhile Liz tried to distance herself from the conflicting feelings suddenly boiling in her as she felt herself brushed up against an exotic but rather comfortable coating of soft orange fur.

Luckily, for all parties involved in this dualistic awkward elevator ride, the elevator immediately reached their floor and the doors drew open. A pair of garrkron parents and their young scaly green daughter and a human friend were waiting on the other side to use the elevator. They politely stepped aside for the four marines to gather their suitcases and bags to move them out first.

"Sorry, excuse me," they collectively said as they made their way out of the elevator, allowing the family to occupy it.

The four took bearings of the floor that they were on, all of them smoothing out their clothes or doing other mundane gestures to break their individual awkward feelings. Mike looked around the corridor, seeing the sign that directed them to their rooms.

"Cmon," he said, immediately leading them on down the corridor.

His eyes scanned the door numbers as the three others fell in step behind him.

"1121, 1122, ah here it is, 1123," Mike said as they reached the apartment. He drew out his room key and swiped it along the scanner as well as held out the palm of his hand against the adjacent DNA scanner for verification. "And you guys are in room 1125, right?"

"Yes," Rajah replied, he and Akaya walking past Mike and Liz to the next apartment down where they were to be situated.

The two Kataarans looked over at the two humans before they were about to step into their apartments.

"So...maybe we'll see you two later tonight?" Rajah asked them, emphasizing the question by sneaking a quick, knowing nod in Mike's direction.

Mike and Liz gave them kind smiles, nodding. "Yeah...maybe," Mike replied.

The tiger and tigress nodded. Akaya gave her mate a playful swat on his tail, urging him to move into the apartment. Akaya dragged their last suitcase into their room, shutting the door behind her.

Mike, who had been spending a few moments thinking to himself, shook his head all of a sudden as he opened the door to his and Liz's apartment. They were once again speechless as to the surprising sophistication of their apartment. The spacious living room that they walked into was state of the art and appeared to be fully equipped with two large luxury couches and the latest hologram projection television and even had a small fireplace in full blaze near the dining room.

"Holy damn. Anyone who says that money doesn't buy happiness is bullshitting big time," Mike laughed.

He pulled his and Liz's bags to their bedroom at the back of the apartment, once again transfixed by the sight of their luxury king-sized bed as he did. Meanwhile, Liz had walked into the kitchen, opening up the fridge to see it lined with a stockpile of various drinks, many of which were alcoholic. As she was taking stock of her generous surroundings in the kitchen, an audible ping suddenly went off, causing her to jolt in surprise.

"Good afternoon, Elizabeth Sanborn. I'm the room's artificial intelligence here to take care of your domestic needs during your stay. Will you be needing anything, Liz?" a feminine robotic voice addressed her from the kitchen.

Mike came into the room with a grin as he noticed that his wife was rather taken aback by this.

"Oh...right, I probably should have mentioned that the room came equipped with an AI when I rented it," Mike laughed.

"If my presence here will be a disruption, I can go into sleep mode," the AI interjected.

Mike waved his hands in no general direction at the ceiling. "No, it's alright. But uh, may we have a few steaks readied and prepared for tonight."

"Of course, Michael. Will you and Mrs. Sanborn be staying in for New Year's Eve?"

He gulped as Rajah's unprecedented proposition suddenly came to mind. His thoughts too also dwelled on the brief moment of awkward tension in the elevator with Akaya.

"Err...we aren't sure yet. We'll get back to you on that though," he idly replied to the AI.

The AI complied with the order for New York-style steaks to be prepared before it dismissed itself. Liz was nonchalantly fiddling with some of the silverware in the kitchen. When she noticed Mike's eyes on her, she quickly feigned a smile in his direction. Mike looked away and his legs shook again with the awkwardness.

"So um...nice apartment, right?" he asked in a vain effort to main conversation.

"Mmm," Liz simply replied.

Mike tried to think of something to come up with or even focus his mind on at the moment, but all he could think about was what Rajah had told him at JFK. It then occurred to him that he still had to talk this ordeal over with Liz; that way there was no secrets and everything would be out on the table. With a silence hanging over the apartment, he finally decided that now would be a good time as ever to talk to her about this supposed Kataaran mating ritual that Rajah and Akaya wanted both of them to be involved in.

Coincidentally, just as Mike had croaked open his mouth to break the awkward silence and say what had to be said, Liz began to speak almost simultaneously.

"There's something I need to tell you."

"I think we need to have a talk."

Both spouses froze up, looking at each other with immense surprise.

"Go on," Mike said.

Liz shook her head, sitting herself down on the couch beside him. "No, you go first," she insisted.

Mike took a deep breath and nodded.

"Alright...it's about Rajah and Akaya," Mike began, looking at Liz's reaction as he did. She blinked a few times in response.

"What about them?" she asked.

He took another deep breath before continuing. "Well, I think I know why they were acting strange today at the spaceport. Rajah told me that he and Akaya have neglected to take part in some sort of sacred Kataaran ritual and, if they don't undergo it during their adulthood, then they will basically be shunned by their family and the rest of their people. But...you should know that their solution to this problem...involves us," Mike explained.

Mike looked at her face to see how she was taking this. She blushed, biting her lip as she avoided his gaze.

Mie eyebrows rose as a placid but curious expression crossed his face.

"Liz...do you know something already?" he asked in a somewhat fatherly, scolding tone.

She slowly turned back toward him and sheepishly nodded. "Yes. Akaya told me everything today at the spaceport, while we were outside hailing a taxi," she replied.

Mike's eyes lit up. "That's when Rajah told me, when we were inside at the baggage claim!" he exclaimed.

Liz looked surprised to hear this too, thinking that it had been an isolated conversation between just herself and her Kataaran friend. It made sense to both of them now though; the awkward silence during the taxi ride and later in the elevator. They'd both been told about Rajah and Akaya's dilemma separately.

"Wow, can you believe this? Those sneaky devils!" Mike laughed all of a sudden and Liz followed suit, even despite the implications of what they were discussing. Mike then became serious again as he reconciled his conversation with Rajah, now understanding what it meant now that Liz knew about it as well.

"So...Akaya told you then that um...you and Rajah...and me and Akaya?" he tenderly asked, gulping as he did.

Liz nodded. "She did," she replied, looking down at the floor. "I also asked her if there were any other way or any other unmarried friends that she and Rajah could do this with. But, she assured me that we were the only ones that they felt comfortable doing this with. That we were the only ones that they would trust enough to open themselves up to like that."

Mike frowned but nodded. "I can't say I blame them; I mean, sure it's pretty strange because we're friends, but I guess from their perspective they'd rather do this with someone familiar than just pick up two random strangers from off the street," Mike replied.

Liz cocked her head at him. "So...you're okay with this?"

He quickly shook his head. "No, I didn't say I was okay with it. I'm just trying to understand their situation. I can't help but feel bad for them at least. What if our government told us that we'd be exiled if we didn't have an affair with two strangers?"

She nodded. "That's true. I guess they do feel like they've been put on the spot by their people and their family, and all for the sake of some trust mating ritual."

They sat in silence for a few moments as Liz looked with concern into her husband's puzzled face.

"How does the idea of this...wife swap make you feel, just out of curiosity, Mike?" she asked him.

He looked up into her face. "Honestly, it really tears me up inside. I really do care for Rajah and Akaya a lot. They are our best friends, they've always had our backs through thick and thin, we've been through a lot together with them. There's hardly anything I wouldn't do for them. But...my love for you outweighs any devotion I have for them. The thought of...having sex with another woman, and the thought of seeing you with another man, even if they are our friends...it...I...I'm not a fan of the thought," Mike sincerely stated.

She smiled warmly, hearing the complete and sincere honesty in his voice as he professed his devotion for her. She reached out and clasped his hand as they smiled at each other.

"So...it's settled then? We tell them that we don't accept?" Mike asked her.

Liz stopped smiling and her face drooped slightly at that. As Mike was rising from the couch to make for the door, she suddenly stopped him.

"Wait...Mike."

He spun back around to look at her. She rubbed her arm uncomfortably as if she was slightly pained by what she was about to say.

He did a double take as he registered her expression. "Wait a minute...you aren't considering it, are you? But I thought you were the one that asked...?"

"I know what I asked," she replied, "Because I wanted your assurances that if we were to do this, it wouldn't change anything between us. Our marriage I mean."

His eyes widened in surprise. "So you...want to do this?" he asked.

She gave a half nod. "For Rajah and Akaya, for their sake. It's not fair for them to become labeled outcasts over this. Besides, now that they've already put this into our heads, I feel like things would almost be weirder between us IF we didn't go through with it at this point," she explained.

Mike listened silently but nodded from the logic of what she'd said.

"Sure, I don't fully take pleasure in the thought of us having sex with different people. Part of me still wants to turn down their proposal flat. But then I thought...it's not really infidelity if all four of us are doing it, right?" she asked.

Mike shrugged. "No, I suppose it isn't. Cheating is when one partner deceives the other behind their back. It's one-sided. But, if all of us are doing it...then it's not cheating. It's...it's..." he struggled to find the right word. "Sharing," he concluded, hoping she wouldn't be deterred from this comment.

"That's what I was thinking too. And they are our friends too, it's not like we'd be whoring ourselves out to strangers or anything. I don't think it's as strange to them either. Kataarans are naturally more sociable than humans are. It only makes sense that they would be a little more open about their sexual relations. If they are, then why shouldn't we be too?" she added.

He nodded with a grin, blushing as he realizing that he was actually becoming slightly aroused at the prospect that they were really considering going through with this.

He inched himself closer to her on the couch so that they were inches away from each other. He reached up and stroked her arm slightly.

"Don't be mad at me, but...isn't a small part of you kinda...turned on by this too?" he asked her softly. Before she could answer, he quickly added, "I mean, I meant everything that I said about feeling uncomfortable having sex with someone else, but...isn't part of you a bit exciting with the idea too?"

To his surprise, she actually flashed him a naught grin and nodded at him vigorously. "Yeah. I was afraid to say something because I didn't want to sound like...freakish. But, yeah, I have to admit that part of me does get a bit excited by the thought. I mean...I do wonder how Kataarans look, you know, exposed..." she whispered giddily with a smirk.

"Right? And their fur; you've gotta wonder how that feels while you're," he gulped, "Going at it," he laughed.

"And their tails too. It's kinda kinky, right?" she added with a laugh. She then rolled her eyes and slammed her head back against the soft couch. "God Mike, what the hell is wrong with us? These are our best friends for god's sake! Are we some kind of freaks or something? Fantasizing about Kataarans," she groaned.

He took her arm again gently. "Ah cmon, Liz. Do you really think we're the first ones to fantasize sex with another species? Do you know how many humans HAVE had sex with other species? More than you'd expect," he stated matter-of-factly, laughing.

"Besides," he continued, "I think Rajah and Akaya have spent plenty of time fantasizing about us," he chuckled ecstatically.

She looked at him strangely. "What makes you say that?"

"Rajah rather brazenly told me that Akaya finds me attractive. In fact, from what he said, it sounds to me that she has a thing for human men. And, he also told me that he...err, likes your pleasing face, and slender figure, and soft skin.'"

Liz blushed hard and burst out laughing at this. "Those horny fuckers," she chuckled, wiping a tear from her eye.

Mike laughed too, shaking his head. He then turned back toward her with a slightly more serious expression.

"Liz...let's just do it, you know? Maybe we were overreacting before," he said to her.

She shrugged and nodded, brushing her brown hair out of her face.

"Yeah, yeah, let's just go for it. It's only sex, after all. It's not like we're marrying them or anything. What's the worst that can happen?" she replied.

He nodded and reached his hands out, taking hers in his gently.

"Are you sure this is really what you want? After we give them an answer, we're pretty much committed," he sternly said.

She slowly nodded to him. "Yeah, I think this can be good for all of us and it may actually be kind of fun. It can't get any weirder than it already is anyway, right?" she laughed.

He grinned. "No arguments there," he said. His expression than became stoic and he became more serious again, the tone of his voice filled with heartfelt conviction.

"I just want you to know that I can NEVER feel the way about Akaya that I do about you, Liz. She's a good friend, but she could never be a substitute for you. I love you, Liz. You are my life, my everything. Nothing will ever change that," he said without hesitation or shame.

She gave a loving smile at him and immediately pressed her face to his, their lips pressing against each other as they exchanged a passionate kiss.

"Likewise, trooper," she whispered to him.

He gave her a kiss on the cheek and smiled at her, cupping her hands and stroking them for a few moments. Finally, they disengaged and Mike rose to his feet to pick up the telephone: an electronic earpiece situated on the nightstand beside the couches. He inserted it into his ear and dialed the number for Rajah and Akaya's apartment merely one door over. After a few moments, Rajah's smooth voice responded on the other line.

"Rajah...our apartment, nine o'clock tonight, dinner's on us...in more ways than one," Mike said simply before hanging up the phone with a smirk.

Mike turned toward Liz; both he and his wife not knowing what to say now that they were essentially locked into an erotic wifeswap with their best friends later tonight. After a few moments, Mike clapped his hands and walked for the bedroom.

"I guess I should unpack our suitcases since we still have a few hours," he said.

"Right," Liz replied, collecting herself, "I'll, uh...see about getting dinner ready."

She made for the kitchen and gathered assorted silverware for them and their two Kataaran guests. Although they knew what much of their night was going to entail, they both resolved to at least treat it like a special occasion. It was New Year's Eve, after all.

"Hey, uh, excuse me, AI?" Liz asked to the ceiling.

"How may I help you, Liz?" it responded from the ceiling.

"What's the status on those steaks?"

In response, a platter of uncooked steaks was dropped down from the ceiling in a large cylinder-shaped capsule. The capsule hovered above the ground in the kitchen, waiting for Liz to retrieve its contents. She opened it up and pulled out the platter, closing up the capsule afterward, causing it to abruptly retract back into the ceiling.

Liz spun around to observe the state-of-the-art oven and grill situated in their kitchen. Although she did have somewhat of a knack for cooking, Liz admittedly did not recognize many of the buttons and options for these advanced models. She immediately turned to the room's handy AI for needed assistance.

"How much time would these take to cook up, roughly?" Liz asked the AI.

"Cooking and preparation would take approximately eight minutes, Liz," the AI responded.

Liz, amazed at the sheer efficiency of the space-age cooking equipment, took the platter of steaks and put them away into the fridge so that she could cook them later.

"Okay then," she said to herself. "Mike, let me help you with those suitcases!" she yelled into the other room.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A series of knocks resonated from the front door to their apartment just as the timer to the steaks went off on the oven. Liz, donned in an elegant yet liberal black and violent dress and oven mitts, drew out the well-seasoned steaks from the oven after they had just been super-cooked to perfection by the advanced model oven. Mike, dressed in a button-up shirt and slacks, had been setting the dining room table and lighting several candles for the occasion. As soon as he heard the knocking, he dropped what he was doing and rushed to the front door.

Mike smoothed himself out and took a steady breath, before opening the door. He gave a welcome smile to the two familiar Kataarans smiling back at him through their maws as he opened the doors to them.

Both Rajah and Akaya were wearing rather elegant clothing as well, although their origin was more akin to that of their own species. Rajah had a navy blue long-sleeved button-up shirt similar to Mike's, although his had more of a V-neck opening at the top rather than the collar that Mike had on his button-up dress shirt.

Akaya meanwhile was donned in a (also navy blue) dress that was slightly shorter than Liz's, giving more room for her downy brown striped fur to flow across her legs. Her head of brown-auburn hair was left flowing down to her shoulders in silky, wavy locks. Finally, she had only a slight dash of mascara and makeup to highlight her already-striking golden eyes and exotically beautiful face.

Both Kataarans also had a convenient opening on the back of their elegant clothing that allowed their striped tails to sway behind them unhindered. They also both had their silky coating of stripy fur combed down to a near-perfect, silky state. Mike smiled as he took notice of this detail.

"You guys both look great!" he complimented before smirking. "How long did you guys have to spend licking each other to get these results?"

Rajah looked at him for a few moments, blinking with what looked like an irritated expression. Mike dropped his smile as he realized that he may have actually offended his best friend. Rajah then suddenly snarled, baring his array of sharp teeth and claws, causing Mike to flinch and jump.

Rajah retracted his fangs and claws and erupted into laughter, both Akaya and eventually Mike following him suit. Mike rolled his eyes, giving his best friend kudos for the clever retaliation to his joke, shaking his paw in a friendly greeting afterward.

When he turned to Akaya, he gulped as he was briefly infatuated by her beauty. Her golden eyes, coupled with the touching of makeup and her silky exotic fur coating made her extremely pleasing to behold. Her tail swished excitedly behind her as their eyes briefly met. Mike gulped as her grasped her soft hand, planting a light, friendly kiss onto her hand. Mike could smell the exotic yet pleasing scent of a rich Kataaran perfume resonating off of her as he kissed her hand, briefly becoming intoxicated by the sweet aroma. Akaya's cheek fur stood up on end and her whiskers twitched from the friendly gesture of kissing her silky paw.

"Akaya," he said with a nod, blushing afterward, seeing Rajah smirking out of the corner of his eye. He would have been profusely embarrassed in that moment if not for the revelation that the tigress before him was scanning her eyes up and down his body, rubbing her arms as she chewed on her lip with one of her fangs. Clearly, she was enjoying the view as much as he had indulged in his.

Mike was suddenly shaken back to reality when he felt a smack on the back of his head. Liz appeared next to him with her arms crossed and her eyebrows raised.

"What?" Mike asked her, shrugging.

She rolled her eyes. "Put your eyes back into your head, Mike," she laughed, having seen him ogling Akaya.

However, once she turned to her own tiger partner for the evening, she herself was instinctively resorting to blushing as she was absorbed his handsome appearance; his groomed silky orange striped fur, the elegant dress shirt that did little to hinder his broad, muscle physique, and the exotic tinges of his own cologne that managed to waft in her direction.

Liz swallowed and smoothed out her dress, realizing in that moment that Rajah's golden eyes were just as closely observing her. She reached out her hand and shook hands and paws with Rajah, to which he happily returned, smiling into her lovely, flawless face.

"You look lovely, Liz," Rajah complimented as they shook hands. Liz smiled from the praise looking away like a shy schoolgirl with a crush.

"I need to put my eyes back in MY head?!" Mike laughed. "Come on, dinner's just about ready in the dining room. We'd better get to it before we accidentally kick off Sahaia early," he mumbled the last part, although the three of them heard it perfectly, each of them blushing and grinning at that.

He led the way into the dining room, where the lights were dimmed and the fireplace and candles gave a relaxed and subtly romantic ambiance. The plate of steaming, sizzling steak freshly cooked was situated in the middle of the dining room table, as well as a bowl of salad, bread, and two bottles of champagne.

Upon entering the dining room, both Akaya and Rajah's whiskers flared and their noses perked up from the pleasing scent of a juicy steak. Both being almost entirely carnivorous creatures as nature intended, the two Kataarans couldn't help but lick their lips in response to the mere scent of fresh meat.

Noticing this, Mike pointed out the plate of steaks, saying, "Compliments of the locals; New York strip steak. Dig in," he offered.

As eager as they were, both of the hungry tigers politely waited for their hosts to sit down and gather their food first. Knowing the appetite for meat that Kataarans naturally had, Mike and Liz scooped up the rather smaller slabs of steak to put on their plates, leaving the two larger ones for Rajah and Akaya. They both gratefully nodded before taking the last two steaks, looking over at Mike and Liz for permission as they anticipated digging in. The two humans both smiled and nodded, allowing them to go ahead, both of them finding it rather funny that their two friends were so intent on waiting for permission first.

It made a little more sense to them in that next moment. As soon as they were given permission to go ahead, the tiger and tigress literally began to devour down their steak. They still used their silverware as a courtesy, although their claws were well capable of likely tearing those slabs of steak to shreds in a matter of seconds. But, they cut the steak to pieces with their forks and knives and ravenously ate them down with speed that surprised both Mike and Liz.

The humans had of course eaten with the two Kataarans before, however, that had usually been the mere sustenance of military rations while they were in active duty together. Now, with strips of real meat being presented before two anthropomorphic tigers, the two humans had the surprise (and entertainment) of watching them go at the steak like a special on National Geographic. Needless to say, Akaya and Rajah were quite finished with their steak long before Liz and Mike were anywhere close to done. As the two humans were finishing their steak, the two Kataarans finally slowed their pace, taking gradual bites of their biscuits and the salad, while also taking drinks of their glasses of champagne as well.

As the four enjoyed their first real feast in quite some time, they continuously reminisced about the "old days" amongst the Federation Marine Corps. Gradually too, as they all began to take drinks of their champagne, it allowed them to relax and loosen up even further, making the bonding experience more enjoyable for them, and, prepping them for the more intimate New Year's Eve celebrations to come...

At one point, with Rajah situated directly across the table from Liz and Akaya sitting across from Mike, Akaya's bare padded feet brushed against Mike's legs in what was obviously not an accidental gesture.

Mike froze up with nervousness at first, thinking that it was too early to be going about this. However, it suddenly occurred to him that Rajah was likely doing that same thing with his wife under the table as well. Sure enough, as he looked over at Liz, he could tell that she was biting her lip while looking at the smiling orange striped face across from her, likely as their feet brushed against each other's.

He realized at this point that Akaya and Rajah were pulling the strings as a team here. They were both likely well aware that they were making flirtatious gestures and practically playing footsie with their best friend's spouses, but they didn't seem to mind; in fact, it was what they wanted for the sake of this ritual, after all.

With the champagne easing off his judgmental side and with him remembering that he and Liz had decided to just let loose and enjoy themselves tonight, Mike smiled wickedly and brazenly brushed his leg up against Akaya's. Her grin widened as she felt his knee brush along her furry thigh beneath her dress.

Liz's initial discomfort was also forgotten as the remembrance of the arrangement that she and her husband had agreed to came back to her. She smiled and winked at Rajah, taking a sip of her champagne as her foot tapped back against his, causing his fur to stand up on end. Before she could back out of what she was going to do next, she raised up foot up higher so that it traveled up his leg. His mouth opened in surprise as he felt her foot rub along his inner thigh.

Akaya received an equal surprise on her side of the table now that the humans were taking initiative. Mike played the smooth (and rather unoriginal) tactic of pretending to drop his knife beneath the table so as to go retrieve it, although Rajah and Liz were too wrapped in their own situation to notice. Mike quickly ducked under the table to retrieve his knife and, while he did, his eager hand took a hold of Akaya's swaying brown tail, giving it a delicate stroke along its length before he arose and sat back down in his seat.

The gesture and the surprising stimulation of own of her alien features had caused a ripple to run through her in pleasure. Instinctively, as her biological clock was already ticking as it was, combined with a little bit of champagne and the erotic feel of Mike stroking along her tail, her intimate regions began to slightly moisten beneath her dress. The Kataaran squirmed her legs biting her lip as she felt the heat flare in her loins. Vaguely, she picked up a change in Mike's scent, indicating that he was gradually becoming aroused by their tender erotic game beneath the table. This only heightened the flaring desire resonating deep within her.

Then, an unexpected reaction took place. As the female Kataaran began to emit pheromones from her sexual arousal, the smell was picked up by her mate Rajah next to her. Her musk was not strong enough at this point for the humans to take any notice of it; however, Rajah, in all his amazing sense of smell, could pick up the unmistakable scent of his mate in heat perfectly. Faintly, he could smell traces of another feminine scent as well: Liz's; thus indicating that she too was aroused, although he couldn't pick up her scent as well as he could Akaya's. His brain clouded with lust as he too began to squirm his legs as a certain part of himself began to draw itself out and extend from his furry sheath within his pants as a result of the fog of feminine musk surrounding him.

Mike and Liz by now had put their flirtatious games with the Kataarans on hold as they saw that Rajah and Akaya seemed to be acting strangely. They noticed that they both seemed to be squirming their legs uncomfortably and had slightly pained expressions on their faces. Liz and Mike looked at each other briefly with concern before they looked back at the tiger and tigress.

"Rajah, Akaya; are you guys alright?" they both asked with concern dotting their voices.

Rajah and Akaya looked at each other, continuing to fidget uncomfortably as the overpowering scents clouded their senses and their arousal grew. They nodded to each other and Akaya whispered to him, "We should have told them anyway."

Rajah nodded back to her and turned toward the confused humans on the other side of the table.

"Umm...we uh, p- probably should have mentioned that me and Akaya are...err, in...season," he uttered embarrassingly, squirming his legs as his erection continued to grow out of its sheath in his pants.

Liz's eyebrows rose. "In...season?" she asked.

Akaya bit her lip as the fur of her brown cheeks stood up on edge.

"You know; in...heat," she said, making it clearer to the humans.

Both Mike and Liz's eyes widened with understanding, realizing that this was conveniently that time of the month when Akaya was most receptive for mating and Rajah was most able to mate with her. In this aspect of their reproductive biology, the Kataarans were not that dissimilar from their feral tiger counterparts.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me," Mike let out a laugh, rubbing his eyes. He looked back at the squirming tiger and tigress and his eyebrows rose.

"So...was everything that you told us about this Sahaia ritual just bullshit?" he asked.

Rajah quickly shook his head. "No, I swear that everything I told you about the ritual was true. This is just rather inconvenient timing and something that both Akaya and I hadn't anticipated when we discussed performing this ritual with you two," he explained.

Both Mike and Liz looked at each other, stifling a grin to each other as they looked back at the anxious Kataarans again. Liz was the one to voice her concerns this time.

"So because you guys are...in heat, Rajah, does that mean that you will go all dominant-alpha-male-tiger on me and like latch onto the back of my neck with your teeth while we're...doing it?" Liz asked the male tiger, looking back at her husband with embarrassment after she said it.

Despite the current situation, the other three couldn't help but burst out laughing from this curious question. Still smiling, Rajah shook his head to Liz in response even as he continued to slightly fidget in his seat.

"No...it won't work like that. We still have that much self-control during our cycle at least. Just, both of you, don't be surprised if we...get into it a little bit while we're...doing it," he said sheepishly.

Mike shook his head and laughed. "Liz, in other words, we have two extremely horny bastards on our hands."

Liz nodded in agreement and looked back at the two twitching, fidgeting Kataarans, who were both gradually losing themselves to their more primal, sexual selves by the second.

Gritting his teeth and trying to resist that haze of euphoria around him, Rajah said to them, "For the last time, you two really don't have to do this with us if you don't want to or it makes you uncomfortable."

"Yes, me and Rajah can go back to our apartment and...relieve ourselves there. Then, we can try to figure out some other way to deal with Sahaia. Both of you should be comfortable while you're doing this. That is the most important thing here," Akaya said kindly, despite her current struggle.

Mike and Liz's gazes met in a dualistic stare that seemed to last an eternity for both of them. During that time, they both gave a mutual smile to each other, nodding to each other as an invisible message was sent between them without a word being uttered.

"No, you guys both need our help with this. After all," he said, pausing to smile at Liz. "We are the hosts here. We couldn't leave our guests like this."

Rajah and Akaya gave them both surprised stares before these morphed into satisfied and incredibly grateful smiles. This was it; there was no turning back now.

Mike took a deep breath. "Ok...so how should we go about this?"

Rajah shook his head, looking between Akaya, Mike and Liz while both he and Akaya squirmed their legs with the discomfort of being reverted back to a primal sexual craze.

"I don't know," he replied, casting a quick glance to the leftover salad and bread still on the dinner table. "I'm sorry, both of you. Dinner was quite delicious and very pleasant, but err...I don't think Akaya and I can wait much longer for relief," he said with desperation, looking pleadingly at Liz.

Liz, who was blushing in both anticipation and nervousness of what was about to take place, looked around the apartment for an adequate location.

"I think the couches will have the most room," Liz softly said.

The three looked over at the couches in the living room and nodded in agreement. All four of them rose to their feet, none of them saying a word to each other but each of them feeling jolts of nervousness, anticipation, excitement and arousal at what they were about to do. Mike went to a switch on the living room wall, turning it down so that the lights for the living room were dimmed, leaving only the calm blaze of the fireplace and the surrounding little candles to give relaxing illumination to the room. Despite the fact that they were about to essentially have a foursome, they still wanted to be elegant and slightly romantic about it by having a relaxing ambiance.

Before they took their seats at the couch, Rajah and Akaya turned to their two human friends, their best friends, with smiles and twinkling golden eyes. "We just want to say again before we begin; we really appreciate what you both are doing for us here. You truly are the best friends we could ask for. We'll try to make this as good of an experience for you as we can given the circumstances," Rajah said warmly.

Mike and Liz both smiled and nodded. "Thank you," they both replied in unison.

Mike turned to Liz one last time and gave her a tender kiss that she met with earnest. They smiled to each other as they detached and Mike walked over to the couch that Akaya was situated on and Liz made her way over to Rajah on the other couch.

Mike looked at Akaya intently. The needy tigress was staring at his body up and down, rubbing her furry thigh beneath her dress, particularly when her golden eyes were fixed on the impressive bulge in his pants. Mike himself was once again dazzled by her alien and exotic beauty, being neither frightened nor disconcerted by her brown and auburn fur coating. In fact, the more he looked at her, the more he found the fur, her maw, her tail and the other alien features appealing.

Akaya flashed him a toothy, seductive grin, gently patting the seat on the couch next to her. Mike sank down into the couch beside her, his face narrowing in on hers. Immediately, the tigress' eager hands were upon him, stroking upon his arms, legs torso and feeling at the defined muscle beneath his clothes. His hands too went to her soft, delightfully warm body as his fingers ran themselves through her silky brown striped fur as they both began to mutually explore each other's bodies.

On the other couch, Liz had sat down beside Rajah as he merely stared at her for a few moments, enraptured by her beauty. Her dress did little to cover or hinder her slender yet well-defined physique. Her luscious, silky smooth legs traveled up to her slender hips beneath her black and violet dress. Liz may have wondered if her lack of fur was strange or a turn-off for him, however, as she saw his glazed golden eyes traveling across her slender legs as he swallowed hard in anticipation, she realized that this didn't seem to matter to him at all.

The orange-striped, muscled male inched himself closer to the gorgeous human woman on the couch. Despite the angst of both he and Akaya being in heat, he was able to quell that momentarily just from absorbing the sight of his best friend's wife beside him. He reached over and took her hand in his, both of them aweing at the simple feel of fur on skin as his large paw encompassed her small hand. He folded his paw over, cupping her hand as his fingers intertwined with hers, being careful to keep his claws retracted so as not to damage her delicate skin.

Liz blushed as she admired the sight of his regal fur and dazzling color coating. As a little girl on Earth, before moving out into the colonies, she had had always liked tigers. It had always saddened her that such majestic beasts on Earth were on the brink of extinction. And yet, her male friend sitting right next to her was a walking, talking offshoot of those majestic beasts, even if he wasn't even from the same planet. It gave her small comfort knowing that if those beautiful creatures of Earth went extinct, she would still have the privilege of being acquainted and friends with such a kind Kataaran instead.

Rajah reached his paw up and gently cupped Liz's blushing cheek. He used one of his claws to gently brush aside one of her brown strands of hair in front of her eye. She swooned with delight at this simple gesture, stroking the silky far of his arm in response to it.

His heart beat fast in his chest as he reconciled for a moment his next move. He gradually inched his face closer until his muzzle was close to her lovely face and her tender set of lips.

"Liz, you're gorgeous, I...would you object to me kissing you?" he hesitantly asked as their chests rose and fell.

Liz blushed harder at this, feeling slightly conflicted with the idea. Sure, she and Mike were actually going to mate with their best friends so a mere kiss paled in comparison. Still, she had always considered kissing to be a gesture exclusive to her and her loving husband.

"I don't know," she whispered reluctantly, biting her lip. "If Mike..."

"Go ahead Liz. I don't mind. You can do whatever you want," Mike suddenly replied from the other couch, somehow hearing their hushed whispers.

Liz and Rajah looked over and saw that Mike had somehow ended up under the brown striped tigress. She was straddled above him and was, button by button, undoing his white dress shirt, planting a little kiss on every inch of his muscled chest that was gradually exposed to her. Meanwhile, Mike's hand was tenderly stroking itself through the downy fur of her head, occasionally making a smooth arch with one of his fingers to tickle the nape of her ear, eliciting a pleasured purr from her.

"But, would it be alright...if I did the same with Akaya?" he asked Liz and Rajah, continuing to stroke the lovely tigress lingering upon his lap. Akaya cast her gaze up to her husband and her best friend and gave a pleading look; she too wanting the simple pleasure of being able to press her lips against those of the handsome human male beneath her.

Rajah smiled and turned to the other couch momentarily. "I'd be disappointed if you didn't kiss her, Mike, especially after this..."

The tiger suddenly wrapped his strong arm around Liz's back, pulling her gently toward his coming kiss. His golden eyes bore into her briefly before he pressed his mouth gently against hers, exchanging a tender mouth-to-muzzle kiss. Liz quickly fell into it, wrapping an arm around his broad shoulder as her mouth grew accustomed to a Kataaran's differently-proportioned mouth and making use of it accordingly.

This was all the encouragement that Mike and Akaya needed to fall into passions of their own. The strong human male quickly wrapped an arm around her furry body and gently lowered her down to the couch beneath him so that her head was laying down on a pillow. With him now gently straddling her, he stroked her cheek, tickling it in a few circles before he lowered his head down eagerly.

Akaya gave a little whimper and moan and happiness as soon as she felt the electric press of his plush lips against her. Her pink button tiger nose brushed against his human one even as their mouths and lips shifted and danced with minds of their own. As they kissed each other, they once again returned to the task of feeling each other up with experimental strokes and caresses. Akaya finished what she started and unbuttoned the last of his shirt and helping him to slip his arms out, all the while their kiss never broke.

They reluctantly broke away from their kiss and allowed each other to breath as Mike cast aside his shirt, revealing his muscled, smooth chest to her eager golden eyes. Her mouth hung open as she panted, even as she felt her heat in her loins resurfacing with a vengeance.

"Osta votha," she gasped in her native tongue. "You're so handsome, Mike," she lustfully whispered.

He lifted his eyebrows at her, grinning widely out of appreciation from the compliment.

"We've known each other for years, Akaya. You've seen me without my shirt before," he whispered back, grinning.

She nodded, running her fingers lovingly over his muscles. Sometimes, she would run a claw in a tickling motion over his sensitive skin, causing him to sigh and shudder.

"I know," she replied, "But it's true."

He smiled and sat back down, grasping her slender, soft back and flipping her back over again so that she was straddling him again. Their fingers intertwined and she lowered her head down to kiss him again before she felt his hand go to the back of her dress. His fingers immediately found her zipper and he gradually eased it down so that her soft, exotic nudity was gradually exposed to him.

Meanwhile, Liz and Rajah had worked on getting his dress shirt off as well, casting it to the ground. Liz awed at his muscled torso adorned in a complex collage of orange, white and black fur. She eagerly reached her nimble fingers out and ran them through his wavy, soft coating, absolutely loving the feeling of his fur between her fingers and how shudders ran through him as he was stroked by her so thoroughly.

By now, all four involved in this pleasant exchange of passion had now begun to completely grow accustomed to each other's alien differences. Those that questioned whether or not couplings between alien species could happen would take one look at this and see their arguments silenced. In fact, more than growing accustomed to each other's physical differences, they all actually began to really enjoy them.

Mike, whilst lowering the zipper on Akaya's dress down to the bottom, had also reached out his hand to gently grasp the bushy tail fixed to her posterior. He lovingly began to stroke and massage along the appendage's length, feeling it flex and her to actually start mewing in pleasure like a happy kitten as he hit hidden pleasure points upon her tail. She also returned the favor by finding hidden ticklish spots upon his naked torso, enjoying the feel of his smooth skin and the way he moaned and summoned goosebumps upon his skin as she found a particularly sensitive spot.

Rajah and Liz too continued to explore each other's alien forms with enthusiasm. She began to alternate between running her fingers delightfully through the fur of his broad shoulders, arms and chest as well as rubbing and tickling the back of his tapered ears. She was slightly surprised at first when a low grumble surfaced in his throat from her stimulating the foreign pleasure points upon his ears. She then calmed down as she realized that he was immensely enjoying the stimulation and was purring, albeit more deeply that Akaya had.

Akaya by how had had her dress removed and completely thrown to the floor, leaving a completely nude tigress in her beautiful glory perched atop Mike's lap. His mouth was wide open as he traveled over the voluptuous form revealed to him. Her breasts were smaller than Liz's (most Kataaran females were less endowed than human females), however Mike was enjoying and appreciating their petite beauty all the same. He reached his hands up and gentle gave each of them a squeeze, delighting in their lovely feel and the hard, erect nipples dotting them. She sighed from the stimulation and her hand ran itself through his head of black hair as his fingers traced themselves over her brown furry breasts.

Rajah pulled the straps of Liz's dress on each of her shoulders off to the side and eased it down her torso until she had shimmied it off of her legs, leaving her in nothing but her bra and panties. Rajah lowered his head down and began to gently nip at her exposed neck and collarbone with his teeth, causing her to sigh and clench his fur. His paws had reached around to her back, running up and how smoothly for a few moments before he moved to try to unclip her bra. Despite his best efforts however, he couldn't seem to get it loose.

Liz grinned, hissing into his ear, "If you want to see them so bad, just do it, naughty kitty."

Naughty kitty he was, for within that next instant, he gave her a toothy grin, extended one of his claws and made a single clean swipe through the strap of her bra. The torn bra fell off of her, exposing her bountiful, milky breasts to his wide, eager eyes. His mouth literally watered as he looked directly at her well-proportioned soft breasts staring back at him. The breathtaking orbs practically winked at him thanks to the light from the nearby fireplace; the erect, aroused nipples looking so appetizing under the dimmed light.

Rajah reached his hands up and gave both cushiony orbs a gentle squeeze, causing her to sigh and smile at his eager explorations; like a kid making a first trip to a candy shop. Still gently grasping both of her wonderful mammaries, the eager tiger then moved his muzzle forward toward the right breast. He flicked his long, prickly pink tongue out and gave a quick swipe to her nipple, causing her to clench onto him tightly and moan. The tiger smiled with his tongue still out, loving the fact that it brought her so much pleasure. This time, he moved his mouth back and quickly sucked one of her dainty nipples into his mouth, sealing it between two of his teeth as he began to suck away to his heart's content. Liz was moaning ecstatically as her tiger lover suckled her breasts.

Akaya on the other hand was also panting and letting out little whimpers and sighs as she began to grind her bare, glistening pink pussy slit against Mike's covered cock. As she did this, leaving a slimy trail of her clear heat-induced juices upon his underwear, Mike lowered his head down and began to suckle upon the pink nipples of her furry breasts just as his best friend was now doing to his wife on the other couch. In between licks, he also began to moan from the stimulation of her seething nether-lips grinding his steel hard manhood. By now, he also began to catch a waft of a deep, musky scent originating from the needy womanhood of his tigress mate. Clearly, the stimulation of grinding along his erection while he manhandled her breasts so nicely was causing her scent of arousal to increase dramatically.

Liz had reluctantly pulled herself away from the hungry mouth of Rajah suckling her breasts and now turned her attention directly to the source of the tiger's discomfort. She fell to her knees on the floor so that she was between his spread legs on the couch and worked to get his pants unbuttoned. He looked down between his legs as the human female lustfully eased his pants down his orange striped legs, staring up at him sexily as she did. When his pants and underwear we pulled down completely, his hard pink shaft sprang into action, standing shamelessly from his furry groin as he let out a sigh of relief now that it was free and in the open.

Liz gasped as she gazed upon the length of his alien erection jutting from his groin. His cock was a bright pink color and a thick, bulbous head that glistened precum. His balls were concealed within his furry sheath hidden beneath his pink shaft, however, she still had a generous amount of hard shaft to work with. The most alien feature about this penis however, was the fact that the head and the top of the shaft had a few bumpy objects that were slightly intimidating...and intriguing.

Akaya and Mike had turned to look at Liz unwrapping her present. Mike could tell based on comparison that Rajah beat him in length by about an inch; with the Kataaran male being at about nine inches in comparison to Mike's still-generous eight inches. Mike was also a bit intrigued by the alien appearance of Rajah's tiger shaft, noticing too the barbs on his cock and wondering if those would be uncomfortable for Liz somehow.

"They feel a little strange at first, but it won't hurt as long as you're wet enough," Akaya said to Liz from the other couch, referring to the barbs on Rajah's cock.

Akaya turned her attentions back to the male in front of her. She quickly hopped off of his lap, her needy sex slightly soaking the floor as she went down onto her knees. Her golden eyes stared up into Mike's face as she licked her lips. Her paws then went to his underwear and she quickly made work of slipping them down his legs, throwing them into the pile of their clothes soon enough.

She let out an audible purr and her tongue hung out of her maw as she took in the appearance of her own toy for the evening. Although Rajah had the slight advantage with length, Mike however trumped him in thickness. She looked with admiration at his smooth eight inch pillar, paying close mind to the intriguing dollop of his precum coating its thick head. The tigress quickly wrapped both of her paws around his cock, causing him to groan from the feeling of her silky soft paws holding his hard erection. She slowly began to stroke his length, absolutely loving the new feeling of its lovely smooth texture and the way it pulsed with vigorous life from her gentle stimulations.

On the other couch, Liz was also making work of stroking Rajah's shaft. Her fingers traced over its length across all nine inches of his shaft to his furry sheath. As her fingers traced over its head, her thumbs felt at the little barbs that lined it, wondering briefly if those little details would cause her pain when he thrust inside her. Although there was that slight fear, she did take Akaya's word that if she and Rajah were adequately lubed, then the barbs wouldn't be a problem.

Akaya meanwhile had continued to rub her lands all along her human mate's thick, smooth length, causing more precum to be summoned forth from its head. This piqued her curiosity greatly as she licked her lips. Without second guessing herself, she gripped the base of his smooth cock with both hands and brought her mouth forward.

Mike, who was lost in the pleasure of Akaya's soft tiger paws stroking away at his erect shaft, was caught unaware for the next subliminal feeling. He shivered and moaned as within that next instant he felt a wet, slightly scratchy appendage coil around the head of his cock to lick up the precum residue present there. He opened his eyes and looked down to see the tigress looking up at him with a smile as she licked her lips of the precum. She then planted a big wet kiss onto the glistening thick head of his cock before her tongue and mouth made a clean, delicate sweep down the side of his shaft. She made sure that she didn't lick him too hard with her barb-like feline tongue, instead tenderly licking along his manhood with care, causing sighs and moan of pleasure to escape his lips with every sweep. As she washed his length in her loving attention, she also caressed his balls, loving the feel of them in her fingers due in large part to the fact that Rajah's were hidden and thus she wasn't used to them.

Liz on the other hand was just getting started with giving the horny alien male some much needed attention on his manhood. Knowing that there was a vital ingredient required for their impending mating, she prepared to provide the needed lubrication to prevent discomfort from his barbs. She stroked the long pink shaft a few more times before she lowered her head down, giving a lick along the underside and head of his shaft. Rajah threw his head back against the couch cushion and moaned, followed by a deep growl in his throat as Liz tongued his cock. After she had given him a few licks, she gripped his shaft and lowered her head down.

As soon as he felt his cock slip into her hot, warm mouth, Rajah's claws dug into the couch upon reflex as his eyes burst open. Gradually, the beautiful human brunette lowered her head down, slipping inch by inch of his cock into her mouth until she couldn't take anymore. She then made her ascent, sliding her mouth up his pink shaft and leaving a wet trail of necessary lubrication for later. Then, with his head still between her lips, she twirled her tongue around the head before descending and repeating the process over again. The needy tiger-male's head was swimming a fog of lust as he was given the relief that he'd been craving since he'd smelled the first signs of Akaya's head earlier. He gently took his paws and stroked through Liz's hair as she worked him.

By now, Akaya had begun to deepthroat Mike's human cock, causing shudders and spasms to run through him from the feeling. Both he and Akaya would sometimes look over at the other couch to see Rajah and Liz equally going at the process as well, and the gaze was continuously returned from the male Kataaran and female human sometimes. Both couples were spurred on and further aroused by watching their respective spouses stimulate and be stimulated by the other species.

Mike scratched the back of her ears, listening to the sexy purrs being emitted from the female in front of him as she sucked his shaft in and out of her throat. Every time she purred around his cock, it sent a pleasant vibration running up his cock that increased his pleasure greatly. Finally, as his cock hit the back of her throat repeatedly, her scratchy feline tongue would coil about his cock, washing it in love before she sucked his cock in and out of her mouth again. Soon enough, he felt himself nearly ready to set off from the intense stimulation and he felt the need to stop her.

"Akaya, wait...if you keep this up you're going to milk me dry, kitty," he groaned to her.

Akaya grinned with his cock in her mouth and then pulled herself away, causing his wet shaft to slip from her muzzle.

He smiled down at her as his impending orgasm subsided momentarily and he continued to stroke her sensitive ears, causing her to swoon with ticklish pleasure.

"Your turn now," Mike said with a wink and grin.

With that, he stood up and picked up the slender tigress, causing her to giggle as she was scooped up into his strong arms and deposited down onto the couch. She eagerly flipped over onto her back as Mike settled in between her furry spread legs. She stroked her pink nipples as she bit her lip and looked down as he put his head between her legs, slowing deliberate breaths onto her nether regions that sent a shudder through her.

He gazed longingly into her lovely womanhood that glistened with her arousal at him between her soft thighs. The pink lips (even pinker than Liz) were swollen and pouting with obvious arousal, dripping little droplets of a clear fluid. At the upper part of her pussy, her pronounced, swollen clit was peeking out from its hood, practically begging for attention.

Mike smiled, rubbing her thighs delicately for a few moments. She anxiously shook her thighs and lifted her hips closer to his face, pleading for his attentions. He gripped her thighs, bringing his mouth down to her very musky womanhood, nearly getting lost in the euphoric haze for a moment before diving in.

"Ahh," Akaya let out a girlish sigh as she felt Mike's lips give a kiss on to her sensitive clit, sealing the little nub between his lips.

He then flicked his tongue out and brought himself lower, slipping his tongue around her glistening folds, making a slow stroke across her labia, drinking in her juices as his tongue slowly ascended across her folds. Akaya was blissfully moaning and purring as he tongued her sensitive pussy. Her golden eyes then grew wider and her back arched off the couch as his tongue lashed against her ultrasensitive clit. He took a few moments to give her ecstatic pleasure by washing the nub in his wet love before he sucked it into his mouth and nibbled it gently. Just before she began to reach a peak, he would retreat from her sweet spot and begin a gradual build up again by slipping his tongue around and into her juicy folds.

On the other couch, Liz's expert use of mouth on Rajah's cock was causing him to nearly erupt with pleasure soon enough. As she'd begun sliding him in and out of her throat, moaning as she went, he began to feel his seed rapidly churning for release as he felt a fire in his loins. He gently grasped her head and pulled her off of his cock with a pleasured growl of relief.

"Not yet, Liz...you're too good at this," he panted, his whiskers wrinkling as he allowed his near-release to subside.

She grinned from the compliment, sneaking a finger down to slip between her own pussy folds and toy with her pussy to momentarily quell her own arousal.

"Thanks, Rajah. Mike loves when I do that."

He smiled, stroking a paw through her silky hair. "I can understand why he does. May I taste you now?"

She smiled and blushed, stroking his pulsing cock back to arousal. "Are you going to cum?"

His fur stood up on end from this. He shook his head though. "I think I can hold it a bit longer," he replied.

"Good, because I'm not quite finished with this, big tiger," she hissed lustfully.

She gave him a strong shove, causing him to fall onto his back on the couch. Ordinarily he would have been surprised by someone so slender and small being able to bring him down, but he knew better. Having been in the marines with Mike's wife, he knew full well that she wasn't as frail as her exterior would make you believe. She could easily take down guys twice her size without breaking a sweat.

She got on the couch on top of him, straddling his broad, orange striped form. Her intentions rang clear with him as he now gazed up into her lovely glistening treasure hovering above him as he simultaneously looked down to see her lowering her mouth to his glistening, pulsing erection once again. He took hold of her silky smooth thighs and buried his muzzle into her pussy, immediately slurping away at her glistening folds for all he was worth. Liz moaned around his cock as she returned his attentions by sucking and bobbing her head up and down his erection again.

As Liz and Rajah were straddling on the couch in a 69 position, giving oral stimulation to each other, Mike was still fixed between Akaya's quivering brown legs, nibbling, sucking and slurping away at her pussy as if he starved for it. Her furry legs instinctively wrapped around the back of his head as he worked her slit with his tongue while flicking up to bring a pleasurable jolt to her clit. He felt the slightly prickle of the claws of her padded feet digging into the back of his head, but he didn't care. He focused only on ravaging her alien womanhood with his tongue.

Akaya suddenly pushed him away abruptly, causing Mike to look up at her questioningly, licking his lips of her tart feminine juices. She was lustfully looking at him with a happy smile while tweaking one of her nipples with one claw and gently thrusting another in and out of her pussy.

"Mike...take me, mate me," she begged as an almost continuous purr rumbled from her throat.

He needed no more of a verbal queue than that. He sat down on the couch beside her, slipping a finger between her velvet folds as her paw stroked his glistening erection.

"How do you want to do it?" he softly asked her.

She chewed her lip in anticipation of his hard manhood slipping into her depths. She gave him a quick kiss on the lips and whispered back, "I want to be on top first. I want to ride you."

He nodded with a grin. "As you wish, kitty."

He sat down on the couch, leaning back against the cushion behind him as the beautiful Kataaran female straddled him. Her pink pussy dripped juices onto his precum-coated cock as her soft fingers gripped hold of it to keep it steady. Her golden eyes stared straight into his as she slowly eased herself down. Mike caressed and stroked her breasts, looking into her gorgeous tiger-like face as she lowered down. They both then went rigid and a soft gasp escaped both of their lips as his thick head pressed into her folds, allowing both of their ready juices to lubricate his cock. She rocked on top of him back and forth for a few moments, letting the hard crown of his cock to nudge her clit and swipe around her sensitive folds.

Then with foreplay and hesitations aside, Akaya intertwined her fingers in Mike's and immediately dropped herself down, impaling her pussy onto Mike's warm human cock. They both let out loud moans as he slid himself inside her snug interior. They were both filled with lust and excitement at the pleasurable revelation that they were both actually mating with a member of another race. Akaya sighed and purred as she continued to ease herself down, allowing more and more of his cock to slide its way inside her as her fleshy, velvety walls started milking around his shaft. She started by allowing herself to grow accustomed to his member and anatomy while making gentle bounces up and down on him, bringing pleasure to both of their tender genitals.

Rajah and Liz both looked over at the scene next to them, retracting themselves from the oral pleasures they were giving each other as they realized that Akaya was in the process of riding Mike. They both watched as her brown striped tail twitched, and lower than that, they could see Mike's hard fleshy cock sliding in and out of her juicy pink folds.

Both of them now overcome with envy, Rajah and Liz both nonverbally decided that enough lubrication and stimulation was in place and they wanted to get down to the main event. Liz disengaged herself from the tiger's barbed cock for a moment and lustfully went over to one side of the large couch. She propped herself up on the end of the couch, getting onto her hands and knees and presenting her delectable rear end to him.

Liz looked over her shoulder with a lustful fire in her eyes as she reached back and stroked her seething, glistening lips. Rajah's wet cock hardened to full capacity from the amazing sight and the erotic atmosphere of all four of them collectively mating in the same room.

"Take me like an animal, big boy," Liz lustfully whispered back to him, licking her lips as she presented her pussy to be penetrated by his ready tiger cock.

He grinned, replying, "I thought you didn't want me to 'go all dominant alpha male tiger' on you?"

"Oh you can go all alpha male tiger on me. Just don't bite my neck," she laughed to the Kataaran.

Rajah nodded and approached her on his knees to her bent-over form. He reached his paws down and gave a gentle squeeze to the cheeks of her bum, causing her to sigh. He then shuffled himself closer until he was pressed against her; his orange fur tickling her skin as his legs brushed hers.

He lined his hard pink cock up against her human womanhood, getting ready to slide into the place where his lust would be sated and his commitment to this ritual would be fulfilled. He reached down and stroked her clit, bringing her pleasure and causing her to relax.

"I'll try to go slow at first, because of the barbs. It should be good after a little bit though," he said to her.

She gripped the cushion and prepped herself as Rajah pressed the glistening head against her lips. They were both adequately wet from the lubrication and oral pleasure that they gave to each other, but he wanted to take it slow to keep his anatomy from damaging her tender human depths within. After a few moments of pressing his head against her wet pussy, he decided to start inserting it.

Rajah gripped her hips and slowly sheathed himself inside of her. She grit her teeth as the pink head passed her outer folds and slipped its way into her pussy, causing both of them to sigh. He hesitated a moment before pressing another couple inches up into her slit. Liz grit her teeth as she realized that there was a slight amount of discomfort from the barbs of his cock raking gently along the inner walls of her pussy, however, thanks to the lubrication, it was more a feeling of strangeness in response to his anatomy, rather than a feeling of pain.

He began to slide inch after inch inside of her, taking a few moments in intervals to allow her pussy to lubricate more and grow accustomed to the barbed cock. Eventually, he was able to bottom out within her pussy until his furry sheath rested against pussy lips. She awed in amazement at the feeling of her snug walls wrapped tightly around his member, now actually starting to feel a slight amount of pleasure from the barbs as they rubbed the inside of her wet, hot pussy.

Akaya slowed her bouncing up and down on Mike's manhood as they both turned to look at Rajah sliding into Liz from behind as she was bent over the couch. Mike was surprised that she could handle the barbs but was nonetheless aroused at seeing the muscled orange striped form of his best friend penetrating his wife.

Mike turned his attention back to the sultry tigress upon his lap, giving each other a mutual smile as they fell into a faster pace that sent pulses of pleasure through both of their loins. Mike began to hammer his cock in and out of her tight, squelching pussy vigorously, causing her to break out into joyful moans. She too doubled her efforts, riding him even faster as her furry hips smacked against the skin of his hips.

The feeling of her incredibly tight, juicy walls wrapped about his cock sent tingles of pleasures through him, and the feel of her soft, comfortable fur against his skin only heightened this. She too loved the feeling of fullness that she felt from his smooth cock plundering the depths of her pussy, nudging her cervix slightly upon every bounce and downstroke that she made. Mike began to add to her pleasure as she slid herself up and down his cock by reaching both of his hands around. One hand began to tweak her clit, while the other had parted aside her tail, slipping a finger superficially into her delicate tailhole.

Both wonderful additions to their mating caused her pussy to clench down tightly, milking around his cock as the heat in her loins exploded. She let out a shrill growl and cry as she braced herself down into his groin, bottoming out his cock within her depths as an orgasm overcame her. The tigress began to jerk her hips and her golden eyes rolled back into her head as her pussy soaked his thrusting cock in feminine juices even as he continued to pound her good, grunting and moaning as he did.

Now that Liz had grown accustomed to the barbs and actually began to whimper and moan in pleasure as the nubs rubbed along her inner channel, Rajah began to pick up pace. Taking her request to 'take her like an animal' to heart, he began to draw himself out, her walls clinging snugly and lovingly to his hard member as he went. When on the barbed head was locked within her pussy, he gave a throat growl and gripped her hips, slamming himself inside of her.

Liz threw her head back as the muscled, regal male began to ravenously pound her pussy from behind. With hesitations aside, Rajah began to rut into her, sawing his cock in and out of her delicious human pussy at a fast pace as her hips slapped back against him. Liz was loving every second of it too, feeling his hard, long cock slamming in and out of her, causing her pussy to erupt in divine pleasure.

"Oh oh oh...my god, it feels sooo good," she lustfully moaned out loud as Rajah panted, growled and thrust in and out of her with loud squelches filling their vicinity.

Liz turned her head back to see that, after having an intense cum, Akaya was still feverishly riding her husband, moaning and squeezing her breasts as they both gave it to each other as good as the male behind her was giving it to her.

"Oh god...Mike, how does it feel for you?" Liz gasped, moaning as Rajah's cock raked along the inside of her pussy.

Mike opened his eyes as he continued to rut into the tigress straddling him. He cast over to his wife behind pounded good from behind.

He smiled at her beautiful face on the other couch and replied throatily, "It's so tight, it feels amazing. H-, how're you doing, Liz? Is he giving it to you good?"

The erotic talk between the two humans caused the Kataarans to become more aroused as they began to double their efforts in mating with their human partners. Liz bit her lip as she smiled serenely from the feeling of Rajah's cock filling her up, sliding in and out over and over.

"Yeah he is...he," she paused and let out a throaty moan as his cock hit an especially sensitive spot within her pussy. "Oh god, Mike, Rajah, I'm cumming!"

Liz's pussy clenched down tightly on Rajah's member as pleasure exploded within her. Her pussy milked and massaged his cock for all it was worth as her orgasm rushed through her body. Rajah groaned as her velvety walls clasped his cock snugly, causing the barbs along his cock to rub deep spots within her, only heightening the pleasure of her orgasm.

Just as her sweet orgasm was finishing, Rajah picked her up around her torso. With her still impaled upon his cock nicely, he picked her up and deposited her on her back on the couch. With her now lying on her back in missionary position, he slid himself fully into her, slamming in and out of her juicy, vice-like snatch at as fast a pace as he could go as he built up to his own orgasm. As his tiger-like muzzle scrunched up as he growled, pummeling her pussy, Liz smiled happily, hooking her legs around Rajah's tail and bum, feeling it flex as he continued to rut her good.

Mike and Akaya had also coincidentally switch to the same exact position now. Mike had picked up the lithe tigress and deposited her gently onto the coffee table in the middle of the couches. She gave a wry smile as she looked up at him, shuddering as he prepared to slide back into her hot pussy. He picked up her furry legs and placed them gently onto his shoulders before lining himself back up with her hungry love tunnel. He gave a huge thrust inside her, bottoming out with a loud moan before he began to slide in and out as fast as he could.

The living room was now utterly filled with the sounds of throaty moans, grunts, purrs and cries of pleasure as all four individuals involved in the mating built up to a final orgasm. Rajah hammered away into the human female beneath him, readying to fill up her pussy with his Kataaran seed while Mike, with Akaya's legs on his shoulders, slid in and out of the Kataaran female beneath him, preparing to fill her up with his human seed.

As miraculous as it was, somehow within those next few moments of passionate mating, all four respective partners reached their peaks at almost the exact same time. Mike and Rajah pounded away into their partners as their balls churned to release a flood of semen into the pussies and wombs of both females.

Both Akaya and Liz cried out in unison as their second orgasms tore through their tender bodies, both of their tight chasms milking and tightening upon their partners' members, desperately trying to milk them for their semen as nature intended. The stimulation and feel of their pussies milking their cocks was too much for both Mike and Rajah. Within that next instant, Rajah let out almost an intimidating tiger roar and Mike moaned loudly as he hilted himself deep within Akaya's pussy while Rajah thrust himself as far into Liz as he could go.

All four cried out as Mike and Rajah began to cum inside both females. The plentiful, milky load of cum rushed up Mike's cock and exploded in ropey spurts deep into Akaya's pussy to slosh into her womb. Rajah was locked against Liz's cervix thanks in part to his barbs as his cock twitched a couple times before he too released ropey explosions of cum deep in Liz's pussy.

Both women gasped and moaned, riding out their orgasms as they felt load after creamy, sperm-filled load fill them up to amazing proportions. When their cocks stopped twitching and they finished cumming inside of them, Rajah collapsed atop Liz and Mike atop Akaya, both of them letting out extremely satisfied, drawn-out sighs.

All four of them, utterly sated and basking in the ambiance of such pleasure that they had scarcely felt before, passed out tiredly in respective parts of the living room.

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6..."

Mike's tired eyes slowly drew open as he came back to reality. His gaze was met with the holographic TV on the wall displaying the New Year's Eve ball in Time's Square slowly dropping.

"3, 2, 1...HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

On the TV, the ball lit up and fireworks exploded above the city skyline in the background.

Mike grinned tiredly as he picked himself up from the floor of the apartment living room. He rubbed the back of his head, looking down and seeing that he was still naked; his flaccid, glistening cock clinging limply to his leg.

He then realized that he had another form snuggled up against his side. He turned around on the floor beside him, expecting to see Akaya, but instead, he was met with the dreamily sleeping form of his gorgeous wife Liz. Her hand was draped over his leg as her chest rose and fell in peaceful strokes as her face smiled.

He smiled too and reached down, taking her hand in his as his other hand began to stroke the brown locks of hair from her beautiful face.

He cast his gaze around the other room and then finally saw the forms of Akaya and Rajah situated on the other couch. They had excited expressions across their muzzles as they had watched the New Year's Eve countdown with anticipation. Rajah and Akaya were both still nude too (not that it mattered since they had fur) and sitting clung close together. Akaya was sitting atop his lap, resting her head back on her mate's shoulder as they watched the TV while Rajah stroked the back of her ears. Rajah's cock had retracted back into its sheath, however, there was still the unmistakable glimpse of clear juices on his groin. Both Kataarans' tails were swaying calmly back and forth as they sat on the couch.

Mike heard a sigh and a whimper beside him as he turned his gaze back down to his wife. Liz stretched out her arms and slowly drew her eyes open, looking up into her husband's face with a smile.

Mike reached down and stroked her cheek. "Welcome back, how do you feel?" he softly asked her.

She blushed and kissed his hand. "Pretty exhausted," she replied, smiling. He laughed along with her as he lowered his head down and planted a tender kiss onto her lips.

Liz then took notice of the TV playing and she spun around to see Rajah and Akaya staring back at both of them. Mike and Liz stretched out one last time before they got up and took a seat on the other couch. The two pairs of spouses looked at each other with relaxed, passive smiles on their faces.

"Thank you, thank you both so much for what you did for us. It was very enjoyable, and we wouldn't have imagined sharing this with anyone else," Akaya said as Rajah nodded in agreement.

Mike and Liz smiled at each other before he replied, "It was our pleasure too. That's what friends are for."

The four looked back at the TV and the various New Year's Eve celebrations playing across the screen before they looked back at each other.

"So...what happens from here?" Liz asked the two Kataarans.

Rajah shrugged. "Whatever you two want. Like I said, this can disappear and we all pretend like it never happened, go back to the way things were. It's entirely up to you," he answered.

Mike and Liz surprisingly both frowned at that prospect. After what they'd done and shared with their two friends hours before, it felt almost...empty to just throw that all away. Not only had Mike and Liz's love for each other not diminished in the slightest, but they felt as if they'd really had a bond with their comrades and friends that few others could claim to have done.

Noticing their frowns and hesitations, Rajah and Akaya looked briefly at each other with smirks.

"Or...if you'd like to continue this, we can see where it takes us in the weeks ahead?" Rajah continued.

Mike and Liz looked at each other. Mike nodded his head at her to which she smiled in agreement, clasping his hand with hers.

"We'd like that," Mike softly replied to both of them.

The tiger and tigress nodded collectively with smiles adorning their faces as they turned back to the TV. Mike had been rubbing Liz's shoulder as she leaned back against him, before she looked down at herself, realizing how sweaty and sticky she felt.

"Well I don't know about the weeks ahead, but right now, I know that we could all use a shower," she laughed.

The other three laughed and vocalized their agreement. "You two can go first," Rajah offered, continuing to stroke his mate perched atop his lap.

Liz turned her head back to Mike, whispering, "Care to join me?"

He chuckled and planted a kiss onto her nose. "As you command, my dear," he replied.

The two humans wobbly made their way over to the bathroom as the two Kataarans continued watching TV. They stepped into the roomy shower, closing the door behind them as they turned on the knob, allowing a steamy warm stream of water to rain down atop both of their sweaty bodies.

As they were in the midst of rinsing and cleaning each other down with the soap, Liz suddenly surprised him by pressing him up against the shower wall.

"That was SO hot, wasn't it?" she asked him with a huge smile, referring to their previous orgy with the Kataarans.

He nodded with a smirk as the water kept raining on them. "Hell yeah, it was. I'm glad we agreed to it."

Liz smiled lustfully as her soap-covered hand went down to his cock and began to clean and stroke renewed life into it. He sighed and leaned his head back as his hand went down between her legs, finding her pussy as his fingers delved between the glistening lips. As he looked down, he saw that some of Rajah's white seed still dripped out of her snatch in small droplets, being sucked down the drain of the shower beneath them.

She smiled and pressed her mouth up against his ear. "Think you have one more in you?" she whispered, nibbling his lobe.

Mike's eyebrows rose as he grinned at her. "Rajah and Akaya need to use this, you know," he reminded her.

"They can wait. Besides, I'm sure those horny tigers will do the same thing when they have their turn," she laughed.

Mike nodded, his eyes tracing over her voluptuous body as his inhibitions were cast aside.

"Anything for you, trooper," he replied, using the pet-names that they'd assigned for each other.

He hoisted her up by her bum, causing her to yelp in pleasant surprise as he pressed her against the back wall, wrapping her legs around him. He lined up his cock with her slippery slit and pushed himself in, bringing sighs and pleasure to both of them.

With the water raining down on both of them and with them clinging their hot wet bodies against each other, Mike and Liz fell into a passionate coupling as their moans could likely be heard from their two friends outside the door.

Soon enough, both of them reached another momentous orgasm each. Their bodies clung together under the shower as they shuddered against each other, while Mike unloaded his creamy deposit of semen inside her pussy, where, deep in her womb, it filled up alongside what was left of Rajah's.

Both human lovers collapsed on the shower floor into each other's arms, smiling and stroking each other as they basked in their bliss. They then gave each other one more deep kiss, both of their minds dwelling on the wonderful weeks that lay in store for them.