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The after-ski was only semi-crowded, so it was made obvious it was still early in the season. There was a throng about the bar but it thinned out towards the back of the room and Tommy had the the couch in front of the fireplace almost to himself. There was a scrawny weasel with cross-country boots sitting at one end, but he was talking with the people sitting at the table behind the couch and so he was sitting more on the armrests than the seat and didn't take up much space at all.

Tommy basked in the heat from the fire, his elbows rested on the back of the couch besides him, his left leg stretched out with the heel of the plaster cast on the floor and his right leg bent, the foot resting across the other knee. The warmth was just on the right side of being pleasant, the kind of overwhelming, deep-reaching heat you only got from a large, well-stoked fireplace, just at the point where if he'd sat any closer he'd sing his fur.

There were still a couple of sips left of his gin and tonic, but the ice had melted and it'd turned lukewarm. He considered catching the eye of Christian or Curler and have them get him a fresh one at the bar, but that would require hoisting himself up over the back of the couch and waving. Way too much activity right now. Besides, if he had too many drinks he'd just end up having to piss, and hobbling down the stairs to the bathroom with the plaster cast was an experience he'd just as well pass on.

A lioness leant over the couch next to Tommy and put her arms along the back of it. She was fit, lanky even, and wore a ski suit that didn't look expensive until you started looking at the details. Lions were one tribe Tommy didn't have much face-to-face experience with, and he couldn't make a good guess at how old she was. Older than him, he suspected, but anywhere from there to forty.

The warmth from the fireplace and the gin and tonic he'd almost finished took the edge of Tommy's usual skittishness, so he remained as he was and made a friendly wriggle of his nose in greeting. Okay, so maybe rabbits did the nose wriggle more cutely, but hares knew a thing or two about it too.

The lioness smiled back and flicked her short ears in a gesture Tommy wasn't sure how to read. "Is anyone sitting here?" She gestured at the two seats of the couch next to him.

"No, they're free."

"Oh good, I didn't want to have to stand at the bar. So, downhill or slalom?" She nodded at Tommy's embarrassingly bright blue cast.

"Um, it was actually in the parking lot." Tommy's whiskers dipped. "I was unloading the skis and this other car came down the hill from the restaurant and didn't manage to stop. Wham. And I was off to the hospital."

"Just as you arrived? You didn't even get to ski? Oh, that's horrible." The lioness grinned. "I'm going to get a drink. Do you want me to bring you anything from the bar?"

Tommy considered it and bent forward to put his warm drink on the floor. "Could you get me a rum and coke?" he craned his neck and searched the crowd around the bar for Curler's distinctive ears. "There's a tall, black hare over there somewhere. Red jacket, ears curling forwards. He'll pay for it if you can find him."

"Don't worry about it. Just don't let anyone else take the seat while I'm gone."

Tommy laughed and nodded. "Okay."

Her name was Jahiho'uhne, a flow of exotic syllables wrapped around a glottal stop that Tommy just couldn't get right, no matter how many times he tried so by mutual consent she became Jahn. She was into alpine skiing, a few notches above Tommy's own level, had a season card and was staying at one of the apartment cabins with a friend. She drank rum and whisky, shared Tommy's disdain of the extreme skiing crowd and her most common expression was a sly half-smile as if she was half a step ahead of everyone and just waiting for the punchline. If it hadn't been for his two gin and tonics, Tommy would have been intimidated and he told her that.

"So you're not only wounded but dazed too?" Again that half-smile, "You're like the perfect prey. Don't go near any predators for a while."

"Oh, you mean like you?" Tommy replied with a smile of his own.

"Rowr." Jahn bared her teeth and made a lazy swipe in the air with one hand, her claws glittered red in the light from the fireplace.

Tommy had been about to take a sip of his drink, but the full sight of Jahn's rows of sharp teeth sent an involuntary shiver down his spine and made his breath catch in his throat. His hand jolted and his drink sloshed, spilling onto his fingers and over his shirt. "Fuck!"

Jahn's eyes glittered with laughter. "Did you just freeze up?"

"No!"

"Yes you did! Admit it."

"I didn't... okay, maybe a little," he admitted with a laugh and tried to shake the worst of the spilled drink from his hand.

"Oh, that's terrible -- and so cute!"

"I just didn't realise how big your teeth actually were."

"You think they're intimidating?"

"Intimidating? They're scary!"

Jahn's delighted laugh suggested she didn't take offense at that description.

Tommy looked down at his drenched shirt and sighed. He had had to switch to rum, hadn't he? "I need to go and get this shirt off before it soaks into my fur. The car's going to stink like a brewery tomorrow if I don't."

"The car? Aw, you're going home already tomorrow?"

"Yeah, we're only here for the weekend,"

"But you'll be back later in the season, right?"

"Uh, well...." They both looked down at Tommy's plastered foot.

"Fuck, that was stupid of me. Of course you won't be."

"No, it doesn't look like it. Eh, the parking lot here is too dangerous, anyway," Tommy replied with a grin. Mentally he was cursing the fates. She sounded disappointed to hear he was leaving, which was great, except that he was fucking leaving. Shit. First a broken leg, and now this. Some weekend this had turned out to be.

"Hang on, I need to catch hold of Curler -- don't want to try the stairs to the hotel on my own." Tommy scooted up and stretched his head, scanning the crowd by the bar for Curler.

"Hare in a red jacket, right?" Jahn moved to sit on her knees in the couch, her arms across the back, to get a good view of the room.

"Yeah, can you see him?"

"Maybe. Is that him over by the stairs, chatting with the two ewes?"

"That's him. Aw, hell."

Jahn turned to look at Tommy with her ears turned forward in question. "Hmm?"

"The ewes. He's going to be so pissed at me for interrupting his chances with them."

Jahn regarded Tommy for a second, then her mouth curled into that sly half-smile again and she got up from the couch. "Leave him to it, then. I'll help you back to the hotel."

"I -- you're sure? I mean, I'd like that, but..."

"Positive," she said with a brief flash of teeth, "I need some cold air anyway. The fireplace was starting to get to me."

"Okay then." Tommy clambered to his feet and managed to scoop up his crutches from the floor, "I thought most lions liked heat?"

"'Most lions' don't ski," Jahn replied and moved so Tommy could support one arm on her shoulder.

"That makes sense. I think."

They threaded their way through the crowding room to the entrance. It was less hassle than Tommy had feared: most saw his crutches and moved to let them pass so Jahn only had to poke someone with her claws for attention once.

The cold outside was a nice change from the heat and noise inside, at least for a minute or two. The night sky was clear, but there was so much light from the buildings and streetlights and the reflections from the snow that it might almost just as well have been overcast.

Tommy almost slipped on an iced over step once, but Jahn caught him and held him upright with ease, one arm around his waist, the other on his shoulder.

"You're stronger than you look," Tommy told her, his breath visible as puffs of lighted fog under the lamps.

"Yeah. Predator muscle base, almost no fat. Fun, until someone opens a window and I freeze my tail off."

"Skiing is a pretty weird hobby for you, then."

"They make really good thermal underwear these days. And it's safer than walking about in parking lots."

Tommy had to laugh, "Yeah, I guess I can't disagree."

"Not with that leg you can't."

They made their way along the walkway as they talked, and soon reached the stairs up to the hotel. Jahn didn't turn onto them, though, but continued past without pausing, heading towards the apartments along the hillside. Tommy was forced to hop along.

"Hey, wait. The hotel is up there."

"That's not where we're going," Jahn replied.

"What? But I need to get changed."

That sly smile was back in force and she tightened her grip around his waist. "Hush, hare."

"Hey, come on! Really!"

Jahn gave him a sideways glance and turned her head to face him. She hesitated for a split second then leaned in and bared her teeth, letting out a low, deep growl, full of warning.

Tommy didn't just hear the growl -- it vibrated over his whiskers and reverberated against his side. His heart skipped a beat and he reacted in panic. He twisted in her hold, trying to get away, and his elbow came up and back. The growl cut off abruptly and her arm about his waist let up, giving Tommy the chance to break free.

He got one step away then his cast got in the way and he stumbled. His good leg lost grip on the icy road and Tommy went sprawling face-first into the bank of plowed up snow besides the road. Tommy spat snow and rolled over on his back. Above him, a few bright stars could be seen through the light-haze from the buildings around him.

"Hey, are you okay? Tommy?" Jahn was crouching a few steps away, watching him with a concerned look in her eyes and one hand over her chin. She relaxed a little when Tommy met her eyes. "Oh fuck, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. Not for real."

Tommy didn't answer. He was too busy trying to get his heart to calm down and to take note of all the places snow had gotten in under his clothes and were starting to melt. Back over by the nightclub among the handful of smokers who were standing outside, several puzzled faces were turned towards them. Tommy felt relieved to know there were witnesses, then shamefaced for feeling relieved.

"Your leg okay?"

Tommy had to take a moment to check if he could feel any pain before he answered. "Yeah, it's fine." He shook snow out of his ears. "My dignity took the brunt of it, I think."

"Help you up?" Jahn's ears flickered uncertainly.

Tommy had to suppress a flash of impulsive fear. "I -- sure. Why not? You helped me down, after all."

Jahn smiled at that. She stood up and slowly took the two steps over to him and offered him her hand. With another flash of fear, easier to suppress already, Tommy accepted it and let her haul him to his feet.

"I fucked things up, huh?" Jahn said. Tommy didn't reply. They stood uncertain for a moment, Tommy leaning with one arm on the lioness's shoulder.

"I'll help you to your room, if you want," Jahn said, flexing the hand between her and Tommy uncertainly, "but I'd really like to take you to my place, instead."

Tommy swallowed, took a breath. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah."

Jahn smiled. "Okay." She put her arm back around Tommy's waist. Even through two layers of clothing her touch seemed electric. "Let's start walking again before I freeze my ass off."

"And before I lose my nerve?" Tommy put his arm back around Jahn's shoulder. He accidentally brushed his mitt against her whiskers and she snorted and shook her head.

"Yeah, that too."

"Do you want something to drink? There's a mini-bar." Jahn had taken off her ski suit in the hallway and was standing around in her thermal underwear. It was a purple set of long-sleeved woolen shirt and matching pants and except for her tail it didn't show much more fur than the ski suit had. Even so Tommy found it hard to look away, and he had to concentrate to keep his whiskers from twitching along with the growing tension in his crotch.

"No, thank you. I'm already a little tipsy and I don't want to, uh." 'Fail to perform,' Tommy left unsaid and felt the heat of a blush rising in his ears. He was leaning against the doorway with this crutches in his other hand and felt incredibly awkward.

"Yes, I guess." Jahn laughed but looked a little tense herself, her ears perked and flickering with small twitches. She turned her side to Tommy and stretched deliberately, making her woolen shirt ride up and reveal a thin line of pale fur.

"Would you mind if I was ... aggressive?" Jahn asked, "As pretend? I promise I won't hurt you, but I like to be a little ... fierce."

"Predatory," Tommy said. His heart beat hard and his cock had tightened into an uncomfortable bulge in his pants.

Jahn nodded agreement and just watched Tommy with her large, amber eyes, waiting for him to decide.

Tommy let his crutches fall from his hand and skipped awkwardly a couple of meters away from the doorway and pressed himself closer against the wall.

"Well, you've driven me into a corner so, so I guess there's nothing I can do to stop you, right?" Tommy licked his lips and gave the lioness a shaky smile.

Jahn's eyes sparkled at that and a smile tugged at her lips, but she held back a little further. "You're sure you don't mind?"

Tommy nodded, a little more jerkily than he'd intended. "Just be careful with my leg, okay?"

Jahn's face lit up in a full, thankful smile. "Okay, let me just take these off first," she said and began to pull her woolen undershirt off. It caught around her neck and she had to struggle to get it off over her head. She laughed from inside the shirt, "There's just no way to make it look sexy to take one of these off. Sorry."

"That's okay," Tommy said, his voice unsteady. He wasn't so sure that the sight of the lioness struggling with her underwear wasn't sexy, if of a non-glossy, down-to-earth variety, and regardless the deeper smell of Jahn as her fur was bared to the air was sexy beyond question. The scent played across his nose, a flat, prickly smell that had a undercurrent of dry, sun-burnt grass that resonated somewhere deep in his amygdalae with an old, primal song about fear and danger.

Jahn got the shirt off and tossed it off in a corner. Catching Tommy's intent stare she flashed him a grin. "This one is easier," she said and reached behind her and undid the tail-strap on the woolen pants. She managed to peel them down to her ankles without bending her knees, but had to sit down on the couch for a moment to pull them all the way off. "Still not very sexy," she said and shrugged one shoulder in excuse.

"Uh..." Tommy disagreed.

"Anyway, now it's time to hunt," Jahn announced and that sly half-smile was back as she rose.

Tommy steeled himself, half expecting her to immediately spring at him with a roar, but instead she stalked towards him deliberately and slow, a small pause after every step when her tail was part of her moving, swishing softly from side to side. She held her shoulders raised and her hands a little out from her hips, palms forward and, Tommy realized with a twitch in his gut, claws extended.

He pressed himself flat against the wall as Jahn approached. His heart was racing and the room seemed to dim at the edges of his vision. The smell of Jahn and the room became an almost physical pressure somewhere between his eyes. 'So this is tunnel sensing,' he thought, and wondered how much he was pretending to be frozen and how much he actually was.

Suddenly, Jahn pounced the last few steps to the hare and Tommy let out a startled squeak. Before he had a chance to react further, Jahn had caught Tommy's ears in one hand and locked him against the wall with her body, her chest tight against his and her thigh pressed hard against his crotch.

Tommy fought down a needle of panic and realised he was holding his breath. He let it out with a small gasp and struggled not to pant. His heart was beating furiously and he realised that Jahn must be able to feel it against her chest. The grip on his ears eased a fraction, as did the force of Jahn's thigh against his hard-on, and Jahn perked her ears in a wordless question.

"Wow," Tommy breathed and answered with a shaky smile. He made a tiny nod, as much as he could with his ears held.

A smile flashed across Jahn's face and sparkled in her eyes for a moment before she went back in character and her expression hardened again, her lips pulling back to reveal the tip of her teeth. She brought her head in so that their whiskers all but met and made a deep, loud growl, tightening her grip on Tommy's ears and pressing her thigh back into his crotch, uncomfortably hard.

Pressed so tight between Jahn and the wall, Tommy could feel her growl as a deep vibration against his chest and stomach. He couldn't quite repress a shiver and squirmed in the grip, earning him a deepening of the growl and a careful prick of claws at the base of his ears. "Please," he whimpered and held still, eyes big and fearful. That only took a little bit of acting -- to keep from pressing back against her thigh took somewhat more.

"That's a good hare," Jahn said hoarsely, her lips sliding back over her teeth despite her trying to stay in character. She squeezed her free hand in between them and began unbuttoning Tommy's shirt. "Your heart is going crazy," she mumbled, her hand having worked her way to the second uppermost button.

"Um yeah, well. Prey, terrified," Tommy replied, not in the steadiest of voices, his mind acutely aware of the warm thigh pressing against his erection. He'd put his right arm around Jahn's waist at some point, he wasn't sure when. He ought to take it away, to stay in character, but his body really didn't want to. It stayed.

Jahn laughed and got the last two buttons undone. She tugged his shirt over his shoulders and part-way down his arms, still holding his ears pinned against the wall with one hand. She snarled, not very convincingly, and put her mouth to his shoulder in a pretend bite. She dragged her teeth through his fur, along his shoulder and down his chest, as far as she could bend without either letting go of his ears or pulling her thigh away, then back up again to his shoulder.

"We should move to the bedroom," Jahn said, her breath hot puffs of air into his fur, her whiskers prickly against his neck.

"Yeah," Tommy agreed.

For a couple of seconds neither of them moved, then Jahn let go of his ears and they managed to extricate themselves from each other. Tommy undid the buttons on his cuffs and shrugged his shirt the rest of the way off.

Getting to the bedroom was awkward, partly because of his cast and because he kept looking at Jahn's naked body as she supported him rather than at where they were going, but mostly because with every step his pants tightened uncomfortably against his hard-on.

"You look, uh, really good," Tommy told Jahn as he stood in the doorway to the darkened bedroom, watching her hunt for the light switch.

Jahn flashed him a smile over her shoulder as she cleared away a scattering of sweaters and underwear from the bed. "Bet you say that to every naked predator you see," she said and came back to help him over to the bed.

"Only the ones that catch me," Tommy objected, and accepted the support of her arm and limped over to sit on the bed.

Getting his pants and underwear off and over his cast was a little awkward, but there was eager help available and shortly Jahn was running an eager finger along the shaft of Tommy's cock and sheath. "Ala, you're big; even your balls are massive," she told him with a twitch of her ears and ran her hand up along the length of his sheath and exposed cock.

"Uh, leporine muscle base?" he said which earned him an amused snort from Jahn that might have been a suppressed giggle. "Is it going to be a problem?"

"No, I think I can manage," Jahn said with a smile that showed the barest hint of teeth. "Just let me be on top and control things."

Tommy had to grin. Now she wanted to control things, was it? "Hey, I'm the prey species with the wounded leg here -- do I have any other choice?"

Jahn's smile grew toothier and she put her hand on Tommy's chest and pushed his upper body down onto the bed. "Not really."

"Could you get me one of those pillows?" Jahn asked as she straddled Tommy's hips, her tail lashing loosely against the inside of his legs.

"Sure," Tommy stretched and got hold of one of the pillows, quenched a momentary impulse to swat the lioness with it -- that wouldn't be very prey-like -- and handed it over all nice and meek.

"Thanks," Jahn said and put the pillow down across Tommy's chest and smoothed it.

Tommy shot her a quizzical glance. "Uh?"

Jahn's ears lowered and her nose pulled back in what might have been embarrassment, "Sometimes I lose control of my claws during sex."

"Oh, uh... Then the pillow stays," he concluded, earning him a grin and a thump of Jahn's tail against his cast.

"Okay now." Jahn took hold of Tommy's cock by the end of his sheath and tilted it upwards, raising on her knees to make room for it between them. She positioned herself against the tip of it and lowered herself carefully down onto it, uttering a soft hiss as she sank down.

"I don't want to go any deeper than this. That okay?" Jahn said when she'd lowered herself down to take almost all of his cock inside her, her voice raspy and deep.

Tommy let out a breathless laugh. "Yeah, that's fine. Plenty good."

Jahn leant forward and placed her hands on the pillow on top of Tommy's chest, effectively pinning him down against the bed with her weight. With a small grunt she began riding him, slow and careful to begin with, but she soon felt confident enough to increase the pace. "Ala, I'm wet," she said in a soft pant.

"I noticed," Tommy answered, in between quick gasps. He'd twisted one of his hands into the sheets, the other was on her thigh, feeling the tightness of her muscles as the lioness rocked up and down on his cock. She really was wet. Moving his hand to the inside of her thigh he could feel the fur up by her crotch completely soaked.

Jahn bared her teeth and leant forward, putting more weight on the pillow and pressing Tommy hard down against the mattress. A soundless snarl formed on her lips as she fucked him, ears twitching involuntarily every time she pressed herself back down on his cock.

Jahn let out a loud, harsh hiss and there was a loud tearing sound.

The first thing Tommy noticed when as he woke was a dull pain in his leg, reminding him that he'd chosen drinks instead of painkillers the previous evening. The second thing he noticed was a warm furry presence in the bed behind him, which reminded him of other things. He yawned and shook his ears and rolled himself around -- and looked straight into the bright grey eyes of a snow leopardess.

As the moment of stunned confusion grew longer and longer without Tommy managing to vocalise a sound, much less a word, the smile on the snow leopard turned into a grin that slowly grew wider. "Hi! I'm Dariga."

"I... uh, where's Jahn?" Tommy managed to stutter out, barely.

"Jahiho'uhne? In the kitchen. She seems to be in a really good mood this morning," Dariga said, amusement dancing in her eyes.

"Uh..." Tommy's brain drew another blank, and his ears flopped down in awkward befuddlement. He was exceedingly aware of the warmth radiating from her almost-touching body and of the fact that he was naked under the sheets. The inside of his ears took on a decidedly pink hue.

Perhaps reading much of that from Tommy's expression, Dariga's grin grew impish as she held the poor hare's gaze for a long, tense moment before speaking again. "Do you want me to fetch your crutches in the living room? Give you a chance to get dressed?"

Ears burning, Tommy nodded desperately, "Please?"

The snow leopardess smiled and slid out of bed and onto her feet with lazy grace. Tommy's heart twitched sharply when he saw she was completely naked too. Powerful, thick shoulders; a spotted, slender back; broad, shapely hips, bare buttocks sporting more spots; a long, thick, fuzzy tail; muscular, powerful thighs... not a stitch of clothing in sight.

She took a moment to stretch, apparently without regard that Tommy was in the room and that she was naked to the fur. Tommy stared, he couldn't help it, but when Dariga looked back over her shoulder and caught him at it she didn't seem to mind. She just flashed him another amused grin.

"In case you are wondering: no, we haven't," she said, pausing in the doorway with an impish glimmer in her eyes. "I came home freezing and the two of you looked so warm, so I snuck into the bed with you." A slow swish of her tail threatened to reveal her last remaining privacy and Tommy locked his gaze desperately onto her shoulder.

"Uh, right. Okay," he said, feeling stupid and confused, acutely aware of his ears burning and fighting to suppress a twitch in his groin.

"Just thought you should know," Dariga said and flashed him another smile and disappeared from the doorway into the hallway.

Tommy sat up and swung his legs clumsily over the side of the bed, making sure to keep the sheet draped over his lap as he looked for his pants and underwear. Dariga's head suddenly reappeared in the doorway and Tommy froze.

"I did peek, though," she admitted with an impish grin and disappeared again, leaving Tommy with a strong, rosy colour on the inside of his ears.

Tommy managed to find his pants and underwear and put them on before Dariga re-appeared, still naked, to hand him his crutches. Taking the crutches without staring at anything too sensitive was an exercise in restraint that was rewarded with a wide smile and a sway of her hips as the snow leopardess sauntered off again.

After a detour to the bathroom, Tommy limped his way through the living room and into the kitchen. Jahn was standing by the stove frying some kind of meat. He saw fried eggs already prepared, so he supposed it was bacon.

"Hey." The lioness' ears swung forward as she looked towards Tommy with a large smile. She'd put on some thermal long johns and a faded blue t-shirt and a white apron over that. She looked good in it, Tommy thought.

"Hey." Tommy smiled back and his ears perked up, everything suddenly all right.

"Sorry about Dariga. She's impossible; absolutely no shame. I meant to kick her out of bed before you woke, but you looked so sound asleep, I thought I had more time." Jahn's ears dipped in apology.

"It's okay," Tommy said and realized that it actually was. He limped his way over to the kitchen table and sat down. "I think she just wanted to shock me."

Jahn dipped a sympathetic ear, but not without a hint of a smile. "Yes, she does that. Sorry. Do you want breakfast, by the way?" she asked and shoveled the bacon from the skillet onto the plate with the eggs.

Tommy's felt his stomach lurch at the sight of the greasy bacon. "Uh, have you got any root vegetables or something?"

"Oh fuck! Of course you don't eat meat. I'm an idiot. Vegetables... I don't know," Jahn's face fell and her eyes roamed uncertainly about the kitchen, looking for anything that looked like it might hide a vegetable.

"Don't worry about it," Tommy smiled. Jahn's mistake and her chagrin at it made him feel oddly pleased.

"There's orange juice in the fridge and some bulbs of garlic in the cabinet next to the jerky," Dariga said, lounging in the doorway, still not dressed.

"Orange juice would be great," Tommy said and did his best to keep his gaze off the naked snow leopard, something that became difficult when Dariga sauntered into the kitchen and began rooting around in the fridge looking for the orange juice. Not bending at the knees either, Tommy noticed in his peripheral vision.

Jahn rolled her eyes at the snow leopard and sat down at the table next to Tommy with her plate of bacon and egg and an empty glass which she slid over to him. "You might as well look, you know," she told him. "She wouldn't be parading around like that unless she wanted you to."

"I have no idea what she's talking about. I just couldn't find any clothes I wanted to wear," Dariga grinned and walked over with a carton of orange juice for Tommy. She put it down with a flick of her whiskers and walked back to the doorway, hips and tail swaying hypnotically.

An unexpected brushing of claws through his stomach fur startled Tommy and he jerked his gaze away from the swaying, fuzzy derriere and into Jahn's amused eyes.

"Don't forget to drink your breakfast, hare." Jahn retracted her claws and stroked her fingers firmly through Tommy's soft fur.

"You're not making it easy for me," Tommy said, the inside of his ears rosy.

"Nope," said Jahn and grinned, the tip of her tail brushing against Tommy's good ankle. She picked up her fork in her left hand and speared some bacon on it, leaving her right hand free to linger on Tommy's stomach while she ate.

"She's making it hard for you? Again?" Dariga wondered from the doorway, eyes twinkling.

The inside of Tommy's ears grew darker red and his whiskers flickered as he laughed. "I think you both are. Oh, hang on." Tommy got his suddenly chirping cellphone from his trouser pocket and checked it. It was an SMS from Curler.

"Your friends looking for you?" Jahn asked and took her hand off Tommy's stomach, her ears dipping low.

"Yeah," Tommy nodded and tapped away at the undersized keys with his blunt claws, writing a reply. "They've just gone to breakfast; they want to check out and get going in about an hour."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

There was a brief, awkward pause but it was dispelled when Dariga asked in mock upset "What? We don't get to keep him?"

Jahn shook off the spell and perked her ears back up. "'Fraid not. Strictly catch and release." She chewed down a couple of hurried slices of bacon and put her fork down. "Go put on some clothes, you hussy. We have a hare to deliver," she told Dariga, who smiled and walked off to get dressed with a swish of her tail.

"'A hare to deliver'? From evil?" Tommy smiled.

"Perhaps." Jahn smiled back and got up, pausing to caress the back of Tommy's ears lightly. "I better go get dressed too. Just sit and finish your orange juice. I'll get your jacket and shoes... shoe for you."

"There they are," Tommy said and nodded towards a small group of hares at a table at the back of the dining room. They were chattering about over breakfast, hands gesticulating and ears flicking right and left.

Tommy was squeezed in between Jahn and Dariga, one arm around Jahn's waist and the other draped over Dariga's shoulders, Jahn carrying his crutches. Truth to tell, it would have been less awkward to have taken his crutches himself and hobbled down to the hotel on his own, but doing it this way had its advantages -- primarily him having one arm around Jahn's waist and the other draped over Dariga's shoulders.

Jahn and Dariga shared a look, Dariga's lip twitching up to reveal one of her fangs. "Sure we can't keep him?"

"I wish," Jahn replied, which earned her an extra squeeze from Tommy.

"Well, let's at least give them a show, then." Dariga started forward, pulling Tommy and in turn Jahn along with her.

"Hey, does this belong to you?" Dariga grinned, all teeth, and proffered Tommy towards the table. The hares' chattering cut off abruptly and all their ears swiveled towards the unlikely trio.

Supported by the cats, Tommy hobbled forward and slid into the remaining free chair at the table. "Thanks," he said and accepted his crutches from Jahn.

"This is for all the fun this morning," Dariga said and leant down and gave Tommy a slow, intimate lick on the cheek.

"And this is for last night," Jahn added and leant down to place a similar lick on Tommy's other cheek, slowly rasping her tongue along his fur from the base of his jaw and up to the corner of his mouth. She brushed her muzzle against the side of his ear as she stood up, and whispered something that sent shivers down Tommy's back. Then she and Dariga turned and walked off arm-in-arm, hips swaying.

Tommy turned and watched them leave, then when there was too many tables and people in the way, he turned back to the table and grabbed himself a slice of toast. Finally meeting the disbelieving stares and forward turned ears of his friends, Tommy feigned innocence. "What?"

"I can't believe you didn't get her number. She sounds perfect for you, you dimwit!" Bobby, Curler's sister, was loudly exasperated with Tommy in the back seat. Over the last hour or so, she had managed to extract at least the gist of Tommy's evening and that it had centered on only one of the two "crazy hot cats" to use Axel's description.

In the passenger seat, Tommy just smiled and shrugged. "It just didn't come up." He turned to watch the landscape run past the side window and thought about what Jahn had whispered to him as she left.He chuckled and suppressed a faint shiver. "Besides, I don't need her number: She's got my scent."