Anthro novel - Chapter Three, The Wake.
Manu awoke slowly, his eyes thick with fatigue. He rolled heavily onto his side and reached a paw to fluff the fur of Pakari, but felt it meet nothing but empty space. His eyes opened further as he began to realise the bed was empty, pressing his paw to various parts of the mattress, feeling for her figure. His face became distressed and sad in realisation. He was alone.
Blinking steadily, his vision cleared, and he observed his surroundings...there, at the foot of the bed, laid a fox curled into a small ball. Pakari's long tapered feminine snout rested on her front paws, her large tail curled round to just touch the tip of her nose. Manu smiled...of course. How could he forget? She always preferred the foot of the bed. He gave an almighty stretch, pushing his front paws out in front of him, dividing the digits and stretching his back legs out behind him. His tail lifted high in the air, and ruffled as his eyes squinted and his head rolled backwards before letting his body go limp. With a dreamy smile he crawled towards Pakari's slumbering body, and pushed his back legs up so they rested against the headboard. He admired her fur, which had become much more coarse and matted since he had seen her last. He assumed she had been working herself too hard, as was always her habit. However the brittle new edge to her coat only made her seem more wild and natural, and he liked it.
Manu leant forward, and his tongue traced the thin black line on the side of her snout that connected her inner eye and whiskers, as it did most vixens. However now he was in a position to truly appreciate her, Manu observed the fuzzy black line continue upwards to lightly frame her large feminine eyes, accentuating her beauty like a natural cosmetic. Pakari's head lifted, and out of habit she slowly began to run her tongue along the length of her left paw, making the long black glove turn sleek and glossy.
"Morning" She hummed through strained jaws as she too stretched her paws far in front of her. Manu chuckled.
"It's seven pm..."
"Oh..." Her brow furrowed. "Well in that case, evening." Pakari leapt from the bed and ruffled her fur in a shudder.
"It's freezing!"
"I can see that..." Mumbled Manu, his eyes naturally flicking their gaze to her chest, which was still pert, the white fur shaggy and rough. Her thick black whiskers prickled with embarrassment as Pakari also realised her dignity was still very much on show...and yet when earlier she may have fluffed her fur and quickly fetched a blanket to her cover herself, now she flashed a toothy grin, looking dangerously mischievous. She bent her hind legs in a crouch, and felt her hackles raise and long ears fold back playfully. Manu's reaction made her giggle in delight, as he scrambled back upon the bed in a humorous fashion, digging his claws into the mattress in order to escape the childlike beast which had appeared before him. She quietly laughed at his silliness, and pounced...