Ballad of the Menagerie Trapper – Chapter 4

This was becoming routine.

Steven pushed the brush out of the way of his face as he moved gingerly through the forest, looking for tracking signs as he did. The way these predators moved, they didn’t leave a lot of signs behind… but there were only so many ways to be subtle and stealthy as she carried a prey animal with her. There were always signs to follow… he just needed to be slow and careful enough to find them.

Waiting in the sun came up was torture – after so long, they had finally found one of the rabbits they were chasing, and to have a predator stop by and poach her so quickly? It was unacceptable. Still, there was no way they were following an unknown predator into the woods at night… so far, no one had been seriously injured on this hunt, but if they started getting sloppy Steven had no doubt that would change and fast. That was why he wasn’t hunting alone, either. He would have been quicker, moving through the woods by himself, but then there would have been no one to watch his back.

Besides, it probably would have been slower to find a way to convince Matt and Lila not to go chasing after their catch than to let them.

His daughter and nephew followed a few yards behind them, rifles slung over their shoulders loaded with the strongest paralytic that Lily thought wasn’t likely to kill the predator. They would have quick metabolism, so she had put together a maximum dose… something that would have layed out an elephant in a few moments. Lila’s puppy and three other hunters walked a few paces behind them, spread out, sweeping for any trailsign he missed. The two walked in grim, intense silence… he had to admit it was a nice change from the constant bickering of the last month.

His feet slowed, and then stopped as he observed the small patch of woods he had stepped into. This was it. There wasn’t a ton of signs left… no passed out rabbit, no blood, no fur, but he really wasn’t expecting much of that. The disturbed ground showed him clearly that there had been a struggle. “It took her here,” he said.

To his credit, Matt didn’t immediately rush forward like he’d been half expecting… the young man was seething, but it seemed to be motivating him to play this one smart. He waved forward as the other hunters behind came up, surrounding the small trampled clearing and making sure that nothing was going to jump them. Only then did he and Lila step up. “It didn’t leave her this time?”

Steven shook his head. “No, they did.” He pointed the way he came, one hand flicking a broken branch barely holding onto the tree as he did. “She started struggling more, damaged the foliage here. They must have gotten sick of it, because here is where they tossed her down.” He looked around, noting small depressions in the ground. He lowered himself to his knees… his splayed legs fit perfectly in them while kneeling. “Threw her right here…” he pointed. “While a second one held her down.”

“Cats in twos,” Lyanna mumbled. “Always twos.”

Steven glanced over at the wolf before shrugging and turning back to the clearing. “Looks like they took her together… and they made a bit of a mess.” He stood, digging his toe into the ground and find it wet and muddy beneath the leaves. “Quite a mess, actually. Bred her good. Then they took off together…” The tracker looked around the clearing again. “…that way.”

“They just let her go after breeding her?” one of the farmhands asked.

“Come back,” Lyanna growled. “Collect later.”

“How long ago?” Matt asked.

“No way to tell,” Lila snorted. “They didn’t drop a watch.”

Steven winced, expecting that to start a fight. Instead, Matt just shrugged. “Fair.” He looked up. “And our prize?”

The older man walked to the edge of the clearing, running one hand across a tuft of fur, barely noticeable, stuck in the bark of a tree. “This way. She was staggering… unsteady. Not a lot of hop in her after that… these girls don’t usually leave much of a trail. She probably didn’t make it that far.” He shouldered his rifle. “She might be a little rougher around the edges, but we should be able to collect her before she manages to escape.”

Matt and Lila traded a glance. “And why,” Matt asked, slowly smiling, “should we want to do that?”

“We never did get around to naming this one,” Matt pointed out as they walked.

“And you think now is the right time?” Lila snorted.

“Why not?” he came back. “You think after all the trouble we went through, and what she’s done for us, I’ll be letting this one go? She’s ours now, we just need to collect her. So yeah, she should get a name.”

Lila paused for a second, considering, then barked a laugh. “Fair enough. What then… Houdini? Escape artist, plus the whole Rabbit-out-of-a-hat schtick?”

“Nah, she didn’t escape, she got set free,” Matt protested. “That doesn’t count. Something… explorer-y. Who explored this far west, anyway?”

“That would be Lewis and Clark,” she responded quickly. “Both men.” Then she laughed. “Besides, in that metaphor, you’d be calling her Sacagawea.” Lila bent over and slapped one knee. “I’d love to see that. ‘Hop over here and suck my dick Sacagawea.’ I would pay you to name her that.

A lopsided grin crossed Matt’s face. “Doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, does it?” he agreed. “Tell you what. It’s a bet. Best name by the time we bring her back to the main camp wins. Your mom’s the judge if we can’t decide.”

“You’re on,” Lila agreed eagerly. “What are we betting?

“Eh, figure it out later,” Matt said, smiling just as happily.

“God, it’s worse than the bickering,” Steven whispered harshly. “Do you want her to realize she’s being followed?”

Lila and Matt shut up, but didn’t stop smiling. This has been a great idea, and spirits were high. Even Lyanna had a big, stupid grin across her face… the wolf didn’t necessarily understand what was so funny, but her Alpha was happy and that made her happy.

The rabbits had been a pain to track down so far because they were so careful, their steps so light. They were damned quick and barely left a trace, so they had never been able to track them down. However… this one was not being especially careful, or quick, or graceful. The sore, injured, exhausted rabbit stomped through the foods with the grace of a lamed rhinoceros, leaving a trail obvious enough that after 90 minutes of following her path even an amateur woodsman like Matt could follow it… as she led them right back to the Warren.

Suddenly, Steven held up a fist. “Quiet,” he hissed. Then he started slowly walking forward and gently, almost absurdly slowly, he drew back a branch.

The clearing didn’t have one or two or five bunnies in it. It had dozens. They were everywhere, bathing in the sun, washing in a creek that ran through one side of the clearing, or digging. They were boring holes in the small hills that filled the large clearing. The hunters looked on with wide, pleased eyes. There was definitely something in the water, here… not a single one of them was anything but a knockout, each and every one a walking fantasy of thousands of men. It was a treasure trove that would single handedly make this entire venture profitable, even if there weren’t any more of them to be caught.

“Jackpot…” Matt whispered triumphantly, reaching out a fist to Lila.

She silently bumped it. “I think,” she said, “that the family is out of trouble.”

“Now all we need to do,” Steven said, turning back to look at them as he heard a soft thumping noise, “is figure… out… a way… to…” His voice trailed off in growing horror. Behind them, out of the woods, stood a rabbit gift with soft pink hair. She had been carrying a bundle of gathered food from somewhere, and dropped it on the ground as she covered her open mouth with both hands, eyes wide as saucers with horror.

For a second, no one moved. The other hunters followed his gaze, everyone looking back to see the startled rabbit as stiff and still and stunned as any deer in any headlights. For three heartbeats, no one dared to even breathe.

Then the rabbit screamed, a wordless, shrill, warbling cry that pieced the clearing loud as a siren before she ran, quick as a flash. Steven raised his rifle, as did Lila as three others, but before the hiss of the darts firing even reached his ears he knew he had missed, the foliage blocking the shot a thoroughly as a curtain. Swearing, Steven dropped the rifle and broke into a sprint after the running creature.

Out in the clearing, chaos reigned. Bunnies were echoing the initial scream, sounding a call of alarm that echoed clearly as any clarion call. Some panicked, running left and right, but before long all of them were going for holes in the ground, vanishing into them in a startling rate. He ran after the pink haired bunny, but Matt was ahead of him… the young man hadn’t bothered to even try to shoot before he broke into a run after her, just a few feet behind the running, his hand stretching out towards her…

She dove headfirst into the first available hole, and Matt went right in after her. He scrambled down into warren, cursing and clawing, but he had hold of one of her feet. “Get… back… here…” he snarled, tugging… right before the rabbit girl kicked out.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Three rapid kicks right into Matt’s chest. On the third kick, he lost his grip on her and fell backward onto the ground, cursing and spitting. Then the rabbit’s leg disappeared from sight.

Furious, Matt got off the ground. “Oh no you don’t…” he spat, pushing himself upright and making to make for the hole.

“Stop, Matt!” Lila protested, grabbing onto his arm.

“Let go!” he snarled, frustrated.

“Matt, that’s a warren, a maze those rabbits know by heart! You go in there, you know what’s going to happen?” she said, refusing to let go of him. “You are going to get your skull either caved in or kicked clean off. That’s not a warning, it’s a damn promise!” She looked at the holes as Matt, reluctantly, stopped tugging against her. “And I don’t want to be the one to explain to your dad why that happened, so don’t make me, k? And if you get yourself killed, who is going to pay off the bet you lose?”

“Like you’d ever win…” Matt said, half heartedly. Then he forced a smile. “Well then. This sucks. We found them… and we’re still empty handed. We need to figure out how we’re going to get them.”

One of the other hunters came up, looking down at the hole. “We have a bunch of flares back at camp. We could toss them down the holes, smoke them out.”

“Sure, that would work…” Lila said.

He nodded. “I’ll go back and get them, while you-”

“…if by some miracle they’re dumber than normal rabbits instead of smarter,” Lila continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “Even plain animals dig alternate entrances to their burrows. Hell, even ants do that. Only reason it worked on the wolves is they can’t dig and are predators besides. If we try to pull that off, they’ll just escape through another tunnel and scatter, and we’ll have to find them all over again.”

Lila sat down in a huff, rubbing at her temples. “We can’t really wait them out, either. Same problem. If they can’t leave normally and have time, they’ll just start escaping through their bolt holes. What we need is a way to dig them all out at once…” she sighed. “And… and I have no idea how the fuck we’re going to do that.” She looked up at them. “We have the warren, but no bunnies, and no way to get any of them. Hell, we don’t even have the one we started with anymore.”’

Every fell silent for a moment, a tense, frustrated pause as everyone glared at the hill full of its holes. They were right there. Just… right there. And they couldn’t get them.

Lyanna began snarling.

Lira turned to her pet. “What’s wrong?” she asked, tensing, finding her looking over towards the side of the clearing. She was just turning to look then a confident voice spoke out.

“Did you let something escape?”

Steven looked up just as a rabbit was thrown at his feet. And not just any rabbit, but the same rabbit that had been taken by the predators, and that they’d been tracking all day. She had been tied up in vines, trussed up and hogtied and gagged so thoroughly she could barely move. Someone had caught her… but it hadn’t been one of their hunters.

The sun gleamed off the golden fur of the fox that stood confidently at the clearing’s edge, smiling at them with a positively predatory grin. The smile grew wider still as she looked at Lyanna, waving at her carelessly before she looked over at Steven. Unlike every other demihuman he had ever seen, she was wearing something… not much, but her breasts were wrapped to keep them tight against her body and allow her to run more easily, and she wore a belt of cloth with things dangling from cords.

The thick, bushy tail of the red-haired girl swung back and forth behind the beautiful creature just before she flung herself down to sit on one of the hills, looking completely unconcerned about all the rifles now pointed at her. “What is it you humans say? ‘Take me to your leader?’ We should talk…”

“Well, I guess that answers one question that’s been bugging us,” Maggie said as she shook her head.

“Which is?” Steven asked her.

“English,” Sarah continued. The woman hadn’t changed out of her lab coat before coming to this meeting, and the messy stains covering the front of it spoke the urgency with which she had come. “Most of the surbeast in this valley speak it, at least a little… certainly most of them understand it. This place obviously wasn’t common knowledge, so they can’t have encountered too many people… we’ve been wondering how it proliferated so much.”

Maggie pointed at the trussed-up fox sitting before the table. Despite her wrists and feet being shackled to her chair, she sat with perfect confidence and dignity, betraying no concern about her situation as she obviously followed the conversation. “She doesn’t just speak it… if she isn’t fluent she’s damn close. One species making the effort to use it so much, and being the apparently top of the food chain… well, it’s not a surprise it spread somewhat.” She looked over at Lyanna, where she knelt on the far opposite side of the tent, as far away from the fox as she could. According to Lira, she had barely so much as blinked since the girl walked into the clearing, much less looked away from her.

Thomas cleared his throat, sliding into a chair across from the redhaired fox. “Do you have a name?” he asked.

“My mother named me Alyce,” she said. “A human name, or so I’m told.”

“It is,” Thomas agreed. “And are you the one who stole our rabbit?”

He was pretty sure he knew the answer, but the genuine surprise on her face confirmed it for him. “Definitely not… sir,” she protested. “I’m no bobcat. I just…” Alyce shrugged a bit uncomfortably. “I just made tracks for her after catching her to make sure you’d find the warren you were looking for.”

Behind her, where she couldn’t see, Steven raised an eyebrow. Thomas ignored it for now. “You said you wanted to talk. About what?”

“My mother wishes to speak with you, sir,” the fox said, her ears twitching a little bit in what looked oddly like a bow when she mentioned her mother. She didn’t seem aware of the movement, like it was a habit. “I have been asked to politely invite you to our… home, is the word, is it not? Our den.”

“About what?” The family patriarch wondered, leaning back in his chair.

“The future, sir,” she said with a nod. “In the short term, how you can collect the rabbits you desire. I know they are a prize to you… in high -demand?- is the term?”

Interesting. Thomas had never encountered a girl like this before, obviously, but it was just as obvious that she was very inexperienced being deceptive. He had attended enough business negotiations to feel that she knew that word perfectly well… it was a deflection. He could feel the what she was leaving unsaid perfectly clearly. “In higher demand than you, you mean.”

Alyce winced. Then shrugged. “Yes.”

“You might be surprised. Foxy. Vixen. S-”

Alyce picked up. “Silver fox.”

“Volumptuous,” Lily said, look at Alyce’s bound breasts as she did. “It, ah, comes from vulpine?”

Alyce tipped her head towards her. “Yes, it does.” She sighed. “There are more. We know. Trust me.”

Trust her. What an appropriate choice of words, because that is what she was asking, wasn’t it? To be trusted as he walked into a predator’s den. He had faith that if something happened to him and those we brought with him, the rest of their camp would be more than able to punish… but he had to hope that they understood that too. It all came down to the question of how smart he thought Alyce was.

Thomas looked her up and down again, taking in every feature. Then he nodded to Steven.

Alyce rubbed her wrists as the shackles came off them, but her smile was back full force as Thomas began giving instructions, preparing his party for a trip to meet their new hosts.

The walk wasn’t as bad as they had been expecting… they actually got to take the jeeps half the way.

Alyce directed them down one of the game trails, sitting in the passenger seat of the lead vehicle with her hair blowing in the breeze, a smile that threatened to split her face in half stretched across it. When the game trial finally grew too thin and diffuse to continue, she swung her way out of the car. Her legs wobbled and seemed unsteady after her first trip, but it made her seem no less happy. “So that’s what it’s like,” she said with wonder. “I’d always wanted to know. I get to be first fox to ever ride in a car.”

“How much longer,” Steven asked as he slung a rifle over his shoulder.

“Alone, I’d run it fast enough the sun wouldn’t move. With the rest of you… “ she peered at the sky. “Halfway to sunset.”

“Two hours,” Steven grunted, nodding at Thomas. He gestured to Alyce. “Lead on.”

Thomas feel into step behind her, with his immediate family right behind him. Steven and Lila represented their half, and they were accompanied by a half-dozen of the best, more reliable men they had. The choices of who to bring were carefully considered. Maggie was an animal trainer, and her being along could send the wrong message. Lily was… well, the girl could be a bit… needy, and impulsive about it, and the last thing they needed was her to start plotting a way to get fucked by the first herm they saw. They had tried to leave Lyanna behind as well, but the moment the wolf learned that her alpha was going to be going into the fox’s den without her, the creature had gone all but mad when she’d tried to leave her behind. In the end, Lila had relented. Meanwhile, Thomas bringing his whole family seemed like a gesture of trust, a sign that he was taking this seriously.

As Thomas walked behind the half naked fox, he couldn’t help but admire her body, the way her ass swayed with each step. She reminded him of Sarah, actually, when they had met… a long time ago. There was a youthfulness to the fox, but also a confidence that bespoke age and experience. Her tail also swished back and forth enticingly, and as it did Thomas couldn’t help but notice something a bit off… the tail had two tips. Like hair that was beginning to split, at the very end it was dividing into two.

He didn’t ask. He had a feeling questions would be answered soon enough.

The estimate of two hours turned out to be generous… it was closer to three before Alyce’s path took them up against one of the ridges of the valley. “Right here,” she said. Then she pulled away a canopy of foliage that cunningly concealed a cleft in the wall and slipped inside.

Thomas paused, and the group all looked at one another. “Seems silly to back out now,” Thomas admitted.

“So much for no risks,” Steven said, eying the narrow entrance.

“Just have to settle for smart ones,” Thomas replied. “I’ll go first.” He pulled back the vines himself and stepped into the gap.

The crack in the stone wasn’t all that deep before it widened into a proper cave. One he was past the crack, he had expected it to be dark, and they had brought their thermal goggle so as not to look weak in front of a group of predators, but that turned out not to be the case at all… the cave was bathed in dim but pervasive light. Through a crack in the ceiling, Thomas thought he caught a glimpse of a mirror reflecting light from outside.

Alyce had waited for him… and she was no longer alone. Two other vixens, naked and carrying sharpened branches that could only be rudimentary spears stood attentively on either side of the cavern, watching the humans as they entered by one one after Thomas. They didn’t seem overly concerned, however… instead, they had fallen to one knee. A gesture of respect, probably? Probably.

Alyce smiled at him and made a gesture to follow. “Welcome to our home,” she said leading him down a passage in the winding cave. Impressively, it really didn’t grow any darker as they went deeper. Then they emerged into a much larger cave, and despite himself, Thomas’ eyes widened.

The first thing he noticed was the smell. It wasn’t bad, not like the dens of most predators, but there was nothing the foxes could do to conceal the smell of so much fur. It smelled clean but… slightly dusty, and very alive. It made him think of freshly cleaned carpets. The reason for the smell was clear enough… the cave was teeming with foxes. Forty or fifty of them moved around, talking, eating, laughing or working with their hands. This group alone was already twice the size of the wolf pack they had claimed, and from the sounds he could hear he doubted this was the only such group in the den. The success of this… pack?… couldn’t be denied. In fact, the more he looked at them, the less the word pack seemed to apply. They were more of a full-fledge tribe, working as a unit to share labor and specialize.

Thomas had seen plenty of evidence that some of the surbeasts could be clever. Lila’s experiments had proved that the wolves were at least as smart as dumb people, and Sarah had theorized several times that there was nothing stopping a more intelligent species from arising. Evidently, at least one had.

“Lila,” Matt whispered, pointing.

“I see it,” she whispered back. Thomas followed their gaze, and saw… a trio of fox herms working together to fuck a single girl. Not a fox, either… it was hard to tell in the dim light, but from the ringed tail it looked like that might be a racoon. They had never seen one of those so far. This was probably a good reason why.

While the two hunters were more interested in the unique prey, Thomas was more interested in that there were three herms working together. In his experience, they tended towards behavior that was aggressive and territorial in the extreme… put two of them together, and you would usually come back to find just one. He had learned it was dangerous to even keep two herm mermaids within tanks that could see one another, as they had cracked glass or broken their own bones trying to reach one another before.

Even more impressive, Alyce wasn’t taking her towards them… which meant that their leader wasn’t one of those three. It meant that they had more, all living in this den. Thomas shook his head, each new sight giving him something new to think about here as Alyce led them through the cavern, attracting no small amount of interest from the fox ladies as they stood up, peering over one another and stretching out desirably to catch even the slightest view of the newcomers. Soon, however, they had gone through another passageway on the far side and left the cavern behind.

They didn’t have much further to go. Barely another minute passed, moving between two different forks in the cave and past additional guards, before they emerged into another, smaller cavern. An actual curtain of woven fabric – Thomas thought it looked like salvaged tent material – hung from the top of the entrance, forming a delicate barrier than Alyse confidently pushed through. Four guards flanked the door, holding their weapons – the only tools he could remember seeing any surbeast use – as they walked in on a floor that was actually matted with woven reeds. A beautiful woman sat on the mat, cross legged with her scarlett hair spilling down her back. She was completely naked and absolutely gorgeous, even before her more exotic features became plain to see. Four crimson tails lay coiled on the floor behind her, spilling out and sprawling luxuriously across the padded floor while she relaxed, drinking from a carved, wooden bowl.

“You are late, child,” the fox woman said. Her voice sounded like chimes ringing, and it was every bit as confident as Alyce’s… her diction careful and precise in its inflection.

“Sorry, mother,” Alyce said with a small bow. “I did warn you they might capture me first.” She waved her hand to Thomas and the others. “Humans, my mother Inari. Mother, the humans.”

“Yes, yes,” she said impatiently. “See to the needs of the others, please. Me and this man,” she said, looking directly at Thomas, “have much to discuss I think. Humans of Pandoris, be welcome in my home.”

Alyce began to slowly push the others out of the room. Only Sarah resisted, staying by her husband’s side, and Alyce didn’t try to insist. Soon, the others were past the curtain on the entrance and gone, leaving the two of them alone with the fox matriarch.

Matt followed Alyce as she guided the group back towards one of the large den chambers. “So, do you know what they’re talking about?”

Alyce looked back at him. “They’re discussing it right now.”

“Exactly,” Matt said. “So the people making the decision are all back there… there’s no harm talking about it. And you want us to trust you, so tell us what you know.”

Alyce shot him a look over one shoulder and rolled her eyes, but looked between the others and saw general agreement. “Alright, alright,” she said. “I would think it would be obvious. Alliance, of course.”

“That’s… rather trusting of you, too,” Steven said.

“I’ve been watching you since you stepped into our Valley, Pandoris Steven,” Alyce told him. “You people are quite honorable in your own way. We can trust in that. That was my recommendation to Mother.”

They stepped into the main room they had passed through, and Matt was surprised to see a bunch of the foxes waiting for them already, standing and watching the entrance. “So, we have four halls like this,” Alyce told them as she walked through the gathered crowd without pausing, the group parting for them as they went. “This is where I live, though.”

Matt looked around as they walked, taking in it more thoroughly now that he had on the first passthrough. Seeing the Matriarch and her four tails had been surprising at first, but now that he walked through the den he noticed that several others had multiple tails as well… several women had two, and one even had three. Alyce’s odd, two-tipped tail made more sense in that context… it seemed that soon she would be joining them. It was getting harder to see, however. The mirrors brought in light well enough, but the sun was starting to go down outside, and the dim light was beginning to grow dimmer.

As if in answer, several of the foxes around were getting out… well, camping supplies. Lantern flashlights appeared to be especially popular, thought hunting glowsticks and even some kerosene lanterns were included as well. Most of it looked old, and somewhat battered… it was easy for Matt to imagine that they had been stolen from campsites or looted from dumpsters.

Matt couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy at realizing that the lights were going down and they were being followed… much of that first group that had been waiting for them was following now. It felt like being stalked by predators. As he looked around, he noticed something odd… five of the fox girls were tied up with vines the same way that the rabbit Alyce had caught had been. The five prisoners were being watched by another two armored guards, ones that looked considerably more serious than those watching the entrance of the honor guard around the matriarch. “Who are they?” he asked, pointing.

Alyce followed his finger, then curled her lip in distaste, her nose crunching up as if she had smelled something foul. “That is Aria. My elder sister. The less said about her, the better.” Their guide led them to a corner of the den that had a tent, or the ruins of what had probably been a tent at some point – set up in it. “This is where I live,” she told them. “Please, make yourselves comfortable while we wait. There is anything I can get you while we wait? Something to eat? A drink? A mate?”

Matt opened his mouth to answer, then shut it. He could almost hear it as Becca quirked her eyebrow behind him. “Mate?” she asked.

Alyce tilted her head. “Of course,” she responded. “Did not the Matriarch say that your needs were to be seen to?” The fox chuckled as she turned on a flashlight, a blue, toy-like thing that had probably belonged to a child, and barely provided any light at all. Alyce held it like a priceless treasure.. “Why do you think they’ve been following us?” She gestured outside at the crowd. “It won’t be hard to find volunteers.”

Behind him, Lila laughed. “They’re as curious as we are, aren’t they?”

“Only a few of us, the quickest and bravest, have ever left the valley to scavenge,” Alyce admitted with a smile. “Most of the rest didn’t believe our wild tales of a species with so many alphas as you until they saw you. Curiosity falls far short of the mark.” She pointed at the group gathered. “They’re all here because they want to be picked. Just go call one over that appeals to you.”

“And if I want you?” Lila asked with a smirk.

“Well then I guess I’m yours, pretty thing,” she said without missing a beat, grabbing a rolled up bundle that turned out to be an old sleeping bag that she had probably stolen out a campsite a decade ago and unrolled it on the floor. Then she sat down on it and twitched both ears in Lila’s direction. “Or were you just full of talk?”

Lila huffed out a laugh. “Ok. Ok, we can play like that. Lyanna, heel.”

As fun at this would be to watch, Matt’s cock was already painfully hard, and the idea of food or water didn’t appear nearly as much as finding a place to stick it. He strode back out towards the crowd that had followed them. It was amazing how just a little bit of context changed everything. A minute ago, it had seemed like an intimidating, prowling display. Now that he knew what to look for, however, Matt could see the dilated eyes, the way most of them rubbed their thighs together. They were, as a group, as cock-hungry of a pack as he had ever seen. They were eager and ready to jump him, alright… but it wouldn’t be their teeth and claws they would be using.

Matt’s gaze swept over the group. Not a one of them was someone he would kick out of bed, but he had gotten here first… it would be a shame not to pick the one he liked best. Once Steven pointed at a two-tailed girl and she hoped delightedly into his arms, however, Matt knew he had to make up his mind. “…you…” he said, pointing at a cute one with large, crimson eyes, like the ones Alyce had. “Come over here, I’ll show you a good time.”

The cute vixen moved forward. As she did, her tail flicked forward, up towards her face, half covering it… but not before Matt could see the blush on it. Well… this one was adorable. “What’s your name, pretty thing?”

The words that came out of her mouth weren’t nearly as clear as those that Alyce or Inari had spoken, but he could understand them. “Ilyana, I am,” she said.

“Ilyana,” Matt told her, stepping up against the fox woman and wrapping one hand in her hair, holding the back of her head. “That’s a pretty name.” He pulled her against him, tilting her face up to meet his, and she parted her lips just before he pressed his against her. She tasted sweet and hot on his tongue, and her own slipped into his mouth, warring to push his back.

“Good choice,” Alyce said. Matt glanced over to see her kneeling on top of a struggling Lyanna as she tried to get a pin on Lira at the same time. “Show my sister a good time.” The distraction proved too much… Lira slipped out from the pin, shoulder checking Alyce off of her wolf and the two of them fell on her, trying to put her in the same situation.

Matt didn’t pay much more attention than that… with a lithe, hot, naked body pressed against his, the last thing he wanted was his clothing in the way. He grabbed onto his shirt, yanking it over his head in a motion so violent he almost ripped it, tossing it to the ground and thrilling at the feeling of her naked breasts pushing against his chest.

He kissed the fox again, and as he did he moved his hand up, stroking against her ear while he held her head. The shudder that ran through him confirmed they were as sensitive as he hoped, and he continued to softly pet it with two fingers as he took one of her breasts in the other hand and squeezed.

All around him, this scene was playing out over and over as the other hunters picked their own vixen to play with. One, it seemed, had the bright idea that since there were so many of them compared to the few humans, he could get away with picking more than one. From the way they pressed against him the foxes didn’t seem to mind. The foxes that weren’t picked seemed annoyed, but hardly dejected… most of them seemed to be speaking encouragement in a more bestial language, cheering on their ‘sisters’ and pointing at the most exciting sites. Across the tent, Lila and Alyce were clearly fucking already, Lila’s strap-on buried inside the fox. Which one of them was fucking who, however, seemed to change every few heartbeats as the threeway struggle continued. Matt huffed out a chuckle as he realized he might be in the strange position of having a rival for the position of being a rival. Either way, their struggle was certainly attracting attention.

If they were going to be watched, then Matt was going to give them a show. He pushed Ilyana against the wall of the cave, spinning her so that her hands rested against it as he grabbed onto her tail and pulled gently, using it to lift her ass up to the right position. The slim fox gave a desperate whine as he pulled but she didn’t protest or pull away… instead, one of her hands slipped back to grab at her ass, pulling it to the side and bearing her pussy for him. “Please,” she whispered.

Well, Matt certainly wasn’t going to turn down an offer like that, made so nicely. Still holding onto her tail with one hand, he grabbed onto her hip with the other, the side of her ass she wasn’t holding, and drove into her pussy with a single stroke. She was incredibly tight and hot, but she was also sopping wet and she accepted him easily and… and he felt it as a barrier within her broke with that first thrust. Ilyana yelped in pain, but when he hesitant she drove her ass back against him, hilting him completely.

That was where they stayed for several seconds as a pretty trickle of tears dripped down the cute fox’s face. Matt didn’t want to move, instead just revelling in the way her tight body squeezed him, a pulsating, progress series of clenches welcoming him to heaven. “You… this is your first time?”

Wordlessly, Ilyana nodded, making only a tiny whimper as she tried to gather her words. “We… not breed… much as we can,” she said softly. “Not… allowed… a turn… with…” she paused, seeming to struggle for a word before giving up and making a sound somewhere between a yip and a growl. “Not… for years… yet.”

“You’re controlling your numbers?” Matt asked. He figured she was probably referring to their herms, their breeders.

“Yes…” she moaned, a squeaking whimper in her voice. “Not… enough… room… fu… fuck… me…”

Matt pulled back until just the tip of his rested inside her, and he could feel her pussy squeezing tightly on it, like it was desperately not to let him go and slip free. Then he slammed forward hard, hard enough as he flattered her cheek and breasts against the side of the cave. Ilyana cried out, a mingled scream of sensitivity and sheer delight, and as he tried to pull out she thrust herself back at him again like her body wasn’t willing to let him escape. He pulled back further while pushing her up with his hands to get the space he needed, then slammed back into her to the sound of another cry.

Plenty of the watching vixens were watching him now, and he was determined to give them a show. He grabbed onto one of Ilyana’s ears squeezing it softly. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he wanted her to feel it as he twisted it slightly, using that leverage to hold her in place so he could pound her harder until she was making more sound than any of the other girls being fucked.

Across the tent, he noticed that somehow the focus of the wrestling match had changed. Alyce was now sitting on Lyanna’s face, the wolf panting and making happy whining noises into the fox’s cunt as Lira fucked hers. On the other side, Steven was sitting cross-legged while the two-tailed fox bounced up and down on him, her tails wrapping around him back to join her arms in an embrace. Still further alone, one of the hunters had two vixens trying their best to get in cock in both of their mouths at once.

“F-f-f-f-f—-” Ilyana moaned as she got slammed against the cave over and over, held onto by her tail and ear. “Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck meeeeeeeeee-e-e-e—-” She came on his cock, probably for the third time since he started… her hole grabbed hold of him like it wanted to crush his cock as her juices covered her thigh and his balls.

Matt’s thrusts were growing more frenzied, more erratic. “Should… should I cum in you?” he asked. “Is that against your ru-”

“Don’t… care…” Ilyana choked out, barely understandable between her accent and the thick moans. “B-b-b-breeeed meeeee…”

He groaned, his cock twitching at the need in her voice, the choked out words. “I’ll knock you up good,” he promised, thrusting harder. “Fill you up with cum and cubs… right… right fucking now…” Matt thrust deep inside her, deep in that clenching, squeezing, molten hot tunnel and his cock twitched twice before he started to cum. He couldn’t even hear his own groans over the loud cooing noise that Ilyana made as she felt him cum splash against her womb over and over, leaving her completely filled.

By the time he let go of her tail and ear, only his body against hers kept her upright… she was noticeably wobbling on her feet. “It’s… so much…” she whispered. “Thank… you…”

He smiled at her. “My pleasure, pretty girl,” he told her, rubbing one finger lightly across her twitching ear to make her shiver. “Now, I’ll make you a deal. You got my balls all soaked. You get down on your knees and lick them and my cock clean, and as soon as you finish, I’ll fuck you again.”

The fox might have been unsteady, but Ilyana was still down on her knees quick as a flash, and Matt sighed with pleasure as her warm tongue began to stroke him, getting him hard again for another round…

It was strange. In another place, the battery hotplate and the cheap, instant tea would have seemed… trashy, like something he would have expected from a trailer park. Here, in the middle of the wild valley, inside a cave however… they seemed incredibly sophisticated. As Inari served the two of them cups of tea, Thomas mattered at how much context mattered. “I’m… surprised,” he admitted as he sipped the hot cup. “I was expecting you to be a herm.”

Inari smiled. “I can understand why. I’m sure all three of my breeders would love to be… on top.” She chuckled at her own joke. “But they aren’t… because I’ve taught each of them their place.” Her smile was downright predatory. “I’m not in charge here by accident, Human of Pandoris.”

“No, I imagine not,” Sarah said with a small chuckle. “Given what we’ve seen how they do things, the probably required several tries to teach them that lesson.”

She smiled widely enough that her larger-than-human canines stood out prominently. “It’s an ongoing process.”

“So, I suppose I have to admit that you are… well, obviously smarter than I am used to surbeasts being,” Thomas said frankly, torn between politeness and not wanting to beat around the bush. “Most species we have seen aren’t like…” he waved a hand around. “This.”

Inari nodded. “We’ve take care of old elders, and teach our young well,” she said. “And we’ve been around a lot longer than most.”

“How long is that?” Sarah asked.

The fox shrugged. “I’m afraid I don’t really know too much about that,” she said quietly. Mostly just legends… most real information about our past I left behind when I fled the land you called Japan and settled here.”

“Recently?” Thomas asked. Japan was one of the rapidly growing markets for surbeasts, second only to the US at present.

Inari shrugged. “About ninety summers ago or so.”

Thomas felt his eyes widen. “Wait…” he said, disbelief and awe in his voice. “How… how old are you?”

“Fox tails split every twenty five summers or about,” she said, stroking one of her four tails. Thomas noted that its tip was cleft at the end, the same way Alyce’s single tail was. “Looks like I’m about due. So… between a hundred and one twenty five years, as your kind says it.”

Thomas had to try a few times to make words. “You, uh… you don’t look it,” he finally forced out.

Inari raised an eyebrow. “Tell me,” she asked, amusement in her voice. “Have you ever seen a surbeast that looked old?”

Thomas thought, then shrugged. “Good point.”

“Why did you leave?” Sarah asked. Thomas nodded in gratitude to his wife… she wasn’t thrown for a loop with the surprise about her age the way he was… she was much better at that than he was.

“Didn’t have much future there,” Inari said frankly. “After the first great war, Japan began to grow more secular, less prone to old ‘superstitions’. My clan, my sisters, decided that they were tired of begging for an ever-decreasing pool of tribute and that they were going to just take it. We attacked a village.” Inari shook her head in disgust. “We had no idea how dangerous your kind had grown. Claws were no match for machine guns and repeating rifles. I was the only one who made it out. It seemed like a good time to leave, so when I saw a boat headed to the new world I stowed away, leaving everything behind.”

“I’m sorry,” Sarah said. And to both her husband’s and her own surprise, she sincerely meant it too.

Inari shrugged again, her memories sliding of her like water. “I learned an important lesson that day… one that I hope to keep some of the fools of my clan from having to learn the hard way: Fighting your kind is a fools errand.” She shook her head. “On that note… let us speak of why I have asked you here. We have much to discuss.”

“I have to confess,” Thomas said, adjusting his position on the thatched rug. “I have made certain guesses about what it was you wished to talk about.”

“I would hardly respect you otherwise,” Inari said, nodding as she sat back down, her tails curling around her crossed legs. “So… we foxes have a problem.” She looked up and met Thomas’ and Sarah’s eyes in turn. “Our valley has been discovered. We’ve been observing your people, and we’ve come the conclusion we are unlikely to be able to hide or fight you off… and I don’t want my people wearing collars or in cages.”

Her ears twitched. “That’s our problem. However, you have problems of your own. You know next to nothing about this valley… the dangers, the locations of prey and how to hunt them. Some of that, I have no doubt you will learn… but how many of your family will be hurt in the process, and how much will your people suffer?” She raised both hands. “Not a threat, simply an observation. There is danger here, you know this to be true.”

“True enough,” Sarah agreed, sipping her own drink. Thomas thought the contrast was… odd. He had never thought anything strange of the naked surbeasts, but he had also never sat and has a long conversation with one, and her nudity was actually… a bit distracting. From the way she softly swayed back and forth, making her breasts move with her, he guessed that she knew it, too.

“We can help one another,” Inari said. “No capturing of my people. No cages, no collars, no drugging and breeding. And in return, we teach you of this valley. We will help you hunt. For a start, we will show you how we hunt the rabbits’ warrens, like the one you found.”

Thomas took a look drink while he thought. “It seems to me that this bargain is flawed,” he said at last.

“Oh?” Inari said with a slow smile. “And how is that?”

“It’s transitory,” Thomas continued. “Before long, we’ll know all we need to know. Even without your aid, we’d discover it eventually… with your aid, it won’t even take a year. After that, well… why would we need your bargain?”

Inari’s smile did not waver. If anything, it grew wider. “A less honest man,” she said, putting down her cup, “would not have mentioned that.”

“That’s not how I do business,” Thomas said flatly.

“I know,” the fox said with a nod. “My daughter has been watching closely. Humans are a strange lot. Too many of you are loyal only to convenience, or to money. Too many are honest only to prepare for the day they need a lie to be believed. But you are not like them, I think.”

“No?” Thomas asked. “And what am I loyal to, then?”

“Family,” she said simply. “Your family works, plays, fights, and stands together, always. Even when they fight one another, we have observed their conflicts are temporary, and only strengthen your bonds… like with your cub.” She met his eyes directly. “You do not betray family. We will become family to you.” Her smile twisted slightly as she tilted her head, both ears bowing slightly towards the family patriarch. “I propose you take me as your… wife, the humans call it. Immediately.”

That… Thomas had not expected. From the choking sound she made on her tea, neither had Sarah. Perhaps they should have, however… her logic was difficult to question. “I, ah…” Thomas coughed uncomfortably into his fist. “Unfortunately, I’m, er, already married?”

“My people have no issues with multiple vixens bonding themselves to the same breeder,” she said.

“My laws forbid it,” Thomas responded hastily. A bit too hastily.

“I do not need other humans to recognize our vows,” Inari waved him off uncaringly. “I only need your family… our family… to consider them valid.”

Thomas floundered, knowing that this was a problem but unable to find the words to explain why. Desperately, he looked to his wife. “Umm, help?”

Sarah didn’t look upset, however. She merely looked… concerned. And considerate. “Well,” she said slowly. “I suppose I’d have to think about it. How would w-”

Her words were cut off as Inari flashed across the space between them like a bolt of lightning. The pounce should have been heavy, but it wasn’t… somehow, the fox matriarch seemed to fold her smaller body up against Sarah’s as delicately as a mother embracing her child as she locked lips with his wife, the woman’s words ending in a moan as Inari’s tongue thrust deeper inside of her. Her cheeks bulged briefly as their tongues warred, the naked fox pressed tightly against the dressed human woman as she embraced Sarah with four limbs and four tails.

After several long seconds, Inari broke the kiss, barely seeming to breathe hard… which was more than he could say for Sarah. His wife gasped, her eyes unfocused and a bit wild as the fox smiled at her from mere inches away. “You… you make a very persuasive argument…” she said.

“Naturally, I would be mating with you as well,” Inari whispered, so close that her lips brushed Sarah’s as she spoke. “One of my breeders would have to serve as my surrogate, but the child would be ours as far as I am concerned.”

“I…” Sarah said softly. Her eyes flickered over to her husband. “I think… far worse things… have happened…” From the tone of her voice, Thomas wasn’t sure too many better ones had in her current state of mind.

“Then we are agreed?” Inari said huskily, her eyes darting over to meet Thomas’ as well. “My people shall join your Pandoris clan?”

Slowly, Thomas nodded. “Yes,” he said as he bobbed his head. “I accept your proposal… and your vows.”

Inari made a pleased purring noise. “Lisi,” she said, raising her voice so that it would carry to the guard outside. “Would you be so kind as to go retrieve Nomu and bring her here? I have need of her cock…” The needy whisper in her voice seemed almost rapturous as Thomas heard the footsteps in the hall recede, her crimson eyes focusing on him. “Now… I believe it is only polite the two of you welcome me to the family…”

Thomas smiled and stood, walking behind Inari while she stuck half in his wife’s… his other wife’s… lap. As he knelt behind her, for an instant he couldn’t see much of her below the waist… then she flicked her tails away, up and out of the way and revealed her ass to him. “Mmm…” she moaned as he pulled down his pants, letting his dick brush against the curve of her ass. “How nice…” She kissed Sarah again before her hands began pulling off the woman’s clothing. “Well, don’t be shy…”

Shaking his head in amusement, Thomas grabbed onto the fox’s hips, noticing as he did the muscles just beneath the skin, how firm and strong her lithe body was. There was no resistance as he lifted her hips into position, however, nor as he lined the head of his prick up with the already-slick gash between her legs. The vulpine woman’s arousal seemed to fill the room, an heady, intoxicating scent that grew stronger with every passing second, betraying her excitement. Then he began push into her, and her moaning pleasure only made her intensify her efforts to strip Sarah down. The moment she was nude, she thrust hard back against Thomas, burying the rest of him inside her in a second as she guided Sarah down and buried her face between the beautiful woman’s legs,

Sarah gasped as Inari’s tongue buried itself inside of her, which did nothing but incite Thomas to begin pounding the vixen on all fours, throwing his body weight into each thrust. She looked slim, almost delicate, but Inari was nothing of the sort… she shoved her body against him almost as hard as he fucked her, letting him really hammer her with each thrust while she made happy, moaning sounds into Sarah’s crotch.

“Yessssss…” she moaned happily. “It’s… oooooo… It’s so much better when… when you know… you can let them finish…” There was an almost cat-like purr in her voice as her ears twitched in pleasure. “Give me… give me a daughter human… husband… put her deep, deep inside of me.”

They were in that position, with Inari sandwiched between her two new lovers, when one of the herms stepped through the curtain. She was a beautiful, muscular fox, her hair and fur a tone of red so dark that it was almost brown, and the shaft swinging between her legs was already more than hard and ready to go. She made a whining noise, somewhere between a growl and a cough.

“Ahh!” Inari gasped. “Nobu, how many times do I need to tell you. It’s rude… to speak… how they can’t understand you…”

The large-dicked foxgirl coughed into her hand a few times, clearing her throat. “I.. aaagh. I… Sorry,” she stuttered out. “You… ask me?”

Inari looked up at Sarah from between her splayed thighs, a mischievous glint in her scarlett eyes. “She has other talents besides communication, I promise.” She moaned at an especially deep thrust that sent shivers through Thomas’ body as well before looking up at the herm. “I have her ready for you, Nobu. Would you kindly put my child in her?”

The breeder did not need to be told twice. The moment the desperately aroused fox was given permission, she all but lunged at Sarah, grabbing onto her legs as he pulled her into position, spreading them wide as she took her position between them. A bare moment later, Sarah moaned happily as the fox’s thick shaft plugged her up.

Inari’s gaze was on the breeding of her sister-wife, as were Thomas’ as he continued to fucked the lithe, strong body of the fox matriarch. “MMmmm… It’s only a pity… you don’t have a knot,” she whispered in pleasure. “To make sure it allllll gets up in my womb. But I guess that just means you’ll have to breed me a few times. Just to make… aaah… sure!” She yelped out the last word as Thomas’ dick began to twitch inside her, her words having the desired affect on him. “Oh… you like that,” she purred happily. “You like the idea of putting a kit in me? Watching my belly swell with evidence that I’m your woman now?” She looked back at him and gave a sideways smile. “Don’t let me stop you. Grab my hair, really let me have it… fill me all the way up, husband… yess… all the way up…”

Thomas grabbed onto her thick mane of red hair and yanked backward, arching her back as he slammed her ass forward with his hips. With each thrust he more and more drew Inari’s body into an arch, hammering into her harder.

“Wait, did… you say knot?” Sarah stuttered, gasping with each thrust. “What kno—?!” She gasped loudly at the next thrust from Nobu, clutching onto the foxgirl’s arms as she was slammed. “O-Ohh. That knot. Aaaaah~.”

Aroused beyond easy measure, Thomas quickly yanked himself out of Inari. Before the surprised vixen could do more but gasp in protest, he had pushed her down onto her back and jumped on top of her, ramming himself back inside. “I might not have a knot,” he told her, “but we humans have our own methods.”

“Mmm,” she moaned as his mouth descended, kissing its way down her neck to her breast and gasping as he pulled her nipple into her mouth, tongue flicking back and forth across the bumping ridges at its end. “IIIII like the human way too…” she forced out between her gasps and the raw pleasure of it.

“I’m glad you like it,” Thomas grunted, “because I’m about to paint you white inside.”

“Do it…” she hissed. “I want to feel a cub kicking around inside me…” she growled. “Feel it, and know you put it there, my husband put it there!”

Thomas gasped and came, feeling the vixen’s wall squeeze tight around him as he did so, milking his spasming cock for all it was worth to get every single ounce of his jizz out of him and into her, wanting to feel his warmth swimming around in her greedy cunt, cooing and squirming with each new spurt of heat into her desperate body.

“All… of… it…” she moaned in delight. “Yes…” she arched her back and kissed her husband as the last drops of his load dribbled into her sex, sharing a passionate kiss with the patriarch of her new clan. Slowly, reluctantly, the two lovers parted. Thomas fell back on his haunches, breathing heavily from how damned hard he had cum. Inari forced herself back to her hands and knees, rolling over slowly before she crawled towards where Nobu and Sarah were still mating. “It’s good to be with family, isn’t it…” she whispered, leaning down to find one of Sarah’s tits and sucking the nipple into her mouth, biting softly on it.

“Oh… my… god…” Sarah gasped.

“No one’s called me that for half a century,” Inari said with a chuckle before she swapped to the other breasts, playing her fingers over the spit-soaked shape of the first one so it wouldn’t feel neglected. While she did, she had her ass high up in the air with her tails framing it, shaking it back and forth enticingly… making sure it was pointed directly back at him. Trying to entire him to fuck her again.

It was working. His cock was already growing hard again before it ever softened, even at his age… it looked like she was going to get her wish of that next load soon.

“Oh! Oh shiiiit!” his wife… his other wife… gasped as Nobu grunted her pleasure and came, the knot swelling to lock them together as her seed moved to fill his wife up with yet another daughter to serve as the fruits of their new marriage.

“Peeeerfect…” Inari moaned, rubbing one hand over Sarah’s flat belly. “Can’t wait to see this grow, see my daughter in it. Bring her up in our new clan. Add-”

The curtain pushed aside and a fox Thomas hadn’t seen before rushed into the room, an alarmed look on her face. Inari looked up, and the man saw the effort in her face as she tried to push her mind into the right state. “Lisi? What happened?”

The vixen swallowed. “There’s… been an incident.

Matt stood to the side, watching the chaos that had erupted. He felt useless, but the situation seemed under control. Rebecca was currently crouched over one of the fox girls, bandaging a cut on her arm while four other girls were bound and sent the join the five already restrained. It had all happened so fast that he had barely had a chance to catch his breath.

Their group had been relaxing in the company of dozens of willing lovers, with others clustered around, hoping that they might be chosen to join or that their turn might come. It had been loud, and clustered, and joyous… and that was when the chaos had started. On the other side of the chamber, several foxes had abruptly attacked the guards while they were distracted watching the show and tried to free the captives.

They hadn’t counted on the humans, though. The moment Matt and Steven had noticed what was going on and saw one of their spears in the biceps of a pretty vixen guard, all compunction against dosing them went out the window… Before they had managed to make it ten feet carrying the bound captives, darts had taken three of the interlopers. The guards rapidly chased down and subdued the fourth.

Now they were mostly concerned with the injured guards. Matt wasn’t an expert in first aid and not even up the standards of his sister, but it looked to him like both of the injured foxes would live. Lila leaned against the wall beside him, idly stroking Lyanna’s hair and ears as she watched. Thankfully, she didn’t know any more about first aid than he did… if she had, he would have needed to find something else to do to one-up here. That was how being a proper rival worked, after all.

“That was unexpected,” Lila said flatly.

“Yeah,” Matt agreed. “Now I’m more curious than ever about those prisoners.”

“She is a disgrace,” Alyce growled, stalking over. “To think I called her my sister… that I ever looked up to her.” She spat on the ground in said ex-sister’s direction. “Worms take you.”

Matt was about to ask her further questions when he saw his father and mother run into the den, following after a flash of red color that moved almost too quickly for him to see in the intermixed shadows of various weak artificial light. It was only when she stilled, near the injured guards, that Matt could make our the four-tailed form of the fox matriarch standing over everyone, checking first on the injuries before turning her gaze to the fresh captives. “Who did this?” she growled. Matt realized that he could hear her… the room had abruptly gone deathly silent. He couldn’t ever hear one of the foxes breathe. “Which of them held the spear?”

One of the guards pointed at a bound fox, and the Matriarch growled again. “Taeni,” she said, shaking her head as she turned the fox over by pushing her with her foot before lowering it down onto her neck. “When your mother broke her leg on a hunt when you were but a cub, who fed you?” she asked, and Matt could see her muscles quiver as Inari put more of her weight on the bound fox’s throat. “When winter came early, and your blanket was thin, who took care of you? When you were sick with fever, who fed you water from her own hand?” Inari was clearly choking her now, but the bound fox couldn’t do anything to effectively resist… she could only squirm beneath her pressing foot and her intense glare. “And this is how you repay me? We are one family, Taeni… you seem to have forgotten that. And now you have hurt your sisters.”

She lifted her foot, and the gasp for air was audible even across the room. “And you…” she said, looking down at the three-tailed fox, the one that Alyce had identified as Aria… which must make her one of Inari’s daughters. “This is your fault. What have you to say for yourself?”

Matt and Lila had begun to walk over, so they clearly heard it as the cloth gag come out of the vixen’s mouth at she spat at her mother. “What else did you expect?” she snarled. “You persist in your madness to bind us to these weak bare-skins. You will not listen to reason!”

“So you would hurt your sisters” Inari asked softly. “Have your followers attack your family?”

“Sacrifices must be made. You have grown old… weak…” Aria spat. “You wouldn’t understand.”

A chorus of angry snaps and snarled and whines from the crowd almost drowned out of the end of her sentence as the matriarch shook her head softly and stood taller. “I understand perfectly well,” she said sadly. “There are always those who refuse to learn that it is better to cooperate than to conquer. I am just saddened to learn a daughter of mine is one of them.” She sighed and then straightened her back. “You nine, all of you, are unworthy to call us kin. You are no family of mine, nor of any of us.” She looked around the room, suddenly gone silent again. “If any would protest, let them speak now.”

She swept her gaze across the group, and when she looked, foxed cowed. Matt could understand why… her crimson eyes practically glowed with her fury as they swept over him, and she barely even glanced at him… her gaze reserved for the other vixens.. In his opinion, it looked like a few people in the room wanted to speak up, but as they considered, their looked back to where the guard was bleeding and being bandaged by a human, and their mouths closed once more.

Inari turned her gaze to his father. “These nine are no longer of us, husband.” Wait, did she say Husband? What had he missed? “They are as wild animals,” the Matriarch continued before he could consider further. “They should not be put to market.. The sins of the mothers should not be visited upon their children, so the cubs of their wombs should be returned to the family.” She shrugged. “Beyond that, do as you please with them. I understand it is traditional for your people to give and receive presents for a betrothal. Let this be mine to you.”

Matt’s eyes immediately found the wide, startled eyes of Aria as she gazed up at her mother in shock. “You can’t d- Glurk!” Her protests were savagely cut off at Inari stepped down on her neck in turn, leaning down.

“You should have thought of that before you had your followers hurt your family,” the standing woman said coldly.”

“Should we, uh… take them away?” Thomas asked. It was a testament to the situation that it was only now that Matt realized how disheveled he looked, like he had been undressed just moments earlier. Good for him, Matt thought with a grin.

Inari shook her head. “Let the others see,” she growled. “If some can’t learn by hearing words, perhaps they will learn by seeing actions.”

That was all the encouragement Matt needed. Before anyone else could beat him to it, he strode confidently up to the bound Aria and grabbed onto her struggling tails, bunching them up until he held all three in one fist. Then he started to drag her away, back toward Alyce’s tend and her makeshift beds. “Let go of me, you disgusting monster!” she snarled basically as soon as he pulled her away from her mother’s foot. “Get your hands off me! Those aren’t for pulling! Stop!”

Behind him, others of the traitorous foxes started to cry out as some of the hunters picked their own playmate for a very difficult kind of fun, but Matt paid no attention… he was focused entirely on the arrogant, struggling fox he was dragging along. Aria was absolutely beautiful, but that was to be expected… he had yet to see one of the foxes that was less than gorgeous. What she also was, however, was angry. Superior. Disgusted with him.

One look at her, and he knew that if she had her way she’d keep him bound somewhere like a living dildo if she could, or rip his throat out with her teeth if she couldn’t. He supposed that was fair… but he had no intention of ever giving her a chance. He didn’t completely understand what had happened here yet with his father and the matriarch of these people, but he knew enough to understand they were allies now… and that this one wasn’t ever going to play along with that.

So he was going to give her another role to fill.

With a yank on her tails that made Aria cry out, he flung her into the center of the tent. Ilyana, practically passed out as she lay against the wall in a stupor as cum leaked out of her soaked slit, looked over at him with dazed, confused eyes but she did nothing to assist her older sister as Matt climbed on top of her.

“Get… off… me…” she growled at him as she tugged viciously at the bindings holding her immobile. “You think you’re so strong? Release me and we’ll see ab-”

Matt slapped her.

Aria’s eyes widened in absolutely disbelief before narrowed to the barest slits. Her glare was almost as sharp as her fangs, and felt an irrational urge to check and see if it had cut him. “How dare you, you animal! I’ll-”

He slapped her again. “You seem to be misunderstanding,” Matt said as he grabbed onto one of her ears and twisted it to turn her head to the side, making her wince slightly as she stared at him. “You aren’t a trophy to catch. You aren’t even prey to be hunted down… either of them would be worthy of a struggle, a contest to see how strong they are, if I could beat them. But you…” he shook his head. “I already know you aren’t worth it. You’re just a plaything. The lowest art is more worthy of my respect than you.”

A bubbling snarl poured out of her lips. “I am going to break these bonds, human scum,” she snarled. “And when I do, I’m going to ki-” This time, her words cut off as he stuffed a rag into her open mouth. Her eyes wide with surprise, he pushed it deeper, deeper, until she gagged and he couldn’t hear anything but muffled sounds from her mouth. Then he took off his belt and wrapped it around her face by the mouth, holding that in place as he tightened it.

“Let me be clearer,” he told her simply. “You aren’t even worthy of words, in my tongue or yours. Once we see if you can learn anything, we can reconsider that… perhaps in a year.” His peace spoken, he rolled the bound fox onto her back. With her ankles tied to her wrists, her legs weren’t very mobile, but he wasn’t about to untie her yet without much better bonds available to replace them… instead, he forced his way between her legs even as the helpless fox tried to shut them on him, dragging his cock up and down her slit. He had practically exhausted himself fucking Ilyana, but if he thought he’d have any trouble getting hard the look in her eyes proved him wrong instantly… the arrogant hatred there practically dared him to fail, giving him all the motivation and desire he could ask for.

The muffled squeal, not of pain but of rage, matched his pleased moan as he began to press into her… her cunt was tight and hot but not especially dry, and all the strength in her body didn’t amount of much in resisting his push. “I thought you said I was disgusting,” he growled at at her, grabbing a handful of each of her breasts and using the handhold to pin the squirming fox down as he forced himself deeper. “Then why are so you damned wet, you walking incubator?” A sound made him glance over to see Lila, with Lyanna help, following his head and dragging one of the captive foxes over to the relative comfort of the blankets here, tossing her down before pinning her.

Matt squeezed her breasts hard enough than some of the soft tissue bulged between his fingers as he used them as leverage to fuck her, making her grunt and moan and gasp through her gag as he roughly forced his way in and out of her clenching slot. Her eyes watered slightly, tears welling in her eyes but they refused to fall, so Matt just fucked her harder until she was making a pained sound with each thrust.

“Do you regret it yet?” he asked her, staring down at her for a moment longer before lowering his head to her breasts and biting one of her nipples, enjoying the way her body jerked and shuddered as the soft yelp escaped her. “Do you think she’ll ever forgive you? How many years will it take? Five? A dozen? Fifty?” He chuckled. “I guess I should take maximum use of you before then. Put a few new girls in you before then.”

Nearby, the other fox looked like she was trying to squirm, but between Lila’s strapon knotted inside of her and Lyanna sitting with her thighs wrapped around her head, she really wasn’t going anywhere. It still was quite a show, and he enjoyed watching it while he nailed Aria.

The fox made a loud, protesting noise and struggled harder, and Matt laughed. With a final thrust, Matt pulled out of Aria and slapped her breasts, one after the other while his cock throbbed in the warm air of the den. “But it occurs to me that if you’re carrying a member of the family and not merchandise… I’d actually have to take care of you. Make sure you were comfortable and healthy.” He grabbed her with one hand under one of her arms and the other at the base of her tail, bodily flipping the hogtied girl over. “And I’m not sure you’ve earned even that much yet.”

In her tie, it was awkward to get into position, but Matt was highly motivated, and soon his dick was nestled into the cleft of her ass. Aria really began to struggle then, but the gagged, bound fox was just as helpless now as she had been on her back. “So if you want a cub in you and all that comes with it… normal food, fertility drugs, and gentle treatment, you’re going to have to earn it.” He started pushing forward, his cock forcing its way into her tight, resisting asshole. “We’ll see how long that takes.”

Aria squealed mercilessly now, loud enough that he could feel it through his skin on her back and his cock in her ass rather than through her gagged mouth. He was pretty sure that no matter how experienced the vixen might be otherwise, this was a first for her. The way she was thrashing from side to side was making it hard to get all the way inside her clenching rear, so he leaned down and grabbed one of her ears in each fist, yanking back on them like reins while her body quicker. That leverage was enough, and with a gagging scream into the gag he hilted himself to the balls in her tight asshole, feeling her shake beneath him, feeling her fluffy tails like a pillow for his weight as his body crushed them flat against her back.

“Oh…” he growled in pleasure. “You might be an arrogant, good-for-nothing animal, but at least you have some redeeming features. You have a wonderfully tight ass… and until you prove your worth anymore more than this, this is where every load goes…” With the way she was shaking as he tugged on her ears, he wasn’t even sure Aria could hear him at the moment but he was confident she got the idea in his enthusiasm, the way his cock was swelling more and more inside of her tight tunnel. “Take it! TAKE IT!”

With a final thrust, Matt skewered her completely rested deep inside her while his dick swelled, pulsed, and then spat shot after shot of seed to baste her guts. From the way she kept squirming he would have thought it was lava or acid rather than sperm… she jerked and made miserable sound with each new dollop of jizz he forced inside her.

It was only after his dick was completely satisfied, and Aria had finally gone completely still beneath him save for the occasional sob, that he let go of her ears and raised up off of her. She barely moved other than to shake, and he doubted that she could, but he took the time to grab one of the tranquilizer darts off his harness anyway. “Good night, plaything,” he whispered in her ear. “When you wake up, you’ll be in your new home… and you had best start dreaming of ways to make me happy, or the rest of you life isn’t going to be very fun for you.”

He stabbed the dart into her ass. Aria jerked once before her body went limp, and once she was still Matt got up and stretched. It really hadn’t been the most comfortable position, but it had been worth it to make a good first impression. Now, he supposed he should find his father and find out what the hell precisely was going on here.

By the time the sun rose and the mirror began filling the den with light again, Thomas felt more tired than he had going in. His new wife was… enthusiastic, and persistent, and had kept him and Sarah both from getting more than an hour or two of sleep all night. Not that he could complain too much… he felt ten years younger after a night like that.

The rebel foxes had become the first order of business… teaching them a very public lesson had taken hours. Ultimately, the show had only ended after Inari had made a personal example of Taeni for attacking a member of the clan. She had sat on the fox’s face, kneeling on her arms to hold her still while she had borrowed Lila’s dildo to fill her cunt up. When, with her so restrained and occupied, she had given all three of her herms permission to do as they pleased with her.

Thomas was pretty sure all three of those knotted cocks hadn’t managed to fit in her at once. He had trouble believing even two of them ever had… but all three had spend the entire time trying, and by the time all three had flooded her asshole she had tongued his wife through a dozen orgasms in her desperation to convince her to stop them.

Now, however, he and the other hunters were beginning the long walk back to their vehicles, and from there back to camp. It was a harder walk than it had started as, with most of them carrying the limp, unconscious form of one of the traitors over their shoulders, but it was more than worth it and everyone had a bounce in their steps from the successful, productive day. Evidence of that was all around him… while Inari had remained at the den to continue explaining how their arrangement would work to their own people, twelve of the best vulpine hunters of the clan, including Alyce, walked alongside his men. After all, this had been a fun, and productive trip… but it hadn’t made their family any money.

There were still rabbits to catch.