Whispers and images flashed in front of Eli, her world a technicolor oil painting. The oil like snow washes past in waves bringing trees and stones past her. Gunfire reverberated off the mountains that towered over her as the weak sun was ripped from the sky above her. She felt cold and alone as she noticed a flickering light off in the distance drawing her in. She moved like she was underwater, slow and sluggish as her limbs felt like they were weighed down by sand. Feet felt like miles as the flickering light got closer by only inches at a time that when the light was finally upon her she never noticed the doorframe and Max’s home swallowing her. He was there, on top of her lover with his pistol in hand and smiling as he was about to pull the trigger. There was a flash from Eli’s hands before her ears started ringing as the macabre of blood and viscera was splayed out before her. Memories she had blocked were on full display as the squalor of gore spread from his now vaporized shoulders. Bits of bone, teeth and gray matter danced before her ruby eyes as that smile and face were forever removed from the fabric of the world. A sense of relief washed over her as the body fell from Max’s form until she looked down to see he had already pulled the trigger just before she did.

“AAAAAAH! No you can't take him!” Eli thrashed from under the stiff sheets that Max and her shared last night long after their tryst had ended. She was alone causing her stress to spike and quickly glance around the room and noticed she was more alone than she originally thought. A moment later her lover was next to her, sprinting from around the corner smelling like bacon and coffee.

“Eli, I'm here!” Max rounded the corner and held her face to force her eyes onto his. Her breath was rappid as she tried to take in her surroundings and blink the tears from her eyes. He was blurry due to her tears clouding her vision but his warmth and voice assured her that what she witnessed was simply a terrifying nightmare. New tears met the old ones on her cheeks as he comforted her to the best of his ability. Her nude form wrapped itself around him as she wept into his shoulder, the words coming out stammered and broken between her sobbing. “Th-the h-house a-a-and the g-g-guy th-”

“Shhhh it’s alright Eli, Im here, we’re safe.” Her sobs continued as her babbles faded off into weak sobs as he continued to whisper comforting words of safety into her flat scaled ears. “We’re alright, love, we’re okay.”

It wasn’t long before her weeping subsided as reality set in. She was in Max’s small offsite home, built inside an abandoned mine whilst also being built from two shipping containers. It was warm, His skin on her scales, the light drafts around the room. She breathed a sigh of relief and let her tongue flick the air to smell coffee, venison and blood in the air. “Oh my God that's right! I bit you last night!”

She pulled back to look at Max’s body and saw nothing out of the ordinary until she noticed his swollen left shoulder with a neat parallel set of pinpricks that matched her retracted teeth perfectly. “Ah don’t worry about that, are you alright? That seemed like a horrible nightmare.”

His words didn’t register with her as tears started to well up in her eyes again. “I- I hurt you.”

Max simply rolled his eyes as he motioned to his inflamed shoulder. “This isn’t even that bad. Had a worse reaction to some skin care product my mom used on me in my teen years.” Rolling his shoulder his warm smile didn’t flinch as his nerves flared slightly. “See, right as rain. Now if you’ll stop worrying about me let me worry about you for a little bit since you’re probably starving.”

“Max I’m not some kid you have to take care of. I can feed myse-” The rumble of her stomach cuts her off in the middle of her sentence before she took a moment to compose herself. “However it is very much… appreciated. What’s in the stores that can be used for breakfast?”

Clad in underwear he moved to the woodstove where the few confections were still warming in the even but low heat. “Well dried potatoes rehydrated to be hashbrowns, some venison jerky to be a kind of…fake bacon and fresh fruit and veggies I grabbed from my place. Should be done heating up once it gets to temp in maybe like forty minutes?”

Eli shifted in the bed and felt the grime scrape against her scales from last night and the warmth that still held in her core. Her hand fell to her lower stomach as flashes of last night ran through her mind and brought a warm smile to her face. “Actually…I think I need a shower and I think I need a big strong man to wash my back.” 

Max shot her a questioning look before stopping himself from motioning to the stove and having the realization of what she was asking wash over him. She didn’t have to look over her shoulder to know that her boyfriend wasn't far behind her and let the blanket she brought with her fall from her shoulders. Her toned back, thick tail and perfect ass framed his entire vision and was able to fully appreciate her serpentine form in the light of the morning. The diamond marking on the small of her back leading down her tail swayed to and fro hypnotizing him before his logical mind snuck up on him. Moving up behind her he spun her by the waist and pulled her in close. “Eli, are you sure? You’re not too shaken up still? That was a pretty bad nightmare you were snapped out of.”

Her answer was her tail sneaking between his legs and guiding his package up into her crotch where a new sensation of wetness greeted him. “The nightmare was bad, yes but…something got me back in the mood.” Her thin black tongue slid up the side of his neck bringing a shiver up his spine. “Besides,” she moved past him letting her slim form pull his eyes and by extension his body with her, “I haven't shown you my appreciation for that beautiful tongue work you did last night.”

Max tried to gather his thoughts under the constant barrage of lust and desire smashing into him that his lover was throwing his way. “Well uh…what about the uh…”

“The teeth?” A single ruby orb looked back to him, pupil small and focused on him. “That's the thing hun.” She disappeared behind the frame of the door with her thick tail following. “I have retractable teeth.” Max’s mind short circuited for a moment. The words were not processing for him for a moment as the mental images came faster then he was mentally ready for. “You coming sweetie? Or do I have to lather up all by myself?”

That kicked him into gear and quickly met his lover standing in the singular shower stall with the water already running. Steam clouded her form slightly as she swayed under the already hot water, water beading on her dark scales as she knew she had her partner in a trance as he tried to pull his underwear off. “God you look stunning, you know that?”

A smile crossed her thin lips, knowing that she had him fully wrapped around her fingers. A small thought occurred to her that she was also wrapped around his. That made her smile wider as he joined her in the hot artificial rain, kisses landing on her scales neck, cheeks and lips. “Something tells me you don't have to say it.” Her scaled hand met his throbbing member before a few strokes caused his breath to hitch and hold her waist tighter. “Thought you’d have to take a break after last night.”

“Something about you puts fire in my veins and I just can't get enough of you.” A slight nip to her neck caused her to jump before she teased him with a few more tugs. “As much as I want to continue we should get clean, last night left us a little dirty.”

Her tongue traced his jawline before she nipped his cheek herself. “Not a chance. I’m getting you back for starting off last night.” She fell to her knees under the warm shower and finally came eye level with his member. Her eyes were wide as all of the feelings from last night were given a form in the shape of his member. Water beading across his length filled her eyes as her mouth watered looking at it throb in front of her. “Goddess it’s even bigger up close.”

“You uh…don’t have to, you know that ri-AH!” Her tightening grip and deepening glare stopped that line of questioning in its tracks. “N-noted!”

She went back to softly stroking before letting her tongue flick out and tasted the soap and his desire in the humid air. Her lips parted gave him the same level of attention he gave her last night. His moans and shaky legs proved that even though she was inexperienced that didn’t matter much because of his good she was making him feel. A smirk spread across her lips as she continued, massaging his length and balls causing his hands to ball into fists while he tried to control himself. Her eyes squinted as she looked up to her partner and gently guided his hands to the back of her head. She wanted him to guide her, tell her what she was doing wrong and what felt right to him. Just like how her words guided her to a few orgasms when he was between her legs.

She bobbed and drew more moans from her lover, sweet movements and hot water warmed her and spurred on her ministrations as he became more forceful with her movements as he pulled her forward. “Oh fuck Eli, you are way too good for me.” Her hand squeezed his sack as a light threat to stop speaking that way that he took in the right direction and corrected with a quick retort. “R-right! I love you too sweetheart.”

Minutes passed as the warm water continued to fall and both of them lost track of time His first orgasm surprised him and the fact that she latched on and swallowed every drop he gave her was even more of a surprise. There wasn’t much talking after that, simply moans and passionate kisses as they groped and admired each other's forms in the throes of desire. Breasts were kneaded and asses were groped as the two continued to make love for well over an hour and their passion eased into bliss. 

Their hands finally relaxed and started dancing across each other’s skin and scales finally set about washing each other. Suds worked into each other on cheap soap and Eli complained about how it’ll dry out her scales with Max promising to get her a high end moisturizer as he massaged her. “Have you always been this good with your hands or is it just a human thing?” Eli questioned her boyfriend as his hands danced across her back in the direction of her scales as he appreciated their onyx patterns. “Seriously, you’re way too good at this.”

“Mom was a massage therapist at one point and taught me a thing or two. Otherwise you just go with the direction of your scales and focus on the knots you can feel.” Forceful pressure was focused on a particularly tough knot that when he finally forced it out caused Eli to give a deep sigh. “That was a tough one, you’ve really just been walking around with all this stress?” His hands danced across her form for a few more minutes and teased out a couple smaller knots in the small of her back just above her thick tail. “At least now you know I’ll gladly do this for you.”

Eli simply sighed as she agreed to the attention he was giving her, calloused hands teased her nerves and relaxed her body as the temperature of the shower slowly cooled. “Max the temp is dropping, mind if I go check on breakfast?”

“Not at all, I still need to rinse off.” Eli stepped past the cheap shower curtain and used one of the spare towels next to the sink to dry her scales, The sight distracting him from the rinse he was supposed to be finishing. “Oh if you don’t mind, could you feed the girls and let them…out?…God damn you are stunning.”

Eli rolled her eyes as she continued to dry herself to fight off the creeping cold. “Hey rinse off you randy boy! Maybe later we can go again. As for the girls, you don’t need to worry about them, they’ll be happy as can be when you get out.” Max’s brow furrowed as he turned back to the rapidly cooling stream and rinsed the rest of the soap on his body. Stoically ignoring the new semi erection he was sporting. The door opened and closed as she made her way back the short distance to the kitchen where the distinct smell of smoke met her nose and tongue. “Der'mo!”

Her hands worked quickly grabbing oven mitts and quickly pulling the burnt food from the oven. As she looked over the smoldering remains she realized that going that last round with her boyfriend was probably not the best idea for their breakfast. “Well…I’ve eaten worse but I doubt we’d enjoy it as much as they would.” Max was clothed and behind his still naked lover and motioned to the two drooling dogs next to them. “Go ahead and get dressed, I’ll handle the girls.” His lips met her cheek as she nodded, mourning the loss of their shared meal. 

“Good news is that it won’t go to waste, the girls are going to love this.” Dividing the burnt servings in half he fed the dogs before giving them loving scratches behind their ears. “You know…there is this tiny little diner nearby. Serve a pretty mean breakfast if I'm being honest.”

“Hun,” Eli’s words drew his eyes to her questioning look. “Are you embarrassed to ask me out on a date? After everything we’ve done and been through?” Her warm laugh wasn’t malicious as Max looked away embarrassed. “Max after last night I would have thought you could fight a bear with how juiced up you were. Is it really that nerve wracking to ask me out?”

Scratching the back of his head he shrugged before coughing to clear his throat. “Gotta remember that this is the first relationship I’ve had in a while. Like a little over a decade, long. I'm just trying to remember how we do this.”

“Well you certainly didn’t do anything wrong last night.” Still clad in her towel she planted a light kiss on his cheek, bringing the nervous smile on his face to one that was warm and full of confidence. His straight teeth shone in the artificial light of the container shelter. “One thing I would like though is a change of clothes, under clothes has been getting pretty itchy.”

Max shrugged as he began to move to a recessed closet before opening it and procuring a large plastic container with colorful clothes inside. “You don’t mind the smell of husky anthro right? Chel help supply this place after those two finally got hitched and even comes out sometimes to just throw more stuff in the ‘rainy day’ closet as she calls it. Otherwise you’re similar height and build so it should fit.” Eli gladly took one of the shirts and dropped the towel from her form letting her boyfriend get eyefull before giving him a wink as the shirt fell. “More or less.”

Eli was confused at what he meant before she noticed she was really stretching out the front of the shirt. “Didn’t think we were that different in chest size. Oh well, it’ll work under the jacket until we get back. Besides, I doubt you dislike it.” Eli lifted her arms slightly showing off her midriff and obvious lack of lower wear.

The blush that spread across his face was evident that he, in fact, didn’t disapprove. “Pants! Right, you need pants!” A set of black gym shorts were procured that she also quickly donned. 

“Comfy, wonder why she got rid of them.” Max simply shrugged as he put the container back in its place before closing the door after.

“She said something about swapping out her old wardrobe, no clue why but I’m starving. Ready to get all your stuff on and go eat?”

Eli’s stomach rumbles again and places a hand on her still exposed stomach. “After last night and this morning I think I could eat a couple horses.” Skipping over to where her batteries were charging she quickly got everything together as Max began closing down the shelter for another long stint of un-use.

-

The moment Max rolled the car out of the abandoned mine his personal phone began vibrating like crazy. Dozens of missed calls and over fourty missed messages from Noah, Chelsea and a few other names that hadn’t reached out to him in years. Including his father. Dismissing those outright he looked over what was sent by Noah with eyes wide. Pictures of news reports of Ian in the hospital worried messages that quickly changed to him needing to call his best friend ‘ASAP’. His phone only rang once before the line was completed with Noah on the other end. “They took them.”

Max’s heart sank as he didn’t need a further explanation before the despair was quickly replaced by burning rage. “Who was taken?” His voice was as cold as ice, the sheer smoothness of his tone told Noah that he was feeling just as mad as he was.

“Micheal and Sarah. They took them during our date night yesterday. B&E and knocked out the babysitter, she doesn’t remember anything but I know damn well who’s responsible.” The line went silent as Max thought for a moment, formulating his next words carefully.

“I know what you want to do. I do as well but you need to remember we can’t leave corpses, at least not the important bodies.” He knew his brother in arms was going to interject which is why he cut him off. “Bodies make martyrs for them to rally behind. We need messages, warnings, maimings. We need to break them and force them to give them back without a scratch.”

Noah sounded on the verge of tears as he spoke next. “If they’re hurt in any way?”

“That when we let the Gods sort them out. I’m taking Eli home to be safe, meet me there and we’ll start planning this out.” Pulling out a cigarette he lit it in the frozen air and took a short drag before he spoke. “Bring your gear. I’m planning this to happen sooner rather than later.” With an affirmative grunt his best friend agreed and hung up. Leaving Max to stand out in the snow trying to think of a way to break the news to Eli without her trying to tag along. “Shit.”

“Is something wrong?” Eli had just joined him with his two dogs running past her out into the woods to burn off their hearty breakfast they shared. She knew something was wrong but was asking more out of courtesy than out of curiosity.

Rubbing the back of his neck he turns fully to her wincing at what he would have to convey. “Yeah, Noah is on the warpath and I’m going to need to keep him in check.” What color there was In Eli’s scales seemed to drain at the most pressing news was broken to her. “We’ll still get some breakfast but sadly it’ll be laced with terrible news. I’m sorry Eli.”

Eli sighed as she closed the distance and wrapped her arms around her lover’s neck. “You don’t need to apologize, you didn’t do it and you’re only gonna be trying to put out fires for a while so…let's get some breakfast and you can update me on everything that’s happened alright?” With a nod He leads her to the car and helps her in. “Still such a gentleman!”

“Can’t let one night and emotional turmoil ruin the man I am. Oh right one moment.” Turning away from the running vehicle he placed two fingers in his mouth and blew. The high pitched whistle screamed across the mountains and quickly brought the two dogs back to him and loaded up in the car before closing the swinging tailgate again. The camo net covering was set back in place, obscuring the opening once more before joining the girls to drive back down the snow covered mountain roads.