Quit Your Waning (Over the Moon #3)

SIZZLE

The school pod was too small for a beast like me, so I stalked the open entrance, watching my morsel lead her meeting with the other teachers. Her cheeks were as bright as candied luris, and she squirmed in her seat, knees pressed together.

Mmm, the way she wriggled made saliva pool in my throat. Perhaps if I were more of a gentleman, I’d make myself scarce, but the way I distracted her satisfied my possessive greed. Besides, the perk of my ears and crooked grin upon my face might well have been permanent. No matter what gruesome daydreams I conjured up, the stupid look of happiness wouldn’t abate. I plopped my head on the top step of the pod and sat on my haunches.

Jihae was mine.

To my absolute horror, my tail started wagging.

I licked my nose to coax the last of her pussy’s sweet taste into my mouth as a consolation. No amount of tail-wagging embarrassment could take this victory away.

Jihae caught me, stumbling over her words, and I chuffed with delight. I did it again, slower, pulsating the impressive muscle as the tip folded over itself like it had inside her pussy. She pressed her notes against her chest, crumpling the plas, and crossed her ankles. Pfft. As if her legs could close any more tightly than they already were.

Fuck, I loved playing with my food.

“Ahem.”

My ear twitched sideways at the familiar voice of Little Miss Pubescent Pom Pom. The pink shilpakaari girl was fiery and clever, but small, standing at barely half my four-legged height. She twisted her short crop of head tentacles at me like I was in trouble. Knowing her, I was.

“Snacklette,” I greeted.

“What’s going on with you and Miss Jihae?”

“Yeah,” came Rambir’s voice, the human boy from Indj’a. I slid my gaze lazily towards him and he crossed his arms, playing the tough guy.

“I see you brought your side dish with you,” I drawled, ignoring their question. “Shouldn’t you be fingerpainting with your fellow pups?”

Pom Pom wasn’t easy to deter. Despite being sick most of her life, she had a backbone of steel and a mind so stubborn, it rivaled me in bite force. She rolled her striped red eyes with a quirk in her mouth that spelled mischief. “Sure, go ahead and report us for playing hooky. I’ll just tell Miss Jihae about that one time you ate my pet urundu—”

I hissed for her to keep quiet and pushed away from my perfect perch at the door, checking to see if my morsel had heard. Urundulis looked suspiciously similar to the little charm she’d made for herself out of my fur, and I didn’t want to jinx her fragile approval. To my perplexed relief, she was making strange, daft faces at the laughing teachers, explaining something about performance value as she wriggled her fingers.

I ripped my attention away with an aggravated snort.

“What do you want, Pomahrutvi?”

Vin’s adopted daughter grinned. “Are you spun?”

I chuffed, a smirk growing across my face far different from the happy grin I’d been wearing. “Ah, so you want to know if I’ve bent her over and claimed her yet. Why, is Rambir interested in the honors? Do you have eyes for your teacher, pup?”

Predictably, the human boy choked on his own spit, a maroon blush overcoming his warm, dusty cheeks. I snickered as Pom Pom rolled her eyes.

“Please. We have holotabs. We know how this stuff works, so stop trying to embarrass us.”

“But it’s so fun to embarrass the humans. Look at how pleasing their coloring becomes.” I pointed my mouth claws in Rambir’s direction. Then I stepped closer to them both, my smile fading. “If you want the answer, it’s yes. Now, if your curiosity is sated, I suggest you stop disrespecting your teachers and march back to the playfield… Or I’ll tell Imani.”

At the mention of her father’s vira, Pom Pom’s tendrils shrank back. She glanced at Rambir with urgency, prompting him with a nod of her head. I raised one brow, waiting for him to speak.

He took a deep breath to gather courage, straightened his slender shoulders. “Would it be okay if I went as a bilong for Halloween?”

I blinked at him.

What?

“You want to pretend to be a bilong… as a costume?”

He nodded with a wince. “Maybe I shouldn’t have aske—”

“Do all Hahloin costumes need a blessing? Does everyone dress up as other people?” I was confused—a common occurrence when I tried to understand such overwhelmingly social creatures—and it made my fur stand on end. This was not how Tinsley had described the tradition. “Is it not liberation from your daily life and responsibilities? Do you not get to pretend to be anything you want?”

“Well yeah, but it’s just that, on Earth, it’s not good to dress up as other cultures, you know? I always hated seeing Uhmaerikin kids on tivi dressed as Shivuh or Aladyn.” Rambir raked his thick black silk with a wince. “But it’s cool to dress up like our heroes, so… it’s complicated? We don’t have this holiday where I’m from, so it’s new for me too.”

I sat up straight on my haunches, puffing out my chest. I had been a pup once too, so I knew exactly what Rambir’s pride wouldn’t let him say. He wanted to dress like me, not just any bilong. Excitement made my heart swell in my chest at the prospect.

“I’d be honored if you were a bilong for Hahloin,” I told him.

The boy’s face lit up. “Are you sure?”

“I’ve never seen a bilong pup, other than myself. So yes, I would like it very much.” I leaned in, licking one of my yellow eyeballs for emphasis. “But if you don’t get your pup butts to the playfield now, I will absolutely eat you for lunch.”

They giggled, one of my favorite noises—far better than screams—and Rambir grabbed both of their bags, shuffling backwards down the footpath, watching Pom Pom as she paused. She leaned into my ear to whisper a secret, tickling the fine fur inside.

“Miss Jihae is going to have a costume at the festival, so you should think of something too. I’m going as a jel’li fish.”

My eyes flashed to Jihae, where I could just barely see her shoulder through the door. “I’ll think about it.”

Pom Pom nodded once, as if my answer was satisfactory. Then she glanced between us, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “I’m going to have cousins soon, right?”

I snapped playfully at her tendrils. “Go.”

“Vin and I have a pool. I bet three, he bets five.”

I drew saliva onto my tongue and licked the side of her face with sloppy slurping sounds. She gasped, gathering the attention of all the teachers with her disgusted squeal.

“Ew, fine! I’m going!”

I chuckled, steam rising between my fangs with smug satisfaction as she grabbed Rambir’s shirt and spun him around to jog down the road.

Scaring children? What a delight.

The humans smacked their hands together repeatedly, then stood from their chairs. Scraping and murmuring filled the pod lobby as they filed out into the midday humidity. They stretched and swung their arms around, lifted their faces to the overcast sky and fanned the mist from their necks. The fog lingered for longer and longer these days. Everyone but Vin enjoyed the break from the suffocating heat, it seemed.

Bright coppery curls framing a round face bounced to a stop on the stairs and the human woman gasped.

“Sizzle in the bloody flesh! Siobhan, Jihae’s best mate.”

I squinted at her outstretched hand. “Best… mate?”

Jihae already had a mate? Should I eat her? Was I expected to win a contest? I would destroy her. It was foolish of this woman to introduce herself where currently the only witnesses had their backs turned.

“Y’know. Pal, mucker, bestie,” she shrugged while I slowly unzipped my throat. “We’re like—”

“Sizzle?” Before I could lunge for my competition, Jihae poked her head out of the doors, leaning on Siobhan’s shoulder. She smiled at me like nothing was amiss as I crept forward, reaching out a claw for the woman’s palm. It would be a simple trick. Yank her in and snap that weak little neck like a dead twig. “Hi. I guess I should introduce you guys now.”

“Och, you better.” Siobhan punched my morsel on the bicep and my hackles rose. I nearly snarled but controlled myself. It was easier to catch small prey when they were stationary. Once they started scrambling, things could get messy. My longest mouth claw pressed against one of her fingertips, and the others followed, winding through her fingers, ready to snatch.

“Sizzle, this is Siobhan, my best friend.”

I froze, staring at the human’s hand like I might pop her like a balloon.

Best… friend?

“Siobhan, this is Sizzle, my… ah, my… boyfriend?”

Wait, so I was the friend? Fuck that.

“Mate,” I growled through my throat, feeling confused and murderous.

But Siobhan laughed, rubbing her arms. “Jaysus, that’s a craic voice. Gave me chills, like.”

“Mate.” Jihae cleared her hoarse voice, fluttering her pretty lashes at me with a bashful smile. Fine. I wouldn’t eat her best mucker, pal, friend, mate thing.

“I’ve got to get to the playfield for the girls.” Siobhan mimed touching her mouth to Jihae’s cheeks, and I decided maybe I could slip into her unit and murder her without Jihae finding out after all. Then she hobbled down the stairs with one bum knee and a bag full of plasdocs.

Siobhan pointed up at Jihae from the footpath. “You and your mate better come round for family night, aye? Next week, after the festival.”

“Go, go,” Jihae waved her away with a flushed nod. “And thanks for the change of clothes!”

“Anytime, ya harlot!”

I snapped my teeth after the offending human, my tail slicing the air petulantly. Jihae noticed, her brows stitching together with worry.

“Sorry… Were you bored waiting out here?” Jihae asked.

“I’m not a pup or your friend,” I huffed. Jihae blinked.

“Oh, I—”

“And she isn’t your mate. I’m your mate. Your only mate. Or at least, I will be. If you keep saying yes, then you keep being mine. Mine. Unless you want me to eviscerate every best mate that lines up to claim—”

“Wait!” Jihae held up both her hands to stop me from spiraling.

“No,” I growled, pushing her back against the lobby doors. They slid open and she fell back with a squeak. I followed her as far as my head could reach and yanked her across the floor by her ankle when she got too far for my liking. She gasped, pushing on my head as I rubbed my oils all over her belly. “Mine.”

“Yours, okay? All yours!” Jihae surrendered hastily, squeezing her knees together. I paused, my mouth poised over the ripped seam in her pants, drool darkening the fabric with every droplet. “Aysh, boyfriend means lover! And Siobhan is from Aeyr Land. When she says mate, she means friend!”

“That’s absurd. Boys are male pups and friends are friends, not people you’re fucking. But mate means friend and not someone that you’re spun for?”

Jihae nodded once, very slowly. “I agree that Yingleesh is a confusing language.”

I dragged her under me, where my shoulders bulged against the sides of the sliding lobby doors, and stared down at her, nose to muzzle.

“So you are mine?”

Jihae swallowed hard, then nodded.

“And your best mate knows this?”

She nodded again.

“Siobhan is like my sister,” she explained. “We teach together and have been raising two kids together. Soyeon and Ciara. They’re best friends.” She bit her lip, grinning. “Best mates, just like us.”

I squinted suspiciously, but my ears were already perked with a sense of play. My mischievous pet was teasing me.

“She’s lucky I didn’t suck the flesh right off her bones.”

Jihae’s eyes went wide, fearful. “You wouldn’t do that.”

“Obsessive, possessive…” I reminded her, slipping one claw through the ripped seam between her legs to find her slippery and wet. My lower jaw split open hungrily as I pressed my nose into her belly and breathed in a full breath of her slightly spicy skin.

Then she smacked me on the snout and I sneezed, rearing back. My tongue lolled, hanging like a pendulum from my lower jaw.

“Ya!” She pointed a scolding finger in my face. “You aren’t allowed to eat anyone. Especially not Siobhan. And no eating in the school pod either!” She slammed her legs shut.

I groaned, pressing the side of my face into her breasts. “Morsel…”

“No.”

“Are you mad because I was planning to murder your sister-friend?”

“Tch.”

I grinned, licking my fangs and “innocently” brushing my tongue across the stiff peaks of her tits through her shirt. I wanted to imprint those mounds in my throat, to squeeze each nipple and make her squirm beneath me.

“If you let me peel away your clothes like I asked, you won’t even remember that we’re in the school pod,” I promised with a purr, tickling the hem of her shirt. She smacked my claw and I chuckled. “Fine, fine. I won’t eat any human that claims to be your best mate.”

“Thank you,” she said with sincerity.

I slipped my tongue down the front of her shirt towards the latch on her pants, enjoying the way her cleavage hugged me as I descended. She wriggled, and I held her ankle and side in a bruising grip, excited by hips that pressed against my lower mouth claws.

“Now what I said about clothes–”

Jihae bit her lip. I was winning her over. Her heat, my rut, the semi-privacy. I was so close to getting what I really wanted for lunch when a burst of laughter passed by on the path outside, two humans talking animatedly about their costumes. My hackles rose and Jihae gasped, swearing loudly. I sighed, gazing at the ceiling.

“Killjoys,” I grumbled, releasing my mate from my grip. Jihae scrambled to her feet, straightening her ruffled shirt and brushing the dirt and wrinkles off her pants. I raised a brow at them. “Can I at least eat those?”

She stopped. “Eat my clothes?”

“Oh yes.”

She rummaged through a bag next to her chair and produced a new outfit. I started panting in earnest, desperate to taste her again.

“At least let me eat them off your body,” I begged, scratching the floor where I curled my claws to hide the desperation.

She picked up her bag and pranced across the lobby to one of the classrooms and my cock swelled until the knot was unbearably tight.

“Next time.”

I whimpered, head flopping down on the welcome mat. “Such a rude pet.”

When she returned, she tossed the old clothes to me and I slurped them down like she did noodles. They were gone in an instant, and I licked my lips, gaze trailing down her body with appreciation. I hadn’t gotten to see what all of her skin looked like, or what it felt like nestled in my jaws. But I would soon.

“If I can’t have you for lunch, then what is our schedule, morsel?”

She brushed her silk with a multi-pronged brush—much better than my rake—and said, “I have to get simmoar supplies from Mrs Fareshi, and props from my unit. Then meet the teachers at the campsite.” She slowed down, tying back her black locks with a stretchy band. “You could come with me, if you want to. If you don’t have to patrol.”

I hadn’t been on patrol since I got my tranqs. Instead, I’d been stalking my prey, enjoying her scent and choosing which trees to mark so she might brush against one and think salacious thoughts of me. She didn’t know it, or perhaps she was being polite, giving me space, but there was no force on our little tropical moon that could drag me away from her until she was thoroughly and truly ruined for anyone else.

“I am yours to do with as you wish. The sooner the better,” I teased, backing out of the school pod’s door ass first as she followed me out. She laughed, slinging her empty bag over her shoulder.

“Well tonight we’re busy, but maybe…” Her breath hitched as she thought about what we were truly discussing. “Maybe tomorrow.”

“A nice offer, morsel, but training comes first.”

“Training?”

Nodding up the path, I ignored her question. If we weren’t going to indulge in each other today, talking about how she was ever going to take my cock would drive me to madness. “The hangar,” I rumbled. “Is that our first stop?”

Lucky for me and my nearly-obscene erection, Jihae let me change the subject. She smiled, threading her fingers through my fur as we started walking.

“Yes. I need to ask Mr Fareshi about keeping the chawklet from melting too. Do you have, ah, gonjol oreum? Nevermind, I’ll just talk to him. And the other one, that works on the food bays…”

“Bajora,” I offered, my ear twitching with surprise. Her heartbeat was steady, her scent spicy and sweet. Not even a hint of tangy fear.

“Bajora, Bajora,” she said several times, memorizing his name. “I want to ask him about bulk printing some snacks and drinks.”

“And you’ll be okay talking with them?” I asked. Jihae’s eyes were bright when she met my stare.

“When you’re with me, I feel like I’m the safest person in the world.”

I smiled as she held onto my fur and walked up the path beside me. So perhaps I was ravenous and in desperate need of taking care of this rut, but hearing that I made someone feel safe for once…

That was worth everything.