Outwitting the Fox

The next morning dawned bright and far too early for Jess.

She rolled away from the oppressively warm body next to her and groaned in pain as she sat up. Her head felt like it was going to split in two - right after her stomach ridded her of the remains of last nights dinner.

"Where the fuck did the bathroom go?" She whimpered trying to figure out who's room she was in and where the best spot to throw up would be.

The person behind her reached past her legs and hauled a trash can into view.

"Head between your legs. Breath and give it a moment. If you still need the bathroom it's the door to the right." His voice was husky with sleep, but she recognised Finn.

She put her head between her legs as instructed and felt a little better immediately. Her first reaction to hearing Finn was relief - her second was horror. She had slept in Finn's bed.

While drunk.

She had probably drooled and snored the whole night. Plus she would have makeup down her face this morning, and crazy morning hair.

Jess winced at her vanity - sure she wasn't hoping to sleep with him, but it would be nice if he didn't think she was a total dog. Of course he actually was a dog, so perhaps he wouldn't mind?

Standing she made her way to the bathroom with the help of the wall and a few pieces of furniture to keep herself upright. On her way she kept her chin tucked down and her hair over her eyes, prolonging the need to deal with the wolf sprawled in the bed.

Finn had no such issues. He watched her weave to his en-suite through one squinted eye, and then promptly fell back into a light sleep.

After washing her face, using the toilet and finger combing her hair - all while clinging to the nearest wall - she stumbled back into the room. Finn cracked his eyes open again as she stubbed her toe on a set of keys on his floor.

"You're still drunk." He said sleepily.

She landed heavily on her hands and knees cursing the keys. Looking up she caught sight of Finn for the first time that morning and for a moment or two the pain in her head, the lurching room, and the stubbed toe faded to the back of her mind.

He was stretched out on the bed bare chested. And Finns chest was nothing to laugh at, he carried a lot deceptive amount of muscle on him. His jeans were low on his hips and between the slept in clothes, and his hair he looked deliciously rumpled.

Overall the effect was entirely, annoyingly, edible. Jess instantly forgot about her original plan to head for the door and her own bedroom.

She clambered to her feet, remembering at the last moment to grab the wall as her head did it's best to explode.

"I would be in less pain if I was still drunk." She hissed back making her way back over to the bed. If she was going to throw up in anyone's room it sure as hell wouldn't be her own.

Finn reached up and tried to drag her back into bed with him. Jess resisted his grasp wondering again why she was still here. Her room was just across the hall.

"You need to shift. It works the same way it helps with healing injuries." Finn told her.

Jess tipped her head to the side considering carefully. "Really? I never thought of that."

Finn furrowed his brow for a moment before sitting up and swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. "Why is it that you never change with us? I've just realised that while the rest of us go for runs and hang out in the house in our animal forms, but I've never seen you do that."

Jess shrugged. "You guys are all a lot bigger than me. And you eat little things for fun. Plus I can't really come for runs and stuff because I just can't keep up. I used to sometimes with Michael and Grey, but inevitably they'd end up killing bunnies and getting their freak on."

Her stomach turned a little at the thought of eating bunnies. Finn saw her pale and reached up to steady her.

"I'm still tired. Change and cuddle with me, I promise not to eat you." Finn grinned sleepily. Jess felt her stomach twist again for different reasons.

She nodded warily and let the shift take over. The twisting and popping of her bones and muscles as they moved into their new positions hurt a lot more than it usually did. Pride kept her quiet until it was all done and she was lying twisted in last nights clothes.

Huffing in annoyance the fox did her best to dig herself free without damaging anything.

"Serves you right for being a dork about it. Rule one, take off the clothes before shifting." Finn chastised her without coming to her aid.

Jess finally got her head free of her shirt and looked up to find a naked Finn mid Change. Resisting the urge to stare she shook herself out of the shirt and looked up again straight into the bared teeth of the large wolf standing above her. He was mid way through snapping at her like he was going to eat her for breakfast.

The foxes' breath left it's lungs in a panicked squeak, and she backed up into the bed behind her. The wolf hadn't backed off at all, and not knowing what else to do she dropped down to her side and bared her belly.

'Not a threat, not a threat, don't you dare eat me' she thought imagining his jaws closing around her head and crushing her into a million pieces.

The wolf stepped forwards again and sniffed at her belly his breath ticking the sensitive fur there. When he was done scenting her he gave her belly a quick lick and a firm nudge before stepping back to let her up.

Finn cocked his head to the side and flattened one ear to the side as if to say 'you're kidding me right?'

She rolled to her feet and snapped her teeth at him telling him to keep his to himself.

He let out a wolfy chuckle before dipping down to grasp her firmly but gently by the nape of her neck. Jess curled into herself as he jumped onto the bed and let her down. Oh. She was an idiot. He was just giving her a lift onto the bed.

She flopped down on her tummy and relaxed into the warm hollow where Finn had been sleeping moments beforehand. Finn casually flopped onto his side, hooking a big paw over her, and practically pinning her to the bed.

Finn grinned at her, his tongue lolling from his mouth before he settled for some serious napping. He'd have to remember to tell her that she didn't smell like food, so she really shouldn't be worried about changing around them.

Jess lay blissfully against the bed - Finn had been right about Shifting helping her hangover. Although she did feel a bit silly for submitting to him like she had. She'd bet that if it was Sabeen, or Alex or even Max in her position they would have bitten him. And then changed back and karate chopped his ass.

Jess felt about as fierce as a Jack Russell around her house mates. It wasn't just the fact that she was smaller, and less scary than the other shifters, because that never used to bother her. Instead she had learnt to be cautious after a nasty encounter with a wild mountain lion. She had over estimated how big she was as a fox, and underestimated just how scary being up against a true predator was.

She had been damn lucky to get out of the experience alive.

***

Later on that afternoon Jess woke again to find herself alone on the bed. Before she had a chance to wonder where Finn was he wandered back into the room with a couple of plates piled high with bacon and eggs.

All of a sudden Jess was starving.

Finn grinned at the sudden interest on her face. "For future reference sweet-cheeks, you don't smell like food, you smell like girl. You were in no danger of becoming breakfast."

Jess was doing her best to blush under all her fur. His words brought back the feeling of his tongue on her belly. Good lord she was in trouble here. Her rules were about to be broken in a big way.

Finn swept the plates onto the floor beside the bed before throwing himself across the mattress and sweeping her onto his chest. He still hadn't bothered to put on a shirt.

Finn reclined onto the bed and ruffled the thick fur down her back. It was an interesting texture, thinner than wolf fur, and shorter.

"You're going to have to Change back before breakfast though. And don't sit there and tell me you're not hungry, because I heard your stomach rumbling in your sleep."

She cocked her head to the side, she didn't really see an issue with that. Nothing to justify the challenging tone he had taken.

Jess sat up on her haunches, ready to head to the bathroom, and Finn pulled her back down.

"Now now. You don't have to go all that way. I can close my eyes and promise not to look can't I?" He rumbled sexily.

Ah. So that was the catch. And by god she was tempted. She got a good look a his mossy green eyes before he shuttered his lids over them. He was turned on.

"See I'm not looking."

She shifted her weight uneasily on top of him, doing her best to mind her claws. Could she? She so wanted to. She could smell him warm and hard underneath her. And that grin was back again, the one that made her mind go all melty.

If she had to, later on, she could blame him and that teasing grin.

Jess lowered her muzzle to his chest and her tongue flicked out of it's own violation tasting the man below her. His breath shuddered out between his lips and she preened at the thought of being able to affect him.

He kept his eyes closed, though, which decided her. She was going to do something very dumb, and she was going to love every second of it. Closing her own eyes she willed the change back the other way, forcing her body to become human again.

Finn held his breath as her weight increased, her body lengthened and her fur receded leaving them pressed together, Jess straddling his stomach. If he opened his eyes would she slap him? He was about to give in and do it anyway when Jess shifted forward and breathed against his lips.

She paused a moment before giving in and pressing her lips to his. Finn groaned below her before reaching up to cup her face, drawing her closer, and teasing her questing tongue with his own. Her hands drifted aimlessly over his chest and stomach, memorising the feel of him underneath her.

He allowed her to control the kiss from above him while he skimmed his hands along the line of her back. She was as warm and as soft as she felt. Bringing his hands up over her shoulders he smoothed them down along her collar bone. Lightening his touch he brushed only his fingertips along the outside curves of her breasts before resting his hands teasingly at the spot where her breasts met her ribs. Above him Jess writhed and whimpered.

"Finn!" Trust him to play at a time like this.

At that his control broke. He flipped her to her back and slid over her body covering her with his own inhumanly quickly. Jess arched her back and rolled her body up against his chest.

Finn took control of her mouth with his own and lifted himself enough to slip his hand up to cover her breast. He kneaded gently and brushed his thumb possessively across her beaded nipple.

His rumble of appreciation was complemented by Jess's sigh. She had waited so long for this. Finn brushed his lips against hers one more time before lifting himself to meet her eyes. Her dark eyes bored into his light, filled with lust and want.

He grinned, Jess wasn't going to stop the heat from exploding between them this time. She wanted it as much as he did.

Jess waited with baited breath as he surveyed her, evidently he found the confirmation he was looking for because the side his mouth quirked up in that cocky smile she was so used to seeing. Finn dipped his head again lapping at her throat before moving to lave her breasts.

"Mmm, Finn use your teeth." She whimpered clutching at his shoulders as he obeyed, scraping his teeth along the base of her breast.

He worked upward towards her nipple and upon reaching it suckled it into his mouth biting down hard enough to curl her toes. She went wild beneath him exploding off the bed to wrap herself around him, grinding her wet sex against his jean covered crotch. Finn groaned and rubbed himself against her, barely holding himself together,

"I need you" he gasped.

Instantly she unwound her legs from him, and forced him back onto his knees, giving herself room to unbutton his jeans. Finn helped her along and kicked the offending article of clothing across the room.

The minute he was free he laid her against the sheets again, covering her possessively with his body. His cock slipped naturally between her thighs to nudge against the wetness there.

Instead of allowing her to impale himself he held Jess down and ran his hand down her body to spread her open. Jess fixed her eyes on his as he fingered her folds exploring her entrance with the pads of his fingers. When he dipped inside to test he readiness her eyes just about rolled back in her head.

The head of his sex lodged against her entrance and his fingers moved up to caress her clit. She saw stars.

"Please!" She begged.

Finn sunk his teeth into the join of her neck and shoulder and slowly began forcing himself into her tight entrance. He was in heaven, and judging by the way Jess was writhing and clenching under him so was she.

Jess came almost immediately as Finn began thrusting himself into her. The sensations of his teeth, his finger on her clit, and the slow hard slide of his cock into her made the orgasm an intense one. She felt like she was shattering into a million pieces from the centre of her belly outwards to the tips of her fingers.

When she came back to herself Finn was seated fully into her lapping gently at the indentations his teeth had left in her skin.

He quivered against her for a moment, trying his best not to rut like the animal he wanted to be. "Ready for more?"

Jess rolled her hips experimentally. Oooh. Most definitely.

"Finn? Don't hold back. Take what you need." She said, giving him permission to forget manners and being gentle. They could be gentle later.

Finn took her lips in a rough bruising kiss before he drew back and plunged into her with a shout. He settled into a rough, deep and primal rhythm as old as time, and Jess loved every second of it.

He gathered her close to himself, and she opened her thighs wide tilting her hips upwards allowing his sex to bury deeper into her warmth. She felt a deep pulling sensation before tumbling over the edge of her orgasm, coming with a husky sigh of satisfaction.

Finn thrust twice more into her depths before succumbing to his own orgasm, pulsing deeply into her, and hugging her to his chest.

Long moments passed as they lay clinging together, sweat and bodies cooling slowly.

"Wow." Finn breathed.

Jess snickered and gently drew her lower body away from his. "Articulate much?"

"Quiet now! I think we're supposed to be basking in the moment." Finn teased, drawing her back against his side to spoon her.

Both of them forgot about the plates of breakfast on the floor - Jess because her mind was racing, and Finn because sex like that didn't come around every day.

He was utterly relaxed against her, his lips occasionally brushing the nape of her neck causing something in her stomach to flutter tenderly.

Slowly she drew back into herself. Tenderly? Oh crap.

Jess realised too late that she was in real trouble. She had broken the rule about sleeping with people she lived with, and if she wasn't mistaken she had also broken the one about getting emotionally involved. She'd broken that one a long time ago.

She knew well enough that, with most guys, sex was just sex, nothing more nothing less. Usually she was fine with that. She was a big fan of the casual sex thing - but not when it got her hurt.

Unless Finn wasn't like that? Sure he seemed like the type for casual sex, but they were friends, he knew her now so perhaps it was more? It certainly felt like more to Jess.

Finn dozed for a little while longer before squinting up at the clock. Shoot. Gabriel had a job for him in less than an hour.

"Hell. I need to shower." He sighed under his breath. He really would have preferred to lie there a little longer.

Sitting up abruptly he cast around the room for his jeans. When he found them he rolled out of bed and hurried into the bathroom - not noticing the surprise on Jess's face.

When he was done he wrapped himself in a towel and headed back out to the room. He didn't miss the fact the Jess's face was more shuttered to him than usual. Remembering that she hadn't exactly been interested in sleeping with him before today he ruthlessly clamped down on the growing feeling of disappointment. He had known the score before he slept with her, if she wasn't interested then she wasn't interested.

Besides, it's not like he was interested. Finn's plans for the near future involved a lot of hanging out, having fun, and doing nothing in particular. Not moping around after a girlfriend.

He'd seen the way the couples in the house fought. Rider and Alexia were the worst, but even mild mannered Michael, and Grey - who never had a bad thing to say about anyone - fought like... well like tigers and cheetahs when they were going through a rough patch.

As much as he liked the idea of what Marcus and Sabeen had together these days he wasn't stupid enough to think that all relationships were that fantastic. He'd seen the pain, and the hurt they'd caused each other, and the pussyfooting around that they'd done in the beginning.

He wrinkled his nose slightly at the memories. No thank you! They were his two favourite people in the world but he wouldn't go back there to save himself - and it wasn't even him that was in the firing line.

Jess eyed the wolf for a moment or two trying to figure out where he stood. His expression didn't really give her any clues, he was grinning calmly - as per usual. Nothing seemed to faze the man. She wished that just once she knew what was going on behind the easy grin.

Jess had put her clothes back on while he was in the shower, and not really knowing what else to do she headed towards the door. It wasn't like she was going to sit down and spill her guts about her ill-advised crush anyway.

"Thanks, sweet-cheeks." He said in an offhand tone.

It had slipped out before he could stop himself, and instantly he knew it was a mistake. That hunch was confirmed when she shot him a hurt look.

It felt like a slap in the face to Jess. Thanks? It sounded like she'd just made him a peanut butter sandwich not offered him her body and

maybe

a teeny tiny bit of her heart.

"No problem." She muttered angrily, slipping out the door and across to her own bedroom.

"Whoops." Finn said to himself.

He'd give her a couple of hours to cool off and then apologise for being an arse and making assumptions. In the back of his mind he knew he was being chicken shit for not facing her immediately, but he needed a clear head for the job ahead so he didn't push it.

***

Exiting her shower Jess did her best to ignore they way were eyes were itching. Tears were not the appropriate response to amazing casual sex. She was a free, liberal minded, grown up.

She towel dried her hair and inspected the latest dye job. She had had the same red and black stripes since Marcus, Sabeen, and Finn had moved into the house. Perhaps it was time for a change? Black and blue would be good together. And it would suit the way she felt today.

Flipping her phone open she was surprised to find a text from Sabeen: 'Need you in my room ASAP. Bring junk food for four. NBA'

NBA was shorthand for no boys allowed - that usually meant someone had had a big bust up with their mate. The last time she had gotten a text like that was when Max had thrown a vase at Gabriel. She'd never explained why she'd done it - and Gabriel wouldn't tell her - but Jess had always wondered if perhaps he'd proposed and she wasn't ready.