Quick Warning for readers who get queasy: this particular chapter contains a rather detailed scene of an animal being cut up for meat. I promise it's a quick scene that can be skipped if you prefer. And it is a non-sentient animal, so no depictions of any cannibalism or anything extreme like that. While this is a world of anthro characters, some animals will still be portrayed as feral, or non-sentient.
Sharing Heat
Snap!
The arrow broke as the cardinal had desperately tried to remove it from his shoulder. To no avail, these wolf arrows were sturdy and dug deep. Why wouldn't they be? The birds' signature barbed arrowheads were a lupine invention. They had been allies for so many years, and now they'd let that all be thrown away in the space of one bloody battle.
Orion remarked how his red feathers made it hard to tell he was even bleeding, but he felt it. He had cuts, gashes... Blood in his eyes. He moaned balefully as he stumbled through the snow, tripping over fallen wolf and avian alike. His already struggling heart sunk as he came to the tragic sight of the two chiefs, permanently locked together in death, a spear in the wolf's gut, a sword through the eagle's heart. Neither fell, they clung together in an eternal embrace.
Then Orion saw his friend.
The blue jay coughed blood as he too stumbled over the corpses of birds he grew up with. He saw Orion through the cloudy haze of disorientation and allowed himself a single sad smile. Justin fell into Orion's open arms and the two males embraced each other desperately to share body heat.
Justin only stirred after he felt wet tears on his cheek, "Don-don't cry, Orion. We're both alive."
Orion clutched his dearest friend closer, "But for how long?"
...
"Orion!" Caryn cried out as she awoke from another nightmare. The cardinal female sobbed hysterically as she realized her husband was still away.
Kali embraced her friend tightly, "Caryn, calm yourself. It was only a dream."
Caryn shook her head, "My Orion, he's gone... He's dead, I can just feel it."
The jay bird rubbed her friend's shoulders desperately, "No, no. You can't think that way. My husband is gone too and if Orion died, then that means he died too. Justin loves Orion as much as you and will always protect him for you, you know that. We must believe that our husbands are alive and they're on their way home right now! Please believe? For me, Caryn?" She sniffed as tears came to her eyes.
Caryn calmed down somewhat, "I believe. Thank you, Kali."
Maureen laid beside her friends. The pine marten cried silent tears herself, she too missed Justin. It had been three weeks since the war tribe departed for the northern wolf pack. No word had been sent about what happened, no messenger, no letter. The marten jill rubbed her growing belly. Her baby felt about ready to come out. She looked to her side and there sat the eggs of her friends.
She prayed both to the avian goddess, Rhia and to her own mammalian god that the husbands would return so they could see their chicks hatch.
...
Meanwhile, in the late chieftain's hut, traitorous Nestor lay with his mate, his cousin, Vera following another of many lovemaking sessions they'd shared.
Vera let her mate preen her feathers as his seed warmed her belly.
The curtain to Nestor's room swung open and Feroz stepped in.
Nestor held his mate as he addressed his companion, "What is it, Feroz?"
The vulture gestured for the eagle to follow then stepped out before his friend could react.
Nestor shook his head, "I'll be right back, my dear." He kissed her before getting up.
Feroz waited outside.
Nestor approached, understandably upset at being pulled from his woman's arms, "What was so important you'd drag me from my bride?"
The vulture gave a sly smile before presenting Nestor with a new chieftain's headdress that he had made for the new village chief.
Nestor held it, amused at the hero worship bestowed on him by the muted scavenger, "Ah, Feroz, a fine crown for a king."
The headdress had been crafted from the feathers of Nestor's ancestors, twined and glued with sap from the oldest tree in the forest, then decorated with luxurious golden baubles and gems.
The eagle's gratitude was soon overshadowed by a different emotion. He held the smiling vulture's beak, "If I didn't know better, I'd say you hunger for your chief's cock, dear friend."
The vulture endured his friend's cutting words. His eyes were always for Nestor, but Nestor had his own needs and the vulture remained a quiet onlooker for much of their years together.
Nestor could read the vulture's expressions, "I'm right, aren't I?"
Feroz unashamedly nuzzled his chief's broad chest; though the vulture was older than the eagle, he would be every bit the perfect lover if Nestor allowed it.
"On your knees then, and pay respect to your chief, Feroz." Nestor said, aroused already by the prospect of having another male submit, not to mention an older male like Feroz.
Feroz did kneel and began to lick his young master as the eagle's thick shaft slid from his genital slit.
Vera, meanwhile, watched from the doorway as her cousin/mate took the beak of an older male. Her face remained unreadable as to what emotion she felt from watching their display.
...
Justin felt strange for the past few days. First, he was cold and in pain, now he was warm and near a soft, supple body, one which he eagerly ground against in his sleep. Images of his two lovely wives he left at home came into his horny bird brain and he furiously humped the being next to him.
His bedfellow turned in their sleep and held him. Justin felt a beak against his own, and felt no breast, so he assumed this was Kali. Half-awake by now, and fully erect at the prospect of breeding his wife, he climbed atop the slender bird and ground his shaft against his lover's warm slit.
Below him, awake, bewildered and fully aroused, lay Orion. The cardinal had awakened the moment he felt his wounded friend press against him in such a husband way. The bird quickly realized his sleeping friend was about to mate him. Before he could wake Justin, the blue jay had already mounted his cardinal friend and Orion blushed as his friend's erection sank inside his slit, the cardinal's hardening shaft clashing with Justin's in the tight cock-sleeve.
Justin was mating his wife in his mind, not even noticing the glaring detail of his cock grinding against another male's tapered member.
And Orion let it happen. The red bird didn't know how he and his friend had wound up here in this warm bed, in this cottage, all bandaged up but his friend was here; his best friend he'd always coveted in their youth but never had the courage to say so, especially when Justin had begun courting Kali. He loved his Caryn deeply, he wanted to be in her arms again, but he'd never have this opportunity again.
They were here now, his best friend, this brave warrior was in his arms now, making love to him and he, somewhat selfishly, didn't want this to stop. The red bird put his feathered arms around his lover and preened Justin's shoulder while the blue bird did the same. Their beaks met in the middle and the wounded warriors kissed.
Here was where Justin finally noticed something was amiss. The beak he was kissing was a lot shorter than the narrow black beak of his Kali. He then realized the appendage he'd been humping felt just like his own.
Orion held his male lover ever more tightly, now blissfully ignorant to Justin's waking. The cardinal gripped his friend's firm buttocks then began to buck in time with the blue jay while their cocks ground together inside Orion's slit.
Justin shuddered and thrust hard against Orion as a climax drew near.
Both birds hit it together and Justin finally opened his eyes to see his friend in mid-orgasm.
The cardinal blushed both as his friend's seed flooded his genital slit and as he saw his best friend staring down at him.
Justin gulped before he felt the stickiness leaking out around his length. He looked downward to see himself, buried to the hilt in his best friend's slit. He looked at Orion, "Did we just..."
Orion laughed nervously, "We did..." He touched beaks affectionately with his friend.
Before Justin could say more, cold wind blew inside this cottage as its front door swung open, forcing both birds to separate.
A slender creature in heavy winter clothes stomped inside, followed by two more creatures of varying height and build.
The first one disrobed in front of the fireplace, warming her nude body with no shame in front of her two avian guests. She was an arctic vixen with the prettiest, sharpest blue eyes that reminded Justin of his wife. The rest of her naked body drew his poor, horny birdbrain. She had a perfect hourglass figure, perky tits, thick snowy white fur all over minus the black points on her ears, her paws and her tail. He thought she had a nice rear to admire as well.
She turned to warm her bare hindquarters over the fire and finally saw the naked birds looking right at her. She giggled and winked, "Good morning, dirty birdy."
Orion showed more tact than his horny friend, but was no less aroused by her display himself.
The vixen's two traveling companions disrobed as well, but not to her extreme. The tallest of the trio revealed himself to be a handsome brown weasel with a fine build for one who lived in these wintry woods. He had a playful smile that could melt a female's heart; some males too, which was just fine for him. He stood beside his vixen friend as he warmed his bare chest, pretending not to notice her breasts within his field of view.
The brawniest of the trio lugged a heavy deer carcass into a small corner that served as kitchen and dining room for this cottage. She dropped it on a table then dressed down to prepare the animal for cooking. She was a mountain lion, with tawny fur, big yellow eyes with large black pupils, and big tits to go with her beautiful, brawny build. She wasn't the overly muscular kind of female that almost looked too mannish, but a perfect balance of muscle and looks.
The vixen redressed and went over to help the lion while the weasel walked over to their guests. The weasel sat on the bed with the two birds, "Well, it looks like my medical training has paid off, I was about to start digging a couple of fresh graves for you pair."
Justin smiled at the weasel, "Thank you... So you found us?"
The weasel chuckled, "Actually, it was Leona over there who found you."
The lioness acknowledged her companion with a friendly nod as she peeled the pelt off her fresh kill.
"She's our huntress, though Eve and I are reasonably good ourselves. And I'm Carlyle. I'm not country folk like my companions, but I couldn't imagine a life without these two."
