Chapter 1
Nick awoke with a start, a familiar sense of dread coursing through his veins, chilling him to the bone and sending a shudder all the way down to the tip of his tail.
Raindrops pelting down. . . lighting sparking distantly in the darkness. . . his running footsteps splashing water loudly into the night. . . turn the corner into the alley and skidding off the slippery sidewalk into the street, barely catching himself with an outstretched hand, looking up. . . right into the dripping muzzle of a gun. . .
A faint purr emanating somewhere below his chin brought him back to the present. Heart racing, the fox drew a deep, deliberate breath, bringing with it the lavender tinged feminine scent of the sleeping bunny nestled contentedly against his chest. Relishing in the soothing smell, Nick couldn't help but smile as the doe reflexively adjusted her possessive embrace of his tail to keep the still-twitching appendage under her control.
"I have no quarrel with you, fox," declared the hooded mammal with a refined accent. Feline fingers closed on the trigger, the faint click of the lever reaching its first stop coming through louder than the droning thunder.
"However," continued the lynx, now outlined dramatically as the sky suddenly flashed, "if you persist in following me, you will leave me no choice but to put you down." The crescendo of sound following the returning darkness accentuated the finality of the statement.
'You've got to be kidding me,' said Nick's impudent inner voice. 'How does he do that?'
"Nice special effects," Nick quipped. "But you know how it goes: Perps run, we follow."
"Too bad," came the wearied reply from the lynx as he shot the fox in the chest, the impact launching the tod back onto the main road.
"Nick?" Judy's sleepy voice broke through his stupor. "You okay, foxy?"
"Sorry, Fluff," Nick said with a sigh. "Didn't mean to wake you."
"It was him again," Judy probed, one of her paws relinquishing its hold on his tail to gently stroke his jaw. "Wasn't it?"
"You mean, my personal Bogey-mammal, Mystery Lynx?" Nick grumbled disparagingly. "Yeah. Him, again."
"We'll get him, you know," she assured him.
"That's what I'm afraid of," came Nick's reply.
Judy brought herself up to sit looking down severely at the fox, the action turning on a small motion activated lamp under the night stand next to the bed. "What kind of talk is that, Officer Wilde?" she said, thrusting the tip of tod's tail into his nose, eliciting a sneeze from the fox.
"Hey!" he complained, pawing at his nose and trying to regain possession of his tail. "Careful with the merchandise! You break it, you buy it!"
"Hah!" was Judy's triumphant reply as she poked the fluffy tip into his nose again. "I already own it," she continued, holding up her other paw and displaying the gold band with a small fox-head shaped diamond on her ring finger.
"Sly bunny."
"Dumb fox."
Nick grinned. "Naked bunny," he said playfully.
"Horny fox," she countered, looking slowly down his body, then frowned. "Sure you can deliver, Slick?" she said teasingly. "Wheels look a little flat."
Nick's paws went to his chest. "I'm hurt," he pouted. "When have I ever failed to deliver?" One of his paws jumped to cover the doe's opening mouth. "It was a rhetorical question," he said quickly. "Besides, I had too much to drink that day."
"It was our wedding night, lover kit," Judy dead panned.
The tod waved a paw dismissively. "Doesn't negate the effects of alcohol," he said. "Case dismissed. Besides," he smiled deviously, "I do seem to recall a certain bunny throwing up all over me during said incident before passing out, herself."
"Yeah," Judy cleared her throat, her ears drooping slightly. "Well, then, at any rate, are you doing me or not?" Her paws flew to her mouth, the inside of her ears turning bright pink and falling all the way down over her eyes. "Oh, sweet cheese and crackers," she mumbled. "Did I really say that?"
". . . are you doing me or not?" came her voice from a particular carrot-shaped pen. Nick clicked the stop button. "Yep," he said. "You sure did."
"Sly fox."
"Sweet, adorable, sexy bunny," he murmured, tossing the pen onto the night stand and drawing his mate close to him, nuzzling her ear. "My bunny," he whispered.
Judy's paw wandered below his waist. "I guess this fox is ready," she purred, turning to rub her back into his belly. Her paw reached up behind his head, pulling him down, his muzzle coming to rest between her ears.
"My fox," she sighed happily as her mate had his way with her, and she, with him.
All thoughts of a mysterious lynx forgotten for at least this night.