No Chance, Ch 12
No Chance Chapter 12 copyright 2012 comidacomida
Daryl had spent the entire afternoon in the gym. His muscles screamed with each movement when he stepped into the shower and it was all he could do to stand there with his head resting against the wall as the hot water beat down on him, doing its job to ease his sore muscles. Despite the pain, he had to admit that all of the physical activity had made him feel better; he felt as if control were finally returning... and that's when Courtney had knocked at the bathroom door.
It had been a tense moment for him; he had opened the door and felt immediately exposed. His muscles, which had just started to relax from the warm water had tensed up at the interaction and Daryl was concerned on a number of levels... but that all disappeared the moment Courtney asked, "How much longer does it take for you to towel off with that much fur?" The simplicity of the question made all of the awkwardness fall away, and the panther shared a laugh with his fiance.
He emerged from the bathroom shortly thereafter and sat on the edge of one of the office's two desks, a towel wrapped around his waist. Daryl gazed across the room toward where Courtney sat on the sofa. She looked away from him, toward the shadow he cast thanks to the emergency lighting. He found something about the decreased illumination comforting. All considered, he tried to convince himself it was because of his keener eyesight and not because it dulled Courtney's perceptions of him.
"So?" she asked at length.
"So..." he acknowledged, running the pads of his palm across the section of towel covering his thigh.
"So?" she glanced over her shoulder, a faint, bemused smile lightening her expression; if the shower hadn't eased his tension the fact that he saw Courtney smile certainly did.
"So... what?" he felt his muzzle pull back into a grin, mirroring her own expression. He faltered for just a half-second, remembering the way she withdrew from him when he last showed his teeth... but, he suddenly realized, she didn't any longer.
"So... how long DOES it take?" her smile warmed him even more than the shower had.
"No idea.", he replied casually, running a paw across his chest, "I've just learned to be damp."
"Yea right." Courtney rolled her eyes, "Says the guy who spends twenty minutes in the bathroom making sure the blow drier evaporates every last drop on his head."
Daryl laughed at the reminder of his former life. Not long ago, the memory would have hurt him about what had been lost but, he suddenly found that it was a happy moment... and the difference was that Courtney was there with him instead of stuck in the past with his thoughts. The panther stood up, one hand holding his towel in place while he moved to sit down on the opposite side of the sofa from his fiance, "It's true though." he admitted, "The towel takes care of the worst of it, and everything else dries by itself."
"So you're saying you've finally outgrown the blow drier phase?" she glanced aside to him with a smirk.
"Literally." Daryl responded with a broad grin, slapping the cushion beside him to accentuate the remark, "There's so much fur I'd burn out a blow drier in one use." The two shared another laugh, but the sound silenced for both of them the moment her fingers slid over his paw that rested on the sofa cushion. He swallowed against the restricting muscles in his throat as he felt the fur all over his body raise slightly at the contact.
The panther glanced to her fingers as they slowly traced their way into the gaps between his; her hands had always been smaller than his, but his paws had become even larger since the change and her digits barely reached. "I..." his voice rumbled the syllable out with a purr so he cleared his throat and started again, "I'm not complete without you, Courtney..." he had to fight to keep his words clear from the animalistic sounds the emotions he felt were eliciting in him.
"Every day you were gone... so many questions I couldn't have answered..." she shook her head, looking to her hand on his paw.
"It felt like a lifetime ago, and I missed you SO much..." he noted, gazing at her fingers, slowly turning his paw palm-side-up so she could rest hers against it.
"It just left me feeling..." she sighed.
"Lost." they both spoke the word, and they shared a quiet chuckle. Daryl felt the tell-tale tingling in his ears that hinted at his blush, and hers, as always, made her look so beautiful... but, more than that, the panther's senses allowed him to hear the slight quickening to her heartbeat, and the faintly deeper breath she drew when their eyes met.
Daryl leaned forward, his paw gripping her hand within it a little tighter, and he could feel her pulse in it. Courtney, the love of his life, stared into his eyes, pupils wide and cheeks flushed. He felt her breath on his whiskers; the scent of her filled his lungs as he inhaled deeply... and that's when her lips met his muzzle.
The panther felt a wave of heat flow through him, an overriding, animalistic insistence that left him burning with desire for her-- the intensity of it scared him, and he quickly pulled back, letting out a gasp as he began to pant as if he had just run a race. "Daryl?" Courtney asked quietly, leaning closer to him to rest a hand on the side of his muzzle; the feel of her skin against his fur sent a shiver through his entire body, from the tops of his ears to the tip of his tail.
"Oh God..." he spoke, his voice a mix between a feral growl and a moan. He reached up and encircled her wrist with his paw, slowly pulling it away, "Courtney... we..." he shuddered, feeling the slickness of the flesh between his legs exiting his sheath beneath the towel in excitement, "... I can't..." he closed his eyes as he tried to master the sensations that flowed through him, "...I mean..."
"What's wrong, Daryl?" she asked, pulling back slightly. She paused when his fingers held her wrist tightly, making it impossible to move too far away. He realized it immediately and forced his digits open, planting the betraying paw firmly against his thigh.
"I..." he shivered, "I just... want you... so much..." he grit his teeth to keep them from chattering as he folded his other arm across himself, "and..." he spoke, "...and I'm afraid."
"Of what?" she asked, moving to sit across from him on the small coffee table in front of the couch. She leaned forward intently and Daryl hated that he was more inclined to look down her blouse than meet her gaze.
"Of me... of... of this body..." he looked away, clamping his ears down against his head, "...of everything."
Her fingers returned to either side of his face, and slowly pulled his head back to look at her. He met her gaze, but only because of the intensity in her eyes; he'd seen that look before, and it mesmerized him, "No." she said simply, "You're afraid... I'm afraid... this has to stop, Daryl... you're going to be my husband, and I do NOT want to be afraid of my husband."
The panther felt a strange bitter-sweetness well up inside him at her comment. He reached up and gripped both of her wrists, taking her hands away from his face, "Abe says he doesn't know if he can turn me back." the admission flowed out of him, making him feel for a moment that his hope of her ever accepting him again went with it.
"So?" she countered with a strange matter-of-fact sureity that left Daryl stunned. Courtney stood up, and walked the step-and-a-half it took for her to loom over him, and she sank down into his lap, her legs straddling his as she returned her hands to his cheeks, palms gently stroking his whiskers in a way that made him think she was going to hypnotize him, "I can't keep letting that get between us, Daryl..."
"You don't think I'm a monster?" he asked, staring at his reflection in her eyes.
"You're the man I love..." she countered, "and whether you're a human, or a panther, or something... well... in between... if I let that change things then I've already lost you..." she leaned so close that her nose almost brushed his as her intent gaze bore into him, "and I'm not ready to lose you."
"I..." Daryl spoke, his lips pulling back of their own volition, opening his nose to bathe in her scent, leaving him feeling drunk, "I didn't know it was possible to want someone this much..." his voice was more growl than words, but he didn't care enough to correct them, "Oh God, Courtney, I want you..."
She smiled softly, her hands slowly playing down his furred chest, "There's the Daryl I remember." she giggled through the words, leaning forward to kiss him again. Daryl could barely get his muzzle to close, lips still drawn back to let him take in as much of her scent as she could, but his fiance didn't seem to care; she kissed different parts of his muzzle before her tongue slid into it, and the panther wasted no time in meeting it with his own, overpowering it completely, and licking back into her awaiting mouth.
Daryl groaned when her fingers trailed through the fur of his abdomen, and he unsheathed his claws, digging them into the sofa to keep them in check. He broke off the kiss, leaning his head backward to let out a powerful exhale, which escaped him almost as a snarl once Courtney's fingers slid beneath the towel; the sensation of them tickling his soft groin fur nearly left him drooling and his toes cramped as his legs shook in eagerness... but they froze in place once the towel was pulled aside and Courtney gasped.
The panther raised his head, looking to her as she gazed down at his eager flesh, fully exposed out of his sheath and pulsing in time with his heart beat. The entire bright pink flesh was glistening, but not as much as the tip, which, in his excitement, was dripping constantly. Daryl looked away when he saw the faintest hint of firm, cartilage spines reveal themselves every time his member pulsed; it looked...
"So different..." Courtney whispered softly.
"We don't have to continue..." Daryl murmured the words, fighting to get them out of his muzzle as his body tried to betray him by keeping them in, "I understa--" and his throat constricted tightly as she drew a finger from his withdrawn sheath up to the underside of his penis' tip. When he finally regained his breath it came out as a rumbling purr, and his claws dug even deeper into the sofa.
"Daryl... are you alright?" Courtney asked, "Did I do something wrong?"
"N-no..." he admitted, "that was... it was... so..."
"In a good way?" she asked, repeating the movement, and the sensation left the panther's head spinning. She gained the faintest hint of a playfully-sadistic grin.
"I..." he swallowed, feeling just a little less reluctance at her positive reaction to him, "I'm... not sure." he admitted, feeling his ears burn in embarrassment, "I haven't figured it all out yet."
Courtney's entire face lit up at that and Daryl felt even more embarrassed, but that sensation quickly fled before the feel of her hand encircling his flesh, "Then we can figure it out together." and she gave him a gentle squeeze.
"OOoohhhhhhhhh...." the moan turned quickly into a rumbling growl as the claws on Daryl's feet extended, dragging across the floor. He could feel the carpet tear apart beneath his paws, but he stopped caring, caught in the moment of his fiance's fingers encircling his excited flesh... but the sensation only grew stronger as her palm rose up to caress the underside of the tip.
She pulled her hand back, "Are those..."
"Spines... I think." the panther admitted, taking a deep breath to calm down as his body continued to work itself closer to a frenzy at her presence. Everything about her enthralled him-- her beauty, the sound of her heart beating so quickly, her scent... oh GOD her scent... he could even taste it. Daryl found his lips raising into a snarl again, his nostrils opening to the aroma of her... arousal?
The thought almost struck him dumb... if not that thought, then the feel of her sliding down to the floor, all except for her head, which found its way to his bare lap and, in the next moment, he was reveling in the feel of her, and her lips wrapped around his flesh. "Mmm..." she murmured, and the vibration from her voice sent a shiver through him.
"Courtney, " her name came out of his muzzle in a lusty growl. The panther's fingers clenched, and pulled free huge clumps of furniture foam from the couch.
"mmm." she murmured softly, her hands caressing his thighs as her mouth slipped down his length. Daryl rolled his head back and moaned, gripping the sofa again, his claws digging into the wood when she pulled back and the little spokes of cartilage on his member dragged across her tongue. His moan turned into a snarl, and his hips bucked involuntarily as he wheezed, testicles squeezing up close to his body, and he emptied himself into her mouth.
Courtney almost choked, but recovered quickly. Daryl had always told her that she was really good when it came to certain private acts, and her mouth never failed to please, but he was surprised and ashamed at how little time he lasted. As his fiance drew her lips from his softening flesh, however, she was smiling. "You needed that, didn't you?"
"I..." he gasped, feeling his ears tingle in embarrassment anew, "I guess so..." but any further words were stalled when Courtney leaned forward and gently caressed his glans with her tongue anew, cleaning off the last of his orgasm from his flesh... which took no time regaining its rigidity, and the panther realized suddenly that his needs were far from satisfied. She looked up to meet his gaze, and a smile broke over her anew.
"Come here, C-ney." he growled softly, reaching out to take hold of her, his claws somehow managing to find their ways back into his paws before his fingers clamped down on her shoulder. She didn't resist in the least, and he had her on the sofa in mere moments. The panther wasted no time with her blouse, following his nose to her hips instead. He brushed his nose up beneath her shirt, drawing his rough tongue across her firm abdomen, making her giggle at the touch even as he tasted her wonderful body. Courtney squirmed at his touch, but he hooked his broad, padded fingers beneath the waist of her jeans, and slowly pulled them down.
"Damn it." the panther growled faintly, giving them another faint tug, but they remained hugging her hips tightly, "you and your damn skin-fits..." he growled the words, hoping the humor cut through his bestial tone.
Apparently it did, "You never complain about the look until you're trying to get them off me." she giggled, reaching down past his muzzle to undo the button at her crotch. He nuzzled and licked her palm as it passed back by his nose. With one more tug, he had the jeans past her waist and pulled them easily off her legs, tossing them, already forgotten, to the floor.
"In my defense, they aren't in the way until it's too late to appreciate the look." He licked her belly button in revenge.
Courtney squealed in response, then pushed her palm against his forehead, "Your tongue! EEK! Every part of you is textured, Daryl! That's NOT fair!" she squealed. kicking faintly, but not enough to get in his way as he hooked his newly extended claws around either side of her panties. Daryl didn't bother removing her hand from his forehead, instead letting the pressure of it guide his muzzle down... down... and down... he inhaled her scent, his head swimming so much that his groin ached and his muzzle watered. Resisting no longer, Daryl extended his tongue, and got the taste he desired so much.
"Oh my GOD!" Courtney gasped, body clenching the moment his tongue washed across her opening. She shivered as his tongue made its second pass, and a moan escaped her when it spread her open, diving deep into her with another powerful lick. He heard the joints in her toes crack as she clenched her feet; he felt her breath become faster; he felt the faintest shiver as her body responded to his ministrations; he smelled her so strongly he felt giddy; he tasted... oh god, what he tasted. His member throbbed at the way his heightened senses responded to his lover.
The panther slowly pulled his muzzle away from her dripping opening, drawing his nose up alongside the carefully manicured line pubic hair, gently nibbling at her bare flesh with his fangs. "No..." Courtney gasped, her voice pleading, "Don't... don't stop..." she whimpered.
His response came out as a growl, barely any sense of words to it as he drew his body up and rested his head against hers, and snarled out, "I couldn't if I wanted to..." his fangs brushed across her neck as his hips met hers in a bestial thrust of unrestrained lust. She cried out immediately, and Daryl somehow managed to keep himself in check... but only just. By the second insides were already spasming around him, and the sensations drove him wild.
Courtney cried out, but her words were lost to Daryl as her elation caused her body to clamp down around his flesh. He felt the hard knobs on his member drag against her tightened insides which drove her into an even deeper orgasm which, in turn, elicited an even stronger sensation in him... and he thrust forward with all his might, roaring out his release as he erupted for the second time that night.
"Oh my god..." his lover's voice quivered on the trailing edge of her euphoria, "I didn't think... oh god... Daryl... oh god..." he silenced her with a soft flick of his tongue across her lips, gently drawing his paw up beneath her blouse to caress one of her breasts. His member, hard again, was already to continue their lovemaking and, with one tentative flexing of his hips, Courtney's soft moan made him realize that she was too.
The panther panted softly, his entire body vibrating in a purr as he held her against him. The feel of her, the scent of her, the sound of her breathing and her heartbeat... the sensation of their mixed fluids leaking down his furred sac and staining the sofa cushion-- he would have cared in the past, but he couldn't get the bestial side of his mind past the thought that it only accentuated the fact that she was his. He slowly pulled away, gazing down at Courtney even as she looked back at him; he saw his own reflection again in his eyes, but it was mixed with so much love that he could no longer hate what he saw once he realized that she didn't either.