Rind.

Just past dawn the next morning, Kellan opened the door for Adotre, and the Layer skipped out, complying with his wolfe's command that he go home and bring things enough for his journey. Kuskellanar watched him disappear off over the horizon, then turned and went back inside to bed the hell out of his mate.

Gustin was sleeping soundly, but the wolfe was quite certain he could change that. He checked the fires first, then padded quietly over to the bed. Settling himself in between the furs, he bedded down between Gustin's cast-apart legs; his mate stirred, but did not wake. Kellan passed his hands over his beta's body, suddenly taken with the glow of it, and kissed his mate's stomach through the thin layer of indoor clothing, drawing one finger softly across the area.
"Hello." he whispered, relishing the quiet moment alone with his lit. "Hello, pup."
Kellan wasn't sure why he'd begun thinking of the lit as 'pup' - Wolfish litters rarely ran less than two. But that was just the way it seemed to go in his head. Perhaps he'd heard it in a dream. Perhaps the Moon had told him. He kissed Gus's belly again through his clothes, then lifted his shirt gently and kissed the exposed area, laving it with his tongue afterwards. Gus stirred and woke, but didn't move away. The only indication that he was awake was his hand moving to stroke Kellan's hair.
The wolfe grunted and made his attention more insistent, pushing Gus' shirt farther up and beginning to untie the cord that held his pants.
That done, he encouraged his mate to lift his hips and stripped his lower half bare.

Gus smiled happily to himself. Now this - this was the way to wake up. Kellan had his cock free now, and was stroking the human's already-hardening length, encouraging his arousal. Gus closed his eyes blissfully, enjoying everything - the sunlight, Kellan's touch on him, his own dampness beginning to seep down and slicken his thighs. Then there was sudden, ecstatic increase in wetness, and Gustin cried out in surprise and opened his eyes to see his wolfe's mouth wrapped securely around his cock. By the moon, it felt amazing. Muddled half-thoughts flitted through his mind - how did Kellan get so good at this? Why hadn't they done this more often? Why hadn't he thought to ask about it? - before they all crashed together into some kind of orgasmic jumble as Kellan increased his suction and lifted his mate's legs onto his shoulders. Then that tongue - that beautiful, long, wolfish tongue - was wriggling its way inside Gustin's clenching wetness, and Gus was tangling his hand in Kellan's hair (the wolfe didn't seem to mind), and then Kellan shifted onto his right elbow, so that his left hand could continue to stroke Gustin's cock even as his tongue forced its way farther into his mate's slick passage. When the wolfe paused for a second, Gus looked down at him, ready to swear, and then Kellan grinned and dove tongue-first into him, jacking his cock, swirling his tongue around Gus' female entrance, then back between the cleft of his ass, then forward again and Gustin, a bit abruptly and rather spectacularly, came.

Afterwards, they lay sprawled together in the bed, watching the daylight filter in through the windows.
"You know, you're not so bad of a mate, for a half-wild exile wolfe."
Kellan exhaled happily, then grunted.
"I rise soon, Human. I must prepare to go and summon Iorir."
Gus released the wolfe so that he could sit up on the edge of their bed.
"Are you leaving now?"
Kellan shook his head.
"In the next morning."
"How long will you be gone?"
There was too much worry in Gus' voice, he realized, and the wolfe looked at him with a curious look that was amusement and pity.
"Just a short time. You will be safe."
Gus didn't say out loud that he wasn't worried about being safe - just lonely.
"When will Adotre get back?"
Kellan grunted as he looked around for his clothes.
"He should arrive this evening. Tomorrow, when I leave, the Layer will stay here with you." Kellan looked at him. "He will keep you company."
Gustin wondered if Kellan knew what he'd been thinking. He drew a pattern on the bed, then asked,
"So you're going to Iorir's home?"
the wolfe shook his head.
"His home is too far. I would be gone too long. I will summon him."
Gustin frowned, trying to imagine what kind of ersatz communication system Kellan could have cooked up in the Irion.
"How will you 'summon' him?"
Kellan shrugged.
"His territory is less than half a day's journey if I travel hard. I will go there and mark a place with my scent to indicate my presence, then leave a message for him - perhaps carved into a tree - at the spot."
Gus raised an eyebrow.
"Mark your scent?" Kellan grinned boyishly. "Oh, Moon, you're going to piss on a tree."
Kellan laughed.
"It is the simplest way to communicate in the Irion."
Gustin looked at his mate skeptically.
"I think you just like it."
Kellan inclined his head.
"That, too."
The wolfe concentrated for a moment, then spoke.
"After Adotre is settled - after he and Iorir's bonding - you and I will be able to move on. I will speak to Iorir and see what he has learned about the new pack forming, and how soon the caravan truly comes. It is best that we not discuss the den any further at this time. It will be safer if no one knows of our new location, at least until the caravan passes."
Gustin agreed, and nodded his accordance.
"And if the new pack sounds good?"
Kellan shrugged.
"If it is a safe enough place for you to whelp, then we go there."
There was quiet, and the wolfe watched Gus for a moment, then looked thoughtful, his eyes falling to the human's waist, to the bare skin showing where the furs pooled around the junction of his hips. Kellan's breath quickened, just a bit.
"This conversation must continue at a later time, Little One. Kuskellanar desires his mate."
Gus rolled his eyes and smiled at his wolfe.
"Demanding, petulant, and speaking in the third person. How can I resist?"
At Kellan's indignant pout, Gus laughed.
"C'mere, Big One, and kiss Kuskellanar's mate."

~:~

They made love thrice more before Adotre arrived, in his animal form, laden down with heavy cloth bundles, each knotted in some peculiar way to keep it tied to his body. Outside, he yipped to announce his arrival, and Kellan got up from where he'd been feasting on Gustin's neck to let him in.
Dinner that night was quiet, with happy silence from Gus, thoughtful silence from Kellan, and anxious silence from Adotre. Suddenly, the Layer put down his spoon and spoke.
"When will he get here?"
Kellan grunted as he chewed some meat.
"The day after tomorrow, most likely." As an afterthought, he added,
"You should prepare yourself."
Adotre ducked his head and nodded, then picked at his stew.
"Are we going to - "
"No. Not here. The mating will take place at his home. I expect we will travel there within half the moon."
Adotre seemed to think this over, then brightened.
"We? So you'll be there for it? You'll be my witnesses?"
Kellan nodded curtly and the Layer's expression brightened exponentially.
"I will make arrangements for your traditions to be followed, Layer."
Adotre blinked rapidly, then ducked his head again to focus on his stew.
"Thank you, Airu." he said, his voice soft. Kellan simply grunted, but to both Layer and Human, it was the wolfe's clear way of expressing happiness.

It took Gus about an hour to process exactly what the Layer had said.
"Wait - 'be there for it'?!"
Kellan had more or less hollowed out the big block now, and was working on smoothing out some of the rougher edges with a porous piece of rock. He looked up from the grinding to his mate.
"Yes. It is required, in Adotre's tradition."
"He wants us to watch??"
Kellan shrugged.
"It is their way."
"I thought you said he was like your son."
Kellan nodded slowly.
"Yes. I am his father, and you are my mate. That is why we must attend. As his family, and his Airu, it is my duty to ensure that in the heat of his first mating, Adotre is not harmed."
Gustin wrinkled his nose.
"I'm all for cultural experiences, but this seems a bit...invasive."
Kellan shrugged again.
"It is their way." was all he said, and went back to smoothing his wood.

~:~

Adotre slept in their bed that night, cuddled up between them at the opposite end, kicking them both occasionally in the thrall of his dream-sleep. Kellan escaped it sooner; he left early in the morning to communicate his message to Iorir, leaving Adotre and Gustin alone in the lair for the entirety of the day. Gustin was concerned about this; Adotre was thrilled.

Since his return on the evening prior, Adotre had become Gustin's loyal and inescapable companion, following the human everywhere short of into his bath. He hovered while Gustin made stew, stared at him whenever he spoke to Kellan, insisted on learning how to extract the lemon oils that Gustin used in his baths and on his skin, watched Gustin comb through and braid his hair, and even tried to help him dress a few times.

Two hours into their morning alone, Gus was already tired and getting irritable. He'd been distracted by the new, weird, and occasionally uncomfortable feelings coming from his stomach region, and furthermore felt strangely vulnerable here in the house without Kellan. They hadn't been apart this long in some time now.
Adotre sensed Gustin's mood shift, and tried to compensate by becoming as unobtrusive as possible. Unfortunately for the Layer, this was not very unobtrusive at all. Now they were sitting on opposite sides of a flat board on the floor, carving out bars of soap from a block Kellan had left. They had been working in quiet companionship until the Layer, his brow still furrowed and gaze focused intently on the soap, spoke.
"Human? I have to ask you a question. It's about mating."
Gus raised one eyebrow.
"Alright. Go ahead."
Adotre put down the bar of soap he'd just cut and scratched behind one ear.
"You lay for the wolfe."
Gustin wondered if this was going to go someplace weird.
"Yeah?"
Adotre didn't look up at him as he asked,
"Doesn't it ever hurt you? When you lay for him?"
Gustin wasn't quite sure how to answer that question; if he lied, he ran the risk of making the Layer think there was something abnormal about himself at some point down the line. If he was truthful, he ran the risk of scaring him off something there was no need to be scared of. Time to take the middle road.
"It has, before. But only a little, and never because Kellan wanted it to."
This didn't seem to appease Adotre. He looked uneasy.
"They say that Layers are smaller than Wolfes."
Gus wondered why there was a need to preface this statement as a rumor. It was clear - Adotre, a full grown Layer, was, at best, 2/3 of Kellan's grown wolfe size.
"That's true. You're nowhere near Kellan's size."
Adotre blushed unexpectedly.
"I mean our sex. They say our female parts are smaller than a Wolfe's."
Gustin surveyed this and found no reason why it shouldn't be true.
"That may be so."
Adotre was cutting into the soap block again, focused intently.
"So what if I'm too small. He'll hurt me then, won't he?"
Gustin shook his head.
"Adotre. What about me? I'm smaller than you, and you wanted to mate me. Did you think you were going to hurt me?"
Adotre flushed a deep red.
"I didn't think I was really going to mate you."
Gus seemed to recall a time when the Layer had his tongue halfway down Gus' throat and he had seemed to think differently.
"Um..."
"I had the urge, sure, but I knew you were Kellan's. And besides, I think my nemel would not have let me." Adotre hung his head. "I don't think I could have done it."
Gus processed this, then shrugged.
"Well, still. You're not too small. I'm smaller than you are, and I was fine mating a wolfe. Remember?"
It was a pretty thin argument, seeing as Gustin knew nothing about Layer physiology or reproduction, but Adotre seemed to accept it. He nodded and his tail resumed its normal happy patter against the woodwork. Then, to no one in particular, he exhaled and said:
"I think he'll want me to lay egg for him."
Gustin tried to maintain a neutral expression. The whole egg-laying concept still surprised him.
"Oh? What makes you think that?"
Adotre shrugged.
"He said he wanted me to lay egg for him."
"Oh." Gus mulled this over. "So you talked about this before? With Iorir?"
the Layer suddenly looked uneasy.
"Maybe. Just once. Not a lot or anything. I'm not really lay-expressive, anyway. Iorir just asked me when we were out one time. Well, more than once, but he only really meant it one time."
Pause.
"OK."
Adotre seemed worried by Gustin's neutrality. His tail slowed its thumping.
"I mean, we don't talk often. I don't usually visit him without Kellan. Old Thing says I'm not supposed to."
Pause.
"OK."
"But I mean, I'm my own adult. I can make good decisions, too. I don't need any airu to tell me what to do all the time. It's not just Old Thing who's smart about stuff."
Pause.
"OK."
"I know stuff, too. And it's not like anything happened."
Gustin raised his eyebrows. Now this was getting juicy.
"OK."
the Layer's tail suddenly sped up its thumping, and he fiddled with the tool in his hand, looking anxious now.
"OK, something did happen. But that was only one time, and I didn't let him mate me all the way or anything."
Gustin looked at Adotre across the soaps.
"OK."
"We just sort of flirted, and then he kissed me."
Gustin thought that sounded both boring and like a doubtful end to an evening with an amorous wolfe.
"Oh. OK." Gus went back to carving soap. Maybe he could carve some pretty pictures in it. Or some dirty ones. That would be a fun surprise for Kellan. He squinted and tried to envision what images he could carve.
Adotre's tail had stopped thumping altogether now; the Layer was holding it anxiously in his hand.
"OK, fine, some other stuff happened. But you can't tell Old Thing, because he'll be mad."
"OK."
Adotre exhaled.
"He's already mad enough about the first time."
Gus made a noise of confusion.
"Oh. I forgot you didn't know. Once, I let him use his fingers on me. And he made me drop an egg."
Gustin had no idea what that last part meant, but Adotre practically whispered it, so he figured it must be pretty dirty.
"Oh. Wow. OK. And that was when he told you he wanted you to lay eggs for him?"
"Lay egg. And no, that came later. This time was the time Kellan caught me with Iorir. He didn't catch me again. But that time, he got really angry. And even angrier when he saw I'd dropped an egg."
Gustin gave up waiting for an explanation and just asked.
"Dropped an egg?"
"Uh-huh, yup." Adotre put down the things he was holding and lifted his shirt to expose his chest to Gustin. "Look, here."
The Layer appeared to be pointing to the whitish patch of skin that Gus had always assumed was a birthmark. It was vaguely star-shaped, and now, upon closer inspection, Gus could see that it was slightly bumpy.
"Touch."
It was soft to the touch - a little lumpy underneath, but definitely squishier than the skin around it. Gus looked up at Adotre.
"Eggs?"
The Layer nodded, and with his finger, traced a slightly-whitish path down the left side of his chest, to his groin.
"I keep five at all times. Some Layers only keep three, or four - some keep seven. I keep five. And when I get excited, sometimes it can make one squeeze out and deposit into, um," he stumbled a little, suddenly becoming embarrassed. "Into the...cavity...place. Where stuff happens."
Gustin blinked up at him. Adotre clarified.
"So it can get fertilized."
"Right, I got that, thanks."
Adotre nodded.
"I can push one down, if you want to see. It doesn't hurt, it just feels weird. And it makes the star get smaller." the Layer made a face. "And it has to come out if it doesn't get bred. That part feels weird, too. It kind of melts inside and then just drips out."
Gustin wondered if his appetite would come back in time for dinner, or possibly, ever.
"So anyway, when Old Thing saw my star, he knew I'd dropped an egg, and then he really went fierce. And he told Iorir that I was an immature mate, and that Iorir was still an insubordinate wolfe, that he still didn't respect the rules or the chain of authority anywhere he lived. He sent me home for the rest of it, but what I saw was pretty bad. I think they fought."
Adotre looked away.
"I was kind of surprised that he chose Iorir now. I thought Old Thing still hated him. But I guess that happened some time ago now. Maybe he thinks Iorir's is better."
Adotre shrugged and exhaled again.
"Anyway, if I lay, I'll probably have to do it twice. First eggs don't usually take." he picked up and cleaned off the soap-cutting tool, then set it aside. "Well, thank you for helping me, Human. And for listening to me talk. And for not getting mad when I tried to take your mate the other day. And for letting me try to brush your hair this morning. And for telling me the mating will be fine even though you don't know if it will."
Gustin nodded politely.
"I know you didn't want to spend all this time with me, but you did, and...it's appreciated." Gus felt a little tug at his heartstrings and realized how easy it would be for anyone to fall in love with the Layer. He had a purity about him; an honest sincerity that Gus had never seen matched in all his days. The Layer's face suddenly brightened; he seemed to be thinking of things.
"Hey! Maybe if the egg is a Layer, we can name it 'Gustin.'"
Gus's eyes widened.
"Please don't."
the Layer looked crushed.
"'Gus?'"
"Adotre - "
"I can't name him Adotre; we'll all get confused."
Gustin waited patiently.
"Adotre. Name him something else. I don't deserve a namesake; I've barely worked out how to live for myself."
"Yourself and Little Cub."
Gus felt a brief moment of irritation for being interrupted again by the Layer, but it was washed away in the cascade of emotions that the thought of his own potentially extant cub evoked. Adotre scratched behind his ear, then looked up from his carving to meet Gus's eyes.
"When you whelp," the Layer began, "will you tell me what it was like? So that I'll know?"
Gus swallowed.
"I'll do my best."

~:~

Adotre's attachment to Gus's hip didn't ease up when the wolfe returned home. If anything, it got even worse. Now, when he and Kellan were together, the Layer stared at them transfixed - as if watching a meteor shower or some sort of vulgar public show. Gus was getting horny and annoyed. At night, however, when the Layer had gone to bed, Kellan kissed him and assured him it would all be over in another day or so. Gustin seriously hoped that his wolfe was right.