Hunter's Moon

“Aaaanooon~!”
I knew that voice.
I knew the owner of the voice, of course - my wife. What I particularly recognised was the inflection in it, lewd and seductive. A pair
of fluffy forearms slid over my shoulders and shut the book I was reading, trapping my thumb inside it. Her tail, long and segmented,
slipped over the chair and wrapped around my waist. It wrapped double around me, trying to pull me close to her, while her tailpussy dangled over my crotch and nipped at the buttons on my trousers.
“Anon, do you know what day it is~?”
I turned my head to face her. Her long, rose-coloured hair framed her pale face, her crimson eyes staring into mine and her lips forming her characteristic smirk, smug and teasing. I felt her claws tighten on my chest, and her fluffy mane brushed against my hair as her soft, round breasts pushed into the back of my neck.
I sighed. “No, Nimyla, I have no idea what day it is.” I knew exactly what day it was. “Why don’t you remind me?”
“Anon,” she said, her smirk growing even wider. “It’s the eleventh. It’s a full moon tonight.”
“Is it really?” I asked, knowing full well what her next question would be.
“Mm-hm. Do you know what that means?”
“Tell me.”
“It means,” she whispered, “tonight we’re going to have looooots of fun, okay?”
I opened my mouth to reply, but one of her hands left my chest and clamped itself over my mouth.
“And it’s Friday as well, which means we don’t even have to get up tomorrow. We can stay in bed alllll day~!”
I pulled her hand off of my mouth. “Okay, darling. I’ll just sit here and mentally prepare myself.” With that, I opened my book again and tried my best to ignore the manticore breathing heavily into my ear. She did not go.
I sighed again, not turning to look at her. “You still want something?”
Nimyla bit down on my earlobe. Not hard enough to draw blood, but certainly not gently. I got the message.
“W-was there anything else, mistress?” I said, cringing.
Her voice was husky. “I thought we could try something different tonight.”
I gulped. I was genuinely afraid of what she might mean.
“Something… different?”
“Mmm. Do you remember a month ago?”
Fuck. What was she talking about? Her mother’s birthday? When we thought she was pregnant? What?
“What was a month ago?”
“When we played that little… game, do you remember?”
Oh. That.

Last month, instead of just pouncing on me and fucking me half to death with her tail, Nimyla and I played a game where I went into town without her, and she had a few hours to track me me down and catch me among the streets and shops. It was a lot of fun, if pretty tense at times, and I managed to last the entire time without being caught - even though I barely escaped her at the end. I always thought she might have been secretly angry at losing…
“You don’t seriously want to-” A reprimanding claw made itself known just under my ribs. “Er… would you like to play that game again, mistress?”
“Now that you mention it, Anon, I would. What about tonight?”
“Sounds… delightful.”
Nimyla smirked, kissed me on the cheek and skipped off, humming. As soon as she was gone, I slumped down in my chair and moaned softly to myself. The original idea for the game was mine - I should have known better than to whet a manticore’s appetite for hunting.


--


I nervously shifted from foot to foot, and checked my phone for about the sixth time in the last minute. It was still 11:28. At half past I’d leave and wander out into the night, and at midnight Nimyla would come out to pursue me. On any other full moon night, she and I would already well into a night of desperate, moon-empowered lovemaking. Tonight, though, it was out into the cold for her to hunt at her pleasure. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it the first time, but this was different. It was a full moon. I didn’t want to be out there running through the night, I wanted to be with my wife.
I shook my head. Only a few hours of running about in the dark, and then I’d be with her. Besides, I thought with a grin, I wasn’t about to let her even the score.

My phone beeped urgently - 11:30. I shouted up the stairs.
“Okay, Nim! I’m going now!”
There was a rumbling sound from above the ceiling and Nimyla came rushing down the stairs, taking them two at a time. She barely slowed down as she came over to me, placing her hands on my chest and shoving me against the wall. Her heavy breathing and flushed face displayed the full moon’s effect on her - she didn’t even try to hide it. Tonight, all mamono were this way. Some wanted their husbands to stay with them, some wanted them to hide themselves away for their safety, some wanted their husbands to fuck them silly. My wife wanted me to run. So she could hunt me.
“H-have you got everything?” Her voice was shaky and unsure, and I could feel her claws scraping against my chest and threatening to pierce my black shirt.
“It’s all on my belt.”
“Phone on?” This was how she tracked me, a GPS link from her phone to mine. Supposedly it was designed for mamono wives to know their husbands’ every move - with their consent, of course. Of course.
“On and ready.”
“S-Show me!”
I fumbled with my pocket for a moment before producing it - the app screen read in bold letters GPS LINK CONNECTED, next to a picture of Nimyla. Well, technically. It was, at her insistance, a picture of her tailpussy.
“See? All’s well.” The GPS would make things easier for her, but being a manticore she could see far better in the dark than I could and her senses of smell and hearing were completely in excess of my own.
“Okay.” she muttered. Her hands moved down my sides, and her tail coiled loosely around my leg, one of her favourite gestures of affection.
“Well, I’ll be going then.” I said, giving Nimyla a quick peck on the lips. “I love you.”
She smiled, seeming to regain her lucidity for a moment. “I love you, too.” She returned the kiss, and I felt her claws tighten as she pulled away. Her face hovered in front of mine for a moment, her ragged breath coursing over my skin.
“I love you…” she whispered, pressing her lips into mine again, as one of her hands left my torso and made its way to the back of my head, her leathery wings beginning to unfold behind her as her tail’s grip on my leg tightened with constricting force.
I tried to turn my head, but her hand behind it was holding me in place, her eyes closed and her tongue invading my mouth. I felt her tail shift and the bulb nudge my thigh, threatening to release a barb of aphrodisiac venom. I tried turning my head again - this time, with some success.
“Mmf- Nim!”
“Anon…”
“Nim, the game, remember?”
She was silent a moment, her sanguine eyes staring pleadingly at me. The moon’s energy was in them. “Come upstairs.” she whispered.
“Come on, the game! You want to hunt me, right?”
“...don’t go.”
“What?”
“Don’t go, Anon.”
“But the ga-”
“Forget the game. I don’t want to anymore. Please just stay and make love to me.”
Christ, she was serious. She didn’t want me to go. I didn’t want to go. I wouldn’t go. I would stay here with the woman I love.
Sighing, I took hold of her hands and placed them over my heart. “Come on. You wanted this. You still do.” I placed her hands over her chest. “I want to.” I lied. “Hunt me. Please.”
Nimyla looked down at her hands and took a deep breath. When her eyes flicked back to mine, I thought she was going to attack me. Instead, she smiled. Not her usual smirk, but an honest, beaming smile. The moon’s influence was still there lurking in her eyes, but her smile was pure. A rare sight on a manticore.
“Okay....okay. You’re right.” She wiped her eyes. “Of course you’re right. Thank you, Anon. I love you.”
I gently guided her backwards, before turning around and opening the door. Turning around, I removed her tail from my leg and let her pull it from my hands. I checked my phone. “Half an hour, alright?”
She nodded, and I turned around and set off into the cold. Sticking my hands in my pockets, I walked down the driveway and into the street. I took one last look at her - she was still standing in the doorway, watching me - her tail pointed in my direction, swiveling to follow me as I walked.

Looking at her, an idea struck me. “By the way,” I called out to her, “what are the stakes? Same as last time?” We’d agreed that time to do one thing the other wanted, no complaining, no questions asked. I’d won, and put it to good use on a day of lazing in bed with Nimyla in front of a movie with some crappy takeaway food and a warm blanket. I almost dreaded to think what she wanted.
“Don’t get caught.” she replied, and I knew that her smirk had returned.
I walked a little faster.


--


My breath fogged in front of me as I walked, my collar turned up and my hands in my pockets. I checked the time - 11:40. Time to consider my options.

Lurking in the streets wasn’t really feasible. I had to last until sunrise, and there was a conspicuous lack of places to hide in the streets unless I wanted to break into someone’s garage and sleep there. As much as I needed to keep moving, I needed to be able to hide. It would be a combination of speed and stealth that would win the night..

I could go into town, but most places would be shut tonight. It was Friday, but it was also a full moon night. Around here, you didn’t really open on a full moon night - not because it was a bad neighborhood or anything like that, but because there were simply so many mamono in this part of the country. This, I thought, will be one of the most surreally quiet Friday nights in history - outside one’s house, that is.

Speaking of mamono, I had to consider the possibility of encountering one. If you were a mamono on a night like tonight, you did one of two things. If you were married, you stayed in - if you weren’t, you went prowling. Similarly, if you were a man, you stayed in if you were married, otherwise you either barred your door or went out alone. I wasn’t worried about getting proactively dated - one whiff of my spirit energy and any mamono would realise I was off the menu. They had to get close to become aware of that though, which meant they were still potentially dangerous. As I walked, my mind drifted back to a misadventure Nimyla and I had found ourselves in at the park last weekend. We were -

Wait! The park! Dark, secluded, plenty of spaces to hide and room to run, the park! Of course! I checked the time - 11:45.
Sparing a quick look over my shoulder, I took my hands out of my pockets and ran.


--


I reached the park in record time - not hard to do with the threat of a lusty manticore on a full moon to quicken your blood. Panting hard, I arrived at the park gate; a rather unimpressive thing, its only notable features being the almost total covering of rust it sported and a large sign. I took the torch from my belt and illuminated it - giant red letters on a white background. TRESPASSERS WILL BE APPREHENDED, apparently.
While I didn’t have any particular desire to break the law, I was still going to be apprehended if I don’t jump this fence. And I’d face a worse fate than a fine. With a loud rattle, and a few expletives, I was over and in.

The park is large, and almost completely overgrown. There are plenty of trees, naturally, but also a thick layer of plants and bushes at ground level as soon as you step off the path. As I stood, surveying my surroundings with the torch, my phone vibrated in my pocket, startling me. I checked it - 12:00. Distantly, impossibly, I could have sworn I heard my front door slam a mile away.
I smirked and trudged off into the undergrowth.


--


Skulking in the bushes for a while, I soon came upon a perfect spot. A group of tall hedges formed a square surrounding a small water fountain, with no path leading to it but a good view in all directions. I couldn’t see much in the darkness, but the thick undergrowth would slow her down long enough for me to tell where she’s coming from and run.
A breeze rose up, making the bushes nearby rustle and sway. I ducked down for a moment, re-adjusting my collar, and the breeze died down.

A few stalks to my right stopped moving just a few seconds after the rest of the plants.

I turn and shone the torch, but something shot out of the shadows and knocked the torch from my hands - it flew off into the undergrowth somewhere. I tried to move, but a furred hand clasped over my mouth and something slithered around my hands - a manticore tail! Impossible, there’s no way Nimyla could be here! She didn’t even leave the house until I was already inside! Which could only mean-
The manticore bore me to the ground, her thighs on either side of my ribcage. “Alright, bitch, let’s hear you squeal!” said a voice that was not Nimyla’s.
“Mmmph mmmmmph!” I tried to protest, but it was totally in vain - the big meaty paw stopped all sound.
“Hah! That’s right, now- eh? What?”
There was a moment’s silence.
“Um… honey,” said the manticore, “Are you wearing a wig? And… different clothes?”
Her tail loosened in doubt, and I wrestled free and pulled her paw from my face, taking in gulps of air. The strange manticore frowned as she examined my face. “You’re not my husband.” she said with a snarl.
“You’re not my wife.” I retorted.
“What the hell are you doing wandering around the park this time of night?”
“Never you mind, and I should ask you the same.”
The stranger remained tight-lipped.
“You want to get off me now? You look a bit like my wife, but not close enough.”
She still said nothing, but got off of me and dusted herself off. Now that she wasn’t pinning me down, I could see her clearly. Her white mane and dark-furred forearms resembled Nimyla’s, but the similarities ended there. Her short hair was an uncommon shade of white, and her eyes were a pale blue in contrast to Nimyla’s ruby colour. Her skin, as well, was different - what little of it was revealed by her thick winter coat was tanned, almost caramel-coloured. As a matter of fact, she didn’t look like any manticore I’d ever seen before.
“So,” I began, “you hide in bushes often or just on the full moon?”
“Piss off.” she growled. “If I’d known who you were I wouldn’t have jumped you, would I?”
“Who did you think I was?”
“My husband, dipshit.”
“You were waiting in a bush for your husband?”
“M-Maybe I was!” she turned a shade of red. “What were you doing hiding in a bush anyway, hiding from your wife?”
“N-no, I was just out for a midnight walk!”
“On a full moon? I don’t fucking thi-” she suddenly stopped and cringed at the volume of her voice, before turning back to me, fuming.
“Look,” she said, jabbing a claw in my direction, “just don’t get in my… just leave me alone!”
She turned around with an angry flutter of wings, and stalked off. I ran a hand through my hair - confused, but relieved. Could have been Nimyla, and I wasn’t ready to lose just yet. I checked the time again - 12:10. If Nimyla was anywhere nearby, she must have heard that. I looked around and went to retrieve my torch, before creeping off into the dark again.


--


Ducking behind a tree, I checked my phone again. Nimyla could be here already, if she ran. Her lack of texting could explain that - last time, she couldn’t resist teasing and taunting me as she tracked me down. Perhaps I should return the favour.

--Im getting lonely out here Nim--
After a minute or so, she responded.
--is it cold where you are?--
--yeah come warm me up--
--you wont be any warmer w/o clothes anon--

I was so focused on my phone that I almost missed the rustling ahead as something moved through the leaves directly towards me. I ducked behind a tree and the thing stopped, as though it heard me. My heartbeat pounded in my ears as I listened for any sign of movement.
“W-who’s there?” came another voice not at all like my wife’s. In fact, this one wasn’t even female. Just how many people were in this park?
“L-Lini?” said the man, and a torch flicked on, scanning the surroundings. “Lini, I changed my mind, I don’t really want to do this anymore…”
Turning on my own torch, I shone it in the direction of the voice. “Hello?” I said, quietly. “I’m not Lini, just… hang on a sec...” I stepped out of cover and turned my torch off.
The other man shone his light at me, and I squinted. After a moment, he seemed satisfied that I wasn’t who he thought I was. “Oh, thank fuck.” he began, keeping his voice low. “Sorry about that, I heard you moving and I thought you might have been my wife.”
“Have you lost her?”
“Uh, not exactly.”
There was a pause.
“Right, well, are you looking for her?”
“She’s, uh, she’s looking for me.”
Surely not. Not a chance.
I coughed. “Is she, er…” How do you even ask this? “She’s not, you know, following you or anything, is she?”
The other man sounded as embarrassed as I felt. “Actually, she kind of is. It’s this game she wanted to play, but…” he trailed off.
“No shit.” A thought struck me. “Your wife, is she a manticore? Big coat, kind of white hair...”
He snapped to attention. “Yeah! Did you see her?”
I nodded. “About five minutes ago, back that way. She, er, surprised me. I think she thought I was you.”
“Wait, did she attack you or something?”
“A bit.”
His face hit his palm. “Oh, for... I’m sorry about that, I knew this whole thing was a bad idea.”
Another idea struck me. This one was enough to make me smile.
“Yeah, but here’s the thing. My wife and I are playing the same game out here.”
He snorted. “Pull the other one.”
“I’m serious, we are. She loves it, it’s definitely a manticore thing.” The man nodded sympathetically. I stuck out my hand. “What’s your name, pal?”
“Darrel.” he replied, shaking my hand.
“Good to meet you, Darrel. I’m Anon. I think we can work together.”
“Work together?”
“Two manticores are following us. They want us to run around and let them chase us, right? Only, I think we might be able to avoid that.”
Darrel grinned. “I think I see what you’re getting at.”


--


What a remarkable coincidence. There can’t be that many manticores around where I live, fewer still whose husbands will play along with this sort of thing. What are the odds that tonight, some other poor fool is hiding from his huntress in this very park? Although, actually, I thought as I tied the cord to the hook, perhaps - full moon and all that -  the odds aren’t that long after all.

“You done yet?” whispered Darrel. My newfound ally was searching for a sapling of sufficient strength and weight to be the engine for our trap - using our belts, the straps from his bag and our shoelaces we had enough for one snare line, which we planned to use to catch whichever manticore emerged first. A giddy smile was plastered on my face as I prepared the wooden triggers - truth be told, I had no idea if this would work. Manticores weren’t exactly the lightest of creatures, as I recalled someone tell me before I met Nimyla, but the idea of it actually trapping one of them filled me with mirth.
As if responding to my thought, there came a commotion from ahead of us. Instantly, my blood ran cold - the trap wasn’t nearly ready yet. I looked for Darrel, but he was already jogging away into the darkness. I would have followed him, but the sound of approaching footsteps was getting closer by the second. I pocketed the triggers and shone my torch in the direction of the noise, ready to retreat if it was Nimyla. The night wasn’t nearly over yet, after all.
As it happened, it wasn’t Nimyla at all. In fact, it was the other manticore I’d encountered earlier who had briefly mistook me for her husband. Darrel’s wife, he told me, was called Lineri, and she was just as enthusiastic to capture him as Nimyla was to capture me. I gulped and prepared to face her. Lineri approached quickly, but stopped in her tracks when she recognised me.

“You again!” she snarled.  “What the hell are you still doing here?!”
“Still walking around, if you don’t mind.”
“Hmph. It’s a full moon, you know.” Her frown turned into a teasing smirk. “Don’t you have a wife to be servicing~?”
“Don’t you have a husband to be finding?”
She dropped the smirk. “Yeah, actually, I do. He should be around here somewhere - hey, you haven’t s-”
“No! Ahem, no, afraid I haven’t.”
Her eyebrow arched quizzically. “Erm, okay then. ‘Spose it wouldn’t be fair to involve you anyway.”
“Yeah, me and my wife have a similar rule…”
“What?”
Shit. “N-nothing!”
“What d’you mean, you and your wife have a similar rule?”
“Oh, nothing, we just sometimes play this game where she pretends to hunt me down, you know, heh…”
Lineri took a step closer to me, a smirk not dissimilar to the one Nimyla often wore forming on her lips. “Are you suuuure you haven’t seen Daniel around here?”
“Daniel, isn’t he called Darr- erk!”
“Aha! I knew it!” she smiled and unfolded her claws, stepping closer again. “You have seen him! Tell me where Darrel is!”
“I don’t know where he is! I don’t even know who he is! Help!”
“You’d best tell me, or I’ll tie you up and leave you for your wife!”
Lineri stepped closer, her eyes wild, when suddenly there was a dull thud and her wing shook reflexively. She took her eyes off me, furiously looking around, when another small rock hit her in the wing. Darrel flashed his torch and whistled at her before turning around and fleeing into the undergrowth. Without a second thought, Lineri charged after him, her tail trailing in the air as she ran. Not about to forego the opportunity, I turned around and ran in the opposite direction. Hopefully I’d find Darrel un-caught at some point, but I had my own problems to consider.
For instance, the metallic rattle of the gate that floated out of the darkness just ahead of me. Footsteps issued out from in front, and I ducked behind a tree. Not a minute later, the source of the noise appeared. Nimyla.

She was breathing heavily, as though she’d been running. Maybe she had, I thought, or perhaps it was the moon’s influence. Either way, she looked around wildly, and I knew what for. A chill went through me as I realised she might have heard me duck behind this tree. She fumbled for her phone and began typing - my own phone hummed softly in my pocket as I got the text. This time, I’d remembered to keep it on silent after my text alert almost cost me the game last month.
I concealed the screen’s light as well as I could while I checked, just as the wind started to pick up again.

--anon you know you’re not allowed in here after sundown--
--then why did I just watch you hop the fence--

Nimyla’s head whipped up, and she looked around frantically before returning to her phone.

--anon if you can see me please come out right now--
--wheres the fun in that mistress--

Her tail twitched, and she started looking around for me again. From my hiding spot behind the tree, I watched her walk up and down the path before she began to check the fluttering trees. My phone vibrated again.

--anon I really need you right fucking now--
I smirked to myself. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t enjoying her desperation.

--come and get me then--
--youre so fucking dead anon--
I chuckled. --yeah talk dirty to me--
--anon im seriously never letting you out of my sight ever again--
--can you see me right now?--
--enjoy your last ever night outside my tail--

She was getting closer. I could almost hear her panting over the leaves swaying in the wind, and her tail lashed to and fro. I crouched down as she approached, when abruptly I felt something round and hard under my foot. The wind must have blown it under my heel as I crouched, but I was too busy slipping on it to consider how it had got there. As soon as I hit the ground, Nimyla’s ears pricked up and she stared in my direction. I picked up the pinecone that had tripped me and hurled it into a bush some distance away, and Nimyla looked at the source of the noise, but as soon as I tried to creep away she looked back to her phone and began to follow me. I’d forgotten about that GPS link.
Crouched completely still, I licked my lips nervously. Realistically, there was only one thing I could do at this point. It would throw her off my trail, but it was technically cheating.
Her footsteps got closer by the second. It was either get rid of my phone, or be caught here and now.
I threw it.
It span as it flew, the light from the screen twirling in an impressive display. As soon as it was out of my hand, I was up and running in the opposite direction. I knew she heard me, but I didn’t need perfect cover. All I needed was a momentary distraction, and I’d definitely achieved that. It wasn’t on the level of, say, an aerial bombardment of hot food, but it would do.


--


“Shit, that must have been close.” remarked Darrel. I nodded, still somewhat out of breath, before producing the snares from my pocket. He had managed to escape with the ‘rope’ - more a line of belts, straps and shoelaces fastened haphazardly together - and had thrown off Lineri by hurling his torch away. The idea made me smile, as if manticores were so similar to giant cats that they were distracted by nothing more than flashy lights. The smile quickly disappeared from my face as I remembered that, also like giant cats, they were quiet, persistent and thoroughly sadistic. I wasted no time re-attaching the cord to the triggers and planting them in the ground, while Darrel bent a thin, sturdy sapling and secured the rope to it. Finally, working by torchlight, I tied the snare together before tying it to the wooden peg. The trap was ready - now all we needed was bait. Luckily we didn’t have to bring any.

Darrel took cover behind a bush some distance off as I placed my feet either side of the snare and took a deep breath, trying to think of a way to attract Nimyla. Turning on the torch was a good start. I pushed the button and shone it ahead of me, and almost had a heart attack as the light revealed Nimyla standing not twenty feet away. I hadn’t heard her approach at all. She raised her hand to her eyes and squinted, but I could clearly see her blushing, angry stare. I gulped.

“Hello, my love.” I began. “You should have said something, I didn’t even notice you were there. Don’t you like to see me panic?”
She wasn’t impressed. “You shouldn’t have thrown away your tracker, Anon.” she growled, taking a step closer to me. I fought down the instinctive urge to move. “I had to follow you using your footprints. You knew that I can see in the dark, though. I knew you wouldn’t really stop me from hunting you, darling. I love you.”
I felt my face redden slightly at her words, and that Darrel was listening to them. Not that she would have let that stop her saying them.
I chuckled nervously. “W-well, here I am. Come and get me.”
“Aren’t you going to run?” she asked, tilting her head to one side as she walked nearer.
“I don’t want to run from you any more, Nim.”
“Hold still then.”
“W-wait, you don’t want to do it out here, do you?”
“Why not? Nobody’s around, darling. We can do whatever we want, and only the moon will see us~”
I stepped backwards, painstakingly careful to avoid the trap. “Well, when you put it like that…”
Nimyla stepped forward again, her fingers twitching, her claws glinting in the moonlight, her eyes wide. Her tail writhed and coiled behind her, its serpentine undulations casting a disturbing shadow on the ground. Just one more step, and…
“I love you, Anon.” Nimyla whispered, her voice trembling as she reached for me. “I love you.” I honestly felt a little guilty for what was about to happen.
Only a little, though.

She placed her foot in the snare, and sure enough she nudged the two interlocking wooden pegs - one stick into the ground, the other attached both to the loop of wire surrounding her foot and the branch that Darrel had found. The pegs came out of alignment, and the tension yanked the snare, and her foot, upward. She fell with a yelp as her foot was pulled out from under her; she wasn’t exactly left hanging upside down, as I’d seen this sort of trap leave rabbits and such, but she was left flat on her back and - as I could tell by watching her struggles to reach her ankle - crucially unable to free herself. A huge smile broke out over my face as I watched her struggle and squirm, and I looked to see Darrel standing up with a similar smile.
“Holy fuck, I can’t believe that worked!”
I shook my head, still smiling, and walked around to Nimyla’s head. She wriggled and cursed, but couldn’t detach the loop from her ankle, held in the air as it was. Her eyes flicked to mine and, with a hiss, she swiped at me with her claws and stabbed at me with her tail. I stepped back, my smirk growing wider as I watched her furious, fruitless writhing. This must be how she felt watching me struggle under her power.
I paced over to her head and knelt down behind her, scratching behind her ears and whispering soothing words. She looked like she was about to cry.
“A-Anon, what the fuck is this?! Who the fuck is that?! What the fuck did you do?!”
“Shh, Nim. It’s alright. We just set up a little surprise for you.”
“W-why?!”
“Isn’t it obvious, baby? You’re such a dangerous huntress, but you forgot that a huntress’ quarry can be just as dangerous as her.”
I leant down and gave her a peck on the lips, just like I had before I left the house. She reached up and tried to grab my head, but I gently took hold of her hands and set them down beside her. She didn’t even try to resist me; it was almost surreal to be treating a manticore this way.
“Do you want me to kiss you again?” I asked softly, tenderly stroking her cheek. She nodded, her cheeks the same vivid shade of red as her eyes.
I smiled warmly at her. “Just admit that you lost the hunt, and I’ll kiss you again.” She screwed up her face and looked away from me, but another stroke of her cheek got her attention. “Come on, admit it. I got one over on you, is it really so embarrassing?”
“Wasn’t fair. You cheated. You threw away your phone.”
“You still found me though, didn’t you? With those amazing eyes of yours. The odds were in your favour the whole time, but I managed to outwit you right at the end.” I ran a teasing finger under her chin. “Just say ‘I lost the hunt’ for me, Nim.”
“A-Alright, fine.” She took a shaky breath. “I suppose I los-”
“Gah-mmph!”
Nimyla and I both looked over to the source of the strangled cry - behind the bush near us, Darrel stood paralysed while his wife had one paw over his mouth and the other under his jaw, her tail looped around his waist and a smile of pure evil on her face.
“Fucking hell,” Lineri announced, “I had no idea you were such a voyeur, Darrel. Shouldn’t we give these two some privacy?”
He struggled and grunted at Lineri, but to no avail. Lineri began to walk away, dragging him along, when she stopped abruptly. Just in front of the branch the line was secured to.
“What do we have here?” she asked, her words dripping with faux innocence. “Did you build this, Darrel? Were you going to use it on me?” She removed her hands from his head, but not before her tail wound around his neck and her tailpussy clamped over his face. I knew that feeling.
Dragging him along by her tail, Lineri reached out the branch and took hold of it with both hands. She looked at Nimyla, then at me, savage glee written all over her face.
“What kind of manticore would I be if I let such fucking humiliation go unpunished?”
Straining for just a moment under her strength, the branch quickly split and folded. The top half, and the line holding Nimyla’s ankle, fell limply to the ground. Without so much as a wave, Lineri turned and strode away, taking the unfortunate Darrel with her.
I didn’t even have the chance to look down at Nimyla before I felt her hand on my wrist. Her claws dug in. Her tail slithered upwards and coiled around my arm. No escape.
“Anon…”
I didn’t look. I couldn’t look.
“Anon…”
I closed my eyes. What else could I do? No man has ever dug his own grave quite like I just did.
“Aaaaanooooon...”
“Y-yes, Nimyla?”
“Can you say ‘I lost the hunt’ for me, Anon?”
No point playing games anymore. "I lost the hunt."
“Yeah, you did, didn’t you? Why did you lose the hunt, Anon?”
“I lost the hunt because I tried to outwit my huntress.”
"That's right." I felt the tender stroke of her fluffy digit under my chin. “So if you lost, does that mean I won?”
“Yes, mistress. You won.”
“And tell me, Anon, what do I win?”
“Whatever you want, mistress.”
“Open your eyes.”
I opened them.
I looked down.
I cannot possibly even begin to describe how smug Nimyla looked.
“I think I know what I want, Anon.”
She leaned up and placed her lips ever so briefly to mine. I knew what she was going to say before she even opened her mouth.
“Run.”


--


Tearing through leaves. Shoving away branches. Plunging blindly into the darkness. Running from her.
The wind carried the sounds of her footfalls behind me, as well as her laughter. This wasn’t even a hunt anymore - a hunt implies expertise, patience, even strategy. This was merely a chase. And after the chase comes the pounce.

I searched blindly for any path, any route that might offer escape, but my torch was lying somewhere far behind me. At random, I bolted to the left, hoping against hope to throw her off. I ducked under a low-hanging branch and dove into a patch of tall grass, desperate for anything that might conceal me from the manticore. I doubted I was going to last until sunrise, but I would be grateful for whatever remaining time I could snatch before I was fucked to death. Not that I  even knew what the time was.

I fumbled in my pockets for my phone - my phone! Nimyla still had it! With no GPS link, she had to use her eyes to find me. Still possible, no doubt, but as long as I stayed hidden and silent I might just get away with it. I cast my own eyes wildly about, looking for her, but there was no possible way I could see her in the dark. I couldn’t hear her, either, as the wind and rustling leaves masked all sound.
Fine, she had the advantage. I still had my wits. For certain, I couldn’t stay in this one place too long. As quietly as possible, as quickly as I dared, I got up from my prone position and into a crouch.
A pair of fluffy paws settled on my shoulders.
I leapt forwards, but it was no use. She pounced and landed on my back, her hips pinning me to the ground. She grabbed the top of my head and yanked it upwards, allowing her tail to slip under my chin. It wrapped tightly around my neck before she pushed my head down, forcing me to stare at the tailpussy lying an inch from my face. The whole scene struck me as some twisted parody of staring into my lover’s eyes from across the pillow. The breeze faded as though fleeing from my tormentor.
“Little boy all alone in the woods.” whispered Nimyla.
“N-not quite alone,” I said, “Those other two are around here somewhere.”
“Mmm, and I can hear them. They sound like they’re having fun.”
“How long did you know I was hiding just then?”
“Don’t be stupid, Anon. I was with you the whole time.”
She rolled me over, her tail shifting around my neck to maintain her almost choking grip while her tailpussy stayed brushed against my face.
“What am I going to do with you, Anon? You cheated in the hunt, you tied me up, you embarrassed me in front of strangers. You really want me to punish you, is that it?”
Nothing I could say would improve my situation. I was too terrified to speak anyway. Nimyla straddled me, her thighs resting either side of my hips, and now that I could see her I became aware that she had discarded her top and jeans. She threw her head back, grinning insanely - I was completely transfixed by the way the moonlight ran over her skin like liquid. She drank it in.

“Should I make you suffer?” she asked, as she leant forwards to press her mane into my face. One hand went behind my head. Unbidden, my hands went to her sides and up her back. “Should I hurt you?” I undid her bra for her and threw it to the side. I know when to admit defeat - I had sown my seeds, and now it was time for the raping. Reaping.
“Should I let you dangle from a tree, like you wanted to do to me?”
She leant back again, freeing my head, as her other hand appeared holding her panties by one claw. They were practically sopping wet, and covered in her scent. She balled them up, and pressed them against my lips. “I think you’ll want something to bite down on, Anon.”
Defying her would only make things worse. I don’t really know how much worse they could get, and I didn’t want to find out. I opened my mouth and she gently pushed the cloth inside, leering at me. I grimaced at the taste, just as intense as they smelled; her tailpussy snapped eagerly, some of its foul drool landing on my cheek.
“Unzip.” she commanded. My fingers fumbled with my buttons, my eyes trapped by hers, and I clumsily pulled my jeans down to my knees.
“Don’t stop there.”
My boxers quickly followed my jeans, and my exposed erection popped free and smacked her rear. She giggled and slid downwards, aligning her slit over me. “You should have just come to bed with me before we started.”
She descended onto me - instantly, the chill of the night air was replaced by the warm, wet, intensely tight sensation of her insides. A soft sigh escaped her lips, mingling with the shivering moan that forced its way past her panties and out of my mouth.
She stayed still, just for a moment, the two of us relishing in the long-delayed moment of intercourse. Then, agonisingly slowly, Nimyla rolled her hips, her every tiny movement working my cock within the constricting tightness of her pussy.

“F-finally…” she sighed, clamping her paws over my shoulders and digging her claws in. It hurt. I bit down on the panties in my mouth. Her hips started to move faster. I bit down harder.
“Y-you made me come out here tonight…” she blushed. “You knew I wanted this…”
A rush of emotion welled up in my chest, but I didn’t interrupt her. The speed of her strokes picked up the more she talked.
“Y-you knew what I wanted. You always know what I want. That’s why- unf~! That’s why I love you!”
Her mouth was hanging open now, her tongue almost hanging out. She panted and moaned like a bitch in heat, and were it not for the cloth in my mouth I would have been doing the same. Her tailpussy nipped and sucked at my cheek, leaving little kisses all over my face. I bucked my hips against hers, taking hold of her buttocks with my hands, and she pressed her face into mine as her wings unfurled to their full length behind her and her mane matted with sweat.
“Anon! Anon!”
“Mmmmf!” I tried to say her name, but only desperate moaning came out. It drove her even wilder than before, and as her hips hammered into mine for the fiftieth time I knew I was at my limit. I arched my back and screamed against the gag, my fingers digging into the luscious flesh of her ass as I released inside her. She placed both hands behind my head and forced my face into her mane before she collapsed on top of me, gasping and panting. I felt warm cum drip onto my crotch as it trickled out of her snatch, and I took the cloth out of my mouth and brought my lips to hers.
She smiled into my lips and rolled to one side, pulling me with her. I took the cue and rolled on top of her, loose leaves tangling in her hair. For just a moment I stared into her crimson eyes, and saw the wide, pale moon reflected in them. Her tailpussy nuzzled against my neck until a barb stuck in my flesh, and as the warm sensation of manticore venom coursed through me I couldn’t help but break out into a wide, ecstatic smile to mirror the one on Nimyla’s face.
I love my huntress.

--

That's all. Thank you very much for reading.