Six Months Later

“I can talk to her instead if you want.”

I shook my head at Rainbow’s offer. It wasn’t the first time she had made it but as always, I turned her down, despite the notion being an attractive one.

“I owe her this, Dash,” I said. “I owe it to Fluttershy to be honest about us.”

“Okay, but it’s about me, too!” Rainbow countered. “It’s not like I had nothing to do with this!”

“I’m not saying that.” I gently rubbed at the back of her neck with my fingers, right above the where the bondmark was concealed by the collar I’d gifted her months ago, and Rainbow Dash instantly started to relax. “What I’m saying is that I’m the one who started the courtship, even if we kind of ended it when she left, we both knew it wasn’t supposed to be for real.”

“You were never hers to start with,” Rainbow grumbled. “You were always my alpha, Sunset, and you know it!”

“Don’t be a brat about this, Dash,” I said firmly. “And yes, I know that now.”

“Should never’ve broken up with me,” she muttered under her breath, and I tightened my fingers to a grip that got a squeak of alarm from her.

“I said I was sorry,” I said in a forced, neutral tone. “You don’t have to keep bringing it up.”

“S-Sorry, alpha,” Rainbow said as I let my grip up. “Just… I know she’s my friend and all, but I’m antsy when you’re around her, because… y’know…”

I nodded. I did know, and couldn’t blame her for it.

“Just let me handle this, okay?” I said, carding my fingers through Rainbow’s short, punky hair as I did. “She deserves this much.”

“Fine…” Rainbow crossed her arms and pouted, but she always gave in when I really put my foot down, which was one of the reasons I did it so rarely.

Rainbow Dash gave up a lot to be with me, I owed it to her to give her a little of it back.

I wrapped my arms around her as she frowned, used the chain linking us to pull her closer and put a finger under her chin to guide her lips to mine. However much she pouted, she loved it when I took control, and now that we were in a better place as bondmates I had come to understand the most important part of that control.

The truth was, I wasn’t taking anything. Rainbow was giving me control willingly because she wanted me to be in control.

The best example was the pleated skirt she was currently wearing, one of a half dozen I’d bought her.

Rainbow never failed to complain, and loudly, every time I made her wear one of the skirts because she claimed it ‘wasn’t cool’ or something to that effect, and was generally just a massive brat about it until I hooked the chain to her neck and made her get dressed.

At the same time, once we were actually out, she was unbearably flirty. The skirt was just a little too short, cut off at a few inches above the knee to show off her soft, limber legs. That meant it was short enough that she could surreptitiously flash her ass at me in public, which she often did because she knew it drove me crazy.

In the end, it was a game.

She wanted to be pretty and cute. She wanted to dress like, and be doted on like, an adorable little omega.

Above us, the PA system chimed.

//NOW DISEMBARKING. FLIGHT TWO-SEVENTEEN FROM MANEHATTAN.//

“That’s hers.” I got up and unhooked the chain linking us, putting a hand on Rainbow’s head and ruffling her hair a little as I passed her. “I’ll come find you after we’ve talked.”

“Hey.” Rainbow grabbed my hand as I stepped away, and I glanced back at her.

“I love you,” she said in a gentler tone than I was used to.

I smiled. “I love you, too.”

Giving her hand a firm squeeze before letting go, I made my way through the broad halls of O’Mare International towards the cafe where we had agreed to meet. Her flight was delayed, but only by twenty minutes, and I honestly still can’t decide if I preferred it delayed, or if I’d rather it had shown up early so I could get this over with.

Procrastinate versus ripping off the bandage, the eternal question of the coward.

The smell of sandwiches filled the air of the cafe as I waited in line. I had maybe fifteen minutes before she disembarked. Her bodyguard would be grabbing her luggage from the conveyor, so I knew she would come straight here from the platform.

“What can I get you?” The young clerk asked with a bright, phony, customer-service grin.

“One Reuben bagel sandwich, extra sauce,” I replied. “And a Veggie too, and can I get au jus on the side with that one?”

“With the Veggie bagel?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. “Sure, I guess, extra twenty-five cents, though.”

“That’s fine,” I waved it off and passed her a twenty. The register chimed brightly, and she drew out my change, handed it off, and then went around to make up my order.

For my part, I just found a small out of the way table where I could get chewed out in relative peace. I fished around in my pocket as I sat down, making sure I had an extra tenner for a tip once I left. These poor food workers didn’t ask to witness a messy breakup between a crappy alpha and an omega who was way too good for her, but that’s what they were going to get.

Hell, it would probably be up on someone’s online story by the end of the day, if not on multiple.

Not that it mattered.

So long as I had Rainbow Dash, people could say whatever they liked about me. The only thing that bothered me was how it might reflect on my bondmate.

These last six months had been surprisingly blissful, not counting the ugly looks we got whenever we went out since people inevitably cottoned on to the fact that we were both alphas despite one of us being decidedly omega-like. No matter what, Rainbow still had the scent glands of an alpha, and moreover she bore a bondmark over them.

The funny part was that every time we went out the people around inevitably went through the exact same stages of realisation.

My alpha bondmark on Rainbow Dash was the most obvious sign that something was up since it permanently changed her scent. There was no getting around the mark informing everyone in the area that she was somebody’s bitch, and that somebody was pretty obviously the alpha who had her on a literal leash.

That meant that stage one was everyone looking at me like I was some kind of abuser for about as long as it took them to realise just how weirdly happy Rainbow Dash looked while being led around by me.

At stage two their looks would shift to her, and that’s where I started to get mad. They’d look at my bondmate like she was some kind of freak, and even with my heavy-weight alpha status, I’d still gotten into three knock-down-drag-out fights in the past two months with alphas who couldn’t contain their disgust to civil levels.

I guess some people just gotta swing their dicks anytime they see something that threatens their fragile egos.

Stage three was everyone sullenly leaving us alone after I’d either growled, or physically beaten, down whoever had the balls to confront us about our behaviour.

Of course, I couldn’t help the other stuff, like the times we’d been asked to leave restaurants or when we weren’t allowed in clubs or bars. It got to the point that I was wary of even going out… not because it even bothered me all that much, but because of the look on Rainbow’s face every time we were asked to leave.

She always told me it was fine, but I knew it stung.

And… shit, I just… I loved her so much, and I hated seeing her unhappy. It made me feel like a failure.

“Sunset?”

I raised my head to Fluttershy’s usual beatific smile. It was as radiant as ever. She brushed some stray strands of pink from her eyes as she set down her carry-on bag and took the seat opposite me at the table I’d chosen.

“Are you okay?” She asked, her tone coloured with concern.

“Heh, sort of,” I admitted. “How was your flight?”

“It was uhm… it was a flight,” she replied in a slightly tired tone. “I’m kind of jet-lagged.”

“Sorry, we can talk tomorrow if you-”

Fluttershy shook her head. “Nope, I’ve been wondering why you wanted to talk for six months now and I uhm… well, I don’t really want to wait anymore.”

I sighed and nodded.

“Fair enough.”

Before either of us could speak again, our bagels arrived, and Fluttershy brightened considerably at the veggie bagel and little cup of au jus that was beside it. She snatched it up off the plate almost as soon as it was on the table and took a hearty bite, chewing through the vegetables with gusto before swallowing.

Then let out a cute little burp.

How is it she can even burp gracefully?

“Oops, s-sorry,” she dipped the corner of her bagel in the au jus and took a much daintier bite that she swallowed before continuing. “I didn’t really eat anything on the plane… or this morning.”

“I guess not,” I replied with a smile before taking a bite of my Reuben.

“But… you remembered,” Fluttershy said softly as she looked down at her meal, and I raised an eyebrow as I chewed. “My favorite order, I mean… even the side of au jus… you remembered.”

I swallowed, then shrugged. “It’s not a complicated order.”

She didn’t reply, she just kept staring at her bagel like she was expecting it to vanish out of her hands. The odd sense of tension she was giving off wasn’t exactly doing wonders for my appetite, so I eventually sat the bagel down and waited.

“We’re not getting back together, are we?” Fluttershy said suddenly, and my stomach clenched at the rawness in her voice.

“No,” I replied quietly. “And… and I know this is going to sound trite and cliche but I swear it’s true when I say ‘it is definitely not you, it’s me’.”

“Hm.”

The small sound was her only response before she took another small bite of au jus-dipped veggie bagel.

“I made a mistake, Flutters,” I continued. “You know I’m… I’m not a great person, or even a very good one, but I should never have started this thing between us.”

Every word seemed to drag my shoulders down a little more until I was resting on my arms with my head bowed. I wanted to look Fluttershy in the eye when I said all this, but now that it comes to it I just… I don’t have it in me.

I really am a coward.

“May I, uhm… may I ask why?”

Here comes the ‘fun’ part.

“I’m with someone else,” I said simply. “For whatever it’s worth, I honestly don’t think I would have made you happy, and as selfish as this next part sounds… I know that I couldn’t have been happy either.” Saying that last bit was like pulling teeth, but I did it. “I know I fucked up, and you have every right to hate me and drag me through the mud, so go ahead, just know that I am sorry.”

I raised my head finally, met Fluttershy’s gaze, and to my surprise, there was no hurt in her eyes, there wasn’t even an accusation. There was something else. It was a kind of analytical intensity that put my hackles up as she stared into my eyes.

A weird kind of primal terror took up residence in my stomach and in my limbs as she stared me down until, finally, she leaned back in her chair, and sighed.

“May I ask you another question?” Fluttershy said.

“Sure?” My voice came out hitched from the tightness in my chest.

“I want you to answer me honestly, okay?” Her tone was sharp, and I nodded immediately. Fluttershy eyed me with suspicion for a moment before nodding to herself. “Are you back with Rainbow Dash?”

My eyes went wide at my bondmate’s name, and I couldn't keep my jaw from clicking open slightly in shock. I’d never told Fluttershy that Rainbow had been the one I’d been with before her, and I hadn’t mentioned it in the few texts we’d exchanged since she’d been gone.

But she knew.

Plus, the way she had worded it: ‘are you back with Rainbow Dash’, suggested that she’d always known.

“I am,” I answered finally, a cold chill settled over the table.

The intensity in Fluttershy’s gaze seemed to double and suddenly I’d gone from being seated at a table with a dainty little omega to being stared down at by an apex predator intent on devouring me whole.

It lasted all of a second and a half before she closed her eyes, nodded again, and then opened them, and this time the intense violence that was being projected from them was nowhere to be found.

“Let’s make a deal, Sunset,” Fluttershy said suddenly.

“A… deal?” I wasn’t sure where this was going but it was definitely not going the way I had expected. “What do you mean?”

“Whatever you’re getting from Rainbow Dash, you can get from me.” Fluttershy laid her hand over her heart and straightened her back. “She’s an alpha and so are you, if… if it’s dominating her that’s the important part, I can give you that.”

Fluttershy set her sandwich down, and I realised her hands were shaking as she did. Her grip had left scarred marks in the toasted bread, I watched as she visibly regained control of herself.

At no point did she look away from me.

“Rainbow Dash is my friend, Sunset,” Fluttershy said. “I… I know that alphas butt heads and fight, and I know Rainbow Dash probably picked a fight with you, and she probably got herself into this because she’s stubborn and… and…”

Tears started to form in Fluttershy's eyes, but her stoic expression didn’t falter. On the contrary, her eyes narrowed at me.

“H-How did you-?”

“Did you think I didn’t notice how Rainbow changed?” Fluttershy asked calmly, but my mouth snapped shut nonetheless. “I’ve known her since I was seven, and I know her scent. It changed, and then she changed! She would disappear after classes, and when she was here she looked miles away!”

“Fluttershy, I swear it isn’t what you think!” I leaned in, pushing my sandwich away as I did. “And besides, why would you even agree to courtship if you thought I was so bad!”

“For Rainbow Dash!” She snapped, finally, her voice rising in pitch and coloring with her version of anger.

Before she could really get on a roll, Fluttershy stopped herself. She leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes, took several deep breaths, then opened them again and all the anger had fled.

“I thought I’d hate you,” Fluttershy admitted quietly. “On our date… I wanted to make it miserable, that’s why I was late. I’m the one who asked mom to do the background check.” I blinked in surprise at that. “I wanted you to want me, but I wasn’t sure I wanted you to like me, and I know that’s… ugly.”

“No more than I deserved, honestly,” I said, leaning on the table as I sighed.

“Imagine my surprise when you turned out to be kind of… sweet,” Fluttershy’s soft lips curved up in a small smile. “You bent over backward to make sure I had a good time, you were a perfect alpha, and absolutely nothing like I expected.”

She sighed and poked at her veggie bagel despondently.

“That’s why I decided that maybe everything I had thought about you was wrong,” Fluttershy said. “That maybe it was Rainbow Dash who had gotten herself in over her head again, and the more I thought about it, the more I decided it was probably true.”

“That is true, actually,” I said with a wan chuckle. “This all started when she sucker-punched me in the showers on campus.”

“Oh Rainbow.” Fluttershy sagged in her seat and buried her face in her hands. After a moment she dropped her hands and sighed. “I uhm… I wish I could believe you were lying, but I know Rainbow, and I… I like to think I know you, too.”

I hoped so.

“Anyway,” Fluttershy continued as she rested an elbow on the table and propped her head up on her hand. “I… I understand that alphas do things a certain way, but I’m begging you, Sunset,” she reached out and grabbed both of my hands with hers, “please, just… forgive Rainbow, and m-maybe, we can try this again!”

A pit of ugly self-hatred had opened up in my gut at Fluttershy’s words. Was I really this much of a bad guy? Was this seriously my reputation?

“I thought maybe… maybe if you had me, you wouldn’t look at Rainbow anymore.” Fluttershy’s voice had grown taut, and her grip tightened. “I know you, Sunset, and I know that the only time you let go of something you want is when you see something else you want even more, and I can do that, just… please…” she bowed her head. “Please let Rainbow Dash go, she’s my best friend.”

I sighed.

“I can’t,” I replied, and I felt as much as saw every muscle in Fluttershy’s body tighten at my words.

“And it’s not for lack of trying.” I tightened my own grip on her hands as I spoke, then took a breath, and admitted the whole truth. “The only reason I dumped Rainbow and courted you, Flutters, is because I was trying to make her leave me and nothing else had worked.”

All the tension bled from Fluttershy’s frame in an instant, only to be replaced by dumbfounded shock as she raised her head, she jerked back from me and stared in patent disbelief.

“It’s no lie,” I said. “Ask Rainbow herself if you want, she’s just down the hall.” I gestured broadly towards the corridor outside the cafe. “Rainbow Dash is with me because, against all sanity and reason, she wants to be with me.” My hand found the smooth metal of the matched bracelet, the pair of Rainbow’s collar, and rested on it. “And I love her… more than anything.

“But… w-what-?” Fluttershy worked her jaw a few times, doing an excellent impression of a stunned guppy. “How… what?!”

I shrugged.

“If you ask society, we’re freaks,” I said evenly. “I wasn’t lying when we talked at the Garden, I really did think I was hurting her.”

I paused as I remembered the conversation, and more importantly, I remembered Fluttershy’s comforting words which suddenly took on a whole different light.

“Wait, so at the Garden… you knew back then?” I asked, and Fluttershy flushed a little.

“Y-Yeah,” she nodded, her pink locks falling like a veil over her reddening face. “I uhm… I was playing dumb because I thought you were going to talk badly about Rainbow, so I was really surprised when you called yourself abusive.”

She reached out a hand again, this time laying it softly over mine.

“I wasn’t really sure if I believed everything you were saying then,” she admitted. “About being sorry, about how you didn’t know, and how you regretted mistreating her.” Fluttershy took another breath and met my eyes more fondly. “But I wanted to… and I took it as a sign that maybe you really were a good person, and that things had just gotten out of hand.”

“Well, things did get out of hand,” I said with a weak chuckle. “But… I don’t know about good.”

Fluttershy didn’t remark on my comment, she just shook her head and smiled. Neither of us said anything for a while, we just sat in silence as we mutually digested the things we’d told each other. I for one was surprised at how devious Fluttershy really was under all that fluff, but I suppose it comes with being famous… you had to have some kind of survival skills for the political landscape.

For Fluttershy’s part, she just looked incredibly thoughtful as she took small, au-jus-dipped bites of her bagel in between pensive hums and glances outside where I’m sure she was looking for Rainbow Dash, either consciously or otherwise.

“Can I ask you something else?” Fluttershy said suddenly.

“I owe you that much at least,” I replied.

“Is Rainbow Dash happy?” Fluttershy asked. “I mean… is she really happy? Are you, uhm… are you taking care of her?”

“As best as I possibly can,” I swore.

“Good,” Fluttershy patted my hand and leaned back, then frowned. “Sunset… I… I have to apologise for something too, then.”

“Hm?” I raised an eyebrow. I couldn’t think of anything she had done that she needed to say sorry to me for.

“That day at the Garden, I said something… something really mean.” Fluttershy brushed her hair out of her face a few times, then sighed. “When I said ‘you loved her’ I was…”

Oh.

My stomach took a small dive.

Put in context, that seemingly off-hand remark also took on a new light. She’d known about Rainbow Dash and I, meaning she also knew what I was talking about when I talked about treating her badly. She knew almost all of the broad strokes of what was happening and had pretended she didn’t, meaning when Fluttershy had made the remark about love… she had probably said it sarcastically.

You must have really loved her.

She’d said those words because she thought they would hurt me because she knew that every horrible thing I had been confessing to her about had been done to her best friend.

“You must have really hated me in that moment,” I said quietly.

Fluttershy nodded silently.

“I uhm… I felt horrible right after I’d said it,” Fluttershy said. Her voice cracked a little as she wiped at her face with the palm of her hand. “When I saw how much it hurt you, I knew you couldn’t be faking it, and I want to apologize right away, but…”

“But you’d have to explain why you were apologising,” I filled in.

The jig would have been up. She hadn’t wanted to risk me pushing her away in anger for trying to manipulate me, because she was afraid I’d fall right back into bed with Rainbow Dash.

In her defense, that’s probably exactly what would have happened. Even now, I’m not thrilled about what she did, but I did understand.

Six months of perspective helped.

“I was just so… so mad!” Fluttershy looked like she was on the edge of full-on bawling, her small hands were gripped in tight fists that shook as she glared down at the table.

“I deserved worse,” I said softly.

“I just wanted to help Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said.

“Ever thought maybe I was helping myself just fine?”

We both nearly leapt out of our seats at Rainbow’s acid tone and sudden appearance. Somehow, she had managed to creep up on both of us despite not exactly being the exemplar of stealth, and had her arms crossed over her chest as she glared at both of us with equal annoyance.

“Dash?!” I made to stand, but Rainbow put paid to that idea by taking two quick steps and dropping herself squarely in my lap.

“Rainbow Dash, w-what are you wearing?” Fluttershy’s eyes were fixed on the collar around Rainbow’s neck, the one that read ‘BITCH’ in engraved metal letters.

“I’m wearing whatever I want,” Rainbow replied.

Without looking away from Fluttershy, Rainbow shoved a hand in her pocket and pulled out the length of chain. Then she took my hand, clipped the hook to the armband, then ran the chain up to the mate of the hook at her neck, and clipped that one secure too.

“Here, make sure it’s tight.” Rainbow casually gathered up the slack of the chain, handed it off to me, and closed my fist around it.

“Make sure it’s… what?” I stared down at her, dumbfounded, and Rainbow narrowed her eyes.

“I said: make sure it’s tight,” she repeated slowly.

Was she saying she wanted me to…

“Wait, right here?” I glanced over at Fluttershy, but Rainbow moved her head so it was between us again.

“Don’t look at her, look at me,” Rainbow pouted. “Do I have to ask again, alpha?”

Just past Rainbow’s ear, I could see Fluttershy silently mouthing the word ‘alpha’, and my cheeks started to redden. On the heels of the embarrassment came a familiar rush of petulant anger, and my indecision turned to hard iron as I tightened my fist around the slack of the chain and gave it a sharp tug.

Rainbow Dash made a small, pleased noise at the jerking motion.

“What have I told you about embarrassing me in public, bitch?” I snarled but kept my voice low. No need to bother the other patrons.

Not low enough that Fluttershy didn’t hear me, though. She stiffened at the last word out of my mouth, and opened her mouth to say something angry, but was cut off by Rainbow who gave me a soft little purr and nuzzle against my neck.

“Sorry, alpha,” she replied quietly, then closed her eyes and took a long breath of my scent.

Fluttershy’s mouth clicked closed, but her stare didn’t leave us. Now she just looked flummoxed. For certain, the Rainbow Dash she knew probably would have reacted violently to being called ‘bitch’ in such a derogatory tone.

“See?” Rainbow said quietly, looking up from my neck and meeting Fluttershy’s eyes. “I don’t need you to friggin’ martyr yourself for me, Flutters, I can take care of myself.”

Then she pushed herself up and turned so she was glaring down at me.

“And I don’t need you doing it either, alpha!” She prodded me in the chest, and I winced and hung my head. “All of this happened because you both had your heads so far up your asses trying to protect me that neither of you stopped to wonder if I wanted to be protected!”

Rainbow turned in my lap to face Fluttershy and crossed her arms again, leaning back against me like I was an easy chair while she wiggled her hips teasingly against my groin. I tensed and grimaced as my alpha instincts responded on automatic, and I got instantly hard.

I could practically feel Rainbow’s smug little grin as she settled the crease of her ass against my length, pinning it uncomfortably to my leg.

“Rainbow you’re an alpha! You-!” Fluttershy started, but Rainbow cut her off, slapping a hand down loudly on the table and scowling.

“I don’t care!” Rainbow snapped. “My breed has nothing to do with how I want to be treated and who I want to be with!”

Grabbing the chain on her end, she yanked it and pulled my arm up, then pulled it comfortably around her waist.

“Sunset makes me happy, Flutters,” Rainbow said. “And I… I make her happy… it doesn’t matter that I’m her bitch because she’s my alpha, get it? She’s mine.”

To make her point, she wiggled her hips again, crossed her legs, and leaned back. Rainbow was doing that thing where she treated me like furniture and, like every other time she pulled this, I was really going to take her task for it, but she was also not wrong.

I was her alpha.

Hers.

If she wanted to, Rainbow knew damn well how tightly she had me wrapped around her little finger. All she had to do was stick out her lower lip, give me a few crocodile tears, and say ‘please, alpha?’ in that petulant little voice she always used when she wanted her way, and I would fold like crepe paper.

“Rainbow, I…” Fluttershy looked between us, then leaned back in her own chair and sighed. “I just… are you… are you really happy?”

“Happier than I’ve ever been, Flutters,” Rainbow replied honestly, and all the bratty ire was gone from her voice when she spoke.

Then she reached up to the collar and released the lock on it, pulled it off, and turned her head to bare the back of her neck to Fluttershy where a dark imprint of my bite was visible clearly on her skin, and Fluttershy’s eyes flew wide at the sight of the bondmark.

“That’s how happy I am,” Rainbow said as she straightened and replaced the collar. “That’s how sure I am of Sunset.”

I wrapped both of my arms around Rainbow’s middle and hugged her close, pressing my lips to the skin just above where the collar covered the bondmark, and took a long, deep breath. The scent of my bondmate filled my head with delicious peace. I could never get enough of it, and Rainbow and I both knew I’d do anything to protect her.

She may have been born an alpha, but also may as well be an omega for all intents and purposes of our relationship.

Fluttershy ran her hands over her lap, nervously flattening out the creases of her skirt several times before finally closing her eyes, raising her head, and taking a long slow breath that she let out in a quiet sigh.

“All I want,” she began as she opened her eyes again, “is for my best friend to be safe and happy.”

“I am,” Rainbow assured her. “Safer and happier than ever.”

Fluttershy shook her head and, finally, smiled. It was a slightly confused smile, but it was a real one as she looked between us.

“Well, uhm… it’s a little weird, but so long as you’re both happy, I’m happy.” Fluttershy picked up her bagel and polished off what little was left as Rainbow draped herself against me.

“Are you sure?” I asked as I hugged Rainbow. “I really do like you, Flutters, and I don’t want to… I never wanted to hurt you.”

“I’m sure,” Fluttershy laughed as she dabbed at her lips. “I’m… maybe a little disappointed that you won’t be courting me, but neither of us started it for the right reasons either, so maybe that’s for the best.”

“Yeah.” I chuckled as I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly. “You’re probably right.”

“If uhm, if it’s alright with you both, I think I’m going to head home.” Fluttershy laughed weakly as she stood and hefted her carry-on. “This has been a very long day, and uhm… I think I’d like to nap for a few weeks.”

“Mood.” Rainbow grinned as she held out a fist which Fluttershy daintily bumped.

“It’s only a mood because you always want to be napping,” I said grumpily.

She still had my cock pinned to my leg with her ass and it was really beginning to irritate me.

“Still a mood,” Rainbow countered.

“Maybe we, uhm, we can get dinner again, the three of us?” Fluttershy offered, and I nodded.

“Gustav’s again?” I offered. “I’d love to harangue Bonnie again.”

“Oh dear, maybe not,” Fluttershy said, but the laugh hiding under her words told me she wasn’t entirely opposed. “Well, good-bye.”

Fluttershy waved, then turned and left the cafe, leaving Rainbow purring happily in my lap as she half-napped against me. As nice as it felt to have her pressed against me, my situation south of the border was getting seriously problematic, so I gripped Rainbow by the short hair at the back of her head and very slowly drew her back until my lips were right by her ear.

“Yes, alpha?” She asked smugly.

“When we get home,” I replied, “I am going to bend you over the couch and raw dog you until you can’t walk straight.”

“Promise?”

I sighed.

“You little brat.”

Author's Note

We Have Come To Terms

I may write an epilogue, may not, but I have now completed this weird plot bunny that ended up a lot more complicated than it really had any right to be. Hope you all enjoyed it.