*Sneak Peek* MUSH! (sneak peek)

[Sasha Distan]

So, because of ma, sis and W_L, I started writing a new novel before i'd even finished Summer Camp, and for those of you who have been wondering about my promised follow up for Running Home: No Place Like Home For The Holidays, which i wrote for W_L's amazing winter non-GA competition (go check the other stories, all very cool - and JoAnn won (go croc!)).

I had a great demon story all lined up, and then Ma, the lovely Kitt (who has done a sterling editing job as per her usual wonderment), asked if everyone had their stories "lined up and ready to go" and then i had another idea. my sister Wings convinced me (thank you) to run with it (literally as it turned out), and half an hour with a family tree maker and one long and very boring work meeting later, i accidentally had a novel.

 

and so i give you MUSH! a novel about dogs, snow and family. the chapters are quite long (8000 words) so I haven't got enough ready to start uploading, but I thought i'd give you all a little sneaky bit from Chapter 1. and yes, i will publish the family tree, because keeping this many names under control takes a while.

 

 

The Sabaakax children ate like any other pack of huskies, silently and quickly. There was nothing but the sound of sharp teeth tearing through frozen fish flesh as the huskies literally wolfed their breakfast. Socco finished his fish and turned to his youngest lover to nuzzle at the thick ruff.

“Babe? You not hungry?”

Dinahei yawned, his bright blue eyes pinching closed as his long pink tongue was exposed. Socco felt his heart race, remembering where that pink tongue had been. Natu liked them to have at least a modicum of privacy, so they had dug into the old snow, creating a burrow big enough to house the three full grown canines before they had settled in for the night. Dinahei had been pliant and delightful between them, and all three had shared love and pleasure round and round in circles until all the snow in their hollow had threatened to melt.

“For fuck’s sake Dinahei.” The blue and white husky’s oldest brother scowled, his liver-red fur bristling. “Eat your breakfast would you? Before someone steals it.” He shot Natu an acidic yellow stare. “Again.”

“Like I would steal his food.” Natu snarled, even as he pressed his shoulder into the littler huskies side. “He gave it to me.”

“Then he’s stupider than I fucking thought to be involved with you two. Come on!” He barked to the others. “Let’s go!”

“Are you mushing today?” Suda, the eldest of the Sabaakax cousins asked, sitting down next to the sled. The thick set brown dog didn’t look as though he’d slept well, and his posture was wary. “We’d best get going, or we’ll be late.”

“We won’t be.” Cenai was munching through a homemade cereal bar, thick with honey and nuts. Her aunt made them for the journey. She tucked some seal-jerky into her jacket where it would thaw against her body so she could eat it later. “I know you want to be off, don’t flick your ears at me big brother.”

“Are we really likely to run into anyone at this time?” Kinai asked between chewing the ice out from between his toes. Dinahei nuzzled his middle brother gently with a soft grin. “Why don’t we all run? We’ll make faster time.”

Their eldest brother growled.

“Better safe than sorry. We can’t afford another close call if someone sees a team pulling an empty sled.” Mak shook his liver-brown muzzle firmly. “Someone has got to be standing there, if only for the look of the thing.”

“Alright then.” Cenai pulled on her gloves in two layers, micro fleece and seal skin. “Let’s go.”

Natu barked and danced in the snow as the team assembled, and got growled at by Mak for his trouble. Socco snapped back, and it was only through the joint urge to be back in the traces and running, that the fight was not joined. The beauty of an entire sled team made up of shifters was they could pretty much get themselves ready. The downside of having a sled team made up entirely of siblings, cousins and second cousins was they bickered like mad. Cenai packed up the breakfast box, locked it, and checked over the sled. She could read the behaviour and body language of her family perfectly well as a human and chatted to the dogs as they fitted themselves into their harnesses. She walked with the pale dove-grey and white form of her cousin towards the head of the line and Socco grumbled.

“I don’t wanna run behind Kipa.” He stepped into the traces in second position. “No offense sis.”

Mak, who was Kipa’s mate, snarled at his tone, but he was already strapped in on the other side from Suda. Cenai stopped, her hand in her second cousins fur and stared at the big half malamute with one raised eyebrow.

“Well who else is gonna run lead dog?” The assembled huskies regarded him with expressions ranging from questioning to annoyance. The worst thing you could do to any eager husky was delay the moment he or she could start running.

“I wanna run behind Dinahei.” Socco grinned, brown eyes sparkling with mischief. “What? The view is better.”

Natu chuckled, tail high and ears pricked, “Oh yeah. Good plan. Put Dinahei in front, we’ll all run harder.”

“You mean you two will?” Suda shrugged from his favoured position as wheel-dog. He didn’t care who ran upfront, just as long as they got going soon. He stamped in the traces. “May as well. Do it sis.”

Kipa snarled at her brother as she passed him. Socco merely flicked his ear in acknowledgement of her annoyance. He’d got what he wanted. He could easily ignore his only sibling’s anger. Whatever fight she was going to have with him would come at some indeterminate point in the future, so it wasn’t his problem… yet. Kipa took up the spot behind Natu halfway along the traces where Dinahei would have run, and Cenai clucked her tongue to her youngest cousin, who stopped to nuzzle both his lovers as he moved to the head of the team. She hooked Dinahei’s harness to the carabiner at the front of the traces and checked the line.

“You sure you’re ready for this kiddo?” She ruffled his ears through the thick leather and wool of her gloves. “You gotta be ready to pull OK?”

Dinahei barked excitedly. Being the youngest, he basically never got to lead.

“What the hell is the rush anyway?” Taba asked, shaking out her snow white lilac tipped tail. “We’ve done our last drop, the sled is light. No more deliveries. It’s just about going home.”

Dinahei turned to his cousin with his ears up in disbelief.

“Have you forgotten what day tomorrow is?”

“Huh?”

“Oh sister…” Seeba shook her head at her sibling’s words.

“It’s Christmas!” Dinahei barked joyfully. “We gotta be home for the holidays!”

With a crack like a whip, Cenai broke the sled out from the ice which clogged up the runners and stepped onto the back, kicking up the break.

“Alright guys, let’s get home to our alpha for Christmas.” The dogs barked excitedly. “MUSH!”

“Dinahei!” Socco shouted.

“Huh?” The little dog glanced back at his lover.

“GO!” Both his partners barked.

The smaller husky yelped in surprise, threw his weight against the padded webbing straps around his shoulders and chest, and they were off. The sled ground on the snow, the front runners ploughing through the drift before lifting onto the new surface, and every single one of them pulled forwards as hard as they could. Suda and Mak at the back of sled snarled with the effort, the two big dogs taking the brunt of weight as they freed the craft. The sled groaned, a bolt somewhere in the runners squealed, and then momentum overtook the friction and the sled slid rather than ground against the hard snow. One more push, and each of the ten huskies was running free, ears up and tongues lolling as they went with joy.

To Socco, there was very little better than running, feeling the pull of his family around him, the weight of the sled behind them, the tight tug behind. There were even fewer things better than running towards home, the bonding as each of them pulled towards home and the rest of their family. By tonight, they’d be home and warm, and even though every last one of the eleven children of the Sabaakax family loved to run, they’d somehow be glad this trip was over. The last trip out before Christmas was always hard. There were always extra stops to be made, sudden last minute packages needing to be hauled across the Interior, and they had run for fourteen days solid. The sled had weighed tons and ounces by degrees and the going had been hard when the wind was against them and the ice had bit into their fur. But Socco couldn’t imagine a life without running and pulling the sled. However hard it was, the work brought them joy.

The big grey and white husky pulled hard in the traces, running behind his youngest mate. Even better than pulling towards home and Christmas, the promise of food, warmth and fire, even better than the fact there would be presents, warm beds and time to snuggle wearing their skin, was the fact he was running with the man he loved and behind the boy he loved. Dinahei ran with his tail high and curled up over his haunches, giving the two dogs following him an excellent view of his bright white behind. Socco pushed ever harder as he ran, because having a prize that good to chase was too tempting an opportunity to pass up on.  Socco let his imagination roam as he ran.

They’d spent the night wrapped up in each other’s fur, the last night they’d be able to for a while. Socco had piled love and adoration on each of his partners, well aware of the fact that when they returned home, their largely uninterrupted lovemaking would be over. The memory of Natu whimpering under him in his brain made Socco grin. He looked over and slightly back at the grey brindled husky, and as though he knew what Socco was thinking, he flicked and ear and smiled. All his body language spoke of love and desire.

Socco’s relationship with Natu and Dinahei was not generally well understood by their siblings and cousins, and unfortunately, they weren’t going to be getting away from snide comments like Mak’s when they returned home. They were all going to the big house which Dinahei, his next eldest brother, parents and grandparents all shared with their Alpha. There was no way anyone was going to be cool with the idea of the three of them sharing Dinahei’s room, even though everyone was going to have to double up anyway. There simply weren’t enough bedrooms. Of course, Mak and Kipa got their own, because they were mated. Socco found it deeply unfair. He, Natu and Dinahei had been together just as long, but no one in the family openly recognised what they shared as a real relationship. Socco suddenly wished something would happen to the sled or the traces and they’d get stranded, because at least he and his lovers could sneak away and screw each other’s brains out properly before they had to go home. 

[mickey1952]

First, Born Wolf, and now Mush. Damn if you haven't made a convert to this genre! I'm looking forward to more, my friend.

[Sasha Distan]

First, Born Wolf, and now Mush. Damn if you haven't made a convert to this genre! I'm looking forward to more, my friend.

 

my specialty hun! in between the canines and the bears, there may one day be room for something a bit more feline...