FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

“Come on Amber, it’s time to get up.” A voice spoke from the edge of consciousness of the snow leopard.

“Five more minutes.” She murmured as she nuzzled into the wolf’s chest.

“Sorry Amber, but I’m afraid that I can’t wait that long.”

She huffed as they started to untangle themselves from each other’s embrace and the twisted mass of blanket that was wrapped around them. The air around them had a crisp coolness that made both of them shiver slightly when they removed themselves from the warm cocoon they made last night. Frost disappeared into the master bedroom as Amber stretched from sleeping on the couch with Frost. Despite still feeling that annoying “itch” which was quite strong this season, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of contentment as she stretched. To her knowledge, nothing had happened last night. The fact that both of them were still wearing their clothes and that the garments looked undisturbed, made the snow leopard pout a bit. Frost came back out after a few minutes and immediately went to the fireplace.

“Power is still out.” He said as he added a few more logs to the dying embers in an attempt to rekindle the flames. “Not sure how long this outage will be.”

“I couldn't say either.” Amber tried adding thoughtfully. “The town itself rarely loses power.” After getting the fire back to a decent strength again, Frost went to the kitchen and started to get ingredients for breakfast. “Uhmm… How do you plan on cooking anything if we don't have power?”

Frost looked up and blinked at her with some disbelief. He then did something that the snow leopard couldn't quite catch and her ears perked up when she heard the stove ignite.

“How…?”

“Magic.” Frost stated matter of factly, making Amber glare at him. “It's a gas stove. All you need is a way to light it.”

“I didn't know that you could light a stove like that…” She grumbled.

“Never had the power go out for any length of time?” Frost asked as he started cooking.

“Just for a few hours.” Amber admitted. “But really, I spent more time at the market than at home.” Frost just nodded and continued to cook breakfast for them.

Things were quiet as they sat down to eat with nothing but the wind blowing in the background. Despite the simple eggs and sausage breakfast, the taste was really enjoyable to the snow leopard. It was when they were finishing up that something unexpected happened, both of them perked up confused when the doorbell rang. A quick glance out the window revealed that the blizzard was still going rather strong, though not as fiercely as it was just after Amber’s arrival.

“Who could that be?” Frost asked himself. He stopped what he was doing and made his way to the front door. Amber, curious, also put what was in her hands down and followed after the wolf. Once he got to the door, he opened it and immediately stiffened. At first, Amber couldn’t see past the larger wolf but managed to angle herself to see who was at the door. The shock look on her face was just as evident as the wolf’s.

“Uhm… I’m sorry for intruding,” They said standing at the door, fidgeting slightly as they stood there. “But I was wondering if you had power back yet… Amber?”

“Rory? What are you doing here?” Amber asked, before the wolf could say a word.

“Well…” Rory started, scratching the top of her head and knocking a layer of snow off. “With the power out, there's no heat at my place and there's no way to get down to the main part of town safely in this blizzard.” She sighed. “As I said before, I don’t want to impose but… Could I stay here till power comes back on?”

The three of them stood there unmoving as a defining silence fell over the group. Frost had a look of bewilderment on his face as he tried to process the situation that he had just found himself in. Amber could see Frost’s eye twitch for a brief moment as well as a mixture of something else crossing through his eyes. While she hasn’t known the wolf for very long, something told her that there were conflicting feelings that he was wrestling with. On one hand, his good nature instincts were probably conflicting with the animosity he no doubt had towards her since she was the one who had initiated the disaster that had happened when he first arrived.

“Mr Frost…” Rory spoke up, breaking the silence that had settled over the three.

“It's just Frost.” He corrected her.

“Frost,” Rory repeated. “I… admit that I have no memory of our first meeting, nor do I remember any other interactions that I had with you afterwards.”

“Convenient…” Frost muttered under his breath, earning him a swat on the shoulder by Amber.

“Amber, her mother, and a few of my other friends have told me of the events that I am missing. Including what I had done to you the first day that you arrived, and…” Rory continued as she looked down at the floor. “And to be honest, I am appalled at what I had done to you. That any hate you have towards me is well justified and deserved”

“Then why come here?” Frost asked Pointedly. “Especially if you knew that there would be a less than stellar reception for you.”

Rory didn’t immediately respond, more than likely because she was trying to figure out how to respond. Things became quiet again for several long moments as both wolves no doubt fought the conflicts that were probably going on mentally. Sensing that there was potential trouble brewing between them, Amber quickly made a move to lessen the tension brewing.

“Rory, why don’t you come inside before we let all the heat out.” Amber spoke up, derailing any potentially hazardous words that might have been forming on Frost’s tongue. “Frost, can I have a word with you for a moment, please?”

Before Frost could even utter a word, the snow leopard was dragging him away from the door as Rory timidly stepped through. Amber didn’t stop until they were at the entrance of the master bedroom.

“Amber…” Frost hissed as he pulled his arm back. “What the hell are you thinking?!”

“Frost, listen.” She said as she looked him in the eyes. “I know what happened when you first came to the valley was not right and you’re more than right to be still angry about everything that had happened…”

“You’re right,“ Frost bit back. “I am still upset about what happened. And the bitch that started that whole fiasco is currently standing in my foyer!”

“I know…” Amber sighed. “You were wronged by her in more than one way and all anyone has really done was to sweep everything under the rug and look the other direction with barely an apology to you. But Rory is still my friend and she is asking for help.”

“Amber…”

“I know that this is going to be asking a lot from you and I’m not going to ask you to forget what she had done to you, nor am I saying that you should forgive her now. That is something that you will need to decide on your own and when you think that you are ready.” She reached up and cupped his cheek in her hand. ”Frost, please. I know that you’re a kind person at heart and deserve better than what has happened to you, so don’t let that bad experience change you for the worse.”

Frost let out a soft growl of frustration as he closed his eyes and was silent for a moment. “Fine…” He relented. “But if anything happens, this will be strike three for her and I am going to be holding you personally responsible for any mishaps.”

“Deal.”

Before Frost could say anything else, Amber walked out into the foyer with Rory. Frost let out a low growl before he joined the two friends. When he came out, both girls looked at him. Amber looked at him expectantly while Rory had a nervous expression on her face.

“You can stay for now.” He told Rory with a sigh. “But so help me if you do anything…”

“It will be fine.” Amber said, cutting Frost off before he could say much more. “You trust me right?”

“Famous last line…” He muttered as Amber shot him a glare in response. Frost just turned and walked back deeper into the house. Amber sighed as Rory took off her snow covered jacket and boots.

Things fell into an awkward silence as time passed, Frost was abnormally quiet while Rory mostly stayed in the living room. Amber was able to get Rory to open up some, slowly learned where the wolfess’ memories end and the missing gaps began. Frost however stayed in the dining room, keeping his distance from the two girls. Which annoyed Amber quite a bit. It wasn’t until a few hours later that the tension was finally broken by Rory when she came out of the bathroom.

“Uhm… Mr Frost…?”

“It’s just Frost.” He grunted back without looking up from what he was doing.

“Sorry…” She apologized. “But I was wondering, why aren’t you using power?”

“Using power?” Frost looked up at her like she just grew a second head. “Maybe it’s because of the same reason that you are hiding out here instead of your own place.”

“But, what about the generator? Surely that would still be working.”

“What generator?”

It was Rory’s turn to look at Frost like he had two heads.

“The backup generator, surely that is still hooked up to the house’s power supply.”

“I don't know what you are talking about.” He said in slight frustration. “Granted, I wasn’t exactly given a grand tour of the property but still…”

“Well… There's one way to find out.” Rory said as she went around the corner and entered the utility room, Frost got up and followed after her. Curious, Amber tagged along after the two. She ended up chasing the two into the garage, and could overhear Rory explaining things to the other wolf. After a series of clicks of switches, Frost called out to the snow leopard.

“Hey Amber, could you check to see if we got power in the kitchen, please?”

She ducked back into the kitchen and flipped the lights in. “We got power.” She called back to the two. Soon, both wolves came back into the main part of the house with Rory continuing part of an explanation that Amber missed part of.

“... the generator is hooked up to the main power line which can power most of the house like normal. However, due to the size of the generator, we will have to keep an eye on our usage. Too much at once will trip the breaker, or could cause the generator to overload. So we should be alright if we limit ourselves to using the living room, kitchen and first floor bathroom lights, plus the stove should be alright to use.”

“Well, that's rather handy. Is there anything else that might be hooked up to the generator?”

”Like I mentioned, the house is basically wired to run normally on the generator. But it’s just the house itself. None of the out buildings are wired to the generator.” Rory said as she tapped her muzzle in thought. “While Uncle Ashton could have easily afford a large enough generator that could run an entire farm on its own, he chose a smaller one that the house is connected to.”

“I see…” Frost mused to himself.

“Well,” Amber spoke up and gained the two’s attention by clapping her hands. “Maybe this can be a good opportunity, Frost.”

“How so?”

”Since Rory has lived here before, I’m sure that she’ll be more than happy to help show you some of the things that the house has to offer that neither of us know about yet.”

“Certainly.” Rory piped up. “And perhaps I could show you a few other things, as an apology for what happened before.”

“Oh? Like what?” Frost asked a bit skeptically.

“Like… This.” Rory said as she stepped up and planted a kiss on Frost’s muzzle.

Amber was stunned at what had just happened in front of her. Her best friend, someone that was like a sister to her, was kissing the guy she liked right in front of her. Words failed to come out as her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. Then, much to her horror, Frost started to reciprocate Rory’s affection! His hands fell to her hips as he pressed into the kiss, groping her through her jeans as she wiggled into his touch. Her arms wrapped around his neck as they continued to make out. It was the only description that her stunned mind could describe what she was seeing.

The next thing she knew, she was hit by a shirt that covered her face. She wasn’t sure whose shirt it was because when she pulled it off, both of them were now making out topless. Frost then broke off their kiss and turned towards the snow leopard with a devious grin on his face.

“Aren’t you glad that you convinced me to let her in?…”

-

Amber sat up in bed with a startled yelp, her heart racing noticeably from the dream she had just woken up from. After a few seconds to mentally calm down, she flopped back onto the bed with a sigh. Staring at the darkened ceiling, her thoughts went back to the dream that was turning into a nightmare. Events didn’t play out like her subconscious mind had shown her, things had actually fallen into an awkward silence after the generator was turned on.

A soft knock on the door brought her to the here and now.

“Amber,” A familiar voice asked from the other side. “Are you alright?”

“Yes…” The snow leopard huffed with some annoyance.

“Can I come in?”

The whiskers on her muzzle twitched in annoyance as she thought about the request. Rory was her best friend and normally she would have no issues with opening up to the wolf, on the other hand her subconscious was making Rory out as competition. Her mind was torn between wanting to get rid of Rory and seeking comfort from her best friend, however, the jealous part of her was losing over the overwhelming knowledge that her best friend wouldn’t act like what her subconscious thought.

“Door’s open…” Amber said as she sat up and put her legs over the side of the bed, the door slowly opened and Rory stepped into the room.

Rory stopped briefly as she entered the room, noticing the state of dress her friend was in. The wolf was dressed in a loose t-shirt that covered the small pair of shorts that she was wearing. In contrast, Amber was nearly naked, wearing nothing but a special pair of panties that was meant for people going through their heat. While Amber was accustomed to her state of dress, it was evident that Rory wasn’t. Though it showed briefly on her face, the wolf never mentioned anything about her discomfort. Instead, she just sat on the bed next to the snow leopard.

“Are you alright?” Rory asked, breaking the silence.

“Yeah…” Amber started to say. “Well… No… I mean… I don't know.” She huffed in frustration.

“We’re still friends right? You can talk to me.”

“We are.” Amber started quickly. “It’s just…”

“Just…?”

“It was just a nightmare.” Amber muttered as she tucked her legs under her chin and rested her head on her knees.

“A nightmare?” Rory asked to confirm what she heard. Amber nodded her head in response. “Okay, this is going to need more than girl talk.” She said as she stood up. “I’ll be right back.”

Amber watched her friend leave, confused as to what the wolf was possibly up to. After a few minutes, Rory came back with a plate of Oreos and what looked like a glass of milk. The wolf handed her the glass of milk and held out the plate of cookies. Amber opened her mouth to ask Rory what the snack was for, but Rory hushed her and told her to take a cookie and eat it. Sighing in resignation, she took the Oreo and ate it with a sip of milk afterwards. There was a hint of something in the milk, something sweet and an extra flavor that made her feel oh so much better.

“A touch of vanilla and a little bit of sweetener.” Rory said, seeing the content face that Amber made. “It was something that my uncle always gave me after having my share of nightmares after he took me in.”

“I can see the calming effect of the milk.” Amber said before taking another sip. “But why the cookies?”

“It’s because of an old wives tale that my uncle told me. If you have a dream or nightmare that you don’t want to have come true, eat something before you tell someone. That way, it will be less likely to come true.”

Amber chuckled as she took another Oreo and ate it.

“So, what was the dream about?”

Amber stopped mid motion. The brief moment had made her forget about the dream but the question had dragged it back into the forefront of her mind. She sighed as she lowered the half eaten cookie down to her lap, her fluffy tail wrapped around her waist as her gaze fell to her lap and ears fell back against her head.

“Amber?” Rory asked, her voice full of concern.

“It’s nothing…” Amber sighed.

“It sure doesn’t seem like nothing.” Rory placed a comforting hand on her friend’s shoulder.

“It’s… stupid really.” Amber said as she hugged her tail. “You remember how you showed up earlier?”

“Yeah, because I lost power and heat at my place.” Rory offered. “Why?”

“Well… In my dream, things happened… Different…”

“Diffrent?” Rory looked at the snow leopard confused. “How?”

“Well…” Amber fidgeted with her tail as she spoke, plucking at stray strands of fur. “My dream happened about the same as the actual events until…”

“Until…?”

“Until you started to make out with Frost.”

“What!?!” Rory’s shock was all over her face as she looked at her friend. “You’re kidding right?” Amber shook her head in response. Rory could only blink in surprise, her mind trying to process the information her friend confessed. It took a minute for Rory to find her voice again and Amber had practically buried her face in her tail. “Well…” Rory started, looking at her friend curiously. “Did you join us?”

“RORY!” Amber exclaimed in shock from Rory’s question, only to quickly cover her mouth when she realized how loud she just was.

“Easy.” Rory responded amused. “It was just an innocent question.”

“Not as innocent as you are making it out to be.”

“Well… Did you?”

“No.” Amber huffed. “I woke up right after it started.”

“I see…” A mischievous glint sparked in the wolf’s eye. “Would you join if it happened? I’m sure that Frost wouldn’t mind if…” Rory didn’t finish her sentence as a pillow was slapped across her muzzle.

“Rory! Don’t you even finish that though!” Rory responded by sticking out her tongue and slapped Amber with the other pillow, both girls started to giggle as they went into pillow fight mode.

-

It took another day before the blizzard finally came to an end and allowed people to come out to clean up the snow that fell that had buried the area under twenty four to thirty inches of snow. High winds had caused the storm to last a little longer than three days, keeping everyone in the area hunkered down until it finally passed that night. The storm had turned the area into a winter wonderland with knee to waist high snow piles that, while looking majestic, had people buried in their homes.

Amber’s nefarious reasons for coming to Frost’s home were kept under control and with Rory’s help, quietly forgotten in that time and Amber returned back to her less promiscuous personality. Much to Frost’s relief. The time had also allowed Amber to work on Frost to forgive Rory. The whole affair was a large misunderstanding on the she-wolf’s part and while she had lost her memories of the incident, she did express how sorry she was. Though nobody diminished what had happened to Frost as anything but deplorable and obsessive. While Frost did eventually relent on some things, Amber could tell that he hadn’t fully forgiven Rory.

Some things take time.

Once the trio saw the clear skies, Frost and the two girls had gone out mid morning to start the tedious task of removing the gathered snow from the driveway and from Amber’s buried car that now looked like an igloo with the amount of snow piled on it. The three worked together to dig themselves out from under the fallen snow, each one taking a task in an effort to help the others. Rory had gone out to a shed where a tractor with a bucket was stored and with practice ease, was using the bucket attachment to remove piles of snow from the driveway. Frost had taken a shovel and was doing the paths that Rory couldn’t reach with the tractor as well as moving the snow away from some of the buildings so Rory had an easier time moving the large amount of snow. Amber did what she could once her car was cleared, helping Frost shovel the paths and building entrances.

It was a few hours later and the trio had just come in to warm up from the cold. Even with the machine’s help and the trio working together, it still took past noon before they could reach the end of the driveway and to where the road was supposed to be. There was no telling when a snow plow would make it up to that point. The current plan was to warm up, eat, then clear a trail to Rory’s place a half mile down the road to both dig out her driveway and to see if she had power back yet.

The trio were sitting at the table and sipping their drinks of choice when a strange noise started playing. The three of them were confused as the noise continued, until Amber reached into her pocket and pulled out her buzzing phone.

“It’s my mom.” She said as she answered the call. “Hey m….” Was all she was able to get out before her mother cut her.

“AMBER! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!” The matriarch snow leopard shouted so loud that not only did Amber have to pull the phone away from her ear, but she was so loud that Frost and Rory both winced away from the phone. “DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED SICK I'VE BEEN!?!”

Amber had nearly thrown her phone in shock when her mother started yelling on the other end, barely keeping her grip on the device when she pulled it away from her ear. “Gee mom…” she said as she put it on speaker. “I missed you too…”

“Don’t you take that tone with me, young lady!” Victoria growled authoritatively. “First you disappear without a word and don’t contact me for three days. Do you know how much that sort of situation would worry a parent? As far as I’m concerned you’re in very hot water, missy!”

“Mom, please…” Amber deadpanned “I am an adult, you don’t need to worry that much about me….”

“Amber, I am your Mother!” Victoria stated matter of factly. “Of course I’m going to worry. It's virtually expected as a parent to worry about my children.“ Victoria sighed. “You didn’t say a word when you left and just left. How do I know if you're safe when I don’t know where you are or where you’re supposedly going?”

“I’m perfectly safe, mom.” Amber sighed. “I just didn’t plan on the storm to be as severe as it was.”

“That does not inspire confidence dear…As far as I know, you could have ended up in the middle of nowhere cold and alone.”

“I’ll admit, my uncle’s place is some distance from town but it’s not exactly the middle of nowhere.” Frost said in defence, the sound of his voice silencing the two snow leopards. The whiskers on Amber’s face twitched as the silence deafened the room, her mother quiet as time ticked by. It was a long minute before either found their voice.

“M-Mr. Frost?” Victoria’s cautious voice came through the speaker as if she may have misheard his voice.

“It’s just Frost, but… Yes, Mrs. Snowden?”

Silence returned as the elder snow leopard processed the seemingly new information.

“Amber…” She finally spoke after a few moments.

“Yes mother?”

“What did you do?...”

“Mom… I just…” Before Amber could continue, Victoria cut off her daughter.

“My GOD, Amber! What the Hell did you DO?!?” Amber tried to speak and explain what happened but her mother started crying into the phone. “Oh My GOD…” she cried out as a realization hit her. “Amber, how could you? What were you thinking!?! You’re not ready to be a mother.”

“Mom…”

“Mrs. Snowden.”

“Heck, I’m not ready to be a Grandmother yet! You promised that you were going to wait for the right guy.” Victoria continued rambling, virtually ignoring Frost and Amber. “God… what are we going to do about the kids… there’s so much we need to prepare for… We’re so not ready for kids…”

“Aunt Vickie, calm down.” Rory interrupted, her voice acting like a glass of cold water on the panicking mother.

“Rory ?” Victoria asked after a moment of silence. “Is that you?”

“Yes auntie, it’s me.” Rory said calmly. “And I can tell you that I’ve been here with both Amber and Frost for the majority of the blizzard’s duration. Both of them have behaved themselves so whatever you were thinking did not happen…” Rory kept the rest of her sentence quiet with the words ‘Yet’ and ‘as far as she knew’ unspoken. There was no need to add any more fuel to the elder snow leopard’s imagination.

“So… No grandchildren?”

Rory looked at her companions and after a sheepish look at each other, both shook their heads no.

“No, auntie.” Rory said, rolling her eyes. “No children. Frost was a standup gentleman, despite Amber’s occasional attempts…” she ribbed

“Rory!” Amber exclaimed while the wolf gave her friend a cheeky smile.

“I see.” Victoria said, her voice sounding both relieved and slightly disappointed at the same time. “I guess I have to take your word on that.” She sighed. “I… guess that I jumped the gun a little…”

“You guess?” Frost muttered flatly, earning him two scowl looks that he seemed to ignore. Frost cleared his throat. “Well, Mrs. Snowden, hopefully the majority of your fears have been laid to rest and I’m certain that as soon as the plow breaks through, Amber will be returning home so you can pester her for better details in person.”

“Frost!”

Frost grinned as he excused himself and was eventually followed by Rory so that Amber could continue talking to her mother. Amber could hear the door closing a few seconds later as the two went back outside. She sighed as she slumped slightly over the table as she rubbed her forehead.

“Amber…” Her mother’s tone was softer than it had been a moment ago. “Is everything alright?”

“Yes…” Amber started to say, before changing her answer. “No, I don’t know…”

“What happened?” Victoria’s voice was filled with concern.

“I… I almost fucked up.” Amber confessed.

The phone was quiet. Amber thought that the call had disconnected because of how long her mother was silent. Just before she reached out for her phone to check, her mother spoke up.

“Amber, if you’re talking about going to Frost’s house to…”

“That’s just it mom…” Amber said with a mix of emotions. “I almost drove him away. I almost forced Frost into something that he didn’t want to do and ruined the future of Dalows Valley in the process because of my selfish need.”

Victoria was silent again as she processed what her daughter had just said. “Amber… What are you talking about? It’s obvious that you like him. Like, a lot. Otherwise you wouldn’t have gone to his house so why…”

“Because…” Amber found herself blurting out. “Frost is… He’s Ashton Tavor’s nephew… and I almost chased him away.” Victoria was too stunned to respond. Amber wasn’t crying yet but her mother could hear the tears coming from her actions. “God… I’m such a terrible, selfish person.”

“Amber…” Victoria’s voice came over the phone cool and calm. “Is Frost packing up to leave the valley?”

“Well… No…”

“Did he send you away?”

“No, but he said he couldn’t let me leave with the blizzard…”

“Hush…” Victoria said, silencing her daughter before she continued. “When you are able to get home, you are going to have to tell me everything, and I mean everything that has happened.” Amber gulped as her mother continued. “ I know that you are an adult and can make decisions on your own. But… You’re still my daughter and you do still live under my roof. So I expect an explanation when you get home.”

“Yes mom…”