Caught

Layla kissed Finn goodbye at the door, like she did every morning, and saw him off with a smile. As soon as the door closed, he trotted down the steps from the little porch to the curb where his car was parked like usual. The tall Elk was understandably surprised to spot an equally tall Dragoness with bright red scales, dressed in a long white coat, walking quickly down the sidewalk toward him just as he was about to climb in.

“Good morning, Mr. Splinterprong,” Elan’s mother greeted Finn politely, “I know you’re on your way to work, but could we talk for just a moment?”

The Elk quirked a brow, but closed the door and leaned on the hood of the car instead. “Of course, Mrs. Silenttooth. What did you need to talk about?”

“Elan”, she answered curtly, coming to a stop just a pace or two in front of the bumper. “How are you — coping — with him in the house? It’s been nearly a month now, and frankly I expected him home after a week at most.”

Finn’s head tilted just a little. Much as he’d like to feign ignorance, he fully understood why the Dragoness had expected that outcome ... but still found it just a tad insulting, for Elan’s sake, that she didn’t have more confidence in her son. Then again, he didn’t really have any idea how well behaved — or not — Elan was for his own parents.

“He’s not a bother at all,” Finn promised, mostly honestly, “Of course there’s been some changes in the usual routines, but he’s not making any more mess than Corbin ever did, so ... ” He let the details go with a shrug.

Mrs. Silenttooth gave him a hard stare for a moment, as though searching for the omitted details in his eyes. “Alright,” she sighed at last, though more in exasperation than reassurance, “Your wife said something similar, before school let out. I’ll be more frank this time, and ask you to forgive it: my son has a smell that … provokes a strong hormonal response, to put it politely. Particularly in women. I’m not here to cast accusations, but have you noticed —?”

He held up a hand to stop her there, casting a quick look up and down the sidewalk to be sure none of their other neighbors were in earshot. “We’re aware,” Finn admitted, “And I won’t pretend there haven’t been some changes in our — family dynamics — since he moved in. Well, since before he moved in, honestly.”

Mrs. Silenttooth frowned at that, and started to make some remark that he interrupted with his hand once more. “I stand by everything I said before. You’ve raised a good kid, Mrs. Sillenttooth,” he complimented her sincerely, “He’s been showering regularly, consistent with using that deodorant you’ve been kind enough to supply, and respects the other rules my wife and I have for our house.”

None of that was a lie. He could look her confidently in the eye as he stated each one — which seemed to surprise the Dragoness somewhat. But her posture eased as the assurance settled in. “Thank you for being so kind to him.”

Finn smiled. “I’m about to be late,” he noted, strolling around to the other side of the car again, “But you and your husband should come over for Peace Day in a couple of weeks. If things between our boys keep going like they are, we’re likely to be family soon.”

That little tidbit seemed more like a shock than a surprise. He supposed Elan hadn’t told her yet that he and Corbin were dating. But he didn’t have time to explain, and she respected the time he’d already given to her. She simply thanked him again as he got into his car and pulled away from the curb.

— — — — —

Layla kissed Finn goodbye at the door, like she did every morning, and saw him off with a smile. As soon as the door closed, she headed back upstairs and down the hall to the master bedroom at the very end, intent on starting the day with a shower, like she typically did. Laying her clothes for the day out on the bed, she shimmied out of her pajamas and—

Her nose crinkled at the door to the attached bathroom. The polite and loving Doe would never say as much to her husband — it was hardly his fault, and nothing he could help — but occasionally his “morning business” ... really left an odor. It would air out in a few minutes, naturally, and wouldn’t actually hurt anything at all ... but she had no desire to bathe in the same room as that smell. The only other shower in the house was in the hall bathroom, though, which her son used.

School was out — forever, finally, as Corbin cheered every time it crossed his mind — and her son was celebrating practically every single night by staying up later than he’d ever been allowed before and, consequently, sleeping well into the following day. That wasn’t a good habit to get into, and Finn and Layla already had plans to discuss the next steps in life with their son soon ... but for now, they saw no harm in letting him enjoy one last summer as if he was still in school. He wouldn’t be up for at least another couple of hours, she was sure.

All the same, she wrapped a fresh towel around her entire body before stealing a peek into the hall, just in case. Corbin’s door was closed. With her change of clothes folded over her arm, the Doe stepped carefully down the hall, pressing one large ear to her son’s door. She could just make out the faint sounds of not-quite-snoring on the other side.

Reassured that Corbin was still sound asleep, she slipped into the bathroom and closed the door. Layla draped her change of clothes over the lid of the hamper that Corbin’s dirty things usually went into, and she hung her towel on the little peg within reach of the tub before carefully stepping inside and pulling the curtain all the way around. It was the kind that’s transparent around the top, and would have covered an average person from roughly the neck down ... but Elks are a tall Kinship, so it only concealed Layla up to just under her shoulders.

The warm water felt wonderful, and the spray on her face washed the last dregs of lingering sleep from her eyes. This was why she liked morning showers, rather than evening ones. They made a great start to the day. With just a mild sense of embarrassment, Layla realized she’d left her usual soap and shampoo in her own bathroom, and silently apologized as she lathered her hands with the bar her son used. With a soft giggle, the Doe wondered if he’d notice the scent of coconut on her during the day.

She’d forgotten the lock. Layla had just washed and finished rinsing when the door opened. She nearly squealed in her surprise, freezing stock-still with just her head above the opaque part of the curtain, as Corbin stepped into the room and stationed himself in front of the toilet. Layla’s entire face turned a burning red as he loosed the stream into the bowl, but she stayed perfectly still, perfectly silent, holding her breath. She’d made a terrible mistake ... but if Corbin didn’t realize ...

Her son finished his business, yawning as he washed his hands, and started out the door. The sound of the running shower seemed to hit his foggy brain just before it closed. Layla’s heart started beating like a hammer when the door opened back up a crack, and the younger Elk peeked his head back inside. “... Mom?”

Layla stared at him like a deer in headlights. Part of her hoped that if she didn’t answer, Corbin would go back to bed and brush it off as a dream. But he was wide awake now, staring at her every bit as wide-eyed as she was staring at him ... until a smug smile crept across his face, and he stepped fully back into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

She’d been caught.

Corbin’s mother swallowed her nerves. “... Good morning, dear,” she greeted quietly with just a bit of a tremble in her voice.

The younger Elk snickered. “Morning, Mom,” he answered, leaning his shoulder against the door, “Don’t sound so scared. I’m not the pushy sort, you know, and you’re allowed to refuse,” he reminded her without stating exactly what she was allowed to refuse.

But she wouldn’t. She would obey. Regardless of what he asked, Layla already knew she would submit. Because if she didn’t, she would have to sit aside the next time Elan came home, and endure that wonderful, mind-numbing scent of his without being allowed to satisfy the cravings it would induce. Just the thought of that consequence nearly drove a needy bleat from her throat. “Please, son ... be kind.”

His answer to that was a short and simple instruction: “Open the curtain.” The color in Layla’s cheeks moved down her neck and across her shoulders. But she obediently reached up and took one edge of the concealing curtain, pulling it around the rim of the tub, until she was fully exposed beneath the spray of the water. Corbin just smiled while his mother stood with one arm across her breasts, the opposite hand tucked protectively between her legs, and both wide eyes fixed unblinkingly on the tall tent pitched in the front of his loose pajama pants. “... Is it that much different when Elan’s not around?” the younger Elk giggled at his mom’s deep blush.

She breathed a long, slow exhale. “His scent isn’t here to drown out my shame,” she reminded him quietly, though she managed to shake the fearful look off her face, if only to replace it with a chastised one instead, “So ... while it’s only just as bad as it ever was ... I feel it much more keenly now,” the Doe admitted. Finally she dared to look up into her son’s eyes, and slid the arm over her breasts down to just below them, baring her nipples to his sight. “Please, whatever you have in mind, do it quickly, so I can go hide my face for a while,” she begged.

Corbin’s smile turned just a little pitying, and he rubbed his head between his small antlers. The first time the scent had gotten to him, Elan had told him point-blank that it was okay to get angry and blame everything on the Dragon, if he had regrets the next day. Elan tried hard not to let it show, but he still had his own sense of guilt about the whole thing, and the worst of it came from knowing he made other people feel guilty. Looking at his mother now, Corbin really understood that feeling.

“Come here,” the younger Elk smiled, crooking his finger to coax her into leaning forward without actually stepping out of the tub. When she stretched out her neck, Corbin kissed his mother softly on the lips, then took a couple of steps back and flashed her a big smile.

The Doe blinked, and tilted her head. “... That’s all?”

“Yep,” her son nodded, giving her one last little wave as he slipped out the door, “Love you, Mom.” He turned the lock on the knob before closing it behind him.

Her knees felt weak. For safety’s sake, Layla had to sit down in the tub, letting the warm water fall over the top of her head, while one hand clutched the ceramic rim and the other pressed over her pounding heart. The water wasn’t the only source of the dampness between her legs, and the region low in her belly was uncomfortably tight for some reason, as she asked herself why she felt so ... disappointed.

It seemed like she sat there for a long time, though it couldn’t have been more than a minute or two, questioning herself in several ways before she mustered up the nerve to turn the water off and climb out of the tub. Layla took her time drying herself, from head to hoof to tail, staring at her own naked body in the mirror the entire time. Picking up the panties from the top of the pile of fresh clothes she’d brought in, Layla looked at the simple white undergarment for a moment like she couldn’t remember what it was used for ... then laid it back down and wrapped her towel around her body instead.

He’d let her off the hook, but Corbin was obviously excited by the sight of her, at least. Layla was not at all surprised to find him stretched out on his bed with his rod in his fist when she opened his door ... though he was understandably surprised to be caught at it. “Ack! Mom!” the younger Elk gasped, yanking a corner of his blanket into his lap quickly, “You’re supposed to knock, you know?!”

The Doe just nodded as she stepped inside and closed the door behind her. “Yes, I am.” Her son stared at her in clear confusion, while Layla stood hesitantly by the door. The motherly side of her was screaming that she should praise him for his self-restraint a moment ago, for being so lenient with his mother, even for being more mature than she was ... especially right now. The side of her that was a carnal animal, greatly strengthened by Elan’s aphrodisic scent these last two years, was only staring hungrily at the lump beneath the blanket.

Layla cleared her throat to force herself to breathe, and untucked the corner of the towel between her breasts, letting it fall to the floor behind her hooves. “When you catch me naked, you get to do whatever you please,” she reminded him softly with her cheeks burning, “At all other times, in all other places, you have to mind me like a good son should. Isn’t that right?”

Corbin looked to be struggling to decide whether or not she’d lost her mind, nodding slowly in a distracted fashion. His mother walked slowly — and a little more stiffly than she’d have liked — over to the side of his bed, holding her hands behind her back like they’d been tied there. “You’ve always been good about obeying that second part,” she muttered, half to herself, with eyes fixed between his legs, “I think Elan would be ... disappointed ... if you didn’t get to enjoy the first part, when it came up. And so would I,” she confessed, licking her lips nervously and trying to keep her breath to a steady rhythm. “So ... your mother is telling you ... you shouldn’t let her off so easily. Or hide under blankets like a frightened child,” she added, trying to sound stern despite the tremble in her body suggesting she was actually the more frightened one at the moment, “Don’t make me tell Elan ... that you didn’t behave like you should, when he gets home.”

Her son’s eyes shot wide and his chin fell slack, as if completely unable to believe she’d just reversed the threat on him ... but he pulled the blanket out from over his hips. His erection stood straight up like a spear aimed at her chin, bright pink and glistening from the pre-cum he’d already stroked down it. Layla’s heart pounded in her ears, and she licked her lips subconsciously again as she got down on her knees. “You really are a good boy, Corbin,” she assured him quickly, running her fingers down the side of her throat as if personally pulling the blush further down from her cheeks, while her other hand reached out to tip his dick a little more toward her, “I’m sorry you wound up with a mother like me ... ” She kissed the front of the shaft with a soft sigh, over the large vein that ran visibly up the length of it, then closed her lips around the tip and bowed her head until her nose touched his belly. As the whole of her son’s shaft rested on her warm tongue, she cupped it around him, sucking lightly as she drew her head back up.

It wasn’t Elan’s fault. She’d known that for some time now. It would be convenient to blame him, and he was so conflicted about the effects of his own scent that he’d willingly take that blame, she was sure. But Layla knew it wasn’t his fault. At least not where she was concerned. At the very worst, he’d cracked the already thin wall that was her inhibitions. She’d torn the rest of it down herself. The fantasies she endured when he wasn’t in the house ... the things she yearned for right now ... were torments of her own making. Being unable to fight off the effects of Elan’s scent was just a nice excuse, to take the edge off her guilt.

“Mom, what are you doing?!” Corbin gasped, pressing a hand on top of her head like he couldn’t decide whether to push her away or push her deeper in.

She slid all the way up to his tip, letting him pull free and resting him against her brow, breathing warmly against his sac while she answered. “I really do love your father, Corbin. Please don’t try to take me away, or deliberately get between us. But ... you’re a man, now,” the Doe sighed, as if sad to admit it, “Fully grown, graduated, over the age of majority.”

He was breathing heavily, hardly taking in the weight of her words. His dick twitched against her forehead, as if pleading to be let back into the warm confines of her mouth ... or somewhere even tighter. “W-what ... does that have to ... do with ... ?”

“It means I don’t make the rules anymore,” Layla confessed, sliding her tongue out to lick his balls and all the way up the underside of the shaft once, “I haven’t deserved to do that for a while, but now I really can’t. Instead ... you may make them for me,” she kissed the tip of his rod one more time, “You and Elan. I’m not your mother anymore. I’m just a horny woman who loves you.” She went down on him again, slurping him slowly and gently through her lips, and the hand she’d been gripping his base with slid lower, tucking under his rump to tease his back-door with the tip of her middle finger. She knew from past experience that stimulating him on both sides was the fastest way to coax him to climax these days.

“... Shit, Mom!” Corbin squeaked, his thighs curling up like they had a mind of their own, to give her better access. Layla gently pressed her fingertip through the tight rim, and was rewarded immediately by a relieved groan and the rush of warm cream in her mouth. Her heart seemed to be beating directly on her eardrums as she swallowed each spurt, and her son kept her face pressed needily into his crotch.

He relaxed again after a couple of minutes, slowly uncoiling to lay limp on the bed, still panting in the afterglow. Corbin tugged one of her ears, and Layla obediently moved her lips from his dick to his mouth, kissing him deeply with her tongue still covered in his cream. If Corbin noticed the taste at all, he seemed to find it pleasant, judging by the way he moaned into the kiss. “Hey ... Mom,” the younger Elk panted breathlessly when they broke, “I ... love you. No matter ... what you say ... you’ll always ... be my mom. Whew!” the poor boy sighed at last, going fully limp on the bed and trying to recover his breath.

Layla kissed his cheek. “I love you, too. Thank you.”

After taking a few good, deep breaths to calm himself down, Corbin gave her a curious look. “Can I really ... make some rules?”

His mother nodded, turning a little away from the bed to kneel on all fours, waving her up-turned tail at him as if suspecting that he wanted next. But her son had a completely different idea in mind ...

— — — — —

“I’m home!” Finn called as usual when he returned from work.

And, as usual, his wife answered from the kitchen, “Welcome home, honey!” _Un_like usual, when she came to the door to give him his welcome-home kiss, she was wearing neither shirt nor bra. Layla’s face was bright red, but her smile was as warm as ever just before she pressed her lips against her husband’s, and pretended not to notice her own state of undress.

Finn couldn’t resist cupping a hand under one of the soft mounds. “I think you forgot an important part of getting dressed this morning, honey,” he chuckled when they broke the kiss.

“... Corbin caught me naked,” she explained quietly, with her eyes around his hooves but an embarrassed smile still on her face, “This is my punishment.”

Her husband blinked, his own cheeks going a little red. “Oh. I see. And ... for how long?”

“Just until morning,” she promised, patting the hand he still had cupped against her breast before reluctantly turning back toward the kitchen, to finish the last preparations for dinner, “So you can play with them tonight. He thinks we don’t fool around enough, and that he’s old enough we don’t need to try to hide it from him anymore.” At that little remark, Finn rolled his eyes. Not that he was about to complain about being intimate with his wife much more often, going forward ... but he knew quite well that Corbin’s age had nothing to do with the change in their family dynamics over the last few weeks.

The cause of that knocked on their door about an hour later. Layla stole a glance through the peephole to be sure she wasn’t about to expose herself to some random stranger. “Hello, Elan,” the Doe greeted with fresh blush when she opened the door for him, “Welcome home ... ”