Ari drew up close, looking longingly at his perfect mouth. She opened her mouth wide and trailed her tongue slowly across his lips, then she focused on his lower one, licking it, then sucking it softly into her mouth and biting it between her teeth. " Oh, God," Logan snarled and closed his mouth over hers, roughly. He kissed her passionately... hard and furious. She met his passion equally, kissing him with everything she had in her ....
.....then, abruptly, Logan' s mouth froze. "Damn" he said against hers. He pulled away. The pup was awake, and his little belly was convulsing again. He was going to vomit. Logan had some papers ready on the floor, but they were too far away for the IV line to reach. He reached up behind him, fumbling in vain to reach the bottle. "Shit!... Help me, Ari... he's 'gonna..."
She stood up, quickly, on unsteady legs, and reached up over his head to unhook the bottle from the floor lamp, where he had hung it. She leaned her long soft legs completely into him for support, and stood up on tip-toes, stretching, reaching. Logan clenched his eyes shut and forced himself to focus. Her body, the part he wanted most, was pressing into him...inches from his face. Everything in him was telling him to reach out, grab her ass, and bury his face ... his tongue... his hands.... into the soft, sweet-smelling, wet spot between her legs... - Oh, my God!! - She was so close. He wasn't sure he could control it... he clenched his jaw and ground his teeth tightly together. No matter how he tried he couldn't think of anything else... He wanted her..... bad.
He rolled his eyes, "Rrrraauuhh!" He growled, clenching his teeth, shaking it out of his head roughly, furious with his own weakness. Ari stepped away quickly... she had the bottle. She wasn't exactly sure, but judging by his ragged breathing, she had a pretty good idea what was wrong with him.
"I'm ... I'm sorry..." she said quietly..."I couldn't reach it."
Logan moved quickly to get the pup to the papers. "Dammit!" His face was tight with pain from the pressure of his jeans against his very erect body. He caught his bottom lip up into his teeth and bit down onto it, hard. He set the wolf down, and sat up onto his knees, grimacing in pain.
"Are you okay?" Ari asked, nervously.
He scowled. "I'll be fine... just give me a minute." he said roughly. He took deep breaths, closing his eyes, concentrating deeply on forcing his body back into submission.
Ari knelt down to look at the pup, completely flustered. With all that had been happening between she and Logan, she had forgotten how poorly he was doing. She took a deep, shuddering breath and unwrapped the blanket, quickly, concerned. His eyes were closed, and his stomach continued to convulse, but he was too weak to vomit. She lifted his lip to look at his gums. They were a sickly bluish - white. She went and got her stethoscope and listened to his heart and lungs. He was raspy with fluid, and his heartbeat was very weak. It was obvious the end was near. She looked up sadly at Logan. The few minutes it had taken to examine the pup, had him looking a bit relieved of his problem. He was watching her quietly, dreading what she was going to say. "He's much worse Logan." she said softly.
" Damn! Why aren't the fluids and the medications you gave working?" he asked, his voice hoarse with emotion.
"Logan, this virus is so hard on them... the blood you thought you saw... when he had diarrhea. Well, that's what it was. The disease attacks their digestive tract, inflaming it, and eventually causing them to bleed internally. He's just too small to fight it. The virus is tearing up the lining of his stomach and intestines....he's probably in a lot of pain.
Logan swallowed and turned his tortured eyes to the wolf.
"I can make it easier for him, Logan." she said softly.
He nodded, not looking up. "I don't want him... hurtin'." he whispered.
Ari got up and walked over to the boxes of supplies. She had been pretty sure it would come to this, and she was prepared. She filled a syringe with enough liquid to euthenize a much larger animal... just to be sure nothing unexpected happened. She didn't want this to be any harder on Logan than it had to be. When she came back and knelt down, Logan held up his hand for her to wait. He started to pick up the pup, and Ari could see that he wanted to hold him when she did it. She got up again and got a few towels. She took the pup from Logan and put the towels under him, then handed him back. Logan looked up, questioning. "When he goes to sleep, he'll lose control of his bladder.... you'll get wet." she explained. Logan nodded, looking down and clenching his jaw tightly. He held the pup up to his chest, stroking its' little face with one hand.
"Logan, if he had lived, he would be raised by people... away from his mother and his pack. Even if it was ever possible for him to be released into the wild, which is highly unlikely, he would never fit in. He wouldn't be normal... he wouldn't have a normal life. He'd probably never find a mate. He wouldn't have a healthy fear of humans, and he'd probably end up getting shot. The most likely scenario is that he'd end up in a zoo, in a cage somewhere, trapped and condemned to living a life that he hated. I know you would never have wanted that for him." She looked up into his tear-filled eyes. " This is for the best. It'll be over for him... he'll just fall asleep. "
He held the pup out toward her, and she took his IV line out of the catheter. Logan put him back up to his chest, and softly kissed his head. Ari's eyes filled with tears. She was used to the pain and disappointment of losing an animal, it still hurt, but she'd been through it many times. Still, seeing Logan so distraught over this tiny little wolf was almost too much to bear. She moved closer to them, put the needle into the catheter and slowly injected the lethal fluid. The pup expelled one last, deep breath and then lay silent, still.
Ari put the blanket over him, covering him completely and took him from Logan, setting him gently on the ground, away from them. Logan stayed there, on his knees looking at the floor. Ari moved up close to him, and put her arms around him gently. He looked up into her eyes, one tear trickling slowly down his face. "He was so little... it just aint right." he said, his voice breaking.
"I know." she said softly, taking him into her arms.
They held each other like that, tightly, for a long time. The warmth and comfort they drew from each other's embrace was something neither of them wanted to come to an end. There was nothing sexual about it... it was a closeness shared by two people who cared about each other and who were a great comfort to each other. It was an intimacy neither of them had shared with anyone for a long time.... maybe never. Ari's hands stroked his hair and she cradled his head to her chest. Logan held onto her like a drowning man would hold onto a life-raft. Desperately... aching to give her more than the pain of this day... to give her the all of pain he'd felt over and over again for the past sixteen and a half years. to have her take it all away. He felt strange, light-headed. He needed to get up. He wasn't sure how long they had been kneeling there, but he needed...
Ari felt him stir, she lifted his face, and kissed him softly on the forehead. "I'm gonna' go take care of his body, okay?"
Logan nodded, and she untangled herself from him, picked up the pup and stood up. She went out into the kitchen, and Logan let took in a deep breath, wiped his face, and tried to stand.
The whole room spun at crazy angles before his eyes, and he stumbled, reaching out and grabbing hold of the nearest couch. He felt strange, bad... his stomach hurt.
Ari came back into the room, to find Logan holding his stomach and bending over the edge of the couch, moaning. She ran to his side, and took a-hold of his arm. "What is it?" she asked, trying to mask the fear in her voice.
He looked up at her, squinting, his face white as a sheet."I don't know...I feel weird."
"Come over here and lay down" she said helping him onto the couch. "I know you're tired, and maybe you're just upset, too... of course you're upset... I mean... surely that's all it is."
" I don't think so." Logan said, looking up at her, worried. Ari thought for sure there was the slightest hint of fear in his eyes." I think I'm... sick."
"Maybe it was the chili... Do you ever get sick when you eat chili?" she asked, hopefully.
" I never get sick." he said, plainly.
" Never?"
" Never."
She swallowed and spoke very softly, breathlessly, " Everybody gets sick sometimes, Logan."
He looked up at her, deadly serious, "I don't."
"God, Logan..." she said, fear spreading across her face. "What are you feeling?... What are your symptoms?"
" I've been feeling it off an on for a while now. Since I first fell asleep when you were takin' a shower. My stomach hurts like Hell, and now I'm too dizzy to stand up.... I think I need something to... do you have a a pan or a bowl or something......"
Ari ran to the kitchen to get a bowl. She brought it to him quickly, then went to get a thermometer. Before she had time to get back to his side, she heard it... and her heart froze with fear. - Shit!! This CAN'T be happening! -
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