Earth's New Masters Part 18 Definitely Not Just Useless Ferals
My night had been filled with frustrating dreams. In one of them I was on my back with my legs on Loki's shoulders, he was taking me slowly and sensuously. It felt so good, I closed my eyes and moaned as I got closer to my climax... Then I opened my eyes to look at my lover and instead of Loki it was Gofer! I screamed and woke myself up. I sat bolt upright, my collar still clutched tightly in my hand. I looked at the clock and it was only 3 AM. I heard someone running down the hall and Loki burst in and ran over to my bed. He stopped for a second, his eyes locking on the collar in my hand, his eyebrows raised for just a second before continuing toward me.
"What's wrong Jeff?" He asked frantically hugging me tightly to him.
"Nothing Loki, I'm OK. It was just a bad dream." I said. I was still shook up but that was easing up now that I was in Loki's arms. I felt so safe in his warm strong embrace as I buried my face in his massive chest. His familiar scent had me hardening as he rubbed his paws up and down my back under my shirt. I wrapped my arms around him, hugging him back. He picked me up like I was a child and put me facing him on his lap. He then reached down, put his paw under my chin, tilted my head back and bent his head down toward me. His muzzle met my lips, his big Shep tongue searching for entry. I didn't deny it for long, I parted my lips and welcomed his tongue in. He put his left paw behind my head and pulled me into the kiss, while his tongue ran roughshod over mine. I felt his right paw run up my shirt and tweak my nipple then it slowly slid down into my shorts. I was so hard I was aching when his huge paw engulfed my little boner. I reached around with my right hand and found his huge doghood, which was about three quarters erect, but was completely hard after just a few tugs on it. We broke our kiss and I buried my head back in Loki's chest. Soon we were each sensuously stroking our partner's member, my hand was around his sheath which provided some natural lubrication as I slid his sheath up and down his massive cock, the cock that yesterday had Ansulm begging for more. How I wanted to feel it in me again, but I knew I wasn't ready to deal with the aftermath.
Soon we were both breathing hard and moaning. Loki was doing a great job of backing off every time I got too close to the edge, he was trying to get us there at the same time. I finally felt his knot starting to form and gripped behind it, which made Loki's cum shoot up and hit me in the chin. In the excitement I shot my meager load into Loki's huge hand which had engulfed my entire manhood. After I came down from my orgasm, I held onto Loki's knot for a few more moments, thinking about how good it would have felt locked deep inside me. Then about how much Ansulm had enjoyed the same throbbing piece of doghood locked deep inside him. Maybe someday... I came out of my reverie and finally released it so he stopped cumming too. Despite him stopping there was still copious quantity of his sticky seed gluing us together. He took his paw from my boner and brought it up to his mouth, slowly licking off my load, savoring every last drop with a dreamy look on his handsome face.
"Loki, can you hold me for a while?" I asked after he had finished.
"I can hold you all night." He felt me tense up, then added, "I promise I will just hold you. OK?" I nodded and he added, "Let me get a towel first and clean up as much as I can, seems I've made quite a mess of myself."
He let me go and went in my bathroom to clean up. I stripped off my PJ's, threw them in the hamper and followed him into the bathroom to wash myself. I was so tempted to lick some of his spooge off of me, but I didn't want to be addicted to him again. Well at least not unless we could really get back together. Once we were cleaned up we climbed back into my bed. I buried my face into his chestfur and sighed as he wrapped his powerful arms around me. His scent was even more potent now and almost made me swoon. My head was on his chest and I could hear his big heart beating. I hadn't realized how much I had missed that. I remembered how when he used to take me and we were tied together that our heartbeats would synchronize. Like we were bonded into one being...
I woke up in the morning still clutching Loki like a drowning man clutching a life preserver. I had slept through the night without anymore nightmares and Loki looked like he had gotten a good nights sleep also. With him asleep I could stare into his handsome face without feeling self-conscious. He looked so peaceful for the first time in a long time. I wondered if it really was true about Sheps and their bond with their human. In some ways it sounded worse than being addicted to effects. And all this time Loki had suffered through it stoically, never once laying the burden of that knowledge on me to make me feel guilty.
"Good Morning Jeff." Loki said as he opened his eyes.
"Good Morning Loki." I said and for the first time in a while I really meant it. Loki seemed reluctant to let go of me, the feeling was mutual. I wanted to tell him how much I loved him but the words stuck in my mouth.
"Well as much as I would like nothing better than to hold you like this forever, I guess we need to get down to breakfast so I can get to work." Loki said, releasing me and getting up from the bed. We both brushed our teeth (he borrowed my toothbrush, which didn't bother me, I mean how much different is that than him having his tongue down my throat). He made his way downstairs and I followed as soon as I was dressed for the day. When we got down to the breakfast table everyone was already there. As we came in Fenrir gave me a questioning look. I just smiled back for now. Our breakfast waffles, eggs and sausage were served and everybody dug in.
"So what do you boys have planned for today?" Loki asked.
"We're going over to Uncle Woden's house to hang out. After hearing about our fishing trip, Arnold is planning one for tomorrow. He may get their driver to take us to the Rose River Farm for trout fishing." Fenrir replied.
"You guys have never fished for trout, that's a whole different game than bluegills." Loki chided.
"Well, Arnold said David is an expert at it. And David said Jeff is as good as he is at it." Fenrir continued. That was a bit of an exaggeration on David's part, he was better than I was at fly fishing, but I was pretty good. "You wanna come with us Jeff?"
"Sure, why not? But I don't have any fishing tackle." I responded.
"Well we are going to go to the Orvis store and get equipment, Uncle Woden's treat."
"OK, I'm game."
We finished breakfast and got our bikes and rode over to the White House. Even though Loki was taking the limo over to Woden's, we decided to take our bikes in case we needed them later in the day. I was proud of myself, I didn't fall once. We got there before Loki did (we had a head start) and Arnold, Drogo, Grimwald and David were there waiting for us.
"It's about time you got here! We're just about ready to leave for the Orvis store. We printed out all the info on the Rose River so we will know what to get, David will show us what to buy."
"Jeff will be able to help too." David added.
The limo pulled up. The driver got out and opened the door for Loki. He looked so handsome, his smile was back and he didn't look so haggard. Last night really seemed to recharge him. As he got out of the limo, Woden came out of the house.
"Loki, you're looking better today. Did you get some last night?" Woden said with a smirk and a wink.
"No I didn't 'get some' last night. But it was the best night I've had in a long time." Loki said, his spirits still high.
"I was going to take the boys to the Orvis Store and get them outfitted for fly fishing for trout. You want to join us?"
"Well not much I could do here by myself, so sure I'll come along."
"My driver is coming around with the limo, we can all fit in it." Woden continued.
Woden's driver pulled up with the Alpha limo. It was similar to the modified hummers we rode out of Yellowstone in, except the interior was twice as large so instead of two bench seats facing each other there were two sets of these, so it could seat 16 passengers. We got in and David and I were sitting across from each other, him beside Woden and I was beside Loki, who had his arm around my shoulder. It felt like it belonged there. David had asked Arnold to download and print out some info on the Rose River Farm, including the fly hatches we were likely to run into. I was studying them on the way to the Orvis Store. It looked like the big hatch this time of year was the Giant Black Stonefly, and maybe a few Blue Wing Olive mayflies and a couple varieties of caddis flies may hatch out sporadically. Of course being summer there was always the possibility of terrestrial like ants, beetles and crickets being on the water. It was probably a bit early for grasshoppers. Soon David and I were discussing what patterns we might use. It didn't take more than 15 minutes to get to the store. Of course when Woden walked in the door the whole staff (and the customers too) dropped what it was doing to come and meet the Alpha.
"What can we do for you Alpha?" An average looking Shep asked.
"The Beta's pups and my pups and our ferals are going fishing at Rose River Farm tomorrow. I'd like to get them all fitted out with rods, reels and lines. I want everything to be top of the line. Our feral are expert fly fishermen, they grew up fishing the Yellowstone Park area, mainly the Firehole and the Madison, so I'm sure they've got things figured out. If you can show them what you have."
"OK, Sir. I recognize David from the pieces they have done about him on TV." The salesman interjected as he shook David's hand. "I'm Aldric."
"Glad to meet you." David replied.
Then he came over to me, stuck out his paw and said, "You must be the Beta's feral, and your name?"
"Jeff Sir." I replied.
"Please don't call me Sir, I'm Aldric." He continued as he took my hand in his paw and shook it. "Well I think we should get you all set with rods first. Our best rod is our ZG Helios™ 865-4 Mid Flex 6.5 Fly Rod. It is an 8-foot 6-inch 5-weight four piece graphite rod, that weighs only 2 1/8 oz. You can buy it as a combo with our top of the line Mirage II Reel - Gold Series, Wonderline Trout line WF5, 100 yards of 20lb Dacron backing and a Carbon fiber rod tube and cloth rod sack The combo is on sale for 120 Eden Credits(*1). Plus since you are buying 9, I'm sure we can make some kind of a bulk discount."
"Actually we will be buying 11, set Loki and I up with a combo for each of us too." Woden cut in.
"Yes Sir, I hope we have that many, that's more of that model than we usually sell in 3 months. Let me check our computer for inventory." He typed something into the computer, and waited a few seconds. "We have 8 of the 8-foot 6-inch rods, but we have some of the same model in a 9 foot 5-weight rods."
"Master," David interjected, "I prefer the 9 foot rod, which is what I am used to using. Maybe we should get three of the 9 foot rods for you, Loki and I and get the shorter rods for Jeff and the pups."
"Sir, I hope I'm not out of line in asking, but I would also prefer the 9 foot model." I added to Woden.
"Of course you are not out of line Jeff," Woden said as he tousled my hair. "I want you to get what works best for you. You know more about this stuff than any of us; probably more than the salesman, your input is important. Aldric we will take 7 of the eight and a half footers and 4 of the nine footers."
"Yes Sir!" He said as he typed the rods to our invoice. "Would you like wader's Sir?"
"Yes we will, it is probably warm enough to wade in shorts and wading shoes but I'm sure there are going to be times we will want waders. What is your best breathable wader?"
"Our best are our Pro Guide™ waders, they are 40 Eden Credits each." He said, his eyes lighting up at the commission he was going to make on this order, as he added it to our invoice. "We will need to fit you for wading boots and fly vests also. I assume you want our best model of those too."
"Definitely! Now we need to buy some flies..." Woden continued.
"Buy flies? What do you mean, buy flies Master?"
"Well you need flies to be able to fish..."
"We always tied our own. That way you can make them the way you want them. Besides half of the fun of fly fishing is catching them on a fly you tied yourself. Jeff and I can teach you all how to tie them too." David said animatedly.
"What equipment do you need?"
"I would need a vice, and some other tools like a bobbin threader, a bobbin, hackle pliers, scissors, and a bodkin with half hitch tool. Maybe a hair stacker and some other odds and ends."
"I would highly recommend the Renzetti Traveler Vise and everything else you mentioned except a hair stacker is in our Master Series Tool Set." The salesman chimed in.
"OK, set us all up with a set." Woden directed the salesman. David, why don't you and Jeff pick out what you need in feathers, fur and other materials. Get everything we may possibly need so we don't have to come back soon. I'll stay here while the pups and I get fitted for our waders and wading shoes."
"Yes Master." David replied.
We went out and picked out a complete selection of Metz necks and saddles in all colors, a large assortment of dubbing, deer hair, various feathers and a complete selection of wet and dry fly hooks from size 8 to 28. We had a shopping cart full of materials, which had to cost a small fortune. I was hoping that Woden wouldn't get mad that we were buying so much. When we got back Woden took a long look at the shopping cart, I thought for sure he would be angry that we got so much stuff. But he just asked if we were sure we got everything we needed. There wasn't enough room in the trunk of the limo for all the stuff so they were going to deliver it in their van. Woden had them bill him for the total and we all climbed back in the limo for the ride home, the delivery van following us. When we got home we went back to the van and started sorting out all of our equipment.
"Well you boys get that sorted out, Loki and I have to get a few things done. Arnold, have Gofer take all the tying materials to the small office beside your room. That can be our tying room." Woden directed as we continued to unpack the van. We each got our rods, reels and fly lines and carried the waders and Woden and Loki's outfits to the garage. Gofer soon came out and just about groveled in front of Arnold.
"Gofer, take all that stuff over there to the office beside my room." Arnold told him in a no nonsense manner.
"Yes Master Arnold, is there anything else I can do for you?" Gofer replied, obvious hero worship in his eyes.
"No Gofer that's all I need, you can do whatever you want after you're done." Arnold said dismissing him. Gofer busily gathered up as much of the stuff as he could take in one trip and headed toward the house. Gofer was definitely a strange bird. While there was no sarcasm in his voice when he talked to Arnold like there was when he talked to David, the level of hero worship in his voice was just not normal for a CBH. I would have to talk to David about him later.
David and I made sure they put the backing on their reels before putting the line on and taught them how to tie the proper knots. Then we all got our rods and headed out back to the pool. David and I demonstrated the proper technique for making a cast. We showed them the proper casting planes, how to properly lift their line off the water into a perfect backcast, how to wait until the line completely unfolded behind you and how you let it load the rod before starting your forward cast. We taught them about loop control and how to time your power strokes on the forward and backward casts. We showed them the puddle cast, the roll cast, the curve cast and finally the double haul cast to be able to cast a long distance. The pups were able to remember all they were told, but it still took some hands on teaching. David taught his 3 pups and I coached my 4 pups. After an hour or so they were doing pretty good, at least good enough to catch some fish.
"You're really good at this Jeff." Fenrir said in my ear as I bent over him guiding his arm through the proper plane. "I never realized how much was involved in proper fly casting.
"I never think about it too much, David and I were raised as fishermen and hunters. It's second nature to us now."
"Will you help us out tomorrow?" Fenrir asked.
"Sure I'll help you pups all I can. It will probably be more fun teaching you than fishing, I've caught tons of trout before." I added as I gave him a quick hug.
"Jeff, I'm really sorry how I treated you. You're really a cool guy."
"Don't worry about it, we both made mistakes. At least we're friends now. Now this time, stop your cast abruptly at 11 o'clock and that will give you a puddle cast, for when you need a long drag free downstream drift." He followed my instructions and got a nice puddle cast. "That's exactly how it should look Fenrir. All that slack in the line will allow your fly to travel drag free, the trout won't take the fly if there is any drag."
"It sounds like there is a lot to learn."
"Don't worry, I can show you enough that you will be able to catch some fish, even the first time out, but it takes a lot of practice and time on the stream to get really good."
"Well, why don't we head into the house and tie some flies for tomorrow." David called out to us. "We need to get quite a few tied for a full day of fishing."
We put our rods and reels into their cases and put them in the corner of the garage, then headed up to the house. Arnold led us to the office where Gofer had delivered our fly tying stuff. There were a couple of desks and a long table there. We all got out our new fly vices and David and I showed the pups how to assemble them. Then we sorted out all the hooks and other materials before we were ready to start.
"Jeff, take a look at the pictures of the stoneflies I downloaded from the Rose River site. I think they look like the stoneflies that used to hatch on the Madison in June, what do you think?"
I looked at the picture for a second and then agreed, "Yeah I think you're right. I bet we could fool them with a Madison Monster size 8."
"That's exactly what I was thinking." David replied with a grin, grabbing a size 8 hook and clamping it in the vice while I did the same. "Pups, why don't you just watch us for the first few so you get a general idea of how it is done."
We both locked a couple of size 8 dry fly hooks into our vices and put black thread into our bobbins. In no time flat we each had a nice Madison Monster tied. We put some lacquer on the the head and hung them on a wire to dry. The pups were duly impressed with our expertise and wanted to see another one. We tied 4 more each and then started to teach the pups to tie their own. Since we all had out own vices everyone could work at the same time. David and I took them step by step through the process. Soon they all had their fly completed. They were not things of beauty but in fast water they would probably fool a trout. They put them in their fly boxes and started another David and I went from pup to pup giving advice. After the pups tied their second fly, David and I got back to work.
"Jeff, why don't we leave the pups to tie the big stoneflies and we can work on some BWO's(*2) , I think they are too small for the pups to tie yet."
"Sounds like a plan." I said as we both clamped a size 24 dry fly hook (*3) in our vices. Soon we had picked out our hackle tips for the wing and a long saddle hackle for the winding and some green poly dubbing and we were off and tying. We were both competitors, so we didn't even realize we were racing. In our concentration we didn't even notice the pups had stopped tying and gathered around us to watch us work. We both finished up our whip finish at the same time, and that was when we noticed our audience...
"Wow!" Arnold said in amazement, "How can you tie them that small?"
"That's nothing," David answered, "you should see size 28 and 32 if you think that's small."
"And you can actually catch a fish on a fly that small?" Fenrir asked.
"I've caught plenty of really big fish on size 24 and smaller. It is hard to get the hook into the fish sometimes, but once you hook them it is difficult for it to pull out." I added.
David and I continued to crank out BWO's from size 16 to 24 and after watching us for a few the pups went back to tying the dry stoneflies. We both tied about a dozen each when Gofer came in the door.
"Master Arnold, I was told to come and get all of you. You are wanted downstairs in the sitting room." Gofer said in a tone and posture that was almost groveling. But the funny thing was he seemed sincere, almost like he was in awe of Arnold.
"Darn it's time for lessons." Arnold said in disappointment. "I guess you guys have to go home for yours too."
"Probably." Fenrir said, rolling his eyes. "Sometimes our moms are like slave drivers. Why can't they cut us some slack for a day..."
We went downstairs and waiting for us in the sitting room were Freyja and Sigyn, who were finishing up their coffee and pastries. Freyja stood up and said, "It's time for your lessons, then you can go back up and finish your fly tying."
"I'm giving you 4 your lessons over here." Sigyn added. "Freyja said we can use one of their spare offices as a classroom. Jeff, you'll just have to hang around while the pups are in their lessons."
"Yes Ma'am." I said politely even though it galled me to no end that David got to have lessons with his pups and I didn't get to go to lessons with mine. Then I realized I had no one to blame except myself. If I hadn't come in with an attitude, I would have been friends with the pups a long time ago, and maybe Sigyn would like me and trust me. David had come in and embraced the whole situation, he and the rest of our tribe were right, we did have it pretty good here, at least if you didn't need to be a real man. Why did it always come down to that?
I could have gone back upstairs and continued tying, but I decided I needed to take a walk to get myself back under control. I decided that I would go back to the garage and get my rod out and practice casting for a while. When I went out the back door I saw Gofer furtively slip into the garage. It definitely looked like he was up to something, so I quietly made my way down to the garage and peeked into the window. Gofer was bent over the front tire of David's mountain bike, using a tool of some sort to let the air out of the tire. When he finished with the front tire he flattened the rear, furtively looked around, grabbed a hoe and then made his way out the door. I peeked around the corner and watched him go out to a small garden and start hoeing. I had no idea what the plants were, they looked like weeds to me. But while the plants looked like weeds, the garden itself was immaculate. There were no weeds and the rows were perfectly straight. It didn't seem like the typical shoddy work of a CBH. I decided to walk up to Gofer and ask him what they were. I made my way up to the small garden and then said, "Hey Gofer, what kind of plants are those."
Gofer jumped, surprised from being unaware of my presence. Then he regained his composure and said, "They're Master Woden's Horny Goat Weed, Sir." I could hear that the word "Sir" was tinged with sarcasm.
"I've never heard of that before, what does it taste like?"
"I don't know, only Master Woden eats it. He says it is to increase his libido, whatever that is."
"Haven't you ever tried it?"
He immediately got defensive. "Of course not, those are MASTER'S plants; I would NEVER touch them without being told."
I just couldn't figure him out; he was truly upset that I would even suggest that he would touch his Master's plants. Then a thought hit me, it seemed like he was doing this without even being told, CBHs never did stuff on their own without being told. "Who told you to do this?" I asked pointedly. Then like a light bulb going out Gofer clamed up, his expression going blank. I don't think he intended for me to realize how aware of stuff he was. But I tried to push the issue. "Who told you to do this?" He just glared at me and then turned his attention back to his work. That in itself was unusual for a CBH. They were usually easily distracted, but he was totally focused on his task. It was obvious he didn't plan on talking to me anymore so I walked back up to the house and started to tie flies again.
By the time they were done with their lessons I had enough BWO's tied to keep us stocked for this trip. I was getting set up to tie some stonefly nymphs when they walked back in the room. As David walked in I said, "I've tied as many BWO's as we will need, I thought we should tie some of those big ugly weighted stonefly nymphs just in case nothing is hatching. Twitching them across the bottom always works well, even if it is a lot of work."
"Yeah, you can catch some big ones that way for sure. Why don't you pups make some more of the dries and Jeff and I will make some of the stonefly nymphs."
We tied some of them and then started working on some terrestrials. Our deer hair ants looked super realistic and were quick to make. The pups stopped what they were doing to watch in amazement as we whipped out a whole hill of super realistic black ants.
"Wow Jeff, I need some of these to lay out for Mom to freak her out. She hates ants." Fenrir laughed as he picked up one to examine it.
"Don't you dare, your mom only tolerates me as it is."
We continued tying until we had a lot of ants, a few beetles and some cricket patterns. We each got out our fly boxes and divvied up the flies between us. We had each of the pups keep the flies they had tied, David and I always felt it more satisfying to catch trout on flies we had tied ourselves. We were all done in time for dinner when Gofer came upstairs.
"Master Arnold. Your mother wants the young Masters to come downstairs, dinner is ready." Gofer said, bowing low to Arnold.
"Thanks Gofer, Tell our Moms that we will be down as soon as we wash up." Arnold said as he ruffled Gofer's hair affectionately. Gofer beamed from ear to ear at the attention from Arnold, then hurriedly returned downstairs to carry out his orders. We all went into the bathroom to wash our hands and faces for dinner, then went down in a chattering mass of pups and humans. We made it into the dining room, which had a huge table set up to accommodate both families. Woden was at the head of the table with Loki on his right hand side and David made a beeline to his left hand side. It was obvious that he was a little antsy to be back with his Master. I imagine he was still terribly addicted to Woden, especially considering how dominant Woden was. His effects had to be even more powerful than Loki's. He sat down and moved his chair as close to Woden as possible, then leaned into Woden, who threw an arm around him and held him close. I saw Loki motion me over to him and I sat on his right. He put his arm around me too, I didn't complain, it was always great when he held me.
Soon their Butler came out with the meal, something called beef stroganoff, plus there were delicious rolls with butter and a medley of green beans, asparagus and red peppers in a garlic butter sauce, which was very tasty. We all dug in and for the first few minutes there wasn't too much talking as we blunted the sharp edges of our hunger. Then finally Woden spoke up.
"Well boys, Loki and I have a surprise for you. We made arrangements for you to stay overnight in the cabins at Rose River Farm. That way you can be on the stream at first light when the stonefly hatch is at its peak. If you get there early you may be able to catch the evening hatch too."
"Aren't you going to be there, Master?" David asked in a semi panicked state.
"Don't worry; we'll have a quick session before you leave while the boys are gathering their stuff." Woden replied with a wink. "That should tide you over until you get back." David turned in his chair and hugged Woden. It made me wish I could have that kind of relationship with Loki. Things were just so natural between them; it didn't seem to bother David like it did me. "I've been there a few times and I'm sure I can trust the owners to keep an eye on you crazy pups. I'm leaving David and Jeff in charge. They know a lot about fishing and stream safety, so you better listen to them. If I hear anyone that doesn't obey their orders they will have to answer to me. Understood?"
There was a ragged scattering of "Yes Daddy" and "Yes Uncle Woden" then the pups were off to the races, discussing all the possibilities. We finished up dinner and Woden carried David up to his bedroom, to much hooting by the pups. I took a glance at Loki; he looked terribly melancholy as he watched the pair ascend the steps. At least now I realized that it wasn't that he wanted David, he wanted to have what Woden and David had. And I couldn't lie to myself; I wished I could let myself have that kind of relationship with Loki. Why did it have to be so hard to be happy? But there wasn't time to dwell on it, Fenrir grabbed my sleeve and signaled me to follow them upstairs. We grabbed our flies and I put a couple of vices, tool kits and a supply of fur and feathers into a travel bag and we made our way down to the limo. Gofer had already packed most of our waders and vests into the trunk. I made a trip back up to the garage to see if there was anything else we needed when I saw that David's waders and vest were still sitting on the floor. I gathered them up and took them down to the limo before they shut the trunk.
"Hey Gofer!" I said, my annoyance obvious as I put them in the trunk. "You forgot David's waders and vest."
"I'm sorry, Sir." He said, with obvious resentment on the Sir. "I thought I got them all." This wouldn't surprise them at all, CBH's were notorious fuckups. I would have thought the same thing if he seemed to be a normal CBH, he just seemed like he was a lot more aware of what was going on than he let on.
When things were all packed Arnold and Fenrir yelled almost in unison, "I get a window seat." I don't know why they even bothered, there were 8 window seats and only 9 of us. Arnold and Fenrir each commandeered one of the window seats in the very back seat. For some reason these were the prime seats for this trip. I got the window seat facing Fenrir, and David was guided into the middle of that bench seat and Drogo got the other window seat. The other 4 pups each got a window seat in the front module. David had a big shit eating grin on his face, it was obvious he was in the afterglow of an incredible effects high.
Woden stuck his head in and told all of us to have a good time and reminded the pups that they had to listen to David and I. I noticed as he took a last looong look at David, Woden had a look of separation anxiety on his handsome face. Knowing what I knew now about the Shep human bond, I realized that being apart might actually be harder on him than on David. He finally leaned in and kissed David tenderly on the forehead, then finally pulled himself out of the door, closing it behind him. The pups were chatting animatedly among themselves as we got underway. Soon they were asking me questions about trout fishing, since David was in no condition to answer quite yet, although he was rapidly coming down from his effects high. We were traveling slowly through the heavy traffic in the city, even though drivers tried their best to get out of the way of the limo with the big Greek Alpha on the sides. It took us twenty minutes to get to the highway, by then David was aware but giddy from his high. Once on the open highway the driver really took off. (Author's note: There are no speed limits on Shep highways, with their better motor skills and quick decision making, Sheps drive much better than humans. Woden's driver was driving at about 115 mph.)
"Let's do it now!" Arnold burst out.
"Yeah!" Fenrir agreed vehemently.
And with that all the pups pushed the window buttons, the windows opened. The pups all stuck their heads out facing forward. They had crazed looks on their faces, their long tongues lolling out of the sides of their muzzles as the air rushed over their faces. After about 2 minutes the driver rolled down the privacy window and called back, "OK you pups. Heads back in the window, I let you have your fun but you know your Dads don't allow you to do that." There was a general groan but the pups pulled their heads back in the windows and rolled them up. They sat back down looking at each other and giggling. David and I glanced at each other and shrugged our shoulders.
Finally I had to ask, "Why did you pups do that?"
"I don't know, it's just irresistible." Arnold answered.
"It's like a primal instinct." Fenrir added.
David and I just shook our heads. David was almost back to normal, so we started discussing our strategy for attacking this stream that neither of us had ever seen before. Before we knew it we were at the Rose River Farm. The driver pulled up to the lodge and was met by a Shep. He wasn't the largest or most handsome Shep I had seen, but he seemed friendly and contemplative. The driver got out and opened the doors for us and we all clambered out of the Hummer. The other Shep came up to us and addressed us all as a group.
"Howdy, I'm Gustav and I'm the guide here at Rose River Farm. We have just opened up this river as a resort this spring. I just started fishing on a regular basis this spring, but I think I've learned a lot so far. I was told by the Alpha that the two ferals here are expert fly fishermen. I'll let you two try to figure out as much as you want and I'll just be here to answer questions. Now why don't you pups grab your stuff and take it over to your cabin. My CBH will show you which cabins are yours. David and Jeff, I'd like to talk to you for a few minutes."
The pups started carrying all of our stuff to the cabins, and Gustav waved us over to follow him to the stream. We got our first good look at the stream. It was a cold, crystal clear, spring fed creek that had a river rock base. It seemed to be nice and clear with very little sediment. It had been a couple of weeks since I had been on a stream and I was getting anxious to wet a line.
"I've heard about ferals, but you two are the first I've ever met. From the Alpha's description you must be David and you must be Jeff." He said pointing correctly to us. "I don't have too high of an opinion about humans to be real honest, but I've only been around CBHs. I find them unintelligent, noncompetitive and uninspired. I have been told you ferals are quite different. I'll try to keep an open mind." He said and smiled at us. "Do you have any questions about the stream or fishing?"
"What kind of evening hatch is going on this time of year?" David asked.
"This week the Giant Stones have been heavy in the morning and evening. In fact the evening hatch should be starting up in about half an hour. Blue winged olives hatch pretty much all day. Obviously there are always terrestrials this time of year, mainly ants and crickets."
"Hey Arnold! Can you bring me my fly box?" David yelled to Arnold and then said to Gustav, "I want to show you what we've tied and you can tell us if they will match the hatches here. If not we've brought some of our tying equipment and we can make them to match the hatch."
Arnold ran up to us carrying his and David's fly boxes. "Here David." He said as he handed David his fly box and waited there to see what Gustav thought of the flies. David opened the box and took out one of the stone fly patterns we had tied, handing it to Gustav. Gustav looked closely at it, turning it over several times.
"You tied this?"
"Yeah, it was the best I could come up with, just looking at a picture. I could probably do better with a real insect to work from." David said unsure of himself.
"All I can say is WOW! That is really good, it's better than the ones we buy from Orvis."
"You don't tie your own?" I asked incredulously.
"No, we buy them from Orvis, maybe you can teach me how to tie one of these days."
"Maybe this winter when the river is frozen over Woden will let you stay for a couple of days."
I could see that Arnold was really impressed, and we headed back to the cabin to put our waders on and get ready for the evening hatch. Soon the pups were all dressed in their waders, fly vests and ball caps. David and I had both picked out Stetsons and some Oakley wraparound sunglasses. When we were all dressed up we grabbed our rods and walked down to the creek where Gustav was waiting.
"My, don't we have a bunch of handsome pups in their fishing outfits." Gustav said with a chuckle, but I also saw him make a furtive glance at David and I. As much as he said he didn't like CBHs, like most other Sheps he seemed to have a thing for us ferals. He led us down to a section of nice riffles with some trout just starting to rise. "This is a good area to start, there are some nice fish in this riffle and the currents aren't too tricky for beginners." I bristled at this comment and Gustav quickly added, "I was referring to the pups Jeff, it's obvious that you and David are not beginners." The hatch was picking up and there were plenty of fish rising to the big stone flies.
"OK pups, why don't you watch Jeff and I catch a few and we will explain why we are doing what we are doing. Jeff why don't you take your pups and work that run over there and I'll fish the run upstream from that one."
"Sure that works for me." I replied, as I led the pups to the run. I gathered them around me and started to teach them what to do. "OK pups, the first step is to determine what the trout are feeding on. That can be tricky sometimes in a compound hatch, especially when there are a few big obvious flies hatching off and a lot of a different type of small flies. You might think they are feeding on the big flies but they are actually zoned in on the small flies. So actually take the time to watch a single feeding fish and see what he is really feeding on. Fortunately these are feeding on the big stone flies, so let's tie on a leader that goes down to a 4X tippet and then tie one of your stone flies on it. Then get out your Gehrke's Gink Floatant and lightly coat your fly with it." I demonstrated putting some gink on my thumb and forefinger and using them to gently coat the fly. "This will make the fly float high, just like the natural stone fly does." They all followed my lead. "This is what I really like about fishing dry flies, it sort of combines hunting and fishing. I always take a moment to determine where all the rising trout in the stretch of water are and then concentrate on the one closest to me. I am going to concentrate on this one right here." I said pointing my rod at the closest trout. "What you want to do is to cast directly above him and try to let the fly drift right over him." I said as I made a couple of false casts and dropped the big fly about 3 feet upstream of the trout. I got a good drift and the trout made a leisurely rise and took the fly. I set the hook and the 17" rainbow trout exploded from the water.
"Try to lead him away from the riffle you are fishing so you don't disturb the other trout in the riffle." I said as I lead him downstream into the pool below the rifle to tire him out to land. He made a run and I used my rod to turn his head and take away his momentum. "Every time they get going in one direction try to turn their head, which will tire them out quickly." I said as I turned him again, then once more and he was ready to land.
Gustav had been watching, and he said, "That was impressive Jeff; you showed me some things I didn't know."
I used my hemostats to grab the fly and shake the fish off. Then went back up to the pool and picked out another fish. I false cast a couple of times to dry the fly off and then shot a cast above my prey. I mended line to get a drag free float and the fish rose, only to take a natural before my fly got there. I let the fly drift past the fish, pulled the fly off the water then shot a cast to the same place. This time the 15 inch brookie took my offering and I set the hook. I landed him just like I had the last one, as the pups all gathered around. "And that's how you do it." I said matter-of-factly. I felt so much better about myself now that I was in my own element, somewhere where I could excel instead of looking like a complete incompetent.
"Wow! You really are good at this." Fenrir said as he patted me on the back. "Can I try now?"
"Sure, try for that one there." I said pointing my rod at a nice size rainbow that was steadily rising.
Fenrir positioned himself and cast above the rainbow, but there was a slow current between him and the rainbow which was starting to take the slack out of his line. Right as the trout slowly rose to the fly it slowed, dragging unnaturally across the surface, and the trout let it pass unmolested.
"What happened?" Fenrir asked.
"That slow current between you and the trout caused your fly to float unnaturally at the last second and the trout knew it was fake. You need to either throw a curve cast or mend line. Cast out again and I will show you how to mend line." Fenrir made his cast again, and just before the slow current tightened his line I guided his rod to flip the line that was in the slower current ahead just enough to allow the fly to drift drag free all the way to the trout. It rose and took the fly and Fenrir set the hook.
"IGOTHIMIGOTHIM!" Fenrir yelled excitedly as the rainbow took off downstream, with Fenrir in hot pursuit.
"Turn his head, Fenrir." I coached. It took off in another direction and I told him to turn him again, but Fenrir was a step ahead of me and soon he had subdued the nice 15inch rainbow.
"Is that your first trout?" Gustav asked.
"Yeah!" Fenrir said excitedly.
"Well hold it up and I'll get a picture of you with it." Gustav replied.
Fenrir held the trout up in front of him with a big ear to ear smile for the picture and then released it. I spent most of the rest of the evening coaching the pups on the finer points of fly fishing. Fortunately they were quick learners and soon wanted to try it on their own. I was standing on the bank watching my pups when David walked over to where I was standing.
"They pick things up fast, don't they?" He commented.
"Yes they do. I really had fun teaching them though." I replied. I finally felt like I had contributed something to my family.
"Same here." David added.
Gustav came sauntering up to us looking a little sheepish. "I guess an apology is due to you two. You are nothing like CBHs." He said shaking our hands. While he was shaking David's hand I took the opportunity to glance down at his sheath. He was a typical horn dog Shep, get them around a feral and they can't help but plump. I wondered if he would have to take care of himself or if his CBH did that for him. He wasn't a powerful enough Shep to get the opportunity to get a feral any time soon. But I'm sure he wasn't foolish enough to try to put the moves on the Alpha's or Beta's property. "The Alpha was right, you two are experts!"
"Thanks!" David replied while I stammered and blushed. "Well I'm going to hit the run upstream of the next pool, wanna join me?"
"Sure." I replied and we walked up to the next pool alone. I got on one side of the riffle and David on the other and we took turns casting to trout. Knowing how competitive David was I was worried that we would end up in a tensely fought battle to see who caught the most fish, but it ended up being anything but that. On this easy wide open water we were pretty evenly matched. David's big advantage over me was when there was lots of overhanging bushes and stuff on the water. I was an excellent caster, but David was a casting wizard. He had such great loop control that he could send his line right under the overhanging branches to where the monsters usually lived. We never went more than a few casts before hooking up with a fish, they were not very cautious when the big stone flies were on the water. It was starting to get too dark to fish when David reeled in his line and hooked his fly on the hook keeper of his rod.
"Jeff, like I said before at the party, I'd like for us to be friends." He said tentatively but sincerely as he waded across the creek toward me.
"You know David, I never thought I would say this, but yeah, I'd like for us to be friends too." I replied as he neared me, extending his hand for me to shake. I shook his hand and we both broke out in huge grins. "Let's gather up the pups and head back to the cabin."
The pups were able to see in low light better than we could so they were still fishing when we went downstream to get them. David's pups saw us coming and reeled in their lines. They were waiting to meet us when we reached them. They were all talking nonstop in their excitement.
"Those flies we tied really worked." Arnold piped up.
"Did you doubt me?" David said in mock seriousness.
"No... I realized you were a good fisherman, I just didn't realize how good." Arnold said with a grin.
My pups had already reeled in their and were walking to meet us. When we got back to the cabin we got out of our gear and then went outside and started a big campfire. The CBH brought us a half dozen packages of hot dogs and buns, and a bottle of ketchup and mustard. In another bag were marshmallows, Graham Crackers and chocolate bars. We went over to the woods and cut sticks to roast the weenies on and headed back to the campfire. We each grabbed a wiener and a camp chair and sat down around the fire to roast them. Even though we had eaten dinner before we left home the fishing had built up quite an appetite. We weren't very patient, we stuck them right in the fire. Which of course meant they were burnt on the outside and cool on the inside, but we slapped them on a bun with ketchup and mustard and wolfed them down. We put another on our sticks and this time we took our time roasting them.
"You guys are really good at this fishing stuff," Arnold started, "and you're really good at teaching it. You should start a business teaching Shep pups how to fish."
"Yeah, I'm sure Sheps will pay us to learn how to fish." I replied, rolling my eyes.
"I think it's a great idea Arnold." Fenrir butted in. "Lots of our friends would love to learn to fish like this. And I bet a lot of the adults would want to take classes too."
"A lot of Sheps that don't have their own ferals might take the classes just to be close to a couple of sexy ferals." Arnold added with a smirk.
"Hey! I'm already spoken for you impudent whelp!" David said in mock indignation.
"All joking aside, you really ought to look into it. Both of you seemed to enjoy teaching us." Fenrir continued. "I'll bet our dads would help you get started."
We talked about it until our dogs were done, these ones were done to perfection. Then we were too busy eating them to talk. Fenrir locked eyes with me and very sensuously licked some ketchup off the end and then took the wiener into his mouth suggestively. Then he winked at me. I'm sure I turned BRIGHT red. We cooked one more dog each as we discussed the the fishing of the day and also potential strategies for tomorrow.
"Well it's time for s'mores!" Drogo said and he opened a bag of marshmallows, and started tossing one to each of us. The pups were sticking them on the end of their wiener sticks. David and I started following suit.
"What are s'mores?" David asked the question for both of us.
"Well you toast the marshmallow and then sandwich it and a piece of chocolate between two Graham crackers." Grimald informed us.
"Why are they called s'mores?" I asked.
"Because after you eat one you always want s'more!" They said in unison and all started giggling. Boy did I set them up with their punch line. But despite that they were pretty good and we ate them until our stomachs ached and it was time for bed.
David's pups headed into their bedroom and we to ours. The bedrooms in this log cabin were side by side, right off the living room. The rooms had 4 single beds in them. I wondered what the sleeping arrangements were going to be since there were 5 of us. Unlike our house, the cabin didn't have air conditioning, just a fan in the window. It would be a bit warm for pajamas so I decided to sleep in the nude. I picked one of the beds and got into it. I wasn't really surprised when Fenrir crawled in with me.
"That was really good Jeff. You really know how to fish and you're a great teacher." He said, the dreamy look still on his face. And before I knew it he was fast asleep. I lay there awake for a few minutes trying to solve the puzzle of where I belonged in this new world I was a part of now. But it was so hard to concentrate with a dominant Shep holding me close and soon Morpheus came and took me away.
*1 Author note: This is approximately $1,200.00 in our current monetary system
*2 Author's note: Blue Winged Olive Mayflies
*3 Author's note a size 24 fly is the size of a small mosquito with a hook gap so small that it won't fit over a toothpick. In fish hooks the larger the number the smaller the fly