Author's Note: This is my first foray into Centaurs, so let me know what you think. If people like it, I'll definitely write up some of me other Centaur ideas.
*****
After what seemed like an age, it was finally springtime in the valley.
The last of the cold winds had blown, and the snow-capped mountains had only a small tip of white on their tall peaks.
Everywhere, life seemed to be springing up once again, and the animal kingdom was no exception. The bird songs spread through the air, the chirping of insects could be heard at night, and the deep calls of larger animals echoed across the valley every so often. All were signs of the breeding season which was underway.
Despite their intelligence, the Centaurs were at the mercy of nature's rhythms as readily as the songbirds or the insects or any of the rest of the less sophisticated animals. Each spring, some of the females of the herd would find themselves overwhelmed by instinct, driven to reproduce by the intense hormones triggered by going into heat. The males would react to this by rutting, and tensions would run high among the large group.
Worst of all, some of the most important structures of Centaur society were at risk, with individuals' urges threatening to overthrow their decency. Females, who were highly monogamous by nature, suddenly became receptive to the advances of other males besides their own.
Males became extremely possessive during this time, not allowing others close to their female until she was pregnant or out of heat, but this posed a great difficulty for males who didn't want another child or who had more than one female. Still, they did their best.
For Ilko and his female Anna, those hadn't been concerns for many seasons. She had only been in heat twice, and not for twenty years.
However, as Anna awoke on one morning in early spring, she felt the strangely familiar sensation of her body preparing to bear a new foal.
Anna hadn't been in heat since she foaled Ilko's son, and the heat before that was during the time they met, fell in love, and conceived their daughter. Desperately wanting another child, and having conceived each time she could, Anna was extremely happy when she realized that this would be her chance.
However, Ilko wasn't nearly as excited.
"I don't think we should have another child" he had said to her firmly. "The herd is large enough as it is, and our children are finally grown. It's not wise."
The two argued, day after day, but her husband was not a flexible man. Though she fought and begged for him to change his mind, , she had given up almost any hope by the time her heat actually took hold of her...
That first day, she found herself fussing constantly, fletching arrows, making food, tidying the house. She was willing to try anything to get her mind off of sex, but it was a losing battle. Every time she caught a whiff of a male going by, she would get wet and start thinking about Ilko mounting her and thrusting his cock up into her depths. Only after clearing her mind and refocusing on some task, did her arousal eventually subside again.
After being out all morning with the hunters, he'd finally be home and she knew he would give her what she wanted. She felt sure that he would take one whiff of her and lose control, like he had all those years ago.
Most people didn't know the story, but Anna had actually grown up in another herd. Though born in the valley, her parents had left when she was very young, and she hadn't been back until her twentieth year. She had become engaged to a male, and had come to the valley to visit her relatives before being married, as per tradition.
She met Ilko during that visit, and despite the mutual attraction, had repeatedly turned down his advances. It was about then that she started to desperately miss her fiancé, and had made plans to return home early, when one morning her life suddenly changed.
She felt overwhelmed that morning, and couldn't stop thinking about getting back to her fiancé, missing the feeling of him inside her, to the point where she found herself dripping wet. She decided to go for a walk to clear her mind, and ran into Ilko, who had been trying to clear his mind of her.
She could still remember how her heart fluttered when he crudely dropped right in front of her, letting his penis hang there in full view. He was so young and brash back then, and was always looking to take chances. He didn't even bat an eye, or say a word; he just trotted right around her and mounted, as if she was his female.
And for some reason she couldn't understand, she was glad that he did it. Feeling him force his cock into her should have been upsetting. It should have angered and scared her. She should have insisted that he stop, because she only wanted her fiancé to mate her. But in spite of herself, she didn't want him to stop thrusting. She didn't care that the cock inside of her wasn't her own man's, and that they were mating right out on the street, in public.
As fate would have it, her first heat had started that morning. The strange feelings and obsession with her male would have been clear signs to a more experienced female, but she was young and naive back then. She had had sex before, and thought that what Ilko was doing to her was just meaningless cheating, completely unaware of what was really going on. As the two reached a simultaneous climax and the young male's flared cock began to erupt into her depths, she still imagined that she would be marrying her fiancé in just over a month's time. Instead, two weeks before the wedding, she found out that she was carrying her first foal.
She imagined it would happen again, just like that. She hoped that all the young passion of their relationship would rush back the instant that he returned. Instead, when Ilko finally arrived, Anna realized that all of her anticipation was for nothing.
She could already see his dick dropping as he walked into the house, but right behind him, she saw their two children.
"What's going on?" she asked, looking at her husband.
Ilko moved in far enough that his children had room to enter the house, and then turned to his wife.
"One of the lead hunters was injured today during final preparations for the hunt, and I've been asked to go in his place. I have to leave right away."
Anna was stunned.
"I don't understand..." she murmured.
"I know that you're... not yourself, right now..." he explained. "So I asked Emma and Bellamy to look after you while I'm away. It won't be more than a week."
Anna looked desperately around the room, but no one wanted to make eye contact with her.
"I should be going now..." Ilko concluded, turning to leave.
"Wait!" Anna shouted, somewhat shocked at her own volume. "Sorry... I just... I thought that you'd change your mind..."
Ilko shook his head.
"Even if I had, there would be no time now."
Anna thought desperately.
"Just once, before you go" she begged.
Ilko looked upset, and their children looked uncomfortable.
"In front of our children?" he asked angrily. "It's bad enough that you're spreading your indecent scent around our house with them here, without you suggesting things like that."
Anna looked down, ashamed of herself.
"I'm leaving for the hunt, now" Ilko announced. "I hope that by the time I get back, you can think straight again."
Before he left, he looked over at their children.
"Take care of your mother while I'm away."
