"... And right through here, there's the animal pens," said the coyote, as he opened the door and let me in. "I'd give you the tour - but, given you're the hotshot new intern, how about you give *me* the tour? Show me you know your stuff."
 
 
"I'm not a hotshot, I keep telling you, just because I grew up on another ranch... but alright, this looks pretty standard?" I said, as I looked around. This looked like a standard 'barn' setup - branching corridors with doors lining both walls, somewhat like a very cramped hotel floor, although unlike a hotel there were windows set into each door. "So - doors are all electronically wired, right? They need keycards to open, openings are logged, and under normal operation no more than one door can be open at a time, including any exits or elevator doors. It's late evening, so all of the animals should be back in their pens, anyway."
 
 
My mentor nodded.
 
 
"Next to each door, I'm guessing there's records of each occupant..." I looked. There was a pair of wall-mounted clipboards next to each of the doors. I picked one at random and started scanning the text. "One on the left is... looks like a copy of the bond contract?"
 
 
"And those are?" prompted my mentor.
 
 
"Mandatory document for anyone we're keeping here," I said. "Nobody's *forced* to be here, and this is proof. I'm guessing that it's here for easy reference." I took the contract off of the wall and started skimming through it.
 
 
"Good so far. Summarize that contract for me?" asked the coyote, peering over my shoulder a bit.
 
 
"Well, this one's easy," I said, continuing to leaf through it. "It looks like the standard two-year comfort/culinary/breeding contract, with no special provisions, unless there's something I'm missing."
 
 
"And... this one?" he said, handing me another one from the wall and pressing it into my hands (while making sure the first one ended up back where it was).
 
 
I read, and as I read, I raised my eyebrows a bit. "Right, so this one's a custom-written contract... it's a breeding contract, first of all."
 
 
"Mmhmm," said my mentor.
 
 
I paged through it some more. "... there's a summary page at the end, it looks like, but without looking at it: This is a five year bonding contract. The bondee gives up rights of personal freedom per standard contract language, does not give up culinary rights, does not give up intercourse rights, *does* give up breeding rights with conditions on her partners..."
 
 
"... Guaranteed TV, internet access, and air conditioning with no cap," I finished. I snuck a peek through the door's window - it was dark, but there was a glow from within the room, suggesting that the TV was indeed on.
 
 
"Good so far. So breeding rights - if she's receptive to your advances, does that mean you get to breed her, if you want to?" asked the coyote.
 
 
"No - that's spelled out, it has to be arranged by senior ranch staff with a stud who's won ribbons in a credentialed pet show," I said, after checking that page of the contract. "Given that I'm both an intern and I never took part in a pet show, I can't arrange nor participate in a breeding attempt."
 
 
"Good. So - important to remember, the contracts are law. Literally. Always check the contract before you take any action, otherwise you're opening both yourself and the ranch up to a lot of liability. Keep going with the 'tour'."
 
 
I nodded, putting the second contract back up the wall-mounted clipboard, and then went to examine the other clipboards, going down the hall a bit and picking up one at random. "These are... ranch notes?" I poked through them. "Care instructions, medications, diets, schedules, other notes..."
 
 
I looked across the hallway. Something had caught my attention. The front page of a different set of notes had just four words written on it in large bold letters.
 
 
"Why's that one say 'Please Eat When Hungry'?"
 
 
The coyote grinned. "You tell me," he said, gesturing.
 
 
I went over and started reading. "Oh - she's willing prey - *enthusiastic* prey, and she likes visitors coming in to snack on her..."
 
 
"Well then," said the coyote, pointing at the door. "Why don't you go in and introduce yourself? It's about lunchtime, isn't it?"
 
 
"Hey, sounds good to me," I said, grabbing for the keycard on my belt and bringing it up to press against the door lock-
 
 
- Only for my mentor's hand to grab my wrist, holding it still. "Forgetting something?"
 
 
I stared at him for a moment. "... Oh, the contract."
 
 
"*Always* check the contract," he affirmed.
 
 
With my free hand, I picked up the contract copy from the wall, and paged through it. "It's... oh, it's the 'anything goes' standard contract 3b, five years..."
 
 
"But if it wasn't, and someone had written in those notes by mistake - then trouble. Okay, proceed," he said, releasing my arm.
 
 
I buzzed in, and opened the door. There was a young otter lying on the bed reading, naked except for her collar and tag, as expected. She looked up, curiously.
 
 
"Hi there, you in the mood for a feeding?" I asked, entering the room.
 
 
Instantly, she sat up on the bed, holding both her hands and feet out towards me, fingers and toes splayed.
 
 
"You weren't kidding," i mentioned to the coyote as I crouched down a bit, taking one of her hands and bringing it up to my mouth, licking at her index finger before taking it into my muzzle and sucking on it a bit, gently raking my teeth over it, testing her reaction...
 
 
Her reaction was to squirm, a bit anxiously, as she felt my mouth on her finger, and look at me pleadingly. *That* was the reaction I was expecting. Jackpot.
 
 
Without further hesitation, I pulled her finger a bit further into my mouth, and brought my teeth down hard, snipping straight through it to take it off at the joint. There was a soft noise from the otter - not so much of pain as of pleasure, and her remaining fingers remained splayed out.
 
 
I chewed for a moment, and then swallowed - typically, I liked to savor my food, but she was clearly wanting more. I picked out a second finger to bite off, and then a third - the way she was looking at me, it seemed like I was making her day.
 
 
I swallowed those, and then kept going, taking her last finger and then her thumb - and then proceeding to just bite directly into her hand, digging into the meat there. This got more of a noise from her, and a bit of flinching, but there wasn't any sign I should stop, so I kept going, nibbling away at her palm and then taking her bite by bite till I was down to her wrist.
 
 
Finally, I swallowed and then wiped my muzzle clean, and looked down at her as I stood up, smiling - she was smiling right back, and tilted her head, as if wondering if I wanted more.
 
 
"Ah - no thank you, I just wanted a little snack, but-"
 
 
She shook her head, and placed her remaining hand on my hip, patting it.
 
 
"Oh! Well, I wouldn't say no," I said, picking up on what she was getting at. "But I'm on the job, and my boss is waiting for me out in the hallway," I said.
 
 
"Nah, go ahead. Perks of the job, and makes them happy," said the coyote from out in the hallway.
 
 
"... Well, then," I said, and unbuttoned my pants and tugged down my underwear. My shaft, already hard from the intimate feeding, sprang forth - and only had half a moment to be exposed before it was covered again, this time by otter mouth instead of fabric underwear.
 
 
"Ah - she's eager," I commented over my shoulder, as the collared otter started going down on me.
 
 
"Heh - don't tell me you didn't have a few really eager on your ranch, growing up," said my mentor. "Some people - I mean, some animals, they take the loss of clothing and social norms as a sign to just go wild, and they can't get enough. Did you?"
 
 
"Thought I asked you not to ask about that, please... that life's past me," I said. Despite the annoyance of the topic, the otter's warm mouth was keeping me in very high spirits. She was good, she was eager... and before long I was releasing into her mouth, which she gulped down without hesitation.
 
 
"Ah - um, thank you," I said, and she smiled up at me, and then suddenly stood up to hug me tightly before getting back on the bed and resuming her book. She was down a hand, and it'd take about an hour before she'd start regenerating it, but she didn't seem bothered... nor did she seem to really care that I was still there as she got back to what she was doing. I supposed I'd been dismissed, now that she'd gotten what she wanted.
 
 
Zipping up, I rejoined my mentor out in the hallway. "Perks, like I said - you know where to look and when, you'll never go hungry or get blueballs, and if you're really lucky then you might get a chance to father some kids on one of the breeders. Almost makes up for all the cleaning and heavy lifting you'll be doing as part of the actual internship, right?"
 
 
"Don't act like I didn't know taking a ranch job would be hard work..." I said, and as we continued down the hallway on the tour, I couldn't help but glance back at the otter's door. I'd have to remember where her room was - I was already planning on swinging back by later.
 
 
I wasn't sure, when I left my old home, if I'd ever want to set foot on a ranch again, but here I was. And I had to say, the perks of ranch life definitely made everything else worth it.