“Katie~! Hiiii~ It’s been so long!” Came the excited greeting from the motherly cheetah, stepping up to crush a much smaller girl. Also a cheetah, the younger one gasped and struggled to breathe through the embrace of her aunt. When released, a quick coughing fit and it was all smiles once more. Sent on her way, Katie stepped through the door as her mother and father got similar treatment. Beyond the MILFy Janet was the mature woman’s own children, two girls and a boy, Jack, Jenny, and Trish. Jenny, the second daughter of Janet, was heavily pregnant and completely naked, proudly showing off her well groomed spotty fur. Katie was much more comfortable saying hello to them compared to the adults, the four young cheetahs in their late to early teens, with nothing more complicated than some nods and “hey”s exchanged between them. They all stood around like awkward teens while the adults gathered and spoke, talking about various uninteresting things. Looking between his siblings and cousin, Jack landed his eyes on Katie as she somewhat unsurely stood there. “So… Katie. You’re gonna be the Lamb?” He asked, in the tone of forcing small-talk. Katie took a moment to perk her ears as she realized she was being addressed, then nodded sheepishly. “Yeah. My mom’s been getting me ready all year. Doesn’t feel like that much time has passed, but I guess Thanksgiving sneaks up on every Lamb.” Fidgeting slightly, the young cheetah smiled at her extended family, people she didn’t see nearly as much as she should’ve. Lightly laughing, the other teens had the ice broken. “Yeah,” Jack replied, “My brother almost never saw it coming last year.” Like that, conversation came easy. Catching up, joking, all agreeing that the adult side of the room was much more boring, the group of young exotic felines split off to wander farther into the house. Sodas were fetched, game consoles booted up, and the teens killed time with entertainment. The oldest of Janet’s daughters, Trish, rambled on, “-Last year was a mess, hopefully it goes better this time. I tried to persuade daddy to not try the fryer again this time, but he seems dead set on possibly ruining Thanksgiving dinner.” Rolling her eyes, the naked and pregnant Jenny giggled. “He tried to use it last month just to get practice, and nearly set the entire back yard on fire. The food was edible, but… ugh, didn’t come out very good.” She shivered, her large belly jiggling as her young but developing tits did the same. “I mean, I get that the whole ‘family’ and ‘sacrifice’ parts are the main idea, but I would like some decent food. That too much to ask? I mean, these kits I’m carrying are ravenous. I swear, I’m eating three times my weight now.” Jack leaned over, wrapping an arm around the preggo teen’s shoulders to plant a kiss on her lips when she turned to him. Smirking playfully at her fresh blush, he moved to rub her expansive belly. “Well, if they’re anything like their father, it’s gotta be closer to four times your weight. I eat like I have a bottomless stomach.” Grinning back her brother and the father of her unborn kits, Jenny stuck her tongue out at him. “Which is why if you didn’t do the baseline level physical activity of fucking me and Trish, you’d be unable to get up from your chair.” The boy looked hurt, leaning back to place a palm on his chest before shifting to a cheeky smile as he flexed a non-muscular arm. “Hey! I jack off too.” Both girls on either side of him gave a coordinated “pfft” as Katie giggled on the chair beside their couch. As if remembering their cousin was there, the trio of siblings shifted attention once more to the somewhat out-of-water Katie. “So, are you ready for today?” Trish asked the cousin as she suddenly perked up.  Cute ears folding back as the weight of the question settled, Katie gave an unsure sigh. “Uh… Yeah. Yeah… Ready as I’ll ever be anyways.” Suddenly looking at her clawed hands as she wrung them, she forced them to go still. Then when that failed, shifted them to grab the hem of her cute blue skirt. “It’s alright to be nervous, you know. It’s kinda weird if you aren’t.” Trish said, a sympathetic look given to the younger girl across from the trio. “It’s an honor, sure, but who isn’t afraid?” A slow nod from Katie. “Yeah. I just… I dunno. Anxious. Scared. Honestly?” A slow sad smile inched onto the cheetahs face. “Just overall kinda bummed.” With a small barrage of gentle giggles, the siblings did want to make sure their cousin was comfortable and welcome. Though Jenny spoke up, with her usual playful energy. “You know, if you’re really unsure about it, I could go instead? I don’t mind.” Jack perked up with a raised brow and a friendly tummy slap to her occupied belly. “Nahhh, not until you dumped those kits out first. Afterwards, sure, but I wanna get a taste of some newborn pussy.” Jenny put her snout close to his, teasing as ever. “And who says they’re girls?” True to Jack’s usual nonchalant smugness, he pushed forward to press his nose against his pregnant sister’s. “Bussy works too~” Trish then smacked the back of his head with an upward hand, amusedly irritated at the two. “Will you two stop being horny for one day? Come on, it’s Thanksgiving. Chill.” Both groaned then, shifting to slight pouts before Trish put her attention back on Katie. “Well… Is there something you want to do? Play a game? Have a fetish you never got to try?” Flushing under the cute spot patterns on her cheeks, Katie shook her head. “No, don’t worry about me. I’ve planned on this happening for a while, my mom made sure she knew I was slated for Thanksgiving well in advance. It’s just… settling in now, you know? I’m just glad it serves a purpose. I’ve always liked Thanksgiving, I think it’s fair. And-“ One of the adults poked their head into the room, all the young cheetahs swiveling to the newcomer, the trio’s dad. “Hey guys! Katie, go ahead and start de-furring, I’m setting up the fryer.” Then he was gone, the more boisterous noise of the parent’s and relative’s conversations replacing the teen’s own as silence took hold for a moment. Then everyone’s eyes locked to the girl demurely sitting on the spare chair, her ears folding back against her head as a long sigh came out. Looking up after taking a deep breath, she put the slight smile back on and looked at her cousins. “Well? You guys mind lending a hand?” All three stood up at once. - “Wow.” Katie said, staring at herself in the mirror. “That’s weird. Hard to believe I’m looking at… well, me.” Nodding behind her, the trio of cousins hummed their agreement. “Yeah. It’s always strange to see family de-furred.” Instead of the gorgeous gold and cute brown spots of her usual pelt, the young cheetah was nothing but pink skin, freshly stripped of her coat and given a new smooth texture, it was unnerving to see a whole new fleshy creature standing before them. It was one thing to be naked in front of her family, a thing not exactly uncommon, but to be truly naked to this level gave Katie a shaking leg of nerves. With a maximumly visible blush of embarrassment, Katie was paraded down to the living room and kitchen where the rest of family and extended relatives were. As eyes upon eyes drank in her exposed form, smiles and hugs were given, congratulations said with gropes abound. Pictures taken in all of her vulnerable glory, with happy compliments of how good she looked. The terms ‘juicy’ and ‘tender’ were used often. Then it was off to the kitchen, still more naked than she could ever imagine. Pokes and prods came next, measurements and weighing, an entire wealth of embarrassing hands-on inspections and preparations. From the simple feeling up of her legs and arms, to the slow and meticulous covering of her bare skin with seasonings. She supposed there were some plusses to her family choosing to fry the Lamb this year. Katie didn’t have to endure her torso being cut open and stuffed, or rice and vegetables being crammed into her colon and womb, or the liquid-injections to her breasts. She shivered as her uncle herb-butter down her back, the wake of cold substance tingling. Every long stroke furthered her heart rate, each patting of salt and seasoning on her bare body weighing her mind down with the realization of what was to happen. An unavoidable train of thought this far in, the teenage cheetah’s stomach feeling like it dug deeper into the earth with every applied stroke of to her pink skin. All her time in this life, all her dreams and aspirations, personality and memories, dashed and tossed away in the name of a meal. Katie was no longer here, the slab of meat getting prepped on the counter was just this year’s Lamb for the family. Feeling her body being near fully coated, she knew time was dwindling. She had said goodbye to her friends long before the drive to her aunt’s house, and was glad to spend some time with everyone before the cooking began. Others bustled about the kitchen, making sides and dishes, stepping around and walking past her nude form sprawled on the counter as if she was just another item to be served. Katie had no joy in this, there was no secret desire, only a crushing awareness of her status as meat and the impending fate that brought. But even without joy, there was purpose. She knew what her death served, the good it brought, the sentiment she understood and accepted. It was only fair. She was a cheetah before becoming an ingredient, a born carnivore. She had eaten meat all her life, as nature demands. Meat had no shortage, the DHS ensuring there was always some form of it cheap enough for those who needed it. Those born as prey species were a well known renewable resource, constantly targeted by calculated culling to maintain population balances. It would be a waste to just bury the bodies of those chosen to die, so instead the Department of Humane Sustenance keeps the circle of life going. But Thanksgiving was different. Preds ate preds quite commonly, cats typically one of the more common cull species due to their rampant reproduction after all. It wasn’t hard to find farm-raised carnivores too, or some who entered the meat ecosystem through one of the other various means. But the point of Thanksgiving was to give thanks. To recognize the sacrifice of the prey species and those who end up in ovens and on grills for their last moments. In a holiday of solidarity, the preds feast upon one of their own. Not just another carnivore, not just the same species, but of their own family, a gesture of fairness. The sacrificial Lamb. Katie was not excited to be one, not thrilled to understand keenly that she was about to be cooked and her life amount to a dinner destined to be forgotten a week later. But it was only fair. Not everyone made it, no species in the world has a 100% child-into-adult ratio, and that’s the exact reason some were so renewable. She had a mountain of corpses at her own feet built upon years of everyday meals, just an aspect of her life. It was only fair, Katie repeated to herself, ignoring the twine being tried around her ankles. Ignoring the discomfort of her knees being tucked into her chest, the ache of her wrists being tied to her biceps. The going got rough when a large apple was crammed into her mouth, then made immediately worse when a thin clear wire was wrapped around her snout to ensure it couldn’t be dislodged. Struggling to cope with the sensations of her jaw feeling dislocated, Katie was caught  off guard when two carrots were shoved up her nostrils. With fresh waves of ache and discomfort swarming her already frazzled nerves and mind, the girl was doing her best to stay on top of herself, feeling thoroughly disgraced. The only thing to be thankful for she could come up with was being spared from knowing what was needed to cook her, unaware of the steps to come, never sure of how close she was to being ready. Katie had imagined the tying of her limbs would be the final step, focusing on not hyperventilating. But there was still more to go apparently, her uncle going around her nude form, pink skin slightly obscured with the layer of seasonings. He patted her down with a paper towel, either to rub the herbs and salt into her skin more, or to absorb moisture, she did not know. Then there was nothing, just a tied up girl ready to cook, looking around the kitchen in slight panic with an apple-stuffed mouth and the green bushes of carrots poking out of her nose as she wheezed around the fruit splitting her jaws open as people bustled around her without so much a glance her way. She watched a pie go into the oven by Janet’s experienced hands, Katie whimpering softly. Auntie Janet’s pies were the best, she always looked forward to those on previous Thanksgivings. Her noise caught the MILF’s attention, the girl barely looking at her. “Something up, Katie?” She said, as if the cheetah teen wasn’t trussed up, exposed and seasoned. “Hmm hnkt?” Came the young cheetah’s apple-muffled voice, wondering why nothing more was happening to her. Aunt Janet gave that ‘bless your heart’ smile to her. “Oh sweetie, it’s going to take awhile for the oil to pre-heat. You’ve got to marinade a bit too.” Stabilizing her breathing, the girl did her best to speak without letting her nerves show. Like that, she was back to being just another object on the crowded kitchen counters. This part, Katie could confidently say was the worst. If she was nervous before, now she was a wreck, tied up and left to do nothing but wait for her end. Perilous anticipation plummeted her heart, mind racing as she tried to distract herself, only for the constant reminders of her situation to steer her back to thinking too much about this. In this spot right now, Katie had no clue how her sister was able to smile and cheer as she was put into the oven years ago. Or… maybe she didn’t. Perhaps Katie was just ignorant of her meal’s plight, much like those moving around her at this very moment without so much as a second glance sent her way. She knew this would be degrading, literally losing your status as a person has a tendency to do that, but this was ridiculous. The young cheetah was not prepared to feel this sheer level of abject objectification. Shaved, seasoned, and ignored, the various family members preparing dishes around her not even decent enough to ogle her naked body. Perhaps that was the most demeaning, not even a glance spared to her tits or ass. After all, who saw dinner as something sexy? Katie hoped the tears softly trailing down her cheeks didn’t wash away any of the herbs on her skin. - The teenage meat peeked her eyes open as the voices around her took a different tone. When she fully looked around, Katie was face to face with her mother, Janet’s sister. Bright eyes and bubbly smile all too familiar, Katie could only look back with grateful eyes and a short sniffling gasp. “M-Mmm?” “It’s me, sweetie.” Replied the woman, beaming her usual joy despite seeing her daughter ready to cook. “I just wanted to say goodbye one last time, and tell you how happy and proud I am of you. I know this is a lot, and not something you’re exactly enjoying. But it means so much to me that you’re giving it your all regardless. Your family thanks you, and we all love you, Katie.” The mature cheetah said with a heartfelt tone as she leaned in to kiss her daughter’s de-furred forehead. Giggling abruptly, she licked her lips afterwards. “Oh! Salty~” One of the people behind her, likely her uncle from the masculine voice, responded. “That’s the salt-rub alright. Here, grab her arms? I got the legs.” Then Katie was lifted from the counter, her world jostling and bouncing as she was carried out to the backyard. Only a few sparing views of her family were given, a sliver of sight through one of the open walls of the kitchen leading to the living room giving only the briefest of glances at the trio of other teens on the couch. Only Trish noticed her, raising her hand to give a short final wave, but the trussed up meat was already gone before her hand made it off her lap. Trying- and failing- to steady her breath, Katie was plunged into that final moment of dreadful suspense as she was carried outside the sliding doors. The autumn chill hit her instantly, cutting through her thanks to the utter lack of her usual spotty coat. Shivering immediately, her woes only multiplied as the low hiss of the fryer reached her ears, growing louder with every lurching step. The foreboding sound was soon joined by a dim bubbling, tinny and somewhat echoed as she was turned to face a barrel on stands, a jet of fire under it. She was set on a picnic table, watching the vat boil and churn. Then things got worse. Katie watched keenly as Janet and her husband pulled over a frame with a pulley system, her own mother already back inside. Even though she was technically with both her aunt and uncle, with family, Katie felt more alone than ever as she saw the rope hanging from the pulley, the dangling end tied into a perfect noose. In sudden petrification, Katie could only do her best to breathe around the apple and carrots plugging her face as she watched the adults pull the frame over. Even that was taken from her as the thick and rough rope went around her neck, whimpering mewls turned to strained choking as Janet began tugging the other end of the cord through the pulley. Gradually rising off the worn picnic table by her neck, the freshly squirming and gurgling teenage cheetah wiggled through the air, eyes bulging as her weight was supported by the line around her throat. Neck gripped by the thick cord, muscles spasming as her face contorted, spit beginning to trail down her chin, Katie was hung. Now suspended in the air, swaying around as the bald cheetah’s body squirmed in the twine restraints, the two adults rolled the suspension frame back to the fryer. Though her mind was a swath of pain from the tight rope holding all of her weight, she could dully register the wash of heat flowing up from the barrel of dark oil below her. As choked gurgles spewed from Katie’s apple-gagged mouth and carrot-plugged nostrils, she didn’t even have the chance to realize the rope was released as her trussed up body dropped into the scalding fluid. A loud and violent sizzle was the only thing louder than her muffled scream, the last of her air and energy being expended as she was submerged into the molten pool. As the barrel frothed, it wobbled from her death throes, her cry shifting seamlessly to the hiss and crackle of deep frying. Sparse moments later, the dim banging of her thrashing settled, the subtle movement of the roiling barrel ceasing beyond the constant bubbling. Dusting her hands, Janet gave a flashy grin to her husband, both aunt and uncle to the meat that was formerly Katie, drowning and cooking in the barrel before them. “Well, I’m going to finish up the sides. Don’t forget to set a timer, dear! I hope you know what you’re doing.” - On the picnic table was a black mess, vaguely in the shape of a person with their limbs tied in. Less of a steam rising off the roast, and more of a pungent smoke. There was nothing edible on the over-fried mess, charred bits cracking and settling on the large platter. There was no shortage of actual alarm as the older cheetah man ran a hand through his hair, looking around as he vented his lungs. “Shit. Take one little nap now that I’m not crowded by family, and the holiday is ruined.” Moving to sit on the table’s bench, he lay his hand down on his arms as he gazed at the ruined meal that used to be his niece. This was bad. Janet will never let him try the fryer again, and he spent so much on it. Nevermind the meat was related to him, his honor as a chef was on the line. Nevermind the sheer waste of both resources and life, he had just made an ass of himself for the entire family. There was the whooshing sound of the sliding door to the house opening, before a gasp. Fearing the worst, the uncle looked behind him to expect Katie’s mother, or worse, his wife. Instead it was his three teens, likely checking on the food on Janet’s behalf. Or perhaps trying to steal a nibble. The oldest daughter, Trish, rushed out to the lawn. “Daddy! You did not!” The kid’s eyes lingered on the burnt mass for but a moment, any emotions from the loss of a cousin gone as their stomachs rumbled. “The dinner’s ruined!” The girl threw her arms up, “Ugh, I’m not letting you fuck my ass for a week! I was looking forward to this!” Grumbling, Trish stormed back in the door, the shouts of “MOM!” echoing out already. Trying to reach a hand out to stop her, the masculine cheetah slumped back with a groan. “Shit.” Jack and Jenny stared at him, not exactly happy. While Jack was clearly disappointed, Jenny’s expression was shockingly sly. As the boy shrugged and walked back inside, Jenny smiled wide. Nude, heavily pregnant, there was a strange confidence in her casual aura. Sauntering up to the picnic table and pushing the platter of ruined Katie away, she leaned on the wooden surface in a way that let her swollen belly sway down. “Well, it seems like you’re in a bit of a pickle.” Her father just groaned as his face went back into his arms. “I don’t know how to fix this.” Jenny giggled, striking a pose. “I do.” Lifting his head slowly, he looked at her with confusion in his raised brows, before they furrowed with understanding. - “I dunno. I just think she planned it somehow.” Janet said, the family fully situated around the large dining table. Conversation and laughter flowed, the plates loaded, with a beautiful roast cheetah set up as the centerpiece. Though this one had quite the large belly, a helping of veal available this Thanksgiving. The MILFy cheetah hummed with pondering as she took a sip of her wine, glancing at her husband as he sliced off a chunk of bicep to munch on. “Wouldn’t put it past her.” He said matter-of-factly, just glad his ass wasn’t on the couch for ruining Thanksgiving.