“This shirt’s too tight,” Rafe said. “I look like I’m selling something.”
“Your body,” the kid said, then guffawed.
Rafe scowled. There were standing inside the room they’d slept in the night before, and Agg had finally dragged out the clothes he’d bought at Thrifty Threads.
“You look fantastic,” Agg said, eyeing Rafe from head to toe, gaze lingering on Rafe’s chest.
Rafe crossed his arms, covering the gaudy—but temporary, thank all that was holy—nipple jewelry. He understood why Agg was staring, because it was impossible not to look at the perfect little holes in the bright blue fabric made to highlight both his nipples and the jewelry.
Agg cupped his chin thoughtfully. “It’s the only way to get you in. They’re going to be expecting a certain carelessness in your behavior. I’m showing you the dark side of Yeeru-human relations.”
“You know why this disturbs me so much? Because you bought these before we even knew where we were going to find Aiden.”
“Pfft,” Agg said. “A man needs something to wear besides t-shirts and brown trousers.”
“I like my damned t-shirts and brown trousers. They’re comfortable on the job.”
“You’re an attractive man. I need something to distract people from your face. We don’t want anyone to recognize you. Word could get back to this Dontan fella you’re so worried about.”
“I’m not worried about Dontan Narvo. I’m worried about my damned brother.”
“Narvo scares you.”
“Because of what he could do to my brother and his family.”
“See? I was right.”
“What you are is annoying.”
“Which you love.”
“Hmmph,” Rafe growled out. “Which I find annoying. You’re a lot less annoying when you’re an oceandog.”
“Personally, I find your tendency to argue annoying. But you sure are attractive when you’re doing it.”
Rafe’s nostrils flared as he sucked in a breath. “Are you kidding me?”
“I love the way your face heats up when you’re angry.”
“Oh, so now you’re going to tell me it’s not only my grumpy face that gives your cock a—”
“Hey, boss-fella,” the kid jumped in, his voice cracking hard. “You really think this is necessary? I look like a streeter ready for a roll.”
He looked down at his knees again and the colorful padding that implied certain things about him and what he was willing to do to earn a living. “I’m not that happy about this plan of yours. I’ve worked hard not to have to end up in shitty outfits like this.”
“That shitty outfit was meant for me,” Rafe said. “And I’m still trying to figure out why.”
“Role playing,” Agg said. “Of course.”
“All holy hell,” Rafe muttered.
“You don’t get in if you don’t bring along human guests,” Agg continued. “Two to one. Those are the rules. Yeeru won’t spend money on the mere possibility of sex with humans if they don’t believe they’ll have interested humans to choose from. I think. I’m really not a hundred percent on that.”
“This is a ridiculous plan. Nobody’s choosing me or the kid. And don’t you think this is going to make you look like a creep? The kid’s half-grown and he looks it.”
“I’m nearly seventeen, gerk, I don’t know why you keep calling me kid.”
“Because you’re a damned kid, that’s why.”
“I won’t be the only Yeeru present. I need to make an impression.”
“You going to make an impression alright,” Rafe said. “It might seem to you like the whole world is gay, but not everybody is. Not everybody’s going to be looking at my nipples just because you can’t take your eyes off them.”
“Exactly.” Agg gave Rafe a bright smile. “I have valuable territory and I’m not afraid to flaunt it.”
“Asshole,” Rafe muttered.
“Why’s that a good thing?” the kid asked. “People just want to take your shit when you flaunt it.”
Rafe looked at Agg, his gaze pointed. “Now that’s a good question.”
Several hours later, Agg had sprawled out on a long sofa under the flickering lights of the strange club, Rafe sprawled on one side of him and Horace on the other. “I told you everyone would be looking at your lovely nipples in that shirt.”
Rafe’s response was a sharp sound of disbelief from low in his throat.
Horace and Rafe both had been wound tight from the moment they’d crossed the threshold into the unsettling environment. A low pulse of sound reverberated intermittently throughout the center of the refurbished lobby of the old high-rise at the edge of the second canton. Dark doors and covered windows prevented any view of the city beyond, and entry had cost Agg two zembores.
Two.
Agg rubbed his hand along Rafe’s arm and wondered just what Rafe saw when he looked out at the crowd of human bodies. Did he see deviants, or simply people who had found out for themselves that Yeeru had something unique to offer in the realm of pleasures of the flesh?
Unsurprisingly, not even here did Yeeru feel inclined to take their natural forms for more than a few moments here and there. Freedom from one’s human guise would come in one of the many rooms available for rent on the floors above.
“This place gives me the creeps,” Rafe said very quietly. Agg had warned Rafe about the likelihood that anything he said could be overheard.
“Why? Because you had no idea so many humans want to have sex with monsters?”
“No. Because most of these people don’t care who they’re trying to fuck. They just want a thrill.” Rafe reached around Agg and smacked Horace on the shoulder. “Stop acting like you’re scared shitless before you offend somebody with that slack-jawed stare of yours.”
Horace glared at Rafe, a bold challenge in his gaze as he pulled his legs up on the sofa and leaned into Agg. He wrapped his hands around Agg’s forearm.
“You little shit,” Rafe muttered. He leaned forward, nearly laying in Agg’s lap. “You’re just taking advantage of the situation to—”
“Am I interrupting?” a male voice asked, coming from around the side of the raised dais.
“Not at all,” Agg said, straightening, while Rafe sat up more slowly, cautiously, eyes on the man who’d spoken.
Instinct surged and Agg had to work hard to maintain his human guise. He recognized one of his own kind and his Yeeru instincts were screaming at him to be careful, to not underestimate the age, the cunning, the sheer power of the Yeeru taking the steps up to the facing sofa with languid grace.
The man sat, stretching his arm over the low back of the sofa with a soft sigh. His gaze seemed to caress Rafe’s every sharp line and hard curve.
“Yes,” the man said, a small smile curving his lips, “those nipples do draw the eye.”
Tension seemed to bleed off Rafe.
Or maybe Agg was feeling his own tension reflected back at him.
“The makeup is a nice touch. The color really highlights those eyes of his. I’m Vanost, by the way. You are?”
“Agg.”
“Agg? No mother to claim?”
“Mother’s name is better left unsaid to a stranger.” Agg let a smile free, then curled his arm around Rafe’s shoulders and his other around Horace. Horace trembled just a bit, and Agg gave him a squeeze of comfort.
Rafe frowned.
Vanost shifted on the sofa, leaning forward. He reached out and flicked one of the rings pinching Rafe’s nipple. “This one sounds like a troublesome—”
Agg couldn’t stop the shudder that freed his monster for one brief, uncontrolled moment.
His enemy—for Vanost was without a doubt Agg’s enemy after that trespass—let his hand drop to his knee. “Fascinating. I’m curious why he’s here, since you’ve marked him so clearly as untouchable.”
Agg studied the Yeeru in front of him, Vanost’s age a vibrant force Agg could feel into his core. “I’m satisfying a curiosity of his, that’s all.”
Vanost smiled with very little humor. “I hear you’ve been asking around for Aiden.”
“Have I?”
“Don’t play games. I don’t like them unless they involve people like him, tied to my bed.” His gaze had returned to Rafe, his eyes lit with interest.
Rafe plopped back on the sofa, crossing his arms and ankles and gazing steadily at Vanost. “The only games I like involve people like you, tied to my bed.”
Said in just that tone, it was enough to make Agg swallow hard. Rafe wasn’t half-bad at role playing.
A rich scent tickled at Agg’s senses. His lungs tightened.
No one else seemed to notice the magic seeping out of Rafe. Vanost reached up and rubbed his thumb across his lips. “I’m old. Set in my ways. I’m afraid I do things my way.” A flicker of light streaked across his face. “You won’t find Aiden, by the way. There was an accident last week. He won’t be back.”
Rafe’s face tightened noticeably but he didn’t move. “An accident. Something permanent, maybe?”
“Permanent?” Vanost laughed. “I don’t think so. A broken toe, something like that. He insulted one of my customers and his supervisor fired him.”
Rafe’s shoulders relaxed.
Agg tutted and squeezed Rafe’s thigh. “Don’t believe him. I’m sure your friend is already on the other side of the depths of Lake Monica.”
“He wasn’t a friend,” Rafe said, his tone flat and hard, “but I’d rather not hear he’s dead.”
“I’m afraid he is,” Vanost said. “His replacement’s been quite the help. But I’m afraid—”
“Of nothing much, I’m sure,” Rafe said.
Vanost pushed to his feet, eyeing Rafe momentarily. Then, to Agg, “It’s time for you and yours to go, youngling. Best stay away until you’re older. There’s not much here for you that you don’t already have in these two. Enjoy them. Try not to get involved with such young humans next time. They’re usually more trouble than they’re worth.”
With those final words and a short shake of his head at Horace, Vanost turned and walked away.
Rafe cursed under his breath.
Horace finally exhaled his pent up breath.
And Agg had no idea how to tell Rafe that not only was Aiden dead, but he was pretty sure Berto was now working for Vanost.
In the end, he didn’t have to tell Rafe anything.
As they were leaving the building, crossing over from the dimly lit exit and onto the barely moonlit street, a few loose slivers of madestone crunching underfoot, something clacked in the alley that shouldn’t have clacked.
Agg shoved Horace between the shoulders. “Get to the wheeler, quickly. Wait for us.”
Horace staggered under the press of Agg’s heavy hand, looked over his shoulder, then took off running. His footsteps pounded on the madestone.
If nothing else, the boy had a finely honed sense of self-preservation when it mattered.
Rafe turned, but Agg grasped his arm and hauled him back. “Someone’s following us.”
“Great.” Rafe pushed past Agg, heading toward the dark end of the alley. “One of them might know something that could help me find Berto.”
Rafe’s move seemed short-sighted to Agg, standing as they were outside a club full of Yeeru. Not all of his kind made it easy for other Yeeru to guess their true nature.
“Wait,” Agg said, too late, because Rafe was already calling out.
“Hey! You guys know anybody by the name of Berto?”
The three hesitated—a woman and two men—and then started running at Rafe.
“Ah shit,” Rafe said.
Agg lost control over his human guise.
The three halted abruptly, one sweeping his hand out in an arc.
A sharp, hot scent wafted on a non-existent breeze. “Magic,” Agg said, directing his words toward the man with the warmest skin. “I wouldn’t recommend—”
A quiet pop sounded at Agg’s feet. He looked down.
The madestone under the soles of his shoes had started smoking, and several flecks of embedded glass had stopped reflecting the hazy light from the moon and the grimy streetlamps.
Rafe had stopped nearer to Agg than the others, and he was watching warily. Did Rafe even realize just how much magic drifted in the air around him, the rich, dark scent building in intensity with every moment that passed? No one else seemed to have noticed it, but Agg could accept that the mating had given him a particular sensitivity to Rafe’s magic that no one else shared.
He glanced toward the man with his arm still extended. As long as Rafe felt threatened, his uncontrolled magic was a threat to all of them. Despite the erection slowly forming in his trousers, Agg didn’t have a lot of interest in an orgy with any of the people currently facing off against him and Rafe.
“That really wasn’t necessary,” Agg said. “I’m not planning to hurt anyone. We just want a little information.”
“That’s a sample of what’s to come,” the man said, licking his bottom lip. “So stay back, monster. I don’t want any trouble from you.”
Agg let out a soft snort. “That was a misfire and don’t think I don’t know that.” Agg pointed at his own chest. “Hybrid.”
Fella one looked over at fella two. Fella two pulled out a gun and pointed it at Agg. “Poisoned bullets,” he warned. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
Agg sighed. “The poison only works if you actually make the shot. Beckie missed. Are you sure you won’t?”
“Who the hell is—”
“Don’t let him distract you!” the woman snapped out. “Watch the other one! That’s the one we want.”
“Me?” Rafe demanded. “What do you want with me?”
One of the men lunged, making a grab for Rafe.
Agg shoved the man back. The man staggered, thrown off balance enough to drop him to one knee. He gasped and rolled, cupping his kneecap.
Unfortunately, Agg’s distraction made him miss the telltale twitch of the other guy’s hand that would have let him revert in time to miss being shot.
The gunshot reverberated in the tight alley, the sound echoing in the night air, and the poisoned bullet burned all the way through Agg’s chest.
Rafe turned, eyes wide on Agg. He started to throw himself toward Agg, but Agg shoved him away with all the force he could gather as the poison spread inside him.
Rafe fell on his ass, then rolled quickly across the gritty madestone. Agg didn’t have to tell Rafe why he’d done what he’d done; Rafe knew.
Unable to hold his human guise, Agg reverted, then immediately fell to the ground, hitting the madestone in a pained heap, writhing uncontrollably.
He would have recovered quickly from such a small amount of poison, but more bullets tore through him, the staccato pops echoing off the alley walls as the heated metal balls slammed into the madestone beneath him, shattering stone.
The bullets didn’t hurt him; Yeeru had only one vulnerability to projectile weapons and the odds of anyone hitting that spot without the help of magic was infinitesimal. The balls slid right through his Yeeru flesh, damaging nothing.
The poison, on the other hand, damaged everything. Poison-laced balls were becoming increasingly common, and Agg had no way of fighting off the paralyzing effect of the poison left behind by so many.
Agg shrieked.
The gun clicked after the last ball left the chamber and his enemy tossed it aside to lunge at Rafe.
The woman used the moment of distraction to lurch toward Rafe, a club in her hand. Rafe turned just in time for her blow to land on his forearm.
Even though Rafe was having trouble holding off both attackers, he was surprisingly tough, taking several blows from the woman’s club with little more than a pained grunt as he struggled to tear it out of her hand and keep the man from getting his arms around Rafe’s chest.
“Watch out for the other one!” Agg sang in warning. The third man had staggered to his feet and now he was limping closer, watching Rafe for an opening.
The painful pitch of the Yeeru language made the man who’d been trying to corner Rafe cover his years. Rafe winced but looked to his side where the third man was getting too close. The others cringed at the painful sound, but stayed focused on the fight.
They seemed to know they had a limited amount of time to take Rafe down before Agg recovered. The burning heat of the poison wasn’t as painful as his body’s efforts to expel it, but Agg couldn’t stop the poison’s path through his body—shouldn’t, not if he wanted to overcome the poison’s paralyzing effects as soon as possible.
Rafe kicked out at the woman, managing to knock the club out of her hand. Unfortunately, that left an opening for the limper.
He reached out and yanked at the jewelry pinched to Rafe’s left nipple.
“Ow! You shit!” Rafe swung around, already punching at the guy.
The limper couldn’t duck in time, but he still managed to get a grip on another piece of glinting jewelry and yanked as he fell back. Another dangling ring came free.
“Fuck,” Rafe bit out. “You’re going to pay for that, asshole.”
Agg’s vision faded, his body heated, and his thoughts scattered. Only one thing remained: Rafe.
Then the streetlamps flickered.
A man stepped out of the shadows at the end of the alley. “Well now. When Berto told me someone had come in asking about Aiden, sure don’t think he was expecting to see his little cock teasing brother alive and well.”
Rafe tensed, some sharp emotion coming off him in waves, while the others stilled their efforts to contain him.
As a human, Agg didn’t see the same spectrum of light he saw as an oceandog, and what he saw in his natural form was dramatically different from what he perceived with his human eyes, despite the enhancements he’d constructed for his third form. But he had other senses that allowed him to identify people between forms, and even through the thickening scent of magic and gunshots, he easily recognized the smell of the man that had stepped out of the shadows.
Dontan.
Instinct raged, the last of the poison burned off, and Agg couldn’t have stopped his reversion if he’d tried.