by Willa Okati
“-- and lives?” Quentin finished.
Tezcatli glared at him. Then, he changed his look to an assessing one. Quentin had gone a little pale and a little red at the same time, his skin blotching. He looked well-fucked, his glossy hair in tangles and his lips swollen. He smelled of blood and come. Gorgeous.
He was someone Tezcatli could treasure.
“No one who wants to enjoy their life runs from me,” he said softly, dangerously. “The things I could make you feel, Quentin! Who am I? I am Tezcatli!” He struck himself on the chest. “I run through the night. I feed. I fuck. I fight. I rule. I am the King of my kind. They all obey me. By mating with you, by giving you the favor I would give an equal, by placing my initial mark on you I’ve picked you as my second in command.” He paused. “You want to know what I am? Very well. Watch!”
He changed, just a little, his teeth sharpening into points. Drawing back, he bared them at Quentin in a glittering Cat smile. “What do you think I am, now?” he whispered, his voice as rough as his tongue would be now. “Name me.” He felt his eyes change to yellow-green as he watched Quentin’s face drain of color -- then soft lips hardened into a tight line.
“Come on,” Tezcatli challenged. “Do you dare? Ask me again, Quentin. Come on!”
Quentin drew back his hand, and lashed out at Tezcatli. Marking him with four stripes of blood in turn. His face was blank. “I know what you are,” he said. “Jaguar man!”
Chapter Eight
Quentin fought back the urge to laugh -- in triumph -- as Tezcatli stumbled back, one hand flying to his scratches. The look on his face was priceless. One part disbelief, one part rage, and one part admiration. Seriously grudging, but there. Rage won out when he finally spoke. “You little prick!”
“You thought it was big enough earlier.” Not caring anymore who might be looking out to see them, Quentin cupped his cock and gave it a tug. He felt strange. Wild and free. He knew he had the warm wind of Zach’s approval at his back, and he could do no wrong. His first move? Teaching Tezcatli a lesson.
Oh, it all made sense now. The Aztec look the other man had, his name, the way he moved ... the pieces all fit together. “Jaguar,” Quentin repeated, slowly moving around toward Tezcatli’s side while holding his pants up with his free hand. “Did you think I wouldn’t know what you were when you showed those teeth? Your claws?”
Tezcatli moved away, slinking sinuously while keeping his eyes fixed on Quentin. His proud mouth was turned down in a scowl, but his eyes told a different story. “What am I?” he challenged.
“Jaguar. I come from close to the border, Tezcatli. You think they didn’t tell stories about your kind at night?” Quentin flung back. “Folk who walked like men, talked like them, fed and fucked just the same -- but put them underneath a full moon? Presto! Cats. Big jungle cats who liked to eat our cows and horses. Zach -- yes, I said his name, and I’ll say it again if I feel like it -- patched up those you only managed to graze.”
“We don’t miss often.”
“Then there must have been a shitty pack living close to us.”
Tezcatli bared his teeth and hissed. Looking at him, Quentin wondered how on earth he’d thought he was human. Cat showed through in every bone, joint and sinew. It wasn’t just the eyes, gold and green now, or the way his nails had become hooked claws that flexed and retracted back into his fingers.
“How close to the border?”
“What is that? Wounded pride? Close enough. You could see Mexico on a clear day, out on the ranges, or close enough. I learned Spanish from the best cowboys we had. Vete a la mierda, chupaverga.” Go to hell, bastard. He grinned, feeling almost as if he had sharp teeth. As if a huge weight were lifted off his shoulders. “Chupame la pinga.” Suck my cock!
“Corigo tu!” Fuck you!
“Y tu.” Quentin moved again, forcing Tezcatli into a slow circle, around and around the smoking porch. He decided to throw in some English for good measure: “Damn pussy.”
He’d expected an immediate reaction, and he wasn’t disappointed. Tezcatli’s nostrils flared, and for a split second Quentin braced himself for the lunge, the attack, the wrestle. Then, Tezcatli broke into a reluctant grin. Still laced with rage, but a smile all the same. The admiration was not entirely hidden. “You learned all that from a computer.”
“More like from cussing out cows and cowboys.” They made another slow circle. “Not going to argue my words? Or are you too busy deciding how you’re going to slash me up into itty bitty pieces?”
Tezcatli stopped. He ran the tip of his pink tongue over his sharpened Cat teeth. “I think you taste too good to kill,” he said. “Besides, I said it first. I’m keeping you.”
“What if I don’t want to be kept?”
“Well, too bad for you, then, isn’t it? I make the rules. I am alpha. You? You’re just a human.”
“Maybe not for long. You scratched me, remember?”
“Not deep enough. Not hard, nor long. If that was all it took, you would have already been turned from the way we marked each other while fucking.” Tezcatli subtly relaxed his position, his hand on his chest. He circled a nipple with his finger and grinned wickedly. “You bit me, here. Remember? It’s not like vampires, boy.”
“Stop calling me that. I know it’s not the same.”
“You believe in vampires?”
“I believe in ghosts and jaguar men. I’m open-minded.” Almost too quick to track, Quentin grabbed a handful of sand from an ashtray and flung it at Tezcatli. While the jaguar was choking and spitting, he made his move. He lunged, taking the werecat down to the ground with him.
Tezcatli went, mostly out of surprise probably. But like a cat, he landed on his feet -- or his hands and knees, then twisting and pinning Quentin after a moment’s startled sprawl. Looking down at him, his face would have put the fear of God in any other man -- but not Quentin. He could barely keep from chortling.
“What’s so funny?”
“You,” Quentin said, letting himself smile. Felt really good after living with tears for so long. He still missed Zach, and he always would, no matter what Tezcatli said. He still blamed himself. There was more he could have done, should have done. There had to have been.
But he no longer felt the crushing weight of guilt on his shoulders. He had been forgiven. Zach had spoken the words, and he’d moved on. Now Quentin could, too, and it would be all right.
He batted at Tezcatli’s face like a kitten would. “One time I chased a big jaguar away from a campfire,” he said with a lazy grin, testing the waters. “I grabbed a burning log and smacked at him until he ran away. Probably singed a few of his whiskers.” He cocked an eyebrow. “That wasn’t you, by any chance?”
Tezcatli stared at him with startled eyes, slowly shaking his head. “And to think,” he said, almost to himself, “I’ve been censoring myself all night just in case the thought of a Jaguar Man would frighten you off.”
“No. I probably would have laid myself down for you to eat, when I first came in here.” Quentin stirred, his pulse quickening. He could feel the beat thrumming steadily at his neck, his heart and his wrists.
A snatch of the Spanish music that had been playing the first time Tezcatli fucked him floated through his mind. He translated it into English and wanted to whoop. “Shed your skin / run through the night / four feet forward / face the wind,” he quoted. “He one of your boys?”
“One, yes.” Tezcatli could win championships for the intensity of his stare. “You’ve changed. You are not the man I first met tonight.”
“No.” Quentin searched himself and felt alive. “This is the real me. I don’t even know myself, it’s been so long. But I’m going to find out again.” He let his fingertips trail over Tezcatli’s cheek. “Are you coming along for the discovery, too?”
“That depends,” Tezcatli returned smoothly. “Do you want to join me?” When Quentin hesitated, the man dipped down, nuzzling against a pulse point. “I thought I’d have to kill you,” he said, pausing to trai
l the tip of his tongue over Quentin’s Adam’s apple. Figure eights, swirling around and around.
He bit down lightly. “That if you found out about us and didn’t join us, that you’d run screaming. Tell the tabloids. I couldn’t let that happen to my people, no matter how --” He thrust down. “-- fuckable you are.”
“Sweet-talker.” Quentin arched up to meet Tezcatli’s rocking motion. He sucked in a breath as their cocks bumped. God, he wasn’t a horny teenager anymore, but the Cat could bring it out of him. Three times in one night? He wouldn’t be surprised. Tezcatli could do anything. Could ... change him.
“You could be one of us,” Tezcatli said, as if on cue, against Quentin’s skin. His hand moved down between them, teasing at the tip of Quentin’s cock, which still gaped from his undone pants. Almost too sensitive to touch, but it hurt so good. “Not just a pack member. I didn’t come here tonight looking for another lackey. I came here looking for a mate, and I am a Cat of my word. A mate is what I have found.”
“Your crew don’t mind?”
Tezcatli looked up, the sheer arrogance on his face amazing. “They don’t question or dictate to me,” he said in a low voice that resounded with the echoes of battles long since won. Quentin felt a chill creep up his spine. Yanking Tezcatli’s chain might be fun, but he’d have to remember that it broke easily.
A warm hand closed over his. “I won’t hurt you,” the Jaguar man said quietly. “Only enough to change you over. Make you like us. Strong. Free.”
“Wild,” Quentin pointed out. “I’m a doctor. What would I do if I had to check out of the office every full moon? I -- what?”
Tezcatli looked taken aback. “A doctor?”
Quentin nodded. “Where do you think I got the syringe and glucose? I stole them from the supply cabinets at work. A clinic down on the West Side.”
“What sort of doctor?”
“A general practitioner. God, you sound like a debutante who just caught a big sugar daddy. You -- hey, stop that!” Quentin laughed and slapped at Tezcatli, who was busy lavishing kisses over his chest. He groaned when that wicked mouth reached a nipple and bit down lightly, then sucked. “Why? What does it matter?”
Tezcatli spared him a look obviously intended for someone devoid of intelligence. “How many of my people do you think actually go to see doctors when they’re sick? Do you know how valuable you’d be to me?”
“Some kind of dowry.” Quentin chose his words deliberately. When Tezcatli stopped his mouthing of Quentin’s skin and went still, he knew they’d sunk home. He went on. “That’s kind of what this is, isn’t it? I don’t remember if jaguars mate for life, but I do. That’s the sort of man I am, and I don’t think I’d change too much if I were to become a Cat.”
“You’re considering it, then.” Tezcatli sounded thoughtful. “You idiot.”
“What?” Quentin bucked up, then sank back down with a moan as his cock rubbed against Tezcatli’s again and the man bore down harder on him. “Say that again?”
The Jaguar man actually looked wounded. “Did you think I’d change you, take you to meet the others, then continue to bed everything that caught my eye? Did you even wonder what kind of man I am?”
“You have to admit I haven’t had much of a chance to find out.” Quentin’s breathing was quickening as Tezcatli kept up the slow rhythm, tormenting him. He realized again, vaguely, that they were outside, where anyone who wanted to could look through the glass doors and see them.
Then again, they were at Amour Magique. Did it matter? Somehow, he didn’t think it did. Not anymore, at least.
His head whirled, full of thoughts. Some of them good, some bad, and some he didn’t understand. Tezcatli moved a little faster.
“Home,” the man said, somehow choosing the words that would strike directly to Quentin’s heart. “Family. Belonging. Acceptance.”
“Texas?” Quentin managed to ask.
Tezcatli shrugged. “It’s where I come from. I’m not happy in the city. There’s no place to run, unless you’re brave.” His sparkling eyes told Quentin just who had been for a midnight jog to scare the locals. “Are you?” He rocked. “Brave? Strong enough to believe me?”
Quentin hesitated.
“You’d never be alone again,” Tezcatli promised him. He ran his hand down Quentin’s arm, stopping with a hold on his bicep. “I’d be by your side. Alpha and beta. Mate and mate. We would rule together. You could bring so much to us. That is what I can give to you.”
He hesitated. “I won’t say ‘love.’ Not yet. It’s too soon. And I ...” His voice trailed off.
Quentin knew what had stopped him. “It’s okay,” he said. “Most guys can’t say that, ever, even when they mean it. But what’s between us -- I think it can become more significant than love. A different bond of sorts. You and I would be together. And with me, until death do us part has a deeper meaning.”
He felt a surge of panic. “Oh, God. What if something happened to you? I couldn’t lose you, too.”
Tezcatli bit down again on his chest. He didn’t break the skin. Almost, but not quite. “Shh. No one can ever know about that sort of thing. I might lose a fight one day, but I don’t think so. No one’s brave enough to come up against me. They haven’t been in years. Do you see any scars on me?”
“They’d heal, in human form. You heal fast.”
“I keep forgetting you know too much about us already. Do you know what Liam is, too?”
“Nope. Something not human as well, I’d guess. But I don’t care. Do you really want to talk about Liam at a time like this?” Quentin lifted his hips off the ground. His cock, miraculously fully hard and ready yet again that night, scored over the hard planes of Tezcatli’s lower belly. Both men drew a ragged, lusty breath.
“No.” Tezcatli swore in something not quite Spanish. Older, Quentin guessed hazily. The intense look was back in his eyes. “But before this goes any further, choose. Are you mine? Will you run with me under the next full moon? Go back to the border with me? Out where there’re wild lands? Take care of me and mine, even as I will take care of you?”
He thrust against Quentin, his words becoming thick and labored. “Don’t say yes because I want you to. If you say no, I will let you go. But I want you to say yes. Say yes for me, and mean it.”
“Tezcatli ...”
“No. This is the way the game is played. In or out, Quentin? Choose. Choose now.”
Quentin tipped his head back. He met Tezcatli’s eyes. Dark, serious eyes, flickering between brown and gold and green. His mouth was like a knife slash, but Quentin knew how kissable it could be.
Something inside him said it wasn’t fair to have to choose in a heartbeat, not when someone was making love to him and his brain was all down south. But would he really make a different choice when he was awake, or in the daylight hours? Tezcatli wouldn’t change if you saw him by day.
And once you’d tasted pure, wild freedom, you could never turn away.
He grinned. Then, he arched up to kiss the man. A full kiss, sucking on lips, biting, tongues clashing and rubbing against each other. Tezcatli thrust quicker. His breath was hot on Quentin’s mouth. “Say yes,” he muttered, stopping for a moment. “Please.”
Quentin opened his mouth.
“Yes,” he breathed. “Take me. Make me. Change me. I can’t live this life I have. No, not living. Existing.” He gripped Tezcatli’s shirt by the collars. “The real me -- Quentin -- never made it here from the West. Turn me into someone -- something -- new.”
Tezcatli tipped his chin back, grinning proudly. “And you do this for me?”
“For me.” Quentin pulled the proud Aztec closer, smashing their mouths together in a kiss that became ravenous. As their tongues clashed, he let out a low moan that seemed to start down at his toes and rush through him, out his mouth. “Do it, Tezcatli.”
Tezcatli looked down into Quentin’s face. He was breathing heavily. “You’re sure? No looking back?”
“Not for
a minute.”
“Let it be as you say, then.” Tezcatli lowered his mouth to Quentin’s chest, nuzzling at his nipples. “Skin,” he muttered. “Such supple, gorgeous skin. Touch yourself for me. Tease me, just a little. A show for both of us.”
Quentin obeyed, his hands shaking just a little. Nerves, nothing worse. Adrenaline. Excitement. He raised his hands to the small brown nubs on his chest, first toying with them, then tugging and tweaking in earnest. The shock of sensation took him by surprise, ripping a groan from him. “I’d rather this was you,” he said in a low voice. “Your mouth. Right here. Sucking me.”
“You tempt me to the point. But only just there?”
Quentin licked his thumb, then made slow circles around his nipple. The taut flesh glistened in the light of the moon. “No more waiting,” he ordered. “Do it.”
Tezcatli flashed him an unreadable look. “Are you so impatient?”
“You’re the one who taught me not to wait.” Quentin raised up to his knees, removed his pants completely, then leaned back on his arms. He knew his cock would be an irresistible temptation to the Cat, hungry beast that he was. He’d take care of Quentin and then some.
Sure enough, Tezcatli stared, dark eyes glittering. He licked his lips. Then, heedless of the public place they stood in, reached for the fastenings of his own pants. He jerked them down and kicked them aside. Holding his cock out, hard and dark as carved teak wood, he asked, “Is this what you want?”
“I want,” Quentin breathed, letting his lips part invitingly. Enticing Tezcatli in.
Tezcatli stroked himself. “Where do you want me? In that devil mouth, or somewhere else?”
“Else,” Quentin said, swallowing hard. “Do it.”
“Here? Now?”
Quentin gave in to temptation and reached up, straining to touch. “Here and now,” he whispered. “I want you inside me. Come on. Now is the time and here’s the place. Fill me up.”
Tezcatli snarled, not angrily, but as if he were sizing up a savory meal. Naked, he made his way down to the cement floor. Quentin felt questing fingers at his entrance, and a muffled sound of pleasure that must have been Tezcatli deciding he was still slick enough to be taken without waiting.