Acceptance

by Grace R. Duncan

  Quincy frowned. “Hiding. I thought you knew that.”

  “Well, yes. That’s not what I meant.”

  “Working as much as I can since I’ve been on the run,” he said, scowling.

  “Have you done any drawing lately?”

  Quincy blinked at him, mouth dropping open.

  “Come to think of it, I haven’t seen him draw anything either, in all the time he’s been with us,” Chad said.

  “Uh, no. I haven’t really been able to,” Quincy murmured. “I… I didn’t even know you knew I drew.”

  Aubrey snickered. “I did pay for art school, remember?”

  Quincy rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but I didn’t think you paid attention to what I did there.”

  “I know more than you realize” was the only reply.

  Miles cleared his throat. “So, tell us, what are these theories?”

  Aubrey raised an eyebrow but didn’t reply right away. “I suppose there’s more to the wolves than we’ve let ourselves believe,” he said, surprising Miles—and Quincy, if the shock coming over their bond was anything to go by. Aubrey sighed. “I don’t know anything for sure. Right now it’s all conjecture. I have no proof. But….” He glanced around, then leaned in a little more, picking up a piece of bread. “There are three separate people I’m not sure of. There’s another line set to inherit if neither Quincy nor I are in power.”

  “I thought my uncle would,” Quincy said, blinking.

  “He’s already stated he’d refuse it, so they all know it’s not going to him. The Lewis family, on the other hand, would take over if I was… no longer able to lead and you weren’t there.”

  “But… why would they tell me to come back?” Quincy asked, scowling. “Why not just get rid of me?”

  Aubrey shrugged. “I don’t know yet. Frank’s crafty. I doubt he’d trust actually getting rid of you—or me—to the thugs. I suspect he’d want to make sure it got done himself. He’s only one, though.”

  Quincy tilted his head. “Who else?”

  Aubrey glanced at Miles. “This is not meant as anything toward you or your pack.” Miles nodded once, and Aubrey continued. “The wolf pack here knows we exist. I think that’s a fairly recent thing.”

  Miles frowned. “Why would they have been told? Who told them?”

  Aubrey shrugged. “I don’t know. Could have been Frank. Could have been someone else. Again, this is conjecture.”

  “But….” Quincy scowled again. “But if it was the wolves, why would they send cats after me—us?”

  “Actually,” Miles said, frowning. “I think I get that. If they hire someone—and if they’re successful at hiding the money trail—it’ll look like infighting in the cats. If they get rid of both you and your father, it creates a power vacuum.”

  “Which is prime opportunity to send us more or less into chaos,” Quincy finished, sighing. “Well, this is one big clusterfuck,” he muttered.

  “Language, boy,” Aubrey growled.

  Quincy rolled his eyes but nodded.

  Aubrey held up a hand. “That’s not all.”

  Quincy blinked. “Fu—what else?”

  “You know this, but I’m not sure if you do,” Aubrey said, pointing first at Quincy, then to Miles. “We have a council of elders in the pride—all prides do. The council is advisory only. They have no direct power. However, there are suspicions that a couple of the council members aren’t… happy with the way I run things.”

  Quincy snorted. “They’re never happy.”

  Aubrey nodded. “Of course not. I know that, but this goes beyond their typical disapproval.”

  “Holy shit,” Chad muttered. “So it could be three different groups? Fuck.”

  Miles coughed an “uh-huh.”

  Quincy shook his head. “Well, fu—crap. Let me get this straight. I could be the target of not only Frank Lewis—”

  “And Wyatt.”

  “Great. And his son, Wyatt. But also the council of elders—”

  “Not all of them. I’m sure it’s only a couple of them, but….”

  “But still. Or it could be the local wolf pack, looking to stir up trouble,” Quincy finished.

  Aubrey tilted his head, then nodded. “That’s about it.”

  Quincy buried his face in his hands, and the frustration, confusion, and anger transmitting over their bond got even worse.

  “Yeah, that’ll be easy to pick through,” Chad muttered.

  Jamie coughed.

  Miles sighed and looked up at Aubrey. “Do you have any suspicions as to who you think is more likely?”

  Aubrey took a sip of his scotch, and they paused their conversation as the next course was delivered. As soon as the server left, sure they didn’t need anything, Aubrey answered. “I am leaning toward the elders or the wolves. Not because I have a problem with them,” he said when Quincy scowled and opened his mouth. “But because Frank has never made it a secret that he doesn’t like how I lead. If he is behind this, he’s being kind of stupid about still mouthing off.”

  Quincy’s scowl faded. “That makes sense.”

  “Doesn’t narrow it much, though,” Chad muttered.

  “Still, let’s say for the sake of argument it is the wolves,” Miles said. “I have a hard time believing the alpha is involved. This kind of thing has a death penalty attached to it in our world.”

  Aubrey inclined his head. “As it does for us. Interspecies fights are not tolerated for us either. But if that’s the case….”

  He didn’t need to finish. If it was the local wolf pack and not the alpha, that meant the pack had its own internal pile of shit going on. Miles sighed.

  “Precisely. That said,” Aubrey said as he picked up his fork. “It doesn’t leave Frank off the hook and doesn’t mean the local alpha isn’t involved. I think your best bet might be to try to find Payne, Sully, and Witt.”

  “Who?” Miles asked, blinking.

  “I think that’s the Three Ds,” Quincy said.

  “Three Ds?” Aubrey asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “I didn’t stop to ask their names before we fought. Instead, I’ve taken to calling them Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dumb, and Tweedle Dumber, shortened to Dee, Dumb, and Dumber.”

  Aubrey threw his head back and laughed. “Nice,” he said, smiling at Quincy.

  Quincy blinked, and confusion took over for a moment again over their bond. Miles squeezed his hand, and Quincy cleared his throat. “Thanks. Um… how do you know who they are?”

  “I—discreetly—asked around for who I should hire for the sort of work they’ve been doing. Pretended to want to hire them to ‘encourage’ a pride member to cooperate with something.” Aubrey shrugged a shoulder. “Those were the names that came up. The person I talked to said they were the best, and something tells me whoever this is can afford that.”

  “Very likely,” Quincy agreed. “Well, I’ll still call them the Three Ds.”

  Aubrey chuckled. “Anyway. I’d suggest trying to find them. Make use of that ex-cop you’re friends with. I’m sure he could help you with it. The one I tried to hire.”

  Quincy smirked. “And told you to buzz off?”

  “Hey, I was more professional than that!”

  Miles had to fight the smile.

  Aubrey nodded. “The same, though he was, at least, professional.”

  “See?” Chad asked. Miles suspected the grunt that followed was courtesy of Jamie—again.

  “Anyway. Make use of him. Find them. I’m betting they’re your best bet. Though… if you’re going to… question them… get out of the city. There are too many eyes and ears here.”

  Quincy nodded and Chad snorted. “No kidding. Does he think we were born yesterday?”

  “No,” Jamie said. “The day before.”

  “So,” Quincy said, ignoring them. “Any idea where to find them?”

  Aubrey shook his head. “No, I’m afraid not. But… I might have an idea how to draw them out.”

  “I’m not going to lik
e this, am I?” Miles asked.

  Aubrey looked up at him. “No more than I will, but it may be necessary.”

  Chapter 11

  QUINCY DIDN’T know what to feel more of: frustration, confusion, aggravation, or anger. An entire hurricane swirled inside him, and he had no idea how to handle it. He’d always thought of himself as a fairly calm individual. Certainly not emotional. Maybe not emotionless, but this riot was driving him crazy.

  He barely noticed the trip back to the hotel. Like the night before, Miles talked to Chad and Jamie, discussing the prospects, but Quincy was still trying to make sense of the dinner. The possibilities for who might be responsible wasn’t really all that surprising.

  No, it was the way his father had behaved. He’d been… nice. He’d smiled. He’d even congratulated them as the dinner ended and said that, when it was over, he hoped they could all have a less stressful dinner together.

  Quincy had been, in a word, floored.

  He hadn’t even asked once when Quincy planned to come back. Quincy wasn’t sure what to make of that—whether his father had given up now that Quincy was mated or whether he was biding his time or what—but it certainly didn’t help his mental state.

  So he spent the whole walk back—all eight blocks—running the questions over and over in his head. It wasn’t until they stepped into the elevator alone that Quincy forced himself to focus.

  “Where are Chad and Jamie?”

  “They decided to go check out Times Square. Said something about being in New York twice now and having never seen it. Jamie made sure I knew they wouldn’t be back for a while.”

  “Oh.” Quincy blinked, then his eyes widened. “Oh.”

  “Yeah,” Miles said, nodding. “It’s up to you, of course, but I thought time alone might help.”

  Quincy swallowed and nodded. When they stepped out of the elevator, Quincy wasted no time getting to the room. He practically dragged Miles into the bedroom and kicked the door shut.

  “Strip and get on the bed. I’m topping tonight.”

  Miles grinned. “I thought you’d never ask.”

  Quincy had no idea where this sort of pushiness was coming from. He’d never been one for being very dominant in bed. Sure, he liked to top as much as the next guy, but he was usually pretty happy with the typical give-and-take during sex.

  But something had him pushing this time, and since Miles seemed perfectly happy to go along with it, Quincy wasn’t going to argue. Before Miles could actually do what Quincy had told him to do, he shoved Miles’s jacket off him, yanked at the shirt next, ignoring the popped buttons and ripping sound, and tossed them aside. He removed his own jacket, tie, and shirt as he kicked his shoes off. Once Miles had gotten rid of his shoes and socks, Quincy crawled onto the bed over him.

  Quincy stopped to catch Miles’s lips in a long, thorough kiss. He needed his mate’s taste, needed that connection as well. Then he bent and bit and nipped lightly along Miles’s neck and chest. Pausing to actually open Miles’s pants, he sat back long enough to yank them and the boxer-briefs off. Quincy tossed them over the side of the bed, then went back to tasting Miles’s skin.

  Miles moaned, his hands coming down to Quincy’s shoulders. Quincy sat up, though, and took both hands, pinning them over his head. He met Miles’s black eyes, thrilling in the teeth poking out under his lip, showing even more than the hard cock how turned on Miles was. Eyes and teeth that matched his own.

  “Leave them there,” he muttered.

  “Yes, sir,” Miles said, lips twitching. He sobered when Quincy looked up. He must have seen something in the expression on Quincy’s face, because he nodded. “Okay, baby.”

  Quincy took the moment to dig the lube out of the bedside table and tossed it on the bed next to Miles, then went back to tasting. He exploited every spot he knew would drive Miles crazy, teased every bit of skin he could reach. He wanted—wanted to be buried in Miles right that second, but also to stretch it out, make it last. Their first time had gone so fast, as had the one other time he’d had Miles inside him, and while he understood the reasoning behind it, he wanted more.

  So he forced himself to slow down and instead licked long lines over Miles’s skin. He sucked up little bruises and chuckled to himself.

  “Something funny, baby?”

  Quincy grinned up at him. “You look like a jaguar with all those spots.”

  Miles looked down at himself and laughed. “I guess I do. Too bad they won’t last.”

  “It is. That’s okay,” Quincy said, rubbing his face over Miles’s skin. “That’ll last, though, at least awhile.”

  “Always having to mark me. I’m not going anywhere, baby.”

  Quincy took a breath. “I know. My cat hasn’t figured that out yet. Won’t until I claim you.”

  Miles nodded. “I understand that.”

  Quincy went back to what he’d been doing, losing himself in the taste and feel of his mate. He touched everything, needing to feel everything. He paused long enough to take his own pants and underwear off, then nudged Miles to roll over. He leaned over Miles, letting his hard, dripping cock slide along Miles’s ass, rocking and teasing for a long moment.

  He bent to Miles’s ear. “Going to fuck you hard.”

  “Ohfuckyes,” Miles moaned.

  In direct contradiction to his words, Quincy kissed his way slowly along Miles’s spine, leaving brushes over each individual vertebra, then rib, then every muscle he could find. Every new spot brought another moan or grunt—music to Quincy’s ears. He kissed his way over each of Miles’s ass cheeks, then spread them and ran his tongue over the tight muscle there as well.

  He had to focus to retract his teeth so he could do what he wanted to next without hurting Miles. When he succeeded, he didn’t even hesitate to push his tongue through the ring.

  “Fuck, Quince!” Miles shouted.

  Quincy pulled back briefly. “Yes, I will. But not yet. I haven’t tormented you enough yet.”

  Miles groaned and dropped his head onto the pillow.

  Quincy grinned and went back to his task, pushing his tongue once more into Miles’s hole. He worked it in as far as he could, then slowly back out, thrilling in the near-whimper he got in reaction. So he did it again, earning the same sound.

  Miles rocked his hips, but Quincy pushed them back down to the bed. “Uh-uh. Don’t move.”

  Miles let out another groan but stilled.

  Quincy snatched up the bottle, his cock too hard for more teasing. He coated his finger in lube, then pushed it into Miles slowly. “Fuck, you’re tight, baby,” he groaned.

  “Haven’t….” Miles paused to grunt when Quincy twisted his finger. “Haven’t bottomed in years.”

  Quincy forced himself to calm down a little. His cock was so hard, precum dripped constantly. But he wasn’t going to do anything to hurt Miles, no matter how much he wanted to plunge his dick into the tight body below him.

  He took his time—even ignoring Miles’s prodding—and stretched the muscle carefully, going all the way up to three fingers. When he finally felt like he’d prepped Miles well enough, then he covered his cock with slick and tugged on Miles’s hips until he was kneeling.

  Taking another breath and sending a prayer to Bastet for patience, he nudged Miles’s ass with the tip of his cock. It took some work just to get it in, Miles relaxing his muscle and Quincy slowly but steadily pushing. Finally, however, the tip popped in and they both moaned.

  Still, he refused to rush. He pushed in another inch, then pulled back out again, then another and back out until only the tip was still in. Miles groaned and tried to rock back, but Quincy held his hips still and, for good measure, slapped his ass. Miles stilled, but Quincy could tell he needed more.

  He let himself go a little faster, finally seating himself completely. There, he paused, bending over Miles’s back and wrapping his arms around his mate. He couldn’t seem to speak, didn’t know what he could say to get his feelings across. Instead, he simply kissed
a line across Miles’s shoulder, hoping he would understand, at least a little. Miles had known what he’d needed in a way even Quincy hadn’t. To control this, when so much in his life was out of control, was helping to center him in a way he didn’t think anything else would. Not his art, not even shifting.

  He gave himself another moment to savor the feel of being buried inside his mate, then pulled out slowly. Stopping just shy of pulling out completely, he paused, then thrust hard back in. Miles moaned but held still, hands clenched tight around the edge of the pillow.

  “Fuck, Miles, so good,” Quincy moaned as he pulled out again. He set a slow pace at first, still wanting to make this last awhile. He had no idea what would happen next, no clue when they might be able to be together again, and he was going to make the most of this.

  Miles, however, was clearly getting frustrated.

  Quincy gave in, speeding up, putting more behind each thrust. He moved until he could get a different angle, thrilled when he got the shout he was going for. He gripped Miles’s hips, his own body pushing him now to get to the end. His balls were drawing up, and he wasn’t going to make it last much longer. “Stroke yourself, baby,” he murmured as he sped up a little more.

  Miles’s hand flew to his dick, and he started stroking himself almost furiously. “Oh gods, Quince… so… fuck close.”

  Quincy groaned in reply, his hips almost having a mind of their own as he nearly pounded into Miles’s ass. His cat reared up in him, pushing him to bite, to claim. It took all his skill, all his control, to hold it back. Miles’s neck was right there, hair having fallen to the side, making it so difficult.

  In that precise moment, though, Miles threw his head back and shouted. “Quince! Going to… oh fuck!”

  His muscles flexed, and Quincy’s orgasm hit at the same time Miles shouted again, spraying the cover under him in his spunk. Quincy’s thrusts turned erratic as the pleasure crashed into him. It stole his breath as it yanked the cum from his balls to fill his mate’s ass.

  At the same time, that tug he’d felt when he’d first been with Miles came again. The link between them thickened even more, and on the tail of that, the feeling of being wrapped up and drawn together came once again. As soon as that registered, the echo of Miles’s pleasure, then love and happiness that wasn’t his, followed.