Acceptance

by Grace R. Duncan

  “Hey, hey.” Miles quickly rinsed Quincy’s hair, then pulled him back in. Miles wrapped both arms around him, kissing one temple. “I think you did an incredibly difficult thing that you had to do.”

  “He was going to kill you,” Quincy whispered.

  “I know. And he would have killed us if he’d gotten free. If you hadn’t done what you did, things could have gone very differently. Jamie might well be dead right now.”

  Quincy shuddered. “But you don’t… you’re a healer, Miles.”

  “That doesn’t mean I won’t do what’s necessary. If it came down to choosing between him and any of us, I’d have squeezed that trigger too, Quince.” He brushed one of Quincy’s cheeks with his thumb. “This is why it’s maat. It is justice. How many people do you think he’s killed in his life? I guarantee you his attempt on me wasn’t the first time. Isn’t it balance to stop him from killing again?”

  Quincy swallowed and stared at Miles’s chest. “I don’t know. Maybe?”

  “What does your heart tell you? What wisdom might Thoth give?”

  With a sigh Quincy closed his eyes. “I… gods, Miles, I took a life.” He shook his head, and to Miles’s surprise, tears leaked from his eyes. “Bastet, help me,” he whispered.

  Miles tightened his arms and kissed Quincy’s hair, giving his mate the opportunity to let it out. He didn’t speak, didn’t push, just held Quincy tightly, running a hand over his back. The sound of the falling water almost drowned out the soft sobs, but he could still hear them. Shakes accompanied the sobs, and Miles wished there was some magic thing he could say, some way he could make Quincy’s pain lessen—and not just because he was feeling it across their bond either. The helplessness chafed, but he pushed it aside to focus on Quincy.

  When the trembling stopped, Miles turned the water off and tugged the towel down. He dried Quincy off, then gave it a cursory run over himself before tossing it back on the rack. Taking Quincy’s hand, Miles led him into the bedroom and guided him to the bed. As soon as Miles slid in on the other side of the bed, Quincy rolled into his arms.

  “Please, I….” Quincy shook his head, and Miles stilled it, cupping a cheek. He leaned in and caught Quincy’s lips with his own. He rolled them, settling on top of Quincy, and deepening the kiss, doing his damnedest to keep his mate’s focus on him, on their bodies, on feeling rather than thinking. He rocked into Quincy’s hardening cock, his own stiffening just as quickly.

  Quincy slid his hands down Miles’s back, nails scraping over his skin. His legs came up, and he wrapped them around Miles’s waist. Miles pulled back long enough to grab the lube and was gratified to see heat and need in Quincy’s eyes, rather than the pain that had been there before. It was still there, Miles was sure, but, for the moment, buried. With another deep kiss, he did his damnedest to make sure it stayed that way for just a little while longer.

  THE NEXT morning Miles was glad Quincy seemed a bit less fragile, even if his skin was still paler than usual and he was still quiet. When they went out to the living room, Chad and Jamie sat at the table, talking quietly.

  Quincy crossed over and stood next to Jamie. “How are you?”

  Jamie swallowed but nodded. “Better. How are you?”

  Miles joined them and took Quincy’s hand.

  Quincy glanced up and squeezed it, then looked back at Jamie. “Better. Have you… have you dealt with it?”

  Jamie nodded again. “Mostly. What about you? I can’t imagine what that must have been like.”

  “Some.” Quincy swallowed. “It’ll take a while for me to really deal with it completely.”

  “Yeah. That’s what Chad said.”

  Quincy turned to Chad. “Have you?”

  Chad nodded. “Yes. Once. I hope I never have to again. You’re a hell of a man… cat…. Q.”

  Quincy cleared his throat, his lips tilting slightly, and turned back to Jamie. “I’m… sorry.”

  Jamie held up a hand and stood up. “I would very likely be dead right now if you hadn’t done that.”

  “It’s my fault you were there in the first place!”

  Shaking his head, Jamie reached out and touched Quincy’s shoulder. “No. It isn’t. I was there because I wanted to be. I was there because my friend needed help. If it hadn’t been last night, I’d still have a first of being in a situation like that someday. With what Chad and I do? It was bound to happen.”

  Quincy took a deep breath. “Thank you. I’m still sorry you had to go through it.”

  Jamie shrugged a shoulder. “I’m sorry I didn’t do it for you. I saw him move, but… I froze.”

  Quincy shook his head. “Oh hell no. If it had to happen, between the two of us, I’d rather be the one to have to deal with it. I’m glad you don’t have to go through this.”

  Jamie didn’t speak for a moment, then, to Miles’s surprise, hugged Quincy. To Miles’s further surprise, Quincy hugged him back. “Thank you,” Jamie whispered.

  “You’re welcome.” He squeezed Jamie gently, then pulled back and turned to Chad. “So, chief, what do we do?”

  Chad waved a hand at the other seats. “We order breakfast and decide what the next steps are.”

  Miles had to nudge Quincy to eat more than a few bites, but eventually got a decent amount of meat and eggs into him. When they’d cleared the dishes and had more coffee, Chad got up to pace.

  “Okay, Jamie.”

  “What, me?” Jamie blinked.

  Chad snorted. “You’re the only Jamie here.”

  Jamie flipped him off.

  Chad grinned. “That’s my mate.” He kissed Jamie’s temple, and Jamie rolled his eyes but was smiling. “Now. What are the three biggest motives for most crimes?”

  Jamie frowned. “Love, money, and revenge.”

  “Right. So, out of those three, what seems the most likely for what’s going on?”

  “Money,” Quincy said.

  “Not revenge?” Miles asked.

  Quincy shook his head. “I don’t think so. I mean, the wolves have almost wiped the cats out a few times over the millennia, but since they established peace a couple hundred years ago, the cats have focused mostly inward. There’s no love lost, of course….”

  “But that’s a long way from revenge.” Chad nodded.

  “Right. And as far as I know, no one in the pride is old enough to have fought in the last war.”

  “Then money.” Chad pointed at Quincy. “However, I’m not sure how the cats could benefit financially by starting a war, but my guess is one of two things. The first possibility is that they thought they’d get a hold of your money. I’m betting there’s at least a trust for you from Dad.”

  Quincy nodded. “There is. If he died I’d inherit. Not that I want it—”

  Chad held up a hand. “Yeah, I get that. But these guys don’t. So if you survived and Dad died, you’d have all that money they could get to. And a puppet that let them run the pride however they wanted.”

  Miles coughed. “Idiots.”

  Quincy grinned. “Indeed.”

  “Right. Or the other possibility: they’re being paid to help start a war.”

  Miles, Quincy, and Jamie all blinked. “But… why? Who?”

  Chad shrugged. “I don’t know. We have a lot of questions and very few answers. But we have a starting point. If it’s about money?”

  “Then we follow the money,” Jamie said, nodding.

  “Precisely.” Chad looked at Quincy, then back at Jamie. “That’s on you two. I can look at some of it, but it’s not my forte.” He turned to Miles. “It’ll be up to you and me to brainstorm the rest of the questions and how to find the answers.”

  “I’m not sure how much help I’ll be.” Miles shrugged a little helplessly.

  Chad waved a hand. “Sometimes I just need a live body to talk to.”

  “Does that mean you’ve talked to dead bodies?” Jamie asked, eyebrow raised.

  “As a matter of fact, yes. When I was on the force. But those conversat
ions were usually pretty one-sided.”

  “Usually?” Quincy smirked at him.

  “Hey. Dead bodies can tell you a lot.”

  Miles nodded. “That’s true. Can I just say, though, doctor or not, I’m glad we don’t have to talk to any for this?”

  Chad snickered. “Yet.”

  “Please, can we try not to end up with any more dead bodies?” Quincy asked.

  Chad cleared his throat. “I don’t want them either. Okay. Let’s start with the money. We should print stuff out, though. There’s too much chance it’ll disappear.”

  Miles frowned. “I’m sure the hotel has a printer, but… do we trust sending stuff to it?”

  Quincy shook his head. “No. There’s an Apple store across the street. We could go there and get one.”

  “You use an Apple?” Chad asked, wrinkling his nose.

  Quincy rolled his eyes. “Artist? Of course I use Apple.”

  “Dude, we’re Windows guys, all the way.”

  Miles held up his phone. “I, uh, have a smartphone. Android for the win?”

  All three of them burst out laughing.

  “Right,” Chad said, chuckling. “I think I saw a Staples up a few blocks. We can go get stuff there for the Win machines.”

  “Okay. Um… I might sound a little paranoid, but I’m not sure how far we should go right now. I’m sure it’ll take the elders a couple of days to dig up someone new, but they probably will,” Miles pointed out.

  Quincy nodded. “Yeah, probably. I think we’re okay today yet, but let’s not go far. We’ll stick to room service or delivery and these two short runs.”

  Chad rubbed his hands together. “Good. Let’s get that taken care of. Then we can work on the rest.”

  MILES WAS impressed despite himself. Chad had brought back a whiteboard and markers, and set it up on the wet bar counter somehow. He’d also bought sticky notes in a bunch of colors and a big package of Scotch tape. Miles had no idea what he was doing. It didn’t look like anything he’d ever seen before.

  Across the very top of the board, he wrote, Start a war? then Control the pride? Below it, he’d written four words: money, power, greed, revenge. Down the left side of the board, he’d taped driver’s license pictures of Abraham Thomas, Charles Ross, Quincy, Aubrey, Miles, and Payne Stewart a.k.a. Tweedle Dee.

  “Investigations board?” Jamie asked. “My profs said those were just, like, stuff they made up on TV.”

  “Your profs were idiots, then,” Chad said, stepping back. “Or, well, I don’t know what other detectives did. I did my boards at home usually, not at the station, because I did my best thinking at home.” He shrugged. “This works for me. I like to see it laid out visually. I can sometimes see stuff that way that I might miss otherwise.” Chad picked up a pad of sticky notes and started writing. He took the top one off and stuck it up next to the pictures, then wrote timeline above it. The first one he’d put up said hired to find Q. He went back to the sticky notes and started writing again.

  Miles left him to it, moved over to Quincy, and kissed the top of Quincy’s head. “How’s it coming?”

  “Slow,” Quincy said, sighing. “It takes a while to dig through and find the right things.”

  “Can I do anything to help?”

  Quincy looked up. “Would it be horrible if I said, ‘make sure to keep the coffee coming’?”

  Miles chuckled and shook his head. “Not horrible at all. It’s something I can do.” He glanced at the clock. “How about I keep track of food and such too, hmm?”

  “Thank you. I love you.”

  “I love you too.” Miles chuckled and kissed Quincy quickly, then went over to the iPad to put in a fresh order for coffee and some food for everyone. Then he went back and stood next to Chad.

  He’d added several more sticky notes in the same place as the first, all with events written on them. “Timeline?”

  “It helps me if I keep track of exactly when stuff happens. I can sometimes see connections that I couldn’t before.”

  “Makes sense.” Miles frowned. One whole section of the board was still blank. “What goes there?”

  “That’ll be the ‘how’ part. We’ll put some of the money stuff we find there. But there are still some great gaping holes in all of this, and until I figure out exactly what they’re trying to do, I don’t know that I’ll be able to figure out all of the how.”

  Miles nodded, pursing his lips. “If the New York wolves know about the cats, is it possible one of them is involved?”

  “Good point,” Chad said, picking up a blue marker. He drew a box under the pictures and put wolf? inside it. “What would he have to gain by helping the cats, though? Or is he working against them? And for what?” Chad shook his head, rubbing his face. “Too many fuckin’ questions.”

  “I ordered coffee,” Miles said, chuckling.

  “Maybe we need to simplify a little,” Jamie suggested.

  Chad turned and raised his eyebrows. “Oh?”

  Jamie blushed a little but nodded. “I mean… okay, yeah, it may be about starting an interspecies war. But maybe if we just focus on the parts that involve Quincy, we’ll get to the rest of it.”

  Chad nodded slowly. “That makes sense. So….” He picked up the red marker and drew a line between Abraham Thomas and Charles Ross, then an arrow to Dee, then from Dee to Quincy. “They hire Dee—and Dumb and Dumber—to rough Quincy up to convince him to come back. That goes along with the puppet idea. But, of course, Quincy gives them the metaphorical finger.”

  “I’m pretty sure I gave them the literal finger, too, before they beat me up.”

  Miles chuckled. “I’d be surprised if you didn’t.”

  “Me too,” Chad said. “Okay, so they leave—message delivered. But obviously it doesn’t work. Dee and Dumb follow Q, but Dumber stays behind and goes after you.” Chad pointed at Miles, then drew a box for Dumber by the pictures and another red arrow from Dumber’s box to Miles’s picture. “Except that fails too.”

  “Everyone disappears for a while,” Miles said, “then…. New York.”

  “Right.” Chad set the marker down and paced for a few moments. “It comes back to the fact that whatever the elders want, it’s bigger than Q. The amounts we’ve seen so far are just too big. So if they wanted his money, was it to help finance a war? What would they get out of one?”

  Miles frowned. “Power?” He pointed to the word on the board. “Maybe they actually think the cats would win?” He turned to Quincy. “No offense, babe.”

  Quincy snorted. “None taken. We wouldn’t. Just from sheer numbers.”

  “So, they’re not that stupid. Something else is going on here, but I don’t know what and it’s driving me nuts.”

  Miles patted his shoulder when a knock came, and he went to the door to greet room service. He waited for the server to bring in the food and set it down. The guy sent a look at the board Chad stood in front of and his eyebrows went up.

  Miles smiled, handed the guy his tip, and looked pointedly at the door. “Thank you.”

  He gave a polite smile in return and beat a hasty retreat.

  Miles made sure everyone had food and Quincy was actually eating it, and then he took his plate and burgers back to the board. “Wolves.”

  Chad looked at him. “What?”

  “I wonder if they weren’t promised somehow that not only would they survive, but that they’d be put in charge of whatever cats were left. And if so… that means they’d be working with a wolf.”

  Jamie frowned. “How do you figure?”

  “No, he’s got a point,” Chad said, nodding. “When you think about the fact that two or three packs have more wolves than a pride that covers several states, they can’t be that idiotic to think they’d win. Which means they have a promise from someone that they’d be left alone. And who else would they be fighting?”

  “Humans?” Jamie asked.

  Chad shook his head. “No. Truthfully, if they wanted to start killing human
s, as fragile as they are compared to shifters, if they were halfway sneaky about it, they wouldn’t need assurances.”

  “We’re not that much stronger,” Miles said, frowning.

  “Think about how many bullets you pulled out of Dee. If a human took that many?”

  “Well, they might survive, but I see your point. They’re certainly not going to recover in a few hours.”

  “Exactly,” Chad said, turning back to the board. “Besides, I don’t think the cats hate humans the same way they do wolves. I mean….” He turned to Quincy. “Hey, Q. Do you guys have a name you call humans?”

  Quincy shook his head. “No. They’re just humans.”

  “But you call wolves dogs, right?”

  Quincy nodded. “Yeah. There’s still a lot of hate among the cats for wolves, even if it’s not, like, what would spawn revenge, if you know what I mean.”

  “Yeah. No, I don’t think it’s got anything to do with humans. I doubt they’d cry over human collateral damage, but I don’t think the humans are the target.”

  “Are there other shifters?” Jamie asked.

  That brought Chad up. “Or other creatures in general?”

  Quincy turned around and raised his eyebrows. “Other shifters? Not that I know about. And creatures? You mean like vampires?” He smirked.

  Chad shrugged. “Three months ago, I didn’t know there were people who could take the shape of a wolf, much less a jaguar.”

  “Point,” Quincy said, nodding. “But no, not that I am aware of. There might be, but… what? I don’t think so, and if so, not someone the cats have any kind of issue with.”

  “Then that leaves a wolf,” Miles said, sighing.

  “But who?” Jamie asked.

  Chad frowned. “Aye. That’s the question, isn’t it?”

  Chapter 14

  QUINCY SAT back in his chair and sighed. “As far as I can see, it all leads back to Abraham Thomas. There are transfers to and from Charles Ross, but the majority of the money goes to—and from—Thomas.”

  Chad stepped up behind him and peered over his shoulder. “So, he’s likely the one we need to look at.”