Acceptance

by Grace R. Duncan

  “And I do not purr. I… growl.” Quincy sniffed and picked up his cup.

  The other three laughed. “Growl. Right,” Miles said, getting up and retrieving a plate. He set it in front of Quincy, then sat again. “So….”

  Chad sighed. “Yeah, so. I’m still pissed we couldn’t find more. I was so hoping for… a letter or… something.”

  “Yeah, well, he’s an asshole and overconfident, but not completely stupid,” Quincy said.

  “So, what do we do? Do we have enough to go to anyone, or do we want to try to look further?” Miles asked.

  “I honestly don’t know where else we’d look. I doubt sincerely Ross has left anything to be found.” Chad frowned.

  “I don’t think he would either,” Quincy said, frowning. “Especially after seeing me last night. I think we should call my father. Maybe get him to meet us here again and see what he thinks.”

  Chad nodded. “Yeah. I think that’ll work. I swept the room last night to make sure nothing new was added and didn’t find anything, so this is as good as any place.”

  “All right, then. I’ll call him.”

  TWO HOURS later, Aubrey sat in one of the armchairs, muscles jumping in his jaw as he looked at the picture. “I’d still kind of been hoping one of our own pride wouldn’t be involved,” he said quietly.

  “Is it enough to do anything with?” Chad asked.

  Aubrey sat back with a sigh. “I don’t think the iret is going to let it go. I don’t know how much he can do with this, though.”

  Miles glanced over at Chad and raised his eyebrow. Chad nodded, and Miles retrieved the folder they’d been holding in reserve. “Maybe these will give the iret something to work with.”

  Aubrey raised his eyebrows but took the folder. The line on his forehead got deeper as he paged through the pictures of Thomas’s servants.

  “We counted six in the main house, plus the gardener and driver in the carriage house,” Quincy said. “All human. We confirmed that last night. Chad and Jamie made a point of looking for them during the party.”

  “Nothing but human smells. In fact, the only cats I smelled were Thomas and Ross.”

  Aubrey frowned. “But the cats suppress their scents.”

  “To a point,” Chad said. He tapped his nose. “I still haven’t managed to learn to filter things completely. Which totally sucks down on the street, let me tell you.” He shuddered, making Aubrey chuckle. “But I smelled Dumber in Miles’s apartment, and he was suppressing his scent then.”

  Aubrey nodded. “Fair enough. It would be easy enough to check, anyway. All cats are registered. I don’t recognize them as part of my pride, and I know every single cat under me. If they are cats living here without me knowing, that’s its own problem.”

  “They’re not, Father,” Quincy murmured. “The problem is, even if that gets Thomas out of the way, what do we do with Ross?”

  “Well, we do have this,” Chad said, handing over the stack of printouts.

  Aubrey took them and paged through them like he had the pictures, frowning more and more as he went. “Let me get this straight,” he said, going back a few pages, then looking at Quincy. “Thomas—and Ross—send money to this wolf. Morgan Daniels?”

  Quincy nodded. “Yes.”

  “I’m guessing you’re the one who pulled this information?”

  “Jamie and I, yes,” Quincy confirmed.

  Shock echoed over their bond at the unmistakably proud smile on Aubrey’s face. “That doesn’t surprise me. Okay, so, Thomas to Daniels, who then sends money to an account in Denver, attached to a fake business that’s registered under the alpha prime’s name.”

  You okay, Quince?

  Yeah. Is he ever going to stop surprising me?

  Probably not. Miles kissed Quincy’s temple, then sighed. “Yes. There are money transfers to Payne Stewart, the enforcer hired to come after us, as well.”

  “Okay. It doesn’t prove a conspiracy to start an interspecies war, but there’s no reason they’ll be able to come up with to explain the money transfers. Why would they send money like that to a wolf?”

  Chad shook his head. “There’s no reason. Morgan Daniels is otherwise clean. He works a basic nine-to-five office job. He has a mate—legal wife—and kid and a mother in hospice.”

  Aubrey raised his eyebrows. “Hospice? Isn’t she a shifter?”

  “No, actually,” Miles said. “She’s human. Her shifter mate actually claimed her, which is why the pup came out wolf.”

  “Huh. So, human with frailties.”

  Chad nodded. “Yes. I’m thinking that’s probably what the money was for.” He shrugged. “That’s pure conjecture, though. Anyway, he’s otherwise clean.”

  “But we have ties between the cats trying to hurt you—and you have the picture to prove it—and two separate wolves, including alpha prime.” Aubrey pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know if this is enough to get both of them, but I think we need to try. I want to talk to your alpha, though, first,” he said, nodding toward Miles.

  “We thought you might. Perhaps a conference call from here?” Miles asked.

  “FOR THE love of Diana, that’s a mess and a half,” Noah said after they outlined everything to him. “And a problem and a half. I suspected the prime was xenophobic. I’d been hearing the rumors. A few other folks said he’d been seeming… not unstable necessarily, but worrisome. But this goes beyond that. He knows the alpha council wouldn’t go along with a war.”

  Miles felt a little better hearing that, but with the suspicions they had about how the prime was going to try to start the war, it didn’t help much.

  “Does he need the council’s approval for that?” Aubrey asked.

  “No, but if we don’t cooperate—if we don’t fight or send our wolves to fight—he can’t force it either.”

  “True. So… he finds another way to start a war. Something that’ll make you want to fight.”

  “That’s about the size of it.” Noah sighed. “I don’t think I should go to the prime yet. I don’t want to give him the chance to cover things up. I’m thinking it might be best to approach your iret first.”

  “I agree, Alpha,” Aubrey said. “I have a few thoughts to share with the iret. If he agrees, I’ll call you back.”

  “All right. I’ll be waiting.”

  Aubrey disconnected the call and sat back, glancing at Chad. “Let me ask your opinion on this before I take it to the iret. I know you’re used to dealing with human justice, but jaguar justice isn’t hugely different.”

  “All right. I’ll help if I can.”

  Aubrey nodded. “So, we have to make sure that the prime can’t find out what’s happening until he’s faced with it. That means we need to make sure that anyone who might tip him off can’t contact him. Your best suggestion?”

  “Get them all into custody at the same time somehow. I don’t know what the rules are for arresting them, but I’m sure you’ve got something that’ll allow you to hold them, right?”

  “Yeah. We don’t even have to tell them why right off the bat—unlike in the human courts.”

  Chad grinned. “Even better. Don’t tell them anything. It might prompt them to spill.”

  “Oh, I like that,” Miles said, nodding. “Maybe they’ll confess? Or turn someone else over?”

  “Possible,” Aubrey agreed. “And that kind of evidence would go a long way toward getting them for the treason, not just the secrecy accord—though that’s serious as it is.” He looked at Quincy. “I’m assuming you know where to find Morgan Daniels?”

  Quincy smiled. “Oh yes. I do.”

  “Good. Let me call the iret and go from there.”

  THE CALL ended up being a bit shorter than Miles expected. Aubrey had kept it to the minimum facts, explaining they had evidence to back their theories up. Though not hugely damning, it was pretty bad.

  Tepey-iret Cesar Martinez apparently respected Aubrey quite a bit. He listened to Aubrey outline a few of the things t
hey offered and agreed taking Thomas, Ross, and Daniels into custody was the best chance.

  “Call your alpha contact and make sure arresting the wolf isn’t going to cause a bigger issue, but if not, then we will take it from there.”

  “Thank you, Iret,” Aubrey said. “I’ll be in touch.” He disconnected and immediately called Noah back.

  “Noah Pearce.”

  “Alpha, this is Tepey Aubrey again.”

  “Ah, Tepey. Please, just call me Noah at this point.”

  Aubrey chuckled. “All right. If you’ll call me Aubrey.”

  “Sure.”

  “Good. My iret is concerned with one thing and asked me to discuss it with you first.”

  Noah listened in silence about Daniels. He took a deep breath. “I think, as long as you have some proof of his involvement—which you do, right?”

  “We have the bank records.”

  “Right. Make sure he isn’t harmed during the arrest and transport, and I don’t think it’ll be a problem. We can explain it fairly well, anyway.”

  “Good. I was hoping you’d say that.”

  “Thank you for checking with me.”

  “Of course, Noah. I’ll call you when we have things finalized.”

  SEVERAL PHONE calls, some not-so-minor hair-pulling, a slight panic when Thomas couldn’t be immediately located, and at least three pots of coffee later, they had everything set up. It would take some careful timing, but by that same time the next day, all three should be in custody and they could move on to the next part of their plan.

  Miles was exhausted. He hadn’t been able to do much except keep the coffee going and try to soothe Quincy as much as possible. He’d gotten them to eat, but beyond that—and answering a few questions—he’d felt pretty useless. It turned out, being useless was as tiring as everything else.

  Aubrey loaned them a security officer for the night. He was human and had no idea who or what was going on, just that he wasn’t to let anyone through the door. With that, Aubrey had gone home to his city condo with his own security guard to hopefully get a bit of rest.

  Quincy, apparently, still didn’t trust the guard completely. He slept with the SIG right next to him.

  Miles didn’t blame him. As up in the air as everything still was, he was more than a little freaked out. So, even with the security in the living room, even with the exhaustion, it took forever for him to fall asleep.

  IT TURNED out the tepey-iret had enough of his own enforcers that he could collect all three men at once. Daniels disappeared on his way back to the office from lunch. Thomas and Ross had been on the golf course together. They were all tight-lipped for now, but Miles would bet Chad was right and they’d started talking when they realized where they were going.

  Noah’s call to the alpha prime to report the attack on Miles had gotten them the reaction they’d expected. He’d immediately called the iret—while Noah was still on the line—demanding he answer for the attack. It took some fast talking, according to Noah, by both Noah and the iret, but Alpha Prime Ezekiel Adams had finally agreed to deign to meet with the iret.

  And now they were on their way to the airport. Miles had insisted he be given time to make the tea the wolves needed. The cats had a similar herbal combination, but he wasn’t sure it would work on the wolves and he didn’t want to take chances. Private jet or not, too much could happen.

  The limo actually felt a bit crowded with three wolves and two cats in the back. They all stayed silent, sipping the first cup of tea, and Miles guessed the combination of the unknown ahead, the stress of the last several days—weeks?—and the lack of sleep was getting to all of them. He was hoping they might pass out on the flight.

  He wasn’t sure what he’d expected of the jet. The interior of the small plane sat ten people in thick leather chairs. Two walls held TVs, a small sofa toward the back provided a place to lie down, and several folding conference tables filled the space between the rows of facing seats. Miles took a seat next to Quincy, across from Chad and Jamie, while Aubrey took a seat across the aisle from them. Aubrey’s security guard—who had apparently been riding with the driver in the limo—took a seat in the back by himself.

  Chad fidgeted, and Miles raised an eyebrow.

  “Are you okay?”

  Chad nodded. “First flight since I was made a wolf.”

  “Ohhh. You drank the tea, right?”

  “Yes. But… I’m still not sure how well I could hold him back if the stress gets to be too much.”

  “We can have the attendant make more of your tea,” Aubrey said. “But don’t worry. The pilots won’t come back and the attendant is a cat.”

  Chad blew out a breath. “That helps, though… I still don’t want to shift. My clothes are all in the luggage hold.”

  Everyone chuckled.

  “Don’t want to greet the tepey-iret naked?” Quincy asked.

  Chad stuck his tongue out.

  Jamie rolled his eyes. “I don’t remember mating a puppy, I swear I don’t.”

  Chad kissed his temple. “I was a ‘pup’ before we mated, remember?”

  That made Jamie laugh. “True, true.”

  The pilot’s voice came over the speaker. “Good afternoon. Our flight plan is set for McCarren International Airport. If the winds hold, we should be arriving in Las Vegas just shy of 6:00 p.m. Attendant, please prepare for departure.”

  Everyone scrambled to fasten their seat belts and settle in. Miles held Quincy as close as he could, closing his eyes and resting his head on Quincy’s. He didn’t even feel them take off.

  Chapter 18

  LAS VEGAS was not one of Quincy’s favorite places. He’d only been there a few times, but it never really appealed. It was just too bright, too glittery, too much for him.

  He was glad to get to their suite at the Bellagio. There were definite advantages to being able to stay in a penthouse suite, and not waiting for the normal registration desk was one of them. They took a minute when they got into the suite itself to sort out the three bedrooms, but when Chad saw one of them had an exterior hall door, he and Jamie volunteered to take that one.

  The security guard would take the sofa, though Quincy tried to offer him their bedroom since Jamie and Chad’s had two beds. He refused, insisting the sofa was fine, and Quincy didn’t argue further. He didn’t really want Miles that close to an outside door, anyway.

  Now that they were there, he wanted to get everything over with. They were so close, and yet it could still all fizzle out and end up being nothing. If that happened, at best they would delay things. At worst he and Miles—and likely Chad and Jamie—would have a big fat target painted on their backs for a long time to come.

  Quincy didn’t want to get settled and eat dinner and all that crap. He wanted to get to the meeting and see what would happen. Thomas and Ross could still be let go. The alpha prime could still squeak out, and then they’d end up with him coming after them because Quincy didn’t think for one minute he’d let that go.

  Were it not for Miles’s determination to help keep him sane, Quincy was pretty sure he’d be climbing the walls. And in cat form, that was quite doable, though seriously inadvisable. He had no idea how he’d explain claw marks on the walls to hotel staff.

  Quincy and Miles, like Chad and Jamie, spent most of the evening alone in their room. He introduced Miles to another of his favorite animes—this one the loud ninja kid in orange. Then they spent quality time focused on each other.

  He slept much better after that than he’d expected to.

  QUINCY HAD only met the tepey-iret a couple of times over the years. The tepeys met every few years, and with so few of them, there wasn’t anything to discuss more often than that. The last time Quincy had gone with his father had been some twelve years before.

  Tepey-iret Cesar Martinez didn’t look much different. At his age, though, cats didn’t change much. He still had pitch-black hair, deep brown eyes still smooth at the corners, and a lean, defined, if not muscular, fr
ame. Quincy couldn’t remember exactly how old the iret was, but he guessed, based on looks, he was at least fifty, though probably closer to a hundred.

  He greeted Quincy and Aubrey warmly. Miles, Noah—who’d flown in commercially the night before—Chad, and Jamie were currently on their way to meet with the alpha prime. Quincy had only been comfortable letting Miles go because of their ability to talk telepathically. They hadn’t been sure they could still talk when Miles was those few miles away, but apparently, it did, in fact, reach.

  “Tepey Aubrey, Tepey-sa Quincy, it’s good to see you,” Cesar said as they shook hands. “I’m sorry it’s under circumstances such as this.”

  Aubrey nodded. “Indeed. I would much prefer the tepey meeting to this, but it’s necessary. May I ask where Thomas and Ross are currently?”

  “They are in separate rooms down the hall, under guard. The wolf has his own room, also under guard. If things work out, I intend to release him to the alpha you have been talking with.”

  “Good. Noah will appreciate that. It seems he’s friends with the wolf’s alpha in New York. I’m sure they’ll work something out with him.”

  Cesar nodded. “Indeed. But first we must get through the questioning with Thomas and Ross and then the meeting with Alpha Prime Adams.”

  “I am very sorry my pride has caused such problems.”

  Cesar waved that away. “We are responsible for the pride in general, but we cannot take blame when an individual—or two—cause problems. Thomas and Ross made their own choices. Now they must live with them.”

  Q?

  Miles? Everything okay?

  Yeah. Prime’s pacing and kind of nuts. Nothing too bad and no hint that he’s onto us or that he thinks we suspect anything.

  Good. Let’s hope it stays that way. Be safe, yeah?

  Oh yeah. You too. I don’t like you so close to Thomas and Ross, now that they know we’ve figured it out.