City of Dragons: Blood Bonds

by Adrienne Wilder

  One of the women coughed, spewing coffee out her nose. Her friend gave her a weak pat on the back.

  “Something was wrong!” Claire put her hand over her mouth, and inched a little closer. Her voice dropped back down to a whisper. “Something was wrong, I heard you. He’s my boyfriend, I deserve to know.” When Claire was angry like this her scent left a spicy flavor on the back of Haley’s tongue.

  Haley tucked the box under her arm. “I think now’s a good time to just put the whole dating Farley thing on the backburner. He’s fine. Everything’s fine. You didn’t hear what you thought you heard and that’s that.” She pushed past the woman and headed out the door.

  “Wait a minute.” Claire’s princess shoes slapped the carpet as she ran to catch up. She never wore heels. In her two inchers Haley could look her in the eye, which was one of the reasons she liked her three inchers more.

  Claire grabbed her arm. Haley froze. Her instinct told her to bite. Females were not touched without consent. Especially by other Females. But Claire was Human and she was just doing what Humans do.

  Haley blinked to clear her vision, then looked at the woman. “Claire, I don’t have time for this right now. I have to go take care of something.”

  Claire’s eyes went to the box of food. “He’s here, isn’t he?” she whispered. “Farley’s here and he needs food because something’s happened.” She shot a quick glance around the hall as if to make sure her companions weren’t close enough to hear. No, they were still in the break room, but their heads kept peeking around the corner to catch a glimpse of the show.

  A growl ticked out of Haley’s throat. She turned and walked. Claire ran to catch up. “Stay out of this, Claire.”

  “I won’t. You can’t make me.”

  “Claire&” Anything she said was just going to make it worse. Haley punched the handle to the stairwell and started down the stairs. Claire paused at the top. Good, maybe she wouldn’t follow.

  She did. “Why are we going to the locker-room?”

  “Figure it out.”

  Claire paused again when Haley headed into the men’s side. “Wait, you can’t go in there!” Sometimes Humans and their fear of naked did come in handy.

  Haley headed through the locker room, passed two half-dressed cops, and walked into the shower area. The clicking of her heels brought heads out of the shower to catch a quick look. Someone whistled. Haley ignored it. Farley was in front of the only full length mirror, craning his neck around to look at his back. Dried ichor covered most of his top half.

  “What happened?” Haley put the box on the counter.

  Farley’s eyes locked on the food and he confiscated the box. “You are a life saver.” He ripped open packages and stuffed crackers in his mouth. Haley gave him a once over. There were nasty black bruises around his ulysiss point. He wasn’t food deprived enough to not heal, so that meant the cuts had been deep. Really deep. As in touch your own kidneys.

  “Who did this to you?”

  “Darco.” Farley stuffed a cupcake in his mouth. “Bastard. I hate him.”

  So did Haley. More than that, she hated the things he did to Farley. But he was his Brother, and those were the rules of the Dens. It still made her Human-instilled ethics spark like they were going to short out.

  “Who’s Darco?”

  Haley winced. She was really hoping Claire wouldn’t follow her in here. Haley glanced at Farley and said “sorry” with her eyes. Farley just kept eating.

  “Did you hear me, who’s & OH, MY GOD! What happened to you? Is that your blood?” Claire started towards Farley. Haley blocked her.

  “Not right now, Claire. Seriously, you need to go.”

  “But, he’s hurt.” Her bottom lip trembled. When Haley looked back at Farley, he shrugged. “Don’t try and tell me he’s fine. I can see for myself that he isn’t.”

  “I’m fine,” Farley dipped his head in the sink and took a drink of water. “I promise you, I’m okay.”

  “Are you going to press charges? You are, aren’t you? You work for the CFKR, they’ll arrest this Darco for doing this&”

  “He’s my Brother. It’s no big deal.”

  “I don’t care if he’s your brother. You need to & your back. Oh, my God!” Tears burst out of Claire’s eyes and her nose glowed. Farley scrubbed his face with his hand and ate another cracker.

  A naked officer walked by and tossed a look to both Haley and Claire. Claire covered her eyes; Haley didn’t. Some Humans weren’t as shy as society would like them to be.

  Farley sighed and said, “Claire, I’m fine. Just a little rough sex is all.”

  Claire looked like she’d been slapped. Her blue eyes blinked way too fast. Haley groaned and put her face in her hand. Leave it to Farley. He just didn’t have a clue when it came to Human taboos.

  “I really need to get out of these clothes.” Farley ate another cracker and looked down at himself. “I didn’t want the ledger to get wet though, or the hard drive.”

  Haley said, “Hard drive? What happened to the rest of the computer?”

  “Darco happened.” Farley went back to examining his back. “Damn him. I really hate it”

  Claire’s voice cut over him. “You had sex with your brother?” Haley tossed the woman a look. Her face was pale, her eyes too big. The tears had stopped. Somehow she didn’t think that was a good thing.

  Farley sighed. “I lost your Godsmack shirt.”

  “I’ll get another one.” Haley kept her eyes on Claire.

  “Farley!” Claire’s voice cracked. “You had sex with your Brother?”

  He looked at her. “Well, actually I fed him, he did some dry humping, then shoved his hands down his”

  Claire screamed. It was an ugly brutal sound. “You sick, sick, bastard. Is there anyone you won’t fuck! It’s bad enough you’re doing her.” She pointed at Haley. “But your brother? Your brother!” Claire threw herself at the sink basin and puked.

  Farley raised an eyebrow.

  Haley inched toward Claire, started to touch her back, hesitated, then tossed all caution to the wind. Her narrow bony shoulders racked under Haley’s palm as she made small circles. “It’s okay, Claire.”

  “No, it isn’t.” She heaved again.

  “Claire&”

  “Don’t talk to me.”

  “Claire, you’re being unfair.”

  “I could&” She gagged. “I could handle you, I could. I really could. I could even handle the idea of things happening with other & other&” The gag stole her words. After a long moment of dry heaving she turned on the water and splashed her face. “His brother?”

  This was one of those taboos that made Humans go all funny. “Claire, the title Brother is reserved for Males who survive the hatching grounds together. It’s a title and it doesn’t have anything to do with being a sibling.”

  Claire shook her head, grabbed a few paper towels out of the dispenser, and blotted the water off her face. “I think I need to go sit down.”

  “No, you need to hear this.” Haley stepped in her way. “This is what I have been trying to explain to you.”

  Claire started to yell. “You never” She caught herself and looked around. Her small trembling hand went to her mouth again. “You never said anything about incest.”

  Haley looked up at Farley sitting on the counter eating the last package of cupcakes. “Tell her, please.”

  “He’s my Dominant.” Farley wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. “And because he’s my clutch mate, I have to submit unless I roll him.” With that kind of tone, he might as well be telling her the weather forecast. Claire stared at him, like she didn’t know who he was.

  “I don’t understand.” A new trail of tears cut down her cheeks. Farley looked away. Haley knew it bothered him to see her cry.

  “Look.” Farley slid off the counter. “If it helps, I don’t like him. Never did. But I did what I had to do to survive. If I didn’t let him Dominate me, he would have eaten me like the rest of my Broth
ers. He leaves me alone most of the time.” Haley wasn’t sure if it was his matter-of-fact attitude or what he said, but Claire shoved past her and ran back out of the shower room.

  Farley shook his head.

  Haley pushed a lock of hair from her eyes and said, “You really need to start thinking before you talk.”

  He untied his boots. “It’s her problem.”

  “You sure you’re okay?”

  “Yeah, I’ll live.” He stopped and leaned against the wall. The last showerhead kicked off and the remaining Human occupant walked by wearing a towel. Water drips echoed in the silence. After a moment Farley dropped his head. “Some days I hate coming in here.”

  “You don’t mean that.” Haley stepped closer to him and put a hand on his neck.

  “Yeah, I do. If I thought I could get a job somewhere else, I would.” Haley shushed him and he caught her hand and brought it to his lips. “I mean it. The whole Human thing&” His tongue stroked her palm. “You just don’t see it.”

  “I know it’s hard for Kin to adapt, but we don’t have a choice.”

  Farley flipped his eyes up at her; gold flecks swam in the brown. “It wasn’t always this way.”

  “No, and Humans didn’t always have jet fighters that could chase your ass down and blow you in half either. The sooner our people learn to accept that Humans aren’t food anymore, the better off we will be. If anything they’re our equals, and in some ways, our Dominant.”

  A distant hello echoed from the locker room.

  “We’re in here, Ken,” Haley said.

  “Hey, sorry, I got held up.” Ken came around the corner. His hands flipped up and down as talked. “There was a problem with the POP server responding and” His tennis shoes squeaked to a halt on the wet tile. “Did I interrupt something?” He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. “Because if you need a minute, I can wait out there.”

  “We’re good,” Farley said. He unzipped a pocket in the side of his pants and fished out the hard drive. “Here, see if you can do something with this.” While Ken stared at the drive, Farley kicked off his boot and pulled out the ledger. He handed it to Haley. The second boot joined the first by the wall.

  “This is a Toshiba. This came out of a Vaio? What happened to the rest of it?” Ken asked.

  “My Brother.” Farley unbuttoned his pants.

  “Oh.” Ken’s eyes went wide. “Oooh!” He nodded at the door. “Is that why Claire was throwing up in the hall?” His eyes went back and forth. Haley looked at Farley, who cut a grin. “What’s so funny?” Ken asked.

  Farley shook his head. “Just remembering why I like you so much.”

  “Well, you can like me, but that doesn’t mean I’ll feed you or & you know. I don’t go that way, even for Kin.” He adjusted his glasses and examined the hard drive. Farley laughed. “Did I say something funny?” Ken gave Haley serious eyes.

  “Yeah, you did in fact.”

  Ken shrugged. “I should be able to have this up and running. Provided of course there isn’t any physical damage. What exactly happened to the rest of it?”

  Farley peeled his pants off and tossed them with his boots. Then dropped his boxers. There were more black and blue marks below his waist. “Darco stepped on it, stomped on it, kicked it around, and proceeded to do his impersonation of Tigger.” Ken winced. “I’m getting in the shower, either of you want to join me?” Farley held up his hand. “Just kidding, that was a joke.”

  Ken smiled, gave two har-hars, then shook the hard drive at him. “How fast do you want the data on this thing?”

  “As soon as you can.” Farley stepped into the first stall and steam billowed up as he cranked on the water. “Can one of you get me some clothes? I don’t think the office help will be as accommodating.”

  “Thanks, Ken,” Haley said. The man gave a nod and wandered away, turning the hard drive over in his hands, looking like someone had run over his puppy.

  “Clothes?” Farley asked again.

  “I’ll find you some. I know I have sweats in my locker.” Haley went across to the women’s locker room and retrieved her sweat pants from her supply. She looked at the shirts she had, but all of them were a little too girly. And Farley didn’t need any more culture clash. The PD kept quite a few standard black-Ts with the department’s logo on the front. After all, she wasn’t the only one that got bled on.

  Haley found a few in the last cubbyhole next to a stack of white towels. She took one of each and went back into the showers. A moment later, Farley cut the water off and stepped out. He examined himself front and back. The bruises were fading, thanks to the food. Haley handed him the towel.

  “Thanks.” He brushed it over his body. “Did you look in the ledger?”

  “Not yet.” She held the clothes up. “Found you some clothes though.” He took them and walked back to the sink.

  Farley shook out the sweats and put them on. He frowned when he looked at the shirt. “Nothing says ‘snitch’ like a police department logo.”

  Haley shrugged. “It was either that or Power Puff girls, and I didn’t think you needed the additional trauma.”

  He took it off, turned it inside out, and put it back on. “There. That’s better than nothing, I guess.” He picked up the ledger. “This phone number in the back.” He showed it to her. “You’ll never believe who it belongs to.”

  “Who?”

  He pulled out the magazine clipping. Haley stared at it for a second. “Justice? As in, The Great White Justice?” As if there was another.

  Farley grinned, looking pleased. “Yup, I called it. His Link answered.”

  Haley shook her head and glanced over the article. The whole Brother thing came back to her, and she couldn’t help but wonder if this wasn’t the clutch mate Niles had been talking about.

  “How old is Justice?”

  “Why?” Farley looked over her shoulder, like the answer to his question might be in the article.

  “When Niles and I&” She growled. “When we had our run in, he mentioned something about a Brother.”

  “Really? ‘Cause as far as I know Niles Fury was the only Kin to climb out of the nest alive.”

  She tapped the ledger. “At his age, how would we really know for sure he didn’t have a Brother?”

  “Why does it matter?”

  “’Cause if Justice is Niles’ Brother, maybe he’ll have some idea why Niles was watching out for me, if he really&” Farley stared with wide haunted eyes. “What’s wrong?”

  “There were newspaper clippings on the walls in Niles’ apartment. Some of them went back decades. There were maps too, and letters, and lots of photos.”

  “So?”

  “The articles were about you. Either they mentioned your name, or it had a quote you said. And the pictures were of you, too.”

  Haley pressed her lips together and made a thinking sound. “I’ll call upstairs and get a request for all the calls Niles made in the past six months and see if Justice’s phone number is in them.”

  “Only one problem with that. I didn’t see a phone in his apartment.”

  “Well, if he had a cell phone on him, it’s either lost or in the ADF storage room.”

  Farley snapped his fingers. “What about pay phones? Can you get the records for those?”

  Haley nodded. “Sure, I just need a general area to check for service, then call in the numbers assigned to the booths. But where the heck would he find a pay phone?”

  “The Dens. The place is about thirty-five years behind the rest of the city on phone service, and I doubt Bell South is real worried about whether or not Kin can reach out and touch someone. I think there were at least two near Niles’ place.”

  “I’ll make a call in for those.” She started to turn, but hesitated. “Hey, why haven’t you been reading my thoughts?”

  Farley shrugged. “Been trying really hard not to. Besides, after this afternoon I really don’t want to be anywhere I might not be wanted.” He ran a hand over his red brush cut
a few times.

  Haley put down the ledger and put hand on his chest. “Don’t ever think you’re unwanted.” Warmth spread under her palm and was followed by the thrumming of Farley’s purr.

  Chapter 20

  “All we know is Creyal is sick, but they don’t know what’s causing it.” Haley took a sip from her glass, then stabbed at her shrimp and lobster sauce while Farley worked on his second helping of Mongolian beef.

  House of Lin was their favorite place to eat. Not only was it all you could eat, it was all you could eat with your choice of rare or cooked. And Mr. Lin didn’t mind serving Kin, which was nice. He even let them eat indoors.

  Farley pilfered a bite from Haley’s plate. “But it’s not contagious to Humans?”

  She shook her head. Unlike Farley, she swallowed before trying to talk. “Dr. Meyer doesn’t think so. I got an email from her before we left and she said he’s improving. Apparently the cocktail of antiviral drugs and donor blood is giving his system time to heal the damage. The virus doesn’t stay around very long. It’s like it self-destructs. ‘Denature’ is the word she used.”

  Farley held up his hand and flagged down the waitress. She was all smiles and nods when he requested a third plate.

  “Next time we go out, let’s hit the arena.” He grinned at her while he slurped in a stray noodle.

  “No thanks, I don’t really enjoy chasing my food around before I eat it.” Which was true. Besides, she had better things to do, and with all the raw meat just waiting in the grocery store, it seemed like a complete waste of time.

  Farley flicked a hand at her “That’s because you’re domesticated. A house cat eating out of a food dish put down by the Humans. Here kitty, kitty, ki-ti-Ooowe!” She planted the toe of her shoe into his ankle. Farley yelped, “Man, those shoes of yours are deadly.” He rubbed his ankle with one hand and shoved food into his mouth with the other.