“As Anita and all of Jean-Claude’s people gained through the feeding,” Rafael said.
Micah nodded. “It is an amazing amount of power that you offer through the rodere, but you have gained and offered even more power together since Anita added rat to her beasts.”
“It has exceeded expectations,” Rafael said.
Since I hadn’t realized there were any expectations to exceed, I kept my mouth shut and let Micah do the talking for us. He was a better diplomat than I would ever be. “We will solve the puzzle that Narcissus has set us, and then you will be Anita’s rat to call.”
“But will you solve it in time for me to win the duels that are coming as the rodere begins to rebel at the power we are building?” Rafael asked.
“I am sorry that it is Hector that you are fighting tonight, Rafael. I know what he means to you,” Micah said.
“Have you met Hector?” I asked, turning to look at Micah.
He nodded and reached out to touch me, not in the way that Nathaniel had, but like I was his comfort object; it let me know that he was worried about the fight, too. Shit, how good was this challenger? “Rafael wanted my opinion of some of the up-and-coming wererats. I agreed that Hector was one of the most promising for a future leader, but I’m not convinced that he will ever grow into being a worthy successor to Rafael and what we have built with the Coalition.”
“You did not like Hector as much as I did,” Rafael said.
“No, I liked Luca better.”
“Hector is the better fighter,” Rafael said.
“But Luca is the better thinker,” Micah said. He hugged me a little tighter and reached around to touch Nathaniel and then pulled away from us to go to Rafael.
“If I may speak freely,” Benito asked.
Rafael nodded and said, “Of course.”
“Nestor was the best fighter we saw.”
Rafael and Micah both nodded. Claudia scowled almost as hard as she had earlier in the weight room. She didn’t like Nestor at all. “He fights like a beast,” she said.
“But he wins,” Rafael said.
“Only if it is a death match,” Claudia said. “If it is only to blood, we have seen him lose.”
“His temper can get the best of him,” Rafael admitted.
“If he controls his emotions, I would not want to face him,” Benito said.
I looked at him, because I knew that other than Rafael himself, Benito was one of their best fighters. “I think Luca and Hector are more dangerous,” Claudia said, “because they have more control.”
“Maybe, but I’d rather face them across the pit than Nestor.”
“What do you say, Micah?” Rafael asked.
“I believe I could kill Nestor if I did it within the first few seconds of the fight, because he would see a small man who is not rodere, but if I did not make the kill quickly enough and Nestor could hold his temper, I agree with Benito.”
“And the others?” Rafael asked.
“Hector is a good fighter, he’s controlled and skilled, but if a fight goes on too long, he loses concentration and makes mistakes. Either kill him quickly or stay out of reach until he grows impatient.”
Rafael nodded. “Good advice.”
“It’s why you wanted me to see all the young warriors that might threaten your leadership. I am surprised that Hector challenged you first. I expected Nestor to be the first.”
“I agree,” Rafael said.
It was my turn to walk toward the group. Nathaniel kept my hand loose in his and followed me, but he wouldn’t have asked the question I did. “So why is it Hector tonight and not Nestor?”
“Because he challenged me first.”
“Yeah, but why? Why him first?”
“Nestor is arrogant and truly homophobic. He hates and fears Jean-Claude just from seeing him in interviews and pictures online,” Micah said.
“Sounds like a case of the lady protesting too much,” I said.
“What do you mean?” Benito asked.
“That maybe he hates Jean-Claude, because he’s attracted to him.”
“Oh Jesus, do not say that where Nestor can hear you,” Benito said, and he actually went a little pale.
Claudia was grinning. “I think Anita’s right.”
Benito turned to her. “Nestor can’t fight Anita, but you, he could challenge you for his honor. Por favor, Claudia, do not tempt fate; the only thing Nestor hates more than pretty gay men is any woman who can fight.”
“Oh, definitely closet gay,” I said.
“Maybe even from himself,” Nathaniel said. I looked at him, expecting to see him teasing with the rest of us, but his face was all serious. I might have asked why, but Rafael spoke up.
Rafael smiled and shook his head. “As amusing as it would be to see you accuse Nestor of hating women because he secretly likes men, Anita, por favor, please, as Benito says, do not tempt fate.”
“Wait, are you saying that Nestor will be here tonight along with Hector?” I asked.
“No, but even if I defeat Hector tonight, Nestor will challenge me later.”
“Luca will wait for a few years, but I agree that Nestor won’t have the patience,” Micah said.
“I am worried that Hector has challenged me now because his own leader, Victor, has put him up to it.”
“What does Victor gain from Hector being king?” I asked.
“He would put Hector as king over the St. Louis clan, and then he would let the other clans fight among themselves until we were all small kingdoms again. Hector would be king, but he would do as Victor bid him.”
“Hector is his sacrificial lamb, he’s not a smart enough fighter to win tonight,” Micah said.
“Perhaps,” Rafael said.
Micah grabbed the other man’s shoulder and spun him to look at him. “The only thing that can defeat you tonight is you, Rafael. I do not know why you think Hector is such great leadership material, because I don’t see it.”
“You told me as much.”
“Luca will be the better leader someday.”
“But he is not the better fighter,” Rafael said.
“Luca is still learning how to fight, but nothing will make Hector a better thinker.”
“Hector is not stupid,” Rafael said, and he was more upset than I thought he should be over a stranger.
“I never said he was.”
“Why do you defend Hector so much?” I asked.
There was another flash of looks between everyone, and this time it included Micah. “What aren’t you telling us?” Nathaniel asked.
Rafael looked at me and there was such pain in his eyes. “You know the human mates that are allowed among us.”
“Yeah, it’s the way you’re getting me in to watch tonight.”
“Wait, what?” Nathaniel asked.
“When did you invite Anita to watch the fight tonight?” Micah asked.
“In the showers, and that can wait. I want to know why Hector is so special to you, Rafael. Why is he so special that you’re almost ready to let him kill you, just so you don’t have to kill him?”
“You know all those crazy exes I spoke of?”
“Yeah.”
“Hector’s mother was one of them.”
“So, Hector is . . .” I didn’t want to finish the sentence; it was too Greek myth, or maybe Greek tragedy?
“My son,” Rafael finished for me.
8
“YOU DON’T KNOW that for certain,” Benito said, while the rest of us just stared at Rafael.
“Suelita says he is mine, why would she shame her husband if it isn’t true?”
“When did she tell you?” Micah asked.
“She called me after Hector made his challenge.”
“Suelita fears for her only son’s life,” Claudia said. “She’d do anything to save Hector, even lie about you being his father.”
“I do not think she lied,” Rafael said.
“What did she want you to do?” I asked.
Rafael looked at me, but it was like he wasn’t hearing me. He knew I was talking, but he wasn’t following. “What did Suelita want you to do as his father?” I asked.
“She wanted me to promise I would not kill our son.”
“Did she ask you to let him kill you?” I asked.
“No, she asked me to offer third blood instead of death.”
“And that offer has made you seem weak,” Benito said.
“Has she told Hector?” Micah asked.
Rafael shook his head. “Her husband is the only father Hector has ever known, and she wishes to keep it that way.”
“So, she tells you, so that you don’t want to hurt him, but she doesn’t tell him, so he still wants to kill you?” I asked.
“She is trying to get inside your head, Rafael. If she truly meant you to treat the boy as a father should, then she would tell him you are his father,” Benito said.
“I’m with Benito on this one,” I said.
“Even I think it’s a trick to mess with your head before the fight, and I just learned about it,” Nathaniel said.
“Suelita is a mother terrified for her child, she will do and say anything,” Claudia insisted.
“Does Hector look like his mother?” Micah asked.
“Why does that matter?” Rafael asked.
“Because he looks nothing like you.”
“Not all children look like their parents,” Rafael said.
“Does your son from your marriage look like you?” I asked.
“I have not seen my ex-wife or my son in so long I am not certain I would recognize him.” He couldn’t hide the pain in his face when he said it.
“I’m sorry, Rafael,” I said.
“If Hector’s mother is lying, then she’s trying to set you up for her son, so he can kill you and take your throne,” Micah said.
“And if she is telling the truth?”
“Then she is telling the truth to set you up for her son, so he can kill you and take your throne.”
“You repeated yourself,” Rafael said.
“No, I didn’t. I just pointed out that if it’s a lie, or if it’s the truth, the result that Hector’s mother is hoping for is the same, you dead and her son alive.”
“Wise, as always, Micah.” He said it, but not like it would change anything.
“You told me in the showers that you wanted me to seduce Hector if you die; are you seriously saying you’d want your lover to sleep with your son? That’s a little too . . . I don’t know . . . creepy.”
“I didn’t mean to tell you. I know it will make it harder for you to sleep with him.”
I grabbed his arm and made him look at me. “Win the fight tonight and I sleep with only you.”
He looked past me to Micah and Nathaniel. “Never just me, Anita.”
I wanted to shake him so badly that I had to let go and step back. “You know what I meant, Rafael. Hector’s mom is screwing with your head before the fight, and you’re letting her do it.”
“You may be right, but I cannot ignore that he could be mine, that I could have more than one son.”
“You asked me to come watch you fight tonight; well, I won’t come just to watch you give up and die.”
“I am not giving up,” he said.
“It sure sounds like it.”
“You and I have fought together too long to lie to each other, Rafael,” Micah said.
“What does that mean?” Rafael sounded angry now.
“We both know that if you don’t believe you can win, then it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you go in there tonight thinking that you don’t want to hurt Hector, while he’s trying to kill you, then you have lost before the fight begins.”
“You don’t have children; you don’t understand what it’s like to have one and never be allowed to see him. To think I might have had a child that I watched grow up, that means something to me.”
“Suelita knows how much it would mean to you,” Claudia said.
“She has never forgiven you for not marrying her all those years ago,” Benito said.
“She was not in love with me.”
“She wanted to be queen, Rafael. She loves power and status,” Benito said.
“How do you know that?”
“Because I keep track of the women that I think may be a problem.”
“What did you think she would do?”
“You are right on the timing; I thought she would claim her baby was yours years ago, but then she married someone else, so I figured the baby must be his.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you thought Hector was mine?”
“If Suelita could have proven Hector was yours, she’d have offered a paternity test when he was a baby, but she didn’t, because she knew the test would come back with a different father.”
“She said she didn’t want to trap me into a loveless marriage.”
“That sounds like bullshit,” Benito said.
“How dare you?”
“You pay me to keep you safe; well, part of that is looking at the women you date.”
“Suelita never hurt me.”
“Well, she’s trying to kill you now,” Claudia said.
“Enough!” Rafael yelled it, and both Benito and Claudia stopped arguing with him. He turned to me. “First I remind you of the Master of Beasts and his tortures and now this. If I were not walking the sands tonight, I would not try for sex with you, but time is running out, Gatito Negra.” It was Spanish for black kitten and the honor name the local wererats had given me, acknowledging that I was small, but a predator that might eat them. For Rafael and me it had become his nickname for me. It rolled off his tongue sounding sexy and endearing like a lover’s pet name should be. Just that sped my pulse, caught my breath in my throat and turned it shallow. I hadn’t realized that he’d conditioned me so that just him saying the name a certain way was a turn-on. You never know what seemingly innocent things will become foreplay.
Micah hugged me and it was almost startingly, as if I’d been paying too much attention to Rafael. I hugged him back and don’t know what I would have said, because he spoke first. “You can use our room.”
I held him tighter, memorizing the feel of him in my arms; the delicate strength of him always felt so right. I touched his curls with one hand and hugged him tighter with the other. “No, we’ll use a guest room.”
He drew back enough to meet my eyes. “Are you sure?”
I nodded. I didn’t say out loud that I didn’t want the scent of anyone on our sheets but the three of us. If Rafael had been someone that any of us was in love with, that would be different, but he wasn’t one of our sweeties, so no.
I kissed him, and Nathaniel was there hugging both of us. Micah extracted himself and let us have a moment alone. Nathaniel smiled down at me, mischief shining in his lavender eyes. I knew that he was about to say something we might regret, or I might, but he didn’t say it out loud, just looked deep into my eyes, and I suddenly knew what he was visualizing about Rafael and me and . . . him.
I laughed and pulled out of the hug. “You are incorrigible and that visual will stay with me.”
“I meant for it to, and you still love me?” He meant it, but there was still that small part of him that wasn’t as confident as he appeared. It was that part that asked, even if the tone was teasing.
“I am deeply, passionately, madly in love with you still and always.”
“Still and always,” he said softly, and kissed me as gently as his voice sounded. I leaned into his body, my hands on either side of his shoulders as if I could hold on forever. I trailed my fingers through the thick straightness of his hair. I could run my hands through his hair and not mess it up. Micah’s curls didn’t recover from rough treatment.
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you more,” I said.
Micah came up beside us, putting an arm around each of our waists. “I love you most.”
“I love you mostest,” Nathaniel said
, and kissed us each in turn. Then it was time to go with Rafael and find a guest room. Rafael’s hand was warm in mine, but it seemed weird to leave the other men behind in the hallway to go with him. I had other lovers who made me feel less conflicted about being with them, and I finally realized that Rafael was the only one who never interacted with anyone else in our poly group. Maybe there was more than one reason that I’d offered him to sleep with some of the women in our polycule? Of course, Nathaniel’s visual had let me know that he had felt left out when offers of doing threesomes with Rafael had been offered to our group. It’s not that I forgot he was bisexual; it was just that I knew Rafael was so terribly heterosexual, and yes, I could now admit all the way in the front of my head that Nathaniel wasn’t the only man in my life who would have taken a swing at Rafael if it was offered.
“You are thinking far too hard about Micah and Nathaniel now,” Rafael said.
I squeezed his hand and looked up at him. I let him see in my face that I thought him handsome and yummy. It was enough that he smiled. “Thank you for that, Anita, but I think we need to find a way to make you think more of only me.”
“What did you have in mind?” I asked.
“A little game of hide-and-seek.”
I frowned at him. “You’re a wererat; even in human form you’d smell me or hear my heartbeat from yards away. I can’t hide from you.”
“If I truly wanted you to hide, no, but I want to find you.”
“I’m not sure I understand what you mean?”
“Hide under a bed and I will pull you out and ravish you.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me.
I shook my head. “Nope, sorry, I’ve had too many real bad guys drag me out of hiding. It would be more trigger for me than foreplay.”
He stopped so abruptly that it almost made me stumble with his hand in mine, pulling me up short. “I am so sorry, Anita, I forget for you some of the bondage games are too close to your reality.”
“It’s okay, you asked, I said no, we move on to a new idea.”
He looked away and his face was serious again. If this kept up and short of releasing the ardeur, we weren’t having sex today. I touched his face lightly and turned him back to look at me.
“Tell me what you want, Rafael. If it’s a chase and takedown, we can figure it out.”
Rafael Page 8