“They have this new gin. The landlady says its invigorating, if you know what I mean,” Drake said, placing an entire tray of small copper cups on the makeshift table made of a barrel. He grinned and sat cross-legged at Alwyn’s side, adjusting clothes which were entirely too nice to wear for a hunt. He was dressed as if he was about to court a lady, not take down a monster.
Alwyn snapped his fingers, finally making Jack tear his eyes away from Roux wrapping a long gray scarf around his neck. “Not again, Jack. Let it go.”
Michael grabbed one of the cups all too eagerly. “Let what go?”
Drake lifted his eyebrows and pointed to Jack’s face. “Jack got his scars in a brawl with the chat last year.”
Michael opened his mouth and gently traced the lines left behind by claws. “That thing did this to you? How is it allowed back here?”
Jack scowled. This wasn’t how he’d expected this conversation to go, considering that Michael had an overall positive view of sentient creatures, all things considered. “We got drunk and had a bit of a fight. Nothing anyone should worry about,” he said, weirdly uncomfortable with Roux Chat-Bonnes being called an ‘it’.
And not only because of the debt he now owed the chat, but also because he’d met many different creatures during the past year. Many of the European and African countries had significant creature minorities, and depending on local laws--some of said creatures lived among humans. While he’d been hunting necrorats in London, one of his lovers had even introduced him to a family of fae who had settled in Hyde Park. While Jack wasn’t always comfortable with creatures, he was also curious about them, and he’d found out long ago that making a connection was close to impossible when you viewed them as animals.
Despite his fluffy fur and cat-like grace, Roux definitely wasn’t an animal.
Drake exhaled, rubbing his knees as he watched the copper cups. “Can’t believe we might see her again.”
So it was back to Nessie. Drake hardly spoke of anything else since Jack and he had become close friends earlier this year.
“Are Collins and Tucker not participating in the hunt? I thought they were with you when you encountered the monster last year,” Jack said, sampling the gin.
“No, we got into a fight, and split during the hunt.”
Michael laughed. “Seems that all venators do is fight each other more than monsters. You’d think you guys would be tired of it once you’re off the clock.”
Jack grinned, discreetly squeezing Michael’s buttock. “Maybe sometimes it’s the other way around. Drake here fights humans, but he looooves Nessie. Do you have a ring on you at least? Can I be your best man?”
Drake’s face flushed so fast for a moment it seemed he might faint from the abrupt change, but Drake snapped his teeth and quickly downed all his gin. “Oh, fuck you, Addison! It’s you who’s all too interested in creatures.”
Michael laughed and rubbed his cheek against Jack’s face, missing the sudden tension. “Maybe he’s just curious about their strange behaviors.”
Alwyn poured himself more alcohol from his personal stash. “I’ve heard he called that kitty there a ‘pussycat’ last year, so he must be very interested in their behaviors.”
Drake choked on his gin, and this time the redness of his face was due to laughter.
Michael frowned. “What does that mean?”
But Jack didn’t know. He’d referred to Roux’s resemblance to a domestic animal. Was there anything more behind it?
Alwyn shook his head. “You really don’t know? That’s what chats call males who don’t breed. Pussy. Cats. Get it?”
Jack’s gaze briefly darted to Roux’s silhouette, with the tall ears with cute tufts. He groaned, rubbing his face. “Like… fucking other male cats, or castrated, or… what?”
Alwyn put his tin bottle back and glanced Roux’s way. “The kind who likes getting fucked.”
Jack barely kept his tongue in because his lips went so dry he couldn’t focus. He didn’t know creatures could be gay. Was Roux really a ‘pussycat’? Did he fuck people? Or had he been so offended because he was the kind of chat who did breed?
Michael laughed. “If you ask me, many chats look like girls. I hear guys can sometimes be fooled when they meet one after dark. I guess a tongue and whiskers are all the same anyway.”
Drake rolled his eyes. “I heard their dicks have hooks all over, so I can’t really imagine being drunk enough to try that.”
Alwyn frowned. “I thought you only liked girls.”
Drake shrugged and looked at them all with a sheepish smile. “Everyone experiments in school.”
Jack remembered the steady glide of the tarantoid’s appendage inside him, how good it had felt in the moment, and how painful its impact had been in the days that followed. The thought of hooks inside such a sensitive area made him shudder.
Michael giggled, already drunk. “Why don’t we just go ask him? You know, for science?”
Alwyn sat straight with a silly smile. “Yeah, Jack, go ask him. I’d pay to see that.”
Jack wanted to protest, but then Drake pointed at him with a serious expression. “Are you scared you’ll get another set of scars from that kitty?”
This Jack couldn’t take. Nobody accused Jack Addison of cowardice.
“Spit that out.”
Drake shrugged and watched him with a self-satisfied expression. “Then go and ask him about chat cock.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “Why would I do that?”
Michael moaned and rubbed Jack’s thigh suggestively. “Because I’m asking you. Maybe we could one day publish a paper about it in a research journal. Pleeease?”
Jack rolled his eyes but lost his smile as soon as he turned his back on his friends and started walking toward the chat. Should he really ask Roux about something so private?
Chapter 2
Jack picked up two of the gin cups, and slowly approached the group of Frenchmen. Roux sat on the periphery, leaning toward the oil heater with his paw-feet close to the flame burning behind the grate. He’d replaced his coat with a fluffy turtleneck sweater that had a collar reaching all the way to the base of his head.
Could he smell Jack? Because he hadn’t turned around, but still put his paw on the rapier attached to his belt. Jack sighed, entranced by the way the warm light played in the red fur.
“I didn’t think we’d meet again so soon,” he said in the end.
Roux took a deep breath and turned his huge green eyes on Jack. Was he smaller? Or did Jack gaining a few inches in this past year account for the difference? The chat’s ears were up and attentive.
“Yes. Too soon.”
Jack shook his head and sat on the edge of the bench next to him. The chat didn’t move an inch, which left little room for Jack, but he wouldn’t let that bother him and rested his arm against Roux’s. Some of the red fur stuck out through the knit and tickled Jack’s bare skin.
“I’m sorry I called you a pussycat. I literally just found out that it’s a slur.”
Roux’s nose wrinkled. “No need to talk about it.”
Jack licked his lips “You seemed pretty upset,” he said, and tapped his scars.
Roux’s ears twitched time and time again, and some of the fur on his head bristled. “You said it yourself. It’s a slur.”
“Yes, but it’s for chats. Most people don’t know.” Jack tried smiling at Roux. In vain.
The feline face remained unmoved. “Do you want something?”
Jack cleared his throat and discreetly glanced at his friends before focusing on Roux. “How have you been?”
The huge green eyes squinted. They were pretty amazing, even if freaky. Roux actually had eyelashes. Very faint, but they were there. “What are you trying here, Addison?”
Jack rolled his eyes, frustrated by the standoffish behavior. He didn’t encounter this very often. “Why do you have to be so difficult? Can’t a man talk to you?”
“Last time we met you called me Mr. Paws. Exc
use me for being apprehensive about your intentions.”
“A lot has changed in the last year. You’re not gonna make any friends if you keep grudges forever.”
Roux’s whiskers twitched from side to side. “I’m not here to make friends, Addison. I’m here to slay Nessie. Which I couldn’t do last year because I had to save your sorry ass.”
Jack frowned, increasingly agitated. “Oh, so you’re in it only for the fame? You don’t care about saving people? Or is it just me that you don’t care about?”
“I think I’ve proved I care about saving people last year.” Roux’s face was hard to read. Furry all over and just… different, it didn’t show emotion in the same ways human faces did. “Nessie is yet another threat to the world. It’s said the creature is massive. Most of all, the crack between dimensions hasn’t been closed, and if Nessie got through, then something much worse might, too.”
“I hear it might be opened and closed by Nessie every time. Science says that,” Jack quickly repeated what he’d heard just moments ago.
“Science hasn’t been very effective in tracking Nessie down so far.”
Pride swelled in Jack’s chest, and he pulled up one side of his jacket, revealing the small oval device his older sister had invented recently. He was the first one to ever test it in the field. “Maybe it will this year.” He was excited to see that he had caught Roux’s attention.
“What are you saying? What is it?” The chat reached out, but caught himself halfway through the movement.
Jack smirked. “Go on, you can touch it. It’s a prototype my sister made. It can track Nessie’s cries, even those too quiet for the human ear.”
Roux’s tongue made a split-second movement all the way up to his nose. “Thanks, I’ll be fine with my own two ears. We can’t all have the advantages of wealth and fame.”
“Maybe you should just be happy you saved Jack Addison, so he can do great things in the future.”
Roux’s jaw dropped, revealing a tongue with tiny nubs on it. “You should be happy you’re not baby tarantoid feed. You haven’t even thanked me for that. I could have left you there.”
Jack let out a long exhale. “That’s why I came over, but you can’t be civil like a normal person.”
“At least I’m a person to you now,” Roux grumbled. His body language was so tense just looking at it made Jack tired and stiff. “I accept your gratitude.”
Jack cleared his throat and offered Roux one of the cups. “How does that tongue feel?” Did chats give each other oral sex with them?
Roux took the cup in both paws, and Jack itched to touch their pads and check if they felt soft. “Huh? What do you mean?” His ears laid a bit flatter, and it had to be the cutest thing Jack had ever seen.
If they had been alone, he might have attempted to scratch them, but they were not alone, and he didn’t want some weird gossip reaching his close friends and family. “I mean, your tongue has those nubs. Do they feel like a cat’s or is it smooth, like mine?” he asked and tapped his bottom front teeth with one finger.
It was ridiculous how apprehensive Roux seemed, as if he believed Jack was about to pounce on him or something. In the end though, he stuck out his tongue, letting Jack look at it in detail before speaking again.
“Like a cat’s. But not to scale, if that makes sense. If a cat was my size, the hooks on his tongue would be massive.” Behind them, Roux’s tail started slowly swaying in the air, and Jack found himself fantasizing about it discreetly making its way under the back of his shirt.
“So they’re actually sharp? Would it hurt if you licked me?” Jack asked, oddly excited about this conversation. He was on a roll!
Roux moved an inch away, and Jack had to stop himself from catching Roux’s tail. Civil. He was supposed to be civil.
“Why would I lick you?”
Jack raised his hand. “It was a figure of speech. I mean... unless you are... interested in human males? I’ve seen this erotic picture with chats, and they were licking each other,” he said, suddenly acutely aware of every single twitch of the pretty white whiskers.
Roux’s ears went flat once more, his eyes widened and he rose so fast some of his drink spilled to the wooden floor. “What are you insinuating?”
Jack just followed his instinct, grabbing Roux’s paw and pulling him back down. It was soft. Like a baby kitten’s. Roux didn’t walk on those pads, so they hadn’t hardened the way his feet surely had. But despite the distraction, Jack focused on Roux’s eyes, on the fluffy mouth, and his pink nose. “It’s academic curiosity, but if that means anything to you, I am into males. You know, like a pussycat,” he said in a low voice, and winked.
Roux didn’t even blink. In the dim light, his pupils were huge, breathtaking. He pulled his paw away when he noticed Jack was still holding it, but there was not a claw in sight. “Don’t say that word.”
Jack nodded, sitting close, with his thick thigh touching Roux’s slender one. “Sorry. I just wanted to say that you’re a very... attractive chat, if you were interested in knowing that I think that.”
Roux’s eyelids lowered, and he let out the softest purr.
Oh, fuck. He was into it. He was a pussycat.
Would Jack actually be into that though? He’d heard that some people ventured into sex with other sentient species, but Jack wasn’t like that. He was just curious from an anthropological standpoint.
His fingers found Roux’s gorgeously soft tail on their own accord, even though he had no idea what he wanted to do about it.
Someone whistled behind them.
Roux’s eyes snapped open. “I know what this is! Your friends set you up to this! I’m so gullible! Stupidest chat ever! But not that stupid.” He snatched his tail away.
“What? No. They wanted to know about chat cocks, but that’s not the conversation we’re having, right? Calm down,” Jack said, once again squeezing Roux’s forearm. He wished it wasn’t covered with a sleeve.
Roux growled. “Of course they want to know about chat cocks. You’re all the same. I refuse to calm down. You should have stayed with your people.”
“What? What did I do this time? I came here in peace, so stop being so fucking sensitive.”
Roux pulled away. “I don’t need to be anything you tell me to. And my dick is none of your business! You really are the worst.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “Just great. That’s not the way to integrate.”
“I’m done integrating. I’m here to do my job, and I can’t even get a good night’s sleep before tomorrow’s hunt because my room’s been given away to some human. You people always get all the preferential treatment, but I bet as an Addison, you barely even notice how the world just opens up to you.”
Jack’s room hadn’t been given to him because he was human. Or had it? Impossible to tell, but as Roux leaped away from him and jumped onto a pile of sacks in a single move, he knew there would be no more talking. Roux didn’t even look back at him and started gracefully climbing up the wall, towards the thick beams keeping the barn in one piece.
Loud meows erupted in the drunken crowd around Jack, mocking Roux as he settled on the beam, pretending to be unbothered. Something strange appeared at the back of Jack’s mind. Was it guilt?
“Roux, no. Come on, I have a proposition for you,” Jack said, mounting the sacks with far less grace than the chat had displayed.
Roux hissed at him. “Leave me alone!”
A choir of laughter echoed behind Jack but he was undeterred and reached out toward the tail dangling far above his head. “You could join us. We have a room at the inn.”
Roux’s eyes went as wide as never before. “I will not join in your debauchery!”
Michael pulled on Jack’s arm. “There’s no debauchery here, you prude chat! As if that was what Jack meant!
Jack scowled. “Suit yourself. Every time I see you, you’re such a goddamn naysayer!”
Roux squinted at Jack from the beam with a dignified lift of his chin, despite
the mockery. “For once. Jack Addison is getting to hear the word ‘no’.”
Anger burned Jack to the core, and he instantly spun around, pulling Michael in for a kiss. The applause and whistling wasn’t quite enough to soothe the injury to his pride but it would do.
Chapter 3
In the right light, Michael’s hair was the same shade as Roux’s fur. Jack wondered if Michael would have been up for a threesome with a chat, had Roux stayed in the room with them. But they did have plenty of fun on their own. Michael was barely standing from the hangover.
“Stay safe,” Michael said in a raspy voice, resting his hands on Jack’s chest. “And if you can, bring me a piece of it. Could even be a single scale.”
Jack put on his shirt. “I always land on my feet.”
Michael’s puffy eyes turned to slits. “Are you sure you don’t want to wait for everyone else?”
Of course Jack didn’t want to wait. Everyone else would be staying idle until one of the watchmen spotted Nessie, but he had a device that could lead him straight to monster, and he wouldn’t share the glory of a successful hunt with anyone!
Michael’s eyes went wide, and he lifted his hand, as if he was about to slap Jack’s chest. Jack instantly looked down, and the hair at the back of his neck bristled when he spotted a spider on the front of his shirt, right next to the pocket where he kept the tarantoid egg for luck.
A flush overcame his body, and right away he was back in the cave, pumped full of tiny eggs. But when Michael was about to squash the little thing, Jack grabbed his hand. “N-no. That’s my pet spider.”
Michael frowned. “What? You don’t have a pet spider. Kill it, or at least throw it out. You know I hate spiders.”
Jack opened and closed his mouth before quickly rushing to his luggage, where he kept a jar that still contained bits of cooked meat. If this little bugger had survived the poison its egg had been treated with, then he did not deserve to die so thoughtlessly. “I do. I was... waiting for the egg to hatch in my pocket.” He reached into the pocket, and when he pulled out the little, soft egg, his mouth dried when he saw that it had popped. This tiny spider really was the spawn of the tarantoid, and it had been inside him. Was it possible that he’d incubated it with his body heat?
Jack Addison vs. a Whole World of Hot Trouble - The Complete Series Page 4
