Max stood. “Come on, then, let’s see.”
“What, now?”
“Yeah. Why not?”
“Naked?”
“I think you should be in wolf form.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I just have a feeling. You’re better protected from quintessence attack that way, right? And something about wolfie-you there last time seemed to help disperse the enchantment’s defenses.”
Bryan shrugged. “Fine.”
Which was how, about twenty minutes after the best sex of his entire life, Max found himself wearing a bathrobe and accompanied by a wolf, breaking into his own house.
Okay, not really breaking in because the door opened for him and they simply walked inside.
His wolf’s large, hairy body stuck close, pressed against him.
Unconsciously, Max rested his hand on the coarse, furry head.
He could feel it when they walked through the enchantment. It was an oppressive, cold, tingling sensation, like a bubble of carbonated air conditioning. He felt a little queasy. But that was it. His trace lines didn’t flare. It was as if the wolf took them on for him, any possible pain or discomfort. The werewolf wore trace lines with ease, like a mantle of energy. He didn’t seem to suffer under the burden, just became regal and protective. So far as the quintessence was concerned, the wolf was part of Max, and Max was part of the wolf. There was no fracturing of that unity, no burning sensation of wrongness. Max had no idea how he knew, but he understood that his trace lines didn’t flare because they didn’t need to. This was right. This was how it should be.
Together they passed through the enchantment, unmolested.
Inside the house, Bryan the wolf sneezed.
Max wasn’t certain if it was the quintessence or the dust.
The place was thick with neglect, lousy with spiders and beetles and vermin. The air was mote-heavy and the windows grime-covered so that the light crept in half-filtered and dim. It’s been how long since I’ve seen the inside? A decade? More.
Everything was as he’d left it after his father’s funeral. Untouched and encapsulated in time. Not so long ago as to be alien, but still displaced.
His wolf sneezed again.
They walked slowly through the place. Max pretended to give Bryan the grand tour.
“Given the number of pack members and privacy concerns, may I recommend converting the upstairs den and the basement below us into additional bedrooms? That way, every member would have his own room. I always thought this wall here should have much bigger windows, so you could really take advantage of the view, and a wraparound porch for barbecues in the summer. What does Monsieur think?”
Monsieur sneezed a third time and wagged his tail in a slow cautious manner.
Max continued, ignoring the heat of unshed tears in his own eyes. He remembered too much. He remembered the divots on the walls caused by his head or knee. He noticed the tiny stains on the carpet, nearly obscured by dust, that were records of his blood. He winced at the yellow on a couch where he’d vomited after his father hit him too hard in the stomach.
None of these were part of the tour.
Upstairs, Max didn’t open the doors to two of the rooms. “That one is the master bedroom, my dad’s,” he explained, without interest. “And that one was mine.” The lock was still there, thick and elaborate. The one that locked it from the outside. Turning a bedroom into a cell.
Bryan nudged against him, questioning. Tail still.
“No, I don’t think I want to see it again. Thank you.”
A sympathetic whine came from the wolf next to him.
“You know I could never live here, right? You and yours may stay, but our little trysts will continue at my place.”
A bark at that. Which Max took as affirmative.
“And so, nothing of interest. Nothing of power. A few fancy baubles. Some old books. Perhaps that is what the Surges were after. My dad was a noted collector of knowledge. You see why the enchantment confuses me? Why bother?”
It was when they went to leave the house that they realized the enchantment didn’t want to let them back out.
* * *
Biff liked being in wolf form. Once he was there, it was as comfortable as human skin. Slightly warmer with all the fur. A different set of senses, ears and nose much more sensitive, eyes slightly less so. Max still smelled delicious to him, and after their recent activities, he also smelled claimed. Mine. My mate. The man side of him had worried at being mated, but the wolf was pleased. He glowed with it. All joy and contentment, even in this alien space.
Biff wasn’t quite prepared for what enchantments felt like to a wolf. Passing through it had been bad, like whatever it was wanted his mate and was trying to get at him, but the only way to do so was through the wolf. So the wolf had fought it off with his savage abilities, pressed the cold, tingly, grasping fingertips away from both of them as they walked over the threshold.
Max had appeared unaffected, but it made the wolf shiver. It felt like the quintessence didn’t want to be enchanted. It too was trapped. Trapped in a protective energy state when it would rather be back in the gray, back to stasis. Quintessence always preferred to be potential with no fixed purpose. The enchantment felt to the wolf like it was another werewolf stuck mid shift – hurting. He didn’t like it at all.
Then his mate tried to walk out the door and the house wouldn’t let him.
“That’s unexpected.” Max pulled back. The door opened physically but something had stopped him from going through.
The wolf barked and charged, using brute force to leap that unhappy, unpleasant, invisible barrier. At the same time, he pushed outward with his savage abilities, like he was trying to shift, only shift bigger rather than human.
He slammed up against whatever it was and fell backward.
He lay a second, stunned.
“You idiot!” Max was on him, hands carefully touching him, searching out broken bones through the thickness of coarse cream fur. Mate’s touch, loving and worried.
“You okay?”
The wolf chuffed. He was fine. A little dazed, but he had a very hard head in either form. He stumbled onto four paws. Wagged his tail at his mate to provide reassurance.
He thought of changing back to human, assuming he could while inside the enchantment, but he felt safer as a wolf. He’d learned to trust those instincts early on in his adult life.
He leaned against his mate’s leg for comfort and reassurance.
Max reached down and scratched Biff’s head and caressed his ears. Then suddenly, he looked down at him. “I wonder.”
The wolf lolled his tongue out in confusion.
“Let’s try again, only this time together – you stay touching me, like you did before.”
The wolf chuffed his agreement. Together, yes. Mates.
They approached the door again.
This time, the wolf ensured continued contact with his mate, and Max’s hand stayed firm on the top of his head.
Once again, the wolf felt those tingling, questing fingers trying to crawl through him to get at his mate. Like before, he pressed at them, using his savage abilities to push them away. Although, when he thought about it, those abilities didn’t really feel like his savage power. When he used quintessence, it was usually a wild, untamed creature, like his wolf. Savage power was a shifting, restless thing, mottled and secretive, contorted by his form. This power felt heavy, deep and untapped, sure and fixed and ready. Controlled and united.
As he pressed outward, the wolf imagined parting heavy-beaded curtains made of sharp spikes. His own abilities were shy of the endeavor, hidden within his wolf. He was using that other source of quintessence to shove the enchantment away. He was accessing someone else’s abilities. A massive store of quintessence obeyed his command, choppy with disuse, neglected like the house. Waiting like the house.
Max’s mage abilities.
The wolf had no idea how he knew. He just did. It felt like Max. It felt like h
is mate. Quick and changeable with currents of darkness and need, passionate and resistant, hurt and hurting, hungry and afraid and eager.
The wolf petted it. Stroked it. Cherished it. Used it to push the world aside.
The enchantment parted around them, and they were through it and out.
Biff stayed a wolf. He knew exactly what Max would do if he told him what had happened. Mate. Mage. Magistar.
“Babe,” Biff would say, “I used your mage abilities and they are beautiful. Quintessence is there and it’s waiting for you. I think it’s waiting for me, too. I think it wants both of us. Together.”
Max didn’t want him in that world.
Max didn’t want himself in that world.
Max didn’t want anyone in that world.
Max had run from it forever. As he had run from that sad, abandoned house. As he had run from his father.
If Biff told him any of it, Max would run from him.
* * *
“I hate you all,” said Biff to the pack when he got home from Max’s the next morning. “You suck.”
A chorus of excuses and groans met that statement.
“I was perfectly civil,” objected Marvin.
“And Colin was sweet,” added Kevin, defending his brother, who barely looked up from his classwork.
“Colin is always sweet. But the rest of you were assholes.” Biff was not willing to cut them any slack.
“We were just ourselves!” objected Lovejoy.
“Exactly,” said Biff. He couldn’t stand to even look at his brother. When he dared a brief glance, Alec didn’t seem at all guilty. Which naturally pissed Biff off to no end. “What did you say to him, Alec?”
“Nothing he didn’t need to hear.”
“You’re a douche nozzle.”
“Poetic.”
“Seriously, though, did you have to?”
“Yeah, I did. You’re my brother – I won’t have you crushed by that prick again.”
Biff threw his hands up in the air. “Well, that prick has offered us a place to live. Big barn-like house, in Sausalito, backs up against open space, and an easy walk to the ocean. Good rent so long as we fix it up.”
Silence.
“What?” said Alec.
“Guess we didn’t scare him that much,” said Judd.
“Christ, Biff, how good are you in the sack?” wondered Lovejoy.
“Boy’s got a golden dick?” suggested Kev.
“No, idiot, he just really knows how to use the tool he was given,” said Lovejoy.
“Why, Lovejoy,” – that was Marvin – “you thinking of taking cock for a spin? Joining us on the dark side?”
Lovejoy pretended to consider. “Well, I hear butt sex is awesome.”
“There’s always pegging,” suggested Kevin.
“Oh, I know. Do you?”
Kev was wide-eyed in shock.
“No? Well, let me tell you, there’s a whole world of strap-ons to explore.” Lovejoy grinned. “I recommend it.”
Kevin was blushing now, a rare thing to see. “How did this turn into advice on my love life?”
Biff watched with amused annoyance. “In case anyone cares, I can recommend butt sex.”
“Stop!” That was Alec. “I do not need to know about your proclivities.”
“No? You certainly tried to mess with them yesterday.”
“Look, bro, I’m not having him screw you over.” A pause. “In a bad way, I mean. That guy is wrecked in the head and he’s going to break your huge, squishy heart.”
“Probably,” said Biff, “But that’s my business.”
“Not if the rest of us have to put you back together again,” objected Marvin.
Alec said loudly, “Which is why renting his house is a bad idea.”
The pack looked at one another. They were desperate. As a group, they stared at their Alpha with big, pleading eyes.
Alec sighed and sat down. Slumping. Manifest Destiny returned next week and they had nowhere to go. They’d have to split the pack at this juncture, and no one wanted that.
“Fine,” said Alec at last. “We’ll take a look at the place.”
“Ah,” said Biff, “one little hitch there. It happens to be enchanted.”
* * *
Gladdy looked at Max like he was certifiably crazy. Today, her hair was a dark brown and in a short pixie cut. She wore a vintage pillbox hat, with a navy-and-white sailor dress, and tall gray boots. Max wondered whether she did her hair with wigs or artifice. Kitsune savage mages were supposed to be master illusionists. Still, hair seemed like a waste of quintessence.
“No, really. I kinda liked his pack.”
“Probably because they don’t like you and this is the equivalent of a cat attracted to the one allergic person in the room.”
Max grinned at her. “That works. Especially with the way werewolves hate how sumages smell.”
The kitsune blinked at him.
“They’re cool dudes. They look out for each other. Nice to get some idea of what family should be, you know?”
“Why do you think I’m poly? It’s a way to build family.”
“That you then sleep with?”
“Perks!”
“That’s messed up, woman.”
“You’re one to talk. Sounds to me like you envy your boyfriend’s wolf pack.”
“Maybe a little. I never had anything like that.”
“What, like a fraternity or something? You know werewolves don’t really pick pack. Pack just kinda…happens.”
“Fair point.”
“So, you wanna sleep with your boyfriend’s pack, then?”
“Uh, no. That’s not what I was getting at. I offered to let them rent my place.”
“You have a place?”
“Big old house. I let it go to shit after my dad died. It was his. Figured they could move in and fix it up at the same time. Couple of the pack used to work in construction. They’re having a hard time finding anything big enough for all of them to rent. I think they need to stay together.”
“Your head is strange and warped.”
“It’s not where I live. It’s next door.”
A carefully plucked and shaped eyebrow arched at that.
“Besides, they haven’t moved in yet. There’s a small snag.”
“Aw, romance fading? Sex not as good as it once was?”
“Does your mind ever leave the gutter?”
“Very rarely.”
“No, nothing to do with the sex life, which is amazing, thank you very much. I highly recommend werewolves. You know all those rumors about size, stamina, and dexterity?”
Gladdy looked intrigued. “Yes?”
“All true.”
“Ooooo, all that and a picante prick? Does he have a brother?”
“Yes, actually, he does, but he’s also gay.”
“All the best ones are.”
“Some of the pack are straight. Not sure if they’re poly, though.”
“Let me at ’em – I can turn the best of ’em.”
Max looked at Gladdy thoughtfully. He supposed – objectively – she was super hot, if you were into mini-vagina.
Gladdy pressed on, clearly as fascinated by Max’s drama as she usually was with her own. “So, you were saying, there’s a snag in moving a pack of super-hot spicy-dick-wielding werewolves into your dad’s house? Do explain more, my fine, fucked-up friend. I am all ears.” With which Gladdy gave herself a set of very large fox ears perked in his direction. Now that was definitely quintessence in action.
“Sometimes,” said Max, wondering if the ears were matter or energy, “I think you spend all your time actually trying to be an anime character.”
“Max!”
“Look, the problem is the house.”
“Not livable?”
“That’s one way of putting it.”
“There’s another way?”
“It’s enchanted.”
“Of course it is.” Gladdy didn’t belie
ve him. Max didn’t care.
“And mages keep trying to break into it. Although I think I know how to fix that little problem.” Max suddenly remembered when he was drunk, how Bryan had said he smelled like the hoodie-wearing Surge, when he’d just come from visiting the judge. Same person. Max then hit upon what he thought was a good idea. Dangerous but good. “It’s a dirty job, so…”
“Get a sumage to do it?” Gladdy finished the cliché for him.
“Not in this instance. Although at first, I did think it needed five sumages. Now I’m not so sure. Sorry, Gladdy darling, I gotta go. There’s this old friend of my father’s upstairs pretending to be a judge. I think I need to pay him a visit.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Judges and Other Issues
Judge Rassolnik was listening to country music on his computer. Really bad country music. Max was delighted – it gave him another reason to dislike the man.
Blue jeans, black fur
Everybody is a-looking at her
Small town, light beer
This wolfpack is huntin’ for deer
“Oh my god,” said Max from the doorway, “is that a country music werewolf?”
The judge looked up at him. “Lexi Blanc is the latest thing. Where you been sleeping, boy? We forgive her for being a bloody wolf.”
With those selfsame werewolves, as it happens. “I’ve thought over our conversation, Rassolnik.” Max decided that an elderly dude who tried to break into his house in a hoodie should not be dignified with the term judge.
“Have you, now?” Rassolnik’s tone was icy with dislike of either Max or his informality. The judge was a smallish, roundish, baldish man. He might once have been good-looking but had forgotten how sometime in his late teens and never bothered to look it up again. His face was all frown and no smile, and his eyes were brown and cold.
“About you wanting to visit the old place? For my dad’s sake.”
“Indeed.”
“You know it’s enchanted, right?”
“Oh, is it?”
“Don’t be coy. You tried to break in. Hope you didn’t get rid of that hoodie – some kinkster half your age is sure to bounce on your cock in titillated excitement just because of how inappropriate it looks on you.”
“No cause to be crass, boy.”
“No? Why not? Seems to me you come skulking around my house. Then when you can’t get in, you pull weight around my job and pretend to play nice with me when we both know you’re after something.”
Sumage Solution GL Carriger Page 20
