Saving Jax

by L. M. Brown

  Cal must have seen something of his disappointment on his face. He grabbed the pink toga and slung it over his arm. "I'm a dab hand with a needle and thread. I'll adjust it."

  "It's really not your colour," Tilla insisted.

  "I happen to like pink," Cal replied in a tone that sounded completely believable, even to Jax. Tilla was convinced too.

  They trailed after her as she pointed out other items of clothing, both for Cal and for newborn babies. Jax and Cal worked out a few signals to exchange so that Jax could have his say in their purchases.

  When they'd finished buying clothing, they started on the other items, including a self-assembling crib large enough for a litter of six, blankets and a full medical kit for the birth itself.

  They were lingering in the toys section when Ty caught up with them. "Having fun?"

  Jax grinned over his shoulder. "I want to buy them all, but I think we'd better limit it to what we can afford."

  Ty kissed him on the forehead. "Buy what you want, baby."

  Cal picked up a mobile for hanging over the crib and added it to their pile. By this point, Tilla was almost dancing on her paws with excitement. He guessed they didn't get many big spenders at the space station.

  When they had everything they needed, save for items that they could obtain wherever they ended up staying, they concluded their business and went to find somewhere quiet to check the outgoing flights.

  "What about the various feline colonies?" Jax asked. "Or would they be too risky?"

  "I have relatives at several of them," Cal said. "I think the danger is someone recognising me and it may be the first place they look if they don't believe the abduction scenario."

  "I agree." Ty removed all feline territories from the list. "We can't go on any of the long haul flights either."

  "Why not?" Jax asked.

  "Because people will question if Cal doesn't give birth," Ty explained. "And if you start to show as well, someone may figure out there's something off."

  Jax felt foolish for not realising that himself.

  Cal pointed at one of the listings. "I don't think we want to be heading into Antrill territory either. They still engage in the slave trade and the most recent reports are that they are on the verge of declaring war on those who object."

  "Agreed." Ty removed those from the listing too. "That leaves Hawkri or Lupalia."

  "What a choice," Cal complained. "One water planet and the other full of canines. Can't we just stay here or on another space station?"

  "We definitely can't stay here. And I don't think we have enough funds to afford accommodation on any space station for more than a month, two at the most."

  "Which one then?" Jax asked.

  Cal produced a credit from his pocket. "Toss a credit?"

  Ty shrugged. "Why not? Value we go to Hawkri, maker we go to Lupalia."

  Cal flipped the small piece of metal into the air and caught it on the way down. "Lupalia it is."

  Ty pulled up the flight details and headed to the booking page. Within a few minutes he had booked passage for the three of them. He hoped the canines were friendly.

  Chapter Eight

  "More water?" Jax said as they climbed down from the motor-wagon that had carried them from the main Lupalia spaceport to the nearest town.

  Cal sighed and made a face that told Jax he was equally unimpressed with the view before them. "Why can't we just buy a cheap spacecraft and travel in that?"

  Ty made sure the driver was occupied with the other passengers before replying in a hushed tone. "Spaceships have to be registered. Fake names would be picked up on immediately, and if we used any of our real names we'd be instantly traceable. Every time we dock anywhere, our route will be logged. If we tried to avoid docking, we'd run out of fuel and end up stuck in the middle of space with no way of getting home, or anywhere else."

  "But a river boat?" Cal whined.

  Jax echoed his complaint with several of his own.

  The driver snorted as he approached them. "Fussy felines."

  Ty grabbed their bags and paid the driver. "Come on, you complainers. After a few months living on a boat, you'll love the river."

  "Months? I thought we were only going to be crossing the river to search for lodgings in the main town on the other side."

  Ty pointed at the bright red light in the window of a shop at the edge of the dock. "With these sorts of prices to buy a boat, it's too good an opportunity to pass up."

  "We haven't seen the boats yet," Cal reminded him. "For all you know they could be rusty or full of holes."

  "Well, I wasn't going to buy it sight unseen. Let's go take a look at them."

  An hour later and they had loaded all their belongings onto their newly purchased second-hand boat and were setting off down the river.

  Jax and Cal sat in the very middle of the deck, clinging to each other's hands. Every now and then Ty glanced over at them, rolled his eyes, and returned to what he was doing.

  "Where did you learn how to operate a boat?" Jax asked.

  "Back on Furyne," Cal replied, before Ty could say anything. "His family loves the water. They're all strange like that. He'd be messing around on the river boats when he was supposed to be with his tutor."

  "Are you telling tales on me?" Ty asked. "Just remember, I know a fair bit about you, too."

  "Not that much. You only met me after you came of age."

  "I'd seen you around long before then. You were the one who built that tree house to spy on the official meetings."

  "How did you know about that?"

  Ty laughed and came to sit with them. "Everyone knows about that. Now, I think we're out of sight of civilisation, so you can lose the fake belly if you want."

  Cal untied his kilt and pulled out the cushion. "Phew, that's better. It was like having several extra layers of fur."

  "What about our dye?" Jax asked.

  "When we've found somewhere to stop for the night we'll take a swim and scrub it off."

  "Swim?" No way was he jumping into that murky mess.

  "It'll be shallow at the edges, and I'll be right there with you."

  Ty was completely missing the point.

  "I thought the boat had a waterless shower?"

  "Yes, but it won't work on the dye. The bottle said it needs water to clean it off."

  "What about when we go into town for supplies?" Jax scrambled after any excuse to avoid getting his paws wet. "You'd be recognised as a high noble right away from your markings."

  "I think we should stay as self-sufficient as we can. If we have to interact with the canines, I'll use the dye to disguise myself."

  "What about me? Will I need to be re-patched? How will you make the markings the same as before? What if someone notices the difference if they see me more than once?"

  Ty patted his hand reassuringly. "Once we've got you cleaned of the dye that'll be it. You're not a high noble and most canines wouldn't even recognise you as a low noble. They don't exactly take notice of the hierarchy of our species. They may not even recognise my markings, but the three of us together, with none of us in disguise, would still be noticeable. My disguise is easier to maintain, though I don't anticipate having to go into the town much at all. It's not like we'll need food."

  Jax grinned. "The benefits of being a feline."

  "And we have everything for the babies when they get here. If you can think of anything we've missed, we'll make a list and go trade in the town closer to your time."

  "Are you sure this boat isn't going to sink?" Cal asked.

  Ty gave him an annoyed look, which swiftly morphed into a wicked smile. "By the time Jax gives birth, you'll be steering this boat, swimming in the river, and you'll never want to go back to Furyne."

  "That's all highly unlikely."

  "We'll have to go back at some point," Jax said.

  Ty squeezed his knee. "I know. We will find your babies, I promise. And while we're off the scanners here on Lupalia I'm going to be doing
what I can to find out what happened to them."

  "You are?"

  Ty picked up the holo-projector. "The canines have excellent technology and access to the feline records. The Treaty of the Silver Moon gives both of our species full access to the archives and records of the other. I have my doubts as to whether the canines have upheld their side of the bargain, but to the best of my knowledge the felines have. That means that we can search the records from right here on this world, provided we're careful not to leave tracks."

  "What if someone is watching the relevant records, waiting for us to look at them?"

  "I promise I'll be careful. I'll search under false names and never the same one twice."

  "But…"

  Ty sighed. "If you want me to wait, I will, but I thought you wanted us to get your babies back as soon as possible?"

  "Not if searching for them means putting the unborn litter in danger. Perhaps we should wait until enough time has passed that we can convince everyone that the litter I'm carrying is yours."

  "Just as you like it," Ty agreed. "The last thing I want is to cause you any stress, which won't be good for the babies. When you're ready, just let me know and I'll start searching."

  Jax looked out at the water. "The idea of swimming is causing me stress."

  "Nice try, but you don't want to be covered in fading dye for the rest of your life. Tonight, we swim."

  *****

  Despite his protests, which continued right up until he was in the river, Jax was relieved to wash the dye out of his fur. He was also pleased to see the return of Ty's stripes and remembered he wanted to lick his way along them. At least now he wouldn't have the taste of dye in his mouth if he tried to do that.

  Cal laughed at the others from where he stood at the railing of the boat. He had no intention of getting his paws wet and was thoroughly enjoying the fact that he didn't have any dye to clean off.

  "You could still do with a good bath," Ty called to him.

  "I'll stick to the waterless shower, thank you all the same."

  "Coward!"

  "Yes, but a dry one."

  Ty tried to splash water up at Cal, but with very little success. Cal jumped back and avoided the spray with ease, laughing as he evaded any attempt to get him wet.

  Jax sat in the shallows at the edge of the bank, where he let Ty clean away the dye.

  Ty had immersed himself in the river and scrubbed away his own before Jax had even got off the boat. Only the threat of being thrown overboard had persuaded him to get into the water under his own steam. He didn't think Ty would actually have tossed him in, especially since he couldn't swim, but even the idle threat was enough to get him down the ramp.

  "See, it's not so bad," Ty teased as he used a soft natural sponge to rub at his chest, then lower to his stomach, which he took extra special care with.

  The slow, circular movements of the sponge were doing a lot to ease Jax, as well as having another, more noticeable, effect.

  Ty kissed his neck. "I bet you never imagined you could get hard while you're in the water."

  "I'd rather be hard on dry land, or in a bed." Jax reached down and gave his cock a quick squeeze at the base. His skin felt more sensitive than usual and he recalled the same thing happening to him the last time he was pregnant.

  Ty rested his hand on Jax's stomach. "When will you start to show?"

  "If it's the same as last time, in a few weeks, at around two months."

  "How many do you think you're carrying? Can you tell?"

  Jax shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe three, the same as last time, but it could be more or less. Since I'm pretty small, the healer who tended me during the birth said I was unlikely to ever carry more than four babes in a litter. She seemed to know what she was talking about, so I guess it won't be more than that. I bet you could have a huge litter."

  "You think?"

  "Well, you are a lot bigger than me. Some felines have litters as big as nine or ten."

  "The largest recorded litter, where all the babes survived was fourteen. They were born to a common female though, not someone who's dual-gendered."

  "What's the largest for someone like us?"

  "The largest recorded is eight, I believe, but that was a common feline. High nobles don't tend to have large litters anyway, and since there hasn't been any known dual-gendered high noble to carry a litter, I have no idea how many I might carry."

  "I guess you'll find out one day."

  Jax still couldn't quite believe that Ty was dual-gendered. He had never imagined a high noble being one such as him. He wondered if there were others out there, perhaps hiding what they were, rather than reveal their shame to the world.

  No.

  There was no shame in what they were. No matter what anyone else said, being born with both the male and female sex organs wasn't anything to be ashamed of. It was a random quirk of genetics, one which no one had managed to figure out the science behind.

  Seeing how Ty held his head high made Jax even more determined to follow his example. While his family hadn't been particularly ashamed of Jax's uniqueness, there were plenty of others who had stared at his groin and whispered behind his back.

  "I think that's the last of the dye," Ty said as he rinsed the sponge in the water. "Do you want to go back on the boat or stay here a little while?"

  Jax scrambled from the water. "Did you really ask such a stupid question? Did you hit your head on the cabin roof or something?"

  Ty laughed and got to his feet. "And here was me thinking that you'd enjoyed our time in the water, and might like to stay a little longer."

  "You really have lost your mind. I hate the water."

  "Your cock didn't seem to mind it."

  "My cock should know better." Jax shook off as much of the water as he could and walked up the short ramp, back onto the boat.

  Ty wrapped his arms around him from behind. He ran his hands over Jax's chest and his sensitive skin seemed to catch fire. He moaned as Ty brushed his nipples. He was pretty sure he'd done it by accident, but it made no difference to his body. His cock, already hard from Ty's ministrations in the water, ached even more. He wanted to touch it, yet he didn't want to either.

  Cal appeared in the doorway leading down the steps to the cabin. From the expression on his face, he had read the situation accurately. The lust in his eyes was visible even from across the deck.

  Ty seemed to realise how turned-on Jax was, and he repeated the movement he had made a moment before. Jax moaned as Ty caught one of his nipples again.

  "Ah, I see."

  Jax glanced down at his groin. His cream was about to spill and there was neither a hand nor a mouth on his cock. It was a pure waste of cream, but he wanted this. He needed the pleasure that came from spilling without being touched. The only times he had managed it before was on occasions when he fingered himself, searching for those sensitive spots inside his body. There wasn't a finger or anything else in him right now, yet he was right there on the brink.

  Cal approached them and knelt in front of him.

  Jax gasped and shook his head. "Not yet, Cal. Don't touch me yet."

  Cal licked his lips, but he didn't come any closer. He stuck his tongue out just the tiniest bit from between his lips, ready, waiting for his cream.

  Ty continued to play with his nipples, stroking, then squeezing, then pinching again. Jax's entire body seemed to react to his touch, especially his cock.

  He felt Ty's stiff prick at his back, but he resisted the temptation to beg him to enter him. At least not yet.

  He kept his gaze locked with Cal's until he couldn't hold it back any longer. Didn't want to. His climax almost sent him to his knees, but Ty's strong embrace held him steady. His cream shot out in a wide arc, hitting Cal across the face. Cal licked up as much as he could before diving on Jax's cock and sucking him in earnest.

  As a child, Jax had heard about the myth of the feline who came for a hundred days without stopping. He and his friends
had laughed about it, confident in their disbelief of the tale. Now, with Cal feeding from him so eagerly, Jax wondered whether there might be a grain of truth in the story. He didn't doubt that as long as Cal needed to feed, he would be able to sustain him.

  "Need you in me." He grasped Ty and drew him near, altering his stance to spread his legs a little more.

  Ty used his fingers to give Jax what he craved. Even in the heat of the moment, Ty wouldn't take him without preparing him with oil. Instead, he rubbed against his buttocks, spilling his cream over his arse. Cal must have realised what Ty was doing, because he pulled back. "I'm going to lick that off you."

  Ty reached around Jax and gathered some of Jax's cream from Cal's face. He licked his finger, making soft contented slurping noises.

  Jax grabbed Cal's shoulders and held on as Cal took him in his mouth again.

  "Bed." Ty pointed at the door leading below the deck.

  Cal whined as he let Jax go, but he didn't argue with Ty. His tone had made it clear that he would not accept any resistance.

  His legs shaky, Jax almost tripped over his own paws as he followed Cal down the stairs.

  In the cabin, Ty pushed him gently onto his stomach on the bed and climbed on with him. Jax twisted round to see where Cal was, just in time to see him settle between his legs and make good on his promise to lick up Ty's cream from his arse.

  "Oh Cal!" Ty's cream wasn't the only thing he was licking. His tongue was doing delicious things to his arse, delving into places even Lyndon hadn't explored with his mouth. He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised, since his former lover had never been concerned with Jax's pleasure. Cal, however, seemed determined to make this good for Jax. He licked along his crack and poked at his hole with his tongue. His sharp teeth nipped at his buttock, the quick sting of pain soon soothed with more licks.

  Ty tugged Jax up the bed towards him. "Kiss me."

  Jax pressed his mouth to Ty's. He kept his kiss slow, just as Cal's movements behind him were. He wanted to make this last, though with his cock pressed snugly against Ty's, he could tell neither of them would be able to keep it slow for long. Cal's mouth on his arse only served to increase his desperation and when his tongue pressed deeper inside him, Jax moaned into Ty's mouth as he spilled his cream again. The heat of Ty's release mingled with his own as they panted together.