Chapter Sixteen

ARI

Ari wasn’t really sure his plan was going to work but if nothing else, when and if these cowboys decided to shift and fight over Binks the bartender, it’d be somewhere that no one would see it. He followed the three outside and around the back where a loading dock and several dumpsters took prominent place against the back of the building.

To his chagrin, the alleyway was well lit, the corporate owners probably hadn’t anticipated the need for their guests to want darkness when they shifted from humans to animals. Instinctively, Ari knew he wasn’t alone, and blew out a breath of relief when he turned the corner and spotted Eoghan and the other shifters following about thirty feet behind.

“Binks!” Ari called out, knowing it was probably stupid to have gotten in the middle of something back there in the restaurant. Yet knowing as Eoghan and the others no doubt did, that leaving them there to transform into cats, would have been risky if the argument had escalated.

“Go away! I’m fine!” Binks said, turning to look at him with wide eyes, glowing bright shifter purple in the darkness. The two shifters in cowboy hats stood between Ari and the bartender and they both turned back to stare at him, hostility on prominent display as they flashed their own purple eyes at him. If he’d been any other human and he’d seen that, he would have turned tail and run far and wide just to get away from the terrifying creatures. When he simply smiled at them, the surprise on both their faces couldn’t be missed.

“You’re not going to shift back here in plain view of humans are you?” Ari asked, raising his voice so even Binks could hear him from a distance. Then again, he was a shifter, so he probably could have whispered it and still been heard. He held up his badge, knowing they could read it in the dark. “I’m a U.S. Marshal, part of the I.S.R. I know you know what that is, right?”

“Interspecies relations or something like that,” the cowboy who’d come with Chris said.

“Shut up, Roy,” Chris hissed. “Since when do the shifter police come around with a whole posse of other shifters bothering law abiding folks?”

“First of all, we aren’t police, we’re marshals,” Eoghan said, coming up with the others to stand beside Ari. “And it looked like you two were about to start a fight back there in the bar. We just wanted to make sure that didn’t happen inside around people.”

“We know that’s against our pact with the Agency, Marshal,” Binks said.

“Are you being threatened by these two shifters?” Ari asked, noticing how Binks hadn’t answered the question. “We can make sure they disperse and leave you alone. There are laws on the books about stalking, you know, even here in Colorado.”

“Who says we were stalking this kitty?” the cowboy Roy asked, sounding sarcastic.

“You shut up, Roy!” Binks screamed. “You’re the one who started this whole thing. Chris and I were happy before you started sniffing around his tail.”

“If you didn’t come prancing around other shifters, showing us how hot your little hole is, practically begging it to be filled by a real tomcat, everyone would have left you alone,” Roy said.

“You take that back, Roy!” Binks screamed. “All I ever wanted was to be sexy for my boyfriend. Is it my fault a bunch of other shifters thought they could pressure us into threesomes with them?”

Roy laughed. “Who did I walk into the bar with, Binks? Your own boyfriend wants the three of us to give it a go. The only reason I slept with him was so that you’d smell me on him and want the same thing. Now, come on little pussy, let your Tom daddy fill that tight little hole.” The second he finished speaking, he shifted into a very large orange tomcat, similar to what Garfield the fat cat would look like if he were a shifter and not a cartoon.

Binks turned to look at Chris. Ari could see tears in his big, purple eyes. “It’s not true, right, babe? You didn’t let him sleep with you because you thought I’d somehow want you more?”

Chris shrugged. “Honestly, pet, I didn’t want to sleep with Roy, but I let him wear me down. He came to me and told me how hot you made him and we jacked off while we talked about you.”

“That’s how it started? You j-jacked off with him?” Binks stammered.

Chris stared at the ground, shuffling his feet for a couple of minutes before looking up. “A few times but I swear we only talked about you and how hot it would be to have you suck us both off and then how we’d both fuck you together, maybe double penetrate your tight ass, like that. I still think it’s hot.”

Binks let the tears fall as the big, orange tabby paced in the space between both men. “You’d touch his dick with yours while screwing me just like that?”

Chris nodded emphatically. “Babe, you’re so fucking hot. Just think of how it’d feel with both our cocks in you.”

Someone cleared their throat and they all turned to look at Alo who was standing there shuffling his feet back and forth, looking extremely uncomfortable beside Joe who was grimacing. Apparently, gay threesome cat sex wasn’t of supreme interest to either man. And as much as it shouldn’t be of interest to Ari, he was soaking up the conversation which wasn’t typical in the normal line of duty for I.S.R. marshals.

Alo made a circular move it along motion with his hand. “Can we please dispense with all the double penetration images? It’s making me feel funny.”

“What’s your problem, man?” Roy asked. “Are we making you uncomfortable with our talk of daddy sex?”

“No. You’re just making me feel bowlegged,” Alo said. “I’m never going to be able to go on a normal date again.”

“Do you have a problem with gay men or the way we fuck?” the cowboy Chris asked with an angry growl.

“Not at all, man. I just don’t want to picture two cat dicks the next time I fuck a chick.”

Ari chuckled and was about to say something when both Binks and Chris shifted. They looked cute as hell as they tumbled out of the now oversized clothing. Chris, another orange tabby had disappeared under his big cowboy hat, tail swishing madly as he tried to wriggle out from under it, looking offended and indignant as only cats can do. But he stopped laughing as all three cats turned to face him, backs up, and hackles raised. Binks was a sleek, streamlined, black cat, smaller than the other two, and outflanked by the big tomcats. All of them had glowing, purple eyes and had turned on the rest of them as if what Alo said had challenged their manhood to the point of distraction.

“All right. All right,” Alo said, holding up both hands in a placating manner. “I didn’t mean anything by it. No offense, little cats.”

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say because Chris suddenly ran forward and leapt into the air, claws outstretched as he went for Alo’s face. Just like that, the big tribal police deputy, sidestepped the cat who landed behind him, grazing him on the arm as he flew by, opening up four bloody slashes in his sleeve.

“Fuck!” Alo cried out as the other cats began running toward them.

Before Ari knew what was happening, all the shifters were in their animal forms, torn clothing lying all over the alleyway as he and Eoghan stared at each other in disbelief. A second later, he nodded at him and then they were running, tearing out of the way of the housecats who were hurling their much smaller bodies against the large shifters’ bodies.

They’d seen the two grizzly bears, Joe and Alo, before, but seeing Rana in her gigantic lizard form, and Andy as a black panther, really freaked Ari out. He glanced over at Eoghan as he flattened himself against the building, knowing he’d gone white as a sheet when Andy let out a panther snarl. The sound of it was like nothing he’d ever heard before and it caused a visceral panic deep down inside Ari, making him want to run, and at the same time, knowing it would be impossible.

The bears growled, and Rana, perhaps the most frightening of all in her monitor lizard form, stood placidly on four sturdy legs, watching the goings on with glowing, purple eyes. The thin, black, vertical pupils in the eyes freaked Ari out. As much as he liked Rana in human form, he was terrified of the massive Komodo dragon. He’d never liked reptiles of any kind and she looked just like she could have walked right out of his nightmares. She was massive, a giant, gray reptile with a foot-long tongue darting in and out of her mouth and a swishing tail which made her resemble a prehistoric monster. He’d seen pictures of a similar dinosaur ancestor in books and on TV but seeing one standing only fifteen feet away, made him tremble like mad.

“What the hell?” Eoghan said as he pressed himself close to Ari.

“Stay back, Eoghan. This isn’t a fight I want to try to break up.” Ari watched the four big shifters surround the three small domestic cats in a perfect square. Seeing the seven creatures all human only minutes before, now in their animal forms, was a mixture of terrifying and fascinating. He absently knew they shouldn’t be fearful of the outcome of this encounter since none of the larger creatures had any reason to hurt them. In fact, they were all colleagues. But animals had been known to act purely on instinct alone in their animal form and not always with a human’s best interest in mind. There had been plenty of times when he’d been playing with his childhood dog only to have the animal accidentally nip him as he tried to take a ball away from him. There was always remorse and lots of sympathy-licking filled with regret afterward, but he had no intention of literally poking these bears, friends or not.

Ari watched the cats in the center of the circle hiss as they all backed up until their asses were touching as the four shifters slowly circled them. The grizzly bear law enforcement officers kept their noses low to the ground as they kept the three contained. They made no sound at all except the shuffling of their large paws and the scrape of their long claws on the asphalt.

The big dragon did much the same, freakily darting her tongue out over and over as if to test the temperature and scent upon the air as she also walked slowly in a circle around the cats who constantly hissed and howled.

The panther, Andy Red Crow, was the only animal who overtly made noise, keeping up a litany of growls that raised the hair on the back of Ari’s neck. Every time he let out a snarl, Ari felt like he wanted to crawl away and hide. It was terrifying to know that he was only steps away from what could be a vicious predator capable of ripping his throat out in an instant with three-inch-long fangs, should he want to. When the cats all sat in an enormous puddle in the center of the circle at the same time, all four shifters changed back into their human forms.

“What the hell?” Eoghan asked, prompting everyone to turn and look in their direction.

Aside from the fact that they were all naked as the day they were born, the whole thing was ridiculous. “Does anyone want to explain to me what the show of strength was all about?” Ari asked, standing with his hands on his hips. “There was no way of getting them to see reason without all of you turning into your animal forms?”

“Ari,” Eoghan whispered under his breath. “Not now, buddy.”

“No,” Rana said, turning toward them fully naked and seeming unbothered by it. “It’s perfectly fine to ask why we shifted the way we did.” She looked over at Red Crow. “Andy here, is a big cat. He had to establish dominance over the domestics because of his feline status regardless of the fact that he’s a big cat. He’s still the Panthera genus which only means he has big cat dominance.” She nodded in his direction.

Andy shrugged. Ari noted his body was perfect and except for a momentary slip, made sure his gaze remained focused on his face and nothing else. “Rana’s right,” Andy said, “it was up to me to make sure that someone brought the brats under control.”

“Are they?” Eoghan asked.

“The domestics?” Andy asked, glancing over at the three who still huddled in a massive heap. “Yeah. They’ll behave now. You can ask them anything you want and chances are, they won’t be a problem. Was there something other than the disturbance in the bar that you wanted us to deal with or should I let them—encourage them to change back?”

“No, I—” Eoghan began.

“Make them tell you whether Binks was or is in any danger,” Ari blurted out.

“Are you—” Andy started to say when all three shifters changed back into their human forms.

“Chris and Roy never put me in any danger!” the bartender said.

Ari had to admit to himself that he didn’t mind how cute the young man looked fully naked as he stood with the others. “Are you sure?”

Binks stepped closer to Chris and then beckoned Roy to join him. The other tomcat moved closer, putting his arm around Binks at the same time Chris did.

“Yes, I was resistant,” Binks said. “Chris has always been my everything. I never wanted anyone else.”

“It’s my fault,” Chris said. “I met Roy a few years ago on the rodeo circuit. He tried to get me into kitten chasing when he spotted Binks in the stands one day.” He turned and looked at Binks, shooting him a loving glance. “When Roy found out that Binks was my boyfriend, he asked if I’d be open to sharing him.”

“I heard about that and told Roy he could stuff it,” Binks said. “As much as I love Chris, I’m no one’s property.”

“I moved on,” Roy said. “I didn’t want someone who didn’t want me. Besides, there were plenty of buckle Bernies around the circuit.”

“Buckle Bernies?” Eoghan asked, sounding highly amused.

“Yeah, like buckle bunnies,” Chris said. “They’re girls who hang around and screw rodeo cowboys.”

“I know what a buckle bunny is,” Eoghan replied. “I just didn’t know there was a name for guys.”

“There is,” Roy replied. “Anyway, I moved on after I learned neither of them were interested. There’s always a guy willing to suck a fat cock on the rodeo circuit. Half the cowboys I know get on their knees one minute and the next are outside with their arm around their fat wives, kissing them on the mouth. There’s tons of cowboys in the closet. You’d be surprised.”

“So, if you’re so happy with Binks, why’d you cheat with Roy?” Ari asked Chris.

“Like I said, he finally wore me down.” Chris smiled at his boyfriend and then leaned down, taking his mouth in a soft kiss. When he leaned back, Binks turned to Roy who kissed him too.

“And I guess the cheating’s forgiven,” Rana said under her breath.

“What?” Binks asked, as he looked up, the picture of innocence.

Rana grinned knowingly and cleared her throat, glancing over at Eoghan and Ari. “Yeah, I think we’re done here.” She looked around the alleyway before swearing under her breath. “Dammit.”

“What?”

“My spare clothes are in the truck which is out in the parking lot,” she said. She glanced at Andy. “Please tell me you have clothes,” she said, watching him pick up his ripped jeans, look at them helplessly, and then drop them again.

“In the truck.”

“We’ll get them,” Eoghan said, sounding happy to have something to do other than stare at all the gorgeous, naked skin on display. There was one thing all the shifters Ari had seen in the buff shared, which was how remarkably fit and toned they all were. There were no fat animals here, even Roy the tomcat whom he thought looked so much like Garfield. The cowboy was simply built sturdy.

Rana retrieved her keys from her jeans and walked over, dropping them into Eoghan’s outstretched palm. “Thanks for this, Sapphire.”

“Anything I can do to help,” Eoghan said with a grin. Ari watched him walk over to Roy and take keys from him as well as Joe. They got descriptions of everyone’s vehicles, then Eoghan asked, holding up the keys, “Shall we?”

“Yeah.” Ari looked over at the group of shifters who huddled in two groups near each other. “We’ll be right back.”

“Thanks, guys,” Rana said, waving at them as they walked away.

“That could have been a disaster,” Eoghan said as soon as they turned the corner and were far enough away that they couldn’t be heard by sensitive shifter hearing.

“I’ll say,” Ari replied. “Apparently, all it takes is the sound of a panther’s snarl to keep every cat everywhere in line.”

Eoghan chuckled. “Well, I’m glad we met with Andy and Rana. I’m sure that with a little luck, both of their clans will be joining us. I’m happy as hell we’re coming to an end with this long assed case.”

“Let’s just hope there’s still good vampires left on King Townsend’s reservation. Once the fighting begins, it’d be nice to see them stand up for him. The poor guy probably has ulcers,” Ari said, hoping he was right about the good vampires. The very idea that innocent people—vampires or not—were starving to death was very upsetting. “I can’t imagine being told that I have to toe the line under a new king and his minions, or not get my ration of food. It’s awful.”

“It’s the same across this country with human food insecurity as well,” Eoghan said. “One of the things that I hate most is thinking that children starve for no reason. It’s such useless loss.”

“Well, there aren’t a hell of a lot of child vamps, but I know what you mean, Eoghan.” Ari watched as his partner held out one of the set of keys and clicked the key fob. A black truck several aisles over beeped and they headed toward it. After retrieving everyone’s clothes from their trucks, they also got some from Roy’s car. “It figures Roy drives a red sports car,” Ari said, shaking his head. “That guy’s a douche.”

Eoghan laughed as they returned to the back of the building and handed everyone spare clothes. Ari had to wonder how often the shifters tended to rip out of their clothing, leaving shreds of fabric on the ground and without a helper nearby like Ari or Eoghan. How often did they have to wait around until dark so no one would see them streaking through a parking lot buck naked.

“We’ll meet you inside the restaurant,” Eoghan said.

Ari glanced over at him. “You still want to eat here?”

“Fuck yeah, I’m starving, aren’t you?”

“Actually, now that I think of it, yeah, I really am hungry.” He looked at the others. “See you inside,” Ari said, motioning to them and watching them nod before turning on his heel and following Eoghan.

The truth was, all Ari wanted was a stiff drink and room service in their room, but he didn’t want to do that to Joe, Alo, or his new shifter friends. But that feeling didn’t extend to breaking bread with Roy, Chris, or their cute little bartender, Binks. He was glad when the cowboys headed for the bar and took up their original places on stools while Binks went back to serving them.

After a nice meal with their friends, old and new, they stood in the lobby of their hotel. Ari was so glad they’d be flying. He was anxious to get home and really happy he didn’t have a long-distance drive starting first thing in the morning the way they normally did when they left town after a job.

Between going to meet up with the werewolves, then coming here to meet with everyone else, he was tired of trying to bring all the varying coalitions together. Not only that, he wanted the case to be over. It seemed that ever since he’d met Eoghan and begun working the Townsend case with him, things had been crazy. They’d spent an incredibly long time burning up tire tread on the road, and he’d not had a moment’s peace unless he was lying in Eoghan’s arms on a rare day off together.

“Thank you so much for your introduction to Rana and Andy,” Eoghan said to Alo and Joe. “I’m not sure they would have been all that cooperative had you not been here to ease the way.” They’d watched them drive out of the parking lot a few minutes before. “It would have been hard had you not mediated with Andy. I think Rana would have eventually whipped him into shape but still, having you here was a blessing.”

“What are friends for?” Alo asked. “We’re happy to help.”

“Do you really think Andy’s tribe will cooperate and go along with his wishes to help us?”

“I honestly can’t imagine they wouldn’t if he makes a case that sounds sincere. I think he wants to help.” Joe said. “He’s young and inexperienced, and I think he wants to show the tribal elders he knows how to lead. That’s a hard thing to do when you have to trust that what you’re doing is best but have no real experience leading a clan or tribe. Also, he’s a prideful, young man and leading a band of Indians takes more than a prideful or brave leader. It takes one who is willing to listen to those who are more experienced than you are and that’s not always easy.”

“And that’s the kind of thing that only happens with patience and willingness to learn,” Alo said. “Trust me, I know. Listening to everyone and taking a little advice from this one or that one is very difficult to do until you learn what everyone’s motivations are. And there are a lot of snakes in the grass. Take it from me.” He shook their hands.

“That’s true,” Eoghan said. “It really was nice seeing you again, though. We shouldn’t be strangers.”

“You’re right,” Joe said. “So, what time does your flight take off?”

“Seven,” Ari said. “We’ll be out of the hotel by five. How about you? When do you leave?”

“We’ve got a long drive,” Joe said. “I’d like to be on the road by six a.m.”

Alo groaned which made Ari and Eoghan chuckle. “Well, that means an early night for all of us then,” Eoghan said. “Thanks again, guys. I really mean it.”

“Sure, Eoghan,” Joe said, as they walked outside. “It sure was nice seeing you. I guess we’ll meet up again in a week or so.”

“Nice seeing you too.”

“Until then, guys,” Alo said, stepping out onto the circular drive.

“Yeah, hey, have a safe drive,” Ari said.

“Will do.” Joe headed out to the parking lot with his deputy by his side. “Night,” he said, turning back. He and Alo both smiled and waved.

They waved back. “Good night, guys.”

“That’s gotta get expensive,” Eoghan mused.

“What?” Ari asked.

“Replacing ripped clothing all the time,” Eoghan replied. “Do you suppose the tribal police pay for all that?”

Ari laughed. “Who the fuck knows,” he said, slinging an arm over his partner’s shoulder as they walked back into the hotel, ready for a good night’s sleep.