Chapter Five

The older security guard gave Leif a final nod, so he began returning his bartending tools back into his kit. He caught her staring at the liquid contents wistfully, but she sniffed and turned back to Detective Angie Carol.

"Thanks for not making a fuss about the search," the guard said to her. "The curator"s had a stick up her ass since the break-in. Anyhow, same rules as last time. I"m holding you responsible for their actions, and your consults need to stay with you or a staff member at all times, no lone wandering. Don"t break anything, don"t take anything, and definitely don"t try to fix anything, even if you have a miracle spell or something. Yes?"

"I hear you. Thanks, Marsha, I owe you a solid."

"Buy me a round on our next pool night and I"ll consider it square."

"Deal."

Angie shook her hand, then led the way deeper into the museum, Leif and Rahul following.

"We got a few details from Tucker," Rahul said, and Leif had to pull his eyes away from a large skeleton on display. "But I"d like to hear it in your own words, if you"d be kind enough."

"Ah, just like old times. Sure thing, Agent Basu!" Angie held up an imaginary notepad, putting a hand on her hip. "Ahem. Last week, at roughly two a.m. Thursday, January the sixth, camera records show that a man matching the description of famed breaking and entering specialist Orlan Germaine used his geomancer powers to open a hole in a wall, gaining access to the museum"s interior. Basic wards failed to register the invasion, which is a new development compared to his prior break-ins."

Angie paused to indicate a wall in front of them, lifting the edges of the yellow caution tape so that Rahul could duck beneath.

"The caution tape is still up?" Leif asked, remaining on the near side.

"Yup," Angie said. "DOMA got everything we needed on the first day, but the museum has some smart PR employees. They left all the tape up to draw crowds and spark online chatter."

"Clever of them," Rahul agreed, checking over the seamless plaster. "There"s hundreds of images online of this blank wall. I don"t envy whomever had to comb through the social media."

Angie flipped another page in her invisible pad. "Probably nobody, "cause North Dakota ain"t crazy like Minnie, and we don"t have a Basu who loves that stuff. Anyways, fingerprints were found on the street-facing side of the wall, and enough traces of oil and skin to confirm a DNA test, but not enough to do any real kind of tracking divinations."

Rahul nodded, and Leif did his best to hold the tape up for him as he crossed back over. Rahul absentmindedly ran a few knuckles against his cheek affectionately, but was already turning around in place as he dissected the imagined scene.

"What happened next?"

"Video footage of him wheeling in a cart, basically. He headed straight for the displays of American Indian items. Next room, come on."

Caution tape was everywhere, surrounding over a dozen different pillars and empty glass displays. Bits of the wall and the floor had been raised with geomancy, leaving behind words and phrases like Thieves and Stolen Property around the room. Leif went up to one of the plaques, which described a child"s toy from a Dakota tribe.

"Germaine wheeled the cart into here, then proceeded to gather more than thirty different items. The silent alarms went off when he disturbed the first display, alerting the guards and the local police."

Rahul was studying the room"s set-up. "Security guards arrived too late, I"m guessing?"

"You guess wrong. First guy showed up when Germaine was just getting started, but the others that showed were too late to do anything."

"Really? Then why… ah." Rahul snapped his fingers, sending a few sparks of light out. "They let him go."

Leif lifted his head sharply. "What? But he"s, I mean, um. Isn"t it their job…"

Rahul came over, taking his hands while his face flushed, giving him a kiss on top of his head. "It"s complicated. You see why he"s extra slippery, cub?"

Leif nodded. Germaine was a terrorist by technical definition, but in practice was often hailed as a modern day Robin Hood. Yes, he broke into facilities, and stole, destroyed, or defaced millions worth in property, but he largely only targeted museums and private collections, and only stole items belonging to Indiginous or Mythic cultures that he felt should be returned "to their people."

"I guess the guard secretly approved of what he did, huh?"

Rahul made a so-so gesture. "Possibly. Not every museum acquires their historic items ethically, and some curators take their sweet time in repatriating them according to standing treaties. So when you combine a good-looking underdog with a touch of humor as you can tell from all the insults he leaves behind, well, it makes for a popular villain."

"He ain"t perfect, though," Angie said sharply, and Rahul pointed at her.

"No, he"s not. However the media portrays him, Germaine"s made mistakes. He"s taken items before that were part of donated exhibits, and whoever the new owners ended up being, they didn"t make their way back to the rightful families.He"s also injured several." Rahul dipped his head towards Angie. "Though granted, only goverment agents directly tasked with bringing him in."

Leif felt like he was getting a better understanding. "So the security guard saw a vigilante at work, then just stood by and let him finish things here. I"m guessing you"ll want to talk to him?"

Rahul looked over at the DOMA agent. "Angie?"

"The guard is suspended pending an internal investigation, so he ain"t here tonight. I already interviewed him, though, and it ain"t quite what you"re thinking, Leif." Angie pointed up at the ceiling in different areas, indicating a trio of small red dots that denoted security cameras. "The first guard showed up promptly, yeah, but he only had a few seconds to react. Footage showed that Germaine waved to the guard, then raised a wall out of the floor, sealing himself in the room until he was done pilfering. The only option the guard had was to pull out his firearm and shoot, and he only had a few seconds to decide. Museum guards are trained to only discharge a firearm as a last resort since they might damage the artifacts, which is worse than letting them be stolen. Besides, Germaine"s made it clear before that if the guards don"t bother him, he won"t bother them with things like burying them alive or blasting their arms nearly off."

Rahul leaned down to stage whisper to Leif. "She"s still a little sore."

"You"re damn right I am! I missed a major pool tournament while on recovery!"

"A crying shame, to be sure," Rahul teased, then crossed his arms and turned serious. "Alright, I"m starting to get a good picture. Any chance of seeing the video footage?"

"Copies were sent this morning to Minnie, but I suppose we could bother Security about playing them again if you"re too impatient to wait for Tucker to share."

"That"s me, hotheaded and brash! I saw the footage that was released publically, but it was only a few seconds long and didn"t show him entering or exiting, or his interaction with the security guard."

"That"s fair. Yeah, there"s about fifteen minutes worth from a couple different angles. We done here?"

"Almost.Leif?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, sure!"

Rahul came over to him, ruffling the short hairs on the back of his head. "I meant, do you have any thoughts on the matter?"

"Oh!" Leif frowned. "Not really? Maybe just a question about the wards, since you said that he didn"t disturb them. Should we ask Julia, since she"s a warding expert?"

Rahul grinned. "Good thinking, but we may not need to. Angie, did DOMA figure out the answer to that? What"re we looking at?"

"The wards on the museum walls were bypassed," she said. "Not broken, or temporarily shut off or nothing. It"s like, imagine you have an electrified chain-link fence, and then someone comes along, takes one of the small holes, and then widens it large enough for someone to step through."

"A magic item, maybe? No."

"No," Angie agreed. "The wards on the walls were bypassed, but not the ones on the displays. If Germaine had a wardbreaker object, he could"ve used it on them, but didn"t. Likewise if he had developed a new magical ability while he was in hiding."

Rahul was nodding. "So an accomplice is most likely, one that he might not have wanted to be seen on camera. Oh! Leif, do you think your Dreaming History potion might see something?"

As the first real divination magic Leif had discovered, the rum-based cocktail gave him ghostly impressions of past events in a given location.However, on top of the complication that the potion blurred out faces like his dreams tended to do...

"Five days is really pushing the limit, and there"s probably been a lot of foot traffic here.It"d be a giant wispy mess."

"There"ll be considerably less traffic on the other side of the blank wall. DOMA and police officers would have canvassed the area, true, but it might be worth a look."

"Oh, that sounds better! I"ll give it a try, then, but I can"t promise anything."

"Alright, thanks cub. Let"s review the footage first, then head outside. Lead the way, Angie!"

"Sure. Fair warning, but the head of security here is kind of skittish, so don"t be practicing your usual flirtations or he"ll freeze up solid, and not in the way that leads to fun."

"Making someone uncomfortable defeats the whole purpose, so thanks. Now let"s see what stories these cameras have to tell."

◆◆◆

"—so between Leif"s vision and the glimpse we caught in the security footage," Rahul was saying, "the main takeaway is that Germaine is now working with at least one human accomplice instead of doing his solo act."

"Thanks, babe," Tucker said from the laptop screen. "It"s good to have our suspicions confirmed. I"ve been going through the reports North Dakota sent, and about half of the contents are all guesses and suppositions. Was that everything?"

"For today, yes, but tomorrow we"re going to talk to the private collector. Angie tells me that he"s basically a clueless rich guy who"s overeager to please his art friends, and I think he has cameras around his home. I"m hoping to get a better look at the accomplice so we can track their identity. How"re things on your end?"

As Tucker began elaborating over the capture scenarios he"d been running with Deimos, Rahul leaned back against the hotel bed"s headrest and snuggled Leif tighter in his arms, listening with half an ear.

He started idly stroking his cub"s chest with its very sparse layer of blond hair, then traced his fingers down to the softer belly that hid a powerful core, a tribute to his many years spent wrestling. He felt Leif respond by stroking his thighs, and all too soon he felt a familiar warmth nudging up against the back of his hand.

He saw Tucker chuckle. "I reckon that"s enough about work. I"m getting the hint that you two have something else on your mind, so we can call this goodnight."

"Aww, don"t go," Leif said as he started wiggling, and Rahul had to take a second to extract his semi before Leif crushed it. "I like seeing your face."

"Likewise, pardner. I suppose I can stick around a bit longer."

"You"d better, puppy." Rahul slid off of the bed and strode over to his laptop. He pulled the table it was sitting on right up beside the bed, and then took his time in making sure that the laptop"s camera afforded the best potential view. The contented growling sounds he heard let him know that Tucker appreciated the close-up he was getting.

"How"s this?" he asked, getting back up on the bed to kneel next to Leif, putting an arm around the smaller man.

"You"re both exceedingly handsome and sexy men, and I"m glad I have you both."

"Aww!" Leif got down on his hands and knees and crawled to the edge of the bed so he could blow a kiss at the camera. "Thank you. You"re super-duper amazing, too."

Rahul made an exaggerated show for Tucker about admiring Leif"s ass, then took advantage of his accidental position and grabbed his hips firmly. In the laptop"s video feed, he could make out Leif"s brief surprise, followed by mental calculation, and then a growing grin. Leif wiggled his whole body this time, backing up until he was pressed up against Rahul.

"You know what?" Leif said. "This totally works. What do you think, Tucker? Want to watch Rahul fucking me?"

Rahul saw Tucker repositioning himself on his bed before lowering his phone until the sight of his growing hardon completely filled the laptop"s screen, then tiltedit back up to his face.

"I reckon I do, at that."

"That"s a delicious view," Rahul said. "But let"s not get ahead of ourselves, I still need to prep the cub first."

Carefully, Rahul set his knees on either side of Leif"s legs. Ignoring how Leif was pressing his butt up against him, rocking back and forth against his cock and generally being a terrible tease, he wrapped his arms around Leif and lifted his upper body up against himself.

Rahul started slowly, lowering his head down so he could kiss Leif"s neck, moving glacially around to kiss at his cheek, then back down to his collarbone. A quick glance at the laptop feed showed Leif with his eyes closed, back arched against him and his cock standing fully erect, while Tucker laid back on a pillow and stroked himself.

Rahul purred with satisfaction.

Denying his own suddenly ravenous hunger—the earlier groping had barely whetted his appetite—he bent to the task of pleasing his boyfriend.

Rahul had been with many lovers over the years and experimented with sex acts ranging from plain vanilla, to a Neapolitan sundae with nuts, sprinkles, whipped cream, hot fudge, and a few added BDSM toppings, but what always pleased him was being attentive to his partner"s—or partners"—needs. And over these last seven months of being together, he"d learned a lot about what Leif did and didn"t like, and he kept those desires in mind.

Apart from being fun, energetic, and not at all serious in bed, Leif liked to be held, so Rahul kept an arm wrapped around Leif when he laid him down on the bed and began kissing his lips.

He virtually never liked it rough, so though Rahul ran his free hand up and down Leif"s torso firmly, gripping his side, the slap on his butt was light, and he didn"t dig in too forcefully with his fingers.

But on the other hand, he loved to be manhandled. Once he had Leif to the point where he was begging for more kisses, he sat up abruptly and picked Leif up into his arms. With a bearish growl, he flipped him over so his face was buried in the bed facing the camera, on his knees, and with his ass in the air, where Rahul promptly buried his face.

"You two are breathtakin"," Tucker said after a couple of moments.

"Yay," Leif mumbled inarticulately into the bed, one hand reaching back to stroke himself slowly.

After retrieving the lube he"d had the foresight to pack, Rahul applied a generous helping to himself, then to a couple of his thick fingers that he inserted one at a time into Leif. "You ready, cub?"

"Mm-hmm!"

After checking the laptop, Rahul adjusted their positions, angling the two of them so that Tucker still had an up close view of Leif"s face, but could also see between Leif"s legs where his cock dangled.

Nodding to himself, Rahul looked down to where Leif"s ass lay wiggling before him. Angling his cock, he inserted the head, then made slow thrusts while Leif got used to his size.

"Fucking amazing," Rahul said softly, running his hands up and down Leif"s back.He paused to lean over and lay a kiss on his shoulder.

"Hey, don"t stop," Leif complained, gyrating his hips against him.

Rahul grunted in pleasure as he allowed Leif to take over for a few seconds, then gripped his ass and started making deeper thrusts.

Leif buried his head in the bed as Rahul finished sinking in to the base, moaning, then twisted his thick bull neck up to peek at the laptop where Tucker was doing a slow stroke with both hands.

Leif raised an arm up to wave.Tucker laughed, waving back a second later.

Rahul was content to pound his boyfriend into the mattress with the occasional pause to lift Leif up against him and reach around to give him a few strokes, but an idea must have crossed Leif"s mind because one second he"d gasped "Oh!", prompting Rahul to pause to check to see if he was fucking him too hard, and in the next second Leif was pushing Rahul down on his back and straddling him.

Leif bent down to give him a quick kiss, checked the position of the laptop camera, then closed his eyes and stuck his tongue out of his mouth while he widened his stance, sinking down on Rahul"s cock.

With his hands gripping the bed"s headboard, Leif took charge, riding Rahul like he were a spirited stallion.Rahul began swearing divine oaths, changing his grip between Leif"s thick thighs and squeezing his well-developed glutes.

Had it been Rahul, his knees would have given out long beforehand, but Leif"s wrestler physique had the strength to spare, and his cub rode him relentlessly until far too soon he was clenching his hips and shooting his load.

"Grrr, fuckin" lovely, dear," Rahul murmured as Leif lifted himself off of him.His cub laid himself down in the crook of his armpit, his breath hot against his side while he caught his breath.

"Oh, wait.Tucker!"Leif lifted his head up, peering over at the laptop."Did you finish?I can put on another show, maybe."

"I"m fine, darlin"," their boyfriend said."I came a ways back.It was when Rahul was kissing your chest and you shouted at him to pound you on the anvil of your love."

"Oh, geez.Um..."

"I thought it was cute, darlin".Sexy and cute."

"I dare say that a man always appreciates it when his lover loses all reason during the throes of passion."Rahul hugged Leif tighter with one arm, then looked down at his own hairy chest.He poked at a spot of Leif"s cum, watching the sticky strands arc between his fingers."When you get a moment, cub, can you bring the towel over?If I sit up, it"ll pour all over the bed."

"Yeah.Yeah, let me do that now so we can both shower again."

Leif gave him a deep, lingering kiss, then rolled off of the bed.He waggled his softening cock in front of the laptop, then went over to the adjacent bathroom to get a damp towel.Rahul looked over at the camera, blew Tucker a kiss, then laid his head back down as he stretched his legs and flexed his toes.

What a wonderful beginning to their road trip.