Cather. Cather. Cather
. Hill’s relief was gone, his calls frantic in a different way now.
Cather began to keen, caught between fury at his body’s betrayal and pure exhaustion. It had taken all he had to leave, all his strength and power, and it had been for nothing. Jag called back to him, the sound full of hope, full of care. And when they turned the corner, Hill’s plaintive whines joined in.
“Thank you, brother. We’ll be fine. I promise,” Jag said to the other man, who must have followed them.
Jag and the other man rubbed cheeks, then Jag brought Cather back into the bedroom, laying him down on the bed. Hill immediately jumped up and yowled at him, wrapping around him, fur soft and warm.
Cather refused to open his eyes. “I can’t change.”
Hill yowled softly again, but it was Jag who answered him, hands warm and gentle on his skin. “You mean you can’t shift back into your kitty-self?”
He nodded, panic beginning to steal into him now.
“Okay. It’s okay. You’re all right. It was so long since you shifted, I’m sure your body is just tired. Exhausted, in fact.” Jag petted him gently. “You need to eat and sleep and heal, and then everything will be fine. You’ll see.”
Hill lost his fur and wrapped around him. “You left me. You can’t. You swore not to.”
“You have a new mate,” Cather insisted.
“I’m for both of you, Cather. Not just Hill. He needs you and so do I,” Jag told him. “Look at me.”
“No.”
“Look at me, kit. Right now.”
Jag had a master’s voice and it cut right through him. His eyes flew open and he looked up at Jag.
The warm, dark eyes smiled at him, filling with pleasure at his obedience. “Very good, Cather. I’m right here and so is Hill. We aren’t going anywhere, and neither are you.”
He searched Jag’s face, looking for a response to his eyes, to the odd cat-like slit. There was no shock, no horror, only acceptance.
Beautiful
. The word pushed into his head.
Freak
. He knew he was. Knew it.
Jag shook his head and leaned in, pressing their lips together. Cather gasped, the connection unexpected and totally overwhelming. The kiss went on and on, Jag breathing into him. His body began to melt, to ease deep down.
That’s it, kit. Relax for me.
Cather waited for the tears, but they didn’t come to him.
The kiss ended, Jag nuzzling him, licking his face as if they were both cats instead of human right now. Cather hiccupped, his eyes crossing for a second. Jag chuckled but the sound wasn’t mocking, it was… happy.
Please, Cather. Stay. Stay with us. I need you.
It seemed unbelievable, that Jag would feel that way about him. Hill, yes – him, no.
He shook his head. “I’m broken.”
“Shh. I don’t want to hear you putting yourself down.” Jag met his eyes again, looking totally serious.
Hill wrapped around him, holding him tight. With Jag on top and Hill around him, Cather had no choice but to stay exactly where he was.
Stay. My boy. Stay.
He tried to shake his head, but Jag stopped him with another kiss.
You are where you belong.
It was hard to deny that voice when he was stuck right there.
Stuck and warm. Loved.
Cather tried to
harrumph
. He tried to deny it. Then Jag kissed him, hard and deep, and his thoughts shattered. Jag deepened the kiss, tongue sliding through his mouth, filling it with the strong flavor of the man. It eased him, allowed him to breathe again.
While Jag kissed him, Hill rubbed against him, eager and sensual.
Cather. Cather. Love you.
Love. I want you to be happy.
I want you to be happy, too.
Both.
Even like this, Jag’s word was clearly a growl.
Cather leaned in, eyes closed as he relaxed. They loved on him, Hill and Jag refusing to let him just go. He shouldn’t feel so hard, shouldn’t be relaxed, but he was. Hill’s undulations brought their cocks together, sliding like they were made for it.
You’re his now.
Both
, Jag insisted, undulating behind him, muscles hard and hot, cock like a brand along his crack.
“I don’t want anyone to think I didn’t love Darri,” he whispered. He did. He had.
“Of course you loved him. You’ll always love him,” Jag told him.
Hill chimed in. “I loved him, but we’re not dead. It’s been more than a year. Well more. We’re not dead.”
“More than a year?” Jag asked at Hill’s words. “I thought this was something recent?”
“He died last summer. They took us from the circus this summer, put us in that hospital until we…” Hill’s voice faded away.
“Until the bones healed, the cuts,” Cather finished without any emotion in his voice.
“I didn’t realize it had been so long.” Jag hugged him tight. “It’s time to move on, Cather. Time to find life again.” Jag traced his ribs, his collarbones, lips soft on his skin. Hill cuddled up, staying warm and close. “I’m going to make sure the rest of your life is wonderful, Cather. I promise.”
“Don’t tell lies,” he whispered.
Jag growled loudly. “I don’t lie.”
“He’s not lying. He’s here for us.” Hill sounded so sure.
Cather just didn’t know if he could believe that.
“It’s okay,” murmured Jag. “Time will prove my words.”
Jag’s hand was sliding down Cather’s stomach, petting him. The touches made him want to roll completely onto his back and purr, though he wasn’t very good at it in this form.
“It’s okay, Cather. I have you. Stop worrying so much. I have you.”
Between Hill and Jag, they did have him, totally surrounded, warm, cocooned in a scent that promised it could one day be home.
“Sleep,” Jag murmured. “Everything will look better when you wake.”
“You promise?” He hated the nerves in his voice.
“I promise. Every time you eat, every time you drink water, every time you sleep, you’re helping yourself to heal and making things just a little bit easier. And Hill and I are going nowhere. I swear it to you.”
Cather closed his eyes, exhaustion making him, letting him trust long enough to sleep.
When both Hill and Cather had fallen asleep, Jag rolled onto his back and took a long breath. Fuck, that had scared him, when they’d come into the bedroom and found Cather had disappeared. He was responsible for them both, but more than that, he needed them both. It was crazy and it was stupid for him to fall for his charges, but that was exactly what he was doing and he’d given up trying to fight it.
It felt like it was destined, meant to be. Like he was made to be their master and they were made to be his kits. They’d been waiting for him for a long time, too. He hadn’t realized the abuse had started a year ago, that they’d lost their former master that long ago. What a fucked-up mess, and thank God for Pirou and his contacts.
Hill turned toward him, frowning in his sleep, reaching for him. Sensitive boy. Jag stroked Hill’s side, murmuring soothingly. Hill was lovely as a man, all long, slender limbs and fine muscles. Cather was a little thicker in the muscle department, sturdier, though by no means large. They were both built like sleek kits. It was a part of their draw, he suspected.
Hill’s eyes opened and he got a smile.
It’s not our talent and personality?
Oh, Hill was such a delight. Laughing softly, Jag pressed their lips together. God, he was quickly becoming addicted to the way Hill tasted.
Hill moaned for him, but placed one of his hands on Cather, keeping them together. Jag slid his hand up and down along Cather’s belly as he deepened the kiss, as he sucked on Hill’s tongue. His focus was split but seemed stronger for it. His beautiful boys.
He slid his leg over both Hill’s and Cather’s legs, rubbing sinuously against them. Cather arched, still human, still male and so hungry. As far as Jag knew, Cather hadn’t been touched sexually since his master was killed.
Breaking his kiss with Hill, Jag blew in Cather’s ear, then licked his earlobe. Cather groaned, tried to turn over, but Jag had him trapped. He licked his way from Cather’s ear along his jaw to his mouth. There, he licked along Cather’s lower lip, tracing it.
Open your eyes.
Cather shook his head. Stubborn kit. Jag was more stubborn, though.
He turned the licking into a kiss.
Suck him
, he ordered Hill. A rush of need hit him like a freight train, and Hill wriggled down to find Cather’s cock. Perfect. He’d felt that mouth, knew what a joy it was, how hard it would be for Cather to resist it.
Open your eyes, kit
. He wasn’t letting Cather fade away.
No.
Do it. Do it now.
Hill slurped around Cather’s cock, encouraging the kit to hardness.
Yes
. Jag insisted.
Show me your eyes. Open them.
They’re ugly. I’m broken.
Bent maybe. Not broken. And I like them.
No one likes them.
Cather opened them, though, didn’t he?
Jag smiled down into the fascinating cat-eyes.
Me. I like them.
Cather went pink, obviously pleased.
He purred into their kiss, showing his own pleasure at sharing with Cather. He could feel how good Hill was making Cather feel, how Cather’s body was beginning to move without his permission. He didn’t protest; instead he encouraged. He wanted this. He wanted more. He wanted everything. All of it. All of these kits.
He wanted to sink inside Cather while Hill sucked the surprisingly long, slender cock. Groaning, Jag sucked hard at Cather’s tongue, his hand sliding along Cather’s flank.
My beautiful boy. My own.
The thoughts filled him.
He was totally falling in love with Hill and Cather. One boy sweet and willing, the other prickly and growly. He was falling for both.
You’re not allowed to love me. Love Hill
, Cather insisted.
Not your choice, kit. Mine.
He could feel how the word made Cather ache. He licked at Cather’s shoulder, then took a bite, his teeth sinking in. Cather yowled, nails digging into the skin on Jag’s back. The sting made him growl and purr. It was perfect. He bit again, then again, leaving bite marks along Cather’s shoulder.
I will not leave you.
Each thought was marked with a bite.
I will not let you leave. You are important. You are wanted.
He raised his head and looked at Hill, met the man’s gaze.
Both of you.
Hill’s smile stretched around Cather’s cock.
Jag chuckled and reached down, tracing where Cather’s body spread Hill’s lips. Both of his boys gasped, and Jag’s finger felt the kiss of Hill’s tongue. He groaned, rubbing Cather’s cock and Hill’s lips both, the heat and slick wetness of them perfect. Hill sucked his finger in with Cather’s prick. Moaning, Jag began to rub against Cather’s ass, rocking along the sweet crack. He needed in, needed to feel those tight muscles all around him.
He needed slick. Damn it. Was there slick here? “Hill. See if you can find me some slick.”
Hill groaned softly and Jag popped his kit’s butt. “You heard me, kit. Do it. Now.”
Hill’s lips pulled off Cather’s cock, and Cather moaned in protest.
“He’ll be back,” Jag promised Cather. “And it’ll be bigger, better.”
“Mean.” Those slitted eyes stared at him.
“You think me wanting to be inside you, wanting to claim you is mean?” He stared right back.
“I… I don’t know.”
“It isn’t. You need to know deep in your bones that you have a place with me.” A place forever. If he was only rehabilitating these kits, there would be no sex. He was doing far more than rehabilitating. He was claiming them as his own. He held Cather’s gaze. “Mine.”
Mine
.
“Why? Why take us as yours? I’m broken.”
“Because he’s our master.” Simple as that, Hill plopped down onto the bed. “Stop wallowing, Cather. Live.”
Cather growled, bared his teeth.
Jag snapped his own and gave a warning growl. It would have been more effective as his cat-self, but he wasn’t going to shift when Cather couldn’t. That felt cruel. Not only that, but his boys needed to learn that he was the head of this family. Always. Man or beast, it made no difference.
He bent in to take a kiss, sliding his tongue between Cather’s lips. Humming, he deepened it, loving the flavor, loving how Cather and Hill tasted so different. They felt different, too, and he slid his hand along Cather’s hip, even the bones there feeling sharp and a bit dangerous.
He finally ended the kiss, very slowly lifting his head to look at his other kit. “Did you find some lube?” He was hoping his brother had stocked the bathroom quite thoroughly.
“I did.” Hill’s voice dropped. “There are a lot of tubes.”
That made Jag chuckle. “That means we can fuck a lot before having to replenish them.” He gave Hill an outrageous wink.
“Master!”
Hill’s use of that word made Cather groan, made him worry, Jag could tell.
“Shh.” He kissed Cather again. “Let me make love to you, kit. You’ll feel better once I have, more settled.”
“I don’t know how to feel better anymore.”
“That’s okay. We’ll keep working at it until you do.” Jag had patience and he hadn’t come into this thinking it would be done and dusted in a couple of days. That hadn’t changed even if everything else had.
Regardless, he needed to join with his boys, both of them, seal the bond that wanted to form so desperately. He took the lube from Hill and gave his sweet kit a soft kiss. “You want to go back to sucking Cather?”
“Yes. Yes, more than anything I want him to feel good.”
“Such a good kit.” He gave Hill another kiss, then opened the lube, getting his fingers good and slick.
Hill slithered down to wrap his mouth around Cather’s cock and Cather gave a low cry in response.
“Mmm. Beautiful. I love the way your cock looks, spreading Hill’s lips.” He kissed Cather behind the ear, encouraging him to look down.