Something Furry Part 4
Heero squinted down at his paws. Granted, he wasn't totally comfortable with the vision of this shape- but they didn't look right. They looked- sort of splotchy.
And damn, no wonder Duo stripped before changing. Pants did not go well with a tail.
He looked up as Wufei made a sound and opened his mouth. Ah, right, he couldn't talk in this form- and judging from Wufei's expression, there was something wrong. He tried to look over his shoulder at his torso.
Oh. That would account for the something wrong.
He looked back at Wufei.
"Yeah, we're surprised too," Wufei drawled. "Can you change back?"
Heero was relieved to find that he could, though it made his skin itch. "Huh, what do you think caused that to happen?"
"If I knew, I'd tell you." Wufei snorted. "It looks like you might have to do some research, student of mine."
"Obviously." Heero frowned at the mark on his arm. He hadn't noticed a change in it, but there must've been at least one. "I'll look through the book- maybe even go talk to Winner."
"Good idea." Wufei turned slightly as the door chime rang. "Good afternoon!" He called out, before turning back to Heero. "But put your shirt on first- and have Duo help you put something on those bruises."
He vanished from the doorway and Heero felt a gentle touch on his bruised side. "What happened? You were a jaguar- like me! Why didn't you turn into a wolf?"
"A glitch." Heero turned to face his worried looking mate. "Something went wrong in the curse and changed the result. It happens sometimes."
"So what do you do now?"
"I need to figure out why there was a glitch. In this case, it could've been a mistake I made in the transfer. Or it might have been the way the curse was made- for all I know your Grandmother had it built in to suit her own purpose."
Duo frowned. "I hadn't thought of that. It would be like her. What are you going to do? Can you remove it?"
"No," Heero shook his head. "I can pass it on, but not take it off." He headed towards the small washroom. "Not that I think I will. It's still a valuable curse- I just need to make sure that it doesn't have any other side effects or problems."
"And how do you check something like that?" Duo closed the door as Heero opened the medicine cabinet and took out a small jar.
"Well, I check the book. If that doesn't work I go to the other curse expert in town and ask him." He faced the mirror and studied his bruises. "They aren't that bad..."
"Let me," Duo took the jar and opened the lid. "Is he more familiar with this type of curse?"
Heero shook his head and hissed a little as Duo began to spread the ointment on his bruises. "No- but knowing now that it was your Grandmother who bought the curse in the first place- unless she went out of town to do it- Winner is more than likely the one who made it. Do you know?"
"No," Duo's fingers gently massaged the ointment into his skin. "Grandmother didn't tell me where she got it." He stopped when he reached the waistband, his free hand tugging on the button.
"What-?"
"The bruising looks like it goes down your side," Duo neatly squashed Heero's escape attempt by pulling down his zipper and slipping his hand inside Heero's pants. "If you'll just take these off..."
"I'm really okay!"
Duo snorted and yanked Heero's pants off- another piece of clothing following along for the ride.
"Thought so- it goes all the way down your leg!" Duo dropped down on his knees and Heero inhaled sharply. "What happened?"
"Like I said- they threw me around a little," Heero managed. He focused on the opposite wall, doing his best to ignore what Duo was doing. Didn't he have any self control at all? Duo was just taking care of some bruises! So what if his touch seemed to warm Heero's skin from the inside out? So what if he could feel Duo's breath against his thigh?
"Am I hurting you?" He looked down in an automatic response to find Duo looking up at him with worried eyes.
"No-"
"Are you sure?" Duo traced the line of his thigh with gentle fingers. "You went all tense. Does something else hurt?"
Not yet, Heero thought and shook his head. "No, no. I'm really okay."
Duo got to his feet, his hand smoothing the ointment back up Heero's side. "Relax," he said with a faint smile. "I'm not going to start something here at work- no matter what those lions said."
Heero blinked at him. What had the lions said? Something about the jaguars being too hot blooded to be left alone? Did Duo think that he believed those two idiots? It was obvious they'd just been trying to rile Duo.
"It's me I'm worried about," Heero told him honestly and Duo's smile brightened. He leaned into his mate, touching his mouth to Heero's.
"What if I gave you something to tide you through until we're safely home?"
There was only so much temptation Heero could take. Pulling Duo closer he took shameless advantage of the offered mouth.
Several minutes later, he managed to regain enough of his senses to pull back a little. "If we don't stop, Sally is going to kill me for doing this when I should be working..."
"You were working pretty hard," Duo countered, but he let his mate go. "I'll go see if I can help Wufei."
Heero reached out and smoothed a strand of Duo's hair back into place. "I'll be out as soon as I can."
"Promise we can continue this later?"
"If you-"
"Want? Oh yes." Duo leaned in for one more quick kiss. "Very much so." He slipped out the door, leaving Heero to pull himself together.
~*~
"Anything yet?" Wufei asked.
"Nothing," Heero flipped another page. "Not a damn thing. If something had gone wrong then the curse should've just not worked- or trapped me in the wolf form. There's nothing in here that applies!"
"You know what this means, right?" Wufei smiled and Heero groaned. Duo lifted his eyebrows and poked Heero with a French fry.
"Does this mean you have to go talk to the other magician? Is he unfriendly?"
Wufei roared with laugher and Heero contented himself with crumpling up one of the wrappers from his finished lunch and tossing it at the dragon.
"Hardly," he said in response to Duo's puzzled look. "Winner is very friendly. In fact, he's a very good friend of Wufei's. So much so that I think-"
"Oh no," Wufei shook his head. "You can go ask him."
At that moment, the phone rang. Wufei scooped it up. "Greymalkin's, how can I help you?" He paused for a moment and then started to chuckle. "Well, how fortunate. Heero has a question to ask of you- perhaps a trade of services?"
Heero shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Figures," he murmured to Duo.
"Of course, I'll send him right down." Wufei grinned at Heero. "Love to. Definitely. See you at nine."
"Dare I hope he wanted you instead?" Heero asked as Wufei hung up the phone.
"Hardly. I got invited to dinner. You are asked to go down and look at something that showed up in their latest shipment. Winner says it gives him a bad feeling, but he can't pinpoint it- and it's cold iron."
"And yet he bought it?"
"He buys that stuff in lots, you know he does." Wufei made a shooing motion. "Go on, they're waiting. Take Duo with you."
Heero frowned. "I'm not sure-"
Wufei laughed again. "Relax. He's your mate, they aren't going to touch him." Wufei turned his smile on Duo. "You might want to keep an eye on Heero though. The ladies are fond of him."
"Right. After I made whatshername cry? Hardly." Heero grabbed his coat out of the back room and handed Duo his. "Is it still raining?"
"Yes," Duo put his coat on, giving Heero a questioning look. "Should I go?"
"You should," Wufei nodded. "I think it would be a good idea for more people in the magician's circle to meet you."
"Good point," Heero's expression lightened. "I hadn't thought of that." He grabbed the umbrella out of the rack and opened the door. "If we're not back in an hour, send for help."
"Ha ha." Wufei blew a smoke ring. "More like I'll be calling Winner and asking if he needs any."
Once outside Heero opened the umbrella and smiled at Duo. "Ready?"
"Are you sure?" Duo asked hesitantly, and Heero mentally kicked himself. He really wasn't good at this communication thing.
"Yes," he said, and reached out to pull Duo under the umbrella with him. Sally had made a point of reminding him that Pride acted a lot like their animal counterparts. Touch was important- not only for affection, but also for acceptance and reassurance. "I should've explained in there, I'm sorry. It's not that I don't want you with me- that wasn't what I meant at all. I'm just- well, worried about taking you in there with me."
Much to his relief, Duo snuggled into his side as they started down the street. "Why? Is it dangerous? Wasn't he the one you told me to go see for a second opinion?"
"He was- and he's not dangerous. Not at all. In fact, he's known Wufei for a long time. A very long time- they have this little rivalry thing going on..."
"But he's going to dinner..."
"It's not a blood feud- and believe me, Winner and Barton- that's his partner- are very fond of Wufei. But, like I said, there is this little desire to 'one-up' each other- you know what I mean?"
Duo nodded, still looking puzzled. "So why are you worried?"
"It's just-" Heero cast a glance around. "They're fae. They have a very different way of looking at things." Duo still looked confused and so Heero plowed on: "And since you're beautiful- they'll be going out of their way to charm you-" He bit his lip- he was doing this all wrong. He sounded like a jealous idiot- and after only knowing Duo for less than a week.
Duo's expression cleared and he slipped his arm around Heero's waist. "I'm your mate."
"I know-"
"After what Zechs said I know it's hard to believe- but I swear to you, we're not like that- I'm not like that. It's a lie."
Heero mentally kicked himself. Damn it. He hadn't meant to imply Duo was anything of the sort. "I didn't think-"
"The lions use that excuse to keep the jaguars under their paw," Duo's voice dropped to a growl. "If they keep us chained with lies then their power is safer-"
Heero blinked, a terrible thought popping into his head, and then pulled Duo over to the side, taking refuge in the opening of an alley. "Wait- when you say chained- you mean literally chained?" Hadn't the blond one said something about being confined?
"Imprisoned any way that their spouse desires," Duo answered, his eyes nearly ablaze. "Not all of them, but many of the lions feel it's important."
"What?! All because you're too hot blooded?"
Duo snorted. "Hot blooded? More like unable to fight back if another Pride member finds you."
Heero's blood ran cold.
"And even unchained- the lions aren't above making sure the others are aware of their dominance- even if you aren't their mate."
"That's rape-"
"Not to the Pride." Duo's eyes met his. "And if you are with someone other than your mate- well, that's the jaguar's fault isn't it? For being hot blooded?"
"No! That's the worst thing I've ever heard-" Heero closed his eyes and shook his head. Then a thought hit him. "Wait a minute- those two that came into the store today-"
"I'm glad Wufei was there."
Heero pulled his mate close and took a deep breath. "So am I." He tugged Duo back onto the street. "Let's go get this done with- then we are going back to the shop and looking into some protections for you."
"Protections?" Duo repeated, speeding up his steps to match Heero's.
"Some things that are going to make any lion think twice before going near you." He took a deep breath. "And Duo- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to imply that I thought you were anything like they said. I didn't when they said it- I thought they were just trying to provoke you."
"They were," Duo frowned. "I knew I'd have trouble once I was given to someone- but I didn't think it would follow me here. I am sorry-"
"They're the ones who will be sorry," Heero missed the pleased look that Duo gave him. "Here we are."
"This doesn't look like a store," Duo said as they mounted the steps.
"It's not- it's a tea room. Winner's sisters do psychic readings." Heero gave him a quick smile. "It's like being with a roomful of Sallies."
Duo's eyes widened. "Maybe I should've stayed at the shop."
TBC...
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