Author: Kracken
Disclaimer: I don't own them and I don't make any money off of this.
Warning: male/male sex, wereperv, violence, language, graphic, light were-bondage.

Instincts + Part 17
Glitter

"How can it be?" a voice whispered.

"It is," Quatre replied just as softly.

"Still..."

"Sometimes, love has claws," Trowa chuckled and was shushed.

Heero was wrapped in Duo's warmth, Duo's head resting under his own as they lay curled on cushions in a corner of the guest tent. He couldn't help licking a rounded ear, even though he wasn't really ready to wake up yet. Duo emitted a rumbling purr for only a second and then was still again.

"Who is dominant?" the strange voice wondered.

There was a sound of a cuff and Quatre's angry growl, "Impertinent child! Being my cousin does not give you leave to be rude."

"I'm only a year younger than you, ancient one," the stranger growled back.

Heero lowered his ears, a clear warning that wasn't missed by Quatre.

"You may leave now," Quatre told his cousin. "This is not a traveling circus. They are guests."

"I'm not the only one who's curious," his cousin replied. "You won't be able to avoid everyone's questions."

Cloth rustled as the were fox left and then Quatre sighed. "He's right."

"We don't have anything to hide," Wu Fei's arrogant voice said. "Our intentions are honorable."

Duo's scent under his nose, and his fur tickling his skin, were the only things that Heero wanted to face just then. He stubbornly refused to join the conversation.

"Don't let your desires make you unprepared, my prince," Wu Fei's voice said, not at all fooled by Heero's faked sleep.

Heero rolled one eye open and then closed it again stubbornly.

"I don't think that he needs much preparation to answer the ridiculous questions of these desert weres," Trowa snorted. "Is he part dog that he is colored so? Was the were lion raised by were wolves? Is that why he mates with one, because he imagines that he is one? Does King Zechs make war on them because he doesn't want crosses between were wolves and were lions? Would their babies be were wolflions?"

"Babies?" Quatre was shocked. "They believe that Duo is... female?"

"I'm not sure," Trowa snickered, "Unless they believe that even male were lions can carry young?"

There was a quiet moment and Heero imagined Quatre blushing.

Duo's tail became an instrument of evil. It flicked around and lightly brushed Heero under his tail. It did this twice and Heero warmed with his own blush. He captured the tail and held it lightly. He could almost feel Duo smirking.

Quatre had decided to avoid any more talk of males and babies. "The desert were dragons would welcome you if you allow them to, Wu Fei. They have a very large community here."

"I don't have time for such things," Wu Fei hissed back. "We are close to war. I will need all of my energies to prepare the were foxes to repel King Zech's assault. That may only be days away."

"Perhaps," Quatre agreed. "All ready my people are moving to safer ground, but we've always been ready for attacks. Some of the deeper tribes of the deserts can be fierce. We are used to fighting. Besides, the desert were dragons will fight beside us."

There was a heavy silence and then Wu Fei asked. "Will they?"

Quatre sighed. "Your fight with them is generations old, dragon. They are no longer the people that abandoned your clans to the enemy so long ago. They've become brave and honorable."

Heero's ears flicked, surprised, and he felt Duo tense beneath him. A mystery solved. Wu Fei's prejudice was understandable now. Especially when he hissed, "Half my people died because of their cowardice. Our eggs were laid waste. It isn't a thing to forget."

"Would their presence have mattered?" Quatre wondered. "Or would they have died too?"

"That isn't the point," Wu Fei snapped back. "We were pushed back from our ancestral lands. It took us a long while to recover them again."

"And why were you sent away, Wu Fei?" Quatre wanted to know.

"Not sent," Wu Fei corrected disdainfully. "I chose exile."

"Why?"

"Because my people made treaties with our murderers for their safety." Wu Fei's passion was intense, his hatred for that act. "I couldn't face that."

"Then it isn't just the desert dragons that are despised by you," Quatre guessed.

"No," Wu Fei snapped back and then cloth rustled and the clash of crest spines was clearly audible as Wu Fei left.

"You could have said something Heero," Quatre said disapprovingly.

Heero slitted open his eyes. "Do you really believe that any words of mine will make any difference?"

Quatre sighed and leaned against Trowa. Trowa was sitting and drawing a comb through his banded fur as if nothing more important were going on. His eyes were thoughtful, though. He snaked an arm out and briefly hugged Quatre as he said, "You can't make it better, mate. His is an old wound and it's deep."

Were foxes came in with food then and Duo frightened them when he suddenly sprang from underneath Heero and descended on them excitedly, the desire to rest and be with his mate forgotten. One server dropped his platter and backpedaled with flailing paws. The food that fell was a very large haunch of raw meat. Duo latched onto it as if he were making a kill and then carried it eagerly to where Heero was just sitting up.

"Q-Quatre?" the frightened server spluttered.

"It's all right," Quatre soothed. "Just leave the food and go. It's not good to come between a were lion and his meal."

Trowa snickered as the servers hurried to go, knowing that Quatre had neatly avoided another round of questioning.

"It's fresh," Duo purred and then began to messily eat.

Heero stepped back and away, watching Duo's sharp teeth and razor claws making short work of the haunch. Bone crunched loudly as Duo separated the haunch without any effort at all.

Cooked meat and other delicacies were on the other platters. Heero joined the others in eating his own meal, his eyes watching his mate. How easily Duo could hurt him, he thought, and yet didn't. It made his love that much stronger.

Belly distended and a grin on his lips, Duo finished, burped, and then slowly moved towards the tent flap as if he were already half asleep. "Warm rock," he murmured.

"Duo, I don't think...." Heero began.

"Let him go... and go with him," Quatre urged. "Let my people see the fierce were lion looking like an over stuffed lap kitten," he chuckled. "It will help them learn not to fear him."

Duo growled irritably, but didn't have the energy to retort. Heero followed him out of the tent, into the warm sun, and onto a flat rock. Duo flopped onto his side, burped again, and then fell instantly asleep. Heero settled next to him with an indulgent sigh and spent the next few hours watching a parade of were foxes flit cautiously by to get a closer look at the sated were lion. Quatre had said that they weren't a circus, but, at that moment, Heero felt like one.

"What are you doing?" Heero had taken his own nap and found Duo mysteriously gone when he had awakened. It unnerved him that an overfed were lion could move so quietly when he chose, but finding the scent of meat and Duo wasn't a problem. The were lion needed a bath, he thought, and then amended, as he caught his own scent, so did he. It was a wonder that Wu Fei didn't smell either of them, but then again, he was busy being uncomfortable.

Heero crouched by his mate at the base of a rock. Duo had ears cocked, his long braid snaking over his back, and his tail twitching. He was looking upward, a small smile on his face.

Heero cocked his own ears, curious, and caught Wu Fei's voice saying, "I need to know how competent your fighters are, female, not hear you bemoaning your exile here."

"I was not 'bemoaning', " Sahri said. "I was explaining to you the harshness of this land and how well we have protected our fields from invaders. We enjoy our homes here and our alliance with the were foxes. We don't have any wish to return to our clans."

"Neither do I," Wu Fei retorted, "but you talk a great deal, and yet tell me nothing that I wish to hear."

There was a dueling sound of clashing spines, attesting to their mutual anger. "I am a warrior!" Sahri said. "I am very skilled, as are all my kin. The lion clans will pay dearly if they attempt to take our lands."

"You will pay dearly if you are over confident," Wu Fei warned.

"Who is over confident here?" she retorted. "You are here, without any of your kin, and in the company of misfits."

"My Prince is not a misfit, he is the heir of his people!" Wu Fei hissed and Heero felt a warmth at the were dragon's obvious pride in him. "You would do well to respect that fact and the fact that I am his guard."

"He is fortunate in that, if nothing else," Sahri replied, but then added, "Even the least of our people is formidable."

It was a backhanded slight that wasn't well received. "You will gather your people so that we may plan. I need to speak with your best warriors."

"If you don't know a great warrior when you speak to her, then perhaps you are not so great yourself?" she hissed and then her claws were scrambling on stone as she descended to leave. She paused, her longue tongue flicking out to taste the air, and then she hissed again and was gone.

"Female," Wu Fei muttered and then they heard a sigh as he, perhaps, stretched out to sun himself

Heero plucked at Duo's short mane and they both crept away.

"Why were you listening to them?" Heero wanted to know.

Duo looked embarrassed. "I went to... you know... after eating that much... anyway, they slithered by and I had to know what they were saying to each other."

"Nothing that they won't tell us later," Heero admonished.

"My mate is so proper," Duo snickered. He licked Heero's face with a meaty smelling tongue.

"Bath," Heero said with a grimace. "We both need one."

Duo shivered. "You know I don't like water and I'm still too full."

"Pig," Heero teased. "If you want me by you, you need to get the stink off of you."

"Didn't matter the other night," Duo purred and Heero was suddenly pinned with Duo stretching out on top of him. His ears were thoroughly cleaned while Duo's belly threatened to bow his spine.

"Get off!" Heero snarled.

Duo grunted in annoyance as Heero pushed at him, but he moved and Heero shook himself as he stood again. It made him think of Solo, having felt Duo's strength and weight, and he wondered what they would do when Duo became that large and powerful. He tried to imagine Duo with a full, cinnamon and brown mane, but it was hard. He tried to imagine taking possession of such a creature... and couldn't do that either.

"You're thinking," Duo accused as he nuzzled Heero. He turned suddenly and his tail lifted up and over his back. His slim hips, and what lay between, were a tempting sight. When Duo looked back at Heero with a sensuous grin, it was suddenly very easy to imagine himself wanting Duo however he could manage it, no matter what size his lover was.

"I'm a pervert," Heero sighed. He grabbed hold of Duo's hips and steadied him as his tongue licked out and teased his mate into opening for him.

"Because of that?" Duo groaned in pleasure, "Or because you love a were lion... or a male were lion... or...?"

Heero nuzzled Duo's sack and then reached past to lick at his erect member. The taste was wild and intoxicating; salty and all Duo. Duo's front half bowed down and that's when Heero took him, with a grasping of strong arms around Duo's middle and a long, languid entrance that left them both whimpering and needing each other badly. His mate, Heero thought, and all his.

That's when it hit Heero, an all encompassing instinct that had him swelling inside of Duo until they were locked together. He began pumping rapidly, hips slapping against Duo as Duo protested and groaned in pleasure at the same time. It was gathering strength within Heero, a tidal wave of ... he wasn't sure what, but it was imperative and not to be denied. It had him panting, whining, and almost crying with a pressure that he had never felt before. He was going to explode, he felt, and he feared that the power of it would kill him. He could feel his heart hammering.

The scent on the air thickened. Duo was gathering beneath him, wanting it to end, unsure of Heero's sudden intensity and the almost pain/pleasure that it was becoming. His balance shifted. He was going to lash out, try to push Heero off, but Heero couldn't let that happen. He was almost there.

Heero grabbed the back of Duo's neck with his teeth and clamped down just as he thrust forward one last time and buried himself as deeply as he could manage. He exploded then and went blind, a cry bursting from between the grip of his teeth on Duo. It seemed endless as he filled Duo with his heat, with his seed, and with every ounce of his strength. In his mind he had called Duo his mate, but his body, newly matured, had taken that physical step that he was only supposed to take with females.

He awoke sometime later with Duo curled up around him and a gentle, rasping tongue cleaning his face and ears. It was methodical and forgiving and Heero wondered how it could be after what he had done.

"I hurt you," Heero whispered, full of guilt.

"We mated," Duo breathed into his ear and then nuzzled him as he held Heero tight. "Before was just play. It felt wonderful... and rough... but I understand, Heero. Were lions... They are not gentle when it comes to mating. It is need and pain and quickly over. I was afraid... I didn't want it to hurt... and it didn't, not really."

Heero was suddenly on Duo and holding him gently. He caressed and nuzzled his mate, whispering apologies even though he was forgiven and it would happen again. His body knew his mate now and it would be eager to claim him again and again. "I didn't give you a choice, I bit you."

Duo frowned as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't like that, I won't lie, but I trusted you, love, and you didn't betray that trust."

They lay together and whispered reassurances for a long while and then Duo stretched and chuckled. "Now I'm full and sore, love. Can we go sun again? It's too cool here in the shadows of the rocks."

"Of course," Heero agreed. As he watched Duo move stiffly up the rocks, he realized that he loved every inch of his mate, and no matter how they changed as they grew older, that fact would not change.


[part 16] [part 18] [back to Kracken's fic]