Trust in Oneself, CH 34 (Patreon)

“How am I not exhausted?” Paul asked as he dressed. “I mean, I’m sore and I can feel the marathon sex we’ve just had, but the last time we did something like this, you had magic keeping me going.”

“You still do,” the rat replied. “Only, now it’s an ‘automatic system’. Sex powers our magic, which in turns powers us. I mean, you’ll fall asleep after good sex. This isn’t a shot of adrenaline that’s going to have just jumping around. You’ll relax and you’ll fall asleep.” Thomas pulled his pants up and snapped the tail strap in place. “But if you need to get back to work, that energy is there to keep you going. Like me and the others, you are now a sexual being.”

The golden tiger nodded, buttoning his shirt. “That’s going to take some getting used to.”

“Not as much as you think.” Thomas put his phone to his ear. “Hey Kyro, can you let the Steel Link lady I’m about to arrive to pick her up? No, I appreciate the offer, but I’m fully charged already.” He grinned. “I’ve been there often enough. It’s not that draining.” He disconnected and typed a message before putting the phone away.

He stepped up to the tiger and placed an arm around his waist. “Ready?”

Paul looked around the grotto. “I hope we get to come back here at some point. I like it.”

“No worries there. Once this is over, we can make retreating here an annual thing.”

And they were in a bedroom.

Thomas opened the door. “Ma’am,” he called into the hall. He stepped back and a second later, the otter stepped into the room and patter his cheek.

“It’s Jazz, chicko. Call me Ma’am again and I will break you.”

“Got it.” Thomas grinned and placed a hand on both their shoulders.

“What do I have to know about—” She looked around the new bedroom.

Paul studied it too. Gray walls with a bedside table next to the queen sized bed on which Thomas sat, catching his breath. There was a bottle of lube on the table, and the bed was made, the covers the same gray as the wall.

He’d never seen this bedroom. “Where are we?”

Steel Link, Thomas answered

Jazz opened the door and the sound of people running came. Once she left, Trevor entered, closing it.

“Trev? What are you doing here?” he nodded to the closed door. “What’s going on out there.”

“Waiting for you,” the rat replied. “You okay Thomas?”

“Just catching my breath. Never got to use the phrase that speeds up getting familiar with a spot, so landing here still takes a bit out of me.” He grinned. “I got pretty well charged up beforehand, so I’ll be functional in a few.”

“Why were you waiting for us?” Paul asked.

“You,” Trevor replied. “Thomas said you needed me for something.”

“What?” he glanced at Thomas. He couldn’t have. “Tell me you have that protection medallion.”

“The what?” Trevor asked. “Did you forget to tell me to grab something on the way here?” he asked the other rat.

“How do you feel?” Thomas asked his brother-in-law.

“I’m…fine?” he frowned. “Shouldn’t I be?”

“So, you don’t feel like Paul should shove you against the wall with his cock up your ass hard until you cry for mercy?”

Trevor tilted an ear quizzically. “No more than anytime I’m in company.”

“Thomas?” Paul asked, turning to his friend as his tone darkened. “What is going on?”

The hooded rat grinned mischievously. “See, that aura of yours doesn’t make any sense.”

Paul eyes the rat cautiously. “It’s different from that of my cousins, I know.”

Thomas shook his head. “It just doesn’t make sense, period. Our magic, and that includes our abilities, is powered by sex. The longer we go without sex, the less they work.”

“Okay?”

“Then tell me how come yours affected me more the longer I was in your company?”

“It’s cumulative?” Paul guessed. “The longer you’re with me, the more of an effect you have?”

“It didn’t affect me and Roland when we visited you in that hotel.”

“But it affected you the next time you were with me.”

“But why not that time?” Thomas asked. “What happened before arrived that could have made it not be active?”

Paul looked at Trevor, who shrugged. Clearly, whatever Thomas was leading to, he’d kept to himself. “I’d been moping, trying to figure out what being an Orr meant.”

“Before that,” Thomas asked in a tone that said Paul should have gotten it the first time.

“I don’t know,” Paul snapped in exasperation. “I had to deal with my cousin? They passed me around gifting me? If you need before—”

“You had sex.”

“I got fucked,” Paul countered, glaring at the rat, challenging him to comment.

Thomas closed his muzzle and nodded. “How long between when you last and when I teleported into Donal’s house?”

“I don’t know?” He glanced at Trevor. “When you and Madoc recharged me? No, at the lake.” Fuck, that was such a blur he’d basically forgotten it hadn’t only been fighting for his life. “Me and you, or Firmin, when we arrived, so you’d be recharged to get the others.”

“Let’s call it two days?”

“No, more than…” he thought it over. Within an hour of arriving, they’d found out the Chamber was moving into position. It was why Thomas and Firmin had been with them, instead of off getting more people. That had been… one night. Grant had showed up in the morning with Excalibur, and it had been all over.

One night? It felt… much longer.

Thomas had brought them back to Denver, then they’d been driven to Steel Link. Paul might have sleep for a few hours in there, somewhere, in the middle of trying to figure out what he was supposed to do about the men who had died under his command. Then Denton had revealed to him he’d magically raped a man and Paul was expected to finish the job.

How long had he walked until he found himself at Donal’s house again?

“Two long fucking days,” he finally admitted.

“And since we stopped having sex only a few minutes ago, Trevor doesn’t want to.”

“I never said I didn’t want to,” the older rat countered, smiling.

“What you’re saying,” Paul said, trying to wrap his head around this, “is that the longer I go without sex, the stronger my aura is?”

“That’s going to need you checking in with your cousins, but this little experiment at last supposed that with sex, it turns off. Or drops so low as to be effectively off.”

“They aren’t going to be able to help. They were as baffled by it as everyone else.”

Thomas stood and bumped shoulder with the tiger. “Then I’ll help you run tests so you can figure out how it works.”

“I’m going to settle for making sure I have regular sex and never thinking about this thing again.”

The rat chuckled. “I thought running away was my thing. You’re the tests every which way something works, guy.”

Paul returned the smile. “Running away seems to have worked out for you, so I’ll borrow it.”

“Ouch,” Trevor winced. “Right where it hurts.”

“Used to hurt,” Thomas corrected. “Anyway. What did we miss while we were away? How did the assault go?”

“Assault?” Paul looked from Thomas to Trevor.

“I spent half a day ferrying people to that collider the Chamber used to make the gate that brought them to the lake.”

“And you left them there?”

“That was the deal. I get them there, and they find their own way back. I had personal things to deal with, which included looking after my best friend.”

“Thomas—” Paul began, offended he’d been used as an excuse for his friend to skirt his duties to this conflict.

“I’m just some overblown Share-Ride, Paul,” the rat cut him off, sounding amused. “They’re the professionals. And once the fighting was done, it’s not like there was a rush to come back. They had magic to heal the injured.”

“Not that it was needed,” Trevor said, opening the door. “The place was dud. Unlike what the kangaroo thought, it’s not where the big event’s happening. It was empty by the time we brought those wards down.” He motioned to the commotion. “Now, everyone scrambling to figure out where it’s going to happen, and that we’re ready to move at a moment’s notice.”

The common room outside the bedroom was filled with guys having sex, people readying packs and other slept on couches, fully dressed. Other than the people readying the packs, it didn’t look like anyone was ready to move that quickly to Paul, but he had to trust the experts knew what they were doing.

“Mister Hertz,” a woman called as soon as they reached the bottom of the stairs and the lobby,

“Yes?” Thomas and Trevor answered in unison.

“You’ve been asked to bring the people still at the Diamond Collider here.”

“That means you,” Trevor said.

“I’ll see you later,” Thomas told Paul.

“I’ll be here to help you recharge.”

“Start by checking in with your people here and your cousins. This isn’t going to be quick. My landing spot isn’t particularly close to the collider.”

Before Paul could protest, Thomas was no longer there.

“He’s right.” Trevor squeezed his arm. “You need to let Joseph and your cousins know you’re back. Don’t worry. There’s enough people there it’s going to be multiple trips, you’ll get the change to fuck him back for how he experimented with you.”

Before Paul could respond to that, Trevor walked away.

He really didn’t want to make this call. He took his phone out. By they were right. He needed to deal with this. He looked at the numbers and smiled. And he could let his cousins know he was back without actually speaking to any of them. He called his Royal Security contact.

“Mister Heeran,” Ernest greeted him. “Allow me to transfer you.”

Paul’s heart sank. So much for that idea.

“Where the fuck were you?” Arnold demanded.

“Dealing with being a rapist,” Paul snapped, the anger flaring at the tone. “Giving my mother a heart attach, and finally, getting a handle of that fucking aura thing of mine.”

“You got it under control?” someone asked.

Great, they had him on conference call; he was going to have to deal with all of them.

“Since that’s the only thing you care about? Yes, I do. I just have to keep having sex.”

“Well, duh.” That had to be Aaron.

“That’s not what he means.” Alex? Possibly Anakin? For seeming older, Anakin sounded a lot like the others. He needed to see them to know who spoke. He looked around, but the two conference rooms he saw were occupied. There was no point in asking for a video call if all he had was his phone’s screen.

“What I mean,” Paul said, “is that if I got a day or two without sex, it turns on. It might also get stronger the longer I go without sex.”

The silence was long enough Paul looked at his phone to see if the call had terminated.

“How long did you just admit to going without sex?” Aiden asked. 

Paul sighed. “I’m not like you.”

“Way I hear it,” Aaron said. “you’re very much like us. You know, other than actually fucking the guy you influence.”

“You want me to come over there and beat the fucking shit out of you?” Paul demanded, loudly enough, everyone in the lobby looked at him.

Fuck.

“I would love to see you try that, cus.” There was a promise in there that Paul was going to regret having made the challenge. He had held up against Aaron already, and his cousin didn’t have Paul’s gift yet, so he might—

“No,” Arnold said. “I know you. You’re going to take your gift away just so you can win.”

“It’s not like Paul needed his gift to send him to the floor last time.” That was definitely Anakin. That amused tone was distinctive.

“How about we focus?” Arnold demanded.

“Sure,” Alex said. “How about we focus on this? Since it turns out his aura thing’s isn’t instead of our ability, but on top of it. Does it mean we have the aura too? Or do we think Paul is that special?”

Silence, again.

Paul preferred it when they screamed. Because when they went silent, there was no telling when—

He pulled the phone away and still made out the screaming. At least it wasn’t directed at him. He forced himself to listen only long enough to confirm they’d forgotten he existed and disconnected. They knew he was back, so he’d done his duty to his family. Now to see about helping people who deserved his help.

The loudest hubbub led Paul to what might have been the lunchroom, based on the kitchenette on one side by the entrance, but now it looked to be the command center. In the center, over the heads, were projected screens. To the side of them, someone had set up physical screens with an array of metal bars that, as far as Paul could judge, shouldn’t be able to hold them up.

“Will you just slow down?” Grant snapped, and Paul made his way through those working at the tables, dodging those running from one table to the other, putting mugs down, along with plates and sometimes papers.

Paul found Donal at a table with empty plates. The squirrel waved Paul over.

“You’re back,” the golden tiger greeted him. “What’s going on over there?” From this new angle, Paul saw a dangerously thin ferret seated before the multitude of floating screen. Text scrolled up one, images on another, but both moved too quickly for Paul to make out details.

“The new Emerald Code is driving Grant and Wassa crazy.”

“You found someone for Shila’s staff? That ferret?”

The squirrel nodded. “We got back as they returned from England, and Code has been working with them since.”

“Is that really what you’re calling him?”

“He was a big fan of Emerald Code’s work. As his successor, that’s all he’ll answer to. Not sure he’s sane, but he’s who the staff wanted.” Donal shrugged at Paul’s frown. “It’s what it felt like. Don’t ask me more. That was first for me.”

“Have they found anything as to where it’s actually going to take place?”

“No. Wassa and Grant had a row over it. Something about him relying too much on technology, but they set that aside for now.”

Paul looked at the seal, who didn’t look pleased as she sat down and was no longer visible behind everyone else. 

“Go ahead,” Donal urged him. “They’ll be glad to know you’re back, even if they aren’t going to give you much time.”

Paul made his way to the center. Four tables were pressed together and on them were… well, in anyone else’s hands. He’d call it junk. Wassa looked up from what she was working on to give him a smile, then was focused on… Paul had no idea what. Grant looked harried as he looked away from the screens he stood before and acknowledged his presence. And there was something else to the kangaroo. A regal bearing, with Excalibur in a, now decorated, scabbard at his hip.

Paul’s attention was pulled to the ferret, who reached into a screen and did something to what had to be code.

Paul never saw Shila program or hack. The impression he’d gotten when she added something to his phone was they those talismans already existed. The one truly magical thing he’d witness her do had amounted to hacking a gene on a worldwide scale. Here, he watched the ferret, Code, seemingly change programs by hand, between typing and calling out names of places—maybe people—that Grant looked up on his screens. Paul made out England on one, the others had text.

A small circular window flashed by the ferret, who glanced at it before returning to his work. It looked like the speed gauge on Paul’s car, but without the numbers and split into three colored sections. Green, yellow and red. The needle moved within the yellow, close to the red line.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Denton said.

Paul stared, then nodded. How had he approached without anyone reacting?

“How are you doing?”

Paul smiled. “Well, my cousins are currently fighting over who’s going to fuck whom to prove they aren’t the one doing it. I am feeling very good.”

The cheetah’s nod froze partway, then he was the one staring at Paul. “What?”

The tiger grinned. “My aura kicks in if I don’t have sex for a while. Now they want to find out if it’s something they also have.”

“One of them is…” Denton shook his head as if it could make things fall into places. “You mean they…” he burst out laughing and everyone except the ferret looked in his direction. “Oh,” He chuckled. “I so have to make my way there over the next few days and see what one of them looks like after a day without sex.”

“Aren’t you worried the aura will affect you?”

The cheetah smiled. “I will have protection.”

Paul’s phone buzzed, and he frown on seeing the name. “Roland, is everything okay?”

“Giving you a head’s up that you have incoming.”

“Here? The chamber is—”

“Fuck no. It’s Niel. He’s been talking to his friends and—”

“Give me a minute.” Paul stepped to an unoccupied table and slotted his phone in. “You’re on voice.”

“This is Denton. I expect that if Paul did this, it’s important.”

Roland sighed. “Niel talked a number of Survivors into lending a hand. They’re all combat trained, but there are Stubbers among them.”

“I’m afraid I don’t see how that’s a problem,” Denton said, as Paul sighed. He’d heard plenty of stories about the german shepherd and their attitude.

“The Stubbers have made it clear that they expect a say in how things are going to happen.”

“Then they’re going to be disappointed,” Denton replied. “The qualified people will be the ones making the decisions. And since they are only now joining, I don’t see them having the familiarity with the situation needed.”

“Clearly, you’ve never had to deal with them,” Roland said.

“If they’re going to be that much of a problem, they shouldn’t be involved.”

“Good luck making that happen. They want a go at the Chamber now that they know something’s going down. You aren’t getting ride of them. At best, they’re going to get in your way doing their own thing against them.”

“Call Irvine,” Grant called before Denton replied.

“Niel’s already tried talking sense into them.” Roland said.

“The other Irvine,” Grant said, joining them.

“Oh. Niel is going to be pissed.”

“He’ll have to deal,” the kangaroo said flatly. “This is too important. Jarod is basically the revered elder of the Survivor. If he tells them to do what Denton says, that’s what they’re going to do.”

“Is he going to want to talk to them?” Paul asked, “the impression I’ve gotten from Niel is that his father wants nothing to do with any of this.”

Grant shook his head. “Jarod’s been quietly involved.”

“Niel’s going to kill him,” Roland said. “Do you have any idea how much work he put into getting us support from the Survivor because, as far as he knows, his father abandoned us in favor of his quiet, ordinary life? Now Jarod’s going to swoop in and get all the glory?”

“I doubt Jarod will—”

“Just to check,” the ferret called from his workstation. “But this little talk of yours, it is more important than me figuring out where the staves you’ve been looking for, right?”

“Where are they?” Grant demanded.

The ferret grinned. “Where else? At the location where they are going to perform the ceremony.”