Feeling the Way, CH 19 (Patreon)

Denver’s big. The largest city in Colorado, as well as the state’s capital. It wasn’t always like that, the size, not the capital, but back in the forties, it, as well as most large cities, started assimilating the surrounding cities and towns, so that while before then someone would say Denver and mean the whole damned thing, the reality was much smaller. Now, all those cities are only remembered as the names of neighborhoods, like the Broomfield Industrial complex, or the Littleton Office Park, or, in my case, Aurora Heights.

I made my way from Amarillo via Interstate 27 to 70, and that took me into the city. Not the most direct route, but I didn’t feel like driving on back roads.

Aurora Heights used to be all industrial, the west side of what was then the city of Aurora, abutting the then airbase. The earthquake of 52 destroyed just about everything there, and the military handed the land to the city.

The damage was sufficiently targeted that there’s still debates on how natural the earthquake was. The city sold the land and rich folks bought it up, giving themselves large estates with walls and gates and security that could put the military that used to own the land to shame.

My destination wasn’t one of those estates. The house was only a fraction of the size of those mansions, on the outskirt of Aurora Heights, and unlike those, it was fully occupied. At least it was the last time I visited.

I stopped on the side of the road, looking at the house. Four story gray brick, a few thousand feet in square footage; unassuming for the area. I suspected the neighborhood had complained about how ordinary it looked. It could have been a factory in some previous life, if someone didn’t know the history of the area.

I did, in part because I traveled so much, and because of who lived here.

I didn’t want to come here. I’d much prefer either driving to Eddy’s place in the Longmont Valley or calling him and having him meet me outside the city. Limon has a few fun clubs, although no gay ones.

But I’d be working in the city, and tradition demanded that I present myself to the city Elder.

Martin Cormoran is the Denver Elder, but believe me when I say that whoever handles security is actually in charge. Cormoran can refuse me resources and protection, if I were planning on staying long term, but Brislow can make my life hell while I’m here.

I left my bike and walked the length of the driveway leading to the house. If the Elder took umbrage to my presence, it was easier for me to escape the property on foot then try to ride out.

I didn’t see the security, but felt their eyes on me, both the people watching me and the cameras. When the elder is in charge of the security for an entire city, he doesn’t skimp on protecting his family.

The one thing I had going for me was that Marrow wasn’t in town. He and I have a thing going. He does everything he can to piss me off and when I blow my fuse, which always happens, I fuck him senseless. Fun in the moment, but it is too much of a distraction for what I need to do.

The door slammed open when I was still a hundred feet away and a blur ran at me. Then he was in the air, and I had no choice but to catch him.

“Wy! What are you doing here?” the cheetah in my arms asked and continued before I could answer. “I missed you. Why didn’t you call?” He tightened his legs around my hips, grinding his groin against mine. “If you even think of leaving before we have fun, I will hunt you down this time.” He looked at me, his expression a mix of want and anger. He hadn’t entirely forgiven me for running off the last time I was in town.

Wolf had created a situation in Minneapolis, and I had to go deal with it.

I waited ten seconds to see if he was going to start up. The way he spoke with barely breathing, and ran everywhere, would make you think he had Adam’s gift.

I don’t even want to imagine what Edwardo Brislow would be like with my father’s motormouth. As it is, he already lives up to the reputation of cheetahs being balls of pure energy.

“My business is in the city, so I’m going to have plenty of time for fun.”

“Good, you’re staying at my place. Dad’s house if full, as usual.”

I could feel the ‘usual’ hugging my legs.

There’s a story floating about that the Brislow elder didn’t want kids. That at some point he had to be forced to get in bed with a woman, Eddy’s mother, for him to be around. I don’t believe it. There are way too many Brislow kids for it to be true.

I looked down at the four cheetahs attached to my legs. I didn’t know their names. After the tenth kid, I stopped trying to remember them. Eddy, Steven, Marco and Paolo are the extent of who I remember. The rest are just the Brislow kids. And four of them are anchoring me in place.

Not that much of a problem, until I raised my gaze from them to see the man standing in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest, a scowl on his face.

“Your dad’s glaring at me,” I told Eddy. “Is it about me running off on you last time, or did I come at a bad time?”

He grinned at me. “When is it ever a good time for him when an Orr drops by?”

“As far as I know, every time. My dads will fuck him just like they’ll fuck any other guy. The only one in my family who won’t have sex with him as far as I know is Wolf.”

My brother has this thing about being the biggest, baddest, horniest guy around, so when he comes across someone who seems to be more in all those things than he is, he can’t help go all alpha on them. When that person is half his mass and puts him squarely in his place the first time my brother tried it?

Well, Wolf hasn’t set foot in Denver since that day.

“Yeah,” Eddy sighed, “and he’d enjoy it a whole lot more if your family wasn’t in the habit of bringing so much trouble with them, along with the cocks. You planning on making his life difficult?”

“Not planning in it, no.”

“But…” he trailed off and grinned.

“No but. I’m investigating something that would have taken place years ago.”

“Then we can pray to Him that it doesn’t end with my dad kicking you out, at least not until tomorrow. Because tonight, your cock’s mine.”

“Anyone ever tell you how possessive you are?”

Eddy rolled his eyes. “Hey, you’re in my city. I get to do anything I want to you.”

I smirked. “Try to put your cock in my ass and we’re going to see about that. It’s still years until you have the authority to make me submit to you.”

“Stop bitching, you’re going to love it.”

He’s wrong. I’m an Orr. I’m just a good actor. I raised a foot, evaluating the weights on my legs, and carefully stepped toward the house. Once I was at the steps, I stopped.

“Everyone off,” I ordered and was ignored.

Eddy snorted. “You’re going to have to get me off yourself. This is way too nice.”

“Edward,” the elder said, and Eddy sighed.

“Dad,” he whined. “He just got here. Let me get off before I have to get off.”

“Not in front of your brothers.” The elder cheetah said.

Eddy rolled his eyes. “You’d think he isn’t Society.”

“Edward.”

“Yes, Dad.”

Eddy unwrapped his legs from me and I lowered him. It took little work. He was my height, but barely half my mass. I’ve suggested he spend time at Dietrich’s gym and fix that, but his father won’t allow it. No Brislow has any Orr gift in them. I’ve pointed out Dietrich has others working for him who could get Eddy to gain muscles, but as far as the elder is concerned, if they work for my great uncle, it’s the same is if he did it.

Not that the Elder needs them, but Eddy could do with more muscle.

“Come on Karlos, Christian, let Wyatt go before dad punishes us all. You don’t want dad to do that, do you?”

Four young cheetahs blew Eddy raspberries. “We’re good boys,” one of them stated. “Daddy doesn’t need to punish us.”

“Of course, that’s why you spend so much time in your room. Luka, you’re the oldest here. Set an example for your brothers.”

The one addressed looks up at my crotch and licked his lips. “I doubt that’s what Eddy means, kid.”

“I’m not a kid.”

I smirked. “Kid, until your father lets me bed you, you’re a kid.”

“Dad!” Luka whined.

“Inside, all of you,” the elder ordered. And with protests, I was freed and the young cheetahs headed inside, dragging their feet.

I chuckled, and Eddy smirked when Luka looked over his shoulder.

“What are you waiting for?” the elder demanded. “I said, all of you.” He pointed to inside the house.

“He means us,” Eddy said before turning and doing as told. I followed him.

The elder was before me the moment Eddy stepped inside. He didn’t move. He was leaning to the side, then he was before me. I hate it when he does that.

“Wyatt,” he said. It could be a greeting, but his tone is more warning. I’ve never heard him actually greet someone from my family when one of us is in Denver. But to be fair, I’ve never heard my fathers greet him either.

“Elder Brislow,” I replied.

“Have you seen Martin?”

I snorted before I stop myself. I’ll refer you to earlier as to why I did it. “It’s going to be my next stop.”

“It should be your first.”

“I’m here now. You plan on kicking me out?”

“You plan on causing trouble?”

“Never plan on it,” I replied, and he rolled his eyes.

He stepped inside the house, and I followed him. 

The entryway is large, but like the house, unassuming. It’s about accommodating the volume of people who have lived here rather than trying to impress. The chairs are scoffed and worn, one of the picture frame is crooked. A cheetah couple holding a baby and smiling at the camera. The glass smeared with finger prints attesting to the number of kids who touched it. The Elder’s parents and him days after his birth.

A cheetah was quietly arguing with Eddy. He was shorter by a few inches, but made it up with mass. He wasn’t even close to me, muscle wise, but for a cheetah he was a wall of them. 

Julian, the Elder’s second born. The angry one, the glaring one. The one easiest to pick a fight with.

The terrified one.

The elder has to know Julian uses his anger to hide how scared he is. How out of his depth he feels. How, unlike Eddy, he feels he had to measure up to a man impossible to measure up to, because he was picked by our god to represent Him.

Eddy doesn’t see it. Eddy is sort of oblivious to people’s emotions. He’s all fun and games and figures everyone should be the same. He is in for such a shock the day he’s handed the family.

I followed the elder to the office near the entryway. The show office. The one set up to impress, with its ancient desk updated with a state-of-the-art interface, the walls of bookcases with books on history, philosophy, theology and hundreds of other subjects. A hundred and eighty-seven, in fact. To anyone who knows what this is, they know why this exact number.

Anyone who steps in this office sees that of an Elder. An important man, a powerful man.

I’ve seen the other office, the one of Denton Brislow, father. But not when in Denver on my own. I only saw it when Arnold took me with him for a visit when I was nine. The only time one of my father took me. I suspect the only time one of them saw that office. I was the reason for the visit. My ‘condition’.

The elder sat behind the desks and assumed the role his position demanded. I sat facing him, and before I opened my mouth, a weight dropped on my lap. Eddy sprawling across it.

“Edward,” the elder warned.

“Come on Dad, I haven’t seen Wy in years.”

“And you’ll get to sprawl over him as much as he’ll let you once I’m done with him. Don’t worry, fucking is not on the agenda.” I raised an eyebrow at that. We’re Society. For him to state we aren’t going to fuck is not a good sign.

“You don’t know what you’re missing, Dad.” Eddy got a good grope in before getting off my lap.

The elder snorted. “You seem to be under the impression I haven’t been in bed with him.”

“Once isn’t enough to really appreciate an Orr,” Eddy stated and I was left wondering just how many of my brothers he had sex with. None of them have mentioned it, and it wasn’t like them not to brag about getting the son of an elder in bed.

“Once is plenty for me.”

Eddy closed the door behind him and we are alone.

The elder wasn’t a large man, but a god’s champion didn’t have to be to exude power. “Zee warned me you might be dropping by.”

I nodded. Elias made a report, so the assistant director informed his—

“Don’t even finish that thought,” the elder warned.

Mind reading is only one of the elder’s many powers. “Is there a point in this meeting, then?” I asked, not masking my irritation. “You already know why I’m here. You don’t even need me to explain my reasoning, since you’re already taken it.”

“Read it,” he corrected. “If I’d taken it, you wouldn’t remember it.”

I swallowed at the casual way he said it. Taking a thought from me. There’s no way to keep track of which power he has at any one time, since that would mean keeping track of every one who has visited him in the last year or so, but I’d think if someone who could take our thoughts had visited him, someone should have made a note of that.

The elder’s smile told me he was following my thinking and I’d missed a detail, something important. Something that—

“Teleportation.”

Oh fuck.

He grinned. “Now that you realize the problem your family has in keeping track of me, how about we address why you’re here? I believe you call him Wanna Be?”

Anger flashed, and I pushed it down. He’s an elder, he gets to have things his way. I’m an Orr, but compared to this elder, I’m nothing. I forced my jaw to loosen.

“You know that Joseph Abraham was used by him in Amarillo and he was coming here afterward.”

The elder nodded. “I did a search for Steven Mullen in the city’s database, and didn’t find anything. If it’s his real name, he didn’t use it while he was here.”

“I didn’t expect him to. He’s been doing this for years without being noticed by the authority, he’s smart. He probably found himself another rich man he could con into providing what he needed for him to do what he wanted.”

“Old rich men isn’t something as rare here as in Amarillo. Denver has been attracting a crowd since magic was revealed to the world. Old rich men think that money will grant them absolution.”

I shrugged. “They should be living in San Francisco then.”

The elder smiled. “Your family has rather exacting standards on the people living there. The men who use their money to live outside those rules don’t care to have said rules imposed on them.”

I shrugged again. “Then they aren’t that interested in living longer. Everything has a price, money is just the easiest to pay. And it isn’t like we’re forcing any of Anakin’s clients to live in our city.”

“No, just giving them priority.”

“Are you telling me Wanna Be didn’t come here?” I asked. We can keep talking about the right and wrong way to run a city without ever coming to an agreement. He’s a Brislow, I’m an Orr. We have different views on life as a whole, not to say how cities should be handled.

“No, I’m saying he was good enough to remain hidden. There also weren’t any reports of children going missing that stood out.”

“Unlike Amarillo, Denver has a large population of undocumented people. He probably preyed on them.”

The elder nodded. “Unfortunately, if they aren’t going to report it, there’s nothing I can do about it. And illegal alien is a federal problem. Ever since Diamond, it’s been impossible to get close to the president.”

I nodded and kept my thoughts blanks.

“Do I have your permission to run my investigation?”

He studied me, and I thought of my dads, of the effort they put in making me feel accepted in my own family. Of how hard it was for them to understand me. How at a loss they were anytime they thought of calling me home. They wanted to tell me I’m one of them, but they’d know it’s a lie and that I could tell it was.

“All I can do is not get in your way. Martin is who you need to convince to let you operate.”

I nodded. “Then, if you’ll let me, I’ll go ask for his permission now.”

He snorted. “Edward isn’t going to let you leave the house until you’ve spent the night with him. I’ll tell Martin to expect you tomorrow morning.”