The Prisoner's Release and Other Stories (11 page)

“
Oh.” Jonas fought to quell the slight nausea in his stomach.

Alexan nodded. “It would really help me out. It’s only one night…”

“
All right.”

“…
every two weeks.”

“
What? For how long?”

“
Just a few months.”

‘
So, six times?”

“
More like ten.”

Jonas sighed. “You already told him I’d do it?”

Alexan shrugged. “I didn’t think it would be that big a deal. I mean, you used to do it all the time anyway.”

“
Yeah, but that was…”
Another me, a long time ago.
He looked into the fox’s eyes and thought, well, it wasn’t that long ago. And he did warn me that I might have to work. And really, he never said that we wouldn’t be sleeping with other people. I just thought (
hoped
) it.

And deep down inside, wasn’t there a part of him that was just a little bit curious, that missed the variety of all his clients? Less than he would have thought, surprisingly.

“
All right,” he said. Mates helped each other out, he reminded himself, but a little voice that sounded like Pike asked in the back of his head,
don’t they also care enough to ask first?

The fox smiled, giving Jonas another uncomfortable twinge because he thought it didn’t look like a smile of relief, but rather a smile of satisfaction. Of course, he was just being suspicious because he was upset. He put it out of his mind.

When Mikka returned, Alexan got up immediately. “I’m a little tired,” he said, but Jonas didn’t miss the flick of the ear he gave to Mikka. “I think I’ll turn in, if it’s not too rude of me.”

“
That’s okay. We can use the other room if you want,” Mikka said.

“
Whatever you like.” Alexan turned and touched Jonas’s nose with his own, and then bowed. “Good night, Mikka. Do visit again soon.”

“
I will,” the grey fox purred. “Sleep well, my friend.”

And then Alexan was gone, and Jonas was left in the uncomfortable silence of the living room. “I think I’d prefer the spare room, if you don’t mind,” Mikka said, and got up, tail swishing. For a moment, Jonas considered not following him, but he couldn’t see any other course of action open to him. He got up and walked into the room that he’d grown to consider his, and closed the door behind him.

Mikka had his shirt off almost before Jonas had the door closed, and dropped it beside him on the floor. “Now, let’s see what’s under those clothes,” he said, running his paw through his own chest ruff.

Jonas undid his own shirt and slipped it off. He moved a paw to his pants and then stopped, trying not to notice Mikka’s rapt attention. The whole scene felt almost surreal to him, as though he’d just dreamt the last month and he’d never left the Jackal’s Staff. Maybe, he thought as he undid the lacings on his pants, Mikka was a new customer, and Jonas had been dreaming about him with Alexan in the dream. Perhaps he would wake up in his bed, and he could walk out in the morning and tell Pike about his dream. But then he'd be sad that he wasn't free. Wouldn't he?

“
Ooh,” Mikka breathed, stepping close to Jonas. “Pretty.” He cupped Jonas’s sac and weighed it, then stroked a paw up his sheath. “You think I’m pretty too?”

“
Oh, yes.” Jonas fell into the old patterns easily. It helped that Mikka was really rather striking.

“
Want to see more?”

“
Very much.” He found the fake eager smile somewhere back in his memory and pulled it to his muzzle. The arousal was harder to fake, and slower to arrive, but once he set his mind down a certain path, he grew harder against Mikka’s paw.

“
Ask me.”

This was not an unfamiliar game to him. “Please, show me more.”

“
Do you really want it?”

“
I really do.” He licked his lips for effect.

Mikka seemed pleased by that. He grinned and turned around, arching his tail, and wiggled his pants lower. Jonas whistled appreciatively. “I like that.” Some clients liked to be touched at this point, some didn’t. Jonas felt that Mikka wanted him to wait for permission before touching, so he held back.

The grey fox wiggled more, showing off his rump, and stepped out of his pants to turn around. He was already fully aroused, cupping himself in his paws. “May I?” Jonas said, stretching a paw forward.

Mikka nodded eagerly, and from there on it was all routine. He slid his paw up the fox’s long, thin member, up and down, and Mikka returned the favor with a small, firm grip. Jonas was careful not to go too quickly, gauging the fox’s arousal level and changing his strokes to match. His paw was slightly sticky from the dripping shaft when Mikka pulled away from him with a gasp and turned around, dropping to all fours.

“
Get on top,” he panted, “and don’t be afraid to get me all sticky.”

The fox proved easy to slip into for such a small body. He’d obviously had a lot of experience. Jonas shut off those thoughts before they could lead back to the other fox in the house, and just thrust in and out, making sure to apply his paw below the fox’s quivering belly, not stroking too hard, because he thought Mikka would come pretty soon anyway.

He was right. Barely thirty seconds later, the trembling fox erupted all over his paw. The body beneath him tensed as throaty gasps of pleasure rose to his ears. With practiced ease, Jonas mimicked the gasps and started to thrust harder himself, as if gripped in the throes of similar passion. Mikka wouldn’t be able to tell until maybe later.

“
Ohhh,” the fox moaned under him, wiggling free. He panted and rolled to one side, lying on his back, his tongue lolling out as he grinned up at Jonas. “I wonder if Alexan wants any more clothes. I’ll have to ask.”

“
Mm-hmm.” Jonas grinned back and allowed Mikka to caress him a couple more times before stepping carefully off the bed and retrieving his pants.

“
Aww,” Mikka said as Jonas pulled them on, and for a moment Jonas was afraid the grey fox would have more demands. But he remained quiet as Jonas dressed, and only when the cougar was done did he slide off the bed and do the same.

“
Thank you,” he said, standing on tiptoe and reaching up with his muzzle. Jonas lowered his and accepted the kiss. “I’ll see you at least in a couple weeks. Maybe sooner. Just for dinner,” he laughed, petting Jonas’s chest.

“
Oh, okay.”

“
Unless Alexan buys more clothes.” Mikka winked and swished his tail as he left. “I know the way out, thanks, dear.”

And then he was finally gone. Jonas sat on the edge of the bed and wondered why, with his past, he felt so guilty. Alexan had pushed him into this, and they had no arrangement, so there was no question of betrayal. Not on his part, anyway. He wanted more than anything to go curl up with Alexan, but not the Alexan in the other room; he wanted the Alexan who’d come to see him at the Jackal’s Staff, who’d been so kind to him, and so understanding, who’d promised him a release from that life. He’d wanted that release, and had thought that a single mate would provide it, but how could he reconcile that with what he’d just done? He would have to find a way.

The sheets were sticky, so he pulled them off the bed and curled up on the bare bedding, trying to imagine somewhere he could wish to be.

Chapter 7

“
I don’t want to do that any more,” he told Alexan the next morning.

The fox looked at him with some surprise. “All right. I won’t make any more deals after this one without asking you.”

“
I don’t want to do the rest of this one.” He folded his arms, trying to disguise his nervousness.

Alexan sat back and studied him. “Oh. I see. Was Mikka that bad?”

“
No, it’s me. I left that behind. I don’t want to do it any more.”

The fox stroked his whiskers and nodded. “Well, all right. I’ll come to some other arrangement with Mikka.”

“
Really?” Jonas lowered his arms.

“
Sure, if that’s what you want.”

Jonas sat down at the table. “Well…thanks. I really appreciate it.”

Alexan tapped a claw on the tabletop. “It means I’ll have to find some other way to pay him, of course. I won’t be able to afford to feed us both, so you’ll have to find some kind of work.”

Jonas’s tail sagged. “I…I don’t know what I could do.”

“
You’ll have to do something. I can’t afford to be trying to improve both of our lives and feed and clothe us if you’re not willing to help me.”

Alexan had never bought him clothes, but Jonas was feeling too panicked to bring that up.
Abused you ‘til you ran away
, he could hear Pike saying. He wanted to run, but he wasn’t really being abused. Alexan was giving him a choice, after all. Besides, if he ran, where would he run to? And what could he do other than be a prostitute?

He lowered his muzzle. “All right.”

Alexan was gracious in victory. He patted Jonas’s arm. “I don’t like it either. I’d rather have you all to myself. Someday, when this plan comes together, I will.” Jonas looked up to see his bright smile.

Every day, Alexan went to his market stall in the morning, and in the afternoon he courted his noble sponsor. He was affectionate when he came home, and Jonas was usually able to coax him out of a bad mood on the few days when things didn’t go right. Mikka’s next “payment” came and went without much incident, leaving Jonas still feeling dirty, but at least accepting his role and looking forward to the end of the term.

Then Alexan brought home Phineas, a nervous-looking rabbit who kept fidgeting from foot to foot and looking over his shoulder. Alexan explained to Jonas that Phineas dealt in jewelry and had agreed to be a partner in his small enterprise. But the jewelry Alexan needed to borrow was fantastically expensive. Phineas would agree to loan it to him provided he signed over his house as collateral to the loan, but the price of the loan itself also had to be settled…

And Tarrit, the otter who had access to another noble who might prove strategic to his cause…

Jonas complained again, after Tarrit, but Alexan met his complaints with anger. “Do you know how much money this is costing me?” he growled. “Do you know how hard it is to find a merchant who’ll take anything but the money I don’t have? I’m risking all of this to make a better life for us.”

“
I know. It’s just…” Jonas wanted to say, I don’t want you to see me as a prostitute. I want you to see me as a mate. But how can you when you just keep whoring me out to pay for things? But he knew that was unfair. Alexan was a shrewd merchant who was using every resource he had to attain what was a very difficult goal.

“
Just what?”

“
Nothing. I’m sorry.” And he didn’t complain again. It helped that the people Alexan brought home were mostly well-to-do and kept themselves fairly clean. And none of them had violent tastes. Mostly they seemed to want to pretend that he was a noble, usually the king or the prince.

The snows fell, the festival of Gaia came and went, and Jonas felt his life falling back into familiar patterns. He had fewer clients than he’d had at the Staff, by far, but then again, he often reflected, at least at the Staff he’d been paid. He resumed his exercise routine, which he’d let slide, and found himself grooming his fur, keeping it short—doing all the things Van Wyck used to do. It disturbed him when he thought about it, so he stopped thinking about it.

He tried to bury his frustrations and worries in his home, but the few good nights were barely enough to keep his spirits up. The evenings with Alexan’s friends were a welcome distraction, and though they treated him well (
better than Alexan
), he still felt hesitant about presuming on his nascent friendships with them. They all had their own lives, after all, and better things to worry about than a lonely cougar. So he cleaned obsessively, and searched out delicacies in the marketplace more for the satisfaction of cooking with them than out of any hope of making Alexan happy.

Stubbornly, though, he did cling to hope—that this was just a passing phase, that when Alexan’s scheme had succeeded he would pay off the deals, get rid of Jonas’s “clients,” and that they would stay together happily. He hoped that there wouldn’t be any more days when Alexan stalked around the house glowering at everything, and that all of the coldness he felt was just because of the weather.

Jonas stepped outside one day and found that the chill in the air had broken. Playful breezes tossed scents from throughout the city to him, borne further than usual on the humid air of spring. A fox cub ran down the street laughing, his tail streaming out behind him, and his exuberance broke through Jonas’s numbness and brought a smile to his lips.