Page 140 of Visions, Paws, and Claws

I have to see.

He turned in time to watch Brick slam a hefty paw into the side of Fielding’s face with enough force to snap his neck. Fielding dropped like a stone, but Brick wasn’t done. The air was filled with noises that curdled Aric’s blood: The scream that was cut off, the gurgle of blood, and the crunch as Brick bit through bone and cartilage. He closed his jaws around Fielding’s throat, and by the time he was through, Fielding’s head was hanging by its tendons.

Aric jumped when arms encircled him.

Easy, baby. Only me.

Aric turned away from the sight of blood staining Brick’s maw and buried his face in Seth’s chest. Seth held onto Aric, his hand on Aric’s nape.Trust me, you don’t need to see any more.

“Hey!” Brick yelled. “Can I get some help here? Got some trash that needs scraping off the tarmac.”

Then there was the sound of boots thudding on concrete and raised voices.

“What the fuck?” That was Crank.

“Here.” That was Horvan. “Wipe yourself off with this.” A pause. “Good thing we found out everything we needed, huh?”

“He was going to kill Aric!” Brick retorted. “And the world’s a better place without that fucker. What’s going to happen to him? What’s left of him, at any rate.”

“Aelryn will find a deep, dark hole to bury the POS in, where no one will ever look. That’s one grave that won’t get a marker.”

Aric. Turn around.

There was no way Aric could ignore Brick.

He turned to be greeted by the sight of a naked Brick, a bloodied towel in his hand.

Brick was glaring.

“Why would you go after him with my gun? And Iknowit was loaded.”

“Yeah, it was.” Aric reached into his pocket and withdrew the bullets. “Now you can put them back.”

Seth gasped. “You set him up. You knew Fielding would go for the gun, and you made sure we knew what you were doing.”

“Of course.” Aric glanced at the tarp-covered lump on the ground. “Fielding haunted Brick’s dreams. I wanted to give Brick the chance to kill him, to rid us of him forever.” What surprised him was how the memory of what he’d just seen, what he’d heard, was fading with every second, as if his mind didn’t want to hold on to it a moment longer and was already into the process of expelling it.

Aric was fine with that.

Brick pulled Aric to him. “I’ve already talked to you about putting yourself in danger. What the hell do I have to do? Put you over my knee and swat your ass as a reminder?”

Seth coughed. “Uh, Brick?”

Brick’s head snapped toward him. “What?”

“Okay, so this isn’t the time, but, ixnay ethay unishmentpay alktay. Aric likes a little pain with his pleasure, so you’re not exactly helping.”

Brick narrowed his eyes. “What the hell does that mean?” he demanded, his deep voice reverberating through Aric.

Seth sighed. “I swear,no oneremembers classic pig Latin anymore. I had to teach Aric so we could talk in the camp when I was too tired to show him my thoughts.” He met Brick’s gaze. “Itmeansexactly what it sounded like. Aric likes a little pain with his pleasure, so threatening to spank him? That isn’t a deterrent.”

Brick’s mouth fell open. “He… what?” Then he frowned. “Wait, I thought you two haven’t—”

“That’s right, we haven’t. That doesn’t mean I didn’t get to see something in Aric’s head once when we were jerking off. And we did share fantasies.”

“Hey, will you quit giving away all my secrets?” Aric growled. He had to admit, the conversation helped ease his tremors, even if it was the most surreal thing ever, with Fielding’s remains only feet away from them.

He’d been Aric’s definition of a bad guy while he lived, and dead, he was fast becoming nothing but a bad dream.

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