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“There are rules about how to make someone into your pup in Aromel,” Sebald said in a hollow voice. “And there are definitely laws about who can and can’t touch a man’s pup. But those laws are a lot like property laws and not rules about how pups should be treated.”
“So if there are laws about whether or not a pup can leave their master and rules about what other man can and can’t do in relation to another man’s pup,” Lefric said with a frown as if he were mulling the question over, “then I guess that, from the point of view of someone who actually wants to be a pup, being one would bring a lot of safety and protection with it.”
“Exactly,” Jace said as if the ultimate point had been made.
“We’re moving backwards,” Peter said so quietly that only I could hear. The others were still busy sharing what they knew of laws about pups in the settlements they’d lived in. It was absolutely everything Peter usually loved, but all he did was swallow hard and try to catch his breath as he said, “We’re supposed to be the future of the frontier, but we’re just cementing the bad things.”
I twisted a little bit so I could face Peter more, even though it was awkward with the way I held him. I stroked my hand over the side of his face, ready to catch the tears that had been forming in his eyes if they fell.
“It’s something more than laws and slavery, isn’t it,” I whispered.
Peter focused his blurry gaze on me. “I thought we were all friends. I thought we were going to fight for the future we wanted to see, that we would be brothers and work for freedom, so no one ever has to go through what we went through ever again.”
“Maybe that’s what we are working for,” I said. “Maybe everything we’re talking about here and now will actually make life better in the future.”
Peter shook his head, anger seeping back in where only sadness and defeat had been a moment before. “Slavery is never better than freedom. Sebald and Jace both know what it feels like to be a slave. It’s obscene that they want to be masters now. And Gennadi?”
The conversation about laws and status had stopped as Peter slowly raised his voice. I could tell at a glance that the others knew Peter was feeding his anger again.
“After everything that happened to you,” Peter continued, borderline yelling at Gennadi, “after everything Yuri did to you, beating you, putting a collar around your neck, marking your body—” he gestured to the scars that were still subtly visible across Gennadi’s body, “—you still want to denigrate yourself by being a pup? How could you?”
Gennadi hunched in on himself, trying to hide his scars. Peter’s tears spilled, which was probably the only thing that kept Jace from leaping off the sofa and pummeling him.
“It’s different,” he growled, glaring at Peter. “What Genny and I have is very, very different from the way Yuri treated him. Yuri treated Genny as less than human, not even as a pup. I love Genny with my whole being. And if he wants to put a label on what we have and seek comfort from the protection that the status of pup might give him, then it’s none of your fucking business.”
“I want Avenel to feel protected too,” Sebald said, angering Peter even more by taking Jace’s side. “I want everyone to know be belongs to me. He’s never belonged to anyone. He doesn’t even have a family. It means the world to him to have everyone we meet know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I own him, that he is mine. You have no right to deny him that comfort and stability just because you hated being a pup yourself.”
Those words affected Peter even more than Jace’s. I could feel it in the way Peter’s whole body went rigid, just before he struggled away from me and jumped to his feet. I still didn’t know what was going on with him, though.
“You’re both traitors,” Peter shouted. He turned to Lefric and spat, “And you’re a traitor too for letting them think they can get away with enslaving helpless young men. You are all breaking the bonds of this brotherhood.”
Gennadi hid his face against Jace’s shoulder, like Avenel had done. Only I could see the deep shame that went along with the action. He must have agreed somewhat with Peter, that he was betraying his brothers.
Avenel had curled himself into a ball, and Sebald had his arms wrapped around him in comfort as he glared at Peter.
Lefric looked deeply offended, but also helpless and anxious, like he realized something was wrong with Peter too.
I stood almost as soon as Peter did and wrapped my arms tightly around him. “You need to stop,” I said as calmly as I could. “You’re upsetting everyone.”
“I’m upsetting them?” Peter blurted, breathing hard and fast. He broke away from me, then turned to face me. “I’m not the one who—”
“Enough!” I shouted, so loud that I startled everyone in the room, including Peter…and myself. “I’m taking you back to Magnus. You can’t be around the others when you’re like this.”
For a moment, Peter and I just stared at each other. I could read an entire volume of emotion in Peter’s eyes. He was indignant and lost and terrified and impressed all at once. Oh, and hard. Whether he wanted me or anyone else to see it or not, his cock reacted to my show of force.
Since I knew that, once he’d come back to his senses, he would be embarrassed beyond belief for having an outburst like this in front of his friends, I grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the door leading to the back garden.
Miraculously, Peter moved with me, and he didn’t try to yank his hand out of mine.
“Do you want your clothes?” Lefric called out to us. “It’s a little cold out there.”
“We have more in the cottage,” I called over my shoulder as we reached the door. “We’ll come back for what we left tomorrow.”
I didn’t hear if Lefric said anything else. Our clothes weren’t important anyhow.
As soon as we made it into the back garden—well, for one, my balls shriveled, because it actually was cold—but more importantly, Peter started making odd, panting, sobbing sounds, like he was about to lose control.
“Hang on, Peter,” I said, picking up my pace as I walked around the garden beds and into the back garden for the cottage where we were staying. “I know something else is wrong. I’ve known you for too long to think this is just about Sebald and Jace, or even just about pupdom. There’s something else, and we’re going to find Magnus and deal with it together.”
