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Jules opened the door and stuck his head inside the room. Felix, attempting to lever himself out of a piled-up bed, tumbled to the floor. "Ow!" Felix rubbed his b.u.t.t cheek and glared up at Jules. "Do you ever sleep past dawn?"

Jules brandished the kitten. "What would make this cat grow so much in a week?" He asked. "Is Hal doing some kind of whammy-mojo on her or something? Is it the milk?"

Felix got up and took Sphinx to look at her. "She"s not touched by magic," he said. "Maybe you"re feeding her better than her mother could." He gave her back, and yawned behind a hand.

Jules only then noticed Felix"s entire chest was crawling with tattoos. His arms and shoulders had thick, black lines and patterns swirling around. He turned his back to get a dressing gown, showing Jules he had an enormous dragon back piece. "Those are beautiful," he whispered, slightly stunned. All that ink served to make Felix rather savage looking.

"Hm?" Felix followed Jules"s stare, and gave a silent little "oh". He put on his robe and cinched it shut, yawning again. "Most of them are for protection," he explained. "My mother did them when I was a child, and every time I had a growth spurt I had to have them redone."

"That"s pretty intense," Jules said.

Felix shrugged. "She wasn"t the best role model, being a witch, but she ??? effective."

Noise from downstairs made Jules back up and look over the banister. Halian was walking down the lower hall, his brother behind him on a dog chain. Felix Joined him in watching, and gave a low whistle. "Halian doesn"t f.u.c.k around," he commented. "Like his brother is a disobedient mutt. s.h.i.t, that"s humiliating. Halian"s going to have you sitting ?????? him for meals for awhile, Jules."

"What do you mean?" Jules asked.

"He"s treating his brother like an out of favor omega," Felix said very quietly. "Expect to see Lucien eating out of a dog"s bowl. Also, I"d like to point out that"s a choke chain around his neck."

Jules looked again, Felix had seen correctly. "Oh s.h.i.t," Jules whispered. "Making his alpha brother accept punishment like an omega... That"s diabolical."

Halian took the stairs, pulling Lucien with him. The younger Novar was bruised, cut, and generally beaten. He kept his head down, and when he balked at going up, Halian reined him in with a sharp jerk that cut off Lucien"s air.

"The ????, Jules," Felix stressed again, muttering. "Halian"s using so much symbolism it makes my head hurt. Lucien"s disrespect for omegas is what got him bound there."

Halian reached the top landing. Lucien resisted being pulled into the bedroom, and Halian swept out a leg to knock him off his feet. In the next second, he had his boot on Lucien"s jaw, forcing his cheek to the floor and ensuring silence as well as immobility. "You ???? submit," he informed coldly. "Keep testing my patience, Lucien, and I"ll show you why I never lose a fight."
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Jules felt his insides quiver. Halian looked like an angry G.o.d standing there, one foot on his brother"s face and one hand holding the choke chain taut. It was horrible.

And, it was ???.

Jules smelled Felix thought so, too.

"Lucky, lucky you, Jules," Felix whispered.

Sphinx gave a little meow, and Halian"s head turned to look in their direction. "Felix," he greeted calmly. "Take Jules into your room, please. Jules, I"ll be with you momentarily."

Felix pulled Jules into his room, and shut the door. He then leaned on it. fanning his face with his hand. "I"ve never seen him like that," Felix said. "He"s always so mild-mannered."

Jules"s legs felt like noodles. He sat heavily on the bed, clutching his kitten close. "I"m ???????. Why am I excited?"

"Because that"s a f.u.c.k-all of a thing to see right at dawn, the first moment," Felix replied faintly. "Talk about starting the day right."

"Felix," Jules protested. "I shouldn"t think it"s... s.e.xy to see Hal punishing his brother!"

"Why not?" Felix asked, dropping down beside him. "He"s not twisting his brother in the sheets. That was a power display, and a power display is all about the s.e.xy."

"Make me some heat suppressant, you twisted tailor," Jules snapped, a hair"s breadth away from panic. "I can"t be distracting Hal. Got anything for the way we smell?"

"Hold on, hold on," Felix muttered. He got up and staggered to his fireplace to get the iron kettle. "Look in that stone box sitting on my bureau. It"s under the bolt of very fine, off-white linen."

"You"re a slob," Jules b.i.t.c.hed, but he put Sphinx on the bed and unearthed the box. It had a spray bottle in it, like what women used to pump a mist of perfume on themselves.

"And you"re a smart mouth," Felix shot back, grinding herbs in a mortar so hard that the sound made Jules"s teeth itch. "Get that bottle out and start spraying the room. G.o.d"s sake, don"t squirt yourself, or the cat!"

"What is this?" Jules asked, hurriedly spritzing furniture and drapes. "It smells like a.s.s!"

"Fake alpha scent, which Halian won"t find at all appealing, but it"ll cover up that we"re in the mood for love." Felix knocked plant dust into two cups and added the boiling water. "Get over here and drink this, quick. f.u.c.k. All I can think about right now is getting a knot. Preferably, Sam"s."

"He"s mated," Jules said, and he had a sip of the horrible brew.

"Not anymore. His wife died almost a year ago," Felix said. "I"ve been trying to get his attention, but he"s still in mourning, so..."

They were drinking the noxious infusion when Halian knocked and entered. The master of the house took one whiff of the room and recoiled with his hand over his nose. "That is the most loathsome, synthesized alpha odor I"ve ever had the misfortune to smell," he said, kind of m.u.f.fled.

"Better than hitting your perfect little nose with randy omega twice over," Felix told him. "Your dominance display hit me right in my glands. If I"d known you looked like that while p.i.s.sed off, I"d have tried harder insults outside the cathedral."

Halian scowled at Felix, not his usual scowl, either, but one of disdain.

"Not helping, stud," Felix said. "Take your omega and get out of here, before I talk myself into something unwise."

Halian scooped up Sphinx and took Jules by the hand, pulling him out the door. Jules swallowed the remaining bit of suppressant, throwing the cup onto Felix"s bed at the last possible second.

Halian leaned over the banister, and sucked in clean air. "Foul," he reiterated. "That stink makes me want to slit throats."

"Guess it does its job, then," Jules said, rubbing his kitten"s cheek with his own.