Fraudulent Death, Draft 01, CH 35 (Patreon)

Trembor woke up tired. It seemed to be the norm now, but this morning he had a sense of why. The dreams left him disturbed; memories of him chaining himself the front of a train moving toward his family. Bo being sucked into a hole in the ground, and Trembor pushing him down instead of helping him. Sitting in court, Torim the judge, his mothers the jury, reciting a list of crimes he couldn’t hear. They judged him guilty and fed him to his nephews and nieces.

Not exactly nightmares, he decided, but not conducive to a restful sleep. Considering his thoughts of the last weeks, he was surprised none of the dreams had included taking his own life.

He’d expected to be back to his old self, now that he and Derimak had a plan of action, but nothing could happen until the case was finally canceled, and Barany was still going over the agreement for hidden clauses. Trembor wanted to forget about it and expedite it, but he couldn’t do that without explaining the plan and he’d agreed with Derimak, no one else could be brought in. So he was left mid-pounce until then.

On top of that, in a few more days, he’d have to figure out how to handle Marlot. Should he tell him? Lying to his wolf felt wrong, dangerous, after what they’d gone through, but how would he take Trembor working for organized crime, even as a way to take them down?

Marlot had refused to let Trembor sully his hands by killing Nikal in anger, how would he feel about his law-abiding lions breaking laws? Trembor had no misconceptions about it. Maoma would get to break the law, he expected it was the first thing she’d do, slowly claw through his hide until it felt normal.

Maybe she suspected what he was planning and didn’t care, figuring that in time she could break him so thoroughly he wouldn’t want to destroy them anymore. Gorrek had broken him and it had taken his parents for Trembor to get back on his feet. Return to himself. Would that experience make him easier to break, or tougher?

His pad buzzed, and in the middle of it, the alarm sounded. Time to get up. He shut the alarm off, and the pad stopped buzz after the fifth one, transferring Dayra to his message center. He’d pay for it later, if not with Dayra getting her mother to bring her here, at the next family dinner.

He just couldn’t deal with her jovial inquisitiveness right now.

How was he going to hide what he was doing from them? He’d always impressed on them the need to be honest. That curiosity was a good thing. He always answered their questions, and unlike their parents, Trembor had no delusions as to how perceptive the cubs were. They knew his current stress was the court case, but how was he going to explain it once it was over? Or did he believe he was that good of an actor he could fool them?

The pad buzzed again. Dayra would have called Nerik, bullied him into trying to get through to Trembor. If he didn’t answer, they’d get every one of their cousins to call. This wouldn’t end until he answered one of them.

He took the pad off the headboard, looked at the display. Nerik, as he’d expected. Noted the pad needed to be charged. It stopped buzzing.

Who would be next? Nerik would report to Dayra; who would she rope into calling him next? Or would she just wait? Even without prompting, Vanya would call at some point, as well as Gansir. Would she get the teens involved? They liked to claim they were too old to play Dayra’s ‘games’ but when she got something in her mind, she could be a small terror getting it.

Trembor smiled. She would be a copy of her grandmother when she grew up. Fierce and protective. The one who stood before her family’s enemies, fangs bared, claws out. Fearless.

Would Trembor be the enemy by then?

He set the family lock on his pad and focused on not throwing up.

Could he do this? Could he compromise his principles?

“Isn’t it a little late?” he snarled and got out of bed. He’d agreed with Derimak. He understood this was the only way he had out of this in such a way he could keep his family safe. But it left him feeling like he’d have to cut ties with him to accomplish it.

Marlot would be angry, but he’d understand, if Trembor explained everything to him. But his family? Even if he explained the situation, His father wouldn’t understand. Serene would be furious at him for not telling her, for dealing with this by himself. She wouldn’t care about the danger to them; only that he’d put himself in danger. Allowed himself to be abused again.

She would make her anger at Marlot look like cuddling.

He decided not to bother with his morning exercises and dropped the pad on the charger and on his way to the shower. After that ate, forced meat down slowly, having to fight throwing it up anytime he thought about the situation he was in. He’d have to get stress medicine to get through this. With nothing else to do, after eating, he set to tidying up the house again.

He’d just started when his pad buzzed.

By the time he reached it, it was halfway through them before the transfer to his message center. Herelex.

Had Dayra gotten him to call, knowing he had the bypass? No, Herelex was too mature to abuse his privilege like that.

“Herelex, what’s wrong?”

His nephew didn’t immediately respond, and Trembor heard the sounds of the transit system. People talking, the clacking of the rails. The underground. Why was Herelex taking transit, Bo’s work took him by the academy.

“Herelex?”

“I don’t know what to do.”

“What’s wrong?”

Again, a stretching silence. The clanking slowed then stopped. The announcement of a station. Trembor couldn’t make out the words, the distortions of the speakers as the pad.

“It’s probably nothing. I’m just acting like prey.”

Trembor straightened. That was not like his nephew. “Herelex, if you think something wrong, it probably is. What is it?”

He sighed. “Guys at the academy had been trying to get me to use Nip, one suggested I could make money selling it. Another one, a teacher, I think, said there was a market for someone like me; whatever that means. I know I’m being a cub for thinking that, but aren’t I supposed to be safe on the academy grounds? Now it’s like everyone’s trying to get me to do stuff.” He was silent, but Trembor sensed his nephew wasn’t done. “Bad stuff.”

“You said one of them is a teacher?”

“I think so. He’s not a student, that I’m sure of, but I don’t know every adult at the academy. And it was more than one. I’m pretty sure one implied I could be paid to be recorded while having sex.” Trembor heard he shudder in Herelex’s voice.

His nephew was still dealing with his first heat. He’d probably had had his first experience at this point, but it would still be a few weeks until it passed completely and he could think rationally about who he wanted to have sex with. That a teacher was proposing that he be recorded, now, was utterly reprehensible.

“You know you don’t have to do what the other students tell you to, right?”

“Of course, but it’s like all of a sudden, they all found me. Everyone who thinks the academy is just them for them to waste time until they can move on to more productive things, all of which seemed to barely be legal, wants to let me in on it, whatever it is.”

Trembor’s hackles went up; they wouldn’t dare. It was one thing for them to go after the adults in his family, but the cubs? Still, all he could do was support Herelex as he stood up to the other students, but the teachers? He wasn’t who could help.

“You need to tell your father about the teachers who are pressuring you. It’s inappropriate for someone in that position to do that to you. He can call the academy and lodge a complaint.”

Another long silence and Trembor felt the dread rise.

“I did.”

“What did your father say in response?” he asked cautiously.

“Dad said I might as well listen to their offer, that we can always use more money.”

Trembor’s fatigue vanished. “He said what?” he growled.

“He said that hustling on the side was a good thing, that it would get me ready for life outside the academy.” The words were flat and reminded Trembor of how he’d felt while contemplating ending his life.

“How long had this been going on?” he did his best to make his tone gentle.

“A while,” Herelex replied dismissively. Trembor wanted to demand why he’d waited so long to call him, but he’d been young too. It wasn’t like he’d ever asked for help with Gorrek, even once he knew how destructive his situation was. At least Herelex was talking with him now.

“I’ll have a talk with your father,” Trembor said as neutrally as he could considering the boiling anger. What was Bo thinking, letting criminals get their claws into his son? “After that, I’ll stop by the academy and make sure they know this is going on. If another one of the teachers approaches you, try to get their name and pad it to me. The more details I have the easier it’s going to be for me to get the academy to do the right thing.”

Trembor wasn’t sure he heard the sniffle, but the hitch in Herelex’s voice was clear. “Thank you.”

Trembor couldn’t imagine how his nephew felt. For his father to hand him over like that; he was going to have more than words with his brother. If Bo was very lucky, Trembor might leave him some hide to cover his shame with.