Chapter 46: Conrart's WHAT?

Yozak glanced down at Conrart, as the other man nestled against his chest, his eyes closed so that he could almost think the other man was already asleep. However the rhythm of his breathing was all wrong for that. "My rooms or yours?" he asked gently.

Conrart opened his eyes and looked up at him, "Yours" he said softly "mine are a disaster."

Yozak smiled, "alright." He refrained from voicing his disbelief at the idea of Conrart's rooms ever being anything less than immaculate.

It didn't take long for him to make his way back to his rooms, but by the time he got there the other man was mostly asleep in his arms. He opened the door carefully so that he didn't disturb the precious burden in his arms. He kicked the door closed as he made his way into his living room and gently set Conrart down on the couch. Conrart blinked up at him, before closing his eyes again, not quite awake but not quite asleep either. The thought of waking the other man enough for him to get dried off and slip into clean dry clothing was almost painful.

He turned and headed for the bedroom to get something dry for his friend to wear.

"Don't leave me." Conrart's voice was soft and pleading.

Yozak paused, turned around and leaned down to kiss his friend's forehead. "I'm just going to get you something dry to slip into so you can get some sleep; I'm not going anywhere I promise."

Conrart looked up at him for a moment and then nodded. Yozak offered him a smile before heading into his bedroom. Quickly he grabbed a towel from among his toiletries, and grabbed two sets of sleeping clothes, then tossed the second pair of pants onto his dresser – they'd only fall off of Conrart. That decided he set the rest of the clothing onto the bed in a neat pile, the towel he slung over his shoulder before headed back out to where his best friend was waiting on the couch.

He paused briefly when he realized, Conrart wasn't his best friend any longer – at least not just his best friend – he was his fiancé.

Conrart was mostly asleep on the couch by the time he got there; curled up in the throw blanket he kept on a nearby chair. Yozak couldn't help thinking that he looked almost angelic, despite the fact that he was shivering. It didn't take him long to pull the other man out of the now wet blanket. Conrart blinked at him, his eyes distant and Yozak threw caution to the wind. Deftly he peeled off his fiancé's sodden clothing (undergarments and all) and set about drying him off, pausing to stare in mild alarm at the sight of Conrart's bruised back. He made a mental note to apply some salve to those bruises before he put the smaller man to bed. Other than that he resolutely kept his eyes forward – he didn't have Conrart's permission to look after all.

Carefully wrapping his friend in the towel he led him into the other room and made him sit on the edge of the bed while he gently saw to his bruises before he helped Conrart into the oversized nightshirt – that hung past his knees. That accomplished he set about towel drying the other man's beautiful hair before tucking him into bed. Briskly he stripped, and slipped into dry night clothing before sliding into bed himself. He gathered his still shivering friend in his arms to help warm him, but after a few minutes it became apparent that wasn't going to work so he did the only thing he could think of to warm his friend up quickly.

He stripped them both to the skin and pulled Conrart back into his arms, so that the other man's ass rested against his groin.

Conrart made a soft almost mewing noise of contentment as he drifted off to sleep, and Yozak – belatedly -realized he was purring softly at the other man; but somehow his own animalistic tendencies didn't seem to faze him. Conrart was his – and as soon as enough time had passed he was going to mark Conrart as his Mate so that the world could see the little brunette belonged to him and him alone. But they still had several seasons of hormone frenzied intercourse before he could make Conrart submit to him mind, body and soul.

He'd have to wait until their next season to start the slow process of making Conrart his. For now however he was content just to have the other man in his arms and a few minutes later he followed Conrart into the arms of sleep.

KKMHOVKKMHOVKKMHOV

Yozak moaned as he slowly awoke from his nap. He shifted his hips forward instinctively and his eyes snapped open in alarm at the soft mew of content that came from the man under him as the head of his throbbing penis brushed lightly against his friend's backside. Below him Conrart was mewing soft encouragements and whimpering piteously as he slowly raised his hips in a silent request. He rolled off of Conrart, ignoring the soft chirps of protest the other man made at the loss of contact between them. The soft chirps gave way to needy and plaintive little mews as Conrart coiled his lithe body against Yozak's chest, writhing against him like Conrart was a cat and just discovered Yozak was catnip.

Alarmed he moved away in an attempt to get a better look at the man, to gage if he should call for a healer, only to have Conrart slither back up against him. Most alarmingly, Conrart was still asleep. He glanced at the time candle, before deciding if he should call a healer. Four hours had passed since they'd gone to sleep, one of the healer's should be popping up shortly but still he wanted to make sure Conrart was alright, particularly since the last time he'd heard noises like that, had been during the war when Olof had gone into Heat. Since nearly every other man in the platoon had been in Rutt at the time … well it had been interesting.

He reached out with his mindspeach only to feel Elizabeth heading towards them, with that problem settled he climbed out of bed and pulled on his sleeping pants, before climbing back onto the bed and pulling his squirming fiancé into his arms. "Easy," he whispered soothingly into his friend's ear. "What's with you today? If I didn't know better I'd think you were in Heat."

Conrart opened his beautiful brown eyes and gazed up at him his slit eyes swirling with molten silver flecks. The smaller man made a soft mewling noise, and arched his back like a cat.

Yozak was too busy trying to grasp the fact that Conrart's eyes were changing color to truly notice the not so subtle invitation. The only reason he could think of why Conrart's eyes would be changing colors was the Pair-bonding ritual, but that took days if not weeks to complete and they hadn't been alone in a room together without fighting long enough to even attempt the first stage of the long and complicated ritual. That and the small fact that the only people who knew the ritual in its entirety before either being married or mated were healers – since the ritual was usually for procreation. Regardless of gender a Mazoku was simply incapable of becoming pregnant without first being Pair-bound. That was one thing that actually made Conrart extremely rare if not unique among half-breeds – his father was human.

All Mazoku had flecks of color in their eyes, in most the difference in shade was a subtle one. Conrart's however were rather obvious. In human territory Yozak's hair marked him as Mazoku, for Conrart the giveaway had always been his eyes.

Now the flecks of silver in Conrart's eyes were widening, so that his eyes almost looked liquid silver. He didn't know why it was happening and that alarmed him.

Maybe it had to do with a lack of sleep… or knowing Conrart the man had probably forgotten to eat over the last few days… he was sure it was nothing serious.

He'd ask Elizabeth about it when she got there.

"Come in," he called when Elizabeth knocked on the door.

KKMHOVKKMHOVKKMHOV

Elizabeth smiled at the two men she'd come to think of as friends, and tried desperately not to gag at the scent that permeated the room. She'd mostly been avoiding Yozak since he'd gone into Rutt, largely because the scent he was producing was - well kind of disgusting actually. It wasn't the smell itself that was off-putting just that the man smelled as if he'd bathed in it. If it hadn't been for the fact that Conrart was less than likely to let her husband anywhere near him – she'd have asked I'Ryk to come instead. Her nose was so sensitive Yozak's musk actually made her nauseous.

"Geez Yozak, when was the last time you aired out your rooms?" She demanded, as she crossed the room and threw open a window.

Yozak snorted, "About three weeks ago." He replied mildly at the same time as Conrart informed her "I think it smells fine – actually I think it smells divine."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow; "divine" was pushing it.

She smiled, "it's good to see the two of you getting along again." She said mildly. They both flushed at her mild jab and she made her way over to the bed. "How are you feeling Conrart, I hear you had an unexpected bath?" Conrart turned an interesting shade of red and opened his mouth to reply.

"Enough of that," she added sharply to Yozak when the man started to growl as she got closer to Conrart. "He needs to be examined."

Conrart gazed up at her for a moment, "I'm fine," he said softly. "Van made sure I didn't drown -" he shifted his gaze to Yozak endeavoring to look convincing and just coming off as adorable. "And you, got me out of the river before I was in for very long, I don't need to see a healer," he added.

Yozak raised an eyebrow, "true, if you had only fallen in the river, I'd likely give in and just keep you in bed like an invalid. However you need to have a healer look at that bruise you're calling your back."

Elizabeth raised one finely arched brow, "Exactly what did you do to yourself this time? Scratch that; how did you do it?"

Conrart flushed, after a minute he replied "I had an equestrian accident," with great dignity.

"You fell off of a horse?" Yozak demanded incredulously. "How drunk were you?"

Conrart made a soft noise, like a cat whimpering, and attempted to look innocent. "What makes you think I was drunk?" he asked.

"I've seen you stay in a saddle half dead and exhausted from battle. By your own admission you could ride before you could walk Conrart." Yozak replied crossing his arms and giving the other man a look.

Conrart turned his gaze to the quilt that covered his lap, "I passed out drunk the night before and I'd had a few drinks before I went out for that ride, okay?"

Yozak opened his mouth to reply but she cut them off, worried that they would spiral right back into their previous fight. "That's neither here nor there," she said mildly. "The point is Conrart injured himself, and needs to have his back looked at in addition to the physical he'd been avoiding, so we might as well get started." She smiled slightly when Conrart squeaked at the mention of the physical.

"Strip and lie-down on your stomach," she told him firmly.

Conrart backed away from her and gave Yozak an almost pleading look.

The other man smiled at him gently, "on your stomach." He said firmly in reply.

Conrart made a noise that sounded somewhere between a mew and a whimper, but did as he was told turning over so that he lay on his stomach his side pressed against Yozak's thigh.

Elizabeth sighed, Conrart was notoriously body shy around Healers, and he was generally okay as long as he was wearing pants; the second they came off however the man nearly panicked. "Conrart I need you to actually undress," she said gently, "you left without getting a physical and have neglected to come and see me for the one you were supposed to get when you returned from duty, so drop your pants because I am not leaving here without giving you a thorough checkup."

Conrart whimpered and shrank closer to Yozak, who simply pulled down the covers, revealing Conrart's nude body for her inspection. She briefly wondered if she should leave them alone for a minute to get cleaned up – but rather quickly dismissed it when she realized the scent in the room was wrong for that. She took a step closer to the bed to begin her examination only to freeze at the sound of the low menacing growl Yozak was currently making.

He leaned forward, and planted a hand on the smaller mans back – only his fingertips touching the abused flesh. His message was clear – back off, mine.

She groaned and reminded herself that in season males of any species where rarely rational where their mates are concerned. She rolled her eyes and reaching out; bopped Yozak on the nose in the same manner one would scold an uppity puppy. "Stop that!" she said firmly. "Now go put some water on, I have some tea Conrart needs to drink to make sure he doesn't get sick from that cold dunking. While you're at it go get the boy some sleeping clothes."

Yozak blinked at her, a bemused expression on his face before leaning down and lightly kissing the back of Conrart's neck. Elizabeth was in just the right spot to notice Conrart's silent response. The boy squirmed slightly and spread his legs mewing softly in reply. Yozak lightly caressed Conrart's backside before going to do as he'd been told.

Conrart whimpered softly at the loss of contact and buried his face in one of the plush pillows.

With a snort of amused dismay she moved closer to Conrart and sniffed lightly at the air. The sent was fainter then Yozak's musk and vaguely sweater. However she recognized the scent that laced Conrart's – the man was in heat.

KKMHOVKKMHOVKKMHOV

Yozak stared around Conrart's rooms in open mouthed dismay. The stubs of what he would guess to be every candle Conrart owned lay in a circle around the sofa, lining every surface at least four candles deep. Wax coated the wooden floor and the surface of the tables in mute testament to state of mind Conrart had been in the night before. The blanket that dangled precariously off the edge of the sofa was a clear indication that Conrart had slept there.

He had to admit he was rather startled; when they were younger Conrart had gone through a phase where he'd been unable to sleep without a candle burning. However he'd thought the other man had outgrown that faze long ago. It appeared he'd been wrong. The only reason he really even remembered that faze was because of how out of place it had been. While it was true all children went through it at some point in their lives Conrart's age had made it stand out. One didn't usually enter such a faze when they were the human equivalent of 13.

The room reeked of alcohol, and stale vomit.

It was enough to make him gag.

Carefully he picked his way across the floor until he could throw open the shutters and let some in air. The vrondi came willingly to his call creating a strong breeze to air out the rooms, the breeze would only last for about a quarter of a mark but that should be long enough to reduce the foul stench. That accomplished he made his way over to Conrart's wardrobe and liberated a clean set of sleeping clothes, two pairs of small-clothes and a clean set of whites for the man to wear when they resumed their duties tomorrow. Empty and mostly empty bottles of alcohol littered the floor intermixed with the occasional partly full bottle, and Yozak wondered exactly how Conrart had managed to function the last few days.

He set the clothing he was carrying down on top of Conrart's vanity beside his hair brush and began to quickly gather up the bottles and tossed them into Conrart's trash can. Conrart would be mortified if anyone else saw his room in its current state. So he was going to at least clean up the bottles and candles before some gossip came in here to clean up and decided Herald Conrart was involved in some weird rituals or something.

It took him the better part of 20 minutes to clean up Conrart's rooms, and when he left it was still nowhere near Conrart's usual standards. However the bottles and vomit had been cleaned up and the wax had been scraped from the floor and other surfaces; over all the room looked much neater then it had when he first arrived. He walked back over to the sofa and picked up the quilt that dangled off of it wrinkling his nose in mild disgust when he realized Conrart had vomited on it some point in the night. Carefully he bundled up the quilt and tossed it onto the neat pile of soiled bedding on the floor before moving over to Conrart's desk to write the maids a quick note, explaining the vomit spattered bedding away by simply saying his friend had been ill. With a sigh he walked over to the wash basin and washed his hands before gathering up Conrart's clothing and leaving the room, deftly tucking his note to the maids into the name plate on the door where they would see it.

Elizabeth was waiting for him in his living room when he returned, and he was very grateful he'd put the water on before leaving to go and get Conrart some clean clothing. He set the clothing down on one of his end tables when he noticed the healer's serious expression. He'd never seen Elizabeth look so serious and it worried him, particularly when he considered what he'd just seen in the other man's rooms.

"What is it?" he asked.

Elizabeth looked at him for a minute and Yozak could feel her unease. She was worried, deeply worried. "How much longer is your Rutt?" she asked after a second.

Yozak blinked startled by the question, he hesitated before answering curious as to the relevance of the question. "About two weeks."

"Did you have sex with Conrart, earlier today?" she asked gently.

Yozak sputtered, not sure where this line of questioning was going and not entirely sure it was any of her business. "No," he replied shortly. "Why?"

"I didn't think so," Elizabeth replied "Do you have enough control while in Rutt not to take someone in heat?"

Yozak felt as if she'd struck him. "I am not an animal!" he retorted sharply.

"I didn't think you where," she replied gently. "However some Change-children can't control the urge to mate when faced with another in heat. I wanted to be sure it's not the same with you."

Yozak sighed, "I'm a dominant male, when I'm in Rutt my instinct is to find a mate and well mate. However I have a secondary instinct to protect that mate, form anything – including myself. It means that even without my tea I can control myself in regards to my mate enough not to force them if they don't want to have sex. Why?"

"Can a person who goes through Rutt, go through Heat as well?" she asked ignoring his question.

Yozak suppressed the urge to growl, he was about an hour late taking his tea, and he was finding her line of questioning aggravating. "No a person who goes through Rutt can't go through Heat. Why?" the soft sound of his bed creaking alerted him to the fact that Conrart had gotten up.

"Are you aware of the fact that Conrart is in season?" Elizabeth asked quietly.

The soft sound of Conrart gasping from behind the bedroom door told him his friend was eavesdropping. Yancha, he thought mildly, Anata ga nani ka o shiyou to shite iru baai wa machigatte torawarete wa ikenai. * "I sort of figured he was in pre-Rutt he's been ridiculously aggressive lately."

Elizabeth sighed, just as the door opened a crack. "Yozak how sure are you that Conrart goes through Rutt?"

Yozak snorted, "Very I've seen him go through it a few times now."

"Is there any reason why a man from your culture would fake a Rutt if they went through Heat?" she asked.

Behind the door Yozak heard Conrart gasp, "No," he replied calmly "there is no reason why a Submissive would pretend to be a Dominant. Both are entirely socially acceptable."

Elizabeth rubbed the bridge of her nose, "Yozak I don't know how to tell you this but Conrart is in Heat."

"What!" Yozak gasped in surprise, he honestly had not seen this coming.

His astonished shout almost drowned out the terrified little squeak that came from his bedroom and the sharp click of his door shutting. "I'd better go talk to him," Yozak said trying desperately to keep the growl out of his voice. Why had Conrart lied to him?

"I'm going to go and get the herbs Conrart needs; will you need more as well?" Elizabeth enquired as she headed for the door.

Yozak hesitated, he had enough tea to last him till the end of his Rutt but he hadn't been making it strong enough to deal with the carnal urges that would come with having a submissive literally in his bed at night. Now that he knew, his instincts wouldn't allow him to let Conrart sleep alone. His instincts demanded that he do two things with Conrart, now that the little submissive had agreed to be his: protect him and pound him into their mattress. However, Conrart had made it very clear earlier that the latter was out of the question – for now. "Could you bring me a bit more of the winter Savory and the licorice root?" The two would help lower his sex drive. "I need to increase the amount of both in my tea."

Elizabeth nodded, "will you be able to handle Conrart, or would you like me to talk to him?"

"No thank you, I can handle my - Conrart." He replied, blushing fiercely when he realized he'd nearly called Conrart his mate.

He couldn't help smiling as he picked up the clothing he' brought for Conrart and headed back into his bedroom. As much as it hurt to know Conrart had lied to him all these years, he couldn't help being glad the other man was a Submissive. Firstly it meant he hadn't been losing his mind. But secondly, and most importantly, it meant he wouldn't have to worry about hurting Conrart when he was in Rutt. He would have to struggle with another Dominant until one of them submitted and with how much smaller Conrart was he was likely to hurt him. As a Submissive however, the worst he was likely to do was nip him if he got out line and Conrart was entitled to nothing less than his love, care, protection and the safety of his embrace as he slept.

KKMHOVKKMHOVKKMHOV

Anata ga nani ka o shiyou to shite iru baai wa machigatte torawarete wa ikenai. - When you are going to do something, you mustn't be kept by mistake / if you are going to do something wrong, don't get caught.

Do not use any herbal remedy without first asking your medical practitioner