Arlen

by Catherine Lievens

  Arlen gaped and clutched his hands over his stomach. “P-pregnant?”

  Jared arched a brow at him. “I don’t think you had time to have sex with anyone since you became human again. Right?”

  “No, no, I didn’t, but... pregnant? A guy gave birth to a kid?”

  “Well, he actually gave birth to an egg.”

  “An egg? How did that even work? Where did it come out of? Wait, I don’t wanna know, actually. Just... make sure I don’t have one of those.”

  Jared chuckled. “I really don’t think you have to worry about that. Troy was human before he became half harpy, and harpies are women. That’s the only reason he was able to do it. But we’ve made a point of checking all the lab survivors, just in case. So lie on your back and pull your T-shirt up.”

  Arlen obeyed. “This is weird. I mean, I thought being in the lab was weird, but this is even weirder.” Jared squirted a cold gel on Arlen’s stomach and Arlen jumped. “Hey! Shouldn’t you have told me it was cold or something? The doctors in the movies always do.”

  “Sorry. It’ll be cold.”

  “Ha ha, very funny.” Arlen watched Jared turn the machine on and grab the thingy he’d put on his stomach. “So, the egg. What was inside it?”

  “A boy.”

  “But was it... human? Or shifter?”

  “The baby looks mostly human.”

  Arlen wanted to find out more, he really did, but he also realized it wasn’t his business and that Jared probably wouldn’t answer more questions, so he shut his mouth and held his breath while Jared checked his stomach.

  “All clear.”

  Arlen released a big breath. “So nothing that doesn’t belong?”

  “No, you’re all male. No female parts, don’t worry.”

  “That’s good. Very good. Can I go home now?”

  “Nope. You still have an x-ray to do.”

  “Aww, come on! I’ve let you poke and prod at me for hours!”

  Jared smiled indulgently. “I know. It’s the last thing, I swear, and I’ll go check your blood work while you’re doing it so you can go home once you’re done, all right?”

  Arlen sighed. “Yeah, okay. It’s not like I have a choice.”

  Jared patted his thigh. “Good man.”

  He put everything away and opened the door, revealing an anxious Nick on the other side of it. It was kind of funny to see Nick in that state, actually. Arlen knew him as a fairly distant man, somewhat cold and serious. Of course, he’d seen a different Nick with Gentry, but it’d been only with Gentry. Seeing Nick being frantic over him made Arlen feel good.

  “Everything okay?” Nick asked.

  Jared reassured him. “Yes, don’t worry. He just has to do an x-ray, then he can go home.” He handed a bunch of paper towels to Arlen and Arlen started to clean himself up. He could swear the damn gel had leaked everywhere, even into his underwear.

  “But he’s fine?”

  “Yes.”

  Jared wrote something in Arlen’s file and left them alone.

  “I’m fine, Nick. Ready for some dirty dancing.”

  Nick turned wide eyes on Arlen. “What?”

  Arlen stopped trying to clean himself and looked at Nick. “Dirty dancing? You know, have sex.”

  Nick shook his head. “No sex.”

  “What? Why?”

  “I want to hear you can actually have sex from Jared first, and we still have to talk with Gentry.”

  “Yeah, I know. Don’t worry, I’m not going to jump you or anything. Not that I don’t want to, of course, but you’re right. We need to talk with Gentry.”

  “Who were you going to have sex with anyway?” Nick’s growling tone made obvious what Arlen’s answer should be.

  Which was exactly why he said the exact opposite. “Umm, I don’t know. The nurse who took my blood was nice-looking. A bit too thin for my taste, but I haven’t had sex in more than a year, so I can’t be picky, right?”

  “Arlen.” Nick growled.

  Arlen threw his hands up. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Jeesh, man, relax. How about I tell you the only people I really want to have sex with are you and Gentry?”

  Nick let himself fall on the chair next to the hospital bed Arlen was still lying on. Arlen finished cleaning his stomach and pulled his T-shirt down, then sat up and slung his legs around, letting them dangle down the side of the bed. That way he could more or less face Nick, who looked like he was about to ask Arlen the meaning of life or something equally philosophical. “Come on, shoot.”

  “Did you really mean that?”

  “You’re going to have to be more explicit there, big guy. Mean what?”

  “That you want to have sex with Gentry.”

  Arlen put one foot on the thin mattress under him and hugged his leg. He leaned his chin on his knee and started chewing on his lower lip. “I guess, yeah. I know it sounds weird, because you and I are mates, but I’ve had the time to get to know Gentry as much as I could in wolf form. I couldn’t really answer him when we talked, but he knew that and he didn’t seem to care. He talked to me a lot, about his family, about his mate, his job. I knew I was your mate, but I couldn’t say anything, and you looked happy with Gentry. I was glad. Still am.”

  “So you don’t feel... jealous or something?”

  Arlen hummed as he thought about it. He really wasn’t ready to confess he loved both his mate and Gentry. “Yeah, I did, but I got used to it. It was hard in the beginning, but like I said, I like him and he’s obviously good for you. I didn’t think I’d be able to shift back for years, so I made peace with it. Now that I’m human again, I don’t want to push Gentry away. He doesn’t deserve it, and I like him as much as I like you. If you and I weren’t mates we probably wouldn’t even contemplate a threesome, because I’d leave you two without protesting. I still could, but I think we can have something good here. We just have to talk it out and keep all the options open. Do you think you can do it?”

  “So you want a real threesome? Not two separate relationships?”

  “We could do it that way if that’s what you really want. I’m not sure I’ll be able to, though. I don’t think it’ll be easier to deal with, and if I want both of you, you want both of us and Gentry wants both too... why not a threesome?” Arlen held his breath. He was trying to be cool and at least look calm, but inside he was in turmoil. He didn’t want Nick to say yes to the parallel relationships. He wanted to have both men, together.

  Nick shook his head. “I don’t know what Gentry wants.”

  “Me neither, but I know he wants you, and he looked interested when he helped me dress. Flustered, but interested.”

  “I’m not sure I can deal with the jealousy.”

  “I’ve had to for months. When I first realized Gentry was with you, I was so angry I could’ve torn him to pieces. I had to stay away for a few days, and I came back only because I didn’t want to leave the two of you alone. But you weren’t there most of the time, and I decided to keep an eye on Gentry. And that led to me getting to know him and liking him. I know exactly what you’re going through.”

  “You dealt with it, but what if I can’t? What if I end up hating one of you? Or both?”

  Arlen put his leg down and reached for Nick. He squeezed his hand. “That’s why we’re going to have to talk a lot. We need to tell each other what we feel about each other, things like that. We need to put down rules the three of us need to respect, like, I don’t know, no sex unless the three of us are there.”

  “But first we have to find out what Gentry wants.”

  “Yeah.” Arlen prayed Gentry wanted the same thing they wanted, because he didn’t think Nick would react well to losing his lover.

  * * * *

  Someone knocked on the door of the room Gentry used as an office. “Come in.” It used to be a bedroom and was in the alpha’s house, easy to reach for everyone, which was the most important thing.

  The do
or opened and Rick’s head appeared. “Can I c-come in?”

  “I didn’t realize we had an appointment.”

  Rick shuffled in and closed the door behind himself. “We don’t. I j-just... I heard about Arlen, and I w-wanted to know how he i-is.”

  “All right. Do you want to sit down? I have a bit of time before Elliott gets here.”

  Gentry gestured toward the couch and Rick sat in front of him. Gentry linked his fingers together and avoided looking at Rick. The other man was a lot more observant than people gave him credit for, and Gentry knew he’d realize something was up if Gentry looked at him as he talked. “I found an implant in Arlen’s neck yesterday evening.”

  “I-implant?”

  “It’s a piece of plastic, about the size of a match, which was used to release something into Arlen’s bloodstream. I don’t know what and how long it would have worked exactly, but Arlen and Nick are at the hospital right now.”

  Rick’s eyes were huge. “W-where was the i-implant?”

  “On the back of Arlen’s neck. Under the skin.”

  “Oh m-my God. I t-think I f-felt it when I petted him s-sometimes. I c-could have h-helped him sooner.”

  “Hey. You know Arlen won’t be angry with you for this. You didn’t know.”

  “But I d-don’t know what h-he’ll think! I d-don’t know him, n-not really.”

  “He’s always been in wolf form, ever since you met him, right?”

  Rick nodded. He tilted his head forward to make his hair slide in front of his face, something he hadn’t done in front of Gentry in a while.

  “Rick, I don’t know him well, but from what little I saw this morning, he won’t hold you responsible for it, and neither should you. He knows you. You talked to him. He knows what you’ve been through, what you’re still working through. He’s fine now, and that’s the important part.”

  “You t-think?”

  “Yes. I’ll tell him to find you when he comes back, all right? Maybe he won’t come right away, but he’ll come, and you’ll have the opportunity to clear things between the two of you. I know he was one of your first friends, and I don’t want you to lose him.”

  “Where is h-he going to l-live?”

  Gentry hesitated, but he’d never lie to a patient, least of all Rick. They weren’t strictly patient and psychologist anymore, but also somewhat friends, and Rick wasn’t there to talk with his doctor but with his friend. “Probably with Nick.”

  Rick tilted his head to the side and pushed his hair away from his face. “Why? I m-mean, I’m sure he’ll f-feel more comfortable there in t-the beginning since that’s where he s-stayed when he got here, but t-there’s space here, or in m-my house.”

  Gentry widened his fingers and pressed his hands on his thighs. “It’s, well, I won’t tell you it’s complicated, because it’s not. It was just a surprise. Nick realized Arlen is his mate yesterday, so I’m guessing Arlen will stay with him.”

  “What a-about you?”

  Gentry didn’t look up. He didn’t think he’d be able to stand the pity that surely showed in Rick’s eyes, in his expression. “I don’t know. I tried to leave the house this morning, to move in here, but they stopped me. Both of them.”

  Gentry bit his lower lip. He needed to talk with a friend, but while Rick was a friend, he was probably more Arlen’s friend than Gentry’s.

  Someone knocked again and Gentry let out a relieved sigh. “I’ll tell him to call you, all right?”

  Rick nodded and got up. He walked to the door and opened it, but before he left he looked back at Gentry and smiled at him. “I’m s-sorry about this, Gentry, but e-everything’ll be fine. Y-you’ll see.”

  Elliott gave both of them a curious glance, but Gentry just nodded at Rick and waited for him to close the door. “So, Elliott. Is there anything in particular you want to discuss today? Did you think about what we talked about last time?”

  Gentry waved at Elliott as the wolf shifter left his make-shift office, then slumped against the back of the loveseat he was sitting in. He was tired, but he was also scared to go back home. Was it even his home anymore? Nick and Arlen seemed to think so, but he didn’t think he belonged anymore, not now that they probably would become a couple.

  He could think it was unfair all he wanted, but there wasn’t anything he could do. Mating was instinct, and protecting a mate from other men—or women—was, too. Nick and Arlen might think they could somehow include Gentry in their couple, but Gentry highly doubted it would work.

  They’d become jealous of him, they’d get angry at him for intervening in their mating, and he’d end up being pushed away anyway. Better to leave now when it wouldn’t hurt so much. Better to do it now that Arlen was still just a wolf he used to talk to rather than a friend and maybe a lover, and before having to watch Nick make love to Arlen and wish he was still in his place.

  Gentry nodded at himself and got up. He didn’t know if Arlen and Nick were already home, and he’d carefully avoided his cell phone the entire morning. He didn’t have any other appointments, and there was a good chance the two were still in the hospital, so Gentry could go, pack his things, maybe even move them before they came back. Then they could have the talk Arlen wanted and Gentry would tell them he didn’t think any kind of threesome would work, and he’d come back to Kameron’s house.

  He didn’t think they’d let him go so easily, Nick because of what they had and Arlen because from the little Gentry had seen about him, he was stubborn as a mule. But they wouldn’t try to stop him with force, so he shouldn’t have problems leaving.

  “You’re done for the day?”

  Gentry looked at Zach. “Yes. I’m going to Nick’s and gathering my things. Is it a problem if I bring it back here?”

  Zach frowned. “Are you sure?”

  “Do you know everything?”

  “Kameron told me. I even know about the threesome option.”

  Gentry wanted to sit back down and talk to the alpha mate, but he knew he’d never leave and do what he had to do if he did. “It’s not really an option.”

  “From what Kameron said, it seems to be.”

  “How would you feel if Kameron asked you to introduce another man in your couple?”

  Zach waved Gentry’s words away. “It’s not the same thing. We’re already mated and neither of us already had a lover. I think you should at least listen to them, with an open mind.”

  “I will, but I already know what I’ll answer.”

  “That doesn’t sound like an open mind to me.”

  “It’s more open than most people’s.”

  “Probably. I just... I saw how much happier Nick seems to be, and you look happy, too. I don’t want either of you to lose that.”

  “I don’t want to lose that either, but I’m not sure I could do what they want from me.”

  Zach clasped Gentry’s shoulder. “Why don’t you give it a try? See how it goes, maybe try to be intimate with them and see if you really can do it. Don’t decide when you’re high on emotions like this. You might regret it later.”

  “I’ll try. That’s all I can promise.”

  “And that’s all I want from you.”

  * * * *

  “I want to go home!” Arlen whined.

  Nick closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and pinched the bridge of his nose with two fingers. “You’re a pain in the ass.”

  Arlen arched a brow. “Now you’re basically asking for me to tease you. Do you want me to be a pain in your ass? Because I can if you want, although I’ll do my best to keep the pain low.”

  “Just... can you shut up? Please?”

  Arlen gasped. “It must be serious if you actually asked instead of ordering me to do it. You even said please!”

  “Does that mean you’ll shut up?”

  “Probably not. I have months of non-talking to make up for, after all.”

  A sliver of guilt cut through Nick’s annoyance. It was t
rue, Arlen hadn’t talked for months. Maybe Nick could cut him a bit of slack. “Fine, talk all you want.”

  Arlen beamed at him, and just that made it worth letting him talk Nick’s ears off. “I just want to go home, eat something better than a sandwich from the hospital’s cafeteria, and shower again.”

  “I know.”

  “And I can’t help but wonder if the reason why Jared is taking so long is because they found something wrong with me.”

  “You’re fine. Stop worrying and let the man do his job.” Not that Nick was much better, but at least he worried in silence.

  The door opened and Nick briefly closed his eyes in relief. Arlen wasn’t the only one who wanted to go home and scrub the hospital’s smell out of his skin.

  “All right, I have all your results,” Jared said. “I’m sorry it took so long, but there was blood work and the like, and that takes a bit longer.”

  “Am I fine? Anything wrong?”

  Jared smiled and shook his head. “You’re perfectly healthy. A bit too thin, but that’s not surprising, and it’s nothing a balanced diet can’t cure. I had time to examine the implant we found. It was designed like a birth-control one and would’ve kept you in your wolf form for at least another two years, so it’s a good thing Gentry found it last night.”

  “I’ll thank him and his father,” Arlen declared.

  “You do that.”

  “What about the substance the implant was releasing?” Nick asked. “What was it?”

  “I didn’t have the time to analyze it completely, but at first glance it looks like a mixture of hormones. I can let you know when I find something more.”

  “Yeah, thanks. Can I take him home now?”

  “Yes. Call me if anything looks or feels wrong, but I don’t think you’ll need to.”

  Arlen was already up and almost running for the door. He stumbled on his way and was about to fall on his ass, but he managed to get a hold on the hospital bed nearby and stayed upright.

  Jared chuckled. “You might want to slow down. It’ll probably take you a few days to be completely steady on your feet.”