Arlen

by Catherine Lievens

  Andy made a strangled noise and spewed beer all over the table. Nick had taken care of moving out of the way as he talked, so he was safe and laughing on the side of the table.

  “You did that on purpose!” Andy accused.

  “Yeah, and it was definitely worth it.”

  “I’m not cleaning that up,” Xavier declared. He threw a towel at Andy and Andy started mopping the beer.

  “Seriously, how’s Arlen doing?” Andy asked.

  “He’s fine, and I wasn’t joking. He really is my mate.”

  “Shit, man. I’m so sorry.”

  “Don’t be. We’re fine, all of us.”

  Andy threw the dirty towel in the sink and earned himself a scowl from Xavier, but his attention was all on Nick. “How can you be fine? Are you going to break up with Gentry or ignore the bond?”

  “Neither. Arlen proposed a threesome, and both Gentry and I accepted.”

  Andy gaped. “A threesome?”

  “Yeah.”

  “But... how would you make it work?”

  “I thought you knew that, Andy, but if you want to I can talk to you about birds and the bees, or only bees in this case.”

  Xavier snorted at the sink but didn’t turn around.

  “I know how it works physically. What I meant was, how would your wolf take seeing Arlen and Gentry together?”

  Nick thought about the previous night. “A hint of jealousy, but they didn’t do anything I wasn’t doing too. It was hot, to be honest.”

  Andy’s brows rose high on his forehead. “You mean you already, you know?”

  “Had sex? Yeah, last night.”

  “And your wolf let Arlen do whatever to Gentry?”

  “Yeah. Like I said, it wasn’t overly happy in the beginning, but it’s confused. It wants both men, and it knows it shouldn’t be possible, so when it sees them together... it accepts it. Maybe not completely willingly, but it does.”

  “And you have no problems with that?”

  Nick shrugged. “I know it’s weird, but I love Gentry, and I can’t push Arlen away. Gentry’s my lover, Arlen’s my mate, and Arlen said he loves both of us.”

  “And are you going to bite Arlen?”

  “No. It wouldn’t be fair to Gentry, and it’s not like we need it.”

  “That’s... I don’t know what to say.”

  Nick tapped his fingers on the table. “You don’t have to say anything. I just hope you can accept it.”

  Andy glared. “What are you, stupid? Did you really think I wouldn’t accept it?”

  Xavier laughed from behind Andy and put his hands on Andy’s shoulders. “So, when do we meet him?”

  Chapter Eight

  “Do I really have to come?”

  Arlen looked at the way Mal was huddled on his bed. He knew his friend was still trying to get over what had happened to him and was still scared Paul would find him, but Mal had been living with Arlen for a few months now and Paul still hadn’t popped up.

  “Yeah, you do. Kameron is the alpha and he was the one to invite you. Do you really want to offend him or something?” Not that Kameron would actually be offended if Mal didn’t go. Kameron knew what Mal had been through and was used to dealing with hurt people. Still, Mal hadn’t set foot out of the house since they’d unloaded his car, and Arlen wanted him to at least take a walk. It couldn’t be good for Mal to be cooped up like that, especially not when he used to never be home before. Or at least that was how things went when Arlen had lived with him, before the lab.

  “I don’t want to offend him, but I’m really not in the mood.”

  Mal rolled to his side and pulled the comforter over his head. Arlen sighed. He obviously wouldn’t get through to him right now, but he wasn’t about to stop trying. He’d just give Mal a bit more time.

  Someone knocked on the door and Arlen went to open. He didn’t recognize the man standing on the porch. “Can I help you?”

  The guy looked kind of angry. “You’re Nick’s mate?”

  Arlen didn’t like the guy’s tone, and he sure wasn’t going to be intimidated by it. He crossed his arms on his chest and narrowed his eyes. “I’m one of Nick’s partners. How can I help you?”

  “Why are you allowing this?”

  “Okay, I’m not sure I understand what you’re talking about, so maybe if you could expand on that...”

  The guy wasn’t amused. “You’re Nick’s mate. You shouldn’t let him be with another man. Don’t you respect the mate bond? It’s already disgusting enough that you’re a man, but to let a third man do whatever you fags do, it’s—”

  “Okay, wait a second. Who the fuck are you to come here, in my house, and start insulting me and my partners?”

  The guy growled. “I’m Nick’s father, that’s who I am, and I don’t want my son to live like-like a sinner. I’ve given him time to solve this, but he obviously hasn’t, so I’m taking things into my own hands.”

  Arlen snorted. “That’s what you’re going with? That your son is a sinner? After letting alpha whatever his name was, do whatever the fuck he wanted for years?” Arlen uncrossed his arms and leaned forward. He knew he wasn’t nearly as big as Nick’s father, but Arlen was in better shape.

  “That doesn’t matter. You have to claim Nick and kick Gentry out.”

  “I don’t think so. I love your son, and I love Gentry. I’m not going to do anything to hurt them just because you decided to be a bigoted asshole.” Arlen stepped back and made to close the door, but Nick’s father stuck a foot in. Arlen pushed, but it didn’t work, of course.

  Arlen growled in frustration. He hoped Mal didn’t decide to come and see what was happening. “What the fuck do you want from me? I already told you I’m not going to break up with Gentry.”

  “You have to claim my son.”

  “No. I have two lovers, and I won’t claim Nick because it wouldn’t be fair. Not that you seem to care, of course.”

  “Dad, what the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

  Nick’s father turned around to face his son. “You should be at work.”

  “And that’s where I’d be if you hadn’t decided to come here and do what? Threaten my lover? What the fuck were you thinking?”

  “That it’s not normal! You’re already gay, Nick, you can’t do this!”

  “Everything okay?” Mal whispered from behind Arlen.

  Arlen took a step further inside the house and let Nick deal with his father. “Yeah.”

  “I called Nick and told him his father was here.”

  “You did? Thanks.”

  “He must’ve been close to get here so quickly.”

  “Or he called a Nix.”

  “A Nix?”

  Arlen smirked. “See what you miss when you decide not to get out of the house?”

  Mal punched Arlen’s shoulder. “Come on, tell me.”

  “They’re a type of paranormal people. They can shimmer around. Like teleportation.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Maybe I’ll come with you to Kameron’s, then.”

  “Everything okay?” Nick asked as he stepped inside the house.

  “We’re fine.”

  “I’m sorry this happened,” Nick replied, gesturing at the still open door. At least his father was nowhere to be seen now.

  “It’s not your fault.”

  Nick closed the door behind himself and leaned against it. “My parents, well, you’ve met my father now. You know what they think about this.”

  Arlen shrugged and got closer to Nick. He leaned against him and kissed him, happy to see a small smile bloom on his lover’s lips. “I knew they weren’t happy, but I didn’t expect your father to show up and tell me I had to kick Gentry out and claim you.”

  Nick growled at Arlen’s words and Arlen pressed his palm on Nick’s chest. “Hush. Nothing happened and I’m obviously not going to do what he wants.”

&n
bsp; Nick sighed and relaxed under Arlen’s hand. “Yeah, I know. Sorry. I’m just stressed right now.”

  Arlen noticed Mal disappear somewhere in the house, but he kept his attention on Nick. “What’s wrong? Work?”

  “Uh huh. I have a new case. Animal attacks.”

  Arlen frowned. “Why are you taking care of animal attacks? Shouldn’t you work on murders and stuff?”

  “We’re missing several deputies, so I was assigned this for now. Not that my boss thinks it’s anything but an animal, but I still have to wrap everything up.”

  “So your boss thinks it’s an animal. What about you?”

  Nick shook his head. “That’s no animal. It’s too intelligent for it to be. It managed to get inside the house of one of the victims, and from what we know everything was locked. I still have to go check on the house, but I’m pretty sure we’re dealing with some paranormal shit here.”

  “Shifter?”

  “Maybe. It does look like animal bites on the bodies, but God knows what’s out there. We didn’t know about wendigoes until a few months ago.”

  “Do you have to get back to work?”

  “Yeah.”

  Arlen nodded and grabbed Nick’s hand. He led him to the kitchen and made him sit down. “I’ll call... who did you call to get you here?”

  “Ani.”

  “Give me your phone and drink some coffee. I’ll call Ani and ask him if he can come by to get you back to work.”

  Nick was out of the house barely half an hour later, and that left Arlen with nothing to do again. He knocked on Mal’s room and entered when Mal told him to. “I’m going to Kameron’s house. Are you coming?”

  Mal sighed and got up from his bed. “Yeah. Give me five minutes and I’ll meet you outside.”

  Arlen waited on the porch for Mal. He locked the door behind them when Mal came out, because what with animal attacks and crazy parents, he felt safer that way, and they headed to the alpha’s house.

  The walk through the forest was short, thankfully, because it was cold as fuck. Mal seemed to actually enjoy it, though, so Arlen kept his complaints to a minimum. Once at Kameron’s house he pushed the front door open without even knocking. They took their jackets off and headed to the kitchen, where everyone usually was when in the house.

  Sure enough, Zach and Rick were puttering around, and the air smelled of cinnamon and ginger. “Hey.”

  Both men turned around and Rick squeaked. He threw the spoon in his hand in the sink and launched himself at Arlen, nearly knocking him off his feet. Arlen patted Rick’s shoulder. “Have you always been this short, Rick?”

  Rick laughed and moved away. He hit Arlen’s chest. “You w-were a wolf. Of course I l-looked taller. You’re an a-ass. Why d-didn’t you t-tell me you were human a-again? I had to h-hear it from G-Gentry. And w-why haven’t I seen y-you before now?”

  Arlen scratched the back of his head. “Sorry. I know I should’ve looked for you, but, well, it was complicated. What do you know?”

  “That you should sit down and have a cookie,” Zach said. He stared until Arlen and Mal were sitting at the table and handed them one cookie each.

  Arlen took a bite and hummed in pleasure before looking at Rick again. “You know about Nick being my mate?”

  “T-that, and about y-you guys being together.” Rick blushed. “All t-three of you. I g-guess that’s why you d-disappeared for months.”

  “You have a problem with that?”

  Rick shook his head. “N-no. It’s j-just, I d-don’t know. W-weird? Not in a b-bad way, though.”

  “I get it. It’s still kind of weird for me sometimes and I’m actually living it. Besides, I might have spent a few months hidden away in throuple bliss, but you weren’t far behind.” Arlen poked Rick’s side. “I haven’t seen you around in a while either. Too busy keeping your bear occupied?”

  Rick blushed and didn’t answer the question.

  “What’s weird for you?”

  Arlen turned to look as Gentry entered the kitchen. He puckered his lips for a kiss and Gentry obliged with a smile on his lips. “The three of us being together. It’s weird, but good.”

  Gentry smiled. “Weird, but good. I agree.”

  * * * *

  “I think it’s time you start going to work with the car.”

  Gentry shivered in the cold wind. “Probably.” Christmas was just around the corner and they were waiting for the snow to start falling any day now.

  “I wouldn’t want you to be sick.”

  Gentry looked at Arlen. “You know I can’t get the flu.”

  Arlen shrugged. “I don’t want you to be cold, then. Is that a good enough reason?”

  Gentry’s heart melted in his chest. He stopped in the middle of the path and tugged on Arlen’s hand to pull him close and kissed him. The kiss was short, because it was definitely cold, but seeing Arlen smile down at him was enough for Gentry.

  They started walking again and Mal rolled his eyes from where he was waiting for them a few feet away. It was good to see him out. Mal had spent the months since he’d arrived in Gillham scared and hiding in the house. Gentry didn’t know how Arlen had managed to finally convince him to leave the house, but it was a huge step forward.

  A twig snapped somewhere to their left and Gentry looked that way. Mal and Arlen were talking and didn’t seem to have noticed, but Gentry had. It probably was an animal, but that wasn’t as reassuring as it sounded.

  Nick had told Gentry about his animal attack cases, and whatever had been attacking people was still around. It had even killed a shifter a few days before, which meant it probably wasn’t a normal animal. That scared Gentry more than anything else.

  If the creature really was a paranormal, shifter or something else, its attacking human beings meant it was either insane or completely aware of what it was doing. Gentry wasn’t sure which scenario he preferred, to be honest.

  Another twig cracked and Gentry hurried along the path, tugging Arlen along. Arlen looked up with a frown but he probably saw something in Gentry’s expression, something that was enough for him to realize Gentry wasn’t just being his usual worrywart self.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Probably nothing.”

  “Why are you spooked, then?”

  “Can we just... talk about it at home, please?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  They hurried along the path and Gentry was relieved to see the lights were on in their house when they got there. He heard something move behind him just as they reached the tree line and started to run. Arlen had heard it too and tugged him harder, making him stumble.

  Gentry yelped as something grabbed his ankle and he landed on the ground. The air whooshed out of his lungs even as whatever had him dragged him toward the trees.

  Gentry prepared himself to shift, but a low growl interrupted him. Arlen had shifted and was standing above Gentry, his teeth exposed as he snarled at the darkness of the woods.

  “Nick!” Gentry heard Mal call. Mal was running toward the house and the door opened even before he could get there. Nick came out in a rush and ran to where Gentry was still on the ground just as the hold on his ankle loosened, then disappeared.

  Something rushed away as Nick helped Gentry up. Arlen started to go after the thing, but Gentry put a hand on the soft fur of Arlen’s neck and stopped him. “Don’t go. I’m fine, and we don’t know what it is. It could kill you.”

  Arlen gave the forest one last growl and shifted back. He shivered as soon as he was in human form. His clothes were in pieces on the ground around him. Even his shoes were in a pitiful state.

  Gentry tried to take a step forward and his ankle gave away. He started falling, but Nick was there, then Arlen on his other side, and they both helped him to the house. Mal was waiting for them just inside the door, his hands wrapped around a baseball bat, his eyes wide and filled with fear.

  He relaxed when he saw them and loc
ked the door behind them. Nick and Arlen guided Gentry to the living room and onto the couch, then Nick left, probably to find his cell phone and call Kameron, while Arlen went down on his knees and checked on Gentry’s ankle.

  Gentry looked down and paled at the sight of his blood. He hadn’t even noticed the creature had hurt him, but now that he did, his ankle started to hurt like hell.

  Arlen gently tried to pull the leg of Gentry’s pants up, but it was already sticking to the wound and Gentry yelped.

  “Shit! Did I hurt you?”

  Gentry gritted his teeth and shook his head. “Not you.”

  Mal appeared at the door with a basin in his hands and towels flung over his shoulders. He put the basin down next to Gentry’s feet and handed the biggest towel to Arlen. “Go and get dressed. We’re probably about to have visitors and I don’t think you want everyone to see your junk. God knows I don’t want to.”

  The small joke made Arlen visibly relax just a bit and Mal prodded him with his foot. Arlen seemed to think he couldn’t leave Gentry alone, so Gentry told him, “Go. I don’t want anyone other than Nick to see what’s ours.”

  That did it. Arlen got up and kissed Gentry’s forehead, then left the room. As soon as he was out, Mal turned to Gentry’s ankle and grabbed a pair of scissors Gentry hadn’t even noticed Mal had brought in.

  Mal started cutting through Gentry’s pants and revealed the wound underneath it. Gentry knew it couldn’t have been made by a normal animal or a shifter just by looking at it.

  There were four scratch marks running around the inside of his ankle. Blood oozed from them, and they were already swollen and turning black.

  “I’m not sure what the fuck that was, but this doesn’t look good,” Mal pointed out.

  Gentry bit his lower lip when Mal took his shoe and sock off, then stuck his foot in the basin and started to clean the wounds. It hurt like nothing else had before, even more than when Gentry had broken his leg when he was nineteen.

  “Kameron’s coming,” Nick said as he entered the room. “I told him to shimmer right into the living room and bring Jared with him.”

  Gentry shivered, even though he still had his jacket on. “That’s good.”