by Jana Downs
For a solid minute he sat, listening to the quietness of the house. Gray and Mustang must’ve come in some time after Steve passed out.
He dialed, uncaring that he would probably get the man’s voice mail.
“Ello?” Hope’s groggy voice rumbled on the other side of the phone.
“Hope?” He swallowed as the image from his dream ghosted up again. “Are you okay?”
What sounded like Hope’s covers rustled on the other side of the phone. “Baby, what’s wrong?”
He took a deep breath. “I had a bad dream.” His cheeks heated at the admission. He felt like the world’s biggest idiot for calling in the middle of the night.
“Shh, I’m just fine, sweetheart.” His steady breath was comforting on the other line. “I was just dreaming of you. Good things though. I dreamed you were laying right here beside me.”
“Yeah?” He laid back against his pillow and pulled the covers up to his chin. “I’m sorry for waking you up.” He shivered. He should’ve got his extra blanket from downstairs. The cold sweat he’d woken up in had turned frigid in the early morning air.
“It’s okay. You call me anytime you need me. Why don’t you go ahead and shift into your feral form. You’re less likely to have nightmares that way.”
“Why?”
“Grab the shirt you wore and put it in bed with you. My scent will be on it. It should settle your wolf for the night.”
Ah, that made sense. He leaned over the edge of the bed and snatched his shirt from his pile of dirty clothes. He raised it to his face and inhaled the scent of his mate from the fabric. Instantly, some of his anxiety ebbed.
“How did you know that would work?”
“Because I’ve helped wolves with PTSD before. It’s not quite the same reason, but the reactions are similar. I watched how the mates helped their loved ones. After the last war when Mustang won the Alpha position from his father, there were more than a few people who were unsteady afterward.”
“Hm, my hero,” he mumbled, eyes sliding shut as he took in Hope’s scent. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Sure, baby.”
“Can you stay on the phone with me until I go to sleep?” He didn’t normally allow himself to be so vulnerable, but right at this second, he needed Hope’s steady presence.
A low chuckle sounded. “All right, Steve. I’ll stay with you until you fall asleep.”
“Thanks.” By the time he breathed in and out three times, he was already drifting into a pleasant doze. When he heard Hope’s soft breaths on the other end of the phone, he tumbled into a dream.
* * * *
“Wakey wakey, sunshine,” Grayson said from his doorway.
Steve stirred on the sheets, rubbing his face against the starched cotton of his shirt. Even now he could smell Hope’s lingering scent. He nuzzled the garment.
“Steve? You up?”
“Mm, go away,” he rumbled.
Gray flopped down on the bed and snuggled into him like the big pup he was. “Can’t. Mustang wants you out of bed. We’re going shopping for your trip to the club tonight.”
“Don’t need shopping.” In fact, he was probably going to beg off after dinner and attempt to get Hope back to his place. He knew he didn’t want him to take it slow, but last night had decided things for him. It was in his nature to leap first and ask questions later. Finding his mate was no exception.
“Do need shopping. There is a dress code. Not much of one but you ought to try for your official date.”
Steve snorted. “As opposed to the ‘unofficial’ one?” He rolled to his stomach and pried open his eyes. “What time did you guys get in last night?”
Gray gave him a sheepish grin. “Late. We went to a birthday party at one of our pack mates’ houses and then onto the club for a room Mustang had reserved.”
“That would explain why you weren’t home when I came in. Hope, sadly, dropped me off early.”
“Aw…it didn’t go well?”
“Went great. He won’t ‘take advantage’ of me yet.”
“Oh that sucks,” Grayson said, sympathy written on his expression. “We must guide your Dom in a better direction.”
“He’s not my Dom,” Steve said automatically.
“Then what is he?”
Steve shrugged. “Just mine.” He didn’t know how else to explain it. He wasn’t going to push his luck and try to even go there with Hope. BDSM was a game he might have been curious about when he’d been human, but his transition from man to beast had cured him of any curiosity.
“Hm, I think you need to let your mate show you what real dominance is all about.”
Steve made a noncommittal grunting sound and buried his face back in his shirt. “I’d be happy if he just showed me his dick if it’s all the same to you.”
Gray laughed. “I didn’t have this problem with Mustang. He whipped his out on day one.”
Steve sighed. “Figured. You were practically a prude when you met Mustang and he gives it to you day one. I was a pimp my entire life and now that I meet ‘the one’ I can’t get him out of his pants with a crow bar and a bucket of lube.”
They shared a giggle over that.
A sharp knock on the door caught their attention. They raised their heads to see Mustang standing in Steve’s doorway, a tight muscle shirt stretched across his lean torso.
“Come on, you two. I have an appointment for a pack tat this afternoon. The ink won’t wait for you two queens to figure out the shopping situation.”
He and Gray flipped him off in unison.
“Guess that means we have to go shopping, huh?” Steve asked, stretching.
“Afraid so,” Gray agreed, smiling. “Come on. One of the pack owns the store we’re hitting. She’s gonna love you.”
For once Steve didn’t feel the normal level of anxiety he typically felt at the prospect of going out in public. He’d done very well with Hope yesterday, and his wolf seemed steadier somehow.
“You really want to take me somewhere? What if I lose it?”
“That’s why we’re going to a pack-run shop instead of the mall. We got your back,” Gray said, rolling to his feet. “Besides, Hope is just a phone call away.”
He was. And that was a definite security.
* * * *
Hope rubbed the bridge of the little gecko’s nose with an affectionate stroke. “He should be good to go, Taylor,” he said, addressing the animal’s ten-year-old owner. “Don’t forget to put the medicine on his cut twice a day. You don’t want him to get another infection.” He raised his gaze and met Taylor’s mother’s.
She nodded, smiling at him and mouthing “thank you.” Taylor had been very upset when he’d brought his new pet in with a cut on his leg from an escape effort from his cage.
Hope was just happy he could help.
“Thanks, Dr. Harris,” Taylor said, reaching his hand up to push back his braids off his shoulder. He picked up his lizard and then tucked him back into his container.
“You’re very welcome. Take good care of him, all right?”
“I will.”
Hope smiled. “Go on up front and Marianna will get you set up for your follow-up appointment.”
The two of them left, and Hope let himself out of the room out of the back door toward the office side of the building. He nodded at his techs as he passed them. There was still a small to-do list to finish before he was free to get on with his day, but his mood was so pleasant, he didn’t even mind the delay. He needed to get home, change, pick up some flowers, and then go grab his lover from Mustang’s.
He’d received a text message a few hours ago telling him that Steve was going shopping with Mustang and Grayson if Hope needed him or decided to swing by early. The tone of the text message was nonchalant, but Hope saw right through the veiled words. Steve was either nervous about going out or he was missing Hope and wanting to touch base with him. Either way, the fact that he reached out to Hope was a flattering and made him happy as a clam.
A smart tap on the door sounded a moment before Tina, his head tech, stuck her head into his door. “Hey, Dr. Harris?”
“Yes?”
“Do you think you have time for one more? I’ve got a puppy with a nasty gash on his leg out here. The guy said his regular vet is closed and he doesn’t really have the money for an ER vet.”
“Of course,” Hope said automatically. There was no way he was leaving an injured animal in his waiting room. He pushed back from the desk and grabbed his stethoscope from where he hung it on the peg behind his desk. “Put him and his animal in room 4 and I’ll be right there.”
She smiled brightly at him. “Will do.”
He still had plenty of time before his date with Steve. He made a quick pit stop at the supplies station to grab some items to treat a gash and then headed toward room four. By the time he got to the outside door, his tech was already there waiting for him.
“The dog’s name is Stevie Nicks,” Tina said. “She’s a nine-week-old pit bull. Apparently another of his other dogs got a little rough with her and gave her a nice cut on her back leg. She’ll probably need some stitches and antibiotic. She’s not sluggish but she is in some pain.”
He nodded. “All right. Did you get her weight?”
“Yes. It’s on your tablet.”
They’d recently converted from paper files to digital ones, and the ability to instantly convey information was a handy thing. He took the little tablet from his pocket and brought up Stevie Nicks’s recently created file. “Okay. Let me give her a checkup and I’ll let you know if we need stitches. She’ll probably need some pain meds for later on. Do you mind staying on for a little while?” He knew she usually went to see Logan Marquez on Fridays. The two of them had been an exclusive pair for several months now. He figured it would be only a matter of time before she would be requesting time off so the two of them could make her an official member of the pack.
“I don’t mind,” she said warmly. “I’ll just text Logan and tell him I’ll be a few minutes late. I’ll direct him your way if he gets impatient.”
He grinned. “Sounds fair.” He gave her a last pat on the shoulder and then pushed open the door to the exam room. “Hello!” he said, giving his client a smile.
His new client was reed thin with messy brown hair that looked like it had never been brushed. As he came further into the room, the telltale smell of wolf wafted up through the air. He didn’t recognize the man, but that wasn’t unusual now that the pack was four times the size it had been before Mustang had absorbed the neighboring pack into their ranks.
“Thanks for seeing us on such short notice,” the guy said. He knelt by the dog standing against his leg. “Stevie decided she was going to wrestle with Mac, and Mac got a little pissy about it.”
“Well, that’s why I’m here,” Hope said. “I don’t think we’ve met before. I’m Hope.”
“Gabriel Damon,” his client offered in exchange. He scratched his puppy’s neck, and the dog leaned into the touch.
Recognition rippled in his mind as he said his name. “You’re one of the converted humans,” he said. The list of the missing humans had been hung up in the pack meeting house along with other relevant news stories a few weeks back. He remembered how much he liked the name.
A blush washed over Gabriel’s cheeks. “Yeah.”
“I didn’t mean to insult. I was just surprised.” Hope cleared his throat. “Let’s take a look at your baby.”
He walked over to the pup and gently lifted her up onto the exam table. The pup was well socialized because she didn’t even protest despite the fact that it probably hurt her leg a bit even with his carefulness. He could often tell a lot about how much a person interacted with their animals with how they responded to his treatment. Well-socialized dogs were a lot less likely to get nippy with him, which he appreciated.
“Aren’t you a sweet thing, Stevie,” he cooed. He looked up. “Hold her head still for me so she doesn’t squirm too much.”
Gabriel nodded. “Okay.”
The ragged gash on her leg looked like the other dog had grabbed on and shook its head. “Hmm, well I need to clean out the wound, put a drain in, and stitch it up. I’ll get her some antibiotics to take home with you. I’ll give a shot of them here but I’d feel better if you give her the oral ones for about ten days to prevent infection. You can bring her back for a checkup in a week. I don’t charge for follow-ups.” He could definitely give the guy a break on the cost.
Relief washed over Gabriel’s expression. “So she’ll be okay?”
Hope nodded. “Absolutely. She’s young and will heal up just fine. She’ll hate the cone that I’ll have to give her to keep from licking it but she’ll be okay.”
“Thank God.” Gabriel’s eyes filled with tears. “Ever since I became a werewolf, my dogs have been a little more aggressive, and I felt so bad when she got hurt.”
“It’s not your fault,” Hope said. “They sense the predator in you now. Pit bulls are a little more sensitive than most to our natures, so I’m not surprised yours have been more aggressive than usual. I have a friend who does some retraining for wolves who have been turned and their pets. I can get you his card if you’d like.”
“I would.” He shifted. “I haven’t got assigned a job yet. Is there a payment plan or something?”
Hope shook his head. “You won’t need it. It’s a pack perk. I’ll put a note in the chart so I won’t forget.” He straightened. “I’ll be right back. I’ve got to get that drain.” It was the one thing he’d forgotten about.
He returned a few minutes later with his supplies and Tina in tow. Gabriel sat on the bench to the side of the exam table, looking nervous.
“Don’t worry,” Hope reassured. “We’re going to fix Stevie right up.”
“Thanks, Hope. I really appreciate it.”
“So Stevie Nicks and Mac, huh?” Hope asked, making light conversation while he flushed the wound and began the process of sewing the baby up.
“I am a big Fleetwood Mac fan,” Gabriel admitted. “I didn’t think I would be able to get my babies back, but my sister had taken them back to her house when I didn’t come home.”
“Were you cleared for family interaction?” Hope asked, surprised. Typically, and unfortunately for the people involved, if they were unexpectedly turned, the new werewolves weren’t allowed to offer their families explanations or interact with them at all. The wolf rule of thumb was that those who were missing often needed to remain missing.
Gabriel shook his head. “No, but my sister is an available.”
“Ah, that makes sense.” Availables were as near pack as any human could get. “I wasn’t sure how Mustang dealt with the other werewolves we brought in. My mate is an unusual situation, so I didn’t really know what was typical.”
“Oh? Your mate was one of us?”
Hope nodded as he closed up his last stitch. “Yep. You might not know him. His name is Steve Justice.”
Gabriel swallowed, his hands curling into fists at his side. “I remember him. He was in the same cage as me.” He looked up and their gazes met. “How’s he doing?”
“He’s getting better, I think. We ran with the pack the other night.”
“Good. He deserves to get better.” Gabriel looked away. “He took a lot for us.”
Hope frowned, unsure of what he meant by that comment. He snipped the thread and then slowly wrapped up the wound with another topical antibiotic on top. He cleared his throat. “All right. She should be good as new. Don’t let her wrestle around with the other dogs, and if you can keep her in the kennel for a few days, I would highly recommend it.” He pulled off his gloves. “If you want to put the pill I’m going to give you in a bite of cheese, she’ll think it’s a treat.”
“Okay,” Gabriel said. “I’ll make sure she gets it.” He shifted. “Um, tell Steve I said ‘hi.’”
“I definitely will.”
The rest of the appointment went quickly, and it
wasn’t long before Tina was out the door and Hope was left to his own devices. He finished tidying up his office and feeding all the animals that needed to be fed before heading toward the empty parking lot in back. He was now five minutes late but he could make it up on his drive if he hit the red lights correctly.
What Gabriel said sat in the back of his mind, bothering him for a reason that he couldn’t explain. “He took a lot for us,” seemed ominous. There was a lot about his mate’s captivity that he didn’t know details about. Granted, he’d read the file Mustang had given him, but that was a lot different than hearing the nitty-gritty horrors that Steve had lived through.
As he crossed the parking lot, he scented the air, an unfamiliar wolf’s scent drifting on the wind. He glanced around and saw nothing, but that wasn’t surprising. The smell was already fading, so the wolf who belonged to it was long gone. He mentally shrugged. It was probably one of the pack kids playing in the street.
He made a mental note to talk to Steve some time tonight about Gabriel and try to glean what other horrors were lurking in his mate’s past.
Chapter Eight
“I look ridiculous,” Steve said, staring at his reflection in the full-length mirror in Grayson and Mustang’s bedroom. He turned to the side to check out his impressively tight leathers. He refused to put on the vest that went with the damn things, but his black cotton tee looked just as sexy. If he would’ve seen himself in this outfit, he’d have checked himself out. However, the reflection in the mirror looked nothing like him. It felt weird.
“You look hot,” Grayson corrected. “Doesn’t he, Sir?”
Mustang chuckled from the doorway. “Only my mate would ask me if another man looked hot. You do look hot, Steven.”
Steve still wasn’t convinced. “I don’t know…”
“We do,” Grayson said cheerfully. “You’re going to have to make Hope pick his tongue off the floor at the club. He’ll have to beat the Doms off with a stick.”
Some yahoo touches me and he won’t have to. “I don’t know if I’m ready for the club,” he said. “What if I shift?”