“Sorry. Uh… why?”
“We nearly wiped them out. More than once,” Miles said, scowling, but at an elbow poke from Quincy, the scowl faded. “It’s nice to meet you both. How are you feeling, Eric? Anything causing problems?”
“Only everything,” Eric said, sighing. “But I’m okay.”
“Everything?” Miles asked.
“Don’t get him started if you don’t want him poking at you,” Chad said, and Miles snorted.
Eric turned to Chad. “You have problems lately?”
“Um… that’s another thing you don’t know,” Tanner said. “Chad… used to be human. He’s a newly made wolf.”
Eric swung around to stare at Tanner. “Newly made? You can make wolves?”
“You can?” Ben asked, and Eric looked back at his mate to see wide eyes.
“Yeah, uh, how about we all take a seat and we can talk more?” Finley asked.
As they moved over to the couches, Jamie approached Ben, holding his hand out. “It’s good to meet you, Ben.”
Eric’s wolf did not like the man so close to their mate. Apparently his wolf wasn’t nearly as bogged down by fear as he was, because before he could stop himself, he was growling. He slapped a hand over his mouth when he realized it, and Jamie stepped back quickly.
“Oops.”
Eric closed his eyes and turned around, wishing he could slide through the floor. “Ugh,” he muttered, shaking his head. “I’m sorry.”
“Hey. It’s okay, cariño,” Ben murmured, putting a hand on Eric’s shoulder.
Eric opened his eyes and looked at Ben.
“Really.” Ben’s gaze bounced behind Eric, then back. “I’m sure he understands.”
“I totally do,” Jamie said.
“I’m being ridiculous. I mean, we just met. And… I’m resisting us, and that’s totally not fair.” Eric frowned. “But… he doesn’t like other guys near you.”
Ben actually smiled. “I really do not mind that. In fact, cariño, it makes me feel good to know he wants me.”
“Oh, he does…. Wait, cariño?”
Ben blushed. “Sorry, uh, habit. It’s a term of endearment where I’m from in—”
“I like it,” Eric said softly.
The hopeful look in Ben’s eyes made Eric ache for him. “Really? Even though it’s Spanish?”
Eric nodded. “Yeah, really. Maybe especially. It’s beautiful. What… what does it mean?”
“Um… loosely, it means something like “my darling,” but I promise, down there it’s not so lame.”
Eric found himself chuckling. “It doesn’t sound lame.” On impulse he pulled Ben against him and hugged him.
Ben wrapped his arms around Eric, and he let out a breath.
“Oh, this feels good,” Eric murmured, eyes closing. “Please, call me that?” He got hit with a blast of happiness he couldn’t resist savoring.
“I would like that.”
Tanner cleared his throat, and Eric reluctantly let Ben go to turn back around. “Sorry. Uh… can’t seem to help it.”
All six of them were grinning. Chad put his hands up. “We totally get it. I was horrible about it when Jamie and I first got together. Well, after he turned human again, anyway.”
Eric raised an eyebrow at Jamie, who laughed.
“Yeah, we met when I was stuck in wolf form. In the city—Oakland.”
“Oh shit, that must have been….” Eric shook his head.
“Frustrating, but… funny in a way.” Jamie nodded.
“Should have seen my face when he shifted in front of me the first time. I had no idea shifters even existed.”
“I bet that was hilarious.”
“Confusing, but… yes, very,” Chad said. “I had no idea what to do with it.”
“Should have seen me when I reacted to him the first time,” Miles said, tilting his head at Quincy.
“Yeah, he ran away,” Quincy said, smirking.
Miles scowled without heat. “I didn’t run away….”
Quincy simply stared at him, lips twitching.
Miles rolled his eyes. “Okay, I ran away. But really, my world had just turned upside down.”
Eric found himself smiling. “You guys are funny.”
“Glad you think so,” Tanner said, finally herding them all to seats.
Ben sat close to Eric, who put his arm around Ben’s shoulders. Ben looked a little surprised, but smiled and settled against Eric’s side.
“Is this okay?” Eric murmured.
“Very much so, cariño.” Ben smiled.
“So,” Jamie said, drawing their attention. “I hope we’ll all be friends.”
“I don’t have many anymore. I kind of alienated most of mine when I took off.” Eric frowned.
Ben put a hand on his knee and squeezed. “And I’ve only met a few people here.”
“Most of the guys worried about you,” Tanner said. “Jake is up in Erie with his mate, so we can see him sometime. He’ll be glad to hear you’re okay. The others only left because they found jobs other places. I’m sure they’d want to know what’s up too.”
Eric frowned. “You think so?”
“Oh yeah. They were just worried… and pissed for you.” Tanner grinned. “Should have heard the language. Damned near sent my dad into a serious fit.”
“Oh shit!” Eric said, eyes widening. “I, uh, need to call your dad.”
Tanner blinked. “What?”
“I need to call him.”
Tanner raised an eyebrow but pulled out his phone. The rest of the guys seemed as perplexed, but no one said anything. Tanner swiped his finger over the front of his phone, and a moment later, put it to his ear.
The room sat in silence as they waited. Eric’s heart pounded hard.
Finally Tanner spoke. “Hey, Dad. How’s everything?”
“Busy,” Alpha Noah said through the phone.
Tanner chuckled. “Is it ever not?”
Alpha Noah snorted. “No. Not here, anyway. What’s going on?”
“Uh, well, I have some news. Eric is back.”
“Is he?” Alpha Noah asked, sounding pleased and easing Eric a little.
“Yes. He just came back yesterday. He’s staying with us for now. Him and his destined mate.”
“Oh, that’s good to hear. Who’s his mate?”
“The accountant from Texas.” Tanner chuckled.
Alpha Noah laughed. “Well, then. Somehow I don’t think that was coincidence.”
“Me either. Anyway, Eric wanted me to call you. Said he needed to talk to you,” Tanner said.
“Well, give him the phone,” Alpha Noah said.
Tanner handed the phone out to Eric, whose heart went into triple time. Ben’s hand tightened on Eric’s knee, and Eric calmed down just a little.
He took the phone, drew a deep breath, and glanced at Ben as he spoke. “Uh, hello, sir.”
“Just call me Alpha as always, Eric. How are you?”
“I am so, so, so sorry,” Eric blurted.
Alpha Noah hesitated for a moment. “Uh… whatever for?”
“Your screen door.”
Tanner blinked at him, and there was silence on the phone for a few seconds, and then both Tanner and his dad started laughing.
“That’s what’s got you worried?” Alpha Noah asked.
“Uh… I tore right through it. I didn’t mean to. I’m so sorry I did.”
“Calm down, son. It’s all right. I needed to replace it anyway.”
“You did?” Eric asked, blinking.
“Yeah. Carol had been on me for almost a decade to replace that thing. I’d repaired the screen more times than I could count. It’s all right, really.”
Eric’s heart slowed finally. “Oh. Uh, okay, then. Sorry to bother you.”
“I’m glad you had Tanner call. It’s good to hear you’re back, son. Are you going to work in the shop again?”
Eric hesitated. “I don’t know yet? I… I haven’t had opposable thumbs
in too long….”
Alpha Noah laughed, and most of the guys in the living room chuckled, making Eric smile. “Well, yeah, that could cause problems. Kind of hard to use tools if you can’t use your thumb too well. I do hope you’ll think about it, though. We missed having you there.”
“I will, Alpha.” Eric took a breath. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, son. Take care. Tanner, I’ll talk to you later.”
“Bye, Dad!”
Eric pulled the phone away from his ear and, when he saw Call Ended on the screen, handed it back to Tanner. “Well.”
“Yes, well. So…. Q, think you could show him your cat?” Tanner asked.
Quincy nodded, kissed Miles on the cheek, then stood and kicked his shoes off. When he pulled his shirt off, Eric got hit with a blast of jealousy and glanced at Ben. “Not interested, baby,” he whispered.
Ben blushed. “I cannot seem to help it.”
“I know. It’s okay.” Eric took a chance and kissed Ben on the cheek.
Ben’s eyes widened, but he smiled at the same time.
The sound of a throat clearing caught his attention, and Eric looked back at Quincy in just enough time to catch the human form turn into a huge black cat. A long tail twitched as Quincy moved around the coffee table and approached them.
“Wow,” Ben muttered.
“Seriously,” Eric said, shaking his head. He glanced up at Miles. “May I touch your mate?”
Miles hesitated briefly, then grinned. “He says he doesn’t mind, and if I do, I can sleep on the couch.”
Eric and Ben both laughed. Eric turned to Ben. “Are you okay if I do?”
Ben’s smile bloomed brightly. “Thank you for asking, but yes. Will you be okay?”
Eric nodded, and they both reached out together to touch Quincy’s head. “Wow, soft,” Eric murmured.
“Yeah, no one seems to expect that,” Miles said, shrugging. “Not sure why, except I guess they figure jaguar fur is usually coarse.”
“Is their fur the same as their hair, like us?” Ben asked.
Miles shook his head. “No. They come in two flavors: black and spotted.”
Quincy’s tail twitched, and Miles snorted.
“He says I’m not supposed to refer to him as a flavor, but—”
“I do not want to hear where you were going with that,” Chad said, holding a hand up.
Miles laughed. “Anyway, there’s an in-between too, where the spots are a little more visible under the black, but they’re not common. The most common is the spotted. Quincy’s black is a genetic thing.”
“Huh. That’s… cool.” Eric turned back to Quincy. “Thank you.”
Quincy dipped his head, twitched his tail, then went back to where he’d left his clothes.
In deference to Ben, Eric looked away, to Chad. “So… you were human?”
Chad nodded. “Yeah. Used to be. Up until about five months ago. Hurt like hell to change,” he said, shaking his head. “But… so totally worth it.” He nodded, completely serious, and said, “I can lick my own balls now.”
Eric snorted, and Ben started laughing. “Not all it’s cracked up to be, is it?”
Chad grinned and shook his head. “Nah. Still better if he does it,” he said, tilting his head toward Jamie.
Jamie rolled his eyes and elbowed Chad. “They do not need to hear about that.”
“So, these are the crazies we call friends,” Tanner said, earning himself not one but four separate middle fingers. Eric and Ben both laughed at this. “And… I’m thinking that’s probably as much as we should subject Eric to for now.”
Eric scowled. “I’m not some invalid.”
Tanner raised an eyebrow. “Are you going to tell me you want to hang around people a lot yet?”
The scowl deepened because Eric couldn’t really argue. He sighed, sending an apologetic look around the room.
Before he could speak, though, Ben spoke up. “He has not been around many people yet. Me, Tanner, and Finley, and that’s all.”
Miles and Chad both winced. “Totally get that, then,” Chad said. “I was kind of freaked out by humans for a while. Weird, right, ’cause I was human?”
Eric frowned but nodded.
“But the problem was, my wolf was really close to the surface for a long time. I’m guessing yours is?”
“Yeah. He’s not too sure about this human-form thing yet.”
Chad laughed. “Exactly. We also have a tendency to sniff at people…. It takes a while to learn how to appear normal. I totally get it, even if they don’t.”
“No, it makes sense,” Quincy said, nodding. “Jaguars are solitary—sometimes too solitary—but I get not necessarily wanting to be around people.”
“And I saw enough of Chad’s problems. So… we’ll take off.” Jamie smiled.
“Actually…,” Miles said, standing. “Can I look you over quickly?”
Eric scrunched his eyebrows. “Okay?”
“We’re not meant to be in wolf form for so long,” Miles explained. “I just want to make sure you’re okay.”
“Oh.” Eric glanced at Ben, who nodded.
“I think it’s a good idea, cariño.”
Eric nodded, then turned to Jamie, hoping he was as devout as Tanner said he was, as should be of their religious leader. “Okay. Um… Jamie, can I talk to you when we’re done?” He tried not to wince at the jealousy from Ben, but he didn’t think he managed when his mate gave a muttered sorry. He leaned in and kissed Ben’s temple. “I’d like it if you were there.”
Ben looked up, cheeks red. “It’s okay. I—”
“No, I mean it. Please?”
Ben considered him for a moment, then nodded. “Okay.”
“Good.”
ERIC KEPT Ben with him during the exam as well. He’d figured it’d be a better idea if he was getting naked around another shifter—even a doctor. The expression on Ben’s face told him he’d made the right choice.
“You’ll need to be sure to eat things besides meat,” Miles said as he tucked his stethoscope into his bag.
“Uh… okay?” Eric squinched his eyes up at Miles.
“As wolves, we’re carnivores, so the meat we eat as wolves is enough. However, humans are omnivores, and we need vitamins and minerals we can’t get from meat. Now, yeah, you heal. But it’d be better for your system in general if you remember to eat like an omnivore while you’re in human form. You can actually end up feeling really run-down.”
“Oh, huh.” Eric shook his head. “I’d have never thought of that.”
“Which is why I said something.”
Eric wrinkled his nose. “Vegetables are not my favorite thing.”
“You can make sure he eats his broccoli.” Miles smirked at Ben.
Ben grinned. “I can get a few vegetables into him.”
“Some mate you are.” Eric scowled up at Ben.
Ben’s grin just widened. “Yeah, one that cares for you.”
Eric rolled his eyes, but it felt good nonetheless. He tried not to let the thought intrude that it wouldn’t feel good if Ben left, but the whole idea was still too close to the surface. Annoyed with his thoughts, he looked back at Miles. “I’ll eat them,” he grumbled, but his lips twitched, making Miles laugh.
“If you have any problems with anything, let me know. If there’s any way I can help, I will.”
“I will. Thank you.”
Miles patted him on the shoulder. “Happy to do it. Take care.”
“Vegetables.” Eric sighed and glanced over at Ben, wrinkling his nose again.
Ben laughed. “You are like a pup.”
Eric rolled his eyes. “Come on. Let’s go talk to the beta.”
THEY TOOK the table out on the deck, all three with fresh cups of coffee.
“So… first… I mentioned this to Tanner and he told me he knew what you’d say, but I am going to say it anyway.” Jamie cleared his throat. “You weren’t here when he chose me as his beta. I know you were b
est friends—”
Eric held his hand up. “I’m in absolutely zero position to watch anyone’s back right now. Besides, he chose you for a reason. He trusts you and believes you’re right for it. I would have taken it, way back when, if I’d never disappeared like I had. But I’m not the same guy I was then. So… no, I think you ought to keep it.”
Jamie blew out a breath. “He said you’d say something like that.”
Eric flashed a grin. “Yeah, we were best friends most of our lives. He knows me pretty well.”
“We’re still best friends. But I’m glad I still know you,” Tanner said, coming out onto the deck. “You up for them sticking around for dinner?”
Eric glanced at Ben, who shrugged.
“Fine with me, cariño. Only if you’re okay with them.”
After kissing Ben on the temple, Eric turned back to Tanner. “That’s fine. Don’t let Miles tell you I need broccoli, though.” He scowled without heat.
Tanner laughed. “Fin’s already got plans. No worries.” He waved and went back into the house.
Eric turned to Jamie again. “Anyway….”
Jamie grinned. “I’m not big on veggies either. When I was stuck in wolf form, Chad offered me his salad as a joke and I refused to eat it.”
Eric laughed. “No kidding.”
“I do eat vegetables, but they are usually cooked a certain way,” Ben said. “And almost always with a sauce of some sort.”
Eric glanced at his mate. “Mexican food?”
Ben nodded. “Yes. I’ll make some for you. You can get the veggies Miles wants without them being horrible.”
With another laugh Eric nodded. “All right. So….” He took a breath, then looked at Jamie. Ben slipped his hand into Eric’s, and Eric felt a little better. “I think… I think I met Diana.”
Jamie blinked at him. “You… our goddess?”
Eric nodded. “Yeah.” He described the woman in the forest and recounted to the best he could remember what she’d said to him and even the prodding when he’d gotten to the house but couldn’t seem to get down the last hill yet. When he finished, Jamie’s eyes were huge.
“I am so jealous!” he said, shaking his head.
Eric laughed. “I’m not entirely sure it was her—”
“Oh yeah, that was her. I wish I could meet her.” Jamie sighed. “She did help me, when Chad was being changed. I had a few really scary moments, but I could have sworn I felt her making me feel better, if you know what I mean.”
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