Instantly Sean was next to him, pushing Dae gently back down onto the gurney. “Don’t you even think about moving. You’ve been shot twice. Holy shit, you’ve been shot twice… just like the wolf! Dr. Dae, what the fuck is going on?” he asked, looking into Dae’s eyes.
“This is going to be really hard for you to accept, Sean, but I’m a shapeshifter. A lycanthrope, or to use the vernacular, a werewolf,” Dae replied. “Please don’t be afraid of me,” he whispered, willing Sean to accept what he was being told.
“Jesus, Dr. Dae, this is no time to try to be funny. There’s no such thing as werewolves.”
In the blink of an eye Dae shifted back into the wolf, looking at Sean with an expression that seemed to say “I told you so.” Then, once again, the wolf was gone and Dae sat in his place.
“This is impossible!”
“Oh, it’s possible all right, I assure you. Do I need to show you again?” Dae smiled in relief despite the burning pain in his shoulders and the headache that had reasserted itself with a vengeance, watching Sean’s face do some shifting of its own as it ran the gamut of expressions from shock to hesitant acceptance.
“No, you don’t,” Sean replied slowly, his eyes remaining wide as he shook his head. “Fuck,” he swore softly. “I don’t know why I believe you, but I do. By the way, you’re naked.”
Dae laughed, then winced again at the pain it caused both his head and his shoulders. “Yeah, I guess I am. Hard to keep clothes on a wolf, Sean.”
“I suppose it would be at that. How the hell did you manage to get hit by that pickup? You’re lucky it didn’t kill you!” Sean exclaimed, shaking his head.
“I went running. I was thinking about… someone, and my mind wandered,” Dae replied sheepishly.
“You mean you were thinking about Jack, right? Jesus, Dr. Dae, he was an asshole when he was with you, and he nearly gets you killed now that he’s gone.” Sean shook his head in consternation then dropped the subject. “Look, we need to get those bullets out and get you patched up. Then I expect a full and detailed debriefing, boss,” Sean continued, peering at the small hole in Dae’s left shoulder. “The wounds are seeping again. I’ll call for an ambulance,” he added, turning away.
“No!” Dae yelled, reached for Sean’s arm and yelping as the pain flared in his shoulders. “I can’t go to the hospital, Sean. They’ll want to know how I got shot.”
“So? We’ll tell them the truth. Well, almost the truth, anyway. You got shot by an addict who was trying to steal drugs from the clinic. We’ll just leave out the part about you being hairy and on four legs at the time.”
Dae shook his head firmly. “No. They’ll take tests, Sean. X-rays may show me to be the same as everyone else, but a blood test would be a different story. My DNA and the composition of my blood will be a far cry from the workup of an average human being.”
“Then what do you suggest we do? We can’t just leave the bullets in there, you know. You’ll develop septicemia. It could kill you, Dae,” Sean argued, laying his palm on Dae’s broad chest.
Dae noticed that it was the first time Sean had addressed him without the prefix of doctor. He supposed that finding out something as intimate as the fact that your boss was a werewolf and having said boss stretched out naked on your x-ray table was a good enough reason for familiarity.
“We aren’t going to leave them in there. You’re going to take them out. I’m going to shift back into my wolf-form, and you’re going to do it.”
“Me? Are you crazy? I can’t take them out, Dae. I’m not a vet! I’m a veterinary assistant. My title is self-explanatory—I assist, which infers that someone else is doing the procedure. They’re in too deeply. I can bring in someone else, though—”
“No! I can’t risk anyone else finding out about me, Sean. It’s bad enough that I had to expose myself to you,” Dae shot back. He couldn’t help noticing how warm Sean’s hand was on his chest and felt his groin tighten regardless of his injuries. Dae blushed as he realized that in addition to exposing his secret to Sean, he was also exposing a growing hard-on. “Hand me a blanket, will you?” he asked, feeling the flush crawling up his neck and heating his cheeks.
Sean fetched a blanket out of the cabinet and covered the lower half of Dae’s body with it. He made no mention of Dae’s semihard erection, although his cheeks grew rosy.
“Listen to me, Sean. You can do this. You’re bright, and you’ve assisted me in surgery before. You have a steady hand. I’m going to tell you exactly what you need to do, and then you’re going to do it. I’ll shift back into the wolf so that you’ll be more familiar with the anatomy. We’ll give me a local anesthetic so that I can shift back if necessary to answer any questions you might have or deal with any problems that might develop. It will be fine, Sean. You’ll be fine.”
Sean looked intently into Dae’s hazel eyes for a few moments then nodded slowly. “All right, Dae. If you’re certain that this is the only way, then I’m willing to try. But don’t you dare blame me if I screw this up.”
“You won’t. And if you do, I’ll just dock your pay.”
Sean smiled for the first time since Dae had shifted. “The hell you will. You’ll be giving me a raise after this. Surgery on a werewolf is not in my job description, boss.”
SEAN, ALTHOUGH nervous and unsure of himself, did an admirable job of removing the two bullets and stitching Dae’s wounds closed. Dae shifted again, and Sean bandaged the wounds neatly. He helped Dae sit up, the blanket still covering Dae’s lower half. Handing Dae a glass of water and a couple of pain pills, Sean hoisted himself up onto the gurney and sat next to Dae. Folding his arms across his chest, Sean looked at Dae and cocked an eyebrow, obviously waiting.
Dae took the pills and sipped the water, then cleared his throat, not quite certain where to begin. Looking down at the glass he held in his hand, he decided that it would be best to start at the beginning.
“I was born into a pack that marked its territory near the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, about five hundred miles north of here. We owned a small ranch where we kept sheep and a few head of cattle. The locals thought we were a commune, which I suppose is close to the truth.
“Usually, for obvious reasons, we kept to ourselves as much as possible, but we did have dealings with humans from time to time. I became obsessed with them from an early age, sneaking off into town whenever I could, watching the other kids. Even managed to make a few friends, which worried the hell out of my parents. I can see their point now, because all I would have had to do was shift in front of those kids or their parents and I would have put the entire pack in danger. But back then, I just didn’t understand the risk I was taking. My parents had to nearly tie me to my bed to keep me out of town.”
Dae glanced over at Sean and wondered how much his assistant really wanted to know about him. He took another long drink of water before he continued.
“When I was about halfway through puberty, I realized that I was different from most males my age. The boys I’d counted as my friends were suddenly intensely interesting to me. Of course, I didn’t tell anyone, but my trips into town became more frequent than ever. I’d tag along to parties, just so that I could be near them. There’s nothing more difficult than being a werewolf at the tail end of puberty—pardon the pun—without a date on Saturday night. I lived with a perpetual hard-on.”
Dae noticed Sean’s cheeks flush red and felt his own burn in response but felt obligated to finish his story.
“When I was sixteen, I met a young man named Cal. He seemed to like me, and we spent a lot of time together. One night, as we were sitting behind the barn on his folk’s place, I kissed him.
“His reaction wasn’t what I’d hoped for. He hauled off and beat the shit out of me. Evidently, he wasn’t ready to admit his feelings. Either that or I’d seriously misjudged him. In any case, in the middle of the beating, I shifted.
“Luckily, no one believed him, although the sheriff came out to the ranch and asked a few questions. Needles
s to say the pack was not happy with me. But I think I felt sorrier for Cal than for myself. The pack was pissed at me, but Cal’s folks thought he was crazy. Poor kid. I still feel bad about him. I never went back into town after that.
“Anyway, things were never the same between the pack and me when they found out I was gay. Proliferation of the pack is law. Healthy males are expected to breed without exception. Eventually, they kicked me out. I hung around the periphery of pack territory for a while, scrounging for food, hoping they’d come around, but they never did. When I turned eighteen, I made my way to Grand Rapids, got a job, my GED, and eventually worked my way through veterinary school. And then, when I graduated, I moved here and opened the Blue Moon.”
Sean sat quietly, trying to assimilate all the new and nearly unbelievable information. “That must have been a really lonely time for you, growing up isolated like that,” he said, glancing over at Dae. “Is that why you kept Jack around for so long? Because you were afraid of being alone again?”
Dae was startled by the mention of Jack’s name and blushed deeply even as his brows knit together. “That’s getting a little personal, isn’t it?”
“You trust me enough to tell me that you’re a werewolf but not enough for me to ask you about your love life?”
“It’s not that, it’s just that Jack… well, that was complicated.”
“Complicated, my ass,” Sean countered, rolling his eyes at Dae. “He used you. Period. I didn’t think you’d ever wake up and end it with him. Then, just when I think that there’s a half a brain lurking somewhere inside of your head, what do you do? You spend the next six months pining away, not eating right, not sleeping right, and giving up any semblance of a social life for work. And where did that get you? Nearly turned into roadkill by a pickup truck.”
“Sean, you just wouldn’t understand,” Dae said, looking at his assistant with irritation, nettled by Sean’s newfound candor. This was a side of Sean he’d never seen before.
“I understand more than you think,” Sean shot back, frowning at Dae. “I understand that there are guys who would give their left nut to have a chance with someone like you, but you could never take your eyes off Jack long enough to see them, no matter how shitty he treated you.”
“Who? Old Mr. Peterson? He’s been in the closet for seventy years… I don’t think he’s coming out anytime soon, and even if he did, he’s old enough to be my grandfather! As hard up as I am, the last thing I need is a daddy,” Dae spat, glaring at Sean, furious at him for having the audacity to criticize Dae’s personal life, even if he did speak the truth. Sean had probably never been alone a day in his life, not with his looks, Dae thought. How could he possibly understand?
Sean jumped off the gurney, his fists balled at his sides and his shoulders tense. Dae had never seen his young assistant so upset before.
“No, you idiot! Not Mr. Peterson! You’re not the only one who knows what it’s like to be lonely. Try loving somebody for four years who doesn’t even know you exist, except as an extra pair of hands when there’s a dog to be wormed!” Sean cried.
Conflicting emotions warred on Sean’s face as the events of the afternoon plainly brought him to his breaking point. Dae could almost hear his nerves, pulled taut first by the addict and then by Dae’s revelation, snap. But Dae wasn’t prepared for what Sean did next. Without warning he grabbed Dae’s face between his hands and kissed him soundly.
Dae was stunned speechless, but Sean looked positively horrified by what he’d done. He slapped a hand over his mouth, paling visibly, before turning on his heel and running out of the room.
Lifting a hand to touch his lips, Dae stared at the doorway. He’d been kissed. Dae’s lips tingled, and he could still feel Sean’s warm lips pressed against his own. Sean had kissed him. Sean.
For the first time since he had watched Jack scurry to the car through the rain on that night six months ago, Dae felt a heavy weight lift from his heart as he finally understood, and he smiled.
SEAN WAS in a near panic. He had fled out the back door of the clinic into the yard where they kept the dog runs. Leaning his back against the chicken wire that comprised the wall of a run, he’d wrapped his arms around himself and stood there, shaking.
He’d been infatuated with Dae since the moment he’d first entered the clinic four years ago, fresh out of school and as nervous as any of the pups in the waiting room. Hired on the spot, it had been all Sean could do to keep his hands to himself as he worked day in and day out with Dae.
After a few months, Sean had chanced a bit of flirting, subtly trying to tell Dae that he was wanted as more than just a boss, but Dae had never once responded. He was friendly with Sean, warm and caring, but Dae had never given any indication that he saw Sean as anything other than a friend and veterinary assistant. Sean had backed off, afraid of ruining their fledgling friendship.
There had been times when he had been sorely tempted to tell Dae about his feelings, that he had in fact, fallen hopelessly in love with Dae, but he never did. He kept his lips glued shut, afraid that if Dae rejected him then Sean would have had no choice but to leave the Blue Moon Clinic. Sean couldn’t bear the thought of not seeing Dae every day, even if it was only as his assistant.
A year passed, and Dae had met Jack. For the next three years Sean had done a slow burn, watching Dae repeatedly make the same mistakes with Jack but unable to bring himself to do more than offer a few words of comfort and advice during the black times—and there were many of them—when Dae’s heart had been broken by Jack’s affairs. It had hurt Sean to see Dae suffer, but no matter how many times Sean had told Dae that Jack was bad news, Dae had continued to take the asshole back.
Sean put in as many hours at the clinic as humanly possible, living for the times when his hand would brush against Dae’s or when Dae would lean across him to reach for something, pressing his chest briefly against Sean’s back.
It was pathetic, Sean knew. It was an unhealthy obsession. It was sad, and it was lonely, but Sean was convinced that it was all he could have, and he had forced himself to remain content with it.
Until today, that is.
Sean had never been so frightened in all of his life. The incident with the addict had been terrifying enough, but the transformation of the love of his life into a wolf before his very eyes had been his undoing, and Sean had lost it.
Turning around, Sean threaded his fingers into the chicken wire of the run, leaning his forehead against the cool metal. Tears of frustration, shame, anger, and pain welled up, trickling down his cheeks. He’d ruined it. It would never be the same now. He’d never be able to look Dae in the eye again, not after kissing him like that. Not after telling Dae in so many words that Sean loved him. It was over. In his frustration, he rattled the chicken wire and banged his forehead against it hard enough to leave a mark on his skin.
Strong hands on his shoulders urged him to turn back around.
“Come inside, Sean. It’s cold out here,” Dae said, reaching around to gently pry Sean’s fingers from the chicken wire.
Sean’s muscles tightened in resistance. “Leave me alone. Please, just… leave me be,” he managed to whisper. He held his breath, afraid that if he tried to breathe he’d break down completely.
“Come inside,” Dae ordered, uncurling each of Sean’s rigid fingers from their death grip on the chicken wire.
Chapter Four
DAE WALKED over to his desk and opened a drawer, pulling out a bottle of brandy. Pouring a healthy dose into a paper cup, he brought it over to Sean and hunkered down on the floor in front of Sean, resting his arms on Sean’s knees.
“Drink up. You need it, my friend. Doctor’s orders.”
Sean gulped the brandy down, grimacing as it burned a path down his throat into his belly. He still didn’t meet Dae’s eyes. Closing his own, Sean appeared to bite hard at the inside of his cheek.
Dae remained on his knees, watching Sean closely, waiting patiently until Sean was ready to speak.
“I’m an idiot,” Sean whispered, when the silence that stretched between them grew heavy. “A moron. I fucked up big-time.”
“Says who? You just had a run-in with an asshole with a gun, found out that your boss is a werewolf, and performed your first surgical procedure. You did good, kid.”
“You know what I’m talking about, Dae!”
“Oh,” Dae replied, smiling. “That. Yes, there is that to deal with, isn’t there? Well, I’m afraid that there’s only one way to fix that particular mistake.” He waited until Sean finally opened his eyes and looked at him warily. “The only way to make up for what you did is to even the score.” Rising up on his knees, Dae slid one hand behind Sean’s neck, pulling Sean’s head down as he leaned up and kissed the man softly.
“If anyone here is an idiot, then it’s me, Sean,” Dae breathed when he finally forced himself to pull away from Sean’s soft, warm lips. He cupped Sean’s cheek in his palm, running his thumb over Sean’s scruffy jaw. “I wasted three years of my life on an asshole who couldn’t keep his dick in his pants without a padlock. You kept trying to tell me, didn’t you? Kept trying to get it through my thick skull that Jack wasn’t what I needed, but I never listened. I’m sorry, Sean. I’m sorry that I didn’t see it sooner.”
“You mean that? Really? I’ve wanted to tell you for so long, Dae,” Sean said, covering Dae’s hand with his own. He closed his eyes again and leaned into Dae’s touch.
“Of course I mean it. Have you ever known me to say anything I didn’t mean? I guess everything depends on whether or not you mind me being an overgrown Furby,” Dae asked, feeling his heart stop as he waited for Sean to answer.
“It’s a little unnerving, I’ll give you that,” Sean answered, managing a small smile. “But you’re still you, right? You’ve been a werewolf,” he said, stumbling a bit over the word, “all along, but it didn’t stop me from….”
“From what?”
Running With the Moon Page 3