Without Reservations

by J. L. Langley

  “Have a seat.” Chay pointed to an empty chair.

  Tommy came in next. His red hair appeared before he did. He seemed…nervous.

  Chay pointed to the seat next to Tina. “Sit.”

  Cheryl came in the door openly glaring at him. “Yes?”

  Chay glanced around his office, looking at all three of them. “Do we have a problem? All three of you have been acting strange all morning.”

  Cheryl put a hand on her hip. “You tell me, Dr. Winston. Do we have a problem? There are all sorts of rumors going around.”

  Chay raised a brow at her. “Rumors?”

  “Yes. They are saying you’re gay.” She glowered.

  “Why is it any of your business?”

  “Are you saying it’s true?”

  “Yes.”

  Cheryl coughed and sputtered. Judging by her reaction, she’d expected him to refute the accusation. “I quit. I refuse to work for a—”

  Chay smiled. “Get the fuck out. I don’t want to hear anything else you have to say.”

  Cheryl huffed, turned on her heel and marched right out of the office. After banging stuff around for several minutes getting her things, she stormed out of the clinic, slamming the door behind her.

  Blinking, Tina’s eyes widened. “Holy cow! I knew she was a bitch, but…” She shrugged. “She’s only pissed because now she doesn’t stand a chance nabbing you for herself.”

  Chay frowned. Tina didn’t seem to be bothered by his announcement. So why had she been acting strange? “What do you have to say? What’s with the looking from room to room?”

  Tina’s eyes shot wide and she put a hand to her chest. “Me?”

  “Yes you.”

  She ducked her head and blushed. “You thought it was because of you? I mean, well, I was curious, but that wasn’t… I was looking for Pita. Where is he?”

  Chay chuckled. “You mean all this time you’ve been trying to find Pita?”

  Tina nodded. “I mean, I am surprised. I always thought you liked women. But hell, Chay, my older brother is gay. I could care less if you are or not. You know?”

  Chay blinked. “Jake is gay?” He’d known Jake for years. Jake was a pack member. He was a little older than Chay and they’d never been the best of friends, but they were friends.

  “Well yeah. Has been since longer than I can remember.”

  “Hmm.”

  Tommy smiled.

  Chay frowned. “What?”

  “I have the sudden urge to jump up and dance around the clinic and sing, ‘ding-dong the witch is dead’. Man, I’m glad you fired Cheryl.”

  “She quit.”

  Tommy shrugged. “Who cares, she’s gone.” Holding up his hand, he gave Tina a high five.

  Wow, Chay hadn’t thought Cheryl was that bad. And apparently Tommy was okay with his sexual preference too.

  Tommy looked back at him and grinned, obviously reading the confusion on Chay’s face. “I’m shocked, Chay. But I don’t give a damn. Your private life is your own.” He shook his head. “Man you got chicks all over you and you… Never mind. It’s your life. If you’re happy, I’m happy.”

  After that his day got progressively better. He was about to call Keaton again to check up on him when Tina came back in his office. “So…is Pita going to be back tomorrow?”

  “Probably.”

  “Cool, I’ve gotten used to the little furball. When do we get to meet Keaton?”

  Chay’s eyebrows shot to his hairline. “You want to meet Keaton?”

  Tommy popped his head around the corner. “‘Course we do. Gotta see if he’s good enough for you, doc.”

  Tina chuckled. “Yeah, that too. But I figured I’m in love with the man’s dog, I should at least get to meet him, right?”

  Chay was astounded. He shook his head and burst out laughing. He looked at Tommy.

  Tommy grinned. “I was just thinking though, we are going to need a new receptionist. My sis needs a job.”

  “Yeah, okay. Give her a call and see if she’s interested.”

  “Thanks, doc.”

  “Welcome.”

  Tommy and Tina disappeared after that. Chay smiled. It would seem that not everyone was going to abandon him as Bit had predicted. Somehow it made him feel a little better. It wasn’t his mom, but well…maybe she’d come around too.

  Chapter Fifteen

  He had the urge to whistle. It was sickening really. A grown man shouldn’t go around this happy. Especially considering all the crap going on in his life recently, but somehow with Chay by his side, it seemed manageable. Scary, but not the end of the world.

  Keaton threw an apple into the air and caught it as he shrugged his backpack further up his arm. One of these days he was going to have to get an attaché case, but darn it, that just seemed…nerdy. Yeah he was a nerd, but he didn’t have to advertise. Of course, dressed as he was and carrying a backpack, he usually got mistaken for a student. He wasn’t sure what was worse, nerd or kid.

  Chay was parked by the admin building. As Keaton approached, Chay smiled and pulled his sunglasses down with his finger.

  Keaton opened the door, tossed his backpack in the backseat and slid in next to Chay.

  “What are you smiling at?” Chay leaned over and kissed him.

  “Mmm.” He kissed back, nipping his mate’s bottom lip as he did so. “Just thinking how good you’d look in a red sports car.”

  Chay pushed his glasses back in place and sat up. “Oh? You want a sports car?”

  “It’s a thought. Let’s go.” He shut the door and put his seat belt on.

  “Yes, sir.” Chay drove out of the parking lot.

  Keaton took a bite of apple then offered it to Chay.

  He shook his head. “No thanks. Tina, Tommy and I had a huge lunch. Tommy’s sister started work today and brought us all tamales.”

  “Ahh…” Keaton smiled at the mention of Tina and looked around. Chay was still in scrubs, but Pita was nowhere in sight. He sniffed. Nope Pita wasn’t in the truck. Pita had gone back to work with Chay today. Chay claimed Tina threatened to beat him if he didn’t bring the pup.

  “You went home before you came to get me?”

  “No, I came right from the office, why?”

  “Where’s the dog?”

  Chay chuckled. “Tina is puppysitting. I’m going to go get him on the way home.”

  Keaton took another bite of apple. “Uh. Okay.” Maybe he’d get to finally meet Tina. Anybody who adored his dog as much as Tina had to be pretty cool.

  Keaton finished his apple as Chay parked the truck in the dealership parking lot.

  Chay smiled. “Come on, let’s go find you a new car.”

  Keaton smiled back and got out of the car. Taking the apple core with him, he tossed it in a trashcan by the building. Chay grabbed his hand and they wandered from car to car. It felt like the most natural thing in the world to stroll hand in hand with his mate, but about ten minutes into strolling, it occurred to Keaton that people were gawking at them.

  “Chay? People are staring.” Keaton gazed around the car lot watching people quickly turn away when he spotted them.

  “So?” Chay tugged his hand as he bent forward, looking in the window of a blue car. “What do you think of this one, Bit?”

  Keaton glanced back at their entwined hands.

  “What?” Chay peered up at him.

  “Doesn’t that bother you?”

  “No. Does it bother you?”

  Did it? He thought about it for a minute. He wasn’t used to the scrutiny. Jonathon wouldn’t so much as accidentally brush against him in public. He actually liked holding Chay’s hand. He squeezed Chay’s hand and shrugged. If people didn’t like it, that was their problem. “Not really.”

  Chay grinned and rolled his eyes. He pulled on Keaton’s hand. “Then quit giving me shit and look at this car.”

  Keaton looked. He wasn’t impressed. Finding the perfect car was proving more difficult than he’d thought, it appeared
it was going to take more than one day of shopping. They had similar tastes. However, all the cars he picked didn’t have enough legroom for Chay and Chay seemed to find the biggest damned cars on the lot. Which made Keaton feel like a twelve-year-old stealing his parent’s car for a joyride. The sports cars sat way too low for Chay. He couldn’t stand feeling like he was sitting on the ground. When Keaton complained that the luxury cars were too “suburban housewifeish” for him, Chay laughed so hard he scared the salesman off.

  He was about to tell Chay he didn’t like this car either when an “Ahem” came from behind them.

  Keaton turned, letting go of Chay’s hand.

  A man in a gray suit stood there smiling at them. “Can I help you, gentlemen?”

  “I’m looking for a new car. Something that isn’t too big and something that isn’t too small. Something sporty and American.”

  “Good. Let me see if I can help you with that.” The man extended his hand. “Brad White.”

  “Keaton Reynolds.” He shook the man’s hand.

  The man sized Chay up, extending his hand.

  Chay shook it. “Chayton Winston.”

  Brad nodded and looked back to Keaton. “Is this your first car?”

  Keaton barely suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.

  Chay, the fiend, started cackling. “No wonder people are looking at us funny, Bit. They think I’m some perv who’s robbing the cradle.”

  Keaton sighed and shook his head. He grinned at a very startled Brad. “Just ignore him. He has a warped sense of humor. No, this isn’t my first car.”

  Brad gave him a wobbly smile and flicked a glance at Chay. “Okay. You want something sporty, American, not too big.”

  “Right. It needs to have leg room for him and not make me look like a kid who stole my parent’s car.”

  Brad chuckled and led them to the other side of the lot.

  Keaton ended up with a two thousand six, red Dodge Charger. It had been a contest between the silver and the red, but the final selling point had been how good Chay looked behind the wheel of the red one. He signed all the papers and now he was waiting on them to bring the car around. Chay had just left to get Pita and some food. They were going to meet back at the house.

  Then again, maybe he’d skip dinner and go to bed. He didn’t feel too good. His stomach cramped.

  The man drove up with his car and he climbed behind the wheel. He thanked the man and left the lot. Damn, his eyes were blurry. He blinked, trying to focus. Fortunately, he wasn’t too far away from home. Damn. Could his eyes be shifting? He blinked again, everything was still in color. How odd. Halfway home, the stomach cramps became more intrusive. He felt so terrible he didn’t even get a chance to enjoy his new car.

  By the time he pulled into the garage and got out, he was so dizzy he had to lean on the car before shutting the garage door.

  The smell of food assaulted him as he opened the kitchen door. Pita came running toward him.

  Chay stood at the counter unpacking hamburgers. Without looking up he asked, “How’d it drive?” He turned, holding out a plate with burger, fries and ketchup. He frowned. “Babe, you look terrible. What’s wrong?”

  Keaton reached for Chay but missed due to the lack of clarity. He would have fallen but Chay grabbed him.

  He clutched his stomach as another more violent cramp hit him. “Bathroom now,” he managed to wheeze out.

  Chay set the food on the counter, swooped Bit up in his arms and ran for the bathroom. They made it just in time.

  Chay ran his hand over Bit’s hair again as the phone began to ring. He didn’t like this. Not at all. He’d tried to heal his mate immediately by cutting his finger and making Bit ingest the blood. It was a known fact that werewolf blood could help heal their mate, but Keaton had thrown that up too.

  “Hello?”

  Chay started at the pack doctor’s voice. He’d forgotten he was calling him. “Doc Baker. This is Chayton Winston.”

  “Hi, Chay. How are you?”

  Keaton heaved again. Nothing came up. Poor baby.

  Chay stroked his back. “Not good, Doc. I think my mate’s been poisoned.”

  “The nice young man your father and John introduced us to? What are his symptoms?”

  “He’s vomiting. He says his vision is blurred and he seems like he’s wheezing to me.”

  “Did you give him blood?” Rustling sounded in the background.

  “I did and he couldn’t keep it down.”

  “Hmmm…” There was a slam and the start of a car engine. “I’m on my way over. Try giving him more blood. I’ll be there in a minute.”

  “Thanks, Doc.” Hanging up the phone, Chay set it on the vanity. “Bit?”

  “Uh?” Keaton wheezed.

  “Fuck, baby. Hold on. We’re going to try more blood.”

  “It isn’t going to work.”

  “Why not? If we can get it down you, it might.”

  Bit started coughing.

  Hoping to get more air into his lungs and eliminate the wheezing, Chay hefted him upright. He was burning up. “Fuck.” Chay ran into the living room where he’d left his medical bag. He brought it back and sat behind Keaton. “Hang on, babe. It’s gonna work.”

  “It’s not gonna work. I’m not human.” He dry heaved again.

  Taking out a scalpel, Chay cut his hand. He stuck it in front of Keaton’s face. “Here, hurry before it heals.”

  Bit shook his head, but did as he was told, sucking the blood from Chay’s hand. Shivering, he leaned back against Chay. He stopped sucking. “Damn, it’s cold in here.”

  Chay shook his hand in front of his mate’s mouth. “Suck.”

  “The cut is already closed,” Bit whispered. “It healed.”

  Pulling his hand back, Chay rubbed Keaton’s arms, trying to warm him.

  Keaton rested against him for several minutes before the doorbell rang.

  “Gotta get up, babe. I have to let the doc in. You be okay for a minute?”

  Nodding, Keaton leaned forward.

  As Chay opened the front door, he heard Keaton vomiting again. Damn, damn, damn. Grabbing his arm, Chay shut the door and dragged Dr. Baker to the bathroom. “Hurry, doc. The blood I just gave him came right back up.”

  “I was afraid of this. I didn’t know if it would work or not, Chay. Usually our mates are human. I’m not sure giving another werewolf blood will do anything. He’s already a wolf and he already has the unique healing abilities that the rest of us do.”

  Chay sighed. “Yeah, that was Keaton’s theory too.” And goddamn it, it made sense. What now?

  Keaton lay on the floor, one arm across his chest the other flung to the side, unconscious.

  The air left Chay’s lungs as he raced forward. “Oh God no.” He grabbed Keaton and hauled him into his lap. Everything seemed to slow down. He barely registered Doc Baker rushing forward. He felt for Keaton’s pulse. It was weak, but there. Chay had to do something. This was suddenly way more serious than just letting the poison wear off. It was killing Bit.

  Tears streaked down Chay’s face as he cradled Bit to him. He racked his brain. What antidotes did he have? Was there anything that would counteract poison instantly? What the fuck kind of poison was it? Did he have time to get Bit to the emergency room?

  “Chay, we are going to try getting your blood into him intravenously.”

  “Huh?”

  “I have a line used for person-to-person transfusions.”

  Doc Baker dug through his bag. He pulled out some tubing with needles attached at the ends. “I’m not sure it will work, but we don’t have anything to lose.” He snagged Chay’s arm and tied it off with an elastic band he got from his bag. “Fist.”

  Chay complied and Doc stuck him.

  “Stand up, get above him, so gravity can do its work.” Doc stuck Keaton with the other needle.

  Chay reluctantly extracted himself from Keaton and stood, realizing what the doc was thinking. He untied the elastic from his
arm and stared down at his mate. Was Keaton breathing better? It had only been about thirty seconds and it appeared to be working.

  Doc found his stethoscope and listened to Keaton’s chest. He smiled up at Chay and nodded.

  The lump in Chay’s stomach slowly dissolved. It was going to work.

  He brushed the sweaty blond curls off Bit’s forehead and stared. His eyes caressed those fine features, the round little angelic face, the arched brows, the freckles he loved so much. Chay sighed and forced himself to relax. Bit would make it. It had been close, but Chay’s blood had saved him. He woke earlier, long enough to rinse his mouth and let Chay undress him and carry him to the bed, but he’d quickly succumbed to sleep again.

  Now Chay sat in bed with Bit’s head in his lap. He tried to relax and just be happy Bit was alive. He was happy—extremely—but he was scared too. More scared than he’d ever been. Someone tried to kill Bit again and they damned near succeeded this time.

  How could he combat an unknown force? He had to find out where Bit had gotten that apple—that had been the last thing Keaton had eaten. The doc had told him that the only poison that worked on werewolves was sodium fluoroacetate. Further confirmation that the perpetrator was a wolf. True, a high enough dosage could kill any species, including humans, but it took a very miniscule amount to kill a canine. He knew that from vet school. It was once used to control predators. What he hadn’t realized is that a werewolf’s regenerative properties couldn’t heal them from a dose of it. According to Doc Baker, it was the one toxin their bodies couldn’t drive out. And it was odorless, so even their keen sense of smell couldn’t pick it up.

  Chay exhaled and dropped his head against the headboard with a thud. This was some really scary shit they were dealing with. He didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t keep Bit locked up and they couldn’t move. Whoever it was would follow them. He was certain of it. In fact, he was positive that whoever it was had followed Bit to New Mexico. He was going to have to ask Bit again when he woke up. He needed to know everyone in Keaton’s past who might have cause to kill him.

  Bit’s eyes blinked open. The scent of arousal overwhelmed Chay almost immediately. Bit blinked again and his eyes changed to their lupine equivalent. He opened his mouth, presumably to say something, and his canines lengthened, making not only Chay, but himself gasp. Sitting up, Bit turned toward Chay, a questioning look on his face. He gazed at Chay’s lips for a mere second, then grabbed Chay’s face and sealed their mouths together. He crawled out from the covers and straddled Chay’s hips, his cock pressing hard and insistent against Chay’s belly.