by Jana Downs
Billy felt his heckles rise at the veiled threat in the words. “If he does, I will handle it, Alpha.” The subtle “back off” in his tone clearly didn’t go unmissed as Mustang smirked.
“I’m sure you will.” Mustang slapped him on the back. “I better get back up to my mate before he starts to wonder where I’ve run off to. I’ll see you around, Doc.”
He left, leaving Billy to stare at the asphalt in the light of the streetlamps, wondering what he was going to do about this mess he found himself in.
* * * *
JP hadn’t called in to the pizza joint once in the four years he’d been working there. Today was the exception. He’d skipped his classes and had called Justin to let him know that he’d been hurt and couldn’t take the shift he’d agreed to the day before. Justin had not been happy, but when JP explained that he’d needed to have multiple stitches, his tune had changed soon enough.
Unfortunately, after several hours of doing absolutely nothing he was ready to climb the walls. The guy he’d liked forever had finally asked him out for coffee and then had gotten him mauled by a werewolf. He checked his bandage for the hundredth time. He was paranoid he was going to start sprouting fur or crave meat or something else equally as weird and terrifying.
He flipped to his stomach on the couch and reached for the remote. His apartment had come with free cable, though he rarely had time to watch it.
Up Next on SyFy: American Werewolf in Paris.
“Fuck no.” He hit the arrow. “Something safe. Animal Planet.” He wanted puppies. Kittens. Something cuddly like—
A wolf popped up on the screen. Monster Week!
“Bah! The universe is out to get me.” He shut the TV off.
Just when he half convinced himself that he’d imagined the whole thing, something would pop up like a prop from a horror movie and remind him all over again. He rubbed his arm in an attempt to banish the ache from it.
He still hadn’t filled the prescriptions that Dr. Carrigan had written and wouldn’t. He’d come straight home and barricaded himself inside. He wasn’t leaving in the near future either. Maybe never. His entire world had been uprooted, and the only thing he knew for certain was that his apartment was safe and had a dead bolt to prove it. A call back home had centered him a bit, but he was still off kilter.
If his arm would stop aching like a sonofabitch maybe he wouldn’t feel so out of it. He glared at the bag Billy had packed for him. His scripts were in there, along with that two inch thick manual that was supposed to tell him God-only-knew-what.
He still wasn’t sure why he hadn’t run to the nearest tabloid or government agency and screamed for protection. Maybe it was the threat hanging over his head like a silent declaration of terror weighing on him. Maybe it was because he was actually concerned that if he said something, he would be considered a whack job. Or maybe he’d really believed Billy when he’d said that they were just like everyone else. Whatever the reason, he stayed in his apartment and quietly pretended his world hadn’t been upended.
He reached over for the bag just to have something to do. After pulling the manual out, he thumbed through some of the pages.
History. Anatomy. Culture. All pretty interesting topics, but he wasn’t in the mood to do much reading.
He turned the page and came face to face with a man strapped to a wall in a big X. His eyes widened.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” He devoured the page, reading about how the pack had a very rigid structure, a lot like BDSM. They usually had designated clubs to provide safe playrooms for the pack to use.
The more he read the more a realization struck him.
“Perverts. Wolves are a bunch of perverts.” The best kind of perverts, the kinds of perverts that would usually get all of JP’s undivided attention. He groaned. “Seriously, Billy, why didn’t you just lead with this information?” Dr. Carrigan had always seemed so vanilla, so straight-laced. If he would’ve given even the least little hint he was anything other than vanilla, JP would’ve jumped his bones a long time ago. Now JP knew he was a werewolf and he wasn’t entirely sure if he could handle that much alpha male insanity.
He sighed. “Why is my timing always off?”
And why had he never seen gorgeous Billy Carrigan at the Den? The BDSM club in town was the only one as far as JP knew. It shouldn’t have been surprising that he hadn’t seen Billy there though. The man had like fourteen jobs that he did at the hospital alone. It didn’t change anything but JP had another reason to mourn the relationship that almost was.
JP had learned about BDSM from his last boyfriend, an older gentleman who had opened JP’s eyes to everything that came with the thrill of leather and latex. He could just picture Billy doing some heavy duty medical play. JP would look absolutely adorable in a pair of white latex shorts, playing nurse.
His phone rang as he flipped to the next page and found an encyclopedia of phone numbers for experts in topics from everything from bullwhipping to balloon play. He grinned. Oh wow. He was surprised that Billy wasn’t on the list under medical play. Some other guy named Valant Globesman. Disappointment.
He answered the phone without looking at the caller id. “Hello, JP’s house of lunacy. How you doing?”
“JP, this is Grayson Gambler. We met the other night. How you doing?”
JP frowned. Grayson Gambler. Who the hell was that? “Um…”
“I’m Steve’s brother.”
“Oh. You’re the big guy who was with the other guy who was threatening to lock me in the hospital.” Great. Why didn’t I just let it go to voicemail?
“Erm, yes. That would be me. I’m sorry about Mustang. He’s overprotective of his pack. That’s actually why I’m calling.” The phone scratched like he’d readjusted it. “I wanted to apologize for how you were introduced to us. It wasn’t our best first impression to say the least. Billy was concerned about you being somewhat reluctant to get back into touch with us. I wanted you to know that I’m here if you ever need someone to talk to. Mustang may be in charge of the dominants, but I’m in charge of the submissive mates. I promise I’m easier to get along with.”
JP didn’t know what to think. “So you’re basically the welcome wagon?”
“Essentially. I know having a wolf as a mate is tough. Trust me. I was human before I was Alpha mate. I know how freaky the idea of wolves walking around as people is.”
That was news. “So you were human?”
“Yep. Are there any questions I can answer for you right off the bat?”
There were actually but he wasn’t sure whether or not he should trust the source of said information. “How did you get my number?”
“The pack keeps a PI on retainer. It’s pretty standard procedure to get all the info on the new pack member as possible for our records and for the Circle’s records. Sorry if that seems intrusive.”
It did but there wasn’t anything JP could do about it now. “Grayson, I’m not sure anything about this situation isn’t intrusive.” There was no heat in the words though. He wasn’t feeling particularly hostile. He was just happy someone wasn’t outside his door with a spyglass looking in on him.
Grayson chuckled. “Yes. It is, unfortunately. However, don’t write us off just yet. We can be just as awesome as we can be a pain in the ass.”
“Uh huh.” He’d believe it when he saw it. “I do have one question for you.”
“Sure. What’s that?”
“Are all wolves as kinky as this freaky manual says they are?”
Grayson’s chuckle turned into a full-blown laugh. “Is your interest piqued?”
“I don’t know yet, but I have to know.”
“All wolves, or just one particular doctor we have an association with?”
JP hesitated. “Let’s start broad and then narrow our focus.” It was something his professors said pretty frequently. He seriously doubted that it was concerning wolves who happened to walk as kinky humans more often than not.
“All r
ight. Play it close to the chest,” Grayson said. “Pack structure tends to be very rigid, and our sexuality tends to be very reminiscent of the human world of BDSM.”
“So all wolves play?”
“All the ones that I know.”
A million possibilities chased themselves through his head as that juicy tidbit was confirmed. Great. Now all he could picture was Billy in a pair of tight leather breeches under the low light of the Den. Of all the things he had to be, did kinky have to be one of them?
* * * *
Billy gave him three days. Three days was plenty of time to think about everything that had occurred and mull over the possibility of wolf shifters actually existing, at least in Billy’s mind. He wasn’t sure if there was a standard of time when these things sorted themselves out, but he knew that his Alpha wouldn’t let his human run amok any more without some sort of interference.
When JP hadn’t shown up for clinicals or the surgery he was scheduled to assist Billy with, he had been a bit disappointed. He told himself he’d wait until Friday before he went to JP’s house and settled things once and for all. They needed to talk.
He called Dean, PI and gamma for the pack, for an update on JP. Still at home. Ordered pizza the night before. The deliver guy, another pack member named David, had said he had answered the door in his Superman pajama bottoms and had looked fine. Billy was fairly certain that “fine” was used far more illicitly than Billy was comfortable with. He resisted the urge to growl at the thought of some snot nosed eighteen-year-old eying his mate.
Dial it down a notch, Cujo. He was not an attack wolf. He hadn’t even kissed his mate yet.
He glanced down at the bouquet full of flowers he’d bought. He hoped they weren’t too much. He had no idea what kind they were, but the florist had said they were perfect for someone special. The orange and red blossoms were definitely pretty at any rate.
He tried to dress casual in his sage-green cashmere vest with his white button up underneath and light khakis, but he had the sneaking suspicion that casual to him was more like Sunday finery to JP. Oh well. Hopefully I don’t look intimidating in this at least.
He smoothed a hand down his front one last time before he knocked twice on JP’s door. From somewhere in the apartment he heard the sound of footsteps heading toward the door. He pasted a smile to his mug and hoped that he didn’t look nearly as uneasy as he felt.
The snick of a lock gave him some comfort. At least he was unlocking the door. Slowly, the door swung inward and JP came into view. He leaned against the doorframe, his purple hair contrasting with the red paint on the doorframe. “Hi, there,” he said, expression blank.
Billy shifted. “Hi.” He extended the flowers and was relieved when JP took them. “How are you feeling?”
JP shrugged. “Pretty good. My arm’s healing up and I got the antibiotics filled finally.” He lifted the bouquet to his face and inhaled. “These are nice. Get well flowers?”
“More like, sorry I dragged you into my world flowers.” Billy stuck his hands into his pockets. “So, may I come in or do I have to spend the whole night out in the hallway?”
He stepped back to allow Billy inside. “Come on in.”
Billy did, feeling somewhat mollified by the fact JP didn’t seem scared of him. “You didn’t call. I was expecting you to be somewhat less hospitable.”
“Yeah, well, Grayson has been calling in the afternoons and keeping me company. He’s hard to be scared of. The guy is a big goofball.”
Thank you, Grayson. The Alpha Mate was a real lifesaver.
The apartment looked like every other student housing that Billy had been in. It was sparsely furnished with hand-me-down furniture and the only books in the apartment were text books from whatever classes JP had last. The old gray couch didn’t look very comfortable, but the plushy rainbow-colored blanket certainly did. A TV scarcely bigger than Billy’s laptop screen was playing something on Food Network that looked delicious.
“Nice place,” Billy said.
“Thanks. I know it’s not much but it’s mine.” JP walked over to the couch and plopped down on top of it. “He warned me that you might be stopping by soon.”
“Ah, that explains the lack of surprise.” Billy grabbed one of the chairs by the kitchen table and turned it around to face the couch before taking a seat. “So what do you think?”
“About what?”
“About everything.” Billy didn’t even know where to begin on the topic. He hoped JP would take the lead on this one.
“Can I see you do it?” JP asked. “I mean, I saw a flash of fur but that’s about it.”
“You want me to shift for you?” Billy asked, eyes widening slightly at the prospect. The last thing he expected when stepping into JP’s apartment was the man asking him to get naked for him.
JP nodded. “I think I’ve half convinced myself that this whole thing was a shared hallucination or something.”
“Yet you haven’t left your apartment in days,” Billy said, frowning. “You were missed at clinicals. Please, don’t throw away your education over this. I know it’s startling, but you are going to make a great surgical tech.”
“I’m not throwing things away. I’m starting back first thing on Monday. I just had to have a few days to get my mind around things. I can make up some surgeries on your service, right?”
Billy nodded. “Whatever you need.” He pushed himself to his feet and went to the windows at the far end of the room to pull the curtain closed. It wouldn’t provide much sanctuary, but it would keep prying eyes from being able to see details.
“What are you doing?”
“I can’t let the whole neighborhood in on pack secrets,” Billy teased, throwing him a smile to set him at ease.
“Oh.” JP’s eyes widened. “You’re really going to shift for me?”
“If you’re certain you want to see it.”
“I definitely want to see it,” JP said quickly. “Just for the sake of my sanity, I have to see it.”
He toed off his loafers. “Thank you for not freaking out.”
JP chuckled, but the sound was strained. “There is no guarantee I’m not going to freak out in the immediate future.”
Billy froze with his hands wrapped around the bottom of his vest. He turned to look JP in the eyes. “Maybe we should wait.” He padded back over to the chair and then sat down.
“No. No. It’s all right.” JP waved his hand in what he thought was no-doubt a reassuring fashion. “I want to see it.”
Billy sighed. “No offense, but I don’t want to deal with an epic meltdown when I don’t have arms or the vocal ability to reassure you I’m not going to eat you.”
JP shifted on the couch, pulling the blanket around his shoulders. The action drew Billy’s attention to JP’s bare chest. “Ah, good point.”
He licked his lips, unable to help the bolt of lust that ricocheted through him. His wolf sat up and paid attention as well, whining to be let off the leash.
No.
His wolf growled in protest but settled down. Luckily, his other self could be reasoned with to a certain degree.
The persistent buzz of a cell phone drew Billy’s gaze from JP’s naked chest. “Someone important?”
JP shrugged. “You mind if I get it? It’s my mom.”
Billy waved his hand. “Go right ahead.”
“Hi, Mom,” JP said after he tapped the send icon. There was a brief pause. If he strained his ears, he could hear JP’s mother lecturing on the other end. Billy smiled. It reminded him a little of his own mother.
JP laughed. “I’m fine. Resting up.” Another pause. “I promise to take my vitamins.” Another longer pause. “I’m meditating regularly.”
Meditating? Interesting. Billy had always had an appreciation for nontraditional medicine and meditated every morning himself.
“Mom, I have a guest here with me. I’m going to have to call you back.”
“A boy?” Even without straining Billy could hea
r the hopeful question.
JP’s cheeks turned a lovely shade of prim rose. “Yes, Mom. But if you keep drilling me, he’s liable to think you’re one of those mothers and stop wanting to be friends with me.”
She laughed on the other end of the line.
“Love you, Mom.”
“Love you, too, sweetie.”
“Bye.”
They hung up.
“Sorry about that,” JP said, placing his phone on the couch beside him. “My mom would’ve worried if I didn’t answer the phone. She’s convinced I’m going to get an infection and die alone in my apartment before she gets a grandkid and a liberal son-in-law.” His expression grew serious. “You are a democrat, right?”
Billy blinked. “Um, yes. I am.”
JP looked relieved. “Oh good. Then this is doable.”
He barked out a surprised laugh. “This is a strange standard to measure the ‘doability’ of a relationship.”
His human looked a little sheepish. “Hey, if you understood the depth of my parents’ devotion to liberalism you’d understand why I had to ask that question. They are hippies to a higher power. They’re both vegans who only own cruelty-free textiles and have a carbon footprint that is laughably small.”
“Oh my.”
“Yeah…they’re great,” JP said, grinning. His smile faltered. “They’re not in danger are they?”
Billy shook his head. “Of course not. We’d adopt them into the pack in a manner. They’d have our protection.”
“Oh good.”
Awkward silence descended between them.
“I seem to recall conversations coming a lot easier before I got you mauled by a wolf,” Billy joked.
JP gave a stilted laugh. “It was, wasn’t it? I’m trying here. I just can’t get over the elephant in the room. This whole mate thing is a little weird.”
Billy shrugged. “I can understand that. I grew up with the concept. Think of it as any other biological function. You’re programmed to find the partner which suits you best, right?”
