Noem

by Catherine Lievens

  Noem arched a brow. “Why didn’t you tell Morin right away when you met him?”

  Nysys cocked his head. “What does that have to do with this?”

  “It’s just a question.”

  “Fine. I didn’t tell him because I didn’t think he’d want me.”

  “There you go. You have your answer.”

  “But I was living with him, and you know who his father is. That’s why I thought he wouldn’t want me. Kay is different.”

  Noem snorted. “Different, sure. Maybe his father doesn’t hate shifters, but he does.”

  Nysys frowned. “He didn’t even look uncomfortable this morning, or last night. He’s Troy’s best friend, and Troy’s a shifter now. Don’t you think that Kay would have left if he really hated us?”

  “Troy’s different. He was human, and that’s how Kay knew him. He might be a shifter now, but it’s not the same thing.”

  “What about Aaron? As far as I know, Kay moved to Wyoming to be close to Aaron, to be a good uncle. At least that’s what Troy told me.”

  “Have you been discussing me and Kay behind our backs?”

  “We had to,” Nysys cried out. “You ran from the kitchen before he could say anything, and when Troy explained to him that he’d told his mate he doesn’t like shifters, he ran too.”

  Noem’s brow rose in surprise. “He ran?”

  “Well, not exactly. He had to go to work, and he said he’d be by tonight, but yeah, we didn’t have the time to talk.”

  “Maybe he doesn’t want to.”

  “Maybe you need to give him a chance instead of hiding out here.”

  Noem sighed. “I just don’t want to be hurt. The rest of my life is already chaotic enough as it is, and the last thing I want is to have my mate reject me to my face.”

  “Noem, would Kay pushing you away to your face really hurt more than ignoring the problem until it festers? Besides, he doesn’t seem like a guy who’d avoid his problems. I bet my left ball that he’ll be back tonight and he’ll want to talk to you about it.”

  Nysys was probably right, and even if he wasn’t, Noem really ought to talk to Kay. No matter what the result was, he needed to know for sure. If Kay didn’t want him, then he could go on, let go of the idea of mating and maybe find himself a boyfriend. It might not be the perfect time, not with the hunters, but there were plenty of enforcers living next door, and more than a few found a reason to come by the infirmary a lot more often than they should.

  “I’ll talk to him,” Noem finally said. He hoped it wouldn’t end too badly, because that was the last thing he needed.

  * * * *

  Kay entered the station and walked to his desk, but his mind was still on the mansion. More specifically, it was still on Noem.

  He’d had an inkling Noem was his mate, or rather, that he was Noem’s mate, but he’d discarded it, deciding to hide his head in the sand instead of facing the problem. Now, he had the certainty of it, and he wasn’t sure how that made him feel. He might have told Troy he’d try, but this wasn’t trying. This was being thrust into a world he knew little of, no matter how much he’d talked with Troy.

  “Earth to Morris.”

  Kay blinked and looked at his partner. “Yes?”

  Laura leaned her hip against the side of Kay’s desk. He hadn’t even realized he was already sitting there. He’d obviously been on autopilot, and that generally wasn’t a good thing when one was a cop.

  “You look lost in your thoughts,” Laura said.

  “That’s because I was.”

  “Are you going to tell me why?”

  Kay looked around. The station was still mostly empty, and the few people already there were huddling around the coffee machine. He should probably wait until he and Laura were out of the building, but he felt like the words were about to explode out of his mouth if he didn’t do anything. He leaned back in his chair and looked at his partner. “Do you believe in soul mates?” he asked, thinking it was a clever way to ask a human who didn’t know about shifters what they thought about mates.

  Laura’s eyes widened. “Soul mates?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Can I ask what brought this up?”

  Kay tapped his fingers on his desk. He wasn’t sure how to explain what was happening without giving too much away. He could just keep his mouth shut, of course, but he liked the idea of having someone who didn’t know anything about shifters telling him what they thought about it.

  “There’s this guy... ” Kay wasn’t in the closet, not even at work. He hadn’t been in his old station, and he hadn’t wanted to hide ever again. People in town didn’t seem to care much anyway, although there were a few people who grumbled. Most of them seemed perfectly okay with two guys together, and Kay had seen a lot of same-sex couples around town, and not just the guys living in the mansion.

  “And what does this guy want?” Laura asked, obviously fed up with Kay’s hesitation.

  “Well, he thinks we’re soul mates.”

  Laura cocked her head. Something passed in her eyes, but Kay wasn’t sure what it was. “Why does he think that?”

  That was a harder question to answer without giving everything away. “He thinks there’s a bond between us, and that we were made for each other.”

  Laura’s eyes narrowed and she leaned closer. “When did you meet this guy?”

  “Yesterday.”

  “And where were you when you met him?”

  Kay hesitated. He could tell Laura he’d been at the mansion, even though no one knew he had friends there. The house wasn’t a secret by any means, in fact, everyone in town knew about it. They probably thought it was weird, with all those grown men living together.

  “You know the huge house at the edge of town?”

  Her eyes widened. “The mansion? Where all those people live together?”

  “Yeah, that one. My best friend lives there, and I went to visit.”

  Laura leaned even closer. “You know about shifters?” she asked in a whisper, after making sure no one was listening to them.

  What the fuck? Kay blinked. “You know about them?” Laura looked around. “We shouldn’t talk about it here.”

  The station was slowly getting full, and Kay saw that Grand and Flynn, the two detectives who were investigating the pride, were there. They didn’t know he was involved, and he wanted to keep things that way. He wasn’t even sure what they were investigating, exactly, and he needed to know. He needed to protect Troy and Aaron.

  “Lunch break later?” he asked, and Laura nodded.

  She went back to her desk and started making phone calls while Kay tried to focus on the files in front of him. His gaze slid over to Grand and Flynn every so often, though, and Grand noticed.

  She arched a brow at him. “Your case is not as interesting as mine?”

  Kay snorted. “Nope, not even close.”

  Grand sucked on her lower lip for a second, then she gestured at him. “Come here.”

  Flynn looked at Kay curiously, but he didn’t protest, so Kay got up and obeyed. “What are you working on?” he asked, even though he knew. Kind of.

  “You know the big house where all those men live?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, we got a lot of reports on it and those guys over the past few years. So many that the boss asked me and Flynn to take the case.”

  “And?” Kay was surprised there even was a case, since no one in the mansion had ever done anything against the law, at least not that the law knew. Hunters and other shifters probably didn’t run to report stuff.

  “There’s a lot of people coming and going from the house, and we thought maybe it was a cult.”

  “You don’t anymore?”

  Grand linked her fingers together and looked up at Kay. “Honestly, I don’t know what to think. We went there a few times, and I expected to see weird stuff, like people meditating.”

  “You think meditating
is weird?”

  Grand glared. “No, but you get an idea when you think about a cult. Right? Well, that house is nothing like that. I’d think a family lived there if there weren’t so many people and it wasn’t so obvious they’re not related.”

  “What do you have on them?”

  “We checked everyone we could identify, and they’re all squeaky clean. All fifty or so of them.”

  Kay was surprised they hadn’t realized he had a link with Troy, but he wasn’t about to tell them. “And?”

  Grand slumped in her chair. “And nothing. That’s all we have. Everyone we talked to say the guys are weird but they don’t hurt anyone.”

  “Why are you still investigating, then?”

  “We got an anonymous call a few weeks ago. It said the guys in the house were monsters and that they hurt people.”

  That didn’t surprise Kay. He might not know much about shifter politics, but it was enough for him to know the pride was having troubles, especially after Dominic Nash had asked him to infiltrate that hunter group. They’d probably been the ones who called.

  “Are you going to go back?” he asked.

  “Yeah, probably a few times, just in case.”

  “Right. Well, if you need anything... ”

  Grand snapped her fingers. “I called you here for something, Morris. What do you think? You’re new here, so you can help.”

  “I don’t know those guys, but you were the one who said they were good guys, at least on paper. They’ve lived here for a while, right? If no one else but your anonymous caller has anything to say against them, they can’t be that bad.”

  “Why do more than fifty people live together, though?” Flynn asked from his desk.

  Kay shrugged. “They’re probably a commune or something. Who knows, and who cares? As long as they don’t hurt anyone, I certainly don’t.”

  Kay left them to their case. He texted Dominic, telling him what he’d learned and that he’d come by later that day. There wasn’t anything more he could tell the alpha, but he needed to speak with Noem.

  Then he went back to work, checking facts and making phone calls. When Laura knocked on his desk to get his attention, he was more than happy to follow her out of the station. She waited until they were out of sight to look at him and say, “I don’t think you’re a shifter.”

  “I’m not.”

  “How do you know about them, then?”

  “How do you know about them? I thought I was being clever, asking stuff all covertly and everything, but you knew.”

  “My husband’s an elk shifter. Well, my mate. We live with his herd.”

  Kay hadn’t known about other shifter groups in the area. “Close to Whitedell?”

  “Yeah. We’re isolated, and the alpha thought it was a good idea to have a human in the police station. What about you?”

  “My best friend lives in the mansion.”

  “And what were you saying about soul mates?”

  “I found out about that yesterday. There’s a guy there, he’s not a shifter but a Nix, if you know what they are.”

  Laura smiled. “So he’s your mate?”

  “Well, that’s what he said, but I don’t know what I want to do about it.”

  She nodded. “It’s weird. I know, trust me. I went through that, too.”

  “I’m just not used to the whole animal part thing yet. This is a bit much.”

  “I get it, but if you want my opinion, well, give the guy a chance. He really just wants you to be happy, even if that happiness doesn’t include him. Besides, you said he’s not a shifter, so there’s no animal part to get used to.”

  Kay thought about Noem, about his blond hair and the pointed ears he found fascinating. Noem looked almost fragile, but Kay could tell there was a will of steel in him. The last thing he wanted was to break it.

  * * * *

  Noem played with the food in his plate, pushing it from one side to the other before swirling his fork in it to scatter the peas. He gathered the peas again and pushed them together into a wall that separated his mashed potatoes from his meat.

  Someone grabbed his fork and pulled it from his fingers. He looked up, not surprised to see Keenan, and when he turned to his other side, Nysys. “Is this an intervention?” he asked. “Because it looks like it.”

  Keenan put the fork he’d stolen down. “Do you think you need an intervention?”

  “Because I’m sure we can work something out,” Nysys added. He looked eager, and Noem knew he still felt guilty about spilling everything to Kay. That could only mean he’d do whatever he thought it would take to make things right, and that was more terrifying than the idea of talking to Kay face to face.

  “I’m fine. I don’t need an intervention of any kind, but thanks for volunteering.”

  “Nysys told me what he did,” Keenan said.

  “Of course he did.”

  “We just want to help.”

  Noem shook his head and pushed away from the table. No one really noticed him leaving the dining room, although a few people nodded at him. He’d sat on his own on purpose because he needed to think, but thinking with Keenan and Nysys in the same room was impossible.

  He should have known that leaving the dining room wouldn’t be enough to shake those two off. Nysys was right behind him, taking his elbow and steering him upstairs. Noem let himself be guided, because resisting wouldn’t help. He wasn’t surprised when they paused in front of Nysys’ door and Keenan opened it, ushering them inside.

  When he stepped in, Noem blinked. “What do you need all those post-its for?”

  It looked like the entire room was covered with still closed packs of sticky notes, in all the rainbow colors. There had to be hundreds of packs, and there was no way Nysys needed so many of them. He could have written a few novels, he had so many, and Nysys wasn’t known to have the patience needed to sit down and write.

  Nysys waved his hands and moved a bag containing more post-its from the bed. He slumped onto it while Keenan sat cross-legged on the floor facing him. Noem was still looking at the sticky notes, and Nysys huffed, taking his hand and dragging him down.

  “Really, what do you need all of those for?” Noem asked again. It couldn’t be good for whomever they were destined for, but he really wanted to be there and watch whatever would happen. “Wait, are those for Nicky? Are you still fighting with him?”

  “We’re not fighting,” Nysys protested.

  Keenan rolled his eyes. “Sure, you’re not fighting. That’s why you’re planning to sneak into his room tonight and cover everything with sticky notes, including him and André.”

  Noem snorted. “How are you going to do that? Won’t they wake up while you’re doing it?”

  Nysys pressed his lips together and shook his head. “I can be stealthy if I want to be.”

  “Oh, sure you can.”

  “Stop it. I can be stealthy.”

  “Right. What does Morin think about this?” Noem asked, gesturing at the piles of sticky notes.

  “What Morin doesn’t know can’t make him unhappy.”

  “I’m sorry, but how could he not know? The things are kind of obvious.”

  “He’s in New York until tomorrow. He’s seeing a friend.”

  “And you didn’t go with him?”

  Nysys crossed his arms on his chest and huffed. “Apparently Hamilton thinks I’m weird.”

  Noem waited, but Nysys didn’t add anything. “Well, isn’t he right? I mean, you’re not really what one thinks of when they think of normal.”

  “He’s one to talk. He’s covered in tattoos!”

  “Pot, kettle,” Keenan intervened. “Besides, isn’t he a tattoo artist? Wouldn’t you be wary of a tattoo artist who doesn’t have tattoos?”

  “What do you know about tattoos?” Nysys protested. “You’re a virgin!”

  Keenan snickered. “I don’t think Jonah shares that opinion.”

  �
��I meant your skin. You don’t have tattoos. I’d have noticed them.”

  “They could be in places you don’t usually see,” Noem pointed out, wondering why the heck he was even playing along. It was better than moping around thinking about Kay, though, and Keenan and Nysys were fun when taken in small doses.

  “Small chance of that. I’ve seen all there is to see of Keenan.”

  Noem opened his mouth, but he wasn’t sure what he wanted to say. “I don’t think I want to know.”

  Nysys grinned evilly. “That’s what we told Morin and Jonah.”

  “I’m still curious. Oh my god, does that mean I’m becoming like you?”

  Nysys kicked Noem’s ankle none too gently. “Shut up. You’d be so lucky if you became like us.”

  “I don’t think his mate would be happy with that, though,” Keenan said. “He doesn’t look like much fun.”

  Noem couldn’t deny that, but he still felt the need to defend Kay, and how stupid was that? “He’s serious, but it’s not like you guys know him.”

  “Because you do?”

  “Well, not exactly.”

  “There.”

  Noem scowled. “So what? Some people are serious. I am. I don’t see how it’s a problem.”

  Keenan raised his hands. “No one said it was. I mean, imagine a world where everyone is like Nysys.”

  Noem shuddered. “The horror.”

  “You guys are so mean!” Nysys cried out. “I won’t let you help me with my awesome prank.”

  “Oh, thank god. I thought I’d be forced to.”

  Nysys grabbed a small pack of sticky notes and threw it at Noem’s face. He was too close to do a good job and it landed in Noem’s lap instead. Noem threw it back, because he didn’t need a packet of hot pink sticky notes, although he kind of wanted to see Jared’s face if he used them at work.

  “So why am I here? I was eating dinner,” he asked.

  Keenan snorted. “You call that eating? Even Adam does a better job, and he’s only a kid.”

  “Yeah, you looked like you were about to drown yourself in the gravy,” Nysys added, because of course he had something to add.