As soon as the front door opened and closed, Seb turned to Jared. “What’s with—”
Jared shook his head sharply and gestured towards his bedroom.
Ugh.This was why he’d never get involved with a shifter—no fucking privacy.
“Fine.” Seb reached for his crutch, then promptly realised the chair was way too low for him to get out of easily, especially with a busted wrist too. With a sigh, he motioned for Jared. “Come and help me up?”
With Jared’s aid, Seb hobbled into the bedroom and made himself comfortable on the massive bed. Once the door was firmly shut, he glanced at Jared. “What’s the story with Nathan and Alec, then?”
Chapter Four
Tim woke late on Sunday morning. Staying up all night on Friday had caught up with him, and he’d collapsed in bed about ten o’clock the night before, knackered.
His first thought was Seb—his ankle was due to be cast properly today, and Tim really wanted to take him back to the hospital, just to make sure everything went okay. Well, that was the reason he was telling himself, anyway. Seb was his patient; it was good practice to follow through on his treatment.
His phone sat on the bedside table next to him, and as he reached for it, he noticed a message already on the screen. From Alec.
Fyi Seb staying with Nate & J.
He knew he’d talked about Seb too much in front of Alec.Of course he’d noticed. He replied withThanks, then set his phone back down.
To a lot of people outside his unit, Alec appeared cold and unapproachable. He’d been that way with Tim when he’d first met him. But after Tim’s parents died, Alec had stepped in and helped him pick up the pieces. At first because Cam asked him to, but later he and Alec had become friends. As pack doctor, Tim wasn’t part of any one unit, but when Cam asked him if he wanted to choose a beta to report to, he didn’t hesitate to say yes. And he’d chosen Alec.
He stared up at the ceiling, debating what to do. Jared would want to take Seb to the hospital, obviously, but that didn’t stop Tim from grabbing his phone again and searching for Seb’s number—Shit.He never actually got it from him.
And Seb didn’t have his either.
Seb wasn’t due at the hospital until three o’clock, and it was only eleven now. Maybe he could make a house call? That was what he’d do for any of the pack, so why not Seb?
Two hours later, Tim was showered, fed, and waiting on the doorstep of Nathan’s building. He’d texted Gareth to let him know he was coming—pack courtesy—and waited for whoever was on patrol to come and let him in. He should really have texted Nathan too, but he hadn’t.
When the familiar figure appeared in the hallway, Tim groaned.Just my fucking luck.
“Hey.” Nathan opened the front door and stood back to let him pass. His expression gave nothing away. “Thought we might see you today.”
Tim shrugged and smiled, relaxing a little when Nathan returned it. “Just checking on my patient.”
Nathan’s raised eyebrow let Tim know he saw right through him. It wasn’t as though Tim could hide his attraction to Seb, especially not from Nathan. “Is that so?”
Tim sighed as he walked inside and Nathan shut and bolted the door behind him. “You’re not the one on patrol, are you?”
“No. Luke is.” He made no move towards the stairs, so Tim leaned against the wall and waited for whatever it was Nathan wanted to say. “I thought you might come today, so I asked him to let me know when you showed up.”
“Fuck. Am I that obvious?”
Nathan laughed. “Well, you do look at Seb with this sort of hungry expression. Jared just thinks you want to fuck him.”
“And you? What do you think?” Tim bit his lip as Nathan studied him.Hedidn’t know what he wanted from Seb, so he didn’t expect Nathan to have the answers.
“I think it’s more than that. You got pretty defensive at his flat on Friday night.”
Tim winced. He hadn’t lost control like that in a long while. “I didn’t mean to scare Jared, but—”
“He insulted you. I get it.” Nathan stood to his full height and smirked. “Besides, he has me to protect him. He wasn’t scared.” Tim’s huff of surprised laughter had them both grinning, and Nathan joined him leaning against the wall. “I know Jared’s mouthy and doesn’t care much for pack etiquette, but he didn’t mean to insult you. He was just worried about Seb.”
“Yeah, I know.” Tim liked Jared, a lot. And he was well aware of Jared’s thoughts on some of the pack rules and on shifters in general. Being bonded to Nathan had changed some of his opinions on shifters as a whole, and most of the time it made Tim laugh. “I don’t know why I reacted that way.”
“Don’t give me that bollocks.” Nathan gave him a pointed look. “I’ve been there, remember?”
