“Jared,” Seb hissed, his gaze boring holes into the side of Jared’s head.
Jared turned to face him. “What? I know what shifters are like, okay? And I know he’s interested in way more than—”
“For fuck’s sake, J.” Seb grabbed his crutch, shoved it under his arm, and aimed an angry glare Jared’s way. “I’m twenty-six, not sixteen. And you’re right, this is none of your business.”
Nathan looked annoyed too, and Tim got the feeling they’d be having words after he and Seb left.
Not wanting whatever this was to escalate, Tim cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. “I’m not sure what your issue is, Jared, but I promise you he’s in good hands. I’m going to the hospital anyway to see David.”Well, I am now.“So I offered to take Seb. I thought it made sense, that’s all.”
“It makes perfect sense. Ignore J.” Seb shooed Tim forward with the end of his crutch. “I’ll see you two later. And we’re going to have a nice long chat about me going back home.”
“Seb—”
“Bye, J.” Seb walked out of the kitchen, and Tim nodded at Nathan and Jared before going after him.
As they opened the front door, Tim heard Nathan say a little pissily, “So, whatareshifters like, exactly?” Tim snorted as he pulled the door shut after them. He had a feeling he knew what Jared had been getting at, and while Tim appreciated him being concerned for his friend, he didn’t like what he’d implied. As if he would ever force Seb into anything. The very idea of anyone doing that made his hackles rise.
“What’s so funny?” Seb eyed him suspiciously as they walked towards the stairwell.
“Didn’t you hear Nathan just then?” Tim hadn’t realised it’d been too quiet for Seb, but Seb shook his head. Tim filled him in.
“Ouch.” He grinned, though. “Serves him right for being so bloody.…” Seb’s smile dimmed, and when he met Tim’s gaze, he seemed sheepish.
God, this really wasn’t a conversation Tim wanted to have. “Jared’s opinion of shifters hasn’t changed all that much, has it?” he asked, letting Seb lead the way towards the stairwell. “I thought with him and Nathan bonded, he’d realise….” He sighed and scrubbed at his forehead. “He appears to be under the impression that I’m going to take advantage of you and somehow coerce you into having sex with me.”
Seb stumbled before righting himself and slowly turned to face Tim. “He actually said that?”
“Not in so many words, but the implication was there. Apparently he still sees shifters in a less than favourable light, and Nathan isn’t too pleased with him.” Though knowing the way those two were with each other, Tim guessed it would last all of five minutes before that changed and they were all over each other again. Newly mated couples had a hard time keeping their hands off each other, and Jared and Nathan took that to another level entirely—not that he was jealous. Much.
Seb glanced back down the hallway before meeting Tim’s gaze. “The thing with Jared is….” He paused, looking conflicted.
“I know about his shifter boyfriend before Nathan, and what he did to Jared.”
“Oh.”
“I wanted his medical history before the first full moon, so we knew what we were dealing with.” Tim totally understood Jared’s wariness around shifters then, but that was almost three months ago. Didn’t he know them all well enough by now to see that the Regent’s Park pack weren’t like that? Thathewasn’t like that?
As if reading his mind, Seb reached out with his injured wrist and rested his fingers gently on Tim’s arm. “It was a fucking awful time for him, and it’s probably going to take a while yet for him to fully trust that not every shifter is an arsehole. It’s nothing personal.”
Tim scoffed. “It certainly felt like it.”
“Believe me when I say that Jared likes you. A lot.” Seb grinned, and even though Tim still smarted from Jared’s comments, he couldn’t help but smile back.
“Hmm.” He remained unconvinced—he used to think so too until Seb got injured.
“He does. But me getting hurt—albeit indirectly—because of shifters brings back a lot of painful memories for him.”
Tim’s shoulders slumped as he let that sink in. Having been a shifter all his life, he had no appreciation of what it was like to feel that vulnerable, to know that no matter how physically strong you were, the person you were with could snap you like a twig. Jared had trusted a shifter not to use his advantage against him, and it had ended badly. And now Seb was hurt, indirectly because of shifter activity. No wonder Jared was a little tetchy.
“Fuck, I didn’t think.” He made to take a step back towards Nathan and Jared’s flat, but Seb caught the edge of his sleeve.
“Where are you going?”
“Back to apologise.”
“To Jared?” When Tim nodded, Seb raised his eyebrows. “I never said he wasn’t being a dick, just that he had his reasons. I wanted you to understand where he was coming from, but that doesn’t mean he has a right to talk to you like that.”
Tim opened his mouth and then closed it, not sure what to say.
