“Tim. I don’t think you’re grasping the seriousness of the situation we’re in. Seb is as good as family in Jared’s eyes, therefore pack by default. Any threat to Seb will worry Jared, and as Jared’s bonded mate, Nathan will feel it and his protective instincts will be triggered. If anything should happen to Seb and Nathan reacts by attacking a member of P-Pack before we can prove it was Newell’s doing, then he’ll be in deep shit. Cam will be put in an impossible situation, and Newell will get exactly what he wants.”
“Either Nathan punished or Cam in trouble with the alpha council.”
“Exactly.”
Fucking hell.“Fine. I’ll see if I can get Seb to stay with Jared.”
And that had better work, because the other option was pretend boyfriends, and no way was he having that talk with Seb. Even if Seb agreed to it, which he could never see happening, P-Pack had been fooled that way with Jared and Nathan. At the start, anyway. They wouldn’t be so easy to fool a second time.Pretendingjust wouldn’t work.
Alec stood and waited for Tim to do the same before drawing him close with a hand on the side of his neck. Tim relaxed against Alex’s solid warmth, the comforting scent of beta wolf surrounding him and settling some of the anxiety inside.
Alec dropped his head to the base of Tim’s throat, and gently rubbed his cheek against the skin there. “I know how you feel about him and how uncomfortable this makes you. I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t so important to the pack and for Seb’s safety.”
Eyes closed, Tim tried to let go of any remaining tension. “I know.” When he felt calm again, back to his old self, Tim stepped back and met Alec’s gaze. “I’ll let you know how it goes.”
“That would be appreciated.”
He followed Alec to the front door, let him out, and watched him disappear into the stairwell before closing his own door and slumping against it.
Shit.
Saturday morning, Tim sat on the edge of his bed, phone in hand. He’d given Seb his number last weekend, but as Seb hadn’t texted or called—which he was trying not to be disappointed by—he didn’t have his number. Should he text Nathan or Jared? After their conversation last Sunday, Tim figured Nathan would be more sympathetic to his cause, and he went ahead and texted him.
Spoke to Alec yesterday, he wants me to persuade Seb to stay with you guys.
The reply was almost immediate.
Well then you better hurry. He wants J to drop him home tomorrow.
Bollocks.
Okay to come round in about 30 mins?
Yep. I wont be here but J will.
Tim stared at the screen. He wasn’t Jared’s favourite person at present, but he needed to get round there if he was to have any hope of persuading Seb not to leave.
That’s fine. Can you do me a favour and not tell Seb I’m coming?
The response took a while to come this time, and he imagined Nathan debating how to reply. Not telling Seb would likely mean not telling Jared either, and asking Nathan to lie—well, to omit the truth—to his bonded mate wasn’t the most ethical thing Tim had ever done.
Please, he sent.I don’t want Seb to bolt before I get there.
This is the only time you ask me to do this.
Of course. And thank you.
When Nathan didn’t respond after a couple of minutes, Tim figured their conversation was over. Now he needed to get dressed and head over to see Seb before Nathan changed his mind.
Thirty-five minutes later, Luke let him in the front door to their building.
Tim smiled. “Hey, not seen you in a while. Everything okay?”
“Yeah, can’t complain.” Luke grinned back at him and stepped aside for Tim to enter. “What did you do to piss off Nathan? He was grumbling about ‘love-struck doctors and stupid humans’ when I saw him this morning.”
Tim groaned. The last thing he wanted was for the rest of Nathan’s unit to know how he felt about Seb. After that the whole pack would know soon enough, and he liked to keep his love life private-ish where possible. Especially when his feelings weren’t reciprocated. “I might have asked him not to tell Jared something.”
Luke winced and sucked in a breath. “That would do it. You know how those two are.”
