Alec hummed, his gaze far away for a moment. When he focused back on Tim, his brow furrowed. “To be honest I have no idea. Newell is adamant there are rogue shifters out there somewhere, and he insists his men have both packs’ safety as their main concern. If that’s true, then Seb will probably have a P-Pack team watching him most of the time.”
“And if it’s not?”
“Then short of watching Seb twenty-four hours a day, there’s not a lot more we can do. But we hope that knowing you could turn up at any given moment will make them think twice before doing anything drastic. At least until we can get to the bottom of this whole mess, anyway.”
An uncomfortable thought slipped into Tim’s head. “And if they do harm Seb, as he’s a human the police will need to get involved, and then it’s out of your hands altogether. Right?”
His lunch threatened to make a reappearance when he saw the answer on Alec’s face.
“Out ofourhands,” Alec said softly. “This is your pack too, remember.”
“And Seb’s now… or so I thought.”
“You’re right, it is. And we’ll protect him to the best of our ability, but things are strained between the two packs at the minute without stirring up more trouble. We need them to hang themselves, so to speak, so there’s no margin for error that could mean an opening for Newell to challenge Cam.”
Even if it puts Seb at risk, he didn’t add, but Tim heard it anyway. “All that talk of keeping Seb safe so that Nathan didn’t do something stupid—”
Alec reached over and grabbed his arm, making Tim look up and meet his gaze. “Nathan and I have ourissues, but I don’t want anything to happen to him. Or Seb, for that matter. I like him, and more to the point, I know how muchyoulike him.”
Tim frowned. “But you just said—”
“You’re right. Seb would be much safer if someone were around all the time.”
“What?” Tim narrowed his eyes. “Are you saying I should…?”
Alec shook his head, but Tim caught the slight twitch of his lips. “I’m not saying anything. We can’t order Seb to let you move in with him. We can’t order him to do anything. But we can ask.”
Yeah, that would go down well. Tim easily imagined Seb’s reaction to that little suggestion. “Pretend boyfriends” was pushing his limits as it was. “I don’t think so.”
Alec let go of his arm and stood—a clear indication that their meeting was over. “It was just a thought.”
A thought that Tim now couldn’t get out of his head.
Thanks,Alec.
At two o’clock the next day, when Tim stood outside Nathan’s front door, he was still thinking about Alec’s suggestion.
He’d gone to sleep thinking about it, and it had still been there when he woke up. Seb would never agree to it. If Tim pushed, he’d probably back out of the whole thing. Best not to mention it. Besides, it made him feel possessive and slightly out of control, neither of which state was he used to.
He knew people thought of him as soft for a shifter, but he liked that. This urge to protect Seb and keep him close unnerved him. But it was also exciting, and a lick of heat curled around the base of his spine whenever he thought about it. And that was probably scariest of all. Seb wasn’t his. Would never be his.
It did nothing to tamp down his smile when he caught Seb’s scent drawing closer or to prevent the way his whole body lit up when Seb opened the door and grinned at him.
“Hey.” Seb ushered him inside as Tim bit his lip to stop himself saying something ridiculous. “I’m almost ready.”
He hobbled off to his bedroom, surprisingly speedy on his crutch, and Tim wandered into the living area where Nathan was.
One look at him had Nathan laughing.
“What?” Tim glanced around to see if Jared was nearby.
“He’s in our bedroom, working,” Nathan said, seemingly reading his mind. He stood and walked over to where Tim now leaned against the back of the sofa. “And you look far too worked up for just giving Seb a lift home.” He made a show of inhaling, and Tim glared at him.
“Don’t.”
“Want a drink?” Nathan walked past him into the kitchen.
Tim shook his head. “No, thanks.” He turned to face him. “Seb won’t be that long, I don’t think.”
