Smug satisfaction curled in Tim’s chest, but he buried the reaction, not wanting Seb to notice. “I think we’re done here.”
“I think so too.” Mark nodded and gestured for Will to leave. “We’ll be around as long as the rogue shifters continue to be a threat.” He turned and ran a finger over the scratches in Seb’s door. “But that won’t happen again.” With another nod at Seb this time, they were gone.
Tim walked forward and shut the door, locking it behind them. He listened to them walk down the road and get inside their car; then he turned to face Seb.
Seb asked, “They gone?”
“Yes.”
Seb sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Anyone else lurking out there?”
Tim stepped towards him and set his hands on Seb’s shoulders. “Not that I can sense.”
“Okay.” He seemed to relax at that. “What happens now?”
Good question.“First things first. I need to let Alec know.” In fact, he should probably do that now. “Come on.” After turning Seb around, he steered him towards the stairs. “I’ll give him a call, and hopefully that’ll do until I go and see him tomorrow.”
As Seb climbed the first few steps, he looked back over his shoulder. “You can go and see him now if you need to. I’ll be okay here by myself, you know.”
Just the thought of it made Tim’s wolf unsettled. “No.”
It came out far sharper than Tim intended, and this time, Seb stopped and half turned to glare down at him.
“No?” Seb’s incredulous expression told Tim he was on shaky ground.
He took a deep breath, and making sure to sound much less like he was giving an order, he said, “I’d rather not leave you alone tonight, if that’s all right with you?” Seb narrowed his eyes but didn’t answer, so Tim forged ahead. “I’m not trying to tell you what to do, I promise. This is all about me. I can’t—” He scrubbed his hands over his face, trying to calm the way his wolf longed to be the big, bad protector. His instincts in this case would only send Seb running for the hills, and Tim refused to scare him off after only just getting to have a little taste of him. “It’s hard for me to even think of leaving when the scent of another pack still clings to your front door.” He looked up and met Seb’s eyes. “Please.”
Seb swallowed. Tim waited for him to say something, anything. The silence was killing him.
And then Seb whispered, “You can stay.”
Tim’s breath left him in a whoosh of relief. “Thank you.”
“But if you’re calling Alec, I’m calling Jared and Nathan.”
“Maybe that’s not such a good idea” was on the tip of his tongue, but Seb’s glare had him swallowing them back down. “Okay.”
Judging by Seb’s smirk, he knew what Tim had been thinking. “You’re not giving them enough credit. Nathan listens to Jared, and Jared would never let him do anything stupid.”
“I know that. But Alec….” Alec would probably be pissed off that Nathan was involved. Although, considering Jared and Seb’s friendship, it was unavoidable. “He and Nathan don’t exactly—”
“I know all about Nathan and Alec.” Seb leaned against the wall, taking the weight off his ankle.
“You do?” Not that it was a secret; all the pack had been there that day, but it wasn’t something anyone discussed, let alone with a human. Even one adopted into the pack like Seb was. “Did Jared tell you?”
“No. Nathan did.”
“Oh.” Tim guessed that made sense. Although… “It happened a long time ago. I can’t imagine how that came up in conversation.” Seb slumped against the wall a little more, and Tim glanced down at the cast on his foot. “Is it giving you trouble?”
“It aches a bit, that’s all.”
Tim made a shooing gesture with his hands. “Go and sit down, then. There’s absolutely no reason to be chatting on the stairs when we could be on the sofa.”
Seb turned around and started back up the stairs, but not quickly enough for Tim to miss the wince as he moved. Tim frowned and vowed to keep a closer eye on Seb for the next couple of days. He’d studied both human and shifter anatomy at college, and since the majority of his everyday cases were human, he knew first-hand the fragility of their bodies. “You need to take it easy.”
“I have been taking it easy.” Seb lowered himself onto the sofa with a sigh. “I’ve done nothing but lie around for the past week.”
Which reminded Tim of something he’d been meaning to bring up. Two things, really. “When are you thinking about going back to work?”
