Mark cocked his head to one side. Seb wondered if he was scenting the air, or whatever it was they did at times like that. “You mean like the rogue shifters?”
Seb nodded and Mark shook his head. “No. Nothing. There’s a few from our pack around here somewhere. I caught a faint trace of them earlier….” He trailed off with a shrug. “No one’s around here who shouldn’t be.”
And yet….Seb shook himself, trying to get rid of that not-right feeling once and for all. “Okay.” He smiled, unsure what they expected of him now. “Thanks for looking out for me. I’m just going to”—he pointed his crutch at his building—“go inside.”
“No problem. See you later.”
Seb gave them one final glance over his shoulder, then hurried inside, only relaxing with a huge sigh of relief when he had the door locked behind him.
He was on edge the rest of the afternoon, unable to sit still for longer than twenty minutes. Watching TV or reading a book was out of the question, and he found himself logging into his work laptop to catch up on what he’d missed at the office—something he never usually did.
By the time Tim arrived, he was ready to climb the walls with frustration. He pulled himself to his feet and met him at the living room door. Not giving Tim chance to say anything, Seb put a hand on his hip and walked him backwards, using his height advantage to crowd him against the wall.
Tim beamed back at him, eyes dancing with a mixture of amusement and heat. “Hello to you, too.” He slowly seemed to register Seb’s agitated state of mind and quickly reached up to cup his jaw, concern replacing everything else. “Are you okay? Has something happened?”
Seb shook his head, not wanting to talk, but Tim was having none of it.
“Tell me.”
With a sigh, Seb led him to the sofa and replayed his trip to the shop, including the feeling of being watched and then seeing Mark and Will. “So, just my overactive imagination, right?”
He met Tim’s gaze, looking for conformation that he’d overreacted, that everything was fine, as it should be.
Tim frowned. “Maybe.”
He didn’t seem 100 per cent convinced, and that was not what Seb needed to hear. “Hey, you’re supposed to reassure me.” He slapped Tim lightly on the arm.
“Sorry. If Mark and Will said no other shifters were nearby, then it was probably your imagination.” He quirked an eyebrow. “How’s that?”
“It’d be more convincing if you sounded like you meant it.”
Twining their fingers, as if absentmindedly, Tim focused on some far point over the other side of the room. “Sorry. It’s just… this whole situation has me on edge.”
Seb bristled; he thought they’d been having fun. Had Tim had changed his mind?
Maybe sensing Seb’s sudden tension, Tim snapped his gaze back to him. “I don’t mean us.”
“Oh.” Seb tried to tamp down his smile, but his lips had a mind of their own. “So what’s bothering you, then?” He gave Tim’s fingers a squeeze. “I told you mine. Fair’s fair.”
A few seconds passed in silence. Tim’s thumb rubbed over the back of Seb’s hand, and Seb watched the slow, repetitive motion until Tim sighed again.
“Okay.”
Chapter Fourteen
Where to begin?
Tim had so many thoughts and theories running through his head at present, he had trouble sorting through them sometimes. He almost longed for the days when all he had to do was get up, go to work, then come home.
Human ailments took up the majority of his time at work, and usually he found their various illnesses and complaints fascinating. Being the pack doctor either involved maternity cases, the odd queries about the full moon, or patching up wounds that were too serious to heal on their own. Sometimes he got to oversee the transition from bite to full change or no change, as with Jared, but that didn’t happen as often as it used to.
Seb nudged him, and Tim realised he’d been staring into space again. He cleared his throat.
“All this stuff with the escaped rogue shifters, it’s got me on edge all the time, and I’m not used to feeling this way.”
Tim didn’t get stressed; it was one of the things that made him a good doctor. He didn’t panic, tried not to overreact to situations, and generally remained calm. But the last few days he’d been antsy, emotions all over the place, and as he stared at Seb, he was pretty sure he knew why. “That meeting I had with Cam, Alec, and the rest of the betas….”
“What about it? You never did tell me everything you discussed.” Then Seb hastily added, “Not that you have to, of course, and I understand if they asked you not to.”
