Dom’s shoulders slumped. “Fine. Meet me out front in fifteen minutes or I’m leaving without you.”
Dom didn’t wait for Chay to reply. He got up from the table and stormed out of the room. Chay might be right. Dom felt twitchy. His arms didn’t itch exactly, but he felt uncomfortable in his skin. If this had been any other situation, he would have simply shifted and let his cat run, except he knew his cat would run right for Keeland, and he had promised to give the man some time to think.
He took a quick shower, basically just washing off the sleep grime, then dressed in his usual faded jeans and black T-shirt. The last things he added were his black leather jacket and riding boots. He never went anywhere without them, not even in the summertime.
On the way out of the room he was staying in, Dom grabbed his helmet, keys, and wallet. He knew tonight he was hopefully spending the night at Keeland’s house, but it would be nice to get back to his own bed. He didn’t like sleeping in someone else’s space, not even his brother and best friend’s place.
Chay was waiting for Dom by the front door.
Smart man.
Dom hurried outside and climbed onto his bike. The need to ride was growing. He didn’t know if it was due to his anxiety about Keeland or something else. He just knew he needed to feel the freedom of the road for a little bit, so he took the long way into town.
By the time he pulled up in front of the shop thirty minutes later, Dom felt a little better. He was still anxious, but it wasn’t consuming him like before. Dom parked his bike and turned it off. He waited for Chay to pull up before taking off his helmet and climbing off his bike.
“Did you feel like this when you mated my brother?”
“Like what?”
“Like you wanted to crawl out of your skin.” It was the only way Dom could think to describe what was happening to him. He did want to crawl out of his skin, and into Keeland’s.
“Not to your degree, but I think I might have had an easier time of it because Gabe already knew he was a shifter by then. I didn’t have to explain this world to him.” Chay chuckled. “Well, not much, anyway.”
Now that he knew he was a shifter, Dom wasn’t sure how he felt about having a human as a mate, although he’d take Keeland any way he could get him. He just wasn’t sure how the whole shifter-and-human bond went.
“Is mating with a human different from mating with a shifter?”
“In the grand scheme of things, no,” Chay answered. “There will be some differences, though.”
“Like what?”
“Well, Keeland won’t be able to run with you in shifted form, or fly in my case. While some of his senses will become enhanced now that you two are mated, he will never truly understand what it feels like to be in shifted form, to smell the crisp night air or run through the trees, the ability to see farther, smell better. Humans don’t have that.”
The way Chay explained it, Dom almost felt sorry for Keeland. There were very few things he enjoyed more than running through the woods in his shifted form. He was saddened by the fact that he would never be able to share that with his mate.
“That’s not to say having Keeland as your mate won’t be the best thing in the world,” Chay went on. “The bond between mates is better than anything you’ve ever experienced. The knowledge that there’s one person out there just for you changes everything. Mates are protective, loving, and caring. Hell, the best part of my day is coming home to the joy on Gabe’s face when he sees me.”
That right there was what Dom wanted with his mate. One person who was there just for him, who was happy to see him after a long day’s work. He wanted that with a depth of yearning even he was shaken by.
“Come on, old man,” Chay said as he climbed off his bike. “Let’s get a little work done. Before you know it, it’ll be time for you to go get ready to spend the evening with your mate.”
Dom chuckled ruefully and joined his best friend. “You’re probably right.”
“I usually am.”
Dom playfully punched Chay in the arm, then darted into the shop before the man could retaliate. He felt a little lighter and more able to breathe, so that was something. Maybe he was worried over nothing. Keeland would take the time he needed to think, and then they would meet up that evening to get to know each other better. They were already planning on him spending the night.
Yeah, he was anxious for nothing.
When he reached the doorway to his office, Dom stopped and grabbed onto the doorframe with a hand. He rubbed the center of his chest with the other. The sudden inability to breathe concerned him. Maybe he was more anxious about this whole thing with Keeland than he knew.
“Hey, you okay, man?”
Dom gave Chay a weak smile. “My chest hurts.”
Chay’s eyebrows drew together, his gaze dropping to Dom’s chest. “Hurts how?”
“I feel kind of like I have a boa constrictor wrapped around my chest.”
