Outright denial.... He hadn’t managed to do that either.
Oh, he’d said he didn’t want it. He’d tried to mean it.
But the truth was evident now.
The man was now naked in his bed, in some kind of state of delirium. A state of arousal too.... There was no denying that either. The pheromones coming off him were stifling.
Ciaran struggled to contain himself. He wanted to do obscene things to Sawyer, action only outweighed by his concern for him.
“What’s happening to him?” Ciaran could barely stand to watch.
Kellan scrubbed a hand over his face. “This is all so new. I’m trying to learn as much as I can.”
“Doc, please.”
“I think....” He winced again. “I think he’s experiencing what we’d call being inheat,maybe?”
Ciaran shot him a look. “He’s... what?”
“I don’t know! Humans are not supposed to go through this.” He shook his head. “Or the beginning of a heat. It hasn’t fully set in, I don’t think. Maybe it’s because he’s human? I just don’t know. But you can feel the pheromones coming off him, right?”
“Of course I can.” Christ, Ciaran could hardly breathe. “It’s killing me. Do you know what I want to do to him? How bad I want....”
Kellan winced again. “I can guess.”
Ciaran shook his head. He couldn’t believe it. Sawyer was in heat? How the hell was that possible? “It was from the water, no? Not me. Not this....” He gestured to Sawyer... who was in his bed.
Naked.
Covered by blankets, but still.
Naked underneath.
Naked and murmuring, groaning, pleading.
Ciaran fisted his hands tightly to stop himself from touching Sawyer or clawing at his own face.
Kellan shrugged. “I think the proximity to you and the pull of the water have got to be related to this condition. It has to come back to you.” Then he frowned. “You need to make a decision, Ciaran. I don’t know what will happen to him if this continues.”
“I don’t....” He couldn’t even bring himself to say he didn’t want it.
Because he did.
But it was so complicated. And dangerous.
And unknown.
Ciaran didn’t like unknowns.
“The timing is wrong,” he whispered, strained.
“That wasn’t a no.”
“I cannot do anything without his consent. I will not.” He groaned with the pain of restraint. “He needs to know first... what I am. Then, if he doesn’t hate me....”
Kellan gave him a sad smile that morphed into a grimace. “You’re a good one, Ciaran. But if it becomes a life and death decision....”
Ciaran’s eyes met his, and fear coursed through him. He let out a rush of air and tried to absorb the emotions. He was too on edge, too wound up. “It hurts me. His pain. I feel it. His... arousal. It calls to me.”
