Nero stiffened at the implication. “I didn’t lie about it. Physical affection is part of every good werewolf pack. Just not—”
“Mind-blowing banging?”
“Well,” he hedged, “I suppose it could.”
“I think it just did.” Josh chuckled.
Nero released a breath, unsure how to proceed. He decided to go with the facts. “Casual sex among packmates happens more often than among vanilla humans.”
“You got data on that? Like did you do a sex survey on werewolves?” His voice shifted to a stiffly professional tone. “Press 1 if you have sex with your packmates more than once a month. Press 2 if it’s once a week. Press 3 if you’re banging everybody whenever you get together. Press 4—”
“Okay, okay, so we don’t have survey data.” He arched a brow. “I think I’ve already said we’re lacking in the science department.”
“Just not in the sex department.”
Nero groaned. “Will you be serious?”
“No, I don’t think I can.” Josh ran his hand through Nero’s short tufts of hair. “I’m happy. It brings out the goofy in me.”
God, it did, and Nero couldn’t help but feel a matching lightness inside. Josh’s silly grin and the boneless way he sprawled against Nero made his breath ease. “I don’t want you to think you can grab random werewolves and—”
“Howl at the moon?”
Nero groaned. “You know you arenotthe first person to make that joke.”
Josh frowned. “Hmmm. Well, it’s new to me. I’ll make sure to google ‘better moon werewolf jokes.’” Then, when Nero gave him an incredulous look, he shrugged. “What, you think I’m this funny naturally? It’s what we geeks do. We research, just in case.” Then he flopped his arms and legs out wide, and since he was on top of the covers, Nero got a prime look at his thickening erection. “And justin casewe do this again, I want to have a dozen more jokes ready for afterglow. And by again, I mean any time you want, even if it’s right now.”
Wow, Nero didn’t think he could get horny again, but there it was. A slow heat built down low as he imagined losing himself in Josh’s body again. But as tempting as it was, this had been Josh’s first time. A responsible lover would let the guy recover a bit before going again. And Nero was nothing if not responsible, so he flopped onto his back with a sigh.
And since they weren’t going to be banging again, he might as well continue with Josh’s werewolf orientation. He ought to send the guy back into research—magical fiery plasma wasn’t going to douse itself—but a selfish part of him wanted to stay with the man. So he took refuge in the protocols for new werewolves that he had established a couple of years back. He’d created a list of leading questions to allow new recruits to work through their feelings. It was all part of the process, and Josh would have to answer them eventually. Might as well be now.
“Tell me how you feel.”
“Amazing. Relaxed. Goofy—”
“About becoming a werewolf.”
Josh’s face scrunched up. “It’s too soon for me to feel anything. I don’t know what it is yet.”
“You don’t have to know it before you have feelings about it. When I first changed, I felt like power incarnate. The wolves I was with encouraged me to feed that power with hunger and lust. Now that was an orgy.” And a feast, but he didn’t like thinking about that part. It wasn’t his proudest moment, but then he’d been seventeen, angry, and had contracted the lycanthropy virus. That was a recipe for excess of the worst kinds.
“Sounds like a story. Tell me more.”
Nero shook his head. “We’re supposed to be talking about you.”
“Well, I don’t have feelings until I have things to compare them to. So tell me your conversion story, and I’ll tell you if that matches mine.” At Nero’s doubtful look, Josh threw up his hands. “You can emphasize yourfeelings, and I’ll say yay or nay if that matches mine.”
It was a solid way to get to the point, but Nero didn’t like talking about his wolf beginnings, mostly because he didn’t like thinking about the kid he’d been. It was like looking at the before pictures of a renovation project. Here was the house in all its disgusting, broken-down glory. And here is the home now that’s got a solid foundation, a good roof, and some truly exceptional plumbing. Why look at the before picture? Why not stay with the now and maybe consider the future? The past belonged in the past.
But part of the protocol that he’d written was to listen and follow the new recruit’s lead. He could hardly discard his own plan of action just because it made him uncomfortable.
“Fine,” he said with a disgruntled frown. “But I’m not doing it naked.” If he had to follow professional protocol, then he for damn sure was going to do it dressed.
Josh sighed. “If you must.” Then he stretched his hands over his head with a grin. “But don’t expect me to hide all this glory from you. I mean to tempt you back to bed.”
Of course he did. And of course it was a serious temptation. “So you know, werewolves have above average hearing, even in their human form. Everyone on this floor probably knows what we were doing.”
Josh’s eyes widened at that, and no wonder. The idea made Nero squirm too. He gave it even odds that Captain M was going to have a serious conversation with him about trainer/trainee professional distance. But then again, if she had been against it, she likely would have stopped him long before they got to afterglow. Josh had been the one to come on to him, and according to the protocol, the trainee was king (or queen) as they worked out their new identity.
