As our unofficial leader, Linc could be delicate, but he never bothered with the people closest to him.Whether consciously or not, he was already thinking of Marcus as close, one of us, and knowing that soothed me.
“Ah.”Marcus’s scent shifted slightly.There was a bit of arousal there, but the mild unease in him was more tangible, especially since he was still letting me hold him like this.“You sleep together, as in it’s a three-way wolf fest every night, or you huddle for warmth?”
I managed to keep my laughter partially bottled up.Linc stopped halfway through turning a purple carrot into coins.He grinned and gave Marcus a not entirely innocent look.
“We fuck.All configurations, but if you need me to elaborate…?”
Marcus shook his head, skin heating.His scent was changing again, the embarrassment obvious there.“No.No, thank you.You’re an actual medical doctor?”He looked at me.
“That’s right.”I decided I could risk running a thumb over Marcus’s cheek.
Marcus nodded.“Can you… Well, this is the fever talking probably.I’ve never asked a medical professional who gave me a lollipop this, but Steven is just… Can you fit me in to get tested?For STIs?”
I cocked my head.“You don’t have to go in for that.I can bring a sample kit tomorrow, and we can do it then.”
Linc had stopped chopping, and I heard the way he was controlling his breathing in order to keep calm and stay where he was.Marcus’s jaw tensed as well, and I saw his fists clench the hem of his unloved, loaned flannel.
Then he nodded.“Yeah.That would be good.”He swallowed thickly.“I thought you were serial killers.Or a werewolf cult.”
Linc was taking out his aggression on an organic lemon, judging by the zesty smell.
“No cult, just werewolves.”I tried looking like I’d never heard of cults or serial killers ever before.
“Hmm.”
A few moments later, Linc came back with a large mug of chamomile with honey and lemon.He held it out to Marcus, handle first.
Marcus sniffed his tea.“No oolong, huh?”
Linc shook his head.“There’s Macha, but I can run into town and pick you up some oolong after dinner.”
Marcus sipped his tea and looked at Linc over the rim.“Why’re you being so nice to me?You guys don’t even know me.”
Linc crossed his arms.“Do you remember how I said you’re our mate?Did that register?”
“I don’t know what that means.”Marcus looked off to the side.“I feel like I should be single for a while.I was with that douchebag for four years.Four fucking years.Can you fucking imagine the waste of time that was?All those anniversaries and…and he cheated on me, and now that’s my fault all of a sudden?”
I shook my head.“It’s not your fault.”
Linc looked like he was ready to eat Steven, so he went back to the kitchen to deal with it there.Probably wise.
I kept my voice carefully neutral.“Is it normal for Steven not to even ask how you are when you’re obviously not well?”Like all doctors, I’d seen abuse and knew it didn’t always have to come with cuts or bruises.
Marcus looked up at me again before he went back to sipping his steaming tea.“He doesn’t really have a bedside manner.Never complained when I dropped everything and took care of him though.”
In the kitchen, probably too low for human ears to pick up, Linc growled at the carrots he was finishing off before moving on to the celery.The celery had no idea what it was in for.
Marcus cleared his throat and wiped his nose on the flannel.“So you shift and run around in the woods and chomp down on deer and cute little bunnies and bite hikers so they turn into werewolves like you?”
“We do run around in the woods, but we don’t kill other animals for food.Dom eats chicken sometimes, but Linc and I are vegetarian.Even if biting hikers were any kind of fun, a werewolf bite wouldn’t make them werewolves.It would just hurt.”
Maybe Marcus feared us for our teeth or the pop culture myths about those fictional werewolves that did enjoy chasing humans who lumbered through the wilderness.I wanted to tell him we’d never bite him, but that would be a lie.He was our mate, and the mating would only be complete with a mating bite.Three, in Marcus’s case.
“I see.”Marcus tapped a finger against his mug.“He eatschicken.”
He went quiet from there, his mind going elsewhere for several long minutes.Linc was using his fancy olive oil to sauté the onions, the warm cooking smells blending with the newly familiar one of our mate.
“Why did you bring your laptop into the woods?”I asked him in the hopes of jolting him out of whatever thoughts he was drifting in.
