A Sheep In Wolf's Clothing (Welsh Wolves) (9 page)

Tissues in his otherwise empty wastebasket.

He rubbed his fingers across his stomach. So that part had been real. The wolf beside him leapt off the bed and sat at his feet, tail thumping.

“Hmm, didn’t I leave you locked in the clinic last night? I’ve got to figure out how you’re getting out.” He scratched the wolf behind the ears. “Unless you turned into a gorgeous, six-foot tall man and walked out.” The wolf cocked his head to the side. “You didn’t, did you? Because my life is a little too normal for freaky things like that. And talking to a wolf like you think he can understand you doesn’t fall into the ‘freaky’ category? No, it falls into the too-much-time-alone category.”

He stood up. “Come on, boy.” He slapped his thigh and the wolf followed him out. Kieve was going to go about his business and try to forget the crazy, wonderful dream.

* * * * *

Kieve looked up as a pickup truck pulled into the driveway.

“Well, baby, it looks like your owners are here.” He reached over and patted the wolf’s side. The animal had been his constant companion for three days and dang, he was going to miss him. He’d been great company. Quiet but actually seemed to understand Kieve when he talked. So he’d talked a lot in the past couple of days.

Good thing the dog couldn’t speak because Kieve had shared some embarrassing stories. Especially in the mornings after those dreams.

Fuck, those dreams. Night after night. They were sexy and a little frightening. So real that he woke up with come on his skin or the taste of it lingering on his tongue.

He’d woken up each morning confused and exhausted and...satisfied. The wolf’s comforting presence, pressing up against him, had loosened Kieve’s tongue, confiding that he’d always preferred being on the bottom.

Because of his size, he usually ended up topping and most of the twinks he’d dated wanted to be dominated. He felt silly
asking
to be topped. A smile pulled on his lips. He bet his dream lover could top him. That delicious voice, those rough, gentle hands.

A whine snapped him out of his thoughts.

“Great,” he muttered looking down at his crotch. “I’m going to the door with a hard-on.”

Fido whined again and smacked his paw against the plastic collar that circled his neck.

“No, baby.” He couldn’t call such a pretty animal “Fido.” It was just wrong. He bent down and pulled the dog’s paw away, scratching him behind the ears. “You have to leave that on. And the cast.”

He’d had to re-plaster the dog’s foot five times in the past three days. That puppy did not like the cast. Finally this morning, Kieve had had no choice. He’d had to put the collar on.

Since then, Fido had been moping, almost glaring at Kieve. He’d still followed him from room to room, but he refused to sit next to Kieve. Kieve had gotten used to the animal’s weight against his leg, finding comfort in being able to reach down and stroke the soft fur.

The doorbell chimed. Kieve sighed. He felt like he was losing a friend. Dex hadn’t seemed too attached to Fido. He’d been more than happy to let the wolf stay with Kieve, but finally this morning, Dex had called and said someone would come by and get him.

“Come on, boy.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Fido trotted along beside him. He stayed behind Kieve’s legs, like he was trying to hide.

“It’ll be okay.” He patted the wolf’s side again and opened the door.

Another big guy, one he hadn’t met, stood on the porch.

“Are you the doc?”

“Yes.”

“I’m Maddock. I’m here to pick up...” He nodded at Fido. His lips spread in a wide grin and he wheezed out a laugh. He recovered quickly, pulling his shoulders back and blinking. His mouth tightened at the edges and his eyes got really wide, like the pressure of holding back his laughter was making his face expand. “Uhm, him. I’m here to pick him up.”

Kieve nodded and stepped back.

“Wait.” Maddock held up one hand and dug in his pocket with the other. “I need to get a picture.” He pulled out his phone and held it up, pointing the camera at Fido. A low growl rumbled from the wolf’s chest, but Maddock just smiled. “The boys are going to love this.” He shook his head and tapped on the phone’s screen. “How long does he have to wear the collar?”

“Just a few more days. He kept chewing off the cast.”

The wolf whined.

Maddock laughed again.

“Well, we’ll just leave it on, then.”

The smile curling his lips made it look like he knew a joke that Kieve didn’t.

“How much do we owe you?” Maddock pulled a checkbook out of his back pocket.

Kieve shook his head. “I haven’t figured it out. I can send you a bill.”

“No need. Will five thousand cover it?”

Kieve blinked. “Five thousand dollars? It won’t be anywhere near that. A couple days of boarding and an X-ray.”

Maddock waved him off. “No worries. We’ll call it a down payment on future services.”

He wrote out the check and handed it to Kieve.

Kieve hesitated but Maddock pushed the check into his hand.

Maddock stepped back and walked to the door. He slapped his thigh. “Come on, boy.”

Fido snarled, but he trotted out the door. The pretty wolf ran to the side of the truck and waited by the passenger side door. His head swung toward Kieve and Kieve raised his hand to wave farewell. Fuck, it was a dog, but he was going to miss him.

Maddock stopped by the side of the truck and silently watched the exchange. He tipped his head toward the house and Fido went bounding back, stretching up on his back legs and planting his front paws on Kieve’s chest.

The plastic collar smacked Kieve in the cheek but he reached inside the cone to pet the wolf.

Fido licked his hand and whined.

“Oh, baby, I’m going to miss you, too.”

Knowing this would be probably be the last time he saw Fido, he gave him a final scratch behind the ears. “You go on.” He pushed the wolf away feeling strangely like a romance heroine sending her lover off to die in the war. The emptiness in his chest pulsed and spread to the rest of his soul as his companion ran down the walkway and jumped into the open truck door.

Kieve shut the front door, unable to watch the truck drive away.

Damn, what the hell was wrong with him? He’d had pets all his life, but none of them had captured his heart like Fido.

* * * * *

“Don’t do it. Don’t do it,” Maddock murmured as he backed the truck out of the driveway. “I think he’s still watching,” he warned.

Reese collapsed on the front seat, waiting for Maddock to give him the all clear. He held his breath. He didn’t know how much longer he could stand it.

“Okay, we’re out of sight.”

Reese forced the wolf to retreat, the human form returning to the vicious sound of bones breaking and muscles tearing. The only consolation was that the change occurred quickly and the pain disappeared within seconds.

But the wolf had been the dominant personality for days and it took a moment to get his human mind and human body to realign.

Long moments passed and finally he sat up. That huge, ridiculous collar bounced against the ceiling and windshield.

“Fuck.” He ripped off the two-foot plastic cone and threw it on the floor.

Maddock just laughed.

“Give me the phone,” Reese demanded. Even blind he had to be able to delete that picture.

Maddock tossed the phone, hitting Reese’s lap. “Too late. I already emailed it to Dex.” He chuckled again. “You’ll be in the annual ‘Werewolves Gone Bad’ Calendar in no time.”

Reese blinked and stared out the window. The blurry shadows moving past made his stomach turn so he closed his eyes.

“What took you so long? Kieve said he found you guys three days ago.”

“Kieve, huh? Lives alone?”

The wolf hovered too close to the surface. Reese felt his teeth swell and he snarled at the man sitting next to him.

“Yes. You just keep your mind off him.”

Maddock scoffed. “Like Dex wouldn’t rip off my dick if I even thought about another man.” The truck turned left and Reese grabbed the door handle to keep his balance. “The doc sure seemed to like you,
Fido
.”

“Bite me.”

Chapter Five

Despite the exuberant welcome from Dex and Rhian and a solid pat on his shoulder from Micah, it took Reese a few days to feel like he was home again.

He told Dex it was because the antiseptic smell of the vet’s office had gotten into his pores and it reminded him of the lab. He’d worked hard in the past two years to create a place where he felt safe and now...he didn’t know.

But Reese knew the reason he couldn’t get comfortable, that he snapped whenever someone tried to talk to him, was because of Kieve. He missed the vet. Actually, his wolf missed the vet. Reese was fine.

It didn’t matter that his wolf thought Kieve was his mate and maybe in those three days might have imprinted
a little
on the sexy man. Reese, the human, was in charge and, damn it, he wasn’t going to have a mate. He had nothing to offer a mate. All his human wealth was locked up in the bar and the house. His blindness made him useless as a protector.

And God forbid his mate ever try to fuck him.

He pushed aside thoughts of the vet—he’d been doing that a lot lately—and focused finding the others. Returning from Kieve’s clinic had given him a renewed determination. Hell, it gave him something to think about besides the sexy doctor.

He popped open his laptop and plugged in his earphones. He’d sent Jason a message the day after he’d returned from Kieve’s. The kid still seemed cautious—and really, who could blame him—but tonight they’d arranged to talk on the phone.

He waited until his clock chimed eleven, then ran his fingers over the buttons of his phone, typing Jason’s number in. It rang four times before Jason finally answered.

“H-hello?”

“Jason?”

“Oh my God, it really is you.” The kid’s voice vibrated and Reese’s stomach turned over. He should have protected Jason better, but he’d been focused on killing the doctor and had just left the others to find their way to safety. Reese hadn’t expected to escape, and he certainly hadn’t thought he’d survive. How could a blind werewolf survive in the real world?

Find a pack that included Dex.
The flirty, annoying Omega wolf was truly the only thing that saved him.

“I was so scared,” Jason said, a whimper finishing off his words. “I didn’t know if it was them again, tricking me.”

“No, it’s really me. How are you doing?”

“Okay, I guess. I just—they’re still out there, Reese. Capturing wolves and hurting them. Damn. Someone’s coming.”

“Where are you?”

“I’ve got to go. I’ll call you later.”

The line was dead before Reese could ask again.

Were they still out there? And were they hunting Jason?

Reese knew for a fact the doctor was dead. He’d stood there until the heart stopped beating. But that didn’t mean the others couldn’t have survived. Most of them had just been lab technicians. But the doctor’s assistant...

Reese’s stomach did another slow flip. He should have made sure she was dead.

* * * * *

Kieve stretched out on his couch, trying to read, but his mind wouldn’t focus. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what the problem was. He was lonely. He missed that damn wolf. He scritched the ears of the lab puppy lying beside his hip. The little dog sighed and snuggled into the caress, but even he seemed depressed.

With a sigh, Kieve sat up. Dex had left several messages thanking him again for taking such good care of Fido and inviting him to come to the bar for a drink. The bar wasn’t really Kieve’s kind of place, but it was better than sitting at home missing a dog that he’d known for all of three days.

He scooped up the puppy, put him back in his kennel and jumped into the shower. Maybe he should actually try to meet someone. The Red Dragon didn’t look like a gay bar, but Dex seemed flamboyant enough that there might be someone lingering around him who was interested.

Only Kieve didn’t do hook-ups well. He liked his men tough and strong. But he attracted twinks.

With a sigh, he put on his favorite shirt—it brought out the color of his eyes, or so he’d been told. He checked the mirror. He looked good—or as good as he could. He knew he wasn’t stunning, but he wasn’t a troll either. He kept himself in shape and he had nice hair.

He rolled his eyes at himself.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he asked his reflection. “Just go out, have a drink, and come home. It’s no big deal. It’s a local business. It’s good for the economy to support them.”

He couldn’t stop his own pathetic laugh. “Great. Now I’ve turned my need to get laid into an economic stimulus package. Perfect. And, yes, I realize I’m talking to myself.”

Deciding then and there he needed to get out of his house for a while, he grabbed his keys and headed to his truck. The drive took about twenty minutes. He didn’t know how they expected to do much business this far out, but there were a dozen or so cars in the parking lot when he pulled in. It didn’t look like a bad crowd for a weeknight, but then Kieve didn’t know. He didn’t run a business like this.

As he approached the building he noticed it looked better in the dark. His eyes latched onto that big red dragon and his thoughts instantly went to his dream lover and Kieve tracing that tattoo with his tongue.

He licked his lips, remembering the sweet taste of the man’s skin. And his come. Kieve shook his head. The whole thing had been too real.

He rolled his shoulders and opened the door. No bouncer stood at the door, but a big guy wiping down tables looked up when Kieve walked in. It took him a moment to place him, but then he realized it was Maddock—the guy who had come to pick up Fido.

The challenging glint in Maddock’s eyes seemed to warn whoever walked in not to start any shit. The look cleared as if he recognized Kieve. He lifted his chin in greeting, then went back to wiping off the table.

Kieve glanced around the room. It looked a little different at night, darker, music played in the background. Some tables to the right were filled, but Kieve’s gaze moved to the high dark-wood bar—and the gorgeous man standing behind it. He wore dark sunglasses so Kieve couldn’t see his eyes, but the rest of the picture was stunning. His hair was pulled back from his face—an intriguing mixture of black and silver though the guy wasn’t nearly old enough to have grey hair. He looked familiar but Kieve couldn’t place him.