Authors: Lynn Hagen
Jason couldn’t take his eyes off of him. He had a bandage across his nose. Jason felt anger surge inside of him. Who the hell would mar such a gorgeous face?
He dropped his eyes when the man looked over his shoulder at Jason. Jason’s fingertips dug into the doorframe, stopping himself from running into the room and making a fool of himself.
Why would someone as godly as this man want an ugly duckling like him?
He looked up when the little girl cried. The Adonis had a needle in his hand, pushing it into her arm. Jason watched as the clear tube on the end of it turned crimson. The man withdrew it and taped her arm.
The handsome creature couldn’t be in there. He would catch it, and he was an adult.
He would die.
Jason tore across the room, grabbing the human around his shoulders and pulling him into the hallway.
“What are you doing?” Tank asked in shock, his mouth hanging open as he stared at Jason.
“Saving him. He could die.” Jason pushed the human behind him, reaching into the little girl’s room and shutting her door then backing him and the human farther away from the contagious red bumps. There was no way he was allowing any skin to fall off of the most beautiful man he had ever laid eyes on.
“But he’s the doctor. It’s his job to risk his life,” Tank argued.
“Hell no, not happening.” Jason snarled. There was no way this beautiful man with a bruised nose was going to die. Jason thought he was going mad. What the hell was wrong with him? The guy’s scent was driving him nuts. He felt the man fisting his shirt in his hands. He was holding onto Jason. Something deep inside of him relished that feeling, the feeling he was protecting the man.
“Problem?” Maverick asked from the top step.
“Jason pulled the doctor out of Melonee’s room, said he could die.” Tank stuck his finger at Jason as if he were a toddler tattling.
“Drew said human adults could die from it,” Jason argued. “And this man shouldn’t risk his life.”
“Human?” a voice asked quietly from behind him. Jason lowered his head as he closed his eyes. Oh shit, he was in trouble now. He opened his eyes and stared at Maverick.
“Jason?” Maverick tilted his head, his eyes questioning.
Jason pushed the human farther back, afraid the Alpha would harm him now that he had let the proverbial cat out of the bag. He would fight the large wolf to the death if he thought he was going to touch one hair on the gorgeous man’s head.
“We need to talk.” Maverick spoke softly.
Jason wasn’t sure if he could interpret that low voice as anger or concern coming from the Alpha. All he knew was that he couldn’t let any harm come to the man standing behind him, the man who was counting on his protection. His fingers still dug into Jason’s shirt, reminding him that he was a protector.
Anger tore through him as he shifted, snarling at Maverick to stay away.
“Have you lost your fucking mind?” Tank yelled at him, but Jason was too angry to listen. He had to get the human out of here. Get him safely away from the Timber wolf pack. He would die before he allowed any of them to harm the man.
“Tank, don’t,” Maverick cautioned. “I think I know what’s going on.”
“Please tell me before I have to kill his dumb ass for threatening you.” Tank growled.
“Ah, yeah, I’d like to know, too.” The stranger raised his hand.
“Sorry, doc. I didn’t mean for this to happen,” Maverick apologized but stayed his distance.
Tangee opened the door, squealed at the sight, and then slammed it shut.
More warriors slowly ascended the stairs, and a few came up behind Jason. He snapped and growled, pulling his muzzle back as his ears flattened. A hand reached into his fur, soothing him. It was the human. Jason couldn’t turn around to acknowledge it. He had to protect him, but the hand was comforting, wanted.
His senses came alive at the touch. He felt giddy as the fingers tightened in his fur. Jason wasn’t sure what was going on, but
no one
was getting near the human.
* * * *
“Stay back,” Maverick warned the Sentries behind the snapping Grey wolf. The wolf’s body language was telling Maverick that Jason planned on defending the human to the bitter end.
“What the fuck is going on?” Commander Hawk bellowed but listened.
“Jason, calm down. I only want to talk. No one is going to harm your mate.” Maverick squatted down as a collective gasp sounded.
“Mate?” the doctor asked. “As in, he’s my mate. Wolf mate?”
Maverick nodded but never took his eyes from Jason. He was deadly right now. Jason would harm anyone who went near the doctor.
“And why does he think his mate is threatened?” Hawk asked.
“Because he let the word human slip, doc caught it, and he thought I was going to harm the human because of it.” Maverick needed to get the Grey wolf calmed down. If he jumped near Maverick, the whole pack would descend on him regardless of his warning.
Sadly, Maverick didn’t know too much about Jason. The Sentry had kept to himself a lot, never volunteering a conversation or telling anything about himself. He knew Jason wouldn’t harm anyone unless there was a reason, and defending your mate against a threat, whether real or not, was the mother of all reasons.
“Do you trust that he won’t harm you?” Maverick had an idea.
“I think so. He seems to be doing a pretty good job defending me right now,” the doctor answered.
Maverick watched as the doctor ran his fingers through Jason’s coat. The Grey wolf leaned into it but still held his stance. It was a good sign.
“Reach behind you and open that bedroom door. Walk backwards so Jason will follow you. Close it once you both are in.” Maverick’s breath caught when the mate, Keata, came around the corner in his tiger form. The warrior Cody would kill Jason to defend his mate. This was getting ugly fast.
The doctor must have read Maverick’s face. He pushed the door opened and yanked the wolf back, slamming them inside.
“Keata, you know better.” Cody dropped to his knees as he rubbed his mate’s fur.
Maverick could only thank whoever was watching over this psychotic-ass pack that the doctor cleared Jason from the hall. He honestly believed Jason wouldn’t have harmed the tiger, especially with the tiger being so small, but Cody wouldn’t have chanced it.
“Now what?” Hawk asked.
“Now we let them bond.”
Chapter Three
Nicholas must have suffered from last night much more than he originally thought. Once he woke up, he was having a CAT scan run on him.
He watched as the wolf padded over to the window seat, hopped up on it, and just watched him.
“Uh, mate, huh?” Boy, his father was going to love this one. The engagement would probably be off with this bit of paranormal news. Nicholas was far from stupid. He caught the gist of the conversation. He was no expert on wolves, but he did know they mated for life. This was too surreal.
“Can you do that thing you just did and turn back to a human? It’s kinda hard to have a one-sided conversation.” Nicholas watched as the wolf jumped down, padded over to him, and gently pushed his head into Nicholas’s leg, turning him. “Oh, you don’t want me to see. Uh, okay.”
He waited for a moment, and then the deepest timbre voice called to something deep inside of him as the man-wolf talked.
“Thanks. You can turn around.”
Nicholas’s skin melted at that deep, rich timbre voice. The man could make millions if he tried his hand at one of those phone sex operations. Turning, Nicholas took in the sight of a man that called to his baser instincts. He liked rugged-looking men, and Jason was the most rugged man he had ever laid eyes on.
Jason was back in the window seat, a blue comforter wrapped tightly around his shoulders. He had hair the color of chestnuts that fell in waves down to his shoulder. A scar ran from his right temple to his jaw, and big chocolate brown eyes looked at him cautiously, curiously.
“Are you naked under there?” Nicholas joked as he sat on the carpet, leaned his back against the door, and pulled his legs to his chest. He could sit here all day and stare at the handsome man.
Jason just nodded. Okay, so he wasn’t big on talking. A taciturn man. “I’m a doctor. I know what the male anatomy looks like. I promise not to drool if you show me yours.”
A low growl sounded across the room. “You shouldn’t be looking at other men.”
Uh, right. This situation and conversation belonged in the Twilight Zone. “I do it professionally.”
“Like a hooker?” Jason growled louder.
“Not quite. Don’t you know what a doctor is? People pay me to…okay, not a good way to explain that. I heal people, or try to.”
“Like a wolf physician?”
Nicholas scratched his neck, confused as hell. “I don’t know about wolf, but I am a physician.”
“Why are you scratching? Did you get the bumps?” Jason sat forward, alarm filling his eyes. This could not be real. There was no way a handsome man like this guy was interested in him, a wolf at that. Okay, the wolf part was a little freaky, but everyone had their kink.
“No, just a nervous habit I have. I already had the…bumps when I was little.” Nicholas watched as Jason sat back, pulling the covers tighter around him. The guy couldn’t be that modest. He had to be hiding something. Nicholas laid his arms on his knees. “Was that really a tiger I saw in the hallway?”
Again, Jason just nodded. Nicholas didn’t think he would get an answer, but Jason leaned back, turned his head toward the window, and spoke. “Kyoshi and Keata, two of the mates here, were kidnapped by humans. Taken from Japan and brought to America to be used for sex. Some human named Paul helped them hide until the warrior Storm went to get them and bring them here.” Jason paused, and Nicholas watched as a faraway look crossed Jason’s face. “Kyoshi is Storm’s mate. Keata is Cody’s. I wouldn’t have harmed him.”
“I didn’t think you would have,” Nicholas offered. There was something about Jason that called to the protective side of Nicholas. Although the man was at least a foot taller than him and built like a brick house, he seemed small and vulnerable at the moment.
“I wouldn’t have. When their mate’s claimed them, the shifter gene kicked in. They shifted into tigers. They didn’t even know they had it in them.” Jason stared out into the night, speaking as if remembering something instead of giving an explanation to Nicholas.
“What do you mean, claim?” Now that sounded interesting. If sex was involved, he was all for getting a piece of that. Nicholas’s tongue was already tingling at the thought of licking Jason from head to toe.
Jason clenched his jaw as he shook his head, never once looking at Nicholas. “Nothing.”
Spoilsport. “Can I move closer?” Nicholas felt a need to be closer, to touch, and to hold the man in his arms. He wondered if it was the mate thing but knew there was more to it than that. Nicholas knew in his heart that Jason was the man he could come home to, to laugh with, and to share his life with. He would make the perfect partner.
Jason turned his head, studying Nicholas. “Why?”
Nicholas shrugged. “I don’t like talking across the room.” He watched as Jason looked at the door then back at him, anxiety written all over him.
“Yeah, come over here,” Jason said, as though an army was going to invade at any moment.
Jason pulled back as Nicholas walked over, the comforter pulled tighter yet again. He took a seat on the opposite end of the window seat, feeling better now that he was closer. The man had the most stunning brown eyes Nicholas had ever seen. He wasn’t Hollywood stunning like the other men seemed to be in this house, but he had a rugged quality to him that drew Nicholas in and made his cock rock hard.