Little Wolf (42 page)

“Who are you?” the woman asked Blake, and then the screen went black in the second before the commercial.

Tim huffed, dissatisfied, but again faced the committee. “What just happened?”

“So what do you think?” Jerry was apparently not as interested in the goings-on of
Diedre’s Secret
as everyone else. “It’ll only be a few of the competitions, and he’ll be one of the judges. Ramona will be there too, and a few of the winners from past years.”

“You’re honestly asking me?” Tim remained astounded by this. “I don’t know. I’ll ask him if he wants to.” Nathaniel would likely say yes whether he wanted to or not, but it didn’t seem like something that would exhaust him. “He’ll be busy, so he might not have time for everything.” It was the best he could do right now with Blake’s condition on his mind.

Jerry handed Tim a card with his number on it. “Call me soon. We need to know so we can get other judges if we need to.”

“Do the sheriff’s lovers all end up as his social secretaries?” Tim wondered aloud as most of the committee wandered off. A few headed to the café to watch the rest of the episode. Tim could have told them the episode wouldn’t go back to Blake’s story right away. They had some time to wait. “Someone explain these festivals to me, please. Not the sex parts. Or the love parts, as Nathaniel would say. Tell me where the money goes. They can’t need
that
much money to keep throwing everyone into every tourist’s arms.”

“The money goes to fund the town.” The same committee member who had answered before spoke up. A slender figure with fierce eyes, he could have been were, but there was nothing overtly physically intimidating about him, and Tim had thought the humans had exterminated all the Japanese wolves years ago. Even if that weren’t true, the man still didn’t appear to be were. He was built more like Tim, and he did not smell like wolf.

“I mean what the town does,” the man explained nicely a second later, with only a tiny eye roll at Tim’s ignorance. “Aside from the usual town expenses and upkeep, this is an old town of historical interest. There are several houses from the 19th century and a few other landmark sites that we share with the park. Then there’s the park itself. It’s state property, but it’s also public, which means hikers and campers who get lost or start fires, so we have search and rescue teams and firefighters to feed and train.” From the way he was talking, Tim had a feeling he’d found the committee’s treasurer. “Then of course there is the town’s legacy.”

“You mean the caring for stray weres?” That part Tim knew.

His tour guide shook his head, barely concealing some scorn. “I mean the sanctuary offered first to weres on the wrong side of human law, and then to all beings, and then to the humans themselves when they were betrayed by their own. Wolf’s Paw offers legal services as well as homes for those in need. Protection is what the town was founded on, and it continues to uphold that legacy despite the considerable costs. Newcomers benefit, but the town’s old blood, and most of the older were families recognize the good that communities like Wolf’s Paw have done over the years.”

“In the beginning it was a refuge for weres and the remaining shifters from what was left of the tribes in this area.” Albert was less condescending, although he still seemed to think Tim should have known this basic information. “Then it became more. By the 1940s the council made the decision to officially protect more than just lost weres in need of a home. Wolf’s Paw offered displaced Japanese-Americans a place. It’s in our history lessons. Like how the town hospital was founded to look after patients the human doctors were scared to care for and continues that mission today.”

“That also costs money,” Tim’s other history teacher chimed in.

Tim bit his lip and would have even if Nathaniel had been there. A disease epidemic wouldn’t merely take money; it would drain future income as humans avoided the town for years afterward.

He finally nodded. “The festivals pay for all that.” He bent his head to acknowledge what he should have known. Being a Dirus made it that much worse that he hadn’t. This was the town Ray had sent him to. This was the town with Nathaniel as its leader.

Tim looked over at the TV, surprised to see Blake and the woman on again. Blake was sitting by her fire, staring at the coffee she’d given him, but not drinking it. His eyes didn’t seem to see anything. If he hadn’t been feeding himself it meant he was ignoring even his basic instincts to survive.

Tim put a hand to the mark at his throat and pressed in. There wasn’t any pain. The mark was probably gone.

Tim studied Blake, who was nearly mute and regarding his rescuer with bleak confusion. Tim couldn’t even tell if that was realistic for a were who had lost a mate or not. He could have finished reading up on the town’s history as Nathaniel had wanted him to and he still wouldn’t have known. There was so much he didn’t know.

“I’ll ask him,” he said again to the remaining committee member as
Diedre’s Secret
skipped on to another story line. He looked from Albert to the committee member and ignored the customer waiting to get rung up. “Is that—”

“Littlewolf!” The sound of Cosmo yelling, raising his voice at all, made Tim’s hackles rise. He spun around, and Cosmo shouted at him from behind the counter. “Phone!”

“Okay, okay!” Tim snapped back at him. It wasn’t his fault Nathaniel kept calling. Cosmo didn’t need to get cranky. But Robin’s Egg was floating up to turn the TV off in the middle of the episode, and that was strange, so Tim reached for the phone without further argument.

He nearly dropped it when he heard Zoe’s voice.

R
ECALLING
Z
OE
’
S
words as he got to the empty house did nothing to calm Tim down. In fact he was only more alarmed to find Zoe wasn’t there yet. She had told him to get to the cabin as soon as he could, with vague, frantic sounds in the background and her own voice rich with worry. She’d kept repeating that Tim had to get there soon, it would be helpful, very helpful, hurry, before she’d finally hung up.

That was enough to have him gnawing his lip, but then he also had to consider the way Robin’s Egg had practically kicked him out, and how someone he barely knew had volunteered to drive Tim to the cabin.

Tim clutched at his charms as he watched his driver, committee member Mr. Shimizu, drive away, and then he went into the house. He flipped on the kitchen light, absently noting the mess he and Nathaniel had left behind as well as the faint feline scent clinging to him from his ride in Mr. Shimizu’s car.

He stopped at the sound of a vehicle outside. Tim felt hyper-attuned to the sound and blamed the panicky instincts Zoe had triggered with her call. He went to the door and watched her pull up, only to think he should have been freaking out more than he already was when he saw Nathaniel in the passenger seat.

“The fuck—” he started, but Zoe flung herself out of the truck and shot him a relieved glance as she went around to help Nathaniel step down. Tim wasn’t sure what part to focus on first, the fact that she was driving, or the tight, tense way she was moving. He forgot both the second he got a good look at Nathaniel slumped against the door.

“I am so glad you got here,” Zoe said, but Tim couldn’t look at her. Nathaniel was breathing too heavily for the simple act of getting out of Zoe’s work truck, and not moving with any of his usual strong grace. He stumbled, and Tim took a step toward them, but Zoe waved him back. She curled her body under Nathaniel’s arm and grunted as she got him standing. Tim wouldn’t have been able to manage that, but he sank his teeth hard into his lip to keep in the sound he wanted to make to see her holding Nathaniel.

It didn’t help that Nathaniel’s gaze was fixed on Tim. Nathaniel’s eyes were wide, and even from a distance, they were glazed. Tim raked a look over Nathaniel’s body, noticing with displeasure that Nathaniel was wearing someone else’s clothes, including an unbuttoned collared shirt that slid open as Zoe led him slowly up the stairs. Beneath the shirt Nathaniel was wrapped in a tight bandage, the kind humans wore when their ribs were broken. Color was starting to bloom at his collarbone, deep, dark color, a bruise that could have meant a broken bone. His face was about the same, a mix of wounded and already healing colors, and a small smear of red where someone had cleaned most of the blood from under his nose.

Tim did not keep back his growl this time.

Nathaniel was fighting to walk up the stairs, his movements sluggish, but he pushed out a breath when he heard Tim’s growling and lurched toward Tim the moment he was on the top of the porch. Tim had half a second to brace himself for Nathaniel’s weight, but he still bumped into the wall and had to use it to help him stay up. Nathaniel didn’t seem to notice the near-fall. He looped his arms around Tim’s chest and immediately buried his face in Tim’s hair.

Tim shivered and frowned and then didn’t know what to do but try to grab Nathaniel without getting close to his ribs or whatever the hell else was broken. Because Nathaniel
had
been broken. His bones were possibly still broken. Tim was going to ensure pain for whoever had done it. He glared around Nathaniel’s arm at Zoe. Zoe reeked of stress sweat and wasn’t breathing any easier than Tim was, but she opened the door and waved Tim on.

“The hell, Zoe?” Tim hissed at her but turned toward Nathaniel when Nathaniel made a snuffling, grateful sound and nosed along Tim’s hairline and then at his jaw. He didn’t seem aware of how much weight he was putting onto Tim, but Tim was afraid to touch him to get a better hold on him, not wanting to do more damage. He skated his fingertips under the borrowed shirt that smelled like unwashed human male and didn’t like the way Nathaniel tensed.

“Thank you.” Zoe took Nathaniel’s elbow as Tim tried to lead him inside but quickly released him to lean against the wall and heave a sigh. “Thank you for getting here so fast. Even the patches weren’t working, and he needs to rest. I can’t get him to listen to me.”

“Timothy.” Nathaniel curled hot hands around Tim’s neck and swept his thumbs over Tim’s cheeks. He stared down at Tim with dilated pupils and touched him, constant, gentle brushes with the tips of his fingers until Tim nearly snapped at him. All that gentleness was unbearable. Tim wasn’t sure if he should yell or lean in for more, and Nathaniel’s admiring gaze was no help. Nathaniel was breathing him in, quick, warm, greedy gulps of air. Tim gave Zoe another hard look.

“No, Little Wolf.” Nathaniel responded before Tim could speak. He was probably reacting to whatever he smelled on Tim. He licked a stripe under Tim’s ear and then exhaled when Tim froze. He tightened his hold. “Tim,” Nathaniel told him in a whisper, as if Zoe couldn’t hear. “Don’t be upset.”

“He
insisted
I call you, which is when I realized he wasn’t merely high, and he did in fact know what he was talking about and
I’d
forgotten. So I decided to bring him here. The doctors agreed it might be best.” Zoe was beginning to catch her breath.

Tim abruptly noticed the blood smeared along her arm. It wasn’t hers. He looked back at Nathaniel, the swelling around his nose and on one side of his face, the discoloration. It hadn’t been a fight, or not a fight with a were or a demon. He had no teeth marks, no claw marks, only impact injuries.

“Your heart,” Nathaniel commented, distracting and close. He wouldn’t stop touching Tim, breathing against him, breathing
into
him. “Little Wolf, it’s okay.” He licked Tim again, careful, cautious darts of his tongue to call Tim’s attention away from his thoughts, and Tim realized Nathaniel meant it to be soothing. The knowledge did absolutely nothing to slow Tim’s racing heartbeat, and sure as hell didn’t calm him down. But he released the fistful of Nathaniel’s shirt he hadn’t known he had and narrowed his eyes at Zoe.

“Explain. Now.”

She put her hands up. “I told him you’d be madder if he hurt himself, but the big—” She struggled for words and then seemed to surprise herself. “—
idiot
wouldn’t be still. I had to bring him here.”

Tim turned his narrowed eyes on Nathaniel, who pushed his hands under Tim’s shirt to put his skin to Tim’s skin. Tim shivered despite himself.

Zoe directed her gaze at the ceiling. She took a moment. “I’m explaining, but stay calm, all right? There’s a downside to instinctual reactions, and one of those is that I need you to stay calm right now. If you freak out, he’s going to freak out too.”

Tim understood. He made no promises, but he wasn’t a kid. He could control himself, mostly. Maybe not where Nathaniel was concerned, but he wasn’t going to lose it completely. He clenched his jaw and waited.

Zoe rushed it out. “His truck was run off the road.”

Tim held very still. He swallowed. Nathaniel gave him another lick, a shivery, warm caress that went beyond words, and yet Tim got it this time.
Please don’t worry, Little Wolf
, Nathaniel told him, running his hands over Tim’s stomach, kissing along Tim’s neck. He whined, a soft, startling plea, when Tim didn’t respond, but he quieted when Tim lifted a hand to the back of Nathaniel’s neck and raised his chin to allow Nathaniel to soothe him some more. Nathaniel’s skin was hot even for him, but his nape was unhurt except for the old scar. He inhaled in pleasure when Tim touched him.

Tim was cold on the inside, shivering with fear, but on the surface he was warm under Nathaniel’s hands. Nathaniel was breathing into him,
for
him, telling Tim not to worry, when he was all drugged up, presumably because of the pain he was in.

“Say that again.” Tim spoke only when he knew his voice would be level. He focused on Zoe, on anger, and not on Nathaniel’s nonverbal need for Tim to be happy. “Not ‘had an accident,’ but run off the road?”

“It could have been an accident.” Zoe took her eyes off the ceiling to exchange a look with Tim that said she doubted it. “It could have been a drunk or scared, lost tourist who hit his truck.” But she didn’t think so. Zoe suspected something, but she either had no proof or wasn’t going to tell Tim if she did. “It was bad. The kind of bad a were would be able to walk away from, but not a human.”