Little Wolf (52 page)

It would have been faster to crawl. People kept stopping Nathaniel to wish him a good morning. From the way they looked him over, Tim felt it was also to make sure Nathaniel was truly all right after the accident. Nathaniel had taken another unheard-of day off; it was reasonable for people to have worried. As long as it was only worry, and not people glancing between the two of them like they were trying to see what exactly Nathaniel and Tim had been up to on that day off.

Obviously, fucking was what they’d been up to, and now Tim was starving. He would have hurried to the café on his own if not for two things—his promise to Nathaniel to avoid being alone, and Nathaniel’s hand, which Nathaniel didn’t remove from Tim for a second, no matter who stopped them.

“Subtle,” Tim had remarked the third time, and settled against Nathaniel with a sigh. Tim probably looked about as well-fucked as he felt and didn’t understand how anyone in town could doubt the nature of his stay in Nathaniel’s house. But if Nathaniel curling his fingers into Tim’s skin and stroking light touches down the top of his spine were what it took to convince them that their sheriff was getting some, well then, Tim wasn’t going to protest—as long as he got fed soon.

“We shouldn’t have left the house,” he complained after the fifth well-wisher.

“It’s good. It means people are keeping an eye on you.” Nathaniel was a jerk for being pleased about it. Tim’s stomach growled. He wanted pancakes. They’d come with gravy on them, but he’d take them that way. It might be chocolate gravy if he caught Cosmo in the right mood. Then Tim could have biscuits and gravy too, and make sure Nathaniel took some for the road.

He nearly tripped at the thought. Nathaniel curled his arm around him. “Sorry.” Nathaniel interrupted the person in the middle of greeting them. “Tim has to get to work.”

“I could go in on my own, you know,” Tim insisted, although Nathaniel’s uniform was practically asking Tim to slip his hands underneath it and rip the buttons away.

“No.” Nathaniel was still being a jerk, a smug jerk who happened to be right in this instance and who remained the possessor of the most amazing scent on the planet. If pancakes were happiness, then Nathaniel was a stack of them piled high and dripping with melted butter and real syrup. “You agreed.” Nathaniel’s voice did awesome, aroused things when Tim patted his chest.

“Technically, I didn’t. I just didn’t say anything when you announced you were going to be keeping a closer watch on me from now on.” Tim could be a smug jerk too. Nathaniel must have been more distracted during their naked chessboard discussions yesterday than he’d let on.

Nathaniel stopped. Tim kept walking, although the second he was out of Nathaniel’s arms he glanced around, looking over his shoulder in case anyone out of the ordinary was watching them.

“It’s dangerous.” Nathaniel glowered at him.

“Yeah, well, that’s what I’ve been told my entire life, but I made it fine on my own, mostly.” Tim straightened up. Protection from Nathaniel was a good thing. But it didn’t feel like a good thing. It felt like Nathaniel sending people to surround Tim while leaving himself exposed again. They’d had a long conversation yesterday, in between the meals, sex, and chess. Nathaniel knew more about Tim’s childhood experiences than Tim was entirely comfortable with, but somehow Tim had heard himself continue to talk despite that. It was all due to the magnetism of Sheriff McHottest Fucking Werewolf Alive, Tim was sure. “I’ve done the bodyguard thing before, remember?”

“No one is locking you up.” Nathaniel closed the distance between them, outraged but radiating need more than anything else. “Tim.” He lowered his voice and leaned in.

Tim closed his eyes at the feel of Nathaniel’s breath in his hair. “I know,” he answered what Nathaniel hadn’t said out loud, and Nathaniel slid his hands down Tim’s chest to his sides. Nathaniel needed him to be okay. Tim could understand that. Instinct, love, was a terrible thing. Tim had known it all along.

His stomach grumbled. Nathaniel immediately lifted his head. “I should have known.”

“Hey, this is legitimate anger.” Tim batted Nathaniel’s hands away, only to let them curl back into his shirt. He opened the door to the gift shop, and Nathaniel followed him in, his hands wrapped possessively in Tim’s shirt. He stopped when Tim paused to scan the morning crowd, and then he relaxed a fraction and gave Tim a bit more space.

It would have weakened Tim’s position to whine for Nathaniel to come back, so he kept still, not as convinced as Nathaniel about their current safety. But most of the customers didn’t so much as turn to acknowledge their presence. The rest, except for Carl, waved or nodded before returning to their food.

Tim didn’t move. There were faces he didn’t know, and now any one of them could be working for his uncle. “We shouldn’t have left the cabin. I shouldn’t have left Los Cerros. No, sorry, I didn’t mean it like that, but—”

“It’ll be better now that you’re here.” Nathaniel whispered, probably in some vain attempt to keep the words for Tim’s ears alone. “This is your territory, filled with your friends. Keep them in sight and you’ll be okay.”

“Yes, because the baby wolves are going to….” Tim trailed off, because of course the baby wolves had already been keeping an eye on him. Albert had told him as much. Tim simply hadn’t thought they would continue doing so. When he and Nathaniel had discussed the situation last night, Tim had assumed the people protecting him would be the deputies.

“The kids can hardly—” Tim dropped his voice even lower than Nathaniel’s. “Luca will hurt them, without hesitation.” He shook his head. “And if Luca doesn’t come alone, they’ll have slightly more of a chance to make it out okay than I will. They’re weres, but he’s used to fighting in ways they aren’t.”

“You’re underestimating them, and yourself.” Nathaniel turned him around. Tim let himself be turned, but glared. “They want to help.” Nathaniel was stern. He
would
be genuinely angered that Tim wouldn’t see this his way. “Everyone does, if you let them.” But he paused there before his expression became knowing. “I didn’t think a Dirus would reject an offer of eyes and ears. They will make good watchdogs—”

“Wolves aren’t dogs,” Tim interjected.

“When protecting one of their own,” Nathaniel continued smoothly.

Tim stared at Nathaniel’s chest. He kept his tone hard. “I’m not. I’m just visiting here.” His gaze fell lower, to Nathaniel’s feet.

“They like you.” Nathaniel pulled Tim in by his clothes. “
I
like you.”

Tim’s guts went weak. He covered it with breathless sarcasm. “Yeah, I got that when you ate me out after I made you lunch yesterday.” He went warm thinking about that lunch, that entire day really. He’d never been so naked and unconcerned with it. Nathaniel naked, yeah that alone was enough to make Tim feel good, but when he thought about how Nathaniel’s eyes had lingered on him, he flushed.

Lunch had been more like a huge brunch, breakfast and lunch foods thrown together quickly for the sake of sustenance. Which must have worked, because then Nathaniel had used his tongue in Tim’s ass and then hiked Tim’s leg up and fucked him over the arm of his big chair. Afterward, sore, sticky, and very pleased with himself, Tim had requested the chessboard come out.

He didn’t know what was more arousing, the memory of naked chess or the newfound knowledge of the way Nathaniel played. Nathaniel was willing to make sacrifices, but not recklessly. He played as if he wanted more than the king to survive the game.

Tim had never thought of himself as being squeamish before, but after the first game, seeing his pile of thrown-away pawns, he’d felt… wasteful. He didn’t know how Nathaniel expected to win with that attitude, or if he’d played that way before the town had elected him to protect them, but instead of mocking it, he’d stayed silent, and Nathaniel had surprised him by winning the third game. Nathaniel had been learning Tim’s style too, raising all kinds of questions in Tim’s mind about whether or not Nathaniel had thrown the first two games on purpose.

Nathaniel had made a seemingly casual comment about Tim learning his style from his uncle. They had gone from that to discussing more of Tim’s childhood, and then what Silas and Luca might do now.

If Tim was going to stay in Wolf’s Paw with Nathaniel, then at the very least they had to assume Silas was going to send someone to keep an eye on him until Silas decided what to do with him. However, between the magical search Tim had sensed and Nathaniel’s “accident,” Tim was willing to bet Silas already knew exactly where Tim was. The question was what he was going to do about it. He wouldn’t approach Tim, not publically. He would never risk that sort of rejection. He’d want Tim brought to him. And once he had Tim under his roof, Tim had his doubts Silas would be lax enough to let him escape again. Tim was legally an adult, but he had a feeling the human courts wouldn’t concern themselves much with were business.

But Silas, and by extension, Luca, had to get ahold of Tim first. How they would do that was the most important thing to consider, shortly followed by wondering how to avoid Silas’s retribution on the town. Nathaniel was convinced Silas wouldn’t do more than he’d already done, not if he didn’t want the werewolf and being communities to turn their backs on him. That was slightly reassuring, but Silas didn’t like to be thwarted. He’d been hunting Tim for five years. He wouldn’t take kindly to anyone standing in his way.

Even if Silas spared the town, he’d punish Nathaniel. In fact Nathaniel was going to take a hit either way, directly through Silas and Luca, or indirectly, if they succeeded in taking Tim. But not once the night before or this morning had Tim seen Nathaniel acknowledge it. Tim wasn’t fooled. Nathaniel kept talking about precautions for Tim, as though he didn’t know he was going to be Luca and Silas’s target too, even if only to get him out of the way.

Tim should run—the one strategy he hadn’t suggested yesterday. He contemplated it now, wondering how far he’d get on his own before he was caught.

Nathaniel straightened his shoulders, responding to a threat. Of course he had already identified the scent or scents that meant Tim was thinking about running. Tim let out a breath, and Nathaniel scowled at him. “Trust us.”

Tim chewed his lip. “Anything happens, I’m calling you.”

Nathaniel lessened his scowl, but his shoulders remained straight. “Please do.”

Tim wasn’t a duty. He narrowed his eyes. “You’re making me feel like a princess again.”

That seemed to take Nathaniel aback. “Someday I am going to understand the way your brain works.”

“Someday you’re going to realize I am not worth this much trouble,” Tim grumbled.

“What was that?” Nathaniel asked, voice booming. It drew even more attention to them.

“You heard me.” Tim stuck to his guns, stupidly really, but being sarcastic and defiant was all he had for a defense.

“I love you.” Nathaniel undermined Tim’s entire system in three words. He was evil. Nathaniel was just… the
worst
.

Tim barely managed to stay in place and not leap at him. “You be careful too.” He poked Nathaniel in the chest. “Same thing goes for you, right? Only not the baby wolves. If you need help, you call in the big guns, the other deputies, whoever.”

Nathaniel rubbed his chest, though Tim doubted the poke had hurt. “I am going to tell Zoe you called her that. She’ll love it.”

“You wouldn’t!” Tim widened his eyes. She’d call herself that when they were gaming and he’d never hear the end of it. He poked Nathaniel again. “And nice try, but I’m not distracted.”

Nathaniel gave Tim a look. “I know.” He did too. From scent, from Tim’s body language, from everything he’d observed and learned while Tim had fretted and ranted at him for months. Nathaniel would always be better than Tim at all this. Tim glanced away from him, wishing Nathaniel couldn’t read everything so well. Carl caught his eye. He was reading, as usual, though he was close enough that he’d probably heard every word.

“So don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.” Tim projected confidence as best he could. “Carl’s got my back, don’t you, Carl?”

Carl slid his eyes over. “See your boyfriend finally made an appearance. Doing right by Littlewolf this morning, Sheriff?”

“I can handle a walk of shame, Carl.” Tim bristled. He didn’t need to be walked to work, or he wouldn’t have if not for extenuating circumstances. “Nathaniel has better things to do. Just because I’m little—”

He shut up at the alarmed expression on Nathaniel’s face. A moment later Nathaniel’s hands were warm and steadying on Tim’s face. “I should have done this the first time,” he admitted softly before pressing his mouth to Tim’s. Tim parted his lips instantly and reached up to pull Nathaniel closer. Nathaniel moved to place another slow, deliberate kiss to the corner of Tim’s mouth. “Sorry.”

“You, uh, what?” Tim asked in a husky voice, reluctant to let him go. A quick look at the room assured him that yes, they had an audience now. His face was probably pink as well.

Nathaniel slid his hands over Tim’s hips, then raised his head without taking his gaze from Tim. “Carl. Robin’s Egg. I’ll be back later to have lunch with Little Wolf.”

“They know that.” Tim licked
Nathaniel
from his lips before rolling his eyes. “You’re in here to have lunch with me every day, so it isn’t like everyone doesn’t already know we’re—” If he hadn’t been blushing before, he definitely was now. He was so stupid it took a public acknowledgement of the obvious to help him see it was even there. Carl was right. Nathaniel should have done all this before. “Boyfriends. Yeah, okay. Lunch,” he conceded after clearing his throat. Nathaniel nodded.

That meant Nathaniel was leaving. He was going to go out there and do exactly as Zoe said, smile and nod and seem like he was agreeing, but without actually agreeing to anything. He’d trust his deputies to do their jobs, but he’d send them off and try to handle everything himself. That was, frankly, bullshit, because while Tim probably had to be brought to his uncle alive, there was no such protection for Nathaniel.

“Oh no, we aren’t finished here.” Tim took a deep breath to banish the butterflies in his stomach. “I’ll keep my knights close, but
only
if you do the same.” He ended it there, leaving as little wiggle room as possible. There would be no further negotiation.