Little Wolf (53 page)

Nathaniel responded with the tiny suppressed growl Tim had heard the first time they’d met, but didn’t deny that he’d never agreed to be careful. Carl seemed confused. Tim and Nathaniel had gone from kissing to a standoff in a matter of seconds. This was probably going to end with another kiss. Or Nathaniel finally throwing his hands up in the air and walking away.

“You’d risk yourself to get me to be a little more careful?” Nathaniel demanded, only to pause. His heartbeat picked up. He’d seen Tim play chess. He knew exactly what Tim would do to get what he wanted.

Not that Tim was done playing. “Who’s going to protect me if you’re hurt?” If there was danger and Tim was alone, he would run and run fast. But he probably wouldn’t get far now, with Luca and Silas so close. Nathaniel didn’t want to imagine Tim on his own. Tim was forcing him to, with a soft, pleading tone and a slight upward tilt of his chin that he was getting better at each time he did it.

Nathaniel knew it too. Leadership protective instincts must be a bitch to live with. Oh well. If he wanted Tim safe, he had to be safe too.

He gritted his teeth. “Fine.” He went on when Tim raised his eyebrows expectantly. “Fine. I won’t be alone either.” Nathaniel’s scent was a wash of heat and spiky tang, anger perhaps, or irritation and wounded pride, maybe some lingering desire. The whole of it was too much for Tim to isolate in sections and label. Tim was red-faced and embarrassed and aroused. He wasn’t even thinking about triumph. He ought to trust Nathaniel to be able to protect himself and kick ass, but Tim wasn’t big on trust. Nathaniel should know that by now.

“Breakfast, boys?” Robin’s Egg interrupted them with an abundance of caution. Tim turned toward her, only to freeze as Nathaniel drew him against his body. He tipped Tim’s chin up and glared at him, eyes afire.

“You’re so damn perfect.” Nathaniel held Tim with a hard grip that said he didn’t want to let go, and then yanked Tim in to kiss him until Tim was moaning. Tim stretched to loop his arms around Nathaniel’s neck, needing to feel Nathaniel’s heartbeat against him. Nathaniel pushed one hand under Tim’s shirt, slid it up Tim’s back, and Tim shuddered into him.

“It’ll be all right,” Nathaniel whispered into Tim’s ear, probably in response to the sound Tim made when their kiss ended. “Trust me.
Please
.”

Tim pulled away to stare up at him, but Nathaniel, out of breath and openmouthed, nodded farewell to Carl and Robin’s Egg and then let go. He was gone a second after that, noiseless and stealthy and determined as ever. Tim could remember meeting him and wishing Nathaniel would leave like that. Now he frowned after him and wished he was back already.

After a few minutes, when Nathaniel was long gone and Tim realized he was staring after him exactly like a character in one of Nathaniel’s movies, he drifted backward until he hit the counter. Then he walked around it to sit on his stool.

Robin’s Egg and Carl were close by each other, both of them watching him like hawks. An elderly fairy and an elderly human, and Nathaniel wanted Tim to trust them to help him? Tim blinked at them a few times, and Robin’s Egg moved.

“I’ll get you something to eat. That will help.” She floated off before her words were finished. Carl remained, Tim’s only protector until Albert arrived. Albert. Now there was another problem. He was a kid. A kid and two old people. If Nathaniel thought Tim was going to throw them in Luca’s path, he was mistaken.

Yet that didn’t sound like Nathaniel. He must mean something else. Tim blinked, this time because his eyes were dry, and pulled the telephone a little closer to him.

A
NYONE
WHO
hadn’t had a chance to see the sheriff was whole and well with their own eyes had apparently decided to come into the café to see Tim instead. It made it difficult to keep an eye on the window to the street, but Albert was getting faster at ringing people up, so he’d taken over the register while Tim had stared out the window and twitched whenever the doors opened.

Tim had long since given up on paying attention to the TV. Everyone not in the gift shop to buy anything was informed the sheriff was healed, and then when they wouldn’t go away, Robin’s Egg would appear, steering them toward a milkshake or some fries. Nathaniel had probably expected her to do exactly that. Tim would never have thought of that as protection until today.

Carl stayed too, going so far as to borrow a soap opera gossip magazine from someone and pretend to be engrossed in it. Nonetheless, by noon, even after multiple treats from Cosmo’s kitchen, Tim was ready to snap at someone and mean it. Then he finally caught a glimpse of Nathaniel in the street.

Tim noted Zoe at Nathaniel’s side before he could summon a scowl. Zoe stayed beside Nathaniel every time someone stopped him to wish him well, or ask him out, or whatever it was they kept doing that was keeping him from coming into the café to be with Tim. She gave no reason for being so close to Nathaniel, but Tim doubted anyone in town would question her in front of the sheriff. Yet they had no problem bugging Nathaniel when he was clearly on his way somewhere.

Tim narrowed his eyes. Nathaniel should know better. Every one of them was a potential threat right now. And always. Every one of them should stay far away from Nathaniel until Tim said otherwise.

Tim crossed his arms as Zoe held open the door for Nathaniel, then uncrossed them the second after Nathaniel passed over the threshold. Admirers and well-wishers were behind him, in front of him, they were fucking everywhere, maybe harmless, maybe not, but Tim was in no mood to wait to find out.

“People had better stop touching you.” He didn’t lower his voice, but he didn’t raise it either. He was remarkably controlled considering what he was putting up with. Nathaniel had kept his eyes on Tim since entering the gift shop, but when Tim spoke the relief in his expression vanished. He stared at Tim for another few beats, and then moved forward, doing that thing he did where suddenly he was no longer the hot and approachable sheriff but was instead the hot and intimidating alpha wolf who didn’t tolerate people in his way.

Tim swallowed dryly to find himself confronted by that, but recovered enough to get his chin up. He glanced around the lunch crowd and the crush of admirers who had followed Nathaniel in and narrowed his eyes.

“Has it been like this all day?” Nathaniel asked before Tim could ask him the same question. He seemed surprised, and from his stiff posture, it wasn’t a good surprise. Being friendly and on guard at the same time could leave a body tense.

Tim eased down, unclear on when he’d stretched up onto his toes. “Well, we haven’t been alone.” He focused on a sort of bright side, briefly. “You definitely haven’t. I know I’m not much, but they could show
some
respect for my feelings. I ought to get you a collar or something. Put a big sign on you. Grab a marker and—”

Nathaniel silenced him with the sound of his name.

Nathaniel’s desire was like heavy cream on his tongue. Then Nathaniel angled his head up and offered Tim a lovely view of the column of his throat, all strength and muscle.

“Maybe not a collar,” Tim realized breathlessly. “It’s not befitting your position.” Maybe a mark to match the faded one at Tim’s shoulder, a mark Tim should have given him this morning, a different form of protection. Tim ought to ask if Nathaniel was sure. He ought to take this somewhere private, but he stretched up onto his toes once again, and Nathaniel slid his hands over the glass counter and leaned down.

“Have you been waiting for me to do this?” Tim asked, although the answer was in front of him, eyes closed, breathing fast and quiet. He put his hand palm-first to Nathaniel’s shoulder and then spread his fingers out. He fisted his other hand in Nathaniel’s hair and thought about the wide-eyed onlookers. Nathaniel wanted this to be this public. Tim wasn’t going to argue, even if his face was hot. He put his mouth to Nathaniel’s skin, and Nathaniel pushed one hand across the counter to take hold of Tim’s shirt. Tim might have been gentler if not for that.

He opened his mouth at the base of Nathaniel’s throat and barely pressed down with his teeth. It was the only warning he gave Nathaniel. He shivered to hear himself, the sloppy wet sound he made, the satisfied growl that followed it when he could scent the blood near the surface of Nathaniel’s skin. He bit down, just a little harder. Nathaniel grunted and brought his hand up, his thumb at Tim’s jaw, his fingers down over his neck.

That he was petting Tim made Tim want to bruise him more. Everyone would remember Nathaniel was his, and the rest could back the fuck off. Tim twisted his fingers, tightening his grip in Nathaniel’s hair, and licked a stripe to a new, untouched spot before sucking another hard mark. Nathaniel exhaled over his ear, a harsh, loud sound in a room suddenly absent of all other noise, and Tim stretched up to get Nathaniel’s earlobe between his teeth. “You like that, big boy? Yeah, I bet you do.”

Spikes of heat shot down his spine at Nathaniel’s slow laugh. He hadn’t moved away. Tim took the hint and nosed a line down from Nathaniel’s ear to the hot, hot skin still wet from his mouth. Nathaniel was so turned-on the entire café would know it. Tim sucked softer kisses over the sore flesh, the kind that would have left him trembling, and then went back to nuzzling beneath Nathaniel’s ear. There was a spot there that needed something. He marked it too, one short, fierce kiss to claim another inch of Nathaniel’s skin, then peppered it with smaller kisses to take the sting away.

Someone, most likely Carl, cleared their throat.

Tim leaned into Nathaniel’s hand, then buried his nose into Nathaniel’s collarbone. He wanted to mark that, so he did, smiling when Nathaniel let out a pained breath but took it. Tim hadn’t taken it nearly so well, yet Nathaniel had praised him twice as much. Nathaniel was wonderful. “S’good,” Tim tried to tell him after another press of his teeth. “How do you ever stop it’s so good?” He’d marked Nathaniel before, but with the expectation only a few would see. Everybody and their mother were going to see this.

Tim pulled back to observe his handiwork. He was hard, but he didn’t move except to tug Nathaniel’s collar farther out of the way.

After a while he looked up. Nathaniel’s eyes were open and fixed right on him. Tim inched up to take his mouth in a brief, feverish kiss. “Mr. Fucking Irresistible.” Tim licked at Nathaniel’s bottom lip. “Mr. Hot Pants Sheriff,” he huffed, and Nathaniel let his lips part. Tim kissed him again, crookedly, both their mouths open, but whatever. “Mr. Better Not Let Anyone Else Near Him While I’m Around.” He dropped down to bite at Nathaniel’s jaw, not entirely playfully, and then finally felt satisfied enough to turn his head and bare his throat. Nathaniel kissed over a mark he’d left that morning, alternating soft, slow suction with chaste, tingling kisses until Tim was dizzy. “Big Wolf,” Tim sighed at last, letting his eyes drift closed.

Nathaniel put his mouth to Tim’s ear. “Tim,” he said simply. If there hadn’t been so many witnesses, Tim would have dropped to the floor on shaky legs.

“I really want to jump you right now.” Tim stated the obvious, because why not. Cosmo began to shout orders from the kitchen as if there was a backup of orders waiting to go out. Tim opened his eyes. “I’ll see you tonight?”

Nathaniel inclined his head. “I’ll be home, barring accidents or emergencies.” He tilted his head to one side and rested his fingers lightly over his bruises. He pressed down harder on the marks and then swallowed experimentally. His small smile turned Tim’s guts to jelly. Tim didn’t have to use his nose to know that Nathaniel was both proud and turned-on; it was all there in his expression. When he left the gift shop, Nathaniel was probably going to find a mirror and look in it to see the same beautiful sight everyone else in town was going to see for the next few hours.

Tim wanted to be there with him and couldn’t. He turned a growl into a cough. “I will personally rip out the throat of anyone who dares to have an emergency.” He wasn’t sure if he was kidding. He didn’t think so.

Nathaniel, being wonderful, took him at his word. He leaned forward to give Tim a fond peck on the nose. “Yes, Your Majesty. I’d kiss your ring if you had one,” he teased, but he paused when Tim frowned. He let out a quiet breath.

Tim stared back for a few moments. “What?” Nathaniel was always doing that.

“What?” Nathaniel closed his mouth. It took him a while to explain himself. “I… get carried away sometimes when I’m looking at you. I’ll try not to if it bothers you.”

“No, no, by all means.
You
. Get carried away. Looking at
me
.” Tim’s voice got faint at that last part. Thank goodness for a sarcastic old man.

“For months they wouldn’t talk about their feelings. Now they won’t stop talking about them,” Carl remarked, completely not sotto voce.

Tim transferred his frown to him. His face was stinging. “We’re having a moment. I’ve never had a moment before. So shut up.”

Nathaniel took Tim’s hand off the counter and brought it to his mouth. He kissed the palm, then turned it and kissed the knuckle of Tim’s ring finger.

“
Dork
.” Tim swept a glance over the room, noting the waves of envy and lust and, strangely, a cooing sort of approval.

It felt strange being under that much focus after avoiding attention for so long, but Tim could have ignored it if not for the danger. The very real danger that someone was in this town right now who would not have been as happy as Carl was—despite his words—to see Tim and Nathaniel doing… whatever it was they were doing. “At least none of the stares are hostile,” Tim mused, then changed his mind. “Well, that hostile. Not murderously hostile anyway.” Nathaniel had his admirers. Tim would have been jealous too, in their place.

Maybe he ought to mark Nathaniel again. Maybe he’d mark him and Luca would come storming in in a jealous rage, and Nathaniel would kill him and Tim could finally relax. At least Tim would get to forget everything for another few moments while he put his mouth all over Nathaniel’s skin.