Payson snickered. “Don’t know, boss. We’ll decide in the morning, huh?”
Grunting, Kontra nodded. They made it to the bar, and Kontra leaned against it. He reached back to dig out his wallet, but Payson waved him away. “Relax, boss. I got this.”
“Boss?” Shep repeated the word, clearly curious, as he took Payson’s card.
Payson gave him a wide, toothy grin. “Yep.” He didn’t expand on that.
This time, a one-word answer didn’t placate Shep. “If you’re after our boy, you two gotta do better than that,” he said, swinging a glare between them.
Payson cocked his head and looked at Kontra, lifting a brow in interest. All Kontra wanted was to find a bed and pass out. He grunted and nodded once. He couldn’t wait to hear what Payson came up with. His friend might be eccentric, but he had a quick mind and one hell of an imagination.
“Kontra is a mineralogical surveyor and I’m his assistant. We’re moving through the towns that are built over and around Minorsilt Spring, an underground river.” Payson’s toothy smile widened. “We’re making certain that possibly toxic mine tailings dumped near the head of the spring haven’t contaminated the water.”
The more Payson spoke, the more confused, then pale, Shep became. Once he finished speaking, Payson snatched his card and receipt, then scribbled an unreadable signature. He slid the top receipt back and shoved the rest into his vest pocket.
Wrapping his arm around Kontra’s waist again, Payson urged, “Come on, boss. Time to sleep this off.”
Kontra couldn’t hear his pack mate’s worry, but he could smell it, what with the way he was pressed up against the man. They stumbled forward, which seemed to draw Shep out of his stupor.
“Hey, wait! What does…”
“Gotta get bossman to bed, Shep. I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow,” Payson said, tossing the platitude over his shoulder.
Then they were through the door and out into the night. Kontra sucked in deep lungfuls of fresh air, trying to stabilize his equilibrium. It didn’t work as good as he’d hoped, but at least he was able to keep from swaying each step as Payson assisted him across the street to their hotel room.
“Gods above,” he grumbled. “I don’t remember having that many beers.”
“I think it was the dozen empty shot glasses on the table that did it, boss,” Payson replied, snickering.
Kontra bared his teeth and growled at the smaller man, but Payson just grinned and laughed some more. Grimacing, Kontra knocked his head against his pack mate’s. “Thanks for getting me out of there. After I sleep this off, I’ll figure out what to do about Tim.”
They reached the motel door and Payson got them inside. Payson shuffled him to the bathroom and stated, “No passing out until you brush your teeth and take a piss. If you need help getting to the bed, holler.”
He muttered a few choice words at Payson’s snickered comments and lurched into the room. Kontra grabbed the side of the sink and splashed some water on his face. Looking in the mirror, he grimaced upon seeing how bloodshot his eyes were. At least he knew, because he was a shifter, he’d be right as rain in the morning without a hint of hangover. Gods be praised for his increased metabolism.
Kontra quickly brushed his teeth, took a piss, and even managed to strip and take a shower. No way he wanted to go to sleep smelling like a bar, even one so nicely maintained. He had to give Shep credit, Kontra thought, scrubbing his shoulder-length dark hair.
After a quick wash, where he resisted the urge to jack off to the memory of holding Tim, the sounds he made, and the flush covering his cheeks as he came. Growling in frustration, he shut off the water and roughly toweled himself dry.
“Damn it,” he snarled. “I should be with my mate, not here.”
“Awe, thanks, boss,” Payson teased, eying him from where he reclined on the second bed.
Kontra rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean.”
“Yep,” Payson replied, watching him unashamedly as he crawled into his own bed.
He shook his head as he sat down and pulled the covers over him. All his pack had seen each other nude, and Kontra had never done anything with any of them, deciding early on that the best way to maintain discipline was to make sure none of his orders or actions could be blamed on favoritism. That certainly didn’t stop Payson from giving everyone, Kontra included, lewd looks. The hyena shifter was a voyeur in the worst way.
After Kontra clicked out the lights, Payson said, “I called the guys.”
Kontra turned to gaze at him, his better-thanaverage vision making it easy to see his fellow shifter’s form in the dark. “And?”