Lowering his arm, Dobs struggled to keep his voice even, when all he wanted to do was yell. "I freaked the fuck out, okay? Is that what you want to hear?" he hissed. He just managed to control his urge, not wanting to be overheard as he admitted, "Having a fucking wolf sit on my feet and growl was more than my fragile psyche could handle. My one thought was to get them all away from me."
Saying the words aloud stabbed his ego, but it was the fact that one of those shifters was his chosen one that stung even more. He leaned forward, put his head in his hands, and whispered, "My beloved is a fucking shifter and I'm afraid of him."
The room became eerily silent in the wake of his confession. After about a minute, Dobs lifted his head just enough to peer at his friend. Lex's impassive expression gave none of his thoughts away.
When the silence became oppressive, Dobs snapped, "Say something, dammit."
Lex let out a breath in whoosh as he stood up. He ran a hand through his hair and frowned. Finally, he scowled in consternation and said, "You've worked with shifters before. I've seen you do it! I've never scented fear and I know if the shifters scented fear, they wouldn't have been shy in saying something. Why haven't you ever said anything?"
Dobs rolled his eyes and lifted his head all the way. "You think I would have admitted it if I didn't have to?" he growled. "Just because I interact with shifters a couple times a year for my job, it never prepared me to have a three hundred pound wolf sitting on my foot and snarling." Flopping back again, he pressed his palms to his temples and groaned. "What the hell was Fate thinking?"
Lex huffed a sigh and crossed to him. Kneeling beside the chair, he stated, "Maybe she was thinking it's time you resolved these issues, and Frankie can help you do that." Then he smiled slightly. "Three hundred pounds, huh? That'd be an impressive protector."
Appreciating the change in subject, Dobs nodded. "Yeah. Except he's submissive."
Snorting, Lex said, "Not with your safety, he's not." Not waiting for a response, Lex leaped to his feet and clapped his hands together. "Okay, enough sulking. You need help accepting his wolf, because, let's face it, Frankie is a shifter and his wolf is part of him. That's not something that's ever going to change."
"Yeah, okay," Dobs responded, drawing the words out as he eyed his friend warily.
"Have you ever talked to a psychiatrist about this?" Lex asked. He immediately held up his hands in placation, stalling Dobs' initial response of denial. "There's one here, locally. An elephant shifter. He's discreet."
Taken aback, Dobs snapped, "You want me to tell a shifter that I'm afraid of them? What the hell, man?"
"What part of discreet did you miss? Besides, ever hear of patient confidentiality? He's not going to tell anyone, and he could help you!" Lex urged.
"I'll think about it," Dobs muttered, just to get the man off his back. From the look Lex gave him, Dobs figured his friend knew it, too, and would probably revisit the subject at the worst possible time.
Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately given the expression on his face, Seb strode into the room. "I just got a call from Caspian. He says he got a call from Declan, who learned that the vampire Mikael was spotted just outside of his territory." He crossed his arms over his chest. "I'll give you one guess who he was asking about."
"Me," Dobs murmured, dread filling him.
"Ding, ding, ding," Seb responded sarcastically.
"And where Mikael is, his buddy, Backus, isn't far behind," Dobs added.
"And his band of assholes," Lex added coldly.
He'd never been able to prove it, but Dobs just knew Mikael was behind Roman's assassination. Fortunately, upon Roman's death, Dobs had made certain Falutian was instated as coven leader before Mikael could usurp the position. Mikael had had a hard-on for him ever since, and not in a good way.
"Find out where he's staying and who's with him and let me know," he ordered. Getting up, he stalked to his bedroom and grabbed his phone off his nightstand. Punching in Frankie's number, he waited impatiently for his beloved to pick up. When it went to voicemail, he snarled. After hanging up, he tried again, but got the same result. Curling his lip, he dialed a different number. It was picked up almost immediately.
"Reb's Tattoos."
Dobs' brows shot up. He wondered if Frankie had any tattoos, then he shook his head and focused. "Reb, this is Dobs. Where's Frankie? He's not answering my call."
He gritted his teeth when Reb didn't answer right away. Through clenched teeth, he snapped, "I can't very well apologize if he won't talk to me, now can I?"
"I guess that's true," Reb drawled. "He's at Nick's house, helping a fellow pack-mate fine tune his shift."
"His shift?" Dobs asked. "Doesn't that come naturally?"
"No," Reb replied coolly. "It's like a muscle that needs exercise. The more you do it, the easier it becomes."
Well, that was interesting. He'd have to ask Frankie about that. Maybe it would help him get over his irrational fear of shifters in their animal form. But for now … "Where's Nick's place?"
Reb stayed quiet for another couple of seconds, and the idea that maybe he did that just to pull Dobs' chain entered his mind. He fought back a growl as Reb finally deemed to answer. Committing the info to memory, Dobs' grumbled a thank you.
Before he could hang up, Reb warned coldly, "Hey, Dobs, if you fuck with my brother's head, mate or not, I will find a way to make your life miserable."
Dobs hated being threatened, but he understood Reb was just looking after his brother, so he swallowed his initial caustic response and replied, "I'd be making my own life miserable. Yes, we have some things to work through," he admitted, "but I really do want this to work and to make him happy."
"Good. Keep it that way." The line disconnected.
Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Dobs tried to settle down. His organized, structured life was in tatters, and he didn't know how to get it back … or even if he ever could. He heard someone approach, Seb by the scent of him. Dobs didn't respond until the vampire set a hand on his shoulder.
"Did you talk to him?" Seb asked quietly.
Dobs shook his head. "He's not answering, so I talked to his brother. He's at the house of a shifter named Nick."
"So what do you want to do?"
"Go there. Find my beloved. Fuck him into the ground, and bond with him," he replied, stalking back into the main room and grabbing his coat.
"You didn't bond with him yesterday?" Lex said from across the room, grabbing his own coat. "With the scents on you two, and the way he just dropped his pants, I was certain-"
Dobs growled, cutting him off. "Do not think about Frankie's ass, Lex," he warned.
Lex held up his hands in placation. "Just sayin'," he muttered.
"I didn't fuck him, but I will," he vowed.
He yanked open the door. Now that he knew where his beloved was, the need to find him, see him, touch him, took over. He wanted Frankie, shifter or not, and he was going to do everything in his power to get him. Forcing his pride aside, he glanced toward Lex and mumbled, "Contact the shrink. I'll talk to him."
Lex nodded curtly and dropped back a few steps while digging out his phone.
Dobs followed Reb's directions to Nick's home. At the end of a short driveway stood a small ranch style home with an attached one-car garage. Next to the garage was a lean-to holding a beige forest ranger's jeep.
Stepping out of his SUV, the unmistakable scent of wolf shifter hit his senses. His skin goose-bumped under his coat, chilling him, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He wanted to get back in his vehicle and drive away, but Frankie was supposed to be here. These were Frankie's friends.
I am safe. These shifters are not feral. I am safe.
Repeating the words gave him a small measure of courage, or it could have been the very faint sniff of Frankie's scent that tickled his senses. Either way, Dobs headed up the walk, stepped onto the stone slab that served as a porch, and rang the bell. His sensitive hearing caught the faint sound of a chime on the other side of the door. He waited only a couple seconds before hearing footsteps approaching.