Page 44 of Fixer
Rick paused a moment, looking between the two of us, then inclined his head to Dustin.“Pretty clear who’s going to be the Alpha of your pack.”
Dustin grinned as if he hadn’t a worry in the world.“Free bit of advice to start this mentorship.Don’t theorize ahead of your data.See you in the morning.”
Rick frowned, gave me another slow stare, then hurried after his Alpha.
When the door had closed behind him, Dustin strode over, flipped the lock, and went to the alarm panel.“Let me change that code.”He typed, and beckoned me over to watch.Touching the buttons a second time, slowly and deliberately, Dustin input a new code for me to memorize, then hit the activation with a savage stab of his finger.
He turned to me and mouthed,Fuck, with no breath behind it.“Come on upstairs.Might as well start with packing my clothes, since we have a couple of hours before bedtime.”If a wolf was lurking outside, that was innocent enough for them to hear.
Dustin opened the stairwell door, and I climbed behind him, our footfalls soft on the worn wooden treads.At the top, the staircase led into a small living room containing a couch, a TV sporting long rabbit-ears, and a bookcase with paperback novels.
“I should get cleaned up a bit.”Dustin gestured me toward a door standing ajar and on into the bathroom.Once inside, he turned on the fan and started the water running cold in the shower.
“Cold shower?”I murmured.
“Hot one in a minute.Don’t want to waste it.”He grabbed me and smashed a hard kiss against my lips.“Motherfucking stupid werewolves.”
I laughed under his kiss.“You do know we’re werewolves too?”
“But we’re not stupid.”He sighed, his forehead against mine.“I was going to slowly work my way into your life.Wander up to your place every so often.Let you get used to the idea.”
I cupped the back of his head and kissed him, softer, slower.“I’m used to it already.My freaking optimistic wolf loves the thought of you and me.”
“Mine too.”Dustin leaned against the counter.“I won’t get in your hair.I’ll find a place like this if I can.Office below, rooms above.”
“If you want to.Or you could find a smaller office and live with me.”I was scared at the thought of sharing my life with someone, but when “someone” was replaced with “Dustin” that fear went away.He’d been back in my life for such a short time, and yet fit so well that three days in my empty apartment without him had felt wrong.“If you like that idea.If it’s not too soon.”
Pack.Mate.My wolf, at least, was certain.
Dustin ran a hand down my arm and played with my fingers, staring as if they were the most interesting things in the universe.I tensed for rejection, but he said, “You’d need a bigger bed.”
“That’s your main objection?”
He looked down at me, a little smile curving his lips.“It’s not yours?”
“I’m worried you’ll get tired of me.That my woodworking sprawled out across the space will annoy you.We can handle the bed.”What had sometimes felt narrow just for me had seemed perfect with Dustin sharing the mattress.
“We should get a bigger one anyway.”Dustin sobered.“My actual main objection is that the Chicago wolves now know we exist and where.We need to be careful about what’s visible about us in public.Sharing an apartment might not be smart.”My heart sank, but he touched my lips.“I still want to, but we have to be clever about it.”
“You could maybe rent an apartment in the same building?The Fosters down the hall are moving next month, since Mr.Foster got transferred.I haven’t heard about anyone new viewing the space yet.”
“Probably because Rosswurn figured he was tearing the building down anyway, so why bother to show a new rental.”
“Could be.So if you applied fast, maybe you could grab that apartment.”I liked that idea.“You’d be right next door.Twenty feet down the hallway.On a different fire escape, sadly, but—”
“Do the apartments share a wall?”Dustin interrupted.“Yours and the Fosters’?”
“Yeah.”
“Could you build a sliding or swinging bookcase that might hide a door?”He raised an eyebrow at me.
“A door, like, through the wall?”The idea made me smile.“That no one knows is there?”
“You and me, we could probably arrange that.Depending on pipes and electrical in the wall, it might have to be a non-standard shape or height, but yeah, you think that might work?”
“I worked construction my second year after leaving home,” I told him.“You’re a smart guy.I bet we could figure it out.”
We grinned at each other.
