tilted in thought. “If he really did ask you for a hug, that’s a good sign, right? It must be a good sign.”
Judd frowned. “Unless you think it’s a sign he’s about to dive in without any experience at all.”
“Diving into a bathtub full of lube, we hope.”
Judd winced.
Kevin ignored this. “Look, he’s been so closed off for so long I never felt I had to worry about him, even when he started college. Only now he’s got you all up in his business.”
“I know, like I said, I’m—”
Kevin didn’t let Judd finish. “Yeah, yeah, too old. But I also know you, man.” He waved to encompass them both. Standing there, naked. About to change into wolves and patrol together. The gesture also encompassed moving across country, fighting off enemy packs, protecting their friends, sharing the same house, hanging out over beer and roast beast in the backyard. They were coworkers. They were pack mates. They were friends. They were the pack’s enforcers, the right hand and the left, the strength of the group made manifest in flesh. They relied on each other. They trusted each other. Was that enough to translate to family? Judd didn’t know.
Kevin surprised him. “I believe that you’ve got his best interests at heart. On the other hand, I really don’t know about those college boys he hangs out with, or those human creeps down at the coffee shop, or a fucking barghest sniffing his ass, or something shitty like that. Sexually, the little fucker is really repressed. I think you should help him out with that.”
“What!”
Kevin nodded. “You have my permission to seduce him. I think you should teach him what’s good and all that. You know, gay butt sex stuff, two cocks in smooth places. Seems to work well for the rest of this pack.”
Of all the ways this conversation could have gone. Judd stopped folding his clothes and stared at the man. “You’re a bloody lunatic, you know that?”
“I’d take him aside and give him the talk if he was straight, but he’s not. I trust you. I bet you’re great in the sack.”
“Oh, you think so, do you?”
“Well, yeah.” No shame from the straight man on this. Kevin had learned fast to flirt and take shit like any old queer after they moved to San Francisco. The redhead puffed up his chest, grinning huge and easy. This time the posturing was in fun, not anger. “Besides, you’re like the gay version of me. So of course I think you’re the best choice as Professor Sex God.”
“Kevin, your mind is a warped place. I’m nothing like you.”
Kevin shrugged. “Enforcers, rah! We do physical really well, in all things. That includes sex. So, yeah, go to it. Not that you need my permission, but you got it.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Thank you?” suggested Kevin.
Colin didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but he’d been showing the deputies out and the two enforcers were still changing, hadn’t yet gone on patrol, when his brother started yelling.
Kevin was kinda loud and boisterous, so normally Colin would have ignored this. But then he smelled the acid pulse of fighting pheromones.
Colin had a really good nose, he just didn’t tell anyone that. He’d tried not to rely on it too much. It seemed too animalistic for him, the reluctant werewolf. Still, this scent worried him. Judd and Kevin tussled and bantered with each other often, but they’d never fought each other in anger. Colin thought he should enter the cloakroom − maybe the presence of a weaker pack member would mitigate the situation, especially if he called out in distress.
He paused, hand to the door. They were talking, not fighting anymore. From the tone, whatever had caused the spike in rage had passed. He would’ve moved on, except he realized they were talking about him. Which meant they’d been fighting about him too.
To his mortification, he heard his brother tell Judd that he had permission to seduce Colin. After that, Kevin said that he bet Judd was great in the sack. To Judd’s face! Which Colin believed with all his heart, but he was now blushing furiously.
Colin breathed deeply and let himself roll out from under the shame of it. His brother clearly thought that Colin was so sexually inept that he needed to be pimped out to a friend. That hurt. But also, to be fair, it was kind of true. And if this was a way Colin got to have Judd? Well… he was both ashamed and