the places they’d traveled to on the job as a tourist this time. Dian suspected, as much as Eagle protested otherwise, he was looking for his mate.
So, yep, everything was hunky dory. And yet it wasn’t. Something was going on with Kee and without a mind-link, Dian wasn’t sure what it was. He’d been roosting in his stone form a few nights before, when Kee was on the phone.
Kee obviously didn’t realize Dian could still hear perfectly well even if his ears were stone. He seemed agitated, upset, but Dian couldn’t hear who he was talking to. When Dian returned to his human form, Kee was his happy self again, kissing Dian as if he’d been gone a month, derailing any chance of Dian asking about the call.
Who the hell was he calling when he’d never had a phone until I gave him one? Dian wasn’t sure it was his place to ask – since their one argument about going to New York, he didn’t want to come across as controlling.
The issue wasn’t helped by the fact Dian couldn’t talk to anyone else about it either. It’s not like he could say he was having problems with his mate. Technically, he wasn’t. Kee was loving, affectionate, laughed at his jokes, appreciated the work Dian did around the house and seemed to genuinely miss him when they were apart. Their lovemaking was frequent and full of passion – just like any other set of mates Dian observed.
But there was something… the odd moment when Kee seemed jumpy as if he were worried about someone sneaking up on him; the occasional calls he didn’t offer an explanation for. One night, Dian crept into the bathroom planning to surprise Kee in the shower. When he peered around the shower curtain, Kee shrieked loud enough to bring the roof down and Dian’s cock wilted as though scalded. Kee had apologized for behaving like a ‘scared ninny’ his words, but Dian couldn’t escape the nagging idea that something was very wrong with his precious mate.
/~/~/~/~/
It’s back. Kee shivered as he hurriedly dumped the trash from the bar into the dumpster, slammed the lid shut and dashed back into the building. Closing the back exit, he double checked the locks and then leaned heavily on the door. This is getting ridiculous, he thought as he patted his chest, trying to get his heartrate under control. The last thing he wanted was for any of the shifters in the bar to know he damn near had a panic attack putting out the trash.
The first night Kee got a shiver across the back of his neck, he’d been waiting outside the bar for Dian who was getting them dinner to take home. He could hear the music playing and someone in the bar was singing along, badly. Just another night in other words. Without warning, Kee felt chilled, and the hairs on the back of his neck rose as if a predator was nearby. He was about to shift and investigate when Dian turned up and Kee never felt chilly when his mate was around.
But the next night he worked was the same, and then the next after that. One week stretched into two and then three. It was getting harder for Kee to control his nerves, and he was running out of excuses as to why he shouldn’t take his turn in taking out the trash. He thought about mentioning it to one of the deputies, or even Rocky, but what could he say? He’d checked the area behind the bar during daylight hours, and there were no traces of anyone hanging around, and the scents he did pick up he knew.
It would be so easy to tell Dian and there was a dozen times Kee opened his mouth to do just that, especially after the shower incident. But pride held Kee back. Dian had been paranoid enough about his pixie heritage, and Kee didn’t want to upset the way they had things now. Dian never complained about the hours he worked, and Kee didn’t complain that his mate insisted on walking him to work and home again. They had a compromise that worked for them, and that was important to Kee.
And again – whoever or whatever it was never approached. Kee would just get that creepy feeling someone was behind him. His fox would go on alert, signaling a predator bigger than him, but that wasn’t helpful when Kee didn’t know who it was. Originally, he’d