Josh paused to watch Sara sleep, Cam’s bag hanging heavily over his shoulder. She didn’t stir, but she looked different than before. This was a deep, but healthy, sleep without the weight of sedatives. She looked small and lonely on the large bed, nothing visible except her lax face. She needed Cam, whether she knew it or not.
Reassured she’d be fine, he stepped into the hallway as Cam returned from the lobby.
“Were you able to get a room close by?”
Cam merely nodded and walked several feet down the hall. There was one room between them, but Josh supposed they were lucky he wasn’t on an entirely different floor. Cam wordlessly unlocked the door and took the bag from Josh’s shoulder. Josh waited for him to say something, anything, but his eyes were distant. He just dropped his bag and collapsed on the corner of his single bed, hunched over with his forearms on his knees as he stared at the carpet between his feet.
“I’m going to have to check on her, but I’ll come back when I can,” Josh promised.
Another nod. “Take as much time as you need. The important thing is Sara knows she’s being taken care of.” Cam paused, passing a weary hand over his eyes. “If you’re okay with it, I think I’ll drive back to Delta this afternoon. The sooner we have our stuff, the better.”
Josh blinked. “This afternoon? I know we agreed you should go pick some things up, but I didn’t think you’d be leaving so soon.”
“What else am I going to do? Sit around and wonder what you two are doing?” He shook his head. “This is better. If I’m not here, I’m not…tempted.”
I can’t do this by myself. But he knew even if it were true, it wouldn’t be enough for Cameron right now. Josh hesitated at the door, the need to go two different directions leaving him frozen. Sara needed him, but Sara was asleep, her body desperate for rest and quiet. Cam needed him, too. He shut the door behind him and joined Cam on the bed.
Though he didn’t lift a hand, Cam leaned until their shoulders touched. The simple contact bolstered Josh’s flagging spirits. “I’ll probably be gone until tomorrow,” Cam said. “You should start looking for a short-term lease as soon as you can. Tell people it’s a corporate rental and use my business name instead of any of ours. That should make it a little harder for us to be found.”
Josh nodded. “Are you going to take the car or get a rental?”
“I’ll take the car. We don’t want people back home wondering why I might be in a rental if they see me.” He finally looked up; Josh would have sworn the lines around his eyes had deepened in the last hour. “A shifter hurt her, Josh. We can’t trust anybody, not even the people in Delta.”
Josh heard how lost Cam felt. The people in Delta weren’t just his neighbors; they were his family. He had grown up with them, Sara taught their children, and they stuck together. Somebody had betrayed the implicit trust in their small, but strong, community. Cam didn’t need this blow on top of everything else. Cam needed to know that despite everything, he wasn’t alone. He would never be alone.
Josh tilted his head and pressed his mouth against Cam’s in a soft kiss, his hand sneaking up to grip Cam’s shirt so he couldn’t pull away.
Cam didn’t so much respond as he sighed into the caress. Beneath his hand, Josh felt a ripple shudder through the other man’s chest, and then Cam reached to cup the back of Josh’s neck, holding their mouths together. It never moved beyond a tender exploration, but when the kiss finally ended, Cam leaned his brow against Josh’s.
Josh ran his hand over Cam’s hair, down his neck, and over his shoulder, pulling him closer. There were so many things to say, so many things Cam needed to hear, but he didn’t know where to begin. So he kissed Cam’s chin, his jaw, his cheek, his neck, and gently pushed him backwards.
The soft breath flowing over Josh’s skin was the only sound Cam made as he tentatively returned the caresses. The hand that had gripped the back of his neck now skimmed over Josh’s back, mapping out the flex of each muscle as he moved down Cam’s body. Even when he was beyond reach, Cam simply shifted his touch to Josh’s arm, pulling just enough to coax him more fully onto the bed.
Josh sat up on his knees, freeing his hands to push Cam’s shirt out of the way and unzip his pants. He knew he didn’t have anywhere near enough time to do this right, but he wasn’t going to stop now. He ran his palms down Cam’s muscled chest and over his ribs, seeking out as much contact as he could get. His gaze darted to Cam’s, trying to gauge his reaction, but the other man’s eyes still seemed distant, his touch tentative.
“Oh, Cam,” Josh breathed, before leaning forward to draw his mouth down Cam’s body.
The stomach muscles contracted beneath his lips, and a sound that was half-whimper, half-cry was strangled from Cam’s throat. When Josh glanced up his body, he saw Cam squeeze his eyes shut, the lashes wet, but still, no words came. He only reached to curl fingers into Josh’s hip, dragging his body across the shiny surface of the comforter and toward Cam’s turned head.
Josh settled on his side next to Cam, their legs entwining. His hands were still busy seeking out Cam’s warm skin while he peppered Cam’s face with soft kisses. Cam clutched him tightly, turning his head to seek out his mouth. This kiss was much deeper, longer, tinged with desperation as salty as Cam’s skin.
Cam took him by surprise by pressing Josh back into the mattress, rolling on top to grind their hips together. Without stopping the kisses, his hand snaked between their stomachs, searching for the button of Josh’s jeans, and as soon as the denim was out of the way, he pushed down the waistbands of their underwear in order to grasp both cocks in one, trembling grip.
Josh lifted his hips, his cock sliding against Cam’s smooth shaft. He welcomed Cam’s weight pressing him against the mattress, feeling almost comforted by the new position. But he didn’t need to be comforted; this wasn’t supposed to be about him. He wrapped his arm around Cam and thrust forward, building friction between their bodies.
With ragged breaths, Cam broke from Josh’s mouth, staring down at him in unabashed need. “You and Sara are all I have. I can’t lose you.”
Josh didn’t look away from the intensity of Cam’s gaze. “You won’t, Cameron. I need you too much.” He kissed the corner of Cam’s mouth. “And she does, too.”
Cam tightened his hold on their cocks, though his strokes remained long and slow. “You’ll tell her how much I love her?”
Josh nodded. “I’ll tell her. I won’t let her forget you, Cam. I won’t let her forget everything you mean to each other.”
“To both of you.” He captured Josh’s lips in a lingering kiss, whispering against his mouth, “Family. All three of us. Together no matter what.”
“Family,” Josh agreed. “No matter what.” He reached between their bodies, his hand covering Cam’s, encouraging him to quicken his pace. The added pressure against their cocks prompted a sigh from both of them. “Hurry back. I’ll worry while you’re gone.”
But Cam seemed to be done with talking, his mouth hungry as it returned to Josh’s. His thumb passed over the wet tips on each stroke now, slicking the shafts just enough to allow a swifter tempo. It was almost frantic, accompanied by the uneven jerks of his hips. When his body stiffened, his come splashing hot on Josh’s belly, Josh almost lost the rhythm for his own release.
The orgasm wasn’t earth-shattering; Josh received the most satisfaction from seeing a spark of light return to Cam’s eyes. Cam fell forward, stealing one more moment of intimacy, one more spark of warmth before they were forced apart. Josh held him, enjoying the warmth of his breath against his cheek.
But Josh couldn’t stay and enjoy it. He gently freed himself from Cam’s embrace and rolled off the bed. Cam didn’t move at first, even as Josh wiped his stomach clean and zipped his pants.
“I’m not going to stay in Delta long,” Cam said. Sitting up, he pulled off his shirt and used it to clean away the come on his hand and chest. “Just long enough to get what we’re going to need and maybe talk to a few people.”
Josh wiped his hand over his face. “What we’re going to need? Cam, what do we need? How do you decide what we need when we don’t even know what the hell we’re doing?”
“But we know what we’re doing.” Rising to his feet, he grabbed the back of Josh’s neck and pulled him close for a hard kiss. “We can’t take Sara home, so we’re bringing home to her. Make me a list. I don’t want to forget anything.”
“So if you forget something it’s my fault?” Josh teased. “Who are you going to talk to while you’re there?”
Cameron seemed to have found a new resolve and tossed the shirt aside as he headed for the bathroom. “I thought Sammie Jo first. She knows more about shifters outside of Delta than anybody I know. Maybe she can point us in a new direction.”
“Sounds like a good start,” Josh agreed. “I’ll wait until you get out.”
Cam nodded and shut the door behind him. Josh stood in the middle of the room for a second, trying to pull his thoughts together. Bringing home to her? How can one narrow a home, a life, down to just enough to carry in the back of a car?
The phone in his hip pocket rang, distracting him from his task. At first, he wanted to ignore it, but few people had his cell number—and most of those were friends or family he needed to contact anyway. The familiar name on the caller ID almost made him smile.
“Hey, JD.” He thought it was a little early for her to call, but knowing JD, she might not have gone to sleep at all the night before.
“Josh? Oh, I was worried about you.”
Josh frowned. “What? Why?”
She paused. “I just meant that I tried to call you last night. At home. But there was no answer. It’s not like you to stay out all night.”
“Why were you trying to call? Is something wrong?” It wasn’t unlike her to call him once or twice a month, but she rarely called their home number.
“Nothing’s wrong,” JD assured him quickly. “I just…I just wanted to talk to you last night. You know, one of our late-night bitch sessions. When was the last time we had one of those?”
“It’s been a while. You’re sure everything is okay, though?”
“Everything’s fine now, Josh. Really. What’s up with you?”
Josh sat on the edge of the bed and reached for the message pad by the phone. “Something unexpected happened last night. I’ve been called out of town.”
The announcement was met with silence.
“JD? You still there?”
“Is something wrong? Where are you now?”
“No…no, it’s nothing. I’m just not going to be online. And I may not always be accessible by phone either.”
More silence. Josh let it stretch for several seconds before adding, “I’m sorry I can’t tell you more right now.”
“But are you okay?” JD asked. “I mean, you sound tired. And let’s face it, Josh, it’s not like you to be away from your computer for longer than ten minutes at a time.”
“I’m fine. I promise. I’m just saying, don’t be surprised if you don’t see me for a while.”
JD sighed. “I understand. But…it’s going to be weird, you know? You’re the only one who understands what a psycho Dr. Rich is.” Josh smiled. Their shared nemesis since their first year in graduate school, their hatred for that man alone bonded them in a lifelong friendship. “I always thought once we finished our dissertations, we’d get free of that man. He is making me insane, Josh. Every day, I’m a little bit closer to snapping, I swear to God.”
“I’ll call you if I can,” Josh said. “But I can’t make any promises.”
“Try to, please. I worry about you, you know. Living in Delta…”
Josh sighed. It didn’t matter how many times he told JD he was perfectly safe and happy in Delta, she never quite believed him. “I will. I’ve got to go now.”
“Don’t forget to take care of yourself. I know you. You’ll get distracted by whatever is going on and make yourself sick.”
“I won’t,” he said softly. “Bye.”
Josh turned the phone off before slipping it into his pocket. He didn’t want it to ring again while Sara was trying to sleep, or worse, when she was awake. He needed to give her as much of his attention as he could. The overwhelming task of curing her would be on him, at least in the short-term.
Refocused by that thought, Josh began writing his list.
* * * *
As the picture faded to black, he didn’t even blink. “Again.”
The gaunt man seated next to him glanced sideways for the briefest of moments before his knobby fingers typed in the commands on the keyboard. The monitor stayed black for several seconds before the hum of electricity came through the small speakers and the room appeared on the screen again. Perspective came from the camera mounted in the ceiling corner near the doorway, and for the first time, Nolan regretted not approving the funding for the sound to be added to the picture. Because as he watched the man and the shapeshifter enter the room, he would have killed to know what it was they were saying.
It played out exactly as it had the first half-dozen times he’d watched. The man entered first, the gun that had killed Eddie still dangling from his hand. Then came the dog, pushing past the man, shifting to human form as he crossed the room to the bed. They spoke for a few moments over her unconscious body, and then the shapeshifter tore the manacles away like they were tissue paper, they stole the guards’ clothes and carried the girl out. The sole purpose for the last four years of Nolan’s professional career. Gone.
The pencil in his hand snapped with a sharp crack. All he had was a surveillance tape and bloody paw prints going up the basement stairs. Any clues where they might have gone disappeared as soon they exited the house.
Gone.
Without the girl, Nolan would be crucified. His boasts had been many, but his results few, and without the means to step up his experiments, he was going to look like a fool when asked to prove his findings. He would be shuttled out to the most inane of projects, and everything he had worked for would disappear. Worse, somebody else might try to pick it up and get the credit he deserved.
That was unacceptable.
The technician looked at him expectantly, his fingers poised over the keyboard. Nolan nodded and focused on the monitor yet again.
He’d find her. He had no other choice. And maybe this time, he’d take both of the animals. Having two shapeshifters to study would halve his efforts.
He smiled. These creatures weren’t smart enough to outrun him for long.
He would find them both.