Full Moon Mating [Wolf Creek Pack 1] (3 page)

Joe felt his mother cup the side of his face as she looked up him.

He could see the concern in her eyes.

“What is it, honey?” Maryann asked.

“I think it’s…
him
!”

“Him? Him who? Who is it you think he…oh…
him
.” Maryann patted Joe’s flushed cheek. “Well, that changes things, doesn’t it?

Where is he, then? I should definitely meet him.”

Joe gestured back towards the living room. “He’s in the living room. But, Mom, he doesn’t talk, and he’s really skittish. He also doesn’t like to be touched. So, please, be careful with him.”

“Joseph Nash! Since when have I ever been anything but nice to anyone?” Maryann admonished.

Joe looked at her in astonishment, rolling his eyes. “Please, Mom!”

“Oh, all right, I’ll be good. But if he is…
him
…you know what that means, Joseph. You’re gonna have to tell your father right away.

He’s going to have to know.”

“I know. I’m not quite ready for that yet. At this point I haven’t even eliminated him as a suspect yet. I just wanted you to meet him.

He’s afraid of something, Mom, very afraid. He jumps at every loud noise, and God forbid that someone touches him. It’s like he’s in physical pain.”

“Well, that will make things a little more complicated, won’t it?

Why don’t you just take me to meet your young man, and we will go from there.”

Joe nodded and walked past his mother down the hallway to the living room. He spotted Nate sitting on the floor in front of the bookshelf, carefully looking through a large book on herbs, one of many that his mother had.

“Nate? This is my mother, Maryann Nash. Mom, this is Nate.”

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Nate carefully placed the book back on the shelf and stood to his feet. As Maryann walked towards him, he began inching his way over towards Joe, nearly standing behind him.

Joe saw his mother raise an eyebrow at him as she took a couple of steps back, giving Nate plenty of room. He just shrugged. “Hello, Nate. It’s nice to meet you. Please, call me Maryann.”

Nate nodded at her, careful to keep Joe between him and Maryann.

“Nate, I know you’re not from around here. I’ve lived here all my life so I would know. Where are you from?” Maryann asked as she made herself comfortable in one of the chairs facing the couch.

Joe gestured for Nate to sit down on the couch. Nate quickly sat down next to Joe, keeping a small amount of space between them. Joe rested one arm on the back of the couch. He reached into his pocket with his other one and handed Nate a notepad and a pen.

When Nate looked up at him questioningly, Joe winked at him.

“It’s okay. Go ahead and tell her. She’s just curious, and she’s very easy to talk to. You don’t have to tell her anything you don’t want to.”

Nate stared at Joe for several moments before leaning his head down to write on the notepad of paper. When he was done, he handed the notepad to Maryann.

I don’t know where I’m from. I don’t remember. I’ve lived all over
the country at one time or another.

“Really? No roots? That’s horrible. Don’t you have one place that you call home? A family? What about your parents? Just how old are you, Nate?”

Joe smiled when Nate took the notepad back and began writing again. When he was finished writing, he handed the notepad back to Maryann.

It wasn’t that horrible, really. It was just what I did. My parents
died when I was very young. My guardian raised me until recently.

He moved me around a lot. When I turned twenty-one, I decided to
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move out on my own. That was two years ago. I’ve been on my own
ever since leaving.

“Your guardian? Should we contact him? Let him know you’re okay?” Maryann asked.

Joe felt Nate’s body trembled with fear. Nate shook his head frantically, the blood draining from his face.

“Nate, calm down. We won’t contact anyone if you don’t want us to. You’re legally an adult, so we don’t need to contact anyone if you don’t want us to,” Joe assured him as Nate became frantic.

Joe reached over and squeezed Nate’s hand. Nate seemed to latch onto it like it was a lifeline, not letting go. But his anxiousness calmed down almost at once. The color came back to his face. His body stopped shaking.

“Nate,” Maryann began as she leaned forward towards him,

“honey, you’re safe here. Joe won’t let anyone hurt you.”

When Maryann leaned closer and reached out her hand if to pat him on the leg, Nate pushed himself closer to Joe, nearly crawling into his lap.

Joe blinked in surprise when he suddenly found himself with Nate pushed tightly up against him, burrowing into his side. He quickly wrapped his arms around Nate and pulled him closer as he looked at his mother in complete confusion. “Nate, it’s okay. No one will hurt you here. I’ll keep you safe,” Joe whispered as tucked Nate close to him. “Tell me what’s going on. Who are you afraid of?”

Nate shook his head again. Joe looked up at his mother, hoping she might know what to do when he heard the front door open and his dad bellowing for his mom.

“Maryann, I’m home! Honey, where are you?”

“I’m in here, loudmouth. Stop yelling. They can hear you in the next county.”

Joe chuckled as his father walked into the room, trying to look menacing, but failed miserably when he saw Maryann, the love of his
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life. His face instantly melted into that of the contented, loving husband that he was.

He watched his mother tilt her head to one side to receive the customary nuzzle on her throat from her husband that she always got when he came home. “Hi, honey, how was your day?”

“Better now that I’m with you,” Daniel Nash replied as he settled himself on the arm of Maryann’s chair. He placed an arm on the back of her chair as he looked over at his oldest son.

“Son.” He nodded. He raised an eyebrow at Joe, nodding towards the man he held in his arms. “Something I need to know here?”

Joe just kind of shrugged his shoulders. “We’re working on it, Dad. This is Nate. He was the one who gave Old Man Garner CPR

today. I just thought maybe he would like to meet mom.”

Daniel looked down at Maryann curiously. “Oh?”

Maryann patted Daniel’s hand. “Joe felt that it was important for me to meet Nate before he spoke with you.”

Daniel’s forehead scrunched together in confusion. “Why would he need to talk to me?” Maryann just stared at him until he suddenly started to get the picture. Daniel looked across to Joe, an eyebrow raised in query.

“Son? Is this true?”

Joe eyed his father carefully as he tightened his arms around Nate and nodded his head slowly. “Yes, sir, it’s true.”

Daniel was silent for several moments as he regarded Joe. “Are you sure?”

“As sure as I can be at this point.”

“Could you be wrong?” Joe shook his head, feeling the heat of Nate’s body pressed against his. “No, I don’t think so. The connection is there.”

He felt his father’s stare a bit longer then Daniel finally nodded.

“I’m not going to say this will be easy on you, because you know it won’t be. But if you’re sure, your mother and I will support you any way we can, as will your brothers and sister. Does he know?”

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Joe felt Nate lift his head at his father’s question, showing curiosity. Joe shook his head. “No, not yet. I’ll explain it to him when the time is right.”

“Will he understand his…position? Not everyone does, you know, especially another male. Certain…behaviors will be expected, son. Is he ready for that? Hell, are you ready for that?”

Joe shrugged his shoulders. “Only time will tell.” He looked down at the little man in his arms. Nate looked tired and worn out.

“I’m gonna take him home now. I think Nate could use a little TLC.

I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Daniel nodded as he stood to his feet, holding his hand out to help Maryann to hers. As Joe stood up, setting Nate on his feet, Daniel reached out to Joe.

Joe watched in confusion as Nate stepped behind him. He felt Nate’s hands clench in his shirt, his face buried in his back. Nate was trembling. Joe put one hand behind him to hold Nate to him where he was pushing into his back.

Daniel looked at Nate curiously before glancing at Joe in confusion. “Joseph, I expect a call in the morning. We need to talk about this.” He nodded toward the little man burrowing into Joe’s back. Joe nodded back that he understood.

“I’ll call you as soon as I figure it out. Let’s keep the rest of this between us for now, okay?” Joe replied.

Daniel and Maryann nodded. Joe grabbed Nate by the arm and pulled him out from behind him. Grabbing his hand, Joe pulled him towards the front door. “Come on, Nate. I’m going to take you over to my house and get you something to eat, a nice warm bath, and a place to sleep. Okay?”

Nate nodded his head as he gripped Joe’s hand tightly. Joe could see Nate watching his parents apprehensively. Just as they started to leave the living room, Nate pulled free of Joe’s hand and grabbed the notepad off of the coffee table. He quickly wrote something and tore
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the page off, handing it to Maryann before following Joe out the front door.

Maryann looked down at the paper Nate had handed her, a small smile coming to her lips as she read the note.

“What?” Daniel asked as he wrapped an arm around her, looking down at his beloved wife curiously.

“I think he’s going to work out just fine, my love. He’s just what Joseph needs in his life, a little gentleness.”

“Oh?”

Maryann handed the note to Daniel and watched him read it.

“You know, Maryann, you just might be right.” He chuckled as he read what Nate had written.

Thank you for your kindness…Nate.

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“Nate? You okay, man?” Joe asked. “We’ll be at my place in just a few minutes, and then you can relax. How does that sound? You hungry?”

Nate nodded his head as he looked over at Joe, pulling nervously at a small rip in his jeans. Why was the sheriff taking him to his house? Shouldn’t they be heading towards the sheriff’s station? Not that he was arguing, but he was confused. Wasn’t that proper police procedure?

He was bewildered by everything that had occurred in the last hour, but especially by his emotions where Joe was concerned. He felt safe with the big man. He knew, somehow, that Joe wouldn’t hurt him. He just didn’t know how he knew that.

Joe turned down a small dirt road in front of another old white farmhouse. This one looked older than the one his parents lived in. It was two stories tall with a large wraparound porch.

Joe brought the truck to a stop in front of a detached garage. From the truck, Nate could see a barn, a fenced-in pasture with horses and a few cows, and a shed-like building on the side of the house next to the garage.

“It’s not much to look at, but it’s all mine. My mother was born in this house. When my folks got married, she moved in with my dad.

Grandpa gave it to me when he passed away a couple of years ago.

I’m restoring it, but it takes time. As sheriff, I don’t seem to have much of that.”

Nate climbed out of the truck and followed Joe inside. They entered a screened porch and went through the back door into a large
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country kitchen. Nate immediately fell in love with the spaciousness of it.

Tall white cupboards graced the walls. There was a deep double sink, a double fridge, and Nate’s favorite, an old-fashioned stove. In the middle of the large room sat a simple oak table and four chairs.

“Come on, I’ll give you the grand tour,” Joe said as he walked through the archway on the left side of the room. Nate followed. To the right was another archway leading to the living room, to the left a beautifully restored oak staircase. Directly in front of them was a set of double glass-paned doors that led to a formal dining room.

“This is the living room. The front porch is that way, and that door on the far side of the room leads to my office. There’s also a bathroom in my office if you need it, but I’ll show you the office later. Right now I’ll show you the upstairs.”

Joe led the way up the beautiful staircase to the second floor.

“This first room is really just a storage closet. I keep the towels in here, extra blankets, stuff like that.” Nate leaned his head into the room. It was filled with cabinets and closets, basically a storage area.

The next room was large. Centered between two windows on the far wall was a huge bed with an old quilt covering it. There were nightstands on each side of the bed. A dresser was against the wall near the closet. Situated in one corner was an old rocker. A rag rug sat on the floor. Next to one window was a set of glass-paned doors that led to a small balcony.

“This is my room. The door over there leads to the master bathroom. If you need anything during the night, come and find me. I don’t care what time it is. I’ll be here for you.”

Nate nodded, following Joe to the room across the hall. “This is my gym. Have to stay in shape to be able to catch the bad guys. Feel free to use anything in here.”

The room was sparse with a couple of different exercise machines and a weight bench. A small fridge sat in one corner. There wasn’t much else.

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“This is the upstairs bathroom.” Joe gestured to the next door.

Yep, it was a bathroom. It had a tub with a shower, sink, and a toilet.

Simple. Its redeeming quality was that the tub was a bear claw tub.

The sink sat in a beautiful oak counter, and the shower was huge and separate from the tub.

The next three doors led to bedrooms, each decorated much like Joe’s room but without the personal touches, pictures, things like that.

Each had a bed covered by a quilt, two nightstands, a dresser, and an old rocker or lounge chair. One of the rooms had a set of twin beds instead of a larger single bed.