The Human's Complicated Wolf [Nehalem Pack 5] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) (2 page)

“What am I going to do?” Josh mumbled to himself.

He passed by the doorman at the club and waded through the crowd to where his brother Jake sat surrounded by two women, a tall blonde with a slender figure and a brunette with thick curves in all the important places. Jake and Josh might be twins, but they were polar opposites with it came to taste in lovers. As far as he knew Jake was straight, and so was he until about ten minutes ago.

Josh ran a hand over his head, feeling the fresh growth of hair popping up under his palm. He just didn’t know what to think. Josh walked over to where his brother sat, and he put on his best smile as he neared the table. The brunette sidled up close to him, and he sat half listening to her.

He just couldn’t shake the memory of the man in the parking garage with the short blondish-red hair and the crystal-clear blue eyes, or the feel of muscles rippling under his grasp as he held onto the man’s hips. The kiss wasn’t sweet or gentle, but hungry and filled with uncontrollable desire.

The man was his mate, and Josh didn’t know what to do with that information. He wasn’t gay, and being attracted to a man had never been something he ever thought about. But now, now he felt lost and alone and had no clue what to do.

Jensen sat at his desk and doodled on some plans his brother-in-law, Andrew, had asked him to make modifications to. Jensen worked for Andrew’s architecture firm, and he would never tell his brother-in-law this, but the man was a better businessman than architect. His designs were sloppy and lacked imagination. But then again, Jensen had to suspect that’s why Andrew had hired him. Jensen brought in a new creativity that the firm lacked.

But as he sat their staring down at the flat white paper with its bird scratches on it, he just couldn’t muster up enough energy to make what Andrew had tried to put together into something that resembled art.

He hated this feeling of utter uselessness, but for the past two weeks Jensen’s mind had been like a bowl of goo. The only thing he could blame his lack of motivation on was that he had witnessed something so unusual that his brain locked down.

It wasn’t every day a person got to see a dog turn into a man right before their eyes, and Jensen still couldn’t say with one hundred percent certainty that was in fact what he saw. He tried to convince himself that it had been his overactive imagination getting the best of him, but that would be a lie. He knew what he saw, and the scene flashed in vivid detail through his mind like a movie set on constant replay.

He’d given a business colleague and friend, Josef, a ride home from a job site. Josef wanted him to meet his boyfriend, and Jensen didn’t know if he should. After all, Jensen had been trying to get into Josef’s pants until he found out the other man had a boyfriend.

After a little coaxing from Josef, he relented. He liked Josef and didn’t want things to get weird between them. Beyond being friends, they worked together. Andrew’s firm contracted all the work to Carsten and Son’s Construction. So for better or worse, he’d be seeing Josef a lot.

When they arrived and got out of his car, loud barking and howling had Josef taking off toward the back of the house, and Jensen followed close behind. Jensen didn’t see the reason for concern or why Josef took off as if the hounds of hell were on his heels. Not until he reached the backyard did he see why Josef had been in such a rush. If he hadn’t witnessed it with his own two eyes, he’d call himself crazy or delusional, but he did see it.

The man from the bar who had kissed the breath from his very lungs stood where once sat a dog. To be fair, the animal had been bigger than an average dog but still a dog. The air seemed to sizzle with energy, and he watched as a shimmering light surrounded the animal then, boom, there stood a man.

Josh.

Jensen closed his eyes and could still picture the man in all his naked glory. He had muscles so defined and cut to perfection he looked like a statue. His blond hair looked freshly cut short to his scalp. The green of Josh’s eyes swirled and looked as if thunderstorm brewed in their glimmering depths.

His skin had become clammy, and he couldn’t suck in any air. Then he fainted. Jensen didn’t remember a thing until he woke up on the Carsten family’s couch to Aiden explaining to him about the existence of werewolves. Aiden was the oldest Carsten brother’s boyfriend, and Jensen considered the guy a friend, but he really didn’t need a reminder of what he witnessed outside. And to hear another person talk about it like it had been no big deal was a little offsetting. Jensen sat for few minutes after Aiden finished talking and tried to take it all in, but it didn’t work. He stood up and left the house without saying a single word.

Jensen had known the Carsten family for years and felt like he had been deceived by not being told up front about their hairy little condition. Not that he would have believed them, but still, maybe it wouldn’t have been so shocking had he been forewarned.

He had gone straight to his house in Silver Creek, packed a bag, and headed for the house his parents owned in Southaven. It was near Rochester, New York. The thought of having to go back to work the next day and deal with Josef, Devon, and Viktor being not so human would have been too much too soon. He needed time to process.

And the most disturbing thing of it all was the man he had felt an explainable attraction for could turn into a freaking dog, a dog. It sounded insane for him to even think, but it was the truth.

Ever since that one kiss he couldn’t shake the stranger from his mind or body. It was like the man had left his imprint on Jensen and that seemed to be what bothered him the most. The kiss rocked Jensen’s world off its axis, and Josh had seemed to be sickened by the fact he had just kissed another man. The look of revulsion on the man’s face as he stared down at him had hurt more than a bullet to the chest. Jensen couldn’t understand how a kiss so powerful couldn’t be felt by both parties involved.

“Fuck!” Jensen threw his pencil to the table and brought his hands up to his face to rub at his itchy eyes. “The man can turn into a fucking wolf, and I’m more upset that he doesn’t want to kiss me again.”

Jensen got up from his chair and walked to the bathroom. He glanced at the clock as he passed by and saw that it was closing in on midnight.

It had been two weeks since he left Silver Creek, and he still hadn’t decided when he would return. The thought of going back to work with Josef just stressed him out. Did he ignore the fact that Josef wasn’t entirely human, or did he address it?

The answer to that question still eluded him. He told his parents that he just needed some time away, and luckily Andrew agreed with his leave of absence. He didn’t really think Andrew would have fired him, because his sister would have made the man’s life miserable.

Andrew had worked it out that he would meet with clients, send Jensen the ideas, and then Jensen would draw up some plans. The work they had been hired to design was mainly for new homes popping up all over Upstate New York. And if Andrew sent him some pictures along with the client’s ideas, he could design something as if he had seen the land with his own eyes.

Jensen loved his job, and he loved his life. He grew up in Silver Creek and attended college there as well. After he graduated from Hemsworth University he had instantly been hired by his sister’s husband. Andrew ran an architecture firm that catered to upscale type homes, large and extravagant.

But the past four years of doing a job he loved didn’t seem to matter when compared to his feelings of loss over Josh. The man plagued his every waking moment and invaded his dreams. Jensen started to think he had become obsessed. A man being able to turn into a wolf should have been a huge deterrent, but it didn’t seem to factor into his mind when he thought of the man.

He didn’t know much about Josh except that the man proclaimed to not be gay. Which could be a deal breaker being as Jensen was.

Jensen brushed his teeth then headed to bed. He flipped off his bedside lamp, and the room fell into darkness. The wind howled outside, and the house made the occasional creaking noise.

Exhaustion infused his body, and he let his eyes fall shut. No matter how much he didn’t want the dreams to come, they would. He’d picture the hard lines of Josh’s face, but then he’d see a chink in the man’s armor and he’d smile at Jensen, and that was all it would take. Even in his dreams Jensen could feel the love he had for a man he knew nothing about. But at least in his dreams Josh wouldn’t reject him.

* * * *

Josh sat outside Jensen’s house. He had been watching him for the past two weeks. After his father had been killed, Josh took off. He couldn’t deal with his father’s death or his brothers, so he just left. A part of him felt guilty for leaving Cole and Jake behind without a note saying where he had gone off to. Josh had grown tired of being the big brother, of being the one in control all the time. He just needed a break.

After they returned to Cole’s mate’s house, Josh learned that his mate had left. Not that he told his brothers of his connections to Jensen. He didn’t think they would understand, or at least that was what he told himself because he couldn’t comprehend how he wound up with a guy for a mate.

He tracked the man’s scent to a house in Silver Creek only to discover the little guy wasn’t there. In fact, he had left town. Josh shifted into wolf form and followed his mate.

He didn’t know why he did that or why he still watched over the man. Up until a few weeks ago Josh had never been attracted to another man. Not that he thought it gross or demeaning. Hell, his kid brother was gay. It was just something that never crossed his mind before.

Movement caught his eye, and he left the safety of the trees. He walked closer to the side of the house and listened. He could hear Jensen in the bathroom, brushing his teeth, and then the squeak of the bedsprings as he lay down.

More than anything Josh wanted to knock on the door and demand to be let in. It was his God-given right to be with his mate. Fate had put them together for a reason, even if unbeknownst to Josh. No matter how much he tried to deny it, he wanted Jensen. He wanted to get to know the man who had wormed his way into his heart.

In all of Josh’s life he had never needed anyone besides his brothers and father. His mother had been killed when he was still a child. The moment she died was the day his childhood ended. He had to be strong and protect his brothers. If he lost Cole or Jake, he knew he would never recover.

But here he sat now, following Jensen around like a little lost puppy because like it or not, Josh had developed feelings for him.

The soft sounds of Jensen’s breathing carried through the cracked window. Josh curled into a ball and lay under the window. If he couldn’t lie next to his mate, this would be the next best thing. Jensen’s scent of soap and peppermint tickled at his nose. He may have never thought of being with a man before, but now it was all he could think about.

A howl sounded in the distance, and Josh’s ears perked up. His eyes scanned the area, but he didn’t see anything. His protective instincts had him lying awake until the sun came up the next morning.

The sound of his cell phone going off woke Jensen up. He squinted his eyes as the sun streamed in through the windows. He rolled to his side and banged his hand around over his night stand until he found his phone.

“Hello.”

“Jensen, are you still asleep?” Andrew’s cheerful voice sounded louder than usual.

“I was.” Jensen sat up and kicked his feet over the edge of the bed. “What’s going on, Andrew?”

“I’ve got some good news.” There was a long pause. “Or I hope this is good news. I just got a call from a guy I went to school with, and he knows a man looking to build a house in Camden. It’s about an hour away from Southaven. I was thinking it would do you some good to get out of that house.”

Jensen pulled the phone away from his ear to stare down at it. How did Andrew know he hadn’t left the house in the two weeks he’d been there?

Well, he left to go to the grocery store, but that was it. “You mean good for you, too, don’t you?”

“There’s nothing wrong with expanding our business. Camden is really nice, and if we can get some of our designs out there it’d be good for everyone.”

His brother-in-law always had business on the brain and how to make more money. Not a bad quality, but Jensen didn’t have the drive to be rich.

“Okay, when do I meet with him?” he asked.

“That’s what I’m talking about.”

Jensen could hear the excitement in the other man’s voice. Andrew gave him the name of the man he was to meet and the address of the property.

After he got off the phone he went into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee then headed back to the bathroom to take a quick shower. He only had an hour before he had to leave to meet the possible new client.

When he finished his shower, Jensen toweled off then walked back into his bedroom naked. The nearest neighbors were a good hundred yards away, so he didn’t have to worry about anyone catching a glimpse of his naked body.

Jensen pulled the drape back and looked out over the back yard. The grass had been cut yesterday, and the smell still hung in the air. Birds sang in the distance, and the sky shined a brilliant blue. Jensen reached down and pulled up on the window, wanting more of the fresh air to come in.