Chapter Twenty
Booker
Running away from a damn flirty fox in heat? Booker would feel the mortification once he’d calmed his bear down and spoken to Hollis. There was no way they were going to allow Frey to remain at work with the potential of one of the alphas working in the building catching his delectable scent.
It remained in Booker’s nose, the spicy sweetness so powerful it made him hard enough that the zipper on his slacks would become a permanent imprint on his cock. His bear, on the other hand, was ready to tear off Booker’s clothes and tuck the tiny fox under his arm to hibernate.
What the heck was Frey playing at, coming to work in heat? Was there something wrong with the tiny fox? He stumbled at the thought but kept going, despite nearly plowing into Monica, who rounded the corner. Her bat-like reflexes saved her, hair flying as she darted out of Booker’s way .
Hollis would have to find out!
He ran past an alarmed looking Pam, who caught him mid charge to his office door. He could barely manage a wave to show he was fine. Was he fine? Was he hell.
Panicked, breathless, running and sweaty was so not his normal, in office behavior.
He grabbed his phone with a far hairier hand than usual and, with trembling fingers, dialed Hollis’s office. It rang and rang. He counted off the number of times it rang. Only when it reached thirty did he slam the phone down, no calmer, even after the breather.
“Can I help?” Pam asked from the doorway. She hovered in it like she couldn’t decide if it was safe to come inside.
It wasn’t.
Booker needed Frey out of the building, like now. His bear was close to losing it at thoughts of not being near their fox and anyone scenting him. He wasn’t fairing much better, if truth be told. Running hadn’t been his brightest idea, but it was that or doing something totally out of character. Throwing Frey over his shoulder and locking him away from everyone was exactly what his bear wanted. He was the more reasonable one of the two of them—just not today.
“Go get Hollis, I need him here like yesterday,” he growled past his elongated teeth. “And call Silas first, get him to come.”
The doorway was empty a second later and Booker rested his hands on the desk, shutting his eyes and working on taking some even breaths of air that weren’t scented with Frey .
“What… argh, shit Booker! What do you need?” Silas asked, his enormous hands slid down Booker’s quivering back, offering him the support he needed to keep his mind focused.
“Not sure… Frey is in the building.” His teeth dug into his lip as he tried to speak.
“Isn’t he…”
A crushing sensation came with Booker’s lack of ability to take a decent gulp of air.
“Breathe. Fuck Booker, breathe for me. In and out, slowly. Come on, you know the drill, work with me Booker,” Silas cajoled continuously, the time slipping by unnoticed. The hands never stopped from their soothing motion, keeping him tethered to the here and now.
His bear, when in an emotional state, never ever listened to reason when it wanted to protect those he loved. That alarming reality did not help Booker regain his control as fast as he’d like.
How long they stood just like that, Booker couldn’t have said. His bear, in this heightened state, never released control back to him easily. The two sides of him became extremely conflicted and though he got his bear wanted to shift and protect them both, it couldn’t be trusted with how he felt about Frey. How it wanted to curl its enormous body around the fox and snuggle. This was why Booker had run. His bear didn’t listen to reason, not fucking once.
He’s ours.
Booker was too damn exhausted to argue back .
“I hope this is…” Hollis trailed off as he came into the office. “What’s wrong?”
Booker’s eyes opened, and he growled.
“Get Frey out of the building, now!” Silas stated gruffly.
“What…” Hollis frowned and stepped closer to Booker’s desk. His gaze swept over Booker, and he blushed. “Oh… I see .”
“You see nothing,” Booker forced out on his next breath.
Hollis quietly shut the door to the office, blocking out those who were in the hallway, gawping at his stupid, over-reactive ass.
“He’s not in heat,” Hollis advised gently, showing he did indeed know part of Booker’s issue.
“He is,” Booker snapped back at the man, who gave him a sympathetic look.
“No, he’s not. I can’t say more than that. It’s up to Frey to explain, if he wants to. ”
The cryptic comment wasn’t helping when Booker knew damn well what he’d scented in Frey’s office. “He is,” he insisted.
Silas’s hands paused. “Hollis seems pretty sure—”
“I’m telling you, I know what I smelled in his office,” Booker stated, not so calmly.
“Don’t bite my head off. Think about it rationally.” Silas moved to look directly at Booker. “If Frey was indeed in heat, do you think he’d have made it into the building? Through reception and up to his office without one alpha noticing? ”
He laid it out in a way that gave Booker time to pause and got his bear receding enough that he found it easier to breathe. To think. “My nose…”
“Scented what?”
Booker’s lips snapped together before he said exactly what was in his head— my fox. “I’m okay now,” he said instead. It was far safer to say that when he had an audience. There was no way he was confessing he might— did —have some sort of feelings for Frey.
“Are you sure?” Silas asked, staring him down.
“Yeah… I’m fine, honest. You can both leave.” He lied. He was far from fine, and the reason was on another floor smelling like all of Booker’s favorite things.
Doomed. I’m fucking doomed.
Hollis remained where he was, as did Silas.
“Go, I got shit to do.”
Neither man moved, and Booker gave a very loud, disgruntled sigh. “Listen. My bear smelled Frey and because we expected him to be home… in heat… we got it wrong. It appears.”
No, we did not.
Now is not the time to discuss this.
We will discuss this, mark my words. You aren’t going to pretend that was all me.
His bear went silent and Booker almost sagged in relief until he caught both Silas and Hollis staring at him, wearing identical looks of concern. “Seriously, I’m fine. If you say Frey isn’t in heat, then great, he can pick up the slack, as Monty isn’t all caught up on the list I gave him Friday. ”
There, that sounded convincing?
“Please don’t hound Frey… he’s…” Hollis pushed up his glasses.
His bear took notice. “He’s what?”
“What he’s shared with me… Please, just don’t go all bear on him, you might frighten him.”
Booker swung around his desk so fast the thing shifted a good inch as Hollis turned to leave. His stomach churned at the implications of Hollis’s statement. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Had his behavior frightened Frey? He ran through how Frey had been before he’d left him. Frightened was not what Booker recalled.
His brows drew together. What was he missing?
Hollis shrugged, looking very uncomfortable. Something Booker was not used to seeing. “Be gentle with him.”
He left, giving Booker a prickly feeling at the back of his neck as he twisted to glance at Silas. “Do you know what he’s talking about?”
“What? Other than the obvious that you can be a grumpy asshole?”
Booker flipped his middle finger at Silas, scowling. “Fuck off. You’re as grumpy as me. It’s why we became friends.”
Silas grinned before strolling to the door. He looked over his shoulder. “You ain’t never had to talk me off the cliff, have you?”
“That might be so, but never count your fucking chickens before they hatch,” he called after Silas’s shaking shoulders .
“Asshole,” he muttered under his breath, going and plonking himself back in his seat. One look at his phone and, for a moment, he contemplated calling Frey to his office.
He shook his head.
He sure wasn’t ready for that and what it might prove. Burying his head in the sand like an ostrich? Yeah, that was a much better option.
Playing the avoiding game was for teenagers who had the hots and were shy of having any face-to-face conversations, so why was he doing exactly that?
He opened the door and dragged his weary ass inside, thinking about the last week. Booker spent days hiding—working—with Monty, despite Frey coming to his office several times to go over things that needed dealing with. He’d actually told Pam to tell Frey he was too busy to see him. To lie for him.
Booker was aghast by his own behavior, but he was totally in survival mode. He was majorly embarrassed after Monday. He’d also decided to avoid Ziggy. Thoughts of him anywhere near the fox during his heat sent his blood pressure through the roof. It was harder to avoid Ziggy with the time he’d needed to spend with Jupiter tying up loose ends for the fashion week prep that was hotting up the closer they got .
Silas was giving him a knowing smirk after he’d let it slip in front of Popi about losing his shit at work—again. Those two times rankled Booker when it had been years since he’d needed that kind of support. He knew exactly where to cast the blame.
And here he was on Friday, exhausted from all the avoiding, which included Popi. Booker was ready to shift in front of the fire and curl up on his special rug. That meant he could escape any talk about feelings. No, that was the last thing he wanted to do with anyone. He wasn’t that kind of bear.
Give over.
You give over. It’s all your fault I’m in this mess.
Deep chuckles filled his head as he slammed the door behind him, placing his laptop bag on the hall table to take off his jacket. He left it on top of the table, too tired to go hang it up.
“There you are, my sweet boy. Just in time.”
Booker’s shoulders slumped and the grump at being caught fed his frustration as he watched Popi stroll towards him, beaming.
“In time for what?” Popi’s smile said he could kiss goodbye to his evening plans.
Popi slipped his arm through Booker’s, patting his shirt sleeve and leading him down the hallway, heading in the direction of the kitchen.
“Family night,” he declared happily.
“Great,” Booker muttered sullenly. The last thing he wanted was to spend time with his brothers, poking at him with Taylin not here to take the flack .
Popi slapped playfully at his arm. “Don’t act like that. You love family night. I’ve made your favorite pizza and got popcorn and oodles of chocolate treats.”
He perked up a little at that. “Did you get milk duds?”
“Of course I did,” Popi answered, like Booker was being silly. “I’ve got everyone’s favorites.”
Two steps into the heavenly scented kitchen, Booker hid his grin at his brothers, all sitting at the counter that was made to fit them all. Popi liked to eat messy foods in the kitchen after many disasters in the fancy dining room. The only one missing, as expected, was Taylin.
His grumpiness wanted to come back when he considered how happy Taylin was with Hollis, and his own lack…
He shook his head, warding off where his thoughts decided to take him without his permission.
“About time you dragged your sorry ass home,” Laken snapped, giving him a death stare that made no sense to Booker. What had he done to piss off Laken? “Popi’s tortured us with divine smelling pizza for the last half-hour, waiting for you to get your hairy self home.”
Silas picked up his beer, his brow raising as he looked at Laken. “Who chewed on your ass?” Silas took a sip, his gaze moving between the two of them.
“Don’t ask me. I’ve seen no fucker this week, been too busy.”
“Don’t I fucking know it. You held Monty hostage while my work has been piling up,” Rue stated, sounding as pissed as Laken .
Booker eyed the empty seat between his brothers and contemplated if it would be safer to sit between two crocodiles.
“Boys, behave. I want a nice family evening.” Popi’s reprimand came with a stern look before he went to the large pizza oven he’d gotten especially for pizza nights. “I want there to be no talk about work tonight.”
They’d established that rule years ago.
Dad rolled his eyes at them all, while he said, “Listen to your Popi.”
Jupiter rested his elbows on the countertop, a sly look appearing. “Then what are we gonna talk about? Sex?”
Beer snorted out of Silas’s nose as he coughed out the sip he’d taken. Booker knew Jupiter would have timed that to perfection.
Silas wiped his face, glaring at an unrepentant Jupiter.
“We can, you know that no subject is taboo.” Popi gave them all a glowing smile.
Booker wasn’t sure what was worse, talking about the sex he wasn’t getting, or listening to Jupiter regale them with talk of his conquests.
“Let’s go with baseball,” Laken said quickly.
“Like that’s much better,” Kodi exclaimed, reaching out to nab a slice of pizza before anyone else.
“Only ‘cause you support the banana’s baseball team,” Kari answered, chuckling at the dirty glare he got from his twin.
Taking his seat, Booker laughed with everyone else. “Banana’s,” he winked at Kari, “how can they play with no arms and legs?” asking tongue in cheek as everyone around him, except for Kodi, fell about laughing. Like usual, Popi was right. Family night was just what he needed.