A Kink in the Tail

Chapter 27 - Mate meet Mate

The tension was suffocating. Barnes was glad he was asked to leave. As he slipped out he took one last look at the four left in the room. It looked like one of those scenes in arty movies where the cast stand around staring meaningfully at each other without speaking as if cocking an eyebrow said it all, a blink spelled the end of the world.

Constantine was sitting on the edge of the bed, arms folded, holding back a snarl. Fischer was propped up on several pillows behind him at the other end. Beside Fischer was Shaun, also resting against a pile of pillows, with rolled-up blankets wedged under his legs to keep them elevated. Both patients were wearing t-shirts and sweatpants cut into shorts to make nursing the wounds on their legs easier. Fischer's hands and feet were still bandaged and there were a few small white gauze patches on his arms and legs. Shaun looked normal until you noticed the dark red and purple raised scars that lined up across his thighs. The skin from hip to knee had that bluish, mottled look of healing bruises.  

He was the only one who was enjoying himself. He sat happily wiggling his toes and eating a bowl of chocolate ice cream, his eyes jumping from Fischer to the Guardian and back.

"This is soooo exciting." He said between mouthfuls. He was loving the drama and watched the scene play out like it was the climax of some soppy Kdrama.     But there was no denying his friendship and loyalty.  Barnes watched the human, as infantile as he acted, he kept a close eye on his friend.  Seeing Fischer tense and shudder, still smiling and joking around, Shaun quietly reached out his hand and tightly held on to Fischer's.  Barnes heard him whisper.  "I'm here and so is Constantine. We've got your back."   

The Guardian was the one who looked out of place, more austere than usual in his black suit.  He hadn't bothered to remove his shades and it only added another layer to his icy appearance.  His Boss stood beside the window slowly straightening his cuffs links, then calmly put his hands behind his back and faced the three sitting on the bed.  It was a case of three against one, the Guardian being the odd Lycan out. 

Barnes was bandaging Fischer's hand when they all sensed his arrival in the apartment. Fischer shuddered violently, his cheeks instantly flooded with colour. Checking his pulse Barnes found it was racing erratically, he hoped he wouldn't have a relapse. It was impossible not to feel for him, his discoloured face handsome in its way, morphed from excitement to fear. 

When his Boss walked into the room, Barnes wanted to disappear into the floor. The room filled with the mates' mingling emotions. Two strong alpha mates making eye contact for the first time, the bond pulling them together and circumstances pulling them apart. The air got sucked out of the room, replaced by their combined pheromones.

His Boss had arrived planning to deal with rejecting his mate in the same way he handled everything, quickly and in a  business-like manner.  He appeared unaffected but nothing could hide his pheromones or it's effect on the occupants of the room who wanted to fall to their knees and lick his boots.  Barnes was sweating buckets and he could see Constantine grinding his teeth, both fighting off their desire to submit.  

To everyone's surprise, Fischer took the lead.  He'd lived too long with humans and picked up their histrionic ways, insisting his best friend stay. It gave Constantine an opening to jump in and added to the farce by insisting he stays as well because Fischer was his charge. The Guardian for the first time since Barnes started working with the Ogeneia team, was speechless. The cool, sophisticated Paul Holt was at a loss. It was very unlike him not to be in control of everything, everyone, every speck of dust in the room.  In this case, he had been outmaneuvered.

It meant that at one of the most intimate and important moments of his Boss's life, there was going to be an audience, a very biased, unfriendly audience.