Feral Northern Shifters 2

remembered. Had he changed so much he was unrecognizable?
“Robert?” During one long-ago conversation when Robert had wanted to delve into some of Ethan’s secrets and Ethan had kept him at bay, Robert had declared that he would never turn Ethan away. But his throat thickened and he couldn’t refer to that perhaps-forgotten statement that had once meant so much to him.
“Jesus, Ethan, why are you only wearing socks in winter? Don’t you even have boots?” There was distress in Robert’s voice, but Ethan shivered because Robert had said his name.
“I really need your help.”
“Don’t—” began Jeremy.
Robert flung up a hand to silence him and turned his hard gaze on Ethan. “It’s been…”
“Years,” Ethan finished. He didn’t intend to stay long, especially with unwelcoming boyfriend here. He needed a few days at most, just to get oriented. “But—”
“God, come in. You must be freezing. Those clothes don’t look very warm.” Jeremy added a muttered “or very clean” and Robert frowned, then motioned Ethan forward.
His old lover didn’t reach for him and Ethan was glad. He didn’t want to be touched. Robert backed up to allow Ethan into the house and closed the door.
Robert eyed him, not without compassion, but not without suspicion either. “Are you in trouble?”
“No.” Or none that Robert would understand. In the past he’d feared Ethan was involved with drugs in some way or the other.
“Are you hurt?”
Ethan shook his head.
Robert gave a wintry smile, an echo of his old grin, but welcoming all the same, even if his words were not. “I often wanted to see you again, but not quite like this.”
Ethan blinked at him, unsure what to say. Sorry ?
“Would you like a shower?” Robert implied he needed it and started walking towards the stairs.
“Yes, thank you.”
Jeremy snorted, and Robert turned on him, clearly put out. “Jeremy, do you mind?”
“I mind,” he returned, disgruntled. “I mind bringing strangers into our home.”
“I know Ethan.”
“A long time ago. People change.”
Do they ever, Jeremy, but I couldn’t begin to explain . “I won’t stay long,” Ethan promised them both. “I won’t cause trouble.”
Robert paused, doubtful, but raised a hand and swept it towards the stairs. “You remember where the shower is. Get in. I’ll bring you a towel and a set of clean clothes.”
Ethan looked down at his wet stocking feet. They were like ice and he welcomed the idea of hot water thawing them. “Thank you.”
Robert’s face softened. “Get in the shower before you turn blue.”
An hour and a half later, Ethan was warm, clean and fed. Robert had remembered his outsized appetite and had also noted he was too thin. The glowering Jeremy never left Robert’s side, despite his obvious exhaustion and complaints about having to work the next day. Perhaps he expected Ethan to jump his old lover.
Ethan was too tired to do anything of the sort. Nor did he have the desire. Whatever they’d shared belonged to another era and to two very different people.
“Do you need anything else?” Robert asked.
“No. Thanks.” In borrowed clothing, Ethan stood on the threshold of the guestroom.
Looking ready to stumble back to bed, Robert simply nodded.
“Good night.” Ethan shut the door and went to lie down. The bed was comfortable and for the first time in many days he felt relatively safe. He fell asleep immediately, the strain of the past week catching up on him.
For more than twenty-four hours he slept, with only a couple of bathroom breaks. At one point, Robert came in to check on him and Ethan roused himself enough to assure Robert he was okay, he just hadn’t slept for days, and Robert let him go back to sleep.
It was close to nine o’clock in the morning of the second day that Ethan felt half-alive and ventured to get up for real.
He listened to the house and only heard one person moving around. It sounded, if his memory could be trusted, like Robert’s movements.
Swiftly Ethan pulled on the clothes—they smelled of Robert—which fit close enough. How nice to be wearing something that was clean and didn’t come out of a laundromat. Buoyed by sleep and clothing and a house that was semi-familiar, Ethan exited the guestroom and jogged down the stairs.
He saw Robert in the kitchen, pouring coffee, and smiled. No smile was returned. In fact, as Ethan approached, Robert became grimmer. His gaze moved to the left, but Ethan was dumb or unaware or simply not