Running Wild

couldn’t betray him, and he was desperate for news.
That question stopped all three men.
“You have a brother and don’t know where he is?” Trey asked. “That’s correct. I wondered if you’d heard tell of another horse shifter.” “The older wolves talked of there being two horse shifters,” Pete
acknowledged.
Trey shook his head. “I’m sorry but on my end, no. The rumors are you
horses run yourself to death and don’t live this long.” He gestured at Ri. “I’m
glad you’re different. Maybe, somewhere, your brother is too.”
It was kind of Trey to offer hope. “You’ll let me know if you ever hear of
another?”
“Absolutely.” With easy grace, Trey rose to his feet, pulling Jonah after him.
“Jonah is my husband. Contact me through him.”
Jonah wrote down his number and handed the scrap of paper to Ri. “You can
come to us. Anytime.”
Seamus frowned. “You traveled all the way here to see Ri. And now you’re
just leaving?”
“Leaving your apartment. We’ll be around for a while since we only arrived
today. Longer term, we’re Ontario-based.” Jonah gave Ri a half smile.
“Sometimes shifters take a while to get used to the idea of others. Believe me, I
know. When you’re ready, give me a call.”
With that, the three of them ambled out, Pete last, and he left these parting
words for Seamus: “You need anything, phone me.”
To Ri’s relief, Seamus shrugged in dismissal.
    When the door closed, Seamus turned to look at Ri who seemed to remain in a permanent state of being frozen. “I think you’d better sit down. Now that they’re gone, you can sit down, right?”
    Ri shuddered out a long breath, paced to the balcony and walked outside to peer down. As if he needed to escape.
“Come back inside,” Seamus said quietly. He was a little worried Ri would decide to bolt by going over the balcony. Fortunately Ri pushed off the rail and strode back into the apartment. Which then had Seamus wanting to block the door to the hallway. Not that he was capable of forcibly keeping Ri here.
Ri jammed two hands in his hair. “I can’t fucking believe this.”
“Ri. Sit down.” Seamus pointed to the couch. “You’re practically vibrating.”
“That’s just it, I can’t sit still. I need to run.”
Seamus could only assume he was talking about running as a horse. “We’re in the city. If you need me to, I’ll drive you out. But let’s eat something first.” He pulled open the oven and eyed the now-well-cooked pizza that had been sitting in there since the visit began.
“I don’t know if I can eat.”
“I thought you had to eat?”
Ri grimaced.
“Talk to me, Ri.”
He gave that laugh, the humorless one, as if there was no hope left. Seamus didn’t entirely understand. Well, nothing new there, about not entirely understanding Ri.
“Isn’t it better to know these guys aren’t out to harm you?”
At that Ri did drop onto the couch. “Yes.” He passed a hand over his face. “At least, they aren’t out to harm me now , today.”
Seamus cut the pizza in half, and half again, sliding two pieces on Ri’s plate and bringing it to him, before sitting on the opposite end of the couch. Almost absentmindedly, Ri consumed the food at an amazing speed while Seamus still worked on his first piece. “More?” he asked.
“No.” Ri stood. “I’m full.” He started circling the small room and Seamus watched him. How the hell was he supposed to keep Ri in his apartment, and should he try?
“What did you think of Jonah?” Seamus had never met a cat before. Of course, he’d thought he’d never met a wolf either. Instead, Pete had met him on purpose. In retrospect he should have wondered why an economics student was in a genetics class, but he’d been dazzled by Pete’s close attention.
Ri’s unfocused dark gaze came to rest on Seamus. He remembered how he’d refused to think of Ri in a sexual way because of his supposed mental-health issues. Ri was not what Seamus had thought. He hadn’t dreamed up the idea of werewolves and cat shifters and horse shifters. They were real, and they had deeply affected his life. Ri seemed sane, if unsettled by the day’s events.
“Jonah?” he repeated, coming back to Seamus’s question. “The cat smelled sincere.”
“You can smell sincerity.”
“Not really,” Ri said at once, as if Seamus was praising him, but Seamus was a bit alarmed. How much of his feelings did Ri pick up?
Ri’s gaze sharpened. “It’s not like mind-reading.