Free Lynx Northern Shifters 3 by Joely Skye Page B

doubtful on that count.
Trey was going to wonder, soon, what the fuck Jonah was doing back here and that realization, instead of dousing his erection, had Jonah increasingly panicked. Shouldn’t panic tamp down this reaction?
It didn’t. The tension was rising, all sorts of tension tied up with fear, embarrassment and this attraction he couldn’t keep to himself, and Jonah could barely think. He pulled in long, deep breaths to try to calm himself, and dammit Trey must have guessed something was wrong, because he called out, “Jonah? You okay?”
Get it together. Now.
“Yes,” he managed and bent over, feeling like he was running a race and had to stop and take a breather. To his utter dismay, he heard Trey move, heard footsteps approaching the back room, and he didn’t know how to face the man like this.
God help him, he should have stayed lynx.
    Trey frowned to see Jonah bent over, hands on knees, as if winded. He also smelt the tang of mixed arousal and fear in the air—Jonah’s. It was a common phenomenon. When shifters turned human, they were generally hot to have sex. It had been, during another lifetime, decades ago, something Trey looked forward to. Since then he’d worked to destroy his sexual drive, taking pride in his control of all things.
    It was becoming quite clear to him he’d failed. Nothing about his sexual drive felt destroyed right now.
Didn’t matter. This situation was going to take a different kind of control, and some tact. He didn’t want Jonah breaking down over this attraction that had grown between them, and he’d be doing Jonah no favors in continuing to pretend it didn’t exist. Not when it caused these fine tremors to run through his body.
He refused to leave Jonah hanging like this, despite a dark, black part of Trey that wanted to turn around and walk away.
He couldn’t.
Trey stepped forward and placed a hand on Jonah’s broad back, let his palm rest on the spine that was a little bonier than it should be. Jonah needed to eat more. “Breathe.”
“I am,” Jonah gritted out and pulled in another noisy lungful. After an exhale, he declared, “I want some fresh air.”
He barreled by Trey, out of the back room, through the main area and escaped through the front door.
Without his winter gear. Trey hoped Jonah wasn’t stupid about this. A lynx who’d just shifted was a bit of a heat sink and Jonah’s metabolism would be running high, so he had more time before he froze than a human. But if he wasn’t back inside within ten minutes, Trey was going after him.
So he waited, watching the old wind-up, a not very accurate clock Jonah kept by his bed. At eight minutes, he grabbed Jonah’s winter gear and stomped out. He wanted to give the lynx some privacy, but not at the risk of him freezing to death.
Thankfully he spotted Jonah right away, his back to him, staring out, hands on hips, still breathing hard, but less aroused, less panicked.
“Get inside,” said Trey. When Jonah didn’t move, Trey clamped on to his arm and pulled him back into the cave and through the door. Clearly they needed to talk. Though Trey wasn’t looking forward to this at all. Especially given how he was reacting to Jonah’s arousal himself. Christ. So much for control.
Inside, Jonah jerked free of Trey’s grip and glared. His teeth chattered as he said, “Do you mind? I wanted a moment—”
“—to freeze your skin off?”
“I can always fucking shift if I want to, as you know.”
“That’s a stupid idea.”
Jonah started looking pissed off, which was good, because the fear was now completely absent. Trey still wasn’t sure what that fear was about. Trey pulled off the jacket he was wearing and wrapped it around Jonah, then pushed him in front of the fire.
“You need to eat,” he said more softly. “You know it’s a bad idea to shift when you’re low on reserves and you’re already skinny.”
Fortunately Jonah was hungry and thirsty enough to do as Trey wished, if a little sullenly.