Hunt Me! I Crave the Chase (Spooky Boys #3)

Kept him alive?

What the fuck?

“Then try this,” Doctor Mason said gently. “Let loose a little. Do one thing you wouldn’t normally do, simply because it makes you happy. It might do you some good.”

“Okay,” Jeffrey sighed, but even I could tell some of the tension in his voice was gone.

Relief filled my body.

Relief that I’d somehow…maybe gotten away with my accidental espionage. I didn’t want him to know. Not after this. If he had such a hard time trusting, I didn’t want him to find out that I’d deceived him.

Maybe I could keep this up till the day I left?

Or maybe after a few more weeks, I could get him to become sick of me to the point that he’d not miss me if I disappeared. Though…I didn’t see that plan going well. I’d have to do something truly nefarious—like eat all his underwear.

That thought was not…unappealing.

My cock twitched.

“How are you sleeping?” Doctor Mason asked, gently segueing into a new line of conversation before the silence could get awkward.

“I’m not,” Jeffrey admitted, and it was easier this time.

Last night he’d had a nightmare.

I’d woken him, pushing my nose against his face till he stopped whimpering. He’d been drenched in sweat. So much sweat that his t-shirt clung to him and the mattress. For a second he’d stared at me and his scent had been scared-hurt-help-help. But then he’d recognized me, and the wild look in his eyes faded away. His long fingers had tangled in the fur at my throat and he’d sagged, as a broken sort of gasp escaped from him.

Easily, as if he’d done it a thousand times before, he pulled his sweaty shirt up and over his head and tossed it across the room.

“S-sorry,” he’d managed, like his nightmare had inconvenienced me. I’d licked his face till he laughed, and he curled up in a miserable sweaty ball. “Guarding me even when I’m asleep, huh?” he’d asked, and it felt like a loaded question.

That morning Jeffrey peeled the sweaty sheets off the mattress, and I’d nearly balked when I saw just how stained the mattress was beneath its covers. A physical representation of the long, sleepless nights he often battled. The scent of fear sweat wafted through the air as Jeffrey calmly deposited his sheets in the clothes-washing machine and pulled a new set from the closet. It was full of sheets. All fresh, but mildly scented with fear. Like he’d had to buy so many of them because sometimes he’d have to replace them more than once throughout the night.

Though eavesdropping on this conversation was wildly invasive—even if I hadn’t had a choice—I was grateful as it gave me the opportunity to learn what I needed to help him.

I’d never been the best with people—I preferred four paws to two legs, and conversation had never come easy, even when I’d tried my hardest.

As I’d aged and began fearing the moon, that had only gotten worse.

I’d spoken more to Jeffrey the two times we’d met in my humanskin than I had—probably since I was born, and that was the truth. Which meant I wasn’t necessarily the best at understanding how I could help him, especially if words and communication were what he needed. I’d simply have to learn.

Simply protecting him, my ass.

This was going to tear me apart, and I knew it.

But more than that…I knew that getting close to Jeffrey and then leaving him would hurt him even worse. But I couldn’t seem to stop. Not when he was so sweet and he reeked of need-alpha-hurt-please.

I couldn’t leave him.

I needed to help him.

I wanted to help him.

I wanted him.

“Having a dog helps with sleeping,” Jeffrey admitted, voice ashamed as he broke through my turbulent thoughts. “And sex does too.”

“Did you have sex?” the doctor sounded surprised. “The last time we spoke you mentioned you were having a hard time initiating intimacy, despite it being a big part of your past.”