Page 39 of Shifter's Dream

“Trevor,” Troy moaned. “It hurts so bad. What do I do?”

Ella rushed to him and put a hand on his forehead, smoothing his hair back from his brow. “You go get her, Troy,” Ella said. “You keep trying.”

Trevor hedged, still at the door, sucking his breath in between his teeth. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” He addressed Ella. “Maybe you should go see her. Explain…things.”

Troy turned over, prostrating himself against the mattress. It was no use. His wolf had no clear guidance. His brother didn’t believe in him. His mate didn’t want him. He was a broken male.

Eventually, Ella and Trevor had to leave.

***

Troy stared at the ceiling. The ceiling ignored him. Tiny fluffs of dust floated on nothing, outlined by the bright of the light. Trevor and Ella were upstairs putting the young to sleep. There’d been a steady stream of people in and out of the room, trying to talk to Troy, but he didn’t remember any of them, except for Timber who had brought in a cup of chamomile tea, turned Kenny G’s greatest hits on Spotify, then walked back out.

The door opened.

Conri. He slipped inside and shut the door behind him, then locked it, then he made his way to Trent’s couch and sat down, dropping something on the floor in front of him. Troy could hear him opening a paper grocery bag, then pulling items out of it, then unwrapping something.

The cool scent of peppermint filled the room.

Troy shot to a sitting position, eyes on Conri, booted feet hitting the ground with a boom.

In his hand, Conri held a package.Dark Chocolate Covered King Size York Peppermint Patties, the wrapper read. Conri nodded at him, then whipped him a peppermint patty like a Frisbee.

Troy snatched it out of the air and shoved it in his mouth without thinking. He sighed and lay back against the bed, feeling just the tiniest bit better as the coolness spread over his tongue.

“I thought that might help you out, big guy,” Conri said. He cracked open a can of something. “Beer?”

“Nah. You got anymore peppermint?” TheMsin that sentence cameeasyto Troy, like he’d been saying them his whole life, but he didn’t give a shit.

A bag of peppermint patties landed in his lap. Troy sat up went to work on it. They didn’t speak again till he’d finished it, dumping his wrappers in a neat pile next to him on the bed.

A king size box of Junior Mints landed next to him. Troy snatched it up, tore the package open, and upended it into his mouth. He was definitely feeling better. Was it time to go after his mate? His wolf snarled at him.No, you big dummy.

Two more boxes of candy later, Troy felt sick. He excused himself into Trent’s bathroom, barely making it before he lost all of that delicious peppermint sweetness into the porcelain bowl.

He wiped his mouth, gargled, and headed back out to look for more.

“Women,” Conri said, as Troy came back out of the bathroom. “You can’t tame them, you can’t live without them, am I right?” He tossed Troy a package he’d never seen before.Assorted Pastel Buttermints, it read. Troy popped one into his mouth. It melted on his tongue, making him think of the way his mate melted every time he touched her, when she would let him touch her, and he almost broke down. Instead, he shoved more velvet candy into his mouth.

“Tame them,” Troy whispered. “You can tame them?”

Conri took a swallow of his beer. “Weren’t you listening? Youcan’ttame them.” He finished the beer and pulled out another. “Take this chick I’ve been seeing. She ain’t nothing but a little thing, pretty as sunshine, happy all the time, but the mouth on her! I like it, but at the same time, it can hurt a bear, you know? Make him question himself.”

Conri downed his beer, then clinked his next can to Troy’s Junior Mint’s box. “Tell me about your mate.”

“She’s this… this professional, so smart and sexy and she always says these cool things,” Troy stopped to deal with the saliva gathering in his mouth at the thought of her. He could eat her up like the big bad wolf for hours, for days if she would just let him near her. “Like every time I see her, I think, ‘man, this female has her shit together’.” He didn’t speak for a few moments. Conri bobbed his head up and down, like he understood completely.

“I got her fired,” Troy said dully.

Conri winced. “Ouch.”

“Yeah.”

“Hey, I know what would make you feel better. Wanna fuck with Mac?”

How was that even a question? Of course Troy wanted to fuck with Mac.

***

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