Page 41 of Forget Me Not

“A minor injury, but they were following procedure as they would for anyone,” Penn filled in.

Minor. Ray grunted again.

Cal nodded and briefly sat on the couch to retie his shoelaces. “They made it boring so no one cared. And apparently, no one in the press noticed theanyonein question was a werewolf. Deliberate ignorance, or sloppy reporting? Is that Campbell guy still around? Is no one going to evenpretendto care?” Cal demanded, sparkling with outrage. “You’d think they would have the brains to be concerned with appearances at least!”

“Cal.” Penn sighed. “This doesn’t help now.”

“It helps me,” Cal argued, “and possibly him eventually once he realizes I will fight for him. Ray wasattacked. Thirty feet from a bunch of cops, he was attacked. And they don’t care? One of them stubs their toe and they all show up en masse to complain about the shoe budget or whatever. They should have contacted Ray to go over his statement from yesterday, to see how he’s doing, to see howyou’redoing!” He gestured furiously to Penn.

Just as abruptly as his voice and temper had risen, Cal was now calm and faintly smiling.

His tone was innocent. “Did anyone happen to mention what Benny and I are supposed to do today, if anything? Since no one wants to interview us, I mean, even though we were there and they should?”

Ray shook his head, his heart already beating faster.

Penn’s smirk was evil. “Nope.”

“Are you kidding?” Trouble didn’t have a scent but Ray was smelling it now. “No. It could be dangerous. I’m a wolf and they—” it escaped him in a growl “—took you from me.”

Cal’s shiver was pretty. “They didn’t. I’m still here.”You fool, was somehow implied. “I might stop by the office, aka Benny’s spare room, today, but we can work on this too. This takes precedence, obviously.”

“It will be dangerous.” Ray was repeating himself. Penn only looked more amused.

Cal walked over to stand in front of Ray. “Do you really think I’m going to sit idly by?” he asked condescendingly. “Did you really? Someone who isyour—oh, Penn, we are not using the m-word around him.It does something wonky in his head.” He focused on Ray again. “We just discussed this, Raymond. Well, last night we did. Time. Pfft.” He waved a hand carelessly.

Ray gave him a short growl that only made Cal’s eyes light up before he wriggled closer. “Then again,” Cal went on slowly in a low, soft voice, “you’re welcome to try to keep me here by whatever means necessary.”

“It’s like we’ve gone back in time,” Penn observed. Ray didn’t raise his head to glance at her.

Cal licked his bottom lip. “Apparently. But I don’t mind if it ends the same. Well… maybe without the drama.”

That, at least, pulled some of Ray’s attention from Cal’s mouth. He frowned between his partner and Callalily. He bit back the question about ‘drama.’ “If he’s going to do something risky, shouldn’t someone go with him?”

“You have the day off,” Cal pointed out sweetly while wrapping Ray’s tie around his hand. “You can accompany us. It will be like old times. Or yesterday.”

Ray frowned down at him, his guileless, swirling eyes and creeping hands that should have made Ray suspicious. Theydidmake him suspicious. His instincts didn’t care.

Cal gave the tie a tug then let it slip through his fingers. “And maybe I’d like to keep you near too.” He looked up, his expression fierce for all that his voice stayed soft. “They tried to takeyoufromme.”

Ray was certain that his bewilderment showed in his colors and whatever it was that Penn sensed. He inhaled the scent of frosted pastries and a handful of cereal and some hard candy. Then soap and detergent. Thenhurt, something deep and sorrowful, like tears that had only just been wiped away.

He nodded slowly.

“So we haven’t gone back in time,” Penn commented, jarring Ray from the moment and the cloud of Cal-scent enthralling him. “He didn’t fight that nearly as much as he would have before.”

“Weird, right?” Cal turned toward her. “My current working theory, well, the three in the morning theory, is that at least half of my previous difficulties with Ray before he claimed me were because I was flirting—”

“Does sucking off popsicles in public count as mere flirting?” Penn interrupted with a grin that widened when Ray swung a startled look to her.

“—when I should have just used my words,” Cal continued, unbothered. “The other half was Ray’s prejudice and issues, though. So there still would’ve beenthathurdle.”

They both turned in tandem to consider Ray.

Cal tipped his head toward Penn. “Evidently, I should have courted him with something other than popsicles and lollipops.”

“Shocking,” Penn said dryly. “Who could’ve guessed that Ray, who gets people chasing him because he’s tall and a were and people haveideasabout weres, might have thought you were only interested in sex, and from such aromanticgesture as deep throating a cherry popsicle in front of half the station?”

Cal gasped in betrayal. “I can’t believe you never hinted!”

---