Mateless and Home Bound

Chapter 38: Hooky

Meeting after meeting.

Patrol after patrol.

Reggie loved that he was able to be a part of keeping this pack safe. But he longed for the days when they weren't so worried about all of these enemies. He wanted to go back to all the silly antics that Sage would do. He could just walk into a room he was in and get ready for a whole new activity.

He was sure that Sage was still doing a bunch of random things. He had been hearing that his mate was keeping a lot of the pack members who weren't able to do much occupied. He was great at calming people down and bringing out the fun in everyone. He just had that charm about him.

He missed it.

He had the nights when he was off from patrol. But that was all the time he had with him anymore. He could barely talk to him when they were finally alone, either, because they were both so tired by the end of the day that it was too difficult to keep their eyes opened. It brought him so much peace just having him in his arms that he just melted into the bed and fell into a deep slumber.

Any free time that he had was spent with him. He knew that Charlie said his father was trying to talk to him, but he just couldn't deal with him right then. He was so stressed from work and trying to wrack his brain to figure out what was going on in that forest that he rarely talked to anyone other than warriors or the council. They had been doing meetings at least once a day now. Every time someone found any new information, it would be discussed by the entire council.

This stuff couldn't have happened at a worse time. He had just admitted his feelings to Sage, who was still grieving for his grandmother. Things were supposed to be getting better, not worse. But every time they turned their heads, something new popped up for them to figure out.

Now it was a human hunter that had helped Jane. Yet another new stranger that they had no idea about. He wasn't even on their territory, but it was strange that he had helped her against those other hunters.

"Do you have to go?" the dirty blond mumbled. His arms were still clinging onto him as he tried to lift himself off the bed. It was too easy to fall back into that man. All he had to do was bury his face into his neck and he could easily fall right back to sleep.

"Not if you tell me to stay," he kissed Sage's cheek. "I could feign being sick."

"I doubt that'll work," he leaned into him more. All it did was make it easier for him to slip his hands under the man to hold him tighter. He absolutely loved just how perfectly the man fit in his arms. He was his matching puzzle piece.

"It might," he sighed. "They've worked me hard enough."

"And you think that doctor isn't going to come in here?" Sage asked. "I've heard that he's pretty bossy."

"He's the pack's nanny when they're sick," Reggie laughed. "He will defend the ones he's trying to heal with an iron fist."

"And what if he finds out that you aren't actually sick?"

Reggie felt sick. But it wasn't a cold or anything like that. He had just worn himself out working so much. His muscles were worn from all the running and fighting. And his mind was a mush of information that could barely seem to add two plus two. It had been a week of nonstop work with about five hours of sleep each night.

"Just tell me to take the day off," he groaned. If he had to try and tell himself to take the day off, he'd just convince himself to get out of that lovely bed instead. He was good at torturing himself.

"Fine," Sage laughed. "Do you want me to tell your cousin myself that you aren't feeling well, or do you want to do it?"

"If you do it then he'll think something is really wrong and come running in here," Reggie smiled. There was something about Sage's laugh that was like a personal shot of dopamine. It was a great stress reliever too.