Timothy (2 page)

“I wish we could have stayed in Ulaanbaatar City for a few days. It was like an oasis in a desert. I’m telling you, the hotel clerk there wanted me. He was undressing me with his eyes.”

Tim tuned Dane out for the most part. He’d catch it if his friend said anything important, but Dane, for all his brilliant intellect, loved to babble and gossip like a star-struck teenager. Sometimes Tim wished they could have made their attempt at being partners work. Dane was his opposite in every way but intellect, when it came to personality and looks.

Tim was tall and lanky, his hair long and a dirty blond. Usually it was a tangled mess despite how often he brushed it. Tim had considered doing something to it to make it look not so boring a colour, but he just didn’t have enough vanity to deal with it.

His eyes were a dull shade of blue, in his opinion. They weren’t a vivid colour like his cousin Oscar’s. Sometimes Tim thought of himself as a washed-out version of Oscar. He’d always compared himself to Oscar, he supposed, since they were the only two in the family who didn’t have dark auburn hair and green or brown eyes.

He’d been teased about his features, called a girl by more than one asswipe when he’d been in school, even a couple of times in college, although once he’d hit his Masters’ degree stupid things like that had ceased happening. Dane, despite being on the short side, was bulky with muscles, and had the chiselled jaw and masculine features Tim had always envied.

Kind of like the sexy stud Dane had pointed out, actually, although the stud’s masculinity seemed to be so apparent Tim thought he could almost touch it.

A shiver trailed down his spine, an imaginary, icy finger. Tim stopped, his instincts kicking in. Goose bumps prickled his skin. Dane kept chatting, although now he was managing to converse in one of the Mongolian dialects, most likely Khalkha Mongol, or maybe he was speaking Turkic, Tim wasn’t sure. Languages weren’t his forte. He was damned lucky not to mangle English too badly.

His lack of language skills didn’t matter, not when he looked across the dirt roadway into a pair of eyes so dark brown they appeared black. Maybe they were, because Tim, with his enhanced shifter abilities, couldn’t detect a hint of any lighter colour in the man’s irises, even though he’d removed his sunglasses.

There it was, one of the very things that made Tim have to keep himself apart. His ability to see and hear and scent things that a regular human being couldn’t, were parts of himself he couldn’t share with anyone other than family. It made having a lover difficult, and Tim had spent more time alone than he’d have liked.

Something about those dark eyes brought a heat to Tim’s groin, spreading down to his cock and balls, arousing him terribly. He didn’t understand it, considering there was nothing encouraging in the man’s expression. Indeed, Tall, Dark and Handsome sure appeared to be angry, very, very angry. His full lips were twisted into an almost painful looking sneer, and for some reason Tim wanted to laugh at him. Or lie down and roll onto his back. Neither were wise choices.

Tim didn’t look away from TDH. He liked the acronym for the man, especially since TDH could stand for Total Dick Head as well as Tall Dark and Handsome, and considering the glare and the sneer, yeah, TDH worked in both respects.

What the hell was he doing, standing there in some kind of testosterone-infused visual equation of a pissing match? He didn’t have time for stupidity like this. Tim turned away and realised Dane had shut up finally and was staring at him with a knowing look.

“What?” Tim grumbled. He was not blushing. He was just hot, even if it was only about sixty degrees Fahrenheit. They’d been walking, and he wasn’t anywhere near being used to the altitude or atmosphere or travelling halfway across the world.

“He’s coming this way,” Dane said, hissing the s’s and sprinkling Tim’s forearm with spit. “Whoops. Sorry about the spontaneous spit shower. But he’s coming, seriously.”

Tim’s stomach dipped. He was surprised he didn’t hear it go
splat
on the ground. What was wrong with him? He grabbed Dane’s wrist. “Come on, I don’t think he appreciated us checking him out. We aren’t in a gay-friendly country, remember.” Tim sure did, and he didn’t dare to glance back, instead propelling Dane forward with a shove. “Let’s get out of here!”

Tim had never been the panicky sort, but for some reason, he felt as if he were being stalked. It was creepy, being the prey instead of the hunter. Tim didn’t care for it, yet his cock hardened and his heartbeat sped up. His pulse rushed through his veins and a weird euphoric sensation rolled over him.

Jesus Christ, I must be hallucinating! Sleep, sleep and drink lots of water and I’ll feel better.

He hoped so, anyway. Distractions and carelessness were dangerous, and being worn out could certainly make each of those more likely. Tim weaved around several people grouped by a doorway. The sound of their voices was an unfamiliar mixture of tones and tempos, yet the language they spoke was oddly musical to Tim’s ears.

But he was no less aware of the man he thought of as TDH behind them. Tim would bet every fine hair on his body was standing up and vibrating from the sensation of being watched. Tim tried to focus on hearing TDH, but there was too much noise with the group of people he’d just passed, and he wasn’t downwind, so there was no scenting his pursuer.

“Why are we running away from Mr Gorgeous again?” Dane huffed.

“Why is he chasing us?” Tim retorted. “Didn’t I just remind you about this not being the most gay-friendly place?” He lengthened his strides and wished Dane wasn’t with him. If he was alone, he’d confront TDH. Tim was, due to his shifter nature, quite a lot stronger than the average male, and if worst came to worst, he could let his beast loose, although shifting wasn’t a speedy thing for him. And it hurt, which certainly didn’t encourage him to do it more often. It was wholly possible he could be killed mid-shift, so he’d not do it unless he absolutely had no other choice.

Tim scowled and darted a glance over his shoulder as they turned down a street leading away from their hotel.

Dane started to dig his heels in. “Hey! We need to go—”

“I know where we need to go,” Tim growled, jerking Dane’s arm and propelling him back into moving. “I don’t want TDH to figure out where we’re at.”

Dane’s laughter had a slightly hysterical tinge to it and Tim glowered at his friend. “What?”

Dane shook his head. “How many hotels do you think there are in this place? And TDH? Really? Tall dark and handsome—”

“Or Total Dick Head,” Tim snarled. “Fuck!”

“Exactly.” Dane didn’t slow down, though. “That guy, whoever he is, looks kind of like a native, or at least more like one than we ever will. I doubt he’s gonna have to guess where we are, or who we are, or who we’re with. He probably just has to ask someone who’s seen us. Or he could watch us from God knows where.”

Tim knew Dane was right. He and Dane stood out in their Western clothes as well as their different physical appearances. They weren’t the only people here not native to Mongolia, but they were the only ones he saw in the nearby area. If their stalker was from here, he probably had friends or knew shortcuts Tim and Dane would never find.

Added to that, the organisation they were working with had established a base camp here almost a decade ago. It wasn’t an unknown entity in Dalanzadgad. The Snow Leopard Conservation Programme had been established here by Dr Marquat years ago, and was still running strong.

Idiot. Dumb, narrow-sighted idiot!
Tim scolded himself some more as they turned left. Why were they even bothering? Dane was right. If Tim hadn’t been so beat, maybe he’d have realised the same things Dane had.

Right, Tim thought scathingly. He never had been any kind of brilliant, and yes, he had his PhD, but it was due more to very hard work and determination than his IQ. Tim wasn’t stupid, though. He wasn’t. He just tended to be very focused, and wasn’t blessed with a lot of common sense. Book smart, he’d heard it called, but Tim didn’t even think of himself in such a manner. It’d damn near killed him getting his degrees.

Tim was pulled out of his self-chastisement when Dane nearly yanked his arm out of its socket. “Stop!”

Like he had a choice, short of dragging Dane off? Tim span around and tried not to appear as freaked out as he was beginning to realise he felt. He didn’t see TDH anywhere.

“Yeah, I was trying to tell you, but you were in the flee-zone,” Dane huffed. “He quit following us.”

“Maybe he just got a kick out of fucking with us.” Tim didn’t see TDH but he felt him still, like a prick of fine needles over his skin. He looked until his eyes ached, straining to see a hint of the stranger. He didn’t catch even a glimpse of the man.

“What if he’s waiting at our hotel to kill us or something?” Dane whispered, his voice laced with mock-fear. “Ohhhh, maybe he is going to nab us and make us his sex-slaves!”

“Shut up, Dane.” Tim fought against a grin at his friend’s ridiculous imaginings. “Besides, I doubt being abducted would ever be fun. That’s one of those fantasies best left as—”

“No no no no,” Dane interrupted, wagging a finger at Tim. “Don’t drag reality into it! Nothing bad can happen to us in my fantasy! It’s all consensual, and everyone comes until we pass out.”

Tim snorted, despite his best efforts not to. Dane didn’t need the encouragement he’d get if he knew how entertaining Tim found him. “Right. Well. Let’s head back to our room and see if we have to fend off any stalker—I mean, valiant hero.” Tim thought he did pretty good spinning his own little piece of the tale, but Dane’s burst of laughter told him otherwise.

Well, what did he expect? He’d never been the most imaginative of people, either. He didn’t have the talent for making beautiful things from his imagination like his cousin Levi did. No, what Tim did was plod along resolutely, always keeping his eye on the task at hand. Bland hair, bland eyes, bland body. Of course he had the personality to match.

No wonder he didn’t have a boyfriend. He was about as exciting as a bowl of oatmeal. Not the sugared kind either, but just the plain, mushy, beige stuff, all unflavoured and tasteless.

And whose fault is my uneventful plodding through life so far? Is it fate, destiny, the hand of some god—or is it my own fault? What do I believe?
It was a startlingly spiritual question for Tim to ask himself. He was floored by it, actually, although he was careful not to slow down or give any hint of his deep thoughts to Dane. It wouldn’t do to hand his best bud any ammunition to tease him with.

Tim couldn’t let the question go, however, and he pondered it the entire walk back to their hotel even as he kept an eye out for TDH. Tim told himself he was relieved not to see the man again, but the hot ball of disappointment in his gut called him a liar. He’d just ignore that reaction. It was a silly one to have, considering how he’d felt out there earlier—stalked, hunted, vulnerable. Like prey.

So why did it make him so horny he couldn’t draw a deep breath?

Chapter Two

Two days later, Tim hadn’t caught sight of TDH again. He was relieved, really, he was. His heart went a little spastic on him every time he saw a tall dark haired man with sunglasses perched on top of his head. Surely the reaction was only because he was so glad when he ascertained the tall guy wasn’t TDH.

His dick just got hard from the adrenaline rush, there was no other explanation for it. Or maybe there was. It could be one of the many unfamiliar scents in the air, as sensitive as he was to such things. There were a lot of smells Tim couldn’t identify here in the country of ‘Blue Sky’, as he’d heard Mongolia called. And that was a surprise, in a way. Had he not done some research on Mongolia, he’d have thought it was one big snowy, miserably cold place. It wasn’t, though, at least not this time of year. Granted, it didn’t get anywhere near hot where they were, but he could wear T-shirts. Shorts, too, if he wasn’t sitting around slacking off.

As if.
Dr Marquat had kept Tim and Dane running. The man was brilliant, absolutely, and for an old-ish guy, he didn’t seem to require much sleep. Tim was still exhausted, jet lag apparently determined to kill him, or at least wear him down to a nub. Dane was as effervescent as always, the asshole.

“Dr Trujillo, if I can have your attention please?”

Tim jerked his head up, feeling like a fool and half fearing he was about to get lectured, but Dr Marquat merely raised his eyebrows up until they were nearly touching his hairline. “It can be difficult to adjust to such a drastic change, Dr Trujillo. I wouldn’t snap at you over your body’s failure to perform a super human feat. I wanted to curl up and sleep for a week when I first arrived to Mongolia, but…” Dr Marquat cleared his throat, hesitated for a few moments then seemed to work past whatever made him pause. “Well, I met my incredible wife, Lona, right near this very city. I was definitely invigorated.”

Tim began praying that Dr Marquat wasn’t going to get into details or go off on a tangent. Dane shifted in his seat and shot Tim a ‘Don’t let him start!’ look of desperation. Dane was raring to get out in the field, as it were, and out of the small office they were currently in.

“Don’t panic, Dr Calderon, I don’t plan on sharing the intimate details of my sex life with you.”

Dane choked on gods knew what, likely his own shock, while Tim tried not to burst out snickering.

Dr Marquat looked quite pleased with himself as he leant back in his chair. The springs squeaked when he propped his feet on his desk. “Look, Drs, I hope we can all get on well, otherwise it will be a long twelve weeks. I’ve never been one to stand on a self-made pedestal and scowl down at the underlings. In fact, I’m actually terrified of heights, which is why I spend more time on the study here than in the Himalayas.”

Tim perked up on hearing the mountains mentioned. He’d hoped to study the snow leopards there, but the only openings had been in this part of Mongolia, and turning down an opportunity to work with Dr Marquat would have been insane.