Chapter Four
Kai didn’t mind getting his hands dirty. Years working as a farmhand had made him immune to that. His sleep had helped, but his body was still twitchy. He had the sense that he hadn’t spent long enough in animal form to really feel better.
Joe arrived back and joined him, grabbing a scrubbing brush, and tackling the examination table.
“So, I had a chat to Cade about the symptoms you were describing,” the beta said. “The shivering, the headaches. He agrees with me that they’re the kind of symptoms an omega suffers from when they’ve been alone too long.”
Kai paused in his scrubbing, looking up at Joe, unable to keep the confusion from his face.
“I don’t understand. You’re saying I’m sick because I’ve been alone? I’ve been by myself for years.”
Joe crouched down next to him on the floor. “Isolation sickness, yeah. It’s a lack of physical contact with other shifters and omega are much more susceptible to it, normally. You seem to have been managing it much better than most would.”
“It doesn’t feel so bad when I’m a fox,” Kai admitted. “But it never goes away.” He’d thought it was grief that had formed the ice that seemed lodged inside his heart. Was Joe right, was it something else?
“There is a treatment.” Joe’s words seemed a little hesitant and Kai guessed he wasn’t going to like what he heard next. Was it some awful tasting medicine? Would there be needles?
“What kind of treatment?”
“Give you what you need. Frequent physical contact with another shifter or shifters.”
Oh. “No needles?”
Joe chuckled. “Needle-free.”
“And when you say physical contact?”
“It’s a bit of trial and error, but Cade’s had it twice and both times it was cured by being held by someone.”
“Held… like hugged?”
“Exactly.”
“Um, I’m not sure I want to be hugged by strangers. Hilltop doesn’t even seem to want me here. They’re definitely not going to want me sticking around if I’m sick. Couldn’t I just continue as I am?”
Kai wished the problem would just go away. He’d lived with it for years, was it really such an issue?
Joe’s hand found his again. “You’re hurting. Let me help you.”
“You?” If it was Joe, that made it a little different but still… “You have a mate.”
“Who I’ve already spoken to and who understands.”
“We haven’t even known each other a day.”
Joe only smiled. “And usually I’m not this forward, but I like you and I like to help people. Besides, it’s just a hug.”
Kai felt himself start to tear up again and blinked rapidly, glancing away.
“Thanks, Joe,” he muttered, trying to get a hold of himself.
“Don’t mention it. And anyway, the longer you can spend in human form, the more time you can clean for,” the beta teased.
They got back to work, Kai putting extra effort in, his only way to repay Joe’s kindness right then.
Almost two hours later, Joe stood, hands on his hips, surveying the room. “Well, it’s clean. Which means it’s time for dinner.”
Kai wavered at that. “There’ll be other people there, right?”
They’d met a few as they walked through the den earlier but that was different to a whole room full of people.
“Not too many,” Joe said, his tone full of reassurance. “The dinner rush will be well over.”
Kai chewed on his lower lip. All he really wanted to do was shift again and curl up on his sleeping bag.
“If you don’t feel up to it, I can bring some food back for you,” Joe offered. “You look tired.”
He took the out. “I guess, between the traveling and the cleaning, I’m a little worn out. But you don’t need to bring me food, I ate loads at lunch.”
Joe smiled and shook his head. “You’ve more than earned it after all that work. Go lie down for a bit. I’ll be back.”
Kai went to the bathroom and washed up as best he could. He yearned for a proper shower but hadn’t managed to locate any towels. He’d have to ask Joe when the beta returned. He didn’t expect to see him for a while, he’d probably have dinner and spend some time catching up with the other shifters.
Settling down onto his sleeping bag, he stared at the ceiling, his hands folded over his stomach. It would be nice to be able to spend more than a few hours as a human. It had been hard to get work when he had to make tracks before even half a day had passed. And it wasn’t exactly something he could explain to a human employer.
The front door opening a few minutes later surprised him. He stayed where he was, wondering if it was someone come to look for Joe, but a second later the beta’s voice carried down the corridor toward him.
“Food’s here, Kai. Come and get it.”
Clambering to his feet, he followed the sounds of Joe moving around, tracking him to a small kitchen with a square table in the center.
Joe was unwrapping bowls of food and the smell made Kai’s mouth water. His stomach rumbled, contradicting his earlier assertion that he wasn’t hungry.
“Grab a plate, and a fork, and dig in,” Joe said, grabbing some glasses, and filling them with water.
Kai dragged an empty plate toward him and started ladling food onto it. There was so much to choose from, and he was suddenly starving. Joe joined him, digging in eagerly.
When Kai bit into some sort of flatbread, letting out a happy moan at the tastes that exploded across his tongue, Joe unsuccessfully tried to hide a snigger.
“Good, huh?”
Kai could only smile happily back. “Amazing. Much nicer than raw fish.”
The smile disappeared from Joe’s face. “You’re not talking about sushi, are you?”
He just shrugged. To reach the den, he’d done what he had to. Now that he was there, with Joe, he was starting to feel things might be okay. At least, it looked very much like he wouldn’t go hungry.
When they’d eaten their fill, Joe wrapped up the remaining food and stored it in the fridge. “We might feel like a snack later.”
Then he helped Kai find some towels to have a shower. It felt so good to be clean again. He lingered under the hot spray of water for longer than he meant to, before climbing out, drying off, and dressing.
When he stepped back into the kitchen, he found Joe sipping a cup of tea and joined him at the table. Only for Joe to set it down and turn to Kai, a look of determination on his face.
“I think maybe now is as good a time as any.”
“For what?” Kai wasn’t sure what was going on.
“To test out the isolation theory and start your treatment. And by that, I mean I think someone needs a hug.”
Kai felt himself flushing before Joe had even finished talking and inwardly groaned. This was going to be awkward. Not because of Joe, who was lovely and kind, but because of Kai himself and his emotions, which were all over the place.
“Come on.”
Joe held out a hand and Kai took it without hesitation, letting himself be tugged to his feet. He was led to a small room with a handful of bookshelves on one side and an old couch on the other.
“This is as comfortable as we’re going to get, I think.” Joe sank into the seat, patting the space beside him.
Kai was torn. On the one hand, he really, really wanted what Joe was offering. He’d been so alone for so long, the idea of someone holding him was enough to have him aching with the need to reach out to them. On the other, he barely knew Joe, he wasn’t sure how he’d react to the sudden shift from never touched to held. Something of his fear must have shown on his face because Joe sat forward, watching him with concern.
“Kai, it’s okay.”
He met Joe’s eyes, feeling calmer just looking at the beta.
“We don’t have to jump right into it.”
His cheeks heated, the shame at his foolishness threatening to swallow him.
“I guess, if I had been alone for years, the idea of being touched might be a little overwhelming.”
There was such understanding in Joe’s voice that the tears were back, spilling down his cheeks. He nodded, swallowing a sob. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Why don’t you sit down over there?” He gestured to the other side of the couch. “And I’ll stay over here.”
He sat, feeling a little silly at the distance between them. Joe stretched out his hand and let it rest between them on the couch.
“Whenever you’re ready,” the beta said encouragingly.
It was almost harder to have the onus on him to make the first move. But Joe started talking, telling him about the birth of Cade’s litter.
As the beta talked, Kai found himself drawn in, shifting closer to hear Joe’s soft-spoken words. As Joe reached the twist in the tale, the surprise fifth baby who wasn’t breathing, Kai gasped and reached for Joe’s hand, clasping it tightly as he waited to hear what happened. It was with a sigh of relief on hearing the story’s happy ending that Kai realized that he was sitting right beside Joe, still holding his hand.
“That’s it,” Joe said, “Just like that.”
The beta reached over his free hand and switched places with his other hand, lifting his arm up and across Kai’s shoulders.
Kai stiffened at first, unsure what to do. Joe started another story, about when he was a kid and lived in a wolf pack. It took a minute or two before Kai’s attention shifted to the story, drawn in by the sound of Joe’s voice. Before he’d even realized it, he found he’d relaxed against Joe, feeling a warmth everywhere their bodies touched, Joe’s hand still holding his. The beta’s arm around his shoulder had urged Kai closer, so his side and shoulder were pressed against the other man. He didn’t overthink it, focusing on the story Joe was telling and the feeling of being held.
Kai was fast asleep, his head on Joe’s chest. The beta did his best not to move and wake him. If you’d asked him an hour ago, he’d have said there was no way Kai would be comfortable enough to have Joe’s arm around his shoulder, let alone be sleeping against him.
At first, he hadn’t been. Stiff and anxious in a way that Joe wasn’t used to seeing in shifters. But Joe had started talking and that seemed to do the trick.
He wished Axel was there. The alpha could easily have carried Kai to bed, so the omega could sleep. Instead, Joe was going to have to wake him. But not just yet.
In the end, Kai woke himself, blinking in confusion. Joe expected he’d go tense but was happy to find he stayed relaxed.
“Huh?”
“You’re okay, Kai. It’s just me, it’s Joe. You fell asleep, that’s all.”
He kept his voice low and soothing, rewarded with a lop-sided grin.
“You were telling me stories.”
“I was.”
The grin faded. “And I fell asleep. Sorry.”
Joe squeezed Kai’s hand. “That’s okay. The stories were just to help you relax. If you fell asleep, it sounds like they worked.”
“What now?”
“Bed, I think. Do you need to change back?”
The omega turned his head to the side, considering his question.
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Okay, we’ll pick this up tomorrow then.”
“Tomorrow? We have to do this again?” It wasn’t lost on Joe that Kai had made no attempt to extricate himself.
“Yeah,” Joe replied. “You didn’t wind up in this state overnight, so it’ll take some time to fix things.”
“And you’re sure your mate doesn’t mind?”
“I’m sure. Physical contact like this is normal among shifters.”
Joe got them both up, heading to the bathroom to get ready for bed. By the time he returned to the bedroom, Kai was already a fox and curled up on his sleeping bag.
“Are you sure you’re warm enough down there?”
Kai lifted his head and looked at him, then curled back up again. Joe took that as a yes.