A Prideless Man by Amber Kell Page B

else?”
    “No, thank you,” James said in his calm voice.
    “No.” Lou didn’t look away from the human. He had the odd feeling if he turned his head, James would vanish. A ridiculous fantasy since the man couldn’t move that fast.
    “Well, I’ll be around if you need more coffee or decide to eat more than a muffin.” He heard her move away to greet another customer, his eyes never leaving the other man’s face.
    James carefully lifted his cup with both hands and took a sip before speaking. “I have Rheumatoid Arthritis. I’ve had it since I was very young.”
    “I thought only old people got that.” Fear, cold as ice, shivered up and down Lou’s spine.
    James shrugged. “Just lucky, I guess.” He gave a bitter smile as he pulled apart his muffin to eat it in tiny bits. Watching James’ wet tongue slide across his lips to remove stray crumbs momentarily sidetracked Lou’s thought processes. Imagining the human’s hot moist mouth on other parts of his body almost had the shifter coming in his pants.
    For the life of him he couldn’t figure out why. Although cute, the human wasn’t as gorgeous as some of the town’s residents, but he pulled at Lou more than any shifter or human he’d ever met. If he could pinpoint the reason maybe he could get rid of his fascination. Looking at James’ blushing cheeks, he wondered if he wanted to.
    “Does the medication help?
    James swallowed his bite, unwittingly drawing the shifter’s attention to his neck. Lou swallowed the growl his bear urged him to make. He wanted to bite the human’s long lean A PRIDELESS MAN
    Amber Kell
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    throat and mark him so others would know this man was his. He refocused when James spoke again. “It takes the edge off. The only way to completely get rid of the pain is to take a lot of medication and I don’t like how it makes me feel.” Lou fought the urge to tell him what to do. Never sick a day in his life, he didn’t feel qualified to give advice to the younger man. Instead he asked the question preying on his mind since James came into town. “What is it you do for a living?” He’d asked around town, but no one knew the source of the human’s income.
    “Right now I teach colleges classes online.” James rubbed his hands together as he spoke.
    “Do your hands bother you?”
    He shrugged. “Sometimes. Once I’m typing for a while they usually loosen up. There’s only so much physical activity I can do. I can’t stand on my feet long enough to teach a class at a university.”
    He didn’t understand about physical limitations, but he imagined it must be hard to be young and so aware of your weakness. With the moon close to full he had more energy than he knew what to do with. He wished he could pass some of his excess energy to James.
    A phone rang close by. James reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small cell phone. When he looked at the display he paled.
    “I—I’ve got to go,” he stuttered. Before Lou could protest, James threw some money on the table and left. Bewildered, he watched the human hobble out of the diner.
    Lou’s protective instincts rushed forward. Someone upset his man. A low growl built in his chest.
    “Scare him off already?” Kelly walked up and placed Lou’s bill on the table.
    It took him a moment to pull back his bear in order to calm enough to answer. “No. I don’t think it was me.” Strange, most humans were wary of bear shifters because of their size and power even in human form. James looked about six feet tall but was extremely thin due to his poor health. Lou could snap him like a toothpick. However, when James saw the shifter in the diner his scent hadn’t changed. If anything he became calmer when he saw Lou.
    Intrigued, he watched James through the diner window talking into his phone. Tension filled the human’s body as he leaned on his cane and appeared to be shouting into the receiver. Concerned, Lou threw money on the table and left the restaurant. No one