Catch A Tiger By The Tail (THIRDS 6)

“Sure.” Calvin headed for the male locker room. They might as well change and get dressed. The guys were going to need them to perform PSTC, and he’d rather not be half-naked while doing it. Having Ethan naked would be enough, especially since they’d have to wait until their shift ended to do anything more than a little kissing.

Dex entered the shower next to him and spoke up. “Listen, I have an idea for a tattoo, but I’m not so great at drawing. Actually, I’m kinda shit. I was thinking maybe you’d design it for me?” Dex asked hopefully. “I’ll pay you, obviously. Dollars, favors, snacks. You name it.”

Calvin peered at him as he removed his shower gel from his toiletry bag. “I’m not sure if I should ask what kind of favors you mean.”

Dex eyed him in return. “What kind of favors do you not want it to mean?”

“Sexual.”

Too many weird coincidences lately. Dex looked unimpressed.

“You and Sloane, man. I am not looking for a foursome.”

Calvin hummed. “Well, the evidence is kind of stacked against you.”

“No sexual favors. I can’t believe I have to clarify that,” Dex said with a sad shake of his head. He turned on the shower and tested the water’s temperature. “Favors like, I don’t know, pick up your laundry or something. We’ll figure it out later. So do you think you can do that for me?”

“You really want me to design your tattoo?” Calvin couldn’t help how stupidly happy that made him. He’d designed tattoos for plenty of people but never for a friend.

“Yeah. Hobbs keeps going on about how awesome you are, and we both know he’s not one to bullshit. Anyway, if you’re interested, I’d love to run some ideas by you. It would mean a lot to me.” Dex stopped to put his hand on his arm, the one carrying Sloane’s mark. It was pretty much all healed up, the scars from Sloane’s claw marks prominently displayed for all to see. “It’s for me, but really, it’s more for him. Something to remind him I’ll always be here when he needs me.”

Aw, Dex was such a sappy romantic. Calvin couldn’t help his smile. “Wow, that serious, huh?”

“Yeah,” Dex replied, his wide grin almost shy. “It’s kind of scary how much I love him, and this mark… it’s weird. It’s like when he’s not around, I can still feel him, and I miss him like crazy. Like everything I felt before has been amplified. Does that make sense?”

“Makes sense. I don’t know much about Therian marks, especially on Humans, but I know it’s pretty powerful stuff on Therians. That’s why you don’t see a lot of it happening. No offense, but I’m surprised Sloane went through with it. That’s pretty much as committed as you can get. It’s more binding than a marriage, which isn’t even very binding these days.”

Dex cocked his head thoughtfully as he rinsed off. “I’m still kind of surprised too. My dad was all up in arms about it because of what happened with Hudson and Seb.”

Calvin sighed. “Yeah, that’s messed up.” Marking was for life. These days there wasn’t a whole lot that was permanent. Tattoos could be removed, cosmetic surgery could repair and replace, but Therian marks? That shit went deep. Even if surgery fixed the scar, the mark was still there, under the skin. It was so uncommon it was still being studied and researched. A Human marked by a Therian was very rare.

“I can see why your dad would freak. I mean, if a Therian mate is no longer with their partner, it’ll be tough to find another mate, especially Therian. But they could still potentially be in a relationship with a Human. For Human mates, that list of potential partners drops even more. There’s a lot of stigma surrounding Humans who are marked. Not everyone is so open-minded. Mainly they tend to think it’s some kind of kink.”

“That’s because there’s still a lot of stupid out there.”

“Preaching to the choir,” Calvin grumbled. He’d been dealing with anti-Therianism most of his life.

Dex rubbed at his eyes and blinked. He stepped out from under the water and dried his face before rubbing his eyes again.

“You okay? Getting a little emotional?” Calvin teased.

“Fuck off,” Dex said with a laugh. “Dick. No. My eyes are itchy. I think I must have gotten something in them at some point. They keep itching.”

“You might want to get them checked out just in case. You know we’re always walking through gross shit out there.” Calvin cringed at the thought. Sometimes he didn’t want to know what they were stepping in or walking through when they were called out to Greenpoint. Their equipment could only protect them from so much. Suddenly he felt the need to use a little extra shower gel.

“Yeah. It started a few weeks ago, but it’s been getting worse. It’s not unbearable or anything, just annoying. Sloane looked, but he couldn’t see anything. It’s fine.”

“Okay, then. So tell me about this tattoo.”

Dex’s cheeks flushed, and he let out a shy laugh. “This is probably going to sound cheesy, but when he’s feeling uncertain, or the world’s coming down on him, I want him to look at my arm, see the artwork, know what’s underneath, and know without a doubt that I’m there to guide him back home.”

“That’s not cheesy,” Calvin assured him. It was incredibly sweet. “How about we hang out sometime soon, you pick a day, and we can get together to discuss ideas and styles. Then I can come up with some sketches, see what you think. Are we talking black and white, or color?”

“Color. I’m thinking something kind of old-school. From my wrist to my elbow.”

“You do realize that tattoos can get addictive. Once you’d have one, especially that size, you might want another.”

Dex held his arms out and wriggled his eyebrows. “I got plenty of room.”