Page 14 of Pooch Planet

“I dunno.” Shep followed right behind him.

Benji examined his limited shirt choices. He wanted to look as nice as he could, just in case—Gods, I’m an idiot. He sighed, then realized that Shep’s two-word response was all he going to get. Benji whirled around in aggravation.

Shep met his gaze. “What?”

“That’s all you have to say. ‘I dunno’. How does this help me?”

Shep narrowed his eyes again. “What is it you need help with exactly?”

It was no use. He’d never been able to hide one thing from his friend, so what was the point in trying now? But he couldn’t face the Antoine situation without some help. He tossed his favorite cream-colored shirt with the embroidered leaves at the neckline onto his bed. Benji crossed his arms and mentally jumped off the cliff edge into the Shep pool of scrutiny.

“I need to know how easy it is to differentiate between the trembles of excitement and the trembles of fear.”

Shep’s mouth made an ‘o’. “Ooh, who is it? Tell me, tell me, tell me.”

Benji smacked his forehead. “Can I just get an answer before you grill me?”

Shep shrugged. “How the Hades should I know? I mean, all Sport said to me is that he was having a nice, quiet dinner with Ralph, trying to decide if maybe he should go ahead and get induced—because Ralph’s so hot and everything—when bam. He started trembling. At first, he wasn’t sure either, but that night after he went home, they stopped. Then the next day? More trembles. Next thing you know, he was getting slick all the time and writhing on the ground in agony.”

Shep shrugged again. “That was it.” He eyed Benji with a sly grin. “Fess up. Who’s got you all a tremblin’?”

Benji wondered if he was about to make a huge mistake. “Antoine.”

Shep gasped. “The asshole?”

“Grrr.” Benji glared at his friend. “I told you, he’s not an asshole!”

“But…he’s a gargoyle.”

Benji rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah. There’s that.” He glanced at Shep. “Have you ever heard of a dog shifter who had a gargoyle fated mate?”

“I barely hear about them at all, and before today, I only ever saw one when they came in a couple years ago from the Metropolis to bring some emergency supplies. You know, when we had the floods.” Shep clapped his hands together. “Okay, let’s go through this from the top. I’m sure there must be another reason why you thought he triggered your excitement trembles.”

Benji shared his story while Shep nodded sagely, his eyes squinting as if he were a scientist trying to assess the results of a complicated experiment.

“Hmm. Interesting.” Shep pinched his scruffy chin between his thumb and index finger. “It’s a quandary all right.”

Benji wrung his hands, biting his lip as his worry grew. Now that he’d confessed everything out loud, the likelihood that Antoine had triggered his heat seemed even more plausible.

“M-maybe it was the alcohol. You know, because I drank so much beer before I went on patrol.”

Shep smirked and shook his head. “Nah. I doubt it. I’ve seen plenty of fated mates discover each other when they were plastered off their asses.”

Benji frowned. “I wasn’t plastered. A little buzzed maybe, but not stumbling around and walking into trees.”

“Then that reinforces my point. You weren’t suffering from a beer tremble.”

Benji groaned then flopped onto the bed, falling on his back. “This is hopeless. I can’t very well go up to him and ask. I don’t even know if gargoyles have fated mates.”

The sound of munching reached his ears and Benji shot up. Sure enough, there was Shep stuffing his face, but this time, it was with Benji’s breakfast kibble. How he could eat it dry, Benji would never know.

“How can you eat at a time like this?”

“It helps me think.” Crunch, crunch, crunch. “Hey, I got it!” Shep tossed the still open box on the counter, bits of fruity kibble flying everywhere. “Let’s buzz Princess and tell her you have important info on the killings and need to meet with Antoine at the Bone & Tail right away.”

“Why would I tell him to meet me at the bar? Why wouldn’t I just ask him to meet me here?”

Shep rolled his eyes. “How am I supposed to watch you guys together if you’re here?”

Shep tossed Benji’s communicator in his direction, and Benji barely caught it before it crashed to the floor.

“Careful! This thing is first generation and barely working as it is.”

Like everything else, Benji couldn’t afford much when it came to anything beyond basic necessities.

Shep grinned. “Sorry. I just can’t wait to find out if you have a gargoyle for a mate. Won’t Butch be surprised.”

“You know, instead of getting all worked up at the gossip potential of my situation, you could be more sympathetic to how this makes me feel.”

“Hot and bothered? Panting and drooling? From the way you described this guy, the minute you get next to him at the bar you’ll be slicking up the joint.”

“You’re gross, you know that? Really, really gross.”

Shep snickered. “That doesn’t make it any less true.”

Benji sighed, his shoulders dropping as he punched in Princess’ call signal.

The little jerk has a point.