by Marcy Jacks
"I thought so," Chris said.
He needed to take his mind off this. He couldn't believe this was happening. He didn't want to believe it was happening, but here he was.
"Are you sure about this? About someone coming after me?"
Declan nodded. "Hundred percent."
Chris winced. "All right, is that because of your military training? How do you know a hundred percent?"
Declan sighed, his hands gripping the wheel tight. "It's my fault. My…I got a call. Some people from my old pack were trying to get in contact with me. Trying to bring everyone back together again."
Chris blinked. "They want you back in the pack? I didn't know you were ever not in the pack."
Declan nodded, and he was once again in that strange realm where Chris could hardly read him.
"Why do you think I went to military school?"
"Oh, uh, I don't know."
"Liar. Why did you think I went?" He sounded curious, as if he always assumed Chris would know but now was being hit with the reality of the situation.
Considering Chris hadn't known he was a wolf soul, and the talk he and Mr. Zeigler had, he was starting to feel like a straight-up moron.
"I thought that child services had come and taken you and the other kids your age away. It didn't make sense to me that your pack would up and leave like that without warning or reason."
Declan blinked his eyes wide. "Huh."
"I'm sorry." He knew what he just said might have been seen as insulting as hell, but it was what he'd thought back then.
"I suppose that would make more sense to a kid than the alternative."
"Which would be…
He was getting really sick of not knowing anything.
Declan pressed his lips together. His eyes stayed red, but they looked exceptionally hard.
"I turned them in."
Chris waited for more. He didn't get it.
"Turned them in? Who? Your parents?" Pity swelled within him. "Jesus, Declan, were they hurting you? You could have come and stayed with me. My parents would have let you."
Declan shook his head before Chris had the chance to finish. "They weren't hurting me. It wasn't anything like that. I turned them in for planning on bringing a human into their midst so they could turn him or kidnap him, whatever it was exactly they wanted to do to you. I didn't know the details, but I was getting scared with all the talking and planning there was."
Declan was silent for a brief moment.
"I was running out of excuses to not lure you back home." He glanced at Chris briefly before turning his attention back to the road. "I loved you, even then. I knew you were mine, but we were kids. I wasn't thinking of it like a real mate would. I just wanted you safe, and I wanted you to myself. I loved my parents, and I didn't want to let you go either. I called the police on them and reported them for conspiring to kidnap a human."
Chris shivered. "Holy shit. Are you serious?" Chris thought about that. "No one was arrested."
Declan shook his head. "No. It's very hard to keep a secret in a wolf pack. Everyone can hear everything, and when I was on the phone, one of the other kids overheard me and told their parents.
"Having humans around us was the last thing we wanted. We were out of there in minutes. Some came back for their belongings, but we never went back. I was shipped off to military school for what I did, but instead of going back more loyal to my alpha, I stayed in school, went on active duty the first chance I got…I'm happy where I am. My team was my pack, and my commander became my alpha. That was more than I could have ever hoped for."
And it sounded like such a happy ending for him, but Chris knew what came next in that story.
Years of separation and, even when he and Declan did get back in touch with each other, a few more years until they were both single at the same time.
And now this.
Chris hated this.
"So your pack found out that you're hanging around with me again?"
"My father did."
Chris tensed. "Your father?"
Declan nodded. "He was one of the shifters who wanted to bring you in. I got a call from him. Apparently, he also wanted to meet me at the airport, but then you were there, and he recognized your scent."
Chris suddenly felt a little less worried that the boogeyman was about to reach out and grab him through the window.
"Isn't this all right? If this is your father, maybe we can talk to him."
"That's what he said. He said he wants to talk, wants to congratulate us on our mating."
"Oh, well, isn't that okay? That sounds all right."
Declan briefly shut his eyes. He looked as though he were searching for an awful lot of patience.
"Baby, that's what shifters say when they want to put you in a false sense of security. You have no idea how many times I've seen my own pack, and others, use that kind of excuse to get someone in close. A defecting family member, a shifter who lives in another pack who's been trash-talking someone on the other side."
Declan looked at him. "The excuse is always the same. A peace talk, a celebration, or a family reunion. He was one of the shifters who wanted to get you into the pack, and he was the most pissed when he found out I'd called the police on the pack. I am not letting him near you."
They pulled up in the small parking lot of Chris' building. Declan put the car in park and looked at him.
"Promise me that if he gets ahold of your number and calls you that you won't try to meet him. Trust me on this. I need you to trust me."
Chris didn't know much of anything that was going on, but he did know he'd never seen Declan like this.
So he nodded. "All right."
Declan waited. "All right?"
Chris nodded. "I don't…I don't know how things were in your pack. You said you were trying to protect me. I believe you. If you say your dad is dangerous, then I'll believe you, too."
Declan looked at him, and the relief on his normally stoic face was so open and obvious that it threw Chris for a loop before the other man leaned in and kissed him.
This time Chris didn't have to worry about standing in front of the building where he worked. He was free to lean in and kiss his mate back. He could wrap his arms around Declan's neck and enjoy himself. He opened his mouth, tilting his head to the side a little, encouraging Declan's lips to open with his chin.
Chris pushed his tongue forward, wanting to taste the other man, wanting to comfort him. He didn't want to be the one taking from Declan and giving nothing back.
He could be an alpha, and a super sexy soldier, but even a guy like Declan needed to be taken care of from time to time.
That was what Chris told himself as he pushed himself into the other man's lap. Declan had to push the seat back to give Chris the room he needed to settle down.
There was no way they could fuck right here, but that didn't stop Chris from licking deep into Declan's mouth and grinding his cock against the other man's.
Declan groaned. Chris' groin tightened as the pleasure hit him immediately.
He thought he would have to get himself a little more into the mood, but it seemed that the adrenaline rush of thinking someone might be out there to kidnap him made him hot for his mate.
"We shouldn't do this here," Declan said.
Chris kissed him again, nodding. "I know. We should go inside." He teasingly bit down on Declan's bottom lip.
He wanted to put his mouth and tongue on every inch of this guy.
Might as well do that inside since the windows of his car were not tinted.
Declan killed the engine, and they got out. Chris followed the other man through the driver's side door, smiling the whole way. Declan held his hand tight as they rushed to the front doors of Chris' building, until Declan suddenly stopped again.
And Chris was fast getting used to this sudden stance.
The air of tension around him as Declan realized something wasn't quite right.
Declan sniffed the air.
“Do you smell someone?”
Declan nodded. “Stay close.”
Chris swallowed, his inner coward coming out to play. “You sure I shouldn’t just stay out here? What if it’s dangerous in there?”
He should want to go up there with Declan, to help him in case there was an ambush waiting, and he was ashamed of himself for not wanting to, but at the same time, he knew himself. He knew he wasn’t strong, and Chris sure as hell knew that his alpha mate who had experience in the military was probably better off without Chris getting in the way.
Declan shook his head, however. “No. I won’t leave you alone out here. Enemies could be waiting for a chance for you to be alone.”
Oh shit. Well, that seemed like reason enough for Chris to follow his mate inside.
The elevator was broken, but luckily, there were only five floors. Chris lived on the fourth.
It was a pain in the ass whenever he happened to have a haul of groceries, but it was still manageable.
Right now, every step up those stairs was torture.
Chris always knew he was a little eccentric.
It was one of the complaints from more than one of his exes. Not even just because he liked to keep the toilet paper hanging a certain way, went nuts if there was no cap on his toothpaste, and had to keep the eggs in their designated spot in the fridge.
He was a bit of a freak about the way he wanted his home to be. There could be messes. There could be a little disorder, but it had to be his own kind of chaos.
He liked quiet. He went to bars whenever he had to, to socialize, and, occasionally, meet up with a friend. Chris was an introvert. He was a game nerd, and he was small and weak.
Now he was climbing the stairs to his apartment, waiting for some evil shifter to pop out of nowhere to get him while clutching at the back of Declan’s shirt.
If there was anything in the world to make Declan rethink his claim on Chris, then this was definitely going to be it.
They made it up the stairs without incident, and just when Chris was starting to believe that everything might have been all right, he saw that his front door was wide open.
It didn’t look as though Declan had left it open when he’d left either. The door frame was broken. Someone had kicked it in.
Chris could see the boot print on the old wood.
“Holy shit.”
“Stay here.”
Chris would have yelled at the man if the situation hadn’t been so serious.
Oh, great. Now he wanted Chris to stay behind, right when Chris had gotten used to the idea of being closer to him.
Of using him for protection. Now Chris didn’t want to be more than three feet away from him.
“Maybe I should stay close to you.”
“Stay in the hallway. If someone comes out, call for me.”
That sounded an awful lot like Declan wanted Chris to scream for him if there was a problem. Chris was a huge wuss, but he didn’t think he wanted to do any screaming for anyone or anything.
He did have some pride to speak of.
But he was going to put that away for a bit, because Declan looked like he was serious as he pointed at the floor, a clear command to stay.
Chris so wanted to argue with that. He wasn’t a wolf, not a soldier either, but considering the situation, he’d have to deserve to die to argue with the guy who knew what he was doing when there was a dangerous situation unfolding.
So he stayed where he was.
Chris leaned against the wall. That seemed like the important thing to do in that moment.
At least that way, no one could sneak up behind him and he could keep a proper lookout along the rest of the hallway.
All the time, his heart slammed.
One of his neighbors across the hall opened their door, with a small bag of trash clearly meant for the chute.
He looked at Chris, and Chris looked back at him.
“Everything all right?”
Chris shrugged. “Yeah, giant roaches, you know? The inspector needed to get in there.”
“So he put his boot through your door?”
“Gotta get rid of them fast, or they infest the building.”
Chris didn’t know why he came up with that stupid reasoning. Telling the neighbor he had roaches seemed, suddenly, about a thousand times worse than just explaining there was a break-in.
The guy dealt with his garbage and, all the while still giving Chris a look that said he wasn’t buying it, went back into his own apartment.
Chris waved when the door finally closed, and he was able to breathe a sigh of relief.
His neighbor was gone.
He didn’t have nosy neighbors, but in that two minutes, it felt as though he couldn’t get rid of the guy.
This was going to be hard. He needed to get his shit together.
“Declan? Are you all right in there?”
“You can come on in.”
Declan still sounded on edge and alert. Chris wasn’t so sure he should go in, or if he wanted to.
He didn’t know what he wanted when there might be shifters out there who wanted a piece of him.
Still, he went inside.
After realizing he couldn’t lock the door, and he could barely shut it, Chris focused on closing the door as much as he was able and dragging the chairs from the kitchen in front of it to hold it in place.
His landlord was going to kill him for this. He just knew it.
“Declan?”
Declan came out of the bedroom where they had spent the night, and Chris was shocked by the look of him. Not just his red eyes but his face had changed. He had a snout this time. His human ears were gone, replaced with the pointed triangular ones of a wolf.
He could have been an anime characters but in that moment, as the darkness in Chris’ apartment continued to deepen, he looked almost ethereal.
Strange. It wasn’t like this was the first time Chris had seen the man in his wolf shape. Or maybe it was. Now that he thought about it, the last time Chris had seen Declan like this…
They had been kids.
“Are you all right?”
Chris swallowed hard, nodding. “I’m fine. Just nervous.”
“Your heart is pounding. Let me get you something to drink.”
Still looking like a wolf man, Declan went to the kitchen.
Chris could barely move.
The man actually had a tail poking out from the top of his jeans.
He’d clearly had to lower them a little around his waist, and Chris smiled to think of the proud male having to do that.
He went into the kitchen to join him.
“Did you smell him?” he asked, already knowing the answer.
Declan plugged in the kettle. “Yes. My father was here. Along with someone else.”
An animalistic growl escaped Declan’s throat. The top of his hair suddenly spiked down the middle. Did his hair actually get longer when he’d changed like this?
“I should have kept better track of them. They will smell me on you, so that will offer you some level of protection, but if they’re angry enough with me…”
Declan didn’t finish that. Chris didn’t want him to. He didn’t want to have to think about any of this. He was so done with all of this.
“We should go to my parents’ house.”
Declan looked at him. “That might not be such a wise idea, involving them.”
“Do you think they aren’t involved? Will your dad really ignore them if he knows he can use them?”
Declan lifted a brow, turning back to the boiling kettle. “That’s a good point.”
He was quiet as he made the tea. Chris didn’t often drink it, but he always kept loads of it in his apartment.
“They won’t judge you. I told them ever since you and I met up again that you were around. They always knew.”
“They did?”
“Well, I mean…” Heat rushed through Chris’ body. “They�
��re going to have to learn that you and I are together, but they know I’m hanging around with you at the very least.”
Chris got serious, thinking of someone breaking in like this where his mother slept and cooked. What would happen if they surprised her and she tried fighting back?
“I want my parents to be safe. I want to warn them.”
Declan nodded. “That’s fair enough. We can phone the police and then them. Get the proper authorities involved.”
Declan was silent for another few seconds. He clearly struggled with this, and when he next spoke, Chris understood why.
“I need to find a pack to join. Some place that has a healthy relationship with the humans.”
Chris didn’t know what that meant. “Does that mean you want to take me with you?”
Declan smiled at him, bringing his cup over. “I wouldn’t leave you behind for the world. Drink this.”
Chris put the hot mug between his cold hands. Declan covered his hands with his own.
“Time is short, but I want you to have the chance to recover. Warm yourself with this and then pack up whatever you need to take. Call your landlord, let him know there was an accident and you will be gone for a while. I’ll call the authorities, and then we will call your parents.”
Chris smiled. He didn’t think this would make him that happy, but it did.
“I promise, they’ll be happy to see you again.”
Declan released Chris’ hands. “Does your father still own guns?”
“Uh, yeah. Why?”
He had a feeling he knew where this was going.
“I think I’ll stand behind you when I meet up with him again. After all this, I’m not too sure he won’t shoot me when he sees me.”
Chapter Seven
Chris’ father didn’t shoot Declan, but he didn’t look happy, either.
He looked as though the only reason why he didn’t have his rifle with him as he stood on the porch to welcome them was because Chris’ mother had locked the door to the gun room and hid away the key.
Chris pretended his father wasn’t glaring daggers at Declan when he hugged and kissed his mom.
Even when he hugged his dad, he felt the way his old man growled and glared at Declan.
Meanwhile, Declan waved politely at both him and Chris’ mother.