Bitten By Mistake (31 page)

“But—”

“Look. You nearly died and Jared is weak from saving you. Neither of you are in a fit state to be doing anything other than recuperating.” He pointed his finger at Nathan. “Even with shifter genes, your body needs time to recover from the amount of damage it sustained, believe me.” His focus turned to Jared, and his voice softened. “Besides, the full moon is in six days.” Nathan had been shocked to discover they’d both been unconscious for the past two. “Jared will start to feel the effects of it soon. His body will either reject or accept the change, but either will consume a lot of energy and he needs to be as strong as he can be when it starts. You can’t afford to jeopardise that for anything.”

Nathan felt chastened. “Yeah, you’re right. Sorry.”

Tim left, leaving just the four of them.

Gareth leaned against the wall, looking out of the window. “I saw Cam this morning.”

“Oh?”

“Yep, he was pleased to hear you’d woken up.” Gareth turned to look at him. “Told me he was glad I’d found a way of getting round his orders and hadn’t expected anything different.”

“Can I ask what his orders were?”

“Alpha Newell was insistent that his silence depended on a successful outcome of the attack on the rogue shifters, and that meant letting your ruse play out with no outside help. No matter the outcome for you. So Cam told me no one was allowed to help you fight. No one said anything about helping you after you ran off.” Gareth shrugged as though it was no big deal.

Except that Nathan had nearly died because of Newell’s insistence. Not that he had anyone to blame but himself, which he had to remember, regardless of wanting to lay the blame solely at the feet of the fucking Primrose Hill pack and their arsehole alpha. “I take it Newell wasn’t overjoyed at the news of my survival?”

Gareth grinned. “No. But he’d already given his word as alpha, so he won’t cause a fuss now.”

“Thank fuck for that.”

“All that remains is to sort out the paperwork if Jared’s change becomes permanent.”

A heavy silence fell over the room. After a minute or two, Gareth nodded to Luke, and the pair of them stood. “I’ll tell the others to give you a day’s grace before visiting, or they’ll be down here the second we leave.”

Nathan nodded. “Thanks.” They hadn’t been up long, and he already felt tired again. Maybe the doc had a point.

When they were alone again, Nathan led Jared back to bed, and drew him in close. “You can get up in a bit if you want. I just need to fall asleep with you close by.” He didn’t want Jared to move out of arm’s reach, but he wasn’t about to admit that.

“That’s okay. I’m happy right where I am.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Jared spent the next few days doing exactly as the doctor ordered. He felt like a turkey being fattened up for Christmas. According to everyone—because they were all of the same opinion—Jared’s body would go into overdrive as early as two days before the full moon. It would start with flu-like symptoms—aches and pains, and generally feeling under the weather. Then a fever would kick in as his body fought to either reject all the foreign whatever-it-was that Nathan had put in him with his bite, or accept it and mould to his enhanced DNA. Either way, he’d be in and out of consciousness until his fever broke.

He woke up on the Tuesday, two days before the night of the full moon, and knew straightaway. “Nathan…,” he said softly.

Nathan was already up and shimmying into his jeans. He was almost fully recovered, and he turned to look at Jared with a huge smile on his face. “Come on, get your lazy arse out of bed. I want to catch Tim before he leaves for work, see if he’ll give us the all-clear.”

“We can’t—”

Nathan turned to face him fully, jeans still open at the front and shirtless. “I know it could start any minute, but I just want one last time in case….” He trailed off as Jared shook his head.

Jared cursed his stupid body for starting things now. “It’s too late.”

“Fuck.” Nathan rushed to his side and placed his hand on Jared’s forehead. “You don’t feel hot.”

“I know, but I ache everywhere and my head’s feeling woolly.” He closed his eyes, and Nathan stretched out beside him.

“It’ll be okay.” He drew Jared in close and kissed his forehead.

“Don’t leave me.”

“I won’t. I’ll stay with you the whole time, I promise.”

Tim came as soon as Nathan called him, and he confirmed what they already suspected. Nothing left but to wait it out. Jared tried to remain upbeat, but as the day wore on, he gradually felt worse, and at just past midnight, the fever kicked in.

Nathan mopped his sweaty forehead with a cool damp cloth, and Jared groaned in relief.

“Can’t you do that all over?”

Nathan laughed softly. “Tim says we need to keep the blankets on, keep you warm.”

Jared’s body was on fire. He wanted to say as much, but all of a sudden, his tongue felt heavy. “Thirsty,” he muttered, and Nathan held a cup of water to his lips. With some moisture in his mouth, Jared asked, “Why can’t you heal me with the bond, like I did you?”

“I would if I could, you know that. But it doesn’t work that way. This isn’t an illness I can heal you from.”

“Hmm….” Jared thought how fucking unfair that was as he drifted off to sleep.

The next few hours or days—Jared lost a handle on how much time passed—were a blur of cold cloths, water, and pain medication. The pills did little to ease the aches that he felt everywhere, but Nathan said he needed to take them, so he did.

“Hey,” Nathan’s voice sounded far away, even though Jared swore he felt his breath wash over his ear. “I need to go out in a few hours.”

Out?
Jared frowned and turned in the direction he thought Nathan was, but kept his eyes closed. The effort it took to open them wasn’t worth it when he only squinted at the light. “Thought… you said… stay.” His mouth was like sandpaper again. “Water.”

Nathan pressed a straw to his lips and he drank, sighing as the cool liquid hit his tongue.

“I know I said I wouldn’t leave.”

“Promised,” Jared muttered, reaching out blindly for Nathan’s hand.

“I did, but I wasn’t thinking.” He squeezed Jared’s fingers. “I have to go run with the pack for at least two hours—we’re required by law. It’s supposed to offset our
violent tendencies
during the full moon.” He sighed, and Jared wanted to squeeze his hand in return but he didn’t have the strength. “I thought Cam would let me out of it under the circumstances, but he said I’ve broken enough laws lately.”

Jared’s lips twitched. “’S got a point.”

“Yeah I know. He also said I need it, and he’s probably right about that too. I’ll be back as soon as I can, and Luke said he’d do his run later and sit with you while I’m gone, okay?”

“’Kay.” Jared was already drifting. Soft lips pressed against his forehead.

“I love you.”

“Mmm… love you, too.”

Jared woke with a start and sat bolt upright in bed.

“Fucking hell!” Luke startled so badly he fell off his chair and landed in a heap on the floor. “You almost gave me a heart attack.”

Jared grinned down at him. “Sorry.”

“How do you feel?” Luke regarded him with curiosity.

“Fantastic.” Jared reached up and stretched, moaning as his muscles released all their tension. His head was clear, nothing ached, and—his stomach grumbled loudly. “And hungry.” He glanced around the room, as though seeing it for the first time in ages. “Where’s Nathan?”

“Still out on the full moon run. He’s going to be so pissed you woke up and he wasn’t here.” Luke got up off the floor, and sat down on the chair again, not taking his eyes off Jared. “But how do you
feel
?”

“I just told you—”

Luke shook his head. “No, that’s not what I meant. I don’t smell anything, but that could be because it’s so new, maybe. Do you feel different?
Shifter
different?”

“Oh.
Oh
.” He did feel different, but not like that—not like he’d expect to if he was a wolf now. There was no burning urge to shift under the still-f moon. No rage simmering under the surface over what had happened to him. Nothing. “Oh fuck, I don’t feel anything.”

Luke smiled tentatively. “Well, that’s good isn’t it? Nathan said you didn’t want to be a shifter, and at least you won’t have to bother with pack paperwork now.” He cocked his head to the side. “Yeah, I can’t see your bite mark anymore either, so it looks like you’re back to being plain old human.”

Jared stared at him.

“What? I thought that was what you wanted?”

“I feel
nothing
,” he repeated, hoping Luke got it this time, because he couldn’t bring himself to spell it out. “Nothing at all.”

“Oh fuck.”

“Yeah.” Jared reached up and stroked over his neck where his bite mark should be. “It’s all gone,” he whispered.

The soul-deep need to be with Nathan had left him along with everything else. Jared collapsed back onto the bed, and covered his face with his hands. “No. No, no, no, no.”

“Has the bond disappeared?” Luke sounded as devastated as Jared felt.

“I think so… I don’t…” Shouldn’t he feel empty inside? Shouldn’t there be a Nathan-sized hole in his heart now that the bond was gone? There wasn’t. Just the absence of the all-consuming need to be with him that had been present more or less since they’d fucked. “I don’t know.”

“Well, you need to be sure, because he’s coming up the stairs.”

“What?” Jared glanced at the open bedroom door, but he couldn’t hear anything. Moments later, a key sounded in the lock and Jared froze, looking at Gareth wide-eyed. “I can’t tell him it’s gone.” The words spilled out as Nathan walked through the front door.

Luke sighed and shook his head. “Too late.” He stood quickly. “I’m going to go, leave you two to talk.” He reached out and squeezed Jared’s shoulder, then left the room.

Quiet murmurs sounded in the hallway as he presumably passed Nathan, their words too low for Jared to hear. Not that he wanted to know anyway. And then Nathan was there, leaning on the door frame with such a look of hurt and defeat that Jared’s heart ached at the sight of it.

Wait, what?

Warmth spread like wildfire from his chest out to the tips of his fingers and toes, coursing through his veins and reigniting the spark between them. The bond snapped back into place like a punch, and Jared clutched at his chest, as though the feelings might escape if he didn’t hold them there.

Oh God.
He closed his eyes for a second and took an unsteady breath in and out.

Thank fuck.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Nathan met Jared’s gaze and the words echoed in his mind.
“I can’t tell him it’s gone.”

“What I said just then—”

“It’s okay.” Nathan tried to smile, but inside his heart was breaking. Everything was still there for him: the urge to protect, the possessiveness and the love. The thought of Jared not feeling any of it was enough to make his knees buckle, and he clung to the door frame for support. “We knew it might happen.” He’d hoped, prayed that it wouldn’t, but….

“No.” Jared scrambled up out of bed and threw off the covers.

He was gloriously naked, and Nathan forced himself to look away. Jared wasn’t his to touch anymore. But he really fucking wanted him to be. He wanted to walk over to him and gather him in his arms, bury his nose in Jared’s neck, and lick at the bite—

“Your mark’s gone, too.”

“What?” Jared started to reach up, then stopped. “Yeah, I know, but you’re not listening to me.”

Nathan glanced up at the ceiling. “I heard you loud and clear. It’s gone along with the bond. You don’t feel the same.”

Jared walked towards him, placed his hands on Nathan’s cheeks, and forced him to look at him. “No, I didn’t, but then you walked in and—” Nathan closed his eyes, not wanting to see him as he said it. “Nathan, look at me.
Please
.”

“Why, you want to see the effect your words have on me?”

“Yes, if you’ll let me say what I’ve been trying to say since you got here.” He put two fingers on Nathan’s lips. “When I first woke up, I didn’t feel that all-consuming need that I did before, and I thought it was gone, broken. But when you walked in and I saw the look on your face, how devastated you were, the only thing on my mind was taking your pain away, making sure you never felt like that again.”

Nathan frowned. “What? I don’t understand.” He reached out and placed his hands on Jared’s waist, fully expecting him to push him off, but he didn’t. Jared sighed as though he’d been waiting for Nathan to touch him, and something in Nathan’s chest unfurled and locked into place.

“You feel that?” Jared slid a hand down to cover Nathan’s heart as he’d done before.

Nathan closed his eyes again and—“Yeah, I….” Deep inside him their connection pulsed, strong and steady as though it had a life of its own. He looked up and met Jared’s gaze. “It’s not gone.”

Jared shook his head, his eyes wet. “No, it’s not.”

“But you said—”

“I know I did, but I was wrong. It was just lost for a little while.….” He shook his head again. “It doesn’t matter. The only thing that does matter is that it’s not gone—and it’s just as strong as ever.” Jared cocked his head to one side; his eyes widened slightly. “Although it feels a little different.”

Nathan let out a shaky breath. “Settled.” The feelings evoked by their bond no longer threatened to overwhelm him.

“Yeah, exactly.”

They stared at each other for a moment longer, and then both moved at once.

As soon as his lips met Jared’s, Nathan finally let go of the fear that had gripped him since he’d heard Jared say those words. Their bond flared hot and bright, lighting him up inside, and he clung to Jared, not wanting to ever let him go again.

Finally he drew back, and even though the answer was obvious, Nathan still needed to ask one more question. “You’re not a wolf, then?”

Jared shook his head. The relief was evident in his expression, and it helped chase away the sting of disappointment inside Nathan.