The Altered (11 page)

And Daniel had
felt the hard evidence of his interest.

God
.
Daniel shook his head, amazed that after all his years of being
careful to the point of obsession, he’d practically rolled over and
yelled, “Take me.”

He glanced at
the clock again, sighing in defeat when only ten minutes had
passed. The next twenty minutes would be unbearable if he didn’t
find something to occupy him, and so he reluctantly tapped at the
keyboard to bring his computer screen to life.

Jordan took
the stairs at a quick pace, despite the discomfort of doing it with
a hard-on. He didn’t head straight outside, though, instead taking
a detour to the main toilets on the ground floor.

The toilets
were thankfully empty—not that Jordan cared either way. He was too
far gone to let the possibility of an audience stop him. As soon as
he locked the door, he had his belt undone and his zip down,
moaning in relief.

This wasn’t
the first time he’d picked up the scent of other shifters in the
area where Daniel worked. It was a huge public library, and the
odds were they were just there for the books. But the moment he saw
Daniel, Jordan knew. The place reeked of shifter and fear and
sweat—and not all of that was Daniel’s.

Something had
happened there.

Jordan hadn’t
meant to startle him, but when Daniel spun around to face him with
his heart pounding and that acrid scent of fear in the air again,
it had set off Jordan’s protective instincts, and he couldn’t help
himself.

The need to be
close and touching almost overwhelmed him, and he had Daniel
pressed up against the books before he realised. Jordan shoved one
hand in his boxers and turned his head to the side. Daniel’s smell
clung to his jacket—not fear this time, but the heady scent of
want
and
sex
, and Jordan breathed it in greedily.

His hand
tightened around his cock as he remembered the feel of Daniel’s
body.
Fuck
, he’d almost come on the spot when Daniel had
tilted his head to the side, offering Jordan his neck. Jordan had
read the leaflets describing the supposed behaviour of altereds,
but like most information gathered under duress, a lot of it was so
far off the mark, it was laughable.

Jordan had
never been overly affected by someone doing that before. Sure it
was a turn-on, but it had never hit him with such force—like a hard
jab in his solar plexus. He pictured the marks he’d left on
Daniel’s skin and slid his hand up the length of his cock, running
his thumb through the sticky wetness at the tip, and spreading it
around as he imagined biting into those marks and making them
permanent. A hot spike of pleasure rushed through him and he bit
his lip—licking at the blood when his teeth cut in.

Upstairs he’d
been so close to shifting, the smell of Daniel’s arousal making him
crazy. Even now, just thinking about it, the tips of his fingers
ached—a precursor to his claws sliding out. That thought alone was
enough to pull him back from the edge, and he spread his hand out
flat, rubbing himself with his palm and keeping the pads of his
fingers well away.

It didn’t take
him long to get back there, though. A few seconds later, he came
into his hand, with Daniel’s name on his lips and his scent
surrounding him.

By the time he
cleaned up and made himself presentable, it was almost twelve
o’clock. He took one last look at his reflection in the mirror
above the row of washbasins, and grinned. There might not be any
obvious evidence to give him away, but he wondered if Daniel would
guess what he had been up to. His eyes were still darker than
normal, nearer to the colour of his wolf form, and his skin had a
faint glow to it.

His lip had
already healed, though, which he found a little disappointing. It
would have set off his whole “I just had a rough wank” look
nicely.

Twenty-five
past twelve and Daniel still hadn’t shown. Jordan leaned against
the wall outside the library entrance and tapped his foot against
the brickwork, debating whether to go back inside to see where he
was. He’d give him another five minutes, and then he’d go in.

Three minutes
later Jordan had about reached his limit for waiting and was up and
headed back to the double doors as Daniel rushed out of them.

“Sorry,”
Daniel said, grunting in surprise when Jordan wrapped his arms
around him. “Got held up on my way out.”

Jordan bit
back a snippy retort and focused on breathing in Daniel’s scent—now
a soothing mix of freshly cut grass and old leather, with only a
trace of his earlier arousal. It served to take the edge off
Jordan’s mood, and when he let Daniel go, he could smile without
forcing it.

Daniel gave
him a thorough once-over, frowning slightly as he took in Jordan’s
overall appearance. “Hey, are you okay? You look kind of flushed
and—” He waved a hand to encompass Jordan from head to toe. “—well,
something. Were you worried, or—”

Daniel’s gaze
had dropped to the front of Jordan’s jeans, and when Jordan
followed suit, he spotted the telltale stain alongside his zip.
Oops—missed a bit
.

“For fuck’s
sake, Jordan. Did you pull yourself off in the bloody toilets?”

“Yep.” Jordan
grinned and shrugged. No point in denying it.

Daniel
narrowed his eyes and stepped closer until they were practically
nose to nose. “You absolute bastard,” he hissed, poking Jordan in
the chest. “Do you have any idea how long it took me to get rid of
my hard-on? Fucking ages!” he added, not giving Jordan any chance
to answer. “And all the while you were happily jacking off down
below in the library’s very public toilets.”

“I was in a
cubicle.”

“That’s not
the point.” Daniel cast a furtive glance around before grabbing
Jordan’s hand and pressing it briefly against his crotch. “Now
you’re relaxed, and I’m left with a persistent semi.”

Jordan gave
Daniel’s substantial semi a quick squeeze and then laughed as
Daniel pushed his hand away with a hiss of outrage.

“Thanks,
that’s not making things worse at all.” Daniel scowled at him and
reached down to adjust himself. “I hate you so much right now.”

Jordan elbowed
him in the ribs, knocking him off balance. “I know you don’t mean
that.” He stared pointedly down at the bulge in Daniel’s trousers
but then took pity on him. “Come on, let’s go get a sandwich and
eat lunch in the park.”

“Fine, but
you’re paying.”

Jordan laughed
again but agreed, and fifteen minutes later they were sat on a
bench with their food, enjoying the unusually mild weather.

After
finishing the last of his sandwich and tossing the rubbish in the
bin, Jordan spoke. “So, what happened this morning? We got kind of
distracted before you could tell me.”

Daniel choked
a little on his sandwich and quickly reached for his bottle of
water. “And whose fault was that?” He wiped his mouth on the back
of his hand and set the bottle on the bench between them. “The
altered that came in knew what I was. He didn’t exactly say so, but
he knew.” Daniel stretched his arms above his head as he yawned,
and Jordan tracked the way the muscles moved under his shirt. “God,
I’m knackered already, and it’s only lunchtime.”

“What happened
with the altered?”

“I fully
expected him to threaten me. He was obviously building up to it,
but we heard voices on the stairwell, and then he was gone. Too
quick for me to track where.”

“Did anyone
else come in?”

Jordan didn’t
miss the way Daniel stiffened. His shoulders tensed up as he sat
forward to rest his elbows on his knees and tilted his head to look
over at Jordan. “Yeah, that was another weird thing. The two guys
who came in after looked like MI5 or CIA. You know, like something
off the telly. They were both suited up, phones out, pretending to
peruse the shelves, but looking so out of place, it was almost
comical.”

“Doesn’t sound
very ‘secret agency’ to me.”

“To be honest,
they didn’t appear to give a fuck about secrecy. Anyway, I thought
it wise to ignore them since they didn’t come over straightaway and
demand I go with them. I don’t think they were there for me.”

Jordan sucked
in a breath. “You think they were after the other altered?”

Daniel
nodded.

“Bollocks.
There’s been a few reports of more people going missing lately, but
I didn’t think they’d progressed to snatching them in broad
daylight.” Jordan felt his lunch threatening to make a
reappearance.

“But how are
they finding them?” Daniel looked uneasy. “I mean, London’s been
relatively safe for ages, hasn’t it? That’s why we came here in the
first place.”

That had been
one of Jordan’s reasons too. “I don’t know. Someone must be helping
them. They’ve no way of spotting an altered by looks alone.” As
soon as the words were out of Jordan’s mouth, he wanted to bite his
tongue off.

Daniel froze,
his gaze dropping to the ground. He didn’t say anything for several
long seconds, and Jordan waited for the anger no doubt headed his
way.

Instead,
Daniel’s voice was soft when he spoke, taking Jordan by surprise.
“I would never do that. Regardless of the shit I get from some of
the other altereds, I would never turn them in to be experimented
on, or whatever they do to them.”

Jordan slipped
his hand around Daniel’s and entwined their fingers. “I know
that.”

“Do you?”
There was no accusation in Daniel’s voice now, just curiosity.
“You’ve known me a little over two weeks. Do you trust me with your
life? Or your friends’?

“I….” Jordan
faltered, caught off guard.

“Because
that’s what you’re risking by keeping me alive. I can see every
person who’s been altered, even how little or how much they’ve
changed.”

Jordan
swallowed. He knew that, of course he did, but when Daniel spelled
it out like that, the harsh truth laid bare so matter-of-factly, it
made it seem so much more real. He wanted to reassure, God knows
his instincts were screaming at him to say it, but Daniel was
right—they hadn’t known each other long at all. What did Jordan
really know about Daniel Fellows?

“Yeah,” Daniel
said, low and sad sounding. “That’s what I thought.”

Jordan
struggled for something to say. Things had suddenly gone downhill
between them, and he didn’t know what to do to make it right
again.

“Look.” He
gave Daniel’s hand another squeeze to get his attention. “I like
you. A whole hell of a lot, it turns out.” Daniel’s smile was
barely there in response to that, but it was a start. “And I may
not know you enough to trust you completely yet. But I want
to.”

“Yeah?”
Daniel’s expression seemed a lot more open than it had been minutes
before.

“Yes.” Jordan
grabbed Daniel’s other hand and pulled. It forced Daniel to turn
sideways on the bench and face him. “And if you think for one
minute I’m going to let anything happen to you, then you obviously
don’t know me very well either.”

Daniel’s smile
spread, lighting up his whole face. “Maybe,” he said, leaning in
close. “But I want to.”

Jordan left
Daniel at the main entrance of the library, pulling him into a
fierce hug before letting him go back inside. He’d wanted to go in
with him and stay for the remainder of Daniel’s working day in case
anyone else decided to come visit, but Daniel had shut that down
quickly, saying the library was as safe as anywhere. That didn’t
stop Jordan from hanging around for over an hour to make sure.

When no one
suspicious turned up, Jordan had to concede that maybe Daniel was
right, and that left him with nothing to do but head home and get
ready for the weekend.

He had the
afternoon off from the gym. Keira and Charlie were working until
nine o’clock, so Jordan had drawn the short straw of packing for
their weekend away.

With the full
moon in less than a week, they were due a day and night out at
Keira’s cabin in Wales. Altereds, especially those who’d only
undergone a partial change, weren’t overly affected by the lunar
cycle—it didn’t cause them to spontaneously shift.

Full shifters
such as Jordan and Keira tended to get tense, less tolerant and not
inclined to listen to reason, which was why they tried to get out
to Keira’s cabin and burn off some of the growing tension in the
days leading up to it.

Jordan was
busy sorting out food to take when Keira and Charlie arrived home
hours later. He heard Keira’s low growl out in the hallway and
braced himself for an argument, whilst trying to remember that they
were both a little on edge.

“Wow, Jordan.
Again?” She burst into the kitchen, her eyes almost black as she
let her change hover near the surface. “Hadn’t you seen him enough
this week?”

“It’s none of
your business, Keira. Leave it alone.”

“None of my
business?” She wrinkled her nose as she came closer, stopping about
a foot away to lean against the table. She had her claws out now,
tapping a restless staccato along the back of one of the kitchen
chairs.

Jordan glanced
up at her mouth—at least her teeth were still human. “You stink of
sex, Jordan. What, did you fuck him already?”

“Keira.”
Charlie’s presence had none of the calming effect it usually
did.

“Back off,
Charlie.” As he tried to touch her, she shrugged him off and took a
step closer to Jordan. “I think we have a right to know why he’s
putting all our lives in danger for a quick shag.”

Her words
slurred at the end as her fangs appeared, sharp and menacing, and
Jordan had had about enough. He grabbed her by the shoulders and
pushed her back against the wall with a dull thud. “
Stop
.”
His voice echoed around the kitchen. “I would never knowingly put
your lives in danger. Daniel’s a seer. He can pick us out in a
crowd, and whether I continue to see him or not won’t change that.”
He lessened his grip but still held her in place. She made no move
to escape, though, as he added, “And he’s not just
a quick
shag
.”