The Altered (20 page)

Daniel
laughed, smiling back at him, and Jordan leaned down to kiss
him.

“Hey,” Daniel
said, pulling back a little. “Your fangs have gone.”

“Oh.” Jordan
licked his lips, surprised that he no longer felt the sharp prick
of teeth against his tongue. He glanced down at the marks littering
Daniel’s body and winced.

“Hey, no.”
Daniel gripped Jordan’s jaw and forced him to meet his eyes. “I
wanted this. I’ll heal, remember?”

Jordan
swallowed down the guilt threatening to ruin the moment and sighed.
Okay.” He carefully pulled out and lay down on his side next to
Daniel, facing him.

“So,” Jordan
said, tracing patterns over Daniel’s stomach, “I believe you had
questions?”

“What, no
basking in the afterglow?”

“God, sorry,
I—”

Daniel nudged
Jordan’s thigh with his fist. “Relax, I’m kidding.” He threaded his
fingers with Jordan’s and settled farther down into the pillow.
“You’d better get comfy. We might be here for a while.”

“In that case…
hang on a minute.” Jordan got up and headed into the en suite to
grab a cloth. He might have been happy with not cleaning up at all,
but he guessed Daniel wouldn’t want to lie there with Jordan’s come
leaking out of him.
Christ
, Jordan had to brace himself
against the sink at the thought of it. Another thing to thank the
pathogen for—no need for condoms. Full shifters couldn’t carry
human diseases.

He glanced
down at the cloth in his hands, suddenly having second thoughts
about giving it to Daniel. Daniel had accepted all of Jordan’s
post-pathogen kinks so far, but he didn’t want to push his
luck.

Jordan handed
the cloth to Daniel as he climbed back onto the bed beside him.

“Oh,” Daniel
said, taking it from him. “I figured you’d want me to stay messed
up for a bit. You know—” He pointed at Jordan’s stomach.
“—considering.”

Jordan looked
from Daniel’s face to down between his legs and swallowed. “Well,
yeah, but….” He glanced back up, not sure whether to ask Daniel to
leave it.

Daniel smirked
at him but dropped the cloth over the side of the bed. “I can
shower later.”

Jordan
wondered how long he could put him off doing that. “Comfy?” he
asked instead. Daniel nodded. “So, what do you want to know?”

“I was
wondering—” Daniel paused to pull up the blanket from the bottom of
the bed with his feet. “—and feel free to say no, because I realise
it’s a lot to ask, but… would you be willing to show me your
wolf?”

Jordan’s mouth
fell open, but no words came out. That was probably the last thing
he expected Daniel to ask. “Um….”

“It’s fine.
Forget I asked. Let’s try some—”

“No.” Jordan
had made up his mind on seeing the quick flash of disappointment on
Daniel’s face. “I want you to see it.” He scooted to the edge of
the bed, then stood. “The change, it’s sort of, well….” Jordan
struggled to find the words. How did he describe the split second
of searing pain, when his bones realigned to transform his body
into something new?

“It hurts,” he
said, rolling his head from side to side, attempting to loosen up
his neck and shoulders. “But only for, like, a second or two,
because everything happens fast. And then it’s….” Jordan smiled.
“It’s the freest I’ve ever felt.”

“I saw you,
that night in the bar.”

“What do you
mean?”

Daniel sat up,
the blanket pooling around his waist. “I usually get a quick
glimpse, you know, when I see altereds. But with you, I saw your
wolf, and he was so
angry
.” Daniel licked his lips, and his
gaze wandered down Jordan’s body.

It made Jordan
stand up straighter, wanting Daniel to look.

“I won’t hurt
you as a wolf. I promise.”

“I trust you.”
Daniel smiled. “Show me.”

Jordan closed
his eyes and let the change flood through him. It might have
happened in the blink of an eye, but he felt every single bone
stretch or contract, then slide into place. He gasped and fell
forward onto his hands, fingers morphing into leathery padded paws
and his mind a blur as his wolf senses warred with his human
ones.

Jordan let out
a low whine as the pain ebbed, leaving behind an ache in his bones
as he settled into his new form.

Daniel stared
at the huge black wolf standing next to the bed. His eyes were the
same colour as Jordan’s in human form, just like Daniel had seen in
his vision.

He knew that
full altereds could do this, but to see it happen was something
else entirely. Jordan’s wolf was impressive. Not that Daniel had
seen any up close before to compare him to, but still. His
shoulders would probably come up to Daniel’s waist, all thick,
corded muscle underneath the black fur.

The wolf
cocked his head to the side, watching Daniel take him in.

“Can you
understand me?” Daniel asked, trying not to feel foolish at talking
to an animal. But this wasn’t an animal, was it? It was Jordan.
Information about altereds in their shifted forms was scarce. None
was available to the general public, and Daniel had learned not to
trust everything he read on the Internet.

The wolf
huffed out a breath and padded closer to the bed so he could rest
his head next to Daniel’s hand.

Daniel
grinned. “I’m going to take that as a yes.”

The wolf
huffed again. Daniel hesitated before tentatively resting his head
on the wolf’s neck. “Jordan?” He sank his fingers into the thick
dark fur. “Is this okay?”

The wolf
pushed farther into Daniel’s hand, whining softly, and Daniel
laughed in surprise. “I didn’t expect you to like being touched
like this.”

The wolf,
Jordan
—God, it was hard trying to think of the huge animal
in front of him as Jordan—gave him what could only be described as
a “what, really?” look.

“Yes, really.”
Daniel stroked Jordan’s ears, which were as soft as velvet. “You
have huge teeth.” Jordan dutifully bared them as if to prove
Daniel’s point, and Daniel laughed. “You don’t exactly look the
type to enjoy being petted.”

In a flurry of
movement that had Daniel jumping back in surprise, Jordan changed
back. “It’s not
petting
,” he mumbled, hunched over on his
hands and knees on the floor and breathing heavily. “I just like
your hands on me, in any form.” He rolled his shoulders again, and
Daniel winced as more than one crack came from his spine as a
result.

“Hey, are you
okay?” Daniel shuffled to the edge of the bed.

Jordan glanced
at him, and Daniel didn’t miss the knowing smirk as his eyes
flicked to Daniel’s lap. “I’m good,” he said, pushing himself up
onto his knees and then standing. “It just takes a minute to get my
bearings afterwards.”

Daniel pulled
the blanket aside and patted the bed for Jordan to join him. He’d
never remember all the questions he had if Jordan’s naked body was
on display like that.

“Oh, I meant
to ask you earlier,” Jordan said as he snuggled under the blanket
and wrapped his hand around Daniel’s waist, tugging him down next
to him. “How come you didn’t know that Sam was an altered?”

Oh
.
That was… Daniel hadn’t given it a thought. “I have no idea.”

“But you can
see all altereds, right?”

“Yeah, well
I’m assuming so. It’s not like I can test that without meeting them
all.”

“True.” Jordan
frowned. “Maybe you can only see them in their human forms.”

“Maybe.”
Daniel tried not to think about that too hard, not sure whether it
was better or worse. “As far as I know, I’ve never met someone in
their wolf form before.”

“How does the
whole seer thing work, anyway?” Jordan asked, and Daniel tried not
to bristle. “Can you see my wolf now?”

“No. I get a
quick glimpse when I first see an altered. After that, it’s like I
know what they are, so I don’t need to see it.” He didn’t mention
that time in the library, when he’d seen a glimpse of Jordan’s
altered form shimmering beneath his skin. It happened since.

Jordan nodded,
as though that made perfect sense. In the aftermath of the
pathogen, though, not much came as a surprise anymore.

Daniel turned
to face him and prodded him in the chest. “Can I ask you a question
now?”

“Sure, what do
you want to know?”

He had so many
things he wanted to ask about that it took him a second or two to
pick one. “Why is he like that? Sam, I mean. Why doesn’t he change
back?”

Jordan sighed,
and pulled Daniel a little tighter against him. “Keira and Sam come
from a very wealthy family. When Keira changed at sixteen, her
parents didn’t want to deal with the scandal that would inevitably
follow, so they paid her to leave—well, they forced her to go with
a lump sum in her pocket. Sam told them they either let Keira stay
or he’d leave with her—”

“And they
kicked him out too.” Daniel finished for him.

“Yeah.”

“Fuck.” Daniel
knew only too well how quickly things could turn to shit once you
were identified as an altered, but he couldn’t imagine having to go
through that and then be disowned on top of it.

“Yeah,” Jordan
sighed. “Keira said that before it happened, Sam had been seeing
someone, was doing great at school, and had lots of friends. I get
the feeling he’d been sure his threat to leave would make his
parents back down. Being proved wrong hit him hard. When Sam went
through the change about a year later, he shifted into his wolf
form and just stayed like it. Keira doesn’t like to talk about it
much, but I think she gave up trying to get him to change back
after the first couple of years.”

Daniel didn’t
know what to say. He had a million thoughts running through his
mind—how lonely it must have been for Keira, how devastated Sam had
to have felt to stay in his wolf form all these years. He didn’t
voice any of them, though, not sure it was right to talk about them
like that. “Thanks for telling me.”

“I want you to
be able to trust my friends.” Jordan paused for a second, stifling
a yawn. “And I want to trust yours too.”

Fair was fair,
Daniel decided. “Matt and I have been friends since we were kids,
as you know.”

“And Ash?”

Daniel felt a
flare of anger as he remembered how he’d first met Ash. “I found
Ash sleeping on the library steps when I came into work early. He
was seventeen. His stepdad kicked him out after his mum died.”

It still upset
Daniel to talk about it. Ash had been so skinny, and obviously
hungry, but so determined to look after himself.

“What about
his real dad?”

“He died when
Ash was a baby. He was in the army. They were stationed in Germany
when it happened, Ash was about two, I think. They came back to
England soon after.”

“No other
family?”

“No, not
according to Ash.”

“So you took
him home with you?” Jordan prompted softly.

Daniel laughed
and shook his head. “Not exactly.” It had been one of the hardest
things he’d ever done—getting Ash to let him help. “It took me two
weeks to get him to accept a cup of coffee and a sandwich. Over a
month before he’d talk to me about what had happened to him. In the
end he got sick, caught pneumonia according to the hospital.
Fortunately he’d turned eighteen by then, so there was no need to
contact his stepdad, and I persuaded him to come stay with me while
he recovered.”

“And he
stayed?”

“Yeah. He
caught Matt using his claws to open a can of baked beans, of all
things, and surprisingly thought it was the coolest thing ever. He
didn’t take much persuading after that. I helped him get a job at
the library, and that was that.”

“How old is he
now?” Jordan yawned again, making Daniel follow suit.

Daniel hadn’t
realised how tired he was. Clearly too much excitement for one
day.

“Almost
twenty-one.” Daniel snuggled closer to Jordan for warmth. The
temperature in the room had dropped a little cooler, but he
couldn’t be bothered to get under the quilt, so the blanket—and
Jordan—would have to do. “He’s a baby still.”

Daniel closed
his eyes, figuring they’d covered just about everybody, when he
remembered Charlie. Might as well do everyone now. “Charlie and
Keira? They’re together, right?”

It took Jordan
a while to answer, and when Daniel glanced at him, he looked as
though he’d fallen asleep.

“Jordan?”

“Hmm?” Jordan
opened one eye. “Oh yeah, Charlie. He’s with Keira. She says
they’re
mates
.”

“Seriously?”
Daniel was already pulling a face. Some of the rubbish the
newspapers had come out with when altereds were first discovered
had made him scoff. “That’s such bollocks.”

Jordan’s eyes
snapped open at that, and he met Daniel’s gaze. Daniel put one hand
on his belly. The ever-present pull drawing him to Jordan might now
be reduced to a pleasant ache, but it was always there. He glanced
down at Jordan’s stomach, then back up to his face, and cleared his
throat. “Isn’t it?” It came out far more hesitant than Daniel
intended.

Jordan
continued to stare at him, not saying anything.

Shit
.

“Not that
there’s anything wrong if they think that, it’s just….” Daniel
wasn’t entirely sure who he was trying to convince anymore. Tired.
He was just tired.

Jordan looked
away and broke the weird connection. He said softly, “Calm down. I
happen to agree. But they insist it’s real, so we agree to
disagree.”

Neither of
them said anything for a minute until Jordan gave Daniel’s hip a
squeeze.

“I don’t know
about you, but I could use a nap.”

Jordan slotted
a leg between Daniel’s and pulled him against his chest. Jordan’s
skin was warm where it surrounded him, his broad shoulders caging
him in and making him feel safe.