The Altered (6 page)

Tuesday and
Wednesday were the same.

On Thursday he
managed to resolutely avoid reacting whenever people walked past,
much to Ash’s amusement. Daniel had pretty much accepted that he
wasn’t going to see Jordan again, at least not at work. But when
five o’clock came around on Friday, signalling the end of the week,
he felt… not disappointed exactly,
but something
.

It wasn’t as
though he
wanted
Jordan to show up—far from it—but Matt had
planted that little seed in his brain and some part of Daniel had
expected Jordan to track him down.

Jordan would
probably only come in to threaten him, anyway. He looked the
type—tall, dark, and way too intense. And the brief glimpse Daniel
had got of Jordan’s shifted form didn’t make the prospect any more
appealing. He’d met types like that before—buying into the whole
“alpha male” concept from when the first altered appeared.

That was back
when everything was new and exciting, when people wanted to help
and were genuinely curious, and not in the “cut you open and see”
way either.

Daniel
shuddered involuntarily, remembering the first few reports from
when people began to disappear. He’d sneaked a look at the
newspaper before his parents could hide it, and it had given him
nightmares for weeks after.

“Hey, you
okay?” Ash’s hand on his arm startled him enough that he dropped
two of the books he was attempting to reshelve.

“Shit,” he
hissed, glancing around quickly to make sure no one was in
earshot.

“Sorry, didn’t
mean to startle you, but you went a little pale for a second.”

Daniel shook
off his dark thoughts and managed a small smile. “Just thinking.
I’m fine, honestly.”

Ash bent down
and helped pick up the dropped books, passing them to Daniel so he
could put them back in place. “You about ready to go?”

“Yeah, just
give me five minutes to grab my stuff. I’ll meet you out the
front.”

“Okay.” Ash
waved over his shoulder as he left, and Daniel quickly finished off
shelving the remaining books before walking back over to his
desk.

He reached
down to get his phone and wallet out of the locked bottom drawer,
only to drop them both when he straightened up and saw who was
standing on the other side of the counter. He managed not to yell
or do anything else embarrassing, but it was a close call.

“Christ, did
you have to sneak up like that?” Daniel kept his voice low. Years
of working in the library had made it second nature.

Jordan raised
an eyebrow and gave him a half-hearted once-over, as though he felt
obliged to look but wasn’t that bothered. Daniel felt insulted and
ignored him for a moment while he bent to pick up his wallet and
phone for the second time.

“You’re
healed.” Jordan made it sound like more of a question. “That was
quick. I didn’t think—”

“Yeah,” Daniel
cut in, not interested in hearing any of the shitty and usually
incorrect rumours circulating about seers. “Don’t believe
everything people say. I might not heal as quickly as
some
,
but I do all right.”

Jordan just
shrugged, and his obvious indifference was starting to piss Daniel
off. Especially when Daniel couldn’t help but notice how good
Jordan looked, with his dark hair hanging loose just above his
shoulders, making him seem artfully rumpled.

“Look, I was
just about to go home, so….” He looked at Jordan expectantly,
hoping he’d get the hint, but after a few awkward moments of Jordan
staring at him and Daniel trying not to stare back, it didn’t
appear as though that was going to happen.

Daniel sighed
and tugged his coat off the back of his chair. “Do you want
something? Or did you just come to stare at me?”

At least that
got a reaction out of him. Jordan’s lips twitched and for a split
second, Daniel thought he was going to smile, but no. “This is the
fourth library I’ve been in this week.”

And
okaaay
, so he had been stalking him. Daniel felt a shiver of
unease trickle down his spine. He took a step away from the counter
and tried to subtly manoeuvre his phone so that he was poised to
dial for help if it came to it.

Predictably,
Jordan caught the movement, though. “I’m not here to hurt you, so
you don’t need to call for help.” His brow furrowed in what Daniel
assumed was frustration because it was accompanied by a put-upon
sigh. Like he had any right to be irritated.

“What do you
want, then?” Daniel didn’t move any farther away, but he didn’t let
go of his phone either. “You’ve obviously been looking for me, so
you must want something.”

“I don’t…
fuck
….” Jordan huffed and rubbed a hand across his eyes. “I
just wanted to make sure you were okay after… after what
happened.”

Daniel relaxed
a little and took some time to study Jordan before answering.
Although he looked unfairly attractive even under the unforgiving
lights of the library, Jordan had a tense set to his shoulders, and
when Daniel glanced down, he could see Jordan’s hands clenched
tightly at his sides.

It made him
wonder if maybe Matt was right. Maybe Jordan had felt something
when they’d looked at each other. He deliberately stepped forward
and looked up at Jordan, intending to keep eye contact for as long
as he could without it getting weird.

Except two
seconds after he met Jordan’s gaze, he found it impossible to look
away. A sharp tug in his belly urged him forward, but Daniel
stubbornly held his ground. He might not be able to tear his gaze
away from Jordan’s stupidly bright green eyes, but he wasn’t about
to get any closer to him.

He found
himself wondering if Jordan’s irises changed colour when he
shifted, and no sooner had the idea popped into his head than he
got a flash of the black wolf again. No snarling or bared fangs,
just a curious green gaze staring back at him.

It lasted
longer this time, several seconds at least. Only Jordan calling his
name and snapping his fingers in front of Daniel’s face pulled him
out of it. “Sorry, what?”

“You were
staring.”

“So were you,”
Daniel shot back, quickly trying to get himself together.

“But you did
it for longer.”

Daniel’s
unease disappeared with their apparent inability to act like
adults. “Your wolf…” he said, trying to think how best to put it,
“has almost the same colour eyes. I was just surprised, that’s
all.”

“You can see
that?” Jordan’s expression smoothed into one of indifference again,
but not before showing a flash of curiosity.

“Normally I
don’t get such a clear image of the shift, but with you, I did.”
Daniel’s cheeks burned at the unintended confession. “Not that
you’re special or anything.”

“Of course
not.” Jordan’s mouth curved up at one side, the closest he’d been
to smiling since he’d appeared.

The gentle tug
in Daniel’s belly returned, warm and inviting, and he moved forward
involuntarily.

Jordan looked
as though he wanted to say more, maybe ask Daniel something, but he
sighed and stepped away. “I guess I’ll let you get home, then.” He
turned to leave, took two steps, then stopped and looked back over
his shoulder. “I hope I don’t have to remind you that if you tell
anyone about me or my friends… it won’t end well for you.”

And then he
was gone, taking Daniel’s warm happy feeling with him.
Just like
all the fucking rest, then
. He should have known better than to
hope otherwise.

By the time
Daniel made it downstairs to the front door, Ash was waiting for
him, leaning against the wall and playing something on his
phone.

“Finally.” Ash
walked over to him and studied Daniel’s face. “Hey, are you okay?
You look even worse now.”

Daniel didn’t
want to talk about what had just happened. “I ran into someone
before I left, and they pissed me off a bit.”

“Would that be
the tall, dark and stubbled someone that came out five minutes
before you, muttering curses under his breath?”

“Maybe?”

Ash let out a
low whistle. “Wow. Where do you find them? The men I meet who look
like that are either straight, taken, or arseholes.” Ash grinned at
Daniel and nudged his shoulder. “Sometimes all three if I’m really
unlucky.”

Daniel
laughed, some of his tension easing. He nudged Ash in return, hard
enough to make him stumble, and dodged out of the way toward the
steps when Ash went to kick him. “It’s not like that. And besides,
I have no idea if he’s straight or single, and from my two
encounters with him, he does seem kind of a dick, so….”

“Oh well,
that’s a bit shit, then, sorry.” Ash followed him down the steps,
and they headed toward the Tube station.

Daniel tried
not to think about Jordan on the way home, but he kept popping into
Daniel’s mind unbidden. And yeah, now he recognised his feelings as
disappointment. For a second or two in there, he’d thought Jordan
was different.

He hated being
proved wrong.

“Bollocks.”

Jordan shoved
his hands in his pockets as he left the library. That hadn’t gone
anything like he’d planned. Not that he’d
had
a plan
exactly, but after taking a week to locate Daniel, the last thing
he’d wanted was to end up pissing both of them off.

He hadn’t
intended to seek Daniel out after that night, despite the knowing
looks Keira kept sending him. Even after Daniel’s shifter friend,
Matt, came into his gym and casually dropped into the conversation
that Daniel worked in a library. But then he’d passed one on his
way to the bank and couldn’t resist having a look inside just in
case—even though it was highly unlikely Daniel would be in
there.

It was
downhill from there on. The more libraries he went in and didn’t
find him, the stronger the urge to keep looking.

Jordan took a
deep breath, trying to calm himself down, but Daniel’s scent was
still all over him, and it just served to make his fingers twitch
with the need to touch. It had never been like this before. Fucking
seers
. It must be true what everyone said about them.

He didn’t
bother taking the Tube home. It was only two stops, and with the
mood he was in, he needed to burn off his pent-up energy before
encountering the others. No point fighting with his friends on top
of everything else.

By the time he
let himself into the house, his mood had mellowed slightly, and he
was halfway up the stairs before Keira’s voice stopped him in his
tracks.

“Dinner’s
ready, Jordan. Come and eat with us. You can tell us about the
shitty day you’ve obviously had.”

Jordan
hesitated on the stairs, tempted to ignore her and head up to his
room as he’d originally planned. But he was hungry, and the smells
drifting up from the kitchen were inviting. They were his friends,
after all, and it would be rude not to.

“Sit down, and
don’t do that again.” Keira set a steaming plate of stir-fry beef
and rice in front of him, and grinned. “We’re used to your shitty
moods, so don’t feel like you have to spare us.” She leaned in to
give him a hug and paused.

Damn it.

He’d thought a
walk in the open air, especially London air with its variety of
scents, would have been enough to mask Daniel’s scent. Clearly he
thought wrong.

“You tracked
down the seer?” She sat back down carefully in the chair opposite,
sharing a loaded glance with Charlie. “I thought you didn’t want
anything to do with him?”

Her tone
wasn’t exactly hostile, but neither was it the friendly banter from
seconds ago.

Charlie
scooted his chair closer to her and slipped his arm around her
shoulders, a move Jordan had seen countless times before—always
when Charlie sensed her getting tense and restless in her skin.
Jordan didn’t think this conversation warranted that kind of
reaction. He’d only talked to the guy.

“How did you
find him?” Charlie asked when Jordan didn’t reply.

Jordan ate a
few forkfuls of food before answering, trying to decide how much
detail he wanted to go into. “His friend came into the gym last
week and happened to mention that Daniel worked in a library.”

“A bit
careless of him,” Keira said with a sneer. “I would have thought
he’d be more cautious, considering.”

Yeah, Jordan
had been a bit surprised too, but then, if they’d wanted to hurt
Daniel, they would have done it outside the bar. “Well, he didn’t
tell me which one, and London has bloody loads.”

Charlie
smothered a surprised laugh with the back of his hand, but Keira
looked anything but amused. She set her fork down on the table and
glared at him. “So, what, you’ve been trawling around the city
trying to find him for the past week?”

Jordan
fidgeted in his seat. She made him sound rather pathetic when she
put it like that. “Not exactly.” It wasn’t as though he’d spent all
day every day looking for Daniel. He’d only tried a few on the off
chance.

“But you did
go looking for him?”

Jordan sighed,
but nodded.

“Why?”

And this was
the part he didn’t want to discuss, because he didn’t
know
why. He couldn’t explain what had made him go into that first
library and why the disappointment he’d felt had compelled him to
keep looking for Daniel until he found him.

He shrugged,
hoping they’d both just drop it, but was not surprised when they
didn’t.

“So, what
happened?” Keira had all but abandoned her food now, one hand
holding tight to Charlie’s thigh, and the other screwed into a fist
on the table. “Are you two friends now, or—”

“No. Nothing
happened. Well….”
God
. He hated talking about shit like
this. “We spoke for a bit. I guess I wanted to make sure he was
okay after Thursday night—which he was. Turns out seers have
accelerated healing too.” Both Charlie and Keira raised their
eyebrows at that. “Then things got a little weird, and I left.”