Bitten By Mistake (4 page)

Luckily Nathan’s flat was on the first floor—only one flight of stairs to navigate followed by a short stretch of hallway. All he had to do was get past whoever was on patrol. He should know the rota by now, but normally he didn’t give a shit whose turn it was so long as it wasn’t his. Not that he didn’t get on with the other members of his unit—they were a great bunch, probably the best unit in his whole pack—but he’d never been good at paying attention to things that didn’t interest him. Patrolling the building was so mind-numbingly boring he hardly gave it a second thought.

The back of the van stank, and Nathan was about at his limit for enduring it. With his gaze trained on the front door to his building, he watched through the windscreen, willing whoever was on duty tonight to come out already. They were required to perform an outside sweep every hour.

Nathan had been there for twenty minutes already, and he prayed whoever it was liked to keep it in sync with the clock times. In three minutes’ time, it would be one in the morning; with any luck someone would come out and he could get out of the fucking van before the smell killed him.

At least Blondie wasn’t conscious enough to complain yet.

Nathan gripped the back of the driver’s seat as the door to his building swung open.

Thank fuck.

The gods must be smiling down on him tonight, because out walked Luke. Out of all the shifters in their unit, Luke was Nathan’s favourite. He was huge, even by shifter standards, but so laid-back and easy-going, it was almost a shock when he half-shifted. Luke was one of those who suited the full shift much better—dark brown soft fur that made you want to curl up with your hands buried in it. Not that Nathan would ever tell him that.

Luke was also a smoker, and the final pieces of Nathan’s plan slotted into place. He opened the side of the van and jumped out, quickly sliding the door shut behind him.

About fifty feet from the front door, Luke’s head snapped around. He stared at Nathan and wrinkled his nose. “Jesus Christ, you fucking reek.”

Nathan grinned and shrugged, doing his best to look sheepish. “Yeah, sorry about that. Had a slight accident taking a piss.” He gestured to the damp denim that clung to his left leg. “Tequila.”

Luke grinned back and nodded in understanding, but put up his hand to stop Nathan getting closer. “Haven’t you got something to change into before you bring that stench in here? That shit’s going to linger.”

Nathan stopped to consider the question, as though this wasn’t the very thing he’d been waiting for. “I dunno, I don’t think so. I can run back and have a look, though.”

“Please.”

He took a couple of paces back towards his van, then stopped and half turned to face Luke again. “How about this. If I haven’t got anything in the van, I’ll give you a wave and you can go patrol upstairs while I sneak in. Piss might not be the only thing I have on my clothes, and I really don’t want to embarrass myself further by you having to smell this up close and personal.”

“Jesus, Nathan.” Luke glanced up and down the street, scenting the air. “I don’t know….”

“There’s no one around, you know you’d pick up their scent if there was. And I’ll keep an eye out, don’t worry.” He grinned and pointed at the pack of cigarettes in Luke’s pocket. They weren’t allowed to smoke out the front of the building, so Luke needed to go up to the roof. “Why not go and have a smoke, you must be due to check up there soon anyway?” That was a long shot, Nathan had no idea when he needed to do that, but when Luke smiled back at him, he wanted to cheer.

“Yeah, okay.” Pulling a cigarette from the pack, he pointed it at Nathan. You better keep an ear out for any trouble. I don’t want to be the one caught shirking their duty.”

“Promise.” Nathan turned and jogged back to his van.

After opening the side door and pretending to rummage around for clothes, he stood and waved a hand, gesturing that he’d found nothing. Luke glanced around, checking the outside again, then gave Nathan a jaunty salute and disappeared inside.

One, two, three…. Nathan waited ten seconds to make sure Luke didn’t come back out. Any longer and he ran the risk of running into him on his way back out. The building only had four floors. He needed to time it right.

Taking one last look around, Nathan reached into the van, grabbed Blondie and hauled him over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift. Locking the van and running back to the open front door took less than thirty seconds. Nathan tried not to breathe in too deep—the guy and his nasty-smelling clothes were far too close to his face for comfort—but the smell wrapped around him like a cold, wet, rancid blanket. Nathan gagged as he ran.

Blood, he could cope with. Blood mixed with piss and jizz, not so much.

The entrance way was blessedly empty as he ran in and pulled the door closed behind him, careful not to bang Blondie’s head—poor guy had sustained enough damage for one night. Nathan adjusted him on his shoulder and raced up the stairs, his heart in his mouth as he expected someone to appear at any second. The hallway on his floor was also empty, thank God, but Nathan struggled to get the keys out of his pocket, all the while aware that Luke could come down any moment. Agreeing to go for a smoke was one thing, but Luke was far too conscientious to stay up there for long. He’d probably only have a few drags before feeling guilty and heading back down.

Sure enough, Nathan’s door clicked open at the same time as one three floors up did the same. Nathan hurried inside, slamming the door behind him. The flats were partly soundproofed—no one wanted to hear each other jacking off—but the bedrooms and bathrooms were the only rooms that had total soundproofing. For obvious reasons.

No way was Nathan going into his bedroom in his current disgusting state, so he veered into the bathroom and set Blondie carefully on the tiled floor. He grabbed a towel and shoved it under his head as a pillow.

Poking his head back out of the bathroom door, Nathan listened hard for Luke’s footsteps in the hope he’d go straight back outside. They echoed loudly down the stairwell as Luke returned to his rounds, but the door to Nathan’s floor opened. The footsteps paused outside his flat. A quiet rap on the wood followed, and Nathan muttered, “I was about to get in the bloody shower!”

Luke heard him and laughed. “Don’t worry, I don’t want to come in, one whiff of you tonight was enough. Just checking you’re okay?”

Nathan sighed, no doubt he’d smelled blood and come on him too. Hopefully that was all. Luke’s concern still warmed him; their unit’s bonds were some of the strongest in the pack. Nathan rested his head against the door with a soft smile. “Yeah, I’m good. Be safe on patrol.”

“Of course. Night, Nathan.”

“Night.”

CHAPTER THREE

Jared came to with a jolt. Opening his eyes revealed an unfamiliar bathroom, and he struggled to remember what had happened. Everything was fuzzy, as though his memories were just out of reach. When he tried to sit up, a strong hand on his chest kept him flat on the floor.

What the hell?

Inhaling deeply was a huge mistake, and Jared gagged at the awful stench. “What the fuck is that smell?”

“It’s you. Well, some of it is me, but mostly it’s you.”

Jared’s gaze snapped to the side. The man who still had his hand on Jared’s chest looked familiar. His mind felt like treacle as he searched for a name or a—“Nathan.”

Oh fuck.

“You’re a shifter.” Everything hit him at once—the club, some guy stealing his wallet, chasing after him, and then—

Oh God.

Jared gingerly reached up to touch his neck, but Nathan grabbed his hand before he touched skin.

“Don’t. I need to clean and dress it first.”

“Did you fucking bite me?” Jared pushed himself up onto his elbows. His head throbbed too, maybe he’d hit it? Everything up to getting bitten was clearer, but after that… nothing.

Nathan shrugged. “Yes.” He didn’t even have the good grace to look sorry. “I thought you were the shifter I was chasing, but clearly I made a mistake.”

“
You made a mistake
?” Jared laughed, a mix between incredulous and disbelieving. “There’s a pretty good chance you just ruined my fucking life, and you call it a
mistake
?” The wound… bite… whatever-it-was on his neck started to itch now he knew it was there, and he reached to touch it again.

Nathan slapped his hand away this time. “I told you to leave it,” he hissed.

“Fuck off.” Jared backed away from him as far as he could get within the confines of the bathroom. His shoulder ached too, more than it had in a long while. “Why didn’t you take me to a hospital?” He glanced around again, taking in the stone-effect tiles and the modern white design of the shower, sink, and toilet. “And where the fuck am I?”

Wherever he was, it was nicely decorated. But the citrus scent of the bathroom couldn’t disguise the nasty smell coming off his clothing. Jared wrinkled his nose as he looked down at himself. “And please tell me why I suddenly smell like a tramp.” Bringing his arm up to his nose, he took a tentative sniff. “Jesus Christ, is that piss?”

His black T-shirt had some suspicious stains on it that looked a lot like…
no
. “Did we fuck last night?” He pointed at his belly. “Because that looks an awful lot like—”

“If you shut up for more than two seconds, then maybe I can answer one of your bloody questions.” Nathan rolled his eyes as he stood and started to undo his jeans.

Jared swallowed down a flare of panic. “Why are you getting undressed?”

Nathan’s answer to that was to lean down and clamp a large hand over Jared’s mouth. “I’m beginning to wish I’d just killed you and had done with it.” He kept his hand in place as he shimmied out of his jeans one-handed and kicked them to the side of the room. “Firstly, we’re in my flat, and although these walls are supposed to be soundproofed, I’d rather not test them out and risk alerting the rest of my unit that I’ve got a bloody human in here when it’s against pack rules. So I’d appreciate it if you’d keep your voice down, or we’ll both be in serious shit.”

Jared pointed at his neck, hoping his eyes conveyed the message that they were already in serious shit.

Nathan glanced at the bite mark and then up to Jared’s face. “It could be worse, trust me.”

Narrowing his eyes, Jared glared at him.

I’m going to end up a shifter like you—a bloodthirsty arrogant dick who turns into an even more bloodthirsty arrogant dick once every month. Oh joy.

As if Nathan read his mind, he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Fine. It could be a lot worse for
me
.”

Yeah, that’s more like it.

Removing his hand from Jared’s mouth, Nathan shrugged out of his T-shirt and threw it on top of his jeans. Jared took a moment to appreciate the view in front of him—lean muscle all the way from Nathan’s legs to his shoulders and out to his forearms. Not an ounce of fat to be seen. In only his boxers, Nathan was an impressive sight, and Jared’s gaze caught on the definition of his abs and the dark trail of hair leading down into his underwear.

Hot as he was, Jared looked away without comment. Nathan reminded him of a poison dart frog—pretty to look at but deadly.

Reaching over him, Nathan turned on the shower and motioned to Jared’s clothes. “To answer your other questions, yes, that’s piss you can smell, and yes, that’s jizz on your T-shirt. But no, we didn’t fuck. I had to disguise your scent somehow before I brought you in here.”

Ugh.

“So it’s yours.” Jared gestured at his body and Nathan nodded. All still matter-of-fact. “Gross.”

“It was no fun for me either, believe me.”

Jared scoffed. Out of the two of them, he’d come off worst, no doubt about it. “Whatever. We’ll talk about that later, and also why I’m not currently in a hospital. Right now I want to get out of these clothes and possibly burn them after.” Then he was going to take some of Nathan’s clothes and leave. Shifters might be arseholes, but Nathan couldn’t keep Jared there against his will. There were laws against that sort of thing.

First things first, he needed to get clean before he hurled.

Nathan glared at him as though he was too stupid to live. “What do think I’ve been trying to do? Have you any idea how bad this all smells to me?”

“Not sure I give a fuck, to be honest.” Jared glared back, and neither of them moved for a good few seconds until Nathan grabbed him by the arms and hauled him to his feet. “Hey! Injured, remember?” Not that it hurt that much, but still. Jared wasn’t in the mood to be manhandled.

Ignoring him, Nathan grabbed the front of Jared’s T-shirt and ripped it down the middle as though it took no effort at all. Again, that would be all kinds of hot if he were your run-of-the-mill human. Jared settled for sighing and shaking his head. The T-shirt joined Nathan’s clothes in the pile by the far wall, and his jeans and underwear followed soon after. Jared refused to feel self-conscious about being naked. He worked reasonably hard to stay in shape—granted, he wasn’t Nathan’s level of toned, but then he didn’t have that extra serving of shifter DNA to help him out.

Nathan obviously appreciated him, judging by the way he stared.

Jared coughed pointedly, making Nathan’s eyes snap up. “Nothing for you here, wolf-boy.”

“Get in the shower while I get rid of these clothes.” Nathan waited for Jared to get under the hot spray and then scooped up the clothes with a grimace. Jared laughed. He had no sympathy.

God, the water felt good, even on his sore neck… which rather alarmingly wasn’t all that sore any longer. Not all shifter bites resulted in the change, Jared knew that, but accelerated healing couldn’t be a good sign.

Fuck.

With more than a little trepidation, Jared reached up and gently felt his way around the edges of the bite.

As far as he could tell without a mirror, the wound had knitted together nicely. Nothing hurt too much when he poked at it, just a dull ache like a deep bruise. If he stopped and thought about what that meant, there was a very real danger of him losing it altogether. His worst nightmare had come to life.