The Altered (13 page)

Not like
Daniel.

He might have
been changed by the pathogen too, but he wasn’t welcomed as an
altered, and he was sufficiently different not to be fully human
either. Sought after by one side for his ability, feared and hated
by most of the others for how that same ability set him apart and
exposed them to danger.

“Hey.” Daniel
pulled out one of the kitchen chairs and sat down next to Matt.
“Want to do something this weekend? Let off a bit of steam?”

Matt perked up
a little, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Yeah, okay.
What did you have in mind?”

Daniel tapped
his chin with his finger. “Hmm… I was thinking of something
physical, maybe a little dangerous, and most definitely involving
bruises.”

“I could go
for that.” Matt was full-on grinning now. “Paintball?”

“Definitely.”
Daniel grinned back.

“Normal or
altered
?”

If you knew
where to go, like Matt did, there were places where everyone
playing was either a shifter or the friend of a shifter. The game
was a lot more violent since most people playing healed quickly,
but usually a lot of fun. It had the added bonus that Matt could
move around as fast as he wanted and use his abilities without fear
of being outed.

It also meant
that as a non-shifter, Daniel would have to wear extra padding and
a bright red jumpsuit to identify him as, in Matt’s words, “A poor
fragile thing that needed to be handled with care.”

“You coming,
Ash?”

Ash eyed both
Daniel and Matt in turn. “As long as you don’t gang up on me like
last time.”

Matt gave him
a thumbs up, and Daniel said, “We promise,” with as much sincerity
as he could muster.

“I don’t
believe either of you, but yeah, okay.”

Daniel woke up
far too early on Sunday morning. He rolled over to check the time
and gasped in pain. “
Fuck
.” He grabbed his phone and
gingerly lay back down with a groan. Why had he thought it would be
a good idea to play paintball with Matt and his friends?
Why?

He ached, and
he must have a huge bruise on his left side, judging by how sore
his ribs were. One of Matt’s friends knew Daniel was a seer, the
others just assumed he was one of Matt’s human friends who knew
about shifters.

They hadn’t
taken it particularly easy on either him or Ash, but thankfully
they’d saved the claws and teeth for the other altereds there. It
had been worth the bruises to see Matt in his element like that,
carefree and laughing as he zipped through the trees faster than
Daniel could track.

They’d all
been thoroughly knackered when they got home, the three of them
tumbling onto the sofa with barely enough energy to phone for
pizza. The early night must be the reason Daniel was awake now
at—he checked the time—eight fifteen.

He yawned and
tried to fall back to sleep, but despite still feeling tired, he
couldn’t drop off. With a resigned sigh, Daniel pulled on some
socks, pyjama bottoms, and a T-shirt, and made his way
downstairs.

“Oh hey,
you’re up early.” Matt greeted him from his perch on one of the
kitchen counters. He was facing the window looking out onto the
small back garden, his face tilted toward the sun. “Couldn’t
sleep?”

“Nah.” Daniel
filled the kettle and switched it on. “Can’t believe we were in bed
by ten on a Saturday night. Even my mum stays up later than
that.”

Matt grinned
and shuffled around to face him. “It’s all that fresh air
yesterday.” He hopped down and leaned against Daniel, elbowing him
gently. “Thanks for that, by the way.” He slipped his arm around
Daniel’s shoulders and pulled him in for a hug. “I needed it.”

Daniel hugged
him back tight. “I figured. Sorry if I’ve been a shit friend this
past week.”

Matt breathed
in deeply, his head nestled in the crook of Daniel’s neck.

Daniel
couldn’t help the smile on his face. “Are you marking me?”

He felt Matt’s
answering smile against his skin.

“It’s going to
piss Jordan off no end.” Matt deliberately rubbed his cheek along
Daniel’s throat. “Please let me be there when you next see
him.”

Daniel
shrugged out of Matt’s hold and shook his head. “It’s not that
serious yet, you know. I don’t think he’s going to care.”

Matt barked
out a laugh at that. “Oh, trust me, he’s going to care.”

Daniel had a
text from Jordan later that afternoon while he was lounging around
in his room.

Hi. Just got
home. Knackered, but I’d like to see you.

Tonight?

Daniel ignored
the odd little flutter in his belly. He watched his phone, waiting
for Jordan’s response. He didn’t have to wait long.

Yeah, if
that’s ok?

Daniel
grinned. He was still sore, though not as bad as when he first got
up, but it wasn’t as though they’d be getting up to much. Well,
whatever, Daniel could cope with a bit of pain if they did. He
wasn’t about to say no. He didn’t feel much like going out to a
pub, though.

Yeah, course.
You could come here if you’d like, or I could come to you?

Jordan’s reply
to that took so long that Daniel wondered if he’d said the wrong
thing. Maybe he’d misread the situation. After Friday he’d pretty
much assumed they were headed into relationship territory. If that
was the case then surely the prospect of seeing each other’s homes
shouldn’t faze Jordan.

Daniel was
halfway to dropping off to sleep when his phone beeped. He reached
for it, squinting at the name with one eye open. When he saw
Jordan’s name, he sat up a little on his elbows and opened the
message.

Can I come to
you? My house is not the most welcoming at the minute.

Daniel
frowned. What the fuck did that mean? He’d ask Jordan about that
later.

Yeah that’s
fine.

Now he had to
get rid of his housemates.

Their bedrooms
might be soundproofed—they’d learned that lesson the hard and
painfully embarrassing way—but Daniel didn’t particularly want them
in the house with Jordan. Ash would be okay. He’d probably stay in
his room all night out of the way. But Matt…. Yeah, he didn’t want
those two together just yet. At least not while he was there
too.

“Hey, Matt?”
Daniel stayed on his bed, knowing Matt would hear him as long as
Matt didn’t have his bedroom door closed. About five seconds later,
Matt poked his head in through Daniel’s open doorway.

“What’s
up?”

“Jordan’s
coming around tonight.” Daniel hoped he wouldn’t have to
elaborate.

Matt shook his
head. “And you want the house to yourself so you can bang him?”

“Oh fuck off.”
Daniel sat up and crossed his legs. “I just don’t want you two
butting in while we talk.” He ignored Matt’s “Yeah, right,” and
said, “Can you go out for a few hours, and maybe take Ash with you?
Please?”

Matt let out a
put-upon sigh and leaned against the door frame. “I suppose I could
drag him out to the pub. He could do with loosening up a
little.”

Daniel felt a
little guilty at forcing Ash to go out with Matt—pubs and bars
weren’t his scene. When Daniel thought about it, not a lot was
Ash’s scene. Maybe it would do him good to go out and socialise
because he spent far too much time on his bloody laptop.

For fuck’s
sake, now he sounded just like his mother.

“What’s wrong
with you?” Matt gave him a curious look. “I already said yes.”

Daniel glanced
up at him. “Just take him somewhere nice, yeah? I don’t want him
scarred for life.”

Matt scoffed
and waved him off. “I know just the place. What time is lover boy
getting here?”

“About eight.
Think you can be gone by then?” He stood up from the bed and went
to shoo Matt out of his room, but Matt refused to be budged.

“Nope. I want
to be here when he arrives. I told you.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”
Matt’s expression turned serious, and he put his hand on Daniel’s
shoulder. “I just want to make sure everything’s okay before I
leave you alone in the house with him.” He held up his hand as
Daniel went to protest. “I know how it sounds, and I know you think
you know him well enough, but it’s just something I need to do,
okay?”

Matt looked
down at his feet, avoiding Daniel’s eyes.

He had two
spots of pink high on his cheeks, and Daniel suddenly realised Matt
was embarrassed. He thought they’d got past this years ago, but
obviously not. He drew Matt in for a hug, wrapping his arms tight
around him and not letting go until Matt gave in and hugged him
back. “Hey, I’m sorry. Whatever you need is fine.”

Matt might
have been embarrassed by his instincts earlier, but as eight
o’clock approached, he happily sat on the sofa, sprawled over as
much of it as possible, with a huge shit-eating grin on his
face.

He’d already
done the same in the chair, making Ash move out of it first. Both
Daniel and Ash stood by the fireplace watching him.

“What are you
doing exactly?” Ash frowned as Matt ran his hands and then his arms
along the cushions. He had on a short-sleeved T-shirt, so that was
a lot of skin. “You know we all have to sit there at some point,
not just Jordan.”

Matt laughed
and stood up. “I don’t think Jordan’s going to want to sit down
anywhere in here.”

He had such a
smug expression, but that soon changed when Daniel smiled back and
said, “That’s okay, we can just go straight up to my room. Won’t
have to waste time on small talk.”

Ash choked out
a laugh. Daniel couldn’t decide if it was at the look on Matt’s
face or the thought of Daniel having sex.

“Whatever.”
Matt smoothed out his clothes. “I just want to make sure he knows
who lives here too.”

“I don’t think
there’ll be any doubt in his mind.”

Ten minutes
later Matt glanced toward the front door. “He’s here.”

Daniel hurried
to answer when the bell rang, with Ash and a reluctant Matt waiting
in the living room.

“Hey.” Daniel
smiled as he opened the door wide to let Jordan in.

Jordan was
halfway toward leaning in for a kiss when he paused, wrinkling his
nose and raising one eyebrow. “Okay. He’s made his point.”

Matt’s
laughter sounded in the lounge, and Daniel gestured down the hall
with a sigh. “Why don’t you come in, and we can get this over
with.”

Jordan nodded,
so Daniel led the way into the living room.

“Jordan, you
already know Matt, right.”

Jordan seemed
to stand up straighter when he saw Matt. Although roughly the same
height, Jordan’s shoulders were wider than Matt’s and it made him
appear much larger.

Daniel bit his
lip as they stared at each other. Jordan’s mouth curved up at one
corner, a cocky half-smile that said he knew exactly what Matt was
doing and was willing to play along. Daniel was ashamed to say he
found the whole thing hot.

“Nice to meet
you again, Matt.”

“Jordan.”

“And this is
Ash.” Daniel stepped forward to stand by Ash as he introduced him.
Ash might know about the existence of altereds, but Daniel didn’t
know if he’d ever met one who could shift fully and who looked as
imposing as Jordan.

Ash smiled,
but his whole body broadcast his apprehension, and if Daniel
noticed, then the two shifters in the room definitely would
too.

Jordan
immediately dropped the staring competition with Matt and turned
the full force of his smile on Ash, all inviting and warm, and Ash
seemed to relax under the weight of it. “Nice to meet you,
Ash.”

Jordan’s voice
came out velvety soft, and Ash blushed a little from the
attention.

“Y-yeah, you
too.”

Daniel
sympathised.

“Jesus,” Matt
muttered, and Ash turned to glare at him. “Come on, Ash, let’s go.”
He took Ash by the elbow and steered him toward the hallway,
turning to look back at Jordan over his shoulder. “You’d better
make sure nothing happens to Daniel while we’re gone.”

“Of course,”
Jordan replied, deadly serious.

Daniel
refrained from commenting on their ridiculous macho posturing.
Ordinarily it would piss him off a lot more, but under the
circumstances he was willing to cut them both some slack. “See you
guys later,” he said, pointedly walking Matt and Ash to the door.
“Take care, though, yeah?” Although he was practically kicking them
out, there were still arseholes out there who’d hurt Matt if they
found out what he was. And with the new scents Matt had picked up
and Daniel’s visitors at the library, the threats Daniel had
brushed aside before were looking more serious every day.

Matt nodded.
“Always.”

Daniel threw
Matt’s jacket after him—which he’d forgotten, again—and locked the
door behind them.

That left him
and Jordan alone in the house, and suddenly all Daniel could think
about was getting him upstairs.

“So, what do
you—” That was as far as Daniel got before Jordan pushed him up
against the wall and leaned in close.

“I get what
Matt was trying to say by marking you as his, and he’s made his
point. Now it’s time to make mine.”

Daniel would
have laughed at the cheesiness of that line, but Jordan thrust his
leg between Daniel’s and rubbed his thigh under Daniel’s dick in a
way that made him not care. Jordan could spout whatever possessive
bollocks he wanted, as long as he kept doing
that
. Well,
maybe. Daniel had his limits about that sort of thing, but Jordan
made it increasingly difficult to get annoyed.

He was used to
the posturing from living with Matt. Granted it was a little
different with Jordan, but Daniel still intended to put Jordan
straight. He didn’t need some big alpha male declaring ownership of
him. He let Matt get away with it sometimes because he was Daniel’s
best friend and they’d been through a lot over the years. He didn’t
have that history with Jordan, and Jordan’s attitude had the
potential to get Daniel’s hackles up. Just maybe not at the
moment.