The Altered (16 page)

The doors to
the second floor were closed, and Jordan peered through them,
trying to spot Daniel through the glass. He caught sight of a shock
of white-blond hair moving between the stacks, and his heart
thumped a little faster.

Jordan moved
on autopilot through the double doors as the need to get close
threatened to overwhelm him.

“Fuck.” His
knees almost buckled as Daniel’s scent washed over him. He’d been
without it for nearly three days, and the sudden influx was almost
too much. He leaned against one of the tables, breathing in
greedily and surrounding himself with it.

“Jordan?”

Jordan’s head
snapped up, his eyes focusing in on where Daniel stood about six
feet in front of him. He had glasses on—Jordan hadn’t known Daniel
needed them—and his arms were full of books. His open expression
seemed to close down the longer he looked at Jordan, and when he
spoke again, he sounded oddly formal.

“Is there
something I can help you with?”

Daniel’s
glasses must be tinted or treated with something because Jordan was
having a hard time seeing his eyes clearly. And Jordan had
excellent vision. He focused on the hard set of Daniel’s mouth
instead. His soft lips had been inviting and accommodating on
Sunday night, but now they looked anything but.

Jordan took a
step toward him, silently pleased that Daniel didn’t automatically
move backwards. “We need to talk.”

Daniel raised
one eyebrow. “Do we now?”

“Yes.” Jordan
took one more step, now within touching distance if he stretched
his arm out in front of him. He kept both his hands by his side,
though. “Can I buy you a coffee?”

Daniel glanced
up at the clock and pulled his bottom lip between his teeth.

Jordan
clenched his fists in an effort not to react as Daniel took his
time to answer. He thought he saw the glimmer of a smile on
Daniel’s lips, but it was gone before he could be sure.

“Yeah, okay.
I’m about done, anyway.” Daniel turned on his heel and walked back
to his desk. Jordan followed, a wave of relief washing over
him.

He watched
unashamedly as Daniel bent down to collect his wallet and keys from
his desk drawer.

Daniel caught
him staring as he straightened back up but said nothing about it.
“After you.”

He pulled on
his coat and motioned for Jordan to lead the way out, falling in
step beside him once they were outside the library.

They grabbed
two coffees from the Starbucks next door and walked toward the
park.

“Is this ok?”
It was dark, but the park was well lit and Jordan didn’t think it
was too cold yet.

Daniel nodded
in response.

Jordan
couldn’t take the silent treatment much longer. He was desperate to
put his arm around Daniel and pull him close. He caught hold of
Daniel’s gloved hand and turned him so they faced each other.
“About Sunday night—”

“Before you
say anything,” Daniel interrupted and pulled his hand free, only to
shove it in his pocket. “I don’t appreciate you telling me what I
can and can’t do, okay? I’m twenty-five years old and quite capable
of making my own decisions. Just because we were seeing one another
doesn’t give you the right to order me around.

Jordan’s heart
sank at Daniel’s use of the past tense. He stood by what he’d said
that night, but he didn’t want to lose Daniel over it, and if he
had to apologise for it, then he would. “Daniel, I—”

“I haven’t
finished yet.”

Jordan snapped
his mouth shut and waited. His coffee cup bent where he held it too
tightly, and he had to force himself to relax his grip or risk
crushing it.

“I might not
have liked the way you said it, but in retrospect you might have
had a valid point.” Daniel looked quickly down at his feet,
avoiding Jordan’s gaze.

Jordan
snorted. “No shit.”

Daniel’s head
whipped up and he narrowed his eyes. “And there you go again with
the attitude.”

God, he needed
to get a handle on his temper. Jordan still felt the aftereffects
of the moon stirring under his skin and making him edgy. Not nearly
as bad as the past few days, but enough to make him more
short-tempered than usual.

He took a deep
breath and flexed his fingers a couple of times, willing the
tension to flow out of him. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” He
swallowed. Daniel’s scent stuck to the back of his throat as he
breathed in deep. “I meant what I said, though, it was a fucking
stupid thing to do.” Daniel continued to glare at him as he sipped
at his coffee. “But I might have been slightly out of line with the
way I said it.”

“Slightly?”

“Okay, I was
in a shitty mood before I got there, and you being bruised and
putting yourself in danger like that tipped me over the edge. I
shouldn’t have come over until after the full moon, and I’m sorry.”
He took a drink of his coffee, trying and failing to gauge Daniel’s
reaction from his expression.

Daniel had
somehow developed an impressive poker face over the last couple of
days.

“I don’t want
to tell you what to do,” Jordan tried, ignoring Daniel’s hum of
disbelief. “I just want to keep you safe.”

They stood
looking at each other, and Jordan forcibly resisted the gentle tug
in his belly urging him to move closer. He wanted to touch Daniel,
so badly.

“Okay.” Daniel
drained his coffee cup and threw it into the bin next to where they
stood.

“Okay?” Jordan
frowned. “What does that mean?”

“It means I
get that things were crap on Sunday night for a lot of reasons and
I just want to forget it happened. And start over.”

Oh, thank
fuck
.

Jordan reached
out to take Daniel’s hand again, but faltered at the last minute,
still uncertain of his welcome.

“Oh, for God’s
sake. Come here.” Daniel took Jordan’s cup off him and threw it
away. He stepped into Jordan’s space and wrapped both arms around
his neck. “I missed you.”

“Missed you
too.” Jordan pulled him close. If they weren’t out in public, he’d
be tearing Daniel’s clothes off. But they were, and neither of them
needed that much attention, so he made do with slipping his hands
under Daniel’s jacket and tugging at his shirt until it came free
of his trousers.

The warm skin
of Daniel’s back felt so good under Jordan’s hands, and he sighed.
“I want to take you home.” He inched closer, unable to resist any
longer, and buried his nose in the crook of Daniel’s neck. It was
his favourite place to be.

“Let’s go,
then.”

“Hmm?” Jordan
didn’t move, steadily breathing in and out, distracted by Daniel’s
scent filling his lungs. He wanted to be covered in it.

Daniel laughed
softly, curling his fingers into Jordan’s hair and holding him in
place. “I said, let’s go. We could be doing this in private.
Somewhere warm and with less clothes.”

The image of
Daniel, naked and spread out on Jordan’s bed, popped into Jordan’s
mind, and his fangs dropped a little. He licked at them, picturing
them scraping over Daniel’s bare skin and leaving red marks in
their wake.

Fuck.

Jordan’s jeans
rubbed where his erection pressed against them, so turned-on
already, and he couldn’t help the low growl that spilled out.

Daniel put his
hands on Jordan’s chest and pushed him gently back, much to
Jordan’s disgust. He didn’t want to let Daniel go, but he dropped
his hands and let him step away.

“Come on,
then.” Daniel smiled and reached for Jordan’s hand again, turning
in the direction of the nearest Tube stop.

Jordan wanted
this more than anything, but Keira’s words rang in his head. He
groaned in frustration. “Wait.” He tugged Daniel back until he
faced Jordan again.

“What?” Daniel
sounded confused and a little breathless.

Jordan
silently cursed Keira again for making him do this. Just for a
second he’d thought about taking Daniel back to his place anyway.
Keira and Charlie would more than likely be at the gym, and Sam
wasn’t exactly going to say much.

He couldn’t do
it, though. She’d asked to meet Daniel and his friends—her way of
trying to show support. If Jordan wanted her to accept Daniel and
not constantly fight Jordan at every turn, then he needed to do
this before they went any further.

He reached up
and cupped Daniel’s cheek, loving the way Daniel immediately leaned
into his touch. “There’s something I’d like to do first.”

When Jordan
said there was something they needed to do first, Daniel thought he
meant maybe making out a little. By no stretch of the imagination
did he think Jordan meant calling their friends and getting them
all to come to the park.

“They’ll be
about twenty minutes,” Daniel said, slipping his phone into his
jacket pocket. Matt had been reluctant as soon as Daniel mentioned
that Keira, Charlie, and Sam, would be coming as well. He’d had to
promise to cook dinner for the rest of the week in order to get
Matt to agree. Ash had been easier to persuade—apparently a bit of
“fresh air” was just what he needed. Daniel would never cease to be
surprised by Ash’s contrary personality.

Jordan looked
up from where he’d been typing something into his phone. “Good.
Keira’s gone home to fetch Sam, and Charlie’ll be along after he
finishes at the gym.”

Daniel vaguely
recalled Charlie and Keira from that night outside the bar, but he
had no idea who Sam was. Jordan had got cagey when he’d asked him
about it.

“He’s Keira’s
twin brother,” Jordan said eventually, looking a little wary.
“He’s… well, you’ll see soon enough.”

“Um… okay.”
Daniel let the subject drop. Judging by the tense set of Jordan’s
shoulders, it was obvious he didn’t want to talk about it
anymore.

He felt
Jordan’s hand against his, slotting their fingers together. “It’s a
long and complicated story. I’ll tell you when they get here, and
you can understand better, okay?”

Daniel nodded.
He looked down at their joined hands and smiled. Possibly one of
the best changes the release of the pathogen had caused was this.
Daniel remembered a time when it wasn’t okay for two men to hold
hands in public, let alone kiss. But the pathogen had brought with
it something new to fear, and same-sex relationships were no longer
given much thought. As long as you were human, no one cared about
your orientation.

Who would have
thought genetically altering some of the population was all it
took? Daniel huffed, and Jordan glanced over, eyebrow raised in
question.

“It’s
nothing.” Daniel said. “Just thinking how this”—he raised their
hands—“wouldn’t have been so easy a few years ago.”

Jordan didn’t
say anything right away. A small smile on his lips, he stared at
where his fingers wrapped tightly around Daniel’s. “I wouldn’t
change it either.” He squeezed Daniel’s hand and scooted over on
the bench so they were pressed together. “I hated it at first.
Hated putting my family in danger and always having to move. But
now… I’m happy with what I am.”

He flicked his
claws out on his free hand, then just as quickly sheathed them
again. “I can’t remember being any other way now.”

Daniel tried
to smile back, wishing he felt the same.

“And this,”
Jordan carried on. He looked pointedly down at their hands again.
“I can’t imagine not being able to have this.” He tilted his head,
catching Daniel’s mouth in a soft, quick kiss.

It barely
lasted long enough to get going, but Daniel felt it all the way
down to his toes. Yeah, Jordan was definitely right about one
thing. Daniel couldn’t imagine it either. He was seconds away from
leaning in for another kiss when Jordan tensed, his grip on
Daniel’s hand suddenly way too tight.

Daniel
snatched his hand away, quickly flexing his fingers and
wincing.

“Shit, sorry.”
Jordan ran his thumb over Daniel’s sore knuckles. “They’re almost
here.”

“Who?” Daniel
craned his neck, trying to look behind them and see who was coming.
The park lights cast eerie shadows over the pathways making it
difficult for him to see as well as Jordan could.

“All of
them.”

It took Daniel
a couple of seconds before he saw them, and then he couldn’t hold
back the huff of nervous laughter bubbling in his chest. “Oh my
God,” he whispered, burying his face into Jordan’s shoulder for a
second. “This is going to be awful.”

He felt Jordan
laugh underneath him. “Yep.”

Matt and Ash
had entered the park at almost the exact same time as Keira and
Charlie. Daniel hadn’t recognised the others at first, but the way
they kept staring over at Matt—they seemed to be ignoring Ash
completely—left him in no doubt as to who they were.

Matt appeared
to be doing his best to ignore them, but every time he sped up,
Keira matched him. It would have been comical if Matt didn’t look
so wary.

Daniel and
Jordan had found a spot in the middle of the park, with thick trees
on one side and a pond on the other. At this time of night, it was
almost deserted anyway. They watched the others approach, and as
they got closer, Daniel noticed the tense set of Matt’s
shoulders.

“Is there
something going on with Matt and Keira?” Daniel knew they’d already
met at the gym, but Matt hadn’t said much other than about her
being scary.

Jordan
followed Daniel’s gaze and smirked. “I don’t think so. But Keira
can come off as a little intimidating, and she doesn’t particularly
like change, or new people.”

“That must be
fun, considering where she works. What’s it like being her
boss?”

Jordan barked
out a laugh at that, and Daniel was almost positive he saw Keira
glare in their direction.
Shit
, could she hear them from
there?