Matthew's Chance Read online

  “What’s going on? Where’s Ash?”

  “Didn’t you hear me? We’ve got to go. Your goddamn heat mate’s about to tear into that man you were fucking—” Fletcher took a few steps back, hand raised, thumb pointing over his shoulder. “Salvadore something. Get your ass outta bed.”

  Chapter 16

  Matthew wasn’t prepared to see Ash being held to the floor by his alpha and two other wolves in the small building that Fletcher had led him to well beyond the perimeter of homes that had been laid out in a spiraling pattern that made it hard to tell what was supposed to be the front or the back of any of the homes. In fact, Matthew wasn’t that sure the homes were even meant to have a distinguishable front or back entrance. Despite appearances, the homes weren’t quite laid out the way a human home would have been. Neat paths cut through the woods, but trees grew right up against homes and leaves fluttered by the wide windows in the walls that stretched across the side of the room where all the commotion was going on.

  Alpha Craig was kneeling on one knee over Ash, growling, his hand tight around Ash’s throat, claws digging deep enough into Ash’s flesh that blood dripped to the floor below.

  Matthew didn’t know what was going on. Fletcher hadn’t told him anything on the way over. He’d been too busy hurrying Matthew along, watching the surrounding area closely, as if worried a wolf was going to jump out on them and attack.

  “Can’t be too careful now that heat season’s started,” Fletcher had said. “Goddamn wolves are scary when they catch a scent. You’re just the right age to really set them off.”

  Men in their early twenties did seem to give off more of the scent that triggered the wolves’ lust craze and Matthew was right in that range at twenty-two.

  Just as Matthew lurched over the threshold with the intent to run across the room, Fletcher caught him in a bear hug from behind, pulling him up short.

  “Don’t be a fucking idiot,” Fletcher said harshly into Matthew’s ear. “You know how unreliable the goddamn drugs are. They know you’re here. Wait for a signal.”

  Matthew jerked against Fletcher. “Got it. You can get your goddamn hands off me, asshole.”

  Fletcher released him.

  Matthew backed up against the wall beside the door and rubbed his arm. Fletcher shouldered Matthew to the side to make room for himself. Matthew scowled at Fletcher but gave way anyhow.

  He didn’t like Fletcher, hadn’t since the day he’d met him, a feeling that had reached its pinnacle the day Fletcher had called him Brendan’s knee-boy—as if Matthew was nothing more than a prostitute to Brendan. He’d hated Fletcher at that moment, and although he didn’t hate Fletcher any longer, he still didn’t like him.

  That had been the same day Matthew met Ash. He’d thought Ash was going to kill him—he’d never been so scared in his life, but in the end, Ash had been the one to help him see what was going on with Brendan and had saved him from something that would have only brought him heartbreak and a hell of a lot of regret later in life.

  “What are they doing to him?”

  “How the hell am I supposed to know? I was busy trying to get you to put on a goddamn pair of pants so I could get you here.”

  The pants Fletcher had thrown at him had been missing half the buttons. Matthew had had to rifle the drawers for a pair he could close since they both knew he couldn’t show up in the middle of a pack of wolves with his dick hanging out.

  Ash bucked against Alpha Craig’s hold on his neck, back bowing off the floor, and one of the other wolves—the one who’d mated Fletcher—jammed his knee right into the center of Ash’s chest.

  Matthew heard the thud of contact from where he stood and one of the tables close to the struggle screaked several inches across the floor.

  Sal stood alone behind a row of tables, his hands flat to the wall and his chest heaving. Whatever had happened had scared him; his eyes were wide and his face tight and Matthew had a feeling Sal was close to panic.

  “Where’d they find him?” Matthew asked.

  “That watcher brought him in.”

  “I thought—” He’d thought Sal had gotten away from the watcher or that the watcher had let him go to come help the rest of the wolves in their fight against Gage’s renegades.

  “There.” Fletcher straightened abruptly and pushed Matthew. “Go.”

  Alpha Craig had released his hold on Ash. He pushed to his feet, his claws still visible, and Matthew overcame his uneasy hesitation and moved into the midst of the pack of wolves swarmed around Ash.

  Alpha Craig fisted his hand in Matthew’s shirt and pulled him forward. Matthew stumbled. Alpha Craig dragged him until he was right next to Ash and then grabbed Matthew by the back of the neck with his other hand, releasing his shirt and shoving him down onto his knees.

  What the fuck was going on here? Fletcher had already disappeared, gone through the door probably as soon as Matthew had started forward.

  Matthew grunted as his knees thudded against the hardwood. He almost fell forward into the leg of the wolf holding Ash to the floor but Alpha Craig hauled him upright.

  Ash’s eyes snapped open and he focused in on Matthew, growling, lips pulled back from his teeth. He jerked against the arms holding him down, but the other wolves’ held tight. Ash’s skin gleamed with sweat and his eyes glittered feverishly.

  Alpha Craig pointed at Sal. “Explain to Ashikid your relationship with that human.”

  Matthew’s stomach roiled as he looked over to Sal.

  Sal was shaking his head. “I didn’t lie. I swear. We hadn’t fucked in at least a week, tell them Paul—Matthew. Tell them.”

  Matthew shook his head, looking around at Alpha Craig. “We had sex, that’s all.”

  Alpha Craig nodded toward Ash.

  Matthew turned and looked down at Ash. Ash stared back with nostrils flared and eyes wide and glassy.

  “It was just sex. There’s no relationship—but I don’t see why it’d matter, it’s not like—there wasn’t—”

  He stuttered to a halt as Ash’s chest rumbled with that sound unique to the wolves and every hair on his body raised as if electrified. The other wolves reacted noticeably to the sound, and the one with his knee on Ash’s chest leaned in and growled.

  “The human smells like you, still. That was understandable when he had your blood on his clothes, but now…” Alpha Craig’s eyes narrowed on Sal. “He shouldn’t have any of your scent left. Unfortunately Ashikid’s heat was close and he reacted as if he’d been challenged for his right to claim you.”

  “I don’t know why,” Matthew said, looking up at Alpha Craig. “I swear to God. I fucked him a couple of times and—and—” Matthew waved toward Sal, unnerved by the way Alpha Craig stared at him. “He sucked me off a few times. That’s it.”

  Alpha Craig continued to stare hard at Matthew. “Something must have caused this…” He glanced over at Sal, and then back to Matthew, his eyes flickering and his expression thoughtful. He turned to one of the other wolves, one Matthew couldn’t recall having ever seen before.

  “Thoughts,” he said, in the wolves’ language.

  The other wolf stepped out of the pack toward Craig, the vibrant blue of his eyes a near match for Craig’s. Matthew couldn’t help but notice the unusual scar across the wolf’s chin—he’d never seen a permanent scar on any of the wolves.

  “The gift we gave him could be at fault.”

  Alpha Craig turned and caught Matthew’s gaze. “Did you use barriers when you had sex?”

  “Condoms?” Matthew swallowed past the knot in his throat. He really didn’t want to talk about his sex life with a whole roomful of wolves staring down at him and Ash spread out at his knees but Craig’s look said he wasn’t being given a choice.

  Craig nodded once, sharply.

  “Yeah, we used condoms.” Because hell if he was going to fuck someone in the ass without a condom—they were hard to come by these days, but Matthew didn’t have anal intercourse without them—not with hu
mans anyway, not since the wolves came and free medical care became nothing but a childhood memory, and since he’d never fucked a wolf until Ash, well, he’d thought he was being safe.

  “No one said I shouldn’t,” he said, staring at Craig. “Or I—”

  Craig raised his hand. “No one’s blaming you for this.”

  Matthew’s heart stopped thudding quite so hard in his chest and he looked down at Ash. “He knows I—”

  Craig’s hand brushed over Matthew’s head, and Matthew jumped at the unexpected touch. He looked up.

  Craig returned his gaze, steady and solemn. “Ashikid made his choice. He expected you would have relationships with others while he waited to mate you.”

  Matthew reeled with the implications of Craig’s words. “What?”

  “He thinks he needs to continue to wait and it’s testing the very limits of his control, but he’s wrong. The time to wait has passed.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “You will mate.”

  “What? You can’t make—”

  “Submit,” Craig said, low and even and so demanding that Matthew’s entire body tensed in reaction.

  “But—”

  Craig’s brilliant blue eyes narrowed on Matthew. “Will you shame your mate by arguing with his alpha?”

  Matthew sure as hell wanted to argue, but Craig’s gaze never wavered, and Ash made a sound like a whimper, and Matthew’s uncertainty with the whole situation made him keep his mouth shut.

  Craig raised his arm and pointed at the door. “Out.”

  Matthew jerked at the demanding tone of Craig’s voice but Craig’s hand landed on his neck again, stopping him from rising to his feet. “Not you. You’ll stay here with Ashikid and mate.”

  “Now just a minute—”

  The hand on his neck squeezed and Matthew caught his breath. He tried to reach back and grab Craig’s wrist but Craig was too fast for him and instead he caught Matthew’s hand and pulled his arm back painfully over his head. “I don’t want to hurt you, but this is not the time to struggle against your fate.”

  “I’m not struggling against my fate!” Matthew tried to slow down his breathing but panic had a hold on him and it wasn’t letting go. “I don’t want Ash to mate me if that’s—” Not what he wants, he would have said, but a growl from Ash interrupted him.

  “It’s not time. He’s not ready,” Ash said, the words sounding almost torn from him.

  Craig released Matthew’s arm. “Stop hurting him with your thoughtless words.”

  “What the hell! I’m not trying to hurt him. Why would you even think that?” Matthew rubbed his burning shoulder.

  A yell caught his attention and he turned to see Watcher hauling Sal away as the other wolves left, leaving behind only the four holding Ash to the floor.

  Craig buried his fingers in Matthew’s hair, the very points of his claws tickling Matthew’s scalp. “Ashikid held off mating you for over three years because he knew you wanted to earn forgiveness for your actions with the renegades. Your submission to your alpha has been laudable and you’ve earned your forgiveness many times over and yet you still make him wait.”

  “I don’t fucking know what you’re talking about,” Matthew said. “And Brendan’s not my goddamn alpha. How many times do I have to say that before anyone believes me?”

  Craig’s eyes flickered. “Ah,” he said softly, and then, with a glance at Ash, “I see.”

  “What do you see? Because I sure as hell don’t see anything.”

  Craig switched to the wolves’ language. “The Diviners words to me that day begin to make sense now.”

  The wolf with his knee jammed into Ash’s chest nodded to Craig even as his gaze never wavered from Ash’s face. “Ashikid is my closest beta. Why didn’t I realize this?”

  “Humans are delicate, breakable,” Craig said. “That doesn’t make them weak in spirit. This world and its people are a gift from the universe and we’ll share it however the universe demands.”

  “Okay, okay,” Matthew said. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. But I know Ash could have mated me any time he wanted because I would have let him, goddammit. I haven’t done anything meant to hurt him. I would never—”

  Matthew’s hands shook and he rested them on top of his knees, hoping that would steady them. “Ash, goddammit—I would never want to hurt you. I just wouldn’t. I follow you, you know that. If you were waiting for some sign to mate me—”

  “The problem as I’m beginning to understand it,” Craig interrupted, “is that Ashikid isn’t waiting to mate you, Matthew. He’s waiting on you to mate him.”

  Chapter 17

  Matthew’s eyes widened and he glanced between Craig and Fletcher’s wolf, then at the one holding Ash’s shoulders and the two clutching at Ash’s thighs. They returned his gaze with a curious neutrality.

  Matthew’s chest didn’t want to expand with his next breath. “I can’t do that. What if you’re wrong? What if he doesn’t want—”

  Craig’s fingers flexed against Matthew’s scalp with a warning pressure.

  “You’ll demand he submit,” Craig said, his voice an unyielding echo in the small building, “and if he fights, you will make him submit.”

  Matthew sat back on his heels and rubbed his sweaty hands on his thighs. “That’s ridiculous. I can’t do that. I’m not strong enough to fight one of you. And we’re not supposed to fight, goddammit, that’s what we’ve been told over and over. Submit. Submit, because if we don’t, we’re going to die when you try to make us submit.”

  “Our mating instincts are strongest during the heat and this is our way. His instincts have been telling him for years that you’re his mate. Do you think he’ll fight so hard that wringing submission out of him will be impossible just because you’re physically weaker than him?” The challenge in Craig’s tone echoed in the small building.

  Matthew glanced up. “What if it is? What the hell am I supposed to do then? Let him kill me?”

  But the idea had set something to fluttering in Matthew’s chest, the thought of having Ash belong to him the way he already felt he belonged to Ash. Was this really what Ash wanted? Matthew licked his bottom lip. Might it be worth the risk to find out? Was the possibility of dying really enough of a reason to turn away from giving Ash what his alpha and friends thought he’d been waiting for?

  He remembered Ash’s words from last night. I don’t usually choose to fight. I submit.

  Would Ash submit for him?

  Craig’s fingers pressed against Matthew’s scalp, the pressure gentle enough for Matthew to suspect the touch was meant to be reassuring.

  He didn’t feel fucking reassured though and the way his heart skipped a beat proved it. He curled his fingers against his thighs and glanced to Ash.

  Ash stared back at him with almost no awareness at all, his eyes dilated and his every breath a shallow pant.

  Matthew reached out toward Ash and touched his arm. Ash’s skin burned hot under his palm. “Is he okay?”

  “His heat cycle came on him quickly when he caught your scent on the other human. He had to be drugged.”

  “You guys sure use a lot of drugs.”

  “Drugs are an acceptable alternative to violence.” Craig ruffled Matthew’s hair and then stepped back. “I’ll accept you as a beta and you and Ashikid will stay with my pack once you’re mated. He’s a good pack mate.”

  The nuance in the way Craig spoke “beta” and “pack” and “mate” changed from one use to the next and left Matthew with the feeling he’d missed something in the translation.

  Matthew tried to slow his breathing. He stared down into Ash’s lovely amber eyes. “Okay,” he said. “Okay.”

  “Then mate him, and I’ll be your witness.”

  That brought Matthew’s head around. He tilted his head back to stare up at Craig. “Witness?”

  “Those who aren’t alpha need a witness to prove their claim’s been accepted.”

  Mat
thew parted his mouth and let that thought sink in. “My God. You mean you’re going to watch me fuck—” Matthew twisted around on his knees too fast and had to catch himself on his arm to keep from falling on his ass. He shoved himself up, rising to his feet, heart thundering as he faced Craig. “No. No way.”

  Craig captured Matthew’s chin in a firm grasp. “As my newest beta, I’ll expect you to learn submission quickly. You might be human, but we have rules, and those rules are an important part of our society. Now… submit to your alpha while he has patience enough to tolerate your defiance.”

  Shit. Matthew realized in that moment that he’d probably pushed as far as he could push without risking more than he wanted to risk for a bit of privacy. His thoughts had been far from the heat season and he’d had three years to forget how intense the wolves became when their tempers frayed and their mating instincts raged.

  They’d been standing around for ten, fifteen, twenty minutes—he wasn’t even sure how long, but the whole time, he’d been sweating up a stink and as he watched, Craig’s eyes dilated and his nostrils flared on a deeply indrawn breath.

  The wolf who’d been kneeling on Ash lunged to his feet.

  “I need—” Craig’s claws came out and he twisted his head as if he were in some kind of battle with himself. With a flash of teeth, Craig shoved Matthew back and away. “Ian. I need my mate.”

  Matthew stumbled back, tripping over Ash’s legs and careening backwards into the table behind Ash.

  Another of the wolves threw himself at Craig, but Craig backhanded him and he went skidding across the floor.

  The move had been a diversion, and Fletcher’s green-eyed wolf plowed into Craig and jabbed something into his thigh. Craig roared and grabbed at Fletcher’s wolf. Whatever the other wolf had dosed him with made him slow and he missed and staggered, knees giving way. Craig crashed to the floor.

  Ian came running through the door, as if he’d been watching from somewhere nearby, and he ran straight toward Craig.