Marked Northern Shifters 1

words, explanations, goodbyes. But Liam simply covered Alec with the blanket and crawled in beside him. A warm hand cupped Alec’s cheek, then drew Alec to him. He had thought Liam would fuck and leave, but he apparently wanted another embrace. Eyes still closed, Alec turned towards the golden warmth.
As Liam took him into the curve of his arms, Alec shuddered, not quite a sob.
“Hey,” murmured Liam, full of regret, and while their regrets were no doubt vastly different, Alec rubbed his face against Liam’s shoulder to show he understood. Then he fell asleep.
Chapter Five
    Before falling asleep, Liam held his new lover for more than an hour. Wolves were tactile creatures. Anonymous sex certainly provided touch, but not always affection. Liam’s desire for skin contact, especially after fucking, sometimes turned men off.
    He’d assumed Alec would pull away from him, as he had last time. Their sex seemed to start all wrong—Liam didn’t quite understand what had angered Alec—even if they found something right by the end.
    Alec sighed in his sleep, a tentative sound, and Liam just closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation of skin on skin, arms, shoulders, chest, hips. Legs tangled.
Oh, Alec. Liam lost his smile as he thought of Alec’s mark. It was too much to hope the quad had simply forgotten their prey. They would be back. Despite Trey tracking them, because Trey couldn’t bring himself to kill his brother Gabriel.
Liam had to protect Alec; all his instincts screamed it was so. The how of it was tricky. Did Liam begin by admitting he was a wolf when Alec had been attacked by the quad? Mostly Liam just wanted to make love to Alec, communicating with taste and touch and smell till Alec trusted him completely. But normals didn’t really work that way.
While debating his options, or lack thereof, Liam dozed off. When he woke, it was still dark and Alec no longer lay beside him, though his scent lingered. Liam smelled coffee.
The kitchen’s dim light caught Alec’s face, serious, even grim. Withdrawn. Liam wanted to be back inside Alec when his face heated with desire, opened, welcoming Liam.
As he sat up, Alec turned. He stared across the room and Liam couldn’t help it, he opened his arms.
Alec didn’t move, instead he crossed his arms and Liam imitated the action.
Amused, Alec laughed, though the laughter was rueful and he looked away. “I don’t know what to do with you.”
“Come here.”
That quicksilver smile died. “I can’t, Liam.”
“You can.”
Alec stood there, as if arguing with himself.
“I don’t understand, Alec. You slept with me.”
Alec’s lip twisted, but Liam was not referring to the sex.
“You trusted me enough to fall asleep,” said Liam to make his meaning clear.
“Yeah, well.” Alec shrugged, the movement abrupt. With some effort, he met Liam’s gaze. “Look, there’s something wrong with me.”
“Wrong?”
“I’m not entirely…” Alec seemed to grope for words, “…well.”
Liam thought of disease. Werewolves healed themselves, even from the most deadly of illnesses, but he didn’t want Alec afflicted. “Like HIV?”
“No, I would have mentioned that before sex.” Alec sounded irritated. “That’s not what I mean.”
“Can you tell me what’s wrong?”
“No. I can’t talk about it.”
Liam’s chest ached for Alec, and he longed for Alec to confide in him. But they needed time. “We all have something wrong with us,” Liam offered rather haltingly. For example, I’m a wolf.
Alec jerked an arm impatiently. “That’s not what I mean. I mean—” He breathed in, trying to calm himself. “I’m not good for a relationship. I think this should end tonight.”
“It’s morning.”
Not deigning to argue semantics, Alec looked at him levelly. Liam didn’t know what to say and even if he did, it would undoubtedly be the wrong thing. He swept the blanket aside and strode over.
“No.” Alec backed up.
“You say ‘no’ an awful lot when you don’t mean it. I don’t get it.”
In the dim light, there was a slight sheen to Alec’s eyes. The idea of once again forcing himself on Alec until he submitted—Liam couldn’t face it. He held out his hand.
Alec glanced at it and while Liam felt stupid, he did not pull back that hand.
“Alec. You’re cold.” Wolves were always warmer than normals. Their metabolism ran higher.
Avoiding Liam’s hand, Alec brought his palm to Liam’s chest and pressed. Rather like last night, but instead of shoving