Marked Northern Shifters 1

aggressively, while it made whimpering begging noises that pleased Gabriel. “That’s a good girl.”
As Gabriel rose, Claire watched him carefully, only rolling onto its stomach once his back was turned. It cringed until the man was out of sight, then its ears went up and its gaze moved to Alec.
Brown eyes, and Alec could imagine them in a human. He shivered.
Claire barked and if Alec interpreted the bark correctly, it was encouragement. Very carefully, the pup approached Alec’s bowl, as if she wanted him to drink.
He debated holding off until she couldn’t watch him. But he didn’t have the depth of loathing for the pup that he did for Gabriel and Luke. And he craved water. Alec picked up the bowl and drank it down.
    Friday night, Ira’s run lasted longer than expected. It was late when Liam ushered him back into Casey’s care and took off to scout out Alec and his apartment. The day had been mild and the pollution sat heavy in the city, leaving a bad taste in Liam’s mouth. It frayed his nerves this expedition—making his way through the streets, avoiding people, creeping in the shadows. Creeping had never agreed with him. It was why he’d stayed in the north for so long, before that bizarre phone call from Trey a year ago asking if he wanted to look after a brother he hadn’t known existed.
    Liam shook his shaggy head. He didn’t regret coming south, even if he missed the open spaces of the north. Ira made it all worthwhile. Befriending Veronica, his newfound cousin, had been a wonderful experience. And, well, early days and all, but Liam felt something special for Alec.
    He trotted around the apartment building, searching out Alec’s smell, looking for proof Alec had returned home. Liam found an old trail leading home, yesterday’s no doubt, but it was so faint he feared he was making it up. Perhaps Alec had stayed inside all day? Except his most recent trail indicated he had left the apartment this morning, and not returned to it. His window was dark—to be expected. Though Liam risked being spotted, he investigated the scents under the bright street light and the stairs leading up to the door. No Alec.
    Okay, maybe Liam was confused—he wasn’t used to tracking in the city and the pollution messed with his sense of smell. Alec could have been holed up at home for the day. He wasn’t the most social guy in the world. Being marked did that to a person. Or maybe he was homesick. Liam decided to phone Alec in the morning. There wasn’t much else he could accomplish here as wolf. Storming down Alec’s door as a white wolf just wasn’t an option, so instead Liam made his way home, carrying with him his sense of dread.
    He didn’t sleep and could barely wait till six a.m. when he desperately hoped Alec would be pissed off at being woken early by his phone call. By the third ring, Liam’s heart began to bang in real fear. Foreboding. By the tenth, his hands were shaking while he laid the phone in its cradle.
    Alec could have gone away. But he hadn’t mentioned going away. In fact, he’d seemed eager to see more of Liam.
Trey would let them know if the quad had returned. Except Trey was a bit of a wild card.
At nine a.m. Liam phoned Alec again and when no one answered he fought hard to stave off his panic. He was jumping to conclusions. For all he knew, Alec had another boyfriend. Not that Liam was his boyfriend—he knew that much about dating. One night was not a boyfriend.
Liam drove to the library. He strode across the parking lot and into the building, desperate to catch a glimpse of Alec shelving books. Breathing in through his nose, Liam caught no whiff of Alec. But he spotted Sharon, the woman who’d pointed him towards Alec the other Saturday when Ira had dragged Liam here to see Mr. Alec.
“Hello, Sharon.”
She looked up from the computer. Her eyes widened, recognizing him and he smelt…excitement, not quite fear. He worked at keeping his expression bland and even, because he was reacting to this woman with distaste and he didn’t quite know why.
She gave him a welcoming smile. “Hi there.”
“Could you tell me if Alec”—Christ, he didn’t even know Alec’s last name—“is working today?”
Her bright expression dimmed. “Oh, what a shame.”
“Shame?” repeated Liam, disturbed by the word.
“Alec was let go.” Her regret seemed genuine.
“Let go?”
Her hand went palm up with a shrug, a kind of “you know” gesture, but Liam didn’t know.
“Why would they