Marked Northern Shifters 1

His parents kicking him out of the house at sixteen because he was gay hadn’t been fair either. But it happened. He’d sucked it up. Thing was it didn’t just happen that someone was bitten by werewolves and chained in a shed. This was impossible to suck up. And he certainly couldn’t move on with this shackle around his ankle.
Christ, his face was wet and he never cried; it never helped. He rolled onto his side to face the wall, breathing noisily as Gabriel liked to say. Time passed. Alec felt unhinged, not quite there. Maybe he dozed. He had vowed to remain strong but they were breaking him with Liam’s name.
Day was gone. The dreaded moon came out and Alec shivered through it all. He was ready to give up.
“I am strong,” said a clear young girl’s voice and Alec jerked to sitting. He just managed not to yell, blinking rapidly, trying to get his head together and process the words and their source.
He stared blearily at a little nude girl with brown eyes and a tangled mess of hair. Red, perhaps, though moonlight was deceptive.
“It’s me, Claire, and I am strong.”
“Oh, Claire.” His voice broke on her name. Such a pretty thing, but too thin, too bedraggled, too frightened. Blue veins stood out in her face and her thin, undeveloped chest.
Her shoulders hunched, a defeated posture. “You sound sad. I thought you would be happy to see me.”
“I am happy to see you,” Alec allowed. “I’m glad you are strong,” he added.
She got down on all fours and Alec watched in fascination as she crawled towards him, her movements reminiscent of the wolf Claire. Alec held out his palm, she pushed her cheek against it and Alec pulled her into a human hug. She rubbed her whole body against him, wolflike, but then she settled against him more like a young child. His sorely tested heart ached a little more for her. What kind of a life was this for a girl?
“Did you think I could talk?” she asked.
He blinked, having not considered the alternatives, though he supposed he should have. “Yes,” he said simply.
“My mom taught me.”
“Good.”
“Before they took her away.”
Oh, she made him sad. This was too sad a night and Alec felt like his heart couldn’t make it through.
“I’m sorry they took her away, Claire.” He let out a rackety sigh.
“My mom looked after me the right way. Trey says so.”
Who’s Trey? But Alec thought he should ask another question first. “Where are Gabriel and Luke?” He couldn’t cope with either wolf visiting.
“They run,” she said, as if that explained everything. Well, as long as they were away. “I’m too little to run so far.”
Alec nodded as if he knew that. They sat in silence for a while. “Thank you for turning human for me, Claire.”
“It’s not easy under a full moon. Some wolves can’t be human under a full moon. But Trey says I am very strong so I can.”
“Ah.” Well, might as well ask. “Is Trey a werewolf, too, then?”
“Oh, yes.” She nodded to emphasize this. “But he’s good. He’s my friend.”
Alec wondered if that was possible. He hoped so. Claire deserved a friend, and while Alec had begun to think of himself as such, he was about the most useless friend she could have. Doomed friends usually were.
“Claire, Luke and Gabriel are bad, bad people. You must get away from them. Where is this other friend? Can you go to him?” Alec might not get out of this alive, but she should, she should.
She picked at a dirty toe and Alec waited until she looked up at him through messy hair, eyes defiant. “Gabriel says he killed Trey but Gabriel lies.”
“Gabriel lies,” Alec repeated, his arm tightening around Claire because she had been with someone good before Gabriel and she should be with someone good again.
“Yes. Gabriel said he wouldn’t hurt you because you’re my pet.”
Alec scrubbed his face. “Yeah, well.”
“Are you hungry?”
He wasn’t. He didn’t want to eat. But if he didn’t want to give up, he had to try. “Yes.”
She rose.
“Claire. You’re going to get cold. Put on some clothes. And maybe you can bring me a blanket.”
“Okay.” She skipped off to the house, as if happy to run these errands for him, which maybe she was. She led such a bleak existence.
Half an hour later, they munched on cold cuts and potato chips. With a blanket on, Alec’s fingers no longer felt numb, even if his heart did.
“My friend Trey likes potato chips.”
“Uh-huh,” said Alec.
“So I like them.”
Alec