Marked Northern Shifters 1

Gabriel.
“Look, Alec,” Liam spoke quietly, carefully, “I think you really need a drink.”
“Oh, yeah. Okay.” It felt surreal this, driving in a van with Liam and Claire, both werewolves, one leaning on him, the other passing him a water bottle. Alec guzzled its contents. The noise of his swallowing sounded loud in his ears.
“There are some juice boxes behind you, Liam.” An adult female spoke, startling Alec, though someone had to be driving and it wasn’t Liam. She met Alec’s gaze in the rearview mirror. It was dark, but her eyes seemed to be golden, like Liam’s. The presence of another werewolf made Alec shiver. “Hi there. I’m Veronica. We’re so grateful you saved Claire. Thank you.”
Saved. That was good. They thought he’d saved Claire. Maybe they wouldn’t make him their pet. Maybe they hated Gabriel, too.
Gabriel. They’d brought Claire back into Gabriel’s domain. He could have grabbed her. He’d been frantic to find her again.
“You shouldn’t have brought Claire and put her within their reach. Gabriel wants her back. Badly.” Alec hadn’t understood Gabriel’s desperation, though the wolf had talked about growing the quad, whatever the fuck that meant. Claire wasn’t exactly old enough to bear children, even if she was old enough to be abused.
Liam turned his head and for the first time, Alec met his gaze, golden but dark in the night. His eyes were rich with emotion, yet Alec couldn’t read them.
“Alec!” declared Claire indignantly and Alec found himself startled by the girl’s exclamation. Christ, he found himself startled by everything and he hated it. “Liam didn’t know where you were. He needed me to find you. And Veronica to drive. David stayed to guard Ira.”
Alec didn’t have the energy to ask who David was. No doubt another werewolf.
“We were not going to just leave you there,” Liam stated in no uncertain terms.
At that Alec looked out the window, overcome. Liam placed a juice box in his hand and Alec drank it up, though it tasted sickly sweet and turned his stomach. He was beyond exhausted. Claire said his name once or twice, but he only grunted replies. At some point, Liam took the empty juice box out of his hand.
Claire roused him when they stopped, apparently in Liam’s garage. She didn’t want to leave Alec’s side, but Veronica lifted her away and carried her off despite the girl’s weary protests. Alec glimpsed her head falling onto Veronica’s shoulder. It had been a very long day for Claire, too.
Liam opened the door on Alec’s side of the van, then crouched down as Alec swung his legs out. In Liam’s hand was clutched a sharp-toothed blade. Alec’s eyes widened in alarm.
“I know what I’m doing,” Liam reassured him. “I’m a woodworker, I work with saws. And this shackle is rusting and falling apart. We should be able to get it off you.” Liam looked up, locking his intense gaze on Alec. “You need to stay still so I don’t hurt you, okay?”
Swallowing, Alec closed his eyes to focus on not moving. He’d focused on not moving a lot lately. This was just one more time. And time seemed a fluid concept right now, as Alec seemed to fade in and out of consciousness. He waited for the pain, but it didn’t come, only some whining metal-scraping noise. It took a while, but the rusted metal fell away from Alec’s ankle. He should have felt free.
He must have dozed, because the shackle and Liam were suddenly gone. Just as suddenly Liam was back, empty-handed. “Let’s go in the house.” His mouth quirked up in an attempt to smile. “You’ve seen my house before.”
Alec stood, a little shakily, but it was easier walking sans shackle, and he made it up two steps and into the house. “I really want a shower.” He hated the pleading note in his voice.
“Sure.”
It was something of a blur, but Alec got to the washroom, shut the door and stripped off his soiled clothes. He put the water at scalding in the hopes he could actually warm up and clean himself. He was filthy. After he washed three times with soap and shampoo, a wave of exhaustion hit him and he decided to just sit down in the bath for a couple of minutes.
    Alec had been in the shower too long. Liam paced outside the door Alec had so firmly shut. That he wanted privacy after his ordeal made total sense. Liam knew Alec was desperate to be clean, too, but the hot water would be emptying out by now. When they’d found him, Alec was obviously chilled. He certainly