Marked Northern Shifters 1

connected. Liam stretched in encouragement. He considered this a vast improvement over a furious Alec pushing him around.
Alec stopped and Liam opened his eyes to see a too-thoughtful expression on his mate’s face.
“Why didn’t you tell me so much was at stake?”
“Uh, when?” Liam stalled.
“When you insisted on looking at my scar.”
Liam’s gaze fell on the teeth marks. “Would you have believed I was a werewolf?”
Alec shrugged. “I was in denial, but since I’d actually encountered four of you last year, yeah.”
“And would you have believed I intended you no harm?”
Alec sighed. “Perhaps not.”
“I feared you’d take off and they would chase you and I wouldn’t be able to help you at all. Now, as it happens”—Liam grimaced—“I didn’t protect you. They were already back and I didn’t know it.”
Alec withdrew to the edge of the bed. “How would you know?”
Propping himself up on his elbow, Liam hoped to coax Alec back to his side. But Ira rattled the locked door, which made morning lovemaking out of the question. Alec and Liam exchanged a glance, got dressed and let Ira in. Claire quickly followed, to Ira’s evident disgust, and they all trooped down for breakfast. No one was cooking, so everyone ate cereal and toast.
“Where’s Trey?” Claire asked with her mouth full. “He said he was coming. I miss him.”
“We’re waiting for him,” Liam said slowly, not wanting to share his worries about Trey’s long absence with the kids.
“Veronica says you have to go looking.”
Liam wasn’t quite sure what Claire referred to, but Alec murmured, “Who goes looking?”
Liam had meant to fill Alec in on some of their plans yesterday, but somehow the night had gotten away from him.
“Or,” continued Alec, “is it a secret not meant for children or pets?”
“No,” ground out Liam, irritated. Surely they had put that to rest.
“ I knew,” declared Ira helpfully.
Alec raised his eyebrows. “Did you now?” If there hadn’t been a certain shakiness in his question, Liam would have been aggravated. He had to remember that Alec’s entry into this world of werewolves had been abrupt and brutal. Lover or no, mate or no, he was still finding his footing.
“I don’t like pets.” Claire spoke with real sorrow. “I don’t like them at all.”
Alec’s tension wafted off him. Then David and Veronica were in the kitchen, joined by Seth, and Alec slipped out of the crowd and into the backyard.
In a few minutes Liam followed.
“You really shouldn’t come out here by yourself.”
Alec eyed him and shivered. There was a bite to the air.
“Besides, it’s cold.”
In reply, Alec grunted.
Liam touched Alec’s hand so he’d look at him, and returned to the conversation at the breakfast table. “You’re not my pet.” He waited for Alec to acknowledge this truth. “You know that.”
Alec didn’t react, causing Liam to feel alarmed. “Alec?”
Alec responded to something in Liam’s voice and dropped his head, a kind of nod, but also an act of a submission, which was not what Liam was looking for. He wanted Alec to believe, not agree in order to get along.
“There’s also no secret,” Liam continued, “that we have to go looking. You heard that yesterday. I meant to talk about it more last night but…well, you know.”
“I wasn’t always paying attention to yesterday’s different conversations and tête-àtêtes. In fact, I’ve been a bit distracted.” Alec pulled in a breath. “Anyway, are you looking for Trey or the quad? I didn’t quite follow. Mostly I gather that werewolves are very hard to kill.”
“There are ways.” Someone was going to have to put a bullet in Gabriel’s head. Liam hoped it was him.
“Yeah. I heard that. Blow the brains out and the werewolf can’t shift and heal himself before he’s dead. Got it.” Alec gave his head a sharp shake. “I’m just not used to this.”
Wrapping a hand around Alec’s nape, Liam brought their foreheads together. “It won’t always be like this. This will pass. Gabriel will die. I’ll call Casey back once it’s safe here again, and we can live here happily.”
Alec pulled away and laughed, but there wasn’t humor there. “It’s too much, Liam. Let’s just take it one hour at a time, okay?”
“Right.” It was stupid to feel hurt by Alec’s comment. “So. We’re looking for Gabriel and Luke, not Trey. He’ll find us when he’s ready.”
Alec’s dark eyes shuttered. “ You have to go on