Chameleon Wolf (13 page)

“Bigger isn’t always better,”
Aiden heard in his mind. Did he just think that?

“Aiden, Matt? I think I’m hearing you guys in my head,”
Aiden heard in his mind, the voice sounding like Zac.

Holy shit! Zac?
Aiden thought to himself.

“Yeah, that was me, Aiden. Did you guys know we could do this? I
sure as hell didn’t. I mean, I can sense you guys differently than other
wolves, but hear you in my head? Wow, that’s kind of freaky,”
Zac thought.

“You didn’t know we would? Really? What does your pack teach
you guys?”
Matt’s voice floated through his mind.

“Well, my Alpha is nuts and likes to hurt his pack, but I’m
surprised my parents never told me,”
Aiden replied.

“Probably figured once you found your mate they could tell you
then,”
Matt answered.

“Well, they never told us about this when I learned to be a Delta.”

Zac chuckled.

“Given how much you have to be taught, I’m sure they forgot a
few things. I mean, haven’t you had any other surprises over the
years?”
Aiden asked Zac as they reached a small stream and rested.

“That’s true,”
Zac replied as they all took time to drink. Well, Aiden assumed the Deltas did. He couldn’t see them drinking, of course. After a ten-minute break, he realized it was time to go again.

“Time to roll, guys. How far do you think we’ve gotten?”
Aiden asked in their shared mental link as they started to run again. He tried to ignore the pack strapped to his back. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing. Rubbing all over his fur, it was starting to chafe.

“I’d say less than twenty miles?”
Matt answered.

“Well, at least we’re making good time,”
Zac answered.

“That’s true,”
Aiden replied with a chuckle.
“So, earlier, before
the shoot-out, I was thinking.”

“About what?”
came Zac’s reply.

“Should we be scared?”
Matt said.

“I hope not! I was thinking, after this is all over and the danger is
past, I say we take a week and spend it in bed together. Only getting
up to shower and eat, ordering mostly takeout. Then again, with
Matt’s cooking abilities, maybe that would work, too.”
Aiden ended with a laugh.

“Well, that would give us time to regroup in between rounds of
sex,”
Zac replied.

“Dirty, dirty mates!”
Matt exclaimed.

“Is that bad?”
Aiden asked, hoping he didn’t step over a line and make Matt feel uncomfortable.

“Hell no! I love it! I’ve never been so desired before in my life! I
could get used to this,”
Matt said with a chuckle.

Aiden and Zac laughed as well. It was nice that they could still tease each other comfortably while waist-deep in danger. Aiden hoped it would always be like this.

Matt’s feet ached. Well, his paws anyway. The rest of his body wasn’t much better. He lay down on the ground next to a bush and panted heavily. He just wasn’t cut out for this “run for your life” shit.

He much preferred being Zac and Aiden’s sex toy. If he was going to be totally exhausted and sore, he wanted it to be from hours spent in bed with his mates, not running from some psychotic Alpha bent on killing them all.

Still, at least he had his mates with him. If he was going to be in a dangerous situation, he was glad he wasn’t alone. Matt had spent his time being alone and in danger. He didn’t like it much. It sucked on a number of levels.

Just thinking about that time in his life made Matt think of the conversation he would eventually need to have with his mates. They knew something was up with him. No one was afraid of yelling and shouting like he was without a reason. And Matt had plenty of reasons.

“Are you okay, baby?”

Aiden’s words brought Matt out of his deep, morose thoughts. He glanced up at the big brown wolf. Even in wolf form, Aiden was beautiful, with long fur in several shades of brown and tan. Matt gave a little woof then went back to panting.

“I’m fine, just a little winded,”
Matt replied.
“I’m not used to
running like this.”

“Not much further to go, Matt,”
Aiden said,
“promise.”

“I need to talk to you and Zac after this is all over.”

“About what, baby?”

“About why I have such a problem with Zac yelling all the time.”

“Matt, there’s nothing out there says you have to like it,”
Aiden said
. “I don’t like it myself.”

“I know, but I feel like I need to explain it to you, to Zac. I want
you to understand.”

“Zac, Matt needs to talk to us,”
Aiden said.
“Can you move a
little closer?”

“What’s up?”
Zac asked a moment later.

Matt almost wished he’d kept his mouth shut. This didn’t seem like the right time to discuss his emotional hang-ups.

“Matt?”

Matt rolled his eyes.
“You know I’m an orphan, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Yes.”

“I bounced from foster home to foster home for a while, but
before that I stayed in an orphanage. It wasn’t very nice there. There
were so many kids that some of us kind of got passed over for stuff.”

“Stuff?”
Aiden asked.
“What kind of stuff?”

“Food, blankets, clothing, attention, all sorts of stuff.”

“Oh, baby, that’s—”

“That’s not why I brought this up. Things happen, and sometimes
there’s nothing we can do about it. I brought it up to explain to you
why I have such an issue with yelling and violence.”

“Matt, I’m sorry if—”
Zac began.

“Please, let me finish.”
When he heard nothing, Matt continued
.

“There was this man that operated the orphanage before it closed
down. I don’t know who put him in charge, but he never should have
been there. He hated kids, which is kind of counterproductive when
you operate a home for kids. Anyway, he yelled, a lot. Almost every
word that came out of his mouth was shouted. And if he wasn’t
yelling, he was hitting.”

“Hitting!”
Aiden shouted.

Matt winced. “
Yes, hitting. The smallest little infraction or protest
gained you punishment. After a while, most of us just learned to keep
our heads down and our mouths shut. It was safer that way.”

“Didn’t anyone try to stand up to this guy? To stop him?”
Zac asked.

“Yes, and that’s why the orphanage was closed. My friend Donny
finally had enough after he was punished for not moving fast enough.

He received five lashes from the headmaster’s belt. When he tried to
fight back, the headmaster beat him so bad that he died. Donny was
eight at the time.”

“My God!”
Aiden whispered.

“Now you understand why I hate yelling?”

“I swear to you, Matt, I will never hurt you. I know my size scares
you sometimes, but I will only ever use it to protect you,”
Zac said.

Matt could hear the anxiety in his voice, the worry.

“And I promise to try and curb my shouting when I’m around you.

I won’t promise it will never happen, but I’ll try. Okay?”

“Thank you for understanding,”
Matt said.

“Thank you for sharing,”
Aiden replied.
“It means a lot to us that
you could share something so private with us. I know I speak for Zac
when I say that we only want to love you, never hurt you. And if we
ever do anything that makes you uncomfortable, you need to be
honest and tell us.”

Matt tried to nod, but it felt weird in wolf form. Giving up the idea, he climbed to his feet and licked the side of his Zac’s muzzle.

Heaving another deep breath, Matt turned and started off toward council headquarters again.

He figured that the faster they reached the council and handed over their evidence, the faster he could get into bed with Zac and Aiden. After running for so many hours, though, he wasn’t sure if he wanted sex first or sleep.

“How much farther is this damn place?”

Matt could hear Aiden’s chuckle through their mental link.
“Not
far, baby, just a few more miles. If we’re lucky, we’ll get there just as
the sun starts to come up.”

“Why is that lucky?”

“Dawn and dusk, when the moon and sun pass each other in the
sky, are the hardest times of the day to see. If anyone is waiting for us,
we have a better chance of slipping through their lines if it’s dawn or
dusk.”

“Okay, that makes sense,”
Matt replied,
“but do you really think
they will be waiting for us?”
Just the thought made Matt stumble a bit. Yeah, sure, he made it through the firefight several hours ago with his sanity intact. He couldn’t promise that would continue if they had to fight again. He was pretty much running on empty nerves at this point.

“I’d like to tell you that they weren’t, Matt, but you, Zac, and I
promised we’d never lie to each other, remember? If they had that
much firepower set up to stop us back at the truck, then I suspect they
have something else set up for us close to council headquarters.”

“Besides,”
Zac said,
“we still haven’t seen Alpha Issacar. While
he seems to be the type of guy that hires thugs to take care of business
for him, he’ll still want his hands in it somehow. He won’t stop until
he stops us, or he’s taken out.”

“You guys are all just sunshine and happiness, aren’t you?”

“Would you rather we lie to you?”
Zac asked.

“At the moment? Yes!”

“Well, okay,”
Aiden said.
“The Alpha was obviously one of the
people we took out at the firefight, and he’s dead, so the only thing
between us and the council is open space. I imagine, since they know
we are coming, they will have tubs of hot bubbly water waiting for us
and nice, big, juicy steaks.”

“Sounds perfect,”
Matt said,
“but I’d be more interested in a bed,
a big bed.”

Matt yelped when he felt a small nip on his hindquarter. He jumped around snarling, only to find no one behind him. Matt quickly realized Zac had nipped him, his invisible Chameleon mate. That was going to get old fast.

“Get a move on, gorgeous,”
Zac said,
“or you’ll never see that
bed.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going,”
Matt replied as he tried to pick up his speed. They’d been running through forested areas mostly. They even ran up over a couple of tall hills. Up ahead, though, the land started to even out and open up. Matt was looking forward to that.

As they came to the edge of the tree line, Aiden moved in front of Matt and slowed down until he came to a stop. Matt stepped up close to Aiden and nudged him. His big, gorgeous mate gave him a small whimper and licked him. Matt wiggled. He didn’t care what form he was in, a kiss was a kiss.

Aiden suddenly shifted back to human form. Matt blinked, then shifted. “What? Why did you stop?”

Aiden lifted his nose into the air and sniffed, then shook his head.

“Something is off, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Do you smell anything out of place?”

Matt frowned but lifted his nose to sniff. At first all he smelled were trees, grass, and dirt. Then a strange odor floated across the breeze. Matt wrinkled his nose at the off-putting scent. It almost smelled like rotting wet dog, but not.

“It’s disgusting,” Matt said, trying to breathe through his mouth.

“What in the hell is it?”

“I’m not exactly sure, but I suspect it’s our welcoming party.”

“And they smell like rotten dog shit?”

Aiden chuckled. “Zac, could you or Sebastian check it out?”

“I’ll be right back,”
Zac replied mentally.
“Don’t move out from
cover.”

“We’ll be right here,” Aiden replied.

“You might want to get dressed while I’m gone,”
Zac added.

“Who knows if we have to fight or not, but I sure as shit don’t want
my bits and pieces hanging out if we do.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Aiden said even as he reached for the bags holding their clothes. Matt looked out over the field for a moment, trying to see any sign of Zac. When he couldn’t, he turned back to Aiden. He grabbed his clothes and started pulling them on.

Matt tried not to bounce from foot to foot as they waited for Zac to come back, but it was hard. He knew staying quiet was a must, but his level of anxiety grew with each passing moment. He clenched his fists and dug his fingernails into the palms of his hands, anything to distract him.

“Matt, get down,” Aiden said suddenly.

Matt felt Aiden’s hand on his shoulder, pushing him down. He didn’t know what was going on, but he immediately squatted down.

He scanned the area surrounding them, looking for anything that might be out of place. Aiden squatted down right next to him.

“What? What is it?”
Matt whispered silently.

“Look up ahead,”
Aiden replied.
“Someone is coming, and it isn’t
Zac.”

Matt glanced past Aiden. He didn’t see anything at first, just tall yellow grass and a few trees, but as he looked harder, he spotted a dash of color. Looking closer, he watched a man come into view. He walked slowly, a white piece of cloth tied to a long stick waving in the air.

“What does he want?”
Matt asked.

Aiden glanced back at him for a moment and shook his head before looking back to watch the man walking toward them.

“Whatever he wants, I want you to stay hidden, do you understand?”