coming.
“What if I change? I know we’ve been avoiding that topic like the plague, but it could happen, right? I mean, that’s why you took me back to yours in the first place, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, and I don’t know.” That wasn’t strictly true, though, and Nathan found he couldn’t sit there and lie to Jared’s face. “You’d still be able to go to the authorities and report me. But you’ll also have to register your DNA, and you’ll need a pack, but….”
“But if I report you and get you arrested or killed, no one will take me. Will they?”
“Of course they will. Not every pack gives a shit what happens to mine, but you’ll also make some enemies.” He didn’t add that he’d be banned from contacting Jared, because he doubted Jared would give a flying fuck at that point. Nathan did, though, and that worried him more.
Not that he’d be around to try after publicly disgracing his pack like that.
Jared let out a harsh breath. “Fucking awesome.”
After a couple of minutes of staring out the windscreen, he glanced at Nathan again. “What happens to you if I change and report it?”
“I already told you. Whether you change or not, as soon as you report it, there’ll be a pack meeting where the alpha decides my fate. From what I remember of pack lore, it’d likely be banishment, but if they arrest Cameron, then the betas could kill me.”
Nathan closed his eyes and let his head rest against the seat. What he wouldn’t give to go back in time and stop this from happening. Everything was such a fucking mess and spiralling out of his control. His head hurt trying to keep them one step ahead of it all.
“Okay, I feel I should make something clear before we go any further.” Jared waited until Nathan looked at him, then carried on. “I could have tried to escape any number of times. Chances are I could then have made it to a phone or a police station before meeting any other shifters. But I haven’t. Do you know why?”
Nathan shook his head. He’d figured Jared was erring on the side of caution. The chance of getting killed was a big motivator for humans, in his experience.
“Well, obviously I don’t relish the idea of meeting one of your pack members and getting torn to shreds. But that aside. I don’t want to have a person’s fate in my hands. You might not believe me, but I have no wish to play judge, jury, or, God forbid, executioner. I know what shifter prisons are like. Some deserve to be sent there. I’m not going to say otherwise. But I don’t want to send you there for what I’ve come to accept was an accident, albeit a particularly shitty one.”
“Oh.” Nathan sat there not knowing what else to say.
“This is what’s going to happen. I will stay with you at your flat until the full moon. If I don’t change then we can pretend this never happened and I’ll go home to carry on life as normal. If the change takes, then we will find a way to make me a pack member that doesn’t involve you getting banished to God knows where and me becoming enemy number one for your pack. If I’m going to be a shifter, I’d rather join a pack where I at least know someone.”
Stunned wasn’t a strong enough word for what Nathan felt in that moment. He opened his mouth and then closed it. What was he supposed to say? He’d possibly ruined Jared’s life—altered it, anyway. And yet Jared refused to claim the justice that was rightfully his. The urge to reach out and pull him close was almost overwhelming.
Jared apparently took his silence for disbelief. “You keep asking me to trust you. Now you need to trust me.”
“I do.” Nathan felt the sincerity in Jared’s words, and nodded. “I trust you.”
“Good.” Jared offered him a small smile that seemed huge after all the tension. “Make your call, and then take me for something to eat, I’m bloody starving.”
Nathan smiled back, feeling ten times lighter. The guilt over lying to his pack was still there, but at
“What if I change? I know we’ve been avoiding that topic like the plague, but it could happen, right? I mean, that’s why you took me back to yours in the first place, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, and I don’t know.” That wasn’t strictly true, though, and Nathan found he couldn’t sit there and lie to Jared’s face. “You’d still be able to go to the authorities and report me. But you’ll also have to register your DNA, and you’ll need a pack, but….”
“But if I report you and get you arrested or killed, no one will take me. Will they?”
“Of course they will. Not every pack gives a shit what happens to mine, but you’ll also make some enemies.” He didn’t add that he’d be banned from contacting Jared, because he doubted Jared would give a flying fuck at that point. Nathan did, though, and that worried him more.
Not that he’d be around to try after publicly disgracing his pack like that.
Jared let out a harsh breath. “Fucking awesome.”
After a couple of minutes of staring out the windscreen, he glanced at Nathan again. “What happens to you if I change and report it?”
“I already told you. Whether you change or not, as soon as you report it, there’ll be a pack meeting where the alpha decides my fate. From what I remember of pack lore, it’d likely be banishment, but if they arrest Cameron, then the betas could kill me.”
Nathan closed his eyes and let his head rest against the seat. What he wouldn’t give to go back in time and stop this from happening. Everything was such a fucking mess and spiralling out of his control. His head hurt trying to keep them one step ahead of it all.
“Okay, I feel I should make something clear before we go any further.” Jared waited until Nathan looked at him, then carried on. “I could have tried to escape any number of times. Chances are I could then have made it to a phone or a police station before meeting any other shifters. But I haven’t. Do you know why?”
Nathan shook his head. He’d figured Jared was erring on the side of caution. The chance of getting killed was a big motivator for humans, in his experience.
“Well, obviously I don’t relish the idea of meeting one of your pack members and getting torn to shreds. But that aside. I don’t want to have a person’s fate in my hands. You might not believe me, but I have no wish to play judge, jury, or, God forbid, executioner. I know what shifter prisons are like. Some deserve to be sent there. I’m not going to say otherwise. But I don’t want to send you there for what I’ve come to accept was an accident, albeit a particularly shitty one.”
“Oh.” Nathan sat there not knowing what else to say.
“This is what’s going to happen. I will stay with you at your flat until the full moon. If I don’t change then we can pretend this never happened and I’ll go home to carry on life as normal. If the change takes, then we will find a way to make me a pack member that doesn’t involve you getting banished to God knows where and me becoming enemy number one for your pack. If I’m going to be a shifter, I’d rather join a pack where I at least know someone.”
Stunned wasn’t a strong enough word for what Nathan felt in that moment. He opened his mouth and then closed it. What was he supposed to say? He’d possibly ruined Jared’s life—altered it, anyway. And yet Jared refused to claim the justice that was rightfully his. The urge to reach out and pull him close was almost overwhelming.
Jared apparently took his silence for disbelief. “You keep asking me to trust you. Now you need to trust me.”
“I do.” Nathan felt the sincerity in Jared’s words, and nodded. “I trust you.”
“Good.” Jared offered him a small smile that seemed huge after all the tension. “Make your call, and then take me for something to eat, I’m bloody starving.”
Nathan smiled back, feeling ten times lighter. The guilt over lying to his pack was still there, but at
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