“You’ll be fine,” Alex said. Calvin was surprised Alex could read him, but then he was obviously jittery, so it couldn’t have been that hard.
“I know.”
Alex grinned. “You don’t look like you do.”
“This is just weird, you know? And it’s the second time I got beat up in less than two months. I’m pretty sure Kameron will at least consider kicking me out because I’m too much trouble.”
Alex snorted. “Too much trouble? Trust me, you’re as far from being a troublemaker as I am from being alpha. Kameron’s seen a lot worse than you, Calvin. He won’t kick you out for something you had no control over.”
Calvin wanted to believe it, but why would Kameron keep him there when not even the family he’d lived with for an entire year had wanted him? Of course, Kameron was a shifter, like Calvin, so he wouldn’t kick him out for that, but Calvin was sure there were plenty of other reasons why someone wouldn’t want him around.
“I know it’s not an easy thing to do, and that you haven’t been here long, but you need to relax, Calvin,” Alex said, squeezing Calvin’s hand. They’d been holding hands since they’d left Nuallan’s house, and while Calvin felt a bit awkward—he liked it. He liked the contact with Alex’s warm hand, the way it wrapped around his, almost completely swallowing it.
“I know.” And he did know. But Alex was right—it wasn’t that easy.
“You will, in time.”
“I guess.”
The path ended in a clearing Calvin knew well. Kameron’s house stood in the middle of it, and Calvin’s fingers itched with the need to draw it. It would be beautiful—the white of the snow, the darkness of the wood the house was built with, the yellow light streaming from the windows, indicating someone was home. As far as Calvin knew, someone was always home.
It was nice. It was nice to know someone would always be there if Calvin needed it, even though he didn’t know any of the pack members that well apart from Dallas and Hamilton. He couldn’t deny he’d kept mostly to himself since he’d arrived. Living with so many people was intimidating, even though they didn’t share the same house.
Calvin was becoming friends with Clea and Sei, though, so it was surprising he hadn’t met Alex earlier, since he was Clea’s brother-in-law. He was glad, though. He wasn’t sure he’d have been able to deal with Alex if he’d met him as soon as he’d arrived in Gillham. It would have been too much.
They left their boots by the door and entered the house. Calvin’s face prickled with the sudden warmth, and he rubbed his cheeks.
“Anyone home?” Alex called out.
“Living room!” a voice answered, and Calvin thought it was probably Zach.
Alex pulled Calvin along, and sure enough, Zach was in the living room, curled up on one of the couches, reading a book. The fire crackled in the fireplace, and a wolf pup was in front of it, sleeping on the floor.
Zach put his book on the coffee table. “Don’t mind my nephew. He played in the snow the whole afternoon, so he won’t wake up anytime soon. Come on, sit down.”
Calvin sat on the other couch, his ass on the edge of the cushion, ready to bolt if he needed to. He knew he wouldn’t, but it was hard to curb the instinct.
“What can I do for you?” Zach asked. “I bet you need Kameron. Everyone always does when they come here.” He said it with a smile, but Calvin thought there was a hint of pain in his voice. It was hard to believe Zach could feel lonely, but maybe he did. It couldn’t be easy to be an alpha mate, not with what Calvin knew about alphas and their role in the pack.
“I think we need to talk to both of you,” Alex said as he sat next to Calvin. He didn’t sit on the edge of the couch like Calvin had. Instead, he sprawled onto the cushions and hooked his arm around Calvin’s waist, pulling him until his back hit the back of the couch.
Zach arched a brow. “Oh?”
“We have a few different things to discuss.”
“I’m guessing one of them is what happened to Calvin this afternoon.”
Calvin linked his fingers together and hid his hands between his thighs, keeping his gaze on them. He didn’t answer, but then he didn’t need to. The reason they were there was obvious.
He heard Zach get up and leave the room. Alex pressed his hand against the back of Calvin’s neck and rubbed it, and Calvin let himself relax. He looked around the room, curious, and his gaze stopped on the small wolf sleeping by the fireplace. “He’s so tiny.”
“He’s only a few years old.”
Calvin frowned. He’d been told shifters usually first shifted when they were kids, but he hadn’t thought it happened when they were that young.
“Do you know the reason why your first shift came when you were seventeen?” Alex asked.
It made Calvin feel like a freak, but then it wasn’t the first time he’d felt that way. He felt like a freak when he was younger because he lived with foster families. He felt like a freak when he shifted and became a dog. He felt like a freak when he’d been living on the streets instead of going to school. He’d felt like a freak when those guys had found him in the alley the first time, because that was what they’d called him, and he’d known he was different. And now he felt like a freak because even though he was a shifter, it was obvious he was different from the other shifters living here.
He didn’t want Alex to know that, though. The last thing he wanted was for Alex to pity him, or to try to comfort him when there really wasn’t anything he could say to make Calvin feel better.
So Calvin shrugged. “Dallas said it might be because I wasn’t living with shifters. Apparently, my dog thought it wasn’t safe, so he stayed in me until he couldn’t stand it anymore.”
“But you obviously weren’t safe the day you shifted. They kicked you out.”
“I guess, but how was I supposed to know that? Even if they weren’t really my family, I’d lived with them for more than a year. I thought I was safe. I was certainly safer than at school or in the middle of the street. I guess my dog did what it could with what it had.”
It was still weird to think of his dog as part of himself, even though Calvin had been able to shift for two years. Maybe it would get better now that he lived with shifters, with people used to seeing guys becoming wolves, with people who could become animals themselves.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that on your own.”
Calvin shrugged again. “There’s nothing you can do to change what happened.”
Luckily for him, Kameron walked into the living room before Alex could say or ask anything else. If he was surprised to see Calvin in Alex’s arms, he didn’t say anything. Instead, he sat in the spot Zach had been earlier and leaned forward, his elbows on his thighs. “How are you, Calvin?” he asked.
Calvin felt his cheeks heat. “I’m fine.”
“Dallas called me to tell me what happened earlier. Can you tell me more about it?”
“There’s nothing much to say. One of the guys was the same as last time. He beat me up while the other one watched, Alex swooped in and saved my ass, Sei healed me, and here I am.”
Kameron’s lips twitched in an almost smile. “I’m sure there’s more to it than what you just told me.”
Calvin sighed. He obviously would have to give Kameron a good explanation.
* * * *
Calvin looked tense the entire time he talked with Kameron. Alex had already heard the story, had been there to see part of it, but he still stayed with Calvin, hugging him and rubbing the back of his neck in an effort to make him more comfortable. He wasn’t sure it worked, but there wasn’t much else he could do.
Zach came back into the living room at one point, carrying a tray with coffee, hot chocolate and enough mugs for everyone. He stayed silent as Calvin talked and sat next to Kameron, handing one of the mugs after filling it with coffee and adding sugar.
“—and I fainted. That’s all I remember from the beating,” Calvin said. “Whe
n I woke up, I was in the infirmary and I was healed. I have no clue what happened between fainting and waking up.”
Kameron looked at Alex. “Can you take it from here?”
“Of course. I was in town with Neriah and Nuallan, heard a fight in one of the alleys that open onto Main Street, and went to check. Two guys were there, one of them beating Calvin, the other watching. Neriah and Nuallan helped me get rid of them, and when I leaned forward to check how Calvin was, I realized he was my mate. Then Neriah shimmered us to the infirmary and Dallas took over. You’ll have to ask him for more info on what exactly was wrong with Calvin.”
Calvin cleared his throat. “I had a bunch of broken bones and bruises. He said I was lucky.”
“You were,” Alex told him. He knew exactly what would have happened if he hadn’t stepped into the alley earlier. That guy would have continued beating Calvin, maybe to the point of killing him, and Alex would never have met his mate. Or maybe he would have, but Calvin would have been dead, and Alex would have been broken.
Alex shivered. That was the stuff nightmares were made of, and he didn’t want to think about it. Calvin was fine. He was in Alex’s arms, a bit hesitant and maybe sore, but he was fine.
“Do you think you could recognize the men who did this to you?” Kameron asked.
“The one I saw twice, yes. The other ones, I don’t know. Maybe the one from last time, but I didn’t really look at the other one this time, not once I realized he wasn’t going to do anything,” Calvin told him.
“Good. I had someone snap pictures at the town hall during the meeting. Most of the town was there, so you might be able to recognize your man in one of the pictures.”
“I’ll look at them.”
Kameron nodded and looked at Alex. “Zach told me you needed to talk to both of us.”
Alex straightened in his seat, forcing Calvin to move. He didn’t let him go far, though, and he wrapped his arm around him again and pulled him close. He wished he could feel what Calvin was feeling, because he had no clue if Calvin liked being so close, or if it made him uncomfortable. He was pretty sure Calvin wouldn’t say anything even if the second was true, at least not in front of other people.
“We wanted to tell you what happened to Calvin, and that we found out we’re mates.”
Kameron smiled. “That’s what I thought.”
Alex peeked at Calvin. He didn’t want to hide anything from his mate, but he didn’t know how Calvin would take his next request. Would he think Alex was rushing? That he was going too fast?
Either way, Alex wanted to ask Kameron about the house. It didn’t mean Calvin had to move in with him, even if he did move out of his parents’ house. “Also, I wanted to ask if some of the new houses were still empty.”
Kameron cocked his head. “I assume you mean the one in the clearing where Nuallan lives?”
“If it’s possible, yes, but I’ll take another one if that one isn’t available.”
“It is. The other three are occupied, as you know, but the fourth is still empty. Planning to move out of your parents’ house already?”
Calvin tensed in Alex’s arms, and Alex chose his next words carefully. “Yeah. Not that I don’t like living with Mom and Dad, but I think it’s time for me to get my own place.”
Zach chuckled. “It wouldn’t have anything to do with finding your mate?”
“In part, yes.”
Calvin whimpered, surprising Alex. Alex knew Calvin wanted to take things slow, but he hadn’t thought he’d be downright scared of living with Alex.
“Not that Calvin is going to move in with me, at least not until he’s ready for it. Not until we’re both ready for it. We’re young, so it’s not like we have to hurry or anything.”
“Twenty-one and nineteen, right?”
“Yeah.”
Zach elbowed Kameron’s side. “You hear that? They’re babies next to you.”
Kameron rolled his eyes and bumped his shoulder against Zach’s. “Shut up. You’re not that young either, at least not compared to them.”
“I’m only a year older than Alex!”
“See? Old man.”
Sometimes it was hard to remember that Zach was as young as Alex was. The fact that he was mated to Kameron, who was almost ninety and the alpha, made Alex think of him as an authority figure rather than a guy his age, someone who could be a friend.
The banter between Kameron and Zach was apparently enough to make Calvin relax, and he didn’t tense up again when Kameron looked at Alex and said, “So you want to move out. I’m sure your mother will be happy to hear that.”
Alex grimaced. That was one thing he wasn’t looking forward to doing—telling his mom. She wasn’t going to forbid him from doing it, or even to say anything against it, but he knew she’d be sad. He was the youngest in the family, the baby, and no matter how much he hated being considered that way, he couldn’t change it. At least his mom would know he’d be fine with the pack, and she’d probably be happy Christian so close. That, and Alex could distract her with Calvin. She’d be all over him, trying to make him eat more and to get to know him.
“The house is yours if you want it,” Zach said.
Alex hesitated. He did want the house, and he knew he’d live there on his own for now, but he couldn’t deny he thought Calvin would move in with him sooner or later. What if he didn’t like that particular house? What if he wanted another one, maybe a bigger one?
“You can always go there first, see how it is inside,” Zach added. “It’s not that different from Christian’s house, or Nuallan’s. Three bedrooms upstairs, each with its own bathroom, office, living room, kitchen, bathroom, and entrance downstairs. You can garden the patch of earth in front of the house and behind it. It’s not big, but it should be enough for you and for Calvin when he decides he’s ready.”
“I think we’ll do that.” That way Alex would see if Calvin liked the house. If he even wanted to go in the first place. He glanced at Calvin, and he wasn’t sure how to read him. He wasn’t tense anymore, but his gaze jumped constantly, mostly from Kameron to Zach and back again. “What do you think?” Alex asked softly.
Calvin jerked as if he hadn’t expected anyone to ask his opinion, and he probably hadn’t. “Sure. You can go. I can go back home.”
Alex shook his head. “We can go. I want you to come with me.”
Calvin swallowed. “It doesn’t mean anything, though. Right?”
“Nope. You’re just helping me choose a place for myself. No other motive, no hidden agenda. I swear.”
Calvin slowly nodded. “All right. I’ll come.”
* * * *
“I’m not sure why you’re so nervous,” Hamilton said over his breakfast.
Calvin wasn’t sure how to answer that question, so he just shrugged and bit into his toast. He should have known Hamilton wouldn’t let it go that easily.
“I mean, I get you found out about shifters only a few years ago and about mates even more recently, but I did to. I met Dallas only a few days after I watched that video.”
Calvin sighed. “So?”
“So why is it that you look terrified of going out with Alex? You’re not even going on a date. You’re going to see houses.”
They were going to see houses, well, one house, and that was exactly what made Calvin nervous. No matter what Alex said, he knew they’d eventually end up sharing that house. He wasn’t stupid—he already wanted to spend more time with Alex than with anyone else, and they’d only met the day before. It was the bond between them, but that didn’t mean Calvin was comfortable with it.
Everything was going too fast. Everyone seemed to think Calvin was supposed to be over the moon, and he was. But the thought that he’d met the man he was supposed to spend the rest of his life with at only nineteen and before he had a home of his own, a job, or even a high school diploma was terrifying.
At least Alex wasn’t pressuring him into anything.
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“Leave him alone,” Dallas said without looking up from his tablet. He was reading the paper, and Calvin was surprised he was paying attention to the conversation. It was usually impossible to get Dallas to say anything until he was done reading.
“I’m just trying to understand,” Hamilton said with a pout.
Dallas shook his head and put down his tablet. He leaned toward Hamilton and kissed his cheek, and the pout disappeared from Hamilton’s lips. “I know, but you’re making Calvin uncomfortable.”
Hamilton frowned at Calvin. “Really? Why didn’t you tell me? You know I’m not good at understanding subtle cues and stuff like that.”
Dallas snorted. “You’re obviously not good at interpreting cues of any kind. Calvin isn’t being subtle.”
“Yeah, well, I guess I don’t know him as well as you.”
“You would if you really listened to him.”
Calvin smiled and took another bite of toast. He loved listening to Dallas and Hamilton banter. He knew they’d end up kissing and making up—not that they were actually fighting anyway. It was the way they showed they care, and Calvin wondered if he and Alex would behave like that.
Would they have inside jokes only they would be privy to? Would they share the secret glances Dallas and Hamilton shared over their coffee? Would they have things only they understood?
Maybe. Probably, if Calvin gave Alex a chance. God knew he wanted to. He just wasn’t sure where to start.
The streets hadn’t been a good place to get a boyfriend, and Calvin had been lucky to be able to stay away from having to sell his body to survive. When things got dire, he shifted and spent days in his dog form. It was enough for him to be able to go on.
Gillham Pack 19 - Calvin Page 5
