“Aaron, no.”
“You ordering me?”
“If I have to, I will.”
“Then I’ll…” Aaron shoved his fingers through his hair. “I’ll have to defy that order, I guess. Hope that doesn’t mean you have to kill me. Not like I’m trying to take over.”
Malachi drew up his knees and crossed his arms atop them. His mouth was a stark line, pressed tightly shut. He shook his head, fierce concentration behind his eyes as he worked for a solution.
“I don’t think you can solve this one, man.”
Again Mal shook his head.
“What’s the problem? You don’t have to kill me, do you? Is that another tradition?” Good green earth, he hoped not. He could never raise his hand against Malachi, and he’d end up dead in any case.
“I wouldn’t, Aaron. Tradition or not.”
“So youdopick and choose.”
Malachi growled, but the sound was no longer warning or threat, merely exasperation.
“Maybe there’s another pack out there for me,” Aaron said. “Or does the lore say we can belong only to one pack in a lifetime?”
Malachi’s entire body began to heave under some immense pressure. He struggled as though the full moon were on them again, as though any moment his bones would begin to move beneath his skin, remaking him into the pale beast. His lips pulled back from his teeth, and he went down to hands and knees as if he would vomit. Instead he stayed there, his body continuing to labor, his head dropped between his shoulders.
Aaron grabbed onto his friend’s shoulder, maybe a mistake but one worth making. “Malachi?”
“Go back to the house.” The words came through gritted teeth.
For the first time in his life, Aaron could not follow an order from his alpha. The duty howled within him as he broke it. Good practice maybe, for leaving his pack. He held onto Mal’s shoulder. He stayed.
In a minute or two, Malachi’s arms gave out, and he collapsed quietly to the grass. Another few moments and he pushed himself up to sit and drank deep, audible gulps of air for a long time.
“What was that?” Aaron said when his friend began to breathe easily.
“That…” Malachi sighed and rested his forehead on his knees. “That was my extra three percent.”
“Were you going to change?”
“No. But intense…things… My body tries to. To cope. Probably looks like willpower prevailed or something, but it’s not how it looks. I’ve only ever changed under the moon.”
“So the idea of your beta joining another pack freaked out the three percent.”
Malachi winced. “Please don’t suggest that again.”
Not an order this time. A request, as his friend. After a few minutes he stretched out his legs and gave a long sigh.
Aaron said, “How have I never seen this before, this…trying to change?”
“First time it’s happened in years. No one was around last time.” Malachi shot him a half-hearted, tired glare. “Don’t make this a thing. It’s not medical. It’s just what I am, genetically.”
“How do you know?”
“William knew a seventeen-percent lupine when he was a kid. He told me everything he could think of, all the ways that guy was…unique. So when it happened the first time, I knew what it was.”
All the ways. There were others? But this wasn’t the time to ask. They didn’t move or talk for a while, the sun nearing its zenith when Malachi shook his head and gave a long sigh.
“You’re right. I don’t know how to solve this.”
