Chapter Three Matt
The sun was high in the sky by the time I woke. As I rolled over and glanced out the window at the perfect bright blue sky beyond, I couldn’t believe how bad I felt. Even after sleeping for so long, I still felt like I’d been hit by a goddamn truck. I rolled back over, pulling a pillow over my face, wishing desperately that the sun hadn’t come up. How could the world outside be so beautiful when everything in my life was going so poorly?
That just didn’t seem fair.
Reaching for my phone on the dresser, I pushed the power button, hoping for a bit of distraction. Thanks to Sam and his hotel room, I was finally able to charge it. However, as it came back online, I saw that it was getting no reception. Shifter Grove was in the middle of nowhere, that was for sure, but it wasn’t that far off the highway. Surely people in this tiny town had cell phones that worked.
But, as I flipped through the settings, I realized what had happened. My service had been turned out, essentially turning my phone into a useless brick. There was wifi available, but all of them were locked. I tossed the phone back onto the nightstand with a scoff, thoroughly pissed.
Not only had my parents kicked me out of the house, but they turned off my fucking phone the moment I was gone. Talk about kicking a guy while he’s down. They knew I was out on the streets alone without any money and they turned off my only source of help if I desperately needed it.
Then again, even if I called and they miraculously answered, I knew none of them would help me. They made it clear they didn’t want to see me again. And the Alpha of the pack… well, let’s just say he’d probably snap my neck if I ever came back. He and his son both.
My heart hurt just thinking about it.
And I didn’t want to think about it anymore.
With a sigh, I kicked the warm blankets off me, the cool air causing all the hairs on my body to stand up. I glanced down, noticing the morning wood lying against my belly, scoffed, and headed for the shower.
That was the last fucking thing I wanted to deal with right now. It was the reason I’d gotten into this mess in the first place. If my dick liked women, I’d be sleeping in my own bed right now without a care in the world. But no, I had to be the only werewolf in my pack who preferred the company of other men. How fucking lucky.
The shower was ice cold. By the time I got out, I was shivering, but my boner was gone. Good riddance for now. Being twenty years old meant I’d have to deal with it eventually, but it could wait a few days. Right now, all I wanted was food and a long walk so I could think about what I was going to do next.
I didn’t know the rules of the hotel yet, but no matter how nice the owner was, I’m sure I wasn’t allowed to stay for the rest of my life. And that meant planning. I needed to figure out how to make money and how to live on my own without relying on anyone else. Both of those things were new to me. Of course, I also knew I wasn’t going back to college this fall, so I had to figure out how to cancel all that, too. Not having a phone or a car made both of those things difficult. In just a matter of days, I was forced to come face to face with the reality that I was completely unprepared to live on my own as an adult. I’d been relying on my family pretty heavily for a long time.
Maybe Sam could point me in the right direction. It felt wrong to lean on a total stranger, but I had nothing else. At this point, the only thing standing between me and living on the street was Sam’s good opinion of me. The first order of business was ingratiating myself with him and doing anything he asked me to. If I had to earn my keep, so be it. Whatever it took, I was going to figure it out. Because relying on his charity was already eating away the lining of my stomach. I wasn’t sure how long I’d be able to stand it before I just keeled over from the stress.
My stomach grumbled as I pulled my clothes on. Even after stuffing myself last night, I was somehow hungrier than I had been. Plus, a meal might give me some time to talk with Sam and learn the rules of the hotel. Besides, it wasn’t like I was gonna get another meal today, so I might as well have it now.
Grabbing my key and my brick of a phone out of habit, I headed out of the room and down to the elevator. When I arrived at the bottom floor and the doors opened, I was struck with the smell of deep-frying food. I didn’t know where the kitchens were, but following my nose seemed like a good place to start. After all, I wasn’t a werewolf for nothing.
I pushed my way through a set of swinging doors on the far side of the lobby and found myself in a massive kitchen lined with stainless steel shelving, a large restaurant grill on one side, and a large bench in the middle for food prepping. Two figures looked up from the other side of the room. One of them was Sam, standing over the deep fryer with two baskets bubbling away happily. The other was a tall, muscular man in a black t-shirt and a black cowboy hat sitting nearby nursing a cup of what looked to be coffee. The room was easily over eighty degrees.
“There you are!” Sam called, waving for me to join them. “I was going to come up and get you in a few minutes. Lunch is almost ready.”
I walked down to the end of the bench, suddenly extremely nervous. Just talking to Sam was scary enough. I didn’t know the guy at all. But having a total stranger there as well made it ten times harder.
“Pull up a seat,” Sam said, gesturing behind him as he saw to the frying baskets.
“I can leave you two alone,” I offered. It was incredible how out of place I felt standing there next to a total stranger.
“No need,” Sam replied. “But, if you feel awkward, why don’t you get plates and bowls for everyone? There’s soda in the cooler at the far end. Silverware is down that way.” He gestured vaguely to his left. “You’ll find it. Probably best you know your way around the kitchen anyways. I can’t always be here to cook for ya!”
He said it in a jovial tone, but I could hear the implication underneath. You’re going to have to learn to care for yourself. I’m not your mother. That’s what he really meant.
“Okay,” I said timidly.
I glanced at the stranger for a second, just long enough to meet his bright blue eyes. The moment I did, I felt all my skin prickle, and I turned around in a hurry, nearly jogging to the other end of the kitchen.
Not wanting to get stuck in the same awkward position anytime soon, I started searching for the silverware first. It took me a good two minutes to find it. I’d expected a drawer full of them but neglected to look under the bench where there was a large open-air rack full of them. I wasn’t sure what we were eating, so I just grabbed three of everything. Instead of taking them down to the end of the bench, I just piled them where I was. I came back once I had the plates. Then I spied the salad already prepped and waiting and decided bowls were also probably a good idea. All in all, I wasted nearly ten minutes gathering everything before I came back down to where Sam and the stranger were sitting.
And I left immediately to go get something to drink. The cooler was a welcome relief after the heat of the kitchen, so I dawdled in there for a moment, trying to calm my nerves before heading back out. There was something about that stranger that put me on edge. Maybe it was the hat or the intensity of his gaze. I wasn’t sure, but it made me feel almost naked in front of him. I’d never felt like that before around anyone.
By the time I returned, Sam was doling out steaming fried chicken and crispy potato wedges onto the plates. The stranger filled the bowls with salad. However, I noticed one set hadn’t been used.
“I already ate,” Sam said, reading my mind as I returned. “But thank you for thinking of me.”
“Sure.”
God, I was being so awkward. And then, to top it off, I glanced nervously at the stranger again, who was staring directly at me.
“Oh my god,” Sam laughed, shaking his head. “Where are my manners? This is Ace. He’s a local farmer who grows the produce I use here in the hotel. He’s just like you an’ me. He was one of my first charity cases.
Charity case. That was my label. Just what I wanted to hear.
Sam turned to me, his smile fading. “And it just dawned on me that I never asked you your name last night.”
“It’s Matt,” I replied, feeling a bit put on the spot.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Matt.” Sam held out his hand.
I took it, giving it a brief shake. “Likewise.”
Then the stranger held out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Matt.”
“You too, Ace.”
But something strange happened as I took Ace’s hand. There was a sharp shock, like a strong blast of static electricity, that coursed through my fingers. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and my stomach turn over. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it caught me off guard enough to make me yank my hand back. But that wasn’t what threw me.
When I glanced up, Ace was staring at me, wide-eyed, his hand frozen in mid-air. He looked shocked, and not just literally. I saw the tell-tale flash of Alpha gold in his eyes as he leaned forward, getting within a few inches of me. He took a deep breath through his nose, obviously taking in my scent. My brain thought a hundred different things at once, but no matter how uncomfortable I was, I couldn’t seem to make myself move. It was like some invisible force was holding me there.
Ace leaned closer, his eyes full gold now as he stared at me with a soft but possessive look in his eyes.
“Mate,” he said simply.