03-Strength of the Mate (7 page)

Everyone located their own T-shirts, putting them back on. Adam was more relieved that less of Dawson was on display than he was that his own scar was covered again. With the werewolves keyed up and looking forward to their run, it was easy to lag behind them. Adam stayed quiet, sure no one would notice.

The trouble was, he couldn’t help noticing how broad Dawson’s back was. His narrow hips made him look even bigger and stronger. Why did Adam have to find this particular werewolf attractive? Drooling over Paul had been awkward enough.

As they passed a row of hooches on the left, three Marines appeared from behind the last trailer. They looked like friends, arms draped over each other’s shoulders. Dread gripped Adam’s stomach, squeezing tight like an icy hand. He recognized the look on the face of the smaller Marine in the center of the trio. It was fear.

This shit happened every full moon. Today, though, Adam didn’t feel like putting up with it. Dawson was so fucking proud of himself for breaking up mutual fights. Would he bother to intervene when it really mattered?

“Why do you guys turn into such assholes during the full moon,” he muttered. Coming to an abrupt halt, he said angrily, “We all know you’re faster and stronger than we are. You know going around trying to prove it just makes it look like you all have small dicks, right?”

Jason rounded on him first. “Christ, Madison, what crawled up your ass and died, today? Nobody’s done shit to you.”

“Today. What about all the other humans on base who get pushed around, month after month?” he snapped.

Whatever Jason was going to say was interrupted by menacing laughter. Adam fisted his hand on his hips in disgust. The smaller of the three Marines was on the ground. Each time he tried to get to his feet, one of the werewolves shoved him back down into the dirt and sand. Adam’s anger grew hotter each time one of them shoved the Marine’s face into the dust with a boot in his back.

The two shifters had to know they were being observed. They didn’t care. They continued their unrelenting abuse of the smaller Marine.

Without a word, Dawson went to stand beside the prone Marine. “What does the pack leader say about this kind of thing?”

Despite Dawson’s calm voice, something in his tone sent a chill down Adam’s spine.

The werewolves laughed, exchanging a look. “He says it’s good work,” one of them answered with a snicker.

“He likes to put his boot on the backs of their necks,” the second one said gleefully. “As long as nobody ends up in the infirmary, otherwise the officers get pissy, but the pack leader doesn’t care.”

“Well, the True Alpha does,” Dawson said.

Adam watched in surprise as Rivers drove his fist into the gut of the first werewolf, driving him to his knees with a blow to his chin. With a hand on the back of the shifter’s head, Rivers pulled him forward, forcing him face down in the dirt. The second werewolf pulled back his fist. Dawson gripped his shoulder. At the same time, he put his boot to the back of the prone werewolf’s neck. The second shifter fell to his knees. His face was a mask of pain from River’s grip on his shoulder.

“Do we need to review the laws regarding the respectful treatment of humans?” Dawson asked. He sounded like he was talking to Kindergarten class. “Should we discuss the responsible use of our greater strength and speed?” He released his grip on the shifter’s shoulder. He wrapped his clawed fingers around the guy’s throat. “I’m tempted to treat you like you were treating the human.”

Before Adam could move, Will and Jason helped the human Marine to his feet. Paul’s hands grew long, sharp claws. He stepped up beside Dawson. Adam watched Rivers in stunned silence.

“I got this one, Gunny,” he said. When Dawson withdrew his foot, Paul pulled the prone werewolf to his knees. He held him in place with a hand on his throat, just like Rivers was doing. “How do you want to handle this?”

“First, these two are gonna apologize for being assholes to their fellow Marine.” Dawson flicked the fingers of his free hand over his shoulder.

“Come on, Webb,” Jason said, a hand on the human’s shoulder. “We’ll make sure this shit stops.”

Will and Jason led their fellow Marine forward. Dawson kept his hand around the shifter’s throat, but moved to stand behind him. “Apologize to PFC Webb. And it better be sincere,” Rivers said.

The werewolf choked out a stuttering apology. He sounded more scared than contrite. Adam was darkly satisfied by this turn of events. Dawson’s tightly controlled lethality made Adam feel…he didn’t know. He’d never felt anything like it before.

The second werewolf’s apology held a note of defiance. Mercer tightened his grip on the guy’s throat, burying his knee in his spine.

“Were my instructions unclear?” Dawson asked mildly. The ice in his voice belied his calm.

When the shifter finished stumbling through his broken apology, Rivers signaled Paul to release his grip and step away. Dawson faced them, towering over them, his fists on his hips. “The two of you will not leave my presence during the run, tonight.” Now his anger was palpable. “We’re going to have a little lesson in manners. How copy?”

“Solid copy,” the werewolves answered in unison.

“Get out of here,” Dawson growled. “I don’t want to see either of you until the sun goes down.” His claws receded until his hands were human again.

The shifters quickly disappeared behind a row of trailers.

“How often does this kind of thing happen, Marine?” Paul asked a relieved looking Webb.

“Every month,” he replied, brushing dust from his uniform. “The same group of shifters fucks with enlisted and civilian humans. It’s no use fighting back. You guys are too strong.” Webb shrugged.

“Which is why our laws forbid us from treating anyone weaker like this,” Dawson replied. “You have my sincere apology.”

“How long has this been going on?” Jason asked, including Adam with a glance.

“It was already going on when I got here,” Adam answered.

Dawson’s expression darkened. “Have you reported it?”

“A couple guys have told their platoon commanders,” replied Webb. “We were told it had to be handled by the camp’s pack leader. When the officers referred it to the pack leader, Granger told them he’d handled it, then he retaliated.”

Rivers ran a palm over his face in agitation. “It’s true, the camp’s pack leader is supposed to discipline werewolves who victimize anyone weaker than we are.”

“Except our pack leader encourages us to mistreat humans and submissive werewolves,” Paul told him.

“Why doesn’t Noah do something about this?” Adam demanded angrily.

“He did,” Dawson replied with equal heat. “He sent me.”

Adam bit back a snide remark. Dawson’s eyes were dark violet, his expression angry. Adam refused to look away. His rage was justified. Rivers could fume about it all he wanted. As far as Adam was concerned, Noah had reacted too slowly.

“Thank fucking Christ,” Jason said fiercely.

“I’ll deal with the bully shifters,” Dawson told Webb reassuringly. “But if something like this happens again, bring it directly to me, or to Sergeant Mercer.”

“Thank you, Gunny,” replied Webb.

As Webb left to return to duty, the werewolves waited until he was out of earshot.

“How did I miss that this kind of thing was happening?” Paul’s question didn’t seem directed at anyone specific.

If Adam had known that werewolves had rules against pushing humans around, he’d have told Tim what was going on. He thought ahead to tomorrow morning. If the shifters had control of their aggression during the full moon, did that mean they also had control of their sex drives?

“We’ll talk about that later, Paul,” Dawson said quietly. Adam looked up to find Rivers staring directly at him. “Would you guys give me a minute? I need to talk to Madison. Go ahead to the mess hall, we’ll meet you there.”

Dawson’s violet eyes bore into him. Adam would not be intimidated. He dredged up his anger, using it to keep his fear at bay. Without a word, Paul led Jason and Will toward the mess, leaving Adam alone with an enraged Dawson.

Rivers stepped into Adam’s space. He stood just a few inches away, leaning down into Adam’s face. It felt like he was standing against a blazing furnace. Dawson’s rage made his features hard. He was still so fucking handsome, and sexy as hell. Adam’s reaction pissed him off. He didn’t like being attracted to a werewolf. He hated being attracted to this werewolf.

“Was this supposed to be some kind of test?” Dawson demanded. His voice was hard and cold. Adam thought he detected a tremor. “Are you going to go crying to your brother if I don’t handle things exactly like you think I should?”

White hot rage flashed through Adam. “Fuck you! I don’t run to my brother for shit!”

“So you enjoy acting like a thirteen-year-old, is that it?” Disdain dripped from Dawson’s words.

“I don’t act like a thirteen—”

“The fuck you don’t!” Rivers sneered. “How many chances have you had to pull me aside and talk to me about what you knew was happening?”

“It’s not my responsibility to tell you your job,” Adam replied angrily.

“You didn’t tell me a damn thing. You spent the day pouting like a child.”

“I don’t pout!”

“You’re doing it right now. You also thought I’d look the other way and let those shifters keep harassing a fellow Marine.”

“I didn’t have any reason to think you wouldn’t.” Adam hadn’t known the werewolves had rules.

“You judged me without cause. I didn’t deserve that.”

Adam should explain. He thought all werewolves behaved that way, just because they could.

“Do your friends know you have such a low opinion of them?” Dawson lifted a single brow questioningly.

Adam had no reply. He’d never seen Jason, Paul or Will treat anyone badly. He’d still believed they would, eventually. It wasn’t fair. Adam just couldn’t form the words to admit that to Dawson.

“You have some real issues, don’t you, Madison?” Rivers looked more annoyed than angry now. Somehow, that wasn’t reassuring. “I can’t talk about this. Not this close to the full moon. And for someone whose mouth was in overdrive earlier, you sure don’t have anything useful to say now, do you?”

Adam remembered the accusations he’d made. The things he’d implied weren’t much better. Why try to explain? No one ever understood him.

With a shake of his head, Dawson stepped away. “You and the major are nothing alike. Too bad for you.”

Without another word, Dawson turned on his heel and headed for the mess hall. Adam realized he’d never measure up to Tim in Dawson’s eyes.

CHAPTER FIVE

Adam glanced out the window, gauging the light level. He’d come to shower before sunrise, because he wasn’t about to be naked in a communal area today. The shower trailer’s small window let Adam see a tiny patch of the palest blue sky. If he was lucky, he’d make it from the showers to his hooch without running into a werewolf.

He’d just started to shave when two Marines stumbled in, both half-dressed. They hastily removed the last of their uniforms. Apparently, neither one of them gave a shit that Adam was there; if they even knew. He’d seen them together several times before. Was it possible they were a mated pair?

The two Marines were naked now, and they almost fell as they climbed into the shower stall. Adam tried to hurry up and finish shaving so he could get the hell out of there. The water would mask the early moans and groans, but not the shouts and swearing that always came later.

He was still rushing to get his teeth brushed when he was suddenly reminded that these two liked to talk dirty, and that the bottom was a screamer. Despite the rush of the running water, Adam heard the distinct sound of wet skin slapping against wet skin. He needed to get the hell out of there, in case these two suddenly wanted to hunt down an unwilling third-party.

Shit. He used to wish he had some sort of weapon, then Jason had given him that Ka-Bar and Adam realized he was no match for the trained Marines, so he’d just rely on his wits. Zipping his dopp kit shut, Adam headed for the door. He’d have to move fast. Once he was inside his hooch, he’d lay low until late afternoon.

Stepping out into the blazing sun, he looked both left and right. The two rows of shower trailers were long. Normally, Adam cut between trailers in the second row, because it was a shorter trip back to his hooch. Today, though, he’d probably stumble over a pair of werewolves fucking. He’d still rather step over two men in the throes of passion, than run across a few who were still on the prowl.

Things to his right looked quiet so Adam set out at a fast walk. Running made him seem like prey. As he passed a shower trailer, he heard shouts from inside. The hair rose on the back of Adam’s neck. He could be wrong, but it didn’t sound consensual to him.

He’d made the mistake of trying to intervene once, and only once.

Adam neared the end of the rows of trailers. From the corner of his eye, he spotted a couple in the shade between two trailers. One pressed his partner against the wall as they humped each other roughly.

Adam reached the end of the trailers. A familiar Marine came around the corner, heading in his direction. Fuck. Adam’s heart began to pound, and he convulsively swallowed the bile that burned the back of his throat. He saw the un-tucked shirt, no bootstraps in the pants cuffs, and knew Lieutenant Carson was still on the prowl.

Adam saw the moment Carson recognized him, giving him a predatory grin. Carson was on him before Adam could take another step. He was slammed hard against the side of a nearby trailer, stunning him. He managed to keep his grip on his dopp kit as he futilely shoved at the lieutenant’s chest.

“My lucky day,” Carson leered at Adam, baring his fangs. “I’ve been wanting to get your lips around my dick.” He pushed his erection against Adam’s thigh.

“Not interested,” Adam said, trying to sound bored. “I got better things to do.” He shoved harder at Carson’s chest, but the asshole had that fucking werewolf strength. Adam didn’t have a chance with only brute strength.

Carson humped against Adam’s thigh and hip. He pushed his face into Adam’s neck and inhaled deeply. “You know I’ve wanted to fuck you for a long time now. I’m gonna give you a damn good ride.”