Camp Alpha (BoyxBoy)

{25}

Brody was awoken with soft hands caressing the skin of his chest. He vaguely remembered them taking off their shirts at some point in the night after Nate had a bad dream, his covered in sweat. Brody had thrown both of their shirts off randomly into the room, and they still lay there, forgotten against the carpeted floors.

Nate’s fingertips were light as feathers, running over the patterns of Brody’s skin intently. Brody opened his eyes just a little, but Nate didn’t notice, he was too focused on running his fingers over the ink which marked Brody’s skin.

Brody wondered if Nate was trying to remember the intricate patterns, to etch them permanently into his mind in case things turned sour today, in case they were forced apart. He imagined being pulled from Nate, big men in black suits grabbing him by his arms and pulling him away from Nate while he screamed out for the person he loved. The thought was like a slap in the face and sent cold fear running through his body. He pushed it from his mind as far as he could, refusing to think like that.

He opened his eyes slowly. Brody could almost see the gears in Nate’s mind turning while his fingers drew gently on his warm skin. He could see the pain in the way that his mate was looking at him almost as if it could be the last time. He closed his eyes slowly.

Brody wasn’t going to let it be the last time, he refused. He didn’t have a plan, no intricate or elaborate strategy which was going to save them, but he knew that from since he was a child he had been told that the Moon God’s didn’t make these kinds of mistakes. Brody refused to believe that he and Nate would fit so perfectly together, only to be torn apart for the sake of tradition, or just because they were different. As Nate had once said, they were different not wrong.  The council had to see that.

Nate had said that they could present their case today, and that was exactly what Brody had planned to do. He was going to explain it all, about him and Nate and even about his father and hope to all hell that the council members would be lenient on them.

Brody opened his eyes again, just peeking out at Nate through dark lashes. He didn’t want his mate to lose his titles. He had always believed that Nate would make a great leader, he would be kind and smart, and treat people like they were real people, not numbers on a page. Nate was destined to be a pack leader, to be a council member, and it was a very real possibility that those things could be taken away from him today.

Nate seemed to notice that Brody was awake, his fingers leaving Brody’s chest and his arm wrapping around Brody’s torso.

‘Good morning,’ Nate whispered softly, but it wasn’t happy or sweet, it was like he was mourning something, mourning him, imagining that this might be the last time they saw each other like this for a while, and Brody didn’t like it, he didn’t want to see Nate give up, he wanted him to be passionate and to fight.

‘We are going to win today,’ Brody told him sternly.

Nate nodded, but weakly. ‘I hope so.’

‘We can present our case, and they will see that they can’t split us up and they can’t hurt our packs. Tradition is one thing, but there are real people who are going to be hurt if they make the wrong choice, have faith that they will make the right one.’

Nate nodded, more determined this time.

Brody rolled his body over slightly so that they were face to face, and Brody tried to not memorise the way that the sunlight hit Nate’s impeccably tanned skin, and the small dimple in the side of his cheek, but he did it anyway.

Nate’s hand came up to Brody’s neck, pulling him in for a kiss. This one was unlike most of the other kisses that they had shared. This one was full of hunger and desperation. Nate’s lips moved against Brody’s passionately. Brody’s mind shut down for a few seconds, probably longer. He was only concerned with Nate and the way his warm palm felt against the skin of his neck and the way Nate’s lips were always soft even though they were kissing so hungrily.