Exodus (2 page)

Valen quirked an eyebrow at him. “Really, Riv? You’re scared of a puny guy like Matthew?”

Scowling, Rivvie crossed his arms over his chest. “I am
not
scared of that twig. He’s just obnoxious and not in the fun way like I am. He’s the conceited kind of obnoxious, and he has to have the last word on everything. He’s a know-it-all and I’m going to end up mudding him in between the walls if I have to work with him.”

“Ha!” Valen looked up at the ceiling and Rivvie could see him trying to get his amusement under control.

Valen hadn’t done enough laughing in the past few months, not since their father and several other pack members had been killed by a band of ruthless humans seeking food. Instead of continuing on his trek to establish his own pack, Valen had returned to this one and taken up the position as alpha. For someone who’d never wanted such authority, Valen was doing a damn fine job. Rivvie tried to keep his jealousy tamped down.

It was pointless and stupid to envy Valen when he knew he had neither the intelligence nor the strength to lead like Valen did. There was a reason Rivvie hadn’t been born with the crescent mark on his chest.

He consoled himself with the fact that he made the best beta there was for Valen. Rivvie would die for him, if it were necessary—although he hoped that was never the case.

Valen snorted with amusement before shaking his head and returning his gaze to Rivvie. “Funny thing, I can’t really blame you about that. Matthew is… Well, he’s just him. Aaron loves his brother, though, so we’ll put up with his attitude. Besides, I think a lot of it comes from insecurity. He was the village stud before we combined forces. Now he’s just a guy, out-studded by a lot of shifter males. Probably most of the females, too.”

“Well, we can’t help it that our kind is bigger and stronger,” Rivvie huffed. “It’s just the way it is, and in the animal world, the stronger beasts get laid more, so that applies to humans, too. A lot of the women are eyeing the shifter men with looks that proclaim they’d like to breed with them. This makes the human males stupid with jealousy, then there’s the human women hating on shifter females because of their sexual freedom and bangin’ bods. That’s just my observation, anyway.”

“An accurate one, at that.” Valen sighed then sat down on one of the wooden chairs Rivvie had made for him.

Rivvie had made a table too, and he was proud of himself for it. Every time he looked at them, he couldn’t help but preen a little, and today was no exception to that.

Valen watched him, a small smile curling Valen’s lips. “Yes, you did good with this.” He rapped his knuckles on the smooth wooden surface. “Who knew you had such skills? We’ll happily put them to use again, once you and Matthew have rebuilt the ceremony building. Stop groaning.”

Rivvie bit his tongue until he tasted blood. “Ouch!”

“So, my idea of pairing a human with a shifter for a week or two isn’t one you like, hm?” Valen asked. “I think it’ll harbor relationships between the two species, and perhaps lead to us—myself included—not thinking that way. I see a future, way down the line, where our species have bred enough that we’re one kind.” He shrugged. “Who knows what that’ll be like?”

Taking a moment to think about what Valen had just said, Rivvie sucked on his tongue, pushing it against the roof of his mouth. Once he had things organized in his head, he was able to articulate them to Valen. “It isn’t the pairing idea I have an issue with, but the practice of it, at least in my case. Why Matthew? Why
me
?” He might have whined a little there at the end.
Whoops.

Valen gestured to the chair beside him. “Because you have patience, whether you like to use it or not. These took time, and you didn’t shirk your other duties so you could work on them. That means you are committed once you take a task on, and, Riv, you’ve got a good sense of humor. You’ll need all those things to deal with Matthew. Aaron says he’s not really such a dick underneath it all, that it’s being in a new situation after a lifetime of familiarity that’s making Matthew so, er…unpleasant.”

“I heard that,” Aaron called out from the hall just before entering the room. He frowned at them both. “Matthew’s not a complete jerk. He’s trying to find his place here, just like we all are. It’s harder for some than others.”

Harder for the humans, that’s what Aaron meant, and in a way, Rivvie got that.

Aaron walked over then sat on Valen’s lap. “Sometimes I hear the way you talk about Matthew and it makes me angry, then I hear
him
going on about how smart he is and I want to smack him. I won’t. He’s my brother, and he’s got a good heart. Right now it’s just buried under a load of insecurity and fear, so cut him a break. It’s not as if your brother doesn’t get annoying at times.”

“Hey!” Rivvie yelped, scowling at Aaron. “I don’t— Okay, I
do
, but not constantly. I am aware that I don’t know everything. I don’t have to have the last word, either.” But he did have the tendency to be a smart ass, especially when he was nervous or feeling like he didn’t measure up to someone else. “Aw, shit.”

“Care to share what that’s about?” Valen asked, peering around Aaron’s shoulder.

Rivvie sighed heavily. “Yeah, yeah, you and Aaron are going to get all smug on me, but I realized I understand Matthew’s frame of mind, his behavior—whatever you want to call it. So, ugh. I’ll work with him, fine, and I’ll try not to lose my temper and wall him into the building or anything.”

“That’d be nice of you not to off him,” Aaron observed. “Thanks for that, at least. If you can maybe find it in your heart to be nice to him, that’d be great too, because I think if someone could be bothered to just show Matt some kindness, he might not feel like he had to try so hard to prove he’s equal to them. We’re never going to be able to measure up physically, so he’s trying to show that he’s as good, if not better, mentally. He’s really not such an ass when he doesn’t have a chip on his shoulder.”

“I’ll take your word for that,” Rivvie muttered, hoping like hell he didn’t screw everything up. He’d been doing so good, not acting like a giant goofball for laughs. He wanted to be taken seriously, and working with someone who irked him was going to make that difficult. “So when do we start this project?” He probably should have tried to sound somewhat enthusiastic about it.

“Tomorrow,” Valen answered. “I’ll have Matthew come to your place tonight so you two can discuss the plans Aaron’s finishing up.”

Aaron beamed at him. “I have the design down, following the specifications in Lanaka’s ceremony book. I’m glad she did that. It’s great to have some written guidelines. She’s even written down several ceremonies, in great detail. There are things that seem impossible, like channeling spirits and visiting their world, but having met Lanaka and spent time with her, I don’t doubt she’s capable of it. I wonder who she’s going to bring back with her.” His face clouded with regret. “I wonder how much time we’ll have with her.”

Valen kissed Aaron’s neck. “She’ll always be with us.”

Rivvie averted his gaze. Seeing the love and tenderness between Aaron and Valen made his heart ache for the same. Combine that with his welling irritation over Valen’s words about Lanaka always being with them, and he was getting quite bitchy. Lanaka wouldn’t be with them once she’d passed on, just as Varex, Valen and Rivvie’s father, wasn’t still with them. He was dead, murdered by scum. Sure, there were memories of him and evidence that he’d been alive at one time, but he wasn’t
there
. It wasn’t the same. Rivvie missed him fiercely, and regretted that his last words with Varex had been harsh ones.

He realized it’d been silent in the room for too long, and Rivvie glanced up to find himself the recipient of two worried stares. Not wanting to explain anything that he’d been thinking about, Rivvie stood instead and plastered on what he hoped was a carefree grin. “Just planning ways to keep from squabbling with Matthew. I’d better get home so I can prepare for my illustrious guest.” Which was another word for snotty, and he doubted he had to point that out.

Rivvie left Aaron and Valen to their cuddling. He hadn’t been joking about preparing for Matthew’s visit. Rivvie was kind of a slob, and he had a suspicion Matthew would love to have a chance to bitch at him for it. Cleaning his den was not something he enjoyed doing. However, it’d beat listening to a lecture.

Chapter Three

Matthew Olsen wasn’t happy at all. Being paired up with Valen’s big, burly brother was
so
not something he wanted to do. If he didn’t love constructing homes and buildings so much, Matthew would have argued his way out of it. He had to do something in the pack to prove his worth. Every day, that was what he told himself, and he ended up coming off as a jackass.

Battling insecurity and jealousy wasn’t something Matt was used to. When he’d been the oldest son of the village ruler, he’d pretty much been
the
man. Once he’d been found incapable of impregnating a woman—after much trying since the village laws had required certain couples produce two children together—he’d been much sought-after as a lover.

And maybe his heart and ego had both been a little broken over his inability to reproduce. He’d have liked to have had children, and his failure to be able to do so had damaged his ego more than he’d ever admit.

As for sex, if he hadn’t exactly found it to be all that it was gossiped to be, Matt had kept that to himself. He’d played the part of lover to almost every woman who’d wanted him.

Then he’d met Rivvie, and the obnoxious ass had flirted with him.
Flirted! With me! As if I would ever…
But Matt had to stop there because he preferred not to lie to himself. Ever since he’d found out that it was possible, that two men could be together in
that
way, his every spare thought had been consumed with the idea. It wasn’t just his spare thoughts, either. He often caught himself trying to picture just how sex between men would go. Matt had the basic concept, but seeing it in action would be enlightening.

As long as it wasn’t Aaron and Valen. Matt had no desire to see his little brother having sex.

Matt shuddered at the idea. He went back to fuming over Rivvie. All that flirting had just been a way to annoy Matt. It had to be, because Rivvie hadn’t bothered to do it again since they’d fought together back in the village. In fact, Rivvie hardly even spoke to him at all.

It was dumb to feel rejected by the man. Matt didn’t want a male lover anyway.

Liar, liar.
The taunt circled around in his mind while Matt struggled to will away the erection thickening against his thigh. He thought of every disgusting thing he could until he’d gotten past his arousal.

What would happen if he got hard in front of Rivvie?

“Nothing,” he muttered to himself. “Not a damned thing. He isn’t interested and neither am I.”

Even so, he swapped out his short shirt for a long one that hung almost to his knees before he left his cave dwelling for Rivvie’s den. It wasn’t what Matt would have ever considered a den before coming to live with the pack. He’d thought of a den as nothing more than a hole in a hillside or a crude nesting place in brush before then.

Granted, some of the shifters lived in just such places, but others had actual dwellings either in caves or made from wood and mud. It seemed more and more of them were constructing such places to live in, perhaps due to the influence of humans. Matt didn’t ask them why. He merely observed and offered his—often unwanted—opinion and help.

As he strolled through the various homes and peoples, Matt tried to look friendly and approachable. Then he tried to look intimidating, like he found most of the much taller and more muscular shifters. It was rough to feel masculine when even the shifter females tended to be all-around stronger than a human male.

Matt wished he could get thoughts like that out of his head. Men weren’t any better than women. They were equal, so why was he so hung up on the matter of strength?

Granted, males did have more muscle strength than females… Except not when comparing the species of humans and shifters.

Then stop comparing, idiot. You can’t change what you are. Be the best man you can be and let all the rest fall aside.
Easier thought than done, Matt fumed silently. He was angry at himself so much now that he couldn’t find any peace. Acting like a jerk had never been one of his goals, yet he couldn’t seem to stop himself from being that way.

Before he knew it, he was almost at Rivvie’s door. Built into the side of a mountain, Rivvie’s den was newly established. Matt knew that much. Before the melding of the human villagers and the shifter pack, Rivvie had slept out in the open as a wolf more often than not. Rivvie had said so himself when Matt had overheard him talking to another shifter. With the rule being implemented that everyone had to keep their private parts covered when out amongst others, Rivvie had said he needed somewhere he was free to ‘let my junk flop around’.

Matt’s face had burned with embarrassment when he’d heard that, not the least because he’d immediately drawn up an image of Rivvie nude, his muscular body tan and sculpted, his cock long and thick resting against his thigh, his large sac hanging low. Rivvie had white-blond hair smattered across his chest. It trailed down to a thicker patch of hair at Rivvie’s groin.

Damn it! Stop thinking about him naked!
Rivvie was a blond god.
That
was the problem. Matt had seen etchings in another village once of strong, masculine forms that the artist had said were based on ancient gods.

Matt hadn’t asked any more questions. He’d been astounded by the etchings—and confused.

Now he understood them because of Rivvie. Matt wanted to worship him, and that both scared and aroused him unbearably. Even if he hadn’t seen Rivvie nude before the clothing rule had been established, Matt had to admit to himself that he’d still be fascinated with the man.

And the way he wanted to worship him had nothing to do with any religion, nor would he act on it. Rivvie obviously had no use for him. In fact, Matt knew Rivvie had argued against working with him. Shifters gossiped as badly as humans did, and Rivvie had been overheard telling Valen he’d rather kill Matt than work with him.