CHAPTER 3 – IN THE WATER

I hadn't swum a real warm-up in two years.

I timed laps. I handed out kickboards. I sat behind the blocks with my stopwatch and my inhaler and watched Karl cut through the water like he was born in it.

Now I was standing on the block next to him at 5:17 am in borrowed jammers that were too big, with his blood drying on my neck and his eyes still gold at the edges.

"Watch me," I'd said.

He was.

"Two hundred easy," he said. "Don't try to keep up. Just don't drown."

He dove first. Clean. No splash. I went after him a second later, messy and loud.

The water was cold at first, then perfect. My lungs opened up. My arms remembered. For fifty meters I wasn't the ghost with the asthma file. I was just a body moving.

Karl stayed half a body length ahead, pacing me. Every time I breathed right, I saw him watching me from the next lane.

We hit the wall together.

He surfaced and pushed his hair back. "Again."

We did four more two-hundreds. By the last one my chest was burning, but not from asthma. From effort. From him being that close and not touching me.

On the final turn he cut into my lane underwater. He came up right in front of me, too close. Water ran down his face.

"You lied," he said.

"About what?"

"You can swim."

I laughed, breathing hard. "I was on varsity in high school. Before the attacks got bad."

His gaze dropped to my mouth, then to my throat where his mark was. "You hide a lot, Theo."

"You never looked."

Something changed in his face. Not soft. Focused. He put his hand on the wall next to my head, caging me in the water.

"I am now," he said.

The main lights snapped on.

Practice.

The team poured in at 5:55. Bags slamming, jokes, music. Jace came in first with the A-relay. He stopped dead when he saw me in the pool next to Karl.

Coach blew his whistle. "Maddox! Ellis! Out. You're early."

We pulled out. I was dripping and shivering and very aware that I was half-naked in front of twenty guys who had never noticed me before.

Karl grabbed his parka off the bench and put it around my shoulders without asking. It was huge. It smelled like him. It covered my neck.

"Thanks," I whispered.

"Keep it on," he muttered back. "They'll smell the blood otherwise."

We lined up for stretches. I was in the back row where I always was. Karl was in front, as captain. Except this time, every thirty seconds he looked back to check I was still there.

Jace was two mats over. He kept inhaling through his nose, frowning.

Coach called the first set: 10x100s on 1:30. Sprint.

I got in lane eight. The slow lane. Karl was in lane one. Jace pushed off right after him and deliberately cut across into lane two to watch.

I made the first three. On the fourth, my lungs tightened. I missed the interval by two seconds.

Jace laughed underwater as he passed me. When we hit the wall he grabbed my ankle.

"Having trouble, Ghost?" he said loud enough for the lane to hear. "Maybe stick to the stopwatch."

Karl was out of his lane and across the deck before I could answer.

He didn't yell. He just put his hand on the back of Jace's neck and squeezed.

"Let go," Karl said, quiet.

Jace let go. Slowly.

"Problem, Maddox?" Jace said, smiling.

"Yeah," Karl said. "You're touching what's mine during my set."

The whole pool went quiet. Even Coach stopped his whistle.

Jace's eyes flicked to the parka on my shoulders. To my neck. "Yours? Since when do you claim humans, heir?"

"Since he saw me bleed on my territory," Karl said. His voice carried. "Pack law. You want to challenge it, do it after practice. In the ring."

Jace went pale under his tan. He looked at me, then back at Karl. "He's not even a wolf."

"Not yet," Karl said.

My heart stopped.

What?

Jace stepped back. "Your father is going to gut you."

"Let him try," Karl said. He looked at me. "Ellis. Lane one. With me."

I had never swum in lane one. Ever.

I walked past the whole team in Karl's parka. No one spoke. I could feel them smelling the air as I passed.

I got in next to Karl. He didn't say anything. He just nodded once.

We did the rest of the set side by side. He matched my pace instead of making me match his. Every turn, his hand brushed my foot under the water. Not an accident.

After practice, Coach called us both into his office. Coach is human. He doesn't know. But he knows something.

"Maddox, you want to tell me why you're fighting over Ellis?" Coach asked.

Karl didn't blink. "He's under my protection."

Coach looked at me. "You good with that, Ellis?"

I still had Karl's parka on. I could feel his mark pulsing on my neck.

"Yes, sir," I said.

Coach sighed. "Fine. Just keep it out of my pool."

In the locker room, the team gave us a wide circle. Jace slammed his locker — locker 3, not 7 — and left without showering.

I went to locker 14 for my clothes. Karl followed me and stood with his back to the room, blocking anyone's view while I changed. It was stupidly protective and it made my hands shake.

"You said 'not yet,'" I whispered while pulling my shirt on. "In the pool. What did you mean?"

Karl leaned in close, his mouth at my ear so no one else could hear.

"Humans don't smell like you do to an Alpha on the third night," he said. "Not unless they're latent. Dormant. Waiting for a bite to wake it up."

My inhaler fell out of my pocket. He caught it.

"You're not just compatible, Theo," he said, pressing the inhaler into my palm, his fingers lingering. "You're mine by scent because you were always meant to be a wolf."

The locker room door opened. A senior I didn't know stuck his head in. "Maddox. Your dad's on the phone. Alpha call. Now."

Karl's jaw locked. He looked at me, at my neck, at the parka I was still wearing.

He took my hand and pulled me with him.

"He wants to see you too," he said.

"Me? Why?"

"Because tomorrow is the full moon," Karl said as he pushed open the office door. "And if you're going to survive your first shift, you're not spending tonight in the dorms."

He shut the door behind us.

"You're spending it in my bed."