Free Matthew's Chance by Odessa Lynne

of three years ago well enough to remember that Jay had been working to impress a female wolf.
    “He also injured Matthew at the time,” Ash said.
    Alpha stared at Matthew. “I remember. Alpha Craeigoer brought you out of the building before the collapse.”
    “Yeah.” Matthew swiped cracker crumbs off the table in front of him. “I don’t remember a lot about that.”
    “No, I imagine not.” The alpha’s golden eyes traced over Matthew in a way that made Matthew’s skin prickle. Matthew shifted on the hard seat and glanced at Ash.
    Ash’s amber eyes looked back calmly and Matthew forced himself to take a breath.
    The alpha’s nostrils flared. His gold-eyed gaze fixed on Matthew. “What’s wrong? Why are you afraid?”
    “What?” Matthew shook his head and sat back in his chair, pulling his arms in tight across his chest. “I’m not afraid. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    But that wasn’t exactly true. He couldn’t stop thinking about what Ash had asked of him last night. Would he be willing to submit sexually to this alpha if necessary? He didn’t know—even though he agreed with Ash that any other option wasn’t a real option. If he got caught up in a heat fight, he would most likely die. But just thinking about letting the alpha fuck him made his heart pound uncomfortably hard in his chest and stirred up an unpleasant rush of acid in his stomach.
    The alpha turned his head toward Ash.
    Ash seemed to know exactly what the alpha wanted and he stood, his chair screeching across the floor as he did. He leaned over the table, hands braced on the surface and claws peeking from beneath the dark material of his fingernails just enough to scratch the wood of the table.
    Ash’s eyes drifted almost closed as he took a careful sniff of the air. He straightened before he spoke, a pronounced sheen to his brilliant gaze. “His scent—” His nostrils flared as he took a deep whiff. “He’s afraid, but—” Ash leaned even closer, until Matthew could feel his breath across the bridge of his nose. “His scent—” Ash’s claws extended abruptly, digging into the table’s surface.
    Alpha clenched his hand around Ash’s upper arm and yanked him to his side and off the table. His voice came out sharp as he said, “Submit.”
    Ash shook his head, closing his eyes momentarily before reopening them and focusing on Alpha. “My apologies. I—” His hesitation lasted a moment too long.
    Alpha surged to his feet and the entire table jolted. “Submit!”
    Matthew sat as still as possible and tried to ignore the churning in his gut. He’d known heat season had started. Proof of that was harder to accept than he’d imagined. He might not be ready for this.
    Last time, he’d been young and stupid enough not to grasp the enormity of what happened during heat season, how the wolves went from the calm, peaceful people they claimed to be to something beyond human understanding.
    Ash blinked several times, and the fiery light in his eyes faded. He shook his head and stumbled backward, two, three, four steps until he came up against the wall.
    A dark-haired wolf came to the doorway, his gaze flickering around the room. He was the same wolf that had held onto Sal last night.
    “Go!” Alpha ordered.
    His raised voice startled Matthew, who jumped slightly in his seat. He took another deep breath and made himself stay calm. Nothing was out of hand yet, and the alpha seemed aware of the problem developing.
    The wolf turned and left as quick as he’d appeared.
    Alpha took hold of Ash by the back of his neck and brought his head in close. Matthew couldn’t make out what he said—his voice was too low, his tone measured, and his accent thick enough that the words got lost.
    But Ash nodded and visibly relaxed, and Matthew breathed a very real sigh of relief and felt the tension bleed out of his shoulders.
    Alpha’s voice reached more understandable levels, “Go see…” he said, the last word a