Camping Trip: Part III

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Camping Trip

Part III

An R.L. Mathewson Chronicle

            “A little to the right,” Chris said with an exaggerated sigh of pleasure, earning a curse from him as he grabbed the hand reaching for his son’s throat and yanked it back, twisted it and used the hold to pull the seriously pissed off Shifter off his son, who even Ephraim had to admit had this one coming.

            “Just let me kill him!” Kale said, coming as close to begging as Ephraim had ever heard, letting him know just how far his son had managed to push the shifter with his typical bullshit.

            Not that Chris really seemed to care that Kale was currently growling and snarling as he did his best to get free and tear Chris’ throat out. Chris simply yawned as he leaned back against the tree, closed his eyes and released a slow, and somehow really annoying sigh, renewing Kale’s rage and forcing Ephraim to drag the asshole to the opposite side of the fire and pin him to the ground.

            “You have other sons! You won’t miss this one!” Kale pointed out with a snarl as he bared his fangs in Chris’ direction and allowed his eyes to shift silver, but that’s as far as Kale would allow himself to shift and they both knew it.

            Otherwise, they would be a hell of lot more worried than Chris getting his ass kicked. They’d most likely have to make a run for it, because if there was one thing that Ephraim could honestly say about the asshole snarling beneath him, it was that he never wanted to see Kale shift. He didn’t even want to think about what kind of damage a shifter like him could do once he was set free.

            “Do you know what your problem is?” Chris murmured sleepily as Ephraim grunted in pain as Kale renewed his efforts to go for the little bastard that he was starting to want to throttle now.

            “Chris!” Ephraim snapped in warning, but of course Chris ignored him as he often did when he was entertaining himself.

            “You’re getting weaker,” Chris pointed out, making Ephraim close his eyes and shake his head in resignation, because his son was just asking for an ass whooping tonight and God help him if he wasn’t tempted to release his hold on the shifter and let him do it.

            “Shut up,” he snarled at his son, but there was no stopping Chris once he got started on something and he’d known that his son was dying to bring this up since Christofer had managed to toss the shifter around like a rag doll.

            It was something that he was curious about as well, but he’d been more than willing to leave it alone. Chris, the stubborn bastard that he was going to have to throttle, apparently wasn’t.

            “I have a theory,” Chris announced, because even fucking with the shifter’s head always entertained him, especially on night’s like this when they were stuck out in the middle of nowhere on the off chance that they had to put a Pack in its place. “For why you seem to be getting weaker,” Chris clarified just in case Kale wasn’t pissed off enough.

            “I’m not weak,” Kale snarled, renewing his efforts to get free, but even Ephraim had to admit that the a shifter as old and as powerful as this one should have been able to easily throw him off and beat the shit out of Chris already.

            “You really are,” Chris said with a careless shift that had Ephraim rolling his eyes and saying the fuck with it. He released Kale and sat back, deciding that if Chris got his ass kicked tonight that he more than had it coming.

            “I could tear you apart in seconds,” Kale growled, flashing his fangs in warning, but Chris being Chris, simply ignored the clear threat and continued.

            “You could,” Chris agreed with a slight pause before adding, “if you were in full control, but you’re not.”

            “What are you talking about?” Kale demanded through a snarl, but he wasn’t going for Chris’ throat quite just yet, letting Ephraim know that Chris had hit a sore spot for the shifter, something that they’d all realized and wondered about.

            All but Chris.

            He seemed to have it all figured out.

            “You’re weaker and slower than a fucking beta, which is really fucking pathetic, but no worries,” Chris said when Kale moved to take a threatening step towards him, “I know how to fix this.”

            “There’s nothing to fix,” Kale bit out, but Ephraim didn’t miss the nervous way that the shifter swallowed, letting him know that they weren’t the only ones who had realized that Kale was getting weaker, something that could get him killed if word got out.

           “There really is,” Chris said, not bothering to open his eyes as he sighed heavily with a pleased smile on his face.

            “Oh, and what’s that?” Kale demanded, his voice more beast than man, probably meant to scare Chris, but his son simply yawned as he said, “Because you need to shift.”

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