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“How’s your chest?” Grayson asked. Balthazar let out a bark of laughter. Grayson glared at him. “He was burned! That’s all I’m asking about!”

Ryder’s eyebrows lifted at the exchange, but a smile tugged at his lips. “My chest is fine. I fed well. One sleep cycle and it will be as if it never was.”

Still glaring at Balthazar, Grayson turned back to Ryder. “That’s good. It looked pretty bad.”

“It would have been far worse if you hadn’t acted,” Ryder told him. “Thank you.”

Grayson blinked. He wasn’t used to being thanked, let alone thanked for using his powers. And he had an idea that Ryder didn’t give out such compliments lightly.

“You’re--you’re welcome, I guess.” Grayson scrubbed a hand over the back of his neck.

“Now that we have the thanking out of the way, Ryder, you agreed to take Grayson over to the dorm and get him settled in. I assume you read the packet regarding orientation, yes?” Balthazar looked at him hopefully.

Ryder chewed his inner cheek. “There’s a packet?”

“Yes, it was an addendum to the Rules and Regulations Guide you were emailed,” Balthazar said with anticipation.

“There’s a–”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t get it? Didn’t read it? It’s 500 pages long. I detailed everything about how the school would run and you…” Balthazar narrowed his eyes at him. “You will regret not reading it, Ryder.”

There was more twitching of Ryder’s lips as he regarded the nettled Eyros Vampire. “Oh, I’m sure I will. But I think I can walk Grayson to his room without reading 500 pages plus an addendum.”

“That was just my portion of the guide…” Balthazar sniffed. “Well, there’s still time for you to peruse it--”

“You know that’s not really necessary for the Weryn,” Ryder said and there seemed to be more meaning there than what his words conveyed.

Balthazar’s eyebrows lifted. “Ah, you’re still on that course, are you?”

Ryder nodded and said nothing else. Grayson looked between them. Both Vampires stared at one another. Neither looked away until he cleared his throat. The staredown abruptly ended with both of them looking at him.

“Everything okay?” Grayson asked.

“It’s fine. Let me take you to your room,” Ryder said and gestured for Grayson to walk next to him.

“Oh, wait! I nearly forgot.” Balthazar reached into his inner jacket pocket and took out a beautiful cream envelope sealed with red wax that had the same crest as his sweater. “This is today and tomorrow’s events. It tells you where you need to go and when along with various rules.”

Grayson took the envelope from him. “Not quite 500 pages.”

“Not quite.” Balthazar flashed a smile. “We want you to be surprised.”

“Oh, okay, that sounds interesting.” Grayson wasn’t sure what he thought of it.

“Remember that phones don’t work here. There’s no internet. No cell service. Nothing. We’re setting something up, but it’s spotty. So things will be done the old fashioned way by paper or word of mouth,” Balthazar said.

Grayson nodded. He had heard that the Ever Dark wasn’t on Earth so no cell service would make sense.

“Well, go on now.” Balthazar made a shooing gestured with his hands. “And make sure you have lots of fun.”

DANGEROUS

Ryder kept glancing over at Grayson. Now that the young man wasn’t in terror for his life, spattered with blood or unconscious, Ryder could truly see him. Grayson was beautiful, definitely. He had a powerful jaw and high cheekbones. While very masculine, there was a delicacy about some of his features. Especially his mouth, which was very emotive.

Whenever Grayson felt something, he was sure to do something with his lips that would give it away. Ryder dragged his gaze away from those lips when he imagined them parting in a moan of pleasure. He really did need more blood. He was still acting like the newest of fledglings around Grayson.

If only the young man were just beautiful and nothing more. A pretty package usually concealed an empty box. But Grayson was hardly empty. He had much going on behind that lovely facade.

They walked in silence together through Nightvallen’s gracious, curving streets. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, but a companionable one. Ryder liked that Grayson did not feel the need to fill the space with words. He seemed more to be absorbing the city and the Ever Dark overall.