Page 13 of Blood Loss (The Obscura Saga #2)

LAT H AN

Kianna and Lucas are the first to be notified. They’re both instructed to catch the soonest flight from their lives in Society to join their parents, their brother, and Lathan in their Ether family home. Maria offers to cover the costs for everyone, waving a hand while on the phone and referencing the pack’s emergency funds. “That’s what it’s there for,” she insists to Kianna—Lucas didn’t fight her on it—and Lathan wonders about the logistics of growing that money.

Then, the rest of the pack. Each household phoned, one by one, starting with the elders. He finds the difference in language used for them quite curious; they’re asked if they can come down, requested , even, to meet at a predetermined location within the next day.

The wait is agonizing, particularly for Kylo. Lathan can do little more than watch his mate cycle through big emotions like grief, numbness, and chipper normalcy. His mate . The reality hovers over him like a heavy, looming storm, threatening to crack and burst as soon as the others know of this fact, too. He’s anxious, but isn’t allowed to be—the attention needs to be on Kylo, on supporting him in the wake of the attack at Obscura. But they’re going to know, regardless. They’ll smell it on them.

They both send emails to notify their instructors of incoming absences, taking a few extra days off to ‘recoup from the direct implications of that night.’ Each professor rightfully acknowledges without issue, but it doesn’t hurt that Lathan attaches a medical note he gained that night for legal coverage. Kylo already has the law on his side as the species targeted.

Sat at the kitchen island the next morning in a white dress shirt and grey slacks, Lathan can see Kylo’s knee bounce and his nostrils flare through the patio door. Nothing about these circumstances are what he ever envisioned for meeting Kylo’s extended family. Not the murder— another murder between them—nor being his bonded vampire mate. He has tried, every time he’s been around the Garcias, to be that perfect boyfriend, but today will test the limits of that facade. He knows it. He feels it. The rain is coming.

He enters the kitchen as he straightens his black button-down, open at the collarbone to the chain of his necklace—the delicate dahlia engraving flush against his skin. His long hair is tied back in a tidy bun at the base of his skull, and he’s made sure to feed, to erase any trace of his vampirism from his eyes. He’s never once let Maria and David see the grotesque bloodshot that occurs under thirst, and he sure as fuck won’t be starting by revealing it to the rest of the pack.

His clean, shiny loafers bring him to the island. “I’ ll follow your lead,” he says to Kylo, stone-faced, but dark eyes bright.

Kylo stops swirling the orange juice in his hand and looks up at Lathan with a small smile. But it isn’t true.

“You sure you’re okay with coming today?” He places his glass on the table and slides off the stool, taking Lathan’s hands. “You don’t have to. We can introduce us another time, if that’s what you’d prefer.”

Lathan rubs the tops of Kylo’s hands with his thumbs. “I’m not leaving your side through this.”

He doesn’t know the members of the pack—still doesn’t recall exactly how many there are, or all the names that David rattled through—so he doesn’t know if any one of them have gone through what Kylo is going through. He doubts it, but he knows that he has, so he has to be there for Kylo through this. Through all of this. He might be Kylo’s only comfort.

Or his biggest trigger.

The sound of the front door opening creaks toward them from down the open space before its swallowed by the patter of small, bare footsteps against the hardwood.

“Layfin!”

The little boy barrels up to the vampire with a wicked grin on his face, his tiny canines poking his pink lips as he giggles. Lathan turns away from Kylo just in time for Mateo to reach his legs and smack little palms against his knees.

“Hello? Anyone home?” Kianna calls into the house as she rolls two suitcases inside .

Kylo ruffles little Mateo’s curly hair as he walks by, who doesn’t pry his sparkling gaze from Lathan, to jog down to the door. “Hey, sis.”

She squeals excitedly, stepping around the bend to wrap her arms around her little brother. Lathan’s heart drops when he notices Kylo doesn’t hug her back, and he hunches over to the pup at his feet.

“Hey, buddy,” he coos, yanking him up from under his arms. He grins at the happy boy, but squints as if it’ll clear the cotton from his ears—he catches Kianna’s tune change and her voice hush, picking out “my gods,” and “so sorry,” and, “can’t even imagine.” Kylo nods in response, touching her arm, and then disappears, presumably out the front door.

Lathan’s balancing Mateo on his hip—the kid didn’t give him a choice, but he would have scooped him up either way. He puts Lathan at ease for some reason, and right now, with his nerves, he’s holding onto Mateo like he’ll be his saving grace through this meeting.

It’s when Kylo vanishes from his sight that he refocuses onto the wolf in his arms, and realizes he’s sniffing his clothes incessantly.

“Welcome to the pack!”

He blinks up at Kianna’s greeting, and then softens his expression into a smile, relieved to have one of today’s many pack members’ blessings. He’s promised himself to be open to anyone’s questions without getting defensive—this is going to be new for everyone involved—despite the intimacy he wishes to keep to him and his partner.

“Thanks, Kianna,” he says softly, and they sideways hug. Mateo then buries his face into Lathan’s neck and inhales dramatically, humming to himself.

Kianna chuckles at Lathan’s cocked eyebrow. “He can smell it on you now.”

“Oh. Right.” His heart stammers, and he looks to the boy in his arms, waiting, worried that the change in his scent might make Mateo like him less. But he settles into Lathan even more, wrapping short arms around his neck like he’s just a big plush teddy bear. Lathan’s heart skips at the small gesture as it sinks in: he knows I’m part of the family .

While he can’t make out the mumbled commotion, Lathan can tell more bodies have found their way to the entrance of the house. Kianna walks into the kitchen with a sippy cup to scour the fridge to fill, and Lathan registers a thump of bags finding the floor nearby. He steps forward with Mateo still sniffing and purring and hugging him, where Kylo and two other men occupy the entryway.

Kianna’s husband slings the strap of a messenger over his head and drops its weight, adding it to the collection of luggage. Bruce is a big fella, with a dad-bod to match, and looking at him now Lathan understands why it came to the Garcias as a surprise when Kianna mated him . He had bit his tongue about arguing gender inequality, but seeing it in front of him now, he has to admit it’s a bit humorous to envision.

And then he shakes his head. They’re his family now. He doesn’t want to envision that.

The second man stands straight, with no more than a backpack for his travels. His stare hasn’t lifted from Kylo, watching with a familiar intensity Lathan suddenly recalls. He fills his chest sluggishly, like he’s wasting time trying to decide what to say to his brother. Lathan fixes on his lips, on the movement they make once Bruce begins to head toward the kitchen, seeing his son above ground in the new member’s arms.

“You okay?” he determines is what Lucas says to Kylo, standing alone with him.

“No,” Kylo scoffs lightly, possibly embarrassed to be vulnerable in front of his brother, but doomed to being honest anyway. “But it’s good to see you.”

Lucas nods stiffly and doesn’t seem to press any further. But he does lift his head, flick his eyes to Lathan, and then glower down at his brother. “Did you have to mate the vampire?” he asks, this time his voice louder—certainly for more than just Kylo to hear.

Lathan acknowledges Bruce who strolls up to welcome him as well and pat his son’s head. He makes a joke about being grateful, because now he and Kianna have a built-in babysitter, but Lathan stares past him at the transaction by the door.

Kylo’s body language changes—from meek and solemn to broader and protective. “Do you have a problem with that?”

Lucas stares at his brother, not breaking his gaze despite the turned looks of the others across the room. He runs his tongue along his teeth and the slightest smirk tugs his lips as he squeezes Kylo’s shoulder and then wordlessly moves past him. As he enters the dining area, he looks the lone vampire up and down, his eyes steely. “Lathan.”

The new pack member nods at him, unsmiling. “Hey,” he says back, already starting to feel small. He tries to square his shoulders, though, as he stands up from setting Mateo down.

“Hey, where’s Mom and Dad?” Kianna says to Kylo, passing Mateo his bottle of whatever she found.

“We’re here!” Maria calls as she and her husband descend from upstairs. “Oh, my babies,” she drawls, crossing the kitchen to hug Kianna and Lucas close, giving them both cheek kisses as they greet each other.

“We were just getting your old rooms set up for your stay.” David saunters into the space leisurely with linens tucked under his arm. “Lathan and Kylo stole the guest house, so you’ll all be upstairs.” He places the unused folded sheets onto the kitchen island and gives them a pat.

None the wiser, Mateo wiggles with the sweet juice that must be in his cup. Lathan smiles down at Mateo to distract himself from his guilt. The guest house would make a lot more sense for a small family of three, and yet here he is, taking that from them, too, just like their choices in the matter of him joining their pack. Or being here right now .

Maria dips into Lathan’s view as she bends down to give her grandson some love. David clears his voice, obtaining the attention of the group.

“Thank you for coming on such short notice. We’re gonna need your help today and tomorrow, keeping everyone on topic. I called everyone in because of the incident at Obscura, but we also have a new pack member who is sure to draw attention.”

Lucas snorts and side-eyes his father. “Of course he will. Do you know your father?”

“Your grandfather ,” David corrects with a frown. “And yes, of course I do, that’s why I’m saying you need to stick up for your brother and his mate.”

“Yeah, Luc, could you at least try not to be an asshole today?” Kianna says. “There’ll already be enough of those to go around.”

“Hey,” David warns.

“What? It’s true. But at least we know Aunt Patricia will be chill.” Bruce rubs her upper arms from behind—disguised as a loving gesture, Lathan knows it’s really to say, that’s enough shit-talking, dear.

Kylo stands rigidly next to Lathan, his jaw tensed and his arms crossed, sleeves cuffed to up to his elbows. He doesn’t say a word, but the harsh huffs out his nose are clear enough that he expects Lucas to make a move against him. Against them . But Lathan has a feeling it won’t be an inside job today.

“Okay, okay,” Maria says, trying to cut the intensity in the kitchen. “Lucas, you are going to support your brother today. What happened to him—the attack on Obscura—is serious. We need to stand strong, together, when we meet with the pack, okay?”

Kylo reaches his hand across the few inches separating him and his mate, intertwining their fingers. His promise ring twists slightly on his finger against Lathan’s as he does so.

◆◆◆

While his siblings get settled in before it’s time to leave, Kylo pulls Lathan aside.

“As you might’ve gathered from Luc and Ki, our pack is my father’s bloodline. My father is my mother’s Alpha—mating her brought her into his pack, like I brought you into ours. Does that make sense?” His tone is soft but stern, giving grace for Lathan’s potential questions before the gathering.

Lathan just nods, holding his gaze securely. “Sure.”

“Right. Okay.” Kylo looks down briefly before continuing. “My grandpa, Pedro, my grandma, Elaine, and my granduncle, Lorenzo, are our pack elders.” The way he emphasizes their names are more than just to help Lathan hear them—it’s to engrain them into his brain. “Though, it’s my grandpa who, unfortunately, calls the shots. My dad has three siblings, so we have a handful of aunts, uncles, and cousins that’ll be there today, but I know this is a lot of abrupt information, so I don’t expect you to remember everything.” He rubs Lathan’s thigh lovingly, reassuring him. “If nothing else, know that my cousin Chloe and Aunt Patty are safe. They really backed me, and my family, when I came out.”

“So,” Lathan says slowly, “it’s not just going to be an issue that I’m a vampire.” I knew it was more.

“No,” Kylo sighs, looking down at their hands as he swallows. “Our elders value tradition, like expanding the pack. But being gay…challenges those ideals.”

Lathan doesn’t think much about his sexuality. He’s always just liked who he liked, and that was it. It shouldn’t have to be a conversation. His parents were never thrilled by his queerness, but they didn’t pick fights—didn’t talk about it. They’d rather he be with a man and live a quiet life than be with a werewolf, though. Vampires are historically meant to lay low, stay hidden, be discreet. Lathan is actively choosing to go against those norms.

He quickly wraps his head around the situation. Which isn’t hard to do—traditionalists are everywhere, and they’ll always challenge people like Kylo and himself.

“They’re my pack and most of them do mean well,” Kylo says, his shoulders deflated, “but I am sorry. I wanted you to meet them on our own time, on our terms…not like this.”

Lathan meets Kylo’s eyes again. He studies their cold, dimmed colour for a moment, drinking in his feelings. Tuning into their bond and experiencing his chest fill with anxiety and sadness.

“I know,” he says softly. “Come here.” He pulls Kylo against his body and holds him, hoping that his love can seep through his pores, his clothes.

They drive for no more than twenty minutes before the two vehicles pull into the parking lot on the border of a large treed park that is mostly empty, apart from a few hikers that disappear into the forested trails. Lathan and Kylo sit in the backseat of the Garcias’ SUV, while Lucas hitches a ride beside Bruce—Kianna tending to Mateo in the back—in the rental car.

Maria leans over to mumble something to David, pointing out the windshield. The pack is already gathered at two picnic tables across the field.

Lathan’s heart stutters as his anxiety surfaces, looking out the window at the gathering of bodies—the pack of wolves—waiting for their arrival, probably pretty impatiently. He doesn’t want to be nervous, wants to be strong for Kylo, but how can he not be? He’s going to be the spotlight, when this should be about Kylo, about his trauma and what everyone can do to help. But Lathan’s a new face—and an unwelcome one to some. All he can do is let it happen, and stick by Kylo’s side.

The rental vehicle unloads first. Mateo runs a lap around the car while Kianna pulls out her bag of snacks and toys for him. Lucas is already padding down the grass, headed toward the group of relatives. Then David exits the front seat, followed by Maria after shooting back an encouraging, if apprehensive, smile at the boys.

With the others making their way across the field, Lathan looks to Ky. “You ready? ”

“As I’ll ever be.” He cracks his neck from side to side, pulls in a deep breath, squeezes Lathan’s hand one last time, and they exit the vehicle together.

They’re the last to reach the grass, far from the others who are beginning their greetings with long-distance family. Lathan almost reaches for Kylo’s hand again as they walk, but laughs quietly to himself. “Would holding hands stop old Pedro’s heart?”

A smirk tugs at the corners of Kylo’s mouth, chipping his stone expression. “Guess we’ll find out if the old man can take it,” he says, knitting their fingers together once more.

From his distance, Lathan sees the pack members happy to greet Kianna and her little family; one woman bouncing a baby, younger than Mateo, bends down for the two little ones to say hello. Maria and David offer handshakes and over-politeness to those who he assumes are the elders, sitting on the benches. Lucas nods, but offers no words, standing on the outskirts of the group and glancing over to Kylo and Lathan as they approach.

Then, like a hivemind of thoughts pulling them all, each head swivels to follow the line of sight to the reason they’ve all gathered on such short notice—and the surprise he brings with him.

Met with a wall of golden-toned eyes, Lathan’s skin feels like an amalgamation of worms. The hairs on his arms try to raise, but fail to underneath his sleeves. He inhales and holds it as they get closer, only emptying his lungs once Maria tries to smoothen out the gap between the two and the pack. She steps up to her youngest son and puts a hand on his shoulder, smiling— turned to make sure the others can all see her warmth. Lathan tries not to let his gaze linger too long on any one person, but he notices the shifts in their eyes as his scent— Kylo’s scent—dances in the breeze and hits them, confirming their mated status. Some go wide, some the opposite, narrowing further. Some of the cousins whisper to each other. Lathan tries to be polite by not avoiding their stares, but doesn’t want to loiter on them too long, either. It’s a game that has no official instructions to refer to.

Pedro Garcia is an obvious man to spot. Perched at the picnic table furthest from the commotion, facing everyone, overseeing. The leaves above rustle with the wind, and his knobby knees jerk, bringing him to his feet, eyes like a fire that blazes at Kylo and his vampire mate.

“What is the meaning of this?” he demands, his booming voice not yet given in to his age. He casts the flames of his leer onto his son, David, and his ears pin flush with his grey hair. The woman to his right—Elaine, Lathan suspects—looks horrified, as if she’d clutch her pearls if she had any. And the man to his left— Lorenzo, right? —remains stoic and unmoving as he studies the group, noting everyone’s reactions.

Kylo halts their approach to allow several feet to separate them from the pack, not inching past Maria. With a much more structured, calculated speech pattern than what’s natural for Kylo, he states with his full chest, “Given the events that have taken place, and the nature of this gathering, I have brought my mate, Lathan”—his hand tightens its grasp—“to accompany me. ”

Pedro’s wife, still seated with her knees together and her frail, trembling hands in her lap, looks on the verge of implosion. She stares wickedly, thin lips scrunching, and is clearly at war in her mind between what bothers her more: a same-sex mated pairing in her pack, or an interspecies one.

Lathan doesn’t speak. He barely breathes. While he’s part of the pack now, he still feels alien, an improbable invader, and so to try and show respect, he will keep to himself unless spoken to. At least until the tide settles, and the sky clears.

An older woman with short, spiky silver hair steps forward a few paces, holding a disposable cup in her hand. She looks entertained. Proud.

“He’s not a wolf,” another voice says. An uncle, presumably, who looks at Lathan with annoyance. “Look at his ears.”

Suddenly everyone is eyeing Lathan up and down, searching for telltale signs of what exactly his species may be. He holds his ground, but has to force himself not to shy away from their scrutiny.

Not sensing the dangerous tension amid the crowd, little Mateo clomps over to the boys and drapes his arms around Lathan’s leg, snuggling into him. Instinctively, Lathan looks down at the boy, calmed by him yet again, and begins to reach for him.

“ Get the child away from him .”

Pedro shakes with his words—a command that sets everyone on edge. Lathan’s jaw flexes, and he rolls his fingers into a fist, away from Mateo. He thinks I’m dangerous.

“Grandpa,” Kianna soothes, moving over to Lathan and her son, “it’s okay. Mateo loves him. And Lathan’s really—”

“ Now , Kianna,” Pedro snaps, folded skin pink with fury.

She closes her mouth and looks at Lathan apologetically before peeling her son off him, who whines and complains in his mother’s arms. Lathan’s chest sinks, but he doesn’t move, doesn’t speak, doesn’t challenge the elder. The same goes for Kylo, though Lathan can feel the growing heat radiating off him, surging through their locked hands.

Once Kianna is spaced far enough away with her child—the future of the pack—Pedro’s searing eyes find the imposter of the group. He advances, his cane prodding the earth beside him.

“You. What are you?”

Lathan breathes steadily, ignoring the growing acceleration of his heartbeat. “I’m a vampire,” he says back plainly, and several gasps and murmurings flood the pack behind Pedro. Kylo slides a step forward, and Lathan knows what he’s doing—positioning himself slightly in front of his mate.

“A vampire ,” the elder parrots, like the taste of the word is poison on his tongue, seeming to ignore Kylo’s defensive stance. “And what, exactly, does a vampire”—he lifts his cane and jabs it accusingly at Lathan—“want with my grandson?”

“What does he want ?” Kylo scoffs, then bites his tongue—teeth slightly bared—to hold back the rage stacking inside him. “We’re here because I was forced to kill someone, are we not? Let’s get on with it.”

“Kylo,” David says, looking at his son in a pleading sort of way.

“It was such a tragedy, what happened,” Maria starts, aiding in the shift in conversation with her kind voice, though clearly treading carefully. “We will discuss mates another time, but the notice sent to Kylo is quite pressing, and we should focus on what it means.”

“What’s pressing is the vampire your son marked . I’ve never even heard of such a disgusting thing! How’s it even possible?” A man, around Kylo’s parents’ age, spits at Maria, gesturing wildly at the two new mates. He looks eerily like David, and Lathan remembers he has a younger brother, Leonard.

“Oi.” Lucas wanders closer to the conflict, chewing a bite from the hotdog in his hand lazily, not bothering to swallow. “You all know it’s an instinct. He didn’t do this to spite anyone.”

Lathan and Kylo both look over at the nonchalant brother. He wasn’t quick or very willing to accept Lathan as Kylo’s boyfriend, but the silent understanding they shared at that visitation when he saw the lengths he’d gone to to protect his little brother sealed something between them. He isn’t surprised to have his support, even if it’s a specific flavour.

“But it’s between two shifted werewolves,” Leonard argues, and points aggressively at Lathan. “He is not a wolf. He is a…” His words trail off, like what’s meant to come next is too vile to say out loud, and it isn’t about his species, instead resolving to repeat, “How is this possible? ”

“Wow,” Lucas groans, rubbing his eyes, “what is this, sex ed?” He motions his hotdog at Kylo. “You wanna enlighten the pack on the mechanics of gay sex, bro?”

“Enough from you,” Pedro roars, and Lathan is surprised to see Lucas slink back a few steps, though his gaze is still sharp.

Kylo glares at Lucas—clearly no longer helping their situation—and then at his uncle Leonard. “I will not be justifying my actions to the likes of you.”

Before Leonard can retort back at his nephew, a younger man joins the fight, stepping up beside him—who Lathan guesses is his own son. “Back up, Kylo. We have a right to ask questions when you bring a fuckin’ bloodsucker into a werewolf pack.”

“His name is Lathan ,” Kylo snarls, releasing his mate’s hand to step toward his cousin, “and you will address him properly. He’s a part of this pack now, Ethan, whether you or your dad like it or not.”

“Come now, this is getting out of hand,” Maria says to the pack, her sweetness contaminated with nervousness. “Pedro?” she adds, looking to him—a plea to stop this madness.

The elder is silent, face wrinkled in disturbed thought. When he looks at Maria, his words are a grenade. “I thought you raised him better.”

Her face drops, ears pulling back as she cowers backward. David appears at her side, looking as pained as she does with his father’s attack.

Ethan takes his grandfather’s words as affirmation, stalking toward Lathan. “Alright, leech, it’s time for you to go.”

But when he places his hand on Lathan’s shoulder to try and steer him away, Lathan shrugs him off. His patience is wearing thin, wavering his determination to keep respect.

“Hey!” Ethan’s dad yells, as if simply slipping out of Ethan’s grasp is a threat.

“Don’t touch him,” Kylo barks, a reverberation in his voice almost like an actual dog. Almost like how he sounds when he’s shifted.

“Then keep him away from my son,” Leonard says.

“Keep your son on a fucking leash,” he bites in return.

Leonard moves angrily toward Kylo. Lathan tries to as well, to block him like he blocked Lathan, but Ethan steps in front, separating the mates from each other.

“I said it’s time to go,” he growls at the vampire. “We don’t want a bloodsucker in this family.”

Lathan frowns at the cousin and swerves past him with the swiftness of an animal, but his arm is snagged. He does his best to deadpan at Ethan. “I am not leaving Kylo’s side until we do what we came here to do.”

“Oh ho!” Ethan exclaims loudly for all to hear. “He speaks! I was starting to think you were too scared. Or are you just biting your tongue until you attack?”

Lathan didn’t think it would be this bad. He’s been welcomed with open arms until this point—save for Lucas at first—and he naively assumed the worst would be ignorable. Tolerable. So much in this world has to be. This was a mistake. How could I think they’d accept me?

“This is ridiculous,” David calls loudly over the dispute. “Can we all just sit down and talk like normal people?”

Lathan tries to pull his arm away from Ethan’s grasp, but the cousin won’t let go, digging his dull nails into the muscle. Lathan looks at him severely and says, “Let go.”

“Or what?” Ethan taunts. “You’ll bite me?”

Lathan’s gums ache above his fangs. He doesn’t let himself stoop to showing them, though—they’d only see him as the monster they already assume him to be. So he reaches his opposite hand to pry Ethan’s fingers from his arm, but the quick movement is enough to trigger him, and he throws a hard punch into Lathan’s face.

He stumbles and trips into the grass, exhaling at the violent smell of blood. He touches the crimson dripping onto his top lip and then huffs up at the cousin, standing tall and proud with his fist clenched.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Lucas mumbles, mouth full of bun and ketchup.