Page 39 of Bound in Blood (Vampires of Boston #1)

Chapter

Twenty-Six

LOGAN

T he second the three of them got home an hour later, Logan felt his body give up.

Working an entire shift, running into a feral, feeling more emotions in one day than he’d felt in the past year…

it was too much. The exhaustion crashed over him like a tsunami, leaving him barely upright before strong arms lifted him up off the ground.

Logan made a small noise of protest, but whoever was carrying him hushed him gently.

Maybe it was Marco, murmuring soft, soothing words in Italian.

Maybe it was Mateo, voice warm and teasing.

Logan didn’t know. He was too tired to tell.

By the time they reached the top of the stairs, he was out like a light.

The next morning, Logan woke up snuggled between his twins, wearing a t-shirt that smelled like Marco. He snuggled a bit further into their hold, Marco’s arm underneath his head, Mateo’s body pressed to his back. It was the closest Logan’s ever had to the feeling of home.

As Logan blinked into consciousness, he felt a soft hum rumble against his shoulder.

“Morning, tesoro, ” Mateo mumblesed, voice thick with sleep, thumb tracing lazy circles over Logan’s hipbone.

“More like evening,” Marco said, eyes still closed. “But, you know. Semantics.”

Logan sighed, letting his eyes drift shut again.

He should probably get up. Get ready for the night, figure out how to start tracking a feral vampire.

Maybe emotionally prepare for having to help take a life.

But… Mateo’s touch was so gentle, and Marco’s smile was so warm and the weight of them both was grounding in a way that he never knew he needed.

“Do you work tonight, Logan?” Mateo asked against his ear. “And if yes, can you get out of it?”

Logan thought, doing that night-shift thing where you tried to figure out which ‘today’ it was.

He was pretty sure when he went to work yesterday it was Saturday.

Which meant today would be Sunday, right?

Vik had been refusing to schedule him all three weekend days for the sake of Logan’s mental health, so…

yes. Maybe. If today was Sunday, that is.

“I… think I’m off work.” Logan nodded. “If not, I’m sure Vik would understand. If we’ve got feral vampire business to attend to, that is.”

“Nah, Alexei is taking care of that tonight.” Logan couldn’t see Mateo’s face, but he could feel his smile. Maybe it was the bond, or maybe Logan was just learning Mateo’s habits.

“Why does it matter if I’m working, then?” Logan looked up to Marco for answers, but Marco just smiled softly down at him.

“Well, if Alexei is taking care of the stressful stuff, we figured we could take care of you. ” Mateo pressed gently at Logan’s shoulder, coaxing him to lay flat on his back so he could see both twins’ faces.

“You’ve had a lot on your shoulders lately, Logan,” Marco added quietly. “We wanted to give you a day to just be normal.”

Logan frowned up at the ceiling, blinking the sleep from his eyes. “What do you mean?”

Mateo grinned, and Logan didn’t trust it at all. “You’ll see.” He sing-songed, brushing his fingers across Logan’s ribs teasingly.

Logan jerked, squirming instinctively. “ Mateo! ”

Mateo gasped in mock surprise. “My darling mate is ticklish?”

“Don’t you fucking dare?—”

But Mateo dug his fingers into Logan’s ribs, and Logan yelped. “ OH MY GOD! MARCO HELP!” He wheezed, and although he was laughing, Logan was definitely panicking on the inside. Weren’t vampires supposed to be less sensitive? What the fuck was this!

Marco hummed in mock thought, but didn’t step in. “I don’t know, caro, I think you’ve got this handled.”

“I will stake you both in your sleep!” Logan threatened, his laughs becoming more frantic.

Mateo finally relented, and Marco tucked the blanket back around Logan like nothing happened. He even gave Logan a little forehead kiss, the bastard. Logan hated them so much.

“You are both the actual worst,” Logan muttered.

Mateo grinned down at him, golden eyes still twinkling playfully. “Mm… if you hate us so much, guess that means you don’t want the surprise we had planned for you.”

“Well, let’s not get too hasty.” Logan looked between the two of them, trying to figure out if this was some sort of cruel joke.

It would be insanely out of character for them to fake a surprise…

but Logan couldn’t remember the last time someone surprised him with anything.

Well… ‘surprise, you’re an immortal creature of the night’ excluded.

“I don’t think so. We’re the worst. And if we’re the worst, clearly we’re too awful to have planned anything for you.” Mateo tsked , “Unless… you were lying?” He turned his head away from Logan just to give him a dramatic side-eye.

“Fine. I take it back. You’re the best. Every other mated pair on the planet looks to you and Marco for guidance, oh romance experts.” Logan paused, sitting up. “Now what’s my surprise?”

“I am so glad you asked.” Mateo slid up the bed to settle next to Logan, completely violating his personal space because of course he was.

“We wanted to help you feel a bit more at ease,” Marco said, sitting up on Logan’s other side, giving him just as little space.

“So… last night, I say to Marco, ‘ fratellino mio ? —’ ”

“Five minutes, Mateo.”

Mateo’s grin widened, his accent thickening. “‘ Fratellino mio, we need to find something the Texans do for fun.’ And what do I know of Texas? Well, they’ve got steers, que?—”

“ Teo. ”

“—AND the State Fair!” Mateo corrected smoothly. “So we googled if there was anything like that around here…”

“Are we going to a carnival!?” Logan asked, practically bouncing with excitement.

“Would you let me finish? ” Mateo put a hand over Logan’s mouth. “And we found a carnival! About an hour’s drive from here. Isn’t that wonderful, cuore mio ? * ? ”

Logan licked Mateo’s hand, causing Mateo to flinch back. “When can we go?”

Mateo wiped his hand on Logan’s shoulder, grimacing like he’d been personally victimized. “You are absolutely disgusting.”

Logan elected to ignore him. “Do you think I could still eat funnel cake? Will there be a Ferris wheel?” His eyes widened as he looked up at Marco. “Carnival games?”

Mateo, still wiping his hand on Logan like it had been tainted by something much worse than saliva, scoffed, “Of course there will be carnival games, tesoro. It is in the name.”

“Rides?” Logan asked hopefully.

“Well, you have that at home,” Mateo replied suggestively.

“Not if we don’t go the carnival, I don’t,” Logan scowled at him.

Marco tilted his head, watching Logan’s excitement bloom with soft amusement. “I believe I saw a Ferris wheel on the website, yes. But I don’t understand the appeal.”

Logan gasped, clutching Marco’s arm. “The romance, Marco. Think about it. The best romcoms always have a soft kiss at the top of the Ferris wheel overlooking the city.”

Marco paused for a moment, considering Logan’s words. Then, he leaned a little closer, brushing his nose to Logan’s. “In that case, it does sound fun. You’re right, caro. ”

“And the funnel cake?” Logan pressed, backing up just a tad so looking into Marco’s eyes didn’t feel so awkward. Logan hadn’t tried any human food since they’d turned him two weeks ago, but if he was going to risk vomiting on any sort of human food… it would be funnel cake.

“Should be fine. We’ll just have to make sure to feed later, but I believe there is still blood in the fridge from Mateo’s latest heist.” Marco nodded.

Mateo pressed a lingering kiss to Logan’s shoulder before rolling out of bed, landing on the carpeted floor with a soft thud. “All right, we need to get moving. Get dressed and we’ll meet you downstairs in ten.”

Logan hopped out of bed, heading for Mateo’s closet to steal one of the vintage band tees he hides in the back. “I’ll be ready in five,” he promised, before darting off to his own room.

As he shut Mateo’s door, he overheard when Marco said, “I’ve never seen him so happy.”

Logan froze, fingers tightening around the doorknob.

Me neither.

Logan was practically vibrating with energy in the backseat of the Uber, eyes glued to the neon glow of the Ferris wheel on the horizon.

The twins were right, even if they hadn’t outright said it: Logan hadn’t had anything to look forward to in such a long time.

The sky around them was lit up with flashing colors, and as Logan stepped out of the car, the distant hum of laughter and music and cheap amusement park rides clanking against their hinges filled the air.

God, it was even better than Logan had imagined.

Logan had only ever been to the Texas State Fair once, even though he lived within an hour of it.

He’d won tickets as a third-place prize in a school science fair when he was ten.

His parents had been so proud that they’d taken him out of class the next week, driven to Dallas, and made an entire day of it.

He’d had all the weird fried foods and rode every single ride.

His dad let him play ridiculously expensive carnival games, and looking back, it was the last solid good memory he’d had with his parents.

It was a bit bittersweet, but still one of Logan’s favorite memories.

Now, twelve years later, Logan was determined to make sure this carnival was just a sweet memory. He pressed into both Mateo and Marco’s sides, moving with them toward the carnival entrance. How had they managed to plan something so perfect?

Logan could barely contain himself as they passed through the ticket booth to the fairgrounds, the buzz of neon lights and laughter sending a thrill through his bones.

An unspoken advantage to being a vampire: colors were sharper, lights were brighter, and everything almost felt the exact same as when you experienced it as a kid.

The air smelled like funnel cake and popcorn and deep-fried everything, Logan could almost ignore the ever-lingering smell of human blood.

Almost.