Page 47 of Bound in Blood (Vampires of Boston #1)

Chapter

Thirty

LOGAN

A lexei shoved past Logan like he wasn’t even there.

He didn’t look at the blood, or the torn clothes. The matted hair or the dirty fingernails. He said nothing of the smell. No, Alexei only had eyes for the boy beyond the feral.

August.

He’d said the name like a prayer left unanswered for lifetimes, and Logan stood frozen beneath the weight of it.

The feral—August—stood frozen, but his body looked considerably less tense. Instead of tight and coiled like a caged animal, he blinked at Alexei with wide, confused eyes. Like he had no idea where he was or how he got there, only that he wasn’t in danger anymore.

Logan had never once seen Alexei hesitate to do anything.

He laughed loudly, spoke what was on his mind, confronted people in the bar that made Logan uncomfortable without a second thought.

But now, just a few feet between himself and August, he faltered.

Like he was looking at something impossible.

His fingers twitched at his sides, like he desperately wanted to reach out, but he wasn’t sure if he was allowed.

August’s jaw worked, his mouth opening and shutting several times. He was trying to say something, Logan figured, but forming the sounds wasn’t easy.

Then, in a voice raw with disuse, something cracked straight down the middle.

“ Alexei,” August breathed his name like a sigh of relief. Like slipping into a warm bath after a long, long day.

Alexei exhaled sharply, his entire body folding in on itself as he dropped to his knees, like something inside him had snapped.

His hands shook where they hovered in the space between them, like he was reaching out but too afraid to touch.

He started babbling in what Logan was pretty sure was a mix of German and Russian interchangeably.

“ Солнышко, я здесь… ? * ”

“Es tut mir so leid… ? * ”

“Ich hab’ dich so vermisst… ? * ”

“Ты жив… ты правда жив… ? * ”

He choked on the last word, breath stuttering like it physically hurt to say.

Logan couldn’t understand a word Alexei was saying, but he didn’t need to. He felt it. This sheer, overwhelming force of devotion. Love so absolute that though August was feral and covered head to toe in the evidence of his sins, Alexei looked at him like he was perfect.

Logan took a slow step back, into his place between Mateo and Marco, where he belonged. Because this moment didn’t belong to Logan.

It was Alexei and August’s.

Alexei took another shuddering breath, his hands trembling like he was holding something fragile between them, though they hovered over nothing but empty space. His lips parted, but whatever words he meant to say never came.

August blinked again, caught somewhere in the world between feral and stable. He swayed forward, just a bit, like the instinct to collapse into Alexei’s arms was strong, but his confusion was stronger.

Alexei kneeled, unmoving, like if he shifted too quickly, August would vanish. Like if he breathed wrong, he’d wake up.

Slowly, carefully, he tilted his head. “ Ты помнишь меня?”

Logan didn’t know the words, but he knew the body language. Do you remember me?

August’s throat bobbed, recognition flashing in his expression. Along with hesitation, and hope.

Mateo dipped his head, putting his lips to Logan’s ear. “How does Alexei know the feral?” he murmured, at least having the decency to keep quiet. Through the bond, Logan could feel the betrayal Mateo felt. That Alexei would be so cozy with the vampire that caused him so much pain.

Logan tipped his head up to look at the twins, who wore matching confused expressions. Marco met Logan’s eyes, his expression softening as he wiped away a tear Logan didn’t even realize he’d shed.

“Oh, amore mio, are you okay?” He put a hand around Logan’s waist as Mateo’s wrapped around Logan’s shoulders, holding him so tight, like he might vanish if they let go.

“Sh…” Logan said, leaning his head onto Marco’s chest. “Watch.”

Marco frowned, but did as Logan asked, turning his attention back to Alexei and August.

Neither one of them had moved, caught in a fragile moment somewhere between recognition and collapse.

Logan, Marco, and Mateo watched while August struggled to catch up to where he was, who he was.

His eyes flicked back and forth like he was searching the room for a tether to reality, and only Alexei held still enough to offer one.

Then, finally, August nodded.

Just once.

And Alexei broke .

A sharp, shattered sound tore from his throat as he surged forward, standing and stepping into August’s space. His hands grasped at August’s arms, his shoulders, his face. Touching like he’d been starved of it for far too long.

Alexei’s hands roamed with careful reverence over August, who leaned slightly into the touch, like he wanted to trust but he was afraid. Cheeks, jaw, shoulders, throat. Once Alexei had mapped out the formal feral’s face entirely, he cupped it reverently, thumbs brushing over blood-stained cheeks.

August inhaled the type of inhale that rattled around in your chest as you struggle not to break into sobs. He leaned into Alexei’s touch as the tears flew freely, pressing their foreheads together, his mouth beginning to form words before his vocal cords could catch up.

“ Mein Herz,” he said finally, voice scratchy but getting better with each use, “ Mein Herz, Mein Herz, Mein Herz….”

Alexei made another broken sound, something between a laugh and a sob, his fingers tightening around August’s face like he’d die if he ever let go again.

They stood together, shaking back and forth, Alexei whispering soothing words in a language that Logan couldn’t understand, his breath shuddering with every pause.

August’s hands moved after a moment, reaching out to touch. To grip Alexei’s coat with desperate, clawing fingers. He barely blinked, and Logan knew it was because he was afraid Alexei would disappear if he closed his eyes again.

“I’ve known Alexei for eighty-one years,” Mateo said in disbelief. “I’ve never once seen him…” His voice trailed off, like he wasn’t exactly sure how to finish his statement.

“Think about it, Teo, ” Marco murmured, keeping his voice low, doing his best not to disturb the reunion. “He’s drunk all the time. Not interested in hooking up with anyone, ever. He was… incredibly protective of Logan when we first met, but backed off the second the mate-bond took hold.”

Logan nodded. “He also knew a lot about the mate stuff, even though he admitted it’s incredibly rare.”

They were silent for a moment, then it was as if a light bulb had gone off above Mateo’s head, “ Oh!” He whisper-shouted. “The feral is…”

“...his mate,” Logan finished, the words settling into the air between them like something sacred.

Mateo’s mouth fell open slightly, both in awe and disbelief, the betrayed feeling fading away into the background.

Marco inhaled softly, his arm tightening around Logan’s waist like he needed something to ground him.

Logan felt a bit bad. He’d only known Alexei for six months.

Marco and Mateo’s history with him spanned most of their immortal life.

He could feel the gears turning in their minds, going over eighty years of history with a new lens.

August wasn’t some feral prowling the streets looking for humans to target.

He was looking for Alexei this entire time.

His mate.

The ache in Logan’s chest deepened, because he couldn’t even imagine it. Alexei, to Marco and Mateo’s knowledge, had been without his mate for at least eighty years. Eighty years with half of his soul out there, scared and alone. God, what if Logan had…

“Don’t let your mind go there, amore, ” Marco muttered, leaning down and turning his face into Logan’s hair.

“Why did he become feral?” Logan asked anyway, looking up at his mates.

“I’m not sure, tesoro, ” Mateo sighed, wiping away a couple of stray tears that had made their way down Logan’s cheeks. “But it is never going to happen to you. We’ll make sure of it.”

Logan found himself pulling both of them closer, pressing into the twins so tight that he wasn’t sure they wouldn’t morph into one person. He trusted them to keep their word. Trusted that even if shit hit the fan, they weren’t going to abandon him.

Alexei was still whispering to August, whose eyes looked much clearer now.

Like he was in the present. He almost looked more human than Logan, who was arguably the least vampire-looking vampire on the planet.

Now that he didn’t look like a caged animal, Logan saw the softness in his features.

The way his breath hitched with every gentle word of affirmation from Alexei.

The way his body trembled because the way he’d acted as a feral did not add up with his own moral compass.

The weight of it all sat heavy on Logan’s chest.

Despite all the bloodshed, and murder and ferality. Despite at least eighty years of separation, and all the confusion that came with it. Despite the poor boy being a ghost of what he once was. Alexei still loved August. Still needed August. Deeply and unshakably.

Alexei whispered something too soft for Logan to hear, and August nodded in response.

His fingers curled tighter into the fabric of Alexei’s coat, and for just a half a second, his lips quirked up into what might have been an attempt at a smile.

Alexei beamed like August had just given him a precious gift, and to be fair, he probably had.

“It’s not fair.” Logan sniffled before he could stop himself.

Marco hummed against his hair, “What isn’t?”

“They lost so much time,” Logan said, turning his face into Mateo’s chest.

“Alexei told me once that when you live as long as we do, you can’t dwell on what might have been,” Mateo said, his fingers gripping Logan’s shoulder just a little tighter. “You just keep moving forward.”

Logan swallowed past the lump in his throat, tilting his head back to look at Marco and Mateo. To really look at them. The way they stared back…