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Leaving

G rayson ran his hands over the sleeping wolf’s snout.

He was pretty sure that Ryder was asleep.

His eyes were closed. His breathing was even.

His paws stirred a little, stretching and relaxing, as Grayson petted him.

His fur was so soft and he smelled amazing.

Grayson fancied he could smell something of himself on the wolf not from them just sleeping together, but as if the drinking of his blood changed Ryder at some molecular level.

Always together, a voice whispered in his mind.

Grayson frowned. It sounded like that other voice from the vision.

No, not a vision. Just a dream. My imagination.

But it was odd that he heard it again unbidden. He clearly needed to focus on petting this monster.

This beautiful, soft, fluffy monster.

Grayson wrapped an arm around the wolf’s massive body and buried his face into the fur again. He scrunched his fingers into it as well. He felt a long tongue lick his forehead. He looked up. That tongue got his nose and chin and lips.

“Ugh! Yuck!” Grayson laughed as he rubbed the saliva off his face.

Ryder looked at him out of half-open silver eyes and looked to be smiling. Wolves, evidently, could smile. Grayson laid his head on the pillow opposite that furry head and regarded Ryder.

“Good morning, beautiful,” Grayson said and he felt a flush cross his cheeks.

He’d never slept with anyone, literally slept .

And he would have felt panic at waking up beside someone.

Being asleep was a time when one was vulnerable.

But he had fallen asleep and stayed asleep curled against Ryder for hours and hadn’t stirred.

He couldn’t remember a time when he’d slept so deeply or so well.

“I slept like a rock. How about you?” Grayson asked.

Ryder’s tail swept back and forth, disturbing the blankets.

“That good, huh?” Grayson smiled broadly. “I could get used to this.”

The words had snuck out before he had a chance to catch them.

His cheeks burned again, but before he could take them back or lessen their impact, Ryder grinned wider and that tail beat a tattoo of happiness on the bed.

He leaned in to lick Grayson again. Grayson escaped the rough, wet tongue by kissing the side of Ryder’s head.

The tongue got his shoulder instead of his cheeks.

“So… I have no idea what time it is,” Grayson admitted.

The watch was somewhere on the desk or maybe the couch.

He didn’t remember what he had done with it.

Obviously, there was no change in the light from outside.

The curtains were drawn for privacy’s sake, but there was no light seeping around the edges.

The dorm was quiet too, but he wasn’t sure if that was because people weren’t up yet or that the stone building was so well made that he simply couldn’t hear the others moving about.

“And I don’t think that Caemorn said exactly when he was coming to get me or when you needed to go talk to Lawson,” Grayson continued.

That smile on the wolf’s face faded and Ryder covered his eyes with one paw. Grayson tugged it down.

“I know you’re not looking forward to that. Maybe you don’t have to do it,” Grayson suggested. “Maybe he’ll just leave.”

Ryder let out a low growl.

“You don’t want him to leave before you talk to him? No, I don’t suppose you do,” Grayson said. “It will probably lead to a big fight.”

Ryder nodded.

“I’m sorry. I don’t want to cause trouble for you,” Grayson admitted.

Ryder gave out a quizzical rumble.

Lawson was an ass. He seemed like a bad guy. One of those blowhards who used his strength to push others around. But Grayson understood why it was hard to let go of people even if they were toxic to you.

Especially if they’re toxic.

And Lawson was Ryder’s Master. There had to be loads of emotional ties and baggage there. He’d just met Grayson yesterday. But he was realistic enough to understand that he was just the match that lit the tinder between Ryder and Lawson. That tinder was already there. He was just a general match.

“I know I’m not the cause of what’s coming between you and Lawson,” Grayson said. “I’m not that important--”

The wolf’s eyes were fully open and Ryder made a negative sound in the back of his throat.

“I just mean… this has been a long time coming, hasn’t it?” Grayson didn’t mean to make that sound like a question.

Ryder huffed in agreement.

“But, to the extent, that I made this worse or happen sooner than you wanted--”

Ryder licked him.

“Oh, God! Even though you’re a Vampire you have dog breath!” Grayson laughed. “But, seriously, I’m… I’m trying to be serious here.”

That wolfish smile.

“Okay, I said some form of serious twice, but!” He touched the wolf’s nose, which caused Ryder to scrunch up his snout. “But I am sorry. Just because I know this hurts you.”

Ryder made a faint sad sound.

“And if you don’t want to do this, you don’t have to. Come with me and Caemorn to the interrogation. Avoid him. Avoid whatever this is with him,” Grayson said, knowing it was a copout and not what Ryder should do, but wanting to protect him all the same.

Ryder snorted, but looked pleased as he searched Grayson’s eyes.

“So are you staying in that form to do the furry walk of shame? Or maybe we take a shower and have some more fun--”

There was a knock on the door that had them both freezing. Ryder’s head turned and he stared at it as if he could glare through it.

“Who is it?” Grayson called.

A female voice answered, but the words were blurred and undecipherable through the heavy wood.

“Damn. Just stay where you are, fuzzy butt,” Grayson told Ryder as he slipped out of bed.

Ryder gave him a look at the “fuzzy butt” comment.

“You do. Have a fuzzy butt. A soft, fuzzy butt.” Grayson grinned. More knocking. “Hold on! That’s got to me Mairead. And I am going to kill her for this.”

Ryder let out a deep sound that was rather like a laugh.

“Laugh it up, fur ball.” Grayson stuck his tongue out at Ryder who just lolled on his back in evident amusement. The urge to pet that tummy was huge. He’d do it after he got rid of Mairead.

She probably just wants to gossip about last night.

Growling himself now, he remembered seeing a robe on the back of the bedroom door. He strode down the hall and grabbed it, throwing it over his shoulders, before he went to the door. He cracked it open just as the knocking began again.

“ Mairead , I said I was--oh! Dr. Biswas! I--ah, didn’t think it would be you being so persistent,” Grayson babbled.

Amara was dressed in a pink pair of sweatpants and a white hoodie and her hair was slightly disheveled. She looked annoyed, but gave him a tight smile.

“Lord Caemorn and Lord Balthazar are here for you,” Amara said with quiet dignity.

“Ah, they are? Now ? I mean… where are they?” Grayson stuck his head out and saw two figures passing in front of the end of the hallway.

“Yes, in the common room,” she said again with that quiet and annoyed dignity.

“And they woke you up--”

“I was getting coffee when they arrived.” She leaned slightly closer to him, eyes hard. “Knowing that the two headmasters of our school--and the most important Vampires after Daemon--were coming to our dorm would have been something I would have liked to know in advance.”

“So you’re not in your pajamas?” he guessed.

“So I’m not in my pajamas. And I’ve had some coffee. I was out quite late and without sunlight…” She stopped as if she had caught herself doing something unwise. “I’m not complaining. The night’s here are beautiful. And I intend for them to be my everything.”

“It’s okay to miss daylight. I think some Vampires do too,” Grayson told her.

He turned his head when he heard some thumping.

Ryder had gotten down onto the floor and was sitting in front of the fire.

He had grabbed one of the logs in his powerful jaws and placed it on the fire.

Grayson wondered if he intended to shift back to his human form anytime soon.

Not that Grayson minded. He found this wolf form peaceful.

“Do you--you have someone in there with you?” Amara asked with a lifted eyebrow.

She wasn’t the only one who had “meetings”. But he thought his had likely been more fun.

“Uhm, yes, I--”

“Tell Lord Ryder we are in a hurry, Grayson!” Balthazar’s voice up from the common area. “You must leave each other. For now.”

Grayson grimaced and rolled his eyes. Of course, Balthazar knew Ryder was there and he’d known what they had done and were thinking of doing. Amara looked shocked at his lack of respect though.

“You should be honored , Grayson, to be with two Immortals…” she stopped and held up her hands. “I’m sorry. I, obviously, shouldn’t tell you what to do or feel. They are here for you and not me. So you must be doing something right.”

“I didn’t know they’d come this early or whatever time it is,” Grayson said. “I would have warned you. But I can introduce you, if you want.”

Amara nodded brightly. “I would like that!” She made a slight frown as she added, “Even in pink sweats.”

“Okay, I’ll be right out in a minute,” Grayson told you.

She nodded and headed back down the hallway as he shut the door.

When he turned around, Ryder had shifted back into human form and was sitting naked on the couch, legs stretched towards the now roaring fire, and arms spread out along the length of the couch.

He was so beautiful. Grayson felt regret that he had to go seep into his bones.

Did he really have to go to the interrogation?

Yes. Yes, he had to find out why that woman had killed Gregory and Sam. That was important. That was why he was here after all. He couldn’t go back to his life until the Sect of Dawn was dealt with.

Back to my life… Grayson stared at the long, muscular lines of Ryder’s stretched out body. What life?