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Dani bit her lower lip, but, after a long moment, she nodded. “I’ll take care of it. But we need to talk about… things, Grayson. Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” Grayson agreed and hoped that his smile looked like a smile and not a grimace of exhaustion.

Dani bowed, which left him blinking, and then she took two large steps forward before launching herself up to the roof of the nearest building. Grayson’s eyes widened at the grace and effortlessness of that jump.

“That’s amazing. I’d really like to do that,” Grayson admitted.

He’d really like to be able to walk normally too, but both things seemed out of reach. The other Ashyr Vampires clustered around Dani, but most of their glowing silver eyes remained upon him and Ryder.

“Okay, I’m trying not to find this creepy,” Grayson said as he and Ryder started walking forward again.

“You’re in no danger from them,” Ryder assured him. “But I won’t let them get too close in any case.”

Grayson found himself smiling fondly up at Ryder, liking the low, possessive-protective growl in the Immortal’s voice.

They’d gone just half a block before Grayson had looked up at where the Ashyr Vampires had been, only to find them and Dani gone as if they had never been there at all.

Grayson’s shoulders slumped in relief and his footsteps dragged.

“Grayson, can I… can I carry you?” Ryder asked softly.

Grayson lifted his head to peer into Ryder’s handsome face. Those high cheekbones, the square jaw, all covered in the neatly trimmed black beard was so beautiful to him and expressive.

“You asked as if I would be doing you a favor when we both know I need a little help,” Grayson admitted.

Ryder effortlessly lifted him into his arms. Grayson leaned his head against Ryder’s shoulder, eyes half-shutting as he did so.

“It is a favor to me. I cannot bear to see you struggle to walk any farther,” Ryder admitted.

“Yeah, I’m so drained. I didn’t want to worry anybody, but I’m… I’m really exhausted,” Grayson muttered. His eyes were sliding closed fully.

He caught sight of the dorm in front of them. A sudden thought occurred to him and his eyelids flew open while his hands gripped Ryder’s shirt.

“Wait, wait!” Grayson cried.

“What’s wrong?” Ryder asked.

“If you bring me up there like this, people are going to have so many questions,” Grayson told him. “And they already have all these questions that I can’t answer.”

He was dreading trying to walk up to the doors of the dorm, let alone up the stairs.

But Ryder merely chuckled and said, “Hold on.”

“Wha--WHOA!” Grayson gasped as Ryder jumped up to a window on the third floor.

His window.

Ryder held onto Grayson effortlessly with one hand while he used the other to open Grayson’s window.

“You should lock these,” Ryder said.

“Would it stop you or any Vampire from getting inside if it was locked?” Grayson asked as Ryder gracefully carried him inside the window. It was the one over the desk. He didn’t even muss the paperwork that was there.

“True, and it is the spell that keeps other, uninvited Vampires out,” Ryder agreed. “Still, I am uneasy with it unlocked.”

He moved to lay Grayson on the bed, but Grayson made a sound.

“Fireplace. We can cuddle there,” Grayson said.

“Cuddle? Yes, that is all we are doing,” Ryder said firmly.

“I didn’t suggest anything else!” Grayson protested, though his nascent erection, despite the headache and weakness, said something else altogether. After all, if Ryder did all of the work then he could just lay there and enjoy it.

“Not with your mouth, but your eyes said everything,” Ryder responded dryly.

He laid Grayson on the couch before he tugged Grayson’s boots off and then helped him struggle out of his jacket. He grabbed a fur blanket and covered Grayson with it carefully.

“Hey, aren’t you getting in on this? You said we could cuddle!” Another protest from Grayson. He really wanted Ryder. The voice that would usually tell him not to count on other people to make his own happiness didn’t pipe up.

“Let me just get things sorted here,” Ryder said, with a gentle caress of his cheek again. “I promise, I’ll be with you shortly.”

He first leaned down and lit the neatly stacked wood and paper.

The wood immediately began to crackle and bright flames appeared.

Then he went over and shut the window that they had come through.

He headed for the door next. It was closed, but he stuck his head out. There was a surprised female cry.

“Hello, Mairead,” Ryder said dryly.

“When--when did you get here?” she asked.

“A little bit ago. We’re expecting some food.

So when they come, if you wouldn’t mind letting them in, we’d greatly appreciate it,” Ryder said smoothly, and without waiting for her acquiescence, Grayson heard him shut the door.

He was grinning when he came back into the room.

“She had some choice words about us both. But she’ll do it. ”

“She probably thinks it's not fair that I’m getting out of all the boring stuff. Little does she know that she just has to be running for her life from a crazed sect of Vampires and who knows what else,” Grayson said with an answering grin.

“She might enjoy that. She wants to be in the thick of things and feel important. That would describe your position, wouldn’t it?”

“I don’t know. Well, yeah, I guess. It’s weird but…” Grayson broke off and bit his lower lip.

“But what?”

Ryder took off his jacket and pulled off his boots before lifting Grayson up, sitting down himself and tucking Grayson between his legs so that Grayson’s head rested against his broad chest. He smelled of leather and musk.

“Maybe this is getting ahead of myself, but I feel like I… fit,” Grayson admitted, not really sure what he was meaning when he said that.

Ryder was gently carding his fingers through Grayson’s hair. “You do… fit. You’re not ahead of yourself at all.”

Grayson grasped that stroking hand and brought it to his lips. He kissed it. The taste of his skin, salt and sweat and something indefinable, lingered on Grayson’s tongue.

“I really wish I didn’t feel like such crap,” Grayson admitted as he kissed each individual finger.

Ryder’s other hand had taken to stroking his hair. He chuckled lightly. It made a low deep sound in his chest. “You’ll feel better after you’ve eaten and slept.”

“I’ve only come close to feeling this once before,” Grayson admitted. His chest grew a little tight as he remembered that moment. “After I used my powers for the first time, well, the first time against someone.”

Ryder seemed to stop breathing for a moment. “Your stepfather?”

“You remember what I said in the Ring?” Grayson asked, twisting his head to look up at Ryder’s face, but failing and having to satisfy himself with more kissing of Ryder’s hand. “Though I’m not sure if I said what happened.

“Yes and no. Balthazar flowed it to me. He heard everything, said and unsaid,” Ryder explained.

“That is handy,” Grayson said with a faint laugh. “Knowing what’s going on in everyone’s head. No wonder he forgives people so easily.”

“Because he knows they are very sorry?”

“That, and because he understands where they are coming from and why they’ve behaved the way they have,” Grayson said.

“Do you want to talk about your stepfather and what happened?” Ryder asked.

Grayson considered this. It had been like a burr in his flesh for years, ever since it had happened, and yet now, it almost seemed distant and unimportant. As if he had gotten some kind of perspective on it, even though it had been a major experience in his life.

This life…

“I, uh, yeah, maybe I should. I have this feeling…” Grayson paused and tried to capture what he wanted to say, “I have this weird feeling that I’m going to forget about it. Or, not forget it, but it won’t matter as much.”

Ryder’s hand didn’t pause in its petting, but Grayson could almost feel how much more intense Ryder had become as he’d said this.

“Like if I’d lived a long life with lots of other stuff that happened, which makes this thing seem smaller or something. Done and over and not that important. And I can’t believe I’m saying that,” Grayson let out a faint disbelieving laugh. “Because it used to matter more than anything.”

“Tell me. I want to know what mattered to you,” Ryder said.

“I don’t remember my bio dad. He died when I was really little. Motorcycle accident. I guess he liked riding without his helmet at night, and people in cars don’t see motorcyclists as it is,” Grayson said softly.

“Yes, absent my Vampiric reflexes I would have had a few close calls myself,” Ryder agreed.

“I can totally see you on a bike. You’d look so hot,” Grayson teased.

Ryder’s fingers trailed down his cheek and along his throat. He remembered how good it had felt to have his fangs there. But in the state he was in, there was no way that Ryder would drink from him. And he wasn’t sure he could handle it.

“Anyways, Mom didn’t really date or anything for a long time. But when she met Dirk, she was just swept off her feet,” he explained. “Dirk pretended to be this great guy.”

“Pretended?” There was a warning growl in Ryder’s throat.

“Yeah, he love-bombed her, you know? In the beginning, it was flowers sent everyday to the house. He would pick up things from the store for us without us asking. He bought me cool games. He wanted to do things together. All three of us,” Grayson said, remembering the outings.

“Because he knew that she would never be with him unless he understood that she and I were a package deal.”

There had been camping trips and cookouts.

They’d gone to the latest action movies.

They’d gone to zoos, museums and dinners.

Dirk had insisted on taking Grayson fishing and waterskiing and more “male-bonding” stuff.

His mother had been thrilled. Grayson had been too.

At first. But he’d always sensed a brittleness about his stepfather that didn’t mesh with the confident, supposedly successful construction businessman.