Page 56 of Fangs for the Memories (Budapest Bites #1)

I f I thought things might be easier with Ferenc, I was wrong. The second Dominik opens the door into the kitchen, all hells break loose.

Lazlo and Sándor leap to defend and protect. Ferenc starts snarling loud enough to wake the dead, all in a room in which I can actually touch each wall with my arms outstretched.

It is not ideal.

“Will you lot shut up !” Lucy enters the fray, bellowing at the top of her lungs.

Impressively, it works.

Even more impressively, she has back-up.

In the form of everyone. Lydia strolls in first, sizing up Dominik, the two wolves, and Ferenc before dumping a bag on the countertop.

“Is that bacon?” she asks, swiping a rasher from Lazlo’s plate.

“Are these real werewolves?” Kezia asks, hugging her coat around herself.

“Because werewolves aren’t real?” Sophia asks, her sharp eyes taking in me in Ferenc’s arms.

“I told you monsters were real,” Eliza says emphatically, also placing a bag on the counter, only for it to spill out three bars of chocolate.

Ferenc looks at me, his brow furrowed and a muscle in his jaw ticking.

“These are my friends,” I say. “They’re here to help, I hope.”

“Is this one a vampire ?” Kezia is now inspecting Dominik, poking him in the chest.

He rocks back on his feet slightly at the pressure.

“Yes, Dominik is a vampire.” Lucy swats her hand away from Dominik.

“You’ve got a bit of company coming,” Lydia says languidly, chewing on her bacon. “No doubt due to Mr. Escape Artist here.”

“They were lucky I stayed as long as I did,” Ferenc growls.

“Clearly, you didn’t bother to heed anything I said,” Dominik rasps.

“I heard you, vampire ,” Ferenc snarls. “But something called the Monster Force came for me, and I decided it was no longer a place I wanted to reside.”

“Fuck,” Kezia and Lucy say at the same time.

“Did you say Monster Force?” Lucy gets out quicker than Kezia.

“Yes,” Ferenc intones.

“Damn fucking arseholes,” Lucy swears wildly.

I notice Dominik gazing at her, possibly because he’s never heard this sort of language from someone who always looks so prim and proper.

“Who are the Monster Force?” Kezia asks.

“They’re an idiotic branch of the police, set up in the wake of the monster act. They have secret powers, and they are about as useful as a chocolate teapot.”

“Then we should be able to hold them off,” Sophia says, a kitchen knife in her hand.

“Woah,” Kezia says. “Okay, Miss Angry 1998, let’s dial it back a notch. This bunch are coming for the monsters, not us.”

“No one tries to hurt my friend,” Sophia says fiercely. “Or anyone who makes her happy.”

She glares at Ferenc and he nods sagely.

“Your friends are good friends,” he says as his wolves inch away from Dominik to join us at the far end of the kitchen.

“Something like that,” I reply. “And now you have to let me go because I’m going to throw up.”

Ferenc’s eyes flare, but he puts me down, and I bolt for the bathroom. If I thought I’d conquered the nausea thing in one day, I was entirely wrong. Instead I’m retching my guts up to little effect.

“What is wrong, kedves?” Ferenc is on the bathroom floor next to me, holding my hair back and gently rubbing my back.

I look at him, unsure, now he’s here, bright, alive, perfect, and I don’t know how to say it. I don’t know how to tell him.

“I…er…ate too much pizza,” I say, already knowing the lie is utterly terrible.

“Grace? Grace?” There’s a pounding on the door.

I glance at Ferenc. His dark eyes are still trained on me.

“I’ll be out in a minute,” I call back, my voice husky with my nausea.

“We, or rather your werewolf, don’t have a minute. They’re here,” Kezia says. “You need to go.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Ferenc growls. “What is wrong, Grace?”

I know I should tell him to go, tell him to run, to get out of this bathroom, out of this house, and out of this country for his own safety. I know all of this.

But I can’t because his gaze has a hold of me like something tangible. I couldn’t move even if I wanted to. I have to tell him. I have to get the words out, somehow.

“I’m pregnant, Ferenc. You’re going to be a father.”

For a second, he is frozen, eyes fixed on me. Then, as the sounds from outside hit us, he blinks.

“You’re in pup?” His rich voice rolls around the small room.

“Yes.”

Ferenc grasps my arms and, despite everything he’s witnessed, I find myself consumed in a kiss to end all kisses, one I don’t want to ever stop.

“It’s time to end this.” Ferenc says as he releases me, getting to his feet.

“Wait.” I scramble to mine. “You can’t. They’ll kill you.”

“They can try,” he growls, “but I have a mate. I have pups on the way. I doubt anyone or anything can kill me today.”

He pulls open the door before I can stop him. I can see through the kitchen, through the hallway, to the front door where the werewolves are braced against it, holding something or someone back.

Dominik stares directly at Ferenc from his position at the entrance to the kitchen. All my friends are seemingly holding their breath.

“Out of my way, vampire ,” Ferenc growls.

“If you do this…” Dominik says.

“If I do this, you will have my back, as you have always done. As I have had yours,” Ferenc growls. “And more, because this time I do it for my mate.”

“This Monster Force—they’re not like the others…”

“I know. I’ve met them, and they’re about to meet a monster for the second time ever,” Ferenc growls.

His entire body is straining at the fabric of his suit, ready to shift, about to go completely feral.

“Ferenc,” I say, softly, needing him to concentrate on me. “If you do this, they’ll believe monsters are what they think they are, dangerous. You’ll prove an untruth.” I take his clawed hand. “And I need you, with me.”

He fires out a hot snort of breath.

“Then I will prove them wrong.” Ferenc’s hand curls around mine. “Because there are no monsters here. There is only the unbreakable bond between mates, and it deserves to be shown to the world.”