Page 16 of Gifts of Fate (Kindred of Arkadia #7)

Daniel heard the doorbell and veered off from his trek to the kitchen to answer it. Rule number one, that everyone learned quickly: Don’t wake the baby. He opened the door and was surprised to see the shifter Mojo waiting.

“Sorry to come by unannounced, but I heard about the blood drive. I couldn’t leave the bar the other night since I was looking after Peyton but, I’d still like to donate.”

“Come on in.” Daniel walked the extremely large shifter to the kitchen where Baptista sat with David, eating one of Ashby’s sandwiches. He knew shifters tended to be large, but this man took it to extremes.

“Baptista, Moe would like to donate, can you do the needle, bag thing.” Daniel asked.

Baptista nodded. “We can do it in the family room.” Baptista walked him to the front room and sat him down on a comfy recliner.

With steady hands he started the IV. Moe looked over to see the small plastic bag begin to fill slowly.

It didn’t take long, and then Baptista was removing the needle from his arm.

“We can’t thank you enough for coming by. Every drop helps.” Baptista thanked him.

“It’s no problem. If you all are compiling a list for on-demand donors, put my name down. I don’t mind helping out,” Moe offered.

“We appreciate it.”

Baptista was showing him out when Moe caught the scent of snow, ice and strawberries. When he looked up he saw a thin man standing with Roman, staring at him with the most brilliant shade of green eyes he had ever seen. The man’s mouth opened and his fangs descended.

Holy shit!

“Rhys, breathe through the craving. It will be okay.” Roman stood between Moe and Rhys.

“It’s not the addiction,” Rhys whispered.

“Then what is it?”

“He’s my mate,” Moe whispered.