Page 128 of Inhuman Nature

“You look like her,” DJ said softly. Shaun supposed he did. She was short, like him, and skinny, like him, and had soft features, like him. Other than his ginger hair, he’d taken after her more than he did his dad.

“Yeah,” he agreed. They sat there for an indeterminable amount of time, both Rake and DJ providing comforting touches.

Rake broke the silence. “We should feed before we go back. You’re even paler than usual.”

Shaun hadn’t even considered feeding since they’d arrived. He gave Rake an apologetic look. “You must be starving.”

“I’m all right.” That was a lie. New vampires needed more blood.

“Let’s go find a few people to eat,” Shaun said. Ever since Lawrence’s death, feeding hadn’t felt so unnatural. The three of them always made sure to take care—to never make it hurt. It also helped that Shaunhadto feed to keep Rake from starving. Knowing every time he fed that it was in service of his Dom eased Shaun’s guilt like nothing else.

The following night, it was his dad’s turn. Shaun hadn’t been as close with his dad as he was with his mum, but it didn’t mean seeing his dad holding the hand of his little girl was any easier.

“Well, damn,” DJ said. “Red hair runs in the family.”

Shaun couldn’t help but crack a small smile at Iona’s bouncing copper pigtails as she skipped alongside his dad. She chattered about what they’d just seen at the cinema. His dad had always been a lover of film, preferring arthouse dramas, but always willing to take Shaun along to the newest blockbuster.

The front door of the house opened. Heather, his dad’s new wife, met them there. Her face lit up when Iona broke away from his—their—dad to run towards her, regurgitating the plot of the movie.

Shaun asked DJ if they could leave soon after that.

They spent alternate nights camped out in front of their houses. Glimpses through the curtains were all Shaun gotsome nights, but on others, he got more insight into their lives.

One particular night seared itself into Shaun’s memory when he saw his mum and the two teenage boys coming in from a late dinner together. There was a second where something flashed in his mum’s eyes. Just a short moment, when she looked at the boys and her expression grew vacant, as if her mind went elsewhere.

Shaun knew, he justknew, that she was thinking of him.

And then she shook her head. The moment was over. She told the boys off for bickering, but Shaun tuned them out.

“I need to be away from here right now,” he said shakily.

“Gotcha,” DJ said.

Rake had been sitting in the front, but squeezed his body through the space between the seats to come into the back with Shaun. The second Rake had his hands on him, Shaun started sobbing and couldn’t stop.

Rake rocked him, his hands running over his hair and back whilst he made gentle shushing sounds. Despite Rake’s efforts, Shaun didn’t stop crying even when they got back to the house.

Embarrassed and overwhelmed, Shaun rushed straight to the bathroom and locked himself in before Rake and DJ could follow. He climbed straight into the bath and turned the shower on, sitting under the cold water. He felt rubbed raw, like his skin no longer fit around his bones, like someone had burst open his chest cavity and was squeezing his heart.

“Shaun, sweetheart, are you going to let us in?” Rake said through the door.

“I—” Shaun couldn’t get any more words out. It was all too much.

“If you use your safe word right now, I’ll leave you alone. Otherwise, I’m coming in.”

Shaun said nothing.

Dimly, he noted the sound of Rake and DJ debating something, and then the door opened with the splintering of wood. Rake got into the tub opposite Shaun, not touching, just sitting. DJ reached over and turned the water off before hovering on the lip of the bathtub.

“She still thinks about me,” Shaun said.

“Of course she does,” DJ said.

“It hurts,” Shaun choked out. “I didn’t think it would hurt so much.”

“Oh, Shaun,” DJ said, lowering himself so he was kneeling beside the tub. “I know it does. I do.”

“What do you need from us?” Rake asked.