Page 32

Chapter 31

A dler felt guilty for the public display of affection. He knew he should. His wolf side loved it, the public claim where anyone and everyone could see, the way Gordon had let him… It’s like those old-fashioned claiming ceremonies. Not cool. He deserves better. Next time we’re in public, I need to ask before I kiss him.

The walk to the car was a daze, and when Gordon got in and fastened his seat belt, his scent was everywhere all of a sudden. Adler growled with pleasure.

“Huh? What now?”

“Nothing, sweetheart. I’m happy.”

“You have a happy growl?”

“I guess.”

Gordon chuckled. It was the cutest sound, and if he hadn’t just started the engine, if they weren’t in a public place, Adler might have risked jumping Gordon’s bones. The seats tilted all the way back, after all. Stop! Stop. Seriously, it’s like I’m fifteen again. He deserves better.

They were quiet for a few minutes, right up until Adler came to an intersection. He decelerated and took a steadying breath.

“My apartment isn’t too far. Would you like to see it?” And what a stupid question that was. Did he want to see it, as if Gordon were a realtor.

But the vampire nodded, and Adler saw the dreamy smile on Gordon’s face out of the corner of his eye.

“I would like that very much, Adler.”

Just as he said it, rain started falling, thick droplets hitting the windshield and making it feel like they were cocooned from the world, dry and warm inside Adler’s car.

“Damn, that’s some weather,” Gordon said.

Adler kept his eyes on the road, because it was, and because he had his mate next to him, the mate he was driven to protect.

“Uh-huh.”

“My…my sister liked the sun, but I always thought rain was nice. I got sunburn when I was a kid. Turning vampire barely changed anything in that regard.”

“Oh. Okay. I see. Uhm.”

Gordon put a hand on Adler’s forearm, the softest touch.

Gordon relaxed. “I don’t want to talk about her. But I think it’s okay to trust you, and maybe sometimes, I just…can talk about her. Just a little bit. So I don’t forget what it was like to have a sister.”

Adler gripped the wheel so hard his knuckles stood out white. His jaw was clenched tight, and he didn’t know what to do. His wolf side was wild with the pain of it, the knowledge that his mate hurt and he couldn’t solve it, couldn’t help.

But his alpha had told him exactly what to do: use his words.

“Gordon, sweetheart, it hurts that you’re hurting. I’d do anything to make that stop.” He spoke loud enough to be heard over the rain, realizing too late that Gordon would have been able to hear anyway, that he might seem as if he were shouting.

But Gordon seemed unbothered. His hand still rested on Adler’s arm. “But what if the hurt stops and I forget? This is fine. I like that you’re here with me. And I like that we saved someone today. They were a couple, Pearson and Dr. Jackson. Dr. Jackson’s going to be okay, and Pearson won’t get out ever again. This is good.”

This is fine. I like that you’re here with me. Adler hung on to the words, and most importantly, he trusted his mate to know his own heart. Willa would be so proud.

The parking lot that belonged to Adler’s building was a few minutes away from his front door, and the rain hadn’t let up.

“You know, if I had Maxim’s speed, we would be fifty percent dry,” Gordon mused.

Adler snorted. “You mean I’d be wet, and you’d be dry.”

“That’s what I said.”

“Don’t let Maxim rub off on you, sweetheart. You might start sounding like some weirdo vampire without even noticing it.”

Gordon blinked at Adler. “Wanna run through the rain with me, detective?”

There was no saying no to his vampire. Adler braced himself. It was really pouring. He got out, and Gordon followed suit, squeaking with childlike glee. Adler rounded the car and took Gordon’s hand.

“See that path that cuts across the lawn? Come on.”

Hand in hand, they were soon running across the courtyard that connected the four buildings that made up the complex Adler lived in. It was a nice place, home to several wolf families with the odd Fae and human thrown in. Vampires didn’t live there at all, but Adler had never thought about that much, not until today.

They ran hand in hand across those paths where anyone could see them.

“I’m soaked,” Adler said. He was looking forward to being inside and getting dry.

“Better than sunshine,” Gordon said, his hand vampirically cold in Adler’s. “This is a whole lot of running, detective. I realize I suggested it, but I dislike running.”

“You’re saying that now. Don’t you worry, sweetheart, I’ll make sure you can relax soon.”

Finally, they reached the entrance door to the building and dashed inside once Adler had punched in the door code. When he looked back over his shoulder, he saw Gordon, hair dark rivers of teal that looked oh so beautiful against that pale skin. I want him. I want him so freaking much.

“Finally inside.” Gordon came to a halt after they’d taken a few steps into the stairwell, looked past Adler, and said, “Oh.”

Mil, the young werewolf child who lived with her grandma, sat on the wooden bench in the hallway, engrossed in a book. I don’t think Jane Eyre is age appropriate for a seven-year-old, Adler thought as she looked up at them from the book.

Mil wasn’t shy once she warmed up to a person, but she didn’t know Gordon, so her lips remained tight. “Hi,” she said, pulling her book closer to her chest.

“Milea, why do you keep reading in the hallway? I know for a fact your granny’s armchair is comfier than that bench. This is Gordon, by the way. He’s my…” Fuck. Adler had just managed to catch himself before blurting out mate. “Friend. Gordon’s a good friend.”

Adler wasn’t sure if that was better, and he couldn’t tell from Gordon’s reaction because Gordon just brushed his wet hair back and threw a lopsided smile at Mil.

“I think I read Jane Eyre when I was about your age. You like it?”

That made Mil’s lips curve up slightly. “I do. Are you a vampire?”

Gordon nodded. “Yes, I am. Are you a bookworm?”

Which got him a proper smile. “Yes, I am.”

Adler was amazed. For as long as he’d known her, Mil had never smiled at a stranger that fast, let alone exchanged that many words with one, not since she had come to live here after her parents’ deaths. He felt pride bubbling in his chest. Even if it was one of the younger members of the pack, this was acceptance, and it made Adler proud of Gordon.

Adler pulled Gordon a little closer, inhaled his scent of roses. It came out heavier with the rain on the vampire’s skin, and Adler liked that.

He looked at the young bookworm wolf. “Mil, head back to your granny’s, okay?”

Mil heaved a sigh but did as Adler had said. On her way across the hall, she turned her head to smile at Gordon once more. And then she even waved. He waved right back.

When she was gone, Adler pulled Gordon into a kiss. “Well, sweetheart, I thought you were only good with corpses. Mil doesn’t usually open up like that.”

Gordon chuckled. “We aren’t strangers. We’re both readers, acquaintances who have walked the same fictional roads. And superhighways, if she likes science fiction.”

Adler leaned in, teased Gordon’s lower lip with his teeth. “You are beginning to sound a bit like Maxim.”

“You tried that back in that car, and I’m not. Where’s your place?”

“Right here. C’mon.” Adler pulled out his keys, led Gordon to the first door on the right, and let them in. “Make yourself at home,” he said once he closed the door behind them. “Anything to drink?” He watched as Gordon walked deeper into his apartment and looked around.

Adler hadn’t decorated much. That made it inevitable for Gordon to notice the wolf carving Willa had gifted him years back. It sat on a cabinet against the wall in his living room.

It was a big piece, and Adler liked how when he looked up from his desk, the wolf would always catch his attention. The creature birthed from oak was the size of a small cat and caught perfectly in a fluid turn. It looked less like wood and carpentry, that figurine, more like magic.

“That’s pretty,” Gordon commented. He also examined Adler’s bookshelf, which was nothing like the walls and walls of books Gordon owned. “I had no idea you were that interested in forensics.” Gordon’s eyes came to rest on the books Adler had collected on the topic.

Adler shrugged. “It’s my job. Or part of my job.”

Which got Gordon to abandon the bookshelf and walk to Adler. He draped his arms around Adler’s neck. “You look very sexy. When you do your job, I mean.”

Adler ran his hands along Gordon’s sides until they came to rest on Gordon’s hips, and fuck, his cock stirred just at that. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

The kiss started slow and remained so for approximately three seconds. Gordon’s smell, rain and roses, and the wet hair tangled in Adler’s fingers, that was just too much. Adler could feel a low growl start in his chest, even as he claimed Gordon’s mouth, elated that he was allowed to, elated that Gordon dipped his head back and let Adler have him.

But then, after a short eternity, Gordon pulled away. “Show me your bedroom,” the vampire said, a strand of teal-colored hair dangling in front of his right eye.

Adler brushed the strand away, then lifted Gordon by his ass, and just as if this were a perfect romance movie scene, Gordon put both legs around Adler and let himself be carried off.

Adler’s bed was unmade still. He usually didn’t leave it that way, but he had been excited to see Gordon the last time he’d woken up in it. Having the vampire here, now, was not something he had hoped for then, but it sure was wonderful. Soon my sheets will have his scent. His and mine.

Adler gently put Gordon down, admiring the spill of teal hair on his white sheets, the pale skin, the veins on Gordon’s wrist that stood out bluish. Adler wanted to commit all of it to memory. He wanted to make sure Gordon knew what it meant that he was here, in Adler’s bed. No wolf would take a random lover home like this, show him off, allow in a strange scent. Yet in that moment, the words to explain properly failed Adler. He needed to touch and taste and kiss.

I will be yours for as long as you’ll have me, Adler thought, drinking in another kiss and grinding down on Gordon, who looked too sexy in what he was wearing.

After a minute or so, Adler came up for air. “May I undress you?”