Page 29 of Vampire Kings Box Set

Morning came, and so did Maddox’s hunger. He left Will sleeping soundly and walked down to a kitchen that was useless to him. He was not surprised to find Lorien there. The younger vampire had a talent for being in the wrong place at the right time.

“I was waiting for you to come back and finish our conversation.” There was something accusatory in Lorien’s tone, and indeed, in his actual words. “What’s happening? You love the hound now?”

“Quiet, Lorien.”

“It’s not like you to spend entire nights with humans. You must have been so bored. All that lying there awake…”

It had been a pleasure to lie in the dark and listen to Will breathe. He was so strong but so delicate, so broken and yet so whole. Lorien was right that there had been others before. None like this one, though. None Maddox wanted to hold as much as he wanted to fuck, as much as he wanted to care for as much as he wanted to use.

“I think it’s sweet,” Lorien smirked. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone that the great Maddox has a weakness now.”

It was to be expected that Lorien saw love as weakness. Mad had taught him well, and he had learned better than Mads had expected him to. Caring for Will, becoming enchanted by Will was dangerous for them both.

“They call us immortals,” Lorien mused. “They probably shouldn’t. We’re actually very mortal.”

“Yes, we are,” Maddox agreed. “I need to find someone to eat.”

“There’s a human upstairs.” Lorien gestured upwards.

“I don’t want to weaken him, not while his bones are still healing.”

“You want me to get delivery?”

“I don’t want anything that’s been fed from a dozen times. I want something fresh.”

“Like, a baby?”

“No, Lorien. Not like a baby.”

“Definition of fresh.”

Maddox fixed Lorien with a glare. “Tell me you have not…”

“I know you’d slay me yourself if I did that. I’m joking. Maybe we can go to the club and find an innocent newbie. Oh, wait. We can’t because it’s eight in the morning, when proper vampires are pretending to be afraid of the sun so they don’t have to socialize with all the humans that infest everything these hours.”

“I don’t think we should be out socializing at a time like this.”

Lorien cocked his head to the side and smiled. “Because you started a turf war that’s going to turn New York into a sea of blood and ash?”

“Why do you insist on assuming that I slew them?”

“Because you did. Because you love me too. You’re just loving everybody nowadays, aren’t you, Maddox? Going soft in your ancient age?”

Maddox cuffed the brat over the ear and carried on his way.

“I’ll have some of the refrigerated stuff.”

“No, don’t do that. I’ll hunt you something fresh, Daddy.” Lorien winked. He was in a very good mood. Too good of a mood. He had called Maddox Daddy only twice before in their association and it had never ended well. He didn’t use it in the endearing fatherly meaning, or in the kinky dirty one either. He used it in a very specific, I am going to be very bad sense, which only applied to him.

“Lorien, be careful. I’m not going to forbid you to leave the house, because I know that will only make you sneak out. But it is dangerous out there. More than one vampire has already come to the same conclusion you did. It is possible retaliation is coming.”

“It’s possible you’re going to get flowers and candy from everybody they terrorized for hundreds of years.”

“Possibly. I need to make Will some breakfast. He will be up soon, and he will need to eat.”

“Breakfast?”

The word had summoned the whelp.