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He looked across the table at Roman. He was staring at Danny with heat in his eyes, looking proud and possessive and… something else. Something even deeper Danny couldn’t bring himself to name yet.

Before silence could settle fully over the table, there was a knock on his front door. Danny frowned. He didn’t know anyone who would just come over without warning. The most likely option was Chloe, but she would definitely call first. She wasn’t a complete heathen.

Roman caught his frown, muscles tensing. “Not expecting anyone?”

Danny shook his head, and Roman pushed his chair back. “Stay here with Soren. I will answer it. You will run if I tell you,” he ordered.

Danny opened his mouth to protest, but Roman cut a fierce look his way. “You will run if I tell you.” There was steel in his tone. Danny nodded. What use could he be in the case of some feral vampire storming the house anyway?

He was—how had Soren put it?—breakable.

Danny listened closely to the sounds of Roman approaching the front door but kept his gaze on Soren, who was holding his body with stillness that was unnatural. Inhuman.

They heard the door open.

And both immediately relaxed as Gabe’s deep voice rung out. “What are you doing answering Danny’s door?”

Oh Jesus. Gabe never came over. He very obviously couldn’t stand being in their family home alone with Danny. But of course he would decide to barge in now, when Danny had two supernatural guests over.

Danny forced a neutral expression on his face as the two men entered the kitchen, Gabe still grumbling complaints about Roman under his breath.

“Gabe, what are you doing here?” Danny demanded.

Gabe looked momentarily startled to see Soren seated at the kitchen counter with Danny, but he recovered his composure quickly.

“I want to know what the fuck is going on, Danny. Why you three were acting so shady about the dead guy in the alley. I want to know what you “—he turned to Roman then—”have my baby brother involved in.”

Danny fought the urge to roll his eyes—they were really going to get stuck up there with how often Gabe drove him to it lately.

“It’s not some nefarious plot,” he reassured his brother. “I recognized the body. He was someone who tried to mug me the other night. Roman fought him off. We were just freaked out that we knew him.”

Gabe’s eyes widened. “Why didn’t you tell the police?”

Danny shrugged, forcing nonchalance. “Cops are assholes. I didn’t feel like being questioned for hours about someone I barely knew—someone who clearly wasn’t a nice guy.”

“And that’s all?” Gabe looked at each of them in turn, trying to find answers in their faces.

“That’s all,” Danny concluded.

Gabe turned quickly to Soren, tone accusatory. “Why would you recognize the dead mugger when you weren’t even there at the mugging?”

Soren looked back at Gabe, a look of surprisingly convincing wide-eyed innocence on his face. “I didn’t recognize him. I was just freaked out by the body. I thought Roman would know what to do.”

Roman had meanwhile walked around the counter to Danny and was stroking his side gently in reassurance. Danny breathed in deeply, surrounding himself with the comforting scent of his vampire. It was so strange—so nice —to have outside support when dealing with his family.

Gabe turned from Soren and eyed the two of them, clearly unsettled by their closeness.

“Aren’t you supposed to be seeing Mom this morning?” he asked Danny, tone sharp.

Calm the fuck down, Gabe . Danny could feel Roman tensing behind him, preparing to go into protective boyfriend mode.

Wait…boyfriend?

Was that what Roman was to Danny now? Danny wasn’t sure how they went from strangers to some sort of fated mates situation in the blink of an eye, but surely boyfriends should have been somewhere in between. Right?

“Why?” he retorted, tone just as sharp as his brother’s. “Were you actually planning to come with me this time?”

Gabe didn’t rise to the bait. “You always see her Sunday mornings,” he insisted.

Danny hadn’t actually been aware that Gabe was keeping track of his visits to their mom. Interesting.

“I’m still going to see her. We’re just running a little behind. I’m taking Roman to meet her.”

“ Meet her ?” Gabe huffed. “Danny, she won’t even know—”

That was it. Enough . Danny was so tired of this fight, tired of Gabe acting like a concerned brother only for the brief moments if and when he felt like it.

“It doesn’t matter,” he snapped at his brother.

“That’s not the point. I choose to believe some part of her knows me.

She might not know who I am, exactly, but she knows I love her.

She always knows that much.” He pointed at Gabe.

“And she probably knows somewhere deep down that someone else she cares for is missing from her life. So if you’re just trying to make yourself feel better by saying she doesn’t know you’re not there, doesn’t miss you, just know I think you’re wrong. ”

Roman’s hand had moved from Danny’s side and was now squeezing his shoulder in support.

So this was what it felt like to be backed up by someone.

To have someone on his side in a real way.

And suddenly Danny felt like he couldn’t stop, that years of resentment were about to burst out in a verbal barrage.

“And why are you pulling this protective big brother act at all , Gabe? You left! You left me with Mom. She-She wasn’t well.

And I don’t even blame you for that. You were in school, then residency, working toward your future.

But you never even noticed . You barely ever came home, and when you did, you just put your blinders on.

I know Dad was your person, I know it broke something in you when he died, but Jesus, Gabe, make a choice.

Are you still part of this family or not?

You can’t have it both ways. Be my brother at work and a stranger the rest of the time. What did you even move back here for?”

Gabe was looking stricken, and Danny lost some steam then, a little ashamed at having berated his brother in front of two witnesses. Soren was watching them both raptly, a contemplative look on his face.

Danny should have saved it for a time when they were alone, when they could really talk it out. But when the hell would that be? he thought bitterly. Gabe never let them be in that situation anyway, always using work or the crowds in the local bar as buffers.

Danny softened his voice, looking to his brother. “You should—you should come with me this week. To visit her. Just think about it. Please.”

Gabe nodded slowly, avoiding Danny’s eyes.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll…think about it. I should go.

I-I interrupted.” He walked out of the kitchen without once looking at Danny, and Danny resisted the urge to call him back.

Gabe needed time to process, and frankly, Danny needed time to let the resentment simmer down.

The sound of the front door closing echoed moments later.

“Well,” Soren said brightly, back to grinning once more. “Aren’t humans fun , Rome?”