Page 32

Roman

R oman was…alarmed.

He was sitting at Danny’s kitchen table with Soren at his side, the both of them watching his mate rifle through the cabinets, mumbling something about needing alcohol.

It was barely past noon.

The boy had been vibrating with nervous energy since he’d met them in the hospital hallway, his brown eyes hard and his expression uncharacteristically unreadable.

The only thing he’d said about his visit with Gabe was, “I told him everything.” He’d been silent ever since, other than his current mutterings.

Roman had offered to make him something to eat when they got back to the house, but Danny had refused with a firm, “No. Sit. Both of you.” Despite his demon’s anger at being refused the opportunity to care for their mate, Roman had obeyed, and Soren, to Roman’s surprise, had only raised an eyebrow before following suit.

Another sign that Roman’s friend was not himself—compliance wasn’t usually his strong suit.

Roman raised his own eyebrow at what Danny finally pulled out when he found the right cabinet. “Whiskey?”

“Five o’clock somewhere, am I right?” Danny’s voice was flat.

Something was definitely off with Roman’s mate. Something other than the obvious fact of his injured brother.

“Let me make you—” Roman was cut off immediately, Danny shaking his head as he approached the table.

“No. No making. No cooking. No taking care of me right now. I don’t need pampering. I need answers.” He placed three shot glasses on the table and sat down across from the two vampires.

“Whiskey is mandatory for me but optional for you two.” Danny downed his shot, swiveling his head to glare at Soren. “You. Have you been stalking my brother?”

Soren sighed and threw back his own whiskey, wincing. “Define ‘stalking.’”

“Jesus Christ.” Danny rubbed a hand over his face. “Is this like some genetic thing, then? Some Kingman family trait that makes us vampire catnip?”

Roman broke in, unwilling to let whatever was going on with Soren make Danny second-guess their own connection. “I don’t think you can compare what Soren has been—”

“Luc told me you promised him forever,” Danny cut him off, fixing him with a look.

Roman was out of his chair in an instant. “ What ? When did you see Luc again? How?”

“He was at the hospital. We had a…chat.”

Soren swore. “I told you he might be luring the boy in.”

Roman didn’t need reminding. He had the brief urge to snap his friend’s neck. “How did you not realize he was already there?” he ground out through gritted teeth.

“I was distracted .”

“Doesn’t matter.” Danny waved a hand at both of them dismissively, taking another shot of whiskey.

“Didn’t hurt me. But he told me to tell you, mate “—Roman didn’t like the bite with which Danny said that word—”that he expects you to keep your promises.

And that was your promise, right? You and him by each other’s sides? Forever?”

Fuck Luc and his big goddamn mouth. “I told you: it was never romantic between him and myself. We were brothers.”

Danny laughed bitterly. It sounded wrong coming from Roman’s sweet mate. “You think that’s what I’m upset about? Romantic, platonic, I don’t care. You promised to be by his side. Just like—like you’ve promised to stay by mine.”

Roman tensed at the unspoken accusation: You don’t keep your promises . He suppressed the urge to shout in frustration, keeping his voice as calm as he could manage. “There were—how should I put this?—extenuating circumstances. As you well know.”

Danny poured more whiskey for himself, carefully avoiding Roman’s gaze, a move Roman was finding infuriating. How could he reassure his mate if he wouldn’t even look at him? “If you turned me and I turned out monstrous…became feral….would you abandon me like you abandoned him?”

Never.

“He tried to kill me, Danny. Twice. He kills humans regularly.”

Danny went on as if he hadn’t heard him. “Or do you not have any intention of turning me at all? Because you’ve never brought it up. A fact Luc really enjoyed shoving in my face.”

Danny’s gaze remained averted, but Roman could still see the glassiness of his eyes.

Merde. His mate was hurting. And it was his fault.

Roman vaguely registered Soren muttering something that sounded suspiciously like “told you so,” but he kept his focus on Danny.

He knew he should have brought up turning to him already.

He shouldn’t have let fear guide his actions when it came to his mate.

Now he was left scrabbling to repair the damage.

“Danny, look at me.”

Danny kept his eyes on his whiskey. “And you haven’t put him down either. If you truly thought he was feral, with no sense of self left, wouldn’t you have done him that mercy? You’ve just been…running away.”

Roman was going to be forced to say it out loud, wasn’t he? Admit his faults and weaknesses to the two people on this earth whose opinions mattered to him. “I have been…afraid. Afraid of how he’s changed. Ashamed of my part in it. Facing that—that I did that to him. That I broke him.”

Danny winced in sympathy before downing another shot. Roman frowned. The boy was going to keel over before the end of this conversation if he kept going at that rate. But Roman had a strong feeling his mate wouldn’t appreciate that feedback at this time.

He kept his mouth shut.

He was rewarded when Danny’s voice softened with his next words. “I’m not saying what happened to him is your fault. I don’t think that. But he seems more pissed about the leaving than he does about Victoria. If you tried to talk it out. If you met with him. Could he kill you?”

The short answer was, of course, yes . Roman wasn’t invincible.

But that wasn’t the reassurance his mate needed right now.

“It’s possible, of course,” Roman hedged.

“But very unlikely. He’s strong, but so am I.

And we are hard to kill. Putting one of us down tends to take quite a bit of effort. Or an ambush.”

Danny had forgone staring at the whiskey to draw invisible patterns on the table with his fingertips.

“I don’t want to see you get hurt. And I couldn’t bear it if you were killed.

But I can’t consider an eternity with you with this…

person…lurking in the background. Looming over our shoulders. It needs to be fixed somehow.”

Roman tried to ignore the warmth that filled his chest at his mate bringing up an eternity with him.

Did Danny mean it? Would he be willing to put aside his humanity to be with Roman, to stay by his side?

He forced himself to pay attention as Danny continued, oblivious of the effects of his words, “And I’m not so sure he deserves an execution. ”

Soren cut in, “Aren’t you being awfully supportive of someone who just snapped your brother’s arm like a goddamn twig? And in case you forgot—the psychopath murders humans.”

Danny turned to Soren and raised a finger.

“One—you do not get to talk about my brother. You are on a time-out from all things Gabe-related.” He raised a second finger.

“Two—what do you know about the people he’s killed?

Because I know of two in Hyde Park. One tried to mug me, and according to the police, it wasn’t his first, and not all his victims were fortunate enough to live.

The other that I know of…the police told us about him too.

At the hospital. About some of the things he’d done.

He wasn’t a good guy, to say the least. And Luc said something that’s been on my mind ever since, about taking out some of the ‘trash’ around here. ”

Soren scoffed. “You’re telling us you think he’s some kind of vampire vigilante?”

“I think in one night he lost the two things that made him hopeful about an eternity of living: the woman he loved and his brother. He’s been full of rage and pain, letting his demon call the shots.

But what if underneath that, he’s still in there, mitigating the chaos by choosing his victims deliberately?

” Danny sighed, losing some of his fire.

“I’m not saying he’s right, and I’m definitely not saying he’s not dangerous.

He’s clearly hell-bent on some sort of revenge when it comes to Roman.

But maybe he’s doing what he can to not be a true monster. ”

Danny finally turned to Roman, his big eyes imploring. “And you’re maybe the one person who has a chance of getting through to him. He’s fixated on you, for better or worse.”

“Clearly for worse,” Soren muttered. “How do you expect Roman to do that without it turning into a giant bloodbath?”

“I don’t know.” Danny sounded frustrated. “You two know Luc better than I do.”

They all fell into silence, contemplating the different paths in front of them.

Roman was conflicted—could he really reach Luc?

None of their recent interactions had been cause for any hope so far.

But they had had very few actual conversations over the decades, and Roman certainly hadn’t accomplished anything by running away, other than increasing Luc’s ire.

But there was something else on Roman’s mind, and it couldn’t wait any longer. He cleared his throat, eyes on Danny. “Did you mean it? An eternity with me?”

Soren made an impatient sound and stood up from the table. “I’m leaving if we’re getting into lovey-dovey talk. We can reconvene this doomed think tank tomorrow.”

Danny reached out a hand to the blond vampire, and Roman did his best not to throw a fit and demand his mate’s full attention. “Wait, please. What—what do you want with Gabe?”

Soren crossed his arms, the picture of petulance. “I don’t know.”

“Do you want to hurt him?”

Soren shook his head.

“Date him?”

Soren laughed, and Danny narrowed his eyes.

“All right then, Mr. Stubborn. Tell me this. Would you protect him if Luc came after him again?”

Soren paused long enough that Roman, in Danny’s shoes, would have throttled him.

But eventually Soren nodded slowly. Danny gave a little sigh of frustration, but his expression softened toward Roman’s friend.

“Can you please do me a favor and keep your distance? At least until Luc is dealt with. I don’t want my brother to be a target. ”

Another nod from Soren. Roman had never seen his friend so taciturn. What the hell was going on with him?

Danny laid a hand on one of Soren’s crossed arms, squeezing gently. “Thank you.”

Soren gave a little cough. Was Roman imagining it or was Soren blushing ever so slightly? “Whatever,” he huffed. “Just don’t go forward with any insane, Luc-related plans without filling me in first, okay? I don’t want your bleeding heart getting one of my best friends killed.”

That was more like the Soren Roman knew. “I’m touched,” Roman drawled.

“Shut it. Save the mush for your boyfriend.” Soren walked out, and they listened to the sounds of his footsteps heading up the stairs, presumably to the guest bedroom.

Roman reached across the table to grab Danny’s hand. He needed to be touching his mate. His demon was restless, frustrated with the distractions keeping them from getting answers. “So…forever.”

That delicious flush stole across Danny’s cheeks and down his neck as the boy fidgeted in his chair. “There’s a lot to discuss before we even get to that. And—and you haven’t even asked me, so…”

Roman turned Danny’s hand over and placed a kiss on his palm. “Daniel Kingman. Lovely mate, my little king. Would you do me the honor of solidifying our mate bond, staying always by my side? Would you turn for me?”

Danny’s flush deepened as he swallowed roughly. He was adorable in his embarrassment. “I’ll think about it. We have other things to focus on right now. Also, I might be a little drunk.”

Roman fought off his disappointment. It may not have been a resounding yes, but he knew his mate wasn’t another Victoria. He wouldn’t toy with Roman—wouldn’t bring up eternity if he didn’t have serious thoughts about following through.

“All right, little king. Although, there are…logistics we would need to consider, when you are up for the discussion.”

“Like what?”

“It is often…difficult for a newly turned vampire, Danny. It can be hard to control your demon. They tend to wake up hungry, to take control more easily in the beginning, demanding to be fed. And families and friends tend to notice new changes like black eyes and fangs. You would most likely have to leave for a time, while you adjusted. And I know you have…responsibilities here.”

He watched as Danny frowned in thought, swaying slightly in his chair. Definitely a little drunk.

“We can discuss it all another time. We should get you something to eat and put you to bed.”

“It’s not even nighttime.” Danny’s lower lip pushed out in a delicious pout.

“You barely slept at all today. You must be exhausted.”

Danny nodded with a frown but grabbed at Roman’s hand when he tried to free it to stand up from his chair.

“Wait. I want you—I want you to promise me something. While I have the courage to ask.” He took a deep breath before speaking again.

“If I do turn out…monstrous. If I become feral. You’ll put me down. You won’t leave me to be a killer.”

The very thought of it was like a sharp knife pressing into Roman’s chest. His demon howled inside him at the thought, but Roman didn’t let the sound out.

He forced himself to stay calm. Danny didn’t need his rage.

He needed his reassurance. Even so. “I do not know if I can promise that, mon amour.”

Danny squeezed his hand in understanding. “Please just think about it.”

Roman found himself agreeing, but he already knew his answer.

He didn’t know what it said about his own character, clearly nothing good, but if he had a choice between a monstrous Danny and a world without Danny at all, he would take the monster.

As far as Roman was concerned, the rest of the world was expendable. His mate was not.