Page 61

Gabe

S omething was off. Clearly.

Gabe eyed the blond vampire across from him warily.

Ferdy had greeted them with exuberance at the door, yipping excitedly, sniffing first Soren’s pant legs and then Gabe’s own.

Gabe was sure that, after the club, they had many interesting smells between the two of them.

Soren was using it all as an excuse to avoid Gabe’s eyes, focusing all his attention on the wiggling puppy instead.

The night had started off so well .

Gabe hadn’t gone out like that in…he didn’t even know how long. His big nights out since moving back to Hyde Park had usually just consisted of a few drinks at the local bar with old acquaintances or a prospective hookup.

But dancing with Soren had been so fucking fun .

Not to mention an unexpected turn-on. Seeing the way the vampire translated his otherworldly grace on the dance floor, his hips moving in a hypnotic rhythm, had left Gabe practically panting.

And then that hint of possessiveness when their dance partner had gotten overly handsy…

And not to mention the bite. The bite .

Talk about an unexpected turn-on. Fuck.

Danny hadn’t been exaggerating when he said vampire bites felt good.

Gabe thought back on their past conversations about it with new embarrassment.

Now that he knew what a bite felt like—like there was a direct line from his neck to his cock, like two seconds more and he would have been begging Soren to let him fuck him in that corner—he was more than a little mortified to have even discussed it with Danny.

He didn’t need to picture that between Roman and his little brother.

But then it had all gone to hell.

The bite may have felt amazing—Gabe’s cock twitched at his even thinking about it—but it had left him feeling…

vulnerable. On edge. He’d let another person drink his blood , for fuck’s sake.

Had even gone so far as to offer himself up on a platter weekly, in exchange for being Soren’s… what, exactly? One and only?

He’d felt like a blushing virgin asking for exclusivity from his more experienced boyfriend, a position Gabe had never found himself in before.

But the moment had been so…intimate. Gabe didn’t want to imagine Soren doing that with anyone else, now that he knew what it felt like.

And Soren had mocked him for it. Likened him to a pet.

Well, okay, Soren always mocked him; that was nothing new. But then the vampire had just…vanished. Leaving Gabe there in the corner, stewing over the whole encounter.

And now here they were, Soren still studiously avoiding Gabe’s eyes. For a vampire that was usually pretty in-your-face with his personality, he was being awfully cagey.

It was all just…off.

Sex between them hadn’t made things nearly this awkward, so why had this bite?

It had to be something else, something more .

Gabe was aware that driving home had taken way longer than it should have, like Soren had been going some roundabout way.

Avoiding someone? Was he worried that Lucien was back?

Then why wouldn’t he just tell Gabe that?

“You need water.” Soren’s eyes were still on the dog, but Gabe had to assume the comment was directed at him. “The drinking and dancing. The blood I took. You’re probably pretty dehydrated at this point.”

Gabe shrugged but didn’t argue. He headed toward the kitchen, Soren and the puppy both at his heels. He downed a glass of water, only for Soren to take the empty cup and refill it for him, then fish a sports drink out of the fridge and shove it into Gabe’s hand.

“Should I make you something?” Soren asked, biting at his nails. Gabe had never seen him do that before. It was a surprisingly human gesture.

“You don’t cook.”

Soren huffed. “I’m not completely useless. I could…peel you a banana?”

Fuck. It would have been adorable, if Gabe weren’t already at the end of his rope. He took a seat at the kitchen counter, patting the stool next to him. “Stop offering me shit. Just…sit. Explain.”

Soren shook his head, tucking his hands into the pockets of his pants, possibly to keep from chewing on them.

Those fucking leather pants. They should be illegal.

“I think I’ll pace, actually,” Soren said. “Take a page out of Roman’s book.”

Whatever. Soren needed to talk, and Gabe didn’t care if the vampire floated around midair to do it. He sipped his drink and waited, watching Soren move from one end of the small kitchen to the other.

Gabe’s beverage was half-empty before Soren’s voice finally rang out. “I wasn’t like Roman. I wasn’t dying when I was turned. I was…chosen. For a purpose.”

“Like, to do a job?” Danny had always said Soren was exceptionally good at tracking people.

Soren cleared his throat, not breaking his stride. “No, not a job. I was turned for someone. To be with someone.”

Gabe felt his stomach drop. “A mate ? You have a mate out there already?”

He tried to take another sip of his drink but stopped when he realized his hand was trembling. The thought that Soren had a mate out there…hurt. Quite a lot, if Gabe was being honest with himself.

But Soren was already shaking his head. “No. Definitely not. Although, he tried to convince me of it at one point, after I found out they existed. Evil bastard.” Soren gave a bitter laugh. “Really, he just chose me for my looks. He thought I seemed…sweet. Delicate. Called me his angel.”

Gabe resisted the urge to snort. Soren was nobody’s angel.

That was part of what made him so great.

“He came from a small community of vampires. A den,” Soren continued. “They were of the mind that if you turned a human, they were yours. To do with as you wished. To serve you however you wished.”

Gabe caught the unspoken message in Soren’s story. So Soren had been turned to be someone’s…sex servant? “That’s— That’s fucking awful.” It was beyond awful, but Gabe couldn’t find any other words at the moment.

Soren paused his pacing, approaching the kitchen counter, although he kept his gaze on the counter itself, still avoiding Gabe’s eyes.

“It wasn’t always, honestly. Hendrick was handsome.

Powerful. Seemingly enchanted by me. And I was…

young and stupid. I thought we were partners at first. He let me think that. ”

Gabe didn’t think it made someone young and stupid to expect respect from a partner, but he kept silent, not wanting to interrupt the story.

“But as you know”—Soren gave a wry twist of his lips—“I’m no angel. And over the years, anytime I would act contrary to the way he wanted…anytime I acted like myself , it made him…angry. And he let me know it. In many varied, creative, violent ways.”

Gabe’s stomach hurt. His chest hurt. His fucking heart hurt.

Poor Soren.

Soren kept talking to the counter. “I stayed with him, in that den, for over a century before I finally fled, venturing out on my own. He left me alone for a while. But eventually he found me again. He always finds me. And he likes to remind me, periodically, that I’m only alive at his whim.”

Fuck. This was all so fucking horrible . Gabe gripped the kitchen counter with white fingers. “Because he turned you?”

“Because he didn’t kill me when I left.” Soren finally met Gabe’s eyes, and the pain Gabe saw in the vampire’s gaze made his chest ache that much more fiercely.

“Roman has told you vampires don’t always get along?

Our…inner beasts don’t always play nice.

Turning someone to be your companion naturally doesn’t always work out.

In that den, when it didn’t, the new vampire would be executed, not released. ”

Gabe’s stomach gave another twist. “What the fuck?”

Soren laughed, but there was no humor in it. “He considers himself merciful, actually, for not killing me then. Personally, I think he just likes knowing he has a plaything out there. Someone he can use and abuse whenever he gets the…itch.”

It was…wrong. All so wrong . Soren was strong.

Powerful. Spirited. The thought that there was another vampire out there thinking he owned the mischievous blond imp made Gabe feel absolutely ill.

“Where is this guy now?” he asked, afraid he already knew the answer.

Soren’s odd behavior at the club was beginning to add up.

“Here, possibly.” Soren’s tone was light, but there was no mistaking the tension in his body.

The thought clearly terrified him. “I thought I saw him at the club. I usually keep track of his movements—that’s part of how I got so good at tracking people to begin with.

But I got a little complacent here, I guess. ”

Gabe felt like a thousand different emotions were competing for space in his mind at once. Fear. Sadness. Worry. Regret. “Shouldn’t we be packing? Do you need to leave? You should leave, right?”

He didn’t even know what he was saying, but the thought that someone might be coming to hurt Soren—someone strong enough that Gabe had no chance at stopping him—was making him panic.

Gabe’s instincts had been right. Bad things were going to happen.

“I’m not leaving.” Soren’s pale-blue gaze held his, and Gabe had a feeling the vampire’s words had surprised even himself. “He could hurt you, Gabe. He probably saw us together. And he’s not beyond petty jealousy. I’m not leaving you to be hurt by him.”

Gabe had known moments of feeling helpless in his life. When his dad had died. When he’d heard his mother had Alzheimer’s. And now here he was again, scared and helpless and hating the feeling just as much as he ever had. “So what do we do?”

Soren shrugged. “I don’t know. I could have been wrong.” He reached out across the counter and placed a tentative hand on Gabe’s arm. “I’m sorry, Highness.”

Gabe shook his head. “No, it makes sense now. Why you got…distracted back there.”

Soren squeezed his arm. “No, dummy, not that. I’m sorry I brought this to your doorstep. I should have left a long time ago.”