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Roman stalked closer to the boy, unable to keep his distance. Danny tensed slightly as Roman leaned in, but didn’t back away. Roman breathed in, ignoring the way his cock twitched at the boy’s scent—there was no smell of fear. “You’re not afraid of me.”

It wasn’t a question, but Danny answered anyway. “No.”

Roman tried not to be pleased at the answer. “You are entirely too trusting of strange men,” he warned.

Would this boy let just anyone into his house? Did he know what a monster he’d just allowed to waltz into his home?

“I’m really not though,” Danny said, tilting his head thoughtfully.

“Just with you. Isn’t that funny?” But Danny wasn’t laughing, only peering at Roman with that direct, no-nonsense look he seemed to specialize in.

Then the boy shrugged, breaking his gaze.

“Anyway, I need a shower. I always want one after a shift, but I especially need one now—I’ve got gross mugger germs all over me. ”

Would Danny ask him to leave, then? Roman wanted to stay. He needed to stay. “I’ll make you some food,” he offered.

Danny raised his eyebrows at him. “You can cook? Why? Do you even eat human food?”

Roman was already heading toward what he thought looked like the kitchen. “I do not need to, but I can. Besides, I am French. I would be a traitor to my nation if I did not know how to cook.”

No laugh at that. He waited to be told to leave, but all he heard was the sound of Danny heading up the stairs.

The boy’s pantry was a disgrace, same with the fridge.

There was hardly any fresh food of any real substance stocked.

Someone had not been taking care of himself properly.

Roman found mostly an assortment of packaged meals in the freezer— horrible —and some sugary cereal— disgusting —but at least there were a few eggs and a loaf of bread.

Eggs and toast it would be, then.

He was plating the scrambled eggs and just starting to worry that Danny had fallen asleep in the shower, when he heard the soft patter of feet coming down the stairs.

Roman turned toward the entryway into the kitchen and barely kept in his demon’s low growl at the sight that appeared in front of him.

Danny looked simply delicious , and not as something to eat. His hair was damp and sticking out adorably every which way, the boy apparently too exhausted to bother with combing it. He was wearing soft-looking pajama bottoms and a thin T-shirt, barely holding his tired eyes open.

Something about the open vulnerability of it all had Roman’s cock hardening.

He really was a predator.

He wanted to tackle the boy, lick him everywhere, rub his own scent all over Danny’s body.

Roman wanted to claim him.

But taking care of him needed to come first. Roman didn’t let himself think about why he felt that way. The boy needed to eat, and he needed to sleep.

He set the plate of eggs and toast in front of Danny as the boy sat down at the kitchen counter. Danny gave him a grateful smile and a soft thank-you before focusing on his food, letting out an appreciative hum at the first bite.

After a few minutes with nothing but the sound of chewing, Danny broke the silence, eyes still on his plate. “You’re staring,” he whispered.

“Am I?” He was.

“You’re always staring at me.” There was no anger or fear in Danny’s voice. He simply seemed to be stating a fact.

“Well,” Roman answered, unable to keep himself from leaning in closer, “you are always looking delectable.”

Danny looked up at that. “Delectable as in…vampire food? Or…” He trailed off.

“Or,” Roman replied. He watched in fascination as a blush stole over the boy’s pale cheeks, spreading all the way down his neck. Roman was suddenly desperate to know how far down that blush went.

Danny cleared his throat, pushing his now empty plate away. “Speaking of vampire food, how often do you need to eat ?”

Roman had been expecting something along this line of questioning. The boy had too much of a curious nature to let things lie. “You mean feed on blood? About once a week. If I go any longer than that, it starts to get…testy.”

“‘It’ as in…your demon?”

Roman nodded.

Danny hummed, eyes on the wall behind Roman’s shoulder. He seemed to stare off into space when he needed to focus. “You healed my shoulder just by licking it.”

“I did. Our saliva has healing properties, up to a certain point. I cannot do anything about large injuries, but I can heal shallow wounds like yours. I think of it as an evolutionary mechanism. So we can feed regularly without leaving victims walking around with suspicious holes in their necks.”

Roman couldn’t remember the last time he’d shared so much about what he was with someone. Possibly he never had. Why was he just telling the boy everything he wanted to know?

“Walking around?” Danny questioned. “So you don’t have to kill to feed?”

“I do not. Neither do the few vampires in my acquaintance. We do not require all that much blood to survive, really. But I cannot speak for everyone. Not all vampires hold on to their humanity as well as others. We may not need a lot, but need is different from want, wouldn’t you agree?”

Danny gave another thoughtful hum. “I knew you weren’t a killer.”

Roman shook his head. This boy was entirely too trusting.

“Do not convince yourself I am not dangerous. My demon may not want to eat you, but it has other feelings toward you. Very… possessive feelings.” Roman leaned in even closer, delighting in the way the boy’s breath hitched at his proximity.

“You might run in the other direction if you could hear some of the things it thinks about you.”

Danny waved a hand in dismissal, as if a vampire’s inner demon wanting to own him was inconsequential.

“You fought off my attacker— without killing him, by the way—healed me, and then fed me dinner/breakfast. If that’s your demon being possessive of me, I think I can handle it.

Being a nurse has taught me to trust my instincts, and my instincts tell me to trust you. ”

Danny nodded sharply as if that was the end of that, but then gave a little start as if he had just realized something. “Unless…that’s a vampire thing too? Is it some compulsion thing? The way I’m drawn to you? Is that why you smell so good?”

Roman was momentarily stunned. Danny was drawn to him the same way Roman was drawn to Danny? Maybe the boy wasn’t overly trusting and naive; maybe he just knew somewhere inside him already that he belonged to Roman.

Roman no longer suspected the boy of any magical inclinations, hadn’t really since their second meeting. Danny was too clearly…too achingly mortal, ordinary.

His demon was smug as all hell at the thought. Knew it. Knew it. Ours, ours, ours.

Roman understood exactly where his demon was going with this, but he wasn’t ready to go there in his mind. Not yet.

He focused back on Danny. “We can do something like that. We can draw humans in, make ourselves alluring, and fog their minds. But that is a conscious effort. Something we do on purpose in specific instances. And I have not been doing that with you. Could not continue for this long, not without bringing my demon forth.”

Danny nodded, seeming again to easily trust what Roman was telling him. “Then why? Why aren’t I more afraid of you?” he asked.

“I have a theory,” Roman hedged. “But I would rather discuss it when you are feeling a little less exhausted.”

Danny gave him a frown, about to argue, but then relented when a giant yawn took over his face.

“Time for bed,” Roman urged, eager to end the conversation.

Danny nodded. “Are you staying?”

“Do you want me to?” If his demon had anything to say about it, they were never leaving this boy’s side again.

“I think so. Isn’t that weird?” Danny gave a small laugh, amazingly unconcerned at the whole situation. Was it possibly his exhaustion was making him so compliant?

Roman followed Danny up the stairs to the boy’s bedroom. He stood to the side, waiting in the corner as Danny slid under the covers of his bed.

How close would the boy let him get?

Danny eyed him from the bed. “Do you sleep?”

“Yes, I sleep. Although, my kind do not need as much as you do.”

“And will you burst into flames if the curtains are open in the morning?”

Roman gave a small laugh. “No, that is another myth. Sunlight does not harm me. It is only slightly irritating to my demon.”

“All right then.” Danny patted the bed. “You can crash here with me. Keep the other baddies away. Just no biting.”

His demon was offended at the implication, that it would hurt this boy it had decided to claim, a fact Roman found almost hilarious considering its recent bloodthirsty inclinations.

He crossed the room and lay down on top of the covers, forcing himself to keep a few inches’ distance between their bodies. He was worried if he started touching Danny, he wouldn’t be able to stop.

And he wasn’t going to let himself scare this boy away.

Not even an hour later, Danny had inched himself not just next to Roman but all the way on top of him, arm thrown over Roman’s chest, leg thrown over his hip. As if the boy hadn’t been able to resist the pull between them in his sleep.

Roman’s cock was achingly hard at Danny’s proximity, the boy’s delicious scent surrounding him, but he was able to ignore his own arousal after all, soothed by the boy’s unconscious trust in him.

Roman tightened his arms around Danny’s back, and his demon let out a contented purr as he allowed himself to close his eyes.

And then his demon said what they had both been edging around, voicing it whether Roman was ready for it or not.

Mate , it purred. Our mate.

Goddamn it.