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Wolfe gave an amused hum at that answer, eliciting a growl from Roman, who clearly took it to be mocking (it definitely was). “I mean monetarily,” Wolfe clarified. At their blank looks, he sighed, clearly pained beyond belief. “Johann is, to be frank, a billionaire. Several times over.”

Wolfe was still ignoring the plate in front of him. Was he really not going to eat a single cookie? Jay was starting to feel a little offended on Danny’s behalf. He’d made such delicious snickerdoodles for everyone.

“Jaybird? A billionaire ?” Soren sounded uncharacteristically frazzled.

“This Johann right here? That’s who you mean?

” He waved a hand at Jay, top to bottom, and Jay could only assume Soren was attempting to disparage Jay’s dinner outfit, which was maybe a little unfair when Jay had tried so hard to look nice.

His fleece pants were a very dignified black tonight, and his sweater was such a pretty pink, the lime-green flowers embroidered on it really making the lovely color pop.

Sure, Jay had found both items used at the thrift store near the café he liked, but that didn’t make them any less nice. He’d washed them and everything.

Wolfe chuckled at Soren’s disbelief, the jerk. “Mm, yes, the clothes. Jay’s really come into his own, fashion-wise, since Veronique’s demise.”

Jay shifted, wanting to find comfort in holding Alexei’s hand again but not sure if that was currently allowed, considering how uncomfortable his poor human looked. It was making Jay’s beastie restless—he wanted to soothe, to comfort, not to explain every detail of his sordid financial history.

But he realized explanations needed to come first. So Jay took a bite of cookie instead. “Please talk like I’m actually here,” he requested around his mouthful.

Wolfe dipped his chin again, this time in apology. (Over the last decade, Jay had gotten really good at reading the different meanings behind each of Wolfe’s stately nods.) “Shall I explain?” Wolfe asked.

Jay gave a nod of his own, possibly less stately considering the mouth full of cookie he had going on.

“Once Veronique passed, her impressive fortune naturally went to Jay, as her surviving companion,” Wolfe explained to the group.

“But her passing coincided with that of other leaders of the den—Silas and Anton, namely—who, being without companions at the time, had each passed their fortune to the other den leaders in a descending order. Basically, when the legal dust settled, which took a number of years, Jay was left with all of it.”

“Holy shit,” Soren murmured, grinning widely.

“I don’t really understand,” Danny said. “Aren’t you all pretty wealthy to begin with?”

“There is wealthy, and there is wealthy , my love,” Roman answered. “We may not want for money, but I do not possess billions.”

Danny shifted in his seat, clearly not quite placated with that explanation. “But with compulsion and living on the outskirts of society, what does it matter?”

Exactly what Jay had always thought, but he usually seemed to be the only one.

“Vampires are like anyone else in that regard, I’m afraid,” Wolfe explained.

“Compulsion is well and good, but when it comes to legal documents, assets, the like…money is still key. It takes a lot of capital to move around an entire den every decade or so. Money is power, frankly. And Jay has quite a lot of it.”

And then all eyes were on Jay again. He took a sip of tea, washing down his third cookie in as many minutes.

He had Alexei’s hand entwined with his—Jay hadn’t even realized he’d grabbed it—but his human’s broad palm was disconcertingly limp.

Jay stole a look, concerned, but Alexei definitely wasn’t sleeping, his pretty eyes instead wide and unblinking, focused fixedly on Wolfe.

Should Jay be taking him to the doctor or something?

“And how do you fit into this exactly?” Roman asked Wolfe when he realized Jay had nothing to say.

“There were…concerns…in the den. Jay has been a member for centuries but as a companion, not as a leader. They wanted some assurance he would adhere to…expectations. I have the power and the, shall we say”—a twitch of Wolfe’s lips—“ruthlessness to lead, but I’m a much younger vampire in the grand scheme of things.

I haven’t amassed the wealth or the experience others have.

” The unspoken words there being that the den didn’t trust Wolfe as far as they could throw him.

“So an agreement was made. A joining of our houses, so to speak, to put the den at ease.”

“Why— Why would you agree to that, Jay?” Danny asked, dismay etched in his features.

Jay shrugged again, feeling more than a little uncomfortable with the continued scrutiny.

“It didn’t matter to me at the time. I don’t care about the money.

I just wanted to be left alone. And Wolfe has always been…

kind to me. Without his interference, they probably would have just killed me, found a way to transfer the will to someone else. ”

Soren had an odd glint in his eye, and his smile was nowhere to be found.

Jay thought he knew that look: Soren was feeling guilty about leaving him behind again.

But it wasn’t Soren’s fault. It was Jay’s, always, for not being brave or strong enough to stand on his own two feet.

“All I asked in return was to be given some time. And then…after your phone call…a year to spend in Hyde Park.”

“A year,” Roman mused. “So you were leaving…”

“In the spring, yes.”

“Would you even have told us?” Danny looked wounded at the thought of it.

“Of course I would have!” Jay protested. “I just wanted to…wait a little bit. To pretend, I suppose.”

Alexei’s hand finally came to life then, his grip tightening in Jay’s, and then he spoke for the first time since they’d all sat down in the living room. “Do you love him?”

His words weren’t directed at Jay but at Wolfe.

Wolfe cocked his head, a strange half smile on his lips. “No. Of course not. It’s a business arrangement.”

Alexei’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t believe you.”

Jay patted Alexei’s knee, placating. “He can’t love me, Alexei.”

Alexei turned to him, his brow furrowed, looking as stern as he ever had before he and Jay had gotten to know each other and his eyes had begun turning soft, just for Jay. “Why not?” Alexei asked harshly. “You’re perfect. Anyone could love you.”

Well, that was…nice. So nice. It made Jay feel all warm and fuzzy inside, as a matter of fact. But still, Alexei was wrong. “Not Wolfe though. He’s a psychopath.”

Soren giggled. “Harsh thing to say about your friend, Jaybird.”

Jay cocked his head, considering. But he didn’t think it was harsh to speak the truth. “Well, he’s my friend, yes. But he’s also a psychopath.”

Wolfe raised a hand, looking almost fond of Jay in that moment. “Guilty as charged, I’m afraid.”

Jay nodded, vindicated. “It’s not his fault though. He was just born that way.”

“Wait.” Danny looked from Jay to Wolfe and back again. “You mean…literally?”

Jay nodded, then turned to Alexei. “So you see, he can’t love me. Not really.”

Soren giggled again. “Jesus fucking Christ.”

“Not that I don’t love this heart-to-heart we’re having,” Wolfe broke in, obviously growing bored with the minor derailment to his purpose. “But the real issue here is you, Johann. Telling me you’ve changed your mind.”

“So?” Soren scoffed. “Good for him. We want him to stay.”

“So I’m afraid it’s unrealistic at this time. I really can’t allow it.”

“How did you even find me?” Jay asked.

“I’m tracking your phone, obviously. Did you think I’d let you flee the country without a way to find you again?”

Jeez, where was the trust? It had Jay feeling petulant again. “I don’t want to go back.” Maybe if he said it enough times, Wolfe would get the picture.

But Wolfe’s sharp eyes zeroed in on Jay and Alexei’s joined hands. “Is that the problem here?” he asked pointedly, baring his teeth. He somehow made it look scary, even without his fangs. “Easy enough to fix.”

Jay’s beastie tensed within him, and he had to stop himself from squeezing Alexei’s hand hard enough to break bones. “Don’t threaten him, Wolfgang.”

“A single human in between me and what I want,” Wolfe mused, uncrossing his legs and leaning forward in his chair. “What else am I supposed to do, Johann?”

Jay took in a shaky breath, mustering his courage. “If you try to hurt him, you’ll have to go through me. And—well, you probably could,” he conceded. “I don’t know much about fighting. But then I’d be dead and you’d be out of luck anyway. So just…don’t.”

Jay didn’t actually know for sure that was true.

There was definitely a possibility Wolfe had made some moves behind the scenes already, in case of Jay’s death.

But it wasn’t very likely he’d managed to arrange to get everything , not when Jay’s finances were so complicated, so Jay could only bet on the fact that Wolfe needed Jay alive and relatively well to achieve his aims.

The smirk on Wolfe’s lips was anything but kind. “Johann, darling. Have you grown a spine since we last met?”

“Don’t be mean.” Even if Wolfe maybe had a point, it wasn’t a very nice thing to say.

Soren cleared his throat. “You wouldn’t be fighting just Jay. I really hope you know that.”

Wolfe took a moment, studying the room, the five vampires who would be against him in any sort of fight. “Very well.” He rose from his chair, smoothing out the lines of his suit. “I’ll be in touch, Johann.”

He never did try a cookie.