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Jay

J ay got a little concerned when Alexei didn’t show up more than an hour after his text.

Not too concerned, because Jay wasn’t quite sure what he had meant by bringing home a stray, and maybe Alexei was stopping to pick up an actual stray, like a puppy or something? A task like that could cause all kinds of delays.

But that was probably too much to hope for; a week of dating was too soon in the puppy-giving timeline, Jay was pretty sure. Roman had waited almost a year before he’d gotten Ferdy for Danny, after all. Although, Roman was a vampire, not a human, so maybe that was different?

Also, Jay’s apartment didn’t allow dogs. Should he text Alexei and warn him about that?

But then Jay got more than a little concerned when it had been two hours with no sign of either Alexei or a puppy and Alexei wasn’t answering his calls.

And then he got very concerned when he received a text from Wolfe instead.

It might be wise to check up on your human right about now.

That was not a good text. That could very well be classified as a bad text. His beastie’s hackles rose in response, a new, fearful sort of tension flooding his body.

What had Wolfe done?

The trip to Alexei’s apartment passed in a blur.

Jay didn’t have a car yet—he’d been told by his friends he had to be 70 percent less of a menace on the road before he could consider one—so he was traveling on foot and probably moving more quickly than was wise for blending in with humans.

But it was cold enough there weren’t many people out on the streets, so hopefully no one noticed.

Alexei’s car was in front of the apartment, and his door was unlocked.

“Alexei!” Jay called, rushing inside, hoping to find—well, he didn’t know what he was hoping to find other than Alexei safe and whole and happy to see him.

But the next sound out of Jay’s mouth was a broken wail, coming from somewhere deep in his chest, from a place he hadn’t known could hurt this badly.

Because Alexei’s glorious form was sprawled out on the couch, and he was still—much too still—with no audible heartbeat at all, the coppery smell of blood in the air matching the red streaking his too-pale wrist.

“No, no, no.” Jay felt sick. He felt hot. He felt…he didn’t know. He didn’t know.

He moved toward the couch cautiously. He wasn’t sure why; it wasn’t as if approaching too quickly was going to startle anyone. Maybe he was hoping to delay confirming…whatever he would be confirming.

It hurt to swallow. This was all his fault. He’d brought Alexei into contact with vampires, and now his human was clearly not breathing , and any minute, Jay’s beastie was going to rip out and—and—

Jay paused a foot from the couch, his vision cloudy with tears he hadn’t known he was shedding. His beastie was oddly…fine. It was alert but no longer clamoring for Alexei in the way it had been. More like his beastie was…expectant. Waiting for something.

Jay sniffed, wiped his eyes, and looked closer at the scene in front of him.

Blood was on Alexei’s wrist, yes, but it wasn’t actively bleeding—whatever bite had been there was already healed. There was no heartbeat, not yet, but Alexei’s chest, once Jay dared to touch it, was warm.

Oh. Oh.

Jay had seen this process before.

Turning , Jay’s beastie said, smugness radiating from its words. Our mate is turning .

Jay was tempted to yell at his beastie for its self-satisfaction. They weren’t allowed to be happy about this. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.

He sat down gingerly on the coffee table, facing Alexei, clasping his hands to keep them from shaking, and did his best to reconcile this new reality with the pain he’d felt thinking his human had been killed.

It took a long time for his tremors to stop, but he didn’t lose time, at least. He couldn’t afford to be so careless with reality right now.

Alexei’s heart may not have been beating at the moment, but it would . And after those first few beats would come awareness. He’d need Jay then. He’d need reassurance, guidance…

And blood. Alexei would need blood.

Jay took a few slow, deep breaths, pleased when his fingers didn’t even tremble taking his phone out of his pocket. He pressed on Soren’s name in his contacts.

“Jaybird! What’s up?” Soren answered in a casual drawl. “Confessed your undying love to the human yet?”

Jay cleared his throat, hoping his voice would match the steadiness of his hands.

Nobody needed his weakness, not right now.

“Wolfe’s…done something.” Okay. Well, his voice was clear enough, so that was good, but it was still sort of a pathetic attempt, when Jay couldn’t even say the words out loud.

He took another deep breath. “He’s turned Alexei, Soren.”

“Jesus fucking Christ.” There was no more lazy drawl in Soren’s voice. “How’s Alexei taking it? How are you taking it? When do we kill Wolfe?”

Jay didn’t know what to do with the last question, but still, how lucky he was to have such a fierce friend on his side. “He’s not awake yet. I need to stay with him. Do you think Gabe could bring some blood from the hospital? Just this once.”

Danny had lectured Jay before on the importance of not stealing bags of donated blood from humans who needed it, and Jay had taken that very much to heart. But for Alexei…

Soren tsked. “We’ll bring as many bags as you need. I don’t have Danny’s moral code against blood stealing; I’ll empty out the whole hospital if you ask me.”

“Um.” Jay couldn’t tell if Soren was joking or not. “I don’t think that will be necessary.”

“And Wolfe?” Soren’s voice held a dangerous edge.

“Leave him be.”

“ Jay .”

Jay sighed. “This isn’t me being too nice or too naive or too anything else you want to call me.

He knows I know he did it—he’s the one who told me Alexei was…

hurt. He’ll defend himself against any attack.

And I don’t want anyone else hurt. And—and he could have killed Alexei, if he wanted to. He didn’t.”

“He still needs to be dealt with. This is some Lucien-level fuckery.”

“And Lucien is still very much alive, isn’t he?” Jay countered, feeling a little pleased with himself for coming up with it. “But…I know. We need to have a— Um, a sit-down. Somewhere public. Neutral ground. So none of our people are in danger of getting hit.”

“Jaybird.” Now it sounded like Soren was holding back a laugh, which was a little unkind, considering Jay was coming up with some really great ideas. “Have you been watching mobster movies by chance?”

Jay was grateful Soren couldn’t see his flush over the phone. “Um. When Alexei told me about his past, I wanted to do some research.”

Soren didn’t quite hold the laugh back this time.

Jay didn’t mind all that much, really. They’d both been exposed to so much trauma and violence in the den, and Jay knew Soren was skilled at getting his laughs in where he could (even if Jay thought he’d acted totally reasonably).

“What did you choose for your research ?”

“I started with The Sopranos , but I didn’t get very far. Tony wasn’t very nice to his wife.”

“That’s the Italian Maf— You know what, not important right now. We’ll bring the blood. See you soon.”

After Soren hung up, Jay leaned forward to smooth Alexei’s pretty hair back from his handsome face. He pressed a kiss to Alexei’s cheek. He grabbed onto his human’s cold hand.

And he waited.

The first beats of Alexei’s heart sent Jay’s own hammering.

It was happening. It was happening .

Jay tightened his grip on Alexei’s hand, his beastie alert and watchful.

Soren had told Jay bonded mates could feel each other’s emotions. How would Alexei feel when he woke up? Scared? Regretful? Resentful, even? It was Jay’s fault this had happened. Maybe Alexei would never want to speak to Jay ever again. And Jay would respect that. He would .

He stilled himself for the onslaught, not daring even to breathe, his entire being focused on Alexei’s face.

But the only thing Jay felt through the bond when Alexei opened those pretty multicolored eyes was…relief. Followed by affection. Desire. And a mix of the two that felt an awful lot like love.

Jay’s breath left him in a rush. Oh, it was there all right. Jay had been right before. Alexei had so much love for Jay.

“You’re here.” Alexei’s voice was raspy, like he’d just woken up from a long sleep. Which Jay supposed he had.

Jay squeezed Alexei’s hand. “Of course I am. Soren and I brought you to my apartment. Alexei, I’m so, so sorr—”

“My mate,” Alexei said, his gravelly voice so full of satisfaction that Jay could recognize it even without the added help of the bond.

Jay bit at his lip. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell—” His words were cut off in a gasp as, in one smooth motion, Alexei rose into a seated position and pulled Jay onto his lap, curling forward to nuzzle his head into Jay’s neck like a big blond puppy.

“Smell so good,” he murmured, nosing at Jay’s skin.

It was Alexei who smelled so good, but Jay didn’t feel like arguing the point. Instead, he dealt with his frazzled nerves by petting Alexei’s lovely hair, untangling all the messy bits with his fingers while Alexei nuzzled at him.

Alexei sighed with pleasure at the contact. “I don’t regret it.” He spoke the words into Jay’s neck, and they came out slightly muffled. “Don’t be sorry, kotyonok.”

Jay worked his fingers through the soft strands for a few long moments as he considered what to say. “I would have done it differently is all.”

That wasn’t all, not when Jay wasn’t sure he would have done it in the first place—taken away Alexei’s humanity—but he didn’t think Alexei would appreciate all his doubts and hesitations at the moment.

Alexei lifted his head and straightened to his full seated height, a half smile on his lips as he met Jay’s eyes. “Oh yeah? How would you have done it?”