Page 8 of Vein & Vow (The Bouchers #1)

Chapter 7

Reese

I ’d never wanted anyone as much as I wanted Beau Boucher. He was gorgeous when he was scowling, but smiling? It was hard to even look at him. The way he moved was mouthwatering. His body was impossibly defined with muscle that I couldn’t wait to get a good look at but had already mapped with my fingers.

It was too bad that he was such an asshole.

“Okay, put me down,” I said as he swung the door shut behind us.

Knowing that his parents and brothers could hear anything we were saying outside his little suite of rooms made me want to vomit. I wasn’t even sure what they’d heard. Probably the argument on the porch. Definitely anything I’d said in the garage.

Oh, god. Had they heard us fucking when we’d fucked in the trees halfway down the driveway?

The minute Beau set me on my feet, I took a step backward, and his hands tangled in my hair.

“No,” I said instantly, reaching for his wrists.

“I know this is painful for you, too,” he replied in confusion, his hands tightening. “Why don’t you want to make it better?”

“I don’t sleep with people who can’t stand me,” I replied evenly. “Even if I know it’ll feel good.”

“We’re getting to know each other,” he said carefully. “I haven’t been at my best. I know that.”

“You called me a curse,” I reminded him quietly. “You said that my self-confidence stemmed from nowhere ?—”

“I didn’t mean?—”

“Let’s not lie to each other, at least,” I said with a sigh, dropping my hands from his wrists. I wasn’t about to get into a wrestling match with him. When he realized I was serious, he’d let go. “And that self-confidence? That was hard won. I spent hours in the mirror telling myself that I was fucking great until I finally believed it.”

“Fuck, Reese,” he muttered, wincing.

“Until we can figure this out, I agree, we need to stay close. That doesn’t mean that I’m going to let you into my body in any way.”

“Understood,” he replied after a moment, gently untangling his hands from my hair.

“I think we can contain ourselves and share the bed,” I said, moving farther into the room. His couch wasn’t big enough for me to sleep on. There was no way Beau would be able to. “If that works for you?”

When Beau nodded, I hid my relief. Just being in the same room with him calmed my heart rate and made the heat mellow into the feeling of being toasted by the sun. I wasn’t anxious for it to ratchet up to eleven again.

“Go ahead,” Beau said with a chin jerk toward his room. “I’ll be in soon.”

I hesitated.

“Just going to turn off the lights.” He nodded toward his room again.

“You have my bag,” I reminded him.

“Oh, shit.”

Once he’d handed me the duffel I’d had since the first trip Rena and I had taken as adults, I turned and hustled into his room. Without Beau looking over my shoulder, I was able to appreciate the space even more than I had when I’d seen it earlier. The décor was like some fancy hotel filled with antiques or a castle or something. The headboard looked like it weighed three hundred pounds. I walked over and pulled on a drawer in one of the dressers. The empty drawer smelled like cedar.

There were no knickknacks or tchotchkes in the room, but there was a very old, framed photograph showing five boys dressed to impress and staring unsmiling at the photographer. Even with the lack of color, it was easy to pick Beau out of the lineup. There was something about the tilt of his head and the way he held his shoulders that was recognizable even as a boy.

Noise from the living area startled me into movement, and I headed for the bathroom to get ready for bed. I hadn’t been lying to Beau’s parents. The events of the day had worn me out, and my body felt like it was moving on autopilot as I pulled my toothbrush out of my bag. I began to brush and turned in a circle, taking in the room. Everything was pristine. There were plush towels hanging on the wall and a bottle of heavenly-smelling soap next to the sink, but it was the shadow of something big behind the glass shower door that had toothpaste almost dripping onto my shirt.

A claw-foot tub was tucked behind the large shower, its feet resting on the tile floor but far enough back that it missed any spray from the dual showerheads. The thing was absolutely magnificent, and the placement was genius. I stared at it in awe.

“Do you want me to leave any lights on?” Beau called from the bedroom, snapping me out of my adoration.

“You have a bathtub in the shower,” I replied, walking over to the doorway.

“Really?” he asked in mock surprise.

“It’s beautiful.”

“It’s a bathtub.”

“To you it’s a bathtub,” I mumbled around the toothpaste foaming furiously in my mouth. “To me, it’s heaven.”

“Climb in,” he offered.

I was seriously tempted as I turned back to the sink and finished brushing my teeth, but every muscle in my body urged me back toward the bedroom and massive bed that was calling my name. I stripped to my t-shirt and underwear and barely made it under the covers before I was yawning, but my body decided in that moment to send a spiral of heat from the center of my chest to every single finger and toe.

When Beau’s hand crossed the center of the bed and slid beneath my t-shirt, I didn’t resist. The cool pressure of his hand on my belly lulled me to sleep.

I couldn’t tell how long I’d slept, but when I opened my eyes, I was instantly aware that Beau wasn’t in bed with me. His side of the bed was cool, and he’d messily pulled the blankets up and tidied the pillows while I’d slept right through it. Groggy and irritated at the heat pulsing in my abdomen, I shuffled out of the room to find him bent forward on the couch, his elbows on his knees.

“What are you doing out here?” I rasped, trying to ignore the expanse of skin not shielded by his boxers.

“Hey,” he whispered, lifting his head. “Go back to sleep. It’s early still.”

The pallor of his skin was terrifying. He looked gray .

“What’s wrong?”

“Not feeling great,” he replied with an unconvincing smile. “Probably just a bit of anemia. It’s all right. Go back to bed.”

I let out a bubble of laughter that cut off when I realized he wasn’t making a joke.

“What do you mean, anemia?” I asked, heading for the kitchen. It only took me a minute to find the cupboard of glasses and fill one with tap water.

There were two empty bags of AB negative in the bottom of the sink. Bags. Pfft. They obviously hadn’t come from us. We used glass jars.

“We can’t get sick,” Beau said with a sigh. “But anemia can knock us out for a minute.”

By the time I turned back toward him, he’d listed toward the back of the couch and was lying there with his eyes closed.

“How the hell do Vampires get anemia?” I asked, bringing him the glass of water.

“Lack of blood,” he muttered, barely opening his eyes to look at me.

“If you don’t drink blood, you become anemic?” I asked dubiously.

“Basically,” he replied with a small smile. “It’s a little more complicated than that, but yeah. It hasn’t happened to me for years.”

I knew that Vampires needed blood to survive, but I’d never even considered the biology of it all. Racking my brain, I tried to remember anything I’d learned in high school health class about anemia. All I could recall is that it sometimes made the person dizzy or caused headaches.

“Didn’t you just have blood before bed?” I asked, glancing at the sink.

When there was no response, I looked back to find him passed out.

“Beau,” I called, reaching forward to shake his shoulder. His entire body started to slide sideways, and I was unprepared for the panic that tightened around my throat like a vise. “Beau!”

I looked back and forth between the door and the unconscious Vampire, remembering that no one could hear me if I called for help. Less than a second later, I was vaulting over the couch in a move that would’ve made my old track coach proud and throwing open the door to the hallway.

“Help!” I screamed, wondering if anyone would even hear me from their own rooms. “I need help!”

I rushed back to the kitchen and tore open the drawers until I found the steak knives. If Beau was sick because he needed blood, then logically, the blood of his mate, composed specifically for him, would help. Since there was no way I could carry him anywhere, and I couldn’t stomach the idea of leaving him alone while I searched the monstrosity of a house, I figured it was worth a try. Climbing onto the couch until I was straddling Beau’s thighs, I tried again to wake him up.

“Come on, you handsome bastard,” I called, tapping at his cheeks. “Wake up and be a dickhead again.”

After a few moments with no response, I held my breath and sliced over my wrist.

I hadn’t anticipated gagging at the feeling of dragging a serrated knife over my own flesh or the way little stars surrounded my vision as I swayed. Dropping the knife before I accidentally cut myself again, I lifted my wrist to Beau’s mouth and used it to pry his lips open.

Just as his teeth clamped down, his mother came flying into the room, and it was lights out.

When I came to, I was lying on the couch with a furious Beau leaning over me, his skin the color of parchment. It was an improvement, barely.

“What the hell were you thinking?” he asked.

“How did this happen?” his mom asked worriedly. “Why are there bags in the sink?”

“Sit down before you fall down,” his dad ordered Beau. “I’ll get the medical kit.”

My gaze shot back and forth between them, trying to get my bearings.

“I told you I’d be fine,” Beau said to me, ignoring both of them. “Why would you hurt yourself like this?”

“You said that a mate’s blood is made for their particular Vampire,” I replied, confused. Where was the appreciation for saving his ass? “You passed out.”

“Oh, Beau,” his mom murmured as Danny and Chance bumbled into the room.

“You said no blood,” Beau grit out, his eyes on mine.

“You were obviously hurt or something. You?—”

“It doesn’t matter,” he cut me off. “You said no.”

“What are you talking about?” Beau’s mom asked sharply, her tone switching from worry to anger.

“You didn’t tell me that it was going to make you sick,” I argued.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Of course it fucking matters!”

“No,” Mattie said flatly, her attention on me. “Vampires do not, under any circumstances, take blood from the unwilling or coerced.”

“Informing me that going without would make you sick isn’t coercion,” I countered, looking back at Beau.

“You said no,” he repeated quietly.

“What, none of you have ever bitten someone who didn’t want it?” I asked, looking around. “That’s bullshit. The banks haven’t existed for more than fifty years at most.”

Beau stiffened, his eyes darkening with disgust. “We don’t bite anyone but our mate. Ever.”

“It’s been that way for hundreds of years,” Danny added quietly. “For a Vampire to bite someone without the mating bond—” He shook his head.

“There are other ways for humans to donate,” Chance added. “Both dead and alive. To bite one is as abhorrent to us as…cannibalism is to humans.”

“You’re kidding me,” I replied, dumbfounded.

“You shouldn’t have done this, baby,” Beau said, peeking under the towel he’d wrapped around my wrist. “Dad’s going to have to stitch it.”

The endearment almost made me miss the second sentence.

“What?” I shot up from the couch and tried to pull my arm back. “Just lick it.”

Danny started laughing.

“What?” I spat, glaring at him over the back of the couch before turning to Beau. “It works on my neck. Do it to my wrist.”

“The punctures in your neck are tiny,” he replied gently, his hand pressing on my thigh to keep me seated. “And I made them myself. This is something entirely different.”

“Did you try?” I asked accusingly.

“He’s right,” his mom chimed it. “You’ll need stitches and maybe an antibiotic. I’ll call Alice.”

She walked away while I stared at Beau. “Who the fuck is Alice?”

“Uncle Sven’s wife,” he replied calmly. “She’s a doctor of a sort.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It means she went to medical school?—”

“A couple of times,” Chance said nonchalantly. “Medical advances, you know. Have to keep up with the times.”

“But she specializes in Vampires.”

“I’m not a Vampire,” I reminded him, trying to ignore the pain in my wrist.

At least the mating heat seemed to have disappeared for the moment. I was thankful for small mercies.

“Yes, but you’ll have biological changes happening now that we’ve cemented the bond,” he replied distractedly, peeking at my wrist again. “Better to get advice from someone familiar with mate physiology.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I asked, jutting my chin forward and tilting my head so he’d meet my eyes.

“Gods, you still haven’t told her anything, have you?” Danny muttered.

“What exactly am I supposed to know?” I looked between each of them. The brothers seemed to be waiting for Beau to answer me, but he was conveniently not meeting my eyes. When he finally tilted his head up, he seemed nervous for the first time since we’d met.

“The mating bond has benefits,” he said slowly, stretching his neck from side to side. “And not just for Vampires. Both mates become essentially immortal.”

I let out a nervous giggle, waiting for him to start laughing with me. “What does essentially mean?” I asked sarcastically, playing along.

“You won’t get sick. You won’t age,” Beau replied seriously. “You cannot be killed outright unless…” He paused and swallowed hard like he was trying to force himself to finish.

“Unless your head’s cut off,” Chance finished for him. “That whole stake in the heart thing? Bullshit. Garlic? I love the stuff. Danny’s not a fan, though.”

“Garlic’s okay,” Danny disagreed.

“Holy water tastes okay in a pinch, and it doesn’t burn. Bullets always sting no matter if they’re silver, copper, lead, or steel.”

“So…everything is bullshit, and I’m going to live forever,” I said, hysteria making my voice go all high and pitchy.

“I was going to tell you,” Beau said, his thumb tracing patterns on my knee. “We hadn’t gotten that far yet.”

“Whose fault is that?”

“It’s a closely guarded secret,” Beau’s dad announced as he came back into the room. “As far as humans know, we’re blessed with a longer life than theirs, and we’re harder to injure and kill—but we’re still fallible—because we are before the mating bond.”

“It’s why we have to quit our jobs when we find our mates,” Beau explained as he helped me to my feet and led me over to the kitchen table. “It would be too easy to ferret out the truth if we continued working with the military.”

“That’s the job you talked about having to quit,” I mused as I sat down in one of the chairs.

“It’s one of the reasons,” Beau’s dad agreed. He reached out and gently but firmly took my wrist from Beau and pulled until my arm was stretched out across the table. “But we also believe that a Vampire’s priority is their mate first and anything else second. Leaving for long periods of time wouldn’t be possible for years, if ever. The two responsibilities have never been able to coexist.” He looked meaningfully at Beau, and a moment later, my mate’s arms were wrapped tightly around my waist and chest, holding my uninjured arm against my body.

I yelped in pain when Erik unwrapped my wrist and his palm came in contact with my skin.

His eyes shot to mine in surprise. “That hurts you?”

“Like stinging nettles,” I confirmed.

“Damn, Reese,” Chance teased. “Got the hots for the old man, huh?”

“No, I don’t,” I shot back, my voice squeaking like a twelve-year-old’s. I looked at Erik. “I mean, of course, you’re attractive—” Beau growled almost silently in my ear. “Aesthetically pleasing,” I rushed to say. “In a purely academic way. But I don’t see you like that. At all. That would be?—”

“Quiet,” Erik ordered.

When had he become Erik in my head?

“I’ve never aversion this strong before,” he said curiously, watching me as he carefully wrapped gauze around the back of my arm so our skin didn’t touch when he gripped it. “I’d have Mattie do this, but the poor woman is squeamish. I’ll do my best not to make contact.”

“Or we could just slap some butterfly bandages on and call it a day,” I offered hopefully.

“Nice try,” Beau murmured, his lips against my neck.

The feeling of him there had my body unconsciously sinking back against him.

“You going to watch?” Erik asked easily.

I jerked my head quickly to the side and stared at the window behind the sink. The sun was beginning to rise.

My arm from my elbow to my wrist burned like fire for a few moments, and I inhaled on a hiss, trying to stay still, but only a few seconds later, the entire area was numb.

I continued to look out the window.

“Are you qualified to do this?” I asked Erik, leaning back against Beau. “I mean, you guys are loaded, so it’s not like we can’t afford an actual doctor.”

Beau’s brothers laughed, and he let out a huff of amusement against my hair.

“I’ve been stitching knife wounds for a long time,” Erik replied dryly.

“I didn’t mean to make the cut so big,” I confessed, still staring out the window. I was pretty sure that if I accidentally got a look at what he was doing, I’d vomit all over the table in front of me.

“That’s good to hear,” Erik said. “I’m still confused why you did it in the first place.”

“Beau looked like shit, and then he passed out, and I couldn’t wake him up.” I began to turn my head, then realized what I was doing and glared at the window again. “He said at dinner that my blood is like his perfect meal or whatever.”

Erik chuckled. “Are you not exchanging blood?” he asked curiously.

“I put a kibosh on that for the moment,” I replied quietly.

Beau’s lips pressed against the top of my head.

“It’s not my place to interfere in a mating bond?—”

“Then don’t,” Beau said, cutting him off.

“But as your elder,” Erik continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “I feel the need to inform you both that any blood not yours is no longer compatible with Bjorn’s physiology.”

“Shit,” I mumbled, thinking about the empty bags in the sink.

“Blood donated by a mate will suffice but will still leave him feeling under the weather.”

“But you said?—”

“It is the act of exchanging blood that will keep you both healthy,” Erik said. “Not clinically giving each other a shot of blood on a schedule, but the skin-on-skin contact and bite. I’ve been told that it’s something about the pH of the skin and the oxytocin present at the time of exchange, but you’d have to ask for specifics from someone more well-informed than I am.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Beau stated.

“Bjorn, you’ll be ill?—”

“We’ll figure it out,” he repeated.

“Could you please just get to stitching?” I asked, recognizing the irritation in Beau’s voice. If they got into it again and made this whole process even longer, I was going to scream.

“You’re done,” Erik announced, his voice laced with amusement.

I whipped my head around to find a neat row of black stitches across my wrist. My stomach gave a small flip, and I looked away from it to find Erik smiling.

“Do they meet your standards?”

“A real doctor would’ve bandaged it, too,” I said somewhat weakly, making him roar with laughter.

“I’ll get to it,” he said, turning toward the bag at his feet.

“Don’t ever hurt yourself like that again,” Beau ordered quietly.

“You were sick,” I countered, my voice equally low.

At some point, his arms had loosened a bit around my torso, and I hadn’t even noticed. They were no longer holding me in place…just holding me. He cupped his palm under my chin and tipped it up until our eyes met.

“It doesn’t matter if I’m dying,” he replied firmly. “If you press your skin to my lips and tell me to drink, I will.”

“He’s not wrong,” Erik said as he began to wrap my wrist. “I’ve seen it done. Instincts are a powerful thing.”

“Well, that would’ve been nice to know,” I griped, raising my eyebrows.

“You know now.”

“Tough lessons are the ones that stick,” Erik mused.

“If I never heard that sentence again, it would be too soon,” Daniel complained from the living room, startling me. I’d forgotten he and Chance were still there. “It was his favorite phrase while we were children.”

“He left me fifty feet up in a tree,” Chance agreed.

“What were you doing fifty feet up a tree?” I asked, catching a small grin as Beau turned his head toward his brothers.

“I’d climbed there,” Chance replied nonchalantly.

“That’s nothing,” Danny scoffed. “I fell in the river, and he watched the current take me downstream.”

My jaw dropped in surprise.

“I told you not to get so close,” Erik said, leaning back in his seat with his arms crossed.

“It took me miles downstream!” Danny shot back indignantly.

I let out a bark of laughter.

“That wasn’t even the most irritating part,” Danny said, looking at me. “He was waiting on the bank when I dragged myself out.”

“I knew where it grew shallow enough that you’d find your footing,” Erik informed him.

All at once, the four of them paused, and the room went silent.

“Ulf’s here,” Erik announced, standing. “I’ll meet you all downstairs.”

He strode out of the room with his sons on his heels.

“Ambrose has news,” Beau said, letting go of me. He rounded the table and scooped up the bloody gauze and other medical paraphernalia, throwing it in the trash under the sink. “I need to go down and—” He paused and then turned to look at me. “Come with me?”

For some reason, the fact that he was including me made my skin flush with warmth that had nothing to do with the mating heat.

“I’m not wearing pants,” I reminded him with a grimace. I’d been completely unworried about it while his family was there, but it suddenly hit me that I’d been not only walking around in my underwear but had passed out straddling Beau, and they’d all probably gotten a good look.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, watching the emotions play over my face. “Those boxers cover far more than a swimsuit.”

“They’re underwear.”

“Could’ve fooled me. They look like shorts.”

“I don’t bitch about your underwear.”

“What is there to bitch about?” he asked, looking down at the black boxers he was wearing.

I had to concede that there was absolutely nothing to bitch about when it came to the skin hugging cotton.

“Do I at least have time to put on pants before we meet another brother?” I asked.

“Please do,” he replied, following me slowly as I rose from the table and walked toward the bedroom. “I need to get dressed, too. It’s freezing in here.”

I stopped by the door of the bathroom and turned to look at him as he started pulling clothes out of one of the dressers. It wasn’t cold in his rooms.

“You’re still anemic,” I said, making him turn. “That’s why you’re cold. That’s a symptom.”

“I’m fine,” he assured me. “I feel much better.”

“Well, you still look like hot garbage.”

“Sorry to disappoint,” he replied with a smirk, running his fingers through his hair.

I hesitated for only a moment before I crossed the room. All of my previous decisions had been valid. He’d said shitty things about me. He didn’t like me. He’d basically been a giant asshole since the moment we’d met.

But.

I’d made an impulsive decision to tie my life to his. There was no going back now, and if I was honest with myself, I wasn’t sure if I’d choose to if given the option. I’d lived my life pretty apathetically to that point. Nothing had ever been permanent, and I’d rarely allowed myself to care about anything based on the assumption that nothing ever would be.

The knowledge that I’d somehow been given something that could never be taken away, something purely mine forever? It was heady.

One of us had to flip the script on this shitshow we’d gotten ourselves into. It may as well be me.

“We have a few minutes, right?” I asked, sliding my hands over his bare chest.

I ignored the ache in my wrist.

“Reese,” he murmured cautiously. “What are you doing?”

“It’s been hours,” I reminded him. The thrumming burn under my skin gradually increasing moment by moment.

“You’re under no obligation?—”

“Where’s the asshole?” I asked, cutting him off. I looked him over mockingly like I was searching. “Because the man I climbed like a tree would already be fucking me.”

I let out a whoop of surprise when Beau bent at the waist and wrapped his hands around the backs of my thighs. When he straightened, I scrambled for purchase, wrapping my arms around his neck.

“I don’t have time to fuck you,” he said, spinning toward the dresser.

My ass hit the top, knocking his clothes to the floor.

“What a shame,” I replied breathlessly, tipping my head back.

The sight of him lifting his hand to his mouth had become the most erotic thing I’d ever encountered.

Forget that.

The way he lifted his hand to my mouth, little beads of blood standing out starkly against his skin? That was the most erotic thing I’d ever encountered.

I licked and sucked at the skin, the blood acting like an aphrodisiac as my nipples tightened and my pussy throbbed. My fingers tangled in his hair as I pulled his head toward my neck.

His resistance surprised me enough that I let go of his hand and turned my face toward his. The muscle in his jaw was pulsing as he gritted his teeth, and his eyes were hooded. He was doing his damnedest not to bite me.

“Take it,” I ordered softly.

His eyes closed.

“It’s yours,” I reminded him.

The speed at which he struck was startling, but it wasn’t why I cried out. Every inch of my body throbbed with pleasure. His hand pressed against my lips again, the blood there rolling over my tongue as he shoved his hand up the legs of my boxers. The moment he thrust two fingers inside me, I shattered.

It lasted a long time.

By the time I came down, he’d closed the bite on my throat and was gently brushing the hair back from my face while he waited for me to release his hand.

“We should probably just go back to bed,” I said groggily as he smiled at me. “I don’t think I have any bones left. They disintegrated.”

“I could carry you downstairs,” he replied evenly. “But you probably still want to put some pants on first.”

I sighed and slumped forward, resting my head against his chest. “Fine,” I muttered against his skin.

His hands were gentle as they helped me down from the dresser.

Unfortunately, as I walked back over to my bag, I missed the moment when he shucked off his boxers and traded them for a new pair. By the time I’d set my clothes on the bed, he was pulling up an incredibly faded pair of jeans.

“How old are those jeans?” I asked in disbelief. They were incredible, and they fit him in a way that made me debate stripping and climbing onto the bed. I figured that once I was fully bare and spread out, he’d forget he even had brothers that we were supposed to be downstairs seeing.

“Uh,” he said, glancing down at them as he pulled on his t-shirt. “Fifty years?”

I choked. “You’re kidding.”

“They don’t make shit that lasts anymore,” he mused. “Chance still has bellbottoms that he pulls out every once in a while.”

“I’d pay to see that,” I replied, tearing my eyes away as I stripped out of my underwear and t-shirt.

Beau let out a low groan.

“I bet your mom’s wardrobe is incredible.” I pulled on a pair of my own jeans, only two years old.

“You’re not wearing underwear?” he asked hoarsely.

“I’m wearing a bra,” I countered, pulling it over my head. Bralettes may have been one of the best inventions in women’s wear. It wasn’t as if I had a lot to support, but at least they kept my nipples from staring everyone in the eye.

“But no underwear,” he repeated.

“I rarely wear them,” I reported, pulling a t-shirt on.

“You were wearing some the first time.”

“That’s because I’d been at work,” I explained as I pulled on a pair of socks. “I wear boxers or nothing, otherwise.”

“That makes no sense.”

“I can’t exactly go commando to work,” I said, pausing to look at him. “But boxers bunch under my work pants, so briefs it is.”

Beau just stared at me.

“Enjoying this little peek into my brain?” I asked jokingly, raising my eyebrows.

“I’m not sure yet,” he confessed.

I turned and walked into the bathroom, leaving the door open. “Well, let me know when you decide.”

As I ran my fingers through my hair he came to stand in the doorway, leaning his shoulder against the jam as he watched me.

“I forgot a hairbrush.”

“Second drawer.” He pointed.

I reached for it.

“You’re letting me use your hairbrush? I guess this is getting pretty serious,” I teased.

“I guess so,” he murmured, his eyes on mine as I pulled the brush through my hair.

“Let me brush my teeth really quick, and I’ll be ready.”

He moved into the bathroom behind me and opened another drawer, pulling his own toothbrush out.

To say that the two of us mundanely brushing our teeth together was surreal would be an understatement. I’d never brushed my teeth with someone before, and it felt oddly…competitive. Was I brushing less vigorously? Would it gross him out if I started brushing my tongue? Half the time, I gagged myself.

Hell would freeze over before I stopped brushing before he was finished.

His eyes danced as he watched the emotions flicker over my face. With a light hand on my hip, he scooted me out of the way and leaned down to spit and rinse his brush.

“You can stop now,” he said with laughter in his voice. “Damn, you’re stubborn.”

I waited until he’d left the bathroom before spitting and brushing my tongue.

When we arrived downstairs, his family had already congregated in the family room and were speaking quietly. The new addition was as handsome as the other Vampire males I’d met. They were all similar enough that no one could mistake them as anything but brothers, but it was as if Ulf and Beau had inherited opposite traits from each of their parents. While Beau had his mother’s brown eyes, Ulf had Erik’s blue ones.

“So, this is her,” a deep voice announced as we walked into the room.

“Apparently,” I joked self-consciously.

“Reese, this is my older brother,” Beau said, his hand on the small of my back ushering me across the room.

“Ambrose,” his brother said, reaching for my hand.

I shook it, hiding my wince at the stinging nettle sensation.

“No touching,” Beau said, pulling on my arm.

Ambrose frowned.

“The bond,” Erik explained from his spot on the couch. “It’s uncomfortable for Reese.”

“So much that she slit her wrists?” Ambrose asked darkly, looking behind me at Beau.

“I didn’t slit my wrists,” I argued quickly, showing him the unmarred one.

“It was a misunderstanding,” Beau said, wrapping his arm around my chest.

“He was anemic,” I babbled, the tension between them making me a little nervous.

“You did it?” Ambrose asked Beau.

My mate jerked like he’d been hit.

“Of course he didn’t,” Beau’s mom scolded. “What’s the matter with you?”

“I’m fine,” I announced loudly. “Nothing to see here.”

“I passed out, and Reese panicked,” Beau replied quietly.

“I did not panic,” I countered.

“Looked pretty panicked to me,” Chance drawled.

“I’d go so far as to say hysterical,” Danny added.

Whipping around, I glared at Beau’s brothers. “Forget that blood hook-up. You two can get leftovers.”

“You cut your arm trying to give my brother blood?” Ambrose asked curiously.

I turned back to him reluctantly and nodded.

“Interesting,” he murmured, looking from me to Beau.

“Everyone sit,” Beau’s mom ordered. “Ambrose has news.”

I wondered what news he could have that would have everyone gathered around at the edge of their seats, but I kept my mouth shut as Beau led us over to a plush armchair. I knew better than to ask and remind them that I probably shouldn’t even be in the room. Beau dropped into the chair and pulled me onto his lap.

“Not appropriate,” I murmured, glancing at his parents.

“At least you’re wearing pants this time,” Beau replied.

I pinched the tender skin on the inside of his thigh.

“It looks like the group that took Zeke had a lot more connections than command previously believed,” Ambrose said as soon as Beau and I shut up. “And they were incredibly well funded.”

“Is anyone surprised by that?” Chance scoffed.

“The compound where he was held wasn’t just some huts in the jungle,” Ambrose continued. “It may have looked like that from the outside, but inside was a different matter. It’s been deserted since the team took out—” He paused and glanced at me. “Should she be here?”

“She’s family,” Erik replied firmly as Beau’s body tensed beneath me.

“She’s human,” Ambrose argued.

“So is your mother,” Erik said in a deceptively soft voice.

“You know I’m not talking about Mom?—”

“She stays,” Beau announced, his hand tightening on my hip.

“That’s a quick turnaround,” Ambrose shot back.

I tensed to stand, and Beau’s hand shot out lightning fast, wrapping around my waist to hold me in place.

“I can go back up to the room,” I assured him, turning my head to look at him.

“You’re not going anywhere.”

Ambrose let out a long breath. “The place has been deserted since team three took out the group and recovered his body,” he continued roughly. “We found where they tortured him.”

I let out an involuntary hiss and turned to Beau again. “You didn’t tell me?—”

“Later,” Beau replied.

I leaned further into him as Ambrose kept speaking.

“The walls and door were reinforced steel, and the entire thing was set up for exactly that. I don’t think Zeke was the first.”

“Corbin,” Danny said with a curse.

“Keith and Gordy, too,” Chance muttered.

“Possibly,” Ambrose replied. “We took samples, and they’re testing everything we brought back.”

“You’re saying he never had a chance.” Erik’s eyes looked like they were flashing or something, and it was so disconcerting that I had to look away.

Ambrose cleared his throat, and I laid my hand on Beau’s arm, running my thumb back and forth. He was frozen.

“We also found where he’d been held. No windows, stone walls, same steel-enforced door,” Ambrose informed them. “I didn’t want to go in there. The place…” He shook his head. “But it’s a good thing I did. There was lots of writing on the walls, but down near the floor on the northern wall was that symbol—” His voice broke, and Beau shuddered. I tightened my hand on his arm. “That symbol that Zeke used to draw all the time when we were kids.”

“His brand ,” Beau said, his voice a whisper. “When he wanted to raise cattle.”

“Fucking idiot.” Chance let out a watery chuckle.

“That’s the one,” Ambrose confirmed, pulling something out of his pocket. “When I got down and got a better look at the stone, I found some shit behind it. A St. Christopher medal without a chain, a tooth, some ribbon, a lock of hair, a couple of rings—looked like wedding bands—and a photo.”

He stood up and crossed to his parents, handing them something in a tiny plastic bag.

Beau’s mother let out a sob, and I looked away. It felt intrusive to witness the private moment. Ambrose had been correct. I didn’t belong in that room.

“Turn it over,” Ambrose murmured.

When Mattie let out a keening wail, Beau pressed his forehead against my back, his breath coming in short painful sounding pants. Turning, I wrapped my arm around his neck and pulled him against me. Whatever was happening was bad. Somehow worse than the fact that his brother had been tortured. The air in the room felt heavy and thick when a few minutes later, Ambrose carried over the little bag.

Beau leaned up and took it, and I got a look at what was inside.

The tiny photo looked like it had been cut from one of those little columns you’d get from a photo booth. Black and white and just slightly blurry, like the people in it hadn’t been able to sit still long enough for it to be taken. Of the two men pictured, it was easy to spot which of them was Zeke. He had the same strong jawline and nose as the rest of his brothers. His eyes were shaped like Chance’s, and his lips could’ve been Beau’s. The man with him had been caught mid-laugh, his head tilted back a little. Their arms were wrapped around each other, Zeke’s hand cupping the man’s neck just below his ear. They looked happy—no, more than that—they were practically glowing.

I swallowed back tears at the knowledge that at some point after the picture was taken, the happy man in the photo had been tortured and killed.

After a moment of staring at it, Beau flipped the photo over and inhaled a sharp breath.

“My mate” was written on the back in messy cursive.

Without a word, Beau handed back the photo so Ambrose could show Chance and Danny.

The room was silent. Beau was stiff as a post as he stared blankly at the fireplace.

“Was he there?” Mattie finally asked, breaking the silence. “Ezekiel’s mate—was he there when they found him?”

“No,” Ambrose said, leaving the photo with Danny as he sat back down. “Zeke was the only prisoner.”

“Then where is he?”

“How the hell didn’t we know?” Danny asked. “We felt it when Beau found his mate. Both times.”

Beau jerked beneath me.

I stared at Danny as the words played over and over in my head.

“We need to find him,” Mattie said fiercely. “We need to find Ezekiel’s mate.”

“We’re already working on it, Mama,” Ambrose replied gently.

“He could be in danger,” she muttered frantically, looking at her husband. “He could be hurt somewhere.”

“We’ll find him, Mattie,” Erik soothed.

“You need to take that back and have it analyzed,” Chance told Ambrose as Danny handed him back the picture. “We might be able to figure out where it was taken.”

“Where was Zeke in the last year?” Beau asked.

“South America, mostly.”

“He went to Europe to meet that old friend,” Danny said as he sat back down. “He was there for like two months.”

“It had to have been pretty recent,” Ambrose declared. “He knew as soon as he’d found his mate he was required to resign.”

“He should’ve immediately,” Mattie spat angrily. “What in the world was he thinking?”

“Their mission was active,” Beau said calmly. “He probably didn’t want to leave his team short.”

“We could speak in circles all day and never get closer to an answer,” Erik announced gruffly. “Unless Ezekiel had begun writing a journal, I doubt we’ll ever know what led to his decisions.”

We felt it when Beau found his mate. Both times. Both times. Both times.

Danny’s words played on a loop. What had he meant by that? Had Beau found me before that day at the bank? I knew for a fact that I’d never seen him before. It wasn’t every day that you came into contact with the most beautiful man you’d ever seen. Or Vampire, as it were. If Beau had found me earlier, why hadn’t he approached me? The bond had snapped tight the moment I was within three feet of him. I didn’t understand how he could’ve forced himself to wait. Had he just been dealing with the effects on his own, or did I have to feel it too before they started for him?

“I have to bring this back in a couple of hours,” Ambrose said. “We’ll run facial recognition and test it for particulates.”

“Then we should know something soon,” Erik soothed Mattie.

Heat started building, and I surreptitiously slid my hand inside the collar of Beau’s shirt so I could press my palm to his skin. Talk about terrible timing.

“We’ll head back with you,” Chance announced, glancing at Danny.

Ambrose nodded.

Beau tensed. “You’ll keep me updated?”

“Of course,” Ambrose said sympathetically.

“You should go, too,” I murmured.

Beau looked at me like I was crazy.

“You should.”

“Not happening,” he replied flatly, holding me in place as the others left the room.

“It’s important,” I said softly, running my fingers through his hair.

The pain in his eyes was staggering. I’d known that he’d lost a brother, but I’d had no idea how recently, and I hadn’t really had any frame of reference for what that truly meant. His family was so extremely close. When they were all in the same room, it was almost as if you could feel the missing piece. The fact that Zeke had died horribly just added to the anguish that layered the space.

“It would be so incredibly painful for you,” Beau murmured, lifting my hand to place a soft kiss in my palm.

“I could hack it.”

“There’s no way on earth I’d ever be the cause of that.”

“He’s your brother.”

“You’re my mate.”

“You don’t even like me.”

“I’m a fucking idiot.”

“I won’t argue with that.”

“There are plenty of things that I like about you.”

“Name three,” I sputtered sarcastically.

“You’re tenderhearted.”

“I am not.”

“You cut open your arm with a kitchen knife because you thought I was dying.”

“I didn’t think you were dying.”

“You didn’t even wait for help to get there.”

“They don’t have the right blood!”

“They could have told you what to do.”

“I don’t like being told what to do,” I hedged.

“You’re so full of shit.”

“I am not.”

“You’re funny,” he said begrudgingly, making me snicker.

“I thought I was obnoxious.”

“You are.”

“Okay, what’s the third thing?”

“You don’t wear underwear.”

“That’s a bullshit third thing!”

“No, it’s not.”

“That one doesn’t count.”

“I think it does.”

“Your entire family can hear this conversation,” I reminded him.

“They’re not paying any attention.”

“I am,” Ambrose called loudly from the kitchen.

“Oh, great,” I mumbled. “Now they all know I’m not wearing underwear.”

“Who cares.”

“Um, me?”

“Ambrose picked his nose until he was in his twenties,” Beau informed me.

“I did not, you asshole,” Ambrose yelled.

“My parents used to go out every Friday night?—”

“Don’t you dare,” Erik thundered from somewhere in the house.

“One time, they decided it was a good idea to get busy in the family car?—”

“Beaumont!” Mattie screeched in warning.

“But my father forgot to put on the parking brake, and one of them accidentally knocked the gearshift into neutral.”

I could hear Ambrose laughing.

“That was bad enough,” Beau whispered, leaning close. “But what was worse is they didn’t notice it until they’d rolled down a hill and plowed into the side of some poor family’s house.”

“We couldn’t get any privacy at home!” Erik yelled.

“Now you know their embarrassing secrets,” Beau said, leaning back. “Feel better?”

“I’m wondering how you even knew the car thing happened.”

“They had to call me to come pick them up,” Ambrose called from the kitchen.

I let out a laugh, and Beau smiled, the shadows in his eyes lightening a bit.

We sat in the chair quietly, and by the time Chance and Danny came back downstairs with bags slung over their shoulders, I’d managed to turn sideways and was resting my head beneath Beau’s chin. The guys said goodbye to their parents before striding back into the living room.

“We’ll call you as soon as we know anything,” Chance promised.

“Ignore everything he says, and you two should be fine,” Danny advised me with a small smile.

“It was nice to meet you, Reese,” Ambrose said, coming in behind them. “I hope we can have more time to get to know each other next time I’m home.”

“I’d like that,” I replied.

“Love you,” Beau called out as his brothers headed toward the door.

“Love you, too,” they called back one by one as they stepped outside.

I was a bit stunned as Beau let out a long breath and rested his head against the back of the chair. Rena and I said I love you all the time, but I honestly couldn’t remember if I’d ever heard men do it. Even Mr. Miranda and Noah hadn’t ever said it in my presence.

Shit.

“I need to get my phone!” I shot up from the chair and lost my balance.

“What’s wrong?” Beau asked as I raced for the stairs.

“I’m supposed to be at work!”

I was winded by the time I reached Beau’s rooms, and when the receptionist picked up the phone at the bank, she could barely understand me because I was breathing so loudly. I had to repeat myself twice.

“Reese?” Noah answered just seconds later. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I gasped.

“You don’t sound fine.”

“I just ran up an assload of stairs.”

“Why?”

“I just remembered I was supposed to be at work like an hour ago.”

“I just figured you were late again,” he replied drolly.

“I am never this late, and you know it.”

“There’s a first time for everything.”

“What if I was just dead in my apartment or something, and no one even came to look because you just assumed I didn’t show up?” I asked indignantly.

“Well, if you were already dead, would it really matter how long it took for someone to find you? You don’t have any cats, right? Because that could create a problem.”

“You’re the anti-Christ,” I muttered, dropping onto Beau’s bed.

“Does that make you an acolyte?”

“You’re not as funny as you think you are.”

“I assumed you were with Mr. Boucher,” Noah said seriously. “Was I wrong in that assumption?”

“You weren’t wrong,” I grumbled. “But for all you know, he’s an axe murderer.”

“I’ve met his father?—”

“You know Erik?”

“Meeting the family already, huh?” Noah mused. “Yes, we’ve met a few times. Pete and I both liked him.”

“Pedro.” I corrected.

“Is everything all right?” Noah asked. “You’re okay?”

“This whole mate thing is a complete mindfuck,” I confessed, falling back onto the comforter.