Page 56 of Roman

Luc snarled at him. “I wasangry!”

“And what was I supposed to do? Just let you end my existence?”

Luc was pulling at his hair with both hands, lost to his own anger. “You were supposed tohelpme.”

Familiar guilt rushed through Roman. “I did not knowhow, Lucien! I did not know what to do with you.Foryou. How to reach you. Without-Without losing my own life in the process. The first time I thought it was your grief, but then you triedagain.So tell me. Tell me how to help you.”

As sudden as it came on, Lucien’s rage seemed to evaporate. It was disconcerting, the rapidity of the change. “Oh, it’s far too late for that,” he whispered.

Two things happened at once then.

Roman heard police sirens, growing louder.

And footsteps sounded at the mouth of the alleyway. A passerby.

Faster than even Roman, with his heightened senses, could process, Luc had closed the distance between himself and the man walking by the alley. Black eyes on Roman, Luc bit into the man, draining him in large gulps before tossing the body at Soren and springing out of the alleyway.

Luc was gone in seconds, and Soren was left holding the drained body as two police cars blocked off the entrance, trapping Roman and Soren inside.

Merde.

fourteen

Roman

GoddamnLuc.

The car was silent. Danny, normally so chatty, hadn’t spoken a word since their initial greeting upon Roman picking him from work. Ever intuitive, he seemed to sense Roman’s need to think and was instead holding Roman’s nondriving hand quite firmly. The contact with his mate soothed the restless rage Roman’s demon was stirring within him but just barely.

Goddamn Luc.

The police had apparently received a tip about some suspicious men loitering around the hospital. With the recent attacks in town, they’d taken the tip seriously, showing up in full force.

Soren and Roman had successfully compelled the police officers, convincing them the duo were just innocent bystanders. They had avoided being brought in for questioning and even avoided giving any contact information for follow-up. Roman was aware that, without Soren, he might have had a harder time doing so. He wasn’t as skilled in compulsion as his older friend.

Luc hadn’t killed the man after all. A small miracle.

Roman thought that perhaps he had not had time to drain the human thoroughly and still make a clean exit. He must have been wary of facing off against both Roman and Soren in one go.

An ambulance had arrived shortly after the police cars to take the unconscious man away. Roman just now realized his mate might have seen him being brought in to the hospital, might even have taken part in his care.

He looked over to the boy beside him—brown hair mussed and brown eyes tired, but just as lovely as ever—and considered asking him but in the end stayed silent. The bitten man wasn’t his focus right now. That man was nothing.

But Danny. Danny waseverything.

Luc had to have known his impromptu little trap wouldn’t hold them for long, had probably been only looking to stall so he could make his getaway. Which still left the question of his bigger plans for them.

Roman parked the car in Danny’s driveway, reluctantly releasing his mate’s hand to exit the vehicle. Just that simple act of forgoing contact had his demon raging again.

As soon as Danny was out of the car, Roman rushed over to grab his hand again and pull him into the house, still without a word. He knew he was being a brute, but was hard-pressed to care. His demon was pulsing in him. Needing to touch. Needing to protect. Needing to claim.

Ours. Ours. Ours.

As he tugged Danny to the stairs, they passed Soren in the kitchen.

“Rome, we need to talk.”

“Not. Now,” Roman barked out. He continued forward, pulling his mate up the stairs, ignoring Soren’s protests. Danny didn’t argue, seeming for his part content to let Roman be as much of a beast as he needed to be.

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