Page 70 of Soren

Was it though?

“Have you met a mated pair before?” Gabe asked.

Jay nodded enthusiastically. “Just one. They came to the den to stay for a little while, before they realized how toxic it was there. I liked…watching them.” He glanced over, flushing immediately at the look on Gabe’s face. “Not, like, in bed. Just in general. They were so sweet with each other. Tuned into each other’s emotions. It was like magic.” Jay sighed dreamily.

“Well…itismagic, right? The whole fated mates thing.”

Jay looked delighted at the thought, his gray eyes sparkling. “You’re right. Itismagic. Isn’t that cool?”

It was definitely something.

Gabe eyed the little vampire next to him. “Soren said you were pretty sheltered. But you don’t sound nearly as archaic as Roman. Is that all the reading?”

“And I watch a lot of TV,” Jay said proudly. “Like,a lot.”

Gabe should keep that in mind, if he decided to join the vampire club. Watch a lot of TV, don’t sound like an ancient, out-of-touch geezer.

If he wasinvitedto the vampire club, that was. First he had to tell Soren…love things.

Climbing out of the car, blinking at the bright morning sun, Gabe thought maybe having the whole “I think I’m in love with you, do you want to move in with me?” conversation wouldn’t be so bad. Apparently he had Jay’s vote of confidence, even if he hardly knew the admittedly strange vampire.

That counted for something, right?

And he and Soren didn’t even have to discuss the mates thing yet. There was no rush on that. They had plenty of time.

That was what Gabe was thinking, right up to the point where the big blond man from the day before stepped out of the shadows and snapped Jay’s neck.

seventeen

Soren

Sorenpausedmidstitch,crochetin hand, listening closely. Ferdy was normally a quiet dog. Soren had hardly ever heard the little mutt bark, other than that one time Ferdy had seen a squirrel on one of their forest runs.

But now the puppy was barking up a storm.

“Ferdy!” Soren yelled, projecting his voice to carry through the bedroom door. “Hush!”

The frantic barking continued.

Soren sighed, stretching his neck to glance at his phone on the bedside table. It was close to seven in the morning. Gabe was due to be home. But Ferdy didn’t bark in alarm every time Gabe got back from work.

Something else was going on.

Soren climbed off the bed, tossing a shirt over his bare chest. He’d beenlounging, damn it. “Hush, puppy!” he yelled out once more. It had zero effect.

Soren was down the stairs and at the front door in an instant, shepherding a barking Ferdy off and shutting him into the living room on the way, just in case. He opened the door, ready to laugh at his own paranoia once he saw it was just some forest critter or stray cat sending the dumb dog into a frenzy.

What Soren saw instead made his blood run cold.

Hendrick was standing there, a bruised and bleeding Gabe held in front of him.

Literallyheld.

Gabe was dangling almost a foot off the ground, Hendrick keeping him in the air with one hand on the back of his neck. Soren’s vamp was out and taking control in an instant, its eyes zeroing in on every detail.

There was Jay, his crumpled form sprawled to the side of the porch.

Snapped neck, most likely. It was one of the quickest ways to incapacitate one of their kind for a short period of time, especially if one could take them by surprise.

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