Page 84 of Soren

He withdrew his softened cock slowly, easing Soren gently to the ground. Soren looked up at him, still flushed and nude and so unbearably beautiful. “I just don’t want you to regret it. Regret me.”

Gabe reached for his hand. “I couldn’t. Iwon’t.”

Soren arched a brow. “What about feeding? You think you can drink human blood?”

Gabe shrugged. “You can teach me. Maybe we could go dancing one night, find a pretty thing to share together?”

Soren did his best to keep his expression blank, but Gabe could feel the rush of want through the bond. Gabe grinned. He’d had a feeling ever since their night out together that Soren might like something like that. Not an actual threesome—they were both too possessive for that, apparently—but some flirting, a little innocent touching, a pleasure-filled feeding. That would be…exciting. For both of them.

Soren looked to their pile of clothes skeptically. “We should probably rinse these off in the lake. And then…” He smiled at Gabe, that gloriously manic grin Gabe had learned to love. “Take me home?”

twenty-one

Soren

“Wegoinginside?”

Soren didn’t answer. For once, he was the one keeping them in the car. He stared at the little yellow house—his home for the past year. Soren had thought just that morning that he’d never see it again.

But did you really?

Soren shook his head, annoyed at his own denial. He’d lied to himself, when he’d left with Hendrick. He’d told himself he was resigned to leave Gabe for good, but there was part of him—that inner, mindless, core part of him—that knew he’d never willingly leave his mate. Not for long. Even if it had been for Gabe’s own good. Even if Gabe reallyhaddecided he wanted a normal human life, Soren wasn’t sure he’d have been able to be that selfless as to let him go.

He looked to Gabe in the driver’s seat—they’d taken Gabe’s car back, leaving Hendrick’s stolen vehicle a smoldering wreck to go along with the cabin—who was looking at him with furrowed brows.

“I’m not a good person,” Soren told him, not for the first time.

Gabe shrugged easily. “I’m not so sure I am either.”

Soren narrowed his eyes at his mate. “You’re awfully chill about all this. Did turning into a vampire take away the anxiety corner of your brain?”

Gabe relaxed back into his seat, the picture of easy unconcern. “It’s a relief in some ways. Letting go. Letting it in. You’re a vampire. So’s my brother. Now I am too. One big happy monster family. So the world is more magical and confusing than I gave it credit for…so what?”

“I can’t tell if I’m annoyed or turned on by this change in attitude.”

Gabe grinned at him. “Knowing you, it’s both.”

Soren scowled. Ugh. His mate was so fucking handsome when he was happy.

They’d dipped into the lake after their forest dalliance, trying to rinse off the smells of smoke and sex, and Gabe’s curls had dried into a dark disarray, his golden-brown eyes practically shining as he smiled at Soren.

Soren couldn’t help it. He leaned in for a kiss. He wanted to touch all that golden beauty. Gabe met him halfway, opening easily to Soren, letting him explore his mouth with tongue and teeth.

Soren hummed into the kiss and considered climbing over the center console and into Gabe’s lap, but Gabe pulled away before he could, ending it all much too soon. He placed a finishing peck on Soren’s lips. “We should go in,” he said. “They’re here.”

Soren sighed, glancing out the car window. That was the other reason for Soren’s hesitation to enter the house. A familiar car in the driveway.

Danny and Roman were home.

Soren huffed. “So annoying. How are we going to explain all this?” He gestured vaguely at Gabe, trying to encompass their relationship and his former human’s change in mortality. “They leave for three weeks and now you’re a vampire.”

Gabe shrugged again. If he kept doing that, Soren might have to smack him. “We were going to tell them we’re together anyway. Now we just have a little…bonus detail to add.”

Soren huffed again. “So. Fucking. Chill.”

Gabe laughed, placing another kiss on Soren’s lips. “I’m sure I won’t always be. I haven’t had a personality transplant. I’m just relieved as hell.” He cupped Soren’s face in his broad hands. “You’rehere. You’re unharmed. I didn’t lose you. Anything else we can handle together.”

Well, goddamn. What was Soren supposed to do with sweet words like that? His mate was going to make him melt into a puddle like some sort of sentimental…something.

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