Page 46 of Johann

While he was sipping, Roman took charge of the situation, clearly tired of all the half answers. “Explain your presence here,” he requested from Wolfe, although with his tone of voice, it sounded more like a command.

Wolfe looked to Jay instead of answering.

Jay couldn’t tell if he was still just being a butthead or if he was asking Jay’s permission to share secrets, but either way, Jay shrugged at him in answer. Jay didn’t have any intention of lying to his friends. It was bad enough he hadn’t been forthright before now.

He’d somehow assumed, clearly incorrectly, that it all just…wouldn’t come up. That eventually it would be time for Jay to go and his friends would be fine with it. They all had their mates, after all.

Jay was the outlier, he knew that.

Wolfe seemed to find the answer he was looking for in Jay’s shrug, and he crossed his legs gracefully, ignoring both his tea and the plate of cookies Jay had set before him. “I’m assuming, as his dear friends, you all know Johann’s worth?”

There was a moment of confused silence. “Like, as a person?” Danny finally asked hesitantly. “Of course we do. Jay’s wonderful.”

Wolfe gave an amused hum at that answer, eliciting a growl from Roman, who clearly took it to be mocking (it definitely was). “I mean monetarily,” Wolfe clarified. At their blank looks, he sighed, clearly pained beyond belief. “Johann is, to be frank, a billionaire. Several times over.”

Wolfe was still ignoring the plate in front of him. Was he really not going to eat asinglecookie? Jay was starting to feel a little offended on Danny’s behalf. He’d made such delicious snickerdoodles for everyone.

“Jaybird? Abillionaire?”Soren sounded uncharacteristically frazzled. “This Johann right here? That’s who you mean?” He waved a hand at Jay, top to bottom, and Jay could only assume Soren was attempting to disparage Jay’s dinner outfit, which was maybe a little unfair when Jay had tried so hard to look nice. His fleece pants were a very dignified black tonight, and his sweater was such a pretty pink, the lime-green flowers embroidered on it really making the lovely color pop.

Sure, Jay had found both items used at the thrift store near the café he liked, but that didn’t make them any less nice. He’d washed them and everything.

Wolfe chuckled at Soren’s disbelief, the jerk. “Mm, yes, the clothes. Jay’s really come into his own, fashion-wise, since Veronique’s demise.”

Jay shifted, wanting to find comfort in holding Alexei’s hand again but not sure if that was currently allowed, considering how uncomfortable his poor human looked. It was making Jay’s beastie restless—he wanted to soothe, to comfort, not to explain every detail of his sordid financial history.

But he realized explanations needed to come first. So Jay took a bite of cookie instead. “Please talk like I’m actually here,” he requested around his mouthful.

Wolfe dipped his chin again, this time in apology. (Over the last decade, Jay had gotten really good at reading the different meanings behind each of Wolfe’s stately nods.) “Shall I explain?” Wolfe asked.

Jay gave a nod of his own, possibly less stately considering the mouth full of cookie he had going on.

“Once Veronique passed, her impressive fortune naturally went to Jay, as her surviving companion,” Wolfe explained to the group. “But her passing coincided with that of other leaders of the den—Silas and Anton, namely—who, being without companions at the time, had each passed their fortune to the other den leaders in a descending order. Basically, when the legal dust settled, which took a number of years, Jay was left with all of it.”

“Holy shit,” Soren murmured, grinning widely.

“I don’t really understand,” Danny said. “Aren’t you all pretty wealthy to begin with?”

“There is wealthy, and there iswealthy, my love,” Roman answered. “We may not want for money, but I do not possess billions.”

Danny shifted in his seat, clearly not quite placated with that explanation. “But with compulsion and living on the outskirts of society, what does it matter?”

Exactly what Jay had always thought, but he usually seemed to be the only one.

“Vampires are like anyone else in that regard, I’m afraid,” Wolfe explained. “Compulsion is well and good, but when it comes to legal documents, assets, the like…money is still key. It takes a lot of capital to move around an entire den every decade or so. Money is power, frankly. And Jay has quite a lot of it.”

And then all eyes were on Jay again. He took a sip of tea, washing down his third cookie in as many minutes. He had Alexei’s hand entwined with his—Jay hadn’t even realized he’d grabbed it—but his human’s broad palm was disconcertingly limp. Jay stole a look, concerned, but Alexei definitely wasn’t sleeping, his pretty eyes instead wide and unblinking, focused fixedly on Wolfe.

Should Jay be taking him to the doctor or something?

“And how do you fit into this exactly?” Roman asked Wolfe when he realized Jay had nothing to say.

“There were…concerns…in the den. Jay has been a member for centuries but as a companion, not as a leader. They wanted some assurance he would adhere to…expectations. I have the power and the, shall we say”—a twitch of Wolfe’s lips—“ruthlessness to lead, but I’m a much younger vampire in the grand scheme of things. I haven’t amassed the wealth or the experience others have.” The unspoken words there being that the den didn’t trust Wolfe as far as they could throw him. “So an agreement was made. A joining of our houses, so to speak, to put the den at ease.”

“Why— Why would you agree to that, Jay?” Danny asked, dismay etched in his features.

Jay shrugged again, feeling more than a little uncomfortable with the continued scrutiny. “It didn’t matter to me at the time. I don’t care about the money. I just wanted to be left alone. And Wolfe has always been…kind to me. Without his interference, they probably would have just killed me, found a way to transfer the will to someone else.”

Soren had an odd glint in his eye, and his smile was nowhere to be found. Jay thought he knew that look: Soren was feeling guilty about leaving him behind again. But it wasn’t Soren’s fault. It was Jay’s, always, for not being brave or strong enough to stand on his own two feet. “All I asked in return was to be given some time. And then…after your phone call…a year to spend in Hyde Park.”

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