Page 68 of Wolfgang

They made it back home without attracting any attention, thanks to Wolfe’s car parked at the edge of the forest. Jamie had caught up with them briefly, but he’d run off again with Luc to see if they could spark any visions of who had done this, given the small amount of new information they had.

Now Riley had already gulped down their one blood bag, slouching over their kitchen table, but his eyes were still all black and he wasn’t talking any. Eric didn’t know what to do about that. It wasn’t like the kid had been mute before. But who knew what it was like, being a kid and having that hungry, beastly presence in your body?

Like, was the beast a kid too? A baby beast?

The sound of the front door flinging open had Riley tensing up, clearly two seconds away from bolting, but Wolfe’s stern, “Stay put,” seemed to have the desired effect, and he relaxed back, licking at the stray drops on the inside of the plastic blood bag.

Eric followed Wolfe to the front door, visions of FBI officers invading their home running through his head. He knew it was unlikely, but they were harboring a kidnapped child at this point, weren’t they?

But it was only Danny and Jay, each carrying a giant paper bag stuffed to the brim. Jesus, was that allblood?

“We come bearing comic books,” Danny singsonged by way of greeting, answering Eric’s unspoken question.

“Well, praise the lord,” Wolfe mocked, a sneer on his lips. “That solves everything.”

“Don’t be snide,” Danny chastised, swishing past him with a frown, before nodding at Eric in greeting. “We also come bearing blood.”

“Slightly more useful,” Wolfe conceded.

Danny gave a put-upon sigh and headed straight into the kitchen, where they could hear his soft, “Hiya, kiddo.”

But Jay stopped in front of Wolfe, his paper bag still in hand. “You did a very good thing, Wolfgang.”

“I’m so glad you approve.”

But Wolfe’s sarcasm seemed lost on the little barista, who nodded happily in response. “I do. Your mate is good for you. I get it. Mine’s good for me too.”

Wolfe’s lips twitched. “Quells your psychopathic urges, does he?”

Jay cocked his head, seeming to mull it over. “Well, I’m not sure I have any of those. But he does accept me, just as I am.”

Wolfe cast a sidelong glance to Eric. “Yes. I may know something about that.”

“Perfect!” Jay beamed. “You two are officially invited to the next family camping trip.”

“I’ll try my best to contain this overwhelming excitement.”

“You do that.” Jay wandered off into the kitchen, patting Eric on the chest as he passed by.

Eric moved to follow, but Wolfe stopped him with a hand on his upper arm. And then Eric was being pressed against the wall, Wolfe’s breath hot on his ear, his voice the quietest whisper it could be without being too soft to hear. “Once this mass of intruders is out of our home, I’m taking you to bed, and I’m not letting you out for a month.” Wolfe tugged Eric’s earlobe between blunt teeth with a soft growl. “It will be my reward. For all this…good behavior.”

“You want to be rewarded with another kidnapping?” Eric was going for sarcasm, but his voice came out too breathy for it to be very affective.

“I want my mate. And I want himalone. It’s been far too long since I’ve had my cock inside you.”

Eric did his best to suppress his shiver of desire, his breath catching at the heat in Wolfe’s eyes. He didn’t want to be walking into the kitchen with a massive hard-on. But fuck if he didn’t want the very same thing. Their last time together felt like it had been a thousand years ago.

Danny’s voice rang out from the kitchen. “May I remind you there are children present, and you two are not being as quiet as you think you are?”

“May I remind you whose house you are in?” Wolfe snarled before Eric kissed him to shut his mouth.

He allowed himself the briefest, chastest kiss he could manage—well, minus one tiny slip of the tongue—before he sidled out of Wolfe’s hold, readjusting himself before joining the others in the kitchen.

He found Riley finishing off another blood bag, his wary black eyes focused on Danny, who was smiling in encouragement.

Jay was unloading his paper bag enthusiastically. “I hope you like superheroes. I borrowed these from Colin, though, so we should be careful not to get too much blood on them. And he’s really into something he calls the antihero, so we have a lot of that red-suited snarky guy and also that one sharp-toothed alien snake-tongued guy who shares the other man’s body, and they seem to be a couple, but also he looks a little scary for my taste.” He eyed Riley with careful consideration. “Is that too mature for you? How old are you? Six? Fifteen?”

Eric opened his mouth to tell him he was wasting his time, that Riley was too focused on his inner beast to even speak. But Riley’s eyes were already returning to their normal dark brown, and he was tossing his empty blood bag on the table, reaching eagerly for a comic. “Old enough for comics,” he mumbled.

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