Page 33 of Wolfgang

Then Danny was crouched as well, his face directly in Eric’s line of sight, eyes full of surprisingly fierce concern. “Hey. Hey, look at me. It’s going to be okay.”

He sounded so sure. So confident. So caring.

“You’re a good nurse, aren’t you?” Eric asked dreamily, his gaze drifted off somewhere over Danny’s shoulder, focused on nothing in particular. This was his life now, wasn’t it? This freak-show mayhem was his foreseeable future.

“And you’re way out of it,” Danny said, his brow furrowed. “He should have come sooner.”

“Who should have?”

Wolfe. Wolfe should have come.

But no. “Gabe,” Danny said instead. “He’s coming to take over the rest of your shift. But he was a ways off. I was closer, so I came to make sure you weren’t— Um…”

Eric tried to focus his gaze back on Danny, the faintest hint of amusement breaking through his dazed state. “Eating the patients?”

Danny shrugged. “Well, yeah. Or whatever the hell this is.”

“How did you know something was wrong?” Had Eric been so out of it one of the nurses had called Danny? But that didn’t make any sense. Why would they call Danny? No one here knew they were…friends? Vampire accomplices?

“Wolfe called me. Told me to fetch Gabe. He used that word too. ‘Fetch.’ Like he’s my dog instead of my brother.”

“He did?” Warmth filled Eric’s chest at the thought. Not the “fetch” part, although that was kind of funny. But Wolfehadknown. See? Eric had known he would.

Eric was also clearly losing his mind.

But then he heard it. The distinct tapping of dress shoes on hospital linoleum. And the sounds of Albert, one of the security guards, arguing furtively. “Sir, you need a visitor’s badge.”

“I’m not a visitor.”

Ohhh, Eric knew that voice. There it was, what he’d been waiting for the moment he’d left the house.

Albert’s voice took on a panicked edge. “Listen, you can’t be up here.”

“I believe you’ll find that I can.”

The voices grew louder; the steps came closer.

And then he was there, in the doorway, looking fierce as an avenging angel. An avenging angel in a tweed fucking suit.

Eric held his breath as Wolfe looked him over, those weird eyes shining red under the fluorescents; he let it out again as that fierce wave of possessiveness rushed over him through the bond. There was irritation there as well. Possibly even concern? But for some reason, it was that familiar possessiveness that had Eric wanting to whimper in relief from his spot on the floor.

Wolfe glanced briefly at Danny and jerked his chin to the side, where Albert was hovering over his shoulder, his gaze luckily still firmly focused on Wolfe and not Eric’s freaky face. “Deal with this one before I do something you’ll regret.”

Danny rushed forward to placate the security guard, pulling him out of Eric’s line of sight.

Eric didn’t give them another thought. Not with Wolfe crouching in front of him, so close Eric could touch the little furrowed lines between his brows if he wanted to. That lovely smell enveloped him, bright and comforting.

It was weird that he smelled that way, right? Shouldn’t he smell like brimstone or something?

“Darling,” Wolfe purred, his eyes traveling greedily over Eric’s face.

Right. It was his first time seeing Eric as a vampire. Because Eric hadn’t been able to control himself for even half a goddamn shift.

Eric didn’t know what to say. He looked down at his hands, clenched on top of his knees, flooded with a new embarrassment. For his neediness. For his loss of control.

Wolfe cupped his face, his long fingers surprisingly warm. “Darling, look at me.” Eric looked up. “Relax, pet. As lovely as he is, your beast can go back in now. I’m here.”

Eric let out another slow, shaky breath, felt his features relax incrementally. His fangs receded, and the clenching in his chest loosened for the first time in hours.

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