Page 54 of Bound in Blood
“You did the best with the information you had,” Mateo said, his voice sounding a hundred times more certain than Logan felt. “You know that. You’re kind and compassionate and if there’s someone worth saving in that feral, we’ll save him.”
Logan tried his best to look away, to pull out of Mateo’s grasp and go hide in his own damn bed, but Marco was blocking his only escape route. Two pairs of golden eyes bore into Logan’s with all the intensity of staring directly into the sun. “You’re not a killer,” Marco murmured, like he was approaching a skittish animal.
Logan could feel their certainty through the bond. A guarantee that they’re not blowing smoke up his ass just to calm his nerves. It warred with the tangled mess of emotion Logan was experiencing, combatting it in the worst way. It was very strange, feeling for three, especially when not everyone was in agreement.
“But I?—”
Mateo hushed him with a brush of thumb over Logan’s cheek. “No ‘buts.’ There are no secrets between the bonded,tesoro.When I tell you we’ll capture that boy before he hurts anyone else, you know I mean it.”
“Alexei and Vik are checking the cameras. You’ll be back at work tomorrow night, ready to come up with a game plan. Everything will work out fine,” Marco soothed.
“You’ve managed to attract a small supernatural army on your side,” Mateo teased. “Wouldn’t be surprised if you had werewolves showing up at our door to pledge their support next.”
Logan huffed out a breath that teetered between a laugh and a panicked exhale. He knew Mateo was teasing him to try and break through the tension, and damn him, it almost worked.
Marco pressed closer, and Logan felt his back hit the door as they cornered him. Marco didn’t touch him, not yet, like he was waiting for the moment to be just right. For one irrational second, Logan wondered if they were only calming him down to make things easier… but he banished the thought as soon as it appeared. It felt too cruel to assume the worst of them.
Logan closed his eyes for half a second, feeling the bond hum between the three of them. Steady. Certain. He wanted their emotions to wash over him, wanted to feel the calm that they did. His own emotions were so tangled and frayed, he needed to lean on Marco and Mateo.
“Can we sit?” he asked, so quiet it was almost inaudible.
They both nodded immediately, stepping back to give Logan space to move. Marco’s hand found the small of Logan’s back again, just like at the bar. And just like at the bar, it grounded him in ways he couldn’t make sense of. Mateo’s arm snaked around his shoulder, and they guided him gently toward the couch.
Logan sat, pressing his palms to his knees, trying his best to ground himself. The tension was still there, but sitting down, he didn’t feel so shaky. Marco and Mateo settled on either side of him, two solid bodies pressing in close, the bond between them thrumming steady and reassuring.
For a long moment, nobody spoke. Logan wasn’t sure how much time passed, only that it did. There was a quiettick tick tickof a grandfather clock somewhere in the room, its rhythmamplifying the calming presence of his two mates. Marco and Mateo, to their credit, sat just as quietly as Logan, one hand on Logan’s knee, the other around his shoulders. A quietwe’re here for you. We don’t want you to bear this uncertainty alone.
And, honestly, it worked. Logan took a breath in through his nose and out through his mouth. He retraced his steps. He replayed the entire situation, from the time he took out the trash to the time he got into Alexei’s car. Re-examined the way the feral retreated. How he looked sohuman.Logan couldn’t bring back the four lives the feral had taken, but maybe he could bring back the one the feral had lost in becoming a vampire. He might not have had a choice in any of this, right? Was any of this his fault if he never wanted vampirism in the first place?
“I think things will be okay. If we can catch him before he hurts anyone else. If we can get him to listen to reasoning. If…” Logan exhaled, letting his voice trail off, the words settling something inside him. When he felt just a hint of quiet relief from both twins, he knew he had it right.
Mateo hummed, pleased. “See?” He nudged Logan’s temple with his nose, his voice a nice low murmur, all gentle and reassuring.
Marco’s fingers press into his knee. “Down to your core, you’re good,caro.You’re no killer. Not even your vampire instincts could make you one.”
“You couldn’t bite down on a blood bag,” Mateo teased, breath hot against Logan’s cheek. “Don’t feel responsible for not taking the feral’s life. It’s not in your nature. That’s what you’ve got us for.”
Logan huffed out a breath, but it’s more from amusement than anything else. “You’re not exactly being reassuring,” he muttered, but his body had already begun to unwind, the tension making way for relief. Mateo’s teasing and Marco’s certaintyworked in tandem to settle inside him, doing their best to soothe all the uncertainty and doubt.
“We mean it, though,” Marco said, thumb back to tracing calming circles on Logan’s thigh. “You don’t have to carry any burden alone anymore. We’re here, and we’ll always be here. You feel it, don’t you?”
Logan did. He felt, through their bond, certainty and adoration and unwavering belief in him. They’ve known him for all of five days, yet theybelievedin him. Logan felt like he didn’t deserve it, to have these two trust him. To care about him. What had he ever done but run from his problems? When Marco turned him, and Logan’s soul called out to theirs, why did they answer back?
Mateo shifted closer, forehead brushing Logan’s temple, still speaking in that soothing, low voice, “If anything, it’susthat don’t deserveyou,” He paused letting the words swim around in Logan’s brain before settling. “We forced you into this world, but you’ve done nothing but treat us with kindness. Kindness that frankly, neither of us deserves.”
Logan swallowed hard, palms digging into his knees again. The weight of their presence, the sweetness and certainty of their words, it nearly tipped toward too much. He didn’t know how to accept affection without condition. How can someone just… belong to him? No matter what?
He felt it, though, through the bond. Everything they said, they meant. Marco and Mateo had never once lied to him. Not since he turned, anyway. And maybe not even before that. He felt the beginnings of something wrapping around his heart, molding with the tether. Something he didn’t have a name for yet, but he knew it was good.
And when Marco’s hand slid further up his thigh, it wasn’t a distraction. It was an extension of that same care. It was slowand deliberate, giving Logan every opportunity to still his hand and tell him no. Logan didn’t want to tell them no.
“Let us take care of you,caro.” It wasn’t a suggestion, but a promise. “Let us help you forget all this mess. Just for a little while.”
Logan exhaled as he lets the words settle over him, sinking into his skin through the little cracks the twins have been forming in his walls. Their hands on his skin, the quiet presence of the bond… it was grounding. Anchoring him to the present in a way he didn’t know he needed.
Mateo pressed a kiss to his temple, gentler than Logan’s ever seen him, soft and lingering. “You don’t have to think,” he murmured against Logan’s skin, “We’ll take care of that. Just feel.”
Marco’s hand slid higher, teasing at the waistband of Logan’s jeans, touch deliberate but patient, waiting for permission.
