Page 79 of Bound in Blood
Mateo groaned. “I hate both of you.”
But his voice was lighter than before. And when Logan smiled at him, tentative but real, Mateo smiled back. Just barely. But it was enough.
* Cousin
Chapter
Twenty-Six
LOGAN
The second the three of them got home an hour later, Logan felt his body give up. Working an entire shift, running into a feral, feeling more emotions in one day than he’d felt in the past year… it was too much. The exhaustion crashed over him like a tsunami, leaving him barely upright before strong arms lifted him up off the ground.
Logan made a small noise of protest, but whoever was carrying him hushed him gently. Maybe it was Marco, murmuring soft, soothing words in Italian. Maybe it was Mateo, voice warm and teasing. Logan didn’t know. He was too tired to tell. By the time they reached the top of the stairs, he was out like a light.
The next morning, Logan woke up snuggled between his twins, wearing a t-shirt that smelled like Marco. He snuggled a bit further into their hold, Marco’s arm underneath his head, Mateo’s body pressed to his back. It was the closest Logan’s ever had to the feeling ofhome.
As Logan blinked into consciousness, he felt a soft hum rumble against his shoulder.
“Morning,tesoro,”Mateo mumblesed, voice thick with sleep, thumb tracing lazy circles over Logan’s hipbone.
“More like evening,” Marco said, eyes still closed. “But, you know. Semantics.”
Logan sighed, letting his eyes drift shut again. He shouldprobablyget up. Get ready for the night, figure out how to start tracking a feral vampire. Maybe emotionally prepare for having to help take a life. But… Mateo’s touch was so gentle, and Marco’s smile was so warm and the weight of them both was grounding in a way that he never knew he needed.
“Do you work tonight, Logan?” Mateo asked against his ear. “And if yes, can you get out of it?”
Logan thought, doing that night-shift thing where you tried to figure out which ‘today’ it was. He waspretty surewhen he went to work yesterday it was Saturday. Which meant today would be Sunday, right? Vik had been refusing to schedule him all three weekend days for the sake of Logan’s mental health, so… yes. Maybe. If today was Sunday, that is.
“I… think I’m off work.” Logan nodded. “If not, I’m sure Vik would understand. If we’ve got feral vampire business to attend to, that is.”
“Nah, Alexei is taking care of that tonight.” Logan couldn’t see Mateo’s face, but he couldfeelhis smile. Maybe it was the bond, or maybe Logan was just learning Mateo’s habits.
“Why does it matter if I’m working, then?” Logan looked up to Marco for answers, but Marco just smiled softly down at him.
“Well, if Alexei is taking care of the stressful stuff, we figured we could take care ofyou.”Mateo pressed gently at Logan’s shoulder, coaxing him to lay flat on his back so he could see both twins’ faces.
“You’ve had a lot on your shoulders lately, Logan,” Marco added quietly. “We wanted to give you a day to just be normal.”
Logan frowned up at the ceiling, blinking the sleep from his eyes. “What do you mean?”
Mateo grinned, and Logan didn’t trust it at all. “You’ll see.” He sing-songed, brushing his fingers across Logan’s ribs teasingly.
Logan jerked, squirming instinctively. “Mateo!”
Mateo gasped in mock surprise. “My darling mate isticklish?”
“Don’t you fucking dare?—”
But Mateo dug his fingers into Logan’s ribs, and Loganyelped.“OH MY GOD! MARCO HELP!”He wheezed, and although he was laughing, Logan was definitely panicking on the inside. Weren’t vampires supposed to be less sensitive? What the fuck was this!
Marco hummed in mock thought, but didn’t step in. “I don’t know,caro,I think you’ve got this handled.”
“I will stake you both in your sleep!” Logan threatened, his laughs becoming more frantic.
Mateo finally relented, and Marco tucked the blanket back around Logan like nothing happened. He even gave Logan a little forehead kiss, the bastard. Logan hated them so much.
“You are both the actual worst,” Logan muttered.
