Such a sentimental little thing.

  But the warm welcome seemed to appease the skittish child, who unclenched his muscles and took the opportunity to peek at Johann’s cards. He was decent enough looking now that he’d been bathed, Wolfe supposed. There was certainly a sort of elfin charm there, when he wasn’t snarling or beheading squirrels.

  But enough charm to entice a pair of would-be mothers?

  Johann peered around Daphne’s form—for once, he wasn’t the shortest in the room, platform shoes or not—and his eyes lit up in delight. “And Sybil!”

  Wolfe was forced to bear witness to more hugging, more enthusiastic reassurances of affection. It was, frankly, over the top.

  “Well?” Wolfe asked when all the fawning was over, gesturing to Riley. Impatience was getting the best of him, and he was struggling to rein it in. He wanted this situation over with. He wanted all these people out of his house. And he wanted Eric alone, preferably on all fours, being fucked within an inch of his life.

  Sybil cocked a mocking brow, her hand on the nape of Daphne’s neck. “You’re not going to rush us, Wolfgang. Not with this.”

  Johann looked at the women with dawning comprehension, his gray eyes going wide. “Oh. You’re the solution.” He turned back to Riley and Danny, who for his part was looking cautious but hopeful. “So, Riley, maybe we should go finish our game upstairs. Let the grown-ups talk.”

  Riley scowled at his cards. “About me?”

  “Yes, about you.” Ever the honest vampire, Johann. “But nothing bad. Just how to help.”

  Riley looked, for whatever reason, to Eric, who’d been standing off to the side, observing the whole spectacle with a sort of patient confusion. “I can’t go back to Mama, can I?”

  Before Eric could speak, Daphne stepped forward carefully, squeezing Sybil’s hand as she did so. “Not like this, I’m afraid, little one. We’re so sorry for what happened to you.”

  Riley nodded thoughtfully, gathering his cards and looking to his two playmates. Wolfe was hard-pressed to tell whether he was resigned to his fate or biding his time to the next escape attempt.

  Danny gestured to the stairs with his chin. “You two go on up. I’ll be there in a minute.” He gave a small wave to the newcomers. “Hello, I’m Danny.”

  Wolfe couldn’t help the roll of his eyes. “Yes, yes. This is Danny. And this is Eric. Sybil and Daphne, as I’m sure you both heard Johann yell quite loudly. We’ve all met; let’s get on with it.”

  Danny made a skeptical noise. “Isn’t it a little sexist to pawn the kid off on two women?”

  Sybil laughed airily, grabbing at Wolfe’s arm. “Yes, Wolfgang, isn’t it?”

  Wolfe gritted his teeth. “I distinctly recall Daphne expressing the wish for a child.”

  “Of course you do,” Daphne said approvingly, tapping a finger to her head. “That steel trap of yours.” She turned to Danny, the picture of sincerity. “He’s not wrong. It’s my one regret of meeting Sybil when I did. No younglings of our own. Unless you count Wolfe, and he’s really not the most affectionate son.”

  Wolfe tugged his arm out of Sybil’s hold, scowling at Daphne. “I am not your son.”

  “See what I mean?” Daphne cocked her head, studying Danny, acting as if she hadn’t realized what he was the moment she’d waltzed into the room. “You never wanted one of your own?”

  Danny shrugged. “I have a dog, so…”

  “A fur baby!” Daphne clapped her hands. “How delightful.”

  Wolfe resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. The two women knew his tells too well, and they’d never stop goading him if they realized it was working. “Do you want the brat or not?”

  “Wolfgang,” Daphne chastised. “First of all, he needs to agree to it.”

  “I believe he will. You two have a…warmth to you.”

  Sybil gave a dramatic gasp. “Compliments! How absolutely maudlin of you.” She fixed her gaze sharply on Eric. “Could it be this young gentleman’s influence?”

  Daphne took her cue, and the two began circling Eric—who’d been absolutely closemouthed during this whole ordeal because he was a perfect creature and not nearly as annoying as every single other person currently invading Wolfe’s house—like a pair of sharks.

  “Very handsome,” Sybil crooned. “These shoulders. But still, a certain sweetness to the face.”

  “He should grow that hair out a bit though,” Daphne mused. “It would suit him better.”

  “If the two of you would stop eyeing my mate like a slab of beef, I’d greatly appreciate it.”

  “Your mate?” Sybil pressed a hand to her chest, wide-eyed in mock surprise. “Way to bury the lede, Wolfgang.”

  “You don’t think the vampire child in need of a home merited the lede?”

  Eric was tense, clearly nervous, but he still managed a lovely smile for the women. “It’s nice to meet you both. I didn’t realize Wolfe had any friends. Except Jay sometimes.”

  “Sometimes?” Daphne’s brow furrowed, rounding on Wolfe. “Have you been upsetting sweet Johann?”

  Wolfe waved a hand. “I may have acted…rashly a few times since my arrival.”

  “He sort of kidnapped me,” Eric murmured, his cheeks flushing pink when Wolfe cocked a brow at the admission.

  Sybil laughed with delight. “Well, who could blame him?”

  “Stop. Flirting.” Now Wolfe did pinch the bridge of his nose. He hadn’t had a migraine in a century, but he thought he could feel one coming on regardless.

  Danny cleared his throat from his spot on the floor. “Um, so about Riley?”

  “Riley.” Daphne sighed happily. “He looks like a Riley.”

  “You think you can take care of him?”

  “It will be a challenge, surely,” Sybil said. “As a whole, we know very little about vampire children. Except that they have monstrous appetites. Can he feed on animals, do you know?”

  Eric shrugged. “He drained a squirrel, I’m pretty sure.”

  “That will help.” The two women looked at each other, starting a rapid-fire back-and-forth. “Somewhere woodsy, then. A large plot of land. Perhaps elk territory?”

  “But close enough to civilization to find humans to supplement.”

  “And if he stabilizes? What of his mother?”

  “Turned so young…he may forget her. With his vampire self clamoring constantly for blood, and the general trauma of what’s happened. But if not, we’ll deal with it when it comes.”

  They nodded in unison, clearly having come to some sort of conclusion, and then Daphne turned to Wolfe. “What about the son of a bitch who turned him?”

  “We don’t know,” Eric answered for him. “Jamie and Luc plan to try to find him, if they can. They think he may still be down south, in the desert.”

  That was news to Wolfe, but perhaps Eric had received a text of some sort.

  There was the brief clamor of stomping down the stairs, and then Riley and Johann were once again among them, moving to join Danny.

  “It was boring, just the two of us,” Riley said by way of explanation, observing the two women out of the corner of his eye as he dropped his cards on the table.

  Wolfe scoffed. “Was it really boring, or were you busy eavesdropping?”

  He received a slap on the shoulder from Daphne, who moved to crouch down in front of the child. “Hello, Riley. I know this is all happening very quickly, but Sybil and I would like to take you with us. Somewhere far away, where the bad vampire who turned you can’t find you. And we’ll help you with that bottomless pit of a belly you’ve got.”

  “I won’t forget Mama,” Riley said firmly. Eavesdropping indeed.

  Daphne only smiled softly. “And one day, when you’re older, and you’re not in danger of hurting her…we’ll help you track her down. Does that sound all right?”

  Riley pointed to Johann. “Is he coming with us?”

  Johann glanced uncertainly at Daphne, who nodded. “I’ll visit, when your guardians think it’s safe. And we can Facetime! I do that with Jamie’s sister sometimes.”

  Riley sighed, a surprisingly heavy sound for one so young, before grabbing the one comic designated as his. He stood from the coffee table, reaching for Daphne’s hand. “Okay.”

  Thank the lord, thank the devil, thank whatever other entity may have been involved. These people were finally leaving his house. Wolfe moved them along, unsubtle but uncaring. It wasn’t as if Riley had any belongings to pack. He and Daphne were already whispering to each other as they walked out the door, bonding in that quick way children and those fond of them were capable of.

  Sybil stopped on the porch, having the gall to pat Wolfe on his cheek. “I’m so glad you’ve find your mate, Wolfgang. He softens your edges, I can tell.”

  Wolfe’s edges didn’t feel very soft at the moment, but he managed a small nod of acknowledgment, if only to hurry things along. But then his mouth was moving without his permission. “And did you always want a child as well?”

  “Oh.” Sybil sighed, her eyes on Daphne and the urchin. “I would have been fine without, I’m sure. But my love yearns to care for one, and I yearn to care for my love.” She smiled conspiratorially at him. “We’ll do an awful lot for our mates, won’t we?”

  “Keep that child far away from us. If you lose control of him, I want nothing to do with it.”

  Sybil gave his cheek another pat. “There’s my lovely Wolfgang. Don’t you worry, we’ll be out of town by the morning.”

  Trembling with barely contained irritation and anger, Wolfe stalked to the sitting room, trying to get himself under control. It wasn’t in his nature to leave a complication open-ended, especially one as likely to blow up as this child. It made his skin itch. But he’d still done it, hadn’t he? And all for the man waiting for him in the sitting room, seemingly as tense as Wolfe was, most likely due to whatever he was feeling through the bond.

  What was Wolfe to do with him, this insecure mess of a man who claimed to be missing proper empathy but still tried to soften the lack thereof in Wolfe?

  Eric was watching him with wary green eyes as he entered the room. It was maddening. Wolfe wanted to punish him for forcing this compromise. And yet he was loath to cause his mate distress. Contentment—that was what he wanted from him, wasn’t it?

  It was terrible, these warring impulses, this conflict of emotions.

  But before Wolfe could open his mouth to speak—and what would he say, if he did?—Eric dropped to his knees, shuffling forward until he was directly in front of him, his head in line with Wolfe’s belt.

  It was an unmistakable gesture. What a clever mate, offering himself up as a sacrifice. Lust stirred hotly in Wolfe’s loins despite the lingering annoyance.

  Eric smiled softly at him, the expression almost shy. “You did a really good thing today.”

  Wolfe cocked a brow. “And you think to placate me by sucking my cock?” He tsked. “I doubt your mouth is that talented.”

  Eric’s smile lost its shyness, as if Wolfe had given him encouragement rather than censure. “But you love my mouth,” he teased.

  And how irritatingly true that was. Wolfe was addicted to it: claiming it, nipping at it, listening to all the ridiculous things it spouted.

  He’d turned into a sap.

  He clucked his tongue anyway, unwilling to admit defeat. “Cocky.”

  Eric reached out to toy with his belt. “Well, that’s your fault, isn’t it? For being so nice to me all the time. It’s messed with my ego.”

  Another truth, at least in part. Wolfe had spoiled Eric from the beginning, hadn’t he? Given in to all his whims. And it seemed he had no intention of stopping. He’d be concerned about the ledge he’d seemed to have found himself on if not for what Eric had told him in the woods.

  “Say it again,” Wolfe demanded, stepping even closer, delighting in the way he towered over Eric’s kneeling form.

  Eric didn’t have to ask what he meant. “I love you.”

  Wolfe’s arousal was flush with Eric’s face, his mate’s breath warm even through the layers of fabric. Eric took the hint, fishing him out of his slacks, taking Wolfe’s already hardening cock in hand.

  Wolfe smirked down at him, this beautiful man. “You gave me so much trouble in the beginning. Now look at you.”

  Eric stroked him before answering, Wolfe’s cock stiffening painfully in no time at all. “That’s because you deserved it.”

  “And now I deserve your devotion, do I?”

  He was granted a sly smile before Eric placed a chaste kiss to the base of him, running his fingers over what bare skin he could. “It depends on my mood.”

  Wolfe sucked in a breath as Eric licked him from root to tip before mouthing at Wolfe’s swollen head. “Of course it does.”

  And then Wolfe groaned, his fingers clenching against his own pant leg, as Eric took him fully into his hot, wet mouth. He leaned back against the wall, letting one hand fall onto Eric’s head, as Eric started sucking with purpose.

  Even with arousal hot in his belly, Wolfe’s lingering annoyance made him more demanding, meaner. He offered no soothing words of encouragement, only demands.

  “More tongue.”

  “Deeper. I want you sloppy, pet.”

  Still, he sighed with pleasure when Eric gagged, spit soaking Wolfe’s cock, before earnestly sucking him down again. “There it is.”

  This was what he deserved. Eric, flushed and desperate and slutty, all for Wolfe’s cock. And he would have it, wouldn’t he? All this and more. For an eternity.

  When his belly tightened and his balls drew tight, he tugged Eric’s hair, catching those green eyes. “Swallow me down, darling. Every drop.”

  Eric nodded with a garbled sound, and Wolfe watched, breathing harshly with his release, as that Adam’s apple bobbed with each swallow.

  When Wolfe finally pulled him off, Eric looked stunning: teary-eyed, spit-soaked, heavy-lidded. All the meanness drained out of Wolfe’s body in an instant.

  “My perfect darling,” he crooned, cupping Eric’s cheek.

  Eric’s answering smile was beatific.

  Wolfe started unbuttoning his vest, his shirt soon to follow. “Now strip, pet. I need you naked.”

  Eric eyed Wolfe’s softening cock with raised brows. “But…”

  Wolfe smirked at him. “Don’t worry. Your hole won’t be empty for long. I’m nowhere near done with you yet.”

  Eric flushed beautifully before stripping with an eagerness that would be amusing if Wolfe weren’t feeling so beastly with as-yet-unsated desire. As perfect as Eric had sucked him, it hadn’t been enough.

  Would it ever be enough?

  “Do you want a pillow for your knees?” Wolfe asked, feeling magnanimous after his orgasm. However Eric answered, Wolfe would be taking his mate here and now. On the floor.

  Eric shook his head, his eyes on Wolfe’s bare chest. “No. But you need to be naked too.”

  “Do I?” Already back to giving orders. Spoiled indeed.

  But there was no reason not to comply. Wolfe stripped himself of his trousers, loving the increased attention he received in return, Eric’s lustful gaze traveling over his form like a caress.

  When they were both naked, Eric’s magnificent cock leaking copiously with his arousal, Wolfe waved his hand. “On all fours, pet.”

  “Jesus.”

  Wolfe fetched the lube he’d hidden away in the side table. He took a moment to appreciate the sight: his mate’s muscular ass presented to him, his strong legs trembling not from effort or fear but anticipation. It must have been torture for poor Eric, not to touch that swollen cock. But he was being good for Wolfe, his hands planted firmly on the floor. Giving him his reward.

  Wolfe knelt behind him, stroking the smooth skin of Eric’s hip. “All right, pet?”

  “’m perfect,” Eric mumbled.

  “You are.” Wolfe pressed a kiss to Eric’s lower back, tracing a lubed finger over Eric’s hole, delighting in the way it fluttered at the attention. He was such a treasure to work open, the way he whined and moaned and pushed back against Wolfe’s fingers.

  Wolfe lost himself in the pleasure, pressing kisses along Eric’s spine, mouthing at the skin of his shoulders. A feast all for him. By the time he had three fingers in, Eric was a writhing, mewling mess, and Wolfe’s cock was back to full hardness.

  He lined himself up, breath catching as his swollen head passed the tight restriction of Eric’s rim. This was as close to heaven as he’d ever get. This tight, hot grip, the pulse of Eric’s pleasure dancing along with his own.

  He barely gave Eric a moment to adjust before going hard, his hips rocking back and plunging in deeply again and again, covering Eric’s broad back with his own. He felt beastly. Undone. He wanted to plant his seed as deep as he could in this frustrating man, fuck him into oblivion, rut into him until all he knew was Wolfe.

  Eric keened with every thrust. “F-Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”

  His cries were desperate, his skin hot.

  Wolfe wanted him closer.

  He found himself wrapping his arms around Eric’s chest, sitting back on his knees and pulling Eric with him, onto his lap. He paused there, panting. He’d meant to be mating him—conquering him—but here he was holding him. That was fine. He had certain things to say.

  “Listen closely, pet.”

  Eric whined.

  Wolfe licked a stripe of sweat off his neck. “Are you listening?”

  Eric gave a dazed nod, even as his hips jerked, trying to work himself on Wolfe’s cock. Insatiable. But Wolfe held him firm.

  He tugged at his mate’s ear with blunt teeth. “I can be good to you, pet. Good for you. Always, if you ask me. But you will never, ever leave me. Do you understand? You are mine. And if you run, I will catch you, and I won’t hesitate to burn everything down in my wake.”

  “Fuck. You fucking psycho.” Eric laughed breathily, but he didn’t withdraw from Wolfe’s touch. His ass was still grinding back against Wolfe, as if to tantalize him into moving.

 

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