“I didn’t say he was sick, Mom, just that the people in the lab did something to him.”
“Well, I’m going to come check him on my own. So, closest airport?”
“Mom...”
“Fine,” There was a noise, then his mom’s voice became dimmer as she yelled, “Paul? I need you to book us flights for Whitedell.” Yanis’ stepfather said something Yanis didn’t understand, and his mother answered, “No, I don’t think it’s far from Gillham. I heard of Whitedell before, but I don’t remember where.”
“Mom.”
“It’s the Laramie airport, right? Yanis?”
Yanis rolled his eyes. “Yeah.”
“He said yes, Paul. Oh, I don’t know. We’ll need to ask them. You should do it now so that we can book the flights.”
“Mom, you can’t bring the whole family with you.”
“But—”
“Nope.”
Yanis’ mother huffed. “Fine. I’ll just ask your brother if he and Jess want to come.”
“Don’t do it, Mom, you know Jess had the baby only five weeks ago.”
“So? Babies can fly.”
“I know that, but—”
The kitchen door opened and Adan stepped out. Yanis’ chest tingled and Adan beamed. Yanis rolled his eyes at him.
“Okay, Paul called your brother and he’s coming. Jess is, too, and she said Lenny can fly, so we’ll all be there in two days. I’d have come before, but we need to pack and to make sure someone can take care of Coco and Ades.”
At least Yanis’ mother wouldn’t insist on bringing her cats this time. They got along fine with her and saw her like their tiny pride’s leader, but they’d hated Gillham with a passion, and more than one pack member had come away from them with more scratches and bites than Yanis had been able to count. He fleetingly thought that the pride might be different since it was mostly composed of cats, but he didn’t really care. The two demons were staying home, and that was enough for him.
“When are you arriving?”
“Ten in the morning, two days from now.”
“I’ll pick you up.”
“Nonsense. We can rent a car, that way you won’t have to drive us around like last time.”
Yanis was actually glad about that, because Jess had been pregnant at the time, and her cravings had driven Yanis’ crazy. She’d once knocked on his door at three A.M. because she wanted pineapple and mayo and she didn’t want to wake Bobby, but she also couldn’t be without pineapple and mayo. Yanis had had to drive to Gillham to find an open store, and no one had seemed to have pineapples. Jess had cried for half an hour when he’d gone back home without it.
“I’ll ask Keenan to get two guestrooms ready, then.”
“Who’s Keenan? I thought you said your mate’s name was Adan.”
“It is. Keenan is Dominic Nash’s PA, and he runs the house with an iron fist. Well, when he wants to, but he’s really a big softy, and you can bribe him with candy. He never says no to that.”
“You’re living with a council member?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, I’d love to meet a second one. Maybe I can manage to meet all of them one day.”
Why his mom behaved like the council members were popstars, Yanis didn’t know. “Maybe.”
“I’ve heard Dominic Nash is very handsome, and he’s a lion.”
“And he’s happily mated with a man.”
Yanis’ mother huffed. “I’m married too, you know. Can’t I dream a bit?”
“No. Just, no. Please.”
Adan snickered and Yanis reached out to swat his ass. Adan’s eyes widened, because even though they slept together and had had a hot encounter, they were still a bit awkward around each other. Swatting each other’s asses wasn’t something they did often.
Then Adan stuck his tongue out and swatted back. It didn’t hurt, because Adan hadn’t hit Yanis hard and he was wearing jeans, but Yanis still squirmed. “Hey, Mom, I’ve gotta go, okay?”
“Yes, all right. We’ll see you soon, Yanis. And behave.”
“Always, Mom.”
Yanis didn’t waste any time and hung up. He put the phone in his pocket and turned to Adan. Adan’s eyes widened, but Yanis didn’t think he was afraid. “You want to spank me?”
Adan arched a brow. “Maybe?”
“And you really had to do it while I was on the phone with my mother.”
“You started it.”
Yanis yanked Adan close and kissed him. The kiss was all teeth, tongue and need humming under Yanis’ skin. He wanted to wrap himself around Adan and take him away, take him to their room and claim him. Then he realized nothing was stopping him, so he put his hands under Adan’s ass and hauled him up. He blindly reached for the kitchen door, but it swung open before he could turn the knob.
“What’re you doing, guys?” Nysys asked.
Yanis groaned and let Adan slither down.
Chapter Six
“So, how do you like living here?”
Joshua didn’t answer. He just looked at Adan, a brow arched, silently asking Adan why the fuck he wanted to know that. Well, that was what Adan could feel coming from Joshua anyway.
“I like it,” Adan continued. “There’s a lot of people, but it’s nice.” He waited for Joshua to answer, but the man was still just staring. It made Adan feel like an insect and he squirmed on his chair.
Adrian elbowed Joshua in the side. “Don’t be a dick.”
Joshua sighed. “But I am a dick. You know that.”
Gosh, the glance Adrian gave Joshua was so hot and intimate Adan wanted to disappear, possibly to find Yanis and bang his brain out.
“Not really. Just answer the man, Josh. You know he’s new.”
Joshua stared at Adrian for a few seconds, rolled his eyes, and looked at Adan. “Yes, I like living here. No, I don’t care how many people live here, they mostly leave me alone anyway. I wish I could kill or at least maim those who don’t, but I don’t think Dominic would be too happy about that.”
Adrian leaned forward across the table. “He’s talking about Keenan and Nysys, in case you were wondering.”
“Really, it could only do us good to cut out Nysys’ tongue,” Joshua added.
Adan would have been worried if he hadn’t felt Joshua’s amusement. Adrian rolled his eyes. “He’s joking.” He swatted Joshua’s chest. “You shouldn’t say stuff like that. You’re going to scare someone.”
“That’s the point.”
Adan prodded at the two a bit more, but he couldn’t feel anything other than amusement and love coming from them. It wasn’t a certainty, but he didn’t think either of them were the mole. Dominic would be delighted to know both his doctors were good to go. Of course, Adrian already knew what Adan was, so Joshua probably did, too, but they didn’t know what Dominic had asked from him, and that there was a mole in the house.
“Adan?”
Adan turned to see Isaiah peeking in the kitchen. “Yes.”
“Someone’s at the gate for you. Sylvie something. It’s a French name, and I have no idea how to pronounce it, but Emery warned me she would come.”
“He did?” Adan hadn’t known. Emery had given him Sylvie’s number, but he hadn’t had the time or the energy to call her yet. He spent a lot of time hanging around the house and prodding at people’s emotions.
“Uh, yeah. Is it a problem? Should I keep the gate closed?”
“No, no. Let her in.” Of course, no one but a few people knew what Sylvie was and why she was there, and Isaiah wasn’t one of those. He gave Adan a strange look, and Adan wasn’t sure if it was because Adan didn’t seem to know who Sylvie was or because Isaiah simply wasn’t used to Adan’s presence just yet. Not everyone was.
Adan got up and walked closer. He prodded at Isaiah, but he felt only curiosity. No fear, no worry.
“I’ll let her in,” Isaiah said. “You can go open the front door.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Isaiah left, and Adan followed at a more sedate pace. He knew what Sylvie was there for, but he didn’t think he’d have the time to learn much from her, not until he was done talking with everyone. He needed to repay Dominic for what he’d done, and this was the only way he could right now.
Adan opened the door and watched a car pass the gate and park in front of the house. He didn’t know how he’d expected Sylvie to be—maybe dark hair, dark eyes, the emo type—but she didn’t look like a vampire at all, or at least not like Adan imagined vampires to be. But then, he technically was one, too, and he was pretty sure he didn’t look like it.
Sylvie stepped out of the car and she was all flowing blond hair and girlish clothes. Her jacket was hot pink and she wore high heels. She flipped her hair backward and looked at Adan. He waited for her reaction, and he wasn’t exactly surprised when she beamed and bounced up the stairs. He was surprised when she jumped on him and hugged him like her life depended on it, though. “Adan!”
He awkwardly patted her back. “Uh, yes. Hi.”
Sylvie pulled back, but she didn’t let go. “I’m so happy to meet you. I couldn’t believe it when Emery called and told me he’d met another empathic vampire.”
Adan looked around, but no one was there. “Can you please avoid talking about that where other people can hear us? It’s complicated, but almost no one knows about me.”
She frowned, but she nodded. “Only if you tell me why you don’t want people to know.”
“I’ll tell you. So, umm, I didn’t know you were coming.”
She finally let go and waved. “Oh, I didn’t know either. It was an impulsive decision. I did call Emery to tell him I was coming once I was on the road.”
“Right. He didn’t tell me, and I don’t think he told anyone else, so we should go see Dominic. He’s the alpha, so he needs to know you’re here.”
She clapped. “Oh, I’ve always wanted to meet him. Well, ever since I found out about the council. It was such a brilliant idea.”
Adan kept glancing at her as they made their way to Dominic’s office. The door was open, but he still knocked on it as he looked inside. Dominic was talking with Keenan, but he waved Adan inside. “Keenan was just done.”
Keenan huffed. “I was not. You’re going to have to go to at least one of these parties, and you know it. Those people expect it from you, and you could lose their vote if you don’t.”
“I wasn’t voted into the council, Keenan.”
“It’s the same. You wouldn’t want them to start supporting that other council, the homophobic one, would you?”
“No, I wouldn’t, but what does that have to do with me going to parties?”
Adan sat in front of Dominic’s chair and Sylvie took the other seat. She looked at Keenan and Dominic, seemingly enraptured by their conversation. Adan hesitated, because he didn’t actually like prodding people for feelings, but he was too curious. He let a tendril slide toward Sylvie, but when it touched her chest, her eyes snapped toward Adan.
He jerked and hurriedly tried to get the tendril to come back, but Sylvie smiled and suddenly Adan’s tendril was twining with one of hers. Adan could almost feel his vampire part purr in delight at finally finding someone they belonged with.
His bobcat seriously didn’t like the thought, though, and it hissed in the back of Adan’s mind. Sylvie laughed, and Keenan and Dominic stopped talking and looked at her.
“Your cat is cute,” she told Adan.
“You can feel him?”
“Yes. I’m not going to try to take you away from your mate.” She gently extracted her tendril from Adan’s and Adan pulled his back inside his body.
“Something you need to tell me, Adan?” Dominic asked.
“Yeah. That’s why we’re here.”
Keenan pointed at a folder on Dominic’s desk. “If you don’t choose one party, I’ll do it for you, and I’m sure you won’t like it.”
“I really don’t want to go to any parties, Keenan,” Dominic told him.
“I know, and I don’t care. You have to, so choose and let me know this afternoon.”
“Keenan...”
“I swear I’ll choose the puppy party if you don’t.”
He left in a hurry and Adan looked at Dominic. “Puppy party?”
“Believe me, you don’t want to know. To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?”
Sylvie giggled and Adan rolled his eyes. “This is Sylvie. She’s an empathic vampire.”
“Oh?”
“She’s the one Emery told me about, but I didn’t know she was coming.”
“I’ll ask Keenan to get a room ready.” He looked at Sylvie. “Are you staying long?”
“I think a few days. There’s not really much I think I can do for Adan. He looks like he already has a nice grip on himself.”
“The only thing I’m asking you is that you don’t tell people why you’re here. Only selected people know about what Adan is, and I want to keep it that way.”
“What do I say when someone asks me who I am and why I’m here?”
“Just say you’re a distant cousin,” Adan said. They looked a bit alike, so it wouldn’t be a problem.
She grinned. “Oh, I can’t wait to have a nice chat with you.”
Adan sighed. With Sylvie there, he really wouldn’t have any time left for Yanis.
* * * *
Yanis groaned and flopped on his bed. Adan was nowhere to be seen, and Yanis expected his family to arrive soon. He probably should find Adan, but he’d heard the empathic vampire had arrived that morning, and Adan was probably busy with her. Yanis wanted to grab his mate and drag him away, but he knew Adan needed to get a grip on his power, and the other vamp was the only one who could help him.
The bedroom door opened and Yanis looked up. Adan looked exhausted, and Yanis was surprised to see him so soon. He sat up and opened his arms, and Adan slid into them without questions. He settled on Yanis’ lap and put his head on Yanis’ shoulder, closing his eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“Tired.”
Yanis nodded. “I bet. I heard the vampire Emery knows got here this morning.”
Adan nodded slowly. “I should have told you, but she decided she wanted to see what I could already do, so she had me reading the emotions of random pride members.”
“But you’ve been doing exactly that for the past week.”
“Yeah, but I usually do only one or two people at a time. She asked me to read everyone in the dining room at lunch, and to do it from the entrance.”
“Is that even possible?” Yanis asked, rubbing his hand on Adan’s back.
Adan made a throaty sound and arched his back a bit. “Yeah, it is. It’s just fucking tiring.”
Yanis continued to rub Adan’s back and Adan squirmed a bit. Even though Yanis knew very well Adan wasn’t doing it on purpose, he couldn’t stop his dick from twitching at the movement. Adan was tired, so the last thing he probably wanted was for Yanis to get a boner. Not that Yanis would necessarily do something about it, but it had been almost two weeks since they’d last been intimate, and it was starting to put a strain on Yanis.
He wasn’t trying out new powers or searching for a mole, so apart from training with the enforcers a few times a week, he didn’t have much to do but follow Adan around. It was like a dangling carrot—Yanis could be with Adan, but he couldn’t spend time alone with him. There was always someone around, and Yanis was tired of it.
“I hope you’re free this weekend.”
Adan looked up. “Huh?”
“This weekend? Are you free?”
Yanis’ family should be gone by then, so they wouldn’t ask questions, and Yanis hoped Adan could take a few days off.
“I don’t know. Sylvie’s staying only a few days, but I still haven’t talked to everyone.”
“You’re exhausting yourself, Adan. You need to rest.”
&nb
sp; “I know, but I’m fine, really. I can do this.”
“I never said you couldn’t. I just think you need a night off.”
Adan cocked his head. “What did you have in mind?”
“You, me, a hotel room, Saturday night.”
“Will that imply biting or sex of any kind?”
“If you want to.”
Adan slowly smiled. “Oh, I want. Very much so.”
“So you think Dominic will give you at least an evening off?”
“Mmm, if he doesn’t, how about you kidnap me?”
“I think I can do that.”
Yanis kissed Adan, and Adan kissed back with enthusiasm. The brief kisses they exchanged during the day weren’t enough, and Yanis wanted more. He wanted to be able to stay in bed until late in the morning and cuddle. He wanted to be able to have sex without someone walking in on them or calling them. He wanted to be able to mate with Adan and to have all the time he needed to do it right.
Adan pushed Yanis onto the bed and twisted in his lap until he straddled him. Yanis slipped a hand under Adan’s sweater and stroked his back, smiling against Adan’s lips when Adan groaned. He pushed his hand higher and pressed the other one on Adan’s ass, pushing their groins together.
Adan kissed him harder, his tongue invading Yanis’ mouth.
Yanis’ phone rang.
Adan sprang up. “I can’t believe this!” He raked a hand in his hair and scowled at Yanis’ phone on the nightstand.
Yanis took a deep breath and tried to push the arousal down, then reached out to take it. “Yes?”
“We’re almost there.”
“That’s great, Mom.”
Adan’s eyes widened and he pressed his lips together. Yanis rolled his eyes.
“Will you wait for us?” Yanis’ mom asked, distracting him from Adan.
“Of course. I’ll text Isaiah to let you in and wait for you at the front door.”
“Will your mate be there?”
“I think so. I have to see if he’s busy.” Yanis wanted to give Adan a way out if he didn’t want to meet Yanis’ family yet. Yanis loved them, but even he realized they could be a bit much sometimes, and Adan wasn’t used to it, not after a year spent on his own.
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