Page 36 of All Night Long

The nurse nodded and checked the machine, pressing a few buttons. “That’s good to know. Any pain?”

“Nope! None! I feel good!” He giggled again. “I need this at home for when I deal with my mate. He has a stick up his ass.”

The nurse sucked her lips in and nodded. “I’m sure your mate is pleased to hear that.”

“The mate is sitting right here.”

“Yes, he is, and he’s a keeper… not!” Henry giggled again. “I might keep him, though. He’s a good fuck.”

“And it’s time for you to leave.” Gray stood and tried to usher the nurse out of the room, but she batted his hands away. “I’m sure you’ve taken all the measurements you need to.”

“I’ve heard far worse.” The nurse wrote down numbers and asked a few more questions, but Henry giggled instead of answering them. “Okay. I’ll come back in a couple of hours when the morphine has had time to wear off.”

Henry’s stomach churned and his mouth flooded with saliva. “I don’t feel so good.” Gray grabbed a bucket and shoved it under Henry’s face just as he vomited. Henry groaned and vomited again. “I don’t like drugs now.”

Closing his eyes, Henry sighed and lay back. He really didn’t like being shot.

***

Gray held the bucket at arm’s length and watched his mate succumb to sleep, ignoring the stench of vomit. The nurse took the bucket from him and walked out of the room, saying, “let him sleep.”

Gray pulled a chair closer to the bed and watched his mate. His gorgeous and sexy mate. He was an idiot, but he knew that and he would do everything he could to change the way he saw humans. It wouldn’t happen overnight, but he would make the effort because Henry deserved a mate who could be there for him. Not a mate who turned up when he had to.

When the door opened behind him, Gray saw Kelvin and nodded. Standing, he kissed Henry’s forehead and followed Kelvin out of the room.

“Alma understands, but you’ll be in trouble.”

“I know. I should have gone to them straight away when we’d mated. Kinda like how you should have.”

Kelvin shrugged. “Hope they don’t give you sanitation duty.”

“I run our security, so I imagine it’ll be something else.”

Kelvin shrugged and disappeared, Gray quickly following. They stood outside the council chambers and Gray pushed open the door, walking to stand in front of the council members.

“How is your mate?” Council woman Alma asked.

“He’s recovering well, though his reaction to morphine is interesting.”

“You know why you’re here?”

“I broke our law regarding mating. It was accidental.” Wincing, Gray shook his head. “I didn’t realize until after and then I denied it.”

“We’re aware of your…fondness for humans.”

“Well, I guess I have to work on that now.”

“Hmm. We’ve been discussing your punishment, and we’ve come to the agreement that you being mated to a human is your punishment.”

Gray glared at the councilman who’d spoken. “I’m honored to have Henry as my mate.”

“So honored you almost lost him.” The councilman moved on his chair. “You’re mated to the very species you hate, and you have to adapt. You have to face those emotions you have and learn to overcome them or your mating is doomed. You know this because you’ve been dealing with it. Unsatisfactorily, I would guess, as well.”

Gray nodded. “I haven’t treated my mate well, but I intend to do so from now on.”

“Good. An addition to your punishment is to help in the community outreach.”

The community outreach. A place where vampires worked with humans who knew about them and helped the local area. He would be around humans. “I see.”

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