Page 24 of Pleasantly Undead in Dark River

I looked down at the boy with the big blank eyes and back at the crazed vampire with a smile on his face. “I think you better come in first.”

Chapter Thirteen

As soon as the boy walked through the front door, the pup in a food coma on my couch was awake. She was up over the back of the couch, and the boy bent down to hug her tightly to his chest. A tear slid down his cheek, and I blinked back my own.

“Uh, hey,” I said softly, not wanting to scare them. “I’m Raine. I’m a vampire. This is my mate, Tex,” I said softly as he came over to join me, placing my hand on his back. Shit, what did I say now? These were kids. I felt for my mate bond to Brody and sent my need for him down it. I didn’t know how to talk to kids, especially not shifter kids. “My other mate is an Alpha, and it seems to freak out your sister a little bit. Is it okay if he comes back? I promise you he’s safe. You are safe. Nothing and no one will hurt you again. You have my word.”

The boy stood tall again, well as tall as he could given he was less than four feet. “Alphas are bad.”

Tex looked at the kid, his face soft. “That’s not true. You’re an Alpha. Are you bad?”

The boy gave me a solemn nod. “Yes.” He swallowed hard. “We’ll be good. Carmen is hungry.”

I was speechless. Damn. I didn’t know what to do with this kind of trauma. The little white wolf pup was licking the face of the brown one.

“I’ll, uh, find you some food.”

Tex rested a hand on my arm. “They are going to need something to change into when they shift back,” he whispered. Dammit. I would not cry.

I nodded. “Of course. Let’s go and find something for them to wear. What's your name?” I asked the boy.

“Christopher.”

“And their names?”

He pointed to the brown pup. “Carmen.” And then to the little white pup. “Enit.”

I nodded. “Raine,” I told him again. “The big scary guy with the tattoos is X. And that's…” I looked over at Lucius, who was still covered in blood. “That’s Lucius.”

The boy blinked his big, blue eyes up at me. “I know.”

“He introduced himself?” Well, that was surprisingly thoughtful.

Christopher shook his head. “No. That’s what my owner yelled when he ripped out his heart. ‘I’m sorry, Lucius’.”

I couldn’t help my gasp and I gave Lucius a look over my shoulder. He seemed confused at my response again, like it didn’t occur to him that brutally murdering a man in front of a five year old was bad. Goddammit, he was going to be hard work.

“Uh, okay. Come on, let's find those clothes, then we will grab you something to eat, hey?”

I quickly found some of my smallest t-shirts, and judging by Christopher’s height and frame, they would probably be swimming in them, but they’d work as dresses until we could find something better for them. I laid them out and left them to it. “I’ll just be right out here.”

When I walked back into the living room, there were four vampires and two shifters. Judge had arrived and was snuggled up against Tex, but it was a careful move, because if you looked close enough, he was in the perfect position to defend Tex in case Lucius went insane and decided to attack. In fact, even X was standing slightly closer to Tex than he normally would. Brody paced back and forth near the front door, one eye on the still bloody vampire. Walker stared at him from his place on the couch. I moved toward him, seeking the comfort of his steadiness right now. “Uh, do you want to use the shower to clean up or something?” I asked Lucius as I sat on Walker’s lap.

Lucius looked down at his white dress shirt. It was splattered with arterial spray. “Oh this? The owner of the Alpha pup did not take my first offer. So I gave him a rather final offer.” His grin was wide and more than a little sinister.

I was a little fucked up because I found him seriously attractive in that moment.

X snorted, his shoulders shaking with laughter. I gave him a stern look and he shrugged. “What? That was funny!” He came over and slapped Lucius on the back. “Maybe I’m going to enjoy having another psychopath in the harem after all. But, we have to talk about your gift game. Nothing that was ever alive. Flowers are good. Bitches love flowers.”

“Hey!” I protested, but X just winked.

“Flowers were alive once?” Lucius asked, and I wondered if he was just fucking with X or if he really didn’t understand that my problem with dead bodies and trafficked shifter pups was an actual thing.

X made a giggle wheeze. “You know what, let’s just rule out anything that once had a heart, okay? Keep it simple.”

We all stood around, not knowing what to say or do. Damn, this was pretty awkward. “So, you uh, had a little trouble retrieving Enit’s siblings?”

Walker stood, keeping me in his arms, and I wrapped my legs around his waist, hanging on like a spider monkey. He walked to the fridge and grabbed a beer, one for me, himself and an extra. When he handed it to Lucius, I kissed his neck. God, I didn’t give him enough credit. He was always there for me, without the drama of Tex’s revelation, or X’s craziness, or these new complicated feelings for Nico and his twin. Nope, Walker was just there, steady and sexy as fuck. As he plopped me on the table, standing between my thighs, I rested my head on his shoulder. “Love you, Walker Walton,” I whispered in his ear.

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