Page 71 of Roman

It was well into the afternoon when Danny finally woke up—apparently his exhaustion had finally caught up with him—and he was a bit disgruntled not to find any sexy vampire lover cuddling with him in bed.

There was a full glass of water next to his bed, though, and a note taped to Danny’s phone: Drink this. I went to run some errands. There is also a quiche waiting for you in the refrigerator. Please eat. —Roman

Danny found it ridiculous and maybe a little adorable that, instead of just texting, Roman had gone to the trouble of taping a physical piece of paper to Danny’s phone. What a dork.

He brushed his teeth quickly and jogged downstairs, feeling refreshed after sleeping for practically an entire day. He found Soren at the kitchen counter, looking down at his own phone with a grim expression.

“Everything okay?” Danny asked.

Soren looked up, and Danny was mesmerized to see the switch when his familiar maniacal grin fell into place in less than an instant. The blond vampire must have been feeling more like himself, then.

“Everything’s peachy, human.”

“Roman’s not back from his errands?” Danny went straight to the fridge to find this quiche he had been promised.

“Not quite. But I was instructed to take you to work and to make sure you were fed and watered beforehand.”

Danny snorted at that. “Fed and watered? I’m not a horse.”

Soren hummed. “Close enough, you high-maintenance mammal. But if you get a move on, I figured we could head to the hospital a few hours early and see your brother.” At Danny’s expression, he hurried on, “I won’t go in. I’ll just drop you off.”

“Thank you, that’s very…thoughtful.”

Danny didn’t know what to make of Soren apparently following his brother around. He wasn’t exactly angry anymore, now that he’d had time to process. He knew that no matter what Luc had said about Soren being part of his reason for the attack, the psychopath still wouldn’t have targeted Gabe if he hadn’t been Danny’s brother.

Still, it was a little…unsettling. Soren had been helping him and Roman out, and Danny liked the other vampire, even if he was a bit strange. There was an undercurrent of wildness to him—as if he played by his own chaotic rules of right and wrong. And while Danny knew Gabe was handsome—his brother always had both men and women at his heels—Soren was a knockout in his own right, all ethereal male beauty. Danny wasn’t sure why he would be so fixated on Danny’s straight-laced, all-American brother.

But Danny had decided he was going to focus on one thing at a time, in order to prevent his brain from exploding. And right now that thing was getting to work in time to visit with Gabe. Later, when Danny was done with work and Roman was back, that thing would be brainstorming ways to deal with Luc. So…priorities.

Danny crammed bites of quiche into his mouth—it still didn’t seem fair that a vampire that didn’t need to eat human food could cook so well—and hurried off to take a quick shower.

He had half expected Soren to try to sneak his way into the hospital after all, but after pulling up to the hospital entrance and booting Danny out, he only waved cheekily and sped off without a word.

Danny dropped his belongings off in the ER staff locker room, then rushed to the room where he’d found his brother the day before.

Gabe was sleeping in his hospital bed, with a new dressing on his arm and an antibiotic running through his IV. He’d had his surgery already, then. Nobody had called Danny to let him know. Was Danny even listed as Gabe’s family contact?

He sat down in the chair next to his bed and studied his brother. Gabe looked so much softer than usual, sleeping like that.

“Hey, Gabe,” he said when his brother’s eyes finally opened. He found himself keeping his voice soft in that way people couldn’t help when they were in a hospital room.

“Hey.” Gabe’s voice was thick with sleep. “You’re okay?”

Danny laughed. “I’m supposed to be askingyouthat.”

Gabe sat up with a little grimace. “Oh, I’m just dandy. They said I can go home tomorrow, after my rounds of antibiotics are done.”

Danny grinned at the news. “I can take you home then. I’ll get the night off tomorrow, take care of you.”

Gabe frowned down at his arm. “You don’t need to do that.”

“Yes, I do. You’ll need help while you’re getting the hang of using just one arm. I bet you’re not allowed to bear weight or lift with it, right?”

Gabe nodded reluctantly.

“You could even come home with me, if you think you can tolerate the presence of my monstrous boyfriend.”

Gabe ran his hand through his hair. “I thought maybe I hallucinated that conversation.”

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