Page 53 of Soren

“Sweet.” He said it like a curse.

“You are to me.” It was a rare occurrence, to see Soren blush. Gabe was fascinated by the faint pink stealing over his vampire’s cheeks, the tips of his ears.

His vampire. Hismate, if he wanted to go there.

Did Gabe want to go there?

Soren stepped closer and tucked his face into Gabe’s chest. Most likely to hide his blush, but Gabe welcomed the contact anyway, rubbing his hands soothingly over Soren’s back.

“He used to call me ‘angel.’” The statement came out muffled. “He’d get upset when I wasn’t.”

Hendrick. That evil motherfucker.

Gabe hugged Soren tighter. “I’m not looking for an angel though.”

Soren leaned his head back, peering up at Gabe. “Whatareyou looking for, then?”

Gabe smiled. “I’m not looking for anything. I’m just—I just like having you around. You’re better than any hypothetical angel, brat.”

Soren scowled at him. “Cheesy,” he accused. “Way too cheesy for words. You should be ashamed.”

But he didn’t step out of Gabe’s arms.

thirteen

Soren

Sorentookasmallsip of his vodka soda. It wasn’t his drink of choice, but he didn’t trust this place to make him anything more complicated than that. The bar definitely wasn’t one of his usual haunts, with its surly staff and tasteless collection of neon signs advertising mediocre beer brands. But he was trying to keep as far away from Danny’s house as he could without leaving city limits.

He’d been drinking and flirting his way through this part of town all night. It should have been fun—it might have been in the past—but mostly it was just…tedious. There was no heart to the flirting. No real intention. Not even for the sake of hunting.

Soren’s inner vamp was still only interested in one particular prey.

It wasn’t like Soren had suddenly stopped liking to go out—dancing and flirting with Gabe at his side had been all kinds of delightful. He’d relished getting to study his human’s reactions to Soren, to other men. And then the incredible satisfaction at being the one to take him home at the end of the night. But Gabe was at his stupidwork.

With Jay there for added protection, of course.

Theoretically it should have been Soren with him, but Soren was hoping to avoid drawing attention to his human—if Hendrick hadn’t gotten a close look at Gabe that night, then it would be best for them not to be seen together. And while Jay wouldn’t be much of a defense against Hendrick, he was still stronger than any human and would hopefully be able to stall Hendrick enough for Soren to get there.

At least, that was what Soren hoped. He worried he was putting an awful lot of stock in Jay’s loyalty to him, considering this was Jay’s first time away from that fucking den. He caught himself biting at his fingernails and tucked his free hand under his thigh, annoyed at his own nervous tell.

Was Soren making a mistake? But Jay had always hated Hendrick. He could never understand why Hendrick took such delight in hurting Soren, why he didn’t take more care with him, like Vee had for Jay. Soren was counting on that hatred to help his old friend hold strong.

He took another sip of his drink. It would be okay.Gabewould be okay.

And Jay had been more than happy to help, sweetheart that he was. Moreover, he was nonthreatening and adorable enough that Gabe had been pretty sure Jay could get away with hanging around the hospital cafeteria all night without drawing too much suspicion.

Soren was trying very hard not to feel bitter about it all. At how easily Gabe and Jay interacted. He was painfully aware this was all his own trauma-induced bullshit. Gabe had done more than his fair share in reassuring him, both verbally and in other ways, that he liked Soren just as he was. And he wasn’t being subtle about it—having Jay around apparently did absolutely nothing to stop Gabe from wanting to touch and hold Soren all the time.

And Soren was having a hard time even pretending to be annoyed by it. Helikedbeing touched by his human. Liked being held by his human.

Soren had never thought he could be so content stuck in the same boring house for days. But Gabe had a way of making staying still easy, for the first time in Soren’s lengthy existence.

Soren toyed with his straw, trying to push thoughts of his human away. There was an even better reason to send Jay in his stead. Hendrick may have been jealous in the past, but his obsession was still very much with Soren. If Gabe had to leave the house, Soren wanted to be as far away from him as possible.

Even better if Soren could draw Hendrick out himself.

He’d tried calling the same number he’d been receiving all those goddamn texts from, but either Hendrick had blocked him or he’d already dropped whatever burner he’d been using to taunt Soren. Another aspect of his pointless mind games, no doubt.Don’t call me; I’ll call you.

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