Page 52 of Wolfgang

Eric made a soft noise of contentment. “There. Now you can tell me.”

Wolfe tried to find the words again. He swallowed against a dry throat. “A-A woman came by, she was running alone. I compelled her, told her to remain calm—”

“That didn’t work on me,” Eric interrupted again, relaxing his broad form back against Wolfe’s chest.

Wolfe’s smile was hidden in Eric’s hair. “No, it didn’t. But my beast was less…recalcitrant this time. I fed from her quickly, healed her bite with my saliva, and sent her on her merry way.”

“You don’t kill to feed.” It was more a statement than a question.

“I’ve told you that already, pet.”

“But youhavekilled.” Eric was toying with Wolfe’s fingers. Not unclasping his hands, just petting along them, occasionally tapping them, as if to test their mettle.

It was pointless for Wolfe to ask himself whether to tell the truth. He never seemed to lie to Eric. “I have.”

Eric hummed his acknowledgment. “And you want to kill this kid. If he exists.”

Wolfe did notwant. He would take no pleasure in that sort of execution. But the end result would be the same. “I won’t risk exposure,” he said firmly.

“Why not?”

Wolfe allowed himself one slow, deep inhale of his mate’s scent, letting the wisteria relax his tense muscles. “Because I’ve lived long enough to know better. I was human during the First World War. I was a Swiss citizen, so I didn’t fight. But you couldn’t escape it either: the pointlessness and the cruelty. Then I was turned shortly before the second, and I remained in Europe throughout. I know what humanity is capable of. Death would be the least of our worries.”

Eric was petting his forearms now, as if to soothe either Wolfe or himself. “Because we’re monsters, you mean. Humans will think of us as monsters?”

“We do not age; we can regenerate after injury. It’s my belief that we’d be taken, most likely as research subjects. There are some fates worse than death, darling. I won’t risk it. And I won’t letyourisk it. I will protect us, first and foremost.” Wolfe tightened his hold, reassuring himself with the firmness of his mate’s form. “We’re different. Humans don’t take kindly to different. The others have their morals. I do not. I will do anything to keep you safe. Do you understand?”

There was a long silence as Eric processed. Wolfe couldn’t ascertain much through the bond, at least nothing new, as far as emotions went.

“Jay’s a vampire,” Eric eventually mused, seemingly out of nowhere. “That cute little barista. He drinks blood to survive. He hunts like you do.”

Wolfe did his best to contain the surge of jealousy he felt at the phrasecute little barista. “Yes.”

“Show me.”

“Show you?” Did Eric think he carried a photograph of Johann on his phone?

“The bite.”

Oh, but Wolfe’s beast liked that idea very much.

Taste our delicious mate?

Eric took Wolfe’s silence for hesitation. “Unless…is that gross? Drinking from another vampire?”

Wolfe cleared his throat. “Not gross, no. Intimate.”

A shock of lust from his mate, tightening Wolfe’s own belly and making his cock twitch. Eric clearly liked that word:intimate. He’d had both too much and too little intimacy in his life.

Wolfe could fix that.

He could fix everything, if only Eric would let him. He’d tear down any obstacles to Eric’s happiness. Touch him whenever he wanted. Reassure him when his misperceptions of self got the best of him. Allow him the time and space to learn what he enjoyed.

It could be that easy, couldn’t it?

And Wolfe would even let him keep those friends. Not only because they were another barrier between them and what might harm them, but also because Eric clearly needed some sort of community, some sort of touchstone for this new reality. It burned Wolfe that he alone might not be enough, but that was normal.

Not everyone had his single-minded intensity.

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