Page 71 of Wolfgang

“Stop. Flirting.” Now Wolfe did pinch the bridge of his nose. He hadn’t had a migraine in a century, but he thought he could feel one coming on regardless.

Danny cleared his throat from his spot on the floor. “Um, so about Riley?”

“Riley.” Daphne sighed happily. “He looks like a Riley.”

“You think you can take care of him?”

“It will be a challenge, surely,” Sybil said. “As a whole, we know very little about vampire children. Except that they have monstrous appetites. Can he feed on animals, do you know?”

Eric shrugged. “He drained a squirrel, I’m pretty sure.”

“That will help.” The two women looked at each other, starting a rapid-fire back-and-forth. “Somewhere woodsy, then. A large plot of land. Perhaps elk territory?”

“But close enough to civilization to find humans to supplement.”

“And if he stabilizes? What of his mother?”

“Turned so young…he may forget her. With his vampire self clamoring constantly for blood, and the general trauma of what’s happened. But if not, we’ll deal with it when it comes.”

They nodded in unison, clearly having come to some sort of conclusion, and then Daphne turned to Wolfe. “What about the son of a bitch who turned him?”

“We don’t know,” Eric answered for him. “Jamie and Luc plan to try to find him, if they can. They think he may still be down south, in the desert.”

That was news to Wolfe, but perhaps Eric had received a text of some sort.

There was the brief clamor of stomping down the stairs, and then Riley and Johann were once again among them, moving to join Danny.

“It was boring, just the two of us,” Riley said by way of explanation, observing the two women out of the corner of his eye as he dropped his cards on the table.

Wolfe scoffed. “Was it really boring, or were you busy eavesdropping?”

He received a slap on the shoulder from Daphne, who moved to crouch down in front of the child. “Hello, Riley. I know this is all happening very quickly, but Sybil and I would like to take you with us. Somewhere far away, where the bad vampire who turned you can’t find you. And we’ll help you with that bottomless pit of a belly you’ve got.”

“I won’t forget Mama,” Riley said firmly. Eavesdropping indeed.

Daphne only smiled softly. “And one day, when you’re older, and you’re not in danger of hurting her…we’ll help you track her down. Does that sound all right?”

Riley pointed to Johann. “Is he coming with us?”

Johann glanced uncertainly at Daphne, who nodded. “I’ll visit, when your guardians think it’s safe. And we can Facetime! I do that with Jamie’s sister sometimes.”

Riley sighed, a surprisingly heavy sound for one so young, before grabbing the one comic designated as his. He stood from the coffee table, reaching for Daphne’s hand. “Okay.”

Thank the lord, thank the devil, thank whatever other entity may have been involved. These people were finally leaving his house. Wolfe moved them along, unsubtle but uncaring. It wasn’t as if Riley had any belongings to pack. He and Daphne were already whispering to each other as they walked out the door, bonding in that quick way children and those fond of them were capable of.

Sybil stopped on the porch, having the gall to pat Wolfe on his cheek. “I’m so glad you’ve find your mate, Wolfgang. He softens your edges, I can tell.”

Wolfe’s edges didn’t feel very soft at the moment, but he managed a small nod of acknowledgment, if only to hurry things along. But then his mouth was moving without his permission. “And did you always want a child as well?”

“Oh.” Sybil sighed, her eyes on Daphne and the urchin. “I would have been fine without, I’m sure. But my love yearns to care for one, and I yearn to care for my love.” She smiled conspiratorially at him. “We’ll do an awful lot for our mates, won’t we?”

“Keep that child far away from us. If you lose control of him, I want nothing to do with it.”

Sybil gave his cheek another pat. “There’s my lovely Wolfgang. Don’t you worry, we’ll be out of town by the morning.”

Trembling with barely contained irritation and anger, Wolfe stalked to the sitting room, trying to get himself under control. It wasn’t in his nature to leave a complication open-ended, especially one as likely to blow up as this child. It made his skin itch. But he’d still done it, hadn’t he? And all for the man waiting for him in the sitting room, seemingly as tense as Wolfe was, most likely due to whatever he was feeling through the bond.

What was Wolfe to do with him, this insecure mess of a man who claimed to be missing proper empathy but still tried to soften the lack thereof in Wolfe?

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