Riley
Running was easiest.
“These hospital gowns really let you feel the breeze,” Seth murmured, his only comment on their method of travel.
He was cold, of course. It was winter in Washington, so obviously Seth was cold, his flesh covered in goose bumps. And he was too pale already from his ordeal, with dark circles under his eyes that had no right to be there.
“We’re going back to mine?” Seth asked after a while.
Riley made an affirmative grunt. There. Communication.
“Your place is closer,” Seth commented mildly. “And won’t your moms want you to check in? You were close to getting captured. I’m sure they’re worried.”
Seth’s considerations were thoughtful. Logical. Riley should agree and change course accordingly.
Riley couldn’t seem to access that part of his brain, though, the one that agreed with Seth like it should.
In the bunker, Riley had been running through halls filled with racing human heartbeats, filled with rushing blood that Riley had been given carte blanche permission from his family to take.
He would have been allowed to bite and drain and kill without remorse, if that was what it took to rescue Seth and stay free from the institute’s clutches.
And yet Riley’s only focus—his only drive—had been to find the one human heart in that whole place that beat only for him. To search it out not to harm but to protect.
Riley had even been offered Mr. Perkins on Wolfe’s version of a silver platter, and Riley’s monster hadn’t so much as sniffed at it once Seth had laid his gentle, calloused hand on their arm.
Their whole focus had been on their mate and the promise he’d made.
You’re mine. I’m yours. That was what Seth had said.
“Privacy,” Riley managed to say now, in response to Seth’s concerns.
Riley’s house would be too full of people, and every one of them would want to poke and prod and ask their questions. His moms would want to coddle and comfort; Wolfe would want more information about the fae. Violet would…Riley didn’t know, actually. But it would probably be something annoying.
“Ah,” Seth said. “I see.” He paused for only a beat, then asked, “You’re not…I mean, are you planning on turning me right now?”
This was where Riley was supposed to act purely human—the moment where he promised he could wait until Seth was 100 percent ready. Until Seth was, at the very least, warm and fed and happy, and not shivering and traumatized from that horrible fucking cell.
But Riley couldn’t form the right words, and even though his fangs had receded, it was his voice who answered Seth, “Yes. Right now.”
Riley didn’t take it back. He couldn’t. Seth had promised to protect him, and what Riley needed protection from right now was his own pain and fear and panic.
That niggling dread that Seth might get taken from him again.
That the next disappearance might be permanent.
That Riley might lose the forever he’d only just found.
Riley could feel the weight of Seth’s stare, his racing thoughts. But Seth only let out a deep breath, tightening the hold he had around Riley’s neck. “Okay,” Seth said. “I guess now is as good a time as any.”
Riley wanted to apologize. To say he was sorry that Seth had been taken because of him.
Sorry that Seth had been fated to be with someone so needy and hungry and impatient.
But those words wouldn’t come any more easily than any of the others.
And an apology might be taken for some kind of regret, and Riley didn’t have any of those when it came to Seth.
Not when Seth had finally agreed to be his.
Except for maybe wishing Riley had brought a goddamn coat to keep him warm.
The institute had taken his mate’s house key, but that was fine—Riley had already broken the lock on the front door when he’d come searching for Seth earlier. He’d figure out how to fix it later. Or maybe Seth would come live with him instead and they wouldn’t need to worry about it anymore.
But no, it probably wasn’t normal for a new boyfriend to come live with the in-laws first thing. If anything, Riley and Seth were probably supposed to have their own place together, somewhere separate from the home where Riley had spent his formative years.
But Seth liked Riley’s house, didn’t he? He’d said so.
Riley’s voice snarled at him, impatient with the scattered direction of his thoughts.
It’s time, his voice insisted.
I know, Riley hissed back.
But Seth was still shivering, so Riley headed straight to Seth’s bathroom. He turned on the shower, letting the water warm while he carefully removed Seth’s hospital gown, then his own clothes.
Seth curled his arms around himself and looked up at Riley with a sweet smile, one that almost hid the fact he was shaking like a leaf. “S-See?” Seth said through chattering teeth. “I’m f-fine, baby. T-Totally unharmed.”
Riley wordlessly pressed his fingers to the soft skin at the crook of Seth’s elbow. There were two puncture wounds, tiny and healed but nonetheless there.
Seth frowned down at Riley’s fingers. Then he bit his lip, peering up at Riley with a look that said Seth didn’t know how his next words might be received. “Oh yeah. They took some blood back there.”
Riley shuddered with the force of his fury, his fangs lengthening without warning. That they would dare do such a thing to his mate. Seth’s blood was precious. Unique. Perfect. It wasn’t something to be stolen without permission in a cold, unfeeling dungeon with—
Cold fingers landed on Riley’s face, and then Riley’s head was being tilted until he was looking into Seth’s fierce eyes. “Hey. It’s fine. There’s still plenty left.”
Riley scowled. “Not. Funny,” he managed to say.
“I know. I’m sorry.” Seth sighed, looking back toward the shower. “Let’s just get warm, okay?”
Right. The spray was billowing with steam now, filling up the room around them. It was time. Riley turned the knob to a less boiling temperature and then lifted Seth over the lip of the tub, only releasing his grip when he was sure Seth’s knees would hold.
Riley followed behind him, crowding Seth in the cramped shower. He took Seth’s soap and used it on his mate, scrubbing him thoroughly and ridding him of the sterile hospital scent that clung to his skin, freeing the buttery orange perfection hiding underneath.
Seth didn’t speak again until Riley was lathering up his hair for him. “I feel a little like a sacrificial lamb. Like you’re going to cleanse me, then anoint me with oils, then lay me down on white linens and steal my mortality to the sound of Gregorian chanting or something.”
The jokes were Seth’s nerves talking, Riley was pretty sure. And what he was saying might even be a reality in an ideal world. Maybe not the chanting—Seth was clearly exhausted and talking nonsense—but the rest of it.
Riley could picture it all: lifting Seth out of the shower, carefully drying every inch of his skin and lathering him in lotion, then finally lowering him down onto clean sheets and biting into him slowly and with great reverence.
But Riley didn’t have the patience or the strength of will for all that.
Seth was here, in front of him. The shower was too small for them, and Riley barely had to reach to touch the perfect curve of Seth’s spine or grab the plump flesh of his bottom.
Seth was no longer shivering either. He was warm, and he was whole, and he was here.
The familiar lust Riley always drowned in whenever he was in Seth’s presence was burning in his belly, and if he wanted to, Riley could forgo his own plans entirely and press down on Seth’s shoulders, bending him over until his spine arched in that perfect way.
Riley could make use of his untimely erection and press into his mate, take solace in the warm grip of him, revel in the beautiful noises he made when Riley was hitting right where he should.
But even that wouldn’t be what Riley and his voice needed.
When Riley didn’t answer his teasing, Seth twisted to look back at him. “Oh,” he said after a moment, blinking at whatever he saw on Riley’s face. “Right now?”
Riley nodded. Yes. Right now.
Seth gave him a smile. It was shaky, but it was genuine, with all the familiar warmth in Seth’s beautiful eyes. “You’re lucky I’m such a badass, otherwise this all might be a little overwhelming.”
More jokes but also more truth. Seth was a badass. He claimed he was ordinary, but in reality he was strong and brave and adaptable. Riley had never seen anything as wonderful as Seth calmly taking Riley’s phone and asking his cousin to come save them.
Seth had such…faith in people. In their goodness and their love. He trusted that they would live up to his expectations and that they would be the best versions of themselves, just as he was always the best version of himself.
Seth had been doing it with Riley since the beginning, showering him with this faith and trust. He’d done it when he’d bravely come to Riley’s home, knowing what Riley and his mothers were.
He’d done it when he’d first let Riley claim his body and his blood, despite knowing the depths of Riley’s hunger.
He’d done it again when he’d asked Riley and Wolfe for mercy for the rest of the institute’s staff.
And he was doing it now.
Overwhelming. Yes, that was the word.
Seth’s brow furrowed, and he turned to face Riley fully, the shower spray hitting his back. “Oh, baby. Don’t cry. We’re okay.”
Riley hadn’t even realized he was crying. How stupid. “I want to be…better for you,” he said, his voice thick.
Seth shook his head. “What are you talking about? There is no better. I like you just the way you are. Just…keep loving me. We’ll figure the rest out as it comes.
” He stood on his toes and pressed a soft kiss to Riley’s lips, then took a deep breath.
He tilted his head to the side, baring his neck. “Be brave for me, okay, baby?”
Shouldn’t it have been Riley saying that?
Riley swallowed hard. His fangs itched to sink deep and stay forever. “It hurts,” he told Seth instead, because he hadn’t thought to warn him before. “The transformation.”
Riley had vague memories of horrible pain and fierce burning. Of waking up empty and starved and confused.
But his moms had told him tethered mates woke up easier, craving their mates instead of human blood. They’d warned Riley that mates needed consummation rather than destruction.
It had been their vampire version of the birds and the bees.
Seth didn’t shy away with the warning. “Most transformations do,” he said. Like it was that simple.
Maybe it was.
Riley kissed Seth’s neck. His shoulder. The corner of his lips. When he returned to Seth’s neck, Riley’s voice came up from the depths and stepped in with him at the front of his mind. Together they bit in and drank.
They drank. And drank. And drank.
Seth moaned, swaying in Riley’s hold. His burgeoning erection brushed against Riley’s thigh. This part felt good for him, at least, Seth’s beautiful body all flushed with the pleasure of the bite. Riley wished it could stay that way.
But that wasn’t how this worked.
Riley and his voice drank until Seth’s heartbeat grew sluggish, his eyes falling closed. They drank until Seth was teetering on that precipice between life and death.
It was the scariest thing Riley had ever done, letting Seth get to that place.
Riley lifted a shaky wrist and bit into it, immediately pressing the open wound to Seth’s slack mouth. Riley held it there until Seth jerked, then swallowed. Riley held Seth tight as his mate stiffened and screamed.
It had never been so tempting to let the voice take over, to retreat and let himself hide from the worst of what was happening. But Riley stayed present. He hugged his mate to his chest as the screams gave way to oblivion and Seth went limp in his arms.
For Seth, he was brave.