Chapter 12 Quin
TWELVE
Quin
“So, tell me about life up north,” Sage singsonged down the phone.
Quin had been putting off talking properly to Sage for a few weeks.
They’d messaged back and forth, as usual, but hadn’t spoken.
Ever since he and Kit had been getting closer, Quin had been bursting at the seams to tell his cousin all about it.
But he hadn’t wanted to jinx it by speaking too soon.
He was determined to play it cool and keep things under the radar.
“I’m seeing someone,” he blurted out.
“Quince!” Sage screeched at a decibel that rivalled a dog whistle.
Quin had to pull the phone from his ear and put it on the coffee table on speakerphone instead.
“Tell me everything,” Sage said at a far more acceptable noise level.
“He’s—” Quin broke off, not sure how to go about describing Kit. “Older,” was the first descriptor that came to mind, for some unknown reason.
“Older?” Sage repeated. “That’s unexpected, but each to their own.”
“Kit looks a lot younger than his age.”
There was a pause, and then, “Quin, what are you not telling me?”
“He’s a vampire,” Quin said, bracing himself for the response.
“No way! How did you meet a vampire?”
Quin summarised how he’d scented and somewhat stalked Kit, not needing to censor himself with Sage. He would understand Quin’s instinct to seek Kit out.
“Oh my god. So you have a vampire boyfriend? Lark is gonna lose his tiny little mind.”
Quin didn’t argue with the boyfriend label because he quite liked it. Another thing concerned him, however. “Since when is Lark gonna find out?”
“Since I’m going to tell that malformed cockhead of an ex-boyfriend of yours and rub it in his face,” Sage said, as if it were obvious.
“Do not say anything to him. Don’t tell anyone.”
“If that’s the case, why the fuck are you telling me? You know I can’t keep a secret.”
“You’ll keep this one.”
Sage sighed, the noise coming like a gust of air through the speaker. “Fine. But give me more info about Kit. All the details. Every single little one.”
“We kissed,” Quin revealed.
“And then?”
“And then I went back home. This happened last night. Or early this morning, I suppose.”
“Quin. C’mon. You kissed, and that was it? We’re not in high school anymore.”
“We’re taking it slow. He’s…” Quin trailed off, not sure what to say.
Not that he had all the details, but he had a good idea based on the snippets of Kit’s past that he’d shared.
He was still desperate to find out more, such as who it was that left those marks around Kit’s wrists. Not knowing was killing him inside.
Quin took a deep breath, resolving to keep his explanation vague. “Kit’s gone through stuff, okay? I can’t rush him.”
Sage cooed down the phone. “Quince. Quin. Quinnie. You are head over heels for this guy. I can hear it in your voice.”
Quin rubbed a hand over his beard. “Maybe.”
“Definitely,” Sage sang.
“Christ, stop doing that. You’re tone deaf.”
Sage sang every word that came out of his mouth. “Quin’s in lurve. Quin’s got a vampire boyfriend. Quin’s gonna get—oh my god wait, does he bite you?”
“If I tell you no, are you going to believe me?”
“No.”
“Then yes.”
“That’s so cool. Does he have any vampire friends? What’s it like to get bitten by a vampire? Wait, no, don’t tell me. Ew, blood.”
“I think his friends are all taken.”
“Whatever. Do you know what this means? I’ll have to come visit you sooner rather than later.”
“Leave it longer,” Quin said, tone serious. “I don’t want to scare him off with the whole ‘meeting the family’ thing.” Quin loved Sage to bits, but he’d be a bit much for Kit at this early stage.
“Me? Scare a vampire? Quin, I’d be more likely to run in the other direction when I get a glimpse of fang.”
The mere mention of Kit’s fangs got Quin thinking about how they’d left tiny cuts on his lips during their kiss. The reminder of that eagerness, of Kit’s desperate desire to taste Quin, had his temperature rising and his cock threatening to follow.
“Oh, and whilst I remember,” Sage said, interrupting Quin’s entirely inappropriate line of thought, “your mum was badgering me about telling you to call her.”
Well, that killed Quin’s burgeoning boner. “I will,” he said, before scrabbling to change the subject. “What’s going on with you, then?”
Sage blew a raspberry. “Nothing.”
“There’s something. There’s always something with you.”
“Nope,” Sage said, making an obnoxious popping of the P sound that drove Quin up the wall. “Before I get more of a grilling, I’ll love you and leave you.”
“You’re avoiding telling me what’s up with you,” Quin accused.
Sage ignored him. “Tell your vampire I say hi.”
Quin sighed. It was a losing battle to get Sage to speak about anything before he was ready to. “I’ll do that. Talk soon.”
Sage started singing a farewell down the phone, so Quin hung up before his ears bled.
Quin checked the time. It was hours before Kit would wake, and Quin had a job to complete that he’d been putting off.
He spent the rest of the afternoon working on the website for his client, upgrading their address checker for better delivery services.
It wasn’t riveting work by any means, but it paid the bills.
After a video call check-in with the client, assuring them all was on track and giving them some feedback on further developments, he took Mabel out for her late evening walk, his mind already on Kit.
But Kit didn’t show up whilst they were out.
Even Mabel seemed to expect it now, so they both wore disappointed faces by the time they returned to the house. Quin hadn’t wanted to overwhelm Kit with messages, but now he was second-guessing his decision. Maybe things had changed now that they’d kissed.
He pulled out his phone and sent over a quick message, asking Kit if he fancied coming over.
The immediate affirmative response was gratifying.
Twenty minutes later, Quin opened the door to Kit, unable to hide his smile. “Hi.”
Kit’s smile was smaller than Quin’s, but he’d never seen a more beautiful sight. “Hi,” Kit said.
“Come on in,” Quin said, throwing the door open wide.
Kit’s smile turned wry. “You already did that. I can now come in forever.”
“Well, feel free to break in anytime.”
“I don’t think it counts as a break-in if you’ve invited me.”
“Don’t use logic on me,” Quin complained. “I’m sleepy. I was up late thanks to a certain someone.” He waggled his brows when Kit turned to glare at him as he walked ahead of him down the hallway.
“This time of night is like six a.m. for me,” Kit said. “And it’s not as if I can have coffee.”
Quin grimaced. Now that he thought of it, Kit looked even paler than usual. He wouldn’t have had time to feed. “Okay, you win. Does my blood work as a pick-me-up?”
They entered the living room, where Mabel was lying belly-up on a blanket right in front of the crackling fire. Her nose twitched, but she didn’t wake. Kit settled himself in what Quin now considered Kit’s chair. He sat on the cushion for once, which was an odd sight.
“Blood is blood,” Kit said. “Sustenance that can, on occasion, be enjoyable.”
“Bet I taste great.”
Kit rolled his eyes. “Of course you think so.”
“How do I taste?”
“Best when served at room temperature and drunk straight from the source,” Kit said without missing a beat.
Quin chuckled. “C’mon, tell me. What are my tasting notes?”
Kit held his gaze. “A little spicy. Like black pepper with a hint of cloves.”
“Oh,” Quin said, turning Kit’s words over in his head.
Kit shifted in his seat. “Anyway,” he said, waving a hand. “What have you been up to today?”
Quin let the conversation move on. “Not much. A bit of work, a bit of shopping for supplies for my change. And I caught up with my cousin. He says hi.”
“Your cousin? You told your cousin about me?”
“Well, yeah. Is there a reason I shouldn’t have?”
Kit was silent for a few moments. “I suppose not.”
Quin had spoken about Sage in conversation a few times now, so he hadn’t thought it would be out of left field for him to tell Sage about Kit. “Is that okay with you?” he asked anyway.
“It’s nice,” Kit replied, though he was staring off into space as he did so. “He knows what I am?”
“Yeah. It was a little hard not to mention it.”
“Hmm.” Kit sat with his arms folded, gazing at the fire. “You can say hello back.”
“He wants to come up and meet you.”
Kit looked alarmed. “We’re at that stage already?”
“I, uh…” Quin faltered, not wanting to seem like he was rushing Kit into things. “We haven’t defined the relationship yet, so probably not?”
“Is this about your ex-boyfriend? The one you moved here to avoid?”
“Lark?” Quin blanched. “God, no. That’s done. There’s nothing there that you have to be concerned about.”
Kit’s gaze was sharp when it met Quin’s. “What happened with this ‘Lark’?” Kit spat Lark’s name as if it wasn’t even worth the energy spent in saying it aloud.
The memory stung even though Quin no longer cared for Lark in the way he had mere months ago. “Well, I came back to our house one day and found him getting railed over the kitchen table by someone else.”
Kit’s expression turned thunderous. “Wait, he cheated on you?”
Quin couldn’t deny his satisfaction at Kit’s rage. It mirrored his own on that day. “Uh-huh. After years of being together, he decided he wanted someone else. Just didn’t bother to inform me of that fact first.”
“What a cunt.”
“I won’t disagree with that observation.”
“Who was the other guy? Did you kick his arse?” Kit sounded delighted at the prospect of Quin having beaten someone up, which was as endearing as it was alarming.
“I was too shocked to do much about it. Besides, he’s the son of the pack leader.”
Kit’s face lost some of its excitement. “So, he’s the alpha’s son?”
Quin shook his head, smiling. “Our elected leader of the pack. More like a mayor. We don’t have alphas or betas or omegas or anything like that. You can thank the Internet for popularising that misconception.”
Kit frowned, went to speak again, but hesitated.