10
I woke up the next morning feeling the pleasant soreness that came from lots of sex.
Turned out werewolves had amazing stamina and the libido of a horny rabbit. Please note I absolutely was not complaining.
Barrett had kissed my forehead earlier, saying something about needing to make some calls, but I’d been too sleepy to do more than grunt at him. He’d tucked me back in and let me sleep a bit longer, but now I was awake and missing him. I also had work this morning, it being a Tuesday, so it wasn’t like I could just stay in bed anyway.
I was all set to roll out of bed when my hand brushed against something tucked underneath my pillow. Wait, what was this? Pulling the object free, I attempted to process what I now held.
A sunflower.
Wait, had Barrett left a flower under my pillow? Shit. Could this man get any sweeter?
Grinning ear to ear, I placed the flower on the nightstand and headed for a quick shower. After pulling on work clothes, I fetched my sunflower and wandered downstairs, wanting to put it in a proper vase. Halfway down the stairs, I noticed it was strangely quiet, and I wasn’t sure why. Normally this house was packed to the rafters.
Or was everyone giving us a bit of space this morning? Awww, cute of them, if that was the case.
Barrett sat on the couch for once, phone in one hand and a laptop balanced on his knee. He looked up as I came downstairs, giving me the smile I’d kinda already fallen for.
“There you are. Hungry?”
“I nibbled on you most of the night,” I pointed out dryly before kissing his cheek. “Thank you for the flower. I love it.”
“You’re welcome. It’s el regalo de almohada .”
“A whatsit?” I had no idea what he’d just said, but clearly I still had a lot to learn about my lover yet.
“‘Pillow gift’ is the easiest translation. In my culture, we like to leave little gifts for our lovers, as a token of our affection. I felt that was best.”
The saying went that Italian lovers were best, but I guess that went for Hispanic men, too, because damn, Barrett had game. I leaned in and kissed him fully this time, lingering a moment before pulling away. “You are too sweet.”
“For you, always. You’re sure you’re not hungry?”
“I’m not, I promise. What are you doing?”
For once, he let the feeding-me-thing go and waved me in closer. “Waiting for a call from the friend I mentioned. I texted him, and he said to give him a few minutes and he’d call me. Also setting up the last details of this weekend.”
I gave him this blank huh ? face. “Whatsit?”
“Full moon is this weekend,” he reminded me. “We generally bring lots of snacks and beer because shifting takes calories.”
“Ohhhh.” I hadn’t realized it was that big of an event for them. Like, I had, but I hadn’t. “So we’re going shopping for snacks at some point today?”
“I really need to, yeah.”
“I’m game.” A shopping date sounded fun to me.
“Good. Then after we talk to Dunham—” Barrett’s phone rang in his hand. “Speak of the devil. Hey, Dunham.”
“ Hey, yer fine self ,” a deep, rather gravelly voice responded. “ It’s been a dog’s age since we talked last. How ye be ?”
“A lot better than the last time we talked,” Barrett answered with a laugh. “The move went well. We’ve settled into new homes, business has been going well, and I’ve acquired a boyfriend.”
“ Ha ! Well, damn fine, then. Life canna be more grand than that .”
“No, indeed. How are you, man?”
“ Oh, I be fine. Also had quite a few changes here in me clan but all positive, all for the better. I’m recently married, in fact, to the most bonnie lass I ever laid eyes on. ”
“Congratulations! That’s amazing to hear.”
“ Thank ye, I’m quite chuffed about it. What’s this yer ringin’ me about, anyway ? Ye adoptin’ vampires, now ?”
“Yes and no. I’ll put you on speaker so he can chime in. Dunham, meet Jesse.”
“ A fine hello to ye, sir .”
“Hi yourself,” I said, leaning a little against Barrett’s arm just to get more comfortable.
Barrett picked up the explanation smoothly. “As I texted you, he was changed by a rogue, and we invited him into the pack after we realized the vampires in this area can’t be trusted for shit. But it leaves us guessing at how to help him. He’s gone six years without properly eating, and it shows. But we don’t know the rules and regs on that, or what’s best to maintain his health, or…anything, really.”
“ Hmm, seems to me there be too much to try and explain over a phone, as well. Will ye be all right with a visit, then ?”
I blinked, not expecting his offer.
“I’d love to have you visit.” Barrett didn’t even pause to think about it. “But are they all right coming?”
“ Oh, I be sure they will. If not me clan head, then maybe one of the others, such as me wife. She’s newly turned, though, not sure how many answers she can give ye. All the vampires be sleeping right now, but they’re due to wake in a few hours. I’ll run this properly by them then. Now, one other thing I can offer while we wait for them to awaken be this: We acquired a hacker a few years ago .”
Say what, now?
Barrett’s brows shot into his hairline. “A hacker?”
“ Name’s K. He be a trip. His brother—who be a thief, by the by—and me clan head go way, way back. Got into mischief in their younger years, ye know how it goes. When we had a patch of trouble up here, Glenn called Eidolon in, and we met the family in the process. Lovely people, truly lovely. K, knowing we’ll need fresh IDs every decade or two, has offered to help us manage it. ”
I gave my boyfriend a pleading look. I mean, I was trying, but those systems were made to prevent the very thing I was attempting to do. And last I’d heard from Ria, she was still banging her head against a firewall.
Barrett chuckled a little. “That takes no thought on my part. I’d be happy to pull him into my pack too. We’re on the verge of being in trouble ourselves with licenses and such, so we definitely need the help.”
“ I’ll pass it along, then. Dinna be surprised if ye get a call from an untraceable number .”
“Noted. I assume you’re coming along too for a visit?”
“ I wouldna miss it for the world ,” Dunham promised with enthusiasm. “ In fact, I think I can get there in time for the full moon. That’d be a blast, running along with all of ye. Might drive so I can bring me dogs. ”
“They’re welcome,” Barrett assured him. “Always more fun when you can bring dogs along on a run.”
“ I’ll do that, then. ”
“What about your new wife?”
“ Ah, well, she still be working night shifts at hospital. A nurse, y’know, likely can’t take off that easily. I’ll ring off, expect an answer sometime later this afternoon. ”
“Will do. Thanks, man.” Barrett ended the call with a satisfied smile stretching across his face. “I knew Dunham would help. He’s seriously a good friend.”
He’d told me something about the man last night, between bouts of hot sex, so I didn’t inquire further about him. Just one thing raised questions. “Dogs?”
“Oh, we love dogs,” Barrett said with a wicked grin. “We can communicate freely with them, after all. They speak in very simple, broken sentences, but they do talk. We lost most of our dogs due to old age shortly before we moved here, and I requested no one adopt or buy until we got settled into our new territory. Really, we’re settled enough, so I should encourage people to go adopt again.”
This was all news to me, but it did make me wistful. “My parents used to raise collies when I was a kid.”
Barrett’s eyes turned affectionate. “You can have a dog too, if you’d like.”
“It’s really, really tempting. Let’s get me a bit more sorted out first.”
“Fair enough.”
“Want to go shopping for snacks after work?”
“You read my mind.” Barrett closed his laptop and set it aside. “We need to get all the things, plus a few staples like toilet paper.”
I figured. Also, it was a nice way to kill some time and have Barrett one-on-one, which was something of a trick. I’d take advantage while I could. First, though, sadly—work.
Couldn’t someone else come adult for me?
After work, we had everything under the sun loaded into Barrett’s truck, which took forever to unload into the house. I collapsed onto the couch once we were done, feet up on the armrest, not interested in doing anything else for several hours.
Barrett came back into the room with the phone pressed to his ear, smiling. “Do you mind if I pause and tell him?”
Oh no, I had to pay attention again, didn’t I? Dammit. With a sigh, I sat back up.
“Ross is on the phone,” Barrett explained as he came to sit down next to me, phone in hand.
Oh, the vampire who was clan head. Or married into it, I guess. “Hi, Ross, I’m Jesse.”
“ Hello, Jesse ,” a mild tenor voice answered. “ Welcome to the crazy world of the supernatural .”
I snorted a laugh. “Yeah, crazy about covers it.”
“ Until you have to rescue a member from the pound, you have not reached peak insanity, I promise you. ”
I blinked. Uh, he didn’t sound like he was kidding?
“Are you serious?”
“ It’s a thing with werewolves. They do not always choose the best moment or location to play dog, let’s put it that way. Anyway, I understand you are only recently a part of the pack, and there’s much about being a vampire you do not know about. What do you know ?”
“Uh…we need blood for survival and being too long in the sun is ouchy.”
There was a pregnant beat.
Then a long sigh. “ I now understand why your boyfriend is calling. There’s much you need to learn. I do not think a phone call here and there will cut it, either. I only recently turned myself— ”
Oh, really? Huh, it would be interesting to meet a new vampire like myself.
“— so I know from experience, there’s a lot you must change or adapt to. Barrett assures me we’re welcome to come and visit, and I’m inclined to agree it’s a good thing. How about we start our drive out later tonight or so ?”
“I’d love to have you on hand for questions.” I meant every word. “Is it all right?”
“ Of course. I wouldn’t mind a little getaway from my clan’s craziness, truth tell, so I started preparations earlier. Having an honest excuse to get away for a week is a gift horse I’m not looking in the mouth .”
All right, I liked Ross. I could tell already this man was going to be a friend. “Then please do come.”
“ We’re already there. Just text me an address. For now, eat when you’re hungry. Don’t force it, just eat when you feel rumbly in your tumbly .”
I gave my boyfriend a speaking look. “I can do that.”
Barrett didn’t even pretend to be abashed. “I’ll have the guest rooms ready when you get here. Is it just you, Glenn, and Dunham coming?”
“ Most likely, but I’ll give you a firm number here in the next hour. For now, assume us three. Also, Dunham mentioned something about you guys possibly adopting dogs soon ?”
“Right. We lost all of ours before we moved down here.”
“ Jesse, I hate to say it, but you’re going to be the voice of reason here. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT let the werewolves go into the shelter without you. They will adopt all the dogs if there’s no voice of reason to rein them in .”
Surely he was kidding? Only, he didn’t sound like he was.
Barrett laughed. “Don’t scare him. We’ve never emptied out a pound. Anyway, we’re looking forward to you coming. See you soon, Ross.”
“ Sure, bye .”
I didn’t trust Barrett’s airy dismissal and eyed him suspiciously. “You’ve never emptied out a pound, huh?”
“Naw, not like his clan did.”
Oh god, Ross was speaking from experience ?
“The last time we went to adopt dogs, four of them were on hold awaiting their families, and at least three weren’t adoptable for health reasons,” Barrett continued thoughtfully. “So we left some behind.”
In other words, if given the chance, he totally would have emptied out the pound.
Thank you, Ross, your forewarning came very timely indeed. Whether or not I could prevent the adoption of an entire pound, well, that remained to be seen.