“—because they’re Eric’s favorite.”
Wolfe whipped his head back to face Johann, who was peering eagerly up at him, acting for all the world as if Wolfe had been paying attention from the beginning.
“Repeat that.”
“The cinnamon rolls,” Johann repeated dutifully. “They’re Eric’s favorite. He told me they were his secret indulgence from that bakery near the hospital. He’d stop there on stressful days.”
It was a bit of an effort, but Wolfe managed to put aside his annoyance that there was any aspect of Eric Johann might know more about than himself. “Send me the recipe,” he ordered.
“Really?” Johann looked delighted, his gray eyes shining as if Wolfe had just paid him the highest compliment.
Wolfe nodded. “But no more baking talk.”
“Okay,” Johann said easily, leaning down to pet Danny and Roman’s mutt. “I know you’re not usually that interested, just…I thought maybe Eric could use some cheering up?”
At that, Wolfe’s gaze settled back to where it had been for all of Jay’s cinnamon roll talk. Where it had been for most of the evening. Where it always landed.
On his mate.
His mate, who’d been looking tense and miserable all night, uncomfortable in his skin in a way he hadn’t been in a long time.Since meeting me, Wolfe thought smugly, his beast purring its agreement.
Except now Eric’s unhappiness was strong enough to be emanating through the bond, even with Gabe at the dining table next to him reporting on some medical case, a subject which could usually catch Eric’s interest. If Wolfe thought Gabe was the issue, he would have separated them already, but he knewexactlywhat the issue was.
The mother.
The wretched woman had called earlier that day, and while Eric claimed she had said nothing untoward, he’d been acting like a kicked puppy ever since. Wolfe had thought this “family” dinner would cheer Eric up—it was the only reason Wolfe ever agreed to the tedious affairs in the first place—but dining at Danny and Roman’s had done nothing to lift the black cloud hovering over his mate.
In which case, what was the point?
Wolfe set his wine down and stood from the couch. “Excuse me,” he told Johann, then paused. “Don’t forget to send the recipe.”
Jay beamed up at him. “I won’t.”
Wolfe nodded once, then made his way to the dining table. He settled a firm hand on Eric’s shoulder, gratified when a good measure of the tension his mate had been holding released instantly at his touch. “We’ll be going now,” he announced at large.
Gabe scowled at him over his beer. “Dude. I was in the middle of a story.”
“Let them go, Highness,” Soren said lazily from his place on Gabe’s lap. “It was a boring one, anyway.”
Gabe transferred his scowl to his mate. “Hey!”
“I’m sorry, but if you’re gonna talk medical, there should either be gushing blood or inappropriate objects stuck in salacious places. This is a dinner party. Have some decorum.”
Gabe scoffed but noticeably held his mate even tighter against him. “Brat.”
Wolfe gave them no more attention, tucking a pliant Eric under his arm and raising his voice just enough to be heard in the kitchen, where Roman and Danny had been pretending to organize coffee and tea but in reality had been mauling each other’s mouths for at least the last twenty minutes. “Thank you for another…lovely evening. We’re going.”
Danny’s breathless, “See you later,” and Roman’s vague, grumbled goodbye followed them out the door.
Wolfe waited until his mate was settled in the passenger seat of the car before facing him fully. “Darling.”
Eric sighed, slumping his blond head back against the headrest. “I know.”
“Sheknows,” Wolfe countered. “She knows there are consequences to upsetting you.”
“She didn’tsayanything though,” Eric told him, rubbing his face aggressively, clearly frustrated by the fact. “She was fine. Really. It was just a feeling. Sometimes just talking to her… It brings stuff up.”
“And what ‘stuff’ did this conversation bring up?” Wolfe kept his voice even, despite the beast inside him raging, urging him to do away for good with this woman who had caused his mate such discontent for so long.
