Danny must have noticed the strain in Roman’s voice. He turned away from the oven, leaving the cookie sheet he’d been messing with on top of the stove. “What’s wrong?”
Catching proper sight of Roman, he began to laugh. “What the fuck are you hiding in your coat? It’s supposed to be for protection from the cold, not extra storage.”
In a case of perfect timing, the little mutt chose that moment to poke its head out.
Danny gasped, eyes widening. “Oh. My. Fucking. God. Is that apuppy?”
His voice rose at least two octaves in excitement on the last word, and Roman felt unbearably pleased with himself as he finally let the little beast out of his jacket, placing him in Danny’s open arms.
The puppy wriggled and writhed, licking his mate’s face, whimpering ecstatically as Danny praised everything about him with nonsense baby talk.
Apparently, it was love at first sight.
Roman knew the feeling.
Two hourslater and the three of them were cuddled on the couch, the puppy curled up asleep in Danny’s lap. Danny had tired him out playing on the floor after Roman had brought in the various accoutrements that pets apparently required (he’d never known such a variety of toys were even available forchildren, let alone puppies).
Roman stroked Danny’s dark curls absently. “You need to think of a name for him.”
The response was immediate. “Ferdinand. Ferdy for short.”
“That was a…prompt decision.”
Roman watched in fascination as the tips of Danny’s ears reddened. “Um… I might have already been thinking about puppy names.”
“I thought you were never going to ask for one.”
Danny’s entire face was red now, his gaze firmly planted on the puppy in his lap. “More like I was going to, um, slowly and deliberately start introducing the idea with more and more frequency, then butter you up with numerous sexual favors until you agreed?” He said it more as one big word than a coherent sentence, but Roman caught the gist.
“I figured it would have to wait until after the honeymoon,” Danny continued. “I didn’t think you’d go out and adopt one the very next week.”
Roman had been…played?
Yes, it would have been the logical thing to wait until after their three-week honeymoon to adopt a new animal, but all Roman had heard was there was something Danny wanted and did not yet have, and that had been all it took for him to jump the gun completely.
He huffed. “I feel very used.”
Danny looked up at him with wide eyes. “I know, I know. I’m a—a manipulative monster.”
Roman contained his laugh with great difficulty. “I wouldn’t go that far, lovely.”
“I am though.” Danny pouted, and it took all of Roman’s control not to kiss him. “I’m an evil vampire mate.”
Roman lost the battle and grinned down at the boy. Danny’s demon was the least evil of any he’d come across. All it seemed to want out of eternal life was to jump Roman’s bones at every opportunity and be fed regularly. Neither of which bothered Roman or his demon one bit. For that matter, ever since Danny had turned, regular fucking and feeding were all Roman’s demon seemed to care about either.
As long as Danny was in its grasp, it was content.
“I think you are wonderful, little king.”
“You’re just brainwashed by love,” Danny grumbled.
“Perhaps. Now—” Roman leaned down toward his mate “—tell me more about these sexual favors.”
Danny tilted his face toward him, eyes shining with mischief, completely over his guilt spiral already. Roman captured his sweet mate’s lips, unable to resist deepening the kiss immediately, hoping to coax a few moans out of him.
A familiar voice cut in. “Ew. Must you two always be making out every second of every day?”
Roman broke the kiss without looking at the intruder. “You could always find somewhere else to live,” he suggested.
