“We can ask,” he says.
I startle, before I realize he’s just testing the connection.
“I’m going to make an honest effort to not do that to you, and I would love if you could do the same. It’s probably my least favorite feature of this whole thing.”
“Oh. Sorry. I kind of like it. But I’ll try. I’m not really sure how to turn it off.” He looks at me sheepishly.
“It’s fine.”
“I can hear you talking in there!” Diah whisper yells through the thick wood of my bedroom door. I grimace and look around for some clothes Declan can put on. I can’t find the stuff he brought over, so I grab a pair of my sweatpants for him. He’s a little shorter than me, so they’re baggy, but they’ll have to do. Thankfully, it’s just my brothers for now, not my parents.
“I’m fucking starving,” Declan mumbles to himself as he stands up and pulls my shirt over his head. He looks at me, a little confused. “Do we eat?”
“Kind of?” I give him a vague shrug. “I mean, yes. But not like you’re thinking.”
“Well, whatever it is, can we do it?”
“Yes, we can eat! Come on!” Diah hollers again from the other side of the door.
I take Declan’s hand in mine and pull him through the room, cracking the door open so only my face shows. Diah and Henry are side by side, both trying to look over my head to see into my room.
“Be nice,” I beg.
Henry pushes Diah backward and I open the door. Declan is nervous; it’s radiating off of him, but he’s also so excited he wants to explode out of his skin. It’s adorable how eager he is to embrace the fate I’ve saddled him with. I look down at him and cup his cheeks in my hands and kiss him. I can’t not do it. He tenses at first, then softens for me, and his lips part in the slightest.
“Get a room,” Diah teases, and I pull away from Declan…reluctantly.
“I had one, then you two showed up.”
“Well, we wanted to meet him.”
“Do Mom and Dad know?” I ask.
Henry gives me a look. “Of course. You can smell him a mile away.”
I step in front of Declan, like my body can somehow shield him from their scenting. Henry chuckles and ignores me.
“I’m Henry. This is my brother, Jedidiah.”
“Declan,” he says over my shoulder.
“Let’s go downstairs and eat,” I say, dragging Declan behind me.
Henry and Diah start chattering to themselves and they follow us down to the dining room where my parents, thankfully, are not.
I pull out the chair beside mine for Declan, and he sits down, watching Diah and Henry as they take their own seats. This table is a monstrosity and probably weighs more than all four of us put together. I lost track of when my parents picked it up, but I think it might actually be older than me.
“Ezra, would you get us something to eat?” Diah asks me with a smirk. “We need to have a talk with your new mate.”
I open my mouth to protest, but Declan’s thoughts slam into me so hard, I’m almost knocked off balance.
I’m fine.
I look at him, and he nods, so I head to the kitchen. He’s hungry, but my brothers are out of their mind if they think I’m making a meal for them, too. I pour a glass of blood for myself, but hesitate before I pour one for Declan. The idea of him drinking a stranger’s blood is…unsettling, at best. What if he likes other blood more than mine, or what if he doesn’t like it at all and he starts to hate me before we’ve even had a chance to get going?
Hard pass.
I bite the inside of my wrist and squeeze until Declan’s cup is full of my blood. I linger in the kitchen and wait for the puncture marks to heal over, then I head back into the dining room, giving one glass to him and taking the other for myself.
