Titus stared at his phone in shock. “Dead?” He barely registered Apollo’s hand on his bare arm. “Is Cassius all right?”
“Cassius is fine, by all accounts, although I use that word lightly as well. He’s not dead would be a more realistic assessment of the situation, although there is some evidence he’s been abused for a long time. But no, it’s the parents.” A long sigh could be heard over the call, and Titus could imagine Liam tugging at his blond hair.
Cassius has been abused?Titus thought about how thin and pale he thought the boy appeared in his pictures. Cassius barely smiled, but Titus didn’t like pictures being taken of him as a kid either, and had assumed that attitude was normal. But abused?
“The police report is only preliminary, and it’s really sketchy, but it appears that Ms. Bloom and her partner were into some truly kinky shit that went horribly wrong. All the report is saying at this stage is that the crime scene looks like a massacre occurred, and both parents are dead. Cassius was found asleep in a tiny room at the other end of the house. The police think he might’ve been drugged, but that hasn’t been confirmed.”
“That sounds horrific.” Titus was thinking quickly. It would have been damn near impossible to kill a vampire, for starters. Titus had no idea what species the bond-mate was, but even so, there were few species that could get one over on a vampire. “Is there any indication of what the cause of death was?”
“Apart from copious blood loss?” Liam barked out a laugh and then seemed to collect himself. “Sorry, that was inappropriate, but this whole thing has been a shock. The police believe this is a case of murder suicide. Ms. Bloom lost her head, literally – it was found about five feet away from the body. There was a blood-covered machete on the floor, and the bond-mate was found lying beside Ms. Bloom’s body with a knife handle sticking out of his chest.”
Titus swallowed down the bile in his throat. “How long had they been dead when they were found?” He was thinking about Cassius, all alone in a house with dead parents.
“Apparently a neighbor heard what has been described as inhuman wailing, then there were some screaming and loud banging noises. Concerned because she knew there was a child in the house, the neighbor called the police, claiming it was a domestic disturbance. The police did a wellness check, arriving forty minutes after she called. They found the dead parents first, but the neighbor had already mentioned the child, so they went looking for him.”
Shit.Titus closed his eyes and shook his head before looking up at his concerned mate. “Are the police looking for me? Is that why you called?”
“Yes, but not because of the deaths. The police have already determined no one else was involved in whatever went on,” Liam said. “But they’re looking for a family for the child, and you’re the only lead they have. Your name is still on Cassius’s birth certificate, and they found references to the child support you’ve been paying since Cassius’s birth during a search of Ms. Bloom’s bank records.”
“What does that mean exactly?”
“That’s why I’m calling you. Technically, if you were Cassius’s father, then he would come to live with you as you’d be his closest living relative. I can notify the police that you’ve since learned Cassius isn’t yours…”
“Hang on.” Titus could see Apollo shaking his head. “I just want a word with my partner.”
Putting the phone on mute, Titus looked at his mate. “Why are you shaking your head? You’re the one who told me Cassius wasn’t mine.”
“We have to take him,” Apollo said firmly.
Titus was worried about the boy he’d never met, but he wasn’t sure he was prepared to go that far. “He’ll go into the system, perhaps find a new family who would look after him,” he said. “I can notify the paranormal council, and they can assess what species he actually is, and they can…”
“That’s not what your gut’s telling you.” Apollo shook his head again. “What do you really feel?”
“That I know the boy’s not mine, but I’m worried about him. I’m angry he’s been abused – a kid I’ve got a connection to.I’m wondering what the hell had gone wrong with Lorna and her bond-mate – did he just find out she was a vampire? Was he abusing the kid? Was she? I don’t know, but it must’ve been something pretty traumatic for him to kill her that way – and if he was human, how did he know the most effective way of ensuring Lorna was dead?”
Titus jumped to his feet, phone still in hand, as he started to pace. “Does Cassius even know about the paranormal world? Was this abuse a recent thing? Has this been happening for years? Had the bond-mate tried to kill her before, or did he just go off his rocker and start lashing out with a machete?
“And why drug the boy first? Was that a regular thing, or was this premeditated? I’ve got so many questions, and the only thing I know is I need pants on because pacing around in bare feet with my cock flapping in the breeze and my lawyer on hold is not how I thought this afternoon would go.”
“Find out where Cassius is,” Apollo said calmly. “He has to be our first concern.” He was still sitting down, but he flicked his hand in Titus’s direction, and Titus was suddenly fully dressed. “We have to go and see him. He needs to be with us. Call it a feeling, a premonition, or whatever else you like, but that’s what we have to do.”
Crouching down, Titus met Apollo’s eyes. “You would take in a child you’ve never met, bring him into our home, share with him who we are and what we can do?” Even as he asked, Titus knew that was a silly question – a feeling that was confirmed when Apollo smiled.
“It feels right,” Apollo said simply. “If you look deep inside, you’ll know that, too.”
His mate was right, and Titus knew it. “I love you,” he said gruffly, before standing up and unmuting the call. “Liam? Itlooks like my partner and I are giving Cassius a home. Where is he, and can we guarantee he’s being kept safe until we get there?”
“Titus? Did I hear you correctly? You’re going to give him a home after you told me less than a week ago that Cassius wasn’t yours?”
“The only ones who know that are you, me, and my partner. It’s going to stay that way, right? You know as well as I do that any kid put into the system is going to get a bum deal. And it seems you, Regis, and my partner all agree it’s time I settled down and started thinking of something else apart from work.”
“Taking in a child isn’t like getting a puppy,” Liam said. “If we insist on the DNA test, then perhaps the authorities will find that the boy will have family somewhere else who’ll take him.”
“That will take months, and in the meantime, an abused boy will be put into the system where he’ll be easily forgotten. I’m not going to let that happen, no.” Turning so he was facing his mate, Titus added, “There was a time when I was very close to Cassius’s mother. For some goddamn reason, Lorna trusted me enough with her son to put my name on the birth certificate as his father and has never changed it.”
“You were probably the only person she knew at the time who could afford to pay child support,” Liam said.
“That doesn’t make any difference now.” Titus knew Liam was probably right, but Apollo had been right, too. Titus was following his instincts. “I’m the listed father on Cassius’s birth certificate. Now, can we plan for him to come to us, or should we go to him? What do the police handling the case suggest?”
