Theo put his mug on the table with so much force that he felt almost guilty for about half a second, which for some reason made Will yelp all over again.
“Are you ashamed of me or something, Peter?”
Peter looked at Theo.His eyes were intense; full of fire, despite their icy color.“No.”
That single word came out hard and with total conviction.The anger that had flared up inside of Theo deflated like one of those fancy soufflé dessert thingies.
“Oh.”
Sage looked back and forth between them while chewing.“Yeah, okay, this is weird, but whatever.None of my business, and I really don’t care.Theodore, right?Could you please start eating so Will can?”
“Excuse me?”
Sage shrugged and gestured toward Will, who was still staring at the ground and had barely moved.
“Werewolf thing.Doesn’t matter.Just eat your food.”
Theo pulled his plate toward him and nibbled at his sandwich.Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Will dig into his.The werewolf was done with his food in about two bites.One and a half, maybe.
“Okay, look.”Sage put his own half-finished sandwich down, then slid the plate over to Will, who enthusiastically finished it.“Definitely not going to stick my nose where it doesn’t belong, but you don’t need any witch to grind your ex to dust if that ex got Peter worried enough to call me in the middle of the fucking night to do some unnecessary double-checking of the wards.”
Theo tensed.“Meaning you’re not here to help?”
Sage snorted.“I think Peter has you covered, Theodore.”
Theo tried to keep calm, but he felt his skin break into goose bumps.“Peter?You can’t expect Peter to take on Bernard all by himself just because he’s a vampire too.I thought you protected humans from the supernatural.Did he tell you he got his eye pecked out last night?”
“Damn,” Sage said.“Fucker’s in for some hot payback.”
“But—”
Peter reached out and closed his hand around Theo’s.“Theodore, all will be well.”
“Not so well if you’re Bernard the dickwad,” Sage threw in.“Look, little human, your vampire can handle himself.”He pointed at Will with a thumb.“Ask him sometime.”
“You have no idea what Bernard’s capable of,” Theo said quietly.“Either of you.”
Peter squeezed Theo’s hand.“I do.I saw it in his eyes the first time I met him.”
Sage stood.“You said something about a door, Peter?”
“Yes,” Peter said without turning his gaze away from Theo.“My bedroom.”
“Will, come on,” Sage said, and the two witches left Peter and Theo alone.
17
Peter
Peter,itseemed,wouldhave to get used to the snot, and copious amounts of it too.He wasn’t even sure why humans cried so terribly much.Perhaps good old Charlie Darwin should’ve looked into that rather than spending all his time with turtles.
At any rate, Peter tried to remain calm as he sat at his own kitchen table holding Theo’s hand while Theo was apparently deciding which way he needed to freak out in next.Peter really hoped it wouldn’t involve any more snot production.His dressing gown was silk, after all.
“If he hurts you, that’s on me.It’ll all be my fault,” Theo finally said.
“How so?”Peter was trying very hard not to be dismissive of Theo’s overly dramatic statement.It was difficult, but perhaps it would help keep Theo calm and not trigger his snot reflex.
Theo shook his head.“I should never have gone with you, should never have agreed to your stupid contract.”He wiped at his face—not a good sign.“When Celeste introduced us, I should’ve said no.I should’ve run out of that room instead of climbing onto your lap and letting you drink my blood.”
