He extended a hand to Theo, who had clearly forgotten his manners in his excitement. Either that or he was busy being tempted by the delicious smell of blood wafting off of Benji. In any case, I scowled at him from an angle that Benji couldn’t see, and Theo quickly regained control.
“Hi there!” Theo said. “I’m Theodore, but everyone except mom calls me Theo.”
“Nice to meet you,” Benji said. He had an adorable lopsided grin on his face. I could tell by the lack of tension in his shoulders that meeting Theo had calmed him down somewhat, even though he had knocked him to the floor.
“Were you the one who set the table?” I asked Theo.
“Yeah!” Theo said. “I know we normally don’t eat ‘til later in the morning, but - ”
I widened my eyes sharply at him, and he cut himself off.
“Oh, I mean… Like, later at night?” Theo corrected himself. “Anyway, Adriel told me you were going out, so I thought maybe…”
“I would bring home a guest?” I offered.
“Yeah.”
Benji glanced back and forth between us. I cursed Theo’s loose tongue. In his excitement, he hadn’t realized that Benji wasn’t aware ofcertain thingsyet - namely, that we were both vampires and he was currently inside a vampire den. Not that we were a threat to him in any way, but humans generally didn’t take kindly to that knowledge. I needed to reveal the truth to Benji gently.
“So, uh, can I help with dinner or anything?” Benji offered.
“No need,” I reassured him. “We have helpers to do that.”
Theo’s brow scrunched up in confusion, but thankfully he didn’t interrupt this time.
“Besides,” I continued, putting a hand on Benji’s shoulder. “You are a guest in our home. Please don’t think youneedto do anything.”
“Okay, if you say so,” Benji said, but he sounded unsure.
“Please have a seat. I wasn’t expecting dinner so early, but I’ll check on the kitchen.” I pulled an aged bottle of wine from the wine rack. “Care for a drink?”
Benji seemed wary, but recognized the cork had never been popped. “Um, sure.” He remained silent as I filled a third of his glass, then asked, “Not to rush you or anything, Pierce, but when are we gonna talk about the details of… you know?”
I smiled politely. “I was hoping we could do so during dinner. Is that acceptable?”
He shrugged. “I guess so, yeah. It’s not like I have anywhere else to be tonight.”
Theo shot me a bright grin, which quickly melted off his face at my glare.
“Theodore, could I see you in the kitchen for a moment?” I ground out. As Theo slunk away, I gave Benji a wave. “Just a moment. Please make yourself comfortable.”
“Okay,” Benji said a little uncomfortably.
I rushed behind Theo to the lower door behind the dining hall, which led to the kitchen. He cringed as he waited for his verbal punishment.
“What are you doing?” I hissed, trying to keep my voice down.
“What?” he cried. “I didn’t know that he didn’t know!”
“Hedoesn’tknow,” I corrected. “I haven’t had a chance to explain the situation to him yet.”
“Oh.” Theo’s shoulders slumped. “Sorry. I really didn’t mean to make things weird.”
“I know, Theo.” I sighed. “It’s fine. Honestly, I hadn’t even expected to find a human omega tonight, much less bring him home right away.”
Theo perked up. “But you did! That’s awesome!”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” I chided. “I don’t know if he’s the one.”
