As Pierce left, he gave me a kind smile. Maybe it was my imagination, but although the brothers weren’t related by blood, I thought I saw a kind of family resemblance between them.
“Okay, what’s so serious that you needed to talk alone?” Benji asked. He sat back down on the couch and gestured for me to join him.
“It’s stupid and embarrassing,” I mumbled. “Basically, I forgot to bring my pills when I moved here.”
“Your pills?” Benji’s eyes widened in realization. “You mean your heat suppressants?”
“Yeah,” I said, grimacing.
Benji sighed. “That’s no good. How could you forget something that important?”
My gut twisted both in irritation at Benji and disappointment at myself. “Well, sorry that I had other things on my mind after I got attacked by a crazy vampire. That tends to make you a bit scatterbrained.”
“Oh… Right. Sorry,” Benji murmured. “How are you feeling, by the way?”
I shrugged, not looking at him. “Okay, I guess.” I paused, then added, “I have nightmares about it.”
“Oh, Caleb,” Benji said sympathetically. “That’s shitty, I’m sorry.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled. “Anyway, that’s not my biggest issue right now. I came here to ask if you had any spare heat suppressants on hand.”
I glanced at his swollen belly, suddenly realizing what a stupid question I was asking. Why would he havebroughtpills to suppress a heat when that was the whole point of him coming to live here?
“You know what? Nevermind,” I said. “When I said it out loud, it occurred to me how ridiculous I’m being.”
“No, I don’t have any. But it’s okay. You’re just stressed,” Benji said gently. “Can’t you buy them from work?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “I meant to do it last night but I forgot.” Remembering what happened, I smiled. “It was funny, actually. Adriel showed up all dressed in black and scary, and freaked the hell out of my boss.”
“Oh my god.” Benji let out a sound that was half-laugh and half-groan. “I can imagine. Your boss probably thought he was there to rob the place.”
“That’s what I said!” I laughed. “You should’ve seen his face after Adriel told him he owned the business. I wouldn’t be surprised if he peed himself.”
“Adriel really is hard to read, isn’t he?” Benji asked. “Honestly, when I first met him, I was like, wow, this guy is intense. He was pretty intimidating.”
I nodded. “He is.”
“But he’s also a nice guy,” Benji continued. “Did you know he was the one to do most of the work in the nursery?”
“Really?” I said, genuinely surprised.
“Yeah. And when he found out I was pregnant, he bought a bunch of new books on pregnancy and child-raising, just for me.”
“Thatisnice of him,” I said.
All this time, I’d been focused on how blunt and - honestly, sometimes rude - he could be, but I hadn’t thought about his kindness. He made coffee just for me, protected me from danger, and even tried to clear the air between us the other night when I was clearly upset. Hearing what he’d done for Benji shifted my opinion of him, too. Was I giving Adriel less credit than he deserved?
“Anyway, about the pills,” Benji continued. “You should get those as soon as you can, especially since they take a while to kick in.”
“I know.” I sighed. “You’re sure there aren’t any in this huge mansion?”
“In a house full of alphas?” He quirked a playful brow. “Afraid not.”
“Figured… Then I’ll grab them tonight at work.”
Benji put his hand on my shoulder. “Good. Sorry I couldn’t be more help.”
I smiled. “It’s okay. Even just talking to you was helpful.”
