“Yes,” Daphne said with a nod, bumping Sybil with her shoulder when the other woman started smirking. “They wanted to get an early start.”
Seth sighed. “Everyone here acts a lot nicer than they are, don’t they?”
But just like that, he was already resigned. He couldn’t help it—it wasn’t in his nature to stay angry for long, and he’d always been good at going with the flow. He was trapped in this beautiful house. Whatever. At least the towels were nice.
Sybil let out a low, rich laugh. “Now you’re getting it, my darling.” She waved a hand in the direction of the counter behind her. “Riley told us you prefer coffee in the morning. There’s a carafe for you.”
There was, and it was still piping hot, with adorable pitchers of cream and sugar next to his waiting teacup. Seth almost hated how perfect it all was, how much he loved this house they were trapping him in.
“Riley’s out hunting,” Daphne told him, beaming at Seth when he joined them at the table. “He wants to be very full with you staying here.”
“I’m going to lose my customers,” Seth said without any real bite.
“Our friend promised to put up a sign explaining your absence.”
“Closed due to kidnapping?”
Another laugh from Sybil. “Something a little more vague, I believe.”
Seth sipped his coffee. He’d fallen into the kind of numb calm that could only follow an episode of pure panic. How he might feel when he saw Riley—Seth’s future mate, if no one here was pulling his leg—was anybody’s guess.
The three of them sat in a more or less comfortable silence, letting the music take center stage as they drank their beverages. Eventually Daphne slipped out with one more beaming smile, and Seth was left alone with Sybil.
His numb calm left him in an instant. It made him nervous, being alone with this particular mother. She had all the allure and sharp edges of her mate with none of the sweetness.
Riley cleared his throat, no longer satisfied with relative silence. “Is Riley hunting animals or?—”
“Animals,” Sybil confirmed. She gave Seth a piercing look. “You do realize you’re the only human he’s ever tasted, aside from blood bags?”
Seth swallowed hard. “I didn’t.” He should have, probably, based on what Riley had told him. But Seth hadn’t exactly been thinking clearly yesterday.
“You’ve wounded him.”
The directness of the statement caught him off guard, and Seth choked on his coffee. “I didn’t mean to.”
“We know.” Sybil folded her manicured hands on the table, cocking her head. “But I’m very protective of my son.”
“I’ve noticed.” Seth had the vague suspicion that at any moment a shotgun was going to appear from under the table. But then again, Sybil had no need of one—she only had to use her fangs.
“Is it his youth that has you running scared? I promise he’s had his share of life’s growing pains.”
Seth pushed his coffee away from him. It seemed like a heart-to-heart was on the menu, whether Seth wanted it or not.
High-handed fucking vampires.
“It’s not just his age. It’s the…intensity.” Seth tried to figure out how to word what he meant without saying more than was decent to the mother of his would-be suitor. “I’ve been wanted before but not…like this.” He met Sybil’s searching gaze. “I’m just me,” he explained. “Normal, average me. I don’t know if I’m—if I’m strong enough to handle that kind of devotion.”
Because that was what Riley was offering him, wasn’t it? Complete and total devotion. Seth had been blind not to see it before.
Sybil was silent for a long moment. “But it’s not about strength, is it?” she eventually asked. “It’s about generosity. It’s about welcoming all that devotion and still finding more within yourself to give in return. It’s about resisting the impulse to take it for granted. And I do believe that underneath your fear, youarethat generous.”
“That’s…flattering,” Seth told her. He’d been dealing in understatements lately, and there was another one for the books. “But don’t you think—I mean, he’s never evendated. He’s barely been outside this house since he was a child. Don’t you want him to have choices? Other, more impressive options? Wouldn’t that be…healthier?”
Seth knew he wasn’t a major catch, just like he knew his hair was brown and his baked goods delicious. He’d once had a fun, flirty thing going with a lawyer he’d met at a club. It had seemed like it was going somewhere beyond simple flirting, and then the lawyer had found out Seth worked at the local bakery.
He’d dropped Seth like a hot coal. As if Seth working in the service industry had meant he wasn’t worth the time of someone of any caliber. Like the rest of his charms weren’t enough to make up for his relatively simple ambitions.
And that had just been an average, decent-looking lawyer, not a beautiful, devastating creature of the night.
