Seth had been doing it with Riley since the beginning,showering him with this faith and trust. He’d done it when he’d bravely come to Riley’s home, knowing what Riley and his mothers were. He’d done it when he’d first let Riley claim his body and his blood, despite knowing the depths of Riley’s hunger. He’d done it again when he’d asked Riley and Wolfe for mercy for the rest of the institute’s staff.
And he was doing it now.
Overwhelming. Yes, that was the word.
Seth’s brow furrowed, and he turned to face Riley fully, the shower spray hitting his back. “Oh, baby. Don’t cry. We’re okay.”
Riley hadn’t even realized he was crying. How stupid. “I want to be…better for you,” he said, his voice thick.
Seth shook his head. “What are you talking about? There is nobetter. I like you just the way you are. Just…keep loving me. We’ll figure the rest out as it comes.” He stood on his toes and pressed a soft kiss to Riley’s lips, then took a deep breath. He tilted his head to the side, baring his neck. “Be brave for me, okay, baby?”
Shouldn’t it have been Riley saying that?
Riley swallowed hard. His fangs itched to sink deep and stay forever. “It hurts,” he told Seth instead, because he hadn’t thought to warn him before. “The transformation.”
Riley had vague memories of horrible pain and fierce burning. Of waking up empty and starved and confused.
But his moms had told him tethered mates woke up easier, craving their mates instead of human blood. They’d warned Riley that mates needed consummation rather than destruction.
It had been their vampire version of the birds and the bees.
Seth didn’t shy away with the warning. “Most transformations do,” he said. Like it was that simple.
Maybe it was.
Riley kissed Seth’s neck. His shoulder. The corner of his lips. When he returned to Seth’s neck, Riley’s voice came up from thedepths and stepped in with him at the front of his mind. Together they bit in and drank.
They drank. And drank. And drank.
Seth moaned, swaying in Riley’s hold. His burgeoning erection brushed against Riley’s thigh. This part felt good for him, at least, Seth’s beautiful body all flushed with the pleasure of the bite. Riley wished it could stay that way.
But that wasn’t how this worked.
Riley and his voice drank until Seth’s heartbeat grew sluggish, his eyes falling closed. They drank until Seth was teetering on that precipice between life and death.
It was the scariest thing Riley had ever done, letting Seth get to that place.
Riley lifted a shaky wrist and bit into it, immediately pressing the open wound to Seth’s slack mouth. Riley held it there until Seth jerked, then swallowed. Riley held Seth tight as his mate stiffened and screamed.
It had never been so tempting to let the voice take over, to retreat and let himself hide from the worst of what was happening. But Riley stayed present. He hugged his mate to his chest as the screams gave way to oblivion and Seth went limp in his arms.
For Seth, he was brave.
29
SETH
After what felt like an eternity of freezing limbs, Seth was finally warm. So warm. The perfect temperature, even—not too hot and not too cold.
He probablyshouldbe too hot, judging by the weight on top of him. He must have been under about a million blankets. How was he not smothered?
But no, the warmth was perfect. And also…internal. Like Seth felt good on the outside but there was also something heating him up from theinside. Something kind of glowing and pulsing, sending him feelings of love and wonder, threaded through with weirdly sour strains of worry and guilt.
Seth opened his eyes.
Well, that explained the weight.
“Riley.”
