“Yeah. Thanks.”
Max sauntered into the room, pulling on a T-shirt. His hair was still wet from the shower and he looked at us, smiling. “What’s going on?”
I couldn’t help but to smile back. “We’re going home.”
He lit up in a way I’d rarely seen and jumped over the back of the couch to land on my other side.
“That’s great!” He pulled me into his arms and squeezed. “Do you want a top up before we go? I assume we’re waiting for Ben to get back?”
Rian got off the couch. “I’d say it’s easier if you’re a bit overfed.”
I shrugged. “I think we better go with what Papa says.”
Rian snorted and shot me the finger over his shoulder, making Max cackle.
“Where?” Max asked, giving me a fond look.
“You can pick. You’re the snack.”
The way his cheeks flushed was cute as fuck, as was the wide-eyed expression. “Uh….”
I’d blame the devil later. “Your neck it is!” I turned and cupped his jaw.
Suddenly we both realized how intimate the position was, as if I was about to kiss him.
“Maybe the wrist?” he blurted out, almost panicked.
“Uh, yeah, that seems good!” I let go of him as if his skin was on fire and grabbed his forearm instead.
We pointedly ignored Rian’s snickering from the kitchen as I bit through the delicate skin on Max’s wrist and closed my eyes at the now-familiar taste of his life’s essence flooding my tastebuds. Since I wasn’t hungry, I didn’t drink much, justenough to know that I definitely wouldn’t be hungry until bedtime.
The only variable was the way my predator self would react to the humans now.
As I carefully removed my fangs from Max’s skin, I could smell his arousal again. My own libido hadn’t returned yet, but I figured it would, eventually.
“Thank you,” I whispered as I let go of his arm.
Max cleared his throat. “Of course.” He gestured to the bedroom. “I’ll go pack our stuff.”
“Okay. I’ll grab mine after.” I closed my eyes and leaned to the back of the couch, taking stock of my body.
It was weird. Technically I knew some part of me was into the fact that the wolf brothers got turned on by the bite. I also knew they were both attractive in different ways. The old me, the one before I’d gotten graduallyveryill, would’ve jumped either or both of them in an instant, given the chance.
It was almost funny thinking about the lifestyle I’d led less than a year ago. I’d been the quintessential rockstar. The lead singer of a very successful band. I’d known exactly how I looked, what I sounded like, and how I could move.
I’d been called sin incarnate more than once, and frankly it was a bit ridiculous, but in the beginning it had been a rush to be that wanted. I hadn’t, however, hooked up with people as much as everyone likely thought. I just hadn’t seen the point when performing on the stage got me off, figuratively.
Sure, there’d been times when I’d come off the stage and fallen into the closest person that showed interest, because sometimes that was the only thing you could think about when high on the post-performance endorphins.
I’d also had a sort of a friends with benefits thing with our drummer, Q, but that was purely platonic scratch an itch typeof thing. He rarely felt sexual and when he did, I was often the closest reliable person to come to.
I sighed as I let the band and everything surrounding it flow through my mind. I wasn’t up to thinking about that yet. Although I needed to contact my handler soon. I thought maybe Rian had been giving her updates, since she hadn’t been blowing up my phone.
Then again, I hadn’t heard from Q or Mila, either. Mila had gone to rehab after everything went down and—“I’m home!”
I smiled as Ben’s familiar scent of wolf, woods, and motor oil filled the space.
“Hey,” I said, my heart jumping extra vigorously—for a dead guy— at the sight of him.
