He sighed and walked closer, then sat on the edge of the bed next to me. “It’s so difficult to know what he needs, but the music is one thing I don’t want him to feel pressured to do.”
“What if I try to gauge the situation while we’re in New York?” I asked, my heart lurching a little at the thought of a city that massive.
Rian heard the change in my heartbeat and squeezed my arm. “It’s gonna be fine. You know Luca is from the area. He knows the city like the back of his hand, especially the places he needs to go on this trip. I’ll also make sure the hotel isn’t too far from the label’s headquarters where they’ll have the press conference.”
Somehow, that relaxed me. “Okay. Thank you.”
“Of course. It’ll still be a lot for all three of you, but you’ll have one another and that’s the most important thing, right?”
There was understanding in his gaze, and I realized he either had talked to Luca or had overheard us somewhere, somehow, and knew that all three of us were together. Not that it was a surprise or something the pack wouldn’t have seen coming.
“Yeah. It’s… everything.”
“Rian? Did you wash my blue sweatshirt?” Carys called out from the hallway.
“Ah, duty calls.” He patted my arm again and left the room.
It was still difficult sometimes to think that the man was actually nearly two hundred years old, when he looked like he was in his mid-twenties at most. Then again Holden was in his sixties and looked forty. While vampires’ outward aging basically stopped when they were turned, when a human was turned to a wolf, theirs just slowed down significantly. Apparently Holden didn’t look like he’d aged at all since he was turned after an incident on the job.
The whole idea about being turned was sort of alien to me. As a wolf, I was what I was since birth, and if something managed to injure me enough, I’d die even though I healed faster.
Vampires were always turned, and humans could become either of the other species. I was somewhat fascinated by all those differences.
Like the fact that now when Luca needed to feed and the arousal hit me like a freight train, I could actually let it ride. Because we were more now, not just platonic friends.
I swallowed hard at the thought and did my best to concentrate on the book in my hands again.
About an hour later, I heard the front door, then laughter and the thumping of someone jogging up the stairs. There were two sets of steps, and I knew it was Brodie and Luca heading for their respective showers.
Ten minutes after that, Luca, looking both pale but flushed from the shower, slinked into my room. He was shirtless in only a pair of worn-out sweats I was pretty sure were Ben’s.
“What’s up?” I asked, because his expression was… predatory.
“I… uh… I’m really hungry.” He seemed equally ready to pounce and confused in a way that wasn’t familiar to me.
“Huh. Maybe it’s the working out?”
“Probably. I’ll have to ask Rian.” He took my book and put it on the bedside table, then climbed onto the bed and straddled me.
I was a bit puzzled at this change. “Hi.”
Luca smiled, then winced, and a droplet of blood rolled down his chin. “Shit.”
Wiped it off with my thumb. “Your fangs are a bit active, sweetheart,” I teased.
The intensity in his eyes and the way he poked at his fangs with his tongue was almost unsettling. I realized I really hadn’t seen him this hungry before.
His attention was on the pulse on my neck, and I tilted my head, suddenly feeling like a prey taunting the predator in the best of ways. He licked his lips.
“Go on,” I murmured, wanting to see where this was going.
For some reason, that made him shake off the stupor. He blinked a few times, then seemed to realize he’d been spellbound by my heartbeat, and looked almost embarrassed.
“Shit, that was….”
“That was the first time you’ve been hungry.” I kept my tone kind. “And you still are. So, take a bite.”
He leaned forward minutely, then back again, then flicked his gaze to my eyes and back to my neck, and finally, too quickly for the human eye to see the movement, moved in and bit through the familiar spot.
