It was so damn strange being in this situation, still. I’d had a weird, parasocial relationship with this man for years. His music had kept me alive when everything else was going to shit. I’d loved Luca for a long time for that.
Except the newly turned vampire clinging onto me wasn’t Luca, the songwriter and lead singer of Kaiju. No, this was Luca, the broken soul that had chosen to live, even if it came with a cost.
“It’s okay,” I murmured against his shorn hair. “We’ve got you.”
I smiled at Rian over Luca’s head and saw the emotions swirling in his eyes. Rian was a marvel. Someone older than I could comprehend, and definitely wealthier, too. He was almost completely selfless and would give up his money in a heartbeat if it helped someone.
He’d done that for me and my brother before he’d ever met us, just because his best friend, our cousin and Alpha, Brodie, had told him about us.
To be sent into rehab that specialized in treating wolves and vampires was a gift in itself. There were rehab centers around the country that did their best, but addiction wasn’t the same for non-humans. Besides, it wasn’t necessarily safe to have humans and non-humans in the same facility anyway, as much as many places tried to downplay that.
It had helped immensely that neither my nor Ben’s addiction had been severe. We’d been careful with the amounts we’d used unlike our dad and his betas who practically bathed in whatever they could get their hands on and then later what they cooked themselves. It took a lot for a wolf to get truly addicted with our metabolism, and something had held us back. It had still been something we needed to deal with to start over, and with Rian’s gracious assistance that was what we’d done.
Luca started to calm down a little with both Rian and me petting him and murmuring things at him. Eventually, Luca took a deep breath, then let it out. Then he chuckled. It turned into a laugh. He pulled away from me to flop on his back between us as he chortled like he’d lost his mind.
Rian seemed less puzzled than I was. “Now that you can,breathe.”
That only set Luca off more. I watched as tears rolled from his eyes, his body twitching with the all-encompassing glee he was feeling.
I smiled and shook my head. I’d had my own brushes with death, but as a wolf I couldn’t understand living with a disease like cancer for as long as he had, just to know he was going to die in the end.
After a minute or two, Luca’s giggles died down into an occasional hiccup. Ben handed a tissue box over me and Luca took a couple, smiling at him gratefully.
“Thank you,” he said, his voice somehow more melodic than before. He seemed to realize that himself, because his eyes widened, and he clearly mulled it over as he blew his nose and mopped his face.
Ben put the box on the bedside table and then got on the bed, sitting by our feet. He wrapped his fingers around my ankle in silent support. It was how we were; endlessly there for each other, because for most of our life we’d only had each other to count on. We were closer than most brothers, wolves or not, and some people didn’t like that. Our pack simply loved us just as we were.
Luca looked at Ben. “You okay? I didn’t take too much, right?” His voice got a bit panicked at the end.
Ben immediately smiled at him and grabbed his ankle, too, connecting our little circuit. “No. I’m all good.”
“Okay, okay… good.” As if the thought of him drinking from Ben had reminded him of the hunger, he swallowed hard and looked at us all in turn. “I… how should I be feeling right now, I mean—” His eyes widened and he frowned, then licked his lips as his fangs dropped, summoned by his thoughts.
It promptly led into him poking his tongue against the sharp tip of his fang. He hissed, adorably confused and annoyed at the same time.
“Watch the fangs,” Rian murmured, sounding amused.
Luca brought a finger up and touched his own sharp canine teeth one by one. “This is so trippy….”
“It was trippier to have them in my neck,” Ben deadpanned.
Luca grinned and promptly pierced his fingertip with his fang.
“Okay, enough of that,” I scolded them and pulled Luca’s hand away from his mouth.
Rian chuckled. “Are you guys okay here if I go to the kitchen and order in some more food for the boys?”
We’d had dinner with Holden earlier, but we’d all feel better if there was more for after Luca had his fill of blood for tonight. Since Holden lived at the pack house with the rest of us most of the time, there was very little food in the kitchen here.
“I think we’re good.” Luca raised a brow at us. “Right?”
Ben smiled. “You tell us.”
To his credit, Luca closed his eyes and thought about it for a moment. “I mean you’re a vampire. You’ll be here in three seconds flat if needed.”
“That’s true.” Rian rolled off the bed. “Any preferences?”
“Comfort food,” I said, knowing that I would also let Luca take a sip soon enough. The food needed to be something that was heavy on carbs and protein.
