Page 23

Another hiss, then the little thing whipped the black cloth from their face and flashed two itty-bitty fangs in his direction.

“Holy fucking shit!” Dante exclaimed in shock.

Carver just couldn’t…they weren’t…was he seriously staring at a dozen tiny gnomes with fangs and black capes? Fuck! Vampire gnomes?

“Isn’t it the best!” Jesse bounced and clapped his hands.

“You made them capes and fangs?” Dante asked.

“I made them cloaks,” Jesse said. “The fangs were their idea.”

“Cloaks and fangs,” Carver said stupidly. It was like his mind just couldn’t understand. “For vampire gnomes?”

Jesse giggled again.

“They’re not vampire gnomes!” Dante exclaimed. “They are just regular gnomes.”

As far as Carver was concerned, gnomes weren’t alive. And didn’t have cloaks and fangs. Carver pointed. “I think I’ve lost my mind.”

“They wanted to dress up!” Jesse told them. “And be like everyone else in the clan.” He dropped down onto his ass right there in the middle of the flowers and all the gnomes hurried to climb him like he was their personal jungle gym.

Carver closed his eyes before opening them once again. Yep! The vampire gnomes were still there. And they were all staring right back at him.

“This is our new friend, Carver.” Jesse waved a hand in his direction.

The first gnome, the one with a little gray vest and matching top hat, bowed deeply. “Welcome, new friend. I am Germin.” He had the most adorable little lisp.

“Hi!” Carver knelt beside Jesse. This appeared to be what they were doing. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s our pleasure.” Another gnome hopped from Jesse’s arm to his hand. “I’m Ba’an.” This gnome wore all yellow under his cloak.

Slowly the gnomes started to introduce themselves and as they did, half of them moved over to stand on Carver. It was interesting.

Carver ended up sitting with Dante’s chest at his back. The gnomes started acting out some sort of scene that had a lot of hissing and fake biting. This must not be the first time that Jesse had seen this as he clapped and hummed a little.

Being kind of relieved that the gnomes were not actually vampires, Carver could enjoy the show.

“Boss.” A tall vampire, Yulian—Carver remembered seeing him the night before but probably shouldn’t know his name—stepped up behind them.

Dante turned his head. “What is it?”

“A phone call, sir,” Yulian replied, looking apologetic.

“It can’t wait?” Dante’s words ended in a growl.

“I wouldn’t interrupt you, sir,” Yulian said. “It’s Foreman.”

Dante sighed before he kissed the back of Carver’s head. “Stay with Jesse and the gnomes, little one. I don’t want you wandering around and getting lost.”

Carver nodded. He hated the thought of Dante going anywhere without him but pushed the feeling down.

“I’ll deal with the wolf alpha and be right back,” Dante said. “I promise.”

“Yeah, sure.” Carver gave a careless shrug. “Whatever.”

Dante frowned as he rose. “I won’t be long.”

Carver turned back to the gnomes that had paused their show. “I’ll be fine.”