“You haven’t been properly introduced. This is Dorian and you’re holding his little brother, Ian,” Rick said as he showed Dorian to the living room where Olivia was waiting for them.
“Oh, my,” Olivia said as she glanced at Ian in Graham’s arms.
“He looks so young.”
“He’s twenty-one,” Rick informed her.
“And a fang addict.”
Olivia screwed her nose up.
“I’ll never understand that. Why would someone want a vampire to drink—never mind.” She pointed to the tray of coffee.
“Help yourself while I take care of this young man.”
“He’s human,” Dorian pointed out in a strained voice as he walked over to where the smaller male was lying.
He knelt in front of his baby brother, brushing back the fall of wavy brown hair in Ian’s eyes.
Rick’s chest tightened at the tenderness in Dorian’s eyes.
He understood what it was like to feel so lost about a sibling.
Only Rick had lost his.
Bruno had been a pain in the ass, always in the way, and Rick’s very life.
Losing the juvenile had changed Rick forever, making him jaded toward life.
Rick had grown up quickly that day, again being forced into something he wasn’t ready for.
Adulthood.
He had lost his parents a few years before Bruno’s death.
But Rick had mustered up the courage to finish the job of raising his siblings.
It was a blow to him, but he hadn’t fallen apart.
Not like he did when he lost his baby brother.
He had loved his parents beyond words, but losing the juvenile he was in charge of raising had blackened something inside of Rick.
Olivia patted Dorian’s shoulder in a motherly fashion.
“I don’t care if he is a purple alien. I take care of people. It’s what I was born to do.”
“Dorian, this is Olivia and Graham Casper.”
Dorian nodded at Rick’s introductions, but didn’t look away from Ian.
“I suspect you want him to stay here?” Olivia asked as she grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch, slipping it over Ian’s limp and almost nude body.
The man was still unconscious.
Rick walked further into the room, needing to be close to Dorian, feeling the human’s pain like a heavy weight sitting in his lungs.
He wanted to take that pain away, but knew there was nothing he could do about it.
“That would be appreciated. Dorian is my candidate as you know, and we have unfinished business.”
Olivia blushed.
Rick knew what she was thinking, but that wasn’t what Rick was referring to.
They needed to find a place to stay and Rick needed to find out who killed his nephew and what was going on with the cops.
This clawing sexual need for Dorian had to wait.
Graham chuckled, a teasing gleam in his light-brown eyes.
“We are well aware of what you have to do. Go, we’ll take care of Ian. We have your cell phone number if we need you.”
“Just like that?” Dorian asked as he stood, glancing between Olivia and Graham.
“Just like that,” Olivia answered.
“Your brother is in good hands. Go.”
She blushed once more.
Rick held back the grin.
Let them think what they wanted.
It would only help placate the pack if they thought Rick was whisking Dorian off to have sex with him.
“Thank you,” Dorian said as Rick coaxed him toward the front door.
They needed to get moving.
If the master of Hamilton sent his boogeymen after them, they didn’t have much time.
“No need for thanks,” Olivia said.
“Just stay safe out there.”
“We will,” Rick reassured her.
He crossed the room, giving Olivia a peck on the cheek.
“Thanks, hon.”
“Oh, go on now.” Olivia waved him away as Graham laughed.
“Stop making my mate blush,” Graham teased.
“She is very pretty when she blushes,” Rick replied as he headed toward the door.
“You are one lucky man, Graham.”
“I’m well aware of that.”
Rick waved to them as he walked back to his car.
He had known the two since Olivia had converted Graham and then mated him.
The couple had lived with Rick’s pack for three years now.
They had pups, and couldn’t be happier.
“They seem like really nice people,” Dorian said as he climbed back into the car.
The anguish was still thick, a swirling blanket of despair that surrounded Dorian, but it was easing.
“The best,” Rick replied.
“Not all of us changelings are savages.”
“I never said that.”
“Implication is everything.” Rick started the car.
He knew of one place they could go for the night.
going to run out of options for places to stay.
He knew he was welcome in any pack home, but Rick didn’t want to get the pack involved, no more involved than they already were.
Their lives were harsh living as changelings, but most of his pack members were decent people.
Rick didn’t want to get them involved.
They had lives, families, and Rick wasn’t going to risk that.
He was godfather to Graham and Olivia’s boys.
It was an honor Rick cherished.
Hunter and Samuel were the best pups in the world, in Rick’s eyes, and he would kill anyone who even thought about threatening them.
After losing his parents, and then Bruno, Rick knew he couldn’t survive another loss without turning feral.
The thought of harm coming to Isabelle was just too damn bleak.
She was his shining star now.
If her light were to be extinguished, Rick knew his humanity would go with it.
The mere thought of losing the one person who meant the world to him turned Rick’s determination into a lethal kind of focus.
The people behind setting him up would pay.
The ones responsible for Alexander’s death would pay dearly.
“Where to?” Dorian asked as he buckled his seat belt.
Rick blinked, the red haze that had encased him in cold revenge slipping away.
“Another safe house,” Rick replied as he pulled from the driveway.
“Safe house?”
Rick carefully drove out onto the main road.
There were drainage ditches on either side of the driveway and it was dark.
Although his sight wasn’t hindered in the dark, his thoughts were so preoccupied at the moment that he needed to be careful.
“They are scattered all over. We use them when we need them. Most use them for the first shift. The first time is very volatile and dangerous. Being in the middle of nowhere helps keep everyone safe.”
“Jeez,” Dorian murmured as he stared wide-eyed at Rick.
“And you want to convert me? No thanks.”
Rick wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, but he was quite sure Dorian would be a very beautiful werewolf.
He shook his head as he drove away from the house.
He knew what he wanted to do, or not do as the case may be.
He didn’t want to be forced into mating, but damn if Dorian wasn’t making it tempting.
The man was handsome as hell, quick witted, courageous, and shot from the hip, holding nothing back.
Every damn thing Rick liked in a person.
He was so fucked.