Pack Master (Vampire Kings 3)

Maddox let out a sigh. Nothing was easy when it came to this young human. Not love. Not punishment. Not toast. Not even showers.

He reached in and turned the shower off. He expected that the cessation of water would wake Will. It did not.

Maddox pulled his wet boy from the shower, carrying his sodden whelp over to the bed. Why not ruin that too? At least that way it would match the rest of his damp house. Maddox was not usually given to bitterness, but the trying times of late had been breaching the limits of what passed for his good humor. He’d imagined things would be more simple with Henry present. Instead, they were more chaotic and messy than ever.

“You are fortunate I love you, boy,” he murmured under his breath as he took a towel and began patting Will dry with careful motions.

Chapter Seven

The next day, Will came down to a fresh toaster and new pastries. Someone had resupplied the house after the fire, which was nice. He found Henry down there too, looking like he’d been dragged backwards through several bushes made of rocks.

“You look like shit,” Will said.

“You too,” Henry replied.

Will had a black eye and he was in the best mood he’d been in a long time. He didn’t remember how he got to bed the previous evening. All he knew was that he wanted food. He didn’t say anything else to Henry, and Henry didn't say anything else to him. They both sat around the island, consuming their various repasts in silent, aching solidarity.

“Morning.” Lorien strolled in.

It was early for him to be up, and he had a sort of hollow look in his eyes, like he’d recently seen some shit he really wished he hadn’t seen, and heard some shit he wished he hadn’t heard.

“Hey,” Will said. “Where have you been?”

“Around,” Lorien said vaguely. “And who is this?” His green eyes lit up at the sight of Henry, who was paying him less than no interest.

“He’s my babysitter,” Will said with a smirk. Henry cast him a dour look, but it was basically true. Maddox had called Henry in to watch Will and make him eat his dinner nicely. He was one big, massive, muscular wolf nanny.

“About time you got one of those.” Lorien went over. “Hello,” he said to Henry. “I’m Lorien. I’m the crown prince of New York.” He offered Henry an elegant hand. Henry didn’t even acknowledge it. He did, however, stand up, eye to eye with Lorien.

“You’re the boy who ran off and betrayed Maddox, correct?”

“He’s got your number,” Will laughed.

Lorien shot Will a shut the fuck up glance. “Hardly a boy,” he said. “I’ve been on this planet for well over ninety years.”

“Telling people your age as proof of maturity is something boys do.”

Will was enjoying this immensely. Henry was going to eat Lorien alive if there was anything left over after Maddox was done with him.

Lorien smiled in the strained and forced way people do when they really want to show they’re not hurt by an interaction. Will knew Lorien was absolutely fucking galled by the brusque rebuff. He was used to being fawned over by most everyone. People reacted to Lorien in the same way people reacted to any incredibly handsome, suave man with a hint of edge about him and a thick mane of hair that always looked perfect even though it never seemed to have been tended to.

“Hm,” he said, turning away without another attempt at conversation.

He left the room, but as he did, Will noticed the way Henry’s eyes lingered on Lorien when Lorien was not looking, how they swept up and down his body, from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. Will had seen that look before, many times. It was the one Maddox gave him.

Interesting.

“I thought you were straight,” Will said to Henry.

Henry replied by cuffing him around the ear. “Respect, welp.”

“Sorry. I thought seeing as you were actually drooling over him…” Will dodged the next blow. He was getting faster and cockier.

“I’m not interested in a vampire.”

“Oh. You’re not?”

“No. I stick to my kind.”

“Okay.”

Will’s words said one thing, his shit-eating grin said something else completely. Henry let out a warning growl, the corner of his lip lifting in a snarl that would herald pain if Will pushed it. He didn’t push it. But he had noticed it.

“I know something you don’t know.” Will went to see Maddox after breakfast. He’d woken up in Mads’ bed, and that was a good sign that there was some forgiveness forthcoming from the vampire king.

“I doubt that very much, boy.” Maddox smiled, sitting back from his desk. In spite of all the events of the previous evening, Mad was still much more relaxed now that Henry was on the scene. Will wondered how much of a strain he must have been to handle. A lot, he guessed. Probably still was. Oh well.