Fuck, he generally kept an entire room between them, as if he didn’t trust himself.
But Wyatt wasn’t going to force him or corner him. If he wanted something more with them, he wanted Bel to come to them naturally. He wanted the vampire to show that he desired them for more than scientific studies and roommates.
“What did you want to know?” Bel asked when he had his lab coat settled around him and those beautiful eyes were trained on his face.
“Were you scared when you were changed into a vampire?”
Bel straightened and blinked at him a couple of times. “Oh, that is a serious question.”
“If you don’t want to answer—”
Bel quickly waved him off. “No, I don’t mind. I just wasn’t expecting it.”
Drawing in a deep breath, he looked down at the tabletop littered with printouts of reports, a few microscope slides, and other bits of debris from his work. His shoulders slumped a bit, and some of the earlier happiness seemed to drain out of him, as if his mind were traveling back to that night.
“Scared?” Bel shook his head a little. “Probably not as scared as I should have been. I grew up with Aiden around for most of my life. Aiden was as normal to me as the cook’s treasured apple tarts. I went into it with this idea of learning all this important scientific information, and Aiden always said that he’d keep us safe. He was our father. He wouldn’t hurt us.” Something changed in his voice at the end, became darker and sadder.
“But he did.”
Bel’s head immediately popped up. “Not intentionally. Never intentionally. A vampire’s bite always hurts at first. There’s no way around that.”
“I know,” Wyatt said. He wished they weren’t sitting so far apart. He wanted to reach across and place his hand over Bel’s, but he’d found that Bel was much more relaxed in the lab when Wyatt was out of physical reach.
“Yes, of course. I’m so sorry.”
Wyatt could only flash him a reassuring smile. There was no point in telling him not to apologize for every wrong he and River had suffered at the hands of the MacPhersons. He was just going to keep doing it. He could only distract him. “You were saying about the changing…”
Bel nodded. “I knew the mechanics of it all. Changing a person into a vampire isn’t exactly rocket science. You drain the person of blood to the point of death and get them to drink a vampire’s blood. And then…poof!”
“Like magic.”
Bel held up a finger. “Science.”
Wyatt chuckled. “We just don’t understand it all yet, so it looks like magic.”
Bel’s smile faded. “I don’t think it would have helped to understand the science of it all.” He swallowed hard and his eyes were locked on a distant point. “Seeing Marcus lying on the library floor, not moving, not even breathing. His face so pale. My older brother has always been so strong and brave. He was our protector. The wall against which the rest of the world hammered. Seeing him dead. I was scared then. Not for myself, but for him and the rest of my brothers. What if something went wrong? How was I supposed to go on without my brother?”
The soft tremor in Bel’s voice pierced Wyatt’s heart. He couldn’t stop himself. Pushing to his feet, Wyatt crossed the distance between them and stood behind Bel, wrapping his arms around his slender frame.
“I’m sorry.”
Bel squeezed Wyatt’s hand. “Don’t. It was a scary moment, but everything turned out okay. My brothers and I survived the change just fine. We have all lived long and interesting lives. We have no regrets about taking that chance so many years ago.”
Wyatt pressed a kiss to the top of Bel’s head before releasing him. “Thank you.”
“What about you?” Bel asked as Wyatt returned to his stool at the end of the table. “Were you scared when you shifted into a wolf for the first time?”
Wyatt’s laughter bounced off the walls and he rocked on his stool. “Shifting the first time is always a nightmare.”
“I’m so confused,” Bel murmured, which only made Wyatt laugh harder.
“No, it’s just a typical teenage nightmare. It’s puberty with raging hormones, crazy mood swings, and then throw in trying to shift for the first time in front of your family and the entire pack.” Wyatt nearly started laughing again at Bel’s wide eyes, and lips parted to form a horrified O. “Nearly everyone shifts by the age of sixteen, but some can shift as early as thirteen. So, when you turn thirteen or fourteen, they drag you out into the field every full moon so you can attempt to shift in front of the entire pack.”
“Oh my,” Bel whispered, his fingers touching his lips.
“It’s supposed to be this great bonding moment with the pack. They want to celebrate this monumental event in your life, but you’re a fucking teenager. All you’re thinking about is being the last among your friends to shift or if the cute guy is going to like your wolf. Or hell, even worse, getting stuck midshift.”