“Should we shower?” Bel said around a yawn.
“Tomorrow,” Wyatt murmured. “Tonight, I want you to smell like us.”
River rubbed his head along Bel’s shoulder and hummed again. “Ours.”
Bel rested his head on Wyatt’s shoulder and closed his eyes. River had his arm thrown over Bel’s waist so that he could rest his hand on Wyatt’s chest. Their legs were all tangled together; Bel could no longer be sure who he was touching. All he knew was that he was wrapped in warmth and happiness. Everything else could wait.
For tonight at least, he was theirs and they were his.
14
River ran through the woods. The cold wind buffeted against this thick fur while muscles stretched with each leap and bound. Paws dug into earth just starting to thaw at the close of winter. The air was rich with smells: rabbit, dirt, owls, and mice.
The run was made all the better because Wyatt was right by his side, barely half a step behind. He’d let River take the lead and was now following his every twist and turn through the forest surrounding Bel’s house.
Living with Bel had been absolute heaven. Sure, meeting with the Variks hadn’t been a rousing success, and the new threat from the local pack wasn’t reassuring either, but Bel was steadily regaining his confidence. He said they’d find a way through this, and River believed him.
Other than those hiccups, everyone was happy. He was spending more time in his human form again and changing only when he was in the mood. Wyatt was always close by. If River felt like it, he could reach out and touch him, hold him, kiss him, and no one threatened to kill them over it.
They were finally getting a taste of the life they’d always dreamed of.
And it was made all the sweeter because of Bel. Their vampire might be a little buttoned-up and reserved in normal, everyday life, but the moment they pulled him off to bed, he was an open and adventurous lover. After their first night together, Bel never returned to his bedroom; he curled up with them each night.
It was more than the fantastic sex. Bel made them feel at home in his life and house. They’d fallen into a comfortable routine. Wyatt and Bel would rise at the same time and retreat to the laboratory for a few hours before River stumbled out of bed. They’d eat together and Bel would help River for a while with Winter’s guitar, then get some work done and they’d have dinner. The day would end with them snuggled on the couch for a couple of hours, watching TV or just talking.
Bel was even encouraging them to dust off old dreams. It was more than River finally learning to play an instrument. He was trying to convince Wyatt to return to school, and River was secretly considering it as well. He’d always dreamed of writing music for movies or maybe even his own symphony. They had a chance to build actual lives again.
But River had no intention of building a life that didn’t include Bel.
Wyatt yipped suddenly at River and jumped ahead of him. River barely had enough time to dig in his back paws and turn to save himself from crashing into his lover at the last second. He’d been lost in thought when he should have been paying attention to his surroundings. Were they too close to the edge of Bel’s property?
The threats from the pack were all too real, but Bel and Wyatt were confident no werewolf would cross into Bel’s territory to attack them. Albert had given them a week, and it had been only four days.
Wyatt had stopped completely, his body tense. River started to nudge his companion when the wind shifted, and he caught the scent clearly. Blood. Lots of blood. And it was relatively fresh.
Very carefully, River edged around Wyatt to find him staring at the body of a naked man stretched out across the forest floor. His vacant eyes stared up at the black sky, and his pale skin glowed in the dim moonlight. At least, the skin that wasn’t covered in bites and blood. His throat had been torn out, and there was evidence that he’d been mauled by more than one wolf.
The telltale brush of Wyatt’s magic indicated he was shifting to human form, and River followed.
“Who?” River whispered the second he could clearly speak.
“I don’t know,” Wyatt said with a shake of his head. He inched a little closer but was careful to keep several feet away. River had no interest in getting a closer look at the dead man. “I think he was a wolf.”
River jerked his gaze away from the corpse to look at Wyatt’s back. “From that Albert’s pack?”
“I don’t know. But those marks were created by a wolf.” He pointed to the remains of the man’s throat and across his chest.