Lowering his face, Wyatt nuzzled the side River’s head. “I know you’re going to think I’m crazy, but I trust him. He has no intention of harming us.”
“Maybe, but that doesn’t mean he will protect us from the local pack, let alone his own kind.”
“I believe he’ll do exactly that.”
River said nothing, so Wyatt pressed a soft kiss to the edge of his jaw. “I also think…I think he needs us.”
That earned a scornful noise. “Vampires don’t need anyone. Especially this one. I heard plenty of whispers about the Variks. I think they were actually blood relatives when they were humans. Family.”
“Maybe.” Wyatt pressed another kiss, this one at the corner of River’s mouth. “Try talking to him tomorrow. He might surprise you. At the very least, you need to remember that he’s not Brett. Not the MacPherson clan.”
No, Bel was a Varik.
And Wyatt was beginning to think that made a great deal of difference in their world.
6
Wyatt’s words from their early morning conversation were still ringing in River’s ears when he wandered cautiously into Bel’s lab the next evening. He and Wyatt had spent a quiet day in the house while Bel slept. They’d crushed the last of the leftovers and watched some TV. They tried not to invade Bel’s house too much without him around, but they found his library where Wyatt nearly wept to see all the books. Most of them were scientific tomes that held little interest for River but left Wyatt salivating.
Part of the afternoon had been spent stretched on the couch, reading. Wyatt held some boring science book in his hand, while River placed his head in Wyatt’s lap as he read one of the few mystery novels Bel possessed. The arrangement allowed Wyatt to rub his hair while they both read. For a while, it had been like a luxurious vacation.
Nothing could have been more perfect.
Then the vampire woke up.
He stumbled down, grunted at them, and disappeared into his laboratory. River couldn’t stop his snicker. The vampire was not a “morning” person.
Wyatt closed his book and announced that he was going on patrol now that the sun had set. The look River received made it clear he was supposed to go see the vampire. Talk to him. Though he wasn’t sure if Wyatt wanted him to simply learn more about Bel or possibly convince him that they should be permitted to stay.
The latter idea left a bad taste in his mouth. He resented the idea of bowing and scraping to yet another master’s commands, even if this master agreed to risk his neck for their lives. There had been zero heartbreak when Bel had killed Brett. Just relief followed by a return of old fears and despair.
River hung back, hovering in the open doorway as he waited for Bel to finally tell him to leave. The large room was unlike any other in the house. There were several long, black tables, each covered with different bits of strange glassware, scientific instruments, and chemicals. The air itched and burned the interior of his sensitive nose, but it was soothed by hints of Bel.
It was the strangest thing. He couldn’t explain it. Bel smelled of warm vanilla. At first, he was sure that it was from a moisturizer or a soap he used, but the scent never actually faded. The haunting aroma was soothing, considering the creature before him was an odd mix of nightmares—blood-sucking vampire and mad scientist.
The vampire was perched on a stool and was now wearing a white lab coat over the dark button-down shirt and slacks he’d appeared in when he left his bedroom. Tonight’s bow tie was pale yellow with dark-blue dots. He would peer into a microscope, then turn to a laptop close at hand to type a few things.
From his expression, he didn’t appear to be happy with what he was seeing, but he paid no notice to River, leaving the werewolf to watch him. Bel was not at all like any of the vampires he’d known over the past decade, the biggest difference being that Bel didn’t appear to mind him being in human form.
He was an interesting creature. And kind.
River didn’t want to admit that about Bel, but he couldn’t begrudge him that descriptor. Yes, he said he’d give them food and shelter in exchange for information about werewolves, but River wasn’t fooled. If he and Wyatt had refused to give up a single crumb of information, Bel would have still taken care of them.
There was no mistaking it—Bel had an incredibly soft heart. He wanted to take care of any creature that crossed his path. It was stunning that he’d lived as long as he had as a vampire. It had to be through the protection of his family. River refused to believe Bel would hurt anyone.
Except Bel had killed Brett.
Okay, against all his better judgment, Bel intrigued him. And when River managed to forget for two seconds that Bel was a vampire, he kind of…liked the man. He was surprisingly playful, making River think Bel would make the perfect companion for plotting little tricks to launch on Wyatt.
And like his lover said, Bel was kind. River couldn’t remember the last time he’d been the focus of someone’s kindness other than Wyatt.
Instincts said to trust Bel. The dark shadows of his past kept reminding him that Bel was a vampire.
A sigh nearly slipped past his lips as River struggled to reconcile the two versions of Bel he knew: the soft-hearted man and the vicious protector.
Bel’s head suddenly popped up, and he looked toward the door, surprising River. He was sure he hadn’t made a noise to alert Bel to his presence.
“Oh! Hello,” Bel greeted, looking far more alert than he had when he stumbled through the house about an hour ago.
“Hello. Can I get you anything?”
Bel’s brow furrowed and his smile slipped a little. “No, I’m fine. Thank you. Can I get you anything? You are a guest in my house, after all.”
“No, I’m fine.”
Bel continued to stare at him, his head cocked to the side a little as if River were a puzzle he couldn’t quite figure out.
“I’m sorry I bothered you,” River said and started to turn toward the hall.
“No! You’re not bothering me. You can come in, if you’d like.”
River slowly wandered into the room, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his worn jeans. His eyes skimmed over all the strange equipment before coming around to stand a few feet away from where Bel was typing into the laptop. He glanced at the screen and had to shake his head. He wasn’t even sure if it was English. There were more numbers than letters on the screen.
“Sorry about earlier,” Bel murmured as he typed. “My brothers like to tease me that I’m not a very good riser. If my brain is a computer, then it is very slow to boot up.”
“Coffee doesn’t help vampires, right?”
Bel shook his head. “Our systems metabolize and process the caffeine too fast. I once calculated the amount of coffee I would need to drink to feel that same boost humans do in the morning.” He paused and looked up at River, his nose wrinkled. “It wasn’t pretty.”
River huffed a soft laugh. The vampire always had something unexpected to say.
“What are you working on?”
“Just plugging in the results for a test that concluded. Still trying to find a cure for vampirism without much luck. My brother’s mate, Ethan, is the only human I know personally who was changed to a vampire. I’ve been studying his blood, looking at the specific changes after the conversion. It’s shown me some very interesting ways in which the DNA and cells are transformed, but I’ve made no progress in reversing it.”