Very slowly, Wyatt released his desperate hold on the vampire and took a half step backward. He looked down at the man in his arms to find him staring at him with watery blue eyes of joy. How had they gotten so lucky to meet someone like Bel? It wasn’t just that he had this sexy nerd vibe that made Wyatt’s entire body hum with need. Bel was so damn compassionate and caring as well.
“I was lucky when I was young. My mother might not have understood my interest in science, but she always supported me. She bought me my first Griffin beaker.” His smile wobbled a little. “She always said that if I grew bored with chemistry, she could use it for a vase.”
“Your mother sounds amazing.”
For some reason, Bel’s happiness dimmed for a second, but then he blinked and his smile was firmly in place again. He reached up and lightly touched Wyatt’s jaw, the warmth of his fingers sliding through Wyatt’s entire body. “The important thing is that you have someone in your corner supporting you. You’re interested in science. River said you wanted to be a doctor. If that’s what you want, we will make that happen.”
Wyatt could only nod. There was no talking past the massive lump in his throat. It had to be his heart. The damn thing was trying to break free of his body so it could curl up in Bel’s arms.
“Good! Now put on your lab coat so we can get back to work.” Bel released Wyatt and settled back on his stool.
Grateful for the distraction from the confusing feelings filling his chest, Wyatt turned back to the box and pulled out the lab coat. It wasn’t surprising that the thing fit him perfectly, falling to the back of his knees. There was no pulling across his shoulders or over his chest. Smiling up at Bel again, Wyatt turned in place and Bel laughed.
“Yes, absolutely perfect,” Bel confirmed.
“Thank you again.”
“It was my pleasure.” Bel’s smile wilted a little as he watched Wyatt return to his stool and put aside the gift box. “I want to get River something…well, like that, but I’m not sure what he wants to do. What he dreams of.”
The answer was on the tip of Wyatt’s tongue, but he held back. He suspected River was nervous about grabbing those old dreams again, but he would come around. Wyatt wanted River to have his own precious moment with Bel.
“I’m sure you and River will figure it out,” Wyatt said.
Bel nodded and returned to his computer screen, where he’d been entering some test results and other thoughts. Wyatt wanted to go back to work as well, but his brain wouldn’t let him concentrate on the book he’d been reading. No, he was now consumed with thoughts of Bel and his life before becoming a vampire.
“May I ask you a personal question?”
Bel laughed. “I’ve asked you and River countless personal questions over the past month. I think you’ve earned a few.”
Wyatt shrugged. “Your questions were in the interest of science.”
Bel snorted as he turned toward him on the stool. “Yes, let’s just hold on to that belief, because that whole line of questioning last night about whether a wolf can laugh and trying to tickle River while he was in wolf form was completely scientific.”
He couldn’t even remember how they’d gotten onto the topic in the first place. They had been relaxing in the living room when they’d somehow started talking about how animals express emotions. Anger and fear were easy to read. So was happiness, but that just devolved into whether a wolf could laugh. The next thing they knew, River was flinging off his clothes, bringing a blush to Bel’s cheeks before he could avert his eyes. River shifted, essentially egging Bel on to touch him.
It hadn’t exactly been subtle, but neither Wyatt nor River was aiming for subtle any longer.
Everything seemed to have changed after their shopping trip and the impromptu movie night. It wasn’t enough that Bel was their trusted friend and companion. It wasn’t enough that to their inner wolves he was pack. No, Bel was theirs.
Of course, it had taken Wyatt more than a week to get up the nerve to blurt out to River that his feelings for the vampire were more than just friendship. That he wanted to touch, kiss, and explore every inch of Bel until he was writhing and moaning beneath Wyatt.
His sweet, understanding mate promptly fell over in bed laughing. Yes, River had known. And yes, River felt the same way for their dear Bel.
Their only problem now was convincing Bel that they could have so much more than platonic friendship.
A month of living with Bel had left them both hungry for the man’s touch. They could smell the desire on the man, but he studiously kept his hands to himself unless Wyatt or River pushed.
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.”