The rest of his family filed quietly out of the room. Only Ethan gave him a reassuring look, but then, the young man still struck him as an optimist. Bel and his brothers had largely lost their optimism under the weight of Julianna’s violent episodes.
Aiden only spoke when the door closed behind Winter and there was a crushing sadness to his voice.
“Bel…”
“Don’t. Don’t tell me to let them go. I promised that I would keep them safe. I will not break my promise. They need me.” And a little voice screamed from his head that he needed them.
Aiden wavered in his vision, and Bel blinked back the tears that were forming. He’d asked for so little in his life. Yes, he’d begged for his mother to be made well, but that had never come to be. She’d lived past the disease trying to kill her as a human, but she’d been reborn a monster.
For once in his life, why couldn’t he be permitted to save someone?
“Is this how the vampires have kept the truce? You’ve forgotten we existed?” Wyatt asked.
Aiden smiled. Pushing out of the chair, he crossed the room and came to sit on the end of the couch closest to Bel and the wolves. “It was by sheer luck that I even met my first werewolf, and I’d been a young vampire at the time. It took me years to find a vampire who was willing to talk about the truce. The old ones tended to believe that the wisest way to protect the truth was to forget werewolves existed. Young vampires tend to be impulsive and reckless. They didn’t want some fool wrecking the peace.”
“You could have told us,” Bel mumbled.
“True, but I didn’t think of it. Your main concern was Julianna until recently.”
There was no reason to look for more trouble when their mother had been more than they could comfortably handle most nights.
“I can’t do what I know you’re asking. I promised, Aiden.”
“Bel, I’m not suggesting this lightly. I—”
“River and I will leave of our own accord,” Wyatt offered.
“No!” Bel leaped to his feet and marched to the center of the room. He’d had enough, and he simply couldn’t sit silently by another second. “No! It’s not good enough. I’m not choosing between my family and what I believe is right. No more sacrifices. And no more fucking martyrs! That witch Zelda told Rafe we had to remember who we are. I’m a Varik, and Varik means loyalty and honor. It means love and protecting those who need us.” Bel clenched his fists so tightly they shook at his sides. “We’re leaving. You can contact us when you have a better solution.”
Bel started for the door, rage and anguish battling it out in his heart. He believed in Aiden, in family. He prayed they’d come to see that he was right in this matter quickly.
Before he reached the door, he saw Aiden grab Wyatt’s arm as he tried to follow. “Protect him.”
“Always,” Wyatt whispered.
And a little sliver of hope wiggled its way into the thick miasma of twisting emotions. Aiden would work with his brothers, fight for another option. Bel was going to focus on keeping Wyatt and River safe. Bel knew in his heart he and his family would find a way back to each other, though he didn’t quite know how yet.
But for now, they were on their own.
10
River was worried about Bel. Almost the entire ride to Bel’s house, he was silent. Wyatt had taken the car keys from Bel and shoved both the vampire and River into the back seat while he took over the task of driving. River hadn’t harbored any kind of high hopes about the meeting with Bel’s family, but things were far worse than either he or Wyatt had anticipated.
When they first came to Bel, he’d hinted that the timing was poor due to some vampire political nonsense, but this…this was huge and very ugly. There was no way he and Wyatt could remain with Bel. Not if they were adding more danger to his life. Fear for Bel’s life gripped River’s heart in a vise and threatened to crush his lungs.
But if they left, who was going to protect their adorable scientist?
They couldn’t leave him alone. It wasn’t safe. He and Wyatt could protect him all hours, day and night.
“You’re not leaving,” Bel whispered.
River released the breath he hadn’t realized had become trapped in his lungs and leaned heavily against Bel. The vampire wrapped his arms around River, pulling him in even tighter. “You can read thoughts now?”
“Just emotions.”
“Yes, what was that about?” Wyatt chimed. He hit the signal before turning onto Bel’s lonely street. There were only a couple of houses on the block, and they were all widely spaced apart and blocked from view thanks to all the trees.
Bel stiffened, so River grabbed one of his hands and started to caress his palm and fingers, trying to massage away the tension.
“I really can’t read your thoughts, at least not as humans,” Bel answered. His tone lacked its usual enthusiasm and happy-go-lucky eagerness, and it cut River deeper than he’d expected. “It’s the same as what we talked about in the lab last month. I can feel your emotions, and the longer I’m around you both, the stronger the connection is getting. It’s like an echo of what you’re feeling. Happy, sad, guilty, angry, worried. It’s quite similar to the emotions I can feel from Rafe, but that’s our weird twin connection. We had that even when we were humans.”
“And when we’re wolves?” River asked. He didn’t mind that Bel could feel his emotions. He loved that Bel had a connection to him and Wyatt in some way. But if he knew what they felt, didn’t that include their desire for him? Both he and Wyatt had smelled the same lust on Bel, could practically lick it off his skin like a frosted sugar coating. Why was he doing nothing about it?
“That’s…that’s more complicated.” Bel turned his hand over, giving complete access to River. He relaxed and rested his head against the werewolf’s. “Most animals tend to think in images or needs. Food. Safety. Shelter. With you and Wyatt, it’s a tangle. The thoughts don’t come through as clear because there are emotions tied up with them and then, I’m guessing your thoughts are still human even while in wolf form. And human thoughts are always more complicated. Can you understand me when I’m using my powers?”
“Oh, yes. It’s very clear,” River said.
“Then why the hell didn’t you listen to me that night, after the fight with the MacPherson clan, when I was trying to get you to leave?”
River tried not to laugh at Bel’s indignant tone, but he knew the man could feel his amusement.
“We were waiting to see if you’d command us,” Wyatt replied. “It’s like I said that first night. You don’t command or force your will. Your touch, it’s gentle and nuanced. We want to follow you, want to please you.”
“Oh…but why did you listen to Rafe and that stupid shooing motion of his?”
River didn’t bother swallowing his laughter that time. Rafe had looked like an idiot.
Wyatt turned the car into Bel’s driveway and tapped the door remote so he could pull the vehicle into the open spot in the three-car garage. “We thought it would be easier to speak to you alone, so we left.”