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He caught Lorien’s eye. Lorien had been sitting around in the background hoping to make conversation with Henry for the better part of three days by Maddox’s reckoning.
“Lorien, can you provide Master Henry escort to the Library?”
“Certainly,” Lorien said politely.
Alone with Henry.
Lorien was alone with the pack master.
It was awkward as hell.
Lorien was not accustomed to feeling awkward about anything. Being a vampire absolved one of such feeling most all of the time. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt anything resembling a sense of shame. Maddox tried to guilt him every now and then, but Maddox didn’t have a sense of shame either, so it didn’t exactly work. Henry, on the other hand, seemed to be all about honor and conscience, and that made Lorien feel very honorless and immoral in comparison.
“I’ll drive. You navigate,” Henry said.
Of course Henry was taking control, even in a city he didn’t know.
Lorien allowed it. He didn’t particularly enjoy driving anyway, he much preferred to be driven. He could point the way and let Henry deal with the erratic human drivers who seemed to barely notice they were surrounded by other vehicles on the road.
It was early evening. Too early for anybody to be at the Library besides the usual staff. It was the vampire equivalent of about five in the morning. Not that Lorien felt tired, especially not in Henry’s company. It was invigorating just to be near the man for reasons Lorien really couldn’t understand.
As they pulled up outside the Library and got out of the car, Lorien finally figured out something to say.
“I have to say, I owe you some thanks.”
“For what?” Henry cocked his head in a way Lorien found absolutely adorable.
“It was impossible living with Will and Maddox before. Will was out of control. Sucked the air out of every room he was in. And Maddox never seemed to notice. But you’ve not stood for him being spoiled. You may have saved more than Will. You may have saved the city.”
“You like discipline?”
Lorien paused, not quite understanding the question.
“You mean in general?”
“I mean personally. Are you a disciplined person?”
“I’m still not sure what you mean,” Lorien said apologetically, lying through his teeth. He had some idea what Henry meant; it was just far too intimate a question to be answering.
“What I see when I look at you is a lot of guilt. And a lot of acting out going unchecked.”
“We weren’t talking about me.”
“I’m talking about you,” Henry replied. He nailed Lorien with that stare and Lorien’s mouth went dry.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not… I’m not someone subject to… that.” He couldn’t even say the word. It was a lie. He’d left Maddox’s house because Maddox put him over the desk and spanked him like a brat. His ego had been bruised. His ego was in danger again now.
“I think the king isn't giving you what you need. That’s why you ran off with the scum. You hoped he’d come for you, straighten you out.”
“I did not! I was tired of watching William being fawned over as if he were the last creature in the city while I meant nothing, except as someone to blame. I went to stay in another house belonging to the royals. I had every right to be there…”
His words were cut off when Henry put his big, tattooed hand over his mouth. Henry leaned forward, eyes intense as Lorien backed instinctively up against the wall.
“Shut up,” Henry growled. “You’re too good to whine like this.”
Lorien did not know how to take being manhandled this way. He was not entirely sure what was happening, if the pack master simply did this to everybody around him, or if he’d taken some interest. The latter option seemed unlikely. Nobody was interested in Lorien. Not for anything more than what he could do for them, and he already knew he offered Henry nothing.
He stayed where he was, not bothering to test his strength against Henry. He was still too busy being befuddled and more than a little turned on. It had been a long time since he’d let anybody put hands on him like this. To be fair, most of the time when people were trying to put hands on him, they were trying to kick the shit out of him. This could still go that way, he figured. But Henry seemed more concerned with getting through to him than hurting him.
