immediately became dark, his brows meeting over his nose and his lips turning down in a frown. There was no asking what new thought clouded Winter’s face. Fox’s mortality. It was a thought that troubled Bel here and there.
As vampires, they didn’t age. Existence would stretch on and on for them. Werewolves aged at a much slower rate, but they did age. Werewolves could be changed into vampires, but it was a very tricky and dangerous process. They also lost their ability to shift.
Fox’s lifespan as a witch, assuming he didn’t die in a car accident or vampire assassination attempt, was unknown. Zelda was hundreds of years old, but she was also incredibly powerful. Fox had no interest in becoming a powerful witch like Zelda, which meant that he was aging and would one day, far too soon, die.
“Have you talked to him about it?” Aiden asked. There was no need to clarify. His son would know.
Winter sighed heavily. “Fox has had a couple of conversations with Zelda and confirmed that a witch can be turned into a vampire. It’s only been done a few times that she knows of, but she doesn’t know of any cases where a witch retained their ability to use magic.”
“He’s against being turned?”
“No, but he obviously wants to wait. He wants to learn some more magic, play with it a bit. I’ve told him that my love isn’t contingent upon him being young. I’ll love him no matter how he looks—old, young, fat, skinny. Doesn’t matter to me.”
“But you want him safe, and humans are fragile.”
“Yes!” Winter snapped, clenching both of his fists in front of him. They shook for a moment and Aiden could easily imagine Winter wanting to shake some sense into his mate. He released a loud breath and dropped his hands back to his lap. “But he’s at least willing to discuss it. He wants to talk to Marcus about it.”
“Marcus?”
A low groan left Winter. “He thinks Marcus will be more logical about it. That they can draw up some kind of guidelines about when he would want to be turned if he’s not conscious or able to relay his desires. As if I can’t be trusted with something like that.”
“Can you be trusted?”
“No, of course not!” Winter said, throwing his arms up in the air. “He’s my mate. If he gets a paper cut, I want to turn him. I want him safe. I want him with me forever.”
Aiden smiled at his son. “Mates can be a conundrum, but I’m sure you and Fox will figure this out.”
Winter’s frown eased a little as his eyes moved to the window where snow flurries were dancing lightly in the darkness. “Any chance you’d be willing to talk about your current conundrum?”
New tension hummed through Aiden’s frame, and it was hard to hold on to his smile. He wanted to redirect it to concerns about the European Ministry or the fact that members of the old MacPherson clan were in town causing problems, but he knew that wasn’t what Winter was referring to.
“Which one called you?” Aiden asked, trying to keep his voice from turning cold and hard. He wasn’t upset. He knew they were only worried about him.
“I got an interesting picture from Marcus…of you dancing with Ronan.” Winter paused and scratched his jaw. “I don’t think I’ve seen you dance in years. At least not since I was human.”
He’d danced with Julianna every chance he got. He didn’t think she was the last person he’d danced with, but she would be the last partner Winter would have seen him with.
“Does it bother you?”
“No,” he answered quickly and then winced, as if realizing he’d replied too quickly. He shifted on the couch and pulled out his phone from his back pocket. He moved his fingers around on the screen for a moment before finding what he wanted. Leaning forward, he turned the screen so Aiden could see it. “I don’t mind when I see you smiling like that.”
Aiden barely heard the words. His eyes were locked on the image of him and Ronan together. Marcus caught him smiling broadly, his hand tightening on Ronan’s shoulder. And Ronan…God, there was such a look of open joy and love in his eyes. Was it possible? Could Ronan still love him after all this time? It didn’t seem as if that could be true, but he couldn’t believe that image was lying to him.
“He’s important to you,” Winter observed.
“He was at one time.” That