just going to come home with five cats.”
“Five. You said a cat. Now you want five?”
“Fine. One.”
“If Artemus eats it, it’s not my fault.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “He wouldn’t.”
“He might. All he’d have to do is just lay on it and there’d be no more kitty. Maybe you should get five in case. Then if I get hungry it won’t be too big of a deal.”
“Mr. FangyFace, why are you so evil?”
“It’s a requirement for dealing with you, honestly.”
I grunt, which is an extremely sexy noise. “I kind of like it,” I whisper.
He starts laughing. “Of course you do.”
“I suppose we should go terrify the human some more,” I say.
He smiles at me. “I like how you say ‘the human’ like you’re no longer a human.”
“Nah, I’ve progressed beyond human. I am Finn.”
“Ah… you’re a Finn. I get it now. Let’s go see if we can make him pee his pants,” Marcus jokes.
“I like the way you think,” I tease.
And so we head off to see what “the human” is up to and assure him that this big bad vampire isn’t too big and bad.
Besides in the bedroom.
But I don’t add that part. I feel like I should at least get to know him a little bit first.
Chapter Two
MARCUS
I wake up and roll over to look at my phone, noticing the alarm won’t go off for another ten minutes. I shift a bit more to look at Finn who is squished against me since Artemus, my large Irish wolfhound, is lying on his other side and taking up at least half of the king-sized bed. I told Finn the dog could sleep on the floor.
They both gave me a look of pure devastation like I was heartless for telling my lover that he could have more bed than a sliver by pushing the dog off onto his memory foam bed.
My eyes run over the skin that’s exposed since his blanket has fallen to his chest. His left arm is showing where a few small scars run over what’s left of it. At the end, where his arm was removed, is a cap that protects it and is also where the prosthesis attaches.
Even though Finn is convinced otherwise, seeing him with his prostheses off doesn’t bother me. Even after being together for a while, I’ve still never seen him completely naked with them off, unless it’s during a moment like this.
I wish he understood that I think he’s perfect and gorgeous just the way he is. I try to make sure he doesn’t know how seeing him upset over them drives me crazy and makes me hate the man who hurt him. It makes me want to find the man and keep him from ever laying a finger on Finn again.
I turn the alarm off before it can wake Finn and gently run my fingers over his bare cheek. “Babe, it’s time to get up,” I say softly.
“Oh, fuck off,” he growls as he rolls over and grabs Artemus in a hug.
Ah, what a lovely welcome I get for waking him up.
“Do you want me to turn the alarm back on?” I ask.
“Go away,” he mutters as he buries his face against Artemus’s wiry hair.
“You’re so not cute. I thought maybe you were cute, but I was horribly mistaken,” I grumble.
He lets out a growling noise as he begins to sink under the covers, like he’s melting beneath them. I flip the alarm back on, set it for one minute and perch it right next to his head. The moment it goes off, he turns to me and grabs for the phone, eyes huge like I have betrayed him.
“I’m up, I’m up! Why are you so mean to me?” he asks.
“I tried waking you up sweetly, and do you know what you said to me?”
He thinks about it for a moment. “I love you?”
“Try again.”
“Jesus fucking Christ, you’re handsome?” he asks.
“Closer. It did have the F word in it.”
He seems to think for a moment longer. “Fuck me, McBitey?”
I sigh before grabbing him and pulling him into my arms. At least he doesn’t stiffen up anymore when I insist on holding him without his prostheses. That only took months to accomplish and a lot of hard work.
“You know you can’t hold it against me if I say something… snippy when I first wake up. You’re basically asking for it.”
“The funny thing is that vampires are the ones who are nocturnal, yet you act like you are.”
“Yes… at least I