Chapter Seven

S tupid fucking human!

Gray stormed around his apartment, barely resisting the urge to throw something. “Fuck.”

A knock on the door had him pausing, staring at it. If anyone caught his scent, they would know and Gray would be in deep shit, which he wasn’t ready to face yet. “Gray! Open up!” Fuck, it was Kai. Thinking quickly, Gray grabbed some air freshener spray and liberally sprayed the entire room, coughing when he practically swallowed it.

Sneezing repeatedly, he opened the door and let Kai and Hugo in, staying back from them. Kai wrinkled his nose and coughed. “What the fuck happened in here?”

“I burned some toast.” Gray shut the door and watched Hugo, who had his eyes closed. He could see Hugo’s nostrils flare, a faint frown on his head. “Drink?” No way Hugo could figure out the scents. Not after Gray had emptied half a can of spray into the room.

Hugo opened his eyes and watched Gray; his head tilted to one side. “Interesting scent.”

“Huh? Yeah, it’s African Tiger or something.”

“I can scent that, but there is something else. Underneath. Yours but not.”

“Really?” Kai sniffed up the shrugged. “Can’t smell anything except that spray.”

“Or burned toast.”

“Fuck off, Hugo. Do you want a drink, or am I kicking you out?”

Hugo watched him, then smiled slightly. “Sure, a drink sounds good.”

“Why are you here?”

“We wanted to talk about the new security measures, but you haven’t been at work, so figured we’d catch you here. Everything good?”

“They are now. I thought we all agreed to the new measures and new teams?”

“We do, but Key pointed out a possible blind spot we didn’t consider.”

“Helps he grew up in the area.” Hugo sat on Gray’s sofa, watching him.

Gray ignored him and made their drinks, then took a seat far, far away. This made Hugo frown. “I can scent someone else,” he murmured.

“I fucked a human. Haven’t showered.” That would account for the other scent and put Hugo off.

“Hmm.”

Gray glared at Hugo, but Hugo didn’t look away. “You two just stop.” Kai sighed and sipped his drink, then picked up the conversation. “Key suggested altering one of the patrols, so we cover the whole area. I agree and so does Hugo, but you run security, so we thought we’d run it past you.”

“And you couldn’t call or email me? It needed an in-person visit?”

“We haven’t seen you—”

“Who is he?” Hugo leaned forward. “Your scent is like Kelvin’s is now after mating Key.”

Gray stared at Hugo. How long could he keep the pretense up when it had barely lasted five minutes? “A human. Met him in a club. We fucked and look at me now.”

“You’re mated?” Kai’s eyes widened. “What about the law?”

“I wasn’t thinking about the law when I was fucking the human and it was in a club, so I wasn’t paying that much attention.”

“When will you tell the council? We just got Kelvin back. We can’t afford to have you gone now.” Kai ran a hand through his hair.

“Well, said human thinks I’m a nut job, so not sure and I’m not out there searching for him.”

“We know you don’t have a high opinion of humans,” Hugo murmured. “You let Key stay, though.”

“He has skills I can use to keep vampires safe.”

“Ah. I knew there was a reason. Didn’t think you were thawing out where humans were concerned.” Hugo stood and walked over to Gray, then inhaled. Gray stood and pushed him away, but all Hugo did was grin. “You smell interesting now.”

“Fuck off before I do something you’ll regret.”

Hugo held his hands up and backed away. “Poor Gray. Given the one thing he never wanted. A human for a mate and he actually mated him before realizing. You know, once this gets out, everyone will rip you apart. We all know how much you detest humans. Except Key, well, I think he has some idea that you’re not fond of humans, but for some reason, he actually thinks you’re nice. I wonder why Kelvin hasn’t said anything to him.”

“I asked him not to, and I told him I would be nice to his mate. Key’s not bad. For a human.” Gray shrugged.

“Ooh, listen to you. All nice and shit to Key and now you have your very own human for a mate. Oh, the fates must be pissing themselves over this. However will you cope? We know you have to be with him and does that mean you can’t fuck anyone else other than your mate? How will your dick cope?” Hugo laughed, then shouted when Gray launched himself at him. Dodging Gray, Hugo laughed again. “I hope he’s a good fuck, as he’s the only one you're getting.”

“Humans can fuck other humans.” Kai watched Gray. “I don’t think the bond works quite as strongly with them as it does with us.

“Won’t be pleasant though, from I what I remember my parents telling me.” Being older than both Gray and Kai, Hugo knew more about their history from his parents, but the scent changing had been a surprise to all.

“Wonder why the scent thing disappeared from records.”

“Turbulent times, Kai. Even my parents didn’t know about it.”

Kai nodded. “What are you going to do about it? The council will need to be informed at some point. I’d suggest talking to Kelvin, considering he went through this as well.”

“The human doesn’t want me. He has an open relationship with some dude. I was a onetime thing.”

“Kinda like he was for you, only not.” Hugo sipped his drink. “How the tides have turned.”

“You’re really fucking annoying me now.”

“No, I’m not. You’re annoyed at yourself for not noticing and being in this position now. You have no one to blame but yourself. The way you go around fucking any human you want when you openly disdain them, and now this happens. You hate humans, but they’re good enough for you to fuck. Have you heard yourself and the way you speak about them? Just a good hole to fuck, but don’t deserve any actual time with you? Like you’re too good for them. Then Kelvin mated a human, and you had to put on the ‘happy for you’ face whenever Kelvin’s around, and then you kept Key, too.”

“Key has skills I can utilize to keep vampires safe. I would be stupid to ignore that. We all know what would happen if humans found out about us.”

“We do, yet we have some humans who work with us and help us. They haven’t revealed our existence.”

“Only because I threated to eviscerate them if they did. Threats keep humans where they should be.”

“You sound like Maxim,” Kai muttered.

“I don’t think humans should be subjugated like he does. He wants to be lord of all and use humans as food and a hole to fuck.”

“Hmm. Like you, I guess.” Hugo sipped his drink again and smiled. “You have never realized how similar some of the things you say sound to what Maxim says, have you? Food? Hole to fuck? Keep humans where they belong?”

“I’m getting close to rearranging your face.”

“The truth hurts, doesn’t it?” Hugo snapped. “Just because you work with us doesn’t mean you think the same way as us. You see yourself as someone better than Maxim when you share many of the same thoughts where humans are concerned. Take a long hard look in the mirror.”

“If I’m so bad, why do you keep me around? Why does the council?”

“Because you’re on this side of the fight and not that one. You actually know Maxim for the danger he is, but you both have an intense dislike for humans.” Kai exhaled heavily. “It has gotten worse over the years. When you let Key join the team, I thought you’d mellowed some, but I was wrong and now you’re fucked.”

“Or not. Appears this human has some common sense.”

“Hugo…” Kai murmured. “Stop.”

“Why should I? All these years I’ve had to listen to you belittle humans, call them weak and pathetic, parasites, and now here we are. You’ve been given the very thing you don’t want. I’m going to sit back and enjoy this because I wouldn’t give a single shit if my mate was human. I would cherish him or her because my life would have more meaning to it than it does now. My parents are mates, so I was raised in a place where there was love and understanding and two people working together. Sure, they had their fights, but they stood together when it counted. I had them as examples growing up and I want that too. You have that now and you’re gonna be a cunt over it. Well, I hope the human does go around fucking whoever he wants while you pull your head from your ass.”

“You need to get the fuck out,” Gray muttered, his jaw hard. “Fuck off now.”

“Or what? Don’t like hearing the truth, do you Gray? Don’t like hearing your own words repeated back to you?” Hugo stood. “I’d suggest having a long hard think about who you are and what you’ve been given before you fuck it all up. That human is your mate, and he is the most important person in your life, whether you like it or not. Grow the fuck up, Gray, and accept what you’ve been given. Your life will dramatically improve once you do.”

Hugo disappeared and Gray growled. “That’s my cue to leave as well. Good luck. You’re gonna need it.” Kai disappeared as well, leaving Gray staring at the chair he’d been sitting in. “Fuckers.”

Hugo was wrong, so fucking wrong. So what if he didn’t like humans? Many vampires didn’t like them, so Gray wasn’t alone in feeling that way. He did his job to protect vampires and humans from those vampires who would harm them, so he was helping them.

So he’d said some shit about humans over the years. Who hadn’t muttered something at some point in time? Humans could be so fucking destructive. Most didn’t care about themselves or others or the world around them. They were out to get whatever they could and they didn’t care who they trampled over to achieve it. Saying that didn’t mean he was like Maxim.

He was nowhere near like Maxim. Humans would be too hard to control, and Gray wanted an easy life. As far as he was concerned, they could die out and he wouldn’t be that bothered about it. He didn’t want to subjugate them and force them to do what he wanted them to.

He wasn’t like Maxim at all.

Hugo was wrong.

Licking his lips, Gray remembered what Hugo had said, and clenched his hands into fists. He wasn’t like Maxim at all. Vampires needed humans, and so Gray helped to protect them. That was his job and any personal feeling he may have didn’t come into it.

Henry.

Gay rubbed his eyes, sighing softly. What the fuck did he do with a human mate? Why him? Hadn’t he already had this discussion with himself? He had a human mate, and he had to live with it. What was the minimum time he could spend around his mate? An hour every other day or something?

He could manage that. Turn up, fuck, then leave. That would keep his mate healthy and alive and leave Gray to do his job and forget about Henry.

His phone beeped and Gray snarled when he saw Hugo’s message. Picking his phone up, he read the message. You need to tell the council. How long do you think you have before someone scents you? Get it done sooner rather than later so we can deal with the fallout.

And life continued to go down the shitter. The fucking council. What the fuck was he going to do about them?