CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER SEVEN

Kannan was so in love with that cute little human that he could hardly think straight. Every thought was swirling around Eric and how to convince him to be a permanent part of his life. Having him say the words so easily and without fear was the icing on the cake. He declared his love without needing to qualify it or explain it away he just said what he was feeling and that was another reason why he was falling so hard for this little, vulnerable human.

He took a quick shower in the spare room and dressed before heading to the kitchen and placing his breakfast order. He would have to make sure to have some groceries delivered so there were food and drinks available for his beloved.

The sandwiches he made last night were a hit so he would have more sandwich options there for him. Kannan wasn't sure of his taste as yet, but he was getting an idea. Eric was obviously not a picky eater having polished off the tray of odds and ends that Kannan had pulled together.

He was in the kitchen setting out their breakfast and making coffee when his phone rang. "Hello."

"Just an update on the wolves who assaulted your beloved," Kristof stated and then continued. "They and a portion of their crew, including their alpha wannabee Decker, are living in the building that housed the old Red Crescent Lounge in the lowlands. That place has been closed for years ever since Master Hadden started cleaning up the area."

"I patrol the southern part of the lowlands, and since the hex came to town, the lowlands have been getting steadily worse and steeped in shadows and blood. It's a nasty part of town." Kannan commented.

"Yes, the hex has been having a negative effect on susceptible places like the lowlands and idiot people like the wolves. They haven't done anything bad enough to warrant expulsion from Hadden territory, but they’re getting close." Kristof sounded irritated by the fact he couldn't just send them packing. "Gage and Mael have located Rule, and if you want to join the interrogation, meet us at the warehouse in two hours."

"Thanks, I'll be there. Any information on Cal?"

"Not yet, but we"re confident that Rule will lead us to Cal." He closed the call and finished setting up breakfast just as Eric entered the room, looking all fresh and tasty.

"Come and have a seat, my love." Kannan took him into his arms and kissed him before helping him get seated at the table. They finished breakfast in relative quiet, and Kannan was glad to see that his beloved had a healthy appetite. He poured coffee, and they moved from the table to the living room.

"I"d like for you to move in here with me. We can pick up your things later today and get you situated before nightfall." Kannan decided to voice his intentions and see what Eric had to say. From what he could read, Eric was mellow and accepting of everything they"d discussed and of the incredible things Kannan had told him. His heart was open, and his mind was working through it all.

"I want to be with you, but it might take me a bit longer to relocate. I need some time to think and organize before making such a move." That was not what Kannan wanted to hear, but he understood. He nodded and sipped his coffee while reaching out to Eric with his mind.

He was hesitant but not averse to the idea his feelings were a mixture of want and uncertainty. He trusted Kannan, but he didn't trust himself or his ability to make good decisions.

Kannan reached over, took his hand, and squeezed it. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes."

"I trust you too." He raised his hand to his lips and kissed it. "Take the time you need but know that I cannot be without you for very long. We are newly bonded, and as a vampire, I am hard-wired to attach to my beloved. It's how Fate makes sure the union is strong and will grow as intended." He paused, wanting to choose his words correctly.

"This isn't off the cuff or a sudden infatuation it is a connection so deep and meant to span a lifetime and more. I will love you for the rest of your life and the need to be near you will always be a part of me." He stared into Eric's deep blue gaze and saw the desire that was there but also shades of uncertainty remained.

He had to give him the time he asked for, but it was going to be miserable. He should have been prepared for this, but he wasn't. His own overconfidence based on their time together over the past two days had led him here. Eric was human, and it was natural that he would ask for time.

"I’m sorry," Eric said, moving closer to Kannan, obviously having picked up on his disappointment.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. I put a lot on you last night and this morning and you will need time." Kannan tried to be supportive, but his vampire nature was demanding they grab Eric and leave but that was not possible. Humans were tricky creatures, and a wrong move now could prolong this process much longer than Kannan was prepared to tolerate.

"I want this too. I want there to be a you and me, but I have to think about moving in with you. It's fast, considering we literally just met. I’m not saying no; I’m just saying, let me think." Eric was struggling, and Kannan didn't want his beloved to be stressed. He took him into his arms and buried his face in the crook of Eric's neck. He drank in his lovely scent and let it calm him and fill him with peace.

"I have to leave soon; Rule has been located, and I want to speak with him regarding your attack." That information had Eric stiffening and digging his fingers into Kannan's sides. His fear was taking over, but Kannan held him and channeled his calm. "Nothing to fear, Eric. I will deal with him, Cal, and anyone else involved. That pack of wolves has no place in the Hadden territory."

"Werewolves," Eric said the word.

"Yes, not all are like those two reprobates. Most are decent people." Kannan responded.

"Werewolves," Eric repeated. "This is a strange new world you have presented to me, Kannan Lieth.

"Too strange." He asked.

"No, I can handle it." There was a smile in his voice, and it was the sweetest gift.

"Good."

It was hard saying goodbye to Kannan, but he knew it wouldn't be for long. As much as he asked for time, his heart kept screaming that this was right and that Kannan was his destiny. He'd called Chester and asked for a ride home and was waiting out front of the Imperial.

Chester was shocked when he told him where he was and started a litany of questions, but Eric shut him down. "Just pick me up, and I’ll explain later." He told him, and Chester, eager to get back on the good side of Eric, readily agreed.

As he waited for Chester to arrive, his feelings for Kannan continued to rise and sharpen, and he wondered why he was having such a problem agreeing to move in together. Kannan told him it would be difficult for him to be away from Eric for too long, and it was a vampire thing. Eric found that he was feeling the same way, so it must have been a human thing, too.

Eric was on the edge of calling Kannan and telling him that, yes, he wanted to move in and that it was a good idea, but he resisted. He needed to wait, or he'd look like he didn't know his own mind and was incapable of making decisions. He would wait and call him tomorrow. Damn, just saying that made Eric's gut tighten with anxiety. The wait would be awful.

"Hey Chester, thanks for the ride." He said as he got into Chester's red Silverado.

"What the hell is going on with you and what happened to you last night?" Chester began the questions as soon as he was buckled in. Eric turned and glared at him and did not speak for a full two minutes. "Talk to me." He urged while constantly glancing over at him.

"You know what happened your boyfriend set me up with a couple of monsters and you knew it too." Eric pushed to see if he had anything to do with it.

"I had nothing to do with it, and I never met those guys until Ron introduced them to the bar. I never met them before, and I was not on board for you taking off with them." He insisted.

"I didn't take off with them. They followed me and attacked me in the alley. Thankfully, someone saw what was going on and stepped in." Eric could see that Chester was feeling bad about what happened, but he couldn't let him off the hook just yet.

"Who, who saved you?"

"The guy I was talking to at the bar before Cal became an utter nuisance, and Ron accosted me."

"That guy works for Nikolas Hadden. There was a table full of Hadden muscle seated just to our left." Chester sounded wary.

"He works security," Eric said and added. "I’m lucky he was there because you certainly weren't."

"I’m sorry; what do you want from me?"

"I don't know. I just need to vent for a while."

"Okay, that's alright. You can vent to me." Chester was trying so hard.

"I like him. His name is Kannan Lieth, and he's a great guy."

"You stayed with him?"

"Yes, he lives over the Imperial Club. He has a killer apartment."

"I bet he does. Hadden pays his people well, and they get some damn good perks too." Chester interjected.

"He wants me to move in with him."

"After two nights together, that's crazy. You’re not considering it, are you?" Chester again became agitated and kept glancing at him as he continued to drive.

"I am."

"Be careful; those guys that work for Hadden are not your normal run-of-the-mill guys. They’re different." Chester was trying to tell him they were supernatural beings, but Eric already knew that.

"I know he's a vampire he told me." That had Chester pulling to the side of the road and slamming the brakes.

Kannan met Gage and Mael at the warehouse, but his mind was filled with the image of his beloved as he left him. Eric had every right to ask for time, but damn, it was hard to let him go.

Kannan had plans to either call him or visit him later and attempt to convince him to come over and spend the night. Maybe if he got him to stay often eventually he would stay permanently. All he knew was that he wanted Eric with him, and he would do whatever he had to in order to make that happen.

"How's it going with Eric?" Gage asked as they walked into the warehouse and over to the room where Rule was being held.

"Slow but sure." He said with a rueful smile. "Getting Rule and Cal off the streets will go far in securing his trust."

"We got Rule, and hopefully, we’ll have Cal soon."

Once home, Eric started packing up his computer equipment and organizing his things. He had quite a bit of stuff, considering it was a small apartment. When he started organizing, he realized a fair amount was not worth taking with him if he decided to take Kannan up on his offer, so he made separate piles.

One pile was to take with him, the second was for charity and the third was trash. He was a little disconcerted by the fact that the trash pile was growing faster than the other two. He really was a pack rat keeping things long past their usefulness.

"So, you're going to move in with that guy Kannan after knowing him all of like a minute?" Chester stood at Eric's bedroom door with this shoulder leaning on the door frame and his arms crossed aggressively.

"I'm seriously thinking about it."

"The sex must have been impressive." He tried to shame Eric, but he didn't feel it.

"You have no idea." Eric smiled and bounced his eyebrows suggestively, and Chester huffed and left the room. "The sex was fantastic. Vampires have a way of getting you off that makes your spine tingle." Eric called to him.

"Shut up," Chester responded, and Eric laughed. He turned back to his task just as he heard a crashing sound from the outer room and rushed out to see what had happened.

"Chester, are you okay?" He shouted, and then he saw the problem. Standing in the living room glaring down at Chester, who was flat on the floor and looked to be unconscious, was Ron and a friend. Eric tried to get to Chester, but he was blocked and held by Ron's friend. The guy was big, and he had the same aura and scent as Cal and Rule, he was a wolf.

"What did you do to Chester?" He tried to pull away from the man holding him, but it was impossible. Ron stood there grinning and looking down at Chester.

"He got in my way," Ron stated and then turned his attention to Eric.

"Get out of my apartment," Eric demanded, but Ron simply rolled his eyes.

"You're powerless right now." He said. "If I asked my friend there to kill you, he would without question. That's how powerless you are." Eric trained his attention on Chester, praying that he would not die. Ron walked up to Eric and, with his beady rat-like eyes, began looking him over head to toe.

"I really don't know what it is they see in you, but apparently, you made an impression, and they want you back." He closed his beady eyes briefly and chuckled. "Maybe it was the way you screamed and cried when they were beating you. Wolves love a good crier."

He always thought Ron was much worse than just the average psycho-boyfriend. He had a gleeful blackness that made every room he entered become cold. The guy was clearly murderously insane, and right now, Eric was at his mercy. "What do you want from me?"

"It's not what I want, it's what Cal wants, and Cal always gets what he wants." Ron turned away, giggling. Eric decided to try a different approach and turned slightly so he could look up at the man holding him.

"You don't mind working for a human?" That had Ron swinging back around to regard him up close.

"You know about wolves?"

"I know about everything."

"You're a liar." Eric did not respond but maintained eye contact with the idiot. After a few seconds Ron startled him when he burst out with a sharp laugh. "You don't know anything." He said and punched him hard in the stomach. Ron was not very muscular so although it hurt it was not a lasting pain. "You're coming with us Eric."

"I'm not going anywhere with you."

"Cal wants to finish what he started, and he plans on sharing you with a few friends, so yes, you’re coming with us." He swung around and stuck Eric with a needle in his upper arm. "Good night, Eric." Eric struggled to stay awake, but unconsciousness won.