Page 41 of Little Fangs

I was his breakfast. He’d discovered a way of working his fangs to his advantage on my skin, any part of my skin he could latch onto. He was currently enjoying being able to cuddle around my waist and latch himself to my hip. A little too close to my dick, but he promised he’d never bite that.

Everything had changed since the Council intervened; everything had become better. Micah had been out into the town a couple of times now with me, slowly integrating himself as we told people we were dating. Boyfriends, partners—sometimes in the cowboy sense, especially when he was riding me, but we didn’t tell the people in town that.

Micah had been inside a bubble for most of the life he’d led as a vampire. He’d confided in me about how Ludmila, the woman who looked like she’d just divorced a billionaire oil tycoon, had been kind to him, but she’d told him the world outside was cruel, instilling fear in him, but she was the one who’d given him the allowance he needed to fill his space with teddies, trinkets, and feetie onesies.

The way he spoke about her sometimes felt like he was conflicted. Like he wanted her to still be in command of him as his sire, but he was also enjoying the freedom he now had to give me that same control without it being binding—besides the blood I let him feed from me.

I ate my scrambled eggs, bacon, and waffles, sharing bites with Micah after he’d taken his little sips from me, which made me feel like a juice box, and a provider, giving him the necessary source of life.

He joined me now when I worked during the week, and we’d decided he needed help training to become a better hunter. Apparently, Misty had taught him all she knew, and now it was my turn.

I had my licensed firearm and an area of the woodland we could hunt in. The shotgun I had was a backup. Getting a deer wasn’t the most important part of the trip, or any animal really. The goal was giving Micah the chance at feeling resourceful, and combating the fear his so-called brothers had given him out here in the woodlands.

We dressed in our comfiest clothes, sweatpants and fur-lined hoodies. Nothing with fabric that made noise when you moved—not that he ever made any sound when he moved anyway. He was lethal with it, always sneaking up on me.

Micah didn’t need a weapon. He was the weapon. My sweet weapon who didn’t look like he could hurt a fly, and yet didn’t want to catch any more mice with Misty. I was sure they’d cleared out the entire population living around the area, but each time when Micah came in with droplets of blood around his mouth, I knew they’d found something else.

“I’m scared,” he whispered, as I drove us to the clearing where a footpath started. “I’ve never hunted anything bigger than—the palm of my hand.” He held it up, showing me.

“Whoa. We had mice that big?”

He pouted. “Maybe.”

“You’re gonna be fine. You don’t even have to kill, you could just pounce on it.”

“I’m a good pouncer,” he said, rubbing his hands together. “We should’ve brought Misty with us.”

Sitting in the car, staring at him, at his adorable face, I knew he couldn’t hurt a fly. “I know you’re just a baby,” I said. “But you’re also a vampire, and Muriel was saying, you know, before she left, that it’s good for you to practice.”

He groaned. “She also said she thought the Earth was flat.”

“And then took it back.”

We eventually got out after I gave him the courage.

I had my shotgun over my back with the strap at the front—not loaded. It was for just in case. I’d also carried a large map, folded to the area we were in, my personal dots and markings in place already.

Since it was the middle of fall, all kinds of wildlife were usually on the move, getting themselves ready for winter. It’s when the deer were found in lower elevations, potentially bedding down, potentially even nocturnal if they were close to nearby towns.

We stepped through the forest, careful not to trample over any twigs and give ourselves away to anything. I was leading him to my usual spots, places I’d taken down deer and elk before. They were usually in the thicker parts of the forest, where it was like another world under the canopy of trees, western sword fern and other large-leafed plants growing from the dirt, competing for light.

After a moment, we sat on a hollow mossy trunk with the remnants of clear, white wax on the corners from rituals performed in the area. Witches were aloof, but they were helpful to nature, so I let it slide, picking off the waxy residue while Micah was in my sights.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked.

“I just can’t believe we’re doing this together,” I said. “You’re just—”

He giggled, then pressed his hand over his mouth. “Sorry.”

“I love you,” I said. The words rolled right out. I almost pressed a hand to my mouth. “I’m—”

“I love you too,” he said, his chest going wild, up and down like a bird of paradise performing. “You saved me, and in more ways than one, you’ve been there—and here, and everywhere for me. I’d say I—I love you more.”

I shook my head, trying to hide my smile. “Impossible.”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Yuh-uh,” I chuckled back.