Frankie shrugged. "I don't remember too much of it … at least, not clearly. I was two, ya know? But … " He licked his lips and forged ahead. "But ever since then, I've had some … trouble understanding. Sometimes, I need simple things explained," he admitted. "And I need to be reminded of things a couple times, sometimes. And sometimes I get … distracted." He frowned, trying to remember if that was everything. He thought so.
Lifting his gaze to his mate's, Frankie didn't know how to read Dobs' body language. His brows were crinkled. His jaw appeared clenched. His hands clasped tightly together, if the white knuckles were any indicator. Was Dobs angry? Disgusted? Let down?
Frankie licked his lips, then whispered, "Please, say something." He wished he was wearing jeans so he could rub his hands over the seams.
"You're telling me you have a form of mild retardation?" Dobs asked softly.
For a couple seconds, Frankie rolled the word around in his head. "Yeah, that sounds right," he replied, nodding.
"But you understand the pull of your mate. You know what it means to be bonded, right?"
Bonded? Frankie didn't think he'd heard that term before, but … "Is being bonded for a vampire the same as when a shifter claims his mate?"
"I would say so, yes. I … " Dobs paused and frowned, looking around the room. "Where is everyone?" In Frankie's opinion, Dobs looked sheepish. "I would have thought Nick or someone would be giving me the third degree right now."
"The third … " Frankie cocked his head. "I don't know what that means, but everyone is giving us privacy. I think your entrance was a dead giveaway that we have things we need to talk about."
"So they left? Their own home?" Dobs seemed quite incredulous on this matter.
Huh.
"There are other rooms in the house," Frankie said. "They're probably not far." He shrugged. "It's the way of the pack. My brother says mates need to learn to work out their own differences, so other pack members only step in if there's no other option."
"Right," Dobs responded. "Anyway, why don't you tell me about wolf shifter matings, and I will tell you about vampire bonding, and we'll see how they differ. What do you say?"
He nodded. That sounded good. Except, his mate was way over there, and they hadn't parted on very good terms. He and his wolf really needed reassurance that Dobs was interested in making this work. Reb said he should be able to ask his mate for anything. With that thought in mind, he asked, "Will you … will you come over here and hold me?"
Dobs hesitated. Frankie tightened his arms around his knees and, dropping his gaze to the floor, rocked his body. Did his mate not want to touch him?
"I'd be happy to do that, if you put some clothes on, Frankie," Dobs said softly, drawing his attention. Frankie's eyes widened when he saw the red hue coloring Dobs' irises, again, driving out the blue. "I'm having a hard enough time controlling myself. If I come over there now, with you naked, I'm afraid I won't be able to stop myself from taking you and claiming you." He smiled then. "And as much as I'm sure we'd both enjoy that, this time, we really should talk first."
"Oh," Frankie gasped. He'd been half-hard just sitting and talking with his mate, but now that Dobs mentioned fucking and claiming, his dick thickened further and started to throb. He scrambled to obey his mate, wanting to please him, and tried to ignore the ache. Talk first, Dobs had said. They hadn't done that last time and had ended up fighting. Frankie had to make sure that didn't happen again.
Once he'd pulled on the sweats he'd left on the end table earlier while working with Demitri-oh, I hope he's doing okay-Frankie sat on the couch. Dobs took his coat off and draped it over the arm of a chair, then joined him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and pulling him close.
Frankie hunched his larger body and, with a bit of maneuvering, managed to tuck his head under his mate's chin. He rested a hand on Dobs' chest and felt the lean muscles comprising the vampire's body. His eyes narrowed as he traced the man's torso. "Did you lose weight recently?" he asked absently, running his hand over the muscular chest down to Dobs' abs. From the amount of muscle the vampire had, surely he should have been more filled out.
"Yes, but we'll talk about that another time," Dobs replied. "Right now, I want you to tell me what you've seen or heard about shifter matings."
His mate ran his long fingers through Frankie's hair, gently massaging his scalp. The caresses felt like reassurance to Frankie's wolf, and if he'd been a cat shifter, he imagined he'd be purring right now. Smiling, Frankie nuzzled Dobs' chest, his hand holding him more firmly.
"I always thought it looked pretty simple when two shifters found their mate," he shared. "They'd claim each other, then decide whose pack they wanted to join. I suppose," he mused, "just like any two people who try to fit their lives together, there are personality conflicts and differences of opinion. There's probably a learning curve, huh?" he asked, tilting his head to look up at his mate.
Frankie liked how relaxed Dobs looked. His eyelids were at half-mast as he held Frankie with one arm and used his other hand to stroke his head. It was nice, comfortable.
"I've heard if a shifter loses their true mate, then they could die of heartache. Do you think that's true?" Frankie asked.
"I don't know, Frankie," Dobs replied softly. "I suppose it could be. A vampire will go insane if they lose their bonded one. I've always been told it was because a vampire requires their blood to survive, but perhaps it's really caused by heartache."
"Is vampire mating very different?" Frankie asked curiously.
"A little, but not as much as I'd thought."
Chapter Seven
Dobs would be happy to sit here, just like this, for years. Well, if the ache in his dick and his need for blood wouldn't get in the way. It was so incredibly relaxing to just sit and hold his beloved, to talk softly, as if they were sharing secrets and not speaking about something as important as their future.
He'd known his father had filled his head with bullshit about shifters, but just hadn't realized how much. Shoving thoughts of his sire and his vendetta against all shifters away-the man is dead and can't control my life any longer-Dobs thought about vampire bonding.
"When a vampire goes through puberty, they slip into a sort of coma for several days. When they awake, they require blood to survive. Most parents teach the importance of giving pleasure to your donor and how to keep from draining them dry." He felt Frankie stiffen, and used the hand of the arm around him to rub his back. "I know that sounds brutal, and in truth, it is," he admitted. "Those are the vampires the council sends people like me after. I'm an enforcer for the Vampire Council. When a vampire bonds, if they work for the council, whether or not it's safe for them to continue working is assessed."
Frankie tilted his head slightly. "Why would it matter?"
Dobs used a thumb to stroke Frankie's brow, easing the crinkles he saw there. "I've been told even though a bonded vampire can survive on another's blood, I can tell you from experience it's not pleasant. And a vampire needs his bonded one's blood at least occasionally, at least every few weeks, to survive and stay sane. If something were to happen to you after we bonded, I'd go feral and have to be put down," he told the shifter bluntly.
It was a cold reality of the paranormal world. There were no second chances once you bonded with your one-and-only. Perhaps it was Fate's way of assuring that she could reincarnate both souls into people who were fairly close together and could find each other again.
"Oh, that's … I'm sorry," Frankie said, worry filling his wide green eyes.
Smiling, Dobs shook his head once. "It's no different than with shifter mates. We just label it a bit differently," he admitted.
"Would you, would you continue being a vampire enforcer?" Frankie asked tentatively.