[Echo]I woke up with my alarm around seven in the morning. Gray was already up and getting ready to leave for work. I hated that about weekdays. There was no morning cuddles with my warmest and cuddliest husband. Nothing was better than being held in Gray’s arms in the early morning. Victor came into the room as Gray left. He got into the bed and wrapped his arms around me. His fingers traced along my jaw and his eyes were trained on my mouth. Victor leaned in and kissed me gently. He pulled back and hovered over my lips. “Good morning, princess,” Victor murmured. Last night had been wonderful. I needed to get my mind off that man who annoyed me so much, but also said things that resonated in me. I don’t like being confused about people. Thankfully, my husbands were able to keep me from thinking about him.My body had been craving them more lately, and they were usually more than happy to indulge me. On our walk, I’d pushed Gray away and run off to a clearing I knew about, knowing he would chase me. As usual, my time with him was amazing. It got even better later on.Whenever Victor and Gray got it in their heads to focus only on me, I felt as if I would die of pleasure. Victor always reminded me of how often I took care of them. It was as if they saved up from every time in between and poured it all into these nights. That wasn’t to say that they didn’t focus on my pleasure in our normal sex life. They were incredible even when they were intent on their own pleasure. Both of them made sure I had everything I needed to enjoy each encounter. “Good morning, Victor. Did anything happen while I slept?” I asked.“Nothing of importance. Our guest is awake again. I’d like to try talking to him. Can you come along? I feel as if he might talk more if you’re there.” “I’ll get dressed then we can go,” I replied with a smile. Victor smiled warmly at me. I knew how much he liked it when I helped him take care of the territory. Gray’s sister-in-law told me how important support was to the leaders of each group. Their mate’s support was needed even more. We had to be understanding of their responsibilities, their time constraints, their focus, and their carried over emotions. They needed us more than their other supports because we were the ones they could be weak with. It wasn’t something they could find anywhere else. I gently pushed against Victor’s chest. Normally, he took the hint and got up, but, this time, he leaned in and kissed me again. Sometimes Gray wanted me to struggle against him or run from him, but that had never been something that interested Victor. I tested what he wanted by moving my face slightly away from him. Victor pulled back and looked at me with a concerned expression. “Is something wrong, Echo?” “Didn’t we need to go talk to our guest?” I asked. “There was plenty of time for some kisses and light petting….” Reaching up, I caressed his face. Victor was commanding, but not possessive. I should have known better than to think he might be interested in the more primal urges Gray had. “I need a shower. I smell like sex,” I giggled. “Humans don’t have sensitive senses of smell. He won’t even notice it,” Victor murmured as he leaned in and started kissing and nibbling my neck. I moaned as he hit one of my sensitive spots. Gripping his shirt, I forgot all about my objections. He moved the blankets down and his hand found my breast. My back arched as he manipulated my nіpple between his fingers while his mouth explored my neck. Victor rarely got physical with me in the mornings. It just didn’t seem to be a preference of his. He would from time to time, but he usually waited until I’d had something to eat. I think it was because he would usually bite me and drink some of my blood. Losing blood on an empty stomach could make me dizzy or even faint. “V-Victor,” I moaned. “There are werewolves in the house. No one takes a woman who smells like sex seriously.” It was hard to think about anything other than what he was doing. I gripped his hair as he started kissing his way down my body. I knew where this was headed and there was no way it would be some ‘kisses and light petting’ like Victor said earlier.His hand started sliding down my body, under the covers. I had to stop him before his fingers reached their destination. If he touched me there, I wouldn’t be in control of anything anymore. Nothing else would matter to me, only the feeling of him and the urges he created in my body. I took a deep breath and pushed him away gently. Victor looked up at me with a mix of confusion and desire in his eyes.“Victor, we really need to talk to our guest and I need a shower,” I said firmly.He sighed and nodded, sitting up reluctantly. I quickly got out of bed and grabbed my robe from the chair by the window. Victor reached out and grabbed my wrist, pulling me back toward him.“I’m sorry, Echo. I just can’t resist you sometimes,” he said, his voice low and full of desire.That made my heart flip. Victor gave me another kiss before releasing me and going to the bookshelf by the sitting area in the room. I gathered my clothes and headed to the bathroom to shower. He was sitting in a chair, fully focused on some old book from his collection when I passed him. While in the shower, I thought about the situation with the human in our home. I saw the way he looked at me. He held my wrist tightly when he woke up and there was something in his eyes. I felt so much pain in him. It made me wonder about his past and what he had gone through. There was something angry in him. There was something broken in him, too. After I finished my shower, I dried my hair and got ready for the day. It had only taken me a half hour. Victor still had a while before he needed to sleep. The sun had only just risen. I went into the bedroom and found him still reading the book. Victor marked his page and set the book on the coffee table before standing. He crossed to where I was and took my hand, kissing the back of it gently while looking into my eyes. I blushed and smiled at him. I hoped it would be like this forever. He led me out of the bedroom and over to the room with the human in it. I followed him into the room. Dr. Hastings was checking on him. I knew he had slept in the room right next door while Neil stayed in the room all night. I felt bad that Neil hadn’t gotten much rest. Neil was dozing in a chair next to the door when we came in. He didn’t open his eyes, but I was fairly certain it was because he knew who was coming into the room. Neil was good at his job. Spencer was sitting up against some pillows. He had medium length dark blond hair and piercing, nearly black eyes. The tattoos on his skin were sometimes marred by scars. Even though he was homeless, it didn’t seem to stop him from keeping up with his workouts, because he seemed almost as muscular as a werewolf.There was a light rumbling that came from his stomach. I knew Lisa would be bringing him some food soon. They would have had something for Gray to eat before he left for work, but Spencer might need something different. Injured humans took longer to heal and start eating normally.“I hope you slept well,” Victor said as we crossed the room. The man in the bed sighed. “Look, I appreciate that you took me in after I was attacked, but I really don’t know what you want. I don’t know anything about the thing that tried to kill me.” Victor glanced over at me and raised his eyebrows in a silent plea for help. I went over to the bed and sat next to Spencer, picking up his hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. He looked at my hand, then up at me and over to Victor. “We don’t want anything from you that you don’t want to provide. Do you know anything at all that could help us, though? The creature is still out there. It could hurt other people,” I said. “There was no attack last night, but that doesn’t mean the creature is done. It might simply be recovering from its injury. Is there anything we’re missing? You’re part of the community that’s being attacked. We’re coming at this issue from the outside,” Victor told him.  Spencer paused for a long moment. I felt his hesitation in his hand. He took several deep breaths before he finally spoke.“I haven’t seen the creature, but I’ve heard of it. Everyone is talking about it. They say only sleep on the street if you have a death wish. They say the shelters might suck but it’s better than being killed. Some of the volunteers at one of the soup kitchens tried to get help from the police, but they decided it wasn’t important. Our lives weren’t worth anything,” he said.My lips pursed in anger. They weren’t worth less than any other human was, just because they had no homes. No one really knew when disaster would befall them. “I’m sorry that happened to you. I’m sorry it happened to your friends,” I said.He shook his head. “Not all of them were friends. But none of them deserved to have their lives ended like that.”“What else do you know?” I asked gently. “Can you tell us more?”He nodded. “I don’t know a lot about the thing. No one has ever seen it and lived. It never attacks near the shelters or busier areas of town. If there’s a club, bar, cop shop, shelter, or 24-hour business, then those are the safest places to set up your bed. At least… that’s how it was before. I should’ve been safe. I was only a couple of blocks from a bar.”  “So it’s getting bolder. Even if it’s not intelligent, it will learn from this. Animals will change their behavior if they’re hurt by making bolder decisions. We will make sure to inform those who are currently searching for it. We will also look in more deserted areas where it may be hiding. Thank you. Have you had any time to think about what you want once you leave the house?” Victor asked. Spencer looked up at him when he asked the question. He looked back down at me. I gave him an encouraging smile. “Ask for anything and we’ll do our best to help,” I told him. Spencer’s eyes flickered from Victor to me, searching for any sign of insincerity. After a moment, he let out a deep sigh. A wave of sorrow went through me. “I don’t have anything to ask for. I deserve to be where I am in life. Just patch me up and let me go. If the thing comes after me again, let me die,” Spencer replied stoically. Victor turned to the doctor and waved him off. Doctor Hastings grabbed Neil on his way out of the room. When the door closed, Spencer tensed and seemed like he was steeling himself for something. “Before I became a vampire, I lost my family. What you said was exactly what I thought.” Victor put his hand over his heart. “My wife, all three of my children, my whole world was buried in the churchyard. I had nothing to live for, but I couldn’t kill myself or I would never see them again.”Spencer looked at Victor with a newfound sense of understanding. The pain in his eyes was palpable, and I could feel his emotions washing over me like a wave.“I don’t know why you’re telling me that,” Spencer replied. Victor’s gaze was on the middle of Spencer’s chest. I followed it and saw a tattoo over his heart. It had names in it and a date. I reached out and put my hand over it. He grabbed my hand and pulled it away. I froze. I’d overstepped. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “Please let me go.” Spencer let go of my hands and looked away. I didn’t get up, though. He didn’t mean to hurt me, only to make me stop. I was certain that if he wanted to hurt me, he would have hurt me.“What happened?” I asked. “It was my fault. She didn’t want me to go, but I wanted to do one more job before settling into civilian life. It was only three weeks. If I hadn’t.... We were moving to Utah to be closer to her family, but I made them wait ‘til I got back. They would’ve been safe,” he said softly. I felt a lump form in my throat as I listened to his story. The pain in his voice was so real, so raw that it was impossible not to feel it as well. The weight of his pain was heavy, and I didn’t know how to help him. I looked at Victor, hoping he had some idea of what to say or do, but he was lost in his own memories.“You always think that drunk drivers come out in the evening or at night. She was taking them to school.... I was coming home in three days.” Tears welled in his eyes, and he closed his eyes tightly. “I don’t know how you made me tell you that, but I’m done. Now you know. Let me sleep and try to push it all down again.” My heart ached for him as much as it had for Victor the first time I heard about his family. I stood and took Victor’s hand, leading him out of the room. Spencer needed time. He needed space. It might be a long time before he stopped grieving. He would have to forgive himself before that could happen.