Varick didn’t know what to make of the news his mate had a bunny demon relative. Of course if he had any sense he would’ve run for the hills as soon as he learned of Dio’s half-demon, half-vampire ancestry.

“Where is she located?” Varick asked with a sigh.

“Not far.” Oddly enough Dio’s smile didn’t reassure him. “Come on love, let’s go visit Auntie.”

“Oh, joy.” Despite his words, Varick obediently followed Dio ignoring the smirks of the surrounding vampires. If they had mates they’d understand the compulsion. He hoped eventually they would understand both the happiness and pain of being mated.

“We’ll see you later,” Ceiser called out after them.

The laughter of the other vampires did little to make him feel better.

 

Varick didn’t know what to expect but the purple Victorian house with gingerbread trim didn’t exactly scream demon-shifter bunny.

“Now don’t wolf out, you might scare her,” Dio warned as exited the car and approached the house.

“I’m going to scare her?” Varick stared at his mate in surprise.

“You are a wolf and she’s a bunny,” Dio explained in slow, careful tones as if Varick had lost his few remaining marbles.

“I thought you said bunny-demon?” Varick asked.

Dio shrugged. “She leans more towards the bunny half than the demon part as long as she’s taking her meds.”

“And if she’s not?”

A loud crash jerked their attention to the building just as a body flew through the front window.

Varick watched as a tall man climbed to his feet and brushed away the bits of glass. Turning he gave them a wide smile. “Dio! How nice to see you!”

“Hey Uncle Stevie,” Dio greeted the man.

“Your aunt is in fine form today. I think she took too much ash in her tea,” Uncle Stevie commented in the same cheery tone as he greeted Dio. Varick wondered how many times they’d replaced the window. By the matter-of-fact way they talked as Dio’s uncle shook the rest of the glass out of his hair it wasn’t a rare occurrence.

Varick watched as the two men hugged willing to rip out the man’s throat if he endangered his mate. He’d learned the hard way that Dio’s relatives weren’t warm fuzzy people and Varick would do what he had to in order to keep Dio safe.

Uncle Stevie turned to face Varick. “And who’s this?”

Dio stepped back and wrapped a hand around Varick’s arm. “This is my mate,” he introduced proudly.