Page 34 of April's Fool
“They will love you,” I finally answered, to looks of confusion from both of them. “All of you. In fact, I guarantee they will find something I have said or done offensive within the first five minutes and they will focus all their attention on the two of you. Cody, they will want to know every second of your day because they are your grandparents and they adore you. Damon, you will fascinate them. They haven’t ever heard of someone keeping my attention as long as you, especially since they, unfortunately, know about the promise we made.”
That had been mortifying. In order to reschedule their visit, we had called my parents. Mama had prodded at me for more information about Gregoris until Cody had given in and told her about my attraction to Damon, the promise he had extracted, and then finally, Gregoris finding his mate.
My parents knew that my magic was choosing Damon to bond with. It had latched onto him the same way my tail did every time I let it loose. While I didn’t understand the buzz of magic that came over me when we went a long time without touching, I did understand my heart and it was bound to Damon. No one had ever given me this feeling. I knew it was mutual too from what Damon had told me of his past.
Dad had been almost as livid as Mama over me being abandoned without a guard. They were bringing my new one so I could get back to work. In another week, I had a meeting with the Sweetwater pack, so I was keen to get used to this new guard and hopefully find some time with Damon before then.
The familiar buzz of magic over my skin let me know they had arrived.
“They’re here!” Cody announced to Damon, who wouldn’t have felt the wards’ magic being activated. Cody was almost bouncing inplace.
“You better come with me and let them through.” I took Damon’s hand and squeezed it. “It’ll be fine,” I assured him.
My mom’s perfume wafted ahead of her. She blew into the room like a tornado. Instead of damage, she squeezed and bussed cheeks and dropped sweet words into everyone’s ears. Even Toth had a smile on his face after she was done with him.
Dad followed behind, not with handshakes, he was too warm and enthusiastic about showing affection for that. No, it was tight bear hugs. He towered over most of us in his full demon form, so we also got kisses on our heads between our horns, like we were children.
They stood back and appraised us, speaking to each other. “They’re perfect, aren’t they Hanandes? Our grandson is so handsome and his mate is a fine demon. An ideal match. Just look at them together!” She beamed at us. Toth blushed harder than I’d ever seen.
“Oh, you’re right, of course, Amoredessa. And the human Mori is taken with? He has to be something else. He’s far too pretty just to be human, right?”
“Yes! You’re right, Hana. He must have some fae blood or something. Those eyes!” She stepped closer to examine Damon as if she needed to be right next to him to see him clearly. She manhandled him into place,so he was pressed up against my side. “Better. So beautiful together. I think we can approve this match, can’t we, Hana?”
“We can, Dessi. It’s even better knowing Damon can fight and shoot. He’ll be perfect to help Kerensanith with keeping Mori safe, especially in the human world, because he knows it better.”
“But,” Cody interjected, “Damon can’t go there until after the hit is off.”
Mama waved him away. “With two powerful demons by his side and only short visits, I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
“I’m sure I don’t want to risk his life like that. Neither will Kerensanith.” Then the name registered with me. “Hold on, how did you get him out of retirement? Gregoris is going to be furious.”
“Who? Why?” Damon asked, looking between me and my suddenly guilty looking parents.
“We had to have Keren. He was the only one we trusted with your safety!”
“Who’s Keren?” Cody asked, looking just as confused as Damon.
“He’s Gregoris’ grandfather and I have to say that I am deeply unimpressed at my grandson. We will be having words once he and his mate show themselves,” The man himself grumped as he crossed the threshold into the house.
Damon and I shared a glance. Gregoris was in so much trouble.
A Night Alone
Damon
Was it possible todie of sexual frustration? It felt like my blue balls were going to drop off and leave me to bleed out all over if I didn’t get some time alone with my… what was Mori to me? My boyfriend? The term didn’t seem right for the older demon.
Our age difference didn’t seem to bother Mori, who had been around for decades before I was born. I didn’t know how long. He was so old; I was afraid to ask, especially around Dessi, who was at least a century older. Me being the same age as Cody, well I was a couple of years older at twenty-nine take two, didn’t seem to be a barrier to Mori being attracted to me. I knew he had feelings for me besides just wanting to get off. He looked at me with so much care, listened to every word I spoke, and just was so interested in everything I did. Just being around Mori made me feel so powerful, a heady feeling, considering I was the only human in the castle.
I loved his parents. They were so genuine, loving and accepting of Mori and his choices in life. As faras they were concerned, Mori had chosen me, that meant I was family and was treated as such. They valued chosen mates over fated… there was a story there I just wasn’t getting the full picture of. Mori’s eyes shuttered when it was brought up. While I wanted to push the issue, we had so much going on, I just didn’t want to rock the boat. What we had felt so fragile.
We were stuck in this kind of limbo while Parker was working on the contract on both of us. Getting it canceled was tricky with the amount of influence that Basil had over the group. Each time he thought he had it, someone new popped up. We still hadn’t heard from Gregoris, but Parker’s updates about the two of them sounded happy. A lot happier than the witches who had kicked River out of the coven and were in the process of moving to a new place. Hardly a straightforward task in downtown Northarbor. The coven had money, but prime real estate was expensive.
Essentially, we were sort of in no-man’s-land with everything, unable to make any progress with anything. Mori was trying to adjust to Keren being his bodyguard rather than Gregoris and the pair were going on short flights into the town and “practicing maneuvers” as Keren put it. He was so angry that his grandson had abandoned Mori that he was doubting all the training the pair had done in their yearstogether. A wrong assumption, though I got where he was coming from.
I knew Gregoris was good at his job. He had just failed to keep his emotions out of it. Meeting Parker, sensing a mate bond had completely thrown the demon. He had expected a life with Mori beside him as partners and fate had told him, “no, there’s your mate there.” He was perfect for Parker, who needed a caretaker as much as he needed a lover.
It was just sad for all involved how it had gone down. I hoped, eventually, Gregoris and Mori could heal and become friends again because I wanted my brother back, dammit!
