Page 13 of April's Fool (Northarbor Coven Book 2)

Mate Cute

Amorandes

We were quite some distance from the others before I broached the subject with Damon, who was stewing silently beside me. “Are you sure you should go back to the human realm? I thought there was some trouble there?”

Truthfully, I didn’t know the ins and outs of the situation, just that Cody felt there was more that Damon was refusing to tell him for whatever reason. Damon constantly put my son’s feelings above everything. Was it any wonder that I’d thought he was in love with him? So Cody was likely right and Damon was either minimizing the situation or just plain ignoring things. Why he would risk himself to help the witches, I didn’t know.

“Not really. Parker doesn’t want me to do it. He’s going to meet us at the coven house once we grab some of your stuff.”

“Stuff?”

“A go bag and a coat. It’s February after all.” Damon smirked.

“What’s a go bag?” I frowned, unfamiliar with the term.

Damon rolled his eyes. “Just the essentials. We have no idea how long the coven might need us so it’s helpful to have a change of clothes, cash, weapons, IDs, etc.”

“Ah!” I brightened, understanding. “I’m looking forward to meeting Parker.”

I got the feeling that Parker, the hacker I’d heard a lot about, had stronger objections, but again, I was getting a sugar coated version of the story. Worry swirled in my gut.

It was actually more of a portent. I think my magic, or the magic of the realm, was trying to give me a warning. Nothing like this had ever happened to me before, so I was inclined to listen to it. Thanks to my time in the human realm before Cody, I’d been given training with my magic and I could fight decently hand to hand against other supernaturals, not humans, who our magic protected. Witches were a gray area, making them tricky to fight against.

Gregoris was fantastic at combative magic and several fighting disciplines, but he was with me more as a deterrent than as a necessary bodyguard. Honestly, he was with me more as an assistant and companion than anything else these days. Our realm was so peaceful compared to the human world. Despite that, with our training, we could both back Damon up if something went wrong.

Inside the castle, it was delightfully cool. The demon realm was always a balmy temperature unless you were in the far north, the only place that we got snow. The first time I’d experienced cold and snow was when I served Cody’s grandfather. We would have to pack some extra layers or buy some things once we got there because it was February and cold in Northarbor. I was not freezing my balls off!

“Parker is bringing me some more of my things, so just grab what you need so we can get going. I don’t think this will take long,” Damon called as he broke from us to enter his own room.

“Do you really think you can find this witch?” Gregoris asked skeptically. His words had the man faltering.

My eyebrow raised all on its own, just from the tone that Gregoris was using with Damon. It was just towing the line of being rude. What was his issue?

Damon turned and looked completely unruffled. “I know I can. Then it’s all up to the coven. I’m not going up against a witch.” He shuddered.

“Not a fan of witches?” I’d caught his hesitation with them when they had shown up to help Cody. I doubt anyone else noticed. They likely hadn’t been paying as much attention to him as I had been .

“No.” The simple word said more than a whole paragraph. There was history there. I decided not to push. Instead, I went to my room and packed a bag.

Gregoris entered just as I was finishing up. “Your highness… should we be getting involved in this?” His expression spoke of concern, but his recent actions told another story. My bodyguard was jealous of Damon. I’d clearly left this talk too late. I hated upsetting people, but drew in a breath and held it before I spoke.

“Yes. Not only is it important to my son that I keep Damon safe, I care about Damon. You know this and I’m sorry if this hurts you.” Gregoris’ mouth opened and closed without a sound escaping. “I know the lines have blurred between us and there may be feelings involved, so I will understand if you don’t want to come with us. If, going forward, and you wish to, we could find another place for you. If working for me is uncomfortable for you.” I sighed. “It’s really okay to stay here. We’ll go straight to the witches.”

“I’m coming with you! You can’t leave me behind!” Fire flashed in his eyes. His magic flared. In response, mine threw up my personal wards. Gregoris stumbled back at their strength.

Gregoris growled in frustration. “Please, sir, don’t leave me behind,” he begged. “I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you. Why do you need to go at all? Why can’t we just open the portal for him?”

“You want me to leave Damon on his own with witches when he’s clearly uncomfortable with them and when he’s in trouble? Who are you, Gregoris? I thought you had more empathy than this! I want to help Damon. I want to be near him.” I sat on the edge of my bed and clasped my hands together. This was a mess of my own making. I’d seen the friction between them and done nothing to stop things coming to a head like this.

My friend paced. “I don’t understand the fascination with the human. He’ll grow old. He could die at any minute! The man is a killer, and he was after your son!”

“Yes, he is. And he could have killed Cody at any time,” I said simply. “I know Damon is a good person and only kills those who would harm others. That’s why he protected my son.”

Gregoris turned a furious expression on me. “He’s not good enough for you. You’re a prince and he’s just a…”

“Just a human,” the man in question drawled as he leaned in the doorway. “And one that has somewhere to be.” He straightened. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get going. Places to be, people to see and all that.”

My eyes narrowed. The emotions coming off Damon were complex. There was hurt there, anger, a flash of bitterness that stung. Also, a tinge of humor, likely at my expense. I could have handled this better.

“Damon…” I tried to put my thoughts into words.

“Maybe we just aren’t meant to be, Mori.” Damon shrugged. “I’ve never done the serious stuff and I think we might be too different. Besides, you two make more sense than we do.”

“That’s not what I want.” It just slipped out. I caught Gregoris’ flinch. “I’m sorry,” I muttered. “Gregoris, I care about you. I really do.”

“Is this one of those human break up cliches? It’s not you, it’s me? We’ve never had a problem in the bedroom, so we are obviously compatible.” He sat on the bed, slumped in defeat.

This time, it was Damon’s turn to flinch. “I’ll come back.”

“No,” Gregoris sighed, “I’m sorry, I just wanted…” There was a long pause, where we all stared at each other. It was super uncomfortable. Damon lingered, looking all for the world like he wanted to flee. While the silence stretched on, I searched for something to say. Then Gregoris spoke again. “It doesn’t matter, does it? You’ve been nothing more to me than my boss and my friend, despite how much I wanted things to be different.”

“Gregoris…” I reached for my friend .

“It’s fine. Let’s just get this done. Find a witch and then we can deal with all this when we get back.” He stood, then chuckled. “Guess that Seer was accurate.”

I felt my face drain of color as his meaning became clear. Gregoris was going to leave me. “No!”

“It’s for the best, your highness. I’ve lost myself in this. Caused harm to you with my own feelings. I’m looking at things recently and nothing I see pleases me.”

“But—“

“We can talk about it when we return.”

I couldn’t lose my friend like this. Somehow, I had to convince him. I glanced at Damon. Was he worth losing Gregoris over? Even before there was a chance with the young man, I hadn’t considered a relationship with the guard, so putting the blame on Damon was unfair.

Maybe Gregoris was right. Perhaps some distance between us would do us good. My heart ached. Either way, with or without Damon, I was going to lose Gregoris, just like the Seer had said.

A portal to the human realm was easy enough to make. Damon supplied the location and together, Gregoris and I formed the doorway to Northarbor.

The coven house was so well warded that we exited the portal quite a distance away. They would likely know we were on our way, as any coven worth their magic had several alerts. I’d forgotten about their tricks in our haste to get to Toth. None of us had believed that Basil, the witch that had owned Toth, would have had much time to do anything to my new son, or get away, but we had underestimated just how clever he was.

Now we were going to do this the human way. It was unlikely that Basil knew all the tricks that Damon did.

I hunched against the cold. Though I’d added a wool coat over my suit, it was hardly enough to keep out the bitterly icy February wind. Snow fell and swirled around us. Flakes landed in our hair and on Damon’s eyelashes. He was so beautiful with what I assumed was his real face.

In the harsh cold, his pale skin had taken on a rosy hue. I liked all the things he would likely consider flaws. The scars, the uneven light scruff on his face showing he hadn’t shaved that morning, the slightly off center nose with the bump that spoke of a violent past. His jawline wasn’t sharp enough to cut glass. He didn’t have model high cheekbones. His face was rather innocent and cherubic, though there was a shadow in those light blue eyes that told of a harsh life. Damon was… interesting to look at. Time and time again, my gaze was dragged to him. I couldn’t keep my eyes off him.

“Park!” Damon yelled, his steps picking up pace until he was nearly running towards a man standing at the gate of the coven house.

The other man’s head lifted at the shout, and he ran towards Damon. They embraced tightly and words passed between them I couldn’t catch. Delight and relief were on both their faces.

“You’ve been safe? Did you move?” Damon asked Parker.

“I am, don’t worry. Staying in a hotel right now while I use other avenues to find us somewhere to go. None of the safe houses are a go, since both of our IDs on the forum have been burned.”

“What the fuck?” Damon’s face reddened further. I had the urge to wrap an arm around him, so I did, gratified that he relaxed into me.

“They figured out one of my IDs as someone who worked with you a few times, so they put a target on me and kicked me. Unfortunately for them, they don’t know how many other names I’ve got, so I’m still getting who has been interested in your hit.”

“Hit? You have a hit on you?” Gregoris looked ready to snatch me off the street and return to our realm.

“Calm down, Gregoris. We’re perfectly safe here.” Damon dismissed my bodyguard. “Mori, this is my brother, Parker.”

The man gave me a firm handshake. “Nice to meet you,” we both said.

Parker grinned. “You are everything he said.”

I had no idea what that meant, but I was pleased that Damon had mentioned me.

“Parker, this is Mori’s bodyguard and friend, Gregoris. He’s very unhappy about being here, but refuses to be left behind.”

Gregoris clasped hands with Parker. Both of them just stared at each other for a full minute. What the hell was happening there? Both of them took half a step closer to each other while Damon turned his head to catch my eye. “What’s going on?” he mouthed.

“You coming inside?” a witch called from the open doorway, breaking the spell they seemed to be under. “Everyone is waiting.”

Parker shifted his hand into Gregoris’ and led the way into the house.