Page 15 of April's Fool (Northarbor Coven Book 2)

The Orchard

Damon

The early dawn light was filtering down through the apple trees as we exited the portal on Toth’s lands. This was as close as we could come to the castle with the wards. Getting out wasn’t a problem, getting back in was the issue.

Mori stumbled, all his strength gone, as the portal snapped closed behind us. “Mori!” I reached for him as he regained his balance.

“I’m fine, just empty.” He leaned against the trunk of a tree and took shaky breaths.

Gregoris looked weak, too. He glanced between us and the far off castle, clearly torn about what to do.

Thyme approached and tried to do some healing magic on Mori. “I’m sorry, it’s just not working.” He shook out his hands with a rueful smile. “I used a lot helping to take down the wards so we could get the portal out of there.”

“Same,” Oak added. He lay on the hard ground, looking defeated. “It’s going to be a while before I can do anything. I need food and sleep. Not necessarily in that order.” He leaned against the smooth bark of one of Toth’s apple trees.

Since my tie was loose, I pulled it over my head and pressed it into Mori’s wound. “Help me with his jacket,” I asked Thyme as I searched for the exit wound. He helped me get it free and dropped the remains of it on the ground. Our hands brushed as I tried to get Mori out of his ruined shirt. He flinched as he touched me, his eyes going wide.

I had to ignore whatever reaction Thyme was having to me in order to care for Mori. “Stand up a bit. You’re squashing those wings.”

“Can’t… put… them… away,” he said around gasps of pain.

There, found it, where the bullet had gone in and then out. Relief filled me that I wouldn’t have to remove a bullet from him. I picked up the scraps of his shirt and then fastened them to his shoulder using my tie. The sight of Mori’s blood was upsetting me more than I could have imagined. I needed him to stop bleeding. Now I knew it was a through and through, I knew he was in no real danger. He was hardly bleeding now. Even without his magic, he had some healing ability. I just wanted the wound gone, now.

“Are you sure you aren’t hurt?” Parker was checking Gregoris over as the bodyguard stood frozen, hand on a tree as if it was propping him up, as he watched me patch up Mori with Thyme’s help.

“Gregoris, take Parker, Oak, and Thyme up to the castle. Send Toth here to help me get Mori healed.”

“I can carry him.” The bodyguard took a wary step towards us.

Mori blanched. “Absolutely not!” He was going to be fine if he still had some pride left.

“That’ll hurt him.” I smoothed a hand over Mori’s back, careful of his wound, to soothe him. There was this irrational need to keep touching him to reassure myself he was with me. “We need to heal him before we move him. Or get him some pain relief.” My tone brooked no argument and Gregoris fell back a step at my glare.

“Oh!” Thyme’s face lit up. “If Toth’s kitchen is well stocked, I might be able to make a pain tonic.”

“Perfect.” I smiled at the witch. “You can’t get into the castle without Gregoris, though.”

Understanding what I wanted, Thyme stepped up to the other demon, took Gregoris by the arm and led him towards the castle.

“You sure you’re going to be okay here alone?” Oak asked as he stood shakily. Magical burnout was hurting him more than Thyme. He must have taken the brunt of the snap-back of the ward breaking. It would have been worse for him since he was connected to the wards.

“I’ll be fine here with Mori, don’t you worry. Just don’t let Cody come down right now, okay? It’ll upset him to see his dad like this.” Oak nodded in understanding. “Get him looking after Gregoris. I think he’s in shock.”

If it wasn’t shock, it was guilt because he wasn’t with Mori when he got shot. Though he wouldn’t have been shot if it wasn’t for me. I got the feeling that Gregoris was mentally beating himself up for having time with Parker when he knew we were in a potentially dangerous situation.

We all had let our guards down. Mori had paid the price for it. I was just grateful the worst hadn’t happened. We could have lost Mori! I gave a shudder at the thought.

“Cool.” Oak picked up his pace to catch up with the others, who were already halfway up the hill to the castle.

“Damon,” Mori breathed through the pain, “thank you.”

He sagged to the ground, his wings folded in a way that looked painful as they rested against the tree. His head fell back as the rest of his human guise slipped away. Mori’s demon skin was a pinky red color that Cody would probably have a better description of. He looked gaunt and worn without his magical energy. Far from his vibrant self.

“For what?”

“For getting us out of there. If you hadn’t—“

“If I wasn’t there, you wouldn’t have been shot at.” I got to my knees so I could meet his eyes properly. “Mori, you took a bullet for me.”

His skin darkened with a faint blush. “Not intentionally. An accident.”

“You got us out of there.” He had to see how impressive he had been. Not once had he tried to take control of the situation. He had listened to me. Followed my lead. Just the memory of his trust had this strange feeling welling up inside my chest, even as I fought with the fear that we could have lost him. Cody would never forgive me if I’d let Mori be killed.

“Not without help.” Mori’s smile trembled, his black eyes glistening with unshed tears. “That was terrifying. How do you cope with things like that? You were so calm.”

“To be fair, most of the time I’m in and out without a trace. This is the first time someone is after me.” I tried to give a nonchalant shrug. Pretty sure it failed to look convincing .

“Why though? Why you?” Mori’s brow wrinkled with a frown.

“No clue.” It bothered me that I didn’t know the answer. Really, it should have been the first question I’d asked Thyme. We had all concluded that Basil and Austin orchestrated the hit, but why? What reason did they have for getting me out of the way?

Basil had to be involved because, even with Austin’s death, the contract was still active. Magic had to be involved with keeping the contract open. In fact, Parker had told me that the amount had doubled since I’d taken the human out.

When we had all rested some, I was going to ask Thyme why his brother had it out for me.

“Come here,” Mori coaxed, holding out his hand for me. His injured shoulder he kept still. He had to be in a lot of pain.

I hesitated. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“But hugs are so good!” Mori wheedled. He pouted, which was just adorable.

Carefully, so as to not jostle him too much and aggravate the wound, I sat next to him and leaned into his side. Honestly, it felt good to be with him like this. We had never really spent any time alone. All the time I’d known him, there were others around. Mori was the sweetest person I’d ever met and just this gave me a feeling of comfort .

We sat in silence for a while. “Is there anything else I can do until Toth comes with help?” I kept my voice low, reluctant to spoil the quiet moment.

“Hmm, a kiss would make me feel a lot better,” he murmured, looking completely wiped out. Mori looked slightly better just from resting. I knew there was ambient magic in the air and he’d eventually replenish. He just needed time, unless there was a quicker way to fill his magic.

I jolted. Struck with the solution.

A kiss!

In fact, I glanced towards the far off castle for any trace of Toth heading towards us. Something a bit more would really help him. He could feed from me.

I shuffled, so I was in his lap, keeping my weight off him to avoid hurting him, then I pressed my lips to his, smirking at his sound of surprise and then his groan as I deepened our kiss. He was such a great kisser. I wanted to growl at the reason why. Being possessive wasn’t my usual MO, but Mori had turned my life upside down.

Mori’s arm came around me and pulled me closer to him, rocking my growing cock against his flat stomach. I relished the solid feeling of him under me. He was still with me, here and mostly okay. He would recover. We had another chance to see what this was growing between us .

His lips warmed under mine. Our tongues met and Mori ran his hand through my hair, making me shiver as his blunt nails raked my scalp. I sank into the feeling for a moment. Only a momentary reprieve since I wanted to heal him before we were found.

Breaking the kiss, I whispered against his lips. “How about I suck you off? Would that feed your lust? Heal you?” I needed to do this for him to assuage my guilt. That bullet had been for me. I’d been sloppy and Mori had paid for my mistakes.

He shivered. “No, I need your pleasure. That’s what feeds the magic.”

I gave him a wicked grin and kissed down his bare chest. “I can get plenty of enjoyment out of it.” His body was a work of art. Hairless, toned and smooth, Mori was stunning. “Please, let me do this for you.”

His tail snaked out and ran up my leg, making me freeze for a second. It was Mori’s turn to smirk as my eyes rose to meet his. “How about I use this to get you off?”

My dick filled so fast I was almost dizzy from it. I grinned at him, then pressed a kiss at his navel. “Yeah,” I croaked. “I’d be into that.” So into it I was close to coming at just the thought of it. His tail gave me so many ideas.

Mori reached for the button of my suit pants, and with deft fingers, undid them. “If you don’t want them completely ruined, take them off.” It was sweet, considerate of him. I didn’t want to tell him I’d never wear this again. It was stained with the memory of his blood being spilled.

I looked at the remains of his clothing. His shift into his demon form had burst from him, leaving his clothing torn in places. “I’d say same, but at this point…” I gave him a cheeky smile.

He chuckled, then opened his pants, freeing his erection. Commando. Hot. “How is it that just the thought of your lips around my cock has me this hard?”

“Because you know I’ll be great at it.” I took him in hand and stroked from root to tip, collected a drop of precum and used it to ease the next stroke. Mori huffed out a sound of pleasure.

Bending, I licked a path down his chest again towards his leaking cock. I blew a breath over it, loving the hitch in his breathing at my tease. With a lick, I tasted his precum. It had the usual bitter taste I’d expected, but was also sweet, too. At complete odds, yet I liked it. I licked and sucked on his cock, drawing it out before I took him deep into my mouth. I didn’t have time to draw this out as Mori deserved.

Mori had a great cock. Perfect length and girth, maybe eight inches. Not that it mattered because I wouldn’t be bottoming if we got that far. I loved how it curved. It wasn’t all that different from a human cock. The head was slightly more tapered, less mushroom shaped. I wondered if it was different in his human form.

Shaking off my thoughts, I sank into what I was doing; getting Mori off as quickly as possible and giving him a blow job that made him forget about anyone else.

Moans and sighs filled the air as I worked Mori with a hand and my mouth. I jolted as I felt something wander up my leg. His tail. It reached my underwear and eased inside before circling me. The sensation was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. The tip was slightly cool from the morning air and made me shiver with lust as it tightened its grip on me.

The tail mirrored my movements on Mori’s dick. Twisting and tugging on me as I bit back my noises and tried to pleasure Mori. Fucking distracting, but oh so good!

Spit covered my chin and hand as I took him deep, then into my throat and swallowed around him. The tail’s motions faltered as I held him there and massaged his cock, breathing in through my nose. I felt triumphant as Mori’s hand reached for me, his fingers twitching with need. “Damon,” he gasped.

Around us, pink magic tinged the air. I looked up at him, watching it work. Mori’s eyes glittered and his face filled with color and life once again. Before my eyes, his magic replenished and closed the wound until there was nothing there.

Triumph had me redoubling my efforts. I wanted him to feel as good as he was making me feel.

His tail worked faster, prompting me to give him more of me. I concentrated on the sensation of his tail, the scent of his skin, tinged with apples, the look in his eyes. It had me so close. All I could focus on was my pleasure and giving him all of the lustful energy I could.

Mori’s hands gripped my hair, holding me steady as he began to thrust into my mouth. His cock thickened and jerked, filling me with his creamy cum. I swallowed all I could. Fuck, there was a lot of it. A trickle escaped my mouth and ran down my chin. The taste, the magic in it, coupled with the tightness of his tail around my length, had me crying out and spilling onto him and the ground beneath us.

I pulled off of him, kissed his stomach, and grinned. I felt like I could float away.

“Fuck, Damon… that was…fantastic.” Mori gave a contented sigh and drew me close. He pressed a kiss to the top of my head and wrapped his wings around me. Contentment rose up in me, an alien feeling since I’d never been a cuddler. Mori gave me more than I knew I needed. “We need a bed next time we do that. ”

So true. Already I was scheming to get him laid out like a buffet. I needed to take my time with him as soon as we got a chance. We had a promise to uphold, though. “How about we take a night in one of your hotels soon?”

The grin he gave me was devilish. “We do have to keep our promise to Cody.” I knew he hadn’t forgotten.

“We do, but I want to do much more to you.” I cast another look around. We still had time, right? “What’s your recovery time like?” I smirked.

“I am an incubus, darling. How about I suck you this time?” Mori was already reaching for me. I needed more than a couple of minutes to get hard again. Though, the magic in his cum seemed to be having an effect on me.

“Sounds good.”

“Can you not?” came Toth’s grumbling voice from a thicker patch of trees. “I don’t want to see or hear anymore of… that.”

My gaze caught Mori’s wide-eyed horror filled expression and I just couldn’t contain my laughter.