Page 16 of April's Fool (Northarbor Coven Book 2)

Oops

Amorandes

Being caught in a sexual act by your son was awkward, even as an incubus. There were just some things that you didn’t want anyone to see. It’s not that I was embarrassed of my body. No, I knew I looked good. It was more about the man in my arms. Damon’s cock wasn’t for other eyes. Toth had no right to see him so vulnerable and sweet. All fucked out and cuddly after a great orgasm.

Still chuckling, Damon climbed from my lap and straightened what remained of his fantastic suit. I would have to find out the name of his tailor so I could replace it with the exact same one. It fitted him perfectly. It would be a shame for it to go in the trash.

I got to my feet easily. What Damon had given me had filled my magical well quite a bit, which was surprising considering he was supposed to be human. I had wondered vaguely more than once if he had fae blood or a distant elven ancestor and caught myself dwelling on the thought again. It would explain the beauty of his cornflower blue eyes and the reaction my magic had to him. Whatever he was, it had let me heal myself so that the gunshot was just a mere memory. A painful one, yes, though I was hardly in danger. It would take more than a bullet to kill me.

Toth watched as warily as Damon hovered in front of me, obscuring me from my new son’s view so I could tuck myself away. “Do you need more healing, Mori?” he questioned, looking distinctly uncomfortable. Toth may have been a species of incubus similar to mine, but he fed off emotions more than lust. He would have to get used to being around people having sex if he and Cody were to create a baby as they wanted to in a not too distant future.

At least I hoped it wouldn’t be long before they took that leap. I may have been adjusting to being a father, but I also wanted to be a grandpa as soon as possible.

“No, thank you, Toth. Um… Damon—“ I tried to make the implication clear.

“Yeah, okay,” Toth interrupted, his face darkening with a blush. “I’m sure Cody will still want you looked over. Would you like me to get a healer?”

Like in the human world, we had healers. Some of the water elementals received training in the healing arts. Though our realm was peaceful, accidents did occur. Demons had babies. Children were children, no matter their species. We had many schools to learn how to heal, and though expensive, it was worth it rather than waiting for your own healing ability or magic to do the job.

“That won’t be necessary,” Damon said, holding a hand out for me, which I took with a smile. I loved that he was freely initiating contact. “Thyme had some things he could make if you have the right ingredients. If not, I could always give Mori another boost.” His grin was wide.

Toth glowered. “Not in the castle.”

Damon held up his free hand in a placating gesture. “Don’t you worry, we already promised Cody, and I keep my promises.” He winked at me, reminding me of our plan to get a hotel soon. I wanted to spend an entire night learning his body, what made him sing with pleasure. More than that, I just wanted to have him all to myself for a while. To get to know him properly. I knew I wasn’t imagining this thing growing between us. It wasn’t one sided.

We followed a still grumpy Toth back to the castle. The others, minus my guard and Damon’s friend, were waiting just inside when we arrived. “They’re fine,” he announced before heading into the kitchen. No one brought up why Gregoris was missing, and frankly, I didn’t have the energy to ask about it.

Everything that had happened with Gregoris was something to be dealt with another day. My time with my guard seemed to be coming to an end. If he had truly found his mate, then I wished them the best. After his behavior with Damon, I knew a lot of damage had been done to our relationship. Parting ways was likely. Perhaps with a mate we could salvage a relationship.

Cody, as I expected, made a tremendous fuss of us both as he hustled us into the sitting room. He, unfortunately, figured out why I was so healed and frowned. “Did you just blow him to stop the bleeding or…”

“Or,” Damon said simply. He left the words hanging for so long that Cody just shrugged and moved on to the continued discussion about the coven house.

I slumped onto a sofa, putting most of my demon features away, and pulled Damon down to sit with me. Even with his boost, I was tired. We’d had no sleep in nearly a day and it was wearing on what magic I had. When I looked into my core, where that energy lived, I found it to be fuller than a single feeding from a human would provide. I’d had the thought before, but I really needed to do some research on Damon, trace his family tree, to discover the root of the anomaly. He felt human to my senses, yet there was the initial spark when we touched that spoke of magic.

The witches were looking at us curiously. Both looked worn out. We all needed about twelve hours of sleep. “Are you in any pain?” Thyme asked .

“No, none. I just need some sleep.”

“Damon? Are you okay?” Thyme turned to the man next to me. I got a sense of confusion, fear, and something else before he locked those emotions down.

“I’m good. Just want to shower and sleep.”

The witch slumped in relief. “Me too. Can we get a few hours and then think of a plan later? We need to figure out what happened.”

“Oh, I know what happened,” Damon said firmly. “You have a mole, or likely moles, in the coven. Someone told Basil, or his hired help, where I was and they took that chance to act.”

“No. No way!” Oak looked furious. “None of them would put us in danger like that.”

Damon stopped Oak’s protests with a flat look. “Use the brain you clearly have, witch .“ Damon sneered. “I came from the demon realm directly to the coven house. Unless someone was waiting outside for me, or somehow followed Parker, which is highly unlikely since they would have attacked while we were outside, then the only other possibility is someone in the coven house told them we were there.” Damon jolted and glanced around the room. “Where’s Parks?”

Cody perched on the seat next to Damon, then took his hand. “Parker and Gregoris are upstairs.” Cody hesitated. “Gregoris is in a bad way, mentally.” His eyes met mine, full of sympathy. He squeezed Damon’s hand. “Parker, well, he says they are mates and his hawk won’t let him leave him. We should give them some time before we try to figure out what happened.”

Beside me, Damon let out a heavy sigh. “Fine. Can we go get some sleep now?”

“No, first you are going to have some of this tea I’ve made,” Toth said, entering the room balancing a wide tray. On it was a silver teapot and cups for all of us. There was also a small plate piled high with cookies. “This is a special brew to help replenish magical energy. It won’t do you any harm, Damon. It might help with your healing.”

“The cookies?” Damon raised an eyebrow.

Toth blushed. He really was a sweet demon. The ideal son-in-law and mate for my Cody. “Soothing.” He cleared his throat. “Made with lavender and honey.”

Unwilling to embarrass him more, I reached for a cup and let Toth pour me some of the tea. I even picked up a cookie and nibbled on it as the tea cooled a little.

None of us spoke while we enjoyed the treats. My mind was too full of what had happened, the implications with my guard, and Damon, to really make chit-chat with the witches .

“Parker and Gregoris are sharing a room. Dad, would you mind sharing with Damon so I can put Oak and Thyme in a room?”

“I can sleep on this couch,” Oak said rather stiffly. I had noticed he was constantly putting distance between himself and the other witch. Did he think he was the traitor? Thyme was not the mole in the coven.

A flash of hurt passed over the other witch’s face. “No, I can. I’m smaller than you. You’d never get comfortable and we both need sleep.”

“You will share a bed because you are grown adults.” Cody’s expression dared them to say another word. “Oak, get over yourself. Thyme is not the problem.” Oak opened his mouth to speak and snapped it shut again at Cody’s dark look. “Who else was at the house?”

Oak named a couple of other witches. One of them, River, had shown us our rooms. They knew where Damon was supposed to be sleeping.

“And where were they when this all went down? Did you even let Thyme out of your sight?”

“He didn’t,” Damon answered. “Because they were arguing downstairs when we were shown to our rooms. Only a few minutes passed, so I doubt that Thyme had a chance to tell anyone anything.”

“I don’t even have a cell phone right now, so it’s not like I could call someone even if I wanted to.” Thyme just shrugged. “I get why the coven has been so reluctant around me. Before Basil was made Head Witch, I was being trained for the job. My transition took me out of the running.”

“Seriously?” Cody asked. “I didn’t know you were supposed to lead.”

“It was before you were born.” Thyme laughed, a sweet sound. “I’m a lot older than I look.” He finished his tea. “Would you mind showing me the room? I’m feeling really sleepy suddenly.”

The tea’s effects were working on me, too. “I’m going to shower first.”

“I’ll help,” Damon stood, pulling me up with him. I’d forgotten he was still holding onto my hand. It felt natural for him to be touching me like that.

“Remember that promise!” Cody yelled as we left the room.

Damon’s laugh was the only answer.

There was something intimate about letting someone wash you. Damon didn’t linger over our joint shower, just got us clean and then toweled us off. “I can do it,” I laughed.

“No. ”

I let him finish drying us and took the offered toothbrush. Damon began brushing his teeth, the moment even more intimate than the shower somehow.

“Damon… are you okay?”

He paused, spat out his toothpaste, and considered me for a moment. His mouth opened and closed a few times before he finally spoke. “Are we doing the right thing? Trying this between us?” He looked agonized. “Mori, you could have died!”

“I really wouldn’t have. A shot, even to the head, won’t kill me.”

He paused, “What?”

“Demons have to be beheaded and salted before we truly die. Well, it’s one of the ways to kill us. There are other, magical, means, but a bullet to the head isn’t one of them.”

“Salted? What the fuck?”

“Special salt with sage and other herbs. It kills the magic we have inside us. It’s part of why you won’t find sage growing in our realm.”

There was a long silence while he processed. “But when we got here, you looked so ill.”

“Magical backlash from breaking the wards and forcing a portal. I hadn’t replenished enough magic from the portal there. Gregoris helped. Having the witches do some of the ward breaking saved me from being really ill—“

“Really ill? Mori, I thought you were going to die!”

“No, I just would have gone to sleep until the magic would fix me. It’s happened before when I was younger. I slept for nine days once.”

“Oh my fucking gods, Mori!” He paused, “So, down in the orchard?”

“I just wanted to kiss you, Damon. To do anything with you.”

Red rose in his cheeks. He turned away from me and made a show of finishing brushing his teeth. I did my own, just to give him a moment that he so clearly needed.

“Come to bed,” he said when he finished.

“We can’t do anything here,” I reminded him, likely needlessly. Neither of us had the energy for anything, anyway.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but just to cuddle, okay? It’s been a long ass day.”

Damon picked his side of the bed first and opened his arms to me. I wished my horns away, worried about hurting him as I cuddled into his chest. With one of his fingers, he traced a pointed ear. I shivered with delight, though that was as far as it went. Sleep was calling me. “Let your tail out, please,” Damon whispered into the dark room .

I did as he asked. Without thought, my tail wrapped around his arm, holding him tightly. Claiming him as mine.