Page 18 of April's Fool (Northarbor Coven Book 2)

A Night Alone

Damon

Was it possible to die 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 far as 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 years together. 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!

So while Dessi and Hana were such good parents, they were a tad overbearing. Okay, more than a little. Gone were the stolen moments with bone melting kisses. There was no chance of a blow job or hand job in the orchard, with them liable to pop up at the most inopportune time. Just ask Cody, who had already quietly complained multiple times about being caught in compromising positions with Toth. It kept happening to them, which shouldn’t have been hilarious, except it was.

Cody loved having grandparents. He just would have liked to have them at more of a distance.

Hard same, Cody. I wanted some time alone with Mori to see where this thing was going between us. We’d tried to get away several times with no success. Neither Mori’s parents, Keren, or Cody wanted us out of their sight. Frankly, it was ridiculous. I was a trained killer! I could protect Mori. We’d broached the subject many times but they always used the hit on me as an excuse.

We were into March, weeks of relaxing in the sunny demon realm making me lazy, when it happened. I got a call from Parker.

“We’re in the clear! I’ve got Basil and any sympathizers out of the group. I’ve scrubbed our identities. Everything from that old life is gone.”

“Gone? What do you mean?”

There was a long pause on the line to the point where I moved the phone away to check it was still connected to the call.

“I thought you wanted out, too.” He sounded hesitant. “So I made it look like the oldest versions of us were dead and that our current identities, Parker and Damon, were clean and sparkly. Nowhere near the dark web and just normal security consultants. Did I do the wrong thing?” The worry in his voice cut me to my soul.

“No.” I let out a breath. Parker had given me such a great gift. “No, I wanted out. It’s just there was nothing for so long and now it’s over, y’know?” The weight of my past didn’t completely fall free from my shoulders, but it eased knowing that I could start fresh, be someone that Mori might want to keep around.

“There’s something else…” Parker trailed off. I could sense his unease. The small hitch in his breath let me know this was a big deal.

“Oh-kay,” I said, drawing it out. “What else?”

“When I was cleaning our identities, I changed a few things.”

The anticipation was killing me. Was he feeling guilty? Was it really that bad?

“Well?”

“I, uh, made Magnus our dad and us brothers. We all share the same last name of Miller.”

A smile broke across my face. “How’s that going to work, hon? We look nothing alike.” Parker was taller than me with warm terracotta skin, deep brown eyes, and silky straight black hair he wore tied in a man-bun. Then there was me with my cool fawn skin that burned a little too easily for my liking, had too many freckles thanks to the damn sun here, and light blue eyes.

“Right, well, Magnus and my dad were both white and obviously both shifters, so it’s fine.” I could practically hear him shrug.

Parker had been unclaimed by his alpha father and raised by his omega mother. The pack he had grown up in had easily accepted Parker as a bi-racial child of a single mother since shifters were gaga for babies. His mother’s family were first-generation immigrants from Bangladesh who had cast her out of their small pack when an arranged mating had gone wrong. Both families had believed she was infertile, when clearly, the alpha was the problem. She found refuge in a new pack. Then, a few years later, after a contraceptive potion gone wrong at the heat club, Parker had come along.

He had taken after his alpha parent with his shifter side. His mom had been a clouded leopard, but he’d taken after her in beauty. Unfortunately, being an omega can be hard. They had a pretty good life until another pack took theirs over. His mom was taken, not quite willingly, as a mate to one of the enforcers when Parker was fourteen. She did everything she could to get him ready for life on his own, perhaps knowing she wouldn’t make it through her next pregnancy. Magnus found him at fifteen.

“But shifters can’t have kids with humans. So he clearly couldn’t be my dad.” I hated to pick holes in his fantasy he’d concocted.

“No, but here it has him adopting you and then having me after. So maybe not by blood, okay? But you and me are family. Now we just have the paperwork to prove it.”

“Thank you,” the words came out choked. “I’m proud to call you my brother. ”

There was a sniffle on the other side of the line. “Same. Gotta go.” Then he ended the call.

***

“Everything okay?” Mori found me looking out of our bedroom window down into the vegetable gardens below and out towards the orchard where Toth grew his amazing apples. I wouldn’t admit it, but I was growing to be addicted to the hellspice apples in particular.

“Hmm?” I turned to face him, struck as I always was at how attractive he was, not just because he had a pretty face, but with the warmth and genuine interest he had in me. It practically shone from his pores. Mori was partially in demon form as he seemed to prefer with his parents around. His wings were away, as were his talons, leaving his ears, horns, eyes and skin color to be that of his natural demon state. His tail flicked lazily behind him, reminding me of a cat’s tail. Mori had also given up on wearing a shirt, wandering around like Toth and Keren did most of the time just clad in pants.

Not that I was complaining. The view was wonderful. Ten out of ten would look again. I loved tracing my fingers over Mori’s toned chest when we made out whenever we had the chance. Every quiet moment we could get, especially that lovely, sleepy time just before we would drift off, wrapped up in each other .

The gorgeous pink demon was making me feel things I wasn’t prepared for.

“Are you okay? You’ve been up here a long time. Do you need a break from it all?”

Mori got that I was one of those extroverted introverts. Sometimes I needed to charge my social battery. Being around so many people all the time was wearing. I never thought I’d have shit in common with Toth, but let’s just say I had a lot of sympathy for him.

I quickly caught Mori up on the situation and, without me having to tell him, he got just how much it meant to me that Parker had legally turned me into his big brother, since I was older than him by six years.

Mori wrapped his arms around me. “This calls for a celebration. Why don’t we head into Djalling? We can go out for dinner and perhaps stay overnight? I’m sure Keren wouldn’t mind a trip into the city.”

My heart tripped at the thought of having a night just with Mori. A real date, too. “I’d love that.”

His wide smile lit up his face. “Okay, I’ll go get it arranged. Pack a small bag.”

He left the room laughing to himself. I picked up my phone to tell Parker because he knew how frustrated I was getting at the cock-blocking Mori’s family had been doing. Then I’d have to go break the news to Cody, who hated me being out of his sight for long .

Parker’s reply made me grin. I knew that all the hurt over him disappearing was forgiven, if not completely forgotten. We would get past it.

Bro: Fucking Finally! Screw dinner, just screw him!

Damon: Saved you in my phone as bro. I don’t say it often enough, but I love you.

The words came much more easily as a text.

Bro: Love you too. ?

That was enough lovey-dovey stuff for the day. Well, unless Mori needed some extra sweet talk to get him into bed. I recalled the heat in his gaze when he suggested the night away and knew none of that was needed. Mori was mine for the night any way that I wanted him.

After throwing some things in a bag, clothes for me and Mori, I went downstairs to join him. I just followed the raised voices, and it led me to him.

In the living room, he was having a heated conversation with Keren over the old bodyguard’s opinion that Mori wasn’t ready to go places with just one guard. Quite frankly, it stung he forgot to include me. I’d protect Mori at any cost. It was my fault he’d gotten injured last time .

“Damon is trained. We’ll be fine, won’t we?” He held out a hand to me.

“We will,” I agreed before I turned to address Keren. “It isn’t fair for Mori to be punished for Gregoris leaving. Mori didn’t ask for that. He’d take Gregoris back in a heartbeat, wouldn’t you?” I glanced back at the demon gripping my hand. He needed this as badly as I did.

Mori nodded, his eyes gleaming as he watched Keren crumble.

“Come on now, Ker, the boys need a night of fun,” Dessi cajoled.

A victorious smile threatened to break free. With Dessi backing us, Keren had no choice but to relent. Mori’s parents, his mom especially, were so protective of him. If they saw no threat in the nearby city, then we were free to go.

“Fine,” Keren ground out.

Fantastic. Mori and I beamed at each other. We’d won that battle.

Cody rounded the corner, panic clear on his sweet face. “What’s this about going away? When are you coming back?”

Next round of the battle to fight.