Page 14 of Calling Chaos (Demon Bound #3)

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Cooper

T here were feathers on Cooper’s pillow. Two of them, to be exact. Shiny and black and soft-looking.

He blinked, trying to clear the bleariness from his vision. Actually, now that he was seeing them up close, the feathers weren’t pure black like he’d thought before. There were threads of iridescent blue and purple weaving through them, glimmering in the morning light.

Huh. Cooper hadn’t known Chaos could shed his feathers at all. Maybe it only happened when he was…excited. Which he certainly had been last night. Excited and enthusiastic and about a thousand miles out of Cooper’s league, sexually.

After fucking Cooper into the most powerful orgasm of his life so far, Chaos had allowed him to recover—lulled him into a false sense of security, really—only to pull out Cooper’s Fleshlight and gleefully use it on Cooper’s cock until Chaos suddenly frowned, told Cooper that his mouth was “much too jealous” of the toy, and then proceeded to blow Cooper into a third orgasm so overwhelming Cooper had almost been in physical pain.

So yeah. Sex with Chaos was certainly…something, feathers or no. The intensity of his attention, the ferocity of his touch, the way he acted like Cooper’s body was a playground he’d never tire of exploring.

It was addictive, basically. Cooper could admit it now—he was in serious fucking trouble. It was going to hurt like hell when Chaos finally left.

But maybe Cooper needed that, even if it felt like the worst thing that could happen. He’d become so accustomed to loneliness, to the certainty that he’d never find a companion of his own, that he’d forgotten why people wanted them so badly in the first place.

He was remembering now what the appeal was, to have someone of his own. Someone who was a friend he could laugh and game with, someone who would push him out of the comfort zone he’d kept so small these past years, someone who would hold him and fuck him and love him just as he was…

Cooper slid a finger along one of the fallen feathers—it was soft, after all—only to have a whole-ass wing tip suddenly brushing across his cheek.

“You’re awake, puppy?”

Cooper craned his neck to look over his shoulder, where Chaos was lying on his side behind him, his chest to Cooper’s back with a few inches of bed in between them. They were both still very naked.

Cooper smiled shyly at him as Chaos folded his wing back. Although, it was ridiculous to be shy, wasn’t it, when Chaos had turned him inside out in a hundred different ways the night before? “I’m awake.”

“I’m glad.” Chaos scooted closer until they were touching, his soft fur brushing against the skin of Cooper’s lower back and his cock—Jesus, was that thing really hard again?—pressing against Cooper’s crease. “Puppy?”

“Yeah?” Cooper asked, the word coming out hoarse.

“I’m cold.”

Cooper huffed a laugh. “Liar. You’re a furnace.” He really was. Cooper could feel the heat of Chaos against his back, prickles of sweat already forming where they touched.

Chaos tucked his chin against Cooper’s shoulder. “But I’d be so much warmer inside of you,” he whined.

Jesus. Cooper had created a monster. Or he’d let one through the proverbial door, at the very least.

But for all that Cooper was a little sore in some delicate places, he also felt pretty fucking good. Worn out in a satisfying way, his muscles loose and his brain quiet like it almost never was first thing in the morning. He wasn’t even spiraling about the meeting they had to attend later today. At least not yet.

So he hiked his leg up, twisting his lower body in a way that exposed him for Chaos’s attentions. “All right, menace.” He let out a breath, already shivery with anticipation. “Come inside, then.”

“Really?” Chaos brushed a finger against Cooper’s crease, dipping into the furrow to circle his hole. Probably noting Cooper’s slight grimace, he reassured him, “I’ll be so gentle. So—so slow . You won’t be sorry.”

Then there was more lube at Cooper’s entrance—an absurd amount, once again. And hardly a minute later, Chaos was slipping inside him, nice and easy, just as he’d promised.

Cooper let out another breath, his body sinking into the bed as his muscles relaxed. Besides a little pinch at his rim, it felt really, really good. The tapered tip of Chaos’s cock came in handy, sliding in so easily like it did, and with those nodules…

Well, Chaos didn’t have to do much for those to hit all the right places.

Chaos’s arm slipped around Cooper’s belly, pulling him more firmly against him as he just barely pulled out before pressing in again slowly. “Mm,” he hummed. “So much better, puppy. So warm and cozy.”

Cooper’s cheeks heated. His ears too. He’d never been called warm and cozy in the context of being a receptacle for dick before, but he kind of liked it. It was strangely flattering and weirdly endearing, like pretty much everything Chaos did.

Chaos went slow, just as promised, grinding their lower halves together. Somehow his restraint only seemed to highlight the bumps of those nodules, the way they pressed and massaged against Cooper’s inner walls. Cooper was hard in no time at all, and Chaos was instantly gleeful, pressing his hand against Cooper so that the slow drag of his hips rubbed Cooper’s cock between his body and Chaos’s palm.

It shouldn’t have been enough; it really shouldn’t have. But it would be, wouldn’t it? Cooper would come, just as Chaos wanted. Last night he’d managed it even when he’d been overstimulated and so, so sensitive, but this morning he felt loose and pliant and…cozy. And it just felt so fucking good. Especially with Chaos murmuring in his ear the way he was. “So perfect, puppy. Mm. Yes. Yes, yes, yes.”

Cooper’s orgasm crested in a quiet wave, no less intense for the way it sneaked up on him. His whole body shuddered, his toes curling, and Chaos’s praise intensified, a long, steady stream of adulation. Just a few pumps of his hips later and he was half-draped over Cooper, his arm digging into Cooper’s belly as he quivered against him, that otherworldly heat filling Cooper just like it had the night before.

Cooper cupped a hand to his lower belly as he shook and shattered in Chaos’s arms. No one had ever come inside him unprotected before. Not until Chaos.

Chaos spent a long few minutes pressing kisses to Cooper’s shoulder, letting them both come down from their peaks, and then abruptly pulled out before bounding off the bed to who knew where, yelling, “Be right back!”

Cooper didn’t have the energy to follow, but Chaos returned before he knew it anyway, and Cooper gasped at the extremely rough, extremely cold, wet washcloth that was pressed against his ass.

“See?” Chaos asked as he cleaned Cooper with a less-than-delicate bedside manner. “I was so gentle, wasn’t I?”

Jarring clean-up aside, he had been, in his way. Just like he had been every time they’d hooked up. But was gentle really what Chaos enjoyed?

Cooper gathered his strength, propping up onto his arm to look at Chaos over his shoulder. “It’s still…good for you like that?” he asked hesitantly. “Even though you’re used to rough and wild?”

Chaos frowned at him, tossing the washcloth on the floor without looking where it landed. “Of course. I’m not some single-minded brute like Kaisyir—I can like more than one thing. And just because something is soft doesn’t mean it isn’t strong too. And…appealing.” He gave Cooper a sly look. “I still filled you with my seed, didn’t I? Planted my hatchlings inside you.”

Cooper rolled his eyes. He was 90 percent certain now that Chaos was just fucking with him about the hatchlings thing. Or…80 percent?

He’d still ask Nix later, just in case.

Chaos hopped onto his feet, clapping his hands. “Now. What does one wear to a Mafia meeting? A tracksuit? A tuxedo? Chain-mail armor?”

Cooper laughed, rising from the bed on shaky legs.

He was growing far too fond of this demon menace. He was totally screwed; he knew that now.

And maybe he should feel bad that he’d sort of just…fallen into being Chaos’s human source for sexual experimentation. His fake boyfriend, almost.

But Cooper had been lonely for so long. And honestly, even if this wasn’t real, it was a better situation than he’d hoped for in a long time. It was hard to find someone who could handle Cooper’s dangerous connections and also didn’t mind that he was a shy, nerdy shut-in. He’d had exactly one boyfriend, the one who’d been mean as hell, and Cooper had been too much of a pushover to stand up to him.

Chaos may have been a bit of a bulldozer when it came to what he wanted, but he wasn’t mean. He was even sweet, in his way. And interesting and silly and beautiful.

Cooper had never stood a chance.

Plus, it was kind of a nerd’s wet dream, wasn’t it, to have an otherworldly creature actually want to hop into bed with you?

And going into this meeting of Ivan’s, Cooper would have someone at his back for the first time in…well, maybe his whole life. Cooper would be protected by someone who cared enough to make sure he wasn’t hurt, who wasn’t so lost to his own inner demons that he forgot Cooper existed.

Even if that someone wasn’t staying, Cooper was going to enjoy it while he could.

Cooper thanked the driver as he and Chaos got out of the car Ivan had sent for them. They were at a familiar side door entrance of a faded brick building.

“Where are we?” Chaos asked, eyeing the peeling red paint of the door as he sniffed the air. “It doesn’t smell like blood or carnage. It smells like…food.” He sounded disappointed by that fact.

“It’s a restaurant,” Cooper explained. “Ivan’s father liked to do business here.”

Cooper could still remember his own father kneeling in front of one of the red booths inside, begging for Dimitri to take him on. Could still remember Dimitri’s cold eyes looking to Cooper instead, sizing him up, calculating whether he’d be useful or if he and his father were just one more bag of trash to dispose of.

Cooper suppressed a shiver—he’d just add the queasy feeling thinking of Dimitri gave him to the nerves already roiling in his stomach—and grabbed Chaos’s hand. “Come on, then.”

He poked his head inside the door. Ivan and Nix were at a booth with Sascha and a big, burly man with long black hair Cooper hadn’t met before. There was another unfamiliar couple at the table, a nervous-looking blond man and his severe-looking partner, who was wearing an unusually ostentatious suit for a Mafia meetup.

Ivan was, of course, pointing a gun at Cooper. It was how he usually greeted unexpected visitors (never mind that he’d sent the car for them). Cooper just nodded at him. He didn’t like violence, but Ivan had a steady hand—he wouldn’t shoot Cooper by accident.

Cooper led Chaos through the door, and Chaos immediately hissed at Ivan, apparently not liking the weapon aimed in Cooper’s direction.

Instead of shooting Chaos for his insolence, Ivan put his gun back in its holster.

There were definitely benefits to being a scary little demon fiend or being a scary little demon fiend’s companion.

When he caught sight of Chaos, the big guy next to Sascha growled, turning to Nix for some reason. “What did you do, incubus?”

“Me?” Nix asked innocently.

Chaos grinned at the massive stranger. He was in his human form, but even with his little dimple, his smile looked kind of evil. “Hello, Kaisyir.”

Oh, right. The warrior demon who’d been in the Void with Chaos and Nix—Chaos had told Cooper about him. With the way Kai tugged Sascha to his side protectively—and the way Sascha gave him an adoring, dreamy little smile in return—it seemed like he was more than just Sascha’s summoned muscle.

It looked like Cooper’s cousin had a demon boyfriend.

That was three of them in the same family shacked up with demons. Jesus. Did they have some sort of blood-borne condition that predisposed them? Or was it just…generally contagious?

Ivan looked weirdly pleased by the ragtag group they all made, his eyes gleaming under the restaurant lights. He was almost smiling , which was unnatural enough to give Cooper the shivers. “Cooper, this is Kai, Sascha’s…partner. Chaos, this is my younger brother, Sascha, Cooper’s other cousin. We also have Eric and Wolfe here with us. Friends of Alexei’s.”

Cooper barely hid his gasp of surprise, masking it with an awkward cough. As far as he knew, Ivan and Alexei—the middle brother between Ivan and Sascha, and Cooper’s other cousin—were still on bad terms. Murderous terms, to be exact.

What the hell were Alexei’s friends doing helping Ivan out?

Chaos sniffed the air, pointing to the blond, Eric, and his partner, Wolfe. “Why do you two smell so strange?”

“Vampires,” Kai growled in explanation.

Huh. Well, then. Cooper hadn’t known those existed. He’d have to muster up the proper shock later, when he wasn’t about to pass out from anxiety.

No one else seemed surprised by the news, however. And Chaos looked positively delighted. “ Wonderful ,” he crowed.

He tugged Cooper down at the booth with the others, with Cooper next to Nix and Chaos at the end. The arrangement placed them across from Sascha and Kai.

Chaos only sniffed haughtily when Sascha smiled at him—not showing an ounce of his usual chaotic charm—and Cooper nudged him discreetly.

“Yes, puppy?” Chaos asked loudly.

Cooper ignored the muffled coughs of the others at the nickname. “Sascha’s cool,” he whispered.

Chaos scowled, but he lowered his voice to match Cooper’s. “If your cousin is so cool , why were you so lonely? He’s not doing his job as your kin.”

“His job isn’t to—” Cooper broke off when he saw both Kai and Eric eyeing him, Eric not even trying to hide his look of sympathy. Right. There was inhuman hearing at this table.

Cooper shook his head. “Never mind.”

Ivan cleared his throat, gathering their communal attention, and started talking about what to expect next. The family’s lieutenants and their main men, about thirty men in total, would all be here for the meeting. Ivan already had Sergei in the kitchen, bound and subdued and “only missing a little blood.”

Kai had given Ivan a bloodthirsty grin at that last bit, and Cooper eyed the demon with new wariness. He seemed so gentle with Sascha, but he clearly wasn’t opposed to the sort of violence this kind of meeting entailed.

Cooper’s belly was churning already with the news that Sergei was here. Cooper had played his own part in that terrifying man’s downfall, and he wasn’t looking forward to facing him.

Not that Cooper would have to deal with Sergei directly. The plan was for the demons to transform at the right moment, making a show of paranormal force in Ivan’s favor. Demonstrating in whatever way necessary that the family was not to be fucked with.

That was the gist of it, at least. Cooper only half listened—paying too close attention to any of it would only make his anxiety worse. He wasn’t going to be doing much of anything, anyway. Just standing there in solidarity while their paranormal counterparts did their thing. Trying not to get shot while he was at it.

He let out a harsh breath at the thought of guns firing around him, and Nix nudged him gently. “You okay, cutie?”

Cooper glanced up, realizing belatedly that Ivan had finished his speech and was now conferring quietly with Eric and Wolfe. Kai and Chaos were in a weird stare-off, Kai grimacing and Chaos grinning way too gleefully.

“Yeah,” Cooper told Nix quietly. “Just nerves.”

“We won’t let anything happen to you,” Nix reassured him. “I’ll be protecting you and Ivan during the…turmoil.”

Cooper glanced at him in surprise. He hadn’t realized it wouldn’t be only Chaos watching his back. He worked up the nerve to give Nix a small smile and then glanced around again. Everyone was occupied.

“Hey, Nix,” he whispered.

“Yes?” Nix whispered back, leaning in conspiratorially.

“Male demons can’t…impregnate human men, right? No…no hatchlings? That’s not a real thing, right?”

Nix was silent for a long moment, and then he burst into delighted laughter, looking over Cooper’s head to Chaos. “Bracchus,” he chastised, although he sounded fond. “What trouble have you been getting into?”

“Don’t you think we’d make adorable hatchlings though?” Chaos asked, his dimple flashing.

Cooper rolled his eyes. Of course Chaos had heard Cooper’s question.

Eavesdropping little imp.

Whatever Nix’s thoughts might have been on their hypothetical adorable hatchlings was lost in the shuffle as Jace and Tag and Ivan’s driver, Oleg, came in, indicating to Ivan that they were all set to go.

Nix leaned in one last time. “Don’t worry, puppy . He’s just teasing you.”

“I figured.” That didn’t stop Cooper’s cheeks from feeling like they were on literal fire though. Why had he even asked? He’d already known Chaos was only messing with him.

“You’re…okay though?” Nix asked, almost too softly for Cooper to hear. “Chaos can be hard to manage.”

Cooper frowned, his immense embarrassment momentarily forgotten. “That’s the thing though,” he mused, pushing his glasses up and giving Nix a sidelong glance. “I don’t try to manage him.” At Nix’s questioning look, Cooper explained, “If you let Chaos be who he is—if you don’t try to control him—he appreciates it. He pays attention to where the boundaries are. He manages himself.”

As Nix seemed to process his words, Cooper wondered if he was about to be told off. Nix had known Chaos much, much longer than Cooper had. What right did Cooper have to tell him how Chaos’s mind worked? But at the same time…Cooper just didn’t like that phrase hard to manage when it came to Chaos. Like he was an unruly child and not a fully grown demon with centuries of life experience.

He’d had to say something .

But after a moment, Nix gave him a slow smile. “You two are a good match after all,” he murmured. “How unexpected.”

Cooper didn’t have it in him to explain to Nix that they weren’t any sort of match at all. He was just practice, wasn’t he? So he twisted his lips in some semblance of a smile, and that was that.

Now it was only a matter of waiting for the meeting to begin.