Page 13 of Damian & Jun, Episodes 9-12 (The Residency Boys #8)

Jun snorted in exasperation. “We shot two music videos, remodeled an entire floor of the Parsonage, and did this, and the man says ‘finally’?” He widened his eyes in disbelief.

Damian grabbed him around the waist, pulling him back against his hips. “You’re amazing.” He nibbled on Jun’s bare neck. It tickled.

Jun squirmed, grabbing Damian’s arms. “I’m fucking fantastic. Collin is magic. And your dom worked hard.”

“Richard?”

Jun smirked over his shoulder. “He’s good with his hands.”

Damian laughed, full and deep, rumbling against Jun’s back. “Where’s my clean-mouthed K-pop idol?”

“Crawled out of a third-floor window. Got kidnapped, fought his way back to you.” Jun twisted around and looped his arms around Damian’s neck, rubbing their noses together. “Come on. Everyone is ready for you to see.”

Damian's hand slid up the back of his head, tilting it down, and buried his nose in Jun’s hair. Guh, why did he have to do that now! Jun’s eyes fluttered shut.

“DaSu.”

“I feel I’ve barely had time to hold you.”

“Three. Day. Weekend.” Jun wiggled free, grabbing Damian’s wrist. All this cuddling and nuzzling would be better done in the cave, and Damian didn’t even know about it yet.The resistance left Damian’s arm as he stepped forward. Finally!

The door was closed, but émeric’s and Richard’s voices were on the other side. Jun pushed it open, confident Collin would be there as well.

He spun around. Missing the look on Damian’s face was not an option.

Damian looked from right to left and back again. “You…that’s…is that?”

Jun grinned. “A cave.”

Damian went straight for it. “You built a cave in our place?”

Jun laughed, nervously. Did Damian not like it?

Damian dropped down to one knee and leaned forward, looking inside. “It’s a cave. You—you—you all built a cave.” He crawled inside. “It’s padded.”

Richard chuckled. Collin glanced at Jun. Jun nodded. Collin stepped forward and got down beside Damian, pointing out how the entrance could be widened and where the anchor points were on the inside as well as niches for items.

Jun shot Richard a tight smile. His stomach was flipping over on itself. He shouldn’t be so nervous, but he was.

Damian crawled out of the cave and went straight over to Jun. He cupped Jun’s face in both his hands and kissed him hard. “I love it.”

“Didn’t do it on my own.”

“Was your idea.”

Jun blushed. “Yes, but I couldn’t have done it without everyone else. Richard designed it. Collin figured out what materials we needed.”

“And we all put it together,” Richard finished from across the room.

“That. Yeah.” Jun nodded. Yep, he was sounding all kinds of sophisticated today. Maybe he could blame it on the weeks and weeks of work and stress.

“I love it.” Damian pressed their noses together. “And goddess knows, I want to chase you right now and drag you off, but I’m so hungry my head hurts.”

Jun slid his hands over Damian’s hips, tugging his closer. “I want to be chased right now, but I haven’t eaten since this morning.”

“Dinner.” émeric clapped his hands.

They ate on the couches in the sitting area of the former lounge, now dubbed the Den.

Jun and Collin took turns pointing out who had painted which butterflies on the walls and how they’d fixed different challenges.

Jun slid to the floor in front of his Alpha and leaned on his leg.

He only realized he had fallen asleep when Richard lifted him.

“Wha—?”

“Sleep,” Richard rumbled. Damian was climbing in bed beside him the next instant. And somehow, his pants and shirt were coming off. Good. He wanted to sleep for a thousand years. He rolled into Damian. “Had plans. All these plans. You were going to hunt me. We were going to fuck.”

Damian wrapped an arm and a leg around Jun, kissing his forehead. “Tomorrow, wolfling.”

Why did good things have to take so much energy to get done that there was nothing left for celebrating?

Damian

Breakfast was leftover pastries and fruit with sides of local sausages heated in the oven.

Collin sat on a cushion at émeric’s feet, an arm wrapped around his Sir’s leg, yawning over a deep mug of coffee.

Richard ferried food from the counter to the table and gave émeric a second cup of tea.

Jun’s hair was tousled as if he'd only run his hands through it after leaving the shower. None of them were dressed in day clothes. Even Richard had opted for loose linen pants and a bulky housecoat. Jun wore sweats and was adorably drowning in one of Damian’s oversized sweaters.

His bruises were entirely gone now. All that was left were light-pink scars here and there, marks of what his man had survived.

They matched like that.

Jun chuckled at something Collin was saying. He raised his eyes and met Damian’s over his cup of coffee. Lovely eyes, sparkling, full of vitality even though he looked like he was still half asleep.

This was his life now.

Yes, there were shadows. Yes, there were threats. But this was his life. And he would fight to keep it.

Richard took a seat beside Damian, giving him a squeeze on the shoulder. Damian shoulder bumped him back.

Collin yawned loudly as the meal wound down. “This doesn’t feel real. We have a day off.”

émeric chuckled. “You had Tuesday off, half of it.”

Collin narrowed his eyes, glaring up at his Sir. “Excuse me, Sir, but I spent half of Tuesday tied to Master’s desk.”

“Precisely. You were doing nothing.”

Collin huffed through his nose. “I’m too comfortable to want to argue.”

émeric ruffled the hair on the top of Collin’s head, as if he were a pet. “ Pauvre petit chou .”

Richard laughed.

Damian stood and stretched. They all naturally moved toward the Den. Collin pulled the couches out into beds and collected pillows. The five of them ended up on the two mattresses with the TV facing them.

“My clever man,” Richard said, kissing émeric. “Two pullout beds put together was perfect.”

émeric shook his head. “If we keep adopting, this may not even be large enough.”

Collin rolled over on his stomach and looked up at Jun. “What do you want to watch?”

“Something British and funny.”

“I know exactly what we should see.” Richard picked up the remote.

The morning and afternoon passed in a lazy haze. The cave was on Damian’s mind often, but he couldn’t bring himself to stir up the will to chase. He needed this time—this space. Jun, Collin, even Richard and émeric needed this.

Toward the end of the afternoon, Richard announced that he had to visit the gym. Collin groaned but followed him.

“Let’s go with,” Damian said to Jun.

Jun shrugged.

émeric waved them away. “I’ll do yoga up here and clean up.”

In bed that night, Damian turned to Jun. “You’re not disappointed?”

Jun yawned. He’d sprinted on the treadmill in intervals for several miles and then lifted weights. He was almost asleep already, freshly showered. “What do you mean?”

“That we didn’t play today.”

“No.” Jun snuggled closer, his hand on Damian’s chest, head half buried in the pillows. “Tomorrow.”

Jun

Breath ghosted over the back of Jun’s neck. It had to be Damian. It smelled like Damian. Warm, faintly spicy. Comforting. He squirmed backward, looking for his man’s soothing heat.

A tongue swiped just under Jun’s ear. He flinched, rubbing at the sensation. “Ugh.”

Teeth nipped at his hip.

Jun yelp. He started to rise. The teeth were back, nipping at his butt.

“Run.”

Nails scraped down the backs of his legs.

Adrenaline flashed through Jun’s limbs. He scrambled for the edge of the bed. Damn the bed for being so soft. He rolled instead, falling over the edge, scrambling to stand. Damian growled behind him, then laughed. “Run, boy!”

“Fuck!” Jun pushed off the floor with both hands, lunging for the door.

Thank goodness the curtains were closed.

He jerked open the door to the hall. A hand ghosted against his arm as he ran.

No ! He was not going down quick. Looking back was a mistake.

Damian wasn’t running. He was prowling. And looking damn hot doing it, pants riding so low the dips of his hips were landing lights.

Jun cursed in Korean, whipping his head forward.

If he could reach the guest bedroom, he could lock the door.

It would take Damian a few moments to pick the lock.

He made it just in time, barely registering émeric sitting on the couch as he darted through the living room.

“Morning, Jun,” émeric called out, completely unfazed.

“Morning.” Jun gasped. He slammed the door.

Damian grabbed the handle on the outside just as Jun got the latch in place.

Jun gritted his teeth. Damian was keeping the knob turned so he couldn’t engage the lock.

No! So much no!

He looked around the guest bedroom, still wrestling Damian for control, blinking sleep out of his eyes. Something, anything. He needed something .

Damian laughed through the door. “You can’t hold out forever,”

“You don’t know that!” Jun shouted back. He braced his shoulder against the door and his heel against the wall. Damian was pushing hard.

Where was a wide-open field to run in when you needed it?

“You are so getting that dungeon open before next winter,” Jun growled. “There’s nowhere to run in here.”

“You can try.”

Jun grunted as Damian shoved hard. Thank all the stars for his years of training but— Fuck! — there was no point just holding the door when they both wanted the hunt. He spun to the side, releasing the door all at once.

The door slammed against the wall. Damian fell into the room.

Jun flung himself out of the aperture as Damian’s momentum carried him past. Damian’s fingers dragged down Jun’s arms without gaining purchase. Jun sprinted back down the hall.

Somewhere to go. Had to find somewhere to go.

The door to Richard and émeric’s room was open. He grabbed the edge of the door frame, swinging himself ninety degrees into the room. Richard was standing in an open door, adjusting his shirt. Collin lay asleep on a massive bed on his stomach, legs splayed apart.