Page 19 of Devil May Hunt (The Devils of Vitality #8)

Brennon seemed calm.

Too calm?

Was it a lie? Was he masking? Hiding from Gunho?

He didn’t like that idea. Didn’t like the thought of his mate keeping things from him, out of fear or any other feeling.

There was no necessity for secrets between them, which was why he’d rushed this process, only allowing the cadet a few days in his normal life, with his normal routine, before Gunho had ripped the rug out from under him.

And he knew that was exactly what he’d done. He wasn’t trying to pretend otherwise. Unlike Brennon, he was presenting his true self, unapologetically.

Dangerously.

“Should we get to know one another better? Will that help soothe you?” Gunho suggested, only for a flash of indignation to alight behind those warm brown eyes.

They were pretty eyes, filled with all sorts of raw emotion.

They gave him away, even when Brennon was trying so hard to shield the rest of himself.

The only crack in the calm exterior.

“I don’t need soothing,” Brennon said dryly.

“What do you need then? Tell me.”

“Freedom.”

Gunho held out his arms. “I’ve given you that.”

“This is a prison,” he corrected, but his tone still lacked bite. It was as though all the fight had drained out of him the second Gunho had used the term Royal Consort.

Why?

“The door is unlocked. You can come and go as you please.” He half expected Brennon to take him up on that offer, but he remained rooted in his spot. Gunho pursed his lips. “Talk to me, pretty lover.”

“That doesn’t work,” Brennon said. “There’s no point trying to reason with someone who refuses to listen.”

“I took you. You’re rightfully upset. I hear that loud and clear.”

“What’s the importance of being able to smell me?

I get that if I were of your kind it would matter.

But I’m not.” He brought them back to that topic.

“I’m not an omega, I can’t give you children, and I won’t be accepted by your family.

What’s the point of going through all this trouble for someone like me? ”

Was that… self-doubt?

From the man’s records and their interactions in the past, Gunho had assumed Brennon was another cocky Royal, used to getting his way.

The type that thought highly of himself.

He’d been sure any anger displayed over becoming his mate would be due to Gunho’s status more than anything, which was why he’d gone to great lengths to officially name him his Royal Consort.

That title meant something. There was power and prestige attached to it that would be recognized throughout the entire universe.

And yet, that was the part that seemed to bother his pretty lover the most.

“Being able to smell you makes you special,” Gunho tried to explain, carefully choosing his words and closely inspecting him as he did.

“Pheromones dictate everything. Every being has them, Brennon. Pheromones aren’t exclusive to my people.

The fact that yours has any sort of effect on me at all is a sign we’re a good match. ”

“Children—”

“Aren’t something I’m interested in.” He debated whether or not to continue, then blew out a breath, opting to lay it all out on the table. “My grandfather has been pushing me to procreate for years. It’s gotten to the point I have to actively avoid planets with my kind during my ruts.”

“Why?”

“He’s tried to force a bond on me before. During a rut, I can impregnate someone. He’s selected fertile omegas and planted them around me as temptation. Fortunately, I discovered his deception. Unfortunately, it happened midway through after I’d already bedded one of the woman he’d sent me.”

Brennon’s brow twitched, but that was the only sign he gave that Gunho’s words affected him.

“She didn’t get pregnant, but that was the last time I trusted my own while at my most vulnerable.

” His rut came every three months, and he’d spent the better part of the past two years hopping from planet to planet to avoid his grandfather’s entrapment.

“I told you we were similar before. I know what it’s like to crave freedom, especially from family that’s trying to weigh you down. ”

“Drown me,” Brennon corrected softly, and there was something in his voice now that gave the impression Gunho had hit another nerve. “Everything is trying to drown me.”

“I’m not.” He set the empty mug down on the counter, but didn’t do anything else, allowing the space to remain between them.

“I can give you anything you want, pretty lover. All I ask in return is for you to be mine. Is that so much to ask for? You feel like you’re drowning?

Let me pull you up. I won’t let you stay under the weight of the world. ”

“You don’t know what you’re saying.”

“Don’t I?” He hummed. “We need to get to know each other. There’s still too much between us.”

“Only one of us got to read files on the other.”

“Would you like mine?” he offered. “I can have them delivered to you.”

Brennon cocked his head. “Really?”

“Fair is fair.”

“There’s nothing fair about this.”

“Of course there is.” He needed to give him an olive branch.

During his time at war, Gunho had learned it was better to act first and ask for forgiveness later.

Better to defeat and control the enemy than to wait for them to gain the upper hand.

He would conquer Brennon Cree the same way he’d won all those battles and earned himself the title God of Death.

Mercilessly.

Without hesitation.

“You’re wrong, you know,” Brennon said. “We aren’t the same. My parents aren’t trying to control me. They don’t care enough about me to bother.”

“We are,” he insisted. “Do you think my grandfather wants me to have a child because he needs great-grandbabies? No. He’s doing it to ensure the family line is continued before he can find a way to rid himself of me.”

“What?”

“My father couldn’t stand the sight of me.

My grandfather developed the same reluctance to my presence.

I make him uneasy. My cousins like me though, so he can’t banish me from Glyph indefinitely, and an accident would risk his bloodline since Arbor and Avi are unmated and show no interest in settling down any time soon. ”

“So, the emperor wants to knock you up, then either kill you or frame you and…what? Steal your kid?” Brennon made a face. “Don’t you think that’s a bit farfetched?”

“I have proof,” he explained. “Trust me. I wish it was an elaborate hoax I was making up.”

But in finding Brennon, Gunho had solved more than one of his problems. By relocating to Vitality, he’d presented his grandfather with an easy out.

Because the move was for his mate, there was no reason for his family to doubt him or suspect anything.

The old man would be annoyed he couldn’t find satisfaction in having manipulated Gunho, but he’d put aside his dislike and go back to tolerating his existence.

“You’ve done a lot for me,” he said, “and you don’t even know it.

I’ve gotten word that public opinion of me back home has improved.

Now that I’ve found a mate, the idea that I’m a broken, feral alpha is subsiding.

Despite what you might believe, I don’t want to be the only one gaining in this relationship.

I needed you, so I secured you at all costs, but now that the fear of you slipping through my grasp is gone, I’m open to discussion on everything else.

I can be generous, pretty lover. Set your terms and see for yourself. ”

“What?” Brennon was clearly suspicious. He didn’t blame him.

Theirs was an incredibly messy start.

But from here on out, Gunho was dedicated to proving just how much he could care for and keep the younger man. How much he could benefit from having an alpha like him in his life.

“I’ve already made a deal with your parents, now it’s your turn. They’ve sold me their company and their son. I own you. Now, tell me what I need to do to keep you.”

“If I say you can’t?” Brennon asked. “If I tell you I’ll run the first opportunity I get?”

“I’ll advise you against that course of action, and promise that I’ll hunt you down.

There’s no corner in this universe far enough or big enough to hide you forever.

I will find you, pretty lover, but what about in the meantime?

When you’re suffering from being apart from me?

When you’re forced to scrounge for food and shelter?

When your heat comes and you’re found horny and desperate on the streets?

Does that sound like the freedom you claimed to desperately want? ”

“No,” he agreed, “it does not.”

“Terms then. Let’s hear them.”

Brennon considered his options for a lengthy moment, and Gunho used that time to drink him in.

He really was pretty, with chocolate hair and eyes that seared him to the bone whenever they landed on him. His full lips were pouty and soft, his skin honey-toned and sexy as all hell covered in Gunho’s love marks.

The bite at the side of Gunho’s neck pulsed and he almost reached for it, stopping himself at the last second. If he drew Brennon’s attention to it now, they’d lose this thread between them and the almost relaxed setting.

“Are you using me just to stick it to your grandfather?” Brennon finally spoke.

“Is that what it sounded like?”

“Yes.”

“Does that make you feel bad?”

“Since you’ve read my records, you already know that I’m fairly average.

At everything. With everyone. It might seem like my parents let me join the Academy instead of taking over the business because I insisted, but the reality is, they didn’t trust me with it. They’ve never wanted me as their heir.”

Gunho played back his conversation with Brenda Cree earlier that morning. “That isn’t what I was told.”

He snorted. “Let me guess, mother lamented about how she’d been saddled with an heir who didn’t want to accept his legacy. How I’m spoiled and too independent. They couldn’t control me even if they wanted. Blah, blah, blah.”

“Something along those lines.”