Page 23 of My Demon Manny (Demon Debacles #2)

Archer

Walking through the garage door and into my house felt like reaching a stream after walking through a desert for hours. After spending the night with Lux, he'd returned me to my hotel room with just enough time to shower and get ready for the meeting.

After the meeting was done, though, I'd had to do things the human way since Jerry and Kat were with me too. So I'd bought the chocolates Kat picked out, before we drove to the airport and waited for our flight.

With Lux's magic, I could've been home in seconds, but without it, it'd taken me close to five hours. The flight had been short, but the drive home from the airport had been just awful. It'd felt like it would never end. But I was home now, and I was looking forward to hugging Lux and holding Gunner in my arms.

"Welcome home!" Lux exclaimed as I stepped into the living room, and Gunner joined in with a cheer. Smiling, I held out the flowers and chocolate, and Lux took them, a look of surprise on his face.

"Are these for me?"

"Of course. Do you like them?"

Lux sniffed at the flowers, then smiled widely. "I do. Thank you!"

Smiling, I leaned forward to press a kiss to his cheek before stooping down to pick Gunner up. He patted my chin as soon as he was close enough, and I imagined he was reprimanding me for leaving.

"Hey, Gunner. Did you miss me? I missed you a lot." I pressed a kiss to his temple. He, of course, smacked my jaw some more.

"Looks like he missed you too," Lux said with a chuckle, making me smile.

"Yeah. From now on, I'm making Jerry and Kat take any and all out-of-town meetings." It was something I'd been mulling over already, and the only reason I hadn't told them was because I felt guilty. I'd already taken so much time off recently, and then asking them to reduce my workload after all that...

I knew they would understand, though. And I could always take more of the local meetings to balance the scales.

"We'd like that," Lux said, then glanced at the clock. "Why don't you freshen up and we can have a late lunch together?"

"Sounds good."

Leaning forward, I pulled Lux into a chaste kiss as Gunner cooed and babbled between us. I'd been planning on telling him I loved him when I gave him the flowers, but I lost the moment. Maybe after lunch?

Lux took Gunner from me, and I took my carry-on to our bedroom, leaving it in the corner to unpack later as I stepped into the bathroom, eager to wash the airport off of me.

After lunch, I'd ask Lux to curl up on the couch and watch a movie with me while Gunner napped. And then, when the moment was right, I'd tell him I loved him.

As we ate lunch, I fed Gunner between taking bites of the sandwiches Lux had made. I hadn't realized how much I enjoyed doing the simplest things for Gunner until I had to take a break from them. I loved my job, but I loved taking care of Gunner just as much, if not more.

"How about you put him down for his nap while I clean up?" Lux suggested, and I gladly agreed.

It took a while for Gunner to settle down, but once he did, I placed him into his crib, and spent a few minutes just watching him fall asleep. How could someone so small make my chest feel so full? I'd always known I wanted to be a dad someday, but until the day I first held Gunner in my arms, I hadn't realized how truly precious a child could be. I was so fucking lucky to have him, and I never wanted to forget that.

"Hey," Lux murmured as he approached my side, his arm sliding around my waist as he rested his head on my shoulder. "He's out like a light, huh?"

I hummed softly, turning my head to press a kiss against his temple. This right here, this was all I wanted in life.

"Would you like to cuddle on the couch and watch a movie?"

Lux smiled up at me, then took a step back, his hand closing around mine. "Sounds good. I wanna watch something sappy."

"Sappy it is," I agreed, then followed Lux to the couch.

I lay down while Lux fiddled with the remote for a moment before joining me. Wrapping my arm around his middle, I nuzzled the crook of his neck, breathing in his scent. Damn, I never wanted to be away from him again.

I'd planned to tell Lux how I felt while we watched the movie, but before I could gather my courage, the sleepy comfort of being surrounded by his scent and warmth pulled me under, and I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I was alone on the couch with a throw blanket covering me. Sitting upright, I scanned the empty living room before catching Lux's voice coming from the kitchen. One glance at the clock told me I'd been sleeping for a few hours, and I shook my head at myself as I stood up. There went my opportunity to tell Lux I loved him.

Joining Lux in the kitchen—who was in his demon form with Gunner strapped to his chest and busy playing with his tail—I helped him make dinner while also keeping Gunner entertained, something he excelled at doing even without my assistance. Gunner was a champ while we ate our meal, and then Lux and I tucked him in for the night together. I loved our routine, loved how seamlessly we'd fallen into one.

Finally in bed—Lux had shifted back to his human form before the meal—I almost blurted the words right out, but then I decided that wasn't how I wanted to do it. I wanted to take Lux out, to give him a special date night where I showered him with so much love and adoration that saying the words would become merely a reiteration of the whole night.

Satisfied with my decision to make it a special night, I pulled Lux into my arms, holding him close as his warmth soaked into my skin. I wasn't all that tired despite my flight earlier, and yet I found myself drifting off to sleep almost instantly.

Lux

Something brushed the edge of my senses, rousing me from my sleep. Archer was wrapped around me like one of those fuzzy animals I'd seen on TV the other day, and I almost turned around in his arms and went right back to sleep, but something was niggling at the edge of my consciousness, something that wouldn't let me rest.

Blinking my eyes clear, I slowly slid out of Archer's hold, careful not to wake him. Sitting upright, I closed my eyes and focused, trying to sense what was wrong.

I checked the ward around Gunner's room, breathing a little easier when I sensed it pulsing normally. I must've had a bad dream or something. Clearly, there was nothing—

I sucked in a breath, realizing that while there was nothing wrong with the ward, someone or something had brushed against it only a short while ago. Something that had managed to sneak through.

Rushing to my feet, I almost jumped out of my skin when Archer's soft voice floated over to me.

"What's wrong?"

I couldn't tell him nothing was wrong when something clearly was, but I didn't have time to explain anything to him, especially when I had no idea exactly what I'd be walking into.

Turning to glance at him, I raised my palm when he started to get up. "Stay here. Let me check it out."

I turned around and hurried to the door, sighing to myself when I heard Archer rush after me. Of course he wouldn't listen, not where Gunner was concerned. I couldn't blame him. If the situation were reversed, I would have done the same.

Outside Gunner's room, I turned to him, holding my finger to my lips. He nodded quickly, and I readied myself as I slowly opened the door.

In my first quick scan of the nursery, I didn't spot the intruder. Not until my eyes reached Gunner's crib and I realized he was floating almost a foot above it, hovering just above the crib's guardrail.

Archer sucked in a breath as I quickly shifted into my true form and reached Gunner in two quick steps. I gently took him in my arms, handing him to Archer without turning, who'd thankfully stayed behind me.

As I scanned the dark corner where the wall behind the crib and the one with the window intersected, I spotted a hunched-over being who'd clearly been trying to grab him and was now trying to hide from me, and I saw enough to know what they were. A fae. A brownie.

I hadn't seen a fae in the human realm in a long time. From what I'd heard from the other demons, I knew they'd stopped visiting the human world a long time ago. The only time a fae came into the human world now was when they were banished, and even then it was only fae who could pass off as humans, or had the magic to do so. A brownie would not be banished to the human world.

"What the fuck is that?" Archer demanded, then winced, probably realizing he'd just cursed in front of Gunner. His voice seemed to push the brownie into action, and before I could stop them, they disappeared with a puff of fae magic.

Shaking my head, I shifted back and walked over to the window to close it, and that was when I spotted it. Lying outside just below the window was a wriggling bundle wrapped up in a shiny, silky cloth. Oh, so that's what the brownie was here to do…

"Shit!"

Without thinking, I leaped out of the window, landing softly on the ground. Archer had clearly been planning to turn this area into a garden, but so far all that was there was soft dirt and weeds. Maybe I'd work on it when he was off to work. Gunner might enjoy being out in the sun.

A soft sound from the bundle pulled my head out of the clouds, and I carefully picked it up, peering inside. I had a fairly good idea of what I would find, and I was proven right when I took in the dark-skinned baby with glittering green eyes and pointed ears.

"Lux? Are you okay?" Archer asked, leaning out of the window. Then his eyes fell on the bundle in my arms and went wide. "Is that...is that a baby ?"

Nodding, I used my magic to get back inside the house, not wanting to jostle the baby by climbing through the window again. The baby was pretty quiet for someone who'd just been abandoned, their bright eyes blinking up at me calmly as I held them. They reached out a hand to touch my chin, as if trying to figure out if I was friend or foe. I knew fae kids developed faster than human ones when they lived in the fae realm, and I wondered if this baby was younger than Gunner even though they appeared to be the same age.

"Why was there a baby in our backyard?"

Sighing, I shook my head, unable to believe what I was about to say. It'd been a long, long time since something like this had happened. The fae had stopped doing it when they realized humans were getting smarter, developing technology that would make it extremely easy to tell there was something wrong. What dumb fae had thought this would be a good idea?

I had to admit, if the brownie had gone to any other house, they might have succeeded. But how long would this baby have survived in the human world? How long before someone noticed there was something inhuman about him?

"Lux?"

"Sorry," I said with a shake of my head. "The being I chased off was a fae. A brownie. They usually serve one of the royal fae families. I think they were sent here to leave this baby behind, to swap it for a human one."

Archer's eyes widened, his gaze snapping between the two babies. "Wait. You mean that person was planning to kidnap Gunner?"

I nodded quietly, and Archer shook his head, his breath coming out in a trembling sigh. I couldn't imagine what he was feeling. He'd gone from not knowing of the existence of the supernatural world to being mated to a demon and almost having his son kidnapped by a fae. His head had to be spinning.

"Did they really think I wouldn't notice if my son suddenly changed hair, eye, and skin color?"

The incredulous look on his face made me chuckle, and I pursed my lips to keep from laughing. "They would've used magic to make him look like Gunner. Then the baby's own magic would've kept up the illusion until he needed it."

Archer shook his head, then glanced at the fae baby in my arms. "What are we going to do with him?"

Peering down at the baby, I couldn't help the pang in my chest. He'd been abandoned by those who were supposed to care for him. Either that, or someone had stolen him from his home because they didn't want him to stay in the faerie realm. Judging by the soft, silky clothes he wore and the fact that he'd been left here by a brownie, I'd say he belonged to one of the royal families, which meant that it could've been a political move. If he had any claim to the throne, someone competing with him could've sent him here to get him out of the way. A human baby would've been disqualified from the running the moment they realized he didn't possess fae magic.

If I hadn't stopped the brownie, or if they'd taken him to a different house, he'd have grown up feeling different and never knowing why. I couldn't let that happen to him. How could I help him?

The only fae—or previously fae—people I knew of were Fate and their brother, the king of Afterworld. Would they be able to help?

Either way, I had to try. The fae were bonded to their land. That was how they got their magic. Which meant the longer this baby stayed in the human world, the weaker he'd get. One day, he might not have any magic left in him, and he'd lose the ability to even revert to his true form. I couldn't imagine losing my powers and getting stuck in this weak, human form, and I wasn't going to let that happen to him.

"We're going to find a way to send him back home."