Page 25 of Wreaking Havoc (Demon Bound #1)

Kai

Kai sat on the beach, watching the gentle waves rocking the boats moored close to the coast. There was one in particular that looked just like Kai’s ornament, the one Sascha claimed was proof of his terrible taste.

But how could Kai’s ornament be terrible when it was a reflection of the same view Kai had seen that first time he’d laid his hands on Sascha? Wringing an orgasm out of him on this very beach, planting the seed in his mind on how he would mate this human.

It seemed to Kai he had excellent taste, actually.

Although, now the weather had warmed and their little beach was full of other people. As was the town itself. Tourists, Sascha said. People who came from other parts of the world to admire their home.

Kai couldn’t blame them. Their home was beautiful.

He knew Sascha worried, on the days he let his insecurity get the best of him, that Kai would grow bored. That the life they led here couldn’t possibly be enough for him. But Kai had spent centuries in the Void, with only three unlikely companions for company. Here he had Sascha. Just that alone made it infinitely better.

And in truth, the human world was quite pleasant when one was not being ordered around by some power-hungry bargain.

Like this ocean. Kai enjoyed the rhythm of it, the soothing sounds the waves made, as steady as Sascha’s heartbeat in slumber. He came to stare at it quite often.

They hadn’t had oceans where he came from.

No oceans and no Sascha.

So why would he ever want to return to the demon realm?

A familiar form sat down next to him in the sand. Young Seth in a tank top, the tops of his shoulders reddened from the sun. “Hey, Kai. What’s up?”

It was a nonsense question, so Kai ignored it. What was he supposed to say? The sky above them? The single fluffy cloud on the horizon?

Seth knew him well at this point and was unoffended by his silence. “You and Sascha coming out on Friday?”

That was a question Kai could answer. “Yes. For the dancing.”

Kai had become very, very fond of dancing. Especially as the warmer weather meant Sascha wore smaller and smaller bits of clothing as they went out. Seth had also taught Sascha how to paint his eyes, how to mark them so the pale-blue color stood out even more.

Between that and the coffee from the bakery, Kai was very tolerant of this human. He was a suitable friend for Sascha, even if he hadn’t been procured by Kai like their Matteo.

But it was time to return home. Kai grabbed the bag next to him and nodded his goodbye to Seth, who smiled in return, and hurried back on the path.

He found Matteo curled up on the living room couch. It was where Kai often found him. Eight months later and Matteo still didn’t leave the house without one of them to accompany him. And he didn’t always leave with them either. He’d come dancing only the once, and the night had ended with him panicking and needing to be brought home.

Sascha thought he needed therapy.

Kai thought he needed something else.

“Hello, Kai,” Matteo greeted, smiling openly. A movie with a screaming woman was on the TV. For someone as jumpy as Matteo, he watched an awful lot of movies with screaming and monsters.

Humans were odd.

But at least there was that—the smiling. Matteo had grown more comfortable around the two of them over the months. When he wasn’t frightened, he was all smiles and quiet laughter. His soul would probably be sweet. Too sweet, most likely, without Sascha’s interesting pockets of sour and bitter to even him out. Not to Kai’s taste.

But perhaps to someone else’s.

“There’s a paper, hidden between the books on that shelf,” Kai told him, pointing across the living room.

Matteo took his eyes off the TV. “Um, okay?”

“You copy the symbol. Say the words. Spill a drop or two of blood.”

Matteo stared blankly at him, and then his eyes widened. “And then one of you comes out?”

Kai waved a hand. “Different from me but still strong. You can make your bargain for protection. Or vengeance, if that’s your preference. And then be done with it,” Kai warned him. “The owner of that mark is not someone anyone wants to keep.”

He left it at that, climbing the stairs and making his way to the spare room Sascha had turned into his office.

And there was Kai’s mate, in a pale-blue button-down and tight underwear, on a video call that showed him from the waist up only, speaking haughtily into the laptop. “And when I say I don’t want a repeat of last month’s ordering fiasco, I mean it. Run the numbers by me first if you’re unsure.”

“Yes, Sascha,” said the man on the other end.

“Good.” Sascha caught sight of Kai, a brilliant smile lighting up his face. “Lunch break!” he said into the screen. “Got to go. Ta-ta.”

He shut his laptop with a snap, twirling his chair to face Kai.

Sascha had taken to working quite well. He seemed to thrive on a chance to use his mind and natural charm for something with a bit of challenge.

But, Kai thought smugly, he liked Kai even more.

“What did you bring me?” Sascha asked, opening his hands.

“A rolled-up lobster.”

“Lobster roll! Gimme.”

Instead, Kai picked him up from the chair and sat, placing Sascha back on his lap. He kissed Sascha’s neck while Sascha opened the bag he’d brought. Kai would like to do more than kissing, but Sascha needed nourishment on his break, as he often had to remind Kai.

Kai’s poor, neglected cock (they’d had sex that morning but just the once) would have to wait.

He busied himself kissing along all the spare skin he could find, enjoying the way Sascha writhed while eating his sandwich.

“I told Matteo to summon a demon,” Kai murmured when he’d covered all that he could.

Sascha rolled his eyes, his cheek bulging with his last bite. “Of course you did.”

“Are you angry with me?”

Sascha sighed. “No. In some ways, it might be better than asking Ivan to babysit when we leave.” He immediately gave Kai a stern look. “I don’t really mean that. Two demons on the East Coast in more than enough. I’ll talk to him.”

Now that Kai had identification from their computer cousin, he and Sascha were going to travel for a bit, as Sascha could work from anywhere. They’d be visiting the brother in Colorado first, and then Kai planned to take Sascha to the places he’d been summoned before, to see how they’d changed over the centuries. And to give Sascha a chance to experience somewhere new.

Sascha wasn’t ready to explore his own past yet—to visit Russia and the remnants of his family there—but perhaps they’d get there someday.

Kai didn’t mind waiting.

He’d spent so long waiting for his mate, though he hadn’t known what he was doing at the time. So many decades of restlessness and boredom.

But now that he knew—now that Kai had him, his Sascha—he could say with every ounce of truth that it had been worth the wait.

Every moment of it.

The end.