Chapter Twenty-One

Silas

It took three days before Dakata was considered totally healed, although his dick seemed to think it could still function from the moment his eyes opened. The wise oak explained, multiple times when Dakata got impatient, that the bonding process wasn’t instant, and time was needed to strengthen the links between them. For his part, Silas remembered that from when he first bonded with his tree. His fear of losing that bond had kept him within the branches, which was what enhanced the strength of the bond they’d shared ever since.

The eye opener, the lightbulb moment, so Silas had heard it called, came for Dakata on day three. He’d woken up grumbling, still wrapped in the tree’s branches. “I need to get my feet on the ground. There’s a whole stack of life going on beyond this forest I have to deal with.”

Silas, who’d already done his check along the river, was happily resting on Dakata’s chest. All the healing he’d done for the oak and for Dakata wasn’t something he could just bounce back from in five minutes, either. “There’s a whole stack of life going on in this forest, too. Sometimes you just have to stop and take the time to see it.”

“The forest is beautiful, you are beautiful, our tree is beautiful, but I can’t make money from any of these things. I have a family, clients, staff, and more who all depend on me.”

Rolling off Dakata’s chest, Silas waved at his demon. “You’re not a prisoner here. You can go anytime you want.”

Dakata glanced down. They were twenty feet in the air, not that the height ever bothered Silas. “So you… er… you just climb down?”

“You could translocate, but…” Silas held up his finger, his smile widening as the leaves rustled behind him.

“What, but, what? Is there something weird translocating from the tree?” Dakata had sat up, but he didn’t look too confident about his position. “Is it a rule, or something? Because of our bond? Is that being disrespectful to the tree? I’m not even sure if… What the fuck?!”

Silas’s laughter bounced off the trees at Dakata’s shocked expression. The man was big in every sense. It was unlikely anyone had physically picked him up before the way the oak branches did. The kicker, the thing that made it doubly funny in Silas’s eyes, was the way the branches set Dakata’s feet on the ground and then patted his head as they moved back into position again.

“Maybe the oak was worried you’d fall.” Silas scampered down the tree, his feet finding the spots he’d used for years. “But there you are. Feet on the ground.” Silas tilted his head. Dakata’s shocked face had morphed into something sad. “What’s wrong?”

“The scorch marks in the bark.” Dakata laid his palm on the tree trunk. “I did that, didn’t I?”

Ah. He’s finally clicked on how important this was.

“Only partially, technically.” Silas hurried to Dakata’s side, wrapping his arm around the man’s waist. “I wasn’t here when it happened, and we both know this wasn’t caused just because you’d spent a bit of time in another realm. This was something else entirely.”

He patted the scorched wood softly. “I’ve healed what I can. The marks were a lot darker originally. These scorches came about not from a direct flame, although I smelled the smoke, and yes, if you think that’s weird, you’d be right. But when I was healing the edges as best I could…” Silas sighed, and a shiver ran down his spine.

“There was a lot of nasty magic in the attack. It got caught in the divots and groves of the bark. Someone was aiming for the heart of this tree. It took a long time to clean out the debris. Whoever did this knows a lot about dryads and the bonds they have with their forest.” He glanced up and saw Dakata’s face had darkened.

“Asmodeus. It had to be Asmodeus.”

“Who is he in your life? Come.” Silas led Dakata back into his house, encouraging his blissful one to sit while he prepared drinks for them both. “Talk to me,” he said softly, taking the glasses back to the table. “I know you’re impatient to get back to your business. You’ve said three times already you want to introduce me formally to your brothers and sister, and I think that’s wonderful, too. But we won’t have a future until the issue with this Asmodeus is resolved. Is he someone important to you? Will he come after us again?”

To his surprise, Dakata shook his head. “No. That mark is a clear sign he tried to break us apart, and he failed. Blissful ones… the lore surrounding them in the demon realm remains checkered at best. For the longest time demons believed a blissful one was like a fated mate was to a shifter or vampire.”

Silas nodded. He thought they were much the same thing, too.

“The thing is, when it comes to fated mates, the individuals—the people actually caught up in the mating—they don’t change their behavior. The core of who they are doesn’t change in any way.”

“That makes sense,” Silas agreed. “Fates bring people together because they are perfect for each other the way they are. If they changed, then that might throw off the balance for the mating, and it could fail.”

“That’s right, and demons always thought that’s why they didn’t have fated mates—because there was no way a demon would ever change who they were inside. I mean, in terms of loyalty, their drives… things like that. And in most cases, those ‘ways’ weren’t really mate-worthy.” Dakata shifted in his chair, suddenly finding the top of the table really interesting.

Silas frowned, the obvious question on the tip of his tongue, but then he remembered the scene where they’d rescued Wanda and stopped himself. There hadn’t been any mate-worthy behaviors going on there. “So, is this why demons have blissful ones?” he asked instead.

“I think so, although I hadn’t thought about it much before. Blissful ones are so rare.” Dakata seemed glad to move on from fated mates. “The lore around them is virtually non-existent. I know, when I was face to face with Asmodeus, he said I’d changed. He held my face, looked into my soul, and seemed totally confused by what he saw. I didn’t know why. I’m still doing what I’m doing—being who I’ve always been.”

Patting Dakata’s arm, Silas chuckled. “From what Wanda told me when we got her back, she said it sounded like working hard, having ethics, treating people right, and not indulging in orgies twice a week are sins on the demon realm?”

“Wanda said that?” That sideways glance was so sexy, especially when Dakata’s cheeks held a slight flush to them.

“Yes, she did. Apparently, before we arrived the big guy you killed was rallying his minions or whatever you call them, and they were all yelling at how hard you worked, how well you treated everyone, and the lack of orgy participation like it was something to be vilified for.” Silas couldn’t hold in a giggle. “In their eyes, you were such a terrible demon.”

“But not a weak one,” Dakata growled, and Silas winced, realizing he must’ve hit on a sore point.

“I’m sure you’ve already proven that a dozen times over,” he blurted out. “But what I don’t see is why knowing about blissful ones, or not, or anything like that, what does that have to do with being certain that this Asmodeus person won’t come after us again?”

“Because he rules our realm,” Dakata said simply. “He’s able to rule because he does not fail. Ever.”

“But…” Silas stopped himself as the pieces all fell into place. “So, going forward, if anyone asks this Asmodeus about his feelings about you and your blissful one, he’ll claim it was his idea to save face? Like, you and I are one of his little experiments, or new policies, he’s trying out.”

“Something like that.” Dakata tapped the table with his fingers and then grabbed Silas’s hands, pulling Silas closer so he could touch Dakata’s chest. “This is difficult for me to say, so please hear me out.”

Silas nodded. He could feel genuine warmth through their bond and knew their tree was listening.

“I am truly sorry I brought so much chaos to your life, to our tree, and to your dear sister. The pain, the damage—you and Wanda never deserved that. But I won’t say I’m sorry I met you, okay? I won’t do that. Meeting you opened my eyes to a life that was filled with so much more than contracts and cash. I need that. I need you and our tree. But if I could’ve done it—bonded with you—without all the scorching and the abducting, and you know, all the healing you’ve had to do since we got together, I would’ve done it that way. Definitely.”

Without all the killing, too. Silas kept that thought to himself. He was still coming to terms with the actions he was responsible for when they’d rescued his sister. Instead, he smiled, leaning forward, and grazing a soft kiss in the center of Dakata’s chest. “Apology accepted. Now, how about to celebrate, we could go into town for burgers? Then you can see if anyone else needs you for anything important at the same time.”

“I’ll have to put on a shirt.” Dakata looked down at his chest and grimaced.

“I’ll have to put on pants and shoes.” Silas laughed as he pulled his hands out of Dakata’s grip and slid off his chair. “Don’t forget your summoning stones.”