Chapter Twelve

August

“Can we punish her yet?”

I blink over at my brother, wondering if he's fucking kidding me.

“What? Don’t look at me like that.”

Apparently I’m going to have to assume he can’t read between the lines. “You telling me you want to stick your dick in her after watching that?”

He blinks right back at me as if to say, ‘ yes, and?’

I get up slowly, make him guess at my intentions, and I smack him upside the head. “You're a dumbass. She needs aftercare and she needs to spend time with her newly bonded mates.”

I walk out of the room and grab Cory and Adam’s goodies, way too excited to hand them out. I give one to Ash while I'm at it, even if he's not really a part of the club yet. “Here, I got these for you guys.”

Adam is bleary eyed and confused, but Cory understands immediately and starts cracking up. “Please tell me these are what I think they are."

“It was my idea,” Jackson says sullenly.

“Yes, yes, you're very smart,” I coddle my brother. “You guys don't have to wear them, I just thought it could be a cool thing for us to wear occasionally if we go somewhere or when we’re just hanging out around the house and feel cute and want to match. They’re like my shirt— when you put them in the sun, the backs will say ‘normalize pegging,’” I mutter.

When they don't say anything, I start to feel kind of stupid, so my voice drops in volume, but Delaney reaches out a hand to grab mine. “Thanks, babe. I really am sorry about earlier. That man makes me crazy. At the time, it just felt easier to send you to do something so I could sneak out instead of having to explain what I wanted. I don’t know what I’m doing with him yet.”

All of us swing our gazes to Ash, who’s still standing there somewhat awkwardly with all of his suitcases. “Please don’t ask me to go. I mean, I will if you really want me to, but please don’t want me to.”

I pull my shirt off my back and hand it to Delaney, who seems grateful to have something to put on her body. She leans into me as she faces down Ash. “What are you doing here?” Her voice sounds tired, weary.

He finally drops the suitcases and gets a little closer to her, a look of determination coming across his face. “I think I’m out of excuses, Delaney. It kills me that you don’t know that you can trust me, and it’s time for me to pull my weight as your mate. So, I’m moving in. I can sleep on the couch or the guest room or wherever you want me to; please , I just want to be around you.”

She takes measure of him for a moment, clearly thinking as she taps her finger against her chin. “Won’t you feel uncomfortable living in a dorm surrounded by students when you have your own home? One on the staff part of campus?”

“My comfort is at the bottom of my priority list right now. I realize both of us have hectic schedules, you have a lot of people you need to spend time with or choose to spend time with, so this is me trying to lighten that burden and trying to make it easier for us to spend time together. I want this. I want us .”

“I’m too tired to debate this anymore right now. I’m going to take a shower. Cory, what still needs to be done for dinner?”

Cory and Adam are still mostly collapsed on the ground, wrapped around each other, and trying to take control of their breathing and their headspace. Maybe they’re in shock. “Oh, uh, we just need to stir the pasta into the sauce and heat it up for a second, and if somebody can toss the dressing into the salad, that would be good. The bread is in the oven staying warm.”

“I can handle that,” Ash says, turning towards the kitchen. “You all go take care of what you need to do, let me make myself useful.”

Without waiting for a response, he does just that and I kick my brother’s calf just to get him in on helping our new bond mates and our mate. “Come on, you two,” I say to Cory and Adam, offering a hand to them to help them up.

Jackson steps over and grabs Delaney, who doesn’t protest at all about being carried. But then again, she usually doesn’t.

“If you want, I can run to your guys’ rooms and get you some clothes for the night?” I offer, wanting to be helpful.

Cory blushes a little, chewing their lip. “That won’t be necessary.”

I follow their line of sight to see other suitcases stacked neatly in the corner and understanding descends on me. “Let me guess, another premonition?”

They pat me on the chest as they pass me. “You catch on quick.”

I usher everybody into the bathroom, get the water going nice and hot like Delaney likes, and then I set out to grab their suitcases.

I smile to myself as I hear them talking in the shower together, washing each other up and being awkward about it, meanwhile I’m unpacking their bags.

Conduit suites are equipped with everything to accommodate this many people, so there’re plenty of dressers to go around in our large room. I put a suitcase on top of the dressers I’m assigning them at random and start throwing their clothes in the drawers in some semblance of order, then I head back into the bathroom to make sure they’ll have all the towels they need.

I’m just in time for the water to turn off, so I stand there with a big fluffy towel and wait for Delaney to exit the shower, holding it out for her step into it so I can dry her off. I can’t resist the temptation to pull her into my arms. “I’m so proud of you,” I tell her as I kiss her on the side of her head. “You doing okay?”

She wraps her arms around me and even though I almost always want to be naked with her, being in a situation like this is next level. Me and my brother are no longer her only mates, which is both good and terrifying, but it will be an adjustment. This means my girl is one step closer to becoming who she was always meant to be, and that is cause for celebration.

“I guess a lot happened today. I don’t know how I am to be honest, but I think I’m mostly excited.” She turns to look at Adam and watch him change, then she spins out of my arms and walks up to him boldly. She pushes him against the dresser and takes his mouth, placing a palm on either side of his face to keep him where she wants him.

It's hot as hell. Even though I used to have some issues with the guy, I feel like all of that was just because he didn’t know how he fit into Delaney’s life or what he was allowed to take from her. He wasn’t giving himself permission to love her like he needed to, like he really did already, so as long as he treats her right, I’m on his team.

“Mates?” He asks her. Did he miss how long ago, minutes-wise, that happened? Fuck, did he not feel it and is just now seeing the marks?

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t control—"

Cory stops her with another kiss, getting right in between her and Adam. “You don’t apologize,” they insist. “This was the goddess working, giving you what you need and rewarding us for some something incredible we must have done for her at some point.”

She looks unsure, but I think it's unwarranted. “You’re both staying here tonight, then?”

“Delaney,” Adam breathes as he steps into some clean boxers and throws a shirt on. “Nobody’s prying us away from you. It’s hard to contemplate that I basically just got married. Hehe, fuck . I have a ring on my hand. Delaney, come here.”

She blinks some tears away, smiling as she's wrapped up into him and Cory. “Don’t you think it’s kind of about time?”

He throws her on top of the dresser and steps between her legs, rubbing hands up both of her bare thighs before pushing the towel out of the way. “I never actually thought I could have you. Forgive me for wasting so much time. But I’m ready now. Cory,” he says, turning to them more, “I don’t know how this is all going to work out yet, but you both need to promise me you'll let me know if either of you feel like you’re not getting enough time or attention from me, alright? This is gonna be tricky for me to balance but you’re both too important to me to mess this up.” He kisses Cory next, and I’m already loving the different shapes our new family is taking.

???

The next few days go by mostly well and by that, I mean I get to wake up my mate every single morning buried between her thighs. So far, we haven’t come across the demon again, though it hasn’t escaped mine or my brother’s attention that there are still plenty of people talking about him. We’re trying to learn as much as we can, but nobody seems to know much other than the fact he's apparently sexually attractive and he’s got blue skin.

Some people say periwinkle, I’ve heard cerulean, ocean blue, sky blue… I don’t know if everybody’s just really bad at their colors and never had crayons as a kid, or if his color shifts depending on his mood.

Either way, my brother and I are trying to be proactive, so we scheduled a meeting with Delaney's mom to talk to her about the situation.

Everybody’s done with classes for the day, so we’re all piled up on Delaney's couch which hopefully is reinforced and able to hold us all. She’s sitting half on mine and half on my brother’s laps, with everybody else around us, including Ash who’s been surprisingly eager to help everybody out with breakfasts in the morning and with general housekeeping things like laundry and such. We’ve jokingly named him the team mom, but I can see the relationship between him and Delaney starting to heal a little, which is nothing but good.

“Do you think we need to prepare anyone for what they could potentially see once we start the video call?” I comb through the ends of Delaney's hair with my fingers, feeling nervous for some reason.

“What do you mean? It’s just my mom.”

“There she is!” the queen trills from the TV that we've connected the call to.

Her mom is ready for the meeting of course, dressed nicely in mostly conservative clothing, but it's the background that throws everybody for a loop. Not me though, I was expecting something like this after the exchanges I’ve had with any of Delaney’s parents.

At least Adam is used to this sort of thing since he grew up with them around.

Cory starts choking, and Ash is leaning forward to squint at the screen even though the images on it are already way bigger than they need to be.

Delaney smirks and cringes at the same time. “Oh. You were talking about that , weren’t you?”

The queen looks like she’s in her office, but instead of books on the shelf behind her, she has a whole collection of sex toys and lubes, because who doesn’t need to get down in their office?

Each toy has an individual case with lights shining on them, as if they’re meant to be art.

I’ve asked in the past, and apparently our queen just likes to shock people a bit. She finds it entertaining.

“A bit late I suppose,” Delaney says to everybody else in the room, “but you might want to brace yourselves for some unorthodox things. Don’t worry, she’s completely sane, I promise. She’s just a little obsessed with dicks.”

The queen laughs. “You say the sweetest things, daughter mine. You’ve got everybody together! Let’s see… Adam and Cory, looking great, hey August, hey Jackson, and Ash, good to see you again without the angry mob around you this time.”

“Hello, your Majesty.”

“Please don’t call me that. I’m your mate’s mother. We’re good.”

“Apologies,” he replies immediately.

“Yeesh. We’ll work on it. So, you guys asked for a meeting, and you got it. What’s up? Is it the other conduits there? Because let me tell you, we had some words. Have you had interactions with a young lady named Shelly?”

“Who wants to see a magic trick?” Delaney asks while holding her arm up.

This is something I’ve actually been waiting for. A side remark she made days ago that nobody seems to remember.

“Oh, magic is fun!” Cory says as they lean forward eagerly.

Delaney smiles at them and gets back to her point. “Yes, I’ve had interactions with Shelly. Not very pleasant ones, but I’m trying to see the best in her.”

The queen laughs. “Why ever would you do that? Your instincts are probably spot on.”

“Mom! You’re supposed to be in charge of all conduits here, they’re supposed to be like your children; you probably shouldn’t badmouth them.”

“False. They neither fell from my vagina, nor were they sneakily adopted by my mates behind my back, so I’m here to guide them and nothing else. I am absolutely inclined to call it as it is, and she had some bad energy.”

Delaney swallows, bracing herself. “She’s also the younger sister of Headmaster Aspis, who I’m pretty sure is supposed to be one of my mates.”

As promised, magic happens. Another circle forms on Delaney’s arm, empty of course because she hasn't made the bond, but clearly Delaney suspected it.

“Oh this is so much better than the ‘ how do I make myself not squirt so far ’ conversation I thought I was in for. Congratulations, honey! You found another one! Don’t you feel like you’re playing some sort of magical game, rounding up partners? Do you want me to send you some cowboy boots and a lasso? A bedazzled hat maybe?”

Everybody is silent for a beat, and then it seems like Delaney chooses to just ignore most of the insane stuff her mother just threw at us. “No thank you. Are you sure you can’t work your goddess magic and tell me how many of these I’m supposed to have? Surely not many more can fit on my arm. Seven is great. Seven is swell, in fact. I’ll just stop here, thanks.”

As if to prove a point, the queen bares her shoulder by yanking her shirt sleeve down. “Do you really want to talk about room ? Until your arm looks like mine, you’ll take what you’re given.”

“Funny, that’s what you said last night!” someone yells from the background on the camera.

“Gross, dad!” Delaney calls. A second later, a guy with opalescent blue and purple hair shows up with matching eyes, popping into the screen. “Hey baby. It is what she said last night. Don’t let her tell you otherwise.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Delaney drawls, but it’s so affectionate. It’s obvious that she has a good relationship with all of her parents.

“So,” her father Pax says from the screen, “what’s going on? What’s shakin’?”

"It’s good you’re here, Sir,” I say to her dad. “The more the better.” Jackson looks to me and then he takes the lead.

“Uh, yeah. A few days back, we were running some errands around campus,” and Jackson says this with a challenging side eye to Delaney, “and we stumbled upon somebody who definitely shouldn’t have been here. It was a demon, we’re positive. He was talking about Delaney, but fled as soon as we started questioning him. From what we overheard though, he was making it sound like he was engaged to her and it was a done thing. She knows nothing about it, so clearly, he’s wrong, but we haven’t been able to find him again since.”

“We’ve been keeping our ears to the ground, Sir,” I interject, wanting to give my two cents and make sure they know that we’re still protecting their daughter. “We’ve heard talk about him, so other people are seeing him, but he’s clearly avoiding us. I wanted to get your take on it, and also warn you that it was happening. I just thought there’s something you could probably do to dig into this, just to keep her safe. I mean we can keep her safe too, but more hands are always good.”

Pax smiles. “My mate said that last night too.”

“My gods, how do we ever get anything done?” Delaney complains as she starts rubbing her temples. “Mom, dad, do you guys know anything or not?”

“Wait, you didn’t tell her?” Pax says to queen Gabriella. “ We didn’t tell her? Nobody told her? That seems like an oversight.”

Gabriella is tapping her long red nails on the table in front of her looking contemplative. When she finally speaks, it’s in a monotone voice. “Fascinating. I’m sure it’s nothing.”

Delaney stands up, prowling closer to the screen. “You know something. What aren’t you telling me?”

“It’s nothing,” her mother says waving her off. “Really.”

“I knew this would happen,” Pax says. He has the decency to look a little chagrined, but not much. “Look, this is probably going to sound a lot worse than it is, but when your mom was pregnant with you, we had to make some hard choices.”

“Please don’t tell me hard choices was the name of one of your moves last night,” Delaney mumbles.

“That’s my kid!” Pax says excitedly from the screen. “But no.”

“Okay hon,” her mom chimes in, “as you know, when I was younger, I had an altercation with The Night, who was the ruler of one of the under realms. Apparently eating his soul had some bitter aftereffects, and there was a power vacuum.”

“So, this isn’t a new problem,” Delaney presumes. “This is something that’s been brewing for a while and you chose not to tell me.”

“I’d say it’s more like we were hoping it would never actually be a problem. We did our best to work within loopholes, hoping that it wouldn’t actually affect you.”

“Hell wasn’t happy with our treatment of The Night,” Pax says. His face is suddenly more serious, and I know that this is probably a pretty big deal. “Power vacuum is a mild description. Really, Hell was moments away from declaring war. They wanted control, and they were scared that we weren’t going to stop at defeating The Night in his realm. Sure, the guy was maniacal, but Lucifer needed assurances that we were gonna stick to our own business. Everyone knows how powerful your mom is, and Lucifer threatened full-on attacks up here, places we couldn’t easily defend, unless we gave them some assurances.”

“Oh my gods, please tell me I don’t see where this is going,” Delaney pleads.

“We really did have debates for a long time; negotiations back and forth.” Queen Gabriella’s voice is softer now, trying to cushion the blow. “The best option we could think of was promising an alliance between them and us. They knew I had mated with the son of The Night, and they wanted some representation too.”

“So, this guy thinks I’m engaged to him because I am? Is that what you’re saying? Or rather not saying?”

Queen Gabby tilts her hand back and forth like it’s something with room for interpretation. “Okay, so I might have promised an alliance between you and Lucifer’s son, but it only activates if you actually sleep with him. So as long as you can resist jumping him, you’ll be fine. There’s no betrothal unless you choose to have one. He’ll probably want to meet you at some point just to see if there’s any connection, but you have every right to deny him. The caveat though is if he does introduce himself to you and you fall for him and give him a chance, well. There will be a ‘congratulations on your engagement’ sex toy gift box coming your way. Sleeping with him is akin to an acceptance.”

“To summarize, if I keep my legs closed, we’re all good,” Delaney clarifies.

“Exactly,” her mom says. “I mean, I know you’re my daughter, but I have faith in you. Hey, maybe it’ll work out for the best and you’ll actually like him, who knows. Also, I know what you meant, but there are actually some pretty kinky positions that require your legs to be closed. I have a whole book on them in fact. Papa Foster got it for me years ago.”

“Still not a time I want to hear about your sex life. I so don’t need those kinds of visualizations. And you’re totally hoping I like this guy, aren't you? Bet it would solve all your problems if I wanted him; but he’s the son of the literal devil mom,” she reminds her.

“And your dad, Apollo, was the son of The Night, and kidnapped me for three days because we had a soul bond. And now I blow him like six or thirty times a week, completely voluntarily, and everything is great. All I want for you is happiness. Really. You know that. I’m sorry it had to be this way, and I know I didn’t have the right to promise anything for you, but it really was for the good of the realm. This was much less than they originally asked for, but we talked them down a bit and we did the best we could. It’s been protecting lots of people having this pseudo agreement in place.”

“So, you don’t think this demon on campus is a threat?” Delaney asks, sulking now.

“He’s under strict guidance to bring no harm,” Pax says. “He’s topside indefinitely now, though his powers were tempered somewhat I hear, so that he’s less of a threat. We’ve been keeping an eye on him occasionally through the years, and maybe he's into some weird stuff, but he’s mostly a stable, decent guy. He’s a bit of a mystery to us as well, but we’ve never gotten bad vibes from him. So do with that what you will.”

“Alright,” I tell her parents. “Thanks for the update. We’ll let you know if anything changes with her, but that’s all we had.”

“Good; because one of her other fathers is making lewd suggestions from the doorway and I must see to it. Take care darlings, hope to see you all soon.”

The screen goes black, and we all soak in the absence of sound for just a second while Delaney starts breathing deeply. “It’s okay. Just don’t let me sleep with him and we’ll be good.”

“Has anybody wondered if he has the ability to camouflage himself?” Cory asks.

Delaney whips her head towards them. “What do you mean?”

Something settles in my gut. “I have heard several accounts of different colored skin,” I admit.

“I mean,” Cory says carefully, “what if the reason we haven’t been able to find him again, is because he’s able to change his appearance? What if he’s parading around as a student and appearing as the actual demon he is only when he feels like it? He literally could be anybody.”

Adam says what we’re all thinking. “That’s a terrifying thought.”

I completely agree but admitting that won’t make this situation any better. “We need more information on this guy somehow. It’s imperative.”

“I’ll try to get some,” Jackson says, kissing Delaney on the cheek before starting out of the room with his phone out.

Ash is shaking his head. “This is nuts, and not really the kind of shifter I prefer to need information on. How is your world not simply imploding right now, dear heart?”

“You get used to the chaos of how her family operates,” Adam says reassuringly. “And we’ve got you, Delaney. If anybody starts trying to charm you, just let us know and we’ll try and do some recon, okay? For now, let’s just work off the assumption that he might be able to change his appearance. You probably shouldn’t sleep with anybody unless we know they’re not a demon. Wait,” Adam says suddenly, looking around the room. “Nobody here is a demon, right?”

“Idiot,” Delaney says under her breath, head in her hand.

“Well, it seems like the obvious thing to ask,” Adam explains.