27. Diablos
Chapter twenty-seven
Diablos
The previous night played in my mind on repeat.
The sobs that shook Dagon’s body after he told me about his brother shattered my soul.
My heart broke for him and his brother, whom I’d never get to meet.
It hurt to think about this child whose life was taken in such a brutal way.
It hurt to think about Dagon witnessing his brother die in front of him.
I couldn’t imagine how much it hurt. He had witnessed his brother being killed. He had to move on all alone in a place he knew nothing about. I was so grateful that King brought him into the family, registered him (since he didn’t have papers), and adopted him.
Dagon didn't say it out loud, but I knew the promise he made to his dying brother was to not unleash his powers. That promise was the last thing his brother heard before taking his last breath. My heart literally ached.
Dagon kept that promise for fifteen years across worlds.
He locked parts of himsel. And somehow despite the soul-crushing death of his brother and the loss of his powers…
he continued to live. He continued to care and love.
Now I understood why he was so protective of all all of us.
We were his brothers. Of course, none of us can ever replace his biological brother, but he still saw us as his.
I started thinking back. Every memory of Dagon shifting under a different light now.
The guy who beat me up in high school. After I told about it to Dagon, the guy didn't come back to school for weeks.
When he did, he wouldn't look at me. Wouldn't look at any of us.
I'd thought it was satisfying at the time.
Now I understood it was Dagon making sure no one would ever hurt one of his brothers again. Eventually the guy transferred schools.
Luc. The summer Luc got cornered behind the cinema by older kids who wanted money.
None of us knew until weeks later, and even then we only found out because Wilder let it slip.
By the time we knew, the older kids had been "spoken to.
" Luc never had a problem with them again because they moved schools too.
Dagon never said a word about it. Of course he didn't. He never said a word about any of it.
But now I realize it was him making it possible for Luc to not be bullied.
Andras getting his car keyed by a police officer who was his patient.
The car got keyed once. After that, never again.
The police officer lost his job because they found out he was taking bribes and protecting perpetrators, not victims. He moved to a different town within the year.
I'd noticed. We'd all noticed. None of us had asked because Andras doesn't like to speak about it.
Again, now I have a strong suspicion it was all Dagon's doing.
Bren. He was always the biggest troublemaker in the family with a golden heart. I always wondered how he didn't get beaten up because of the pranks he and his best friend (and sometimes I too) would pull. It must have been Dagon stalking us and Bren to make sure we were okay.
Wilder was the visible protector, the older brother who would get in your face about your problems and help. And then there was Dagon – the invisible one. The one who handled things quietly. Cleanly. Without making any of us feel small for needing protection.
He'd been protecting us. All of us. From the shadows. For years.
Because he lost one brother and could never lose another.
With a twist in my gut, I realized yet again that all this time, Dagon had been terrified he would lose one of his brothers again.
He lived with that fear every single day.
Just like I lived with mine because of my fucked-up brain.
Fuck.
I rubbed my chest like that would ease the pain.
I also couldn’t imagine what it was like for Dagon to never speak about his brother. He carried his memory deep inside, sealing the nightmare of losing him. He was all alone in the pain and the horrors.
Dagon never felt safe enough to feel. I realized that when he admitted his tears were frozen. His pain was so big.
He was never safe. Not as a demon in the underworld. Not as an orphan in King's house. Not even in front of the Hughes brothers because he believed he needed to be the strong one. He never felt safe to feel as a brother carrying a promise. Not as a man who loved me and couldn't have me.
Just how much pain had he lived in all this time without anyone holding him?
Never again.
Dagon would never again be alone.
I'll be his safe place to feel. I'll be his harbor. His shield. His safety net when he's falling apart.
“Are you trying to suffocate me? Not that it would be that easy.”
“Shit,” I cursed and eased my arms around him. Subconsciously, my body had held onto him as firmly as I could.
Sleepy and disheveled, Dagon raised his head and smiled. There wasn’t a trace of the gut-wrenching pain from yesterday, but I knew better. That kind of pain never leaves. You carried it for life, and I would do everything I could to show him it was okay to share the pain with me.
“Morning,” he said with a kiss to my lips.
“Morning, my demon.” I laughed as his eyes narrowed. “What? It’s the truth. You’re a demon, and you are mine.”
I watched with satisfaction as his eyes flashed to his demonic ones. I wanted to see him in demon form again. Would it be weird to ask?
“We have a lot to talk about.”
“I know,” the sigh was involuntary. I knew we had to speak, but I wanted things to slow down.
“I have an idea, but I don’t know what you’ll think.”
“Let’s freshen up, get some coffee, and I’ll hear that idea.”
We lingered in bed, kissing for longer than I intended. Blame me. If you had someone like Dagon in your bed, you'd lose yourself in him too.
When we were ready with a cup of coffee and sitting at the table, I told him I was ready.
“Alright, we need to find the object. We obviously can’t trust that friend of King's. I suspect Joshua sent us to that town so the demons could kidnap you or kill us. But we don’t know where to go next either.”
Shivers ran down my body at the realization that Dagon was right. Joshua had set up a trap for us. If Dagon wasn't a powerful demon and hadn't protected me, we would probably be dead.
“Honestly, I don’t know what to do,” I said, trying to push away the thoughts of what could have happened to us.
Was it too much to ask for the object to drop in my hands? I wanted to leave this behind and focus on Dagon and me.
“I have an idea. What if we go to the place my demon friend told me and my brother to go?”
“What?”
“I trusted him. He was the one who used to train us. I know there will probably be other Starborns there, but we need help, Di. I don’t know what else to do.”
The frustration, anger, and worry were evident in his words. I could almost feel them as my own, which was weird. Shaking off the odd sensations, I contemplated our choices. It didn’t take me long to come to the same conclusion. We didn’t have any options. Dagon’s idea was our best shot.
“Alright. Let’s go.”
“Just like that? You won’t ask anything?”
“Oh, I’ll ask many things once we’re on the road. But I trust you, Dagon,” I took his hand in mine, “I trust you. I know you’ll never allow anyone to hurt me. I also want all of this to be over.”
“I would never allow anyone to hurt you,” the promise and danger in his eyes made me shiver, not out of fear, but out of need.
I scooted closer to him and sealed our lips. It wasn’t enough. Climbing onto his lap, I rocked against him, moaning as I felt his cock against mine.
“Di,” he growled as I sucked his neck.
Some strange part of me wanted to leave marks on his body so everyone knew who Dagon Hughes belonged to.
“Make me yours, my demon,” I whispered in his ear.
Dagon groaned before he lifted me and carried me to the bed. He laid me gently down and caged me with his frame. His eyes flashed purple, and my breath stuttered.
“You’re beautiful,” I grazed his cheek and reveled in the colors swirling in his eyes, from dark purple to lighter shades and a touch of black.
“Di, I want you. Fuck, want is not enough to cover even half of what I feel. But there’s still so much I need to tell you. I-”
I cut him off with a kiss. “I need you to make me yours, Dagon. I know we have so much more to discuss, but no matter what you tell me, it won’t change how I feel.”
“How do you feel?”
“Like I’m finally home. Like I belong to you, and you belong to me.
Like I’ve waited for years for this moment.
Nothing can change how I feel about you, Dagon, how I always felt.
” Gently, I took his hand in mine and positioned it over my frantic heart.
“I love you, Dagon. I love you regardless of whether you’re a human or a demon. ”
My eyes watered as I let all the love seep into my words. It was overflowing. It was right.
Dagon stared at me with so many emotions swimming in his eyes that it was hard to catch them all. One tear trailed down his cheek as he sealed our lips in a tender kiss. A kiss that was a promise and so much more.
“I love you, Di. I’ve always loved you, and I’ll always love you.”
My heart was bursting with happiness, and my body was burning with need. Dagon started trailing kisses down my neck, my chest, my stomach. We got rid of our clothes so fast that it was all a blur.
Fuck, his body was one dreams were made of. My mouth watered at the sight of him. He was defined in all the right places, and I wanted to savor every inch of him.
Suddenly I thought of something and blurted, “Do we need protection?“
I wanted to feel him, skin against skin. I didn’t want anything between us.
His eyes heated as he said, “Demons can’t transmit sexual diseases. But if you’ll feel safer, we can wait until we get some condoms.”
“No,” I shook my head. “I want to feel you bare. I want to feel you cum inside me.”