Chapter 10
“Are you sure?”
Nix caught Briant’s eye in the mirror and gave him a sharp look.
“All right, it’s the last time I’ll ask it, I promise.” Briant stepped forward and inspected the suit Nix was trying on. “I like this one more than the last.”
“And what color was the last one again?”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “Okay, you caught me.”
“You haven’t paid attention to anything since we walked in the door.” Nix and his cousin had gone with Yejun to a tailor in the city to shop for outfits for Demons Passing, mostly as a distraction, and mostly for Briant, since June had apparently already put their wardrobes together.
Nix had been roped into trying things on for the coronation, with the excuse that since he was already here, he may as well. He was starting to get the impression that the real reason they were in this place was to get him out of the house.
The public announcement stating Lake was taking the throne had gone live. Technically, Nix would also gain his title that day, but he was trying not to think about it.
Not that Briant was of the same mindset in that regard.
He wouldn’t shut up about it, switching from excitement that he was gaining a title, to concern that they were moving too fast. While he claimed not to believe the story Juri had painted, of a fragile, coerced Nix who was too drunk on good dick to make an informed decision, he still felt like it would be wiser for Nix to give it time to be sure this was lasting affection.
But Nix wasn’t being forced into anything, and he didn’t see a point in waiting. This, being with them, becoming a part of them, that was all him. His choice.
It was what he wanted.
Coming to that decision, accepting it, that this was who he was, that maybe he’d been waiting for them all this while to help unlock who he was meant to be…It’d been cathartic.
Nix wasn’t going to let Juri take that from him.
“My little cousin is about to get—”
Nix held up a finger, silencing Briant. “I know you’re not about to say married.”
“Eventually.” He tugged lightly on Nix’s sleeves to straighten them. “It’s in every other sense of the word except for the paperwork, isn’t it? Surely a mating mark and being titled Royal Consort hold more weight than simply being called someone’s husband?”
“Intelligence runs in the family, I see.” Lake appeared in the doorway of the dressing room, strolling in as though he owned the place.
He came right up to Nix’s side and planted a hand on his shoulder, turning his body this way and that so he could take in the suit to his satisfaction.
A tiny V formed between his brow, and he called over the employee tucked into the corner. “Find me something in white and gold.”
“Yejun picked this,” Nix said, but Lake shrugged like it was no big deal, even though they both knew June was going to be annoyed when he found out Lake was rejecting his color palette. “Does it really look that bad?”
“Not at all. You look good in everything.” He leaned in close, his lips brushing against the curve of Nix’s right ear. “Even better in nothing.”
“Seriously?” Nix narrowed his eyes and pulled away, but Lake merely chuckled.
“My outfit was just sent to me for approval.”
“Let me guess, it’s white and gold?” He wouldn’t admit he was pleased that Lake’s first instinct was to make sure the two of them matched, but internally he was.
He liked the idea of belonging to him, and of them openly belonging to each other.
Interestingly enough, the Demons weren’t the only possessive ones here.
“Where is June?”Lake asked.
“He’s in the next room trying on his own clothes and picking something up for West. I guess his meeting with his dad went quickly, so he stopped somewhere to have lunch with Beck.
” Nix had gotten the message an hour before they were set to leave for the tailors, so he had no idea if West was still there, but since he hadn’t heard anything else…
Lake’s expression lost some of its mirth suddenly, his stare turning a little too intense, cluing Nix into what his next topic would be before he’d even spoken a word.
“I’m fine,” he stated firmly, not giving the future emperor a chance to voice his concerns. “I’m trying to keep distracted. Don’t ruin it for me. Play along.”
“Of course.” Lake gave him a smile that was only partially real, then turned as the employee stepped back up holding three more suits. “This one.” He selected one of the options. “I’ll help you.”
“I can do it.”
“I’ll help you,” he repeated, already easing Nix toward the changing room. As soon as he had Nix secured inside the stall, he glanced over his shoulder and instructed the employee, “Take Briant to find something suitable in another room.”
“Hey, wait!” Nix was ignored, and a second later, the door was shut, trapping the two of them in the small space together. He glared, but Lake pretended not to notice, hanging the new suit on the hook before reaching for Nix’s shirt. He slapped Lake’s hands away.
And promptly found himself shoved against the wall, the wind completely knocked out of him.
“Does this really seem like the time?” Nix hissed, only for Lake to chuckle.
“I don’t see why not. You said to act like everything was normal. What’s more normal than a man fucking his betrothed on the day his titling ceremony is announced?”
“Don’t say it like that.” The word betrothed didn’t sit right with Nix for some reason. Made him feel…awkward.
“Are you excited?”
Nix scoffed and jutted his chin down toward the apex of his thighs. “Obviously.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Lake leaned in, tongue darting out to trace the curve of Nix’s right jawline teasingly. “Are you looking forward to Demons Passing? This is the first you’ll experience here. Club Essential does it better than anywhere else on the planet, I assure you.”
To be honest, Nix hadn’t really thought much about the holiday, what with everything else going on.
Having the first day's celebration—and only that one day—called off due to Juri’s death had also helped put a damper on his festive spirits.
But now that Lake was talking about it in that wicked tone of his…
“Do they?” Nix’s hand wandered down, palming Lake through his pants, but he kept his voice even, letting on he was actually curious about the topic. “I don’t know much about it.”
“How did you celebrate on your old campus?” Lake shifted on his feet, grinding his bulge against Nix’s palm, but he didn’t do anything else, merely set his arms up at either side of Nix’s head, caging him as they talked. “Did you participate in the Haunt?”
“Once,” he admitted, even though he knew the other guy was hoping he’d say no. “It…wasn’t anything special. Definitely not what I’d pictured when my roommate convinced me to go with him.”
“Oh?”
He snorted. “I didn’t end up fucking anyone, if that’s what you’re getting at.”
“We’ll make up for it,” Lake promised, and Nix laughed.
“Sure, you could say that. Three dicks are better than one, is that it?”
“I think it’ll take more than that to make up for a lifetime of missing out on the festivities,” Lake drawled, then seemed to realize the underlying connotation and froze.
“That was me promising to fuck you more than once, to be clear. Don’t get any bright ideas, Songbird.
No one else is allowed to be brought into what we have. ”
“Just the guys you’ve chosen?” Nix nipped at Lake’s chin when his comment got the reaction he hoped for and the soon-to-be-emperor glowered. “Relax. I was joking. Fortunately for both of us, I’m rather fond of West and Yejun, too.”
“Have you forgiven him then?”
Nix glanced away, some of the fire in his lower region dying out at the question. Did he forgive him? Yeah. Had they made up, for all intents and purposes? Obviously. But that didn’t undo the past.
Forgiving someone didn’t automatically heal the wounds that person had left behind.
“I’ve never been this open with anyone,” Nix began tentatively.
“I’ve never allowed myself to become exposed.
It’s not that I don’t want things to be better, I do.
I want to erase the way he made me feel when he was pinning me down on the coffee table and tearing through me.
When my lungs burned from lack of oxygen.
The problem is, he meant it. If you weren’t there, he would have killed me. He knows it, and I know it too.”
How did you ever convince yourself to fully trust someone like that again?
How did you break through the fear and the doubt?
“Yejun would never hurt me,” Nix tested the words on his tongue, found that while he believed it, it only mostly made it better, “but that isn’t good enough. It’s all he can give me. But it isn’t enough.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You’re getting better at that.” Nix pressed his lips to Lake’s in a quick kiss that was over faster than either of them wanted.
He could read between the lines and knew what Lake was really getting at.
Yejun was the only one who’d yet to add his claiming mark.
But he wasn’t ready. He wanted to be. But he wasn’t.
“I can’t think about the coronation and Demons Passing. One thing at a time, yeah?”
They were both major steps in their relationship, massive ones, in fact.
“Demons Passing will be held on the entire campus,” Lake said. “It’ll be open to everyone, with no place off limits. Unlike other parties or events, no one ever misses it.”
“I know how public it’s going to be.” He searched his gaze. “I know that’s why you’re so invested in dressing me up and making me look the part.”
“Our classmates already know I bit and claimed you.”
Nix snorted. “This morning, I was officially named Royal Consort. This will be my first outing as more than the guy you bit and claimed for now . Seeing me out there at a public event, with the three of you? That will make it a reality. Don’t pretend that’s not exactly what you’re hoping for.”
“I’m counting on it,” he finally admitted, leaning in to brush the tip of his nose up the curve of Nix’s neck, breathing him in. “I want word to spread that witnesses were watching me hunt you down at the party.”
“You, West, and Yejun.” Nix shivered and cleared his throat before Lake could tease him for his reaction. “Kind of possessive, don’t you think? They already know.”
“I want them to see it.” Lake nipped punishingly at his earlobe, clearly not liking that Nix was tiptoeing around suggesting they skip the haunt.
He knew him well enough to guess that was where he’d been going with things.
“I want you on your knees for me, cock stretching your hole, screams of pleasure echoing loudly enough people keep their distance.”
It didn’t go without notice that he didn’t specify he wanted his cock inside of Nix. Lake would be happy if any of them took him that night. He really must be excited for his usual jealousy not to be present at all.
“I’ll have you fucked in shadowy corners, in darkened stairwells,” Lake kept going, his dark promises more for himself as he wove the fantasy.
His hips started to grind against Nix, the bulge in his pants increasing in size with each passing statement.
“Over desks and in professors’ offices. The cafeteria…
I’ll splay you out on the table and work you into a frenzy with my mouth while West and June guard the doors. ”
The second Nix responded to Lake’s advances, the Demon switched from a verbal to a physical attack.
He yanked Nix away from the wall, turning him and shoving him over so his hands were on the single bench, his ass high up in the air. Lake stripped Nix of his pants, dropping them to his ankles and leaving them there before the sound of him undoing his own belt came.
“Hold on.” This was moving too quickly, and Nix’s cousin was somewhere in the building. They couldn’t—
Lake didn’t bother to prep him. The moment he had his cock free, he slicked a bead of precome over his rosy crown and then brought it to Nix’s tight entrance. He drove into him with one hard thrust, groaning even as Nix released a sound of shock and pain.
His hands held him still as he fully seated himself within that tight heat, giving Nix’s body a moment to adjust to the intrusion.
“Fuck!” Nix swore and hung his head, shaking. “That hurt!”
“There are several staff members nearby,” Lake replied, as though that should excuse his actions.
“And?!”
“One was about to approach and interrupt us.”
Oh.
Oh.
Nix squeezed his eyes shut. “You could have just said something or told them to go away. You didn’t have to—”
“I told you already. I want them to hear you. I want them to know. I want everyone on the entire planet to know that you’re fucked thoroughly and often. That I satisfy you. That you’re being treated like a king in your own right.”
Nix frowned, but before he could address that, Lake adjusted his grip on his hips.
“Ready now, Songbird?” He didn’t give him a chance to answer.
Lake fucked him until Nix’s voice was raw from all the crying, and he had to be carried out in the Demon’s arms.
He never got around to trying on the suit.