Chapter Four
Brownie couldn’t resist licking his mark on Yuri’s skin. Not only did he taste delicious, pride filled his chest each time he looked at it. He honestly couldn’t believe this man was his. Brownie would never stop being awed.
Yuri stirred, making Brownie feel guilty. He tried to keep his voice low. “Don’t wake up. I just didn’t want to sneak away while you slept. I have to go watch Lucifer’s back while he works.”
“Mhmm. Okay.” Yuri’s eyes never opened. He simply swept his hand down Brownie’s chest—like petting him.
A huge grin spread across Brownie’s face. He adored Yuri. Brownie gave one last lick before slipping from bed. In hound form, he trotted down the hall and found Lucifer saying his goodbyes to Riku. He quietly waited until Lucifer joined him.
Lucifer patted his head before the two fell into step and headed for the torture rooms. “Nice mating mark you have there. I take it you found Yuri?”
“You could’ve told me instead of letting me make an ass of myself for months.”
Lucifer made a humming sound—like he wasn’t as sure. It helped a tad that he didn’t seem to find humor in the situation. “Is that really what you think? Isn’t it much better to tie yourself to someone you actually love? Who wants to feel duty-bound into an eternity of marriage?”
Love? He supposed there was a word for how he felt about Yuri after all. But he had felt something powerful from the first moment he saw Yuri, so he doubted it would have been duty that made him claim his mate. “Is that how you felt when you met Riku? Duty-bound?”
A loud bark of laughter burst from Lucifer. Blue eyes flashed his way, swimming with wicked humor. “I’m the fallen one. Duty doesn’t mean shit to me. Greed is what I immediately felt.”
Except that wasn’t true at all. Lucifer forgot they had a mind connection.
Brownie had been on Lucifer’s emotional rollercoaster with him since he first felt Riku.
That wasn’t his only lie. Duty was what had them descending the stairs to torture the damned.
Lucifer felt no pleasure at this chore. It was his responsibility.
Brownie kept all that to himself, though.
It didn’t matter why Lucifer kept control as long as he did. The alternative was unthinkable.
“He’s a good choice for you. You’re too serious and he’s a marshmallow. You’ll be happy.”
Brownie knew that. He already couldn’t wait to get back to Yuri.
Brownie hated the way he had left Yuri all warm and cuddly in bed alone.
There wasn’t an ounce of duty in the way he felt.
In fact, he better understood the greed Lucifer mentioned.
He couldn’t get enough. Brownie equally understood Lucifer’s emotional rollercoaster over Riku’s initial rejection.
If Yuri had rejected him, Brownie might have torn apart an entire demon village too to release some of the rage.
Lucifer ran his hand through Brownie’s fur, making his eyes fall closed with affection.
“Don’t worry, my pet. I see no reason we can’t keep things short today.
There’s nothing I’d rather be doing than Riku.
” A rumble of naughty-sounding laughter fell from Lucifer’s lips.
He sounded as evil as he could be. Lucifer opened the door to the torture room to complete pandemonium.
Demons and the damned battled. They exchanged tired glances.
It seemed they would be trapped at work longer than expected today. How tiresome.
Yuri wandered into the sitting room with his stomach growling.
He felt the hum of Brownie at the back of his mind, but he didn’t look too closely at his thoughts.
Yuri had a feeling he didn’t want to know what went on when Brownie worked.
He was giddy as hell today, though. A night of sleeping in Brownie’s arms had him floating on a cloud.
He had a mate. Yuri wanted to skip like a little kid.
“There he is. I thought you planned to sleep all day.”
Yuri smiled at Riku’s greeting. “Hi. Sorry. I guess I was a little drained.”
Riku’s eyes flashed with humor. “I’ll bet. Care to tell me about it?”
Yuri moved to join Riku on the couch. “It’s nothing. I ran into Fen, and he’s been having a hard time fully recovering since the whole thing with Jormungandr, so I gave him my blood. It wiped me out more than I expected.”
Riku playfully slapped his arm. “Not that. I meant that lovely new mating mark you’re sporting.”
Heat climbed Yuri’s face. “Oh. That. So I guess I was pretty dumb for not realizing me being able to communicate with Brownie mentally meant he’s my mate.”
Riku made a helpless gesture. “I mean, you’re the son of an alpha and a guardian wolf. He is an alpha. It wouldn’t seem unusual for you two to speak mentally. I wouldn’t have known in your place.”
The comment gave him pause. Riku was a godling. “Did you know? About Brownie and me, I mean,” he clarified.
Guilt passed over Riku’s features. Yuri felt a shot of outrage before Riku immediately took it away.
“Not at first, no. Lucifer had to tell me. I wanted to tell you, but he was afraid you two would claim each other out of duty and not love. It seems Brownie is pretty big on keeping his obligations.”
That didn’t surprise Yuri. His claim also planted a seed Yuri hated. Had Brownie claimed him out of a sense of duty?
“Let’s go to town and grab you something to eat. I can feel your hunger and the guys won’t be home for a while. It seems there was a bit of an uprising this morning.”
Yuri’s gaze snapped Riku’s way. “Lucifer told you that?”
Riku was busy looking for his shoes. “Yeah. As soon as he walked through the door down there, it was all cursing and ranting.” Riku flashed him a smile. “His thoughts are actually pretty hilarious. He has a very dry wit I adore.”
Damn. He loved seeing Riku happy. Yuri hated the way he doubted everything now.
Brownie hadn’t told him anything about an uprising.
His thoughts didn’t bombard Yuri. “Yeah. I guess we should find something to do until they get home.” He couldn’t sit here with his thoughts.
Yuri was too used to undermining himself with doubts.
“I let Lucifer know where we’re headed. He’ll probably tell Brownie, but you should let him know too, just in case. I’d hate for an enraged hellhound to storm the diner.”
“Yeah.” It also gave Yuri the excuse he needed to talk to him and soothe the ridiculous growing doubts that were drowning him. It wasn’t Brownie’s fault Yuri was like this. He focused on his other half. Hey, sexy.
Don’t join me here!
The barked order had Yuri immediately withdrawing. He locked down his mind. “Let’s go.” Yuri suddenly had zero desire to be in Hell any longer. He wanted sunshine.