Chapter 5
Chapter
Five
Reid
The walk down the mountain was easier. Mostly because Kerak insisted on carrying Reid, and Reid couldn’t find a reason to object. Not when it meant he got to be pressed against Kerak’s back, close enough to press kisses to the side of his neck and get his hands on Kerak’s chest.
Kerak chuckled, the sound rumbling through Reid and making him tingle all over. “I admit, I never took you for a tormenter.”
Reid smiled and pressed that against the skin behind Kerak’s ear, too. “Do I torment you?”
“Since the moment I saw you.” Kerak stopped in the middle of the trail and turned his head to catch Reid’s lips with his own. “Delicious torment.”
Heat rushed into Reid’s face as it had all afternoon.
He was grateful that the temperature had lowered with the sun.
Overhead, a half-moon and hundreds of stars winked down at them.
Reid hadn’t seen how they’d get back down the path in the dark, but Kerak assured him it wouldn’t be a problem.
It hadn’t been. Kerak was as surefooted in darkness as he’d been under the midday sun.
“You’re thinking awfully hard back there.”
Licking his lips, Reid broached the subject he’d been curious about all day. “May I ask…what are you?”
Kerak’s steps slowed only a little, and he gave Reid’s legs a gentle squeeze. “I’m not of this realm. There’s a word attributed to my kind, and while it’s accurate in a sense, I’m also not what the word will make you think of initially.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
Stopping, Kerak lowered Reid’s legs so he was standing on his own two feet again.
When Kerak turned to face him, he gasped at the deep red color taking over Kerak’s eyes.
“I’m a demon, Reid.” His gaze didn’t waver. “Actually, I’m the demon king of this realm.”
Reid tried to think of something to say, but he’d never imagined—
“When I say my being a demon isn’t like what you initially think of, I mean that I have no quarrel with any god. Nor do I wish to torment humans and collect their souls.”
Behind him, a twig snapped. Faster than Reid could comprehend, Kerak had turned them, putting himself between Reid and whatever had caused the noise.
“Jumpy, little brother?”
In front of him, Kerak’s shoulders relaxed, but the grip he had on Reid’s hand didn’t ease. “Selin. You always were the only one who could sneak up on me.”
Out of the shadows beneath the trees, Selin stepped out.
The moonlight amplified the paleness of his skin and those eerie, glowing turquoise eyes.
And they were glowing. Before, in the dim light of the saloon, Reid thought his mind had been playing tricks on him.
Knowing what he knew now…there was no trick.
“I’m your big brother. It’s my job to keep you on your toes. When you weren’t back by sunset, I got concerned.” Stepping closer to them, Selin shifted his gaze to Reid. “Sometimes sharing our secrets doesn’t always go according to plan.”
Only Kerak’s hand in his kept Reid from taking a step back.
Kerak had literally just stated that he was the king of demons, but somehow Selin felt infinitely more dangerous.
Reid had never been concerned with his safety in Kerak’s presence.
A single look from Selin made him feel smaller, more vulnerable than he’d ever felt before.
“That’s enough,” Kerak said in a low voice that made every hair on Reid’s body stand up. Tension filled the air, and the previously pleasant night turned stifling.
Reid shifted his feet. He wanted to look away from Selin but didn’t dare.
Just as Kerak started to release Reid’s hand and move forward, Selin blinked and looked at Kerak.
“Of course.” He lifted his hands, palms facing out. “Forgive me. I’ll take my leave.”
Then he was gone.
For what felt like the longest time, Kerak didn’t move. Didn’t make a sound.
Finally, he turned to Reid. “I’m sorry about that. He tends to be overprotective, even though protection is something I’ve never needed.”
“Um, it’s okay, but…he’s not like you, is he? A demon, I mean?”
Kerak tilted his head. “Why do you ask?”
Reid shrugged, feeling silly for prying even while his heart was still trying to get back to its normal rhythm. “He just doesn’t feel the same. If that makes any sense.”
“It does.” Kerak took both of Reid’s hands in his own.
Lifting them both, he pressed a kiss to the back of each.
“And you’re right. He’s not like me. We grew up together, but my parents adopted Selin long before I was born.
He’s Fae. Which is an entirely different realm from this one and my home world. ”
“Is he stronger than you? Is that why he thinks you need protecting?”
Instead of answering, Kerak turned and squatted down so Reid could hop up on his back once more.
After he was secure and they’d been walking a few minutes, Kerak answered, “Yes and no. My father once told me that Selin descends from an ancient Fae bloodline. He never really told me the significance of that, but what I said to Selin is true. No other creature in any realm has ever been able to sneak up on me. Only him.” Kerak sighed.
“But he is my brother and has been for longer than I’m prepared to tell you. ”
Reid hugged his arms tighter around Kerak’s shoulders as his thoughts spun wildly around in his head.
It didn’t seem possible that he was currently getting a piggyback ride from a demon.
Nor that the demon in question wanted to court him.
It was more than enough to try and wrap his head around without adding Selin into the mix.
For the moment, he just wanted to relax against Kerak and let the sure steps of his new beau carry him home.
Weeks passed. Summer heat began to fade the closer they got to October. As the warm days gave way to cooler nights, it seemed Deadwood grew more and more every day. The saloon kept Reid busy most evenings, and Kerak claimed the rest of his time.
Not that Reid minded. In fact, he couldn’t remember when he’d been happier.
It still caught him off guard sometimes, the knowledge of what Kerak was and how he truly seemed to care about Reid.
In the days following their hike up to Kerak’s claim, Reid had questioned everything—including his own sanity—trying to understand why a powerful being like Kerak would choose to spend time with him.
As time passed, it became harder and harder to hold on to any doubts. In so many ways, Kerak seemed a man like any other and none that Reid had ever met. He was attentive, kind, funny, and easily Reid’s best friend. And gorgeous, of course.
Heat flared in Reid’s stomach as the memory of deep kisses and wandering hands from the night before ran through his mind.
He tried not to let it show on his face as he wiped down the saloon’s bar.
It’d been a quiet afternoon. Now, it was almost dinnertime, and he was expecting Kerak to amble in at any moment and take up his customary seat at the end of the bar.
It’d become their routine. On the days Reid worked, Kerak would show up with a hot meal he’d procured from somewhere, keep Reid company while he ate, and then sip whiskey and chat with the regulars while Reid worked the rest of his shift.
They’d walk back to Reid’s rented room together, and most nights, Kerak didn’t leave until the sun was coming up.
Reid couldn’t seem to wipe the smile off his face.
“Thinking about my brother, are you?”
Reid’s heart lurched. Selin was standing at the end of the bar, next to the seat Kerak normally occupied, staring at Reid. He’d been so caught up in his thoughts he hadn’t heard or seen Selin approach.
“Good afternoon, Selin.” After that night on the trail, he’d only seen Kerak’s brother a handful of times. Each interaction had been civil, but Reid always felt there was an undercurrent of something in every word Selin spoke to him. “Can I get you anything?”
“No, I can’t stay. I just wanted to stop by and speak to you for a moment if that’s alright.”
Reid swallowed. The words sounded sincere, but the look in Selin’s turquoise eyes could strip the flesh from Reid’s bones if he let it. Still, this was Kerak’s brother. “Of course.” Reid put his towel away and moved down to the end of the bar that Selin occupied. “What can I do for you?”
“Leave.”
Reid must have heard him wrong. “I beg your pardon?”
Selin pressed his hands to the bar top and leaned in, his angry gaze never leaving Reid’s face.
“That’s what you can do for me. Leave. Kerak’s had his fun with you, but it’s time for us to move on, and my brother has never been good at leaving his playthings behind.
And since you’re his latest…infatuation…
he won’t leave while you’re still here.”
Reid’s stomach fell, and a hollow rushing sound filled his head.
“Oh,” Selin said, smirking. “Did you think you were special?” He stood back up, somehow towering over Reid in that moment. “You’re not.” With a smile, Selin tapped a knuckle against the bar top and walked back out into the sun, whistling a tune.