Chapter 55 – Hellion
Hellion was sulking. He knew he was, and there was nothing he could do about that. At least he was willing to admit to himself that he was, in fact, sulking. Had been ever since things went south with Wayla.
He had been angry at first, then a lot of other emotions he was not ready to face yet, and now he had moved to sulking. Or brooding. Brooding sounded better, more manly. Yeah, he would go with brooding.
Wayla had been attacked while he had been in Hell. That was bad enough, but afterward she had moved in and it had become abundantly clear to Hellion that he wasn’t needed. She had her mate and Claimed in Irishen and Jarred.
He had been reluctantly willing to deal with that. Okay, that was a lie. He had tried to avoid dealing with anything as long as he could and he had managed to do that, until she moved under the same roof and he kept bumping into her several times a day.
No. He wasn’t doing it on purpose. At least, that was the story he was sticking to. Who cared if he used to drink his morning coffee an hour earlier? It was just a coincidence that he now drank it at the same time as Wayla.
Honestly, he didn’t have a problem with Jarred. It was just splendid to hear Wayla scream his name when she came. It was a perfect lullaby for him. Irishen, on the other hand… Hellion ground his teeth and sipped more coffee.
Seeing the male was hard enough with all the baggage, but seeing him with Wayla felt like a knife in the gut. He was seething jealous over Wayla and almost equally jealous over Irishen. That much, he could admit to himself.
When the cup’s handle broke in his hold, he cursed and threw the thing into the sink. So, he was jealous. Who cared? Not him.
Then there was Marc. How the fuck was he suddenly bonded to Wayla? And everyone in the house acted like it wasn’t the least bit surprising.
Bonded.
Hellion snarled under his breath. Based on the healthy glow on both Sinister and Zahir, the bonded sex they had was pretty mind-blowing. He didn’t like feeling like this. Like he was inadequate.
Or left behind.
Maybe he should go home for a year or two. Give things a chance to cool down. Find a nice—well, shit. He didn’t want to find a nice demon to fuck. He wanted to fuck Wayla. Preferably while Irishen fucked him.
Yeah, better not go there.
His cock was hard from just the thought and that made him brood even harder.
“Fuck!” Wayla’s scream tore through the house and a few seconds later, the woman herself stormed down the stairs. There was murder in her eyes when they locked on Hellion. She pointed a finger at him and growled. “You. Are. Dead.”
Yash poked his head out of the living room, took one look at Wayla, and retreated.
“What?” Hellion crossed his arms. The way her eyes sparkled in fury made his cock even harder. Maybe he could enrage her enough for a hate fuck? To take the edge off.
“You told Uncle Essi about the poisoning!”
Hellion shook his head, trying to clear it and get some blood to return higher. “No. I told my father.” He wasn’t sure what he expected, but Wayla stomping her foot furiously wasn’t it. His cock pulsed in reply.
“Why? Why, by all the unholy things, would you do that?” She demanded to know, looking like she was ready to tear her hair out.
“I don’t know, Wayla. Maybe because you were attacked and the last time it happened, it was him who bailed the attacker out of jail?
” Hellion tried to explain. He had been trying to fish out information, and it had kinda slipped out.
Not that he was going to say that out loud.
They had all agreed to keep the poisoning part of the attack a secret until they knew more.
She hissed. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
Hellion didn’t, but he wasn’t going to tell that to her, so he kept impassively staring at her.
“Your father,” Wayla spat the words out and took a deep breath before finishing, “called my grandfather.”
Uh-oh. That… sounded ominous. Somehow, she managed to make her grandfather sound like a bigger issue than his father.
“So?” Hellion shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. There was a slight flutter in his stomach that he didn’t like when Wayla glared at him. He’d prefer her looking up at him with eyes hazed with pleasure. Or smiling. Happy. Basically, anything but the look she was giving him now.
“So? So!” Wayla screamed loud enough that feet started moving around the house. “You fucking peas for brains. My grandfather is coming to visit. He wants to see the beings I’m living with, to inspect my living quarters, and then make all the needed adjustments to both.”
Hellion still failed to see the issue. Her grandfather wanted to keep her safe. What was wrong with that? She was his heir. He should do everything he could to ensure her safety.
“You still don’t get it, do you?”
He shrugged.
Wayla groaned and rubbed her eyes with a pained expression. Then she lifted her gaze to meet his again. “Let me spell this out for you then. High Lord of Stormbringers, my grandfather, is coming to see where his heir apparent lives. That’s me. And where do I live, Hellion?”
“Huh?”
“Where. Do. I. Live?”
“Here?”
Wayla nodded. “And who do I live with?” She looked at him expectantly. And waited. And waited. And then it clicked.
“Fuuuuck,” Hellion groaned, and an evil smile spread over Wayla’s face.
“Yup. He wants to see with his own eyes what kind of company his heir apparent is keeping. And he’s bringing along a good friend. Care to guess who that is?”
Hellion shook his head, but he had a sick feeling growing in his stomach.
“Your father. The High Lord of Stormbringers and The Only Lord of Hell are coming over for a visit. Tonight.”
Apparently, the whole house had been listening because when Wayla dropped that last little tidbit, everyone exploded into movement at once.
A couple of hours later and the house had never looked so fucking clean and pristine. Ilijas, Sim, Yash, and Marc were going over all the protective spells and barriers to refresh and strengthen everything.
Irishen and Jarred were making sure Wayla’s new room had absolutely everything she could ever possibly need. Hellion’s contribution to that was a glass dildo melted in hellfire. He had expected to get a fuck you from her mates, but the thing just went into a drawer on her bedside table.
Grant and Xuan were informing the school and taking care of the paperwork. Two lords suddenly visiting would raise quite a scandal otherwise. All the alarms their arrival would trip would cause chaos. Hellion could have gone with them but well, he was still brooding.
Wayla had locked herself in the bathroom to get ready. Hellion had no idea what that would entail, but he was smart enough to direct Chrissy up straight away when she arrived. Sinister and Zahir were delegated to moving people and things around as fast as was needed.
Hazard had taken over the kitchen, and Justin was helping. Food was Hazard’s domain, and Justin was their designated bartender. Both were cursing about the lack of ice until Irishen passed by the kitchen and blasted the freezer full of the stuff.
“Good quality ice,” Justin muttered and went back to prepping glasses and infusions and whatever else he deemed necessary for a proper cocktail.
They were all acting crazy. Hellion shook his head as he watched the chaos unfold.
So, he wasn’t super excited about his father coming to visit, but fuck if he was going to clean his room for that.
He was heir apparent, not a third prince.
Fuck, all of them were high in their factions, not some simpering fools.
Rationally, he knew that two high lords were a big deal in any circle, but he wasn’t feeling too rational.
The moment Wayla had spent screaming at him was the highlight of his existence these last weeks.
Realizing that he was replaying the way her eyes sparkled and how her lips moved made Hellion even crankier. Maybe he should slip out.
Chrissy came down two hours later and gave him a disgusted look. Zahir was there to take her home and Hellion had the urge to stick his tongue out at her back. He refrained.
“Are you trying to piss off Wayla or your father?” Grant asked when he returned with Xuan.
“The school has been informed,” Xuan added. “They understandably weren’t too elated about the short notice.”
“That’s not their place,” Hellion replied, but Xuan shook his head.
“I’m not going to get sucked into your shit today, Hellion. I like Wayla. If she says we need to take her grandfather’s visit seriously, we will. Got it, little prince?”
Hellion blinked. Xuan was usually easygoing, but now the older fae prince was giving him a serious look.
“What are you trying to say, Your Highness?”
Xuan rolled his eyes. “Go change your fucking clothes, Hellion.” With that, he walked out of the room. Grant chuckled and followed him, leaving Hellion alone to stare at his ripped jeans and faded T-shirt.
“What if I don’t want to?” he mumbled.
“Do it anyway,” Xuan called back.
“Eavesdropper!”
“Big baby,” came the instant reply.
Grudgingly, Hellion gave in and headed into his room to get changed. Hell would freeze over before he would wear a tie, though.