Demon’s Test (Demon Mates #4)

Chapter Eleven

At nine o’clock sharp, Milo and Quirion were standing in front of Quirion’s bedroom. Milo still felt a little overwhelmed. He had kissed Quirion. Quirion had kissed him. After years of pining and overthinking, he would have sex with his demon right after kissing him. Well, almost right after kissing him. Milo knew that outsiders probably wouldn’t understand why he was willing to sleep with Quirion and risk his bite right after he had found out that his feelings were reciprocated. It was one of the reasons he had never had another partner. Hadn’t even thought about it. For him, Quirion was it, and if he couldn’t have him, he wouldn’t settle for somebody less. Nor would he let this chance slip through his fingers. In a way, they had been together since he had started working for the demon. And sex after the better part of four years wasn’t rushing into things.

Plus, Quirion was right. Milo didn’t want to be as pathetic as Sammy and Dre or as dumb as Barion and Jon. He didn’t know what was worse—being so scared of the outcome to remain frozen in limbo or being accidentally bitten. Both scenarios reeked of loss of control, something Milo hated. It had worked out in the end, for both pairs, but Milo preferred less drama. He knew it would be difficult should he not be Quirion’s mate. No doubt it would take him some time to get used to the thought. Then again, sex wasn’t at the core of their relationship, never had been, never would be, for that they were both too pragmatic. A bit like Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory . And just like Sheldon, when they did have scheduled sex, Milo was sure it would be mind-blowing.

“Are you ready?” Quirion put his hand on the doorhandle.

“Hmm, let’s see. You’ve fed me, with spaghetti from Zenobia, no less, I’ve been wanting this for years and we’re both here. Yes, I’m ready.” If there was a slight quiver in his voice, Quirion was nice enough not to mention it. He pushed the door open and led Milo into his bedroom. It was the only room in Quirion’s library Milo hadn’t seen before. Milo had his own guestroom—a pretty bare place with a bed, a nightstand, and an en suite bathroom. Quirion’s own bedroom wasn’t much different. Both he and his demon had their priorities straight. A bedroom was for sleeping, nothing else. The bed here was a lot bigger than the queen Milo had at home and in the guestroom here. He thought it was probably custom-made. The mattress was on the harder side, the bedding a simple white. Two pillows, one cover. Quirion now drew said cover back. They both stared at each other.

“We have to be naked to do this.” The demon sounded matter-of-fact, though the red bleeding into his eyes told how agitated he was despite his calm demeanor. It boosted Milo’s own confidence. He grabbed the hem of his T-shirt to drag it over his head. When he could see again, Quirion’s upper body was already bare. And what an upper body it was. The silver runes describing his heritage flowed over chiseled abs and rock-hard muscles nobody would have suspected on somebody as scholarly as Quirion. Milo licked his lips in a visceral reaction to the visual he was presented with. The red had now overtaken Quirion’s eyes completely. His fangs were protruding from his upper lips, clear evidence of his arousal. Just like the swell in his pants, stretching the fabric to its limits.

Milo looked at his own crotch, where similar, yet not as impressive things were happening. He didn’t mind, though. No human looked good compared to the physiology of paranormals in general and demons in particular. It was like comparing swans with kakapos. They were both birds, but one had all the elegance and grace while the other was too plump to fly and always looked a bit disheveled. It didn’t mean kakapos didn’t have their own charm, quite the contrary, just not the same as swans.

Milo watched as his swan—he decided to leave that analogy behind before it killed his erection—lost his trousers. After a pointed look from glowing red eyes, Milo copied the move and finally, they stood there naked. Their height difference was blatantly obvious in the way Quirion loomed over him, a fact Milo didn’t mind one bit. He loved that he had to look up to his demon.

Quirion held out his hand, inviting Milo to close the short distance between them and come to the bed. Milo put his own hand in the huge paw offered to him, registered the familiar warmth—demons ran so hot, like heating blankets on legs, though they did not like being compared to this wonderful invention—as well as the subtle texture that was growing in intensity as Quirion’s scales came out. They were very different to snake or fish scales, a little more prominent while at the same time buttery soft, which could fool a person into thinking they might be easy to break. Quirion had explained to him once that a demon’s scales felt soft because of the magic embedded in them, not because they were soft. In fact, the only thing able to slice through those scales were the claws of another demon.

All this information played like a running commentary in the back of Milo’s head while his libido took the front seat, telling him that he was, finally, feeling those scales with the skin on his torso.

“You’re so perfect.” Quirion purred, rubbing his larger body on Milo.

“Love your scales.” Milo concentrated on the sensation of the scales massaging the skin on his belly, caressing him in a way nothing and nobody had ever accomplished. His dick was rock-hard, eager to propel things forward.

Quirion seemed to be on the same page. He gently laid Milo down on the bed, then reached into the drawer of his nightstand, producing a deep red glass flask with a cork. When he saw Milo’s questioning gaze, Quirion smiled.

“I got this today before I went to Zenobia. Good sex, especially between two males, requires the use of quality lube.”

“I did wonder why you took so long. This is the good stuff?”

“The best. Not some mass-produced crap, but manufactured with great care by a group of incubi who specialize in accessories for sex.”

“You do look out for me.” Milo eyed the bottle with a mix of anticipation and trepidation.

“Well, I do look for the both of us.” Quirion pinned him with his stare. “We haven’t talked about it yet, but would you rather like to top or to bottom?”

“Since I’ve done neither, I haven’t had the chance to form an opinion on the matter. Also, I thought the whole thing was set, at least for the bite?”

“Huh?” Quirion furrowed his brows. “What do you mean?”

“I thought it was a claiming, that I had to receive both your bite and your semen.” Milo felt his cheeks heating up a bit. No matter how pragmatic he tried to be, he was in bed with the demon of his dreams and whenever he had envisioned this scenario, a discussion about positions had not featured. Which only showed how right he had been to stick with his fantasies. Reality held too many surprises.

“It is a claiming, yes, but technically, I could just bite you and be done with it. The sex is just to sweeten the deal. When I bite you during sex, the pain of it is outweighed by the endorphins so you don’t really feel it.”

“As opposed to the excruciating pain if I am your mate?”

“Well, yes, there’s that. But being bitten by a large predator isn’t to be trifled with. It’s good to be otherwise occupied when it happens.”

Milo nodded. It made sense to him. “And we could have that by me topping you? You don’t mind?”

“Why would I? The sexual experience is slightly different, but the hormones involved as well as the outcome—an orgasm—are the same. We do this because sexual pleasure is nice, don’t we?”

Milo couldn’t help himself. He grabbed Quirion’s neck and dragged him down for a deep kiss. “And this right here, Qui, is why I love you.” Every relationship advice Milo had ever heard warned against dropping the L-word before getting intimate for the first time and before a suitable span of time had passed. They were all bullshit. What Milo felt was love, he knew this with the same certainty with which he knew that two hydrogen atoms plus one oxygen made water. It was a law of nature for him.

“I’m glad you say that. I love you too. Now, top or bottom?”

“What would you prefer? I’m open for both, though I have to admit in all my fantasies it was always you topping me.”

“Was that because you thought it had to be that way, or is it an innate longing?”

Milo loved it when Quirion got all scientific on him. It was so hot. “Hmm. It feels like a mixture of both. I definitely thought it had to be that way, most probably because that’s how I know it happened for Sammy and Jon. I deducted from some comments Declan and Troy made that they and Alerion are vers, though I never asked them how they did the claiming. Also, I wasn’t averse to the idea of you being the top. It felt natural in my fantasies.”

Quirion nodded. “Then how about this. We do the claiming with me as the top, simply because I think it is easier to navigate what with our difference in size. Once we have struck that from our list, we can experiment.”

“A wonderful idea. Commence.” He grinned at Quirion, whose eyes instantly changed back to a glowing red. During their little discussion, the natural green had come through, though not for long.

Quirion put the bottle of lube on the pillow next to Milo’s head, before he started caressing Milo’s sides. If Milo wasn’t mistaken, his demon had also grown a little, another dead giveaway that his control was slipping. Instead of being worried, it only made Milo hotter. Quirion’s mouth found his left nipple, played with it with his tongue before sucking it between his lips, making the little nub swell and redden. He repeated the same with the right, then blew on both when they stood up like little icebergs in the sea of Milo’s light skin. The demon admired his work with a proud smile, while his hands never stopped stroking Milo’s sides, creating a pleasant background of comfort to the sharper needles of lust he elicited with his lips, tongue and teeth. On his way to Milo’s cock, Quirion found another erogenous zone right below Milo’s navel. As it turned out, just breathing on it made Milo’s cock twitch and drop pre-cum like crazy. So of course Quirion experimented with different angles, the force of his breath and what happened when the skin was wet. Ultimately it all made Milo hornier, meaning the experiments were a raging success.

He was so wrapped up in the utter bliss his nerve endings were producing, he didn’t even realize when Quirion lifted his butt to push a pillow under it. Only when his demon spread his legs and lifted them over his shoulders to get better access did Milo return to the here and now, though not for long. The first long sweep of Quirion’s tongue from Milo’s balls to the tip of his cock had him whimpering and arching his back. This already felt better than any fantasy he’d ever had. There was something to be said about reality, after all.

Quirion kept on licking him until Milo had to pinch the base of his shaft to keep himself from blowing his load. His demon saw this as the sign to open the lube—an oil with a heavenly scent—and pour a generous amount on Milo’s balls and taint. He then proceeded to massage it into his skin, his fingers working around Milo’s hole, driving him crazy, until eventually the first finger slid inside. Milo wasn’t completely clueless. Like every good scientist, he had done his experiments and knew what it felt like when something entered him. But those had been mere sensations, slightly aided by his fantasies.

Knowing it was Quirion who was entering him, stretching him, transformed those mere sensations into utter bliss, sending him to a place where nothing but those wonderful fingers in his hole existed.

Again, Milo was brought back to reality when Quirion stopped his ministrations, though only to prepare his cock. Mesmerized, Milo watched as the huge thing was slathered in oil. He wasn’t too sure it would fit inside him, though he trusted Quirion explicitly. His demon leaned over him, stealing another kiss, before he positioned his shaft at Milo’s entrance.

“Breathe, min Liechtbrunn .”

Milo obeyed. He took a huge breath and when he let it out, Quirion slipped in as easily as if they’d already done this a thousand times. He retreated a bit, surged forward again, and repeated this until he was fully sheathed inside Milo. They looked at each other.

“This is far better than anything I’ve ever done before.” Quirion sounded awed. “No wonder I never understood why people made such a fuss about sex. I never had you.”

“For a scientist, you do know how to say the sweetest things, Qui.”

They kissed again then Quirion started moving. It was like the beginning of a summer rain—slow at first, almost shy, hesitant—until the floodgates opened, and it all poured out in a violent torrent of life-sustaining liquid. When the metaphorical thunder set in, Milo saw stars while his body was wracked by the most intense orgasm he’d ever had. It was like flying, perfect and wonderful and— A lightning of pain broke through his haze and, because once he’d decided on a metaphor, he stuck to it, the trees started to burn.

“So I guess I am Qui’s mate.” Milo was talking to himself while taking a look around. From what Sammy and Jon had told him, the mind of a mate went someplace else during the marking, to endure the pain. Since he didn’t feel anything at the moment, he assumed enduring was the wrong term here. It was probably more like an anesthesia.

He stood on a plain. The grass was tall, up to his hips, and a lush green. In the distance, he could see some mountains and a soft gurgling made him think there was a river nearby. He turned in search of it and stopped when he saw a figure coming his way. It was a woman, clad in leather and fur, with something slung over her back. When she reached him, he could see that her features were rough, her hair in a mass of braids, with feathers and bones for jewelry. Her dark skin was painted with white and ochre, in a pattern similar to one Milo had seen on Grann, Jon’s grandmother, once. She smiled at him.

“Greetings, Milo. It’s nice to meet you.”

The first thing Milo thought was how he could understand her, quickly followed by how she knew his name.

“I’m Lela, and you can understand me, because this is the place between, where no barriers exist. I know your name because I was chosen to meet you here while you are marked as The Scholar’s mate.”

“Hi, Lela, it’s a pleasure. So, no barriers means no language barriers as well?”

“Exactly.” She nodded.

“And why do I get to meet you? Don’t get me wrong, it’s an honor, whoever you are, but Sammy and Jon said a mate meets someone they know.”

“Is there someone dead you know personally and want to meet? Or some god?”

“Uhm, no and I do not believe in gods. I’m a scientist.”

“That’s your answer. I’m the first human scientist ever.” She smiled broadly.

“Huh?”

Her smile never leaving her face, Lela took the leather pouch from her back and opened it. In it, Milo saw wooden sticks, without bark, but with markings. Twenty-eight, to be precise, and in regular intervals, he saw longer and deeper notches. “Science on Earth started when humans first recorded their observations in a way that made it possible for others to draw information from them.” She held up one of the sticks. “The cycles of the moon.”

“Twenty-eight days.” Milo looked reverently at the piece of wood. In his modern eyes it might not seem like much, but it was the beginning of what humanity had now. Not forgetting the roots was important. “That’s how men started their journey to understand their environment.”

“Women,” Lela said pleasantly.

“Women?”

“Why would a man mark the cycle of the moon? He has nothing to gain from it, at least he didn’t have at the time women started doing it.” She winked. “It took men a little longer to see the benefits.”

“Of course. It’s only logical.” Milo stared at the stick with even deeper fascination. “Science started with women.”

“It sure did. Is there anything you want to ask me?”

“Oh, I have a million questions, but we probably don’t have the time. Though I’m sure Quirion would understand.”

“He would. Unfortunately, the wish for knowledge is no reason to remain here when you belong someplace else.”

“Then I have to think hard.” Milo stared at the stick. “Do you think it was worth it?”

Lela’s smile was blinding. “In the short term, it was more than worth it, because women were able to plan ahead, avoid unwanted pregnancies, and generally take better care of their bodies with the knowledge they gained through their observations.” She turned thoughtful. “There were drawbacks, some pretty nasty, as you well know. All in all, though, I think the search for knowledge, the willingness to cross boundaries that seemed set in stone is what might save mankind from itself. And mankind desperately needs saving.” She took the stick from Milo’s hand and put it back in her leather pouch. “And I’m sure you’re going to leave your mark, Milo. I wish you a happy eternity with The Scholar.”

“Even here he’s known for it?”

“He is. Don’t tell him or he gets even more conceited, but your mate is the definition of a scholar. That’s why you’re his mate. Nobody else would have fit you as perfectly. Or him, for that matter.”

Before Milo could react to that, she vanished.

He blinked and when he opened his eyes again, he was back in Quirion’s bedroom, in his demon’s arms.

“You’re my mate.” Quirion sounded very happy.

“I’m your mate.” It was a dream come true.