Demon’s Test (Demon Mates #4)

Chapter Twelve

Quirion looked into Milo’s beautiful eyes, which were a bit clouded—no wonder, after what his body had had to endure. His gaze wandered farther down, to his neck and chest, where gorgeous demonic runes were covering his skin, proclaiming to the world that this perfect man belonged to Quirion, son of Alerion, King of All Demons. Quirion would have never thought of himself as possessive of another person—books were another matter entirely, and didn’t count—but what he felt for Milo was even stronger than the urge to hoard books in the safety of his library. He would even go so far as to say he would sacrifice the books for Milo, a thought so huge, he had trouble processing it.

“Who did you meet?”

A happy smile appeared on Milo’s face. “You wouldn’t believe it! I met the first human scientist ever! Her name is Lela and she showed me her sticks.”

“She did?” Quirion wasn’t sure what to make of the mentioning of sticks.

“Yes. The sticks where she marked the cycle of the moon. And apparently her own?”

“Oh, now I get it. Yes, women were the first to pay closer attention to their surroundings. Did she have any wise words for you?”

“Well, she basically told me to trust in science. Which I already do. But it was nice meeting her. You know, I always had this notion that men were the scientists, but now I can see how that’s a case of language misguiding my thought-process. So yeah, I learned a valuable lesson.”

“That’s all we scholars can hope for.” Quirion winked and pulled Milo closer to his chest. He liked feeling his naked skin. “You know, now that we’re mates, you technically don’t have to take that test anymore.”

Milo lifted his head a bit. “I don’t?”

“No. What’s mine is yours, and mine is enough money to fund your research indefinitely.”

“Hmm. You have a point.” Milo snuggled his head back against Quirion’s chest. “I’m still going through with it.”

“You are?”

“Of course. We have to show these people that you don’t mess with a demon and his mate.”

Quirion felt his inner fire surging. How could he have been so lucky? Of course he deserved only the best mate, but getting somebody so perfectly suited to him was still a miracle. “Milo, you truly are a blessing.”

“I hope so.” His mate started stroking his pecs in a more deliberate way. “I’m not sure if this is due to my newly changed nature, but I feel the urge to have some unscheduled intercourse.”

“Well, technically, it’s not unscheduled. We did agree to meet here at nine to have sex and there were no stipulations as to how often or how long.” Quirion couldn’t deny that he, too, felt the need to keep on fornicating.

“We did agree to conduct the mate experiment. It was a success. If I’m not mistaken, there is no reversing it. Or do I get more tattoos if we give it another try?” A hint of laughter was hiding in Milo’s voice.

“Not that I know of, but we only can say for sure after verifying it. Luckily, we have everything we need to keep the experiment going. If I remember correctly, you wanted to try different positions?”

Milo got on his knees and gently guided Quirion on his back before straddling him. “Yes, I did. To be absolutely sure there won’t be any further tattoos, we should try each possible position at least twice, if not more often.”

“Just to be sure.”

“Just to be sure.” Milo bent down to kiss Quirion, and just like that they were back researching all the details of a demon mating.

* * * *

“To what do we owe the great pleasure of an invite to your library, brother?” Dre had only just appeared with Sammy under his arm, and Barion and Jon in tow, and was already asking the big questions.

“Can we wait till Father and his mates are here as well? Hello, Sammy, Jon, Barion, by the way.” Quirion nodded to the three.

“Hi, Quirion. Where’s Milo? Don’t tell me you have him studying while you have guests over?” Sammy was already on him, hugging him around his waist. Carefully, Quirion put his arms around Sammy’s back, giving his brother-in-law a short squeeze.

“Milo will be here in a minute.” He didn’t elaborate because even though he and Milo were serious scientists, they hadn’t been able to resist the lure of a grand reveal, which was why Milo was waiting in Quirion’s study until the entire family was here. And in a way, this was an experiment as well. They had made a chart of how each family member would react and couldn’t wait to see how accurate their assessments were.

“Hello, sorry we’re late.” Alerion’s voice didn’t sound like he meant his words—a silly grin was plastered on his face. Seeing the exact same grin spreading the lips of his mates, Declan and Troy, told Quirion exactly why they were late. Apparently, Dre and Barion had come to the same conclusion because they made gagging noises while Jon simply rolled his eyes and Sammy looked as clueless as always.

Before a discussion could break out, Quirion called for his newfound mate. “Milo, min Liechtbrunn , please come here.”

“ Min Liechtbrunn ?” Alerion stared at him with glowing eyes. “Son, is there something you want to tell us?”

Quirion felt a grin stretching his face, though he was pretty sure it wasn’t as stupid as that of his father and his mates. “Look for yourself.” He gestured for the door where Milo was now standing, a soft red in his cheeks because his upper body was bare to show off his tattoos.

“Hi, everyone.” He waved shyly.

A soft gasp, then Sammy practically flew to him with a happy screech. “Milo! With Quirion? I’m sooo happy for you! Are you happy, too? Of course you are, silly me, but why? How? Did you have an inkling?”

Jon followed Sammy and hugged them both, while Declan and Troy took a moment to stare. Alerion, Dre and Barion blinked at Quirion.

“You’re mated.” The sheer wonder in Barion’s voice raised Quirion’s hackles a bit. Why would that elicit such surprise?

“Yes, I am. And without all the drama Sammy and Dre had, or the dumbness you and Jon showed, I might add.” He couldn’t bite back those words.

“Hey, that drama was not without reason!” Dre defended.

“And we weren’t dumb! Just incredibly lucky.” Barion huffed.

“Let me say, I’m so happy for you, son.” Alerion clapped his shoulder before dragging him into a hug. “Now tell us, how did that happen?”

“Yeah, we want to know!” Sammy was still hugging Milo to within an inch of his life, which apparently didn’t stop him from staying aware of what else was going on.

Quirion glanced at Milo who smiled at him happily. “Well, Mildred had male company yesterday—”

“Male company? Isn’t she too young for that?” Since Sammy was giving voice to Quirion’s own worries, he didn’t reprimand him for interrupting.

“I think so, too, but as Milo has pointed out, she was here before I built the library, and we don’t know when her species comes of age. Anyway, the moat is now full of toad eggs, the male is gone again, and Milo and I kissed as a direct reaction to the adrenaline our bodies produced when we saw what Mildred was up to.”

“You kissed because of adrenaline?” Dre asked.

Sammy elbowed him. “ Speed , Dre. It’s Speed all over again.” He smiled happily.

Dre mumbled something along the lines of, “ Speed , my ass, as if anything about Quirion is even remotely adrenaline-inducing, ha!” It was muted enough for Quirion to ignore him. He wouldn’t forget though, he never did.

“Yes, we kissed. Then we talked and made an appointment for sexual intercourse the same evening with the understanding that there would be a bite, to get all the uncertainty out of the way.”

“Geez, brother, you’re such a romantic.” Barion rolled his eyes.

“He is!” Milo had somehow managed to escape Sammy’s clutches and snuggled under Quirion’s arm. “We formulated a hypothesis and conducted the mate experiment after carefully setting the parameters. It was perfect.”

“At least there’s no doubt whatsoever that you’re perfect for each other,” Dre murmured.

“Let them be, my beloved mate. Everybody should be happy in their own way. Congratulations, Milo and Quirion. I’m so glad our family is growing steadily.” Sammy beamed at them all.

“Yes, congratulations, son. I admit, I never saw this happening for you, and nobody is happier than me to be proven wrong.” Alerion’s eyes were a bit misty. His two mates stroked his back, smiling at Quirion and Milo.

“Congratulations from us as well.” Declan winked. “Seems like we have six sons now.”

“Yeah. Luckily, they’re all grown. I’m not ready for children. Don’t know if I’ll ever be.” Troy shook his head. “Anyway, when are you going to do the big mating party?”

Quirion froze. He’d forgotten about that. Why did people see the need to celebrate a mating? Was it to shove their happiness under the noses of less-lucky individuals? Who would he and Milo invite anyway, despite his family and the book club? Was there a protocol to follow? If yes, Quirion hadn’t heard about it.

“Uhm, not in the next ten days. I still have to study for that test,” Milo announced, buying them time, clever mate that he was. Quirion kissed him on the head.

“That test for SBW? Why would you do that? You have Quirion’s money now.” Declan seemed genuinely confused.

“This is about the principle of the thing.” Milo had a fierce expression and his tone suggested how obvious it should have been to everybody. “They wanted to mess with me and my demon. We want to see them squirming.”

“And, therefore, you subject yourself to the stress of relentless studying?” Barion, never the most avid reader or student the world had ever seen, made a face as if somebody had told him he should dance naked for an out-of-control bachelorette party in Vegas.

“It’s not that bad, and I have Quirion helping me. I’m going to ace this.”

“If you say so, more power to you, little brother.” Barion grinned. “Hey, another little brother for me! I’m climbing the ranks!”

“Uh, love of my life, adding more at the bottom doesn’t mean you’re actually climbing anything.” Jon gave his mate a kiss on the cheek. Barion pouted.

“So, no party for the next ten days.” Sammy looked at them with that gleam in his eyes Quirion had learned to fear above all else. “Now the question is, do you want to wait till you get the results of this test before you celebrate?”

“The test is online, and I’ll get the results immediately.” Milo shrugged, probably knowing there was no way to stop Sammy now that he was gaining momentum. Physics could be such a bitch.

“Perfect. Then we plan the party for the day after. Don’t you worry, I’ll have it all sorted out. All you two have to do is show up.”

“Not here at the library, Sammy.” Quirion knew he would give his consent if that really was Sammy’s plan, but he could at least try to maintain the illusion of control.

“Never, Quirion. The danger to the books is far too great.” And that was the reason Quirion loved Sammy—well, tolerated him, despite his shortcomings. He had his priorities straight. “I have a few great ideas and you don’t have to worry about anything. Dre, we need to go, there’s so much to do, and I assume Milo has to resume his studies.”

Milo and Quirion nodded, which caused their visitors to give one last round of hugs and pats before they all returned to their respective homes.

“Well, that was less painful than I feared.” Quirion looked around his now blissfully quiet library. Milo went on his toes to kiss his chin.

“It was perfect. Let’s get back to Microorganisms and Mutations during the Middle Ages . I’m still not sure I completely understood that bit about how the ambient magic fields facilitated the spreading of the bubonic plague in 1347. I thought Sicily didn’t have strong enough fields to do anything with it?”

“No, it hasn’t, at least not usually. The three volcanoes tend to swallow it all up, but at that time all three of them—Etna, Stromboli and Vulcano—were going through a time of rest, which allowed a flaring up of magic. It was the humans’ bad luck that just then the bubonic plague arrived at the port.”

“So it was a magical mutation?”

“More like an accelerant. The disease itself was already nasty enough. No room for improvement on that front.” Quirion made a face. It had been a dark time on Earth, so many lives lost, so many books destroyed because nobody was left to take care of them.

“What a gloomy subject.” Milo seemed to read his thoughts. “I hope Evolution and the Ambient Magic Fields is more uplifting in tone.”

“Oh, it definitely is. Let’s get the plague sorted, then we can set our sights on more pleasant topics.”