“I even like your hair.”
Kamiko blinked as he looked up at Takeo. “You do?” Takeo nodded. “The more I look at it, the more I like it. You look like a pixie to me.”
Kamiko snorted as he shook his head, the pain sliding down his back. “There you go again with the female references.” Takeo chuckled as he leaned forward and placed a kiss gently on his lips. “Never.”
* * * *
“You want to tell where Constantine is hiding?” Takeo said as he rammed the demon’s face into the brick wall.
“I don’t know,” Gammy growled as he tried to push back, black blood pouring from his nose.
Takeo was tired of worrying about Kamiko and his safety. He wanted his mate to see how wonderful Serenity City truly was…
minus the assholes who had escaped, making life hell here.
“You escaped with him. You two didn’t have a little tea party before parting ways?” Takeo knew it was a long shot, but he had to try. The Malone brothers seemed to have fallen off the radar, and Takeo was getting more and more frustrated by the hour. He wanted to kill Constantine for what he had done to Kamiko.
First he had to find him.
Easier said than done.
“We at least recovered one of the prisoners,” Wayland said from beside him, but that wasn’t good enough for Takeo. He wanted revenge with a hard-on. Images of Kamiko lying there with his skin sliced open every few inches ignited Takeo’s anger beyond anything he had ever felt before. He slammed Gammy’s head into the brick wall repeatedly, wanting the location of that bastard.
“Takeo!” Wayland shouted.
Takeo could feel Gammy’s powers amping up. His little freeze-dry trick was about to get underway, and Takeo was having none of that. He cocked his arm back and then let it fly, hitting Gammy so hard that the demon crumpled to the ground, unconscious.
Takeo reached down to pick Gammy’s limp body up when Wayland stepped in the way. “Enough, bro. Think about Kamiko.
What’s he going to do if you’re locked up in the detention cells for killing an unconscious man?” Wayland asked. “He isn’t the one you’re after.”
Takeo ran his hands over his head as he backed away and then began to pace in frustration. If they found the Malone brothers, so much could be stopped.
“I’ll call two warriors to help you take him back to the detention cells.” Takeo lowered his voice into a bitter and defeated tone. “I can’t go.”
“Tell me you’re not going to try and find Constantine on your own.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement coming from his friend.
Takeo didn’t answer him as he walked to a shadow and then into his apartment.
After calling Kane and Phoenyx to assist Wayland, Takeo made his way into his bedroom where Kamiko lay asleep. The angry red marks had finally faded into small, light pink lines on his beautiful skin. His mate had healed, externally.
He wondered if the innocence in Kamiko would be gone now.
That was one of the things he loved about the small man. Even after his horrific deal with the kidnappers to bring him to America and use him, the man’s spirit was strong and pure.
“If you keep staring at me like that, I’m going to think you want me,” Kamiko said with his eyes still closed.
A smile tugged at Takeo’s lips. Never in a million years would Takeo have guessed his shy friend to be such a horndog. Kamiko just kept amazing him. “I’ll always want you, Kamiko.” He nearly swallowed his tongue when Kamiko threw back the blanket to reveal naked, creamy flesh. Fuck if that wasn’t a wondrous sight. “How do you feel?”
“Like having your cock shoved deeply into my ass,” Kamiko answered as a smile played at his lips, his eyes still closed. Takeo growled at his mate’s naughty words. Who would have guessed that such language coming from Kamiko would turn him on so much?
Takeo’s cock stretched in his pants as his eyes roved over his mate’s body. The faint lash marks didn’t detract from his beauty one ounce as Kamiko rolled to his belly and spread his legs, resting his head on his tucked arms.
That was an invitation in the most blatant form of arousal. His eyes took in the small flare of his mate’s milky mounds as he lay there with his balls centered between his legs. It was the sexiest sight he’d seen in ages. When Takeo made no move toward Kamiko, the small man slid from the bed and knelt before him.
Takeo wasn’t sure what his mate was doing, but seeing his coal-black eyes stare up at him made Takeo feel godlike. His mate’s fingers trembled as he reached up and unsnapped Takeo’s pants, peeling the zipper back and exposing the head of Takeo’s cock. Clear liquid glistened, pearls of pre-cum sitting on the eye of his cock.
Kamiko stretched up from his knees and swiped his tongue across the head, eliciting a loud groan from Takeo. He’d never had anyone kneel before him. It was such an erotic sight. Kamiko’s eyes slowly closed as his lips parted, taking the head of Takeo’s cock between them.
His legs shook as Kamiko’s tongue worked its magic. Takeo fisted his hands, stopping his body from jerking forward and forcing his entire cock into Kamiko’s mouth. Light ripples washed through him as Kamiko’s warm hands worked his pants down to his ankles and then skimmed his fingers up and down Takeo’s thighs.
“Little flower,” Takeo groaned as his thigh muscles grew rigid.
He was fighting with everything in him not to move. His body ached to sink into his mate, but he stood there allowing Kamiko his time.
And hell if it didn’t feel fucking fantastic, too.
His knees almost knocked together when one of Kamiko’s wet fingers slid into his ass. If Takeo didn’t know any better, he would think his mate wanted to fuck him. Never in his thousands of years of life had Takeo
ever
let a man take him, and it perplexed him that he was even considering it now.
He was Takeo, survivor of Baku, strong, fierce, and lethal. He had taken down the largest of the lot when pitted against a fighter in the rings back home. Takeo didn’t know how to bow to anyone, let alone a short man with a pixie-like appearance. It was an odd contradiction, and one he was considering.
How the mighty have fallen.
Takeo’s arms swung up, his hands skating over Kamiko’s hair as he felt his orgasm approaching. In one smooth motion, Kamiko leaned all the way forward and swallowed Takeo whole.
He shouted to the room as he came down his mate’s throat, hot spurts jerking from his balls. Takeo shivered at his release and then grabbed his mate, spinning him around and bending him over the side of the bed.
He had to be inside of him. Takeo felt like he would die if he didn’t feel Kamiko’s body wrapped around his cock in the next five seconds. He grabbed the lube from the drawer, not wanting to wait for his own natural lubricant to prepare his mate.
He needed and he needed now. Takeo wet his fingers, shoving two into his mate as he quickly stretched him. He prayed it would be enough because the animal inside of him—the animal inside every man—was about to be unleashed.
Takeo snatched his hand free and then lined his lubed cock up, slamming home as he pulled one of Kamiko’s legs up onto the bed.
His fingers curled around his mate’s shoulders as he hammered his cock between the two small mounds. His mate stretched beautifully for him.
“Yes, harder, Takeo. Fuck me with everything you have.” Takeo was certain that in one thousand years, Kamiko would still be surprising him. He grabbed his mate’s slim hips, slamming Kamiko’s body onto his cock as sweat rolled down his face and back.
His inner demon roared as Takeo took Kamiko in the most primal way. Their bodies collided repeatedly, harshly, as Kamiko cried for more. Takeo was only too happy to give it to his mate.
“Takeo!” Kamiko shouted as his body jerked and his hole pulsed, milking Takeo’s cock as Kamiko’s fingers dug into the bed. Takeo clenched his jaw, determination filling him as he jetted his shaft inside Kamiko over and over again.
As the buildup reached an all-time high, Takeo stiffened and then shouted to the ceiling as he came for the second time.
His head was pounding as he pulled in small gulps of air. Takeo’s vision shifted as he blinked a few times. Had he ever come that hard and brutal before? He didn’t think so. Lowering his mate to the bed, Takeo slid from Kamiko’s body. His mate’s hole was puckered and swollen, as if Takeo had just fucked him for ten hours straight.
As he laid Kamiko’s limp and sated body on the bed, Takeo kicked his pants the rest of the way off and then walked to the bathroom, drawing a bath for his mate. He let his fingers swirl through the water as he thought of Kamiko.
For many years Kamiko had been timid, shy, and had never voiced his desires toward Takeo. He even remembered when Chey, the grey wolf in Zeus’s pack, healed Kamiko of his inner demons.
Takeo was about to kill the wolf for touching Kamiko until he was told that Chey was healing his soul.
That had been something Takeo had wanted to do. That was what all his visits had been about, until he had fallen in love with the small man.
Now Kamiko was his, and the man seemed to have stamped ownership all over Takeo. He loved it. But it also frightened the hell out of him. Takeo didn’t know how to love anyone. He was a warrior.
What did he know about taking care of a mate?
So far, he hadn’t done a bang-up job of keeping Kamiko safe, but Takeo never planned to make that same mistake. If Constantine, or anyone else insane enough to come near Kamiko, threatened his mate again, Takeo was going to pull his entrails from his body on the spot.
Kamiko was his, and Takeo didn’t plan on failing him again.
When the tub filled, Takeo stood, removing his shirt, and then went after his mate. He pulled Kamiko’s resting form from the bed and then stepped into the tub, lowering them both as he lay back.
“This feels good,” Kamiko murmured as he rested against Takeo’s chest. “You take such good care of me,” he said and then yawned, burrowing deeper into Takeo.
He ran his hands over his mate’s back as he lay there. Why couldn’t it be like this all of the time? It was peaceful just lying here with Kamiko safely in his arms. It felt good.
It felt right.
Takeo began to hum to his mate as he raised his hand, allowing droplets of water to hit his mate’s back, and then watched the droplets trail back down into the water.
This was perfect.
This was serene.
This was exactly what Takeo’s soul needed.
He had been fighting his whole life, and now he had his light.
Kamiko was the man who would balance out Takeo’s darkness.
Every warrior fought for thousands of years, and finding their mates balanced them. Kamiko was his, and Takeo would kill anyone who tried to take his light away.
Wayland knocked on Takeo’s apartment door. Normally he would have used a shadow, but he had a feeling that Takeo would remove his eyes from their sockets if he saw Kamiko naked.
What a pity.
The small human was handsome as hell. Not that he was a poacher, but it only drove home the fact that Wayland still hadn’t found his mate. Takeo was the fourth to find his.
The lucky
bastard
. The rest of the warriors watched the mated men with envy.
Especially Panahasi. The leader was the oldest of the warriors, had been around thousands of years before any of the warriors were a twinkle in their parents’ eyes. He couldn’t imagine being alive and unmated that long.
“He’s not there,” Phoenyx said as he walked up the stairs. “He took Kamiko to Jake’s Java.”
Wayland had never known Takeo to act this way toward anyone and was glad that the demon was finally mated. Maybe he would actually smile more often—once a millennium wasn’t enough. They had become friends from the first day Wayland had been brought here for his training. He knew of Takeo’s past. He was one of the few people who did.
Takeo didn’t let anyone into his personal space.
The man breathed lethality, ate it for breakfast, but Wayland had always seen the loneliness in the warrior’s eyes, that craving that all creatures had to find their other half. It was good to see him letting someone in.
The man needed it.
“Panahasi sent me to find you. We need to head out.”
With things on the fritz around Serenity City, Wayland wasn’t too keen on just strolling outside. He liked to have a plan in place.
“Where to?” Wayland asked as he jogged down the steps behind the warrior.
“Crypt. He’s been spotted.”
Wayland’s foot hovered close to the bottom step at the fucked-up situation of Crypt. He shivered as he walked out of the building. “And he’s sending the two of us instead of every single warrior? Why? Did I piss him off or something?” He had to have.
It had taken all ten warriors and the leader the last time to take Crypt down. And he was sending only two?
“He just wants us to confirm.”
Like that made it any better. What if they confirmed that it was Crypt, then what? As much as Wayland prided himself as a warrior, he was going to haul ass. Crypt wasn’t someone to fuck around with on his own. “Uh, we should still call for backup. You can’t have forgotten what happened last time.” Wayland sure as shit didn’t.
He had almost lost his life back then. He didn’t want a repeat performance.
“It’s cool. It’s just a confirming mission.” Yeah, right. There was no way they were just going to say,
yep,
that’s him,
and walk away.
Things were never that easy.
Wayland wasn’t sure what he was walking into. With Crypt, one never knew. He followed Phoenyx until they came to an alley on the wrong side of town. It was the very edge of Serenity City, right before it turned into what humans referred to as hell.
Figures.
Where else would Crypt be hiding?
Wayland rolled his shoulders as he cracked his neck, gearing himself up for one hell of a fight. Not with Crypt, but the lowlife scum that guarded the gates to hell. They were prickly bastards who loved to fuck with people, demon warriors being at the top of their
bounce your balls
list.
He had to remember to send Panahasi a thank-you card for this.
* * * *