Liam made a happy noise, half groan, half hum, into the kiss, and his arms were tight around Baxter’s torso.
If there was anything, anywhere, more heavenly than this, Baxter thought, he would never believe it. Liam was warm and strong beneath him, his kisses inflaming Baxter with each moment, and the scent of herbs, tomatoes, and grass was in the air. Birds sang from the tree branches and in the distance, Baxter fancied he heard the sounds of the sea. He felt as if they were in a secluded little bower, just Liam and him, the rest of the world shut away.
Liam’s hand was beneath his T-shirt, and Baxter groaned as he nipped Liam’s lower lip. He sat up, panting, and tugged off the shirt, tossing it to one side, his gaze never leaving Liam’s. Liam almost tore off his own shirt, and then his hands were on Baxter, warm palms sliding over Baxter’s chest, his fingers teasing Baxter’s nipples, and Baxter wanted nothing else.
He leaned down again, kissing Liam with all the passion he could muster. He groaned in surprise as he felt Liam’s arms and legs wrap around him, and a moment later, he found himself on his back, Liam on top of him.
“Liam?”
“I want you, babe.”
Baxter shivered, wriggling a little into Liam’s body. “Fuck. You can have me any way you want me. Any time, anyhow.”
Liam laughed softly and kissed the tip of Baxter’s nose. “You’re so cute. And sexy. And handsome. And funny, smart, compassionate, kind….”
“Dude, you shouldn’t be describing yourself, I know how awesome you are,” Baxter teased.
Liam sat up, straddling Baxter. His expression now was serious. “Bax, I want you to know and believe me that when I say this stuff, I mean every damn word. Every word. I don’t fall in love easily. Hell, I don’t trust easily. But I love you and I trust you, and I want you. So accept it.”
Baxter reached up to touch Liam’s cheek. “Babe, I know you’re way too good for me, and that’s okay. No, really, it is. But you know what? I am so not giving you up. I love you too much to push you away. Anyhow, we’re mated, and you’re the best thing to ever happen to me, so don’t think I don’t accept your love—I do. I want it, I need it. And having it? I’m not giving it up. So there.”
Liam’s smile was radiant. “Good. That’s what’s important.”
“Babe, before we get back to the sexy times, can I ask you something?”
“Sure, you can ask me anything.”
Baxter paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts. He ran his hands over Liam’s arms at the same time, delighting in the sensation of smooth skin and strong muscle beneath his palms.
“What is it, love?”
“I love it when you call me that. But that wasn’t my question, and it was more a statement than a question. So, to the question. You know how we met and it was like, almost insta-attraction? I want you to know that for me, your arrival was like a comet in my life. I’d been lost, you know? I lost myself during the war. Then you came, and it was like, here’s my lifeline, my anchor. And I have never felt that for anyone, ever. So, I was wondering, have you ever felt like that?”
Liam shifted a little, and Baxter smiled as Liam settled for sitting on his lap, straddling him.
“Truthfully? Never in my life. And believe me, I’m not one of those people who believes in fate or destiny. I believe things happen and there’s a reason for them, but that reason has little to do with fate or destiny. But the first time I saw you, I felt this incredibly powerful attraction to you, like a pull. Declan was worried about how fast I fell for you, and he had good reason, considering what had happened to us before we ended up at Gabe’s place near the beach.”
“That guy you thought you were in love with who turned out to be a demon and betrayed you and Dec?” Baxter cut in.
“Yeah. That’s why Dec was so worried.”
“He’s a pretty terrific brother. Most siblings would be all with the ‘I told you so,’ or ‘sucked in,’” Baxter said.
Liam laughed. “Oh, I got a bit of that from him, don’t you worry. But I think most siblings who have good relationships are like us. It’s just that our job isn’t like what most people do for a living. But neither is yours.”
“Yeah. Venatores is sort of specialized.”
“Yeah. I think the war broke everyone on the planet in one way or another. Some folk, they’ll never get past that, and it’ll stay buried deep inside them. Some folk will work through it, and some will lash out in anger or suffer terrible depression. But there’s so much hope now. Since the war ended, since this truce between Heaven and Hell, things really do look to be on the way up. I can’t believe the truce was even a possibility.”
Baxter snorted. “Yeah, same here. I guess now, Venatores are sort of redundant.”
“Dude, no. No way. That’s like saying what Dec and me do is redundant. There’ll always be bad stuff. Monsters going bad, bad people—like Transom, for instance—or demons or angels who rebel against the treaty truce thing and decide to go rogue, like Camael did. There’s always going to be a need for people like us. Just… it’ll be less killing demons and more being the police force for the monsters.”
“Monster police. I like the sound of that.”
Liam burst out laughing again. “Monster police? Really?”
“Sure. So now we’ve sorted that out, one more question.”
“Go ahead.”
“Ages ago, you said something that I’ve thought about off and on. You said you’d talk to dead people when you were a kid, they were your protectors when Declan wasn’t around. And then we saw how you and Dec were, when you were talking to the loa. So, when you were a kid, did you talk to loa, too?”
Liam looked at Baxter with such an inscrutable expression that Baxter wondered if he should have kept his thoughts to himself. But then Liam relaxed and he raised one hand to run it through his hair.
“See, this question proves that you’re smart. You remembered stuff from ages ago that I forgot I said. But to answer it—yes. Yes, I grew up with ghosts and loa and spirits as friends. I was a tall, lanky, shy kid. Declan was super popular, he was the poster boy for the cool guy. He had a leather jacket and skater shoes, and carried a hunting knife. When he got his license, he showed up at school on a motorcycle. The girls fell over themselves to get a date with him and the guys all wanted to be his friend.
“Me, though, I was always in the library. I had braces on my teeth until I was sixteen, and I used to get called names. I got shoved into lockers or down the stairs a lot. So as I got more and more used to being a Necromancer, and Selana taught us how to work with our talents and with the Santeria tradition and Hoodoo, I realized that hey, I had even cooler friends than Dec did. I had friends who were magic.”
“I remember you telling us about the time the ghosts beat up a bully,” Baxter said.
“Yeah. And the loa who talked to me, they’d always tell me where the bullies were waiting for me, so I could avoid them. They told me stories about their people, their histories. I grew up with bedtime stories from ancient Nigeria, before Roman times, and with stories from Jake and Selana about Puerto Rico.”
“It sounds really amazing,” Baxter said.
“It was. So I love coming back here, even if I’m only here for a day or so. The longer, the better, sure, but any time here is amazing.”
“Then we’ll have to make sure we come here at least once a year, from now on.”
“I’d like that.”
“Me too. I’d like to see more of the island and learn more about your life.”
“Then we will.”
“Good. Now, where were we?”
Liam grinned. “Right about here.” With that, he leaned down and kissed Baxter, and Baxter moaned happily, rocking into his lover’s body.
“Have we got time for a quick fuck?” Baxter panted out between kisses.
“We better,” Liam said.
Baxter had already moved his hands down to the fastenings of Liam’s jeans. It took them both less than a minute to g
et naked, laughing and wriggling as they shucked their clothing until they were lying skin to skin on the bright green grass. Baxter lifted one of his legs and wrapped it around Liam’s hips, bending his injured leg as best he could. He wrapped his arms around Liam’s neck, curling himself around Liam as completely as he possibly could.
“Did we bring lube?” he asked as Liam broke the kiss to nibble his neck.
“Mhm.”
“Great. Where is it?”
“Jeans.”
“Where are your jeans, Liam?”
Liam sat back and looked around them. “Over there.” He stretched out his arm, grabbed his jeans and pulled them to him. Then he dug around in the pockets as Baxter watched, trying not to laugh. Finally, Liam pulled out a sachet of lubricant and held it up proudly. “Ta-da!”
“Very good, babe. Now how about you rub that all over your big, gorgeous dick, then fuck me?”
“I suppose I could do that,” Liam said, even as he tore open the sachet and squeezed the lube out onto the palm of his hand. “It sounds like it could be all right.”
“All right? Why you—”
Liam laughed and laughed then, and Baxter lightly slapped his shoulder.
“Brat.”
“I’m a younger brother, love. Being a brat is part of the job description.” Liam shifted to kneel between Baxter’s thighs, and Baxter could feel the head of Liam’s cock nudging him.
“Yeah, but not to your lover—oh-oh-oh-oh—fuck yes, there!” Baxter let out a wordless yell as Liam finished thrusting into him, buried balls deep inside him and gently rocking his hips as Baxter yelled his pleasure.
“Fuck, so tight,” Liam panted, bracing himself on one hand beside Baxter’s head. A moment later, Baxter felt Liam’s other hand on his cock, stroking him in time to the hard, deep thrusts inside him, and Baxter let out another wordless yell of pure pleasure.
“Liam,” Baxter groaned, arching into his lover. “Fuck, babe, so good!” He reached up, running his hands down Liam’s back as far as he could reach then up again. Liam nipped his lower lip and Baxter moaned. He raked his nails down Liam’s back, and in response, Liam hissed, his hips stuttering in the rhythm of fucking him.
“Do that again,” Baxter panted.
Liam made an unintelligible noise and Baxter raked his nails down Liam’s back once more. In response, Liam’s rhythm faltered again and his thrusts were hard, deep, and almost primal. Baxter whimpered, right on the verge of orgasm, and as he raked his nails down Liam’s back a third time, Liam relentlessly teased the slit of his cock with his thumb, which had Baxter moaning and panting. Pleasure exploded behind his eyelids and Baxter arched, clutching Liam to him, and came hard, so hard that he felt he might burst.
A moment later, he felt Liam’s orgasm, heard his lover’s low cry of his name, and Baxter clung tighter to Liam, wrapped up in the joy that was his life with this wonderful man.
THAT EVENING, they had dinner on the broad wooden porch at the front of the house, overlooking the front garden and down to the sea. The sun set in the most brilliant display of color that Baxter could remember ever seeing, and there was a sense of good feeling and happiness among his pack and his friends that he realized he had missed. It had been some months since they had been together like this, a group brought together by shared wartime experiences and knowledge, with the ability to shift form, working with Michael the Archangel for the forces of good. And even better than just being with his pack, Baxter was with his lover, Liam, who was, in his opinion, the best man he had ever known, and his brother, Declan, and adopted mother and father, Selana and Jake.
They drank cold beer and ate spicy ribs cooked to perfection on a barbeque manned by Jake, ate the potato and bacon salad that Selana had made along with the fresh bread she’d bought from the bakery that day. They talked and laughed, reminisced about the past and daydreamed about the future. As the sun slowly sank beneath the horizon, Baxter looked around him and smiled.
Angelique and Declan were standing a little distance away. Declan had his arm around her shoulders and she rested her head on his shoulder. He couldn’t see her expression, but her body language was relaxed and happy. Declan’s expression was soft and fond, and Baxter found himself smiling as he watched them.
“Hey babe.” Liam stepped up beside Baxter and Baxter turned to face him. “How’re you feeling? How’s the leg?”
“Really damn good,” Baxter said. “Better than I have for ages. The leg’s pretty good too.”
“Yeah?” Liam took Baxter’s hand in his. “I’m glad.”
“Me too. How’re you feeling?”
“Fantastic. Happy.”
“Good.” Baxter looked over to see Lily and Riley playing rock-paper-scissors and laughing together, and beyond them, Selana and Jake sitting together on the edge of the veranda. He turned back to Liam. “This place is better than a hospital or anything like that. This is like… the best R and R I’ve ever had.”
Liam nodded. “It’s a cure, all right. Soul cure.”
“That’s a damn good way to put it. Soul cure.” Baxter pulled Liam closer and let go of his hand and slipped his arm around Liam’s waist.
“I want to make a toast,” Liam said.
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. Here’s to a good future for all of us, a happy future, a safe future, and for you and me? A long and happy life together, with loads of sex and laughter.”
Baxter grinned and blinked rapidly to clear his eyes of the sudden tears of joy that had welled up. He nodded. “Yeah. I like that toast. Here’s to all of that.”
Liam kissed him once, soft and gentle. “Love you, Baxter Sweet.”
“Love you too, Liam Jones.”
“Best words ever,” Liam said.
“No argument there,” Baxter agreed.
Together, they looked out over the darkening garden, and Baxter thought that two weeks’ vacation here wouldn’t be enough. He contented himself with the thought that two weeks was just the beginning—he and Liam could return at any time they chose, and if the rest of his pack and Declan wanted to come too, so much the better.
Happy, Baxter leaned into Liam and watched the nightfall.
“GABRIEL!”
Gabriel turned at the sound of his name and saw Adramelek beckoning to him. He made his way over to the Archdemon, smiling as he went at the small crowd that was gathered on the beach at Deep Bay where he had one of his houses.
“Adramelek.” He nodded in greeting.
“This was a nice idea,” Adramelek said. “This impromptu sunset celebration on your beach.”
“It ain’t my beach,” Gabriel said. “It belongs to the people of Deep Bay and all Americans.”
“You know what I mean. You had a house here, didn’t you?”
“Aye. Still do.” Gabriel hesitated for a moment before he went on, ignoring the lump that rose in his throat whenever he thought of his adopted children, so long dead. “I bought it when I moved here with my kids.”
“The two you adopted, yes?” Adramelek nodded. “I recall hearing of their deaths. You have my condolences.”
“Thank you.” Gabriel looked out over the sea of faces—Venatores, angels, Archdemons, witches, shifters, hackers, and more. “This little party seemed like a good idea, considering all the pain and sorrow that’s happened this century. I ain’t sad to be nearing the end of it, though I’ve met some truly tremendous souls during it.”
“Agreed.” Adramelek took a sip from his can of beer. “I find it strange, though. Strange in that you and I have been enemies for a very long time. My kind—Fallen Ones—and your kind—all who live in Heaven—have hated each other for eons.”
“Aye, since before there was such a thing as time. Though don’t you think all that hate gets exhausting?”
“I do. Which is why I find this strange. It’s an old habit, hatred. I am glad to break it, and I have enjoyed the times we have all come together to fight mutual enemies. When Lucifer first told me of the truce betwe
en him and God, I was skeptical. I didn’t think it would hold a day, let alone several months. And here we are, and not only has it held, it’s strengthened. Hell is better, I think. There’s less paranoia—demons know what they do, after all. No one lives in fear of Uriel storming down to pay a visit with his sword.”
“It’s mostly the same in Heaven,” Gabriel agreed. “There’s some who can’t quite understand, but they’ll learn. God will teach them.”
“Hm, I’ll take your word on that.” Adramelek gestured to the group around them. “The exuberance of these mortals is rather… infectious.”
Gabriel burst out laughing. “You say that like you’re gonna catch measles.”
“I’m not used to this, Gabriel, that’s all. It’ll take time, but I think that peace may become a habit. And I’m glad of that. I like this planet. I like being able to walk on it and mingle with my friends and associates just as much as I enjoy Hell.”
“I have wondered if there’ll ever be full and total peace,” Gabriel said. “I mean, I bet there’s some in Hell who ain’t on board with this truce.”
“True. But Lucifer is lord there, and his word is law. So if any demon breaks the truce, well. They suffer his wrath.”
“I’ve seen his tanties before,” Gabriel drawled. “I’m familiar with what Lucifer’s wrath looks like.”
“He’s mellowed a bit,” Adramelek said.
“And I bet part of that is because you’re his lover now? He’s always liked you above and beyond any of the others, y’know. This… development in your relationship wasn’t really a surprise.”
Adramelek blinked, looking astonished, and Gabriel felt a little smug at having elicited such a response. Then Adramelek shook his head and grinned ruefully.
“That’s something I’ll take your word on. However, I do have a question. Now that Transom’s people have been sentenced….”
“…and you and your guild ate the souls of the witches who were the worst of their coven,” Gabriel said.
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