The Paths of Sin and Redemption

Chapter 23

After having a moment to himself and collecting his thoughts, Mephiles eventually exited the restroom and returned to the chambers where his mate and pups slept. And in that time, he'd made an important decision.

He was going to make up for everything now. He was going to do what he could to truly change himself for Silver and to commit fully to Silver-- mind, heart, and soul. He would even bring in hanyou staff now, and stop hunting them for a first. He promised himself that he would make things right.

Gazing upon his family as they lay in bed, he quietly watched his pups all snuggled into their mother's side--Silver even more beautiful when he slept--the uke seemingly younger than he actually was.

He stayed there until his mate woke up, Silver little worried that Mephiles wasn't laying beside him, but had calmed down go see him sitting at his desk nearby.

"Hey..." he said quietly as he slowly sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Hey..." Mephiles said softly in return, coming over to greet him.

"What time is it?" He asked with a cute yawn.

"Around six," was his reply. "Dinner will be ready in an hour or so..."

Silver nodded before taking one of Meph’s offered hands and slowly getting up from bed, careful not to rouse their children.

"Can you watch them while I go get ready?" He asked.

Mephiles nodded, saying, "I'll have their nannies come and get them so that we can both get dressed."

“Thanks," he said, giving his mate a small smile and a kiss to the cheek before going to freshen up for dinner with their guests.

Mephiles then quietly sat where his mate had just been, leaning down to kiss his precious pups’ heads gently, careful not to wake them. And after each little one received a loving caress from their father, once his sensitive hearing picked up on his mate undressing in the other room, only then did the Demon Lord leave the room to retrieve his children's caretakers.

He returned quickly to find his mate finishing up and the pups beginning to rouse from their nap.

Silver waited till the nannies came and retrieved his drowsy pups before he exited the bathroom. Mephiles silently took in his uke's naked form as he went to his wardrobe to find something to wear. His eyes raked over every voluptuous curve Silver had, and with all his long quills now reaching the small of his back, the uke looked even more feminine than before. Even more beautiful than he already was. He did notice, however, that when his mate finally donned a formal robe and went to pull his quills out the way, he frowned upon seeing two rather old, long but jagged scars in his back. He grew even more concerned when Silver winced slightly when he had his arms completely over his head to get all his quills out the robe. How... How could he have possibly missed those? Why had he never seen them before?

Mephiles stared at where they were for a long time while Silver finished pulling his robe on. He'd never acknowledged such things on Silver. The real oddity of them, was that the katana wounds he'd left on him (before they healed) were no where near what these looked like. They were in between his shoulder blades and seemed as though they'd been near fatal wounds from just how deep the scars looked.

The call of his name snapped him out of his musings, his eyes focusing on his mate.

"...is something wrong?" Silver asked, "I...I called you twice, but you didn't hear me..."

Mephiles shook his head. "No, no, my love, I was just thinking. I'm sorry I spaced on you." He said, walking up to his mate and kissed him in reassurance. He was curious as to where those scars came from, but whatever they were, he planned to ask his mate tonight once they had more time to themselves.