"I have no idea who you're talking about," Jaxon said flustered. His face was flush with the bright red.
"Liar!" Zekaj laughed after pulling Hunter's hand away from his mouth. He was having way too much fun with this. Sitting up in his seat, the void demon continued, "Volveth told us everything, just admit it."
"I don't even know of this Volvie-" Jaxon's eyes went wide at what he said. "Fuck, Volveth, I meant Volveth."
"VOLVIE? YOU CALLED HIM VOLVIE?" Zekaj burst out in laughter.
Jaxon was completely flustered, covering his face with his hands in embarrassment.
"Fine, you got me." He put his hands up in self-defense. "But we were only friends. Nothing more than that ever happened."
"Mhm sure," Zekaj snickered.
"But what exactly happened?" Hunter asked, trying to keep Zekaj from going on and on about Jaxon and Volveth possibly having more than a friendship. "Volveth had mentioned how you two got into a contract but not how you got separated."
Jaxon looked away, then back at Hunter, staring right into his eyes.
"Volveth and I were good friends, probably the bestest friend I've ever had." Jaxon sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "He made me think there was more to life than just the coven and having to be its leader. Constantly studying magic, law, and everything was all my life was before him."
It was nice to think about all of the fun they had back when they were still friends. Jaxon missed him dearly but was terrified of seeing him again.
"With you, especially you Hunter, I wanted you to be able to have options. Not have to do anything with magic unless you wanted to. I see now how badly I failed at this and should've been at your side when you got older. I should've taken the time to teach you everything but you were always a closed-off kid." Jaxon said. "You got that from me, I wasn't very into socializing and kept to myself too. I'd sit in my room all day reading books and everything like you did."
Hunter spoke up, trying to ignore how similar him and his father were, "Volveth had kind of inferred that you didn't even want to be leader, that grandma and grandpa forced you?"
Jaxon balled up his hands and squeezed them into fists before, calming himself down.
"Not forced, so to speak, but heavily pushed for me to. I don't think force is the right word for this..."
"Can't be forced if you don't put up a fight," Zekaj shrugged. "Volveth said you're a pushover and obviously nothing has changed."
Hunter elbowed Zekaj, who nudged him right back.
"Well Volveth left, your mother got pregnant, and then she got pregnant again. It would have been dumb in the long run if I hadn't taken the job. It pays well, was able to keep you kids happ-, okay, and a nice quiet simple life."
"But was it what you wanted?" Hunter asked.
Jaxon breathed in, "I didn't know what I wanted then. And I don't know what I want now."
"That sucks," Zekaj said bluntly.
"Thanks," Jaxon said sarcastically back, who in return got a glare from Zekaj.
"But still, what even happened?" Hunter asked. "Volveth wouldn't tell us."
"Well," Jaxon started. "Volveth and I's contract was that he would be my friend, wouldn't pull any tricks and the final bit. Wouldn't harm me."
"And fix your bop it," Zekaj mentioned.
"And the bop it," Jaxon smiled to himself.
*****
Volveth and Jaxon - 18 years old
Jaxon had woken up to the silver eyes staring at him from across the room. The large body was sitting in a chair across from him, the eyes never leaving.
Reaching for the lamp in a panic, its sudden glow filled the room and Jaxon could see it was Volveth in the seat.
It had been around a year since they last had seen each other, Jaxon was beginning to think he was never coming back. So much had changed, so much Volveth needed to catch up on.
Volveth had definitely grown, his muscles filling out nicely as well as his height surpassing his own.
"Who is it?" Volveth had said, his voice deeper than before. Scars on parts of his body that weren't before either stuck out like a sore thumb on him.
"What are you talking about?" Jaxon asked.
"Who is mated to you?" Volveth asked again.
"It is this girl I met, you haven't met I don't think. Her name is Olivia..."
"Olivia. How strong is the bond?" The minotaur growled, spooking Jaxon a bit. Volveth had never been scary to him before, but now, he barely recognized him.
"We can barely feel it, but it's there."
"Good. Do you want to be with her?"
"Volv, why are you asking all of this?" Jaxon said, not answering the question.
"Just answer dammit," Volveth growled, his claws scratching down his own leg, only strong enough to draw blood a tiny bit.
"I don't know. My parents want me too..."
"Don't. They only want an heir, they don't want you to be happy," Volveth interrupted.
"I know, but we are fated to be together..."
"FUCK FATE," Volveth barked, slamming his fist on the desk. It was only now that Jaxon had realized he was crying. "Fate doesn't care about you, or me. It does whatever the fuck it wants."
Jaxon gulped, getting up from his bed and walking towards the demon.
"Volvie are you ok?" Jaxon asked, setting his hand on the demon's arm.
It only seemed to anger Volveth, nothing was connecting the two, no bond. Only a stupid contract between the two kept them together.
"Why can't I just have this one thing..." Volveth sobbed, holding Jaxon's hand down with his own. "Don't I deserve this?"
"Volveth, you need to calm down. It's ok," Jaxon whispered.
"Don't mate with her, I'm all you need," Volveth said.
"Volveth I I- you have a mate out there too. You can't just drop everything for me."
"I can and I will. I don't care about them like I care about you Jax, please. Forget about your parents and everyone else." Volveth pleaded.
"I don't know..."
Volveth's eyes went from sad to a sudden shift of anger.
"You're going to be with someone you barely even know over me?" Volveth growled, finally snapping.
"I didn't say that," Jaxon backed off, he had never been afraid of Volveth like this.
"You don't need to!" Volveth slammed his fist into the drywall.
Jaxon hadn't realized how large Volveth had gotten over the past year. His body was covered in scars, ones that weren't there previously.
In fear, Jaxon backed up against his bed as Volveth got closer and closer before Jaxon fell back on his bed.
"Then I'll just have to make you," Volveth said through the tears.
"This isn't you Volveth! Please just calm down, we can figure this ou-"
This wasn't Volveth he was looking at. It was someone so mentally destroyed and beaten for years that he finally snapped. He wasn't thinking straight because he couldn't anymore. It would take time for Jaxon to realize this, but he understood in the long run.
Trying to crawl away, Volveth grabbed at Jaxon's leg his claw ripping through the fabric, scratching him right along the ankle.
Jaxon hissed in pain, trying not to scream for help.
But it was enough to break the contract. As one of the agreements was that no harm would fall on the mage.
Both of the boys could feel the contract snap, as the void called for its demon to return.
It was only then that Volveth could see through the fog in his mind, realizing what he had done.
"I- I'm sorry Jaxon, I'll heal it, Please!" Volveth begged as his body started to fade in shadow and the young mage was too afraid to do anything.
"I'm sor-" The demon said as he was whisked back to the void and the Mage laid on his bed in terror.
*****
"He got help, right?" Jaxon asked.
"He was in therapy for a while. His parents were arrested for abuse, they had been upset with him being born a minotaur demon. He had a complete psychotic break from all of the trauma." Zekaj answered.
"That's good. I'm glad he's got and continues to get help." Jaxon said, rubbing his wrists.
"He wants to apologize, and maybe be friends again. Whatever you want he said," Hunter said. "It's why we came here, for answers."
"Do you trust him?" Jaxon asked, knowing his son was smart enough to decide.
"I trust him more than you," Zekaj snickered. "Asshole."
Hunter elbowed Zekaj again.
"He seemed remorseful and was in tears about the whole thing. He lives with his mate and her chosen mate." Hunter said, choosing to ignore the fact that Volveth was still in love with Jaxon. He could let Volveth tell him.
"That's... That's good," Jaxon said looking at his intertwined fingers. "I'm happy to... to hear that. It's good."
Zekaj raised an eyebrow and looked back at Hunter.
"So you and your wife, how's that?" Zekaj smiled, mischievously ruining the mood of the room.
"Well, ex-wife to be exact..."
"Oop-" Zekaj burst out laughing.
And was quickly elbowed by Hunter again.
Jaxon chose to ignore Zekaj, "She moved back in with her parents, and Hannah and Ben are currently living together. It was for the best, she was already unhappy with me for siding with Hunter, and then when Hunter almost blew up the institute... yeah she wasn't happy and my retirement happened a lot earlier than expected." Jaxon sighed. "It's fine though."
"What about grandma and grandpa?" Hunter asked.
"We might want to change our last names sometime too," His father quietly chuckled. "It's fine though, it's all... fine."
Jaxon wasn't lying, it was fine. He felt free almost.
"I'm happy you two got back together. I don't understand how or why you two are mated, though it seems you guys barely even know yourselves..., I'm happy. I was terrified when Ben said he was abusing you, I was scared what almost happened to me, was happening to you that I panicked and went against my better judgment."
Jaxon leaned forward addressing both of them. "And for that, I am tremendously sorry."
"Ok," Zekaj said. "Apology not accepted, let's go."
Zekaj pulled on Hunter's hand standing up but Hunter tugged him back down onto the couch. He wasn't strong enough to pull Zekaj, but it was enough to tell him to sit back down.
"It's not ok. And I'm still upset about it, but I accept your apology." Hunter said. "Zekaj will be angry about it for the rest of our lives and you're just going to have to deal with that probably."
"Yep," Zekaj crossed his arms.
"I'm ok with that," Jaxon said.
"So what now?" Hunter asked.
"What do you mean?" Jaxon asked.
"You can't just sit at home all day like a loser," Zekaj said. "Go out fuck some bitches or something I don't know."
"Well I was offered a job," Jaxon said, both of the Sullivans choosing to ignore Zekaj.
"Really?" Hunter asked.
"Yeah, it's a nice one, just helping out a coven in Wisconsin. That guy you're friends with suggested it... What was his name?"
"Emrys," Zekaj growled.
"Yeah him! Emrys and his mate are moving there too and mentioned there was a job opening." Jaxon said, not noticing the anger from Zekaj.
Hunter for some reason wasn't shocked. Emrys was playing some sort of game and he had no idea what it was. They really needed to charge his phone already.
"So are you going to take it?" Hunter asked.
"Maybe? I don't know. Olivia does want the house and I don't have much use for all of this space..."
Just then Jaxon's phone began ringing, pulling it out of his pocket. Looking at the two on the couch, asking for their permission to answer it. Neither really cared and so Jaxon answered it.
Hunter just leaned into Zekaj, resting his head on his mate's shoulder.
"You what? Say that again." Jaxon said.
There was murmuring coming from the phone that Hunter couldn't hear. Zekaj could and squinted his eyes.
"You see Zekaj across the street? Right now? You're certain it's him?" Hunter looked at his mate confused and then back at his dad.
"You're certain it's him and he's just staring into shop windows so my son must be around somewhere too?" Jaxon repeated what she said.
Hunter looked at Zekaj, realizing only then what had happened.
"What do I want you to do?" Jaxon repeated, looking at the two on the couch for answers.
In a panic, Hunter whispered, "Who is it?"
"Amanda, the bakery owner." Jaxon covered the mic to his phone.
"Get her to get Zekaj inside and wait for us."
"Get Zekaj inside, offer him whatever to get him to stay. I'll be there in a bit." Jaxon and Amanda said their goodbyes and he hung up the phone.
"What is happening?" he asked.
Zekaj pinched the bridge of his nose sighing, "My fucking twin, my brother followed us. I'm gonna kill that moron."
A/N:
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-MEK