It felt like everything slowed down.
Time was ticking by slower and slower and all Hunter could do was watch as the minotaur lunged at his father. He was frozen in place and couldn't move at all.
Magic filled the tips of his fingers, about to do what? He wasn't sure. But something stopped him, like an itch in the back of his mind telling him it will all be ok.
Suddenly time sped back up and Hunter watched as Volveth wrapped his arms around his father. The impact threw them both to the ground and Volveth's large body was on top of his dad's.
"Ooo that looked like it hurt," Zekaj smiled.
Hunter ran into the room expecting to see the worst. But in fact, what he saw was ok. In a way.
Volveth was speaking complete gibberish but Hunter could hear some sorry's and please forgive me. Volveth was crying all over his father's shirt and Hunter could see that Jaxon had no idea what to do. Not like there was much he could do considering Volveth was a lot bigger than his father.
Zekaj wrapped his arm around Hunter and just looked down at the crying minotaur.
"This is not what I wanted to happen," Zekaj sighed.
"We'll talk about this later," Hunter said, glaring at his mate. Zekaj rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.
Jaxon tried to pull himself away but the minotaur's grip only got stronger.
"I'm so," Volveth sobbed, wiping his face on Jaxon's shirt. "Sorry, please forgive me."
"Volveth, calm down," Jaxon patted Volveth's back, which only caused him to sob even harder.
"I'm so sorry Jaxon," Volveth cried into Jaxon's shirt. "I didn't mean to hurt you."
Jaxon's breath hitched and he didn't know what to do. He hadn't even noticed that he was rubbing his hands along Volveth's back, trying to soothe the demon.
"Volveth, can you get up? You're crushing me."
The minotaur scurried up and immediately pulled Jaxon back into a tight hug. Jaxon was held in the air a couple inches off the ground as the minotaur was taller than him. His feet dangled up in the air and Jaxon couldn't move his arms still.
"Are you going to let me down?" Jaxon asked, listening to the sobs of Vovleth as he cried into his shoulder. He was going to need to change at this point, his shirt was going to be covered in tears and hopefully not snot.
"Not until you forgive me."
Jaxon laughed in the demon's arms. Volveth had grown since he had last seen him. His height was the same but he was a lot larger than before. His hair had grown out longer.
He couldn't get a good look at the demon's face considering he had really only seen it for like a split second before Volveth was barreling him down.
"I really thought we were about to watch a human get trampled by a minotaur," Caroline breathed in.
Volveth swerved over towards Zekaj's parents with Jaxon still crushed up against him.
"I would never hurt him," Volveth stated.
"You can't blame us for being worried," Aegon said. "Though he shouldn't have been in the situation in the first place."
Aegon glared at Zekaj, and everyone in the room looked at the demon.
"Whatever," Zekaj said. "He had it coming."
Volveth frowned and Hunter just sighed. It wasn't going to be easy for Jaxon to earn either Hunter or Zekaj's forgiveness. Though Zekaj was going to be the one to hold the grudge the longest.
"Volveth, please put me down," Jaxon asked again.
Volveth groaned, finally accepting defeat and set Jaxon down. Though he held him by the wrist, thinking hand-holding was a little too much at the moment.
Jaxon examined his shirt and of course, it was pretty much drenched with tears. It was one of his nicer ones as he wanted to make a good impression with Zekaj's parents.
"I'm going to go change my shirt, um" Jaxon looked down at it again. Yeah, there was no way of saving this. "I might need someone to show me the way."
"I can!" Volveth perked up.
"You don't live here," Zekaj said. "How would you know where to go?"
"I have a great nose, If he brought luggage I could sniff that room out easily!" Volveth pleaded.
"You ok with that?" Hunter asked his father.
Jaxon wasn't sure but decided there was no way Volveth was acting like he was upset. Those were real tears.
"It'll be ok," Jaxon said.
Volveth's eyes lit up in excitement and broke out into a sprint with Jaxon right behind him. The mage's arm slipped from Volveth's grip on his wrist but was saved when Volveth tightened his grip right when their hands got to each other.
Jaxon couldn't help but notice they were holding hands now as Volveth sniffed out the room. Volveth was too excited that he finally had Jaxon back to notice.
As the two left the dining hall, Hunter turned towards his mate and his brother. Zekai was staring at the ground. He was hunched over a bit and had his arms crossed. The four-armed demon still hadn't smiled at all.
Zekaj was standing there smugly looking at his mate.
"So, why is Volveth here," Hunter asked.
"Zekaj told me to go get him to talk about what happened on earth," Zekai said in a monotone voice.
"You really thought Volveth would hurt him?" Caroline asked.
"Not necessarily, but it would've been funny to watch," Zekaj grinned.
"He could've been killed!" Caroline said.
"Volveth wouldn't hurt him, I was hoping there'd be a big confrontation, maybe Jaxon says something that would break Volveth's heart. Jaxon feels bad, realizes he loves the guy but oh no! It's too late Volveth left. Ya know?" Zekaj explained.
"So you were trying to produce your own soap opera?" Hunter asked.
"Basically," Zekaj pulled Hunter to his side. "If your wimpy ole dad was in any danger I'm sure someone would have jumped in to save him. Not me though, maybe one of my parents would."
Hunter glared at Zekaj, but the demon couldn't be intimidated by the twink.
*****
Volveth came to a halt right in front of a familiar door.
Their sprint had come to an end and Jaxon was just thankful to finally have stopped running. The mage rested his arms on his knees and breathed in heavily. He hadn't run that fast for a while and it was hard to keep up with a minotaur.
"Was I too fast?" Volveth asked.
Jaxon breathed in before standing up straight. "Yeah a little bit," The mage laughed.
"You won't have to worry about that ever again."
Jaxon's eyes went wide but Volveth acted like he hadn't said anything. Was Vovleth flirting or just a bit dense? When they were kids the minotaur was a little slow with some stuff.
Biting his lip, Jaxon entered the bedroom as the door closed behind him. His suitcase had a couple of other shirts to choose from. After a while, he decided on a nice button up dress shirt that was long sleeved.
Quickly he pulled off his prior shirt tossing it to the side for later. But before he could put a thump in the room made him jump as Jaxon dropped the shirt to the floor.
Volveth was clumsily trying to open the door but was failing miserably. The demon was blushing and acting sheepishly trying to get out of the room.
It was only then that Jaxon realized he hadn't closed the door. He had assumed the door closed behind him but no, Volveth must have followed him in.
"I didn't realize I wasn't supposed to follow," Volveth awkwardly chuckled. "I'm just gonna... go..."
The door snapped open and the minotaur tumbled out. Jaxon heard a thud hit the ground as the door closed behind him.
Quickly, the human put his shirt on and left the bedroom.
Volveth was trying to calm himself down but he could tell he was controlling himself well. Sure his horns were glowing brightly and his eyes were blinding but it was fine.
When the door opened back up, relief flooded his system, calming him down instantly. Jaxon seemed ok and not freaked out like he himself was.
The demon knew seeing Jaxon after so long would be overwhelming but he didn't realize just how much it'd be.
His love for the human hadn't died down at all, in fact, it had only gotten worse.
Jaxon pulled off the father look nicely and hadn't let himself go at all. (Not that Volveth would love him any less.)
Sure technically Jaxon was in his 30's and Volveth was sure he himself was around 19-20 but in human years they were the same age so it was fine.
Well, at least it was fine for him. He just hoped Jaxon felt the same way. Volveth needed the mage in his life. Now that he was back in it there was no way he was letting him slip out of his fingers this time. No more fucking up.
Volveth wanted to be there to help him through any hardships he had. Like how a friend, or lover y'know it could happen..., should be.
"So," Volveth asked awkwardly. "How's life?"
Jaxon wasn't expecting that and didn't say anything for a second.
"Could be better..."
"Yeah, I heard a bit from Zekaj..." Volveth said.
The two didn't talk for a couple seconds after that. It was slightly awkward. Volveth didn't know how to talk to people like this and his therapist made it look so easy.
"I heard about your relationship..." Volveth didn't want to make this obvious. "How's that?"
"It could be better..." Jaxon repeated.
"Yeah yeah, I gathered," Volveth said. "How's the wife?"
"We are well..." Jaxon began. "Getting a Divorce. But it's fine. It's all ok. We had talked about it before."
Jaxon pointed at Volveth's chest. "Don't tell Hunter."
"I won't," Volveth put his hands up as if he were surrendering.
"My daughter is mad at me, not sure If I'll ever repair that bond. She said she wants nothing to do with me so," Jaxon shrugged. "It's fine. It's fine. Enough about me though, what about you?"
"Me?" Volveth asked.
Jaxon gestured to the empty hall and Volveth chuckled awkwardly.
"Well, I went to therapy after my parents were put in prison and I..." Volveth stopped in his tracks and just stared at Jaxon.
"You don't need to, you can skip that part..."
Volveth smiled gratefully and continued on.
"I found my mate but we just weren't right for each other at all. But now we're good friends and I live with her and her wife and kid."
"Do you have a job?" Jaxon asked.
"Well yeah. I work the forge, making jewelry, weapons, anything of the sort." Volveth gestured to the nose ring and earrings he had on. "It makes great money and well I have a lot of it now. If you want to know."
Jaxon wasn't sure, but it almost seemed like Volveth was trying to persuade him with the money. He wasn't sure what for though.
As they got closer and closer to the dining hall Volveth asked something else.
"So are you going to move on from Olive?" Volveth looked at him through the corner of his eyes. Hoping it wasn't too obvious what he was wanting to know.
"Well maybe, if the right person comes around. Why not?" Jaxon answered.
Volveth had stopped and stared down at the mage, his silver eyes glowing brightly. Jaxon stared up at him and took in the minotaur.
The silver markings along his skin, the large tight muscles, and the black hair along his chest. Volveth had grown into his looks.
Though Jaxon wasn't expecting the feelings from so many years ago to come boiling back. It was almost as if they had never left.
"Jaxon I still greatly..." Love "Care for you. I've wished for this day for so long and I don't want to mess it up."
"I understand..." Jaxon stared into the silver eyes.
"Can we please be friends again? I miss you so much. I l-l love you." Volveth stuttered. "As a friend and well..."
Volveth didn't finish his sentence as Jaxon pulled him into a hug.
"I'd like that too," Jaxon smiled.
It was a promise to be friends, and Volveth was happy with that. Though he would try his best to win Jaxon over even more.
Jaxon was still, and always will be, his chosen mate.
No.
His soulmate.
A/N:
NOVEMBER 1ST is a great day to sign up for my patreon! You are charged on sign up day and on the first of every month, (unless you sign up on the first, you will only be charged once.) Because as this news may come as a shocker...
How to Tame a Demon only has 6 Chapters Left
Patreon has the next five and currently the last one is being written.
There is also an Epilogue but its not very long and only sets up the next story.
Patreon.com/Mek_14 (You have to enter this into your web browser as my patreon is marked as NSFW and won't show up if you search. (Unless I'm mistaken??)
It's only 5 dollars a month and you get a NSFW chapter every month that you get to vote on as well as uncensored NSFW parts of How to Tame a Demon! <3
Thanks for reading! <3
-MEK