“Then don’t think.” Sammy made a step toward the bed, took Jon’s hands in his, the smile on his lips full of affection. “Spend time with your mate, and get ready for the meeting with your family.” He put a finger to his lips. “You’re probably not going to get much rest, but who needs that when you have a mate?” Sammy’s wink could have been suggestive—he no doubt was aiming for innuendo—if it hadn’t been for the genuine excitement in his voice. His brother’s mate was too innocent for his own good.
Jon leaned a bit forward, tugging on Barion’s arms around his torso, to squeeze Sammy’s hand. “I know I don’t need rest. Thank you, Sammy, Dre.”
“You’re welcome.” Dre dragged Sammy away from the bed. “Come on, mo grah thu. We need to tell the others.”
“They’re going to be so excited!” Sammy snuggled up to Dre, who was opening a rift for them to step through. “Should we ask Dad to meet us at this wonderful café in Sweden? Somehow I have a hankering for their hot chocolate.”
“Whatever you wish, mo grah thu.”
The rift closed and Barion and Jon were alone again.
“Phew, that was intense.” Jon was leaning back against Barion’s chest, his dark hair caressing the scales.
“Too much?”
“No. I love Sammy like a brother, and Dre has become a good friend. It’s just—” Jon started playing with the fingers on Barion’s right hand. “You know, I came to Beaconville to escape my nosy family, to find peace and quiet and time to myself.”
“And now you have a mate, another nosy family and no peace and quiet.” Barion made sure Jon could hear the amusement in his voice.
“The mate I don’t mind at all, quite the contrary. I still can’t believe I found you, that we found each other. The nosy family I almost instantly got upon arrival in form of the book club. I still have the suspicion Mavis and Maribel are reporting back to my Grann.”
“What makes you think so?” Barion was genuinely interested, as he never had much contact with witches before Dre had met Sammy.
“Well, as my Grann likes to say, the world of majik is small and she, as well as Mavis and Maribel, have dropped some hints that they know each other. My Grann also knows Waaseyaa.”
“It seems to me your Grann knows a lot of people.”
“That she does.” Jon sighed. “It’s nice to know she’s looking out for me, even if it annoys me sometimes.”
“Family.” Barion started tracing the markings on Jon’s torso with his finger. That was so much better than talking about relatives and all the horrors they could bring upon an unsuspecting demon or zombie. Jon was obviously very much on board with getting physical again, because he started squirming against Barion’s body, causing his cock to go from interested to eager within seconds. Well, it was their honeymoon, so to speak, and with Sammy and Dre taking care of his side of the family and the visit to Grann looming on the horizon, they had the day to themselves.
A few eventful hours later, they got up for something to eat. Out of habit, Jon checked his email while Barion was distributing the Kroppkakor he had gotten from a restaurant in Smaland—Sammy’s mention of hot chocolate from Sweden had given him a hankering for the dish—on two plates.
“Holy ancestors!” Jon’s scream had Barion almost dropping the plates on his way to the coffee table in the living room. He narrowly managed to balance the dumplings before they went on a journey downward and hurried over to Jon, putting the food safely down.
“What’s wrong, iubit? Are you hurt?”
“No, but holy crap on a cracker, look at this!” Jon gestured at his screen where an email was open. It took Barion a moment to realize what he was reading.
“That’s from Endless Horizon. The Endless Horizon? Please tell me it’s what I think it is!” He had grabbed Jon’s arm and was shaking it wildly. His wonderful mate reciprocated by digging his fingers into Barion’s wrist.
“It’s definitely the Endless Horizon, one of the biggest gaming companies out there. I’ve worked with them before, so I can tell this is genuine.”
“And they want Demon Wars?” Barion was re-reading the mail for the third time.
Dear PLM and Big B,
We are great fans of your channel and have been following the reviews for quite some time—using them ourselves, we might add. With greatest interest have we noted your idea for a brand-new computer game. We love the idea, the story building, the way you’re planning to create it and let’s just say the first two avatars you’ve introduced are brilliant. We would like to offer our assistance in your endeavor so it may reach the greatest heights possible.
Please contact us at your earliest convenience,
With best regards,
Jim Dalton and Annabelle Lee
CEOs of Endless Horizon
“Endless Horizon wants Demon Wars. How incredible is that?” Jon was vibrating next to him. “What do you think? I mean, we could do this on our own, but having somebody like Endless Horizon backing us? It’s a huge chance.”
