Demon and the Mage (Jeongcheol)

Jeonghan

Present Day

I was such a fucking liar.

One day, possibly today, it was going to get me killed.

I mean, this wasn't news to me. I'd spent my life hiding something for one reason or another. I'd even done so in situations so risky that, in retrospect, I questioned my sanity. Honestly, I often wondered how I'd made it to the grand age of one hundred and fifty-two with all my limbs intact.

I had to admit that all those other times made my current plan look like child's play. It wasn't every day that you walked into a club owned by the son of Lucifer and proceeded to ask him if you could make a deal to save your brother.

The same brother he would absolutely kill on sight.

Justifiably so, to be fair. When I'd heard that Blaise had killed the mate of a demon, albeit accidentally, I'd tried to track him down to knock some sense into him. With our clan being decimated by ghast attacks, I'd been overseas trying to learn something...anything that might save us. My clan and Blaise were the only family I had, and I'd never been someone who lived in solitude. I needed those bonds, that sense of camaraderie, to keep me grounded.

What I hadn't counted on was Willow, the mate of our clan leader Anya, being taken. It set off a chain of events that would've never happened if I'd been around. And what had it achieved? Nothing. Willow and Anya were dead, the rest of our clan was scattered to the wind, and Blaise had incurred the wrath of the sons of Lucifer. Honestly, I should know better than to leave my twin unsupervised. I definitely got the lion's share of the intellect when it came to our DNA.

Even if Blaise hadn't meant to kill him, you don't fuck around with a supes mate...especially if said supe is the son of fucking Satan. I love my brother. I do. But he can be a fucking moron.

Regardless, he was still my brother. And now, the one thing I'd feared had happened.

Blaise had been taken by the ghasts.

I had to save him. With the few remaining clan members in hiding—like that would do anything to help them—he was all I had left. I'd do anything to protect him, including making a deal with the devil himself.

Or, more accurately, his six foot three, tattooed, square-jawed, looks-like-he-walked-out-of-my-wet-dreams son.

I entered the club with my plan in place. Fortunately, the similarities between Blaise and myself were limited. We were both tall, but where he was bulky, I was all lean muscle. My hair was darker and shorter, always styled, unlike Blaise's unruly mop. The one thing we shared was our grey eyes, but I doubted the demons would notice such an insignificant detail.

While I wasn't concerned with them realising I was Blaise's twin, being a mage would be enough to get the demons' guards up. Which was why I didn't plan on them finding out until Blaise was safely back at my side. I'd used a glamour to hide my true nature, making me appear as an ordinary human. That, coupled with the timid, nervous persona I'd decided to adopt, should ensure that Seungcheol and his brothers never discovered my true powers.

Which were considerable. Not to brag, but that was another reason I'd volunteered to go on the mission to find out what was happening. I was one of the few mages who could go up against any supe and be confident I'd be the one walking away.

Was it shitty to pretend to be something I wasn't in order to get Seungcheol to help me? Possibly. But I'd do almost anything to save Blaise.

When Seungcheol came across the floor to greet me, everything else, including the role I was supposed to be playing, temporarily faded. All I could see, all I could think about, was him. Thick muscled thighs were clad in well-worn dark denim and tattoos wrapped around his arms, peeking out from his unbuttoned flannel shirt. His full lips curved in a dangerous smile and his rich brown eyes smouldered as his gaze roved wantonly over me. His auburn hair was loose, begging me to wrap my fingers through it as I steered him down to my...