Demon and the Mage (Jeongcheol)

Seungcheol

Mate.

Jeonghan was my mate.

Fate hadn't decided to gift me a partner who needed me to care for them, who wanted my protection. No, they'd decided what I really needed was a lethal fucking mage who could drain the blood from multiple supes at the same time. A guy who argued with me about everything. Someone who I simultaneously wanted to throttle and fuck.

Someone who was a liar who'd used and manipulated me to save someone who hurt my brother in the worst possible way.

He knew that. He fucking knew who Blaise was to us. I'd seen the resignation on his face as he'd challenged Joshua. He'd known he deserved what was coming. He hadn't even been preparing to fight back.

Of course I couldn't let Joshua hurt him. No matter how pissed I was at him, I would've protected him. Even if Jeonghan wasn't my mate, I owed him for saving my life.

Because I would've died without him there. That was clear. My brothers wouldn't have arrived in time to save me.

My emotions were a chaotic maelstrom as I stalked into our hotel room. Anger at Jeonghan for betraying me warred with gratitude for saving me. I was in disbelief that my mate was so far from what I'd imagined, furious at Joshua for threatening my mate, and consumed by guilt because Joshua hadn't known that.

I couldn't blame him when I'd only just found out.

But the most powerful emotion was one I hadn't been expecting.

Fear.

It was one thing when your mate was an abstract concept. When I daydreamed about it, all the terror that went hand in hand with bonding yourself to another was barely a speck on the horizon. The risk of them being taken from you. Of suffering grief on a whole new level. It was there, but it wasn't something I'd spent long worrying about.

Being faced with the reality though? That was completely different. Because suddenly, that abstract had a face. A name. A body I'd give anything to fuck. A personality that drove me crazy but also made me laugh.

I wouldn't risk marking Jeonghan, knowing the danger it'd put him in. I couldn't.

Jeonghan was Doyoon's polar opposite, which added yet another layer of conflicting emotions to the tornado already ripping through me. It was like fate was taunting me. Mocking me for daring to love someone like Doyoon when I was destined to be with someone who was nothing like him.

Here I was, expecting someone I could cherish and protect, and Jeonghan had already proven he didn't need protecting...nor did he want it.

I jumped in the shower, efficiently rinsing the dirt and blood from my skin. I tried not to focus on the healing bites.

On how fucked I would've been if Jeonghan hadn't been there.

When I stepped out, clothed in the first outfit I could lay my hands on, my brothers and Jeonghan had joined me. Jeonghan leaned against the wall, Vernon mirroring his pose against the door. His arms were folded as he scrutinised Jeonghan. Soonyoung and Joshua had each collapsed on a bed. The latter had his phone in his hand, no doubt updating Seokmin on the situation.

I didn't look at Jeonghan closely. I couldn't. Not yet.

I strode to the window, bracing my hands on the sill as I glared unseeingly. I felt Jeonghan approach behind me. Now that he'd dropped the glamour, there was no mistaking he was my mate. It was taking everything in me to keep my demon under control. He wanted to mark him, make him mine. Tie him to me before fucking into submission.

The wood cracked under my fingers. I couldn't process any of this right now.

It was all too much. None of this was what I'd expected.