Little King (Seoksoo)

Seokmin

Seokmin was obsessing.

He'd forced himself to stay away from Joshua for one night. To give the boy time to think, time to process everything he'd found out. Time to process Seokmin, really. It was torture, but he knew it was the right thing to do for Joshua.

Seokmin's demon had raged at the distance, insisting they be close to their mate. One taste of Joshua, and its obsession had only grown.

They had compromised by stalking the boy.

He'd watched Joshua's house the night before, seen another nurse from the hospital come over with what looked like bags of junk food. A female nurse, luckily—Seokmin wasn't sure his demon would have stood by on the sidelines while another male was alone with their mate. Especially considering the other nurse hadn't left until morning.

But he had reminded the demon—and himself—that it was a good thing Joshua had friends, had support. They were not going to be jealous brutes who resented their mate having close ties beyond themselves.

And Joshua was their mate.

He was sure of it now, after the morning before. Touching the boy, hearing his moans, tasting his release—Seokmin had never experienced anything like it in his two centuries of living. His cock hardened at just remembering the look on Joshua's face when the boy came, cheeks flushed with pleasure.

And then there was the moment right before Joshua had fallen back asleep, when he had seen the demon in Seokmin's eyes and not only tolerated it but reached for it. Greeted it with warm, sated eyes and a sweet smile.

In that moment, Seokmin had felt something in his demon release—a tension that had been present since the moment he had turned, suddenly gone.

He had been planning to show himself again tonight (one night away seemed to be his limit at the moment). But then he'd been surprised to see Joshua leave the house, looking beyond delicious in tight black jeans and a baby-blue hoodie under a long dark coat. Seokmin had been tempted to intercept him at the doorway, push him up against the wall, and have his wicked way with the boy.

But that would probably not be in the spirit of "giving space," so instead, he had followed discreetly as Joshua made his way to a bar in town. Seokmin hadn't thought his mate the type to go out much—he had that look of exhaustion about himself that stemmed from overwork, not overpartying—but then again, he didn't actually know much about the boy he and his demon were obsessing over.

That thought raised his demon's hackles immediately. Know enough. Know he's sweet, soft, ours, ours, ours.

He brushed his demon off. Yes, I get it, you're hooked. Now hush.

It grumbled some more at him but ultimately backed down. It seemed to trust now that Seokmin wasn't going to run off and leave Joshua behind. Trust that he was just as addicted to the boy as it was.

Seokmin grew impatient lurking in the parking lot of the bar. What was he even doing? Not for the first time, he chided himself for not giving Joshua his phone number. Such a simple, obvious step he'd forgotten. But the thing was, he hadn't really ever, in all his decades, tried to date anyone—to keep anyone. He had never needed to leave his contact information with a lover, because he'd never intended to return to one.

He spotted a coffee shop across the street from the bar, one that apparently stayed open late. Perfect.

He ordered himself a coffee from the bored-looking barista at the counter and grabbed a table by the window, one where he could easily spot Joshua if he left the bar.

Seokmin had been sitting there over an hour, staring out the window as if the force of his gaze would cause his boy to appear, when someone slipped into the seat across from him. He was about to tell them, without so much as looking over, to find a table elsewhere, when he smelled a familiar scent—cold ocean air and frozen pine.