A Demons Mate

Hard at work

After gathering up everything that she needed, Serena made a dash for the library. It was the only room with a big enough table for her to spread out and shut the nosy staff out. She made quick work of separating her creations into piles when she remembered one very important thing.

'I don't have any boxes!'

'Is there a problem, my mate?'

Serena gasped at the voice and hoped that she hadn't just broadcasted everyone's gift to a certain nosy demon.

'How much have you heard?'

'Not much, just that you are currently in a panic over boxes.' The tone left her to think that he believed that it was a foolish thing to be worried over.

'It is a panic. I can't wrap what isn't in a box. That a huge hole in my plan.'

'Perhaps you should plan better next time.'

'Why do I get the feeling that you are enjoying this?'

'I don't know what you mean, my mate.'

'Sure you don't.'

Suddenly, the door to the library opened to let the butler in. Serena screeched like a banshee and ran to shove Sebastian back out of the room. To his credit, the demon did move when she pushed him.

"Out! Out! Out!" She kept pushing until they reached the hall and slammed the door shut behind her. "That's not funny. I don't appreciate the blatant attempt at trying to sneak a peek at what I'm doing."

"You expected me to not be curious?"

"No. I just expected you to be better about trying to find out."

The demon jerked back.

"I was trying to see what size boxes that you required." She continued to stare at him. "Besides, this is very unnecessary. It is not proper for you to gift to anyone other than your mate."

"Really? I'll apologize then. Because, I'm still passing these out."

Sebastian growled a little but Serena just shook her head. "That's not going to work."

"Very well. Since you insist on doing this, what size box do you need?"

She held up her hands to give dimensions.

"You're very serious about this."

"Gift giving is serious business. You have to find something that the person will like, then there is the box it's in, the paper it's wrapped in, the ribbon." She waved her hand. "There's a lot of thought involved in this and everything has to be perfect."

"I see."

Sebastian used his senses to make sure that there was no one nearby and waved his hand. He held out the boxes she needed in one and a roll of plain paper in the other. Serena blinked at the items that appeared from nowhere and smiled. She took the paper and looked at it for a moment.

"I suppose you don't have wrapping paper in this time."

"This is wrapping paper."

"Oh, well. I can make it work." She set the roll down and took the boxes. Leaning on the tips of her toes, she kissed his cheek. "Thank you. Now, go away."

The demon blinked at her as she made a shooing motion to him. She waited until he was down the hall a ways before opening the door again to take her bounty inside. He knew that he could easily rush back and see what this was all about, but feared it would raise his mate's anger.

Serena's head popped back out the door. "Oh, and I'll need to take over your kitchen later."

The head popped back in and Sebastian was left standing in the hall, wondering what that was about. Straightening his tailcoat, the butler went back to his work.

'We're finally making progress. Don't want to tear all that work to shreds.'