Page 41 of Devil May Hunt
“Don’t I?” He hummed. “We need to get to know each other. There’s still too much between us.”
“Only one of us got to read files on the other.”
“Would you like mine?” he offered. “I can have them delivered to you.”
Brennon cocked his head. “Really?”
“Fair is fair.”
“There’s nothing fair about this.”
“Of course there is.” He needed to give him an olive branch. During his time at war, Gunho had learned it was better to act first and ask for forgiveness later. Better to defeat and control the enemy than to wait for them to gain the upper hand. He would conquer Brennon Cree the same way he’d won all those battles and earned himself the title God of Death.
Mercilessly.
Without hesitation.
“You’re wrong, you know,” Brennon said. “We aren’t the same. My parents aren’t trying to control me. They don’t care enough about me to bother.”
“We are,” he insisted. “Do you think my grandfather wants me to have a child because he needs great-grandbabies? No. He’s doing it to ensure the family line is continued before he can find a way to rid himself of me.”
“What?”
“My father couldn’t stand the sight of me. My grandfather developed the same reluctance to my presence. I make him uneasy. My cousins like me though, so he can’t banish me from Glyph indefinitely, and an accident would risk his bloodline since Arbor and Avi are unmated and show no interest in settling down any time soon.”
“So, the emperor wants to knock you up, then either kill you or frame you and…what? Steal your kid?” Brennon made a face. “Don’t you think that’s a bit farfetched?”
“I have proof,” he explained. “Trust me. I wish it was an elaborate hoax I was making up.”
But in finding Brennon, Gunho had solved more than one of his problems. By relocating to Vitality, he’d presented his grandfather with an easy out. Because the move was for his mate, there was no reason for his family to doubt him or suspect anything. The old man would be annoyed he couldn’t find satisfaction in having manipulated Gunho, but he’d put aside his dislike and go back to tolerating his existence.
“You’ve done a lot for me,” he said, “and you don’t even know it. I’ve gotten word that public opinion of me back home has improved. Now that I’ve found a mate, the idea that I’m a broken, feral alpha is subsiding. Despite what you might believe, I don’t want to be the only one gaining in this relationship. I needed you, so I secured you at all costs, but now that the fear of you slipping through my grasp is gone, I’m open to discussion on everything else. I can be generous, pretty lover. Set your terms and see for yourself.”
“What?” Brennon was clearly suspicious. He didn’t blame him.
Theirs was an incredibly messy start.
But from here on out, Gunho was dedicated to proving just how much he could care for and keep the younger man. How much he could benefit from having an alpha like him in his life.
“I’ve already made a deal with your parents, now it’s your turn. They’ve sold me their company and their son. I own you. Now, tell me what I need to do to keep you.”
“If I say you can’t?” Brennon asked. “If I tell you I’ll run the first opportunity I get?”
“I’ll advise you against that course of action, and promise that I’ll hunt you down. There’s no corner in this universe far enough or big enough to hide you forever. I will find you, pretty lover, but what about in the meantime? When you’re suffering from being apart from me? When you’re forced to scrounge for food and shelter? When your heat comes and you’re found horny and desperate on the streets? Does that sound like the freedom you claimed to desperately want?”
“No,” he agreed, “it does not.”
“Terms then. Let’s hear them.”
Brennon considered his options for a lengthy moment, and Gunho used that time to drink him in.
He really was pretty, with chocolate hair and eyes that seared him to the bone whenever they landed on him. His full lips were pouty and soft, his skin honey-toned and sexy as all hell covered in Gunho’s love marks.
The bite at the side of Gunho’s neck pulsed and he almost reached for it, stopping himself at the last second. If he drew Brennon’s attention to it now, they’d lose this thread between them and the almost relaxed setting.
“Are you using me just to stick it to your grandfather?” Brennon finally spoke.
“Is that what it sounded like?”
