198Chapter One
It had started as a good day. A brilliant day even, Justin had gotten a pay increase at work. Not to mention a lovely six figure bonus. And thanks to that well-earned bonus, the last payment on his house had gone through smoothly and without problems. Justin loved working where he did. He was hired muscle, a bodyguard for a Law Firm. It was his job to keep some of the more senior members of the Law Firm safe. A job he did well, very well, due to his other side.
The sun was out shining and it was a warm day, odd as it was still in the last few months of winter. He walked home content with his life. All was well. The flowers were beginning to bloom and the birds were singing, giving the atmosphere a bright and bubbly mood. It was very rare for him to feel as such. He headed home from work to his husbands with a massive grin on his face. He couldn't wait to see them all to tell them the big news.
Yes, you read right, husbands.
Justin was not a normal person, by anyone's standards. He had four husbands. Each very special to him and very unique in their own way. The country in which they lived had very strange laws when it came to marriage. Even more so when it came down to supernatural-human relationships. For those sorts of relationships, the laws were in favour of the supernatural member of the marriage. There were still laws people had to abide by, sure. But they mostly stated that the 'head' of the family had to be able to provide for all of his husbands and wives, both emotionally and financially.
He was not the sole provider. All of his husbands had their own jobs, but he was the big earner. He was without a doubt, the head of his family. He made the rules of the house. Set the punishments for when they weren't kept and enforced them. All within the legal limits. He was strict and firm with the rules and even more so with the punishments, but he was not abusive. A lot of humans made that mistake about demon households. Assuming polygamy meant abuse. The fact was, the rules were there for a reason. To keep the family together and in relative harmony.
The main one, he was about to discover, had been broken.
All the feelings of cheer and happiness drained away as he walked into his house to find a fight. The feelings quickly replaced by rage. Fighting was not tolerated between his husbands. They were all demons and fighting could get very dangerous for everyone involved. Something which he refused to allow as a risk but before he could act on the impulse to crash into the two men and force them to their knees feeling, he pushed it down, wanting to get to the bottom of this quickly before over reacting.
The fighting was fierce and none of his husbands had noticed his arrival. He watched passively, not exactly calm but trying to work out what had happened to disturb the peace and who was to blame.
It wasn't hard to work out.
There was a lot of shouting. Especially from Kieran and Rocco who seemed to be the main pair in the argument. Kieran, the smallest, who had a mop of fiery red hair and a temper to match, and Rocco, who was half Hispanic and was usually the calmest of them all, both were wearing expressions of anger and yelling insults for all they were worth. They looked about ready to rip each other apart. In fact, the only reason the two were yelling at each other and weren't trying to tear each other apart was because his other two husbands were holding them back from each other. Marcus was struggling as Kieran flailed in an attempt to get free of his capture.
"You're a fucking cheating whore!" Kieran roared, his voice angry and hurt. The words caught Justin's attention. A dark feeling ran through him and he didn't miss the tears which were swelling up in Kieran's green eyes. The hurt which filled them, Kieran was really upset with Rocco. Neither Jonathon nor Marcus looked happy, either. Both looked angry and upset, but neither wanted to see Kieran and the fourth, Rocco fight.
'Cheating whore!'
Had Rocco cheated on them? Justin narrowed his eyes as the dark feeling turned into betrayal. Some people thought that being in a polygamist marriage meant you couldn't cheat. That was a false idea. The way the marriage worked was that they were exclusive to the others in the marriage. If another person caught their eye, they had to have the permission of the rest of the family members before doing anything, or at least the head of the household.
Something Rocco definitely hadn't done.
Rocco yelled something back in his own defence, but Justin barely noticed it. Something else catching his attention. There was an unfamiliar scent in the room. Another person was in the corner of the hall. Only a few feet away from him looking a little bloody and beaten up and smelling distinctly of Rocco.
From his position, Justin could guess the man had been trying to edge away from the others to escape but then Justin had come in blocking the only exit. The man, or quite possibly boy was currently staring at Justin in terror. Apparently able to guess his appearance was not a good thing. Justin snarled and looked him over like a piece of meat, measuring him up. The person was human, he was also worryingly young, and very scared.
Closing his eyes, Justin let the rage rise within. The final pieces falling into place. Rocco had cheated on them with a young human. Kieran had found out and now everything was coming out. Justin was going to have to claim a young human into his family. The roar of anger Justin let out echoed in the large house, instantly shutting Rocco and Kieran up.
The room fell into a tense silence, every eye on him. Fear flashing though Rocco's eyes. His husband knew he was in deep trouble now. Justin had always made it perfectly clear, you do not cheat.
For a few moments, everyone stayed still. A whimper from the stranger snapped everyone from their frozen states. Jonathon and Marcus let go of respective captives, knowing they would not dare fight in Justin's presence. Jonathon not so subtly moving away from Rocco. It was clear from the expression on his face Jonny didn't want to be near Rocco at the moment. Justin glared at them all individually, making sure they were sufficiently cowed before making a point of looking at the stranger.
The human looked young. Justin couldn't get over how young he looked. He looked young enough there was a strong possibility that he was still in high school. Which only made the injuries covering him look worse despite Justin's demon liking the look of them. All of the injuries looked like they had been inflicted by Kieran under control. Claw marks covered his body, slashing his clothes open in many places but no burns. His hair was dyed blue and he had matching blue eyes, which were currently wide with terror. The boy reminded Justin of a deer in the headlights.
Looking away from the stranger, he looked back at his husbands. All of them as a whole, before individually. Kieran wasn't looking at Justin at all, instead glaring daggers at Rocco while Jonathon and Marcus were both looking at the floor.
Though every now and again Marcus' eyes flashed up to look at Justin. His muscles tense, likely ready to jump to the stranger's defence in case he went into one of his rages. Justin was a chaos demon and berserker rages weren't unknown but even so, Marcus didn't need to worry about it. He wouldn't harm such a young human. If anyone, the person he would hurt would be Rocco for sleeping with the slut. Part of Justin's mind hissed at himself for referring to the stranger like that. There had to be more here than what first met the eye.
Rocco too was carefully watching him but he was more openly. His hands clenched into fists by his side, looking ready to spring into action but as Justin's eyes fell on him, Rocco looked to the floor. A light blush covering Rocco's face. Justin could smell a mix of emotions pouring from him; anger, guilt and helplessness.
"Is he even legal?" Justin asked through clenched teeth. First things first. Was the law going to get involved when the situation was found out about? Well, more than normal. Humans didn't typically go out with demons for a very good reason.
Rocco nodded but smartly didn't say anything. Kieran flinched, apparently not having considered that. Justin exhaled to calm himself, a torrent of relief running through him. Rocco wasn't that twisted to have targeted a child then.
"I trust you have a good explanation for this," Justin demanded, his voice a low hiss. His tone full of danger, warning that Rocco had dare not lie.
Rocco looked up at him but bit his lip, clearly not able to say anything in his defence for his actions. Justin closed his eyes and mentally counted to ten in his head. Waiting a moment in case the man was able to magic up something but, of course, there was nothing Rocco could say. He had cheated, plain and simple. Just perfect...
"Jonathon, please escort Rocco to the cage," Justin ordered calmly, not missing the way Rocco flinched at the order. Jonathon nodded and gave Rocco a look which dared him to fight back. The cage was simply a cell in the basement. Why they had one wasn't important at the moment, but diffusing the situation was. "Marcus, please take Kieran to his room," he added, not missing how his firebug was looking about to explode still.
The stranger only whimpered when Justin ordered Jonathon to take Rocco away. Justin watched the human in the corner of his eye as the stranger began moving towards the door again, no doubt hoping to make an escape while everyone was distracted. Justin turned and glared at him fiercely, pinning him to the spot.
"Do not move from that spot!" he ordered with enough power and dominance in his tone to make even a power senseless human behave. For good measure, he made the front door slam shut and key lock. This was his house and he could control it to a point.
The stranger froze, stinking of fear but nodded. Justin turned to see Kieran stomping up the stairs, not bothering to wait for Marcus, simply storming off to his room on his own. Orange hair flashing in the sunlight which came in through the windows before disappearing around a corner.
Marcus sighed tiredly but followed. Not before giving the stranger an odd look, however. Lust flashed in Marcus' eyes, but it was gone just as quickly. Some people could control their powers and Marcus was not one of them, but it gave Justin an indication of how Marcus felt about someone. Marcus could sense other people emotions and could work out if someone was trustworthy or not. Which was why he was the best one to calm Kieran down.
Kieran was really hurt badly by this. Kieran and Rocco had come into the family together, having been married before meeting the Justin and the others. Kieran had fallen for Justin and had brought, well, dragged Rocco with him, not wanting to give up his mate. He had been the one to persuade Rocco to take the vows to get married to all of them, instead of staying exclusive to Kieran. They were still very close, sharing the same bed most nights and to outsiders, they were very much a 'couple'. Or at least had been.
"Justin, please..." Rocco said, his tone begging as Jonathon pulled him towards the stairs to the basement. He wasn't really fighting but he was looking at Justin with his big eyes, begging him not to hurt the human.
"I won't hurt him, Rocco," Justin stated calmly, knowing what Rocco's fear was. He really needed to sort out his husbands' opinions on his rage and the idea that he would hurt people who didn't deserve it. Rocco no doubt wanted more reassurance, but he wasn't getting any more reassurance than that. "He's not leaving this house, but I won't hurt him," Justin promised.
Rocco looked reluctant but let himself be dragged away. Finally, Justin turned back to the stranger, walking over to the small human. He loomed over the injured boy, the stranger trembling. The young man had remained still but was looking desperately at the door over his shoulder like he wanted to bolt.
"Can I just..." the stranger gestured to the door.
Justin shook his head. "You know as well as I do, things are not that simple little one," Justin said deeply before deciding not to take the risk of the human running away. Bending over, he swept the stranger up and over his shoulder, wincing at how light he was. Too light, Justin mused, they were going have to fatten him up.
The stranger yelled in surprise and struggled lightly, but Justin's grip on him was firm and unbreakable. Holding him close, Justin went straight up the stairs to his own room. Kicking the door open, he dropped the young man on his bed.
The second he landed on the soft material, the young man rolled off it and went to dart for the door but Justin was quicker and grabbed the boy's wrist, dragging him back to the bed. Justin threw him on it, pinning the human to the headboard. The human struggled, trying to get free, but Justin kept his grip firm.
"Stay still," Justin ordered through clenched teeth, annoyed by the struggles. The human knew Justin was stronger than him and the law would be on his side now. The law favoured the demons when it came to the next thing that had to happen but did allow for the fear a human would feel.
"Fuck off!" yelled the stranger, still desperately struggling against him.
Justin growled warningly. He would have struck the human if he had been any older, but he could smell the fear rolling off the boy. Justin could also hear the boy's voice wavering like he was about to cry. He was cursing from panic not insolence.
"Please just let me go home!" the boy finally broke down and sobbed, his head banging against the wall.
"No. I cannot. If Rocco's been sleeping with you, you belong to us now and until you know the rules you are not going anywhere," Justin said calmly into the boy's ear. The stranger still struggled but it was only a token effort as Justin simply held him to the headboard. Slowly the boy went limp; the only movement from him was shuddering, as he sobbed lightly.
Slowly Justin let go of the young man, watching as the boy slid down the board and curled into a ball at the head of the bed. He was too young for this. Justin would have to allow for that, he couldn't baby the human either. For the things which had to happen next, Justin had to think of the human as an adult, not a child. That didn't change the fact he was a young adult, still extremely inexperienced.
Stroking a hand through the boy's hair, he moved off the bed to the chest at the foot of the bed. Knowing the boy wasn't about to do anything stupid. At least, not yet anyway. Rooting through the chest where he kept his more kinky toys as well as his restraints, Justin grabbed a collar and some chains before he moved back to the man.
"Come on," Justin said gently, shaking the human to get him to uncurl from his ball of misery. The young man looked up at Justin and the restraints and curled up tighter, hugging his knees to his chest.
"Please," begged the boy, his voice small and barely audible.
Justin shook his head as he hooked the chain through a loop on the wall. It was there for the purpose of tying up his husbands when they were feeling kinky. Using it for this felt wrong, but he had no other choice, he couldn't let the man escape before the claim had been placed. He attached the chain to the collar like a leash and locked it with a pulse of magic, binding it so only he could remove it.
"Come here," Justin asked softly, patting the bed, already knowing the young man wouldn't but hoping he would. The boy didn't move but didn't fight as Justin gently pulled him over. Justin moved him so the young man was between his legs, with his back to Justin's chest. Slowly, Justin fastened the collar around the slender neck, careful not to put it on too tight. With a final click, it was done.
Justin wrapped his arms around the young human, trying to be comforting. It was hard. He wasn't really a cuddling type and his only real dealings with humans consisted of punching them or throwing them out of the buildings. So Justin decided to follow his instincts and treat him like he would treat Kieran or Jonny after a nightmare, carefully and tenderly. This was no doubt like a nightmare to the young man.
Resting his head on the man's shoulder, he closed his eyes and counted to ten. Deciding the way he was going to deal with the situation and praying to whatever god or higher demon would accept his prayers, that it was the right way. After all, thanks to the laws about human-demon relationships, they, as in Justin's household, now legally owned the young human as a pet. He now owned the one who had been sleeping with their husband.