Chapter 473
King of the Underworld
Adrik
“It feels different,” I said, trying to think of how to describe it. “There’s always warmth to everything I feel
from you, which is why it was so easy to pick up on it when it was Viktor’s sadness. It’s like the warmth
you feel when you think about how much you love me. That warmthes with everything else. But
when it’s your demon, it’s like a red hot fire feeling to it. It’s feisty. It’s like a f**k you element to
whatever it is you’re feeling. It’s both intimidating and adorable at the same time,” I said, getting lost
watching her eyes change from amber to green.
“From now on, whenever they use me of being extra spicy, I’m just going to tell them it’s my demon
and I have no control over it,” she said, grinning at me.
God, I love her.
Stephen and Viktor were gone when we came back downstairs, but the Wonder Twins were in the back
room with Ivan. They were trying to decide on what movie to watch. Sephie had asked me to make her
some coffee before we came downstairs. She was still trying to get warm from being outside in the cold
for so long. She ran to Andrei while she waited for me to make the coffee.
“Bubba, I don’t understand how you’re totally fine in just a t-shirt right now, but please share that with
me,” she said, curling up next to him on the couch as he threw his massive arm around her to try and
help warm her up. He did enjoy having something special with her; his wide smile stretched
across his face as she settled in next to him.
“Wanna experiment?” Ivan asked me.
What did you have in mind?”
“Seeing if we can make her warm again. She did say she’d never turn down a heat boost from us,” he
said,ughing.
“Deal,” I said. I could feel Ivan’s anger rising, so I matched his and we both hit her with a wave of
anger. I expected her to be surprised by it, but she just giggled. It was Andrei and Misha that were
surprised. Andrei, especially. He was immediately worried I was mad she was sitting next to him.
She caught on to what was happening almost instantly, “Don’t worry, Bubba. They’re trying to
experiment to see if they can warm me up again. You’re not in trouble,” she said, wrapping his arm
around her shoulders tighter. He visibly rxed.
“I love how extreme levels of anger just make you giggle now, gazelle. It’s enough to cripple anyone
else, but you just think it tickles,” Misha said,ughing.
Sephieughed, her smile brightening the room. “It wasn’t even that high. They both held back,” she
said. She looked at Ivan, then me, saying, “it did work though. I feel much warmer now.” She was still
smiling, her cheeks now rosy pink.
I made her coffee just the way she liked it and went to sit on one of the couches. Sephie hugged
Andrei’s arm saying, “I love you, Bubba, but I gotta go now.” She hopped up and quickly moved beside
me, curling up beside me. I had to admit to feeling incredibly happy that she decided to move.
“How long have Viktor and Stephen been gone?” I asked, leaning over to kiss her temple as I pulled
her even closer to me. I still felt like I didn’t want to be any farther from her than absolutely necessary.
She clearly felt the same as she got up and put herself in myp, leaning back against me. She
wrapped my arms around her, crossing her legs in between mine. I could feel her satisfaction once
she’d arranged herself just the way she wanted.
“Only like ten minutes when you guys came back downstairs,” Ivan said.
“Did he say anything to you, Squish?” Sephie asked quietly.
“He did. He said the way you exined everything made him finally understand it from our point of
view. It’s one of your best traits, princess. You always know what to say,” Ivan said, winking at Sephie.
I could tell she grinned at him when I saw his face soften. Andrei looked at Sephie, silently asking how
she’d exined everything to Viktor. I could see both him and Misha concentrating on what she was
telling them, trying to be quiet in case they came back out.
“You’re so smart, gazelle. I never would’ve put that together,” Misha said.
“Don’t underestimate yourself, my adorable Russian guardian. I only thought of it because of something
he said to me first. You’re very wise. Don’t think I’ve forgotten that you nailed why our demons were
quietst night,” she said. He grinned at her. “Now, enough talking. Somebody decide on a movie
already.”
Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g
Iughed quietly, squeezing her a little lighter. I could feel how much lighter she was since her talk with
Viktor. It was infectious, Our talk in the shower helped my demon calm down as well. I was much less
irritated about the whole situation, which was a huge relief. I could feel the relief from the three guys as
well at knowing that Viktor was finallying around to feelingfortable with everyone once again.
The movie had barely started and Stephen and Viktor walked back in. It was obvious how much better
Viktor looked this time after Stephen helped him. Not just because he was a willing participant this time,
either.
They both found ces on the couches and settled in with everyone else to enjoy a few hours of being
able topletely rx. Halfway through the movie, Sephie moved to stretch out in between me and
Ivan. Her head was in myp, her feet in his. I knew she wasn’t going to stay awake until the end of the
movie. It took maybe ten minutes and she was sound asleep in between us.
He nced at her after she’d fallen asleep,ughing at her. “Guess she’s warm enough again,” he said
silently.
“I think your experiment worked. It’s good info to have, given that she gets cold so easily,” I responded.
He nodded in agreement, focusing on the movie
once more. ~
I tried to focus on the movie, but I found my mind wandering to everything else. I was anxious to talk to
Dario again, worried that I’d missed something the first time. I was also starting to get impatient with the
situation with the mayor and the policemissioner. It definitely helped to speak
to the mayor, as well as the DA,st night, but I wanted that situation over with. As much for the people
of the city as for me. They deserved to have people in office that were working for them, not against
them.
It might’ve been somewhat selfish of me, but I preferred the people of the city to be well taken care of.
They left my organization alone that way. When the people were happy, when there was order in the
city, everyone thrived. Business owners gave back to themunity. People ignored more of the illegal
side of things. That side would always be there, whether I was in charge or not. People would always
turn to outside means to escape whatever it was they were avoiding facing. I just wanted to make sure
it was regted.
All the dealers in the city had standards, especially those that were working for Trino. His dealers
helped bring the standards up for the rest of the city’s dealers. It was a business, after all. The longer
you kept your customers alive, the more money you could make off of them. The drugs that Trino would
send were pure, meaning less side effects. His dealers would only sell in small amounts, to keep
overdoses from bing toomon. Other dealers caught on to how much more money his dealers
were making and changed their own rules.
Sometimes, the love of money could be used for the benefit of the people. I knew if Sal and Ricardo
were to take over, those rules would go out the window. They didn’t care about the people. One look at
Sal’s area of the city would tell you that. His area used to be booming. Now it was all but abandoned.
The entire city would turn into that if I didn’t stop them.
Sephie stirred slightly, breaking me free from my thoughts. She didn’t open her eyes, but I heard her
voice in my head. “You’re all over the ce. What are you thinking about?”
I smiled at her, feeling guilty that I had disturbed her sleep. “Nothing important. You somehow manage
to always break me free from my thoughts, even when you’re sleeping.”
She found my hand,cing her fingers through mine. She still hadn’t opened her eyes. “You have a lot
more on your mind than I do at any given point. I don’t want you to be stressed.”
I picked her hand up, kissing the back of it. “I love you, Sephie. More than I ever thought possible.”
She finally opened her eyes, revealing their deepest depth of the ocean blue. She smiled sweetly at
me. “I love you, Adrik.”