“He’s in there.”
“We’re going to go play.”
“Outside.”
They shifted and ran. Castor didn’t get a chance to yell, “Get back here,” before they cleared the front door. The little buggers were fast. Well, hell, they were cheetahs. Castor inhaled again, making sure. The scent definitely told him his mate was behind the door to the torture chamber. Flinging open the door, Castor held his arms wide and said loudly, “I’m here from Cloverleah to rescue you.” He expected his mate to fall into his arms. After all, that’s what they did, right?
A very harried looking wolf who smelled of mate shoved a screaming baby in his arms. “Here! This is yours.”
“But I haven’t known you long enough.”
Giving him a dirty look, the wolf turned to pick a screaming one year old out of a crib.
Castor stared at the red screaming baby in his arms, “I’m sure he shouldn’t make that sort of noise. What’s wrong with him?”
“He’s a she and there’s nothing wrong that a diaper change won’t fix. The stuff is in the corner on the changing table.” And his mate turned his back on him, crooning at another wailing baby. “It’s okay, Tommy. Terry didn’t mean to hit you on the head with a toy. He was just trying out his throwing skills.” His mate gave the third grinning baby hanging on to the side of the crib a filthy look. The baby, probably Terry just grinned wider showing a single tooth.
Castor tried joggling the baby in his arms. Anything to make her shut up. “Are you okay?” He asked the wolf. After all, this was his mate. It was Castor’s duty to make sure he was okay. That’s what mates did, didn’t they?
“Do I look okay?”
Biting his tongue, Castor decided that answering that he looked like all the demons of hell worked him over wasn’t going to win him any points. “Is everything I need over there?”
“I said what you need is there,” His mate snapped. Okay, not an auspicious beginning to the mating. But the screaming was starting to make his ears hurt. If these kids needed a job, Hades could probably use them in the pits to torture others. Come on, he chided himself. It can’t be that hard to change a diaper. Oh, my fucking gods. Castor tried breathing through his mouth, but that didn’t help. He’d got the diaper open, but oh wow, there was no way anything living could make a smell like that. He tried, because my gods he needed to keep his cool around a clearly stressed mate, but Castor couldn’t help it. It shouldn’t be that hard to change a diaper. But, Castor gagged, and then gagged again and before he could do anything about it, he’d lost his lunch, just missing the now grinning infant.
His mate took away the diaper from hell, cleaned up his vomit and handed him a glass of water, all without saying anything. By the gods, the silence was blissful. Castor looked at the three in the cribs. Angelic. No one would ever suspect that those angels were ruling demons in disguise.
A blond boy came into the room. “Wes? We have a yard. And trees. And everyone is out there playing. I can’t get them back in. Who are you?”
The last was addressed to Castor.
“Well, I was supposed to rescue Wes. I thought the landscaping was a bit sparse, so I did the yard.”
The little bear glared at him. “Is it safe?”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to go watch them. Zeke is hanging from a tree and the triplets are zooming around the yard knocking everyone down that gets in their way.” The bear gave Castor a dirty look as he left the room.
His mate had clearly finished tidying up and sagged into a chair. Castor clicked his fingers and handed the stressed wolf a beer.
“What’s this?”
“Your fucking beer the terrible trio said you requested.”
“Shit, I didn’t think they heard that.”
The oldest toddler sat up and babbled something.
“I think he’s trying to say shit.” He pointed out as his mate took the beer.
“I’m not cut out for this.”
“Well, also I’m your mate.”
“I know.” The wolf sighed. “I wanted a mate so bad. It’s just… I’m too da…tired to care. How do parents do this?”
“No clue. I could go ask mine if you want.”
“Not right now.” A beautiful smile crossed his mate’s face as he took a sip. “Oh, this is so good.”
Castor coughed to clear his throat. “Sorry about the throwing up.”
Wesley, because it had to be Wesley waved the beer bottle in Castor’s direction. “I did the same thing the first time. That little sweetheart is hiding a biological weapon somewhere. Oh, gods… I still have to make dinner. This kid thing is never ending.”
With a flick of his fingers, Castor said, “Taken care of. I take it they like burgers and fries? Done. I added a picnic table to the new yard so they have somewhere to eat.”
“That works today.”
Castor watched Wesley as the wolf closed his eyes. For a wolf shifter, Wesley wasn’t overly tall, and he didn’t have much muscle on him, although that could have a lot to do with being underfed. Castor still ached to touch the silky-smooth skin and run his fingers through Wesley’s tangled mop of blond hair.
“I really am here to rescue you,” he said quietly after a long moment of companionable silence. “Your pack searched everywhere. All the gods were called, even Thanatos himself, so I was told. Everyone was trying to find you, until they realized you had to be in the Underworld. Not wanting to bother Hades, seeing as he’s newly mated and all that, they called on my brother and he called on me. And here I am.”
“We’re in hell?” His wolf shot to his feet. “What the hell? How on earth, no it’s fucking hell, how in the hell can someone, even the dark ones think to put kids down here. Living kids. Innocent kids. I mean, what the hell?”
“No. No. Sit down. You look exhausted.” Castor crossed his legs and waited until Wesley sat down again, taking a long swig of beer. “You’re not in hell as such, you’re in the Underworld, in a weird bubble world the Dark Elves created for storage. You and the kids are the only ones here. I promise you, they’re safe out there playing and I gather from the way they almost trampled me, they haven’t done that in a while.”
“No. They haven’t. Ha. They found me one day, not that long ago. I’d been kept in a cave, which was warded like crazy, and then one day the wards just weren’t there anymore, so I started walking, trying to find my way out.” The wolf paused. “I don’t even know your name.”
The demon was pleased he was asked. “Castor. Cass. That works.”
“Wesley, but I guess you know that. Wes for short.”
“That’s a nice name, Wes.” Cass rolled it around his tongue. Yes, he could see himself moaning his mate’s name in moments of high passion, which demons were known for. “Do these need to be fed?” Cass gestured to the babies.
“No.” Wesley shook his head. “I had just finished that when all Hades broke loose. Terry threw something, hit Tommy, which was a damn good throw for a toddler, and then Em started to cry. You walked into an everyday occurrence around here.” Wesley paused and as Cass looked over at him, he was struck with how beautiful his mate’s eyes were. “You know we have to take them with us, right? All of them. You said yourself there’s no one else here and those dark ones killed their parents.”