Demonic Po*nstar System

Chapter 1066: Hi

Luna stared at him. Her gaze dropped to the beautiful woman in his arms, then shot back to his face.

“What the fuck?”

Silver light poured over the cliff behind her. Aria came sweeping across the treetops on a stream of moonlight, her hair shining around a face so cold that Yunohana’s arms tightened around Kaiden’s neck. A broad crescent burned beside the Moon Valkyrie’s raised hand, ready to cut through whatever stood between her and him.

“Kai!”

Nyx followed with Calypso, Bastet, Alexandra, and Alice held aloft by her spatial power. She carried them over the shattered fence behind a curved barrier, Calypso’s axe already in hand while gold and white magic lit the others around her.

The guards hurried their captives away from the landing ground. Even with Kaiden standing unharmed at the cave mouth, his family’s gathered power could have torn the yard apart.

“Are you hurt?” Luna demanded.

“I’m fine. We both are.”

Her Stormblade dissolved as she crossed the space between them. She caught his face in one hand, turning it toward the lamps while her eyes searched his skin.

“Then what the fuck happened?”

Her palm was trembling against his cheek.

Kaiden’s delight faltered as he felt it. She had come looking for him with her sword drawn, expecting to have to fight for him, and seeing him smile hadn’t yet been enough to make her believe he was safe.

He turned his face to kiss her palm.

“I’m okay, Luna. I promise.”

She held his gaze, breathing hard. When her fingers finally loosened against his cheek, he smiled at her again with such warmth that she looked furious with him for it.

“You scared the shit out of us.”

“I’m sorry. The date turned a bit more eventful than I’d planned.”

Behind her, Aria’s crescent dissolved into silver motes as she descended. Nyx set the others down beside her, keeping her barrier up until everyone had clear footing among the wreckage.

Alice hurried to his side as soon as her feet touched the ground.

“Big Brother!”

She caught the sleeve of the arm supporting Yunohana’s back and pressed close, looking up into his face. Kaiden turned toward her with a reassuring smile.

“I’m fine, Alice. You can stay right here.”

“I’m going to.”

Beside his sister, Alexandra was studying the pair with restoration light warming her palms.

“Kai, if either of you needs healing…”

“We’re both alright, my protector. Thank you.”

The light faded as the maid let out a shaky breath. She had come ready to treat wounds, and the relief of finding them both unharmed made her smile.

“The yacht captain called the estate,” Nyx explained. “He said there’d been gunfire, and that you’d both entered an unknown dungeon and still hadn’t come out. We tried calling you on the way here, but couldn’t get through.”

Her composure thinned at the sight of the cave behind him.

“That was rather a lot to hear when we were expecting a sunset date, Kai.”

He looked past Luna at the armed women gathering around him. They had come straight here, ready to follow him into whatever they found beneath that cliff, and he wished he had thought to send them a message while he was at headquarters.

“I am sorry too,” Yunohana added. “We found something quite unexpected on the island of my choosing, and became rather distracted.”

Luna looked at the arms still wrapped around Kaiden’s neck.

“I can see that.”

“That wasn’t quite what I meant.”

The shrine maiden tried to sit a little straighter in his arms, then discovered that doing so brought her face closer to his. Kaiden watched her with such obvious pleasure that the rest of her explanation deserted her.

“Kaiden…”

“Hm?”

“You’re making it difficult to explain.”

“You’re doing very well.”

“He’s grinning,” Luna informed the others. “We came here ready to murder people, and the bastard’s grinning.”

“My beautiful girls dressed for war and rushed here to save me. How could I be anything but overjoyed?”

He meant it so plainly that Luna’s next complaint caught in her throat. Keeping one arm beneath Yunohana’s knees and the other behind her back, Kaiden bent his head toward Luna.

“Could I have a kiss?”

“No. Shameless bastard. Put your face away.”

Kaiden didn’t do anything of the sort.

“Gh… Fucker…”

Luna tiptoed to kiss him, hard enough to make him laugh against her mouth. When she drew back, her hand caught the front of his shirt and stayed there.

Still in his arms, Yunohana hid an amused smile against his shoulder.

“Don’t do that again,” Luna told him.

“Worry you, or ask for a kiss?”

“Kai.”

“…Alright.”

Yunohana looked from Luna’s grip on him to Aria, who had stopped beside them with her hands held close to her chest. The silver-haired beauty was watching Kaiden so intently that the shrine maiden’s teasing smile softened.

“I think I can walk from here,” she murmured.

Kaiden lowered her until her shoes touched the gravel, keeping a hand at her back while she found her footing. She thanked him with a kiss on his cheek, then stepped aside for Aria.

“My beautiful moon…”

Aria came into his arms before he could say anything else. He caught her around the waist, holding her against him while she pressed her face into his neck.

After racing here expecting a fight, Aria needed a moment to feel him breathing. Her fingers gripped his shoulders while he held her, and relief left her unwilling to move even far enough to look at his face.

“I’m here,” he murmured, kissing her hair.

“Mm.”

He rubbed her back while Luna remained attached to his shirt. Beyond them, weapons lowered as the others came closer, the harsh light of their gathered magic fading from the broken machinery.

Alice tugged at the sleeve she was still holding.

“Big Brother, you were supposed to be on a date.”

“I was.”

“With her.”

“Yes.”

His sister looked from Yunohana to the wrecked conveyor and the gunmen being held under guard.

“Why does it look like this?”

Yunohana opened her fan.

“We found a rather unpleasant operation taking place here.”

“And dealt with it,” Kaiden added.

Aria lifted her head from his shoulder. He brushed a loose strand of silver hair away from her face, smiling when she leaned into his hand.

“Then we went to see Mom.”

Luna’s grip loosened on his shirt.

“You what?”

“We went to see Mom.”

Nyx looked toward the cave, then back at him.

“You called her?”

“No. We had tea in her bedroom.”

The women around him fell silent. Even Alice loosened her grip on his sleeve to turn toward Yunohana, looking for an explanation from the other person who had apparently joined this visit.

“Lady Ashborn was very kind to me,” Yunohana confirmed, smiling behind her fan.

“My mother,” Alice said. “In America.”

“That’s the one.”

Luna looked up at the cliff, then toward the sea beyond the trees. Kaiden could see her trying to make the island, the cave, and his mother’s bedroom belong in the same explanation.

He was enjoying himself terribly.

“How?” Nyx asked.

Still holding Aria close, Kaiden turned toward the cave entrance.

“Would you like to come see?”

It was time to evolve!