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Hudson & Henry: Mischief
“Hudsies,” Henry crowed the moment they saw each other across the mansion grounds. “Oh baby Huds, I haven’t seen you in a century!”
Hudson rolled his eyes. “You saw me a week ago, when we were spiking the punch with wolfnip.”
At that, they shared a conspiratorial grin.
It hadn’t been anything bad. Wolfnip didn’t get wolves drunk or anything.
But it might have resulted in Hudson’s boss’ mate sprawled all over him the rest of that day, arms around Onyx’s shoulders, his nose buried in Onyx’s neck while the pups—all four of them—tried to climb into the giant punch bowl and ended up using it as a kiddie pool of sorts.
Aside from orange punch spilled all over the table and the once-pristine marble floors, it wasn’t so bad.
Hudson and Henry met each other halfway through the mansion grounds, stopping in front of each other. Henry turned his head into a caricature of a toy rubber chicken, and Hudson made his eyes and mouth comically wide.
They were cackling even before they returned to their usual appearances.
Onyx and Yaeger shot them identical, distrustful stares.
“I never know if it’s a good idea to bring him along,” Yaeger muttered, almost under his breath.
“We heard that,” Henry said, stepping in to unload the things from Yaeger’s car. “But you love me, Young Master!”
Yaeger sighed in resignation.
When both families were settled in the mansion and no urgent help was needed, Hudson stopped next to his brother, elbowing him lightly in the side.
It wasn’t often that they got to share the same physical space, with them being full-time butlers to families who lived in different parts of town. The text messages and calls made up for it, but being together in person gave rise to a whole other dimension of possible pranks.
“You have to know what I did this week,” Henry whispered.
“I bet mine is more spectacular,” Hudson whispered back.
Hidden in an alcove, they pulled out their phones to compare achievements.
“I put together a scrapbook with Lilian’s pictures from every week up until she turned two,” Hudson said proudly, showing his brother a picture of the leather-bound book. Liem and Onyx’s youngest daughter had just celebrated her second birthday; Alfie was five now, Laurie four, and Michael three.
“That’s nothing,” Henry scoffed. “I invited Yaeggie’s parents to come by right as they were enthusiastically mating and screaming the penthouse down. At the end of it, when they walked out, we each gave them a score based on how well they screamed.”
Henry pulled up a picture of himself and Yaeger’s parents holding up flashcards with the numbers 10, 10, and 7 on them. “Yaeggie was furious. Elson is used to it. Their parents were delighted.”
“That is amazing,” Hudson breathed. Not to be outdone, he pulled up another photo on his phone. “Well, I’ve got better. I made a huge dartboard that goes up on Onyx and Liem’s bedchamber wall, except it’s a dartboard for cum and they have to aim for the bullseye. They’re doing pretty miserably so far.”
Hudson showed Henry a second picture, shaking his head disappointedly. None of the stains were anywhere near the center.
“You should just draw bullseyes further down on the board,” Henry said sagely. “Draw them around the baby batter. Then they’ll get an ego boost because they’ll have mysteriously hit the target on hindsight.”
“I don’t think hindsight works like that,” Hudson said, but he was already marking the idea down on his calendar. “Actually. You know what? I should make a wearable dart board. So Demon Consort Liem can wear it on his body—it’ll be a clear plastic sheet with rings on it—and Demon Master can practice aiming up close and personal.”
Henry whistled lowly, impressed. “You win this round.”
They both snickered.
“We should make that right now,” Henry said, elbowing Hudson. “We have an audience. They will all appreciate it.”
They exchanged a look, eyes gleaming. Hudson grabbed Henry by the arm. “I have supplies.”
They sneaked off to Hudson’s office, where he retrieved a roll of thin, clear plastic and spread it out on the desk.
“The circles should be perfect,” Henry said, already with some string and a marker in hand.
“And I will cut out the bullseye.” Hudson cackled. “How big should it be?”
“Small. They should work on their aim.”
The brothers worked quickly and efficiently, moving around each other with an ease born of years of childhood pranking.
With a flourish, Hudson raised the target above their heads, grinning at Henry through the clear plastic. “It is done.”
“We shall present it. Maybe Yaeggie will want one too.”
They scurried back through the mansion to the basement, where the two families were congregated in the entertainment area.
Henry cleared his throat loudly. “Children! I have an exciting game with presents for you! Come this way.”
All the children followed in their various shapes; dragons, wolves, and human.
Onyx and Yaeger stared suspiciously as Hudson raised the target for their visual inspection.
“What is that?” Onyx asked, looking threateningly at Hudson—not that Hudson was afraid of him at all.
“A gift,” Hudson said. “For you and your Demon Consort. It is… A target cape. Liem? If you would come over here to demonstrate.”
Onyx’s suspicion grew. Liem frowned, but he moved toward Hudson anyway.
“This is a very private matter,” Hudson began. “I will understand if you choose not to participate. But it will serve our purposes if you are the one to display it for Demon Master. It is a cape you wear.”
“A… cape?” Liem began.
“It doesn’t look like a cape,” Onyx said, the wet blanket.
“You will understand in a moment. Liem, if you would kindly bow away from Onyx. Bow deeply.”
Onyx’s eyebrows lowered so much, Hudson could barely see his eyes.
Henry came skidding back into the entertainment area, just in time to see Hudson lay the cape over Liem’s back end, placing the target hole right over his clothed butt.
Onyx made a strangled sound in his throat.
“Oh, gods,” Elson whispered.
Yaeger looked extremely thoughtful.
“What? What is it?” Liem craned his neck, trying to figure out what he was bending over for.
“It’s a target circle,” Hudson whispered. “Your butt is the bullseye.”
He winked at Liem, and Liem choked.
“I can’t believe you did this,” Onyx growled, standing up. But he was hauling Liem over his shoulder, snatching the target cape out of Hudson’s hand.
They disappeared into their bedchamber, doors slamming.
Hudson and Henry exchanged a high-five, then spun around to do the same with their asses.
“I will need one with a bigger hole,” Yaeger said.
Elson buried his face in his hands, his ears bright pink. “Oh, hell.”
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