"Morgan," Kieran says, his voice tentative but friendly.

This is my grandfather's brother?

"Kieran. Is this Sam?"

"Yeah." Kieran steps forward and gestures between us. "Sam, this is Morgan. His brother is... your dad's dad I guess. Morgan, this is Sam."

"Pleasure," Morgan says, reaching out a hand to shake mine.

"Nice to meet you," I say, giving his hand a firm shake.

He's very handsome with a bit of scruff that gives him a more rugged look. He looks like he's in his 30s, but I know he must be much older. His hair is dark blond with a bit of red tint to it. He's about the same height as Kieran, with a slimmer build, and he's dressed neatly in a fitted black jacket over a dark tee and crisp dark-wash jeans. I might find him attractive if he didn't remind me so much of my dad.

Eww. This is weird as hell.

Morgan turns to Kieran and gives him a slow once-over.

"And you're sleeping with her?" he asks Kieran, his brows raised in question.

"Uhh..." Kieran starts to reply, but Morgan swings at him in an instant, his fist connecting with Kieran's face. Kieran's head snaps to the side with the force of the punch and he staggers back a step, bringing a hand up to rub his jaw.

"What the hell, dude!" I say, stepping between them and pushing Kieran behind me. "We may be related, but you don't even know me!"

"I know him," he says through gritted teeth, pointing over my shoulder at Kieran. "And that's enough. Trust me."

He turns his back to us and takes a couple of steps away, his fists clenched at his sides.

"Are you okay?" I ask, looking back at Kieran.

He chuckles slightly and shakes his head.

"It's fine, Red," he says with a smirk. "I probably would've done the same."

"Bloody hell," Morgan says. I look back at him and catch his stunned expression; his jaw is hanging open and his brow is pinched in confusion. "You're... you actually love her."

Kieran nods.

"Fuck." Morgan scrubs a hand over his face. "I need to sit down."

He seats himself on the short cement dividing wall in front of our place and sighs, resting his head in his hands for a moment.

"I guess we should talk inside, yeah?" Kieran asks.

"We can't exactly have this conversation with Zahra around," I say.

"Zahra?" Morgan asks. "Is that your flatmate?"

"Uh... yeah."

"She's asleep." He says it so matter-of-factly. It takes me a moment to realize why—he's an Empath.

And apparently a much better one than me.

"You can sense that?" I ask.

He nods.

"Okay," I say softly. "We can talk in the living room then."

I make my way inside and see a note from Zahra on the counter.

I fed Pumpkin and he's asleep in my room. I know you're dealing with a lot. Love you.

I sigh in relief knowing that I have one less thing to worry about tonight. She's the best.

Kieran sits on the couch and Morgan sits opposite him on the armchair. I shrug off my jacket and sit next to Kieran. He wraps an arm around me and kisses the top of my head.

"I think I hate this," Morgan says, gesturing to Kieran and me and cringing slightly.

"So you guys like, know each other... well?" I ask.

"Unfortunately." Morgan throws his head back and sighs.

"Oh come on, bro, don't be like that," Kieran says.

"You're shagging my grand-niece," he says with a groan. "Apologies if I'm not immediately comfortable with that, especially considering that I do know you."

"So why are you here?" I do my best to change the subject.

Morgan readjusts and leans his elbows on his knees.

"Right. Kieran told me you had a problem and needed backup. Hell of a message he left—'Hey, your brother had a secret love child with a human, who had a child, and now she's in trouble with an Incubus in the States and we could use your help.'"

"I didn't expect you to just show up," Kieran says. "I thought you would at least call me back first."

"You said time was of the essence, so I got on a plane. Here I am."

"Well you're a bit late," I say. "Victor is uh... dealt with."

He raises his brows and looks between Kieran and me.

"Sorry I was too late to help, but I'm glad to hear the threat is handled. And I would've come anyway. I wanted to meet you."

"Oh. Thanks."

I yawn and rub my eyes again. It's been a long day and I'm exhausted.

"You're tired," he says. "Let me help with that?"

"How can you help?"

"An Empath has a lot of tricks." He holds out a palm toward me and another toward Kieran. "Put your hands in mine? Both of you?"

I look to Kieran for confirmation that this is safe.

"You can trust him," Kieran says with a nod.

He puts his hand into Morgan's, so I do the same. I feel more awake by the second and when he pulls away, Kieran slouches back in his seat.

"Whoa shit..." Kieran says shaking his head and blinking hard like he's trying to shake something off. "What did you do, man?"

"I gave you her tiredness," he says with a shrug. A smile tugs at the corner of his lips. "Figured you're a Demon King, you can handle it."

Kieran's head lolls back and he seems to be dead asleep. Morgan snickers and I can't help but join in.

"That really knocked his arse out, didn't it?" he says. "You were quite exhausted."

"Yeah, story of my life." I shrug. "Is that something that... I could do? As an Empath, I mean?"

"Mmm... I don't think so, but I'm not an expert on human hybrids."

"Earlier, you could sense that my roommate Zahra was asleep. How do you do that? Is it because you're 100% Empath?"

"That's part of it. You seem to have the same gift, just at a lower intensity. That's good. You don't want to be sensing everyone all the time anyway."

"You sense everyone at once?"

"Not exactly. I can sense everyone within about a 30-meter radius, give or take."

"Whoa. I can barely tell what someone is feeling when they're right next to me."

"That's a blessing. You don't want the burden that comes with the full strength of Empathic power. Knowing what everyone is feeling all the time can be overwhelming; It's why most Empaths like solitude."

"My dad..." I mumble to myself.

"Your dad?" he asks. "If you don't mind my asking... what is he like?"

"He's uh... serious. Quiet. He works as a corporate psychologist..." I trail off as I realize that it makes a lot of sense now. Dad is half Empath—of course he's a good psychologist.

"Fitting. Your dad, uh... he's called...?"

"Todd," I say. "Do you want to see a picture?"

"I'd love to."

I open my phone and scroll to his contact, then open his photo and hand over my phone.

"Oi, look at that." His eyes crease with a smile that seems both happy and wistful. "He's the dead spit of my brother Patrick."

"Really? Do you have a photo?"

He nods and leans forward to pull his wallet from his back pocket. He takes out a laminated black-and-white photo and hands it to me.

Patrick is unmistakably similar to my dad. His chin is a little sharper and his eyes a little narrower, but he's clearly my dad's father. He looks to be in his thirties in the photo, but I know that looks are deceiving when it comes to supernatural beings.

"Wow," I say. "Yeah, that's my dad's face. This is so weird."

"Weird indeed." He laughs and shakes his head. "So you and Kieran, eh?"

"Yep." I shrug.

"Can you sense it?" he asks, looking at Kieran for a moment. "How crazy he is about you?"

I can feel my cheeks turning red.

"I... I'm not sure. I'm still figuring out my powers. It's all very new to me."

"Well he loves you. Quite a lot. It's the only reason I'm not throttling him." He smirks, but holds it back slightly, like it pains him. "There's just one thing I can't quite figure out."

"What's that?" I ask.

"Why a nice girl like you would fall for this wanker." He tips his head in Kieran's direction and laughs.

As if on cue, Kieran let out a snore that sounds more like Pumpkin than anything human. We both burst into laughter, and I do my best to smother the sound in my palm.

That's my man, alright.

*****

Once I finish brushing my teeth, I step back out into the bedroom to see a still-dead-asleep Kieran. Thank god Morgan helped me bring him upstairs before he left, because there's no chance I could've dragged him to bed myself.

I slip under the covers beside him and stop and watch for a moment.

I just realized I've never seen Kieran sleep before.

He has always said demons don't really need to sleep, so he closes his eyes to rest but never really sleeps. But I guess he's not immune to an Empath hitting him with some heavy-duty narcoleptic tiredness.

His chest rises and falls slowly with each breath. I rest my head against it and listen to the slow thumping of this heartbeat.

He shifts slightly and hums. I look up to see if he's awake, but he seems to still be out. More muffled hums come from his lips and it dawns on me—he's dreaming.

I have no idea what I'm doing, but I decide that I have to try. Who knows if I'm ever going to have the chance again.

I lay down beside him and close my eyes, doing my best to focus on Kieran and his dream.

Come on, Empath powers. Do your thing.

So far I only see darkness, but I keep trying. Kieran managed to keep an eye on my dreams in the back of his mind while he was working, so it shouldn't be too hard to figure this out.

With my eyes still closed, suddenly an entire scene appears around me. I'm in some sort of giant bedroom with ultra-high ceilings. The walls are covered in classic artwork with ornate gilded frames and there's an opulent red rug in its center. The bed is massive and completely gold—the headboard, the comforter, and even the elaborate canopy overhead and the tall curtains hanging from it. The only things that aren't gold are the white pillows.

I guess when Kieran dreams, he dreams big.

Kieran is laying in the bed with a woman by his side and I hear her giggling.

Wait—what if the person he's dreaming of isn't me? This could be really awkward.

"Oh god, Red," he moans.

Oh, okay. That's probably a good sign.

I take a few steps closer and I see that he's wearing a gold crown and... oh! There are actually two people in bed with him.

Oh my god.

"Are you having a threesome with two of me??" I ask with a laugh, stepping up to the foot of the bed.

He jumps slightly at the unexpected intrusion and they all look my way—Kieran, me, and another me. After a second of confusion, the realization seems to dawn on him and he smirks.

"No, no I'm not," he says, starting to laugh himself. His eyes roll back slightly like there's still something going on under the covers.

"Is that so?" I rest a hand on my hip and tilt my head. I can't help at giggle at the ridiculousness of the moment.

There's some movement under the covers and a third Sam crawls out from under the covers.

"Technically it's a foursome." He laughs and looks at the other versions of me. "Wait, I'm dreaming. How the hell am I dreaming?"

"Morgan gave you my tiredness, apparently."

"Oh." He looks at the triplet Sams around him and gives me a smirk. "I'll have to thank him for that."

I think I'm jealous of myself... or my... selves?

I climb onto the bed and straddle him.

"What isn't explained is why you're wearing a crown," I tease, taking the crown from atop his head and placing it on my own. As I look at the other Sams, I realize they're all wearing their own headband-type crowns.

"I am the King of Lust, aren't I? It's only fair."

"And what about them? Why do they—er, I—have crowns too?"

He sits up and rests his hands on my hips.

"You're my queen, Red. Haven't you figured that out yet?"

I gape at him, at a loss for words.

"You asked what I dream about," he continues. "This—you, me, sometimes a few more yous. In a big fancy house, cuddling and fucking, forever."

"Really?" I ask, looking at the other me's like I'm expecting confirmation.

"Sometimes he imagines you have kids too," one says.

I cover my mouth and laugh with surprise.

"Oh fuck." He cringes and his eyes stay pinched shut for a few seconds before opening back up. "Any chance you're also part of the dream and not actually here? 'Cause that would save me a lot of embarrassment."

"Sorry," I tease, giggling. "No such luck."

He laughs.

It's weird; I'm not asleep, but for the first time in a long time, I find myself feeling completely safe in a dream. Maybe it's because I am finally getting the hang of these powers. Maybe it's because Vic is finally gone. But I think a little of it is because I know for certain that Kieran wants the same future I do... albeit his version has a lot more gold furniture.

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