Wake Up to Shine
Mortal pets create only problems. But if your lover is Belial, the Prince of Trickery, the Lord of Lust and the Antilight, the chances that he will stop growing his collection of playthings are slim. Adhemar knows it, and the only way to win in this situation is to accept a bet that makes his stomach clench.
The stakes are high but so is the prize, and if he plays his cards well, he will show Belial what little allure mortals hold. Then his demon will resign his plays. Adhemar only needs to find two men with zero probability of falling in love with each other.
Charismatic, successful, and handsome music producer Sam Nuada. A bored dominant man cherishing an impossible ideal of an independent submissive. He doesn’t do contracts, safe words, and scenes. He isn’t clad in leather and despises collaring ceremonies. If he were a king, he would want his first knight. A man who would follow him willingly and at the same time would use his own wits if the situation demands it.
Plain Rick Sherlan whose only alluring trait is his voice. A submissive virgin with a strong desire to please and obey. If Sam were a king, Rick would be happy as his squire, as his servant boy. He would bend over backwards just to hear Sam’s satisfied purrs… if he weren’t plagued by an unhealthy addiction to seeking the longest, most dangerous, and least effective shortcuts to his goals. But it doesn’t matter. He doesn’t live a fantasy full of kings, knights, and pages. He lives a fairy tale… about the ugly duckling. Only in his version, the duckling never transforms into a beautiful swan.
But Love is the strangest god, and events set in motion by the bet, a quiet summer night on San Malo beach, an old song sung in a tenor of unearthly beauty, and one intense physical examination unfold in ways Adhemar would never have seen coming.
Sam takes Rick in hand quite literally, and the feedback he provides to his young charge is… rather physical in its nature. Domestic discipline rules, ideals blur, and hearts speak.
And when Adhemar’s own past and his longing for the stage kick in, when fascination with the dynamics between the two men creeps up on him, he is no longer so sure he will win the bet. Maybe, just maybe, it would be better to see Rick shine and win the Pop Star contest and Sam’s love.
Will he? And what role will Adhemar play in his fate?
Elin Gregory 
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