Page 49 of Demon Food

I sucked a hard drag from the cigarette in my fingers as ashes fell, scattering atop the pink surface of the water.

Never before had I witnessed a sexier thing than when he crawled to me, begging. Never before had I looked at one of them, with abject terror in his lovely eyes and just been so fucking hungry.

Something about his insides was distinct. Light and clear and warm and giving. Like sunshine herself pulsed through his veins.

He stirred from my chambers and my head swiveled toward his direction. I huffed another drag of my herbs and held the smoke inside my lungs, which were already so damaged that the consequences were instant.

I coughed hard and his heartbeat ticked a little faster as a result. I couldn’t even hide the smile it brought to my lips. I liked the way his body reacted to the sight of me. He wouldn’t admit it, but he didn’t need to. He couldn’t hide the way his pupils expanded or that pulsing in his neck that quickened when his gaze scanned my naked torso.

But those were not helpful thoughts. Not helpful at all.

I held my breath and dunked my head beneath the water, blinking up at the rippling surface. I stayed under as long as I could, watching the bubbles swim away as I released the last of my breath.

By the time I resurfaced, he’d moved closer. He was now standing on the opposite side of the door as if trying to eavesdrop.

I licked the water from my lips as I stared hard at exactly where I pictured him standing. The monster inside me wanted to compel him. It wanted to reach through that door and straight into his mind where I whispered, Come in. Come in, sweet human. Give yourself to me. I promise to make it good.

I frowned down at my half-hard cock. When I awoke six months ago, I found pretty quickly that pleasuring myself was a bad idea. While it felt divine, it only provoked the monster further and amplified the need.

“No,” I whispered to my cock. “You do not make the decisions. I am the decision maker. You are a problem causer.”

It didn’t listen. I supposed trying to control my cock was as useless as trying to control my imagination, which was currently insisting that I think about how it’d feel to rip open that door and urge this human to his knees with a few sweetened commands. I’d shove my cock all the way down his pretty pink throat, and he’d take it. He couldn’t deny how much he’d love taking it deep. We both would.

Now, I was fully hard. Splendid.

Thank the gods for the drug-laced cigarettes. They were the only way to control the monster and wait. I’d been smoking one, hadn’t I? Where the fuck did it⁠—?

I pursed my lips as it floated past me on the surface of the water in mockery. I’d been so flippant about smoking them whenever needed, but I should probably take inventory. I should probably do anything but sit in this literal blood bath. Hard.

Water poured from me as I stood, and Feloré’s chain jangled in response, as if he was retreating away from the door. My tongue slid from my mouth when I pictured his ass as he turned his back to me. When I pictured his haunting eyes glued to mine. Feed me.

“You’re wise to be scared of me, Snow Fox,” I whispered, dripping water all over everything as I reached for another cigarette from the vanity. “I’m every bit the monster you think I am.”

The headache hit instantly when I lit it, or maybe it’d never really gone. I reluctantly wrapped a towel around my waist, not because I loved being dressed. It was the worst. My skin craved its natural state. I’d walk these palace halls naked if I could, but I had an inkling he might try to cut off my cock if I walked out there with it swinging.

I slicked my wet hair back, the cigarette clenched between my teeth as I pulled open the washroom door, and there he was. Just as gorgeous as I’d remembered. Just as sexy with his hair a ruffled mess and the white streak falling over one of his eyes.

A wild snow fox in captivity.

His gaze wandered down my torso, and I bit harder onto the cigarette to keep from scolding him. To keep from pulling him close by his leash, brushing my lips against his ear and whispering, You must know better than to look at me like that. Tisk, darling. Tisk.

“You’re alive,” he said.

Debatable. This could be my personal hell, but I winked. “Sorry to disappoint.”

He sucked his cheeks, almost sheepishly, and I couldn’t help but smile. Ooh, was he not disappointed? There was certainly something else swimming around in that pretty expression. Intrigue?

I stepped a little closer because I was a glutton for pain, and I wanted to smell him. Whatever deliciousness he was made of was spicy, bound to sizzle on one’s tongue, like the bark of a cassia tree.

“Why did you go in there?” he asked, inherently backing away a step. “Why not sleep in your bed?”

I would have eaten you if I stayed out here. You never would’ve seen it coming. “No reason.”

His pierced tongue smoothed over his teeth, and my abdomen tightened at the look of it. I could hear the sound it would make biting that metal between my teeth.

“You fell asleep talking,” he said.

“Did I? And what was I talking about?”