Page 32 of The Devil and His Sparrow

Which I realized with a cold dose of reality was bare.

No condom.

“No, no, no,” I said with a sudden rush of alarm. I started to sit up, my eyes locked on his shaft. “You didn’t wear a condom.”

“Woah,” he said, placing a hand on my shoulder to keep me from sitting up. He looked at me like I’d just sprouted a second head. “We don’t need a condom. Incubi can’t reproduce. I can’t get you pregnant. We also can’t get or pass STDs.” His shit-eating grin came back. “We come with all the perks of sex and none of the consequences.”

His smile slipped, and he pursed his lips. “Well, clearly there are some consequences.” He gave me a pointed look. “Seeing as how we’re stuck with each other. That little inconvenience and broken hearts are the only consequences. We leave a lot of those in our wake.”

The news made me fall onto my back again. I stared up at the ceiling, overcome with a sense of reassurance. It was fine. I was fine. He didn’t and couldn’t get me pregnant. My eyes closed in relief as I let the news settle my worries. The warmth from the handful of orgasms I’d just had found me again, and I held onto that in an effort to not think about all the rules I’d broken in the past two days.

I was still a good girl.

Dirty, my mother’s voice hissed in the back of my mind.

I was still a good daughter.

Disobedient, my mother’s voice snapped.

I was … I was …

A mistake.

Chapter 10

Zagan

THE MUSIC GUIDED EVERY QUICK step of my feet, every movement of my body, and every motion of my arms. It was K-Pop month at the dance studio I volunteered at in New York, so I was down in the dance studio of my new house, putting on the last minute touches to the choreography for the song we were working on—“Cake” by KARD. The teachers and I always put together choreography that used moves from the actual group’s routines but had our own touches thrown in.

After only one round earlier, Iyla seemed pensive, and before I could even make a move to start round two, she’d fallen asleep. I let it slide, because the one round managed to refuel me more than it typically would’ve. Her pleasure was so profound that it managed to get rid of any hunger that had been lingering in my gut. And the taste? Fuck. I really couldn’t remember having someone who’s essence tasted as amazing as hers. It was still kinda blowing my mind that I’d managed to stumble upon her and get bound. She was basically like a delicacy to an Incubus like me.

This might not be so bad, I thought with a smirk as I finished up the dance, facing my reflection in the wall of mirrors. That’s when I noticed Iyla in the reflection, lingering in the doorway.

Catching my breath after running through the dance a few times, I turned to face her. “Look who finally woke up. You exploring?”

Her eyes were slightly wide, and she gestured behind her. “You have a recording studio in your house.”

I raised a brow and rested my hands on my hips as my heart rate started to come back down. “Uh-huh.”

She waved her hand at the room we were in now. “And a dance studio.”

I shrugged like it was no big deal, and really, for me, it wasn’t. The house didn’t come with either studio, but that meant nothing for a demon who could have a lot of things at the snap of their fingers.

“I teach a lot of hip-hop classes,” I explained, looking around the newly made room. “I also like to dance for stress relief, so having my own studio is convenient.”

I glanced down the hallway where my new recording studio was—the studio I hadn’t even stepped foot in yet. Because while dance was a way for me to relieve stress, it was also my method of escape from my problems. Right now, that studio—or rather, what I needed to do in the studio—was my problem.

I grabbed my water and downed half of it, still looking past her head at the dark room at the other end of the hall. “I’m supposed to be in the music room writing our new song, but …”

But everything I write these days is garbage.

“You guys write your own music?” she asked with the hint of interest that she typically tried to hide when talking to me.

I drew closer to her and leaned my shoulder against the wall. “You didn’t know that? That’s pretty common knowledge among our fans. And there’s no ‘we.’ I write the music.”

Iyla tilted her chin up higher, making her dark hair slip over her shoulder. She took on a defiant, almost cocky purse of her lips. “I’m not a fan.” She winced in a fleeting apology and added, “No offense.” She cleared her throat, looking confident once more. “I didn’t know who you guys were until last night. Nahla’s the fan. I was just along for the ride.”

I ran my tongue over one of my lips rings in annoyance and shook my head, mumbling, “Well, that explains a lot. You were very … different from our fan base.”

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