***
The house had opened the curtains at some point during the night, causing the first stream of morning light to bore directly into my eyelids.
Waking up in the mortal realm sucked.
I had never spent the entire night with a mortal before, always slinking back to the shadow realm before dawn. If the house intended to wake me, a shadow demon, with blistering first light every morning, that was going to be an issue.
“House, can you close the curtains?” I asked, pulling the duvet over my face. When nothing happened, I added, “Please?”
Finally, the sound of curtain rings scraping against metal filled the air. Unfortunately, the house had decided to open the curtains fully now. I groaned into my pillow before sitting up and rubbing my sore eyes.
“Fine,” I grumbled. “You win.” With a final stretch, I stood up and crossed the room to the window, looking out at my surroundings for the first time. It was an odd little town, with each house being completely different from its neighbor, and yet, not one looked out of place.
The house opposite was like something pulled from a suburban estate, even down to the white picket fence. A succubus with peppered hair, trousers pulled up to her waist, and a light blue shirt was leaning over a flower bed, trowel in hand, planting pansies.
I cringed at the unnaturalness of a demon born of shadows voluntarily being up this early in the morning, to idly tend flowerbeds no less. But then I found myself smiling. If Lex mentioned she thought her flowerbeds needed tending, I guessed I wouldn’t mind braving the dawn light if it made those ruddy, full lips pull into a smile. A moment later, a witch with a gray bob, cropped trousers, and a pale pink shirt stepped out onto the porch, two steaming cups in her hand. She handed one to the succubus, whostood up, kissed the witch on the cheek, and accepted the cup with a grin.
As if the witch could sense my presence, her eyes locked onto mine. Grinning widely, she gave me a jolly little wave, which I returned. Then I remembered I was still naked. I just about caught the witch tittering something to her wife as I disappeared back into the depths of the room.
Probably shouldn’t flash the neighbors.
I pulled on a pair of fresh boxers and the sweatpants that the house had left for me at the end of my bed. No T-shirt, though. And, as I’d suspected, the door to the closet had suspiciously seized shut.
Unfortunately, I could only conjure things from my mind while in the shadow realm. So bare chest and tatty sweatpants it was.
After a quick wash and brush of my teeth, doing everything in my power not to wake Lex in the connecting bedroom, I made my way down the stairs to the kitchen. While mortal food wasn’t enough to keep me going, there was still something to be said about fluffy pancakes, bacon, and a drizzle of maple syrup.
The ingredients materialized in front of me, alongside Lex’s notebook. I ran a finger over the leather before pushing it away from me. All joking aside, it was an invasion of privacy to read my mate’s notes. She would tell me when she was ready.
That being said, I couldn’t help but wonder what such a sweet-looking witch had done to have to write such a long pre-trial commentary. I bet it was something sweetly stupid, like she wanted to pet a cute puppy and accidentally summoned a gazillion hell hounds into her apartment block. Smiling, I started to combine the ingredients together.
A few moments later, I heard Lex’s gentle footsteps descend the stairs. She entered the kitchen, eyes shut and yawning loudly, dressed in—
My cock swelled at the sight of her. Who knew that under all those bulky layers, she’d have a figure likethat. Like something from a ’50s pinup. A mixture of tight and curvy inexactlythe right places. Her vest top and shorts left nothing to the imagination. Her hair was still in its messy bun, but more of it had come loose. Every ounce of my being wanted to leap across the room and lift each strand from her shoulders, peppering her skin with a kiss for every missing lock.
She had to be having the world’s longest yawn, or time had momentarily stopped. Most likely the latter. Finally, she rubbed her eyes and looked me up and down. Her cheeks blushed slightly as her eyes lingered a fraction of a second on my torso, then on the bulge in my sweatpants.
The kettle whistling broke both of us from our trance, and she quickly grabbed two cups and dropped herbs into the tea strainers.
“Wardrobe malfunction for you too?” she asked, plopping a cube of sugar into my cup.
“The house decided it would be a bare chest day for me,” I said, topping Lex’s pancake stack with crispy bacon and setting it down on the table.
A few moments later, she slid a cup of tea toward me and picked up her knife and fork. Just before she took her first bite, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “It’s strange that you know how to cook. My mom said it had taken my father almost five years before he stopped burningeverything in the kitchen, including all the dishcloths.” She shoved a slice of maple-glistening pancake into her mouth and practically quivered all over, making my mouth dry up.
“I like to cook,” I said with a shrug.
A wayward drop of maple syrup hung off her bottom lip. Lex unconsciously swiped a finger over it before her soft lips opened. Her tongue glided slowly over the tip of her finger, and I found myself pinching my thigh to stop myself from begging her to use that tongue on me.
This wicked little witch was going to be the death of me, and she wasn’t even trying.
Chapter 9. Lex
The moment my tongue swiped over the tip of my finger, Lochran let out an unconscious groan, barely audible over the near deafening grumble of his stomach.
My succubus side roared to life inside me, thrumming with the intense desire to swipe everything off the table and to beg Lochran to feast on me instead of the pancakes.
The wanton voice inside my head said,Lift the sex ban, Lex! Listen to how hungry your mate is for you. Feed him. Feed yourself.