6. “If anything happened to you, I couldn’t live with myself.”

"Let's go."Lucian wraps his arms around me and extends his wings.

"Go where? Don't you need to go to the dean's office?"

Lucian smiles and runs his hand through my hair.

"Not until I make sure you're okay. That cockroach of a man can wait."

He lifts us off the floor and flies us outside the broken gym windows and into the night sky. The breeze wraps around us like a blanket, and I close my eyes, welcoming its coolness.

The creature stretches inside me, its purr getting louder and louder inside my head.

Fly, it says, and I feel a flutter on my back. An itch in need of scratching.

I open my eyes and look at Lucian, whose fiery eyes scorch me with their intensity. How could I doubt his intentions for me? How could I doubt his feelings? He wants me. I know he does. And I want him too.

The itch grows in my back, and I take a deep breath before I let go of Lucian.

I only fall for a moment, a second, before the wings grow out of my skin and stretch wide open. It's alien. Foreign. Sensation courses through my body as I gain control over my new limbs, flapping them to stay afloat.

It doesn't matter that they're not mine. They feel like mine.

They are, Master. All yours, like I am.

I smile, pull the wings back flat against each other, and dive backward. My stomach clenches, the thrill peppering my skin with goosebumps, and as I fall, my lungs fill with so much air it makes me woozy.

The ground gets closer and closer. I can smell the freshly trimmed grass of the academy, and just before I crash to my death, I open my wings and glide back up to Lucian.

"This…this is breathtaking," I tell Lucian when I'm eye to eye with him again.

His gaze couldn't burn hotter if it tried. His lips are pursed to the side in a cheeky smile and I grab him by the neck and pull him into me.

I link our lips, slide my tongue into his mouth, and moan.

This feels so good. I never imagined I'd be able to fly, but here I am, with my own set of wings like a kickass demon of my own.

"I love flying," I mumble into his mouth.

He flies us higher, so high the clouds wrap around us like a ghostly blanket. His hands come up to either side of my face and he pulls back.

"I love you." He kisses my nose.

The words tumble inside me, bouncing between my head, chest, and groin like an out-of-control bouncy ball, leaving its impact on every part of me.

"I love you. So much."

I hug him, wrapping my legs around his hips. I want to hold him close. So close it hurts. How else can I tell him, show him, what he means to me? How much he means to me. How grateful I am he's in my life.

He massages my neck and hips, which sends the bouncy ball into an even bigger frenzy, and his lips ghost over my ear.

"You're my entire world, darling boy. If anything happened to you, I couldn't live with myself."

That's so hot.

I bite down the chuckle and stare at Lucian's lips. I tighten my legs around him and lick his lips.

"I owe you everything, Lucian. I'm only here because of you. And for that, I could never repay you."

"I don't need you to repay me. I only need you to love me, darling boy." Both his hands move down to my hips, and I wrap my arms around his neck.

"I do love you, my demon protector." I comb my fingers through his hair and kiss him deeply again. The heat reignites in my body, awakening every part of me.

My cock rubs against his belly and my tail bursts through my tailbone and wraps around both of us like a rope full of nerves and receptors.

"So…this is a permanent thing, huh?" He pulls away long enough to ask, and I smirk in response.

His hands move to my ass cheeks and he squeezes.

I let out a moan and the eldritch creature purrs inside me.

Is he going to take us, Master? Is he going to fuck us?

My moan grows louder, and I feast on Lucian's neck. The energy he's exerted saving me has made him taste salty, which only makes the creature inside me hungrier.

"Take me, Lucian. Please. I need you inside me, Professor."

Lucian bites his lip and glances from my eyes to my lips and back.

"Are you sure?"

I nod.

His hold on my ass gets tighter and fires erupt from his body. But they can no longer burn me. They can no longer hurt me.

They burn through his clothes and mine, leaving us both naked as we could be in the sky. I immediately feel his slick cockhead against my taint.

He lets go of a buttcheek and fists his cock, guiding it to my tight muscle. He pushes. I hiss.

"A little help?" he whispers in my ear.

I unwrap my tail and slide the sharp edge over my puckered hole. It leaves behind a wet trail that, mixed with the breeze, sends shivers through my entire body.

When Lucian tries pushing into me again, he gets little resistance. I light up. His heat burns through me, and I bite his lower lip and hiss.

That sends him deeper inside me. I wrap my tail around us again, and this time, I slide the end between Lucian's cheeks. His hole pulses against my slithery tail.

"Please fuck me, darling boy. Put that tail inside me and fuck your demon. Please."

He's so hot when he begs.

Don't I fucking know it.

I slide inside him, and his groans reverberate through me like a bass. Each groan is a wave, each wave a renewed fire burning through me. The night breeze is so cold on the outside that it makes my hair stand on end. Fire inside, ice outside, a battle for dominance over me.

Lucian's cock feels thicker inside me the deeper he fucks me. He grinds against my prostate with precision and purpose. It takes my breath away. I don't want it to stop.

I don't want it to stop either.

Lucian pushes his tongue into my mouth and fucks me harder. His flavor, woodsy and sweet, invades my tastebuds.

At the same time, I can feel his prostate at the end of my tail. I don't need to go deep inside him to scratch the itch that will push him over the edge. It's absolutely intoxicating. It's unreal being able to feel all that on a new limb that's now a part of me.

Fuck!

"Fuck!" I scream at the same time the purr inside me bursts, suffocating me. My breath catches.

My cock twitches, and I unload on Lucian's belly.

Lucian groans with me but doesn't come. He just takes pleasure in seeing me coming undone. He laughs. But it's not mocking. It's amusing. Entertained. It's a hearty laugh that tells me he's taking as much pleasure from this as I am.

He moves a hand to his belly, scoops my cum with his fingers, and brings it to his mouth.

"You taste so good, darling boy."

"Prove it." I kiss him.

I want to taste myself through him. I want to feel what he feels. The sweet flavor intensifies in my mouth, and I deepen the kiss when Lucian starts moaning again.

I stop kissing him and watch him come undone like it's my favorite work of art. The way his eyes strain and narrow. The way his jaw drops and nostrils flare.

At the same time, a familiar wet heat erupts inside me, taking my breath away.

"I love you," I whisper to him, and he repeats it.

He rests his head on my chest and catches his breath. I slide my tail out of him and rub it all over his body.

"Are you okay?" He nods against me.

I feel him take a deep breath before he speaks.

"Let me take you home. I need to make sure you're not hurt."

"You didn't hurt me, silly." I plant a soft kiss on his lips and smile.

"I still need to make sure that asshole didn't hurt you."

Of course. How could I forget?

We unwrap from each other and fly home, holding hands, like we've been doing it for years, not seconds.

When we're home, I find some pajama bottoms for both of us and serve him my kimchi stew.

He eats and, at the same time, uses a wet cloth to wipe the blood off me.

"That bastard is going to pay with his life," he growls as he tends to the deeper wound, the first one Ryan used to invoke the eldritch creature now nestled inside me.

"Yeah, but first, I need to know where he got that book."

Lucian looks at the table and the book appears in a blaze of fire, unscathed.

"It's old and very rare. The only way he could have gotten this is through the black market." He opens it and leafs through it.

"Well, I guess his daddy's money took care of that problem."

"But how did they know about you? You didn't tell them, did you?"

His eyes grow wide and serious, and I can't help the flutter in my heart.

"No. It was Mason. He told them I come from a line of eldritch witches, and Ryan must have done his research. Maybe they were planning to do it together once I got my powers? I don't know. I guess we'll never know."

Lucian makes his hand into a fist and slams it on the table. The spoon jingles against the bowl.

"I'm gonna kill him."

"You should probably get on with that. I mean, talking to the dean. You sent him there, didn't you?"

Lucian nods.

"But I don't want to leave you alone."

"You're not. I've got the creature inside me, remember? No one can hurt me."

He sighs.

"I hate that this world won't leave you alone. I'll burn everyone alive until they do if I have to."

I pull him in for a kiss. This one tastes spicy.

"Let's hope you won't have to."

Lucian takes a deep breath, takes another mouthful of stew, and stands.

"You like it?" I ask as he opens his wings.

"I love it, my darling boy. I love everything you make me."

My heart flutters again, and I give him another kiss before he puts a T-shirt on and flies back to the academy.

I place the bowl into the sink and collapse onto the bed. Exhaustion fogs my brain almost immediately. I was hoping to wait for Lucian to get back, but I don't think I can keep my eyes open any longer.

I close them. It's dark. So dark.

When I open them again, Ryan is above me.

"Hello, Taylor. Miss me?" He chuckles like a villain, but I sit up and puff out my chest.

"How did you get in here?" I ask him.

I hold my breath again.

Where is my tail? Where are my wings? Why aren't they coming out? Is the creature asleep inside me? I didn't think that's how it worked.

Ryan looks around him and rubs his hands.

"How? That's easy. The door was open. It's always open."

I look at the apartment door and wince.

How? There's no way he walked through the door. The whole store and the apartment above are covered with a security spell. No one can enter without permission. That was the one thing Kevin made sure to spend his money on to ensure no one could steal from him and "his" business.

"What are you talking about? What do you want from me?"

I arch my shoulders back, searching for that sensation inside me, but the wings aren't there. The eldritch creature isn't there.

"From you? Nothing much. Just your power."

I grab the pillow from behind me, throw it at him, and run.

The bed and the floor underneath it turn into a slide. A big, never-ending slide that I go down on. It turns my stomach. What is happening? What is he doing to me?

I close my eyes and the tumbling stops. When I open them again, the bed is a bed. But everything around it is…just light. Just a bright, white room.

"You can't steal my power!"

"Are you sure?" He laughs.

"You saw what happened last time you tried to enslave the creature. Do you think he won't stop you again? In fact, don't be surprised if he's already on his way. Yeah, he's going to burst through that window any time now?—"

"No, he won't. Because he's not here."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Ryan crosses his arms and circles me. He chuckles.

"You still don't get it, do you? He's not coming because you're sleeping. And in here, I'm the master. Get it now?"

He turns to me, looking more unhinged than ever.

"You're dreaming and you're my prisoner. And you're never ever waking up again."