Chapter 31

CHAPTER

THIRTY-ONE

IZA

With my gaze on Acaros's ceiling, I blew out a low breath in an attempt to relieve the stress from last week. I willingly hadn't left the Kingdom of Lust—not even for class—because I now had way more important things to worry about than Advanced Statistics and Literature.

I had powers …

Powers that I couldn't quite understand. Powers that continued to fester inside me, the more and more that I stayed in Lust. And in all my years of living in the real world, nothing felt as good as this.

After turning onto my side, I pushed some hair out of Acaros's face. He was in his human form—a weird sight down in Lust—and he hadn't had a haircut probably since the day I'd met him. It was growing out, almost shaggy on his forehead.

My lips curled into a small smile, and I cuddled closer to him. Another reason why I hadn't left Lust was because of this man, who had tied me to the bed nearly every night and pounded into me, vowing to get me pregnant so I couldn't help Dani.

Turned out that his parents—one fully from the Kingdom of Wrath, which was where he had gotten his red demon skin from, and one half Lust, half Envy—had been killed by Dani during her ascension as queen. Acaros hadn't had hard feelings against her—at least from what I was aware—until she took me.

Once I placed a kiss on his cheek, I slipped out of bed and walked to the bathroom. I might not have left, but that didn't mean Jada and Mikayla hadn't come over and brought some much-needed human food and goods to me.

One of those goods being … this .

I shut the bathroom door behind me, reached to the back of the closet where I had hidden the box, and pulled out a box of pregnancy tests. After deciding that it wouldn't turn out positive—because, I mean, didn't demons have dead sperm like vampires? Wasn't that how it worked?—I peed on one for the joke of it.

While I was mid-pee, Acaros banged on the door. "Are you okay?"

My eyes widened, and I hurried to finish up before he could barge into the room. "Fine!"

"Jada and Mikayla are here," he called.

"Already?!" I cried. "What time is it?"

"Apparently, ten on Earth."

Time worked a bit differently here, and I was slowly getting used to the change.

So, once I placed the test down on the counter and washed my hands, I shuffled out of the bathroom and down the steps. Acaros opened the front door, letting in my friends.

Mikayla whizzed by us, running up to the bathroom and holding her legs together. "Sorry! I have to pee so badly! That portal always scares the piss out of me!"

Jada walked into the living room as Acaros stepped outside with Bazzon, Varoth, and Professor Laufer, who had all come along. We were supposed to have a picnic in the Garden of Passion today to celebrate. I didn't know what we were celebrating, but Mikayla had said to wear a party hat.

Not that I had one …

"Biiiiiiitttttcccchh!" Mikayla called from the bathroom. "I know this isn't what I think it is!"

I furrowed my brows and glanced over at Jada, who shrugged. "You know how crazy s?—"

Before Jada could finish her sentence, Mikayla ran out of the bathroom, holding my pregnancy stick in the air and waving it around like a maniac. Thank God that Acaros and his buddies were outside because I would've died on the spot.

"It says positive!" Mikayla screamed.

"Mikayla, can you please shut?—"

The door behind us slammed open, and Acaros peered into the room. "What's positive?"

While I tried to peel the stick away from Mikayla before he could see it, it fell out of her grasp and right at the feet of Acaros. He peered down at it quizzically, as if he had never seen a pregnancy test before, and picked it up.

Heart pounding inside my chest, I fiddled with my fingers behind my back and shuffled in front of Acaros. I knew he would be thrilled, but I was still so nervous because … I'd never thought that this would happen so soon.

Not only so soon since I'd met him, but so soon in my life.

Acaros's confused expression softened, and he looked down at me. "Is this …"

"Yes!" Mikayla screeched.

Jada elbowed her hard in the ribs, then grabbed her hand and yanked her out the front door to give us some privacy. "Come on."

When the door closed, I swallowed hard and walked closer to him, grabbing his hands. "I'm scared," I whispered. I didn't even know what kind of human-demon hybrid would come out of my vagina in nine months. "I didn't think it would happen so soon. What about Dani?"

Acaros set the test down on the arm of the couch, then cupped my face with his hands. He drew the pads of his thumbs across my cheekbones, a small smile crossing his face. "Hellcat, I'm so fucking excited."

I slapped him across his chest, making him let out a low chuckle. "Acaros!"

"I'll still train you to become stronger," he murmured, drawing my face closer to his. "And after you give birth in a few months, if you still want to work with Dani … then I won't stop you. I'll be a—what do you call it on Earth? A stay-at-home dad."

"A few months?!" I exclaimed. "What do you mean, a few months?"

"Demons are only typically pregnant for a few months."

I arched a brow. "So, you're telling me that I don't have nine months to prepare?!"

"Nine months? What the fuck? That's such a long time."

After crossing my arms over my chest, I stared up at him, trying to look menacing that he had put this demon baby inside me and that I only had a few months to prepare to bring another life into this world, but honestly … the thought of Acaros becoming even softer with it did something to me.

Imagining him being a stay-at-home dad?! Butterflies filled my chest.

I mean, that couldn't be so bad, could it?

Maybe this whole thing would work out just the way it was supposed to in the end.