Chapter 6

ChapterSix

One inhalation of her scent was all he needed. That’s what he told himself for nights upon nights until he finally cracked. Because who was he kidding? One night where he sniffed that lovely hair didn’t mean a damn thing.

She’d been so beautiful. So tempting as she let her gown drop and stood there in nothing but a gray shift. She had likely thought she was being brave, tempting him like that when she thought he wouldn’t enter her private room.

And she knew he was there. Oh, his little pet knew exactly where he was at all times.

Gluttony would never forget the grace of her arms as she dragged that brush through her hair. How she hadn’t even needed candlelight to move through her room. She lived in the darkness, just like he did. And he had known those pale limbs would look so beautiful wrapped around his neck, his waist, anywhere he could get her to touch.

She’d become a living, breathing obsession that he couldn’t get out of his head.

And he’d taken the risk. Leaning onto her bed when he damn well knew she was awake. His pet certainly had no idea how easy it was for him to read her. He didn’t even know if she’d realized who he was just yet. Her heart had thundered in her throat, a temptation that was almost impossible to ignore as his lips were so close to that throbbing beat.

But he had held himself back. Somehow. Perhaps because he enjoyed the chase, just as his brother had suggested. Maybe he did need to just take what he wanted, because that was when the blood tasted sweetest.

Yet, he had the feeling her blood would taste sweet no matter how he had it. No matter when she gave it to him, willingly or not. She would taste like honey and all the glowing, bright things that he’d never had in his life.

He needed to get himself together.

She’d sunk her little claws into him and he couldn’t be a good ruler, or at least stay out of the way, if he was obsessed with yet another of his subjects. Once she knew who was outside her window, she’d slam it shut. Bar it with metal and close him off from the only thing he wanted right now.

And yet...

Her window was open tonight.

He stood outside as he had the nights before, staring into the room and telling himself to leave. He didn’t need to be here. She deserved to have her privacy, but he’d already well and truly broken through that dream, hadn’t he?

Her name was Katherine. Gluttony had taken the time to figure out who lived in the boarding house, and what rooms they were in. It took surprisingly little effort to find, considering the front door was rarely locked.

After he’d left that night, with her scent filling his lungs, he’d snuck into the manager’s office. Also unlocked. The paperwork wasn’t difficult to find, although it was lacking in detail. Just a room number, a name, and the last time they paid.

This place was ridiculously expensive for what it was. He enjoyed Katherine’s room because it was pretty and it smelled like her, but that didn’t mean it was worth the price. The walls were peeling; the floor was warped and likely would rot through after the swamp finally touched the bottom of the building. He wouldn’t have it. His newest obsession would not live in such a dangerous place.

She’d need to leave the moment she bent to him, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Leaning into the window, he peered around her room. There was no tell-tale lump on her bed tonight. No rising and falling of sweet breaths that filled his lungs with sunshine and flashes of red hair.

But he could smell her. Not just that her room was full of her scent, but because she was in the room. He could feel her looking at him too and hear the thundering beat of her heart.

What had his little pet planned? Was she finally going to fight back against him because he was a strange man who had entered her room?

The thought was strangely exciting.

Gluttony climbed through her window as he pondered the thought of her attacking him. He didn’t want to taste fear in her blood, but he also liked the idea of her little claws coming out to play. What if she scratched him? Would she draw blood?

Ah, the thought was enough to send a man to his knees. Already stiffening, pressing against the buttons of his pants, he wandered through her room. Touching everything he could.

Some primal part of himself wanted to leave his scent here. Even though he knew mortals couldn’t smell anything like he could, it made him feel a little better. Any mortal man could walk in here. He could step through those doors because she invited him in, and Gluttony could do nothing about it.

He’d have to stand outside that window, watching another man fall upon her like an animal, knowing only he could feast upon her the way she so desperately wanted.

A low growl echoed in the depths of his throat, and he heard her heart stutter. It kicked back into a quick beat, likely so hard that she could feel it beating against her ribs.

Now, where was she?

He turned, his eyes skating around the room as he tried to plan out their first meeting. He hadn’t expected it to go like this, of course. Gluttony had already been planning how he would introduce himself to her. First, he would bump into her on the street. She’d be surprised to see him, the demon king of their kingdom, out and about.

He would suggest that he was going to the market. And perhaps she would like to join him. After all, he had no idea where he was going and it had been a long time since he’d been into the town.

Then, of course, he’d flash a disarming grin. She’d blush, and he would have to take a moment because the scent of her shyness would likely make him mad with want and desire. But he’d get himself under control and guide her to the market with her hand on his arm.

They’d spend a wonderful day together. He’d invite her back to his castle, and then they would have a moment in his great hall where he bent her over his arm and feasted upon her neck.

He could already see the twin beads of blood that would drip down that lovely swan neck of hers. But that was so far ahead of himself, and obviously wouldn’t happen now.

Instead of the gentleman she met on the boardwalk, he was the intruder who had let himself into her room in the middle of the night. And he knew she was here. He knew exactly where she was, because her heartbeat gave her away.

His pet had hidden herself under the bed. What did she think she was going to do from under there?

Now, Gluttony knew he should leave. The reasonable part of his mind said he had to get out of there because she was very much awake and she knew he was here. But he also knew she’d already seen him.

So why would he leave?

While the reasonable part of his brain screamed at him to get out of her room, the monstrous part of him sat down on her bed. He smoothed his hand over the blankets that smelled so much like her. His fingers danced over the depression on her pillow where she had certainly been laying just a few moments before.

He wanted to spread himself out on these sheets. Damn it, he wanted to smell like her.

Envy was right. He had gone too far with this woman and he wasn’t going to apologize for it. He wanted her so badly it hurt.

Fuck. Looking up at the ceiling, he realized he had no idea what he was going to do. She was pinned under the bed. He wouldn’t be able to get her out of there. And now she was going to be afraid of him. What woman in her right mind wouldn’t be?

Biting his lip, he went for the soft approach. “Katherine?”

There was no response from the woman underneath her own bed. He wondered if it was as dirty under there as it was up here. He could only imagine she was the woman who kicked clothing underneath her bed, so she didn’t have to see everything she had to pick up.

Adorable. Really, it was. He found everything about her so adorable that it hurt.

But he’d have to hire maids when she moved to the castle.

And yes, he was moving her to the castle. This obsession needed to be worked out from his body. He wouldn’t kill this one. He would be good and not bite her too hard, so she would stay alive for a long time. And he’d have the perfect little pet.

“I know you’re in here,” he breathed, trying to keep his voice to a smooth, reassuring cadence. “And I know you can hear me.”

Her heart rate slowed just slightly. There was no way he’d somehow eased her mind, so he had to assume she was holding her breath.

“I assume you know who I am.” Gluttony chuckled, running a hand through his hair. “This isn’t normally how I meet people. I suppose I should admit this entire circumstance is rather unusual for the both of us.”

Still nothing.

But then he noticed he could see his reflection in the mirror she’d brushed her hair in. And underneath the bed was the slightest hint of red hair. She was watching him, of that he was certain.

She stared into the mirror and he looked back at her with his head tilted to the side. Gluttony didn’t look terrifying. It was one of the best parts of the physical form he’d taken. While his brothers were intimidating, he was very easy to look at. Thin, wiry, handsome to a fault. He lulled humans into a false sense of security because they didn’t know what lurked underneath his skin.

He met her gaze and smiled. “Hello, Katherine.”

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. That red hair disappeared like she thought she could hide from him still. But he wasn’t letting her get away like a little mouse finding her way into the wall.

“Oh, come now. You have always been so brave with me just outside of your window. What about this makes you feel like you’re unsafe?”

Was that the slightest snort he heard?

He grinned, likely a mistake. The long canines in his mouth flashed in the moonlight. “You find that funny. Why?”

She had to talk. He knew exactly where she was. He’d seen her! And he’d never once heard the sound of her voice and he found himself desperate to know what she sounded like.

Was her voice melodic? Burbling like a clear watered brook? Perhaps she sounded like Varya, loud and opinionated as she took up an entire room with the power of her words alone. He could see that. She had always seemed a little brash when he watched her through the window.

But when she spoke, her voice was unlike anything he’d ever heard before. “I find it funny because you’ve broken into my room.”

His eyes rolled back in his head. Ah, but her voice. Raspy, like she’d inhaled too much smoke, deeper than he’d expected and without an ounce of fear in those words. She said what she wanted without even the slightest bit of hesitation.

Beautiful. So incredibly beautiful, and he was certain she had no idea how lovely she sounded.

Finally, he had to open his eyes again and focused on the room. If he drifted through that obsession, then he was far too likely to let her run.

And if she ran, he had no idea what he would do to her.

Clearing his throat, he leaned back on his palms. The scratchy texture of her blanket abraded his hands. Her scent drifted up around him, so pretty and light. It eased the squeezing pain in his chest and soothed the desire to toss the bed aside and grab her. “I did break into your room.”

“Why are you here?”

“If I knew that, I don’t think I’d be here, pet.” He wished he knew. Oh, he wished he had an answer for why he was sitting on her bed, terrorizing her. “I thought you might have the answer to that.”

Another soft snort. “I don’t even know who you are.”

His eyes flashed as he looked back to the mirror, back underneath the dark softness that hid between his feet. “Is that so? You don’t even have a guess?”

A small shift, perhaps as though she was trying to get even further away from him. “Whatever guess I have comes from a place of madness.”

“Ah, and evil. A darkness that haunts the land with long reaching claws and red eyes.” He let his powers flex through him, those eyes glowing as they surely had when he stood outside her window. Even his claws grew longer, although those were buried in her mattress right now. “Guess, pet. I wish to hear you say it.”

She swallowed hard, and the click of her throat was a sweet release. “I don’t want to.”

“Why not?”

“Saying the words makes this feel less like a dream and more... reality.” The way she paused before saying the word made him wonder if she thought this wasn’t actually happening.

“This isn’t a dream, Katherine.” He leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees so he was slightly closer to the mirror. “I’m right here, sitting on your bed while you are cowardly hiding underneath it.”

“I’m not hiding,” she hissed.

“Oh, did you have a plan?” He raised a dark brow. “You were perhaps going to burst out and attack me? With what weapon?”

To his utter shock, she threw something out from underneath the bed. A knife from the kitchen skittered between his feet, sliding to a halt just out of his reach. Moonlight played along the rather dull edges.

He chuckled. “Did you think that would really hurt me?”

The soft little growl from underneath the mattress went straight to his cock. “I didn’t know who you were for certain. And if you were Jackson, then I intended to stab you in the thigh and refuse to stitch you back up.”

He bared his teeth in the mockery of a smile. “Who’s Jackson?”

Oh, the jealousy that burned through him showed in the sudden tension of his shoulders and the long claws that elongated through his fingertips. He saw her hesitate. He could feel the nerves that made her freeze.

But she didn’t back down from him. His pet wouldn’t do that, after all. She was too perfect for him.

Instead, he heard her confidently reply, “Not anyone you need to know about, Gluttony.”

It made him want to scream. He would feast upon anyone who tempted her away from him, and he suddenly didn’t want to continue having this conversation with a shadow underneath the bed. But hearing his name spoken in those raspy tones? Ah, it was more than enough to soothe that angry wound.

Lunging upright, he spun toward the bed and reached a long arm underneath it. Claws caught on the back of her shirt, tangling her in his grip even as she struggled like an angry kitten.

“Come on, pet,” he said with a laugh at her hisses. “Let’s hear you say that to my face.”