Chapter 16

Zagan

I WAS ANNOYED. REALLY ANNOYED. I’d been irritated since the day Iyla came over to study. I watched the way she poured over all this shit that she didn’t actually care about until her eyes got red from lack of rest or her shoulders got tight to the point where she constantly had to move and rub them. She was wearing herself out, and for what?

A mother who didn’t give a damn about her.

I never claimed to be an expert on parenthood. For starters, I wasn’t one, and I didn’t have any. Demons were created when there was a need for more temptation to keep the balance in the world, so I didn’t know everything when it came to a parent-child relationship. But I’d seen millions of families throughout my time, and Iyla’s mom was far from a good one.

So she gave her money for living expenses. Big fucking deal. It wasn’t out of love. It was so she could maintain control. If she controlled Iyla’s house, school, food, her sister, her beliefs, she controlled Iyla. And that was what she wanted. Not a relationship with her daughter. Control of her daughter.

Iyla was a good person. Even as a demon, I could see that. So watching her try to be this obedient husk of what she could be pissed me off.

Iyla was my bond.

I wasn’t about to let her break herself to please someone. The only person she needed to please was herself.

And me, of course.

So when she came over the day before her first midterm, I decided enough was enough. I wasn’t reading off anymore fucking study guides for her or handing her colored pens and highlighters at her request so she could rewrite old notes.

As soon as she stepped inside, I grabbed her backpack right off her shoulders and hoisted it onto my own. I ignored her protests and stalked up the stairs toward my bedroom. I’d been helping her study this whole week—me, helping —but today would be different. If she insisted on doing this bullshit, we were going to do it my way.

“Zagan,” she huffed irritably. She made it to my room just as I threw her bag into my closet. With a snap of my finger, I sealed the door so she couldn’t open it. No one was getting through that door unless I let them.

She ran to the closet and yanked on the doorknob. When it failed to open, she turned to glare at me. “What the hell?”

“You know the material, Iyla,” I said, crossing my arms. My eyes raked over her leggings and t-shirt. Damn. She really did look good in everything .

“What if there’s something I missed?” she argued, her voice coming out frantic with unfounded worries. “What if I forgot something or—”

“I’m going to quiz you like I have been.” That was the unfortunate part about assisting her all this time. Every bit of that mind-numbingly boring material was now ingrained in my own fucking brain. Once a demon learned something, it was always there. Which meant I was now stuck with a shit ton of knowledge I didn’t want any part of.

Surprise crossed her pretty face. “Without the study guide?”

“Without the study guide,” I parroted dully.

I was done with those papers. I was done with her thinking she wasn’t ready or good enough.

Because, goddamnit, she was .

But her mom had her too fucked up to ever see that in anything she did.

The notion reignited the anger in my blood. “Get naked,” I ordered. I narrowed my eyes and dropped my voice lower. “Now.”

Her chest rose sharply as she sucked in a breath. A nice pink flush rose to her cheeks, but she did as she was told. I watched her from across the room as she pulled her top and bra off then stepped out of her pants and underwear. She shifted on her feet once she stood naked, and my dick twitched at the beautiful sight of her standing there, waiting for my next command.

I tipped my head to the black leather chair in the corner. “Go sit.”

She kept me in her line of sight as she slowly moved to the chair, no doubt afraid I’d pounce on her. Her naked ass sat back in the seat, and as soon as she was settled, I let my power unfurl.

Black wisps of shadow appeared around the chair, and with a quick mental nudge, the long, thin tendrils wrapped around her wrists and ankles. They yanked her limbs to pin her hands to the arm rests and her ankles to the chair legs, spreading her thighs wide open for my own personal viewing. And damn, was I definitely looking and loving the wet arousal already coating her open lips.

Her chest rose and fell sharply, and her mouth parted on a gasp as she looked at the shadowy bindings. “What is this?”

“Me,” I answered. “A bit of my power manifested as shadow. It was quicker than getting real rope to tie you up, and we need to get to work now, don’t we?”

Her throat worked on a swallow, and her pink nipples hardened. I smiled as I got on my knees between her parted legs, and her body twitched, most likely eager for what she thought was coming. And she was going to get that, but not before she answered my questions and saw for herself that she knew all the material.

“Philosophy is going to be an essay, right?” I asked, tracing a single finger over the shadows on her ankle and slowly up her calf. “Walk me through what you’ll say. Utilitarianism versus Kantianism.”

“Right now?” she squeaked disbelievingly, glancing at my hand, which continued a slow ascent up her knee and onto her inner thigh.

“Now. We’re studying,” I said coyly. “Like you wanted.”

She bit her lip as my finger brushed against the outside of her pussy, but instead of touching her there, I backtracked and retreated down her thigh. She growled and fought against her restraints, which didn’t budge.

“Utilitarianism versus Kantianism,” I repeated firmly. My finger made it back to her ankle then immediately started up again.

Her head fell back against the chair, and her eyes fluttered shut. She slowly managed to get words out, reciting the material I knew she knew. I didn’t let up my soft touch on her leg, close to her pussy, and back down. It was torture for her, and the feeling was mutual. I couldn’t keep my eyes off her hard nipples or the juices seeping from between her folds. And fuck , the sweet smell of her desire was actually making me dizzy.

Goosebumps broke out on her skin, and her hips twitched with clear arousal everytime I got close to her center. The more she talked, the closer I got to touching her where we both really wanted me. I brushed the pad of my finger along the top of her cunt and stopped just as I reached the start of her seam. Her breath quickened, but I kept my finger rooted in place.

Her entire body seemed to shake with anticipation. “Zagan, please .”

I smiled. “Please what?”

She panted and zeroed in on my unmoving finger. “I said all the key points. I explained everything.”

“I know,” I said, yet my finger didn’t move any lower. I loved seeing how wet that made her—wanting my touch so badly but being denied it. “What’s your point?”

Helplessness tightened her brow, and she wiggled in her seat as a fine sheen of sweat beaded over her breasts. “So … Don’t I get rewarded?”

I let out a small chuckle and leaned closer so that my breath fanned across her already sensitive core. She moaned, and her eyes rolled back into her head while her hips bucked futilely against my breathy caress. “We still have four more subjects to go over.”

Her eyes snapped back open, and her chest fell and rose faster. “I-I can’t wait that long. This is already maddening.”

I feigned an apologetic shrug and moved my finger slowly around her glistening folds, making sure to stay on the edge of all the good stuff. “You wanted to study. You wanted to make sure you knew everything, remember? We can’t stop after only one subject.”

She shook her head, her fingers curling and digging into her palms. Her entire body quivered. “I know it all.”

I raised my pierced brow. “You do? Are you sure? You were worried you didn’t just a minute ago.”

“I do, I do,” she argued hurriedly. When she looked at me this time, fiery confidence now hardened her features. “I know the material. I don’t need to be quizzed. I’m ready.”

One corner of my mouth rose in a smirk, and I finally let my finger drag through her moisture, starting at the bottom and working my way up to her clit. She immediately gasped, and her hips grinded in an attempt to get more from me. The scent of her arousal drew me in like a bee to honey, and I leaned in close to let my tongue join in on the fun.

While my finger swept down to plunge into her tight hole, I curled the tip of my tongue along her bundle of nerves. I groaned at the taste that actually danced along my tastebuds, as well as the one that filled my gut with her essence. She was perfection —the sounds she made, the way she shook for me, the way she tasted.

I’d already had her wound up so tightly that it wasn’t much longer of flicking my tongue and claiming her with my fingers before she arched her back and absolutely exploded with her release. My name burst from her lips, and my cock begged to get free at the sound.

“That’s my girl,” I praised hoarsely, pulling my fingers out so I could shove my pants down. I released the shadowy bindings as easily as I’d conjured them.

Once she was free, I grabbed her arms and yanked her toward me where I still knelt on the ground. She fell into the floor between me and the chair, and I gripped her face to squeeze her cheeks between my fingers and nipped her lip teasingly. “Turn around and grip the chair.”

She didn’t hesitate. She turned and grabbed the edge of the chair, lifting her back end for me. I smiled at that. My sparrow already knew what to do. I fisted her long hair, placed my other hand on her hip, and shoved deep into her cunt.

“Fuck, yes,” I groaned, relishing in the warmth of her.

I pulled back before pushing back in, and pleasure shot through me with the motion. I grasped her hair tighter, pulling on it as I thrusted hard and fast. Her breathy moans were music to my ears, and they spurred me to angle my hips to get even deeper.

“Yes!” Iyla gasped. “God, yes!”

“Not my name, baby,” I said, fisting her hair harder. I tugged her hip back to meet each of my thrusts. “What is my name?”

“Zagan,” she moaned.

“Say it again,” I growled.

“Zagan.”

My pace didn’t let up, even as I felt her shatter around me on another orgasm or as I neared that place myself. “That’s right. That’s the only name you’re allowed to cry out when you’re getting fucked. Understand?”

“Yes,” she bellowed, digging her fingers deeper into the chair.

I pumped hard and fast. My balls tightened as I let my head fall back. My cum filled her tight entrance, and her intense pleasure filled my gut like a fire suddenly catching. I pulled out and released her so she could slump against the chair and catch her breath. I leaned back on my hands and took the moment to soak in the buzzing energy of her pleasure now coating my insides, as well as appreciate the view of my cum slowly dripping out of her hole and down her thigh.

“You really know how to motivate someone,” Iyla said as she turned to lean her back against the chair.

I smirked. “What can I say? It’s a gift.”

She laughed softly and shook her head at me. Her eyes were transfixed on the floor between us, and I could see her mind already leaving this moment to dwell on her upcoming tests.

I nudged her foot with my own. “Stop. You know you’re ready. You just admitted it.”

“I know, I know.” She brought her knees up to her naked chest, hugging her arms around her bent legs. She rested her chin on top of her knees, and after a pregnant pause, she admitted, “My mom wants to take me out for dinner if I do well.”

It took everything in me to keep from rolling my eyes. And why didn’t I want to roll them? I refused to look too deeply into that right now, not when there was her mom to discuss.

“So that’s why you’re pushing yourself so hard. It’s not even for your own sense of pride in succeeding. It’s for her.”

She looked away sheepishly. “Yes. She never spends time with me. She’s always so busy, you know? We only really see each other when we go visit Gemma. So I want these midterms to go perfectly so that I can have this with her.”

“Do you not think it’s weird that you have to work so hard just to get time with your own mom?”

Her big brown eyes locked on mine then, and she seemed startled by my question, like she’d never thought about it. A daughter shouldn’t have to go the extra mile to see her parent. Even I knew that. The fact that Iyla seemed surprised by the idea just went to show how far her mom’s claws dug into her.

“Well, when you say it like that …” Her shoulders slumped, and her mouth flattened. Seeing that troubled flash of hurt cross her features made something twist in my chest. Things had been hot and freeing, but now, the air was tinged with melancholy.

Eager to bring some of that lightness back into the room, I grabbed her arms and pulled. Her naked body fell into me, and I rolled so that she was sprawled beneath me. My hands pinned hers on either side of her head—fingers lined up with fingers and palms pressed into palms. Her legs leaned into my sides as I settled between them, and my cock hardened when it brushed her sweet heat. The heaviness faded from her gaze as a sensual calm overtook them.

“Stop thinking about your mom. Do well because you want to,” I said, letting my fingers finally intertwine with hers so I could squeeze. “If you do that, you’ll do great for two reasons.”

“Oh?” she probed. “What reasons would that be?”

“One, you had the world’s greatest study partner. You’re welcome for that. And two, you’re insanely smart. You know this stuff. Stop doubting yourself just because your mom does.”

Iyla’s eyes softened as they searched mine. Finally, she asked, “Are we friends?”

My brows rose in surprise. “Friends?”

She nodded.

The word had always been one of indifference for me. I didn’t consider anyone a friend because of just that—I didn’t consider anyone. I was selfish. I had no room in my self-centered soul to care about others. I didn’t even know what it meant to be someone’s friend.

I pursed my lips and asked, “What does it mean to be friends?”

She seemed taken aback by my question. “You don’t know what being friends means?”

The amount of shock in her voice made me feel a bit self-conscious, like how she surely felt when I’d probed her about her mom. They were easy concepts to us when we asked them but complete mind-fucks for the other person.

“Friends,” she said slowly, “are there for each other. You pick each other up when you’re down. Help each other when the other needs it. You can have fun and talk and just be yourself with them.”

It sounded simple, but I knew it was a complex relationship. Still, when I thought about all the things she described, I realized that did fit us. We were definitely there for each other, even if it was because of the bond. But hadn’t we offered each other support and fun outside of what our deal required?

“Yeah,” I finally answered. “We’re friends.”

As soon as the words left my mouth, everything about her brightened. A twinkle flooded her eyes, his lips formed the most stunning smile I’d ever seen, and her fingers squeezed mine. I had to look ridiculous, because all I could do was stare at her, frozen and heart beating like a drum. Something clenched in my chest, and if I didn’t know better, I’d say it was emotion— real emotion—brought on by Iyla and the beauty of her happiness.

But that was crazy.

I must’ve been crazy.

Because emotions like what bubbled up in my chest when I stared down into her smiling face wasn’t possible for someone like me.