Chapter 4

Zagan

MY PREY WAS SLOW TO get out of the limo. She hung close to her friend and stared up at the house as if it might bite her.

Of course, her fear was misplaced. It wasn’t the house, but the demons lurking within that would do that.

“Dinner is here,” I called to my bandmates, who were queuing up music for the night.

I ran a hand through my tousled hair, making sure my horns were firmly hidden away. Since we were supposed to be humans who wore demonic costumes, we’d made quick work of putting on our human forms the moment we got offstage. No horns or slitted red eyes for me. Just a head of dark waves and cerulean blue eyes.

I made my way down the stairs just as the door opened. A trio of friends were the first to walk in, and as soon as they spotted me, I could practically smell their arousal permeating the air of the entryway.

“Oh my God!” the one in the middle squealed. She covered her black painted lips and shook her head, making her pigtails sway. “Zagan! You were amazing tonight!”

“So good!” the shirtless guy beside her cried, and even through the black pants he wore, I could see his dick twitching as his eyes raked over me.

“It was legendary,” the Korean girl exclaimed.

Flashing my charismatic smile that had gotten me more than one meal in the past, I said, “Thank you. I appreciate that.”

Their eyes looked past me as the rest of the band appeared, and more chatter than I cared to listen to erupted as the trio drifted further inside. I leaned against the landing post of the staircase with my arms crossed and waited for my prey of the night to walk in.

The first one I saw was the friend who seemed to be pulling my bird behind her. She immediately saw the rest of the members who were doing introductions in front of me. I peered in between them all as my target appeared, and as if she could feel me watching, her big brown eyes found mine. As soon as our gazes met, I lifted the corner of my mouth a fraction, just to let her know the eye contact wasn’t simply a random gesture.

You’re mine.

She quickly turned to Dante as he approached the two girls, and I let her look away. For now. Because later, I’d have her so focused on me and all the things I was doing to her that she wouldn’t be able to look anywhere except at me.

“Let’s head in,” Dante called to everyone. “We have loads of drinks, food, pills, whatever you guys might want, in the back sunroom.”

Excitement flooded the space as the guests trailed after my bandmates with mine and Dante’s picks following in the back. I didn’t move from the post I leaned on, but instead, I let my eyes track my bird as she walked past. My dick throbbed when I saw her glance my way and swallow.

Oh yeah. She knew. She knew she was going to be mine.

Smiling to myself, I finally turned and followed the group, keeping a couple feet between my prey and I. Her back straightened, and she glanced over her shoulder to see me following. Her eyes widened, and she quickly turned back to face the way we were heading.

A dizzying sense of thrill fired inside me. This. This was what I’d been missing.

Chasing.

Stalking.

Seeing a pretty human that didn’t go out of their way to try to seduce me .

That was my job, one that I’d missed. Now I’d get to test those skills out again, seeing how long it took to break my little bird’s will. Because she would break. She’d give in.

They all did.

Everyone filed into the sunroom where the back bar stood with plenty of alcohol and a bowl full of colorful pills that some were already popping with no encouragement necessary.

The two girls stopped just inside the doorway of the room as Dante came over to start his flirting with the tall beauty. I stopped right behind my own snack. The sweet and subtle scent of lavender and vanilla wrapped around me.

She smells fucking divine.

Her shoulders pulled back, and she slowly turned to look at me. She sucked in a breath, which seemed to catch the attention of her friend, who’d been caught up with speaking to our lead guitarist.

“Holy shit,” the friend hissed, her cheeks darkening. She didn’t hide her appraisal of me, looking at me from head to toe. “Z-Zagan.”

“In the flesh,” I said with a smirk. I looked between the two girls. “I’m afraid I wasn’t paying much attention in the hall. I was a bit … distracted.” My eyes briefly met with the shorter of the two, and my smile widened as the color rose to her cheeks, glad she caught my meaning. “What were your names?”

“I’m Nahla,” the tall one said, pressing a hand to her chest.

I grinned just so she felt like I cared then turned my gaze on the only one I truly had an interest in right now.

She peered up at me through thick lashes and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m Iyla.”

Dante slung an arm around Nahla’s shoulder and said, “Why don’t we get you two girls some drinks?”

“I’d love one!” Nahla waved for Iyla to follow as Dante guided her away.

Iyla nibbled on her lip as she watched her friend go before glancing my way again. The blood rushing in my body heated instantly. I couldn’t wait to claim that mouth and make it spew profanities.

I nodded in the direction of her friend. “After you.”

She quickly followed behind them, and I walked beside her as we made it to the bar. Dante and Nahla were quick to fix their drinks and move on, seemingly already knowing what they wanted, and they shuffled away so that Iyla and I stood there alone. Already, people were dispersing to mingle, get their fan questions and comments out of the way, and eventually, get what we all really wanted.

“What will it be?” I asked, waving my hand at the wide array of drinks.

Her doe eyes scanned the various bottles of liquor. Something wild briefly flashed in her eyes, and if I’d been paying more attention to reading her instead of thinking about what I wanted to do to her later, I might’ve been able to pick up on whatever it was. Seeing as how I wasn’t though, the look was expelled before I figured it out.

She stood on her tiptoes to try to peer over the other edge of the bar. “Is there any water back there?”

I snickered. “Water? Why not have something a bit better than that? There’s no need to hold back since no one has to worry about driving. That’s what the limo is for.”

Her brow furrowed. “First of all, I’m only twenty. I can’t drink. Secondly, I don’t know anyone here, except Nahla. I’m not impairing my judgment in a house full of strangers.”

The sudden push back from her sent a sharp dart of electricity straight down my spine and right to my groin. She was fighting me, and I fucking loved it. I wanted it. I wanted her to push back. I wanted her to keep telling me no. I wanted her to make me work for my dinner, because it was going to make it a thousand times better when she finally said yes.

Offering an understanding nod, I said, “Smart.” I reached my hand over the bar where bottles of water were stashed. I offered one to her and poured myself a glass of whiskey. “I guess that means you have no interest in the ecstasy, then?”

Her eyes doubled in size. “Absolutely not!”

I laughed under my breath. She shifted on her feet and drank some water. I followed her lead and downed some of my whiskey. Her nervous hesitation was a refreshing change from the normal reaction I typically received, and I waited to see what else she’d do.

Her eyes found mine. “So …” She paused, then said, “You sing.”

The statement caught me off guard, considering it was both random and obvious. A short laugh broke past my lips before I could stop it. “Yeah,” I replied, clearing the mirth from my throat. “Yeah. I sing.”

She fiddled with the cap on the bottle, and a pink hue dusted her cheeks. “You have a really beautiful voice. I’m sure you hear that a lot, though.”

A smile tugged my lips higher, and I shrugged. “I get compliments on it, though beautiful isn’t typically how it’s described.”

“It should be. Your voice is …” She hesitated and seemed to search my face for an answer. “It’s deep yet has this sort of soft and haunting sound to it. It’s nice.”

The compliment threw me. My fans definitely loved my singing, but that was never what they wanted to talk about when they had the chance to be around me in this setting. And when they did compliment me, it was typically on how hot I was, how good I was in bed, or how sexy I sounded. Never beautiful . Never nice .

She’s an odd one.

“Thank you,” I finally said. “I appreciate it.”

She took another nervous sip of water before saying, “The concert was really fun, too.”

“Yeah. You looked like you were having a good time.”

Her lips parted in surprise, and I had to really focus on her words and not on how fucking hot she looked with her mouth like that. “Y-You saw me?”

I rested my elbow on the bar and leaned in closer to her. “Of course I did. How could I not notice someone as gorgeous as you?”

She stared at me in bewilderment before ducking her head to stare at her feet. The compliment seemed foreign to her, which was a shame. A human as lovely as her should be showered in praise, but I had to admit that her sheepishness made the beast inside me pace, eager to claim and ruin her with my filth. It made the fire in my veins burn hotter with the need to seduce and feed off this little bird.

“Yo, Zagan.”

I had to force my eyes away from her to look over my shoulder at Perseus, who stood in the center of all our guests with his arm slung around the shoulders of the girl with the bob. “Would you two like to join us for the tour?”

My gaze found Iyla’s again. I raised a brow to let her know it was her choice. She looked all too eager to join her friend’s side. Nahla pulled her in for a quick peck on the cheek before focusing on Dante and the story he was telling. Everyone began filing through the hallway to check out the different rooms—or more likely, noting the ones that offered the best scene for tonight. Nahla leaned into Iyla’s side to whisper something in her ear, and after a moment, Iyla slowly fell into step beside me.

“Did you get sentenced to walk with me?” I teased.

She stared at the back of Nahla’s head and murmured, “She’s just giving me some advice that I don’t know what to do with. If anything, my presence is your sentence.”

I pressed my wrists together in mock-cuffs and held them out to her. “Then consider me your pleased prisoner.”

Iyla laughed softly and shook her head at my gesture. The momentary ease vanished as quickly as it came. Her body tensed again as the large group shuffled in and out of rooms. She walked around on eggshells, and I figured she was probably the type to get more comfortable as she got to know someone.

Excited that my meal tonight required some coaxing, I queried, “What do you like to do for fun, Iyla?”

Her brown eyes found mine. “I study a lot.”

I quirked my pierced brow at her. “Study?” I chuckled and rolled my eyes. “I said fun .”

She frowned. “Yeah, I guess studying isn’t necessarily fun .” She thought about my question some more. “I hang out with Nahla in my free time. We go shopping, watch movies, things like that.”

“What kind of movies do you like?”

“Horror movies,” she answered absently, looking into another room we passed. Her body was still rigid, and for someone who supposedly liked scary shit, she resembled a rabbit cowering in the shadows as if she were being stalked by a snake.

Little did she know that was exactly what was happening.

I leaned closer to her and whispered, “So are you always this tense, or is it because of me?”

She quickly whipped her head around to look up at me as her cheeks turned pink. I watched her throat bob on a swallow as her eyes briefly flicked to my lips, which still hovered close, before meeting my gaze again. “Maybe a little of both.”

I titled my head slightly. “Do I make you uncomfortable?”

She considered the question with another fleeting glance at my pierced lips, but instead of answering, she asked, “What kind of movies do you like?”

The dodging of my question was a clear indication. She was definitely interested in me, and she was attempting to ignore it by changing the subject. The truth was obvious, though. It was in the rough tone of her voice, the heat smoldering in her gaze, and in the scent of her arousal. The smell was fucking divine, and my stomach clenched as I pictured sinking my face into it later.

I straightened, giving her distance to catch her breath.

For now.

“I don’t really watch movies,” I answered.

Her eyes widened. “What? What do you do for fun then?”

We reached the room my bandmates had been leading everyone to. The music was loudest here, and prior to the humans’ arrival, we’d turned the lights off with only red LED strips lining the edge of the open room. The couches that had been set up by the homeowners were now pushed against the wall to create an open space for what we were currently here for.

Looking at Iyla as I walked backward into the room, I winked and purred, “It’s a secret.”

Everyone immediately gathered in the center of the space to dance in small groups or solo. Nahla grabbed Iyla and held her hands as she lost herself in the song. I stood with Dante and Coldin, watching the two girls laugh and sway with the other humans and my bandmates.

“We’ve got a good feast tonight,” Dante said with a salacious grin plastered on. His hungry eyes watched the bodies moving around us. “You boys ready to eat?”

Coldin grunted in response as he crossed his arms and watched the human girl with pigtails.

My tongue traced the piercing on my lip as I finally replied, “Not quite. My little bird needs a bit more convincing.”

He laughed and clapped my shoulder. “Good luck. If you get tired of trying to convince her, we can share mine. No need to chase these days.”

Yeah, no kidding. But that was exactly what I wanted right now. The chase. The fight. The sin .

He left to join Iyla and Nahla where they danced. Nahla backed it up on him, and he moved along with her. Iyla watched the two for a moment before she realized she was now the third wheel. Her gaze flicked to me where I stood on the outskirts, and I could see her weighing whether or not to join me now that she was the odd one out. And that was exactly how I wanted it. The more Dante swept Nahla up in the dance and music, the closer Iyla shuffled toward me, seeking someone to be with.

The crowd slowly thinned as demon and prey left the room to get busy. Eventually, a tipsy, giggly Nahla whispered some stuff to Iyla before slipping her hand into Dante’s and leaving the room. Iyla smiled at her friend and gave her two thumbs up as Nahla happily followed the crowd, leaving just the two of us in the room.

Music thrummed in the dim space. Iyla and I stood opposite each other, our gazes locked in a silent challenge of what to do now that we were alone.

I sat my whiskey on the floor where she had placed her water earlier and pushed off the wall. “Wanna dance with me?”

She quickly held up her hands and shook her head. “Oh. Oh, no. You don’t want to dance with me. I don’t get out much, so I’m not very good at it.”

“There’s no one here but you and me. No one to judge you or to critique your dancing. I know I certainly won’t.”

“Wicked Games” by The Weeknd flared to life over the speakers as I stalked closer to where she stood in place. I slowly walked around her, passing her side and coming around to her back, making sure to keep only a centimeter of space between her skin and mine. I wanted to get close, making her body painfully aware of me, but not giving it the satisfaction of touching.

Not yet.

I stopped behind her, and even over the music, I heard her quick intake of breath as I leaned forward to whisper in her ear, “Just let the music guide you. Let it make your hesitation disappear. Let me make it disappear. Dance with me, Iyla.”

The song pulsed around us, and I eagerly waited to see if I’d gotten her yet. Had I convinced her to take this one little step that would lead to many more? A small dance that would lead to my cock filling her up later? My entire body practically buzzed with the need to feel her skin, but I was a patient Incubus. I’d wait until she gave in and made the step herself.

Her response was nearly drowned out in the beat of the song, but I heard it with my entire being. “Okay.”

I smiled.

Good fucking girl.