“It’s beautiful. Thank you.” Tears pricked my eyes, and I blinked them away fast. Her kindness made my heart swell, and kindness wasn’t shown to me often.
A warm hand scooped the necklace from mine, and my hair gathered to one side before the token of friendship was clasped around my neck.
I spun around quickly, but whoever was there was gone the next moment. “Who—”
“One of our roommates.” Trixie rolled her eyes before glancing around the room.
Suddenly, a man walked out of the shadows from behind me, and I yelped, scurrying over beside Trixie.
"I'm Damien." He reached out his hand as shadows clung to his undeniably toned body. He smirked. "Don't be scared. I'm only a shadow demon."
My breath caught in my throat as I admired him. I’d never seen a demon before, but he put every preconceived notion I’d had about them to shame.
His aura screamed danger. The predatory way he tilted his head as he stared at me was reason enough to avoid him, but I had no interest in avoiding someone who made my nerves buzz the way they were in that moment.
He had spiked obsidian hair and mesmerizing dark gray eyes that were searing me more and more each second they were on me. Two black lip rings adorned either side of his bottom lip, and his tongue darted over them in a slow, deliberate way.
The only un-inked part of his skin was his face. Every other inch of his body, that was exposed anyway, was covered in tattoos of black shadows with words woven within.
Damien was temptation in the purest form. I finally understood what the she-wolves from the village meant by wanting to rip someone’s clothes off because for the first time, I wanted to.
Demons were known to be aggressive and unstable, but he sparked my interest the moment he’d clasped the necklace around my neck. His appearance just added to that.
I placed my hand in his. The warm, calloused hand pulled mine to his lips.
Ripples of shadows skidded up my arm and back to him as he pressed a kiss to the back of my hand and pulled away. “It’s a pleasure,” he purred. “I’m especially pleased that you have the room next to mine. We’ll be sharing a bathroom.”
Warmth shot up my neck to my face. “Oh,” I breathed. “We are?”
Trixie smacked his hand away from mine and blew a piece of hair out of her eyes. “Stop teasing her.”
“Who said anything about teasing?” He tilted his head as if her question really confused him.
She gave him a look that told me she didn’t believe a word he was saying as she crossed her arms.
A small, awkward giggle fell from my lips, and Damien’s gaze cut to me again as he smirked.
“We can have Kian switch rooms with you if you’d rather not share a bathroom with him,” Trixie said, wrinkling her nose.
I shook my head. “It’s okay. I don’t mind sharing with Damien.”
His smirk grew as his gaze trailed lazily down to the mushroom around my neck. “We’re going to get along great, little bird.”
My blood ran cold as my lips parted in a small gasp.
Little birdis what my father called me, and static filled my ears as his face popped into my mind. He’d named me Wren because I reminded him of the small bird, and my mom always loved that.
A pleasant tingle rushed through as the shock wore off.
I cleared my throat, tearing my gaze away from Damien, and glanced around the room. “Who’s Kian?”
Damien’s smirk dropped as the shadows whirled around him again. “Does it matter?”
“Of course it matters!” Trixie placed her hands on her hips. “He’s our other roommate.”
As if on cue, one of the doors opened, and the cutest man with fluffy brown hair paused by the door.
Wide green eyes framed with thick brown glasses locked on me before he snapped his gaze to the ground and shuffled into the room“Hi, I’m Kian. I’m a necromancer. My special power is that I have visions of both the past and future and sometimes the present too,” he mumbled, and Trixie grinned at him.
