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“I heard you. I was giving you the opportunity to choose a less insane answer.”

“They’re rare.” His breathing was uneven beneath me, though his voice held steady. “Most bloodlines vanished, went into hiding, or were absorbed by the old clans generations ago. Their abilities often stay dormant until the first feeding, so some go their entire lives believing their powers never manifested.”

My skin went cold beneath the heat coating it. “Feeding.”

“You were pulling energy from my arousal.” His thumb pressed into my hip as if he needed the contact to stay upright. “Not blood. Not my magic. Life force. Desire opened the connection, and your body took what it needed before you understood you were hungry.”

I stared at him. “That sounds disturbingly close to eating someone during sex.”

“It is eating someone during sex.”

“Oh, good. Since this wasn’t horrifying enough.”

“An experienced succubus controls the amount. A newly manifested one reacts on instinct.” His hand slid across my back, grounding me. “Fever, overwhelming hunger, compulsion, heightened senses, physical changes. The eyes usually give it away.”

“How are you so sure?”

“Because you nearly drained me while I was bleeding out, and you have more energy now than you did when you climbed onto me.”

My pulse stumbled.

I did feel different. Too warm and too awake, every nerve humming beneath my skin while his body weakened under mine.

Apparently, I had eaten him.

Lux shifted and winced hard enough for his body to lock up. He reached beside the couch with his good hand, found his discarded pants, and dragged them nearer until he could search the pocket.

“What are you doing?”

He pulled out his phone, opened the camera, and took a picture of me sitting topless across his lap. The lens flashed.

I flinched. “Did you seriously just take a picture of me?”

He turned the phone toward me.

My reflection filled the screen. My hair was a wreck, and blood streaked my collarbone and ribs where his hands had held me. My breasts were conveniently bare. My mouth was swollen, my pupils blown wide, and my irises glowed an unnatural pink.

Glowing meant power. A lot of power.

My mouth dried. “That’s new.”

“For you.” His thumb moved across the screen, enlarging my eyes. “For a succubus, it’s textbook.”

The old stories crawled out of some forgotten corner of my brain. Beautiful demons who fed through pleasure, left bodies behind, and ruined entire bloodlines because powerful men mistook hunger for devotion.

My stomach turned.

“Don’t succubi normally kill their first partner,” I asked before my brain could stop my mouth.

His mouth curved under the mask. Blood made the smile worse. Hotter. More concerning for my ever-degrading taste in men.

“If they’re a pathetic little weakling, sure,” he said.

“You were bleeding out before I climbed on you, so maybe don’t get smug.”

He laughed and, the asshole, snapped another picture.

“Delete that,” I snapped.