Lucien
Sparkle purrs in my lap. He’s so cute with his wittle ears and his fluffy tail. I wanna give the end of his tail a nibble, or just the tip of an ear. His fur is immaculate. Not one mat or stain.
He’s so peaceful on my lap, and I continue to pet him.
His purrs soothe my soul after the last several days of chasing after Raykin.
The demon used all my old tricks, and I still found him.
The rush gave me such a high I almost agreed to be a tracker again.
But then I thought of the life I built and remembered why I left.
I’m not just a tracking demon. Maybe I’m still the best of the best, but Dorman doesn’t have anything I want.
Thankfully, he respected my wishes and let me go.
I don’t know what Dorman’s plans are for Raykin, but the demon was so far gone from sanity that I have to give Dorman some praise for grabbing his due now.
Raykin could have exposed the entire otherworld to the humans, and that’s not something anyone is interested in right now.
At least not that I know of. Humans churn their own turmoil, and we can feed off that. We don’t need them hunting us, too.
Sparkle stretches and looks up at me.
“Hey, pretty kitty.” I pet his little head, and he rubs against me. He’s so sweet even in cat form. He licks my arm, and I melt. I swear I’m vibrating. “You licked me. Now I’m yours.”
He snorts out a little sound but licks me again.
Okay, maybe he’s grooming me. I smell awful after chasing Raykin and haven’t had the chance to shower off the stink.
Sparkle rubs his head against my arm before licking me again.
I sigh and lean back, letting him do whatever he wants with me.
The rough tongue does more for my brain than therapy ever did.
That’s probably a lie, but not in this moment.
Right now, we’re content to just be. Me demon, him cat. No performing. No chasing.
Sparkle nuzzles my arm, then hops off my lap.
“Come back.”
He settles on the cushion beside me, then looks at his clothes, still in a pile on the floor. Then to me. The door. The clothes. Me. Door. Clothes. Me.
“Oh!” I pop to my feet. “I’ll be right out here while you get dressed.” I wave toward the door and go through it before shutting it behind me. I don’t know if he’s shy about shifting naked in front of me or what. But he wants his privacy, and I’ll give it to him.
I pace and watch the door. He’s taking a while. At least it feels that way.
When he opens the door, he’s swiping a hand through his hair, making one ear twitch. His tail sways behind him as he looks at the floor. The sweetest blush creeps across his cheeks.
“Hi,” he whispers before meeting my eyes.
I swallow. “Hi.” Why is it a croak? I cough into my hand. “What can I help with?”
He nibbles his bottom lip. “I... Uh... I have time now.” He takes a breath. “To date. If you’re still interested, that is.”
I scoop him into my arms, bridal style, and spin around and around. Sparkle clings to me and laughs. It’s so joyful I damn near forget how angry his dad made me.
“I take it that’s a yes?”
“Absolutely. I’m sorry I wasn’t at Wick’s the last few days. I had some demon shit I had to do.”
He shakes his head and leans into me. “Wren told me. And sorry I wasn’t there when you were. I was exhausted and wanted to bed rot for a bit.”
“No need to apologize.” I want to kiss the top of his head so bad.
“Put me down?” Sparkle looks up at me with a smile.
When I let him down on his own two feet, his tail swishes out behind him.
“You need ribbons all along your tail. It’d look so, so cute.”
“Sometimes I tie purple ones into my fur.”
I wonder if it’s the same shade of purple as my skin.
“My darlin’ kitty.” Ah, that blush! He shakes his head, and I tip his chin up with my tail. “Why so shy now?”
He looks away and runs a hand over his forearm. “Dunno. It was easier to flirt when I didn’t think I had the time. Now there’s a possibility. It’s scary.”
“You must enjoy scary things since you just moved out.”
A small smile creeps over his face. “I love my new apartment. It’s two bedrooms and just me.
The apartment manager said I can paint the walls and hang whatever I want.
I’m gonna paint my bedroom a pretty lilac color.
At least I think I am. I have like thirty paint swatches because I’m trying to decide. I keep ordering things with glitter.”
“I expect a lot of glitter.” I boop his nose. “What if we wash up and—”
He raises a hand. “We should probably both get some more sleep.” He yawns and shakes his head. “I’m still pretty exhausted. And no offense, but you stink.” His nose scrunches, and I melt. I want to nibble on his cheek.
Am I a demon with cute aggression? Apparently.
“That’s all doable. What if I take you out for dinner?” I have the perfect idea.
“Dinner would be great.” Sparkle shuffles his feet and doesn’t look at me again. But before I can say anything, he speaks. “I can go wherever you want. I have a pendant that glamours my cat features away now.”
My eyes go wide, and I gasp, needing to sell the act. But the more I think about it, I don’t like the idea of him glamouring himself. “I have a few spots we can go without changing a thing about us.”
His tail wags, and he takes hold of it. “I’d like that. I like me. Papa always made me feel bad about...”
“Well, he was wrong for it,” I say.
Sparkle’s phone buzzes, and he snorts as he shakes his head, but he doesn’t reach for it.
“You can answer that if you need to.” I nod toward his pocket.
“I don’t need to. It’s the group chat, not Mama or any of the kittens. The guys probably wanna ask apartment questions or questions about you. They knew I was coming here.”
“Oh. Interesting.” Maybe I have a real chance at wooing Sparkle. I mean, he came here and said he’s ready.
“I’m nervous.” He rocks on his feet. “I’ve never dated anyone before.”
I blink back at him. The pressure’s on. I have to make this date and every date after epic. I search through my memories. “I don’t think I’ve dated anyone before either.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I mean, I’ve slept with people, but we never dated.
I was a soul tracker for centuries. Then I’ve been running The Rot for decades.
” I rub my chin as the realization settles in.
“Huh. I’m always doing things I want, but they’re always connected to business.
I haven’t really had time to do anything like dating before. ”
Truthfully, no one ever struck my fancy. But then a cute little cat shifter wearing a ridiculous jingle bell collar on Halloween caught my full attention.
“So neither of us knows what we’re doing,” Sparkle says.
I straighten. “Excuse you. I know exactly what I’m doing.”
His ears perk. “You just said you’ve never dated anyone.”
“That doesn’t mean I can’t be spectacular at it.”
Sparkle snorts and covers his mouth, but the laugh escapes anyway. “That sounds very confident for someone with no experience.”
“Darlin’, I have centuries of experience being charming.”
“Is that what you call it?”
I clutch my chest. “You wound me, kitty cat.”
His tail swishes behind him as he laughs, and I can’t stop smiling. This is going to be so easy. I already have everything I need. Sparkle has an entire guide to romancing him. Flowers. Cute dates. Laughter. Affection. Slow kisses that make the world stop. I can do all of that.
“What time should I pick you up?”
Sparkle thinks about it. “Seven?”
“Seven it is.” I take his hand and lift it to my lips, pressing a kiss to his knuckles. His ears immediately flatten into his hair, and that gorgeous pink comes rushing back. “Wear something comfortable.”
His eyes narrow. “Why?”
“It’s a surprise.”
He tries to glare at me, but his tail ruins the whole thing by curling around my wrist. I glance down at it. Sparkle immediately snatches it back and shakes his head. A smile creeps across his lips.
He laughs again before heading toward the stairs. Halfway there, he turns around and walks backward for a few steps. “Seven.”
“I’ll be there.”
“And shower first.”
I sniff myself and grimace. “That was already part of the plan.”
Sparkle disappears down the stairs, and I wait until I hear the door to the club close before I pull my phone from my pocket.
Lucien: I have a date. An actual fucking date. With Sparkle.
Ryan: Yay! Congrats!
Lars: You didn’t kidnap him and call it a date, right?
I roll my eyes.
Lucien: Of course not! But I haven’t ruled it out.
I should probably sleep. I definitely need to shower. Instead, I open the picture Beau sent me of that ridiculous, glittery pink guide. Eleven steps. How hard can this possibly be?