Page 23 of Tempt

“Health records,” I mutter to myself when I realize that’s the first place I should look. All of Dante’s medical records—past and current—are connected to his profile. It’s obvious no one has been through this in some time because there are dozens of appointments and dozens of prescriptions that occurred after he was through with his orientation.

The diagnosis is inconclusive, but this is enough to discharge him without looking suspicious. It feels far too easy—too unsafe—but I’d rather take this risk than allow Cielo to ever scent another Vyastil on his VySytheh.

I press the button to have Dante’s account permanently suspended due to health reasons. It will take a while for it to process, and they will need a few more documents from Dante to approve it, but the whole thing is automated, and unless it triggers an audit, which hasn’t happened in…well, ever, Dante will be free to never visit the clinic again.

I breathe a sigh of tentative relief as the request begins to process, then I rub a hand down my face before clicking over to Luca’s profile.

I stare at him for a long moment. He is much younger in his file photo. His cheeks are fuller, eyes brighter, hair a little longer. He’s wearing massive hearing aids which did not adorn his ears in Las Vegas, and his grin is more carefree than it was when I saw him last.

I breathe in and remember his scent. My cocks stir behind my sheath, and I stroke my hand down my stomach. It has been so long since I’ve chased pleasure. So long since I’ve been able to feel it.

With Kori, the moments were rare, and only when he consumed oyen. But as much as my body reacted to the breeding scent he gave off, I never felt the urge to bite him, to mount him, to claim him.

I never wished to see him fat with my egg.

With Luca, it’s different. He and I will never be able to breed, but I want to. I want to push my cocks deep into his body and fill him with my seed. I want to see him round and marked by me.

My slit grows wet, and I push two fingers inside, hiding my gasp against my palm as the tips of my claws stroke over my cock. It pulses deep inside me. It won’t come out. Not on its own, but I can touch it like this.

I can pretend these are Luca’s hands as I retract my claws and let blunt fingertips explore the shape. Pleasure races through me, and I hate myself for not allowing Luca to explore me further when I had him.

When I was weak and let him close.

My hand pushes deeper into my slit, and I’m able to grab my cock, squeezing and pulsing against my palm. A trill races up my throat, and it’s with a gasp in the shape of Luca’s name that I let go.

I don’t cum like a human—there is no rush of fluid, no climax that takes me down. Not like the way it would be if Luca were here. It’s more like a steady warmth of lust and need that wraps around me, making me more desperate for him.

I don’t know how I will manage to survive not touching him when I see him. I don’t know if I’ll want to.

Without even realizing it, Luca has ruined me.

Just as I pull in a full breath, my phone buzzes, and I pick it up to see that the request to have Dante terminated from service has gone through without an issue.

He is safe for now. I have bought us more time to go undetected in an attempt to save my people from themselves. Still a little breathless, I turn my gaze out toward the water. It’s early, which means I have time to do nothing.

To sit and think.

Tonight, I will find Everest so he can pass along the news to Dante.

For now, I will stay in my little home and pray that I can get through the next long while without Luca destroying all of my carefully laid plans.

six

LUCA

I find myself tempted to keep online-stalking Eissa, so I try to keep myself busy and distracted. I do everything I can to keep myself away from my phone, social media, and anywhere else his name might pop up.

My small condo has never been so clean, nor my yard so spotless, and my calendar has become fuller and fuller by the minute. This morning I found myself pulling weeds that don’t even exist yet, and that’s how I know it’s a problem.

But what I’m not busy doing is fucking other people, which is a shame because that normally keeps me happily distracted. I found myself fantasizing about the cute guy behind the counter at the gym, the two of us pressed against each other in the gym showers. And then halfway through the mental image, I felt a crawling sensation move through me, a buzzing in my mind, and I couldn’t focus. My dick, that was hard, softened at a rapid rate.

I wasn’t into it.

At all. So I dropped my limp dick, wiped the lube off my palm onto the sheets, and rolled over, hating Eissa even more for being so annoying that he’s ruining my fantasies.

I wake up feeling damn near hungover after a fitful sleep, so I head over to the small café that I lease to a Vyastil and a…well, I’m not entirely sure what Hepyn is. He looks a little different than the other monsters in town.

It has to do with the way his skin ripples with translucent scales, almost like a dragonfly’s wing, the sharp upward slant of his eyes, and the way his ears are smaller with tips that almost look like feathers.