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Domovoy had gotten it right for once.

It shouldn’t have been possible for anything to sneak into the garden—let alone to take from it.

Yet she had. An utterly infuriating, headstrong female.

A curious creature by all rights, with something ethereal about her.

A light in the dark with her creamy skin, sapphire eyes, and platinum blue strands of hair down to her waist. Her narrow waist, the flare of her hips, the pink hue of her nipples…

My chest squeezed and my blood heated.

I needed answers.

I couldn’t believe it, even after seeing her with my own eyes.

There hadn’t been a mortal, a human, in Infernus for ages.

Not remembering how long a mortal slept, I needed to move quickly.

The library was my first stop. I pulled down every known tome and text on the mortal world and the humans who inhabited it.

Not much was known about humans except for the rare occasions they slipped through, and the dormant taint of my bloodline.

Ever the nuisance, Domovoy followed me into the expansive library.

Towering shelves reached skyward, nearly brushing the domed glass ceiling.

The cat merged and drifted from shadow to shadow, flaming eyes bobbing in the darkness.

For the most part, I ignored him as I brushed my hand along gilt spines.

“A creature with no name.” The cat materialized on a shelf near eye-level, lying on his back with his front paws stretching out. He rolled over and the candles on his head sparked. “A complete oddity, sire.”

“Indeed,” I grumbled back. After blowing dust off the covers, I tucked a few notebooks under my arm.

“She does not know of you. She is not from here.”

“Obviously.” I rolled my eyes and strolled away, tail-tip flicking behind me.

“At first I wondered if she was some sort of featherless harpy.” Domovoy’s grin provoked a snarl from me. “You enjoy harpies, and this creature is… luscious. Perhaps more so than those squawking hens.”

Another discontent grumble escaped me. The puffed-up hairball didn’t take it as the threat it was.

“You could always devour her, my lord. ”

My jaw clenched. “No, that won’t help anything.”

“But you’ve thought of it.”

Not in the way he assumed. But… if I thought back on the expanse of her glowing creamy skin and the swell of her curves, a certain unavoidable hunger roused in my core. I shook those thoughts away as I settled into my seat.

“And you’re familiar with such strange events, aren’t you?” His glowing eyes cut to the book cradled in my claws. “Familiar with… humans.”

“Don’t speak of it.” My thumb twitched on the cover as I hesitated. “Portals are supposed to be rare.”

“Though there have been multiple instances lately—”

“I’m aware.”

“Still, this pale thing would not be the first incident.” Domovoy plopped himself down on the table beside my wingback chair.

His long, fluffy tail curled over his paws.

I returned to ignoring him even though he blinked a fire to life in the hearth.

A warm glow cascaded over the sitting area, shadows and light warring for space on the thin rug, the pair of chairs, and the table between them.

Domovoy remained still beside me, his only useful contribution being the candles atop his head illuminating the pages I opened.

At first, my chest squeezed, and my exhale stuttered as I took in the handwritten pages.

A script so familiar yet purposefully avoided for years.

Part of me resented the stray in the tower for forcing a reason to open them onto me.

But there was no resource more accurate, or more recently, in all the castle’s archives.

Granted, the pages were faded, worn at the edges, slightly yellowed with age.

It had sat untouched on the shelves for a hundred years. I couldn’t bring myself to keep reading the words of a ghost.

“This is no place for her. No place for a human.” Beasts of Infernus targeted mortals. It was surprising she’d made it as far as the castle. Demons would have smelled her and hunted her the moment she crossed over.

“She brings back memories, doesn’t she?” the cat whispered.

“You are forbidden from speaking another word,” I snarled.

Domovoy hissed back.

A log in the fire cracked and split. Embers rose in the smoky air, fluttering like ashen stars.

My hand trembled as I flipped through the personal journal, seeking insight into my current dilemma.

Most of the information I knew from memory, having read the book hundreds of times decades ago.

Nothing new stood out as I immersed myself for hours.

Several times I removed myself from the handwritten notes to cross reference ancient texts and sources on otherworldly magic.

I had to admit it had all the tells of dark magic.

There were creatures from Infernus and other realms with the power to manipulate the veil between worlds.

Witches, wizards, and other nefarious fiends with a hunger for more, more, always more.

I had a stack of reports in my office from subjects reporting sightings of portals this past week, including that morning’s incident at the ravine.

As an Inferni-hybrid, I’d always known of the existence of humans. It was intrinsic to who I was, to my very being. But over the past hundred years, I’d become disillusioned to my origins as that part of my life faded further from memory.

And then she stumbled into my realm.

I flushed as I thought of her. The first human in a century, as far as I was aware.

A creature so unlike anything else in my world.

A soft thing, with lush curves, every inch delectable from head to toe.

My mouth watered just remembering the vibrant floral scent clinging to her.

She was a stunning cut of fuckable meat that inspired depraved and carnal thoughts.

Nothing in the texts held any information on sending a creature back to their realm or summoning a portal.

I would need more ancient books on spells and magic to find such knowledge, and the lack of insight frustrated me beyond lingering in the library.

I set my books down, leaving Domovoy sleeping curled up on the table, and exited the cavernous room.

Shadows greeted me like old friends as I ambled along the corridors.

The halls of my home, my entire life echoing through the walls.

This castle was my past and future and I knew it as well as the back of my hand.

And I found myself standing outside her tower door, pacing like an agitated animal in a cage.

That wasn’t normal, her presence wasn’t normal, and something about her… neither was she.

I shouldn’t have come this far, but I also couldn’t stay away.

She might have died in her sleep. I was only ensuring my guest was alive.

The door swished open, and a wall of her scent punched me in the chest. It almost sent me to my knees, as potent and intoxicating as the first time she entered my office.

It had etched itself into my brain from that first moment she stumbled in, pouring off her in tantalizing waves.

A crisp floral scent with honeyed undertones.

Like nectar from ripe fruit in a blooming garden, earthy and tempting.

A sweet creature from the otherworld.

The door shut quietly behind me. Not that it mattered.

Burdened by exhaustion and unknown trials, she slept deeply, soundly, dead to the world.

The neglected drapes rustled from my entry and a slim bar of silvery light slanted across the bed.

My claws silently passed over the floor as I approached the unmoving figure laying vulnerable before me.

Like an injured bird found by a predator.

Her pale brows were pinched, and her soft pink lips were set in a strained frown as she struggled through a taxing form of rest—the recovery kind.

Hair like spun bluish silver splayed out in a fan around her head, and my fingers itched to see if it felt as silken as it looked.

Dried fruit juice stained her mouth and chin, almost gruesome with the scarlet color on creamy flesh as striking on blood on snow.

One hand dangled over the bed. Dried mud smudged her fingers and there was dirt under her fingernails.

Blades of grass were threaded into her light blue strands.

Her feet were tucked into the cocoon of my cloak, and I recalled the state they were in when she arrived.

Filthy. Wild. That only added to her mysterious appeal.

Where had she come from?

I kneeled beside the bed, holding my breath to dampen the urge to inhale her into my lungs. Ethereal, beautiful even in a tormented sleep. She looked serene compared to the frazzled state she’d arrived in. Her audacity still impressed me.

Tales as old as time would have me believe that humans were frightened of beasts.

Yet she’d glared right back. She was wary, cautious, and though there had been fear in her scent, it hadn’t been aimed at me.

Intrigue bristled along my spine as I wondered how she’d gotten here, how she’d made it so far into Infernus.

Perhaps it was fate.

I’d always known I had destiny on my side, and a life of receiving everything I ever wanted—to an extent.

For decades, I had put my desires on hold to focus on the needs of the land, the betterment of the realm.

Now that I was there in that abandoned, dilapidated tower with my newfound guest, I felt inexplicably selfish.

If she had come to me, a picture-perfect dream, then she was going to be mine.

A present hand-delivered by destiny directly into the lap of the lord of the castle. History had a funny way of repeating itself. And who was I to continue denying what I wanted?

Although she was new. I had no idea how to treat a mortal human female.

She wasn’t like the Inferni. I wanted to cater to this strange creature’s every desire, but there was no guide to seducing human women.

But the sight and smell of her made me warm and borderline dizzy…

relying on instinct would have to be enough.

Leaning over her, I hovered my nose over the delectable perfume rippling around her. Her pheromones rose to meet me, something in them attuned specifically for me. Something… something magical.

Her nostrils flared, and she stirred.

held my breath.

She nuzzled her face deeper into my cloak, inhaling until her stressed expressions smoothed.

Relaxed and sleeping peacefully as if she sensed me, my smell, my aura, and melted—for me.

Responding to my scent as obviously as I had to hers.

There was something there between us. She knew it, even in her dreams.

A steady thumping picked up, and I realized it was her heart rate rising. Mine raced to meet hers.

It was decided.

She was mine.

Lost and alone, didn’t she deserve someone who could tend to her every whim and provide for her?

My hand trembled above her shoulder, and I snatched it back before touching her. Claws cut into my palm, and I restrained myself from the insensible urges in my core rising to guide me.

A whimper caught in her throat.

I clenched my jaw and tightened my fists to abstain from touching her.

Her noises troubled me. Something had brought her to me, certainly.

Nothing good. And with the rising rumors in the realm…

concerns rose their ugly heads in my chest. I would learn what troubled her, what brought her to my castle.

There were coincidences, but not like this.

If she was in danger, I would keep her safe.

Nothing would take her from me. Not now that I’d decided she was mine.

Watching her was like a drug.

Countless hours passed as I sat on the floor beside the bed, breathing her in, listening to the sleepy sounds she made, and shaking from the visceral need to touch… to touch her. Touch her.

Touch her.

I snatched my claws from her personal space.

Again and again. Each time, trembling, panting, bodily shaking with shattering composure.

She was so bright, so sweet, so close. I could reach out and feel her breath caressing the back of my knuckles.

I wanted to feel her cheek under my palm and the warmth returning to her delicious form.

But not yet.

Wooing a female took time.

I could not touch her yet. I wouldn’t touch her.

I would not.