Chapter 1083: Naked Cat

Chapter 1083 – Naked Cat

For one second, neither of them moved.

Then Lux blinked.

"Oh," he said. "You’re awake now. Can you—"

Her face exploded red.

Mana roared.

Not intentionally.

Mostly.

A flare of golden power burst from her body, sharp enough to crack the air and burn the edge of the blanket.

Lux vanished.

The bed exploded upward in a ripple of force where he had been.

A heartbeat later, he reappeared beside the bed, barefoot on the carpet, shirt slightly singed at the sleeve, expression deeply offended. "Seriously?"

Runa grabbed the bedsheet and yanked it around her body, clutching it against her chest. Her face burned so hot she felt her cat ears flatten against her hair.

Lux spread one hand. "I just saved you."

Runa pointed at him from inside her stolen bedding fortress. "You—!"

"Yes?"

"You shouldn’t take advantage of me!"

Lux stared.

Runa’s tail lashed beneath the sheet, betraying her embarrassment so violently she wanted to cut it off.

"I know you are an incubus," she snapped. "But at least have dignity!"

Lux’s brows lifted. "You were clinging to me."

"That’s impossible."

Lux looked at the scorched blanket. "Your claws disagreed earlier."

"I do not cling."

"You absolutely cling."

"I am Runa Delacour, Grand Sorcerer of the Starbound Circle. I do not cling."

Lux’s mouth twitched. "Yeah, right."

Runa hated how handsome he looked when trying not to laugh.

Now that she could properly see him, Lux Vaelthorn was worse.

Much worse.

His face was refined but not delicate. Sharp jaw, dangerous eyes, mouth shaped like temptation had a signature. Even disheveled, he looked expensive.

His shirt hung loose over a body that very clearly had no moral reason to look like that.

Runa tightened the sheet around herself.

Suspiciously attractive demon.

Exactly the kind of thing that ruined women who thought they had standards.

Her gaze involuntarily dropped. Then her eyes narrowed.

She pointed.

"That thing..."

Runa’s face burned harder. "...is hard."

Lux inhaled slowly through his nose like a man requesting patience from every god, devil, market regulator, and household woman available.

"Yes," he said flatly. "Congratulations on your medical observation."

Runa sputtered. "You admit it?"

"I am not going to lie about biology."

Runa glared.

He pointed at himself. "I did not touch you improperly. I did not wake you. I did not even complain when your tail wrapped around my leg."

Her eyes widened. "My what?"

Lux looked regretful. "I should not have said that."

"My tail did what?"

"It expressed attachment."

"My tail has no authority to express anything."

"Then you should speak with it."

Runa’s tail whipped behind her under the sheet.

Lux glanced down. "It seems active in negotiations."

"I will curse you." Runa regretted it instantly, but pride forced her forward. "You are an incubus. Therefore your self-control is suspicious! Not me."

Lux stared.

Then laughed once.

Low.

Disbelieving.

Not mocking exactly, but close enough that her ears twitched.

"Oh, I see."

Runa narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"You think because I’m an incubus, I’m desperate enough to jump at every naked woman who falls onto me."

She flushed. "That is not what I—"

"It is exactly what you said."

"You were—" Her gaze flicked downward again, then away. "Reacting."

Lux looked at the ceiling.

"I woke up with a beautiful naked woman on my chest, pheromone feedback in the room, and your tail around my leg. Yes, my body reacted. My choices did not."

Runa went very still.

Lux stepped toward the door.

Runa tensed.

He stopped.

"I’m leaving," he said. "You need clothes. Aela can help stabilize you. Naomi can talk to you if you want someone less demonic."

Runa clutched the bedsheet tighter.

For some reason, the thought of him leaving irritated her.

Not because she wanted him to stay.

Obviously not.

A ridiculous idea.

She was merely annoyed because he was walking away too calmly after putting her in this humiliating situation. Yes. That was all. A matter of fairness. A matter of dignity. A matter of proper accountability after a demon’s body had reacted while she was technically unconscious and now she had to sit here smelling his annoying sweetness like some cheap romance heroine with cat ears.

Her face burned hotter.

Lux reached for the door.

Runa’s mouth moved before her pride could murder the sentence. "Wait!"

Lux stopped.

He looked back.

Runa immediately regretted existing. She didn’t know what to say.

His expression was calm, but those eyes were too sharp. Too knowing. Too amused. "What?"

Runa looked away, gripping the sheet until her knuckles whitened. "You are still..."

Her gaze flicked downward.

Then snapped away.

Lux blinked. Then slowly looked at her. "No."

"I haven’t even finished."

"You don’t need to."

Her ears flattened. "Do not interrupt me."

"I am protecting both of us from this conversation."

Runa’s face went scarlet. "I am saying," she forced out, each word dragged through burning pride, "that if your... condition... is because of me, then I can compensate you."

Lux stared.

Runa rushed forward because apparently once humiliation started, it demanded a full performance.

"Not because I want to," she snapped. "Do not misunderstand. I am a grand sorcerer. I repay debts. You fed me, saved me, and unfortunately became my mattress, so if your body is suffering some incubus inconvenience, I can—"

Lux immediately raised both hands. "No, thank you. I have dignity. I don’t accept half-assed payment from someone who looks like she wants to kill me for receiving it."

Runa froze.

Her mouth remained slightly open. He said what???

He stepped backward. "Now excuse me. I need to go to the woman who wants me. Good luck taming my pheromones."

He teleported.

Runa sat frozen on the ruined bed, sheet clutched to her chest, cat ears burning, tail curled around her own thigh like it too felt embarrassed.

For several seconds, she stared at the empty space where Lux had stood.

Then she cringed.

"...Did I just get rejected by an incubus?"