However…things had gone a little off course. The watching became a compulsion before finally sliding into a full-blown obsession over the past two weeks. I woke up and her face filled my mind. I went to sleep dreaming of her movements, or of the freckles lightly sprinkled on her cheeks and across the bridge of her nose. Of the way the fabric of her clothes moved on her body. I’d sit for hours wondering how she might tremble when she came, her little gasps morsels for my own mouth to swallow until she and I were one.

I’d grip my cock while acting it out—pretend I was already her as I pinched my nipples and moaned. I couldn’t wait to capture her. To tie her down and see everything she was capable of.

I wanted to know every inch of her. Experience it, feel it, own it.

And so our planning room became a disturbing shrine. I’d been collecting more than pictures. Honestly, I’d been doing more than watching. It was in my nature to be up to no good and I’d been doing just that, sneaking into Lacey’s condo and amassing a collection of stolen goods—perfumes, lipsticks, a toothbrush. Personal items. It was part of my process.

Every time I came back from watching her, Lorcan was in the room all alone, red incubus eyes drinking in the images surrounding him. The little fucker wanted her bad but would never admit it.

Dullahan disappeared, no doubt to find a bottle of whiskey. Which left me and mister incubus alone in the room. Something I was never too fond of. He already had Dullahan, I refused to let his unnatural appeal enslave me too.

I tried to be subtle as I walked around the edge of the room opposite of him but of course, he knew. He was hyper-aware of everyone. He was of Asian ancestry but with unnatural red hair and red eyes. His attention slowly slid from the picture of Lacey to me. I felt pinned to the wall. Unfortunately, I was drawn to self-sabotage like a rowdy teen who bucked against all authority.

I was Puca after all, ancient and powerful. Why should I ever appear wary of an incubus afraid of his own power?

I smiled at Lorcan and pushed away from the wall, striding over to look at the pictures next to where he stood. I shoved my hands in my pockets and smiled. He didn't move an inch, his eyes never leaving me as I approached. Deadly still, like a predator awaiting its chance to strike. I swallowed thickly before chuckling.

“You were standing in the same spot when I left earlier.” The skin around his eyes tightened but he didn’t respond. An unnerving reaction. I needed him to snap out of it and react, not just keep staring at me until I felt his gaze like a demanding hand pressing on my skin. I ground my teeth and forced my eyes off him and to the wall.