The Demon of Lust

Chapter

One

Cole brushed his hair out of his face and stood to look at his work triumphantly. He had managed to put together a do-it-yourself bed frame. Once he pulled the mattress onto it, he’d finally have a comfy place to sleep. Then he could fill up his apartment with actual furniture—a couch, a stand for his TV, a bookshelf…

He shook his head. He was getting ahead of himself. First he had to get accepted by a gallery and sell some pieces. Then he’d actually have money to spend. He’d have to watch his bank account; moving to the city was draining him faster than he’d thought.

Cole Calloway was an artist. Bolstered by encouragement from his parents, friends, and grandfather, he had moved to the city to further his career. His grandfather had nurtured a connection with a college friend over the years who now owned a successful gallery. Cole’s grandfather had opened the door for him, but he had to step through it himself.

He picked up his phone and checked his email for the hundredth time that day. The gallery had promised to let him know regardless of whether their decision was positive or negative, so Cole was dying of anxiety waiting. For Cole, getting into the gallery was less like a stepping stone and more like a

life

raft

.

The hometown he had left, Topsville, wasn’t the ideal place for a young community college graduate with an exceptional talent for art. Cole’s high school friends had had the same bright hopes as him. But early pregnancies, cyclical poverty, and drug addictions had claimed many of their futures. By some extraordinary fluke of good luck, Cole had escaped that and found himself here. He absolutely had to make this new

path

work

. 

He turned to the studio corner of his new apartment and studied the pieces resting against the wall with a critical eye. Confidence in his own work wasn’t the problem, and neither was skill. He had been blessed with good teachers in his classes, as well as raw talent. But despite these, there was a tiny spark lacking and he couldn’t put his finger on it. It wasn’t the kind of thing that could be taught, that was

for

sure

.

He sat down on his bed, opening his laptop. Yet again, he found himself on that same old dating website, scrolling through lists of potential matches. They all blurred together after a while, generic and friendly. He couldn’t even decide who to

message

back

.

It wasn’t like it mattered, anyway. Cole returned to his own profile and pored over the photos he had chosen. He was cute, sure. He liked his eyes; they were a particularly bright shade of blue. But otherwise, he wasn’t much to look at. He sighed and closed his computer. He needed some new photos, the candid kind you took with friends at a bar, but he didn’t have any new friends yet either. That was something else he needed to

work

on

. 

Working from home in a studio, making art and doing freelance work here and there, was going to take a toll on his social life. In the few days he had spent here, he had poured all his free time into working more on his art, in the hopes that he’d produce the breakthrough piece that no gallery could resist.

Underlying these concerns was the deeply rooted worry that the whole thing might not work out. Maybe fate was toying with him, giving him a taste of freedom before it reeled him back in to Topsville, where it would saddle him with one of the myriad problems that had trapped his friends. This stroke of fortune couldn’t last for an ordinary small town guy,

could

it

?

Cole shuddered at the thought. No, he was going to make it. He wanted it so badly that he didn’t have a choice. It frightened him sometimes, how deep his

conviction

went

.

His phone chimed and lit up and he glanced at it nervously. Did he dare hope that it was the gallery? His fingers trembled as he clicked on the email. Congrats, Cole, it started. "I was impressed with your work and after much consideration, have decided to take you on as one of the Albreth Gallery’s artists. We’ll be featuring a couple of your pieces in our

next

show

…"

Cole flopped onto his bed, staring at the ceiling while thoughts rushed through his head. His heart pounded. He could read the rest of the email later; all that mattered was that he had made it. The gallery owner, though he hadn’t known it, had thrown him a lifeline, and he took deep breaths like someone saved from the brink of drowning. It was happening, and he could relax.

But he didn’t feel like relaxing. Invigorated by his success, he got up and looked at his little studio. Maybe if he started now, he could have another piece done by the end of

the

week

.

James growled softly as he slunk away, frustrated about the pack meeting he had gone to earlier. His paws made no sound on the ground and his black coat blended into the night as he made his way out onto the streets. The wolf shifter was agitated and wanted to get back to his house as soon as he could so he could make

a

call

.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he pondered the implications of what the Alpha had said. It was nonsense, everyone knew that. If the pack decided to make their work more visible, they would be more restricted in what they could do. And the humans would retaliate. There was absolutely no sense to the old fool’s plan, but that’s what you got when your leader’s sin was Pride. If Bayge kept on being arrogant like this, he’d soon be challenged by one of his subordinates.

Would it be James? No, he was too clever by far to challenge him directly. James was more the type to watch and wait. If you had been around for millennia, you learned patience. In all his time on earth, James had received many gifts from the universe, and all because he had taken the time to wait and strike when the moment was right. James could become the pack Alpha if he played his cards right.

But there was something else entirely that frustrated him immediately: he hadn’t indulged his sexual needs in far too long. James wasn’t just a wolf shifter. He was a demon, and his deadly sin was Lust. Lust wasn’t always sexual—one could desire many things, such as money, power, love. But sex was a pressing need, like hunger or thirst, and James was not immune to the whims of his libido.

James’s tastes skewed more to the unusual side. He enjoyed a vanilla romp now and again, a good hard fucking that was quick and intense or long and leisurely. What he truly found fulfilling, though, was kink. Binding a man and teasing him beyond belief, then flipping him over and flogging his ass until he screamed… Now, that was what truly satiated his lust. Most men liked a little roughness, but few were truly amenable to accessing the depths of James’s desire.

The absolute ideal would be one partner. Despite his sin, James was not the promiscuous type. The thing about kink was that the pleasures were infinitely better when you could pick one person and develop a connection with them. To find that perfect guy and train him and bond with him was the

ultimate

goal

.

And even better, if they could start a family… As a demon, he had the unique ability to impregnate humans, regardless of sex. It was just demon magic, and he didn’t pretend to know how it worked, but because he liked men, he was glad he had the ability. He wouldn’t have to adopt like the humans. He could have a child of his own with a male partner, and he dreamed