average human’s Reviews > Don't Touch > Status Update

The door opens, and Malibu Barbie herself steps in, not bothering to knock or announce her presence.
Bright blonde hair neatly tied into a high ponytail, a very short and thin pink dress that clings to her golden skin. Her heels are taller than my dick, and that’s impressive.
She’s something straight out of a dream. Or a nightmare, depending on how you look at it.
Although, even without the heels, she’s tall enough—a few inches shorter than me. She’s a little on the thin side, but so very fucking hot.
She calls to me like the siren calls to the sea.
Atticus has a knowing look on his face as he rises to his feet. “Maeve, meet Lucifer Graves.”
Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck.
I am so fucking fucked.
I rise to my feet and nod my head, offering her my hand to shake. I’m not sure why, I don’t expect her to take it.
“Haven’t you got to the part where I don’t touch?” Maeve asks, ignoring my hand in favour of narrowing her eyes at Atticus.
Her voice is hypnotic. Soft, feminine, but with an edge of bitchiness. It’s like she’s daring me to cross a line.
I fucking love her.
Or at least, I did until her words caught up to me.
“Don’t touch what? Disowned princes? Pretty boys? Men?” I ask, narrowing my eyes at her, rising to my full height, baiting her to see if she backs down.
She doesn’t cower back. Good.
She sneers at me, and it somehow only makes her more beautiful. She’s vicious. I fucking adore it.
There’s a darkness inside of her, one that calls to my own.
Like recognises like, after all.
“You’re far too similar to your cousin, Lucifer, and trust me that is not a compliment. I asked for you because I thought you were better than the pick-me boy,” she says. Her words are ice, but there’s fire underneath. “It seems I was wrong.”
The pick-me boy?
Julian.
Fuck me, Hadrian will love that.
She turns around, ready to leave the room, and I turn to Atticus and blurt out the hastiest decision I have ever made in my entire life.
“I’m in.”
It’s one I doubt I’ll regret.
I can’t explain it. Maybe it’s the way she looks at me like I’m nothing or maybe I’m just addicted to the chaos.
Either way, I’m in.
“You’re in?” they both echo, one incredulous and one angry.
“I’m in. You said it was a full year contract, right?” I ask, dismissing Maeve completely. The pretty princess does not like that. “I’ll sign the dotted line right now.”
“Wait, no—” Maeve protests, spinning around on her heels.
Atticus’s eyes dart between us both, and if I didn’t know him as well as I do, I’d miss the amusement in his eyes. He’s enjoying this.
Sadistic fuck.
“The contract is dependent on Maeve’s agreement, Lucifer.”
“And Maeve most certainly does not agree.” She moves as if to cross her arms before shivering and letting them hang by her side.
“Are you cold?” I ask, inching closer. I pull my jacket off and offer it to her. She sneers, and shakes her head. “What, my clothes aren’t good enough to touch your body?”
“I mean, not only are they covered in the blood of numerous people, I told you, I do not touch.”
Huh, maybe that was why Malachi was so pissed off when I arrived. I never even noticed.
“That’s an item of clothing, pretty princess,” I say. “No touching needed.”
She rolls her eyes as if I’m an idiot. I’m sure there’s arguments to be made that I am.
“I don’t touch anything,” she says.
I frown. “And why does the pretty princess decide to not touch anything?”
Is she serious here? What sort of pampered asshole is she? No fucking wonder Adrian loves her. She’s got his snobby attitude and holier-than-thou glare.
I bet he fucking creamed himself the first time she looked at one of the common shifters and refused to shake their hands.
She glares at me, before turning a look to Atticus. “You didn’t tell him?”
“Tell me what?” I ask.
My imp snarls, angry at me for upsetting Maeve. As if I’m the reason this woman is unhinged.
I don’t care if he likes her darkness.
I don’t.
She’s not dark. She’s a bitch. There’s a difference.
She heaves a sigh when Atticus shakes his head. She’s acting as if this entire conversation is beneath her, as if she’s so much better than the rest of us.
As if I wasn’t called here because of her being a pain in Atticus’s fucking ass.
She meets my eyes, and in such a calm tone of voice, says, “When I was seventeen years old, I was raped by my stepfather and his entire inner circle. I don’t do touch because the last time someone touched me without permission, it was to repeatedly violate me.”
I gulp, unable to look away from her hypnotising blue eyes.
She’s serious. This is more than just some princess attitude, she’s not overly spoiled or pampered. She was violated.
Maeve is defensive, even without trying to be that way. She’s doing her best to seem confident, as if that isn’t the most traumatic thing I’ve ever heard.
Fuck me. My imp grins, his exhilaration flooding the bond we share as he makes his decision.
Maeve is ours—our soulmate.
Well, fuck.
“Well, I wouldn’t want to touch after that, either,” I say, putting my jacket back on. She blinks once as if she’s shocked I didn’t press or say more.
My imp is raising hell across our bond, murderous fury flooding through my veins. But I won’t make her suffer that.
My imp and I function best when we’re working in the shadows. So I’ll figure out who and what hurt her, add their names to a list, and cross them off one by one.
And only then will my princess be free from them.
I turn to Atticus. “I want it written into the contract that anyone who attempts to violate her without consent is mine to deal with however I see fit.”
As vague as possible, preferably, so I can get my kicks off whilst stuck here in this pride.
“No, that will not be happening,” Atticus says, his lips twitching in amusement.
“I’ll sign that contract,” Maeve says, still not looking away from me. There’s some curiosity in her scent, but she’s also very wary. Guarded.
It makes sense.
I wish I could read her mind and know what’s going on inside her. I want to know how she feels about this. About me. About our bond.
I want to know her.
But I get the feeling it’s going to be a long road, and I’m going to need to put in the work. She’s not going to make this easy—even if she wanted to, she probably can’t.
But I like a challenge.
Good thing we’re going to be tied together for the next year.
“Okay, tell me everything I need to know,” I say, downing my glass. Maeve lets out a sigh but moves to sit at Atticus’s desk.
Atticus recounts the tale of the pretty chromius shifter who is trapped under Adrian Graves’s thumb. Despite not saying it directly, it’s obvious that Atticus is not impressed with my uncle’s treatment of my mate.
Yeah, that makes two of us.
Adrian is lucky I’m banished from the compound or I’d sneak in there and slit his throat.
My mate has a stalker, some obsessed psychopath who is murdering people in her name, and even decided to threaten my cousin. Well, luckily for her, she’s got another psychotic man in her life—but I’m on her side, and I’m far more deadly.
She’s fated to be Julian’s mate, although Maeve cut in, reassuring me that he’s a liar who is only pretending in order to benefit my manipulative uncle.
Sadly for her, she’s wrong.
Not only would Adrian not do that, as low and pathetic as he is, Julian would never go along with it.
He’s weak, pathetic, really. Julian has let his parents warm him and twist him into being the little puppet that obeys whatever the family can need. He laps up all the shit they spew, rather than using his own brain to see how dysfunctional they really are.
He and Tarun are the same in that aspect and are both as worthless as the other.
Hadrian, on the other hand, is not terrible, but he’s so desperate for redemption that he’s too scared to actually do anything of worth. He’s trying to make up for the fact that he’s a dark pegasus, as if it’s the worst sin he could ever commit.
Fool.
What they’re all missing is how fucked up our family is and how we don’t need to live in their lies. We can move on and be better.
“Don’t you worry, princess,” I say, beaming at Maeve’s snarl. It’s almost too easy to get under her skin. “We’re going to make such a good team.”
Now… it’s time for my fun. I need to call Adrian to gloat, and then Julian, well, also to gloat.
Then I’ll give Hades a call, just to invite him along for the ride.
He’s a dick, but it’ll get under his brother’s skin, and that’s something I’m extremely interested in doing.
Especially since Julian’s stuck at the compound, whilst me and my cousin get to play with his mate.
It’s a good day to be a Graves.