The Lure of the Devil (The Demons' Muse #4) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,6

good boyfriend, Satan."

So I pulled him in for a second, pressing just a bit harder. "Take care of our woman, Samyaza. She's the last one we'll ever need."

And I turned before he could distract me any more. As I walked to the house, I looked at her pants. The stain wasn't bad. That didn't mean it wouldn't be traumatic for her, though. Then again, every time Sia worried about such trivial things like this, it pissed me off. Not at her, but at the people who'd raised her to think so little of herself.

Menstrual cycles were normal. There was nothing horrifying about the way her body worked. If anything, it was actually rather remarkable, but that did nothing to help her fight off the shame. The worst part was that if she'd been cut and had stained her clothes, she would think nothing of it. But the fact that this was something so completely female? That was why she wanted to hide it, and the entire concept pissed me off.

It made me frustrated enough that I opened the front door of the cottage a little harder than normal, and when I made my way to the sink, I may have been storming a bit. From the living room, I heard Bel suck in a breath, grunt, and change position. Just as I turned on the trickle of water, the door opened again. Both Luke and Ron made their way in, looking a little worried.

"It's nothing," I assured them. "But, Luke? I need you to run to Earth."

His eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"Sia needs tampons."

Bel immediately jumped from his couch. "I'll do it," he offered. "She is experiencing her time of flowering?"

"Period," Luke muttered.

"And we don't talk about it," Ron said. "She told me that."

"We," I clarified, "can talk about it. The problem is that she was taught that it's embarrassing, so keep that in mind if you mention it to her."

Bel was quickly putting the couch back in order. "She prefers tampons to pads, right? Menstrual cups? Period panties? Do I need anything else?"

"Yeah, I'm going with him," Luke assured me. "And Bel? Where did you even hear about all of that?"

"Tampax," he said, sounding like it should've been obvious. "Although I do not understand why the liquid is blue. Blood is not blue."

"Commercials," Luke guessed. "Ok. I'll get a few other things to make her feel less obvious as well. Back in twenty?"

"Faster is better," I assured him. "She's currently in the brook, being horrified that Sam knows while she cleans herself up." My eyes moved to all of the men in the room. "We are not going to make this hard on her, ok?" Then they landed on Ron. "And she needs that birth control rune."

"It won't stop the bleeding that has already started," he tried to explain.

I just lifted my hand, halting him. "I know. I'll explain that to her. The problem is that for the last month - at least - we've all been very lucky. She lost track of time between worlds, and we never thought to ask, which means she's not on birth control." My eyes moved to Bel. "That means no sex. Not without a condom."

He made a face. "I could - "

"No," I told him. "No taking chances. Not with Sia. Do you really want her to go through that?"

"Pregnancy?" Ron asked, sounding like he wasn't quite keeping up.

Luke just rubbed his shoulder. "Outliving her children," he clarified. "It's horrible, Ron. There's no pain like it. That's what Nick's talking about. If we care about Sia at all, the four of you will wait until she can't conceive."

He just jiggled his head. "I'll work on it today, ok? Something that will stay with her no matter how she changes her skin. I'll design it for her flank, because she said she wanted something there." Then he paused. "Or should it be the lower back?"

"Lower back," I decided. "She won't be able to see it there, so it will be less embarrassing for her. Make it pretty?"

"I can do that," Ron promised, then he nudged Luke's shoulder. "She's waiting."

Luke moved around his boyfriend to clasp my arm. "We won't make this hard on her. I'll even get her some chocolate, ok?"

He was standing just a little too close, and I couldn't help myself. I stepped in, holding his eyes the whole time. "She's your Muse, too, you know."

"Muse, yes," Luke agreed. "And my friend. Do not push me on this, demon."

"Stop stalling," I teased, turning