Plugged In: Reincarnated As A Demon Lord (Now I'll Conquer The World)

The wolf-kin woman hauls him up by the arm with more strength than her battered frame has any right to still have, her grip firm around his wrist as she pulls him to his feet in the settling dust.

"Thank you," she breathes, over and over, like the words might run out if she doesn’t spend them fast enough. "Thank you, thank you, I don’t even... you’re insane, you know that? Completely insane. But thank you."

Lucien barely registers a word of it.

His whole attention is locked on Serenith, drifting down out of the sky with that infuriating almost-smirk still tugging at her mouth, wings folding neat and slow behind her like she hasn’t just watched a man get pulverized.

She lands beside them, raises one finger, and presses it to her lips.

Lucien squints at her, confused, blood drying tacky along his jaw. "Wait. Was that you? Just now, with the..." he flexes his glowing hand for emphasis, "The whole exploding-jaw situation?"

"Shut. Up." Serenith hisses.

"I’m trying to thank you, feathers." Lucien says, wounded. "This is a moment. I want to properly acknowledge the moment. You saved me, and I—"

Serenith’s finger jabs sideways at the wolf-kin woman, who is now staring at Lucien with the particular alarm of someone watching a man have a conversation with empty air.

"She can’t see me," Serenith whispers, teeth gritted. "She can’t hear me. To her, right now, you are talking to yourself. Loudly. About exploding jaws."

Lucien’s face goes slack with dawning horror.

He turns back to the wolf-kin woman just in time to watch her take a slow, deliberate step backward, eyes darting between him and the empty stretch of air he’d just been addressing like it might also start talking to her.

Off to the side, Valgereth is no help whatsoever, doubled over and bellowing with laughter loud enough to startle a flock of carrion birds off a nearby crag.

"Uh... thank you," the woman says again, faster this time, already retreating, her voice climbing half an octave. "So much. Really. But, um... I have to... I should go. Bye!"

She turns and sprints for the tree line without waiting for a response.

"Wait!" Lucien calls after her, one arm raised. "I have so many follow-up questions! Are you free for dinner! Do wolf-kin do dinner?!"

She doesn’t turn around. She doesn’t even slow down. She simply vanishes into the brush like the forest itself decided to eat her rather than let her spend one more second in his vicinity.

Lucien lets his arm drop.

"Well," he says, deflating slightly, staring at the empty tree line. "That is genuinely the first time in my life a woman has run away from me without me first suggesting a threesome."

Val ambles over, still chuckling, and claps a heavy hand on Lucien’s shoulder hard enough to make him stumble. "Get used to it. No horns, no aura, no glow. Right now you’re just a scrawny nobody who talks to invisible women. I could almost feel sorry for you."

Lucien turns to Serenith, scowling despite the split lip. "You could’ve mentioned, at some point in the last several minutes, that only we can perceive you. That would’ve been useful information. Preferably before I get punched four times and embarrass myself in front of the first beast-person I’ve ever seen!"

"I didn’t think it would come up." Serenith says primly.

Then his expression softens, the scowl melting sideways into something warmer, and he steps closer. "Thank you, though. Genuinely. For the assist. I felt that punch land like a compliment from an ex. It’s nice to know you care."

"Don’t get sentimental."

"I’m always sentimental when a beautiful woman secretly empowers me from the shadows," he says, voice dropping into the low, syrupy register that has closed more deals than diplomacy ever has. "It’s very much my type of foreplay."

Serenith rolls her eyes hard enough to wobble her halo.

But then her gaze drops, properly drops, over the split lip, the bruising already purpling along his jaw, the dirt and blood streaked down a face that used to be immune to all of it just a few hours ago, and something in her expression cracks open despite her best efforts to keep it securely shut.

She sighs deep, but then lifts a hand anyway.

Warm light spills from her palm, soft and golden, sinking into his skin. Cuts knit closed. Bruises fade like watercolor left out in the rain.

The ache drains out of his ribs one breath at a time and Lucien straightens, grinning, deeply delighted, fully healed and entirely too pleased about it.

"Awwww!" He coos, shoulders slack, head tilted, "Feathers!"

And then he leaps. Less thought, more reaction than anything.

He’s got his arms around her before either of them fully registers what’s happening, hugging her tight, and they both freeze at once, eyes wide, wings and arms locked in physical embrace.

"I’m hugging you." Lucien whispers into her ear, awed, like he’s just discovered fire. "Right now. This is happening. Me and you."

Serenith swallows hard.

Nods once.

"And I’m not on fire," he adds, marveling, practically vibrating. "No holy backlash. No smoke. No screaming."

"Don’t, even..." Serenith starts, voice unsteady, "don’t even try to get any ideas—"

Lucien pulls back, hands still on her shoulders, beaming with a mischief so bright it could reasonably be classified as a lethal weapon.

"We can be together now." he annouces, as if it’s the most logical thing in the world.

Her wings snap open, flaring wide, and she snarls at him with all the fury of a woman who has just realized her own magic betrayed her. She launches into the air before he can say another word, putting a safe, professional distance between them before she decides it’s safe to speak again.

"This trip," she calls down, arms crossed, head shaking, "might end up being just as dangerous for me as it is for you. And I’m, literally, an angel."

Lucien grins up at her, hands on his hips, entirely too pleased with himself. "We’ve got two whole weeks together, angelcake. That’s more than enough time for some quality, mutual seduction."

She flicks him a distinctly ungodly hand gesture, huffs loud enough to be heard from the ground, and turns her head sharply away before drifting off toward the tribelands ahead, wings beating just a little harder than necessary.

Lucien watches her go, still smiling, and steps up beside Val with the contented air of a man who considers the whole encounter a perfect, professional success.

"Well," he says. "Job done. Wolf-kin saved. Serenith loves me."

Val scoffs. "The angel saved her. You just stood there absorbing punches like a defenceless piñata."

Lucien shrugs, unbothered, gaze drifting back up to the golden shape shrinking into the distance. Something in his face shifts, softens, goes quiet in a way that has nothing to do with lust and everything to do with something considerably more inconvenient.

Val watches him watch her, and chuckles low in his throat. "You’re looking for trouble, chasing after that one."

"Trouble’s never stopped me before," Lucien says. "If anything, it’s a major motivator."

Val shakes his head, looks skyward at the distant, retreating glow of her wings, and leans in with a smirk. "For what it’s worth, the feeling’s mutual. Even if she spends every waking moment pretending otherwise."

Lucien’s grin widens, helpless, entirely too pleased with that particular piece of intel.

Val slaps him hard across the back, nearly knocking the wind out of him. "I hope you’re not falling in love, Dark One."

"Absolutely not!" Lucien says, immediately, a little too fast. "Love is the enemy of ambition. It messes with your head, clouds your judgment, makes you do stupid things for free. I don’t do emotions, Val. I plan. I execute. That... is my whole business model."

He claps his hands together, changing the subject with the smooth efficiency of a man dodging a subpoena, and starts walking a little bit faster.

"Anyway. Beast-folk. Gods, that one was cute, wasn’t she? The patchy fur, the little pointed ears, the whole feral-but-adorable thing she had going." He glances back toward the tree line, already grinning. "I wonder what else this continent’s got waiting for me."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!