The door shut quietly behind you, muffling the distant chatter of your friends as you stepped into the stillness of home. Shopping bags hung from your hands like trophies, each one bursting with tokens of celebration, your heart still warm from the laughter, the cake, the magic of the day. You moved on instinct up the stairs, a soft smile tugging at your lips, ready to collapse into the comfort of your bed.

But when you opened your bedroom door, reality hit like a thunderclap.

There, sprawled across your bed with the ease of someone who belonged there, was Beelzebub.

Naked.

Utterly, shamelessly naked—his massive frame stretched over your blankets like a beast at rest, muscles carved from hunger and battle. Firelight from a nearby lamp painted golden shadows across the planes of his body, highlighting every dip and curve in reverent strokes. His fiery orange eyes locked onto you the moment the door creaked open, and the look in them…

Hunger.

Not the kind that led him to raid your fridge or devour a dozen sandwiches in one sitting. This was different. Deeper. Raw. His gaze devoured you like you were the first and only meal that had ever truly mattered.

He didn’t move—he didn’t need to. One arm rested lazily above his head, the other draped across his abdomen, fingers flexing slowly, as if already imagining the feel of your skin beneath his. His expression was unreadable at first glance—blank, maybe—but the intensity in his eyes said everything.

“I was waiting,” he rumbled, voice low, like distant thunder rolling over midnight hills. “You smell like frosting… and happiness.”

He shifted slightly, muscles rippling like a drawn bowstring, the hunger in his gaze sharpening to a point. “I want a bite.”

Your breath caught somewhere between your ribs. The bags slid from your arms to the floor with a rustle of tissue paper and ribbon. You didn’t know if it was fear, desire, or the gravitational pull of something ancient and instinctual that pinned you in place. But you knew, without question…

You were no longer the predator in this room.