The "Project" Su Qian mentioned started sooner than I expected. Two days later, I wasn't just wearing silk; I was wearing a masterpiece of midnight-black lace and gold chains that Secretary Lin had personally fitted onto me.
"Tonight, you are more than a ward," Lin had whispered while tightening a silk sash around my waist. "You are the Su Corporation's ultimate statement."
I was led to the grand ballroom of the 'Aethelgard Hotel.' The doors opened, and the air hit me like a physical weight. It was thick with the scents of a thousand different perfumes—and the raw, intoxicating pheromones of the city's most powerful women.
As I walked in, clutching Su Qian's arm for dear life, the music seemed to stutter. A thousand eyes—sharp, hungry, and predatory—landed on me. I felt like a lamb walking into a den of wolves who hadn't eaten in a decade.
"Stay close, Li Yuan," Su Qian murmured. She didn't look at them; she kept her head high, her 6'7" frame towering over the crowd like a dark goddess. Her hand moved from my arm to the small of my back, pulling me flush against her side.
A group of women, each at least two meters tall and dressed in military-style gala suits, approached us. Their leader, a woman with a scar running down her cheek, stared at me with an intensity that made my wings shiver.
"So, the rumors are true, Su," the woman rasped, her eyes scanning my pointed ears. "You really found a pure-blood male Succubus. I thought they were extinct. How much for a night with him? My house is looking for a new... entertainer."
My blood ran cold. I gripped Su Qian's blazer, my knuckles turning white.
Su Qian's entire aura changed. The temperature around us seemed to drop ten degrees. She stepped forward, shielding me completely with her body.
"He is not for sale, General Vane," Su Qian's voice was like a low, rolling thunder. "Not for a night. Not for a billion credits. He is the consort of the Su House. Touch him, and you'll find out why I'm the only one allowed to hold his leash."
The General laughed, but there was a flicker of fear in her eyes as she backed away.
I looked up at Su Qian's profile—her jaw was set, her eyes cold as ice. In that moment, I realized the terrifying truth of my new life. Su Qian wasn't just my captor. She was my only protection. In a world of monsters, the most dangerous one had claimed me as her own, and for the first time since I arrived on that bridge, I was grateful for her grip on my waist.
"Let's go," she whispered, her tone softening only for me. "I've shown them enough. Now, I want you back where no one else can see you."