The Velvet House building was beautiful, it was three floors high, made of white stone, warm lights glowed at the entrance, tall windows were covered by heavy velvet curtains and a red carpet led toward the front doors.

*Picture*

Lucian stepped out of the vehicle and the next instant, his nose began picking up on the strong scent.

Flowers, warm wax, expensive perfume, incense.

It was... clean.

A little too clean.

"Move in formation."

Darius commanded as he stepped forward, the team followed, Lucian walked with them with his hands in his coat pockets.

Inside, The Velvet House looked even cleaner.

White floors, gold lines on the walls, deep red curtains, soft couches, tall plants in black pots, a water fountain near the center of the lobby.

Several clients sat in the waiting area, some looked rich, some looked tired, some looked relieved.

One woman held a cup of tea with both hands and smiled at nothing, a man in a gray suit leaned back with his eyes closed, breathing slowly, as if he had finally reached a safe place after years of running.

The staff was beautiful too, they all had gentle smiles, calm voices and clean uniforms. Clearly, the place paid well.

Lucian’s eyes fell on the receptionist. She was a woman in her early thirties, with smooth black hair, pale skin, and a gentle, beautiful smile.

"Welcome to The Velvet House.

Do you have an appointment?"

Darius stepped forward and placed a black folder on the desk.

"Special compliance inspection.

Private wellness licensing and restricted treatment review."

The receptionist looked at the folder and kept the same smile.

"Of course, sir. May I see the authorization?"

Darius opened the folder and slid the documents toward her.

The receptionist read them carefully, too carefully, her eyes moved across the page, line by line.

"Everything appears to be in order."

She smiled.

"Then I believe you will cooperate?"

"Of course. The Velvet House is fully compliant with all wellness and private care regulations."

Lucian smiled at those words, but for now, he didn’t say anything.

The receptionist didn’t notice him, she just looked at Darius and—

"Some rooms are currently occupied. We ask that you avoid disturbing active therapy unless there is a direct safety concern."

"That will be decided by us."

Darius answered directly.

"Of course."

The receptionist wasn’t offended, she kept the same, perfect smile like she had nothing to hide.

Darius looked around the lobby.

"We will need access to treatment rooms, staff records, security records, client-safe documents, and licensing records."

"I can prepare everything for review."

Mara activated her own device, the device gave a soft pulse and Mara frowned.

"Desire residue is on the higher side of the normal range, but it’s still normal. There’s... nothing wrong with this place."

She muttered softly.

The rest of the team frowned at those words, Lucian however, just chuckled.

He looked at her tablet, the small screen showed soft red waves moving through the building calmly, as if everything was normal but—

"That thing’s broken."

He spoke up.

"What...?"

Mara narrowed her eyes at those words, the rest turned towards him as well and Lucian shrugged.

"This place is anything but normal."

"What are you trying to say?"

Lucian’s eyes moved over the lobby before he looked back at the receptionist.

"Her pulse jumped when you said we were from special compliance inspection, but she did not show that on her face. That guard over there has something in his sleeve, that man in gray is laughing, but his fingers are shaking too much for someone who is supposedly relaxed. That staff member with the tray stopped breathing when I looked toward that hallway and don’t even get me started on their heartbeats—

It’s a mess.

None of the reactions here are normal.

Something’s wrong."

The instant he said those words, the air around them changed ever so slightly, the receptionist’s smile became a little tighter, Darius looked at the guard, Mara glanced from her scanner to the hallway, Ilyra’s hand moved closer to the charm at her belt.

Then—

"I apologise. Mr. Cross is a new trainee and a fan of movies.

He enjoys acting out like this."

Darius looked at the receptionist with a smile.

"He is a strange one indeed..."

The receptionist smiled politely as she glanced at Lucian.

"But I will still need the guard to remove whatever is in his sleeve."

Darius commanded, the guard stiffened, the receptionist turned towards him and—

"Anton."

The guard hesitated, then he reached into his sleeve and removed a thin silver blade.

Ilyra’s eyebrows rose, she looked at Lucian with a surprised look on her face.

"A guard hiding a blade of that size in his sleeve, normal indeed."

Lucian just grinned.

"It is just a safety protocol, sir."

The receptionist smiled politely.

"Of course."

Lucian kept his smile.

"Treatment rooms, now."

Darius commanded as he stared at the receptionist.

"Yes."

She nodded as she led them away from the lobby and for a moment, Lucian froze.

His blood was reacting.

This place was filled with desire and it wasn’t weak desire either, it was strong, it was... deep. A desire that came from need, loneliness, relief, shame, dependency, the building was full of it.

And—

Lucian’s body was reacting to it.

To bring an Incubus to a place filled with such strong desire...

It was like bringing a drug addict to a place filled with drugs he craved, it was only obvious that he would let loose.

Lucian’s eyes glowed.

The rest of his team prepared themselves, they knew what happened to an Incubus in a place like this, it was a partial reason they brought Lucian here in the first place.

It was a test.

A test whether Lucian could be trusted or whether he would keep losing control the moment he was not in a suitable environment.

If Lucian failed here, they would restrain him and the mission would continue without him and honestly—

Almost every single member of the party, especially Tomas, was hoping this would happen. No one wanted an unstable supernatural being who might lose control over himself at any moment and start jumping on any woman he saw.

It would create too many complications, not to mention it was disgusting to even think about roaming around with such a being.

So yes, the entire party was looking forward to Lucian losing control at this exact moment and Lucian—

"Girls? You know we are in the middle of a mission, correct? You can stare at me all you want later, but first, we need to get this over with." 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Lucian just smiled, his hands still remained in his pockets and the glow in his eyes faded.