Chapter 1

Riven Sterling's eyes were red-rimmed, and his brows were deeply furrowed as if he was in great pain.

His health had been declining over the past few days. He sat on the edge of the bed, panting heavily while I flipped through the incubus manual.

"Well, it says here that we just have to…"

I cleared my throat awkwardly and continued, "You'll feel better after that."

I reached my hand out and touched his collar, revealing the small, bright red mole nestled between his collarbones. The mole rose and fell as he panted, and he looked extremely alluring.

I was just about to touch it when Riven pushed me aside harshly.

I saw that my wrist had turned red, so I frowned at him slightly.

Riven still wouldn't let me touch him.

"Sorry, it's my instincts," Riven said, his eyes rather cold as he looked at me. "I'm going to take a cold shower."

After watching him disappear into the bathroom, I grabbed my phone and called customer service again.

Riven was a brand-new incubus that had just arrived a month ago. I had spent a great fortune on him, customizing and tweaking him to my tastes. I had even waited a full year for him to finally arrive at my doorstep.

Interestingly enough, while incubi were supposed to feed and obtain satisfaction from inhaling their owners, Riven simply wouldn't let me touch him at all.

"Why is my incubus acting differently from the others? I can tell that he's suffering, but he just won't let me touch him."

I waited for the customer service representative's reply while listening to the sound of the shower in the bathroom.

"Have you already bonded with him, Ms. Ashford?" the representative asked.

I had already read the manual. Of course, I wouldn't have made a silly mistake like that.

"I've already bound him to me the very night I brought him back," I answered.

There was a long pause before the representative finally replied, "I'm sorry, Ms. Ashford, but this problem shouldn't have happened. Our incubi are all well-trained to be extremely clingy with their owners. They would also want to be glued to their owners at all times."

I was starting to get anxious.

"Are you saying that I'm lying about my situation now?"

The representative patiently replied, "Please don't worry, Ms. Ashford. How about you return your incubus to us, and we will send out a new one to you as soon as possible? The new one should arrive in about seven days."

As soon as the words appeared on the chat screen, the bathroom door opened, and Riven walked out with just a white bathrobe thrown over his shoulders.

Water droplets slid down his well-defined chin and dripped onto his chest and abs before being absorbed into the bathrobe.

I gulped softly.

Riven was exactly my type. He was supposed to be custom-made for me, but he ended up being faulty instead.

"Let me observe him for a while longer. If he doesn't improve, then I'll consider your offer," I replied.

From what I gathered, I understood that the customer service was implying that they would just scrap him, and I thought that it would be quite a pity.

"Understood, Ms. Ashford. Feel free to ask me any more questions if you have them later. Thank you!"

I then turned off my phone.

Riven's pale face and red-rimmed eyes were making me feel sorry for him.

I spoke. "I just asked customer service, and they said that something like this has never happened before…"