Page 36 of I Summoned A Demon For A Date?!
My reflection didn't look convinced.
Back in the bedroom, I crawled under the covers, pulling them tight around me despite the warmth of the summer night. Without Aldaine, the bed felt too soft, too empty. I found myself listening for his return, straining to hear footsteps in the hallway, the sound of the door opening.
But the minutes stretched into an hour, and still I was alone.
What was he doing out there? Was he still in the woods, trying to regain the control he said he'd lost? Or had he gonesomewhere else entirely? The thought that he might not come back at all opened a yawning pit in my stomach.
I rolled onto my side, staring at the empty space where he should be. The pillow still held the faint imprint of his head from our nap earlier in the day. On impulse, I reached out and pulled it closer, burying my face in it. His scent lingered there, something dark and spicy that I couldn't name, distinctly Aldaine.
"Why won't you let me in?" I whispered to the empty pillow. "What are you so afraid of?"
There was more to Aldaine than the powerful demon who'd appeared in my apartment that first night. More than the charming, mysterious man he presented to the world. I'd seen glimpses of it, the tenderness when he thought I wasn't looking, vulnerability quickly masked, a loneliness that matched my own.
I wanted to know him. All of him. The demon and the man, the darkness and the light. I wanted to understand what made him pull away when we got too close, what haunted him through his centuries of existence.
But how could I when he kept shutting me out?
My eyes grew heavy as exhaustion finally won out over my racing thoughts. As I drifted toward sleep, I imagined I could feel the ghost of Aldaine's presence beside me, the phantom warmth of his body next to mine.
"Come back," I murmured, the words slurring as sleep pulled me under. "Whatever it is, we can figure it out together."
But there was no answer, only the soft sound of my breathing in the empty room as I fell into dreams filled with magenta eyes and the memory of a touch that felt like coming home.
Chapter Seventeen
CHAPTER 17: ALDAINE
Iprowled the perimeter of the estate, a shadow among shadows, drawn inexorably back to the wing where her room lay. The scent of Rosie still clung to me, vanilla and that intoxicating undertone that was uniquely hers. The beast within me clawed at my insides, demanding I return to her, claim what was mine.
Mine. The word echoed through me, both truth and torment.
I paused beneath our window, hidden within the darkness where the garden met the woods. The soft glow from her room spilled out into the night, a beacon calling me to her. In all my centuries, I had never felt this relentless pull, this desperate need to be near another being. It was excruciating. Maddening.
Necessary.
Her silhouette moved past the window, a fleeting glimpse that sent a jolt through my entire body. I closed my eyes, remembering the weight of her in my arms, the softness of herskin beneath my fingertips. The memory alone was enough to make my fangs lengthen, my claws extend.
"Get control of yourself," I snarled beneath my breath.
The mating bond pulsed between us, a living thing that strained and stretched the farther I tried to pull away. It had been instantaneous, that connection, the moment my skin had touched hers in her shabby little apartment. I had known then what she was to me, and I had done the unthinkable. I had bound myself to her without her knowledge or consent with a fake deal to keep her close to me.
I was no better than those I despised.
My fist connected with the trunk of a nearby oak, the bark splintering beneath the impact. Pain shot through my knuckles, a welcome distraction from the ache in my chest.
From her window came the soft sound of her voice, muffled words I couldn't quite make out. Was she speaking to someone? I scented the air, picking through the night smells until I found it. Rita had been in the room, but was gone now. Rosie was alone.
Alone and hurt because of me.
I had seen the pain in her eyes when I pushed her away. The confusion when I told her I was dangerous. If only she knew how dangerous. How close I had come to taking Roger's miserable life right there on the manicured lawn. How close I had come to revealing my true nature to the entire party.
How close I had come to binding her to me forever, without her knowledge or choice.
That was the real reason I had fled. Not because I had almost killed the worthless human who dared touch her, but because for a single, terrifying moment, I had almost completed our bond. Had almost taken what wasn't freely offered.
I watched as her light finally went out, plunging the room into darkness. Even then, I could sense her, her heartbeat, herbreathing, the restless way she moved beneath the covers. The bond allowed me this much, at least. The knowledge that she was safe, if not peaceful.
She wouldn't sleep well tonight. Neither would I.
