Page 87 of The Midnight Order
His words have me opening my eyes and looking down into his feral eyes. “But I thought you said… oh, I forgot she’s gone.”
Sadness swarms me as I realize he hadn’t lied about the two women who got to him are dead, even if one of them was my great aunt.
“Even she turned on me in the end.” He tucks some of my hair behind my ear as a shiver works through my stomach, as a foreboding douses me with awareness.
“Wait, she did?”
“She did. She was just like them. Her wants and needs came above mine in the end. That’s not love.”
I swallow. “But you loved her?”
“I did. Until the moment I killed her.”
I’m not sure he meant to admit it to me.
“You… what?”
He nods, his crazed eyes lingering on my face as he wraps his hand around my throat. “Don’t be like her, little lamb. I don’t want to know what your blood looks like splattered on the world.”
I’m shaking as I grapple with what the fuck to do. The gravity of his words is bearing down on me, nearly driving me through the floor.
“Lowell!” Jasper sounds as Lowell’s eyes grow dark.
He stands, looking down at me. “There’s the fear that should’ve been in those pretty blue eyes this entire time.”
He tightens his grip, taking my breath completely.
“Don’t fuck with me, little lamb. I’m the only one who holds your life in the palm of my hand, and I don’t want to snuff you out, but I will. I swore a long time ago I wouldn’t do it ever again. I won’t be enslaved ever again!”
I don’t know what he’s saying. All I know is my eyes are watering, and my lungs are burning.
And despite myself, I feel sorry for him.
There’s a visceral sadness in his tone, and it makes me want to wrap around him and protect him from the world.
Which is fucking insane.
He’s killing me.
Suddenly, with a whoosh of air, Jasper is beside us, fangs bared and a gun pressing into Lowell’s temple. “Let her go.”
His tone is lethal, and Lowell seems like he’s going to ignore him, but eventually lets me go.
I drop to the ground in a heap as I gasp for air, looking up at Lowell as he turns and barrels for the door.
Jasper watches him, crouching and resting a hand on my arm in protection.
“Don’t come back until the demons are gone, Lowell.”
The door slams behind Lowell as I sob and choke as I fill my lungs.
“Bullets kill you?”
Jasper smiles. “No. But it’ll incapacitate him for a few hours. You alright?”
“No.”
“I guess you’ll want to discuss what he said.”
