Page 6 of The Monster's Daughter
I stumble, knees buckling. My body slams to the tile, the crack echoing through the hollow store. A snarl rips from me, low and jagged, then collapses into sobs. My shoulders heave, claws gouging shallow trenches into the filthy floor as I choke on the sound.
Her words play over and over:They’re probably ashes by now.
I see my parents burning. I see the deli torn apart, our shelves collapsing under fire. I see Jamie’s hand, slick with blood, slipping from mine.
The mannequins crowd closer in the dark, a jury of blank stares. My voice breaks against the silence. “Why her? Why now?”
No answer but the echo of my own grief.
I curl forward, forehead pressing into dust, and let the sobs tear me apart until my ribs ache and my throat is raw. The city takes the sound and swallows it, like it’s always done.
When I return, she’s waiting for me.
Bella sits slouched against a concrete pillar, wrists still bound, ropes digging angry red welts into her pale skin. The gag’s gone, but she hasn’t tried to spit again. Her green eyes catch mine as soon as I enter the dim light, sharp as knives, but there’s something else under it now. Not mockery. Not defiance.
Regret.
“Hey,” she mutters, voice hoarse. She shifts, wincing as the rope rubs raw. “I, uh… shouldn’t have said that. About your folks.” Her mouth twists like the words are glass shards. “You’re still a huge asshole, don’t get me wrong, but… yeah. Sorry.”
I freeze.
An apology was the last thing I expected. Her kind spit venom, not contrition.
I study her face. The flicker of nerves behind the sarcasm. The way she won’t quite look away, even though my shadow swallows her whole. My senses sharpen, traitorous things—her scent is sweat and blood, but beneath that, something warm, alive. My ears catch the shift of her breath, the tiny hitch when I step closer. The faint tremor in her fingers.
She’s small. Fragile. Human. Yet my chest constricts, pulled toward her as if the world itself is tilting.
I crouch, lowering until we’re almost level. My claws slide over the rope at her wrists. Fibers groan, then snap. The bindings fall slack.
Her hands drop into her lap. She rubs at the welts, wincing. For a moment, neither of us says a word. Dust drifts in the light between us. The only sound is our breathing.
She smirks, trying to break the tension. “So what now? You gonna trust me, or keep playing caveman?”
“If you run,” I growl, voice a low drumbeat in the close dark, “I will find you.”
Her grin widens, sharp and maddening. “What if I kill you in your sleep?”
I bare my teeth, leaning closer. “Do youwishto be bound and gagged again?”
She tilts her head, hair falling into her eyes. “Is this a trick question? And seriously—you really ought to buy a girl dinner first.”
My chest rumbles, a sound caught between a snarl and—something else. Amusement? Gods help me. A laugh almost slips free.
I catch it too late. She sees it. Her grin flashes bright and wicked, like she’s pried open armor no one else has touched in years.
The air between us thickens, heavy, charged. She doesn’t move. Doesn’t run. Just meets my gaze with that infuriating courage.
I should be thinking of my parents. Of the suburbs. Of the mission that still drives me. But all I can think of is her mouth, her fire, the pulse of something ancient that ties my heart to hers against my will.
And for the first time since Jamie’s breath left her body, something flickers in the hollow where hope used to live.
It terrifies me.
CHAPTER 5
BELLA
The ropes are gone, but the freedom isn’t real. My wrists are raw, and even without the bindings, the grooves still feel like they’re there, phantom tight. I flex my fingers as we step back out into the sunlight, the ruined city yawning around us like a mouth full of broken teeth.
