Page 24 of Thane's Demon
Something she gave the world because she did not know how to give anything else. I was unsure how I knew this, but I would have bet my life on the feeling. Either way, it was enough to make the demon roar.
‘Kill him.
Break him.
He is nothing.
He is not for her.
Only us.’
Blood pounded through my head so fiercely that for a brief moment, I thought I would lose control entirely. I had to step back behind the trees, grounding myself against the rough bark, fists clenched so tightly my palms bled before healing almost instantly. The copper scent barely registered.
What did register was her laugh.
Small, nervous, sweet.
The demon snapped its jaws inside my skull.
‘Mine.
She is ours.
Do not let him near.’
It took everything I had not to walk across that courtyard and drag the boy away by his throat. Only the faintest thread of restraint kept me still instead of committing daylight murder. I waited until she moved on, her expression dimming the moment he turned away. The brightness she forced crumbling in the corners of her eyes. Something inside me softened at the sight, an ache forming so deeply it felt like a bruise across my ribs.
I followed her without hesitation, my steps silent, my presence buried beneath the noise of the afternoon. She moved toward the footpath leading between the tall trees, her hand gripping the strap of her bag with a tension that pulled at every sense I possessed. My demon pressed so close to the surface that my skin felt electric, my shadow stretching ahead of me long before she knew I was near.
She walked more slowly as the path curved, each step more cautious than the last, and the air thickened with the charged awareness that flowed between us. An invisible tether drawing her forward even as she pretended not to feel it.
‘Closer.
She feels us.
Do not let her slip away.’
She stopped abruptly, frozen in the middle of the path, and the wind stilled around her as if holding its breath with her. I could see her from where I stood just beyond the bend, her head turning slightly.
“Whoever you are, I know you’re there,” she said, the tremble in her voice was easy to detect, and the demon in me surged with approval.
‘Ours.
She feels us.
Touch her.’
I stepped forward before I even decided to move. The need to see her face, to breathe the same air, to close the distanceoverwhelmed everything else. She turned in that exact moment, too quickly for me to react by stepping back. This meant that her body collided with mine, and the force of it sent her stumbling back. A soft gasp escaped her as she crashed straight into my chest. Her hands shot out instinctively, gripping the front of my jacket, and my hands moved on their own, steadying her. My fingers wrapped around her arms with a firmness that kept her upright but threatened to melt my control entirely.
For one suspended second, the world narrowed to the rise and fall of her breath against me. Her curls brushed my jaw, soft and warm. The faint scent of her hair was something sweet and familiar I couldn’t place but already needed more of. Her hazel eyes lifted slowly, meeting mine with startled confusion, and something inside me… something I had spent years locking away… cracked wide open.
‘Warm.
Safe.
Ours.’
Her heart raced beneath my palms, a frantic, delicate rhythm that wrapped around my senses like silk. She swallowed hard, her lips parting as though she wanted to speak but couldn’t quite form the words. The softness of her gaze, the innocence in her expression it was driving me crazy. The fragile trust she unconsciously offered me in this moment… it hit me so abruptly that my breath stalled.
