Page 27 of Thane's Demon
“What would you do…” he murmured, pausing to get closer,“…if I said yes?”
My heart tripped over itself as I inhaled sharply.
“I… I would want to know why.” Something in his expression shifted, just a fraction, something that made the air feel thicker.
“You do not want to know,” he said, stepping back for the first time since we collided.
“Trust me, you really don’t. So, I suggest you use some of that self-preservation of yours and walk away now, while I still have my control intact.”
I gulped at the threat, something he didn’t see as he turned, already walking away and already retreating into the shadows, as if he had changed his mind about letting me see him at all. But the moment he moved, something inside me rebelled. As if losing sight of him now would feel like losing something important, even though I didn’t even know his name. No, all I knew for certain was that he was right…he was dangerous.Which then begged the question of why I now quickly hurried after him.
“Wait… You can’t just walk away after saying something like that!”
“Watch me,” he said without looking at me.
“Why?” I demanded, jogging a few steps to keep up. “What did I do to you? Why do you keep showing up if only to warn me to stay away? Why did you save me? Why are you…” I struggled to find the right words, my hands lifting helplessly.“…Afraid of me?”I whispered this last part as it suddenly came to me, causing him to stop abruptly.
I almost crashed into him again, catching myself at the last second by grabbing his arm. His muscles tensed beneath my touch, hard and warm and coiled like something restless lived beneath his skin. He turned slowly, and the look he gave me was nothing gentle. It was raw, conflicted, and edged with a warning I didn’t understand.
“You should stay away from me,” he said quietly, each word deliberate. As if he were forcing them out through clenched teeth. “I am not someone you want near you, trust me,” headded, ignoring my claim entirely, but I knew it was the reason he stopped.
“But you already are near me,”I whispered, unable to stop myself.
His jaw locked. He took one step closer.
“That is exactly the problem.”
“I don’t understand,” I said, breath uneven. “Explain it to me.”
“No,” he murmured.
“But why…”
“Run. Walk away. Forget I exist,” he snapped, interrupting yet another question. So, this time, I went with something more forceful, sick of people telling me how to live my life.
“No!” And oh boy, did this grab his attention because he stepped forward again. The motion was so fluid and predatory that I instinctively backed up until my spine met the rough bark of a tree. He kept going, not touching me but close enough that his presence wrapped around me like heat and like something I had no name for. His arms braced against the bark on either side of my head, caging me in without ever making contact. He was so tall that he towered above me.
My breath hitched at the closeness. At the scent of him, warm and dark and something that felt inexplicably familiar. His voice dropped to a dangerously soft level.
“I am telling you this for your own sake. Stay away from me, little fluff.”
My pulse fluttered wildly in my throat, fear and fascination twined into one impossible thread.
Which was why I whispered…
“But what if I don’t want to?”
13
A CRACK IN MY ARMOR
THANE
Her words hit me like a blow I had never prepared for, soft and quiet and devastating in their simplicity.
‘But what if I don’t want to?’
They had slipped from her lips with a kind of innocence that felt far too close to hope, far too close to desire. And for one impossible heartbeat the entire world stilled around us, the ground beneath my feet felt unsteady, the air thick enough to choke on, and something in my chest cracked open with the force of it. I stared down at her, at the wide hazel eyes waiting for my answer, at the faint tremble in her breath. At the courage woven through her softness, and I felt the edges of my restraint begin to splinter.
