Page 30 of Thane's Demon
She looked up at me, still flushed, still embarrassed by the sound her own body had made. When her gaze met mine, there was no fear there, only that same quiet curiosity that saw too much and understood too little. It would be easier if she had feared me. Easier if she ran. Easier if she looked at me the way everyone else did, as something to avoid, something to whisper about from a safe distance.
Instead, she was pressed between my arms, looking at me like I was something she had decided not to be afraid of.
What if she stayed?
What if she accepted what I was?
What if she touched the broken pieces and did not flinch?
Again, the questions flickered through my mind uninvited, poisonous in their hope. What if the demon stayed calm with her near, what if the endless roar inside me quieted for more than a few stolen moments, what if I could be something other than the monster everyone had decided I was? What if, just for her, I could be the man I had once tried to be, before everything rotted?
Dangerous thoughts.
Stupid thoughts.
Hopeful thoughts.
I forced my gaze away from her mouth, from the way her lips parted on a small, unsteady breath, and focused on the one thing I could control.
“You need to eat,” I said at last, the words scraping out of me rougher than I intended. Concern did not sit well in my voice. It sounded wrong. It sounded like it belonged to someone else.
Her brows lifted slightly, surprise melting into something hesitant and almost amused.
“Eat?” she echoed.
“Yes, you require substance, don’t you?”
“Well, I do like to eat,” she replied, making me nod the once.
“Good, now let’s go,” I said, unable to stop myself from making it sound like an order.
“Wait… You’re… taking me to get food?” The way she said it, like it was an unexpected kindness rather than the bare minimum, that made my jaw clench. I almost growled at the idea that this was rare for her, that something so simple felt like a gift.
“You need it, it’s that simple,” I answered, sharper than I meant to. She smiled then, and it was like sunlight pushing through heavy clouds. It changed her face, smoothed the lines of tension from around her eyes, and for a second I felt my chest tighten painfully. She tilted her head, looking up at me from beneath her lashes with a spark of mischief that caught me off guard.
“So this is… a date then?” she asked.
Time stuttered.
My muscles locked, my mind blanked, and I just stared at her. Her voice was so light when she said it. A tone so casual, as if the word did not hold the kind of weight it did for me. As if she did not understand the danger in inviting something like thatinto existence between us. The demon reacted before I could form a thought, its approval unfurling through me in a deep, satisfied purr.
‘She wants us.
She comes willingly.
She walks beside us.’
I let my arms drop from the tree and curled my hands into fists at my sides to stop them from reaching for her. My control felt thin, stretched, fragile in the face of that single word.
Date.
As if this could ever be something normal, something human, something safe. Like I had not been moments ago standing here caging her in against a tree, fighting the urge to pull her closer and the fear of what would happen if I did. I had never been on a date before. A fact that no doubt caused the reaction it did.
“It is not a date,” I managed to grit out after a long breath, though the denial felt weak even to my own ears. “You’re hungry. I am taking you to get food. That is all.”
Her soft laugh wrapped around my ribs like a warm hand.
“Right, okay… Not a date,” she said, eyes sparkling a little as if she didn’t believe me.
