Page 63 of Thane's Demon
‘We know where to find him.
He touched what is ours.
He marked her.
Kill Xue.
Make him bleed for every second she is afraid.’
A low sound tore from my throat, too harsh to be human. I released the mangled railing and turned toward the exit, my vision narrowing once more into that single point of focus. Every heartbeat. Every breath. Every instinct roared toward the same direction.
The club.
If Xue had sent a man to watch her building, to take pictures of her, to follow her home, then the bastard was already moving against me. And if he had laid one hand on her, if he had frightened her, he had signed his own death warrant. If he had dragged her into his world even for a second, I would burn this entire city until there was nothing left of him but smoke and ash.
The moment my feet hit the street, I was running again, tearing across Shanghai like a storm ready to devour everything in its path.
I was going after Xue.
And nothing would stop me.
The club was still closed when I reached it, its neon signs dead, the doors locked, the street empty. I moved across the road like a blade through water, each step fueled by a fear so vicious it tasted like metal in my mouth. The moment I reached the door, I slammed my fist against it hard enough to rattle the hinges and send a dull boom echoing through the hallway behind it.
A voice barked from inside, irritated and unbothered, speaking in Mandarin that I translated in my head.
“We are closed, come back later!”
My demon snarled before I could stop it, the sound vibrating low in my chest, and I leaned in close enough that my words curled through the crack beneath the door.
“Not for me, it’s not!”
Before the idiot behind the door could respond, I gripped the steel frame and tore the door straight off its hinges. It ripped free with a shriek of twisted metal and crashed onto the floor behind it, scattering guards who leapt back in shock. One reached for his gun. Another shouted something, too panicked to form words.I didn’t care.I moved through them like they were nothing but shadows, grabbing the closest man by the collar and hurling him across the hallway. He hit the wall with a crack that made everyone else freeze.
Someone fired.
Too fucking slow.
I sidestepped the bullet, caught the arm that held the gun, and snapped the wrist backward with a clean, brutal twist. His scream filled the hallway, echoing off the walls in a way that made the demon inside me purr with cruel pleasure. Another man tried to block my path. I slammed my palm into hissternum, sending him sprawling, gasping for breath he could not find. A third attempted to tackle me. I grabbed him by the throat and threw him into the stack of crates lining the entryway, wood splintering on impact.
Their terror spilled through the air like gasoline.
Yet, it only fueled me further.
I stalked through the dim corridors, ignoring the chaos I left behind, my steps precise and deadly. My gaze fixed firmly on the office door at the end of the hall. The closer I got, the more the demon pressed against my skin, whispering in dark delight.
‘He is inside.
He thinks he is safe.
Let us prove him wrong.’
The moment I reached the office; I didn’t bother turning the handle. I drove my boot into the door and sent it slamming open, the force cracking the frame as it rebounded against the wall. Every gun in the room lifted toward me at once, a dozen men lined around the office perimeter, hands shaking, eyes wide, fear thickening the air to the point of suffocation.
And there, behind his polished desk, sat Xue Long.
His face shifted from irritation to shock in a single instant.
Then to strange satisfaction.
