The closer they drew to the place circled on their map over Colorado, the gloomier Selma’s mood became.
Waking up that morning wrapped in Kain’s warm embrace had been bittersweet because she knew it was for the last time. He’d given her the one night she’d asked for—a night without worries or regret—and now it was time to face reality again.
A reality in which she had been given the gift of freedom.
Selma pressed her forehead against the car’s passenger-side window. Even acknowledging the small murmur of reluctance at accepting her freedom was an insult to the man who’d claimed her. She knew every instinct in his body would be screaming at him to keep her by his side so he could breed her the way his kind always had with women like her, and yet here he was, bringing her to the Sanctuary himself.
If he could fight against his instincts for her, then she could do the same for him.
The slowing of the car made her turn to look at the demon. “Why are we stopping?”
“It’s here. I can feel it.” His nostrils flared and he clenched the steering wheel in obvious agitation. “There’s a pretty strong repellent along the border—it’s making me itch to turn around and leave.”
Selma frowned. “Are you sure? I can’t feel anything, and we’re in the middle of nowhere.”
“Oh, I’m sure.” He gave her a short glance before unbuckling his seatbelt and opening the driver side door. “It’s got demon-specific wards mixed in with it. I’m guessing regular humans will also avoid the place without ever thinking about why, but there’s a little extra in there to ensure we stay out.”
She followed him out of the car, looking in the direction he was staring at with narrowed eyes. “So… somewhere in there is a sanctuary for women like me? It just looks like a normal road and woodland.”
“Yes, in there you can be safe, little one.” His voice turned soft despite the discomfort making him fidget. He raised a hand, letting dark tendrils of magic flow from his palm. “Watch.”
She did, and gasped in surprise when the dark mist hit an invisible wall. Sparks flew at the contact and the tendrils shifted, outlining the border as it sought a way through.
“I’ve never asked how your magic works,” she said, suddenly realizing how little she actually knew about Kain and his race. It felt… wrong, somehow—like she was leaving behind an unfinished puzzle she should have completed.
Everything in her life had always revolved around the monsters she saw, and now she was leaving it all behind without ever fully understanding the purpose of it.
Without ever fully understanding him.
“It doesn’t matter.” He turned around, cupping her face in his hands. “You are free from it all now.”
Her heart clenched as she let her eyes find his black gaze. “Kain, I…”
“Go.” Stopping her words before she even knew what she wanted to say, he bent down and kissed her lips so softly she only felt his heat as a gentle brush before he pulled back. “Please go before I stop you. Be free.”
Selma swallowed thickly, the sinking sensation of loss in her gut making it almost impossible to take a step back. But she did because he was giving her the gift of freedom, the only thing she’d ever wanted.
“Goodbye, Kain,” she whispered, turning from him before she could change her mind.
He didn’t respond, but she felt his dark eyes on her back as she walked toward the once-again invisible barrier. Though she couldn’t see it, the moment she stepped through it the magic washed over her skin like a light mist.
Her senses lit up as if someone’d dropped an extra dose of caffeine in her coffee, her brain hyper aware of every rustle of wind in the trees lining the narrow road and the smell of woodland filling her nostrils. Everything seemed… more, somehow, but softer at the same time. It was like the dome of magic was made of cotton, filtering every sensation with a gentle touch. Protecting whatever lay inside.
She couldn’t feel Kain’s gaze on her any longer, but when she looked over her shoulder, he was still there, staring at her with those haunting eyes.
Her abdomen clenched hard, and she gasped at the twisting agony low in her belly.
Loss. She’d known him so briefly, yet everything in her screamed to run back to him, to safety?—
But this was safety, a literal sanctuary, and one he’d brought her to. There was no turning back, even if her chest tightened as she returned his gaze.
With a force of will, she turned back around to focus on the road ahead.
She made it twenty more steps before the pain in her abdomen returned, only this time it was hot knives shredding her from the inside out.
Agony blasted through her and she fell to the ground with a cry, clutching her stomach as her body violently spasmed.
A deep ringing like someone striking a massive church bell echoed through the sanctuary, making her bones vibrate, but she didn’t have the focus to care about its source.
