My blood boiled. The sheer arrogance. The dismissal.
Did it really think this was the time to toss cryptic notes like I was playing some kind of game?
I stormed back to the bars, leaning my forehead against the cold iron.
“You truly don’t care, do you?” My voice trembled, but I didn’t care. “You’ve been with me the longest. Longer than anyone. And even now…you’re still cruel.”
Shadow scribbled again, then held the paper up.
“Did I not tell you to say your goodbyes? Everything happening is out of your control. Accept your fate.”
“Never.”
The single, strangled word burned up my throat.
Shadow’s form dimmed to a dull gray before the blackness surged back, rippling erratically. Then it floated away.
My heart pinched painfully.
No.
Not again.
“Just like that, you’re leaving?” I whispered, too low for anyone but myself to hear.
It slipped into the shadows and vanished.
I stood frozen, nausea curling deep in my belly.
Why come at all if it would just be going to leave after pushing me to the edge?
My gaze dropped.
A single paper lay where Shadow had stood.
I squinted. The writing was faint, small—almost like it hadn’t wanted me to see it at all.
“I’m never far.”
I stared at the note, unsure how long passed, still clutching those three words like they meant something—like they could undo everything.
Then—
A boot crunched on the paper. Black leather twisted against it, crinkling the message on purpose.
The Devil.
He wore nothing but a pair of dark pants and heavy boots. Broad shoulders. Abnormal chest. That cursed skin that pulsed and shifted like it held some otherworldly storm beneath the surface.
My eyes caught on all of it—but it was the shape of him that drew the breath from my lungs.
He bent to retrieve the paper, and I caught the flick of his enormous tail behind him, thudding against the stone.
Gods.
He was massive. Towering, muscled, and terrifyingly male.
I swallowed. Hard. A burst of heat shot straight to my lower stomach. Eyes wide, I pressed a hand to my cheek, trying to wipe the flush away before he noticed. The tail struck the ground again. But just as quickly as the wave of need rose, it withered.
