“Okay, okay.” I put my hands up to placate her. “Do you evenknowwho he is though?—”
“Yeah, yeah, deadly Moratus etcetera, etcetera.”
Oh my God, she’s gonna get killed.
“Well, there’s that too. But I saidwho, notwhat—” she puts her hand up to stop me.
“If he wants to tell me, that’s up to him. I don’t need to hear it from anyone else.” My mouth gapes in disbelief, but she doesn’t look away, daring me to argue. Eventually I groan and lean back against the wall, closing my eyes and pinching the bridge of my nose.
“Alright fine, we can table that for now. The short answer is: shifters are two sides of the same coin—one and the same. Demons are monsters masquerading as men—we may look human, but in here,” I tap my temple, “buried deep down, is a well ofpower.” The last word ends in a low rumble as my demon surfaces and she stills, fingers poised above Thane’s forehead like she’s remembered she shouldn’t be touching him. I have to look away to compose myself when something in my chest tightens. “This power is a bottomless pit ofwantingthat will never be filled.”
She rests her hand gently on his shoulder as we share a moment of charged silence. Whether it’s the alcohol or the lingering arousal from watching her earlier, seeing her comfort my friend after coming to our rescue, or the way she always snipes back at me, something shifts.
“You all need therapy.”
I can’t help but snort and shake my head.
Oh baby girl, you have nofuckingidea.
“So then, how do you control it?” She looks straight ahead, but I manage to catch her absently playing with the collar of his shirt.
“What?”
“The power.”
“He uses drugs,” I murmur, nodding towards Thane. “I keep moving. Working out, running, things like that.”
“And that’s really enough to not hulk out on people? Or whatever it is that happens.”
I shrug.Not even fucking close.
“Sounds exhausting.”
My eyes snap to hers, those dark brown pools with flashes of red that catch the light. Like rubies.
No, that’s not right.
Like garnets.
The sudden crash of the door banging against the wall shatters the moment of peace and my demon rises swiftly to the surface of my mind, ready to rip apart whoever’s just?—
“Roth, holy fuck. About goddamn time you assholes showed up.” Luther is a hulking shadow behind him, eyes flitting over me then moving to Thane who’s still unconscious in Nyx’s lap. Roth is locked onto her, and the little brat refuses to blink first, her brief lapse in grumpiness replaced by wariness and defiance.
“Killian?” Roth nods to Thane.
“He’ll be alright by the time he wakes up. Shit, I should have asked, did he say anything about what he took?” I turn to ask Nyx, who’s now staring down the fucking gargoyle like he couldn’t crush her skull with one hand. She finally wrenches her eyes from him when I nudge her.
“No. We were just—” she begins, but side eyes Roth and Luther before continuing. “Dancing, and then he started freaking out and kept saying he wanted to go home.”
“So then, why didn’t you take him home, Killian?” Roth turns his menacing stare on me.
“He was overdosing,” Nyx cuts in before I can respond, drawing Roth’s ire once more.
“And how, exactly, did you come to that conclusion?”
“His pupils were blown out, he was agitated, confused, and started stumbling around.”
“And now he’s in your lap.” Luther says, crossing his arms, and I roll my eyes. The motherfucker knows how obscene his muscles look when he does that. I open my mouth to come to her rescue, but once again, she cuts me off.
