Page 32 of Devil Within

“Jade,” Kira scolded.

“Sorry, Queen.”

Kira rolled her eyes and smiled. “I told you I wanted to talk to Shiloh alone. Please leave.”

Jade slid his gaze to her, and suddenly Shiloh started crying. She would miss him. She would miss all of them. It was too much for her heart to handle.

“Hey, don’t cry,” Jade said as he rushed toward her. He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her into his arms. “I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

Wait. Did I hear that correctly? Shiloh pulled back to study his face. Honesty and warmth made his emerald eyes shine, and it confused the hell out of her.

“Aren’t you mad at me?”

“What?” he asked, surprised. “Why would I be mad?”

“Because I caused a scene at the shop.”

“Shiloh, I was worried about you.”

Now that did surprise her. “Me?”

“Baby, you collapsed, screaming. Nero had to give you a sedative so he could examine you and make sure you weren’t hurt anywhere.”

She stiffened. “Examine me?”

“Don’t worry, I was there,” Kira supplied. “He didn’t do anything inappropriate.”

Was this what it was like to have people care about you? Shiloh had no reference to fall back on in an effort to understand what all this meant.

“I thought it was him,” she mumbled.

If you utter a demon’s name, doesn’t it rise up to steal your soul?

“Him?” Jade asked.

“My stepfather,” she whispered. “He, uh, isn’t a good man.”

Silence fell, wrapping around her with icy arms of fear and pain. She tried to rebuild the wall she once constructed around her memories, but the bricks were now impossible to lift.

“Jade,” Kira said softly. “Could you get me, Sinn?”

He frowned at her. “I don’t want to leave Shiloh.”

“I know, but we need to first talk to her privately-”

“It’s okay,” Shiloh interrupted. “He can stay.”

“Are you sure?”

She nodded. “He needs to know what’s wrong with me.”

Jade quickly texted Sinn to join them.

“Nothing is wrong that support and love can’t fix,” Kira replied, smiling gently. “You’re a special girl, Shiloh. I knew, as soon as you sat down in my diner, that you came into our lives for a reason.”

“You wouldn’t say that if you knew what happened to me,” she muttered.

Kira placed her hand on top of Shiloh’s shoulder. “Despite what happened to you. Victims aren’t to blame, but they carry that burden for the rest of their lives. So, it’s either deal with and overcome them, or let them drown you.”