Page 8 of Sinful Mates

I should have committed the information to memory, but I saw him everywhere. Emerging from behind a clothes rack with vicious eyes, bloodied teeth, and wounds across his chest. Reading a children’s books, licking his finger and turning the page with a sinister gleam. Running a bloodied finger across his throat. If he couldn’t rest in peace, I wouldn’t either.

Fuck off, Danny. Leave me be.

His ghost refused to fade. No, not a ghost. Zethan would deal with him if he was. My brother was a demon. A memory. My trauma. Just like Alaric’s. With me for life. Never to forget. I scratched at my ribcage, the spot where I pierced my brother’s chest, and gasped for air.

“Baby?” Zethan’s tender touch on my arm shook my darkness away for the moment. “Breathe.” I followed his instruction, drawing oxygen deep into my lungs, calming my thundering pulse. “That’s it.”

“I’m okay.” I said it more to myself than to reassure him.

Zethan’s forefingers hooked in my jean’s belt loops to drag me closer. “What’s wrong, Hellhound Bitch?” His palm skimmed from my wrist to my shoulder.

My throat closed up. “Danny is… everywhere.”

Zethan’s hard eyes alleviated some of my guilt. “This is your first kill?”

“Second.” I killed a man for my father once. Bastard beat his wife and kids. Ripped off my father twenty grand. Slapped me, and I shot him. I felt horrible for the first two days until his wife thanked me.

“It’s just shock, baby.” His pinky finger hooked over mine, the touch ghosting over my skin.

Mia strode over and placed two pairs of shoes in my basket. The motion snapped me out of my darkness temporarily.

“Don’t forget pajamas too.” Zethan was as bad as Mia, throwing a few sets of bed clothes over his tanned, muscled forearm.

“Not too many,” I insisted as Mia wandered off to look at sneakers. Darkness banked at the back of my mind, thumping on the door that trapped it, creating pressure in my temples. I rubbed at them, but it didn’t go away.

“She’s your kid and she’s gonna get whatever she wants, just like my Hellhound Bitch.” Zethan leaned down to kiss and nip my neck, warning me not to fight this because he was going to spoil us both.

With every passing second, Danny, my demons, and the shadows stalking me receded, allowing me to be present with my mate and daughter.

I took his hand and strolled after Mia as she piled up so many clothes, she could barely carry them all. “Don’t spoil her. She’ll become a monster.”

Danny’s kids were spoiled with all the latest technology and demanded all the latest when it came out, discarding it like a toy.

“Listen to you, baby. Sounding like a mom already.” Zethan squeezed my ass, the motion drawing me further out of my dark slump.

I didn’t know how he acted so nonchalantly, like we hadn’t both been witnesses to two murders, me a party to one and him an accessory.

“How do you do it?” I couldn’t stop touching my hair where my horns had emerged, the murderous weapons that ended Danny.

Zethan turned to face me, stroking my hand. “I detach from everything. Remind myself it was necessary. Then compartmentalize like a pro.”

His smile attempted to draw one from me, but I rubbed the spot on my head, forcing him to clamp my wrist and lower my arm to my side.

“Let it go, baby.” His blunt nails dug into my arm. “He’s gone. Don’t feel bad for it. The world is a better place without him. Your family is healthy and safe.”

I noticed he left the club out of that equation. Prior to Mia’s rescue, the bond betrayed how I felt about Jackals’ Wrath MC.

My hands twitched, desperate for an occupation. “I can’t let it go. I broke my oath. I swore never to be that person.”

Demon Danny appeared, flashing in and out of existence, sneering at me, enjoying his infernal torment.

Zethan’s grip on me tightened. “Not even the gods are above taking lives.”

I searched Isis’ memory, finding many instances of her claiming lives for the sake of balance in the world. I used her powers to eliminate a life, but whether it was for the sake of balance or not remained to be seen.

Zethan’s hand moved up and down my arm, the soothing motion vanishing my demon. “You just have to find a way to live with this.”

Guilt burned raw and hot inside my chest, and I wondered if that was ever possible.

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