Page 21 of Tears of Ruin

It wasn’t just his beauty that pulled me in. It was the raw mix of vulnerability and strength, a contrast that struck something deep and unshakable inside me.

“Can you melt my mind while coating it in sugar?” I could tell he was fighting a smirk. The side of his mouth twitched.

I smiled, shaking my head, then grew somber. “I know more about demons than I care to. They’re vile creatures who get off on torture and inflicting pain, but they need ahostto possess to conceal their hideous forms.”

Noam seemed to consider this. “I saw smoke.”

“Then you witnessed it either entering or exiting a body.” I hated that he’d been anywhere near a demon. It could have just as easily been Noam, instead of his father, who was possessed.

“Entering,” he murmured. His fingers grazed his cheek, then he looked as if he would be sick. From the demon touching him or the fact the host had been his very own father? I would’ve thrown up if my father… I shut that thought down, my stomach now queasy.

“Do you know what the demon wants?” My gaze flicked to the rearview mirror as a vehicle emerged behind us. My fingers tightened around the steering wheel when I recognized it as Noam’s father’s truck. He was tailing us.

“No, but I heard my dad call him Silo. After he entered Martin, he realized I’d seen what happened and…” Noam squeezed his eyes shut, releasing a slow, trembling breath. “I took off upstairs, and he looked for me, almost like it was a game to him.”

“Demons relish psychological games. It feeds their sadism.” The truck drove steadily behind us, as if observing rather than pursuing. My gaze darted to Noam. “It’s impressive you got away.”

Once a demon locked onto a victim, their fate was sealed. Which was how Kyson and Dane had come to live at Winterhaven. It had been five years apart, but they’d suffered at the hands of the same demon, Osiris.

I’d seen firsthand the torture a demon inflicted on their victims when Kyson had been brought home.

“Barely,” Noam said, interrupting my thoughts. “If the door hadn’t popped open…”

My brows furrowed. “What do you mean it popped open?” I was the only one who used that door, and I always made sure it was securely locked. There was no way it would have opened on its own.

“I was shaking the handle, trying to throw my weight into it.” Noam’s breathing grew shallow, as if he was reliving the moment in real time. “The door wouldn’t budge, and I heard Martin, Silo, on the side of the house, growing closer, and then… I don’t know. I heard a pop sound and the door flew open.”

Noam let out a terrified scream as the car lurched violently forward, the deafening crunch of metal piercing as the car’s tires screeched against the pavement. My heart raced with a thunderous beat as I instinctively flung my arm in front of him, despite the seatbelt securing him, while fighting desperately to regain control of the spiraling vehicle.

The rear end wrenched sharply to the left from the impact, and the grinding resistance beneath us told me one of the tires had been rendered completely useless.

Before I had a chance to correct our course, we were struck again, this time with a force that rattled my bones. The back window shattered, sending a shower of jagged glass through the car, piercing my skin like sharp, vicious teeth.

But amid the chaos, one thing was clear. Noam was my first and only priority.

As the car began to rapidly flip over, my talons shot out. In one swift motion, I tore through Noah’s seatbelt, seizing him with an iron grip and ignoring how right the weight of his small body felt in my arms. Creating a shimmer, we hurled through it at a breakneck speed, the world blurring around us.

The momentum caused us to careen through the air as we entered Winterhaven.With a desperate yank, I pulled Noam tightly to my chest, his eyes wide with terror as I coiled protectively around him. We crashed against the cold, hard marble floor, our bodies skidding down the hallway in a blur of motion and adrenaline. I was too busy hanging onto Noam to even register the pain.

Unfortunately, my luck was about to run out. I steeled myself for the impending collision, fully aware the pain was going to be excruciating. Noam’s grasp on my shirt was like a vise, his fingers digging into my skin with a harsh, panicked grip. He screamed in sheer terror, clutching onto me with a terrifying grip as the wall rushed toward us with merciless speed.

At the last second before we hit, I thrust my head forward to prevent my skull from splitting open when our unstoppable force met the immovable marble.

Unbearable pain exploded throughout my entire body as the deafening sound of bones shattering filled my ears, and then everything faded to darkness.

Chapter Six

Noam

“Richard!” I rolled over, the world spinning as I tried to get to my feet. Everything around me was out of focus, my head pounding. He lay unmoving a few feet away, blood trickling from a gash on his forehead, staining the marble floor beneath him.

Panic gripped my chest as I crawled toward his motionless form on my hands and knees, ignoring the sharp pain shooting through my body.

“Please, please, be alive,” I begged, tears blurring my vision. I couldn't lose him, not now, not like this. Richard was the first person to ever make me feel safe, to treat me with genuine kindness. He couldn't die because of me. Over the past two weeks, he had become my lifeline, but until this moment, I hadn’t realized just how deeply I cared for him.

He was everything I had prayed for when it had felt like all hope was lost. He was the personification of quiet, of patience, a man with a beautiful soul who reached into the darkness and guided me to his light.

“Richard, wake up!” My voice cracked as I gently shook his shoulder. “Please, you have to wake up!”

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