Page 101 of Demon Monster's Little Human

His touch is firm, but not painful. Not yet.

The bond between us thrums in protest, a sharp pulse of heat curling beneath my ribs. I try to shove him back, but his grip only tightens. His wings flare behind him, his breath warm and ragged against my face.

I don’t fight him, not really. Not like I should.

For a terrifying moment, I can’t focus on anything except the heat of his body pressed against mine, the scent of rain and earth clinging to his skin.

His golden eyes bore into me. “Tell me.”

Something in my chest cracks open, raw and desperate.

Without thinking, the truth spills from my lips.

“I saw her.”

His entire body goes still.

A muscle in his jaw tics. “Who?”

I swallow hard. My heart pounds. “Amara.”

His grip tightens, just slightly. His breath comes in sharp, controlled bursts. “What did she say to you?”

I pull at my hair. “It wasn’t like that. It wasn’t a vision. I—I felt her. Inside me.”

Dain doesn’t speak. Doesn’t move.

I notice the fear.

Not rage. Not hatred.

Fear.

It’s gone as quickly as it comes, buried beneath layers of fury and resentment, but I felt it.

Dain isn’t just angry. He’s terrified.

Of me.

The realization shatters something inside me.

I open my mouth to say something, anything, but when I speak, it’s not my voice.

“Dain.”

His entire body locks.

Amara’s calling him again through me. I dislike it. I loathe that she’s using my body.

The voice that slips from my lips is not mine. It is soft and aching, filled with a sadness I don’t understand.

But he does.

His claws dig into my skin as a growl rumbles deep in his chest. “Stop.”

I gasp, my own voice returning as I clutch at my throat. “I?—”

He snarls. “Don’t say her name.”

---