Page 27 of Demon Monster's Little Human

Liora stills, her hands curling into fists at her sides.

She doesn’t cower.

Good.

But Rhogar likes that.

He circles her, his tail swaying lazily behind him. Interested. Testing.

“This is no place for a human,” he murmurs.

She lifts her chin. “I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

I clench my jaw. Fool.

Never show weakness. Never offer yourself up like that.

Rhogar’s smirk widens. He steps closer, inhaling deeply, as if scenting her.

Something burns under my skin.

I stay silent.

“I could help you,” Rhogar muses, his claws grazing the ends of her tangled hair. “If you ask nicely.”

She doesn’t move. Her heartbeat stutters, but she doesn’t yield.

Why do I feel that in my bones?

Another gargoyle chuckles. A third shifts in interest. I should stop this.

I should stand, step forward, rip Rhogar’s hand away before I break it in my own.

But I don’t because that would mean admitting things I don’t want to acknowledge.

So I sit. And I watch.

Rhogar’s fingers trail down to her jaw. He grips it, forcing her to look up at him.

“Nothing to say?” he murmurs. “Pity.”

She doesn’t speak. But her pulse beats like war drums, her eyes burning with that same defiance that drove me mad.

Rhogar sees it. He likes it.

No.

The word snarls through me, silent, furious.

I hate that he touches her. I hate that she lets him. I hate that this should not matter.

I should not care who looks at her. Who touches her.

She is not mine.

But deep in my gut, something ancient, something primal, twists and says, liar.

I force myself to look away, to focus on anything else.

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