Page 102 of Demon Monster's Little Human

I deny it frantically. “It wasn’t me?—”

But it doesn’t matter. He sees what he wants to see.

The flicker of recognition in my eyes. The way my voice wavered with something that wasn’t me.

Dain lunges.

I barely have time to react before his hands seize my wrists, pinning them above my head. His breath is ragged, his entire body vibrating with restrained violence.

His lips brush my ear as he speaks, voice laced with something dark, something broken.

“I won’t let you do this to me again.”

Terror claws up my spine. “Dain, I’m not?—”

But he isn’t listening. He’s lost in the past. In her.

I finally understand.

He doesn’t see Liora.

He sees Amara. And he is going to kill me.

Panic surges through me.

I have no choice.

I push.

Magic rips from me in a wave of dark energy, slamming into Dain’s chest. He’s thrown backward, wings snapping out to catch himself before he can hit the ground.

But the damage is done.

I don’t wait for him to recover.

I run.

The bond between us burns as I flee, twisting, pulling at me like a chain wrapped around my ribs.

But I don’t stop. I can’t let him kill me.

More than that, I can’t let myself hurt him.

43

DAIN

She ran.

Again.

The bond between us screams, the phantom pull of her magic lashing at me like a whip. It’s weaker than before, fraying at the edges, unraveling with every step she takes.

She’s trying to break it.

The thought ignites something dark inside me.

She doesn’t understand what she’s doing. What she is.

---