Page 49 of Demon Monster's Little Human

What is this thing between us, this pull, this tension that refuses to break, that coils tighter with every breath, every look, every word that goes unspoken?

I should not want him.

He is cruel. Unyielding. A monster.

Yet, when he is gone, something inside me aches.

I curse, pressing my forehead against the ledge, willing the thoughts away, willing him away.

It does not work.

I do not think it ever will.

I do not stay in the water long.

The heat is soothing, but my exhaustion is worse, and I will not let myself grow weak. I scrub myself clean, washing away the filth, the blood, the sweat—but not him.

Never him.

I rise from the spring, skin flushed, hair clinging to my back, heart hammering for reasons I do not understand.

There is nothing to dry myself with, no cloth, no warmth except the fire crackling in the main cavern. I have no choice but to step forward, dripping, exposed, into the space where he waits.

He is waiting.

Seated against the far wall, his wings partially unfurled, eyes flickering in the glow of the fire. He does not react when I approach, does not speak, does not acknowledge me beyond a single slow shift of his gaze as he takes me in.

Heat creeps up my spine.

I clutch my damp clothes against me, as if that will protect me from his stare.

“Better?” he asks, voice low, almost mocking.

I swallow hard. “Yes.”

He shifts, motioning for me to sit beside him.

I hesitate.

But I do not have a choice.

The cave is too small, the fire the only source of warmth, and I will not freeze because I am too stubborn to sit near him.

I settle beside him, careful to keep a distance between us.

It does not matter.

The heat of him is suffocating, pressing into my skin, seeping into my lungs, settling into the marrow of my bones.

Silence stretches and it should be uncomfortable.

It is not.

Lightning splits the sky outside, illuminating the cavern in a brief flash of silver. Thunder rumbles a moment later, deep and rolling, shaking the earth beneath us. The storm has grown worse.

I close my eyes.

Dain exhales slowly.

---