Page 164 of At the Edge of Surrender

A gravity I’ve never experienced.

“I’ll hunt down anyone who’s ever hurt you. Will destroy anyone who wants to do you harm. I promise you, Emery. I won’t let anyone get near you. Not you or Maci. But you have to let me in for me to be able to do that.”

She should be afraid with the violence that dripped from mypores. With the brutal urges that pumped through my veins and poured like wrath from my tongue.

But she only looked at me in a way she’d never done before as she edged up on her knees and pressed her hand even closer.

As if she could sink all the way inside.

“My sweet, sweet dragon.” She whispered it like praise.

And the only fucking thing I could hear wasmine.

The claim in her voice and the shouting of my soul.

Emotion twisted my insides. “I mean it, Emery.”

Her nod was juddering, and I was sure right then, she was seeing all the way to the depths of me.

To the wickedness and cruelty carved on my conscience. To the sins and the depravity.

Like maybe she could see the blood that stained my hands and she didn’t mind if it covered her.

Because I heard her acceptance when she gave a bumbling nod and murmured, “I know.”

THIRTY-SEVEN

KANE

Sixteen Years Old

Kane walkedbeneath the dull haze of city lights. His hands stuffed into his jeans pockets and no destination in mind.

He had no place to go.

No home.

No family.

Nothing.

Nothing.

The agony nearly brought him to his knees. The overwhelming grief that pressed in from all sides made him feel as if he was going to implode.

The only thing that kept him standing was the rage. The only life inside him the hate that had infiltrated his blood and had become the beat of his existence.

Loneliness his partner.

The bracelet he wore around his wrist felt like it was cutting off circulation. The simple gold chain that wasn’t even real with three rosesinterspersed across the top.

One he’d given his mother when he’d been a child and she’d never taken off.

One he’d fumbled to get off her wrist as the paramedics had wheeled her away from their house.

Now he wore it himself.

Like it was going to give him comfort when the only thing he felt was pain.

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