Page 93 of The Devils Melody
“Who?” Nox’s response is sharp and demanding, but I can hear the fear beneath it. Seeing me like this scares him. Both of them. Kage’s entire body is locked and stiffened beneath me. They don’t know how to help me.
Shaking my head violently, I press my hands over my face like I used to do when I was a child, trying to hide from all the questions I don’t know how to answer.
“No. I can’t—I don’t remember. I don’t want to remember.”
You do remember. You just buried it.
Kage’s arms tighten around me, as if he’s trying to hold the pieces of me together through sheer force. His voice soothing as he runs his fingers through my hair. “You don’t have to hide it, little bird. Whatever it is, we’ll protect you. Always.”
His words should calm me, they always have, but this time it only twists the unease that’s coiled in my gut. Themore they swear to protect me, the more I realize, I don’t really know what they’re trying to protect me from.
I can’t breathe. My lungs feel like they’re collapsing in on themselves, my thoughts scraping like broken glass against the inside of my skull. I want to believe him but the pressure behind my eyes is building, and somewhere deep inside, something is clawing to get out and my mind latches onto it.
“Chen,” I blurt, jerking back from Kage’s chest so I can look at both of them. “Where is he? Have you heard anything? Did you even call the police?”
The shift in their expressions is instant. Nox goes still, Kage staring at me like I’ve just said something dangerous.
“Wren…” Nox starts, his tone careful and calculated. “We’re taking care of it.”
“Why wouldyoube taking care of it? Why aren’t thepolicetaking care of it?” My voice is shaking now. “He was fucking attacked, Nox! He could be dead, and you’re just standing here acting like it’s just another thing on your damn to-do list!”
“We didn’t call the cops,” Kage admits bluntly.
My mouth falls open. “You what?! Why the hell not?!”
Nox grinds his teeth together, trying to piece the right words together, I’m sure. “Because this isn’t something the cops can handle. We called Jimmy. Trust us, Wren. It’s better this way.”
“No!” My laugh comes out like some kind of crazy person. “You keep saying that but you never actually tell me shit! Chen gets kidnapped, my apartment gets trashed, you show up in the middle of the nightcovered in blood, and you expect me not to question it? And who the fuck even is Jimmy?!”
Kage curses under his breath, dragging a hand acrosshis buzzed head. Nox doesn’t even answer me. Of course he fucking doesn’t.
“Oh my god,” I whisper, the pieces crashing together in my head like they’re made of magnets. “Who am I even sleeping with? I don’t even know you!”
“Wren—” Nox’s voice trembles, but I’m already shaking my head, backing towards the far side of the bed.
“You’ve been lying to me this whole time,” I choke out, tears streaming down my face. “Both of you! You kept making these promises, but all you’ve done is kept me in the dark and gaslit me into thinking everything was fine!”
“We were trying to protect you,” Kage says. “Every choice we made was for you, little bird.”
“Don’t call me that right now. I can’t—just don’t.”
“Fuck this,” Kage bites out, spinning to face Nox. “She deserves to know.”
“Kage—” Nox warns, his voice dark. “You know what we have to do if she doesn’t understand.”
“Shewillunderstand,” Kage snarls. “I can feel it. She’s not like other people. She’ll get it.”
I look between them confused as all hell, my heart pounding so fucking hard, it hurts. “Understand what? What the hell are you two talking about?”
Neither of them moves or says anything, both staring down at the floor as if willing it to answer for them. The moment Kage looks up at me, I can see the choice he makes in his eyes before he even opens his mouth.
“We kill people, Wren.” His voice is calm. Too fucking calm and casual for the words that just spilled from his lips. “People who run the kind of sick, twisted shit that ruined me. We hunt them down, and we end them. Every last one.”
My knees almost give out as I just stare at him dumbfounded. “You…you what?”
“They’re all part of a ring,” Kage continues like he couldn’t stop himself if he tried. “A network of monsters who trade in flesh and pain for cash. We’ve been dismantling them one by one, and that night we picked you up at your apartment covered in blood? We weren’t hunting. Not deer, at least.”
I stagger back, my hand flying to cover my mouth, trying to muffle the scream that threatens to escape me. It gets stuck somewhere between my lungs and my throat, strangled by shock.
