Page 59 of Thane's Demon
“You’re sending me away?”she whispered.
I stepped closer, cupping her cheek with a gentleness that felt foreign against the violence burning inside me.
“I would burn this entire city before I let anything happen to you,” I said softly. “But right now, you need to be where I know you’re safe.” I leaned in, my forehead nearly touching hers. “And I need to deal with whoever is behind us without you being caught in the crossfire.”
Her breath trembled, her eyes searching mine with a desperation that nearly shattered every wall I had built around myself.
“Thane,”she whispered, fragile and pained, “I don’t want to leave you.”
Those words almost broke my restraint entirely. My demon thundered against the inside of my ribs, snarling and clawing at the walls of my control.
‘Take her.
Keep her.
Hide her.
Never let her go.’
I swallowed hard, fighting the instinct to drag her against my chest and carry her somewhere no one could ever touch her again, somewhere she would always be mine.
“I will find you,”I promised, my voice low, raw, and honest in a way I could not hide.“I always will.”I stepped back first, because if I stayed close to her for one more second, I would not let her go at all.
Her hand hovered in the space between us before she let it fall slowly, her hurt a quiet wound she tried to hide. It felt like someone drove a blade straight through my ribs. But this was the only choice. The only way to keep her breathing.
Only after she turned toward the busier street at the end of the alley did I finally allow myself to glance over my shoulder. The shadow that had been trailing us slipped back behind a corner the moment our eyes might have met.
Good.
Let him follow me instead.
Let him try.
I let her walk away only far enough that the crowd swallowed her small figure, just until I could no longer hear the quick, uneven rhythm of her breath. My entire body remained coiled, ready to strike, held together by the last threads of restraint. Once she disappeared around the corner, I let the façade drop and turned fully toward the mouth of the alley, allowing the darkness inside me to rise.
The tail thought he was clever.
He thought he was invisible.
He thought he was hunting me.
The fool had no idea what he had followed into the shadows. They never did. I stood still, letting my heartbeat slow, letting my breathing soften until I blended with the stillness of the alleyway. My demon stretching like a beast waking from slumber, its voice curling through my mind in a low, eager growl.
‘Come, little spy.
Come and die.’
A few breaths later, the man stepped cautiously into the alley I had led him toward. He was younger than I expected, lean and sharp-eyed, dressed in the muted tones of someone who wanted to disappear into a crowd. His movements were confident. But not confident enough. Not when he hesitated as he reached themiddle of the alley, his head turning slightly as if he sensed something wrong.
Too late.
One moment I was standing at the far end of the alley, and the next I was behind him, my arm locking around his throat with a force that tore a strangled sound from his lungs. He clawed at my forearm, but the fight was pathetic. He tried to draw breath, but the pressure cut him off instantly. I heard the panic in his heartbeat.
I smelled it. Felt it.Fed from it.
I twisted his body and slammed him against the wall with enough force that I heard a rib crack. His head snapped back, eyes wide with terror. He tried to speak, but the only sound that escaped was a rasping choke.
“Who sent you?!”I asked, my demonic voice low and lethal.
