Page 82 of Touched By Darkness

“I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, but know this: you won’t win. Not against me. All you’ll achieve is to catch my attention, and trust me when I say you don’t want it. Scratch that, it’s already too late. So if you’re working with my uncle, I suggest you run to the ends of the Earth and don’t let me catch you this time.” He leaves, and the sound of the shower rushes back into my ears as I inhale deep, ragged breaths into my oxygen-starved lungs.

I both love and hate being back in Daemon’s orbit. I love it because I need his attention directed at me like a spotlight on this empty stage, where I strut and dance like a broken ballerina. But I also hate it because I might lose for the first time in my life.

While the darkness frightens me, Daemon is the true monster hiding in the shadows. Why? Because he holds my beating heart in the palm of his hand. He holds all the power.

Iwillget lost in this sea. Either in the clutches of the darkness or in Daemon’s intense presence.

Little Red Riding Hoodwillstep off the path, but the question remains: will she catch the eye of the wolf or the hunter? Sometimes the safest option is the deadliest. Sometimes the one who saves us ends up being our destruction.

And Daemon?

He’s the missile to my heart.

ChapterEighteen

RONAN

“You’re a hard man to track down.”

Daemon looks over at us from his spot on the bed, where he sits with his eyes trained on the bathroom door like some crazy stalker. It doesn’t take a mastermind to figure out who’s in the bathroom.

Dariana rushes into the room, unbothered by the scene that greets us, and fawns over him. He merely tolerates it because he knows he has no other choice. Daemon has done a lot of stupid shit in his life, but this is the first time he has been stabbed.

“I told you we couldn’t trust her,” Dariana says tersely, inspecting his shoulder. The wound has healed.

Alaric steps in last, his eyes widening when he sees the carnage on the floor and walls. “What the fuck?”

Dariana looks up and stiffens, as though she were too focused on Daemon to see the state of the room.

“Seems we missed quite a party,” I quip, shutting the door after Alaric.

“The angel did this?” Dari asks.

Daemon nods, his elbows on his knees, his eyes still on the bathroom door.

Alaric steps over the torso and carefully begins to lower himself on the armchair, but then he changes his mind and chooses instead to stand up with arms crossed and feet planted. “Mind explaining to us what happened?”

A muscle tics in Daemon’s jaw as he drags his eyes away from the door when the shower switches off. “Someone broke into the room and stabbed me.”

Dariana snorts, Alaric looks skeptical, and I shift on my feet, not knowing what to believe.

“What do you mean, someone broke into the room?”

“She has a stalker.” Daemon looks at Dariana. “She told you once that someone chased her in the library.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t think it was serious.”

“Well, considering I nearly died from rapid blood loss last night, I think it’s safe to say it’s serious,” Daemon drawls, looking back at the door.

We all exchange a look.

Dariana breaks the silence. “Has it occurred to you that she might have been behind it and that it could have been part of an elaborate plan between her and Amenadiel?”

“Of course it has,” Daemon replies, cutting her a glare.

“I think we need to discussthat.”Alaric gestures at the scattered body parts around the room.

“That’s the least of our problems if the angel works with Amenadiel,” Dariana says.

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