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She smiled at him. “She’s worried aboutyou.”

A fragile thread of hope wound its way around his gut. But then he remembered what a piece of shit he was. With a grunt, he kept walking, the human on his heels. “That means nothing tome.”

“Dante—” She quickly caught up tohim.

“I’m done here, Shea.”

“You can’t live without her. Like, literally. Maybe you should give her a chance.”

“I’mdone.”

With a sigh of defeat, she stopped talking, and they walked the rest of the way in silence. When they reached the apartments, she said, “Luukas wants you to come and seehim.”

I bet he does. “Tell him I’ll be up as soon as I am finished down here.” Dante left her at the elevators and took his dessert down to his feedingroom.

He had no idea how the “new” Luukas was going to react to his major fuck up. But he would not run from the consequences of what he had done. It had been a stupid move. More than stupid. Ever since he’d brought that female here, he hadn’t been thinking straight. His decision to keep the box, and to then take it with him to barter for Laney, was all because of her. And now the demons still had the clue they were looking for, and he’d gotten his ass kicked in return. He deserved whatever punishment he had coming tohim.

Hell, he hadn’t even bothered trying to use it as a trade. No fucking way. Instead, he’d gone in there thinking he was all badass as soon as he had her in his sights—guns blazing, starting a fight, and almost getting them both killed.

And they’d gotten it anyway.

In a fit of temper, he raised his fist to lash out at the human standing next to him. The human stood calmly awaiting the blow, still under the mindfuck Dante had bestowed upon him. He didn’t even flinch.

With a snarl, Dante lowered his fist and stepped back. Everywhere he looked, he saw Laney’s accusing brown eyes. No, not accusing. Disappointed. She would be disappointed if she found out he killed this one in here. Or had killed any more humans at all. And somehow, that was even worse than her anger.

Why do I even fuckingcare?

But he did care. Godsdamnher.

He laughed out loud. It wasn’t a pleasant sound. But it was downright fucking amusing, this turn his long life had recently taken. Laney would never care for a monster like him. Not the way he needed her to. And she shouldn’t. She was all that was good and light, a Protector. Even the way she tried to accept her fate with him proved that she was too good for him. He didn’t deserve her. But Shea was right: he needed her. And Dante wasn’t like Nikulas. Fuck, no. He was entirely too fucking selfish to walk away from her, and not entirely because he needed her blood.

Smashing his fist into the brick directly above the human, Dante roared with frustration. He began to pace the room, tearing at his skull with both hands. Every once in a while, he would stop and destroy something. By the time he got it all out, there wasn’t much left for his entertainment.

Numb, he sank down onto the bench with his head in his hands.