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“Where were you when he came in?”

“Out on the beach,” he says, but dread sweeps through me when his eyes drop as the words fall from his lips.

“What’s wrong?”

“N-nothing. I just h-had…” He sucks in a deep breath. “Nightmares.” He quickly shakes his head. “It’s nothing.”

“No,” I say with enough strength in my tone that it makes his eyes widen. “It’s not nothing. Not if you’re suffering because of them.” Closing the space between us, I wrap my hand around the back of his neck and reach up on my toes, kissing him hard. “You’re going to tell me about them. You’re going to share the weight,” I tell him between kisses, not giving him a chance to argue with me.

“What are you doing to me, beautiful?” he growls.

“Hopefully making you feel good and helping you sleep.“

I give him a beaming smile before walking out of the room to find some knickers.

Daemon watches me from the bedroom doorway with a soft encouraging smile on his lips as I walk through the living room toward the doors that will lead me to where Alex disappeared.

I have no idea why he thinks I need to be the one doing this when he’s Alex’s other half, but I trust him to know what Alex needs.

I find him sitting on the wooden stairs that lead directly onto the sand. But despite knowing that he’s been joined by someone, he doesn’t react.

The cool night air whips around me, making me wish that I’d grabbed one of Daemon’s hoodies, but it’s too late now. I don’t want him to think I changed my mind about talking to him.

“Hey, can I sit here?” I ask, although I’m already lowering my arse to the top step beside his.

“Sure,” he rumbles, glancing over at me. It’s pretty bloody dark out here, but I don’t miss the emotion that fills the depths of his grey eyes.

“You okay?”

A sad laugh rips through the air.

“What are you talking about, baby C? Of course I’m okay.”

“You know, you two aren’t all that different,” I tell him. “You both lie about how you’re really feeling in the hope no one digs too deep.”

“I’m not lying, Cal. I really am okay.” He turns to me, his thigh bumping mine as he rests back against the railing. His eyes catch on something in the house, and I can only imagine that Daemon is standing in the shadows in the living room like a creepy, possessive psycho. “You’re good for him, you know?”

“I’m not sure I—”

“You are. You have this calming effect on him. You always have.”

“Why did you never tell me?”

His eyes find mine in the darkness once more.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” he counters.

“Touché.”

Ripping my eyes from his, I stare out at the dark ocean before us and watch the water as it glitters in the moonlight.

“It was just one night. One drunken, stupid night that at the time meant… everything. But the second it was over, it was like it never happened.

“I wasn’t meant to find out who it was. He…” I hesitate, feeling stupid for admitting all of this but compelled to do so now that the truth is out.

“He…” Alex prompts.

“He never took his mask off. I didn’t know… I didn’t know who he was.”