Page 17

Roman

Tuesday Evening

Third Floor

S eeing such a strong girl reduced to the lifeless person in Ivar’s arms had anger pulsing through me.

I was glad I was still in charge and not Hiro… this would break him.

“Clean her,” the demon commander ordered me. I glared up at his soulless, black eyes but complied because Harlow needed it. “She had a heat. I gave her suppressants for now but she needs her medication.”

Ivar’s voice shook with barely suppressed rage yet he was gentle with our battered mate.

Fuck. A heat? My stomach rolled at the thought of her being vulnerable around Vane. I’d trust the demons over them. They’d feed on her suffering but weren’t interested in fucking humans.

Vane had no morals and wouldn’t hesitate.

But right now she was my priority, I couldn’t break down.

Ivar hovered his clawed hand over her body, blue flames licking her clothes and dropping them to the floor in pieces before fully disintegrating.

To his credit, he didn’t check her out because that might have been my breaking point.

I’d never kicked a demon’s ass, fuck I didn’t even know they existed until today, but I’d try for her.

Grabbing a towel from the shelf, I picked a shower and turned on the water, letting it get warm before going back for Harlow. He reluctantly handed her over.

From the side-eye he gave the shower, he wasn’t interested in getting wet.

My clothes were soaked, but I ignored the feeling as I ran my hands over her skin, cleaning away the grime that had settled there.

I didn’t even consider taking them off because she was more important. If she woke up during this, I didn’t want her to think the worst.

Who knew where her mind would be after this ordeal.

“I need soap, hair stuff. It’s at the nurses’ station.” The words barely left my lips before he was gone, then back again in a blink with a shower caddy labeled for Harlow.

“Can you bring it closer?” I asked when he set it on a bench in the middle of the room.

“I will,” Drake said as he stalked back in. He looked half-crazed as he moved to the sink, and I swore I saw blood before he washed it down the drain. I let the shower warm Harlow as I waited for him to step in and help.

He was in only sweatpants now but squeezed past us and lathered soap on his hands. We made quick work of cleaning her before he wrapped a towel around her.

“I’ll hold her while you dry her off,” Ivar said, taking her before we could protest.

Drake grabbed a towel and tossed it over.

“Get used to pushy demons now that you’re in the know,” Drake said. His eyes were shadowed more than usual and I didn’t have to ask if he knew what happened to her.

“Did you hurt him?” Drake met my gaze and the pure rage there was answer enough.

“Good.”

He nodded and I knew this wasn’t a topic any of us could talk about without burning this entire place to the ground. Right now, we had to protect our omega.

I watched as Ivar and Drake helped dry her but I was no use soaking wet.

“I’m going to change,” I said, hurrying out of the bathroom and down the hall. Crew and Layne had yet to emerge, but I made a mental note to let them know Harlow was safe once I was dry.

I had a feeling if word got out we’d showered another patient, we’d be in a world of trouble.

Pulling off the wet clothes and swapping them for dry ones took less than a minute. I hated the thought of her not being within my sight.

As I walked out of my room to Layne’s, I knocked softly but no one bothered to answer so I hurried in the direction of Drake’s instead. I had a feeling he wasn’t about to let her go to her own room and sleep unattended.

I didn’t bother to knock as I shoved the door open to see him and Ivar settling Harlow onto his bed.

“We need a second bed in here,” I noted. “I doubt any of us will leave her alone again.”

“Not a fucking chance,” Drake agreed. “Ivar?”

The demon let out a low, feral growl. “I’m not your fucking errand demon, half breed.”

“For her?” Drake countered. The demon let out a long, suffering sigh before disappearing like he loved to do.

“Half breed?” I questioned with a raised eyebrow. He glanced at me and shrugged.

“What’s the fucking point of hiding it now?” He tucked a blanket around Harlow before starting to shove his other belongings away so there was room for a bed. I helped as I waited for him to keep going. “I’m half demon. It’s why I have more freedom here, I’m not really a patient. My mom was and a demon took advantage of her. I’m the byproduct of that.”

“I’m sorry.” It seemed appropriate, given the pain he couldn’t hide from his voice. Honestly, it was strange to get straight answers from him, and to top that with real emotion, well I was a bit unsettled by it.

“Thanks.” He huffed out a laugh. “I’d say sorry for throwing you headfirst into this bullshit but she was already thrown in and she chose both of you, so you may as well know. How do you let Hiro know? I don’t want him blindsided.”

His voice softened at the mention of my alter, confirming what I’d been suspecting for a while. Hiro never outright said he was attracted to Drake, but I’d noticed the way he talked about him and wondered.

“You like him, don’t you?” Drake side-eyed me at the blunt question. He’d never done more than glanced, but I noticed long ago the way Hiro wrote about him in our shared journal, the way he was known to be nice only to him.

“Yes. He’s my mate. But it’s irrelevant. I’m a half fucking demon, Roman. He’s too good for me. Sure, I let Harlow in, but she’s seen worse,” he said.

It was avoidance at its finest, and I wondered if it had more to do with uncertainty than wanting to save Hiro from himself.

Before I could argue, an entire bed literally dropped into the room right on top of Drake’s things despite us clearing the room.

“Fuck you, Ivar,” he called out as we both scrambled to save his desk and wardrobe before they were damaged beyond repair.

The bed was sturdy wood like the other and had a clean mattress on it at least. When we got the bed shifted in place, he started getting his half-broken belongings back in place. “Can you grab her bed stuff? Maybe something familiar will calm her. She’s going to be disoriented since he wasn’t giving her meds. At least that’s my guess from what I saw when I was up there looking for her.”

“On it,” I promised, slipping into the hallway again. Just as I was coming out of her room, I ran into Layne and Crew. They narrowed their eyes at me when I had all her stuff in my arms. “She’s back. In Drake’s room. It isn’t good.”

That changed their demeanor, and they rushed that way. I trailed behind them, knowing Layne was about to bulldoze right in.

“It was Vane,” Drake answered the question I’d missed. Likely what happened to her.

We all knew Vane was a monster, but this seemed bad even for him. Then again, he was likely a fucking demon himself.

Pushing my way through, I quickly made her bed and Drake ignored Layne’s constant string of questions to help me shift Harlow onto her sheets. She let out a whimper before her eyes blinked open. She took us all in and her entire expression broke with pain and she flinched back.

“I’m not trash,” she cried, the words slurring as she fell back to sleep. “I’m not, please, please don’t hurt me anymore.”

“What the fuck?” Crew growled.

“Look, you know what you avoid at night? The unspoken monsters that lurk the halls? They got to her. She’s going to be a mess,” Drake said as bluntly as he could without saying ‘hey, demons are real’ like he did to me.

“I thought the demons were nightmares,” Layne admitted as she blinked at him, processing but not dismissing it.

Drake gave her a reassuring smile. “You’ve always been more observant than you give yourself credit for. They’re actual demons, Layne.”

“What?” Crew laughed. “Get serious, man.”

“Show them,” I told Drake. He said he was a half breed that meant he had to have something he could do. Magic? Horns?

Drake blinked at me before his head morphed. Horns protruded from his head, his skin changed color, and his eyes bled to all black. He held up one hand and let shadows and fire pour out for a brief second before he was back to normal.

“Welcome to Dark Haven, where the halls are filled with demons and secrets are the foundation,” he deadpanned.

“Holy fuck,” Crew said. “I need to burn something.”

Layne was pale now and clinging to Crew for dear life.

“Come on, we can come back and check on her later,” Layne said. Her voice shook and from the wild look in her eyes, she was far more freaked out than she was showing.

He’d changed their reality, and now they had to cope in their own ways.

“I need to write to Hiro, but I don’t want to leave her for long,” I admitted with a heavy sigh.

“Is your journal on your desk?” Drake asked. I nodded and he stood up. “I’ll grab it. I’m going to grab her some real food, too. She needs to eat.”

“Thanks,” I said as I kicked off my shoes and crawled onto the second bed, pulling her close so she was cradled in my arms. The way she melted into me with a sigh helped to soothe some of the jagged edges this day had brought out.

The more I relaxed, the more Hiro pushed at me. I couldn’t usually feel a change coming, but this time things were different.

Then again, last he knew Harlow was still missing. Resisting it wasn’t easy, but somehow keeping my focus on her and the demon who could pop in at any moment, I kept him at bay.

For now.

“Hiro?” Her tired, broken voice nearly killed me, but I put on a soft smile. Or my attempt at one.

“Roman,” I corrected. “You’re safe now, Harlow. We finally found you.”

She blinked a few times before that same broken face took over. “No, I don’t want to hear anymore. I know that I’m disposable, that I’m useless.”

I growled at what she was insinuating. Had the demons just berated her for days on end?!

“Look at me,” I commanded. She blinked up at me before her eyes focused on something behind me and another soft whimper escaped. “Smell my scent. I’m real, Harlow. Here. You’re safe. Whatever happened in that room was either a hallucination or demon-induced. It wasn’t real.”

“Maybe to you,” she countered. “It was very real to me.”

My heart broke for the girl who’d already endured enough abuse in her life. If Drake wasn’t going to take care of Vane, I would. I should have already.

“I’m so sorry, Harlow. But you’re safe now. Drake and Ivar tracked you down. We got you cleaned up and now you’re hidden away in Drake’s room.”

“Is it real?” she asked as she tried to look around. The dark circles under her eyes were so bad she looked bruised.

“It is. Drake’s grabbing you food. We need you to eat.”

“I’ve got her medicine,” Ivar said as he appeared, nearly giving me a fucking heart attack.

“Vane wouldn’t give it to me. He said there’d be nothing left when he was done. He was right,” she said in a whisper that had both Ivar and I tensing.

“Drake handled him,” Ivar promised. “From what I saw as they took him out on a stretcher, he was broken to the point it will take months to recover.”

“Why is he alive?” I growled. The man deserved so much worse than whatever Drake did to him.

Our girl perked up at that, turning to look at him, eyes less vacant.

“Will Drake get in trouble?” Harlow asked. She shifted in my arms so her back was pressed into me and she could face her demon protector better.

“No, Vane isn’t stupid enough to tell them what happened,” he promised. “He’s alive because Drake and I both answer to someone more powerful than we are.”

“I answer to no one,” I countered. That earned a small chuckle from Ivar who nodded approvingly.

“So, now that you have a whole group of misfits at your side, what next?” Ivar asked Harlow.

She gave a weak chuckle that quickly shifted to a sob.

“Nothing because I’m fucking useless. Hel didn’t need me, she’s wrong,” she said around her tears. Every offer of protest we had was met with more tears so we stopped. I pulled her closer and held her through it.

By the time Drake returned, she was quiet and, I knew from her lack of talking, numb. He looked relieved to see her awake until he took in my grim face.

“She’s having a hard time. Whatever they convinced her of in there, she believes it,” I explained.

Drake handed me the tray before picking her up far too easily and settling back down with her in his lap.

“Vane was trying to break you, Harlow. But you’re fucking strong. So, snap out of this. You’re going to get him back for this, right? Don’t let him win,” he ground out. I was going to protest at his brash delivery, but she let out a sniffle and sat up a bit straighter.

Apparently, tough love worked on her this time.

“It was you guys. Hiro, Roman, Crew, Layne, and you that told me for days that I was useless, trash, unattractive, horrible, awful things for hours on end,” she admitted around another soft sob.

The thought of her having to hear that was awful, but from our mouths? Unforgivable.

“It wasn’t us,” Drake promised. “If I have to fuck you here and now to prove it, I will. I bet Roman would join right in.”

“I would if you weren’t too weak for that,” I argued. But the laugh it pulled from her had my fury draining right away.

Monty let out a growl but it was halfhearted. We were all just relieved she was awake now.

“Eat,” Drake ordered as he reached for the sandwich and pushed it into her hands. Her nose wrinkled as she forced it up to her mouth and took a bite, but the moment she chewed, she finished the rest in less than a minute, eating so fast I knew she’d regret it. I slid the tray away so that her stomach could settle, instead massaging her foot that was hanging off of Drake’s lap to distract her.

“What did I miss?” she asked as she leaned against Drake’s chest. She looked so settled between us now. I wished more than anything that I could purr for her right now.

“Us losing our minds,” I explained with a rough laugh. “We looked everywhere for you after Drake checked solitary and didn’t find you.”

“Where was I?” she gasped. “I thought it was solitary.”

“No, it was a secret wing off of the faculty hall. Fifth floor. And you weren’t the only patient there. I’m going to get that taken care of when you’re better, though.”

“I knew you were a good guy,” she teased around a yawn.

“Take your medicine before you sleep,” Ivar said. He came over and dropped something in her mouth before I grabbed her drink and held the straw to her lips. She took them without protest.

“I’m not a good guy, Harlow. I’m a half breed that feeds just like a demon and more than that, I liked hurting Vane. I’d have killed him, if Hel had allowed it.”

“She keeps getting us confused with good men,” Ivar added with a small laugh.

“I’d say you view yourself a bit too harshly,” I told Drake. “Without you, she’d still be there.”

We fell silent as Harlow slipped into a deep sleep. Drake settled her on the bed while I filled in the journal and Ivar disappeared again.

It was going to be a long night, but I hoped when she woke up tomorrow, she’d know that whatever image of us she’d been subjected to was fake.

That we’d never hurt her. We were her mates.

Even the demons she saw the good in were wrapped around her finger.

She’d changed Dark Haven forever the moment she walked through the door, and I had a strong feeling our biggest battles were yet to come.