Page 109 of Hunted By Fear

The sounds of her sniffles ring in my ears like the aftermath of a bomb echoing back and breaking my heart over and over. With my arm around her waist, I pull her impossibly closer before I remember she’s a lot more fragile than I am and instantly loosen my hold.

Fuck, I hate this so much. All I want is to help her, to get up and go find answers, but I can’t possibly leave her right now. She’s in pain, sad and chose me…

She picked me over Bast.

I can’t help feeling a swell of pride at that, but it’s also concerning.

“Why did she leave you?” I ask Bast, unable to keep my curiosity to myself. I feel like an ass the second the words leave my mouth and his lips pull down in a frown.

“Sorry, I wasn’t trying to be an ass,” I try to assure him, because usually that would be my goal, but not right now. “I just meant it’s kind of strange. You’re always the one she chooses.”

“He’s right, it is strange,” Ruin agrees from the foot of the bed, his voice low so as not to wake her.

“She was asking weird questions. Why would she worry she wasn’t worthy of us?” Bast looks at me and then Ruin, but all I can do is shrug, and he seems just as clueless.

It’s us who don’t deserve her.

“Maybe because Asta rejected her, maybe she thinks he did it because of that. Who knows what he said?” Ruin’s words are like a knife in the chest, and looking down at my mate pressed into my side, knowing everything she just went through, seeing the evidence of her crying and the pain it caused, is like someone twisting it deeper.

“We should have been with her,” I growl, angry at myself.

“She should have been safe with him,” Bast argues, and that’s true, too.

It also proves to me that nobody is enough. From now on, I’ll only trust myself.

Aeri is my mate. It’s my responsibility to keep her safe, even if it’s from my own brothers.

I lean down and press a kiss to the crown of her head, breathing her scent in and relishing the fact that she’s safe and she’s mine.

You would have to kill me or send my soul to the abyss to keep me from her, and even then, I’m not sure it would be enough to keep me from my Darling.

The longer I sit here, the angrier I get.

How could he do that to her?

After everything we’ve done to keep her safe, he just put her through the worst pain imaginable.

It would be one thing if he didn’t have feelings for her, but I know he does. I’ve seen the way he watches her when he thinks nobody’s looking. Felt him in the shadows, smelled his concern, joy, and even arousal when around her. He came here and asked for asylum to protect her.

More than that, why does this have her questioning Lucifer? She seemed more than happy with their bond, and while he might be absent often, I didn’t think he did anything to cause her to second-guess it.

I’m missing something.

“I have to go talk to Luce about this.” Talian cracks an eye open to meet my gaze before nodding and letting it fall closed again.

It’s clear he isn’t going anywhere. I wouldn’t be either if I still held her in my arms… but I don’t.

She made the choice to go to Talian. It shouldn’t hurt, but it does. Something about the way it all happened feels wrong.

Talian is her mate, but… wait.

Maybe that’s why she went to him?

Fuck, I hope I’m wrong.

“If you need something, just call. I’ll be here in seconds.” Ruin nods, giving me a mock salute from his spot on the end of the bed where he leafs through Aeri’s copy ofDealing with the Devil.

My feet carry me through the castle as I follow his emotions, so strong I feel like I’m choking on them.