Page 27

Chapter 26

That’s Why I’m Afraid of the Dark

SJ

I stilled. Her little human heart was beating a crazy rhythm against my palm.

“It was after my bedtime … I remember hearing noises, downstairs. And going into Mum and Dad’s room, frightened. Dad was already up. He … he took a baseball bat.” She made an odd, snorting laugh. “It seems so silly now, but at the time, I thought that he and his baseball bat were invincible, that he’d be able to protect us from anything.”

The shivering in her body intensified until she was wracked with it. I clutched her tighter, my arms like a cage around her.

“When he didn’t come back up, when we heard … sounds from downstairs, Mum told me that I needed to hide. She was … she was very serious about it. But she must have been so … she would’ve been so terrified. She said, ‘Under your bed. Wrap yourself in your blanket. You need to keep silent and still. Like a little mouse, okay?’”

She sucked in a rattling breath, swiping at her cheeks. I swallowed. My chest felt too tight. My throat felt like it was full of rocks. I couldn’t have spoken even if I knew what to say.

“I did what I was told. She was rushing me. Shoving me under the bed. I remember the bed springs squeaking because she … she got up on it, and she took the lightbulb out of the ceiling. And then she was gone.”

Tears were falling freely now, a river of them, soaking my arm. I turned her to face me, my chest aching, my stomach churning. Her eyes were red, she blinked, and more tears streamed out. I swiped them away with my thumb.

“It was so dark, SJ. I … I was so frightened, but I did what I was told. I … I was as quiet as a mouse. Even when I heard sounds from downstairs. Mum crying, Dad … he kept saying, ‘No, don’t hurt her. Please don’t hurt—’” Her words broke off into a sob, and I clutched her to my chest, rubbing hands down her back.

Powerless. Tonight was the night I was to be reminded of how little I could do to help her. In so many ways.

She sucked in a breath. “I heard the front door slam, and I thought … I stupidly thought, ‘Dad got them to leave. And any minute now, Mum will come and pull me out from under the bed and turn the lights on, and everything will be fine’. There were footsteps on the stairs. And then … strangers were cursing, saying, ‘Check every room, hurry!’”

She buried her face against my chest, and her body shook. Tears soaked my skin, the sheets. Her cute little night clothes.

“You don’t have to?—”

“No, I want to. I want to say it all.” She lifted her head, her nose red, cheeks blotchy and streaked with tears. She was so beautiful and so brave. And I just wanted to absorb her pain. I wished that I’d designed the Soul Token to take her pain away, instead of just feeding on it.

“They opened my door. They flicked the light switch … over and over, that clicking sound. It didn’t come on, but they somehow knew I was in there. They—” She broke off with another sob.

Fury threaded through my veins. She’d been a tiny child, and these bastards had wanted to hurt her. Had they succeeded? I was imagining all sorts of things men like that would like to do to a pretty little child.

If they had … they would regret it every day for their eternity once I got my hands on them.

“They came into the room. It was so dark I couldn’t see … but I could hear their shoes on the floor. So close to my bed. So close to where I was hiding.

“They would have found me, except another one yelled from downstairs, and suddenly they all rushed out. And the house was silent. And the dark …” She gasped. “The dark … I was … too scared to move … I stayed there, in the dark … until the police found me the next morning.”

“Jemma, I …” But there were no more words that could make this better for her. Years had gone by, and she was still affected by that night.

She swiped her fingers, smearing her tears over her face. Her bottom lip trembled. I wanted to kiss that tremble away. I wanted to hold her and never let her go. I wanted to stay in this form, by her side, and never let her be in the dark again.

“They said it was a retaliation. My dad, he was a public prosecutor … that’s a lawyer who makes cases against criminals who are on trial. He’d just won a high-profile case against some gang leader. And … the police thought it was some other gang members wanting to punish him …”

She leaned her head against my chest, and the desperate, wracking cries that came from her shook her whole body. I clenched my jaw and held her. It was all I could do.

When the shaking eased, I pressed a kiss to her hair, then swiped at my own cheeks, finding them wet. Was I crying, too?

No, it must have been her tears somehow getting onto my face, because devils didn’t cry …

“They found them—Mum and Dad, I mean—in the lake, the next morning. Joe had to … he came home from university to take care of me. They asked him to identify them. He’s never spoken to me about it, but … the expression on his face after …”

I ran a palm over her silky hair. “I’m so sorry, Jemma. I’m … just so sorry.” There seemed to be nothing else I could say to make this better.

“So, yeah …” she managed a watery chuckle that held no mirth. “That’s why I’m afraid of the dark.”

“And here I have been calling you Mouse, teasing you with it, and all that time, it must have been reminding you of?—”

“Don’t you dare stop calling me Mouse!” Her voice was stern. “I like it.”

“You do?” I asked in disbelief.

She lifted her head, resting her chin on my chest and eyeing me through swollen eyelids. “I didn’t to start with, but it’s grown on me. Besides, I’d rather hear the word and think of you, SJ.”

Something in my chest bloomed at those words, and I couldn’t contain it any longer. I cupped her damp face and brushed my lips against hers.

She was so soft there, and I wanted to feast on that softness. But that was selfish of me. She was so sad, and she’d had an awful night—in large part because of me. I pulled back, readying to apologise for taking liberties that were not mine to take.

Her fingers snaked around my neck and tugged me back to her. Her tongue traced my lips, and I was gone.

With a groan, I took her mouth deeper, my tongue sliding against hers, my chest throbbing with … need, I thought. I pressed her closer until her whole body was flush with mine. Every delightful curve of hers moulded so perfectly against my devilish body. As if we were supposed to fit together like this.

Lash after lash of her hot little tongue sent desire curling in me. And when her hands tangled in my hair, accidentally brushing against my horns, I growled, my hands sliding down to cup her perfect arse to rock her against my erection.

She tore her mouth from mine with a gasp. I immediately released my grip on her.

“That was too much, I …”

“I need the loo again, SJ!” she muttered, scrambling out of bed and hugging her stomach. I jumped out after her. She tried the switch again, but still no electricity lit the room.

“Oh my God. This is the worst … will you come to the bathroom with me?” She sounded horrified at the thought.

I lifted her into my arms and silently carried her to the bathroom. Once inside, I set her by the lavatory and moved just outside the open door. “Enough light?” I asked quietly.

“Yes,” she mumbled.

“Enough privacy?”

“No … but the sentiment is appreciated.”

I fought a smile and lost.