Page 17 of Taken to the Deadlands (Stolen Demon Brides #1)

Chapter 17

Aris

R age flashed across my mind, and I had to catch myself from sinking my claws into her soft skin.

I took a deep breath.

Then another.

And another.

Was she still talking? If so, I wasn’t listening. All I could hear was the ringing in my head and the voice telling me to end it all.

To end her .

She lied to me. This entire time.

Why would Mia lie like this?

“But you see wraiths.” The words left my mouth before my mind caught up to what I was doing.

She tried to turn around, but I moved fast and gripped her hip with one hand, using the other to clamp down on the back of her neck. I couldn’t look at her. Not yet.

Not until my teeth stopped aching and the fog lifted from my mind.

“I was surprised when I saw them,” she said, her voice slightly muffled. “I’ve lied about it for money before, but I never thought?—”

“That I would actually need your power?” I asked through gritted teeth.

That was the whole reason she ended up here. I needed her to reach Cara, but that wasn’t what hurt me the most.

What hurt me the most was that, even after I had spilled everything to her, after I had ripped open the wall that had kept me safe from grief for the last millennium, she still hadn’t trusted me enough to be honest with me.

Have I been wrong this entire time? Am I the only one who feels the pull?

Is that why she still wants to leave?

“That I would be fucking kidnapped!”

Her anger was the thing that caused me to snap back to myself. A coldness washed over me.

Yes. That’s right. Above all else, she was still here because she had been stolen from her world. She didn’t want to be here.

A dull ache blossomed in my chest.

I knew all that deep inside, but somehow I still allowed myself to wonder. What it would be like if she was stuck here. What it would be like if she wanted to be here.

I had fooled myself into thinking I would finally have a companion. But not just any companion. One who wouldn’t look at me with the disgust the others had. One who not only accepted me but wanted me.

Of course a part of me was still furious that she had lied, but that was nothing against the growing realization that Mia wouldn’t be able to stay here.

That she didn’t want to stay here.

And just how awful of a demon I would become if I forced her to be here against her will.

Just like the rest.

Even though I hadn’t meant to, I had treated her just like the other humans. It was a heartbreaking realization.

“Look, I’m not sure why you wanted to contact her so badly, but maybe we can try?—”

“I wanted to apologize.”

My voice sounded hollow even to my own ears. The rage had subsided to a simmer while a tile wave of grief for the person right in front of me hit.

I was going to lose her, and there was nothing I could do about it.

“I—” My throat closed in on itself without permission. “I really did care for her. As a companion. As a lover. Until then, the only one I really cared about, and I thought I was in control. Until I snapped one day and didn’t come out of it until she was gone. I wanted to tell her I never meant to hurt her.”

When the words that had been holding my heart hostage for the last millennium were finally spoken into the world, there was nothing but silence. A cold silence that gave me no indication of whether Cara would ever hear them.

But Mia did. And her light gasp gave me all the answer I needed. She may not resent me, but she could still fear me. And I may have just given her a reason to.

No matter how selfish I wanted to be, I couldn’t keep her here. She didn’t belong here. And now that the cat was out of the bag, there was no excuse I could use to keep her.

I only wished she kept it to herself for even just five minutes more.

My eyes began to burn.

“Aris, let me?—”

“No! Don’t look at me!”

I jumped off the bed and stormed out of the room, not caring about my state of undress. No one would care anyway.