Page 46 of Thane's Demon

I tossed the folder onto his desk with a careless flick of my wrist, the papers sliding across the polished wood.

“It is done,” I said, my voice flat, offering him nothing else. He cleared his throat and attempted to smooth the shock from his expression.

“Any complications?”

“No,” I stated, and I didn’t elaborate. I never did. My answers were short and clipped, minimal enough to make men like him sweat. Xue Long was no exception. He hesitated, then asked the question he should not have asked.

“And witnesses?”

My jaw tightened a fraction, but I kept my tone even.

“No.”

His gaze sharpened, the false calm slipping around the edges as he studied my face a little too long. He thought he was clever. He thought he could read me. He never had before, yet tonight, arrogance pried at him like a loose tooth he could not leave alone.

“So there was no girl,” he said lightly, almost conversational, but the implication behind his words was a lock snapping shut.

The world inside me went silent.

Then the demon roared.

The sound crashed through my skull like thunder, instinct and fury colliding so violently that I moved before thought caught up. I was across the room in a second as my hand snapped out, fisting the front of Xue’s shirt. My actions were swift as I slammed him back against the wall hard enough to rattle the frames hanging there. His breath stuttered, eyes going wide as he stared up at me.

“You are mistaken,”I growled, voice low and vibrating with the demon’s rage.“There was no girl.”

His pulse jumped wildly at his throat. I felt it under my fingers, a rapid flutter begging to be crushed.

“But I heard…”

“If you think otherwise…” I snarled, leaning in until my shadow swallowed his face,“…then we will have problems.”

The demon pressed up against my skin, urging me to break him.

‘Spill blood.

To erase the threat.’

“And trust me…” I finished quietly, dangerously,“…you do not want me as a problem, Xue.”

Xue trembled, his hands lifting in a slow, pacifying gesture.

“Hei Mo… I meant no disrespect. Only rumors reached me. I assumed?—”

“You assumed wrong.”

I released him abruptly. He stumbled but caught the desk to steady himself, eyes darting anywhere but at mine. The smell of fear thawed the last of my restraint. Good. He should fear. He should never speak of her existence again.

Because the moment he mentioned a girl, even vaguely, even by accident, every instinct in me screamed the same truth.

She is a weakness they can use.

The demon prowled inside my skull, furious and restless.

‘We must protect her.

Take her.

Hide her.