Chapter 28 Where She Belongs
WHERE SHE BELONGS
THANE
Iran.
The streets a blur as each step hit the pavement with a force that could crack through the concrete.
The demon inside me clawed toward the surface with a violent desperation I could barely contain.
Its voice a low, guttural pressure curling at the base of my skull.
Every sound was too sharp, every light was too bright, every flicker of movement screaming danger as the city bent itself into the shape of a threat I had already decided to kill.
Panic, real and vicious, pressed like a fist against my ribs.
It was a foreign feeling, one I had not experienced in years, one I never expected to feel again.
And yet it tore through me with a ferocity that left no room for thought.
‘She is gone.
She is alone.
You failed her.’
The words were not spoken out loud. They lived inside the cracks of my mind, inside the tremor of my breath, inside the twisted knot formed by instinct and fear.
The need to hunt surged through me, hot and blinding, merging with the darker urge to tear apart anything that dared stand between us.
My demon roared, not with rage alone, but with something older, more primal.
Something more binding than anything I had ever allowed myself to feel.
‘Kill them.
Break them.
Tear them apart for touching what is ours.’
My vision flickered at the edges, colors warping, the city lights bending around my focus.
Horns blasted. Shouts pierced the night.
People stumbled out of my path, their fear blooming in waves that normally would have fed something inside me.
But tonight, even that meant nothing. Tonight, there was no satisfaction to be had in terror.
Tonight, no amount of dread could soothe the wildfire ripping through my chest.
Only one instinct mattered… Find her. Find her now.
I knew they had taken her. I knew she was somewhere afraid and alone because I had failed to reach her in time. That knowledge twisted through me like a blade, dragging the demon’s fury to the surface in hot, vicious waves.
‘They touched her.
They took her.
They hurt what is ours.
Kill them, kill them all.’
When the narrow alley behind my building came into view, I pushed myself even harder.
The door appeared ahead of me, old metal dulled with rust and years of neglect.
I slammed into it with my full weight, sending it bursting open so violently it rebounded off the wall.
Thankfully no one was in sight, so I was free to use my supernatural abilities to get me to the top floor with greater speed.
I questioned how Xue had known about the Heirloom Seal. One that I was fully prepared to hand over if it meant saving her life. There was nothing I wouldn’t do to get her back.
But then, as I unlocked my door, something in the air hit me like a blow.
A scent.
One that was soft… warm… sweet. Familiar in a way that rooted me to the spot.
I took two steps forward, heart stuttering painfully in my chest, sensing a warmth in the air that did not belong to me.
My gaze swept the dim room, tracing the outlines of the low table, the battered crates, the cracked walls, until at last my vision settled on the bed tucked into the corner.
The blanket was pulled halfway up, the fabric rising and falling with the slow, steady breaths of someone deeply asleep.
My breath caught.
It was her.
My beautiful little dreamer.
Curled beneath my blanket, tucked into my bed, her hair spilling across the pillow in soft waves touched by moonlight.
She looked impossibly peaceful, the fragile curve of her cheek illuminated in silver.
Her lips parted slightly in rest. For a moment I couldn’t breathe.
Everything inside me, the fear, the fury, the desperation, it all collapsed in on itself so fast I had to brace a hand against the wall to stay upright.
Relief slammed into me with such force my vision blurred.
My demon, moments ago a storm of violence, quieted instantly before releasing a deep, trembling purr that seemed to vibrate through my bones.
‘She is here.
She is safe.
She came home to us.’
I moved toward her slowly, as if the air itself might shatter under the weight of the moment. Moonlight touched her in gentle strokes, softening the exhaustion under her eyes and lending her an ethereal glow that made my chest tighten painfully.
I sank down beside the bed, unable to tear my gaze away from her.
Carefully, almost worshipfully, I reached out and brushed a loose strand of hair away from her forehead.
Her skin was warm beneath my fingertips, and at even that slightest contact she shifted, instinctively turning toward my hand as though seeking it in sleep.
A sound escaped me then, low and raw, something between relief and devastation.
Something so human the demon inside me went perfectly still in acknowledgment.
I forced myself to stand long enough to close the door, locking it.
Sealing it up and barricading the world from her presence before returning to the bed.
Doing so with a heaviness that bordered on surrender.
I should not lie beside her. I should not expose her to the weight of the darkness living inside me.
I should not let myself have the moment that I knew would undo every ounce of restraint I had left. But she had come here.
Into my home.
Into my bed.
Into my world.
And every part of me, human and demon alike, shattered beneath the meaning of that choice.
Slowly, with more care than I had ever used in my life, I lowered myself onto the mattress.
The bed dipped beneath my weight, and she responded instantly, shifting closer with a soft, unconscious sigh that stole what little breath remained in my lungs.
Her back pressed lightly to my chest, the warmth of her body sinking into mine.
Without thinking, without planning, without the slightest resistance, my arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her gently toward me.
Her breathing deepened almost immediately.
Her body relaxing into mine as though she belonged there and always had.
Her softness pressed against the hard lines of my body, her scent filled my lungs, and something deep inside me eased in a way I had never known possible.
‘Hold her.
Keep her.
Protect her.
Never let her go.’
The demon melted into silence, its hunger replaced with something calm and tender.
I lowered my forehead to the back of her neck, inhaling the warmth of her skin as if it were the only anchor holding me together.
My voice slipped out in a whisper I barely recognized, something fragile, something true.
Something I would never say aloud if she were awake.
“I will keep you safe,” I murmured, letting the vow sink into the darkness. “Even if I can never have you. Even if I cannot claim what is mine. I will be whatever you need, even if it kills me.”
She shifted again, inching closer, her body aligning with mine with such unconscious trust that it nearly broke me. I tightened my arm around her waist, holding her gently but firmly, letting her warmth flood through the cold spaces inside me.
And for the first time in my life, I felt something like peace settle over me.
Terrifying. Beautiful. Vulnerable.
Something I knew, without question…
I would burn the world to protect.