Scrubbing his jaw, his eyes narrow. “Damia-”
“Grab Mom, Mason, and Gage, then get the fuck out of here. Because if you stay-” I shake my head, sifting through my rage to see if I might regret the words, but only find an undercurrent of sad acceptance that’s bitter on my tongue. “I can’t trust you; not around my family. If you stay, you’re a threat. And even if I can’t bring myself to do it, I won’t stop one of the others from doing what’s necessary.”
The look of shock in his blood-red eyes will be permanently etched in my memory. “I was the first one that protected her!”
Biting the inside of my cheek, I focus on the sting for a few seconds before trusting myself to reply. “You said you pushed back against Ash when I was born and it broke you. I wasfivewhen Sabrina was born, yet you risked Ash’s wrath to get her away from him.Ishould have been that important to you, too. Which means that either I’m not, or you’re a liar. No matter which answer it is, it means that I don’t want you around either of us again.”
When my other half rises just beneath my skin, he stops before attempting to break through or wrench control away from me. He simply lets the pressure be a comfort, reminding me that I’m not in this alone.
“You either walk away from this place now, or you’ll be our practice run to figure out how to kill Ash.”
Chapter 3
Kaige
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“They’relying!”my other half screams in my head, loud enough that I visibly wince. His infuriated shout of frustration is followed by a sharp, stabbing pain that lances through my brain until the pulsating ache can be felt in my teeth. Calmer, he repeats,“They’re lying,”as if he’s determined to convince himself of the fact through sheer, stubborn determination.“Damian caught Xander doing so already, so the rest of their claims are bullshit, too. They’re still playing their games to trick Sabrina into picking the choice they’re leading her towards. They need her towantto do this, because they can’t force her. She’s stronger than them and they know it, so they have to resort to manipulation tactics and guilt trips. Ash will have a contingency plan for whatever answer she gives him, and then back up plans forthoseback up plans.”
“So we map out every choice in front of us, and then create a new one that even Ash couldn’t have possibly anticipated.”
Hunter emerges from Damian’s parents’ room with a handful of pants he raided from their closet, tossing a pair of jeans my way. “What are you mumbling about over there?”
Despite them being a bit snug, I yank them on with a low rumble vibrating my chest, more annoyed by the fact that I’m fucking growling in the first place. It’s always been either him or me, but now that he’s decided to set up shop and be everywhere constantly, my temporary reprieves have been stolen away. To say it’s an adjustment is an understatement, but I’m trying to convince myself it’s a blessing in disguise.
No more blacking out when he takes over. I’ll always be able to know what he’s doing with my body, even if at times I’m helpless to stop him. Plus, it gives me an excuse to break some shit and blame it on him.
“You’re the one that talked Sabrina off the ledge and pointed out that blaming her actions on her wolf wouldn’t make her problems go away, you damn hypocrite.”
You mean demon, remember?
“... Fuck.”A few seconds tick by before he continues, more subdued than before.“He couldn’t have told us? Do you have any idea what it’s like to be a prisoner in someone else’s body, told you’re a curse, an abomination that needs to be tolerated? That the chances are abysmally slim that you’ll ever be able to feel the earth beneath your feet? Never know the feeling of the sun heating your skin?”
I’m not sure why Dad never said anything. Unless he told Mom and she feels like passing it on, we’ll never know, either. To be fair though, it's not like we can trust anything that comes out of anyone’s mouths here, so there’s no point even asking her. And after the way we left things on this last visit, I highly doubt she’ll want to help us.
“Kaige?” Sabrina’s voice has our internal contemplation pulling to an abrupt halt, both of our attention latching onto her as the lifeline we desperately need.
