Page 78 of Pareidolia

“It’s fine. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

Aspen turns, trying to pull me along with him. When Noah’s hand catches his arm, my vision spills to crimson.

I don’t change, but a tendril snakes from beneath my shirt, streaking along Noah’s front and wrapping around his throat.

“Don’t touch him,” I snarl. Two steps take us back to the bookshelf, and my hand joins the shadow around his throat, lifting Noah into the air.

His eyes widen as he looks at me, and I know some of my human mask is slipping.

I can tell as my body twitches and I hear the soft thrum of wings.

“Nox—”

“He’s not yours,” I snarl. “I’ll feed you your entrails while you’re alive to choke on your own shit if you touch him again.”

“Nox!” This time, Aspen jerks my arm hard enough that I let the man go. His eyes are still dazed. My words won’t be remembered—the tendril around his neck that squeezes once before sliding back beneath my shirt promises that.

But the threat? The fear?

He’ll remember those.

I’ve never let a person see me who I didn’t intend to kill, but Aspen wants Noah alive.

For some fucking reason I can’t fathom.

“Fuck,” he hisses, dragging me by my arm back to the computer desk. He throws one more look over his shoulder at the man still sitting on the ground. Noah’s eyes are wide, his face pale.

He’ll recover.

Eventually.

Probably.

I hope not.

“Fuck… fuck, fuck!” Aspen’s fingers are flying over the computer, and he blows out a breath when he finds what he’s looking for.

A recording of what just happened. When I step forward and wrap my fingers around Noah’s throat, the screen fuzzes. Blurs. When it comes back into focus, Noah is on the ground and Aspen’s dragging me away.

“How did you do that?” He jerks his head to look at me and I shrug.

Human technology isn’t meant for my kind—there’s a reason there’s no proof of the supernatural. I could explain it all to him, but when a low groan comes from the corner of the room, my mind flashes furiously.

“Kill him,” I growl. “Kill him a thousand times.”

“No.” Aspen’s fingers do something to the computer and the clip that shows me on the screen disappears. “No. We need to go home, Nox.”

I’m already regretting walking away. The ranger is a feast of emotions that will never be brought to fruition. I could eat him alive one piece at a time for years until the only thing he felt was despair, until he begged for death.

I could⁠—

“Nox, please.” Aspen threads his fingers through mine and tugs on them. “Take me home. Take me to the forest. Just… fuck, please.” He steps closer. “Take me away from here. I need you, okay? I need you.”

Begging—my mate is begging.

Needs me.

And I need him.