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I eased closer, saw a flash of naked skin, then it was gone. A crash came from behind me, a shelf toppling over. Fuck. He knew we were here. I sprinted for Jasmine, but it was too late.

Frank had his arms locked around her, his scabbed, sweaty face pressed against hers, grinning wide.

“You hurt her, you die screaming,” I snarled, taking a step closer. My heart was in my throat. I knew I loved her, but right then I realized my whole fucking world was in that soul-sucking demon’s arms.

“Imagine, if you will,” the demon said in a weird voice that resonated through the room. “Her sweet, juicy, vibrant soul writhing beneath my skin. Imagine it screaming in agony as I feed off her slowly, piece by delicious piece, until there’s nothing left of her. Until every last trace of your female ceases to exist.”

Jasmine’s lips were moving, spelling, and the demon hissed and slapped his hand over her mouth, then opened his. Jasmine’s muffled scream came next. He was devouring her soul.

I ran at him but hit an invisible barrier. He grinned and pointed up. There was a symbol painted on the ceiling right above him. Some kind of protection or barrier.

Jaz flailed in his arms, trying to get away while I lost my mind, slamming into the invisible wall over and over again. Frank howled suddenly. Jasmine had her knife buried in his thigh, and with a cry, she dragged it up, slicing his leg wide open.

The demon’s arms fell away from her with a howl, and he stumbled back. As soon as he stepped a toe over the symbol, the barrier dropped, and I pounced. I yanked him away from Jasmine and unceremoniously started hacking at the piece of shit. He rebounded fast, though, punching me in the ribs with the force of a wrecking ball.

My ribs shattered, and he knocked the knife from my hand. I wrestled him to the ground, hissing when he sunk his teeth into my arm. He was incredibly strong and fast. Jasmine dove on his back, her little knife plunging into his back over and over again.

Fuck. I slammed both hands against his ears, and he screamed as I plowed my fist into his face. Snatching my knife from the ground, I slashed his throat. Blood sprayed me, and ignoring his gurgled screams, I sawed through his thick skin and hardened bone.

Finally, his head gave, rolling with a thud to the floor. A second later he turned to ash.

Jasmine landed on top of me, ash on her face, and in her hair. Then the screams of dozens of trapped souls burst into the air, a frenzy of fear and pain, and Jaz curled around me, holding on tight.

I wrapped my arms around her. “You’re okay,” I said against her hair. “I’ve got you.” Words she’d said to me, to make me feel safe when I’d been so fucking lost.

One by one, the souls’ mournful screams came to a stop.

We couldn’t see them, but the reapers must be here, taking the missing souls where they were always meant to go, reestablishing balance.

Jasmine gave me all her weight, and I rubbed her back. “Jaz?”

Nothing.

I lifted her head. She wasn’t breathing, and every bit of life had drained from her face completely. “Jasmine!”

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Chapter 26

Ren

* * *

I carried Jasmine to her room, thankful everyone was in bed. It was close to morning, but I had no idea what the time was.

Laying Jaz on the bed, I shut us in and crawled up beside her and pulled her against me, holding her tight.

This was the same thing that happened at the demon compound, this wasn’t what it looked like, what it felt like, I knew it, I felt her…fuck, her life force inside me. My fox howled inside me, calling for her to wake up. Jasmine was going to be okay. She wasn’t leaving me. I just had to hold on, hold on to her.

I lay there holding her lifeless body as time ticked by, until the sounds of the family waking, going down to the kitchen for breakfast, drifted up from downstairs. They didn’t know we were here, and I wasn’t getting off this bed to tell them, not until Jasmine woke up.

She’d been out for hours last time, but this was definitely longer.

“This is the second time you’ve done this to me, butterfly. Made me think I lost you.” I pressed my face into her shoulder and breathed in her scent, curling around her more tightly. She felt cold. Fuck, she was so cold. I tugged the quilt at the end of the bed over her. “That’s enough now, Jaz. You can wake up now, baby.” I shook her a little as panic filled me. “Wake the fuck up, Jasmine. Wake up now.”

Not a sound, no movement, nothing. The gaping hole in my stomach and behind my ribs was unbearable. Living without her wasn’t an option.

She’s okay, I reminded myself for the millionth fucking time.