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Just then, the commercials ended and the news team popped back on the screen, their gazes somber…and fearful.
Something flickered in my stomach at the sight of it, and the anxious, speedy sensation still threaded under my skin grew even more.
“Last night, there were three bodies found spread throughout the city. Names are still being withheld, but it’s believed to be the work of the Demon.”
I frowned. Three?
I wracked my brain. Had I killed three people? It was all such a blur now.
But…who was the third? Had they deserved it?
Or was the Demon really active again?
Slowly, memories came back to me of a woman on the street. The Demon had struggled at first during our time together to find women who met his criteria—he had convinced me we were killing people who abused kids. But over time, that lie had faded. The Demon had vicious feelings toward many kinds of sins.
I shrugged to myself. She must have deserved it. I wouldn’t have acted otherwise—I never had before.
Cain wrapped his arm around me protectively as the news station cut to a special statement from the local police chief. “I promise you, we are working to find the Demon and return him to prison where he belongs.” The look on his face suggested the Demon wouldn’t make it to prison if this guy had anything to do with it. You and me both, Chief. “There’s a manhunt out across the city. There’s no need for panic. We are imposing a curfew on the city and we are going to find him—”
Stellan’s fingers flew over Remy’s laptop. Usually, Remy would have been furious about any of us touching his stuff, but he’d understand this time.
“Well, as fucked as this is, at least the police are working now,” Stellan said.
“You’re not leaving my sight,” Cain growled in my ear. “The Demon this close…this must be a message. And I don’t trust you not to do something stupid and Stellan to let you, because he’s apparently too whipped—”
“Just the right amount of whipped, actually,” I interrupted. “I could show you how great it is, Cain.”
He let out a growl and gave me a look that saidtry me. I smiled winsomely at him. I wasn’t sure I could ever win him over, but I was sure he was missing out.
But banter aside, I felt slightly sickened now. Not about the bodies. Some people were no loss to the world; those assholes had served a higher purpose to help bring my men back to me than they ever would have breathing.
But Stellan and Cain thought the Demon was at work, when it was me. For one thing, I wanted credit when I worked.
But most of all, Stellan looked sick—like he didn’t know they deserved it. I wondered if he was thinking of the Demon’s assistant who had killed his sister–and Cain had that far away look, judging and assessing based on bad information.
Did I want this relationship to be built on trust and honesty?
Before my bravery could fail me…I headed to the kitchen and got the arm I’d brought home out of the freezer.
17
AURORA
Itossed the arm onto the table, and they both stared at it in shock.
“What the fuck, Aurora?” snarled Stellan, lurching away from it. Cain just stared at it in that calculated way of his.
“The Demon wasn’t getting enough attention. I needed to get him in the headlines, make him a top priority.”
“So you chopped someone’s arm off?” Stellan asked, his face a bit green.
“You killed those people,” Cain murmured, his head cocked to the side. It said a lot for what Stellan thought of me that it wasn’t the first thing that had popped into his mind.
“I did,” I agreed. “I figured it made sense for our relationship for me to be honest about that.”
I’d never seen Stellan look so shocked in my life. Even if he never talked to me again after this, remembering his reaction would be amusing.
"I'm going to go take a shower so you boys can decide if you're good with this latest development," I threw over my shoulder as I stalked out of the room. I’d been honest. That counted for something.
