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We left not long after, making our way past the park I’d arrived in just a few hours earlier. At least now I understood where I was. What I didn’t know was how I’d gotten here in the first place.
Does it matter?My mission, my sentence, was the same as it had been for the bulk of my long life: imprison the demon.
I wanted Never. Inside, I was fighting a powerful need to bundle her up in my arms and steal her away from everything. The problem was, I wasn’t supposed to be in the human world. Even now, just a few short hours after my arrival, I could feel the pull of the Nassa.
There had been a time when I’d wanted nothing to do with this realm. Now, my brain was hard at work figuring out how I could handle the demon and eventually make my way back to Never.
Unless I could convince her to come with me and leave her world behind?
She had a piece of me, after all. Infecting a human the way the shadow had done with Matty required a great deal of power, and it was that part of me that had allowed the transfer as they were making their escape.
The shadow would know that. In fact, it should have been trying like hell to take it from Never, at any cost.
She led us to a rundown apartment building and up several flights of filthy stairs. Fishing a small set of keys out of her jacket pocket, she glanced over her shoulder. “Lily is probably sleeping, so try to keep it down, okay?”
Lily? Her dog? Why would we need to worry about not waking a mongrel? Rather than ask aloud, I offered her a nod. Leo grunted something unintelligible, but she took it as an agreement.
The door creaked on its hinges, and as I stepped through, a surreal feeling settled over me. I was standing in Never’s home. Sure, it was tainted with the scent of a traitorous shifter, but his animalistic musk couldn’t mask the scent that infused the air. Even if it could, the place felt like Never.
“It’s a shithole. Believe me, I know,” she whispered.
I wanted to say it wasn’t, but she turned, her eyes settling first on me, then Leo, and back. “I need to take a shower.” Something vulnerable slipped through her tough facade. “Don’t...” She wet her lips and let out a little huff. “Don’t leave, okay?”
Dipping my head, I took a risk and stepped forward. There was so much I wanted to say and do, but I settled for taking her hand and bringing it to my lips. I brushed a soft kiss over her knuckles. “I’ll be here.”
She blinked up at me. Her lips parted, but then she pressed them together before even a whisper escaped.
What was she going to say?
She pulled her hand gently from my grip and turned to Leo. “Thanks for tonight.” She gave him a quick hug that made my blood pressure spike.
When she was tucked safely behind the flimsy door in the hallway with the water running, I finally let some of my anger rise to the surface. “She’s mine.”
He grunted out a defiant laugh. “That woman doesn’t belong to anyone.”
Shemight not have realized it yet, but she did. She’d been mine since the moment I’d set eyes on her that morning on the beach. I’d cemented that claim when she’d given herself to me. Another not-so-small detail she might not fully grasp.
That was something I needed to remedy. Soon.
Dealing with Leo, however, came first.
“This isn’t up for debate,” I said, turning slowly to face him. The wild possessiveness coursing through me grew stronger when he shook his head.
“You can’t just claim her, Atlas. You haven’t been here. You don’t know what it’s been like.”
“And you have been here, haven’t you? Helping her. Comforting her.” The words became more acidic as I spoke. “Tell me, wouldsheclaimyou?”
He flinched. It was barely perceptible, but I’d struck a nerve.
“She’s a complicated woman,” he finally confessed.
But was she? I might have thought the same thing in the beginning, but deep down, she wasn’t.
Thinking back to the club and our rough reunion, I wanted to run myself through with my cutlass. Then vision of her asking me not to leave, and the vulnerability that had glittered in her eyes, played through my mind, making me feel even worse.
She wasn’t sure about me or my intentions. How could she be? I’d said a half dozen words to her before I’d manhandled her.
Shame burned up my neck.I’m supposed to be better than this.
