(Damien POV)
"And if I hurt someone else on the way?"
"Then I'll pull you back. Again. And again."
I held her pressing my forehead on hers.
"I don't deserve you".
"You don't get to decide that."
A distant howl rolled through the trees—closer than before. Hunters regrouping. Tracking.
"They're coming."
Nowhere was safe anymore.
And the demon was still inside me—waiting.
It was becoming hard for me to control but the last thing I want is her worrying about me.
The forest had swallowed us whole.
After the ambush we ran until the trees grew so thick the sky disappeared and the ground turned soft with moss and fallen needles. My legs burned; Nova's breathing came in sharp, pained gasps beside me. We found shelter at last in a shallow ravine—a natural overhang of rock and tangled roots forming a low cave, barely tall enough to sit upright. Moss clung to the walls like green velvet; the air smelled of damp earth and pine.
We collapsed inside without speaking.
