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"Thousands." He didn't hesitate nor did I hear any remorse in his tone. Only fact.

The forest suddenly felt very quiet.

"I am a demon, Poppy." His voice was calm. "I'm not one of your storybook monsters. I have burned cities. I have ended lives." The hand felt like it was squeezing mine. "I warned you."

The words settled between us. By every rule I'd grown up believing, this was the moment I should panic. He'd just admitted to hunting souls. To fighting wars that had raged for centuries. To burning cities. Every sensible part of my brain screamed that this was the moment I should take a very large step backward.

I didn't... I found myself staring at the hand that wasn't quite there. The swirling black particles shifted around my fingers like smoke caught in a breeze. Every now and then they thickened just enough that I could make out the outline of his hand. Long fingers. Broad palm. Claws. Not long enough to be monstrous. Just enough to remind me they weren't human. They wrapped around mine with surprising care. Warm. Steady. Protective.

I frowned. Nothing about this felt the way I'd imagined touching a demon would. No icy chill. No burning fire. No overwhelming evil trying to claw its way into my soul. Just... a hand. One that was almost absurdly gentle considering everything attached to it.

My pulse fluttered stupidly at the point where his claws grazed my knuckles, and I was suddenly, uselessly aware of every place our skin nearly touched.

I swallowed. "You know..." I curled my fingers just a little, almost testing whether he was really there. "This might be easier if I could actually see you."

After a moment, the darkness around my hand thickened. The drifting particles slowed. Gathered. Folded inward. Like smoke remembering the shape it once had. The outline of an arm appeared first. Then broad shoulders. Massive black wings. His chest. His neck. Finally... his face.

The breath caught somewhere between my lungs and my throat.

Oh.

Oh...

Mrs. Wilton had left out more than a few details. He wasn't merely handsome. He was... haunting. Beautiful in the same way a thunderstorm over the ocean was beautiful. Something you couldn't stop looking at... even though every instinct warned you not to get closer.

Sharp cheekbones. Strong jaw. Black hair that brushed the tops of his shoulders, framing horns that curved elegantly backward as though they'd grown exactly where they belonged. And those eyes... not red. Not exactly. They were deeper than that. Like embers buried beneath ancient ash.

Dark crimson threaded with molten gold that seemed to glow from somewhere impossibly far away. I'd never seen eyes like them. They weren't frightening because of their color. They were frightening because of what lived behind them. Time. More time than my mind could begin to comprehend. Wars. Loss. Victories. Failures. People. Thousands of them. Maybe millions.

He'd watched civilizations rise and disappear into history. He'd carried memories older than my entire species could remember.

And somehow... those impossibly ancient eyes had spent the last year watching to make sure I didn't step on a rattlesnake.

His mouth quirked almost imperceptibly. "Do not let this form deceive you." My gaze lifted to his. "I was made to inspire trust... and fear."

There wasn't a hint of pride in his voice. Only fact. "I am exactly what I told you I am."

Every instinct I possessed whispered the same thing. Run. Pull your hand away. Get as much distance between yourself and the infernal hunter as possible. I almost laughed. Distance? Thirty-three yards. That was all the universe would allow. I'd already watched him get yanked through the nursing home's ceiling because I'd wandered upstairs without thinking.

If I ran... he'd simply follow. Not because he wanted to. Because he had to. The strange thing was... I didn't want to let go. His claws rested carefully against the back of my hand, as though he was far more concerned about hurting me than I was. I searched his face again. Trying to find the monster he'd promised me. Trying to reconcile the creature who hunted souls with the one who tied my bootlaces into knots... who stood between me and danger before I'd even known it was there.

I couldn't.

Maybe that should've scared me most of all. Instead... it made me want to understand him. I searched his face some more. Waiting for the monster I'd expected to find. Instead... all I saw was someone who believed I should finally be afraid of him. Someone who was giving me every opportunity to walk away. I thought about the rattlesnakes. The mountain lion. The year he'd spent asking for nothing.

Finally, I smiled. "Okay."

His brows drew together. "Okay?"

"I believe you."

"You should be running."

"Probably."

"I have killed more mortals than you could count."

"I know."