Page 21 of A Soul’s Awakening

“Why not?”

“Please, Theo. Don’t argue with me on this.” Silence blanketed the room. Ren looked away from me, unwilling to see the hurt swelling in my eyes. Why? Why was he pushing me away?

“Fine.” I blinked away the tears forming in my eyes. I knew he was keeping something from me, but pestering him about it wouldn’t get me any answers. “Hey, Ren?”

He returned his gaze to me.

“You know I’m here if you need me, right? Whatever it is, you can tell me. You can trust me.”

Ren’s small smile brightened the dimly lit room. “Night, Theo. I’ll be back in the morning. Promise.”

He opened the closet door and let the darkness swallow him.

I shut off the nightstand light and stared up at the ceiling, my mind spinning and refusing to let me rest. I was bone-deep exhausted, every muscle aching from two months of relentless searching for Ren. Life in Salem hadn’t paused for me. My mom and sister still needed me. I’d helped Nick at the shelter whenever I could, and Stella and Ivy had carried as much of the spell business as possible, but there were limits to what they could do without me.

Ren had been my priority. Everyone knew it, and no one had tried to stop me. They’d backed my decision without hesitation. But that didn’t stop the guilt. Leaving them behind sat in my chest like a stone I couldn’t cough up. I knew they were struggling without me there to help carry the weight. The thought followed me everywhere, pressing in on me until it felt like I was drowning in it.

Most nights I’d barely slept. Three hours, maybe four if exhaustion had finally knocked me out. It wasn’t just the physical strain of holding my magic together in the underworld that had drained me. It was the constant fear gnawing at the back of my mind; the endless questions I hadn’t been able to answer.

Was Ren safe?

Was he hurt?

Was I already too late?

At some point my brain shut down, and in my sleepy haze, I heard the click of a door opening, and felt someone crawl into my bed.

Ren came back, I thought. I didn’t dare open my eyes, fearing I might scare him away, but I rolled over and wrapped my arms around the warm body, pulling him close as I buried my nose into the crook of his neck.

When sleep finally dragged me under, I didn’t dream. I didn’t move. I just existed in a darkness too heavy to fight.

But morning hit me like a punch.

“Theo!” It was Ren’s husky voice. “Theo, wake up.”

I groaned, pulling his body ‌close and pressing a lazy kiss to his neck. “Not yet.”

“Theo!” Hands shook my shoulders. I jolted upright, blinking away the haze of sleep. It was then I realized Ren was standing over me, looking down at me from the side of the bed.

Then who was …

My heart slammed against my ribs and I nearly choked.

Lying there, curled on his side as if afraid to take up space, was a man with short black hair pressed against the pillow. His soft snores stopped with the commotion, and bright blue eyes met mine.

“Alex?” My breath hitched. “What the fuck are you doing in my bed?”

12

There was one thing I knew very well about Ren. He was definitely the possessive, jealous type. I had seen glimpses of it when I would meet up with Caspian, and he always looked like he wanted to murder my ex whenever his name was mentioned.

Last night, Alex had secretly crawled into my bed, and Ren had just watched me hug him close and kiss his neck. Yeah, that wasn’t going to sit well with the over-protective demon.

“Get up,” he snapped under his breath. “We have things to discuss.”

Wide awake, I jumped out of bed and searched for something to change into. “Alex, why are you in my bed?”

Alex blinked a few times, as if confused why I was even asking. “I couldn’t sleep, but I felt a lot more comfortable the last time we slept together. Since we did it once before, I didn’t think you’d mind if we did it again.”