Page 67 of Hot Girls Date Demons

I rest my forehead against hers.

“I felt every moment of your pain.”

Her face crumples.

“I thought something horrible had happened to you.”

The pain in her voice cuts deeper than the Void ever could.

“It did.”

She blinks.

“What?”

“I left and I couldn’t get back to you.”

The words taste bitter.

Because they are true.

For three hundred years I survived exile.

Loneliness.

Heartache.

But those few hours separated from Josie?

They nearly destroyed me.

Her eyes widen.

“What? Desmond⁠—”

“Just for a few hours, I left you. I swore to protect your heart, and instead, I broke it.”

I hate myself for it.

Hate the tears in her eyes.

Hate that she curled herself around my pillow because she thought she had lost me.

My mate grips my face.

Actually grips my face.

“Will you do it again?”

The fear in her voice nearly undoes me.

“Never.”

I answer without hesitation.

Not because it is the answer she wants.

Because it is truth.