Page 41 of An Oath at Midnight

I glanced up and saw Bram, and my breath caught.

He stood at the end of the path, waiting just beyond the ward. He looked…wild. His shirt was in tatters on the ground, his tattooed chest and arms glistened with sweat, his wings extended, his face contorted with fear and rage.

I rushed down the steps, breaking into a run.

His black gaze was locked on me as he gripped one of the tree trunks bordering the path, holding himself back. He bared his teeth, his chest heaving, struggling for control, no doubt afraid Agatheena would suddenly snatch me back.

“I’m okay,” I called when I was almost to him. Then finally, I was there, and I closed the space between us, running through the ward to reach him.

Bram snatched me off my feet with a feral snarl, clutching me to him, and shot into the sky.

“Bram?”

He tucked me closer and shook his head.

“I’m okay,” I said again.

His arm was banded around me, holding me tightly to his front and his long, thick fingers dug into my waist, not giving me an inch of space. I didn’t fight it. I needed him close as much as he did me. It’d always been this way between us. Physical closeness was something we both seemed to need from each other. Even on my worst days, when I couldn’t stand to be touched, Bram was usually the exception. Being close to him calmed the storm inside me.

I rested my head on his shoulder. “I’m okay,” I whispered once more, because he needed to hear it. I’d say it a hundred times if I had to.

We flew over the treetops, past the demons and other creatures below us, back to the edge of the forest. Bram kept his arms locked around me the entire time, every muscle in his lean body rock solid.

His arms flexed around me as we landed by the car, then his hold loosened, but he didn’t let me go. His chest was pumping when he looked down at me, his midnight eyes moving over my face.

“Bram—”

“I thought I’d lost you. I thought she was hurting you and I couldn’t get to you…”

I took his face in my hands, silencing him, with my fingers brushing over the newly shaved sides of his hair. He trembled, and a shiver moved through me as well at the look on his face. I knew there was more to the fear in his eyes, the desperation. It wasn’t just about today, it was about the past few months, the last couple of years, of us growing more and more distant.

Losing me was his biggest fear, just like the thought of losing him was mine. What happened at the cottage had just brought that into sharper focus.

“You didn’t lose me.” I brushed my thumb over his jaw, feeling the stubble there.

He was no longer the boy who’d rescued me from a group of bullies; he was a full-grown male. We were both so different, had gone through so much, and if that wasn’t enough for us to navigate, it felt as if there were a whole lot of outside forces trying to tear us apart.

This energy between us had always been there but had steadily grown more intense, more volatile over time and swirled around us now. I didn’t know what it meant, but sometimes it scared me. I did my best to ignore it now. “No matter what happens in the future, you will never lose me. I promise I won’t let anything tear us apart.”

His dark gaze was intense, and I dipped mine, finding it hard to look into his eyes all of a sudden, and landed on his beautifully sculpted mouth. It was darker than usual—

His fingers slid into my hair, and he fisted it in a way he never had before, sending electricity zapping across my scalp and shooting through my belly. My gaze flew to his, and he tugged me forward as he dipped his head, and for a moment I thought he was going to...that he was—

He pressed his lips to my forehead, then released a shuddering breath before finally letting me go.

My heart was thundering in my chest for some stupid reason. “L-let’s go home,” I said and stepped back.

He nodded, and I walked around the car, opened the door and tossed my pack in the back. Bram got in on the passenger side.

I opened the driver’s door and, as I did, a snarl came from behind me.

I spun as a demon burst from the tree line. Bram exploded out of the car, but I’d already delivered a flying kick to its face. Its head jerked back, and it lost its balance, falling to the ground. I advanced, bringing my boot down hard in its ribs, then dropping to my knee, I slammed my knife into its throat, thrusting the blade to the side and semi decapitating it. I jerked the blade the other way, then dropped the knife, spun around, gripped the sides of its head, planted my feet against its shoulders, and, grunting, yanked its head off the rest of the way.

I fell back as the demon turned to ash. Gross. I was covered in it. Panting, I dusted my hands off on my jeans and jumped to my feet.

“What the fuck, Mags?” Bram stood watching me, his shock obvious.

“Told you I could take care of myself,” I said and got in the car, and yeah, I was secretly pleased he’d seen that. That Bram had seen with his own two eyes what I could do.