Burned Deep (Burned 1)

“That’s homicide.” I pointed my finger toward Vale. I had no idea if he was dead or alive. He was certainly unconscious. “You’re not a killer.”

“I have the right,” Dane shot back. “I have every right!”

“No,” I insisted, staring into his wild, dark eyes. “You don’t. This isn’t who you are. This isn’t who I am!”

“Ari,” he said with conviction. “This is exactly who I am.”

I tried to climb off him, tried to stand. Amano had to swoop in and lift me to my feet while holding me firmly to him. I quaked and a peculiar dreadfulness consumed me.

Dane stood, breathing heavy. He extended a bloody-knuckled hand to me. “Ari.”

I shrank away.

“Ari,” he said again, his gaze connecting with mine. “Christ … Your face.” His jaw clenched. His irises burned with fury. “Goddamn it. Look what he did to you! And he would have raped you. Goddamn it.” The fury was like nothing I’d ever seen, heard, witnessed. Not even my parents’ poisonous tantrums had been this treacherous.

“We can’t do this,” I told him, my voice cracking. “We can’t be these people. This is too much, Dane. This is all just too much!”

“Ari, I’ve said from the beginning that I would do anything to keep you safe.”

“But I’m not safe if I lose you to this rage. Can’t you see that? It’s because of me that you’ve refused to draw a line. It’s because of me that you’ve gone this far.”

“Just let me help you,” he quietly offered as he took a step closer.

I moved backward, forcing Amano to as well. “I am as much a destructive force as you are—don’t you see that?”

“Ari. Baby, I—”

“No,” I said as tears flowed down my cheeks.

“I’m not the bad guy here,” he insisted.

“I know that. But Vale might be dead, Dane. Dead!”

His head snapped back at my angst, my pain. As though I’d slapped him.

To Amano, I said, “Take me home, please.” My gaze was still locked with Dane’s. “To my house.”

“Of course,” Amano agreed. Though I was sure he gave a questioning look to Dane, whose eyes didn’t leave mine.

“Don’t do this,” he said, his tone pleading, tearing at me.

“I have to,” I told him as the sobs welled in my throat. “And you have to let me go. This is wrong. What’s become of us is wrong. My fault as much as yours, but still … It’s wrong, Dane.”

The panic over those words made my chest hurt. Like someone had ripped out my heart.

“I love you,” he said with steely conviction.

“I feel the same—and it’s devastating us both. This is not healthy, Dane.” I could barely breathe, as though I’d been gutted. Shredded from the inside out. It took all the willpower and resolve I possessed to finally steal my gaze from his.

“Get me out of here, Amano.”

He had to do most of the work, because my legs were wobbly. When we reached the front door, he seemed to realize I wasn’t wearing shoes and lifted me into his arms. He carried me to Dane’s Escalade and carefully deposited me in the passenger’s seat. Then he collected my muddied bag and phone and put them in the back.

I kept my eyes on the windshield, looking straight forward, not glancing out the side window to see if Dane would appear.

I didn’t want to know what he’d do about Vale or how he’d clean up this mess. All the blood in someone’s partially constructed house.

I couldn’t allow myself to think of anything at the moment. The demon