The Darkness Within Us (The Shadows Between Us, #2)

by Tricia Levenseller

I reach out, grab one horn, and pull his face down to my eye level. “I do not care what you look like, Eryx Demos. You will not win arguments by shifting in front of me.”

I want to be the one with the power: the power to remove myself from those who treat me poorly, the power to protect myself, the power to always make my own decisions about my body and my life. Neither you nor anyone else can put a price on that freedom.

Men are the most sensitive individuals I have ever met, yet they claim it is women who are always close to hysterics.

REAL

“When you hate someone so fiercely, they have to be worthy of that hatred. You wouldn’t ardently hate someone who was beneath your notice or someone who didn’t compare to you in wits or charisma. You have to be on equal grounds to hate someone so much. And that level of hate inherently comes with a level of respect. You’re recognizing that they’re an actual threat. That they compare to you.”

He reaches out and grabs a strand of my midnight hair. He starts twirling it around one of his fingers. “You’ve been hurt by all the men in your life. I don’t want to be another one. I need you to tell me what’s okay. I don’t know where to touch you or where to kiss you. I don’t know what’s too hard or too soft, with my extra strength. I don’t want to hurt you,” he repeats.

ERYX SOFT BOY AT HEARTTTT

“I think we are a good match.” “If you think fire and oil are a good match.” “Exactly. Together, we could burn the world down if we wanted to.”

“This,” I say, and I reach out to touch the skin of his wrist with my fingers. Electric heat flows through me at the contact, just as I knew it would. “This is what I care about. This connection. This understanding. You were made for me.”

“We Stathos sisters are a force to be reckoned with.” “That we are. We are as arrogant as the gods, deciding who gets to live or die.”

He halts; he doesn’t land another blow. Instead, he growls at me. And I growl right back.

“Just be mine,” I say. “That’s all I need from you.” He wraps a finger around one of my curls. “I’m already yours.”