Page 123 of Noctis

“I did. I do. But there’s a difference between liking it when you call me yours in bed and realizing I might not be allowed to make my own decisions outside it.”

“I let you go to dinner alone.”

“Alone? You followed me.”

“I stayed outside.”

“That isn’t the point.

“You might have been hurt if I hadn’t.”

“That doesn’t make it okay.” I took a slow breath, trying to steady myself. “You saved me, and I’ll always be grateful for that. Without you, I never would have gotten Tyler into custody. But I can’t build my entire life around you. Not when nobody else can know you exist. Not when being with you means hiding half of myself from everyone I know.”

“I could remain hidden.”

“I don’t want a relationship that only exists when no one is looking.”

His gaze lifted to mine. “You knew what I was.”

“I knew, but I didn’t understand what it would mean. Not properly,” I swallowed against the painful tightness in my throat. “Maybe I didn’t want to understand.”

Caligo stared at me for so long that I had to resist the urge to fill the silence. Eventually, he rose from the table.

I tensed.

His gaze dropped briefly to my clenched hands. “You think I’m going to refuse.”

I couldn’t deny it. “I wasn’t sure.”

“I told you I would listen when you asked something of me.”

“You did.”

“And now you’re asking me to leave.”

The tightness in my throat intensified. “Yes.”

Something in him seemed to draw inward. The shadows surrounding his body dulled and drew closer, as though they had recoiled from the rejection.

“All right,” he said.

That was it. No argument. No refusal. Just two words that left me feeling as though I’d miscalculated something important.

“It’s for the best,” I said.

Caligo moved around the table and stopped beside me. For one awful moment, I thought he might kiss me goodbye, and I didn’t know whether I wanted him to or whether it would break the resolve I had left. Instead, he looked down at me without trying to touch me.

“I understand why being with me is difficult for you,” he said.

Darkness began gathering around him.

The sight of it sent panic through me. Once he disappeared, there would be no phone number to call, no address to visit, and no mutual friend who could pass on a message. He would be somewhere I couldn’t reach him, whether that was back at the rehab center or somewhere else.

“Caligo…”

His glowing eyes held mine, waiting.

I could still take it back. I could tell him I’d made a mistake before the shadows swallowed him completely.