“Sara?”

I can’t do this. I wasn’t sure what this was but I suddenly knew I didn’t want to hear anything else he had to say. “I have to go,” I uttered, moving to go around him.

“Running away won’t change anything, Sara.”

I didn’t answer, just kept walking.

“I didn’t take you for a coward.”

His taunt brought me to a halt but I didn’t turn around. “You don’t know anything about me.”

“I think we both know that’s not true.”

I spun back to him because there was one thing I wanted to know. “What about my parents?” I demanded. “Did you know them?”

“Not your father. But I knew Madeline Croix for many years.”

I shook my head. “You’re only a few years older than me.”

His face was unreadable. “I’m older than I look.”

“So what are you trying to tell me?” I asked weakly. “How do you know Madeline?”

There was no softness in his voice, only truth. “I watched her grow up.”

I stared at him mutely and his words hung in the air between us. No, it wasn’t possible. Madeline Croix was a terrible wife and mother but she was not… one of them. Because if she was then that would make me…

Chapter 7

“No!” I spun away from him and this time I did not stop when he called my name. I bolted for the waterfront, afraid to hear whatever he started to say next. It wasn’t true – it couldn’t be true. There had to be more than one woman named Madeline Croix and for Nikolas to make such an assertion after our one encounter was insane.

He appeared in front of me, feet apart, blocking my only means of escape and I skidded to a stop inches from him. My hands flew up to brace me from slamming into his hard chest.

“How –?” I panted.

“Demon speed, remember.”

I winced and backed away. “Someone could have seen you.”

He gave a small shrug. “You and I both know that people see only what they want to see and believe what they want to believe.” He took a step toward me, forcing me to take another step back. “But just because a person chooses to not believe something, that doesn’t mean it’s not real.”

I hugged my arms to my chest. “How can you be so sure?” I asked, hearing the desperation in my voice. “There must be more than one Madeline Croix.”

Nikolas’s sigh sounded almost regretful. “I was sure of what you are before I heard her name. As soon as I saw you the other night, I knew.” He averted his gaze as if he knew I would not like his next words. “My Mori recognized yours.”

The air left my body. “What?”

“Mori can sense each other when they are near. It is how one Mohiri always recognizes another.” He glanced at me and he must have seen the denial forming on my lips because he added, “They are never wrong.”

“I…” I had no idea how to respond.

Nikolas’s dark eyes swept over my face as if he was searching for something. “You felt it, didn’t you?”

I thought about that night and the weird sense of déjà vu that hit me when I first looked into his eyes. There had been an instant where it felt like I knew him somehow even though I was sure we had never met. The same feeling I had when I saw him waiting for me by the coffee shop.

My nod was almost imperceptible. “This can’t be happening.”

One corner of his mouth lifted. “There are worse fates, you know.”

“You’re telling me I have a demon parasite inside me and I’m supposed to be okay with that?”

“It’s not as bad as you make it sound.”

“No, it’s worse.” All these years I’d fought with the beast in my head and now I discovered it was something far worse than I could ever have imagined. Nausea curled in my stomach.

He made no move toward me but I heard a softening in his voice. “I know this is strange and frightening, but you are not the first orphan we’ve found. You will adjust as they have.”

“Orphan?”

“It’s just a term we use for young Mohiri who were not born to our way of life. They have no idea who they really are until we find them.”

“Then there are others like me?” The thought that someone else had gone through this gave me a small measure of comfort.

“Not exactly like you.” His brow furrowed. “The others have been much younger.”

“What does that matter?”

He looked away briefly and his expression was serious when his gaze returned to me. “Our Mori need us to survive as much as we need them but they are still demons and they have certain impulses and a will of their own. We learn from a very early age to control those urges and to balance our human and demon sides. Otherwise, the Mori will try to become dominant. Orphans who are not found young enough to be trained, grow up with deep mental and emotional problems, tormented by their demon side. The worst cases become severely schizophrenic and end up in institutions… or they kill themselves.”

I inhaled sharply as I thought about the thing in my head and the dark elation I’d felt as I punched Scott. It had always felt like another consciousness lived in my head, one that would take over my mind if I let it. A shudder passed through me when I thought of where I’d be if I hadn’t learned to control it. I would have ended up just like those kids Nikolas was talking about. Maybe I still would.