Thane had stood motionless for the last eight hours outside your work. The men in blue—police, whatever they called themselves now—had been called twice, but he’d simply replied he was waiting for you and they let him be. Thane was a patient, doting husband, even if you denied he was yours.

Humans were delicate to sensitive information. Learning you were his lover in the past that’d reincarnated must’ve been difficult. Thane couldn’t put too much pressure on you, lest you break. He’d waited nearly four-hundred years for this reunion. He could wait longer.

Thane smiled at the humans that passed by, watching as they refused to step too close to him. He knew fear, tasted it in the air. It was delicious, nearly as good as the pancakes humans loved to make in the morning.

The moment you stepped outside, Thane raised a hand in greeting. His smile widened, nearly splitting his face. “My love,” he greeted, excitedly going up to you. “I waited for you to finish.”

He wanted you to praise him for waiting instead of bursting into your workplace. He’d considered it, obviously, but decided giving you space would warm you up to him. One day you’d understand the anguish he’d felt when he lost you in the past, and the relief of finding you again. Thane had traded part of his life to a demon for you to reincarnate, after all.

There was nothing he wouldn’t do for you.

Nothing.

“Do you remember me now? Surely you haven’t completely forgotten me.” Your past memories would return, he was certain. Then he’d be able to hold your hand again, bask in your shadow as he’d once done centuries ago.

Thane had lived nearly a thousand years, but the only time he felt truly alive was when he met you for the first time. You’d become his reason to exist. He’d stopped devouring humans—for the most part—for you. Relying on human food instead left him in a weakened state, and when he’d given up part of his life essence, he’d forfeited the ability to fully return to his natural state.