Pearl’s POV
My pulse hammered in my throat, too loud, too fast. Demyan’s muscles bunched beneath my grip, taut as iron, ready to break Killian’s restraint and rip Rowan apart. His eyes were dark, almost black, the kind of storm that swallowed reason.
I couldn’t let him do it.
If he snapped here, if he struck Rowan, everything would shatter, the secret I’d clung to, the fragile disguise, the precarious balance between us all.
Before he could lunge again, I stepped into him, shoving myself between his fury and Rowan’s smirk. My hands closed around his wrist, pulling with everything I had.
“Demyan,” I whispered harshly, “come with me.”
His head snapped toward me, eyes burning, chest rising and falling like he’d just run through fire. He didn’t move.
So I tugged harder, dragging him, st
