“I think I’m going to make you breakfast.” Without waiting for an answer, she sprang onto her feet and bolted into the kitchen. Doors opened. Pots clanged off one another.
I sighed again.
“Okay,” Kat murmured.
Standing, I lifted my arms and stretched, loosening the taut muscles. More pots banged around in the kitchen. Knowing what I had to do, I lowered my arms and faced Kat. “I care more about my sister than I do anything in this universe. I’d do anything for her, to make sure she’s happy and she’s safe. Please don’t worry her with crazy stories.”
Kat flinched as pain splashed across her face, and I knew that glimpse of hurt had nothing to do with her physical injuries but everything to do with the coldness radiating from my words. “You’re a dick, but I won’t say anything to her,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “Okay? Happy?”
Happy? Our gazes held once more, and I spoke the truth. “Not really. Not at all.”
Chapter 10
Kat could no longer be trusted with the whole staying home thing, so when we called a little impromptu meeting of the Luxen kind Thursday night, we did it at our house just to make sure Kat didn’t roam off into a snake pit or something.
Dee had spent Wednesday with her, and I continued my creeper status that night by keeping watch over Kat’s house. At least I did it from my front porch this time.
Darkness had fallen when the Thompsons and Matthew arrived, everyone piling into the living room. All the lights next door were off, but I knew Kat’s mom was home. I was hoping that meant there was little to no trouble Kat could get herself into.
Talking to the Thompsons about Kat was the last thing I wanted to do. Damn. Throwing myself repeatedly off the top of Spruce Knob would be more fun, because this was going to go over like a pile of shit-covered bricks.
I stood in the center of the room, arms folded across my chest, bracing myself. Dee was perched on the edge of a recliner, her hands folded in her lap. Adam was leaning against its arm, and the tense pull of his expression told me he knew why he was here.
Ash was sitting on the couch beside Andrew. Her blonde hair brushed her shoulders as she tipped her head to the side, sighing loudly. My lips twisted into a wry grin. She had no problem letting people know when she was bored or unhappy. Matthew sat on the arm of the couch, back stiff and shoulders straight.
“So what’s going on?” Andrew asked, glancing up from the cell in his hand. “The last time we were called together like this, someone died.”
My eyes narrowed. Of course, he was talking about Dawson. Not cool.
Ash turned her head to him, blonde brows arched. “Really?”
One shoulder rose. “And?”
Adam sighed. “We need to work on improving your sensitivity later, brother.”
“Whatever,” muttered Andrew, glancing back at his phone. His finger scrolled across the screen.
Matthew gave a little shake of his head. “What did you want to discuss, Daemon?”
He knew about Kat and he also knew where this conversation was heading, but he was wrangling the convo back to the point at hand. Had to give him props for that. “There is a girl named Kat—”
“Who is incredibly awesome,” Dee interjected. “And super nice and smart and—”
“She moved in next door.” I cut her off, because frankly none of that mattered. Andrew’s fingers stilled over the screen and he looked up, his mouth opening. I went on. “I don’t know why the DOD allowed that. Yesterday I had my normal check-in with Vaughn and Lane. I asked them, and Vaughn was the one to answer, giving some lame reason about the government not wanting the house to sit empty for so long. That it was too suspicious.”
Ash’s gaze sharpened. “Why didn’t you tell us about her sooner?”
“Didn’t see the point at the time.” A muscle along my jaw began to tick, because the look on Ash’s face pretty much summed up the amount of BS associated with that statement. “We’re talking about it now.”
She looked over at Dee. “And let me guess. You’re her new best friend?”
Dee met her stare. “So what if I am?”
“I really shouldn’t have to explain all the problems with that,” Ash retorted. “And I’m sure Daemon has pointed out every one of them.”
I had.
“Katy and I are friends,” Dee replied, leaning forward in the chair. Beside her, Adam tensed. “That’s not going to change, and I’m not going to sit here and let you give me crap about it. It is what it is.”
Ash turned wide blue eyes on me. “Daemon—?”
“You heard her.” I grinned when Ash’s hands curled into fists. Her head was about to spin. “I’ve been keeping an eye on Kat, getting to know her so we know what we’re dealing with.”
Andrew snickered. “I bet you have.”
I drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Didn’t work. “You got something to say, bud?”
He raised a shoulder. “I just think ‘keeping an eye on her’ is code for something else.”
“Keeping an eye on her means exactly what it is,” Matthew explained, sending Andrew a look of warning. “The fact that the DOD allowed humans to move next door is suspicious. Daemon is smart by trying to gauge if she or her mother is a risk.”
Dee frowned. “Are you trying to say that she could somehow be planted there by the DOD?”
“We don’t know,” Matthew simply said, and while he had a good point, I didn’t think that was the case. More like his general paranoia talking. “Anything is possible, is all I am saying.”
My sister’s frustration was evident in the stubborn line of her jaw. “Katy is not some kind of government spy.”
“Well, if she was, we’d be screwed, since I traced her last week.” I dropped that bomb, and everyone but Dee reacted as expected. There were curses. Matthew nearly had the Luxen version of a stroke. Ash looked downright murderous.
Adam sat down on the arm of Dee’s chair. “How did that happen?”
“There was a bear. It was charging her.” I left out the fact we’d gone on a walk, since no one really needed to know that. “I used the Source to scare the animal off. Kat didn’t see me do it. She thought it was lightning.” I paused. “I didn’t have any other option.”
“Yeah, you did.” Andrew frowned as he placed his cell on the coffee table. “You could’ve just let the bear eat her ass. Problem solved.”
Ash nodded her agreement.
I didn’t even bother responding to that. “The point is, she was traced, and the DOD isn’t banging down our doors and locking us in cages. Vaughn and Lane acted yesterday like nothing had changed, but I thought you all should know what happened.”
“We should have known about this girl when she first moved in,” Ash said, voice thinned with anger.
Dee rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t your business.”
“It’s all of our business,” Andrew corrected. “The Elders aren’t cool with us living outside the colony as it is. After what happened with Dawson, we have to be careful. In other words, don’t run around tracing humans, dickhead.”
I slowly lifted my hand and flipped him off.
Andrew smirked as he leaned back against the couch, shaking his head. “This is just unbelievable. First it’s Dawson and—”
“Don’t finish that sentence, Andrew. For real,” I warned, my chin dipping down. “I’m not Dawson. This isn’t the same thing.”
When Andrew opened his mouth, his brother wisely stepped in. “Shut it, Andrew. I really don’t want to end the night picking you off the floor.”
It was my turn to smirk.
Matthew eyed me closely. “Is that all?”
I shook my head as I kept an eye on Andrew. “No. Kat was attacked by an Arum Tuesday night.”
“Damn,” Matthew muttered, running a hand through his cropped brown hair. “I… Is she okay?”
Surprise flicked through me. I hadn’t expected Matthew to care. “Yes. She’s okay.” The memory of h
er struggling to get air into her bruised throat surfaced. “She’s going to be okay. I killed the Arum, and she doesn’t know what it was. She thinks it was a mugger.”
Ash stood fluidly and moved to the window overlooking the porch. She didn’t say anything, but she was antsy and that was never a good thing.
“The trace is still on her. It should fade in a couple of days, but we need to be on the lookout for the other Arum.”
The conversation steered toward patrolling and how Matthew was going to notify the Elders that we had confirmation of Arum in the vicinity. We needed to train some new recruits to help with the doubled patrols, which was my, Adam, and Andrew’s job. Yay us. It wasn’t long before everything cycled back to Kat and what we were going to do about it.
“I’m handling it with her,” I said, pretty much over this conversation.
Andrew looked like he wanted to say something smart, but one look from his brother shut him up. It was Dee who ended up bringing our little meet-and-greet to a screeching halt. “Why don’t we just tell her the truth?” she asked.
I stared at her, unsure I had heard correctly.
Matthew stood, turning to Dee. “You cannot be serious.”
“Why not?” Dee raised her hands, her expression earnest. “She’s a good person, and she’s logical. She’s not going to freak out or call the media. Frankly, who would believe her? She’ll understand. Trust me.”
“Dee,” Adam said quietly, kneeling beside her. “You can’t tell her what we are.”
Anger flashed across her face, deepening the hue of her eyes. “I’m telling you, Adam, she can be—”
“Okay, Dee. Let’s say she can be trusted and that she doesn’t tell anyone,” I said, meeting my sister’s gaze. “She takes this shit to her grave, but that’s not the only problem. You might trust her. That doesn’t mean everyone in this room does.”
“Namely me,” Andrew commented.
“And what do you think will happen if the Elders find out about Kat knowing the truth?” I persisted, hoping to reason with Dee on a different level. Ash finally faced us again, her expression blank as she watched us. “Or what do you think the government will do? They don’t know her. They have no reason to trust her. She’ll disappear. Hello. Bethany, anyone?”
Dee sucked in a sharp, audible breath at the reminder of our brother’s human girlfriend who “disappeared” along with him last year.
“You don’t want to put her in that position, do you?” I asked. “Because that’s what you’re also risking by telling her the truth.”
For a moment, she held my gaze but then lowered it. She shook her head. “No. I wouldn’t want to risk that.”
A little bit of relief coursed through me. At least I didn’t have to worry about her telling Kat the truth.
Ash folded her slender arms across her chest. “I can’t believe you.”
Dee glanced up. “What?”
“You have no problem risking our safety, but you worry about hers? Like we mean absolutely nothing?”
“That’s not what I feel or what I’ve said,” Dee argued as she glanced back and forth between us. “We can take care of ourselves. And Katy wouldn’t throw us in front of a bus. That’s all I was trying to say.”
I didn’t step in as they continued to argue, because Dee needed to wise up. She needed to hear what Ash was saying. Not that it really changed anything. I trusted that Dee wouldn’t tell Kat the truth, but she wouldn’t stay away from her.
I walked the Thompsons out while Matthew remained inside, talking to Dee. Probably lecturing her, so there was a good chance I was going to be out here a while. Standing on the porch, I watched Adam and Andrew cross the lawn toward their car. The latter was eyeing Kat’s house like he wanted to nuke it.
Andrew might be a problem.
“Daemon?”
Twisting around, I found Ash standing there. “Hey.”
“I’m sorry about being such a bitch to your sister in there.”
I grinned. “No you’re not.”
She glanced up and to the right, and then laughed. “Okay. You’re right. I’m not. She needed to hear it.” Two car doors shut. The brothers were waiting for her. “But I’m surprised. I never thought you’d be the one to mess up.”
“Well, if I was perfect all the time, no one else would have a chance.”
Ash arched a brow and ignored what I said. “How exactly have you been keeping an eye on her?”
Warning bells started going off. I knew what she was getting at, but what the hell? Ash and I had broken up a while ago. Sure, we messed around like exes do from time to time, but she knew the score and even set the rules. “Not sure what you mean by that question?”
Her smile was sugary sweet and sharp as glass. “I think you know exactly what I mean.” There was a pause, and I pictured her sharpening her fangs on my bones. “You haven’t come around in a couple of weeks. I’m betting if I asked Dee when that girl moved in, it’s going to fall around that same time. What do you have to say about that?”
Laughing under my breath, I looked away, my gaze narrowing on the car. “What do I have to say about that? Well, if it were actually your business when it came to what I do, which it’s not, I’d have to say you are way off the mark when it comes to why I haven’t been around. The reasoning hasn’t changed. You know that.”
She appeared to mull that over. “Yeah, you don’t see us long-term, but that’s never stopped us from spending some one-on-one time together.”
“She has nothing to do with that.”
Ash stopped at the top of the porch steps, half turned away. She wasn’t smiling anymore as she looked over her shoulder at me. Challenge burned in her cobalt gaze.
A challenge I had no intention of meeting.
“Prove it,” she said.
I stared at the two Luxen males who rarely ventured out of the colony. They weren’t very much older than me, but they stood in front of me like two fresh recruits about to enter the marines.
“We’re r-ready to begin patrolling,” one said, looking everywhere but at my eyes. Yeah, I was going to have to do a hard pass on this guy being ready.
Beside me, Adam chuckled as he eyed the two guys. “An Arum would eat you alive, spit you back out, and then suck you down like a smoothie.”
The other Luxen blanched, and I thought he might hurl.
I sighed.
Helping prepare these two asshats on how to patrol for Arum and not get killed in the process was not how I wanted to spend my afternoon.
Especially when Kat was with Dee, and even though I’d asked Dee to make sure they stayed home, since Kat was virtually a glow stick, I knew that my sister ultimately did whatever she wanted.
As did Kat.
But stepping in and making sure members of the colony were able to help with the doubling of patrols would keep them both alive, so I was going to have to deal. And really, it wasn’t that bad if I was being honest with myself. I got to be in my true form, and damn, that was like stripping off clothes on a too-hot day. There was nothing like the wind glancing off your essence when you hit speeds that broke the sound barrier. Superman had nothing on a Luxen.
Just thinking about it got my heart pumping.
“This is boring,” muttered Andrew.
I smirked.
It had also been damn amusing to drag Adam and Andrew along to help out. Neither wanted to be there. Adam stayed relatively quiet as we ran the newbies around the whole damn mountain, pushing them to run harder and faster. Andrew bitched the entire time. No big surprise there.
The one who looked like he was going to puke stepped forward. I think his name was Mitchell. Maybe Mikey. I was going to go with Mitchell. “I know we’re not as strong or fast as any of you, but we are ready.”
“Yeah, you’re about ready to die,” Andrew replied, snorting.
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