Her head whipped toward mine so fast I worried she’d strain a muscle. “Cute?”
“Yeah, it’s cute. Your excitement,” I said, shrugging. “It was cute. But as cute as you are in pigtails, that’s not going to do anything to fade the trace on you.” I needed to focus. Standing, I stretched my arms above my head. When I glanced down at her, she was eyeing the section of skin that was exposed when my shirt rode up. “We need to get this trace off you.”
She was still staring at my stomach.
I lowered my arms. “The sooner we get the trace off you, the less time we have to spend together.”
And that got her attention. Her eyes snapped to mine. “You know, if you hate the idea of being around me, why doesn’t one of the others come over here and do this? I actually prefer any of them to you, even Ash.”
“You’re not their problem. You’re my problem.”
Her laugh was harsh. “I’m not your problem.”
“But you are,” I said, and that was the truth. Probably could say it a little nicer, but oh well. “If I had managed to convince Dee not to get so close to you, none of this would’ve happened.”
She rolled her eyes. “Well, I don’t know what to tell you. There isn’t much we can do in here that’s going to make a difference, so we might as well count today as a loss and spare each other the pain of breathing the same air.”
I shot her a bland look.
“Oh, yeah, that’s right. You don’t need to breathe oxygen. My bad.” She shot to her feet, knocking the poor quilt to the floor. “Can’t you just come back when it stops raining?”
“No.” I moved back and leaned against the wall, folding my arms. “I want to get this over with. Worrying over you and the Arum isn’t fun, Kitten. We need to do something about this now. There are things we can try.”
Kat was two seconds from losing it, and I loved it. Her hands curled into tiny fists. “Like what?”
“Well, the jumping jacks…an hour or so should do it.” I was only half serious when I made the suggestion, but then my gaze dropped over the front of her shirt. Suddenly, I wanted nothing more than to see her jump around. “You may want to change first.”
Please say no. Please say no to changing.
She took a deep breath. “I’m not doing jumping jacks for an hour.”
And that was a damn shame. Crimson stained the tips of her cheeks. A sure sign she was angry. I couldn’t help myself, so I pushed at her again. “You could run around the house, up and down the stairs.” I met her eyes and grinned. “We could always have sex. I hear that uses up a lot of energy.”
Her mouth dropped open. “That will never happen in a million years, buddy.” She took a step forward, raising her pointer finger at me. “Not even if you were the last— Wait, I can’t even say last human on the face of this Earth.”
“Kitten,” I murmured, sort of offended.
“Not even if you were the last thing that looked like a human on the face of this Earth. Got that? Capiche?”
I tilted my head to the side and smiled. She was really on a roll now. Eyes bright and face flushed. Part of me hated to admit it, but she was amazing when she was like this. Absolutely amazing.
“I’m not even attracted to you. Not even a little bit. You’re—”
I was in her face before she had a chance to blink. “I’m what?”
“Ignorant,” she said, taking a step back.
“And?” I matched her steps, compelled. Compelled by what? I didn’t know. I came over to work the trace off of her and instead we were arguing with each other after a moment of nice conversation.
“Arrogant. Controlling.” She took another step back, but I didn’t let her get far. Oh no, I was all up in her face, sharing the same air. “And you’re…you’re a jerk.”
“Oh, I’m sure you can do better than that, Kitten.” And I knew she could. Kat had a mouth on her. Speaking of which, my gaze dropped. Her lips parted. Dammit. “Because I seriously doubt you’re not attracted to me.”
She laughed—the sound low and husky. Sexy. “I’m totally not attracted to you.”
I took one more step, and her back was against the wall. Staring down at her, I think I may’ve forgotten to force my lungs to inhale and I definitely forgot the whole point of coming over here. There was only one thing I was thinking about. “You’re lying.”
“And you’re overconfident.” She wetted her lips, and heat pounded through my body. “You know, the whole arrogant thing I mentioned. Not attractive.”
Man, she was so full of it. She’d say anything to keep arguing. Placing my hands on each side of her head, I leaned down, my mouth so close to hers I could almost taste her. I doubted her lips would be sweet. More like one of those red-hot Fireball candies.
I really, really liked that candy.
“Every time you lie, your cheeks turn red,” I told her.
“Nuh-uh,” she said.
I slid my hands down the wall, stopping beside her hips. “I bet you think about me all the time. Nonstop.” As much as I thought about her, which was…nonstop, so it only seemed fair and right that she did the same.
“You’re insane.” She pressed back against the wall, her chest rising and falling sharply.
“You probably even dream about me.” My gaze dropped to her mouth again. Fireball… “I bet you even write my name in your notebooks, over and over again, with a little heart drawn around it.”
She laughed this breathless sound. “In your dreams, Daemon. You’re the last person I think—”
Tired of arguing, I kissed her…just to shut her up. And yeah, I’d keep telling myself that. Just keep right on with that train of thought. That’s why I was kissing her. No other reason.
But the moment our lips met, a shudder rolled through my body and I half growled, half moaned. Because I was right—her mouth was like a hot-as-hell Fireball.
Kat wasn’t arguing anymore.
No, she was shivering.
Kissing really wasn’t necessary anymore and I should stop, needed to stop, but then she pushed off the wall, fitting her body against mine. Her fingers sank in my hair and she moaned against my mouth.
This was so not about shutting her up.
Something came unhinged in me. Like a lock that had been turned. Or a dam that burst. Or, hell, it was like being struck by lightning, run over by a truck, and then shocked back to life. I was moving and doing without really thinking.
My hands gripped her hips, and I lifted her up. Her legs went around my waist and she was kissing me right back with a passion that almost startled me, and I was hoping she didn’t notice that my hands were trembling. Hell, my entire body was shaking. There was a fire under my skin, and I was out of control. Seconds away from going full Luxen on her and what good would that do?
Aw hell, it didn’t matter. Not when I pressed into her and she made this beautifully feminine sound that really had my blood pounding. And I could feel it building in me. Pure power—and it had nowhere to go but out. This had been building for months. Maybe always leading to this.
I never wanted someone as much as I wanted Kat.
Then we were moving along the wall. A lamp toppled over. Kat didn’t seem to mind, thank God, because I was beyond the point of caring about anything other than who was in my arms.
Kat.
Vaguely, I was aware of the TV switching on and off. I tried to rein it all back in, but her hands went to my collar and then she was wiggling down, pulling at the buttons. I could only obey her silent command. I moved back and let her take off my shirt.
I’d pretty much let her do anything at this point. Kind of scary…and all kinds of hot.
I captured her cheeks, pulling her back to my hungry mouth. Man, I couldn’t get enough of her taste, of how she gave it right back to me on all fronts. Her hands went to the button on my jeans.
There was a cracking sound in the house. Most likely something had just gone up in flames. But we were moving toward the couch and then we were
on it, our hands everywhere, tugging on clothes, on each other. Our hips were molded together like our lips.
Kat whispered my name, and I was crushing her against me one second and then the next, I was giving up space to explore—for me to explore. Sliding over her arm, down the front of her shirt and lower, and her shirt was off. I don’t even know how, but it was.
“So beautiful,” I said, because she was beautiful. Damn, she was, and that flush I’d seen yesterday did spread everywhere. It took me a long time to lift my gaze, but when I did, I kissed her again. Kissed her until I knew she needed air, claiming her mouth as long as I could.
My body took over completely, rolling against hers, but something else clicked inside me. Another hidden door was opening. I slowed down, taking my time. Where everything had been so frantic and crazed, it was now more tender and controlled. I was still shaking, though, on the verge of…
Of not being able to stop—not wanting to, of needing her more than I should.
You don’t want to be the reason she disappears or is killed.
I stilled and forced my lungs to work like hers. Inhaling ragged breaths that weren’t enough, I lifted my head and opened my eyes. I knew they were glowing, speaking a thousand things I couldn’t say and she’d never understand. Probably not want to hear, either.
Our gazes locked. The look in her eyes, the way her body melted into mine, I knew she’d let me do…anything. But if I didn’t stop now, I wouldn’t stop ever. And even though I was prone to moments of “great dickdom,” as Kat would say, it wasn’t right. Not under these conditions. Not on a freaking couch.
Not when her life was in my hands.
And I kept messing up with her. I was the one who traced her and led an Arum to her at the library. I was the one who pissed her off and all but chased her into a street. I was the one who exposed our kind. I was the one who was repeatedly putting her in danger.
So I said the only thing that came to mind. The only thing I knew that would snap both of us back into a cold, harsh reality.
I forced my lips into the half smile I knew always got under her skin and said, “You’re barely glowing now.”
Chapter 23
After all this time, I’d finally succeeded in keeping Kat away from Dee. Instead of feeling satisfied about that, I felt like shit.
I was such…such an asshole.
Since Sunday afternoon, Kat kept to herself. I made the mistake of poking her with my pen in class Monday and the look she gave me shriveled up very important body parts. All she had said to me was that I blew up her laptop, and then she didn’t speak to me. She didn’t come over to the house to spend time with Dee and by Wednesday, my sister was super suspicious of what had happened.
Not like everyone wasn’t already suspicious over how quickly Kat’s trace had faded. No one asked. Except Andrew. He’d asked if I had sex with Kat.
I’d punched him Monday after school, hard enough to break his nose.
Andrew had laughed, and of course his nose had healed immediately.
You’re barely glowing now?
As if that had been the sole reason why I’d kissed her, why I got my hands on her or got her on that couch, under me and topless. Use any means necessary, Matthew had said, but I doubted he’d meant that. And I was real with myself. I’d gone over there Sunday to work the trace off her. I was prepared to make her go running in the rain or up and down the staircase inside. I hadn’t planned on kissing her.
I hadn’t planned on any of that happening.
I was a dick, but I wasn’t that big of a dick.
What had happened between us was because I wanted her and she had wanted me back. It had nothing to do with the trace, nothing to do with who we were. It didn’t matter in those moments that it had been wrong or that we spent more time fighting each other than anything else. The only thing that had mattered was how she’d felt, how she’d tasted, and the way she’d whispered my name.
But it had been wrong.
Wasn’t it?
Needless to say, my mood was knee-deep in Shitville, and it being Halloween didn’t help. In class, I’d overheard Lesa and Kat making plans to give out candy at the former’s house. Although Kat’s trace was barely there, I didn’t like the idea of her being out there when Baruck was still roaming around.
Without a trace, an Arum wouldn’t be drawn to her, but Baruck had seen Kat. He would be able to recognize her, so like a creep, I’d followed her to Lesa’s house and watched over her. I stayed down a block, and when I saw her leave in her Camry, I headed back home, beating her there, since I’d gone the Luxen route.
Dee had the front porch decked out with carved pumpkins that had tiny lights in them. I was surprised she hadn’t broken out the string ghosts and bats like she normally did.
The moment I stepped into the house, I smelled something weird and burned. Frowning, I headed into the kitchen. Dee was hovering over a baking sheet. There was another on the kitchen counter. Dark, burned specks covered that sheet. “What are you doing?” I asked.
“Baking pumpkin seeds,” she replied, brow furrowing as she placed her hands over the sheet.
“You know, you could just use the oven.”
“What fun is that?” She twisted toward me, eyes narrowing. “You need to leave.”
“Excuse me?”
“You need to leave,” she repeated. “Kat is on her way over here. We’re going to watch a bunch of stupid horror movies.”
Leaning against the counter, I poked at one of the charred pumpkin seeds. “Sounds like fun.”
“It’s going to be a ton of fun, but you need to go. I don’t know what went down between you two.”
“Nothing,” I murmured, glancing at the window beyond the kitchen table.
Dee snorted. “Yeah, that’s what she said, and I don’t believe her. I don’t believe you, and whatever happened made her avoid me for days. So I don’t want you here, because you will ruin the night.”
“Ouch.” I placed my hand over my chest and faked a wince.
Dee shoved me. “Whatever. Go hang out with Adam.”
I was planning to do that already. Adam and Andrew wanted to see if they could lure Baruck out, but there was an irresponsible part of me that wanted to stay here until Kat showed up. I wanted to see her even though I knew she was going to ignore me, but after what I’d done, that took dickdom to a whole new level.
Pushing off the counter, I dropped a kiss atop Dee’s head. “I’ll be with Adam and Andrew. We’re going to try to lure the Arum out.”
Fear flickered across Dee’s face, and then she steadied herself. “Be careful.”
“Always,” I replied.
Eyeing the baking sheets one more time, I hoped she didn’t try to make Kat eat any of them. Yikes. Snagging my keys off the counter, I headed out and met up with Adam and Andrew in the parking lot of Smoke Hole Diner. They’d come the fastest way possible.
Andrew swaggered up to the driver’s door. “What’s the plan? Same as the last couple of nights?”
I glanced at Adam, who hung back a few feet. “Yep. Light up in the woods closest to the roads. Run away and see if you can draw them out. I’ll drive around and see if I can sense him.”
We’d been doing this with no such luck since Sunday, one of us taking turns doing the driving, which was by far the most tedious of assignments. I’d rather get out there in my true form than sit behind the wheel.
“I’ll head toward town,” Adam said.
Andrew shot his brother a look. “I guess I’ll go away from it.”
Smirking, I shook my head as I pulled out of the parking lot. The streets were still pretty busy. Parents taking their kids back to their homes after trick or treating in town. Others were on their way to parties. At a red light, I saw a Ninja Turtle in the driver’s seat of a car next to me.
Heh.
I cruised up and down the highway, circling back through town a couple of times and killing almost two hours before my cell rang. It was Adam.
>
“Talk to me,” I said.
“We spotted him.” Adam was breathing heavily. “Baruck. He’s heading toward the colony. Andrew is coming, but I’ve lost track of him.”
“Shit.” Glancing up in the rearview mirror, I saw the road was empty behind me. I yanked the wheel to the right, spinning the SUV around. Tires spun out on the gravel along the road as I hit the
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