“She has.” He lifted his head, and in the flickering lamp, I met his gaze. “Kat lost her mom during the invasion.”
“Oh.” The heaviness returned, settling in my chest. “That’s really sad.”
“Yeah, it is.”
The weight of his hand on my knee drew my gaze. I placed my hands over it, tracing the bone of one finger to his knuckle. I then looked up, taking in the unfamiliar room. “Everything has changed. I guess it has been a continuous stream of things changing.”
“It has been.” His thumb moved over my knee. “It’s been a lot.”
It had been so much that I thought back to the day he’d taken me to Harpers Ferry, and that afternoon felt like a lifetime ago. “What happens next?” I turned to him, finding his gaze in the dim light. “What if we talk to Eaton tomorrow and he has all the answers? He can tell me why this was done and what’s going to happen, but then what? We can’t…”
“We can’t what?”
I drew in a shallow breath. “We can’t stay here forever, hidden away. That’s not the kind of life I want.”
“That’s not the kind of life I want, either.”
“So, what happens next?”
“We dance.”
I blinked. “What? Right now?”
“Yes.” He lifted me off his lap and onto my feet. He rose, extending his hand.
“But there’s no music.”
“We’ll make our own.”
I lifted my brows. “That was…”
“Extremely romantic and charming?” he suggested.
“That was pretty cheesy.”
“Cheese is awesome, though.”
“Yes, it is.” I grinned. “But it’s also very random.”
“Most of the best things are.” He wiggled his fingers. “Dance with me, Evie.”
Shaking my head, I placed my hand in his, and he tugged me to him. One of his arms circled my waist, and then he lifted me up so that I was standing on his bare feet. My hands landed on his chest. His skin was cool from the shower.
Luc started to sway, and within a few moments, we were dancing even though there was no music. He did all the work as I stared up at him, wondering if there was ever a time that I hadn’t been in love with him.
And wasn’t that the craziest thing? I was sure I fell in love with him when I was Nadia, and here I was as Evie, and we were in the same place. I loved him.
I reached up, cupping his cheek and drawing his mouth to mine. I kissed him slowly at first, and when his lips parted, I took the kiss deeper. My tongue moved against his, and I loved the way it felt, the way he tasted. The kiss was dizzying in its intensity, and when I pulled back, I felt stripped bare. Would it always be like that?
I had a feeling that it would.
Always.
We’d stopped dancing.
“You asked what we do next?” Luc’s lips grazed mine, and my breath caught. “We find the people responsible for this, and then we burn down their entire world. Nothing will stop us.”
41
There was a part of me that hadn’t expected to fall asleep. Not after everything that had happened or with what awaited us in the morning, and not in such a strange place as someone else’s home. I didn’t feel like a guest. I felt like a squatter, but the moment my head hit that pillow beside Luc’s, I must’ve passed right out, because when I opened my eyes, there was a sliver of light seeping in under the blinds, traveling across the foot of the bed.
And I was wrapped around Luc like I’d been worried in my sleep that he’d disappear or something. Thin sheets tangled at our hips. One of my legs was somehow tucked in between his. I had an arm tossed over his waist and his was curled around mine, lax and pleasantly heavy. My cheek was resting on his bare chest.
Waking up like this was different. It felt entirely new. Intimate. And I … I liked this. A lot.
Closing my eyes, I took a deeper breath. The fresh scent of soap mingled with the lavender that clung even to the sheets. Luc was surprisingly comfortable to lie on. We hadn’t gone to bed like this. We’d been together, me on my back and Luc on his side, facing me. Whatever drew us together in our sleep was just as powerful as it was when we were awake. Was it chemistry? All the tiny things that made me who I was and made him who he was were just attracted to each other? Was it the shared past even if I couldn’t remember it? Or was it everything that I did remember, everything that came after?
Whatever it was, it didn’t matter, because I really loved this, and that … that felt wrong after losing Kent and Clyde, Chas, and my mother while Emery and Heidi were still out there, slowly making their way here. It felt inappropriate given that we’d taken over the home of someone, possibly even a family that had perished. It made me think it was unfair that I kept getting all these chances when no one else did, and I didn’t even know if I deserved them.
If I deserved this—waking up in the arms of someone who loved me just as much as I loved him.
I didn’t know if I did, because at the end of the day, I didn’t know what I was, and neither did Luc. And maybe I didn’t and maybe it was unfair, but I sure as hell was going to fight with everything in me to have more mornings like this, to stop losing people I loved, and to have all my friends with me, safe and happy.
When Luc had said we’d find who was responsible for all of this and burn down their entire world, his words had spoken to a part inside me that I hadn’t known existed until that moment. I didn’t know what it was. Determination. Retribution. Justice. Could be all of them, but what I did know was that I hadn’t batted an eyelash when he’d said it. There wasn’t a moment of hesitation even though I knew that whatever path we took was going to be a violent one. The Evie who would’ve pumped the brakes and suggested we call the police had died on the floor along with the only woman I knew as my mother, and the Evie that was birthed in the safe house outside of Atlanta would not stand by and watch anyone else be hurt. Whatever had come alive inside me in the woods sure as hell wasn’t going to allow it. I might be dangerous. I just might be a Trojan. But I trusted Luc; I believed that he’d stop me if it came to it. Like he’d already done before.
Because what drew us to each other while we were awake and even in sleep was also powerful enough to blast past whatever resided in me, reaching me.
I opened my eyes and lifted my head. Luc’s face was turned toward my side of the bed, his profile visible. I still couldn’t get over how he looked in his sleep. His angular features softened in a way they rarely did when he was alert. The otherworldliness was still there, but blurred, and I could almost imagine if we were normal, and this was our bed, and we had days and weeks and months and years of simply living stretched out before us, an infinite time to explore each other and the world, to grow and learn together. Graduate school and figure out what I wanted. Move in together out of want and need instead of necessity. Get married and maybe even start a family in some way, many, many years from now.
But that wasn’t us.
Yet.
“Peaches,” Luc murmured, startling me. “I wish you’d brought your camera. You would be able to take a picture.” His arm around me tightened. “It would last longer.”
“Jerk.” I smiled. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“It’s okay.” One sleepy eye opened. “I could never complain about being woken up like this, by you.”
A sweet swelling motion filled my chest. “Hearing you say that makes me want to kiss you.”
Luc turned his head to me then as his hand on my side slid up my back, tangling in the mess of my hair. “That’s an even better way to wake up, so what’s stopping you?”
I wiggled up and lowered my head. “I probably have morning breath.”
“I probably do, too.” His eyes went half-mast. “I don’t care.”
As I stared down at him, I realized I didn’t either. “Did you sleep well?”
“Yeah.” His other hand cupped my cheek. “I thought I wouldn’t sleep at all, but fell asleep right aft
er you. You’re like my perfect dose of melatonin.”
I laughed at that, and then I lowered my mouth to his, kissing him. I just meant to give him a quick one, but that wasn’t what happened. The moment I started to lift my head, Luc rolled me under him.
“Now, you can give me a better good morning kiss than that,” he teased, and this time, I did.
We got a little lost in each other for a while. Kissing. Touching. We knew we had to get up and find the general, but we both seemed to sense that this was … it was just as important as all the possible answers in the world were. It wasn’t just living in the moment. It was seizing whatever seconds we had because we’d already lost so many, and when he settled over me, the kisses became more urgent, our touches more frenzied as we moved and twisted against each other. Electricity seemed to charge the air as he lifted his head, his chest rising and falling heavily as he stared down at me with pupils a bright, intense white. There was a tension to his mouth that caused my heart to jump all over the place, a question in that odd, beautiful gaze of his, and I knew. I suddenly knew.
This was it.
Him. Me. No clothes. Together. Like, really together. It wouldn’t be my first time, but it would be his, and this time, in a bed and house that belonged to someone else, it felt so much more right than before.
Luc’s eyes flared an intense amethyst. “Evie?”
It was one of those rare moments when I didn’t mind that he’d been picking up on my thoughts. “Yes,” I whispered. “I mean, if you—”
I never got to finish the question, because Luc kissed me and there was something entirely different about it this time. It was slow and deep, and beautiful, and then it became more. He reached for the shirt I’d donned before going to bed and I shoved at his sweats—
A knock on the front door stilled us. My eyes flew to his as I held on to the band of his bottoms. He had my shirt halfway up my chest.
“It’s our imagination,” he said, voice rough like sandpaper. “We didn’t hear anything.”
“I heard nothing.” I lifted my head to his, kissing him. His groan rumbled through me. He went for my shirt again, and I yanked on his bottoms as I arched my back. His hands, his gaze was so close—
The knock came again, this time followed by the muffled voice of Kat. “Guys, are you all awake?”
The groan that came out of Luc was nothing like the one from before. He dropped his head to my neck. “We could ignore her.”
“We could.” I let go of his pants, folding my arms around him.
“She’ll go away.” His lips coasted over my neck. “Eventually.”
I turned my head toward his, seeking his mouth. “She has to.”
“Definitely.” He kissed me, pressing his body against mine and into the bed.
“Eaton sent me!” Kat’s voice rang out, this time closer, as if she was coming around to a different window. “He wants to see you guys and he’s super impatient.” A pause. “As per usual.”
Luc sighed.
A giggle crept up my throat. “I don’t think she’s going to go away.”
“I think you’re right. Unfortunately. I’ve never been more disappointed in my life.” Luc lifted his head and then yelled, “Give us twenty minutes.”
“I think I’m going to be disappointed,” I murmured.
Luc looked down at me, eyebrows raised and his eyes slightly wide. “Peaches.…”
The laugh burst out of me before I could stop it, and it felt good to laugh, and it felt even better when he silenced that laugh with another kiss.
* * *
Off in the distance, downtown Houston loomed, a graveyard of buildings built of steel and stone. It was the first thing I saw after Luc and I joined Kat, who was waiting for us on the porch. There was something unnerving about seeing a city of that size completely stagnant, and it caused me to remember the faint memories of how quiet things had been after the invasion. I had no idea if those memories were real or something that had been implanted, but the city seemed … haunted, a ghost of the past.
“Sorry we kept you waiting.” Luc closed the door. “We weren’t expecting to be summoned this early.”
“Neither were we.” Kat rose from the wooden glider she’d been sitting on, one hand on her lower back, the other clutching a floppy, cream-colored hat. While she didn’t look remotely comfortable, she looked really cute in the simple pale blue sheath of a dress with long sleeves. “But Eaton was all but banging on our door at the crack of dawn, getting Daemon to go into the Yard.”
“The Yard?” I asked, stepping off the porch. I wished I’d grabbed a heavier shirt as it was actually cooler than I thought it would be.
“It’s a few blocks over, by the old high school.” She slid the hat on, the floppy edges covering most of her face. “It’s where … well, it doesn’t matter. By the way, I don’t think Eaton slept at all last night.”
It didn’t pass me by that Kat had changed the subject instead of telling me what the Yard was being used for. Had Daemon told her about me? It didn’t take a leap of logic to assume that he had. It would be the first thing I told Luc. What did she think? Was she worried? Uncomfortable, I dragged my gaze from her to the street across. Homes nearly identical to the one we’d come out of faced me. It was the same both left and right, but there were no signs of life inside, no low voices of hushed conversation. The only sound was the soft snapping of the breeze catching the canopies. It was early, but not that early.
“Do people live in these houses?” I asked, thinking the whole place sort of reminded me of the first season of that zombie show.
Luc’s hand folded around mine, drawing my gaze. He was watching Kat as she waddled along beside us.
“A lot are at work at the markets or doing what they did before all of this happened,” she said, leading us down the street. I realized we were walking toward the way we’d come in. “The kids are in school—not at the old one, but a house that’s been set up for the different ages. Others may still be in bed.”
I didn’t want to think about the fact that one house was large enough for all the kids of school age here.
The streets were clean while most of the yards were taken over by tall, reedy grass, which made sense. I doubted precious fuel needed to be used to keep the grass at a certain height. There were only a few cars parked in the driveways. Maybe five. All were at least a decade or so old, and I realized that was because they would’ve been made pre-electric ignition. As we continued on, the distinctive feel of being … watched crept over me, and every dark window we passed, the sensation grew.
“Is Eaton in the same place? The blue house near the park?”
Kat nodded.
“Why don’t you go head back and rest,” Luc offered, stopping. “I know the way.”
“It’s not bad for me to walk. I think I’m supposed to be doing it, actually, but I am so freaking tired.” She laughed, patting her belly. “Who knew cooking up a baby could be so exhausting.”
I smiled at that. “You’re due any day now, right?”
“I think I’m actually a day or so overdue,” she said, worry tightening her voice. “But that’s normal. Or people keep telling me it is. It’s just…”
“You’re going to be okay. Both of you are going to be just fine,” Luc assured her, and I wondered if he was picking up on her thoughts or not.
“I know.” When she lifted her chin, I could see the smile on her face. It was faint and weary. “I know,” she repeated. “I’m going to head back. Come find me when you guys are done. We have a lot of catching up to do.”
“We will.”
I was quiet as I watched Kat make her way back the way we came. “If they have to induce labor or … do something like a cesarean, do they have the stuff they’d need for that? Or doctors who can do that here?”
Luc was quiet for a long moment. “There are a few doctors, and I think one or two surgeons. There’s medical supplies, things left behind and stuff others have scavenged.” He tilted hi
s head to the sky. “She’s a hybrid and she has Daemon—she has her family. None of them will let anything happen.”
His words were meant to cause relief, but I still worried for the girl I didn’t know. Special alien abilities or not, women have died giving birth since the beginning of time, even when they had access to every life-saving measure.
“She’ll be okay.” His voice was softer.
I nodded, and then we started walking again, crossing the street. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone by one of the front porches of a small home, and when I looked over, he moved under the canopy, seeming to disappear into the shadows. I thought about how Kat hadn’t wanted to tell me what was going on with whatever the Yard was, and I had a sinking suspicion that not everyone was at work or in school. They were in their homes or hidden, because—
“It is because of us.”
I shot him a look.
“I know what you’re thinking—and no, not because I’m reading your mind.” He squeezed my hand. “Well, I kind of did, but just a little.”
“Really,” I replied dryly.
“It was an accidental mind reading.”
“Uh huh.” A small dog trotted out from one of the narrow streets, tail wagging as it continued across. “People are hiding because of us.”
“Because they don’t know us,” he explained.
“I can understand that.” And I did. “She doesn’t trust me, does she? That’s why she didn’t tell me what the Yard is used for and changed the subject.”
“It’s not personal.”
“How is that not personal?”
“In the same way you wouldn’t trust anyone showing up here, in a place that is one of the few last safe spaces for everyone, and especially when that person was believed to have died,” he said, being all logical. “They’ve all been through a lot. Trust is not given and it’s rarely earned when you’re asking for it from people who’ve been betrayed over and over.”
I fell quiet, because Luc had a point. Not that I hadn’t thought of that originally. I couldn’t blame any of them for being wary around me when I was also wary of myself, but it was still hard knowing you weren’t trusted … and knowing there was a damn good reason for it.
The Burning Shadow Page 45