Текст книги "Oblivion"

Автор книги: Jennifer L. Armentrout

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Текущая страница: 30 (всего у книги 51 страниц)

Chapter 18

I didn’t go home, not for a very long time. I stayed out, patrolling the county into the early-morning hours. If there was one Arum, there were three more. Even though I didn’t feel the presence of one, they wouldn’t be far behind.

When I came home, it was a little after four in the morning, and my human skin wasn’t too thrilled with spending hours in the near freezing temps. Faint light flickered from the living room, punctuated by a low murmur. Pulling off my cap, I walked into the living room.

Dee was curled up against the arm of the couch, out cold. Beside her, a sleepy Adam rubbed at his eyes. I didn’t say anything as I made my way into the kitchen. Flipping on the light above the stove, I tossed my cap onto the table and walked to the fridge.

I pulled out a tub full of turkey and then grabbed a soda. My stomach rumbled as I peeled the lid off. Bypassing the BS of a fork, I started rooting around the bits of meat with my fingers.

“You’re getting in late,” Adam stated from the doorway. He walked over to the counter, scratching his jaw as he yawned. “Is everything okay?”

Everything was absolute fubar right now. I shoved a handful of turkey meat into my mouth while I debated what I could tell Adam. The shit with Douche Bag? I wasn’t comfortable telling Adam or any of them about that. I didn’t want to draw them into something that could blow up in our faces.

Something that would most likely blow up in our faces.

I shoved in another mouthful of turkey. Lying to my friends, to my family, didn’t sit well on me. But this wasn’t the first and only lie. They didn’t know about me healing Kat. They didn’t know she was changing—mutating. So many lies.

Adam watched me, waiting.

Popping the tab on the soda, I swallowed a large gulp. “There was an Arum tonight.”

All the sleepiness vanished from Adam’s expression. He was tense, alert. “What happened?”

“The Arum is no longer a problem,” I said, picking up another strip of turkey.

“But if there’s one then there’s….”

“There’s three more somewhere close.” I sat the tub of turkey aside. “I know. So just be aware. I’ll let Matthew know, so he can notify the Elders.”

Adam scrubbed his fingers through his messy hair. “Damn, man, will there ever be a day when we don’t have to worry about the Arum?”

“Yeah.” My appetite was gone. “When we’re dead.”

By the time Saturday evening rolled around, some of the anger had burned off. Not all of it, but enough that I was confident I could be around Douche Bag without murdering him. Sort of confident. I did not agree with his training Kat, not at all, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to be there to supervise it.

My distrust of him grew by the second.

At five, I walked over. Kat’s mom was already gone. I knocked on the front door, and a few seconds later, what sounded like a herd of wolverines rushed the door. Stepping back, I frowned.

The door flew open to reveal Kat. She appeared somewhat out of breath and her eyes were a bit swollen and red. “Hey,” she said.

I arched a brow. “It sounded like you were going to come straight through the door.”

She flushed. “I, uh, was…looking for my drink.”

“Looking for your drink?”

“I lost it.”

Looking over her shoulder, I spotted the drink on the table just inside the foyer. I smiled slightly. “It’s right there, on the table.”

Kat turned around. “Oh. Well, thank you.”

I stepped aside, brushing past her. Stopping a few feet in, I shoved my hands in my pockets to stop myself from touching her, because as she pointed out in the past, I did have boundary problems. Leaning against the wall, I watched her…watch me. Blood was creeping into her cheeks.

“Kitten…”

“Daemon…?”

My gaze moved over her face, lingering on the swollen eyes. “You look tired.”

She crept closer. “I didn’t sleep well last night.”

“Thinking about me?”

There wasn’t a moment of hesitation. “Yes.”

Surprise flickered through me. Did she just admit that? Were pigs flying outside? “Well, I was preparing this whole speech about how you need to stop denying that I consume your every waking thought and haunt your dreams. Now I’m not sure what to say.”

Kat leaned against the wall, right in front of me. “You, speechless? That’s one for the record books.”

I lowered my head and whispered, “I didn’t sleep well last night, either.”

She moved closer, her arm brushing mine. I stiffened. “Last night—”

“I wanted to apologize,” I said, and I knew I needed to for what I said about her being a problem. “I’m sorry—”

Someone cleared his throat.

My gaze snapped up. So caught up in Kat, I hadn’t heard him walk through the open door. Douche Bag was here.

“Am I interrupting?” he asked.

“Yes, Bart, you are always interrupting,” I responded.

“Sorry it took me so long to get over here,” he said, ignoring me as Kat faced him.

“Too bad it didn’t take longer.” I stretched idly “And too bad you didn’t get lost or—”

“Eaten by wild boars or killed in a horrific ten-car pileup. I get it.” he interrupted and then walked past us. “You don’t need to be here, Daemon. No one is forcing you.”

I pivoted on my heel, following him. “There’s no other place I’d rather be.”

Kat shuffled into the living room. “So, um, how are we going to do this?”

“What we need to do first is figure out what you can already do,” he said.

She tucked her hair back, obviously not entirely comfortable with both of us staring at her. “Uh, I’m not sure there’s much I can do.”

His lips pursed as I sat on the couch. “Well, you stopped the branch. And the time with the windows. That’s two things.”

“But I didn’t do them on purpose.” Kat glanced at me. “What I mean is, it wasn’t a conscious effort, you know.”

“Oh.” His brows lowered. “Well, that’s disappointing.”

My gaze slid to him. “What a great motivator you are.”

He ignored me. Again. “So these have been random outbursts of power?” When Kat nodded, he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Maybe it will just fade?” she said, sounding hopeful.

“It would’ve already done that by now. See, one of four things happens after a mutation, from what I could learn.” He started moving around the living room, giving Kat a wide berth. “A human can be healed, and then it fades after a few weeks, even months. Or a human can be mutated and it sticks, and they develop the same abilities as a Luxen—or more. Then there are the ones who kind of…self-destruct. But you’re out of that stage.”

“And?”

“Well, and then there are humans who are mutated beyond what would be expected, I guess.”

“What does that mean?” I asked, my fingers tapping along the arm of the couch.

He folded his arms and rocked back. “Like in the freakish-mutant-looks department and in the head, and it’s different for everyone.”

“Am I going to turn into a mutant?” she squeaked.

He laughed. “I don’t think so.”

My finger stilled. “And how do you really know all of this, Flake?”

“Blake,” he corrected. “Like I said, I’ve known others like Katy who have been sucked into the DOD.”

“Uh-huh.” I smirked. This boy had bullshit tattooed on his forehead.

He shook his head. “Anyway, back to the important stuff. We need to see if you can control it. If not…”

Not liking where that statement was heading, I came off the couch and I moved fast, just to remind Douche Bag of what I was. I was in his face in under a second. “Or what, Hank? What if she can’t?”

“Daemon.” Kat sighed. “First off, his name is Blake. B-L-A-K-E. And really, can we do this without any macho-man moments? Because if not, this is going to take forever.”

I spun around, pinning her with a dark look.

“The best thing to start with is to see if you can move anything on command.” He paused. “And I guess we can go from there.”

“Move what?” Kat asked.

He looked around the room. “How about a book?”

Which book? There were like a million piled up around the room, and obviously Kat was having a hard time settling on one, because Douche Bag had to tell her to focus. She twisted sideways, focusing her attention on the couch. I had no idea if she was staring at the pillows, the book, the remote, or the magazine.

Nothing happened.

And after three hours, the only thing Kat managed to do was make the coffee table tremble, and I might’ve almost fallen asleep.

“I’m hungry. I’m tired. And I’m done,” Kat announced at some point, and then ended the statement by knocking my foot off the coffee table.

Douche Bag lifted his brows. “Okay. We can pick up tomorrow. No biggie.”

She glared at him.

That made me smile.

Stretching my arms, I yawned. “Wow, Brad, you are such a great trainer. I’m amazed.”

“Shut up,” she said, and then ushered Douche Bag out the front door. I got on my feet and walked into the hallway. They were outside talking. I listened, because I didn’t trust him, and I was nosy.

“What you’re doing by helping me is pretty amazing. I just wanted to say that,” I heard Kat say.

Oh, forget this. I couldn’t listen to this shit. I lifted my hand and extended my middle finger. No one saw me, but it made me feel better.

Walking into the kitchen, I grabbed the mayo, lunch meat, and bread. I was almost finished when Kat walked in. “What are you doing?” she asked.

I waved my knife. “You said you were hungry.”

She inched closer. “You…didn’t have to make me anything, but thank you.”

“I was also hungry.” I plopped mayo on the bread, spreading it out evenly. A few seconds later, I had two ham and cheese sandwiches. I handed one to her. “Eat.”

Kat stared at me, and I smiled before I took a huge bite of mine. I kept my mouth shut while Kat ate. When she was finished, she cleaned up, and then moved to wash her hands. I followed, stopping to stand behind her. I placed my hands on either side of her hips, my fingers curling over the counter.

“So, you had a very interesting conversation with Butler on the porch.”

She shivered. “His name is Blake and were you eavesdropping, Daemon?”

“I was keeping an eye on things.” I tilted my head just an inch, brushing my nose along her neck. I inhaled her peachy scent. “So, his helping you is amazing?”

“He’s putting himself at risk, Daemon. Whether you like him or not, you have to give him props for that.”

“I don’t have to give him anything other than the ass-kicking he deserves.” I rested my chin on her shoulder. “I don’t want you doing this.”

“Daemon—”

“And it has nothing to do with my raging dislike of the boy.” I moved my hands to her hips. “Or the fact that—”

“That you’re jealous?” she said, turning her cheek and bringing her lips daringly close to mine.

“Me? Jealous of him? No. What I was going to say was, ‘or the fact that he has a stupid name.’ Blake? It rhymes with flake. Come on.” I straightened, tugging her back against me. She didn’t pull away. Instead she leaned into me, and I wondered if her eyes were open or closed. “Kitten, I don’t trust him. Everything about him is too convenient.”

She wiggled free and faced me. “I don’t want to talk about Blake.”

I arched a brow. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Last night.”

I stared at her a moment and then backed off. Turning, I walked over to the kitchen table. What was there to say about last night? I needed to apologize for saying she was a problem, but other than that? I wasn’t sure. I rubbed my neck. What a mess.

“Actually,” she continued, “I wanted to finish the conversation we were having before Blake came over.”

“Which is about last night.”

“Yeah,” she said slowly, dragging out the word.

I scratched the stubble on my chin, unsure of where to go with any of this—this stuff between us. “I don’t even know what I was going to say to you.

“Look, last night I was mad. I was also a little caught off guard with…with everything.” I closed my eyes briefly. “Anyway, that’s not important. This thing with Bart is. Part of me just wants to snatch him up and get rid of him. It would be easy. I’m being serious, Kitten. He’s not just a danger to you, but if he’s playing us, he’s a danger to Dee. So I want her kept as far away from this as possible.”

“Of course,” she murmured.

I folded my arms. “And going along with everything will keep tabs on him. So you were right last night about that.”

She nodded slowly, and I waited for her to say whatever it looked like she wanted to say, but she remained quiet. I sighed. “I don’t like this, but…” I paused. “But I’ll ask you one more time to not do this with him. Trust that I can find something out that can help you—help us.”

Her eyes met mine, and I knew in that moment, she wasn’t going to stop this with him. For some reason, she trusted Blake. That cut deep. That reminded me of where we were with each other, which was nowhere. Sadness crawled into her gaze, along with a measure of regret, and it mirrored what I was feeling inside.

Because after it was all said and done, Kat really didn’t trust me.

Chapter 19

Things changed after that Saturday night.

I wasn’t sure if it was a conscious decision or just the way things became between us. There was a gap, one that had to be there for me to keep any sort of clear mind when it came to Blake. Though, sometimes, it was almost like it had been before…before everything. We would bicker, and Kat would fight a smile. She would brush against me, and I would feel it in every cell. I would touch her hand or fix her hair, and it would take everything in me to let go.

And there were days when Kat tried, she really did, to cross that gulf between us, but I couldn’t, not when it was so apparent that she didn’t trust me.

There was nothing without trust.

So things changed. We didn’t really talk at school. I left her alone in trig class and at lunch. I saw her in the evenings, and this separation between us was chipping away at a hidden part of me, but I had to draw a line somewhere.

Training sucked up most of our time after school. Not even Dee realized that I was with Kat and him, and I knew what everyone thought at school about Kat. That she was now dating him and everything outside of her “boyfriend” ceased to exist. Keeping shut about that was a struggle as the days turned into weeks.

And as the time passed, Kat…she didn’t look like she was doing too good. Dark smudges appeared under her eyes. She was pale and drawn, always tired-looking. As if she was sleeping as well as me, which meant she wasn’t sleeping for shit.

I sensed an Arum only once since the Friday after Thanksgiving, and I spent nearly every night patrolling. Once, a week ago, when I was near the outskirts of Grant County, I felt the oily, suffocating presence and then it was gone. Nothing since. Not even when Adam or Andrew patrolled.

I had Matthew check out Blake’s records, telling him that I just had a strange feeling about the new kid. Everything Douche Bag had told Kat about where he was from was true. The only thing missing was his uncle’s name, but Matthew explained that wasn’t out of the ordinary.

Maybe what I felt for Kat was blinding me when it came to this kid, coloring my perspective. I didn’t know, but I couldn’t shake the fact that his appearance, his offer of help, was just too easy.

Working with Kat wasn’t accomplishing much. From what she claimed, she hadn’t had any recent unexpected outbursts, and she also wasn’t progressing very far. Douche Bag sucked at training. He talked. A lot. But what he’d said during one of the trainings actually made sense.

“Technically, whenever we use our abilities, we are sending a piece of ourselves,” he’d explained. “Like if I want to pick something up, a part of me is doing that as an extension of me. It’s why using our powers weakens us.” He paused, laughing when he saw Kat’s expression. “You have no idea what I’m talking about.”

With a bit of my help, Kat had finally been able to move items on purpose. She floated the books on and off the coffee table, and her eyes had lit up like someone just dumped a truckload of books in her lap.

That night had been one of the last nights I trained with her. The DOD checked in the following day, soaking up most of the afternoon. The visit hadn’t been anything out of the ordinary. Then Lydia had paid a visit the next day.

On the third night, after school, I hadn’t gone back. Not until tonight. Earlier today, in class, I’d noticed that her hand was bandaged. When I asked what had happened, she had avoided answering. Unease had sprouted, and grown throughout the day.

A horrible thought lingered in the back of my head. Had her training had something to do with her injury? I knocked, and within a heartbeat, the door flew open.

“Hey,” Kat gasped as she stared up at me. She looked more tired than the last time I saw her. “Are you helping tonight?”

My gaze dropped to her bandaged fingers. “Yeah. Where’s Bilbo?”

“Blake,” she corrected. “He’s in the living room.”

I shut the door behind me. “About your hand…”

“I burned it on the stove last night.” She shrugged, staring at the tips of my black boots.

“That…is…”

She sighed. “Lame?”

I didn’t know if I should believe her or be relieved. “Yeah, really lame, Kat. Maybe you should stay away from the stove for a little while?” I sidled past her and walked into the living room.

Douche Bag actually waved at me. “Nice of you to join us again.”

Grinning, I sat down next to him and spread my arm along the back of the couch, crowding him.

“I know you’ve missed me. It’s all right, I’m here.”

“Yeah,” he said, sounding real genuine.

Training got started, and I stayed quiet, watching Kat move stuff around. She was getting damn good at it. I was proud of her.

“Moving stuff is just a parlor trick, really,” Douche Bag said after Kat stacked about twenty books without touching them.

“Wow.” I cocked my head to the side. “You’re just now figuring that out?”

He stared at Kat, keeping his arms pinned to his chest. “The good news is you can do it on command now, but that doesn’t mean you have control. I hope it does, but we really don’t know.”

Geez, he was a really positive polly over there.

“I have an idea. You’re going to need to completely trust me. If I ask you to do something, you can’t fire back with a thousand questions.” He paused while my eyes narrowed. “We need to see something amazing.”

“I’m doing my best,” she said, her shoulders tensing.

“Your best isn’t good enough.” He exhaled loudly. “Okay. Stay here.”

She glanced at me as he disappeared into the foyer. “I have no idea what he’s up to.”

I arched a brow. “I’m guessing it’s going to be something I don’t like.”

There was an odd clank of silverware and then Douche Bag returned to the doorway, one hand behind his back. “You ready?”

“Sure,” she replied.

The kid smiled and then cocked his arm back. I saw the light reflecting off metal a second before he threw it—threw the knife straight at Kat.

Kat threw up her hand, a look of horror etched into her face. The knife stopped in midair. Frozen inches from her chest, pointy end facing toward her. It just stayed there, suspended.

My mouth dropped open as I blinked slowly.

He clapped. “I knew it!”

“What the hell, Blake?” Kat screeched as the knife fell to the floor.

He did not just throw a butcher knife at Kat’s chest.

I came out of my frozen stupor in a rage, what he had just done finally cracking through my skull. I was like a rocket of anger. Flipping into my true form, I slammed Blake into the wall, my whitish-red light nearly swallowing him.

I was going to kill him, right here and right now. This dumbass fucker was going to die. I lifted him until he was halfway up the wall.

“Whoa! Whoa!” he yelled, arms flailing in the light. “You need to check yourself. Katy wasn’t in any danger.”

That’s it. I’m going to kill him. That was my only warning to Kat. He didn’t hear me, but he knew death was coming. Windows began to shake and walls trembled. The flat-screen on the TV stand rattled. Puffs of plaster filled the air. My light flared, swallowing him whole.

“Daemon!” Kat shrieked. “Stop!”

Air heated and charged around me. Her terror-filled scream cycled over and over. She would hate me if I killed him—absolutely hate me. That I could almost deal with, but she would also be scared of me, and that…yeah, that I couldn’t handle.

With Herculean effort, I dropped his rat ass. Unfortunately, he landed on his feet and not his head. Kat darted in between us. “Okay. You two need to freaking stop.”

He ran his hands down his shirt, straightening. “I’m not doing anything.”

“You did throw a freaking knife at me,” she shot back.

I will break him in two.

Hearing my voice, Kat looked at me. “Stop.”

Fury hummed through me. He could’ve killed her, just like that, and I had sat there like a freaking idiot and let it happen. No more. I was done with this. She was done with this.

Still in my true form, I reached out and brushed my fingers along her cheek. Her skin was soft as silk and so damn fragile. Dropping my hand, I shifted into my human form. Only my eyes remained white and sharp like the damn knife he’d thrown at her.

“What the hell were you thinking?”

“She wasn’t in any danger!” he shouted. “If I thought for a second she couldn’t do it, I wouldn’t have thrown it at her!”

I sidestepped Kat, my hand curling into a fist. “But there was no way you would’ve known she could do it! Not a hundred percent!”

He turned pleading eyes on Kat. “I swear you were never in any danger, Katy. If I thought you couldn’t stop it, I wouldn’t have done it.”

I cursed again, but Kat blocked me. I stared down at her. “Who does that?”

“Actually, Kiefer Sutherland did. In the original Buffy movie,” he explained. “It was on TV a few nights ago. He threw one at Buffy, and she caught it.”

“That was Donald Sutherland—the dad,” I corrected. What an ass.

He shrugged. “Same difference.”

“I’m not Buffy!” Kat yelled.

A slow grin pulled at his lips. “You are definitely cuter than Buffy.”

I growled low in my throat. “You got a death wish? Because you’re really pushing it tonight, buddy. I’m dead serious. Really pushing it. I can hold you up against that wall until you run out of juice. Can you hold me off forever? No? I didn’t think so.”

His jaw jutted out. “Okay. I’m sorry. But if she hadn’t been able to catch it, I would’ve stopped it. Just like you would’ve. No harm. No foul.”

A whirlwind of rage was building inside me as Kat drew in a deep breath. “I think that’s enough for tonight.”

“But—”

“Blake, I really think you should leave,” she said. “Okay? I think you need to go.”

He stared at her for a moment and then nodded. “All right.” With a quick look in my direction, he started toward the door and stopped. “But you did great, Katy. I don’t think you realize how awesome that was.”

The fury rolled off me, rattling the floors. Douche Bag got the hell out of the house at that point. Part of me was disappointed. I was kind of hoping he’d be stupid enough to try something with me. At least then I could claim self-defense.

Silence fell in his wake until I finally spoke. “No more. Absolutely no more.” My voice was low as Kat faced me. “He could have killed you, Kat. I’m not okay with that. I won’t be okay with that.”

“Daemon, he wasn’t trying to kill me.”

Disbelief flooded me. “Are you insane?”

“No.” She bent and picked up the wickedly sharp knife.

“I don’t want you doing any more training with him. I don’t even want you near him. That boy’s got a few screws loose. I’m going to give him back-alley plastic surgery. I can’t—”

“Daemon,” she whispered.

“—believe he did that.” It hit me again, just how close she came to taking a knife wound to the chest. Stepping forward, I wrapped my arms around her and hauled her against me. I held her tight. “Jesus, Kat, he could have hurt you.” I lifted my hand, wrapping it around the back of my head. Good God, she could’ve died tonight, and I might not have been here to help her. I would’ve been out, chasing down a damn Arum.

Or sulking around my house like a loser.

A tremor rocked me. “Look, you’ve obviously got some control. I can help you work on it.” I rested my chin against the top of her head. “This can’t happen again.”

“Daemon.” Her voice was muffled.

“What?” I pulled back, lowering my chin.

“I froze it.”

My brows slammed together. “Huh?”

“I froze the knife.” She shimmied free, waving the knife around. “I didn’t just stop it, but I froze it. The thing was just hovering in air.”

Then it struck me. She was right. She didn’t stop it. She froze it, and that was one of the most difficult talents for even a fully grown Luxen to master. “Holy…”

She laughed. “God, that’s pretty huge, isn’t it?”

I nodded. “It is. That’s…that’s a big deal.”

Excitement flushed her pretty face. “We can’t stop training.”

No. No way. “Kat—”

“We can’t! Look, throwing a knife at me isn’t cool. And God knows, I’m not exactly thrilled that he did it, but it worked. It really worked. We’re getting somewhere—”

“What part of ‘He could’ve killed you’ don’t you understand?” I backed away before I shook some common sense into her. “I don’t want you training with him. Not when he’s putting your life in danger.”

“He’s not putting my life in danger.” She shook her head. “We can’t stop. I’ll be able to control it and use the Source, just like you and Dee can. I can help you—”

“Help me with what?” I stared at her, then laughed harshly. “Help me to fight Arum?”

Crossing her arms over her chest, she tapped the edge of the knife on her arm as her eyes narrowed on me. “Yeah, what if I wanted to?”

I laughed again. “Kitten, you’re not helping me fight Arum.”

“Why not? If I can control the Source and help, why not? I could fight.”

“I think the reasons are pretty huge,” I yelled, losing some of my patience. “First off, you’re a human.”

“Not really.”

“Granted, you’re a mutated human, but a human who’s a hell of a lot weaker and more vulnerable than a Luxen.”

She exhaled slowly. “You don’t know how weak or vulnerable I’ll be fully trained.”

“Whatever. Secondly, you have no business going up against the Arum. That will never happen.”

“Daemon—”

“It won’t if I’m still alive. Do you understand that? You will never go after an Arum. I don’t care if you can stop the world from spinning.”

Her cheeks flushed with anger. “You don’t own me, Daemon.”

“It’s not about ownership, you little nut.”

“Nut?” She glared at me. “I wouldn’t call me names when I have a knife in my hand.”

I almost laughed again. “Thirdly, there is something off about Blake. You can’t tell me you don’t see or sense that.”

“Oh, don’t—”

“You know nothing about him—nothing deeper than that he likes to surf and blog. Big deal.”

“These aren’t good enough reasons,” she fired back

“Because I don’t want you in danger—how about that? Is that damn good enough for you?” I shouted.

Kat jumped, her eyes widening slightly.

Hands on my hips, I looked away. I counted to ten. Still pissed, I counted to twenty. Didn’t work.

“Daemon,” she said, her voice softer. “You can’t stop me just to protect me.”

My head swung back to her. “I need to protect you.”

“Daemon, I’m flattered—I am, but your job is not to protect me. I’m not Dee. I’m not another one of your responsibilities.”

“Damn right you’re not Dee! But you are my responsibility. I got you into this mess. And I will not be dragging you further into it!”

“I’m not stopping,” she said, shoulders squaring.

Shocked, all I could do was stare at her for a moment. Didn’t she get it? Freezing knives would never prepare for her going toe to toe with an Arum. “Does it even matter that I don’t want you in that kind of danger? That I won’t facilitate something as idiotic as you gearing up to go against the Arum?”

She flinched. “Wanting to help you and your kind is idiotic?”

My jaw tightened. “Yeah, it is.”

“Daemon,” she whispered. “I get that you care—”

“You don’t get it. That’s the problem!” I stopped, pulling it all back in, sucking the air right out of the room with it. “I won’t be a part of this. I mean it, Katy. You choose this, then…whatever.” I hated saying it, but it was true. I would not usher her down this path. “I won’t have this hanging over my head like I do every freaking day with Dawson. I won’t make another mistake and condone this.”

She sucked in a sharp breath. “Daemon—”

“What will it be, Katy?” I looked at her dead on. “Tell me now.”

“I don’t know what to tell you.”

I jerked back, as if she had actually hit me. That would’ve been better than this, because she had made her choice. She’d chosen to put herself in danger. She’d chosen to ask me to be okay with it. She had chosen this. Every part of me hardened.

“That was the wrong thing to say. I’m done.”

Anger simmered inside, a constant companion since the night Kat nearly took a knife to the chest. The bitter edge of the fury had faded, only because I put some space between the incident and us. Knowing that she was still training with the psychotic asshole and not being there drove me crazy.

But I couldn’t—I wouldn’t—be a part of that.

It was bad enough knowing that I had stood by and virtually watched everything with Dawson happen and had done nothing to stop it. Then again, I was traveling down that same path at the speed of a racing bullet, wasn’t I?

As mad as I was with Kat, what I felt for her hadn’t lessened. A part of me wished it had, because it would make dealing with this a hell of a lot easier if I didn’t care, but I did.

I hated seeing how worn down she looked in class. I hated how upset my sister was, because Kat wasn’t spending any time with her. Dee asked nearly every night about Kat, as if she expected me to hold all the answers. Screwed-up thing was that I did, but what could I tell her? All I could do was reassure Dee that she hadn’t done anything to upset Kat. I hated that training had become everything to her. What was she trying to prove? That she was strong? That she could stand side by side with me?

Just thinking about it pissed me off and made me want to blow shit up.

A little over a week after the last training session, my phone dinged. Setting my laptop aside, I lifted my hand. The phone slid over my dresser and flew straight to my palm. As my fingers closed around it I wondered if Kat was able to do this now. Control movement so precisely. A lot could happen in a week. I flipped the phone over, seeing the text. My eyes widened slightly. It was from Kat.

Can u come over?

I stared at the message for a good minute and then tossed the phone on the bed. Leaning back, I scrubbed my hands down my face. I lowered my arms, flipping my gaze to the ceiling. I tracked the weblike crack in the plaster. Another text came through.