Текст книги "Oblivion"

Автор книги: Jennifer L. Armentrout

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Текущая страница: 45 (всего у книги 51 страниц)

I moved form the porch to Kat’s driveway in a blink of an eye, surprising Lane.

“Is there something I can help you with, Lane?”

He took a step back and pressed his hand to his chest. “Daemon, God, I hate when you do that.” When I didn’t respond, the older man gave a little shake of his head. “I’m doing an investigation.”

“Okay.”

I tensed as Lane reached into the breast pocket of his suit and pulled out a small notebook, flipping it open. “Officer Brian Vaughn has been missing since before New Year’s. I’m checking all possible leads.”

What entirely messed-up timing for him to show up today, of all days, to question us about Vaughn. I kept my voice level and face blank as I folded my arms across my chest. “Why would I know what happened to him or care?”

Lane raised a brow. “When was the last time you saw him?”

“I haven’t seen him since the day you guys showed up to do your check-in and you all wanted to eat at the disgusting Chinese buffet,” I responded. “I still haven’t recovered from that.”

He gave a reluctant grin. “Yes, the food was terrible.” He scribbled something down and then slid his notebook back into his pocket. “So you haven’t seen Vaughn at all?”

“Nope.” I glanced over his shoulder, spotting movement.

The other man nodded. “I know you two weren’t big fans of each other. I didn’t figure he’d make any unauthorized visits, but we have to check every avenue at this point.”

“Understandable.” I glanced over to where I’d seen something between the trees, but I couldn’t be sure. “Why were you checking out the neighbor’s house?”

“I was checking out all the houses,” he replied. “You still friends with the girl we saw you with?”

My eyes narrowed.

Lane laughed as he walked past me, clapping me on the shoulder. “Daemon, when are you ever going to loosen up? I don’t care who you…spend your time with. I’m just doing my job.”

Like I truly believed that. Lane wasn’t as much of a dick as Vaughn had been, but that wasn’t saying much. “So, if I decided to exclusively date humans and settle down with one, you wouldn’t report me?”

“As long as I don’t see undeniable evidence, I don’t care. This is just a job with a good retirement, and I hope to make it to that point.” He started for his vehicle but stopped, facing me. “There’s a difference between evidence and my gut. For example, my gut told me that your brother was in a serious relationship with the human he disappeared with, but there wasn’t any evidence.”

I leaned against his SUV. Now the conversation was leading into tricky territory. Either Lane was going to lie and pretend that he didn’t know Dawson was sitting inside, most likely not eating his grilled cheese sandwich, or he was going to speak the truth. “Did you see my brother’s body when they found him?”

A tense moment followed, and Lane lowered his chin. “I wasn’t there when they said they found his body along with the girl’s. I was only told what happened. I’m just an officer.” He raised his head. “And I haven’t been told any different. I’m nothing in the big scheme of things, but I’m not blind.”

“What are you saying?” I asked.

Lane smiled tightly. “I know what’s in your house, Daemon. I know that I was lied to—a lot of us have been lied to and have no idea what’s really going on. We just have jobs. We do them, and we keep our heads down.”

I nodded as my respect for the man increased. “And you’re keeping your head down now?”

“I was told to check on Vaughn’s possible whereabouts and that was about it.” He motioned at his car door, and I stepped away from it. “I know not to address anything unless told so. I really want that retirement plan.” He climbed in, closing the car door. “You take care.”

I moved back. “See you around, Lane.”

Tires spun and kicked up gravel as the Expedition pulled back onto the road, puffing out exhaust. That was an…interesting conversation. While I wanted to believe what Lane had said, I knew better than to view him as a non-threat.

Sighing, I wheeled around, scanning the woods. I caught a flash of blue—the sweater Kat was wearing earlier. I started up the driveway, pausing when Kat trotted out of the woods.

“Is everything okay?” she asked.

I nodded. “Did you hear any of that?”

“Yeah, I was heading back when I saw him.” She paused, nose scrunching. “Do you believe him?”

“I don’t know.” I dropped my arm over her shoulders, steering her toward my house. “Lane has always been a decent guy, but this doesn’t sit well with me.”

She folded an arm around my waist and leaned in. “Which part?”

“All of it—this whole scenario.” I sat on the step down from the top of the porch and tugged her into my lap, wrapping my arms around her. “The fact that the DOD—even Lane—knows damn well that Dawson’s back and that they have to realize we know they lied. And they’re doing nothing.” I closed my eyes as she pressed her cheek to mine. “And what we’re doing tonight—it can work, but it’s so insane. Part of me wonders if they already know we’re coming.”

Kat smoothed her thumb along my jaw as she kissed my cheek. “Do you think we’re walking into a trap?”

“I think we’ve been inside the trap the entire time and we’re just waiting for it to spring closed.” I picked up her dirty hand.

She shuddered. “And we’re going to still do this?” I met her gaze. “You don’t have to.”

“Neither do you,” she replied softly. “But we both are.”

“That we are.”

Neither of us spoke for several moments, and then she kissed me. “I think…I’m going to spend some time with my mom before we leave. She should be awake soon.”

I kissed her back, pouring into it everything I felt—the yearning for more time, the desperation that there wasn’t enough, and everything I felt for her. When I spoke, my voice sounded raw to my ears. “That’s a good idea, Kitten.”

Hours later, everyone was tense on the way to Mount Weather. There were laughs and curses, but it was forced. We all knew that some or all might not make the drive back. That was a sobering realization that haunted every single one of us.

So I focused on the fact that Kat was wearing one of my old black thermals, and there was nothing more hot in this world than seeing her in my clothes. The amount of possessive pride I felt was probably a bit disturbing.

We took two cars—Dee, Ash, and Andrew were riding in Matthew’s car. Made sense for Blake to be in mine, because I was slightly less likely to kill him on the way. The idiot stayed quiet for the first thirty minutes, but now he wouldn’t shut up. It got so bad that Dawson muttered, “Do you ever stop talking?”

“When I’m sleeping,” Blake replied.

“And when you’re dead,” I threw back. “You’ll stop talking when you’re dead.”

There was a pause. “Point taken.”

“Good.” I focused on the road. “Try shutting up for a while.”

Kat twisted around, facing Dawson. “What are you going to do when you see Beth?”

Remembering what he’d said in the kitchen, I had no idea how he was going to answer this question.

And then he said, “Oh, man, I don’t know. Breathe—I’ll finally be able to breathe.”

Damn.

God. Damn.

Kat’s voice was throaty as she spoke. “I’m sure she’ll feel the same way.”

She glanced at me, and I grinned a little. Her shoulders tensed as she looked back at Blake. “What about you?”

He didn’t answer immediately. “We’ll leave here and head west. And the first thing we’re going to do is go surfing. He really dug the sea.”

My lips twitched at that, because it sounded so damn normal.

Kat turned back around, focusing on her hands. “That’s…that’s good.”

When we were about a half a mile from the access road, a cell dinged from the backseat. “It’s from Luc,” Blake said. “He wants to make sure we’re on schedule.”

“We are,” I answered.

Dawson leaned forward, in between the front seats. Might as well climb into my lap. “Are we sure?” he asked.

“Yes. I’m sure.”

“Just checking,” Dawson grumbled, sitting back.

Blake took his place, and I groaned. “All right, Luc’s ready to do this. He wanted to remind us we’ve only got fifteen minutes. Anything goes wrong, we get out and try again later.”

“I don’t want to try again later,” Dawson protested. “Once we get in, we’ve got to keep going.”

In the rearview mirror, I saw Blake frown. “I want to get them out just as badly as you, man, but we have a limited gap of time. That’s all.”

“We stick to the plan.” I met my brother’s gaze in the mirror. “That’s it, Dawson. I’m not losing you again.”

“Nothing’s going to go wrong, anyway,” Kat interjected. “Everything’s going to go as planned.”

My jaw tensed, seeing the access road up ahead. I slowed down, merging into the left lane. There were no markings, but this was the only road that resembled the one on the map. In the rearview mirror, I saw Matthew’s headlights follow me. A couple hundred feet on the dark road, there was an old farmhouse to the right, barely lit under the silvery moon.

Bingo.

“Creepy,” Kat murmured, staring at half the missing roof. “I bet your ghost guys would say this place is haunted.”

I chuckled. “They say every place is haunted. That’s why I love them.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Dawson said as we parked, and Matthew was right behind us.

Matthew and I killed the lights and engines. Glancing at the clock, I saw that we had five minutes till nine. There was no time to waste at this point.

Blake’s cell went off again. “He’s just making sure we’re ready.”

“God, he’s an annoying little kid,” I muttered, facing where Matthew parked. “We’re getting ready to do this. Andrew?”

He slipped out, murmuring something to Dee and his sister. Then he turned, throwing up what looked like a gang symbol. What the hell? “I’m ready steady,” he said.

“Geez,” Blake muttered.

“We stick to the plan. At no time do any of us,” I directed mostly to Dawson, “deviate from the plan. All of us are coming back tonight.”

Everyone was in agreement as we piled out of the cars. I met Kat around the front, placing my hand on her arm. “Stick close to me.”

She nodded.

Her nervousness was a tangible entity, and I couldn’t blame her. I wasn’t letting myself think too much about what we were doing, because it was freaking insane. “Time?” I asked.

Blake glanced down at his lit cell phone. “One minute.”

In the darkness, I found Kat’s hand and squeezed.

“Thirty seconds,” Blake said.

I stopped making my lungs function.

“Ten seconds.”

Giving her hand one more squeeze, I then held on. There was no way I was letting her go.

Beside us, Blake bent forward. “Three, two, go!”

We were gone, the five of us, rushing through the darkness. Energy rippled through the air, charging it with static. We hit the mountain, sticking close to the road but avoiding the streams of light.

I held on to Kat, but I didn’t have to pick up her slack. She was keeping right beside us, moving just as fast as the rest of us. A little over a minute, bright spotlights lit a twenty-foot tall fence. We slowed down, coming to a complete stop behind the last stand of trees.

Red and white signs marked the fence as being electrical. Beyond them was a football-field-length open space and then a massive structure—Mount Weather.

“Time?” I asked.

“One minute after nine.” Blake ran a hand through his hair. “Okay, I got one guard at the gate. Do you see any others?”

I scanned, not seeing anyone else. Luc had been right. It was a shift change, and only the gate was covered. We were going to have to hit the guard before he knew what was coming.

“Give me a second,” Andrew said, slipping away from the trees, creeping toward the guard dressed in black.

Tensing, I watched as he dipped and placed his hand on the ground. Blue sparks flew and the guard started to twist toward where Andrew was crouched, but the surge of electricity reached the guard.

The man rattled like someone shook him. The gun he carried fell from his hands, and seconds later, he was lying on the ground beside it. The man was alive, but oblivious to the world.

“He doesn’t know what hit him.” Andrew grinned as he blew a breath over his fingers. “He’ll be out for about twenty or so minutes.”

“Nice,” Dawson said. “I’d have fried his brain if I tried that.”

I chose not to respond to that as I approached the gate. All I could rely on was that Luc had taken the cameras down and given us the right codes. If not, we were officially screwed.

And Luc was officially a dead kid.

“Icarus,” Blake said quietly.

I nodded and then quickly typed in the code. A mechanical clicking followed, and a low hum broke the silence. Our breaths puffed, forming misty clouds in the cold air as the gate swung open.

Too soon to be relieved.

Motioning everyone forward, we raced across the field and reached the building. I scanned the wall, not finding the control panel to enter the second code.

“Where’s the damn keypad?” Dawson demanded, pacing between the doors.

Kat stepped back. “There.” She pointed toward the right.

Andrew jogged over to where the panel was stuck behind an overlay. “Ready.”

Glancing at Kat and then me, Dawson nodded and focused on the middle door in front of us. “Ready.”

“Labyrinth,” I murmured from where I stood behind Kat and Dawson. “And please, God, spell it correctly.”

Andrew snickered and then entered the code. A second passed and the door quietly slid open, revealing a wide orange tunnel. All the way at the end were the elevators. From there, we’d go down six floors, and then we’d find the cells.

What happened next was so fast.

Dawson stepped through the door, Kat right behind him. I reached for her, wanting her to stay at my side, but before I could even touch her there was this small hissing sound, as if we’d neared a pit of vipers.

Without warning, Dawson dropped to the ground in a withering heap. My stomach dropped as horror and anger rose swiftly. I raced to his side, placing my hands on him. He jerked as if my touch scalded him. I scanned his body, seeing no visible injuries.

What the hell?

“No one moves,” Andrew ordered as Blake’s face paled.

Then it hit me, the way Dawson contorted his body. It was so familiar, as was the glazed-over look of raw pain in his eyes. Onyx.

The whole damn world stopped as I looked up. On the frame of the door, there was a series of nozzles, facing down. The hissing sound came again. Onyx, I realized stupidly, weaponized, airborne onyx.

I lurched forward, but it was too late.

Kat locked up, her back stiffening unnaturally. Her mouth dropped open in a silent scream as she took a direct hit.

Chapter 14

Instinct took over as everything else shut down. Reaching Kat, I winced when pain clouded her face as I picked her up. Gathering her against my chest, I spun around as Andrew grabbed Dawson. I had to get the onyx off her.

I ran fast, speeding across the lawn and back through the woods, near the access road, reaching where the others waited in less than a minute. I had no idea what kind of damage airborne onyx could do, but the bitter tang of fear was overwhelming.

“What happened?” Dee cried out, racing forward.

“Onyx—it was in the air. It’s all over her.” I stepped back when Dee came forward. “Don’t. It’ll get on you. Andrew is bringing Dawson. I need to get it off her. Now.”

Matthew cursed, slamming his fist into the side of his car. Metal dented. He whirled on us. “The river! Get her to the river.”

Spinning, I took off again, knowing that the river was at the base of the mountain. Wind howled as I raced to the river we’d passed on the way in. It was bone-chilling cold, but it was the quickest way for me to get the horrible stuff off her.

Everywhere she touched my bare skin, the onyx burned. The red-hot pain felt like tiny hooks were under my skin, digging in and ripping through bone and tissue. I powered past the fiery hell, focusing on the river. Once the musky scent of the water invaded my senses, I wanted to drop to my knees but couldn’t. We hit the water at full speed.

“Hold on to me,” I told her. “It’s going to be cold, but the onyx is all over your clothes and hair. Just hold on, okay?”

Kat didn’t answer, and I strung together a mouthful of curses as icy water lapped at my legs and then my knees. I gritted my teeth, and when the water reached Kat’s leg, soaking through her pants, she tried to scramble up me, but I couldn’t let her. Holding on to her and hating myself for doing this to her, I folded my hand along the back of her head and then dunked both of us under water.

Fuck.

The ice-cold water seized up every part of me, and I knew if it was this bad for me, it was worse for Kat. She was shaking her head erratically, stirring up sediment, but the burn was fading.

Using my knees, I pushed us both back up. Our heads broke the surface. Kat dragged in air by the lungful as I raced us out of the water onto the riverbank just as Andrew launched into the river, taking Dawson under. Gently, carefully, I laid her down on the bank. Hands shaking, I smoothed the clumps of wet hair off her pale face. Her gray eyes were wide, lips nearly blue, and her chest rose and fell sharply.

Behind me, water splashed. I looked over my shoulder, surprised to see Blake helping drag Dawson out of the water. They laid him next to Kat. She slowly turned her head toward them. None of us moved.

Then Dawson flung an arm over his face as he bent one leg. “Crap.”

Relief made my knees weak. I cradled her cheeks again, turning her head toward mine. “Are you okay? Say something, Kitten. Please.”

“Wow,” she croaked out.

I stared at her a moment. Wow? Then I was moving without thinking. Folding my arms around her, I lifted her into my arms as I fell back on my ass, holding her so tightly she let out a hoarse squeal.

“God, I don’t even know…” I cupped the back of her head. “I was scared to death.”

“I’m okay.” Her voice was muffled. “What about you? You had to have—”

“It’s all off me. Don’t even worry about that.” A shudder rocked me. “Damn, Kitten…”

Kat clutched the front of my wet sweater as I ran my hands over her, making sure there were no injuries I hadn’t seen. When I found none, I kissed her forehead, then each eyelid. I couldn’t get my hands to stop trembling.

Two sets of headlights appeared, and out of the stream of questions, Dee dropped to her knees beside Dawson, clutching his hand. “What happened? Someone tell us what happened.”

Matthew and Ash walked up behind her as Andrew did his best to explain what happened. “I don’t know. They had something that came out of the doors when they opened. It was some kind of spray, but it had no smell and we couldn’t see it.”

“It hurt like a bitch.” Dawson rubbed his arms. “And there’s only one thing that feels like that. Onyx. But I’ve never seen it like that before.” With stiff movements and Ash and Dee’s help, he climbed to his feet. “It was airborne. Insane. I think I swallowed some.”

“Are you okay? Katy?” Matthew asked.

Kat nodded. “How did you know to get us to the river?”

Lifting my hand, I knocked the wet hair off my forehead. “I guessed it was onyx when I didn’t see any visible wounds and it was on your clothes and skin. I remembered passing the river. Thought it was the best place to go.”

“We didn’t even make it past the first set of doors.” Andrew barked out a laugh. “What the hell were we thinking? They have that place wired against Luxen and apparently hybrids.”

Come to think of it, how did Blake not know about this? He’d been to Mount Weather before. How did he not know about the onyx?

Helping Kat stand, I dropped my arms and then stalked over to where Blake sat. “You’ve been to Mount Weather before, right?”

Slowly, Blake pushed to his feet. “Yeah, but nothing—”

I slammed my fist into Blake’s jaw, knocking him back down. He leaned over, planting his elbow in the dirt as he spit out a mouthful of blood. “I didn’t know—I didn’t know they had something like that!”

“I’m finding that hard to believe.”

Blake lifted his head. “You have to believe me! Nothing like that ever happened before. I don’t understand.”

“Bullshit,” Andrew said. “You set us up.”

“No. No way.” Blake staggered to his feet, his back to the river. He placed a hand to his jaw. “Why would I set you guys up? My friend is—”

“I don’t care about your friend!” Andrew shouted. “You’ve been there! How could you not know they had the doors rigged with that stuff?”

Blake turned to Kat. “You have got to believe me. I had no idea that was going to happen. I wouldn’t lead you guys into a trap.”

“And Luc didn’t know?” she asked, sounding doubtful.

“If he did, he would’ve told us. Katy—”

“Don’t,” I warned as the edges of my anger started to shimmer. “Don’t talk to her. Don’t even talk to any of us right now.”

Blake opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He shook his head as he stalked back to the cars.

There was a gap of silence, and then Ash asked, “What do we do now?”

“I don’t know.” I watched Dawson pace. “I really don’t know.”

Dee rose. “This sucks. This sucks donkey butt.”

“We’re back at square one,” Andrew said. “Hell, we’re at negative one.”

Dawson whipped toward me. “We can’t give up. Promise me we won’t give up.”

“We won’t,” I assured him. “We’re not giving up.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Matthew walk out from his car and drape a blanket over Kat’s shoulders. He said something to her, and Kat hunkered down in the blanket. A second later, he guided her back to the SUV. I heard the door close and the engine come on.

Exhaling roughly, I faced Dawson. Our gazes locked. “I’m not giving up.”

Dawson lifted his chin, his mouth pressed in a flat line. He didn’t say anything as he stalked back to the SUV. I looked up. Stars blanketed the sky, as endless and unforgiving as our rescue mission had been.

Kat had stopped shivering halfway back to Petersburg, but I was still worried about her. She might be a hybrid, but she’d been doused with onyx, and I’d nearly drowned her in the Shenandoah River. There was no way I was letting her out of my sight tonight.

Near midnight, I pulled into the driveway. Blake had slunk off without so much as a word, and I hoped he walked off a cliff somewhere. I didn’t care. Catching Kat before she could head next door, I steered her inside. Everyone was talking, but again, I didn’t care. Still shrouded in Matthew’s blanket, Kat looked numb and exhausted.

I took her hand. “Let’s get you into some dry clothes.”

She waved me off at the bottom of thestairs when I went to pick her up. “I’m fine.”

I made a disgruntled sound, but stayed behind her as she slowly climbed the steps, just in case she went ass over teakettle. Once in my bedroom, I closed the door behind us.

Kat sighed. “We kind of deserved this.”

Walking over to where she stood, I pried the blanket off her. “How so?”

“We’re a bunch of teenagers, and we thought we could break into a facility run by Homeland Security and the DOD? I mean, come on. This was bound to go wrong—wait!” she said, grabbing my wrists as I grabbed the hem of the thermal. “What are you doing?”

“Getting you naked.”

Her mouth dropped open. “Uh, wow. Way to cut to the point.”

I gave her a half grin. “Your clothing is soaked and cold. And there are probably traces of onyx still on them. You need to get out of them.”

She smacked my hands away. “I can do that myself.”

Leaning in, I spoke directly in her ear. “Where’s the fun in that?” I let go, though, and walked over to my dresser. “You really think we were doomed to fail?”

The following rustle of clothing being stripped off really made it hard to not look.

“Don’t…don’t turn around.”

Considering I’d seen it before, I shook my head as I rooted around for something she could wear.

“I don’t know,” she said finally. “It was a huge undertaking for trained spies. We’re in over our heads.”

“But we were fine until we hit those doors.” I pulled out a shirt that would work like a gown on her, albeit a short gown. “I hate to say this, but I really don’t think Blake knew about them. The look on his face when you and Dawson went down—it was too real.”

“Then why did you punch him in the face?”

“I wanted to.” Placing a hand over my eyes, I turned around and offered her the shirt. “Here you go.”

She grabbed it quickly and for a moment, I split my fingers, catching the shirt billowing around her thighs.

“You were peeking,” she said.

“Maybe.” I took her hand and led her to the bed. “Get in. I’m going to check on Dawson and I’ll be back.”

Kat climbed onto the bed and made her way to what was turning out to be her side. She grabbed the comforter and tugged it all the way up to her chin. I headed out into the hallway, stopping at the top of the stairs. I could hear Dawson and Dee. Andrew’s voice was in the mix. Matthew had probably already left.

I needed to go down and check on Dawson, but as I stood there at the top of the stairs, I told myself that Dee had it handled; so did Andrew. I wasn’t always…needed. I didn’t have to be the one to always take care of everything.

Instead of going downstairs, I pivoted and walked to my bedroom. Slipping inside the room lit by silvery moonlight, I went back to the dresser and grabbed a pair of pajama bottoms. Quickly changing, I then made my way over to the bed. I pulled the covers back and slid in.

Kat wiggled closer. “How’s Dawson?”

“He’s doing okay. He’s not a happy camper, though.” I didn’t need to go downstairs to know that.

“Thank you for getting us out of there.” She tilted her head back as I brushed the still-damp hair off her cheek.

“I had help.” I pressed my lips against her forehead. “You feeling okay?”

“I feel fine. Stop worrying about me.”

I curled my fingers through her hair. “Don’t ever walk through a door first again, okay? And don’t argue with me about it or accuse me of being chauvinistic. I don’t ever want to see you in that kind of pain again.”

I waited for her to argue with me, but she scooted over and placed a hand on my bare chest. Static jumped across her fingers as she kissed me. I returned the kiss with a soft one. The kiss was more of a benediction, sweet and tender, but the kisses changed. I don’t think either of us planned for that, but the residual adrenaline from tonight kicked back in, heightening our senses.

Kat shifted onto her back, and I followed. There wasn’t a moment where we lost contact with each other. I settled over her, her softness welcoming me, undoing me. In mere seconds, our failure at Mount Weather was shoved out of this room, locked away.

I smoothed my hand down, catching the borrowed shirt and baring her shoulder. I blazed a trail of kisses down her throat, shuddering when I heard her soft moan. When I kissed the smooth skin of her shoulder, Kat lifted up and raised her arms.

There wasn’t a moment of hesitation for me. God. There never was, not anymore, when it came to Kat.

I tugged her shirt off and I was struck motionless by the beauty of her.

My hand trembled slightly. I shook as I stared down at her. Since all of her clothing had been soaked, there’d been nothing under that shirt. I don’t know why I didn’t think about that until now.

Damn.

Kat undid me in ways she’d never know.

I was greedy with my hands. There wasn’t a part of her I didn’t want to touch, to explore, and she was the same. Her hands smoothed over my chest and my stomach, slipping under the loose band of the pants, and then they, too, were shed, and there was nothing at all between us.

In the back of my head, I wanted our first time to be perfect. Corny. Hell, I knew it was corny. Kat was worth perfection, but there was nothing but sensations and wants and needs. Energy coursed over us, and I was ready. She was ready.

“Don’t stop,” she whispered.

My heart freaking stopped at the sound of her plea. I kissed her deeply, and when I lifted up, electricity crackled over our skin. This was going to happen. Our breaths came in rough pants. Our hearts pounded in rhythm. We both were ready. Sitting up, I reached for the bedside table.

Kat’s gaze met mine. She bit down on her lower lip, and then a giggle broke free. I smiled at the happy sound, and I spoke in the language rarely ever heard or spoken.

“What did you say?” she asked.

I grabbed a foil package from the nightstand. “There’s really no translation for it, but the closest human words would be ‘you are beautiful to me.’”

Kat sucked in a sharp breath, and our gazes locked. She reached up, sinking her fingers into my hair. I started to open the packet.

A fist pounded on the door, and Andrew’s voice intruded. “Daemon, are you awake?”

Disbelief thundered through me. “If I ignore him, do you think he’ll go away?”

Her hands fell to the bed. “Maybe.”

The pounding came again, so nope. “Daemon, I really need you downstairs. Dawson is ready to go back to Mount Weather. Nothing Dee and I are saying to him is making a bit of difference. He’s like a suicidal Energizer bunny.”

Stomach sinking, I squeezed my eyes shut. “Son of a bitch…”

“It’s okay.” Kat started to sit up. “He needs you.”

Yeah, but I needed Kat, like real bad.

I glared at the door. Cursing under my breath, I tossed the foil packet back into the nightstand. “Stay here and get some rest. I’ll talk—or beat some sense into him.” I kissed her briefly, and then gently pushed her back down. “I’ll be back.”

She snuggled in, smiling. “Try not to kill him.”

“No promises.” Grabbing the pajama bottoms, I pulled them on and made my way to the door. Stopping, I looked back at her. Seconds. I’d been seconds away from pure heaven. Seconds. I sighed. “Dammit.”

Andrew was leaning against the wall across from my bedroom when I opened the door. The look on his face was knowing, sly. I smacked him upside the head as I walked past him.

“Ouch,” he yelled. “What in the hell was that for?”

“Your timing sucks on an epic level,” I shot back.

“Hey, not my fault, man.” He fell into step beside me. “More like your brother has bad timing.”

The moment I walked into the living room and saw Dawson’s determined expression and Dee’s concerned grimace, my libido was officially cooled. “What are you doing, Dawson?” I demanded. “It’s now past one in the morning and—”

“I don’t care what time it is.” Dawson’s eyes flashed an intense white. “Beth is still at Mount Weather, and we’re here, doing nothing.”

Dee shook her head. “You and Kat were injured. You—”

“We are fine,” he shot back, stepping to the side, but I blocked him in. “There’s no reason for us not to go back.”