Текст книги "Onyx (A Lux Novel)"

Автор книги: Jennifer L. Armentrout

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Текущая страница: 6 (всего у книги 25 страниц)

Chapter 9

Simon yelped as he lurched from the falling glass. “What the hell?”

Struck by absolute horror, I stood motionless. Simon shook his arms and more glass fell away from his clothes. Little pieces slid through my hair, some falling out and others getting stuck in the tangled waves. My arm felt like someone pinched me, and I knew Dee’s dress was torn. The other window shuddered. I didn’t know how to control it. The pane continued to tremble violently. There was another loud crack.

Backing up, Simon glanced from the windows and then to me. His glassy eyes were wide. “You…”

I couldn’t catch my breath. There was a faint reddish-white glow creeping into my vision. The remaining window on the second floor vibrated.

Face pale, he stumbled over his own feet, falling to the ground. “You’re…you’re glowing. You—you freak!”

I was glowing? “No! It’s not me. I don’t know what’s happening, but it’s not me!”

He scrambled to his feet, and I took a step toward him. He threw up his hand and wobbled. “Stay away from me! Just stay away from me.”

Unable to do anything, I watched him stagger around the house. A car door opened and an engine roared to life. A distant part of my brain told me I needed to stop him, because he was obviously too drunk to drive.

But then the top window exploded.

Cringing, I shielded my face as glass rained down, pinging off the ground and me. My breath sawed in and out of my chest until the very last piece of glass landed. I stood there, mortified and frightened by what I’d done. Not only did I expose my freak-o abilities again, I’d almost turned Simon into a pincushion. Man, I was so screwed.

Minutes passed before I straightened and picked my way around the shattered glass, making my way into the heavy tree line. A fine sheen of cold sweat dotted my forehead and residual fear kept hitting me low in the stomach. What had I done? When my house came into sight, I felt the familiar tingle along my neck. Branches and leaves crunched, and I turned.

Daemon’s steps slowed as he spotted me. He pushed a low-hanging branch aside as he neared. “What are you doing out here, Kat?”

Several moments passed before I could speak. “I just blew up a bunch of windows.”

“What?” Daemon moved closer, eyes widening. “You’re bleeding. What happened?” He paused. “Where are your shoes?”

I glanced down at my feet. “I took them off.”

In the blink of an eye, Daemon was beside me, knocking off tiny pieces of glass. “Kat, what happened?”

Lifting my head, I sucked in a sharp breath. Full-blown panic squeezed my chest. “I was walking and I ran into Simon—”

“Did he do this to you?” His voice was so low it sent shivers through me.

“No. No! I ran into him, and he was upset about you.” I paused, my eyes searching his. “He said you beat him up?”

“Yeah, I did.” No apology in his voice.

“Daemon, you can’t beat up guys because they talk badly about me.”

“Actually, I can.” His hand clenched at his side. “He deserved it. I’m not going to lie. I did it because of what he was saying. It was bullshit.”

I had no idea what to say. Ha. Me. Speechless.

“He knows what he did—what he tried to do—and to spin that around on you?” Daemon eye’s flitted to the shadows seeping among the trees. “I’m not going to let some punk-ass human talk about you like that, especially himor his friends.”

“Wow,” I murmured, blinking rapidly. Sometimes I forgot how protective Daemon could be…or how downright scary. “I don’t think I’m supposed to say thank you, because that seems wrong, but, um, thanks.”

“Anyway, that’s not important. What happened?”

Taking several deep breaths, I let the words come out in a rush. When I was done, Daemon wrapped an arm around me, tugging me against his chest. I didn’t resist him, pressing my face into him and clutching his sides, feeling safer in his embrace than I did any place else. And I couldn’t blame the connection for that. Even before it was formed, his arms had always been a sanctuary of sorts.

“I know you didn’t do it on purpose, Kitten.” His hand pressed a soothing circle against my back. “Simon was drunk, so there’s a good chance he won’t even remember. And if he does, no one will believe him.”

Hope sparked. “You think?”

“Yes. People will think he’s crazy.” Daemon pulled back, lowering his head so we were eye level. “No one will believe him, okay? And if he starts to talk, I’ll—”

“You’ll do nothing.” I shimmied free, drawing a deep breath. “I think you’ve already scarred the boy for life.”

“Obviously not,” he muttered. “What were you thinking back there? You were upset. Why?”

Heat infused my cheeks, and I started walking toward my house.

Daemon let out a long, suffering sigh. He was right beside me. “Kat, talk to me.”

“I can make it back home without your help, thank you very much.”

He held a branch out of the way so I could pass under it. “I would hope so. It isright there.”

“Shouldn’t you be making out with Ash right now anyway?”

He stared at me like I’d grown two heads. I recognized my mistake immediately.

“That’s what all of this is about?”

“No. It had nothing to do with you—or her.”

“You’re jealous.” He sounded smug. “I’m so going to win this bet.”

I stomped forward. “Me? Jealous? You’ve lost your mind. I wasn’t the one trying to scare off Blake.”

He grabbed my arm, stopping me just as my porch came into sight. “Who cares about Ben?”

“Blake,” I corrected.

“Whatever. I thought you didn’t like me?”

My hand curled in the air. There was no breaking his hold. “You’re right. I don’t like you.”

Anger flared in his eyes. “You’re lying—blushing cheeks and all.”

The worst case of verbal diarrhea happened. “You were kissing me a few days ago and now you were having funwith Ash? Is this what you normally do? Jump from one girl to the next?”

“No.” He dropped my arm. “That’s not what I do. I don’t.”

“Yeah, I hate to break it to you, but you are doing it.” And so had I. What was I doing? I couldn’t be mad at him when I had done the same thing, but I was. It was ridiculous. “God, I am being such a whiny girl. Just forget I said anything. You can do whatever you want and I don’t have any right—”

Daemon cursed, dropping my arm. “Okay. You have no idea what was going on between Ash and me. We were only talking. She was messing with you, Kat.”

“Whatever.” I whirled around, walking again. “I’m not jealous. I don’t care if you and Ash make alien babies together. I don’t care. And honestly, if it weren’t for this stupid connection, you wouldn’t even enjoy kissing me. You probably already don’t.”

Daemon was suddenly in front of me. I took an involuntary step back. “Do you think I didn’t enjoy kissing you? That I haven’t thought about it every second since then? And I know you have. Just admit it.”

In the pit of my stomach, tight coils thrummed. “What is the point of this?”

“Have you?”

“Oh, for crap’s sake, yes, I have. I do! Do you want me to write it down for you? Send you an e-mail or a text? Will that make you feel better?”

Daemon arched a brow. “You don’t need to be sarcastic.”

“And you don’t need to be here. Ash is waiting for you.”

He cocked his head to the side in exasperation. “Do you really think I’m going to go to her?”

“Uh, yeah, I do.”

“Kat.” He shook his head, his voice a soft denial.

“It doesn’t matter.” I took a deep breath. “Can we just forget this? Please?”

Daemon smoothed a finger over his brow. “I can’t forget this and neither can you.”

Frustrated, I turned on my heel and stalked toward my house. I half expected him to stop me, but after a few successful steps away I realized he wasn’t going to. I had to fight turning around to see if he still stood there. I’d made enough of a fool of myself tonight. Kicked a hissy fit over Ash and Daemon, stormed out of the party, and nearly decapitated Simon. All of this before midnight.

Awesome.

Chapter 10

Turning eighteen wasn’t as exciting as I’d thought it would be when I was a kid, but some pretty cool stuff happened. I made it most of the day not worrying over what had happened last night. Blake called to chat, and I received a shiny new laptop already set up with everything installed.

Before I did anything else, I logged into my blog and wrote a quick “I’m Back!” post. A huge chunk of my life that had been missing returned. Mom had to pull me away from the laptop pretty quickly, though. I spent the rest of the day traveling a great distance with Mom to meet Will at the nearest Olive Garden.

Will was the touchy, feely sort.

I wasn’t sure how to feel. Not once did he take his hand off my mother’s during dinner. It was cute, and he was charming and handsome, but it was just weird to see her with another dude. Weirder than I’d thought it would be. But he did give me a gift card to the local bookstore. Bonus points there.

The customary ice-cream cake was different this year. Will joined us at home for it.

“Here,” he said, taking the knife from Mom. “If you run it under hot water, it’s easier to use.”

Mom beamed up at him like he’d just discovered the cure for cancer. They chatted while I sat at the table, trying not to roll my eyes.

Will placed a slice in front of me. “Thank you,” I said.

He smiled. “No problem. I’m just glad you’re completely recovered from the flu. No one wants to be sick on their birthday.”

“I second that,” Mom said.

She didn’t take her eyes off him until it was near the time for her to get ready for her shift in Winchester. Will remained in the kitchen with me, finishing off the last of his cake while the silence between us grew to an awkward level of epic proportions.

“Have you been enjoying your birthday so far?” he asked, dangling the fork from his long fingers.

I swallowed the last of the crunchy part, which was the only section of the ice-cream cake I’d eat. “Yeah, it’s been really nice.”

Will picked up his glass, tipping it toward me. “Well, let’s toast to many more in the future,” he said. I picked up mine, clanging it off his. He smiled, crinkling the skin around his eyes. “I plan on being here to share them with you and your mother.”

Unsure of how to feel about him being here a year from now, I set my glass down and bit my lip. Part of me wanted to be happy for Mom, but the other part felt like I was betraying Dad.

Will cleared his throat, inclining his head to the side as he watched me. Amusement flickered in his eyes that were so pale, they were almost gray like mine. “I know you probably don’t like the sound of that. Kellie told me how close you were to your father. I can understand your reluctance to having me around.”

“I’m not reluctant to the idea,” I said honestly. “It’s just different.”

“Different isn’t bad. Neither is change.” He took a drink, glancing toward the door. “Your mom is a great woman. I thought that from the moment she came to work at the hospital, but it was the night you were attacked that things went from a professional working relationship to something more. I’m glad I could be there for her.” He paused, his smile spreading. “Strange how something good can come from something horrible.”

My brows furrowed. “Yeah…that is strange.”

His smile tipped higher, almost condescending. Mom returned, ending his totally weird attempt at bonding with me…or marking his territory. He stayed right up to the moment she left for work, sucking up her time. I went to the window, seeing them kiss before they got into separate cars. Gross.

With the sun setting outside, I wrote a quick review for Monday and then a longer one for Tuesday. The longer one was because I couldn’t stop gushing. I think I had a new book boyfriend and his name was Tod. Yumtastic.

I settled on one of those usually annoying stations on the TV that played only music on a blank screen. Stopping on a channel that offered hits from the eighties, I turned it up loud enough I couldn’t hear my own thoughts. There was laundry that needed to be done and a kitchen that could use a good scrubbing. It was too late to get the dead plants out of the flower bed. Gardening was something that always helped clear my thoughts, but autumn and winter sucked for it. I changed into a pair of comfy sleep shorts, little reindeer-covered socks that reached my knees, and a long-sleeve thermal.

I looked like a hot mess.

Running through the house, I gathered all the clothes, sliding at times on the hardwood floors. I dumped a load into the washer and started singing along to one of the songs. “In touch with the ground. I’m on the hunt. I’m after you.”

I scooted out of the laundry room and skipped down the hallway, arms flaying around my head like one of the hot pink puppets from the movie Labyrinth. “A scent and a sound, I’m lost and I’m found. And I’m hungry like the wolf. Something on a line, it’s discord and rhyme—whatever, whatever, la la la—Mouth is alive, all running inside, and I’m hungry like the—”Warmth spread down my neck.

“It’s actually, ’I howl and I whine. I’m after you,’ and not blah or whatever.”

Startled by the deep voice, I shrieked and whipped around. My foot slipped on a section of well-cleaned wood and my butt smacked on the floor.

“Holy crap,” I gasped, clutching my chest. “I think I’m having a heart attack.”

“And I think you broke your butt.” Laughter filled Daemon’s voice.

I remained sprawled across the narrow hallway, trying to catch my breath. “What the hell? Do you just walk into people’s houses?”

“And listen to girls absolutely destroy a song in a matter of seconds? Well, yes, I make a habit out of it. Actually, I knocked several times, but I heard your… singing, and your door was unlocked.” He shrugged. “So I just let myself in.”

“I can see that.” I stood, wincing. “Oh, man, maybe I did break my butt.”

“I hope not. I’m kind of partial to your butt.” He flashed a smile. “Your face is pretty red. You sure you didn’t smack that on the way down?”

I groaned. “I hate you.”

“Nah, I don’t think you do.” His gaze went over me, down to my toes. His brows inched up. “Nice socks.”

I rubbed my backside. “Do you need something?”

He leaned against the wall, shoving his hands into his jeans. “No, I don’t need something.”

“Then why did you break into my house?”

He shrugged again. “I didn’t break in. The door was unlocked and I heard the music. I guessed you were the only one here. Why are you doing laundry and singing eighties songs on your birthday?”

Now surprise smacked me upside the head. “How…how do you know it’s my birthday? I don’t even think I told Dee.”

Daemon looked entirely too smug for his own good…or mine. “The night you were attacked at the library and I went to the hospital with you? When you were giving them your personal information, I overheard you.”

“Really,” I said, staring at him. “And you remembered?”

“Yep. Anyway, why are you doing chores on your birthday?”

I couldn’t believe he’d remembered. “I’m obviously that lame.”

“That ispretty lame. Oh, listen!” His glittering eyes slid in the direction of the living room. “It’s ’Eye of the Tiger.’ Do you want to sing along to that? Maybe jog up the stairs and pump your fists in the air?”

“Daemon.” I shuffled past him carefully, went into the living room, and picked up the remote, turning the song down. “Seriously, what do you want?”

He was directly behind me, forcing me to take an uneasy step back. Being that close to him did funny, bad things to me.

“I came over to apologize.”

“What?” I was shocked, awed, and shocked some more. “You’re going to apologize again? I don’t even know what to say. Wow.”

Daemon frowned. “I know it seems like a huge surprise to you that I do have feelings and therefore do feel bad at times for things that I may have…caused.”

“Hold up. I have to record this. Let me grab my phone.” I turned, scanning the tables for the basically unusable shiny object that never got clear reception out here.

“Kat, you’re not helping. I’m being serious. This is…hard for me.”

I rolled my eyes. Of course apologizing would only be hard for him. “Okay. I’m sorry. Want to sit? I have cake. Cake should sweeten your disposition a little.”

“Nothing can soften me. I’m as cold as ice.”

“Hardy-har-har. It’s made of ice cream and has the yummy crunchy middle part?”

“Okay, that may work. The crunchy middle part is my favorite.”

I fought the grin that tugged at my lips. “Okay, then come on.”

We went to the kitchen in awkward silence. I grabbed a hair tie off the counter and tugged my hair back. “How big of a piece do you want?” I pulled the cake out of the freezer.

“How big of a piece are you willing to part with?”

“As big as you want.” I grabbed a knife out of the drawer and sized up what I thought would be a suitable piece for him.

“Bigger.” He hovered over my shoulder.

I moved the knife to the side.

“Even bigger.”

I rolled my eyes and moved it a couple of inches.

“Perfect.”

The knife refused to cooperate when I tried to cut off half of the cake. It got an inch down and wouldn’t go any farther. “I hate cutting these freaking things.”

“Let me try.” He reached around and our hands brushed as he took the knife from me. Electricity danced over my skin. “You need to run it under hot water. Then it cuts right through it.”

Stepping aside, I let him take over. He did the same thing Will had done earlier, and the knife went through the cake. The button-down shirt he wore pulled across his shoulders as he leaned over and ran the knife under hot water again before cutting a smaller piece. “See? Perfect,” he commented.

Chewing on my lip, I grabbed two clean plates and placed them on the counter. “Do you want something to drink?”

“Milk is always good if you’ve got some?”

Getting the milk, I poured two tall glasses. I grabbed the silverware and motioned toward the living room.

“You don’t want to eat in here?”

“No. I don’t like eating at the dinner table. It seems so formal.”

Daemon shrugged and followed me into the living room. I sat down on the couch, and he took a seat on the other end. I poked the cake, not really hungry at all. My stomach was full of knots.

He cleared his throat. “Nice roses. Brad?”

“Blake.” I hadn’t thought a second about Blake since Daemon showed up in my hallway. “Yeah, they’re nice, aren’t they?”

“Whatever,” he grumbled. “So why are you spending tonight by yourself? It’s your birthday.”

I scowled at his blatant reminder. “My mom had to work, and I just didn’t feel like doing anything.” I poked at the cake some more. “It’s not as bad as it sounds. I’ve spent many of them by myself.”

“I guess you probably would have preferred I hadn’t stopped by then, huh?”

Looking up, I watched as he stabbed his cake with his fork until he parted the ice cream away from the cookie middle. He took a bite of the crunchy part. “I really did come to apologize for last night.”

I sat the plate aside and pulled my legs up underneath me. “Daemon—”

“Wait.” He held up his fork. “Okay?”

Sitting back, I nodded.

He glanced down at his plate, his jaw clenching. “Nothing happened between Ash and me last night. She was just…messing with you. And I know that’s hard to believe, but I’m sorry if it…hurt you.” Daemon drew in a deep breath. “Contrary to what you think about me, I don’t jump from girl to girl. I do like you, so I wouldn’t mess around with Ash. And I haven’t. Ash and I haven’t done anything for months, before you even came around.”

There was a peculiar fluttering in my chest. Never in my life had I had such a hard time figuring myself out as I did when it came to Daemon. I understood books. I did not understand boys—especially alien boys.

“Things are complicated between Ash and me. We’ve known each other since we came here. Everyone expects us to be together. Especially the elders, since we’re ’coming of age.’ Time to start making babies.” He shuddered.

It was official. I liked the sound of that even less the second time around.

“Even Ash expects us to be together,” Daemon went on, stabbing his cake. “And all of this? I know it’s hurting her. I never wanted to do that.” He paused, struggling for the right thing to say. “I never wanted to hurt you, either. And I’ve done both of those things.”

Two bright red spots blossomed across his cheeks. I ran my hand over my leg and looked away. I didn’t want him to know that I saw him blush.

“I can’t be with her the way she wants—the way she deserves.” He stopped, exhaling. “Anyway, I wanted to apologize for last night.”

“So do I.” I bit my lip. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you like I did. I guess the whole window thing freaked me out.”

“What you did last night with the windows. Well, that was one hell of a display of power that you have no control of.” He glanced at me, lashes lowered. “I’ve been thinking about it. And I keep thinking of Dawson and Bethany. That evening they returned from hiking, and he was covered in blood. I think she may have gotten hurt.”

“And he healed her?”

“Yep. I don’t know more. They…they died a couple of days later. I guess it’s like two photons splitting, separate but the same. That explains how we can sense each other.” He shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s a theory.”

“Do you think whatever is happening with me will stop?”

He scooped up the last of his cake and then placed his plate on the coffee table. “We may get lucky. What you’re doing might fade over time, but you need to be careful. No pressure, but it’s a threat to all of us. I’m not trying to be…cruel. It’s the truth.”

“No, I understand. I could expose you all. I’ve almost done it several times.”

He leaned back against the couch in a lazy, arrogant sprawl that made my toes curl. “I’m checking around to see if anyone has heard of this happening. I have to be careful, though. Too many questions will give way to suspicion.”

I fingered the necklace as Daemon turned to the television and smiled. An eighties hair band played, screeching about a love lost and found, to only be lost again.

“After seeing your dance skills earlier, you would have blended right in with the eighties,” he said.

I rolled my eyes. “Can we not mention that again?”

He grinned as he turned to me, a sly look on his face. “You were this close to having ’Walk Like an Egyptian’ down.”

“You’re a douche.”

Daemon laughed. “Did you know I had a purple Mohawk?”

“What?” I laughed, not even able to imagine that, especially around these parts. “When?”

“Yep, purple and black. It was before we moved here. We were living in New York. I guess I went through this phase. Pierced nose and all,” he said, grinning.

I busted out laughing, and he shoved a throw pillow at me. I picked it up and placed it in my lap. “You were a skater boy, huh?”

“Something like that. Matthew was with us. He became our guardian of sorts. He had no idea what to do with me.”

“But Matthew—he’s not that much older.”

“He’s older than he looks. He’s around thirty-eight.”

“Wow. He’s aging well.”

Daemon nodded. “He arrived at the same time we did, in the same area. I guess he thought he was responsible for us, being the oldest out of everyone.”

“Where did you guys…?” How in the world would I say this? Coming up empty, I winced. “Where did you all land?”

Reaching over, he picked a piece of lint off my thermal. “We landed near Skaros.”

“Skaros?” I scrunched up my face. “Uh, is that even on Earth?”

“Yes.” He smiled slightly. “It’s actually a small island near Greece. It’s known for this rocky region where a castle once stood. I’d like to go back one day. It’s kind of like our birthplace, I guess.”

“How many of you landed there?”

“A couple dozen, or at least that’s what Matthew has told us. I don’t remember anything from the beginning.” His lips pursed. “We stayed in Greece until we were around five, and then we came to America. There were twenty or so of us, and as soon as we arrived, the DOD was there.”

I couldn’t imagine what that must’ve been like for him and the others. To be so young, to be from a different world, and then to be thrust right into the hands of a foreign government had to be scary. “How did all of that go?”

He glanced at me. “Not very good, Kitten. We didn’t know that humans were aware of us. All we did know was there were Arum around, but the DOD came as a huge surprise to us. Apparently they knew about us from the moment we got here. They rounded up hundreds who had arrived in America.”

I twisted toward him, clutching the pillow to my chest. “What did they do with you guys?”

“They kept us in a facility out in New Mexico.”

“No shit.” My eyes went wide. “Is Area 51 the real deal?”

He eyed me, amusement creeping into his eyes.

“Wow.” I let that one sink in. All those crazies trying to get into the compound had good reason. “I thought the whole Area 51 thing had been around a while.”

“My family and friends arrived fifteen years ago, but that doesn’t mean the Luxen didn’t come before that.” He laughed at my expression. “Anyway, they kept us there for the first five years. They—the DOD—had been assimilating the Luxen for years. We learned a lot about humans during that time, and when we were…deemed ready to fully assimilate, they let us go. Usually with an older Luxen who could take care of us. Since Matthew had a relationship with us, we were placed with him.”

I did a quick calculation in my head. “But you guys would’ve been only ten years old. Did you live with Matthew until recently?”

“Believe it or not, we mature differently than humans. At ten I could’ve gone to college. We develop a lot faster, our brains and whatnot. I’m actually smarter than I act.” Another fleeting grin graced his face. “Matthew lived with us until we moved here. At fifteen, we were pretty much adults. The DOD set us up with a house and money.”

Well, that probably explained part of our national debt. “But what about people asking questions—looking for your parents?”

Daemon glanced at me sidelong. “There’s always an older Luxen we can pass off for our parent, or we can morph into an older version. The morphing thing we try to avoid because of the trace.”

Shaking my head, I settled back against the couch. Running their own lives since they were fifteen, with just Matthew checking in on them. I shouldn’t be so shocked. My own life was sort of that way, with my mom working so much since Dad died.

Daemon was watching me in his intense way when I looked at him. “Do you want me to leave?”

There was the opening—my chance to tell him to go. “No. You don’t have to. I mean, I’m not doing anything and if you have nothing to do, you can stay or whatever…” Or I needed to just shut up.

His eyes held mine a moment, and a swelling developed in my chest, threatening to consume me whole. His gaze moved to my shiny red laptop sitting on the coffee table. “I see someone got something for her birthday.”

I grinned. “Yeah, Mom got it for me. I’ve been without since…well, since then.”

He scratched his cheek. “Yeah, I didn’t apologize for that, did I?”

“No.” I sighed. Back to awkward conversation. And not only that, I was remembering just how I’d lost my last laptop.

Daemon cleared his throat. “That’s never happened before, the whole blowing-stuff-up part.”

My cheeks heated as I stared at my laptop. “Same here.”

His gaze focused on the TV again. “It happened with Dawson, in a way. It was how Bethany found out.” There was a pause and I held my breath. He rarely talked about his brother. “He was making out with her and lost control. Turned full Luxen while kissing her.”

“Yikes. That had to be…”

“Awkward?”

“Yeah, awkward.”

Silence fell between us, and I couldn’t help but wonder if we were thinking the same thing. How it had felt to be kissing…touching. Skin uncomfortably hot, I searched for something safe to talk about. “Dee said you guys had moved a lot. How many different places?”

“We stayed in New York for a while, then we moved to South Dakota. And if you think nothing goes on here, you haven’t lived in South Dakota. Then we moved to Colorado before coming here. I was always the one who provoked the change in scenery. It’s like I was looking for something, but none of those places had it.”

“I bet New York was your favorite place.”

“Actually, it’s not.” A bit of his teeth showed in his slight smile. “It’s here.”

Surprised, I laughed. “West Virginia?”

“It’s not that bad. There are a lot of us here. More so than any other place. I have friends who I can be myself with—a whole community, really. That’s important.”

“I can understand that.” Clutching the pillow to my chest, I rested my head on it. “Do you think Dee is happy here? She makes it sound like she can’t leave. Like, ever.”

Daemon shifted, bringing his legs onto the couch. “Dee wants to pave her own way in life, and I can’t blame her for that.”

Paving her own way had ended up with her having sex with Adam. I wondered if she still had dreams of going to college overseas.

He stretched as if he were trying to rid himself of some sort of tension that had suddenly settled over him. I scooted away, giving him more room. “If you haven’t noticed yet, there are more males than females. So the females are paired off very quickly and protected above all.”

I made a face. “Paired off and mated? I understand it—you guys need to reproduce. But Dee can’t be forced to do that. It’s not fair. You should control your own lives.”

He glanced at me, deep shadows in his eyes. “But we don’t, Kitten.”

I shook my head. “It’s not right.”

“It’s not. Most Luxen don’t push for anything different. Dawson did. He loved Bethany.” Daemon exhaled raggedly. “We were against it. And I thought he was stupid for falling for a human. No offense.”

“None taken.”

“It was hard for him. Our group was upset with him, but Dawson…he was the strong one.” Daemon smiled as he shook his head. “He didn’t cave, and if the colony had discovered the truth, I don’t think they would’ve changed him.”

“Couldn’t he have left with her, snuck past the DOD? Maybe that’s what happened?”

“Dawson loved it here. He was big on hiking and outdoors. He was into the whole rustic-living thing.” Daemon glanced at me. “He’d never leave, especially without telling Dee or me. I know both of them are dead.” He smiled again. “You would’ve liked Dawson. Looked just like me but a much better guy. Not a douchebag, in other words.”

A lump formed in my throat. “I’m sure I would’ve, but you’re not bad.”