Opal aln-3

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  I flipped onto my back, squeezing my eyes shut.

  And what had he meant about Blake? Did he really think I wanted to help him and for what purpose? The last thing I wanted to do was breathe the same air as Blake. There was no way Daemon could be jealous. No. No. No. I’d have to spin kick him in the face if that was the case. And then cry, because if he doubted me…

  I couldn’t even think about that.

  Only one good thing had come from the mess—Dawson. But everything else was… Well, it was the reason I couldn’t sit back and twiddle my thumbs.

  I turned onto my side, punched my pillow, and forced my eyes to stay closed.

  At the crack of dawn, I drifted off for what felt like seconds to only face the sun creeping through my bedroom window a minute later. Pulling myself out of bed, I showered and changed.

  A dull ache had taken up residency behind my eyes. By the time I got to school and grabbed my books out of my locker, it hadn’t faded like I’d hoped. I shuffled into trig and checked my phone for the first time since last night.

  No messages.

  I dropped the phone back into my bag and rested my chin in my hands. Lesa was the first one in.

  Her nose wrinkled when she spotted me. “Ew. You look terrible.”

  “Thanks,” I muttered.

  “You’re welcome. Carissa has the bird flu or something. Hope you don’t have it.”

  I almost laughed. Since Daemon had healed me, I hadn’t even sneezed once. And according to Will, once mutated, you couldn’t get sick, which was why he had tried to force Daemon to mutate him.

  “Maybe,” I said.

  “Probably that club you went to.” She shivered.

  Warmth danced along my neck, and I averted my eyes like a wuss as Daemon took his seat behind me. I knew he was staring at me. He didn’t say anything for about sixty-two seconds. I counted them.

  He poked me in the back with his trusty pen.

  I twisted around, keeping my face blank. “Hey.”

  A single brow arched. “You look well-rested.”

  He, on the other hand, looked like he normally did. Freaking perfect. “Got tons of sleep last night. You?”

  Daemon popped the pen behind his ear and leaned forward. “I slept for about an hour. I think.”

  I lowered my gaze. I wasn’t happy that last night sucked for him, too, but at least it meant he was thinking about it. I started to ask, but he shook his head. “What?” I said.

  “I haven’t changed my mind, Kitten. I was hoping you had.”

  “No,” I said, and the bell rang. One last meaningful look, and I turned around. Lesa shot me a weird expression, and I shrugged. Wasn’t like I could explain why we were only exchanging a few syllables today. That would be an entertaining conversation.

  When the bell rang, I debated on making a run for the door but reconsidered when two denim-clad legs filled my peripheral vision. I couldn’t stop the tumbling my stomach did, even when I was angry with him.

  I was such a loser.

  Daemon didn’t say anything as we left or when we parted ways, and after each class he appeared out of freaking nowhere. The same happened before bio, and he walked with me up the stairs, eyes scanning over the heads of the students.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, finally tired of the silence.

  He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Just thought I’d do the gentlemanly thing and walk you to your classes.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  There was no response, so I peeked at him. His eyes were narrowed and his lips pinched like he’d just eaten something sour. I went up on my tiptoes and bit back a curse. Blake was leaning against the wall next to the door, head tilted toward us, a cocky smile on his face.

  “I dislike him so very much,” Daemon muttered.

  Blake pushed off the wall and swaggered over to us. “You guys look chipper for a Friday.”

  Daemon tapped a textbook on his thigh. “Do you have a reason to be standing here?”

  “This is my class.” He jerked his chin toward the open door. “With Katy.”

  Heat blew off Daemon as he took a step forward, staring down his nose at Blake. “You just love to push it, don’t you?”

  Blake swallowed nervously. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Daemon laughed, and it sent shivers down my spine. Sometimes I forgot how dangerous he could be. “Please. I may be a lot of things—a lot of really bad things, Biff, but stupid and blind aren’t two of them.”

  “All right,” I said, keeping my voice low. People were staring. “Time to play nice.”

  “I have to agree.” Blake glanced around. “But this isn’t a playground.”

  Daemon arched a brow. “You don’t wanna play, Barf, because we can do that nifty freeze thing and play, right here and now.”

  Oh, for the love of backwoods babies everywhere, this wasn’t necessary. I wrapped my fingers around Daemon’s tense arm. “Come on,” I whispered.

  A second stretched out and static jumped from his arm to mine. Slowly, he looked at me and then he bent down, planting his lips on mine. The kiss was unexpected—deep and forceful. Stunned, I just stood there as he pulled back, nipping at my bottom lip.

  “Tasty, Kitten.” Then he spun, planted his right hand on Blake’s shoulder, knocking him back into a locker. “See you around,” he said, smirking.

  “Jesus,” Blake muttered, straightening. “He has anger management problems.”

  The faces gaping at us blurred.

  Clearing his throat, Blake slid past me. “You should really head in.”

  I nodded, but when the warning bell rang, I was still standing there, my fingers placed against my lips.

  Chapter 18

  By lunch, Daemon’s mood was somewhere between brooding and evil. He had half the student body frightened to death of crossing his path or breathing in the same air as him. I couldn’t fathom what had his undies in a bunch. It couldn’t be our argument carrying over this badly.

  When he got up to grab his third helping of milk, Lesa sat back and let out a low whistle. “What is his deal?”

  “I don’t know,” I said, pushing a lump of meat around my plate. “It must be his time of the month.”

  Chad barked out a laugh. “Yeah, not going there.”

  Lesa grinned at her boyfriend. “If you know what’s wise for you, you won’t.”

  “What’s wise?” Daemon asked as he sat down.

  “Nothing,” the three of us said at the same time.

  He frowned.

  The rest of the afternoon went by way too fast and every so often the bottom of my stomach would drop. One more day—Saturday—and we were going to try the impossible. Break into Mount Weather and rescue Beth and Chris. What were we going to do with them if we succeeded? Not if—when we did, I quickly corrected myself.

  On the way out, my cell vibrated. A quick check left a bitter taste in my mouth. I wished Blake would lose my phone number.

  We need to talk.

  Gritting my teeth, I texted back: Y

  The response was immediate: Abt Sunday.

  “Who put that scary look on your face?” Daemon asked, out of the blue.

  Squealing, I jumped. “Good God, where did you come from?”

  He grinned, which would’ve been a good thing considering his mood all day, but it only made me wary. “I’m quiet like a cat.”

  I sighed, showing him my phone. “Blake. He wants to talk about Sunday.”

  Daemon growled. “Why is he texting you?”

  “Probably because he knows you want to do him bodily harm.”

  “And you don’t?”

  I shook my head. “He’s obviously less afraid of me.”

  “Maybe we need to change that?” He dropped an arm over my shoulders, tucking me against his side as we headed out into the bitter February wind. “Tell him we’ll talk tomorrow.”

  My body warmed against his. “Where?”

  “My house,” he replied with that ev
il smile. “If he has balls, he’ll be there.”

  I made a yuck face but texted it back to Blake. “Why not tonight?”

  Daemon’s lips pursed. “We need some quality time alone.”

  Quality time like yesterday’s quality time? Because I could so get behind that, but we really needed to talk a few things through. Before I could broach that topic, Blake responded and tomorrow evening was a go.

  “Did you drive by yourself today?” I asked.

  He shook his head, eyes fixed on a stand of trees. “Came in with Dee. Was hoping we could do something normal. Like an afternoon matinee.”

  Half of me did a happy dance. The other more responsible part put on the schoolteacher’s glasses and broke out the ruler. Annoying adult Katy won. “That sounds great, but don’t you think we need to talk about last night?”

  “About my giving nature?”

  My cheeks flamed. “Um, no… After that.”

  There was a flicker of a smile. “Yeah, I kind of knew that. Make you a deal. We’ll do the movies, and then we’ll talk, okay?”

  It was a good deal, so I agreed. And honestly, I loved getting to do normal things with Daemon—like going out. It was a rarity. He let me pick the movie, and I went with a rom-com. Surprisingly, he didn’t complain. Might’ve had something to do with the huge bucket of popcorn we were stuffing our faces with in between the buttery kisses.

  It was all so divinely normal.

  …

  Divinely normal ended the moment we got to his house and he stepped out of his car, eyes narrowing. All the lights were on. Dee wasn’t about conserving energy, it appeared.

  “Kat, I think you should go home.”

  “Huh?” I closed the car door, frowning. “I thought we were going to talk? And eat ice cream—you promised ice cream.”

  He chuckled under his breath. “I know, but I have company.”

  I planted myself in front of the porch steps. “What kind of company?”

  “The Luxen kind,” he said, placing his hands on my shoulders. His eerily bright green eyes met mine. “Elders.”

  Must be nice to have a wacky internal sensing system like that.

  “And I can’t come in?”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” He glanced as I heard a door open. “And I don’t think that’s an option.”

  I looked over my shoulder. A man stood at the door—a distinguished-looking man. Three-piece suit and all, with midnight black hair that was silver at the temples. I didn’t know what I was expecting from an Elder Luxen. Maybe a guy with a white gown and bald head—they did live in a colony at the foot of Seneca.

  This was totally unexpected.

  Even more so was the fact that Daemon didn’t drop his hands and put appropriate alien-human distance between us. Instead, he whispered in his own language and slid a hand down my back as he stepped beside me.

  “Ethan,” Daemon said. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

  The man’s startling violet eyes slid toward me. “I can see. Is this the girl that your brother and sister kindly informed me about?”

  Tension tightened Daemon’s frame. “Depends on what they kindly informed you of.”

  Air stalled in my lungs. I didn’t know what to do with myself, so I stood there, trying to look as unaware as possible. The fact that I knew the guy in a suit wasn’t human was a big deal. Other Luxen couldn’t know I was in on the secret or that I was a hybrid.

  Ethan smiled. “That you’ve been seeing her. I was surprised. We’re practically family.”

  Somehow I thought it might have had more to do with the fact that they wanted him to make little alien Daemon babies with Ash than him not sending out a mass text notifying everyone that he was no longer on the market.

  “You know me, Ethan; I don’t like to kiss and tell the world.” His thumb trailed a lazy, soothing circle along the small of my back. “Kat, this is Ethan Smith. He’s like a…”

  “Godfather,” I said, and then I flushed, because that was the stupidest thing I could say.

  But Ethan’s expression said he liked the sound of it. “Yes, like a godfather.” Those odd eyes settled on me, and I forced my chin up a notch. “You’re not from around here, are you, Kat?”

  “No, sir, I’m from Florida.”

  “Oh.” Dark brows rose. “Is West Virginia to your agreement?”

  I glanced at Daemon. “Yeah, it’s nice.”

  “That’s lovely.” Ethan came down a step. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He extended a hand.

  Out of habit, I reached for it, but Daemon interceded, wrapping his fingers around mine. He brought my hand to his lips and kissed my palm. Ethan noted the action with a flicker of curiosity and something I couldn’t place.

  “Kat, I’ll come over in a little while.” He let go of my hand, placing his body in between us. “I have some catching up to do, okay?”

  I nodded and forced a smile for Ethan. “It was nice to meet you.”

  “Likewise,” the man said. “I’m sure we’ll meet again.”

  For some reason, the words settled over me with a frost-like bite. I gave Daemon a little wave and then hurried back to my car and grabbed my bag. They’d already headed inside, and I’d give my left thumb to know what they were talking about. As long as I’d known Daemon and Dee, I’d never seen another Luxen from the colony come to their home.

  Kind of wigged out by Ethan’s appearance, I dropped my backpack inside the hall and grabbed a glass of orange juice. Mom was asleep, so I tiptoed down the hall and shut my bedroom door. I sat on the bed, placed the glass on the table. Concentrating on my laptop, I raised my hand.

  It came off the desk and moved straight to my hand. I tried not to use the alien abilities too often—maybe once or twice a day to keep the…uh, whatever well oiled. There was always this weird rush when I used it, like being on a roller coaster as it crests a hill, ready to fly down at eighty miles an hour—the moment when the stomach jumps and the skin tingles with awareness. It was a different feeling—not bad, kind of fun, and maybe even a little addictive.

  And when I’d tapped into whatever it was the night Adam died, I’d never felt more powerful in my life. So, yeah, I could see how that power would go straight to the head. If the mutation had stuck with Will, God knew what crazy things he was doing.

  I couldn’t afford to think about him now, so I powered up my laptop and trolled the Internet for a half an hour, reading reviews until I shut off my computer and sent it back to my desk. Grabbing a book, I curled up, hoping to get some chapters in before Daemon swung over, but I ended up drifting off to sleep three pages in.

  When I woke up, it was dark in my bedroom and upon further investigation, I discovered it was already past nine and Mom had left for work. Surprised that Daemon hadn’t stopped over, I slipped on my boots and headed next door.

  Dawson answered, a can of soda in one hand and a Pop-Tart in the other. “Nice sugar rush you got going on there,” I said, grinning.

  He glanced down. “Yeah, I guess I’m not sleeping anytime soon.”

  I remembered what he’d said about not sleeping at all, and I hoped that had changed. Before I could ask, though, he said, “Daemon’s not here.”

  “Oh.” I tried to hide my disappointment. “Is he still with the Elder guy?”

  “God, no, Ethan was only here for about an hour. He wasn’t happy. But Daemon went out with Andrew.”

  “Andrew?” Unexpected.

  He nodded. “Yeah, Andrew and Dee and Ash wanted to grab something to eat. I didn’t want to go.”

  “Ash?” I whispered. Okay, really unexpected. And what was totally expected was the wave of irrational jealousy that swept through me, determined to carry me into crazy-girl land.

  “Yeah,” he said, and then he winced. “You want to come in?”

  I didn’t realize I’d followed him inside until I was sitting on the couch, my knees pressed together. Daemon really went out to dinner with Ash and the others? “When did they leav
e?”

  Dawson took a bite of his Pop-Tart. “Uh, not that long ago.”

  “It’s almost ten at night.” The Luxen had huge appetites, but come on; they didn’t do dinner at night. I knew better than that.

  He sat in the armchair and glanced down at his pastry. “Ethan left around five. And then Andrew, he came over around…” Dawson glanced at the wall clock, expression pinched. “He and Ash came over around six.”

  My stomach tumbled over itself. “And the four of them left after that to go get something to eat?”

  Dawson nodded, as if speaking was too painfully awkward.

  Four hours for dinner. I suddenly couldn’t sit any longer. I wanted to know what restaurant they went to. I wanted to find him. I started to stand, but I tried to swallow down that god-awful burning lump in the back of my throat.

  “It’s not what you think,” Dawson said quietly.

  My head jerked toward him, and I was horrified to find tears in my eyes. The irony of it all bitch-slapped me in the face. Was this how Daemon had felt when he knew I went to dinner and then lunch with Blake? But we weren’t together then. Wasn’t like I’d owed him a ton of obligations at that moment.

  “It isn’t?” I croaked.

  Dawson finished off his Pop-Tart. “No. I think he just needed to get out for a little while.”

  “Without me?”

  He brushed a few sugary crumbs off his jeans “Maybe without you or maybe not. He’s not the same brother I knew. I would’ve never thought he’d be with a human. No offense.”

  “None taken,” I whispered. Without me. Without me. Those words were on repeat. I wasn’t one of those needy girls who had to be around her boyfriend all the time, but damn if it didn’t sting.

  And that sting was turned into a hot, angry knife when I pictured Dee and Andrew sitting on one side of a booth and Daemon and Ash on the other, because that’s how they had to have sat when they went out to eat. It would be like old times—when Daemon and Ash were together.

  Blake and I may’ve kissed once, but we didn’t have a long-standing relationship. God, they’d probably had—