Opposition

5

{ Katy }

I still stared at Daemon, completely aware that everyone else except him was watching me. Closely. But why wouldn’t he look at me? A razor-sharp panic clawed at my insides. No. This couldn’t be happening. No way.

My body was moving before I even knew what I was doing. From the corner of my eye, I saw Dee shake her head and one of the Luxen males step forward, but I was propelled by an inherent need to prove that my worst fears were not coming true.

After all, he’d healed me, but then I thought of what Dee had said, of how Dee had behaved with me. What if Daemon was like her? Turned into something so foreign and cold? He would’ve healed me just to make sure he was okay.

I still didn’t stop.

Please, I thought over and over again. Please. Please. Please.

On shaky legs, I crossed the long room, and even though Daemon hadn’t seemed to even acknowledge my existence, I walked right up to him, my hands trembling as I placed them on his chest.

“Daemon?” I whispered, voice thick.

His head whipped around, and he was suddenly staring down at me. Our gazes collided once more, and for a second I saw something so raw, so painful in those beautiful eyes. And then his large hands wrapped around my upper arms. The contact seared through the shirt I wore, branding my skin, and I thought—I expected—that he would pull me against him, that he would embrace me, and even though nothing would be all right, it would be better.

Daemon’s hands spasmed around my arms, and I sucked in an unsteady breath.

His eyes flashed an intense green as he physically lifted me away from him, setting me back down a good foot back.

I stared at him, something deep in my chest cracking. “Daemon?”

He said nothing as he let go, one finger at a time, it seemed, and his hands slid off my arms. He stepped back, returning his attention to the man behind the desk.

“So . . . awkward,” murmured the redhead, smirking.

I was rooted to the spot in which I stood, the sting of rejection burning through my skin, shredding my insides like I was nothing more than papier-mâché.

“I think someone was expecting more of a reunion,” the Luxen male behind the desk said, his voice ringing with amusement. “What do you think, Daemon?”

One shoulder rose in a negligent shrug. “I don’t think anything.”

My mouth opened, but there were no words. His voice, his tone, wasn’t like his sister’s, but like it had been when we first met. He used to speak to me with barely leashed annoyance, where a thin veil of tolerance dripped from every word.

The rift in my chest deepened.

For the hundredth time since the Luxen arrived, Sergeant Dasher’s warning came back to me. What side would Daemon and his family stand on? A shudder worked its way down my spine. I wrapped my arms around myself, unable to truly process what had just happened.

“And you?” the man asked. When no one answered, he tried again. “Katy?”

I was forced to look at him, and I wanted to shrink back from his stare. “What?” I was beyond caring that my voice broke on that one word.

The man smiled as he walked around the desk. My gaze flickered over to Daemon as he shifted, drawing the attention of the beautiful redhead. “Were you expecting a more personal greeting?” he asked. “Perhaps something more intimate?”

I had no idea how to answer. I felt like I’d fallen into the rabbit hole, and warnings were firing off left and right. Something primal inside me recognized that I was surrounded by predators.

Completely.

“I don’t know what to . . . to think.” There was a horrifying burn of tears crawling up my throat.

“This is all overwhelming for you, I imagine. The whole world as you know it is on the brink of great change, and you’re here and don’t even know my name.” The man smiled so broadly, I wondered if it hurt. “You can call me Rolland.”

Then he extended a hand.

My gaze dropped to it and I made no attempt to take it.

Rolland chuckled as he turned and strolled back to the desk. “So, you’re a hybrid? Mutated and linked to him on such an intense level that if one of you dies, so does the other?”

His question caught me off guard, but I kept quiet.

He sat on the edge of the desk. “You’re actually the first hybrid I’ve seen.”

“She really isn’t anything special.” The redhead sneered. “Frankly, she’s rather filthy, like an unclean animal.”

As stupid as it was, my cheeks heated, because I was filthy, and Daemon had just physically removed me from him. My pride—my everything—was officially wounded.

Rolland chuckled. “She’s had a rough day, Sadi.”

At her name, every muscle in my body locked up, and my gaze swung back to her. That was Sadi? The one Dee said was trying to molest Daemon—my Daemon? Anger punched through the confusion and hurt. Of course it would have to be a freaking walking and talking model and not a hag.

“Rough day or not, I can’t imagine she cleans up well.” Sadi looked at Daemon as she placed a hand on his chest. “I’m kind of disappointed.”

“Are you?” Daemon replied.

Every hair on my body rose as my arms unfolded.

“Yes,” she purred. “I really think you can do better. Lots better.” As she spoke, she trailed a red-painted finger down the center of his chest, over his abdomen, heading straight for the button on his jeans.

And oh, hell to the no. “Get your hands off him.”

Sadi’s head snapped in my direction. “Excuse me?”

“I don’t think I stuttered.” I took a step forward. “But it looks like you need me to repeat it. Get your freaking hands off him.”

One side of her plump red lips curled up. “You want to make me?”

In the back of my head, I was aware that Sadi didn’t move or speak like the other Luxen. Her mannerisms were too human, but then that thought was quickly chased away when Daemon reached down and pulled her hand away.

“Stop it,” he murmured, voice dropped low in that teasing way of his.

I saw red.

The pictures on the wall rattled and the papers on the desk started to lift up. Static charged over my skin. I was about to pull a Beth right here, seconds away from floating to the ceiling and ripping out every strand of red—

“And you stop it,” Daemon said, but the teasing quality was gone from his words. There was a warning in them that took the wind right out of my pissed-off sails.

The pictures settled as I gaped at him. Being slapped in the face would’ve been better.

“Amazing,” said Rolland, eyeing me like I imagined all the scientists at Daedalus had done when they first came into contact with the Luxen. “You have adapted many of his abilities. Amazing and yet disturbing.”

“I have to agree with that,” said one of the male Luxen.

Rolland inclined his head. “We are a higher life-form, and to mix so intimately with something like you is . . . well, an abomination of sorts. You shouldn’t exist. Whatever injury you suffered should’ve taken you.”

A muscle started to tick along Daemon’s jaw.

“After all, it is the survival of the fittest, is that not what humans say? You were not fit to survive without our interference.”

Well, that was all kinds of insulting.

“And yet it cannot be undone, can it?” His gaze flickered to Daemon. “There is so much we are unaware of. All of us were too young when our planet was destroyed and we were split among the universes. We have never been here, and apparently, there is a lot our kind who have been residing on Earth were also unaware of.”

Most Luxen didn’t know about hybrids. Daemon hadn’t until I was mutated, so it didn’t take a genius to think those who hadn’t been to Earth had no idea. It also made me wonder if they were aware of the weaknesses that existed here—the onyx and diamond shields? Did these things exist on whatever hellhole they’d crawled out of? I doubted they had PEP weapons, the kind the government had created that could nuke a Luxen into the afterlife with one blast.

“We are curious by nature. Did you know that?” he asked, and then he slid a knowing look in Daemon’s direction. “I’m sure you did. After all, was that what drew him to you? Or was it more?”

Daemon’s lips thinned, but if there was bait dangling in front of his face, he didn’t take it.

“Love,” muttered Rolland with a laugh.

Dee glanced at her brother. “That was before.”

“Was it?” he asked.

A moment passed as Daemon held Rolland’s gaze. “It was before.”

The thunderous cracking in my chest should’ve been heard in the nearby towns. I sucked in a sharp breath, and Daemon finally looked at me. His back was unnaturally stiff as his eyes met mine, but it was like he saw right through me.

“I wonder if that’s truly in the past,” Sadi challenged, and when Daemon outright ignored her, a tension pulled at her features, turning them sour.

The hair on the back of my neck was standing again, but for a very different reason as Rolland’s smile grew. “As I said, we are curious creatures. Quincy?” He glanced over his shoulder, and after a moment passed, the other man nodded.

My eyes widened as the other Luxen strolled forward. He wasn’t as tall as Daemon, but he was broader, and he walked like he was gliding over water. When he passed Daemon, he sent him a mocking smile.

I took a step back, my hands opening and closing at my sides. I had no idea what to expect from any of them, even Daemon at this point. Horror churned in my stomach.

Quincy was wide like a linebacker, and the look in his eyes sent an icy whirl of wind over me. My feet slipped over the cool wood floor as energy balled low in my stomach. I glanced at Daemon, my heart thumping. His eyes met mine as Quincy stopped in front of me, his striking features stark. Quincy’s smile creeped me out as he reached forward. Jumping back, I knocked his arm away.

“Don’t touch me,” I warned, feeling a rush of static over my skin.

The smile slipped off Quincy’s face as his eyes narrowed.

“What is this about?” Daemon asked.

“I’m curious,” said Rolland, his voice almost syrupy sweet as his gaze flickered over to Daemon. “Restrain her.”

My heart dropped as my gaze bounced between Daemon and the Luxen. There was a moment when Daemon didn’t move as he stared at Rolland, and then he pivoted on his heel. I locked up, throat dry, as he stalked toward us.

He cut Quincy a dangerous look as he stepped around me. The moment his hands folded over my shoulders from behind, holding me in place, I thought I’d throw up. Like literally hurl all over the smug-looking Luxen in front of me.

I jerked, pressing into Daemon as Quincy reached for me once more, gripping my chin with cool fingers, but I couldn’t shy away. Daemon was an unmovable wall.

Daemon stiffened behind me as Quincy lowered his head so that we were eye level. I never thought I’d ever be in this situation, that instead of Daemon protecting me, he would be allowing some random, really skeevy Luxen guy to get all up in my face. Not since the day at the lake, the first time he’d opened up to me and told me about his brother.

“She feels different,” Quincy announced, his hands sliding down my neck to where my pulse beat rapidly. “Not like other humans. Besides sensing something in them, we’d be able to tell by feel.” He paused, his gaze flickering up to Daemon. The Luxen’s smile turned brittle as his long, tapered fingers circled my neck. “You’re very angry.”

“Really?” Daemon’s hands flexed around my arms. “Remember what I told you before? That statement still stands.”

“Is that so?” Quincy hesitated, and then he placed his hand above my chest, the same place I’d seen the Luxen touch in the supermarket.

A low rumble reverberated along my back, and I wasn’t sure if it was from Daemon or if it was me shaking so badly. The Luxen’s brows knitted in concentration, and then he glanced at Rolland.

“Nothing,” he said. “I cannot assimilate her DNA.”

My eyes widened in understanding. My God, I’d seen what had happened to the humans after their DNA had been assimilated at a rapid clip. He would’ve killed me! And Daemon, but at this point, I wanted to knee Daemon in the groin. Anger burned its way through me as I twisted in his grasp, trying to get free, because I needed space, but his grip tightened as furious tears stung my eyes.

“That’s an interesting development,” Rolland commented. “What else can you two do? We know that if one dies, the other does. She obviously has access to the Source. Is there anything else?”

“She won’t get sick. Like us.” Daemon’s words were short, to the point. “And she’s fast and strong.”

I sucked in a sharp breath as the blister of something ugly, of betrayal, curled around my heart.

“Remarkable.” Rolland clapped his hands as if we’d performed Swan Lake instead of just standing there in front of him.

“And that is all?” Sadi asked, looking wholly unimpressed.

“Yes,” Daemon answered, and my eyes widened, but I schooled my features blank.

I held my breath, but Dee didn’t disagree. Both of them had just blatantly lied by omission. There was more. When he was in his true form, Daemon and I could communicate the way he did with other Luxen. I didn’t know what to think about that, but hope sparked deep in my chest. My gaze darted to Dee, but she was staring at the wall as if there was something amazing going on there.

What was really happening here? There was more—

My thoughts careered off, crashing in a fiery glory as Quincy, who wasn’t even looking at me but was eyeballing Daemon, slid his hand down my chest, like right on my chest. Shock rippled through me, quickly followed by red-hot rage and bitter disgust. Every part of me recoiled.

Suddenly, I was sliding across the wood floor and bumping into an empty leather chair. Startled, I lifted my head and peered through the length of matted hair that had fallen across my face.

The two Luxen were locked in an epic stare-down, and across from me, Dee was no longer staring at the wall, but was focused on her brother. It was so quiet in the room that you could hear a fly hiccup.

And then Daemon exploded like a bottle rocket.

{ Daemon }

Wrath tasted like a pool of blood in the back of my mouth, and I was unable to see or think past it. There were a lot of things I could deal with, that I could force myself to tolerate and I could wait on. But him touching her like that not only crossed the line, it blew a freaking hole in it.

Shifting into my true form, I felt the immediate bombardment from others of my kind, their needs and wants, rising in a vicious cyclone, but my rage overwhelmed them. Catching Quincy the second before he could shift, I flung him into the far wall, but this time with a hell of a lot more effort than when I found him in her room.

Body say hello to wall.

He crashed into it without changing. Plaster cracked and gave way under the impact. White dust flew into the air. Quincy started to slide down the wall. That was the funny thing about the Luxen. They hadn’t realized yet just how weak they were in their human forms.

I was on him before he hit the floor.

Slamming my fist into his chin, I reveled in the cracking sound of his head knocking backward. Nowhere near done, I hauled him up and then practically put him through the wall, all the way to the supporting beams.

Then I let go.

Quincy went down, crumpled on the floor, flickering in and out like a squashed lightning bug. Shimmery blue liquid seeped out from behind his head, and as I stared down at him, debating on whether or not I wanted to throw him like a football through a nearby window, I realized just how quiet the room was.

Leaving Quincy, or whatever was left of him, I shifted out of my true form as I turned around. I might have maybe gone too far with that, but there was nothing I could do about it now.

Rolland arched a brow. “Well, then . . .”

Chest rising and falling sharply, I spared him a quick glance before turning to where she stood. Her hands were gripping the back of a chair as she stared at me, her gray eyes so big and so wide on her pale face.

Our gazes locked, and I could tell by the stricken look on her face that she wasn’t sure what to make of any of this. There was confusion and raw hurt and fury pouring from her, choking the air, choking me.

It took several moments to slow my roll. I got my breathing in check as I forced myself back to Rolland, meeting his curious stare. “I told him not to touch her before and that if he did, I would kill him. I’m not a liar.”

Sadi’s gaze flickered to where Quincy lay. “He’s not dead.”

“Yet,” I promised.

A look of anticipation, of pure eagerness, swept over Sadi’s face as she wet her bottom lip. “Why would you care if he touched her or not?”

There were a thousand endless reasons. “She belongs to me.” I could practically feel the daggers she was driving into my back, but I didn’t look at her. “No one else. It’s as simple as that.”

Rolland eyed me intently, and then he pushed off the desk. Straightening, he clapped his hands. “Everyone. Listen up.”

I stiffened, knowing this could be real bad.

“You.” He motioned to another Luxen. “Get Quincy out of here. Let me know if he wakes up.”

Part of me hoped he did so I could beat the shit out of him again.

To Sadi, Rolland pinned her with a sharp look. “Take this young . . . lady over here and make sure she gets cleaned up and that’s she comfortable.”

Oh hell no. I opened my mouth, but Sadi snapped forward, her eyes glittering with malicious pleasure. “Of course,” she said, casting a half smile in my direction as she all but bounced past me. I stepped forward to intercept and make good use of the window.

“You,” Rolland directed at me, “will stay right here.” Then to Dee, he smiled. “It’s late. I find that being in this form makes me incredibly hungry. Would you get something for me to eat?”

Dee hesitated, but then nodded. Turning, she shot me a worried look as she hurried out of the room to do Rolland’s bidding.

There was a good chance I was going to punch someone else as I watched Sadi force her out of the room. The back of my neck tingled and my skin crawled as the door shut behind them, leaving me with Rolland and some dude whose name I refused to learn.

Rolland strolled around the desk and sat down. “Quincy was quite unhappy with you earlier. Said you . . . went after him because he was in the room with that . . . that girl.” Leaning back in the chair, he hooked one leg over the other. He gestured at the damaged wall. “Not that his anger seems to be a problem right now.”

I shrugged. “I’m sure he’s not the only one. And I don’t trust Sadi with her.”

His brows rose. “You don’t?”

“No.”

Folding his hands, he studied me. “I want you to answer a question for me, Daemon Black, and I want an honest answer.”

My jaw ached from how hard I was grinding my molars. I didn’t need to be in this room. I needed to be wherever Sadi was at the moment, but I nodded.

“Like I said, you’re a hard one to read. Not your brother or sister, but you’re different.”

“People do say I’m special.”

He laughed under his breath. “What does that girl mean to you, Daemon? And I do want an honest answer.”

My hands curled into fists. Time was ticking. “She belongs to me.”

“You’ve said that.”

I forced air into my lungs with a deep breath. “She’s mine and she’s a part of me. So, yeah, she means a lot, but what I feel for her doesn’t change anything here, with you.” I met his stare with my own unflinching one. “I support what you are doing.”

“Me?” He chuckled. “It’s not me you must support. I’m just a . . . busy bee, like you.”

Well then.

“Do you still love her?” he asked, flipping the subject. “Do you still want her?”

What he was asking was if I had any human emotions left over since their arrival, or was I just as tuned in to the hive as the rest of them. “I want her.”

“Physically?”

Jaw aching fiercely, I forced my chin up and down.

“Do you want more than that?”

I chose my words carefully. “What I want is a home where my family is safe, and only we can provide that. We come first.”

Rolland’s head tilted to the side, his gaze never leaving my face. “We do. And soon you will have that safe home for your family. It is already well under way.”

I wanted to ask exactly how it was well under way, because all I had seen from them so far was a lot of nasty killing.

Tension-filled silence stretched out between us, and then he flicked his hand at the door. “Go do what you need to do, but please do not throw Sadi at anything. She has her uses that I might want to partake in later.”

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I spun around and started for the door.

“Oh. And Daemon?”

Shit. I stopped, turning to him.

The damn smile was on his face, the same smile he’d worn when he addressed the public earlier in the day over the local news. When he’d told the city, or whatever was left of it, that everything would be fine, that mankind would prevail and a whole load more crap he’d actually made sound believable.

“Don’t make me regret not snuffing out your life in the clearing, because if you are a trataaie,” he said, slipping into our native tongue, “it will not be me you will fear, but the senitraaie. You will not only lose your family, but that little girl up there will suffer a very slow and very painful death, and her horror will be the last thing you see. Inteliaaie?”

Back stiff, I nodded again. “I am not a traitor and I only answer to our leader. I understand.”

“Good,” he said, raising his hand. A remote flew from the desk into it. “Remember. No throwing Sadi.”

Dismissed with the bite-in-the-ass kind of warning, I left the office and nearly plowed right into my sister as I exited the atrium.

She gripped my arm, her fingers digging into my skin. “What in the hell were you thinking?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be getting him a late-night snack?”

Her eyes flashed. “You could’ve gotten yourself killed in there protecting her.”

I stared at her for a moment, searching for something, anything in her, and came up with nothing. I gently removed her hand. “I don’t have time for this.”

“Daemon.”

Ignoring her, I headed through a sitting area and then took the steps two at a time. When I reached the second landing, I could already hear the shouting coming from the third floor.

Jesus.

Something shattered above me, and I took off, hauling ass. I reached the last door on the third floor in less than a second. Pushing it open, I scanned the bedroom as I wondered how I was going to stop myself from throwing Sadi through something.

The bedroom was empty, but it looked like a tornado had gone through it. The olive-green armchair was toppled over onto its side, one of the wooden legs broken. The white curtains had been pulled down from the window. The dirtied and bloodied pillows were strewn across the floor.

And the shirt she had been wearing—my shirt—rested in shredded tatters at the foot of the bed. What in the hell?

My gaze whipped toward the bathroom door when I heard what sounded like a body bouncing off it, and then a shriek blasted the room.

I kicked open the bathroom door and came to a complete stop. The room was large, the kind that had a separate tub and shower, but this room, too, had seen better days. The mirror above the double sink was broken. Multiple bottles had been tipped open. White cream covered the floor in milky pools.

She stood in front of the large tub, her hair a tangled mess around her flushed face. Gray eyes snapped fire as she stood with her legs spread wide. A trickle of blood ran from her nose. In her hand she held a jagged piece of glass.

And she was only in her bra and jeans—a white bra with little yellow daises on it. Her chest heaved with indignation and fury.

Apparently, Sadi had taken the cleaning thing to a whole different level.

My gaze crept to where Sadi stood only a few feet from her, breathing heavily. Her white blouse was torn. Buttons popped and missing. Her normally coiffed hair looked like she’d been inside a wind tunnel, but the best part?

Fingernail marks were etched down the side of Sadi’s face and reddish-blue blood had been drawn. A disturbing level of pride rippled through me.

Kitten got claws and then some.

“She doesn’t play nice with others,” Sadi huffed out. “So I’m in the process of adjusting her attitude.”

“And I’m in the process of getting ready to cut out your heart, bitch.”

In spite of everything that was so damn messed up, my lips twitched into a small smile. “Get out.”

Sadi turned her hateful gaze on me. “I’m—”

“Get the hell out.” When Sadi didn’t move, I stalked over to where she stood, picked her up, and shoved her out of the bathroom. She caught herself and started back toward us. “Rolland has a use for you tonight, so if you want to be able to come through for him, don’t take one more step toward me.”

Her nostrils flared as her cheeks mottled with anger, but she stopped as her hands curled into claws. A second passed and she didn’t move from the doorway. Sadi was going to test me—she seriously was.

I slammed the bathroom door shut in Sadi’s face and then whipped around. Heart hammering, I saw her again and immediately forgot about Sadi.

She still stood in front of the garden tub, the piece of glass in her hand, and she stared back at me like an animal cornered. In that moment she didn’t remind me of a harmless little kitten.

She was a full-grown tigress, and she still looked like she wanted to do some damage. To me. Could I really blame her? Those eyes of hers shifted the longer we stared at each other, turning wet with a sheen of tears, and that was worse than a kick between the legs.

I was in so deep. We were in so deep, and I didn’t want her here. I wanted her far, far away from all of this, but it was too late.

Too late for both of us, and maybe for everyone else, too.

Her lower lip trembled as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, her toes sinking into spilled conditioner or shampoo. An eternity stretched out between us as I soaked her up with my eyes. A collage of memories—from the day she knocked on my front door and changed my life, to the first time she said those three words that made my life what it was—bombarded me. But it was more than just memories. I knew right then I shouldn’t be feeling what I was, but every cell demanded her. My blood boiled.

I wanted her.

I needed her.

I loved her.

She took a step back, bumping into the tile ledge surrounding the tub.

“Kat,” I said, speaking her name for the first time in days, allowing myself to actually think it, and the moment that happened, the seal inside me broke wide open.