Opposition

25

{ Katy }

“Daemon?” My heart was pounding against my ribs, but it felt wrong—it felt worn out and sluggish. Fire traveled up and down my back, but I knew I wasn’t hurt. It was Daemon.

Oh God, it was him.

I slid my hand over his chest, crying out as my hand came back soaked with the reddish-blue blood. “Oh. No . . .”

My name was called out. So was Daemon’s, but I didn’t look to see what was happening. My eyes were locked with Daemon’s. His lips, leached of all color, moved, but there were no words.

This wasn’t happening!

This could not be happening!

We hadn’t survived everything that we’d faced, on top of an alien invasion, for Daemon to die like this.

“No! No. No!” I searched for the source of the wound, but he’d taken the shot in the back.

It hadn’t been a normal gun.

Daemon’s form started to flicker, and horror kicked me in the chest. I grabbed his cheeks as my lungs desperately tried to force air in. His eyes were closed. “Open your eyes! Dammit, open your eyes!”

My legs started to shake with the effort to hold myself up in a kneeling position, and then Archer and Dee were there, and I couldn’t help but think of that horrible time in my house, when the situation had been flipped and it had been me lying on the floor. Then we thought we were purely connected, and if one died, so did the other, but now we knew the truth.

I ignored the pain roaring through my body and the weakness creeping into my muscles, invading my very being, followed by coldness, a chill of death. My overworked heart turned over.

“No!” Dee cried out, dropping down by Daemon’s head. Her hands landed on her brother’s shoulders and she immediately shifted into her true form. Her light was brilliant, much like an angel’s halo.

“Fix him, please.” My vision blurred as I started to tilt toward the ground. “Please, please fix him.”

Archer caught me, but I shrugged him off, clinging to Daemon as tears streamed down my face. “What . . . do we do?” I couldn’t look away as Daemon continued to flicker in and out, his beautifully strong light dulling, and the coldness spread like a disease inside me. “It wasn’t a . . . normal gun. It was one of those . . . weapons we were given. Please . . . do something . . .”

“It’s the modified PEP weapon.” Archer placed his hands above mine, his face twisting in concentration. “Dammit. We need to make sure the bullet is out. If it’s not, then . . .”

The words sank in as I slid down to my side, unable to hold myself up. One of my hands slipped off his cheek. I could no longer get my tongue to work, and I labored for breath. I threw everything in me into reaching Daemon. Don’t . . . leave me. Oh God . . . please don’t . . . leave me. I love you. Daemon, I love you. Please don’t let go. Please!

Archer cursed under his breath as his gaze bounced between Dee and me. “Kat, I . . .”

I didn’t feel myself falling, but I was suddenly flat on my back and staring up at the cloudless blue sky. Such a beautiful sky, but my heart hurt. My chest seized, and my entire body went rigid.

No. No. No.

We were supposed to have tonight and tomorrow, and many weeks and months, but we didn’t have even another minute. My face was wet, soaked, and my heart was slowing. The world started to slip away.

I love you. I love you. I love you.

Then Daemon and I . . . we had nothing and there was nothing.

My body came back online slowly, tingling and aching as if I’d run a zombie marathon and gotten chewed on in the process. There was an odd beeping sound. It annoyed me, because all I wanted to do was slip back into the oblivion where there was nothing. I didn’t want to remember exactly why I didn’t want to open my eyes.

Reality existed on the fringes of my consciousness, a reality that would be cold and shattering and heartbreaking, and I didn’t want to go there. I wanted to stay where there was nothing.

The beeping wouldn’t let me slip away, though. It was faint, and every beep was accompanied by another beep, as if it were chasing mine or I was chasing the other beep, so I listened as my fingers twitched. A tremor coursed up my arm and then made its way through my body.

“Katy?”

I recognized the voice and the voice hurt, because it reminded me of. . . .

No.

I couldn’t go there. I didn’t want to.

A warm hand folded over mine and squeezed gently. “Katy?”

The beeping picked up speed and so did the other.

The other.

Something flared in my chest, like a tiny flame sparking to life. My senses were whirling to the forefront. I could feel something cool against my chest—stuck there. The beeping was starting to go crazy. And then I knew what it was.

A heart monitor.

And there were two separate beeps, one virtually on top of the other. Two. That had to mean . . . Surrounded by a familiar earthy scent, I willed my eyes to open and dragged in a deep breath.

Dee was hovering over me, her green eyes bright with relief. “There you are. I was beginning to wonder if you were going to wake up.”

My mouth was dry from panic as I stared at her. She looked okay—maybe a little stressed. Her hair was a bit crazy-looking, her face a little pale, but she was smiling. Her hand squeezed mine again.

I took another breath and slowly turned my head to the left. My heart exploded in my chest as I gasped.

He lay there, his normal, deeply tanned skin a shade or two paler. I could only see half of his face, but it was a strong, beautiful profile—the cut jaw and straight nose.

I glanced back at Dee in confusion and then quickly looked back at the bed near mine, afraid to blink in fear he’d disappear. I was shaking as I pushed myself up. “I’m . . . I’m awake?”

“Yes.”

My breath caught, but not in that painful way. “I don’t understand.”

She eased away from the bed, giving me room to swing my legs off the side. “You should probably take it easy.”

I ignored her, pulling the sticky things off my chest as I placed my bare feet on the cold floor. It was then I realized I was in a hospital gown and we were in a hospital room. “I don’t understand,” I repeated.

Dee moved to the foot of his bed and smiled tiredly. “The bullet was normal, but it had this electric current in it, sort of like an encasing. If it had stayed in him longer, it would’ve killed him . . .” She trailed off, shaking her head. “It should’ve killed him, but he hung on.”

He hung on.

My legs were wobbly as I stumbled toward the bed, staring at the steady rise and fall of his chest. He was alive. He was breathing. My heart was pounding out of my chest.

I was beyond words as I reached out and placed my fingers on his arm. The skin was warm and dry. My breath caught once more.

“Archer called the general and told him what happened. There were still a lot of military nearby, and he sent a helicopter to pick you guys up.”

My hand trembled as I slid it up his arm.

“They flew him and you out. We’re at a military base in Maryland. They had doctors here,” she explained. “They were able to get the bullet out. They say . . . he’ll be okay, Katy.”

I lowered my head to his chest and I heard it—Daemon’s heartbeat moving as fast as mine. “Oh my God . . .” I sat on the edge of his bed, keeping my ear plastered to his chest. “Please . . . tell me this is real,” I whispered, eyes filling up with tears. “That I won’t wake up again and find this is a cruel dream. Please.”

“It isn’t a dream. I promise you.” She moved to where I sat and leaned down, hugging me gently. “This is real. He’s going to be okay, Katy.”

“Thank you,” I said, voice thick with emotion. “Tell Archer I said thank you.”

Dee responded, but I was focused on the sound of Daemon’s heart. I was only vaguely aware that after some time, Dee left the room. I stayed where I was and there was no stopping the tears. They kept coming, streaming down my face, dampening the thin blue blanket that was tucked under his arms.

Minutes passed. Maybe hours. I didn’t move—wasn’t capable of it and didn’t want to. My heart finally slowed. So did his, and then it thumped when a heavy arm settled over my waist. Startled and full of hope, I lifted my head.

My eyes locked with a pair of brilliant emerald ones.

“Daemon,” I breathed. The waterworks really picked up then, and his beautiful face blurred.

His lips slowly parted. “Don’t cry, Kitten.” As if it took great effort, he lifted his other arm, brushing the tears off my cheeks with the back of his hand. “Come on.”

My chest twisted. “I never thought . . . I’d hear you say that again. I thought you were gone and . . .” My throat closed off as I placed my hand over his, pulling it to my mouth. I kissed his knuckles.

He made a sound in the back of his throat. “Did you think I’d leave you?”

I shuddered.

“I heard you,” he said, and then he tried to sit up.

“Don’t,” I said, my eyes going wide.

He made that sound again, this time more frustrated. “I heard you out in the yard. I wouldn’t leave you, Kat. I’d never do that. Now . . . get down here and kiss me.”

“But you . . . you took a bullet for me, Daemon.” My breath hitched in my throat again. “She was going to shoot me and you . . . you could’ve died. I thought you had died.”

A moment passed as he stared at me like I’d grown two heads. “What else would I’ve done?”

Now I gaped at him through fresh tears.

“I love you,” he said, his eyes incredibly bright as he spoke those words. “If your life is in danger, I’m going to do everything I can to make sure you’re safe. That’s what love makes you do. Right?”

“Right,” I whispered, still stunned somewhat. He spoke as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“I’d do it again.”

Oh God. “Daemon, I . . . thank you.”

He frowned. “You don’t need to thank me.”

“I do.”

The corner of his lips tipped up. “Okay. Thank me by getting down here and kissing me.”

I did just that. I lowered my mouth to his and kissed him softly, reveling in his taste and the warmth of his lips. “I love you so very much, and I’m going to spend every waking moment proving it to you.”

“I like the sound of that.” He tugged on my hair as I lifted my head. “Where . . . are we?”

I gave him the quick version of what Dee had told me. “They’re not sure how you survived.” I sniffled, using my shoulder to wipe the tears off my cheek. “But you’re so stubborn.”

Daemon coughed out a dry laugh and the grip on my hand tightened. “You know how I love a challenge.”

My heart lurched as I remembered those words from the day we’d learned we were connected, and I’d shot him down when he suggested we should get together. I leaned over him, brushing my lips across his forehead. I closed my eyes, sent up as many thank-yous as I could to every God and deity and prophet I knew. “So do I, Daemon. So do I.”