Opposition

6

{ Katy }

The edges of the piece of glass were digging into my palm as I stared at Daemon. After everything that had gone down in the office, and then with that horrible woman, I couldn’t catch my breath or stop the tremors racing along my arm. I watched him take a step forward. The look in his incandescent eyes and the intent in his step sent a shiver down my spine. “Don’t.”

His eyes narrowed.

Too much hurt swelled in my chest, mixing with all the terrible things Sadi had said she planned on doing with Daemon, things that, when he’d been in the office, he hadn’t sounded like he’d be against enjoying.

My skin felt raw, my insides flayed open. I wanted to lash out and hurt something, someone. Tears burned my throat. “Are you sure you don’t want to leave with your new friend?”

Only a thin sliver of green showed now. “Yes, I’m sure.”

“That’s not what it looked like earlier. You two—”

“Don’t say another word,” he all but growled.

I blinked as anger roared through me like a typhoon. “Excuse me? Who the—?”

Daemon was on one side of the bathroom, and then he was right in front of me the next second, causing me to stumble to the side and step in the gooey mess on the floor.

I shrieked. “I hate it when you do—”

He clasped my cheeks, and the moment his skin was against mine, my entire brain seemed to short-circuit. The piece of glass fell from my fingers, landing harmlessly on a nearby fluffy bathmat.

He lowered his head until our mouths were so close that we shared the same air. It was all so unfair. From the moment he’d disappeared, all I wanted was to see him again, to touch him and to love him, and now I didn’t really know what was standing in front of me.

Nothing since the Luxen had arrived made sense.

He didn’t move. Instead, his luminous emerald gaze traveled over my face as if he was committing each inch to memory. There was a warmth that followed his stare, and the throbbing in my nose, where that heinous bitch had slapped me, faded away.

He was healing me. Again. After pushing me away from him and saying that he loved me, as in the past tense, and after associating with the worst kind of monsters. I couldn’t take it.

“This is so wrong,” I said, my voice cracking. “Everything is so messed—”

Daemon kissed me.

There was nothing soft or tentative about it. His mouth was pressed against mine, boldly parting my lips, and he kissed like he was starving. The rush of sensation nearly took my legs out from underneath me. My stomach dipped as a deep sound rumbled from his throat, shaking through me.

The spark of hope in my chest grew stronger, but confusion and anger snapped at its heels like an annoying little dog. Daemon tilted his head as one hand slid off my cheek. His fingers curled into my hair at the back of my head. My heart pounded, and it was too much.

I placed my hands against his chest and pushed.

“Kitten,” he growled, nipping at my lower lip.

A breath shuddered through me. “You—”

“She’s still outside the room,” he whispered against my lips, and then he was kissing me again.

His words were lost for a moment as his other hand trailed down the length of me, settling on the curve of my waist. He tugged me against him, fitting our bodies together, and the feel of it was somehow shockingly new and sweetly familiar. The kiss deepened until his taste was everywhere.

My hands shook as my fingers gripped the soft material of his shirt. A breathy sound escaped me. The tremble traveled up my arms and kept going until every part of my body shook.

“She’s gone.” Daemon lifted his head away, but I kept my eyes squeezed shut. I couldn’t stop shaking. “Oh, Kitten . . .”

I wanted to tell him not to call me that if this wasn’t real, but a sob rose in my throat. I clamped my mouth shut, because at this point, tears and breaking down didn’t help anything, and there had already been too many tears between us.

Daemon’s arm circled around me and his fingers spread across the back of my head, guiding my cheek against his chest. He held me in an embrace so tight I could feel his heart pounding through him.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered against the top of my head. “I’m so sorry, Kitten.”

“Is . . . is this you?” My voice cracked. “Is this real?”

“As real as I’ll ever be.” His voice was barely audible, a hoarse whisper like mine. “God, Kat, I . . .”

It felt like my chest had imploded, and I reached up, digging my hand into the wisp of hair at the nape of his neck. My cheeks were damp.

“I’m so sorry,” he said again, and for a moment, it was all he seemed to be able to say. He turned so that his back was to the wall, and then he slid down, pulling me into his lap, nestled between his bent knees and the hard expanse of his chest. “I don’t know how much I can say or how long I can keep them out of my head.”

Keep them out of his head? I blinked back tears as I opened my eyes. “I don’t . . . understand what is happening.”

“I know.” Pain flashed across his striking face as he rested his forehead against mine. “We’re connected—all of us. From the moment they came, we’ve been inside one another’s heads. I’m not sure how it works. It’s never been like this before. Maybe it’s because there are so many of us here, but when I’m in my true form, there’s no hiding from it. It’s not too bad . . . now. There are things they don’t know, that we’ve been able to keep from them, but I’m not sure how much longer that’s going to work.”

“Us?” I whispered.

He nodded. “Dawson and me.”

I frowned, clearly not remembering him as being a friendly. “But he hit me with the Source.” And I was also pretty sure he’d cracked my skull in the process.

Daemon’s eyes deepened to a vibrant moss green. “Yeah, and his jaw has been thanked for that. He didn’t have a choice, though. Another was heading for you, and he did what he did to stop one of them from killing you.”

“And killing you.” My thoughts raced to keep up with everything. It was an act—all of this. “Dee?”

Daemon’s thick lashes lowered as he shook his head.

“What?” I pulled in an unsteady breath as the crush of disappointment hit me. Her words had stung me, but it had to be worse for Daemon and Dawson. “She’s not . . . pretending?”

“No. She’s sucked into them. It’s kind of like a hive.” He shook his head again, and I could see the weariness settling in the lines around his full lips. “I don’t know why Dawson and I are able to . . . think for ourselves but not her.”

I placed the tips of my fingers against his cheek, feeling the faint stubble. “I think I know.”

His brows rose.

“Dawson has Beth,” I said quietly, meeting his eyes. “And you have me. Maybe that’s it. Just like with the mutation thing. It’s something so simple.”

“There’s nothing about you that’s simple.”

A faint smile crossed my lips. “I was so scared,” I admitted after a few moments. “When you left with them, and then seeing you again like . . . like you were. I thought I’d lost you.” Emotion clogged my throat, and it took several seconds to get the words out. “That after everything we’ve been through, I’d lost you anyway.”

“You haven’t lost me, Kitten. You could never lose me.” He folded me in against him, and when he spoke in a low voice, his lips brushed my cheek. “But I didn’t want you here, anywhere near here. It’s not safe for you.”

The fierce ache in my chest eased a little as his words sank in, but the bitter tang of hurt and fear lingered in the back of my throat. There was still so much I didn’t understand, things I didn’t think even Daemon understood.

He took one of my hands and placed it against his chest, above his heart. “You really thought I’d forgotten you?”

I dipped my chin, and it was too easy to recall the coldness in his stare. “I didn’t know what to think. You . . . you looked at me like you did when we first met.”

“Kat.” He uttered my name like it was some kind of prayer, and then he pressed a kiss against the skin behind my ear. “I broke every rule of my kind to heal you and keep you with me. I married you and burned down an entire city to keep you safe. I’ve killed for you. Did you think I’d forget what you mean to me? That anything in this world—in any world—would be stronger than my love for you?”

A choked sob escaped my lips as I buried my face in the space between his shoulder and neck. Circling my arms around his shoulders, I clung to him like a needy baby monkey. I squeezed until his low chuckle whispered against my cheek.

“You’re strangling me,” he said, smoothing a hand up my back. “Just a little.”

“Sorry,” I mumbled against his shoulder, but I didn’t let go. He kissed the crown of my head, and a sigh leaked out of me. God, nothing was okay. Far from it, but Daemon was okay. He was himself, and dammit, together we could face anything. We would because we had to. “What are we going to do?”

He tucked the tangled mess of my hair back from my face, exposing my cheek to the path of his lips. “Keep pretending. There are gonna be things I’m going to have to say, maybe even have to do—”

“I understand.” My heart dropped anyway. I didn’t want to relive the whole office thing again, but I would if needed. I had to.

“Of course you do.” He placed a kiss on the corner of my lips. “But it’s not something I’ve ever wanted you to have to understand.” His lips followed the curve of my jaw, eliciting a shiver from me. “We’ll get out of here, but I can’t go without Dee.”

I nodded. I would never expect him to leave her behind, even if she had turned into a raging bitch who apparently wanted to throw me down a flight or three of stairs.

“And not before I know what they’re planning,” he added. “They’re up to something big.”

“Obviously.” I smiled faintly. “The whole invading-Earth part kind of gave that away.”

“Smartass.” His teeth caught the edge of my earlobe, and the little nip sent a jolt through my entire body.

I gasped, and his answering chuckle was downright wicked and wholly inappropriate given the situation. I drew back, cheeks flushing. “Only you could behave like this with everything going on.”

One side of his mouth tipped up as his gaze dropped to my lips and then below. “Well, you are sitting in my lap wearing only jeans and a bra—a cute bra—after kicking some chick’s ass. That’s hot. And I’m really turned on by that.”

The blush traveled to the lacy edge of my bra, because I could tell he was really turned on by that. “You’re ridiculous.”

“You’re beautiful.”

“I stink,” I murmured.

Daemon chuckled hoarsely. “I can help you rectify that. I mean, I can be really helpful in that department.”

“Oh Lord, seriously?”

“Hey, I’m supposedly all about the physical.” He paused as I stared at him. “Okay, probably not supposedly. When it comes to you, I’m feeling physical pretty much all the time.” His hands moved up my bare arms, leaving a rush of tiny bumps behind them.

I tilted my head back. “So besides the obvious me dying equals you dying, the other Luxen think you want to keep me around because you just like . . . ?”

“Having wild, animalistic sex with you?” he suggested.

My lips pursed.

“Something like that.” His mouth brushed mine as he spoke, and his hands settled on my hips. “Though after everything in the office, I doubt they’d think you’d be down for that.”

“I’m not down for that right now, you douche.”

An eyebrow rose. “I bet I could change that.”

“Daemon.” I put my hands on his shoulders. “I think we really need to focus on other stuff.” And there was so much. “Do they know about Beth, about . . . ?”

“They don’t know about her or Luc. We need to keep it that way.” His hands slipped around to my back and slid up to the bra strap.

“But they know what Archer is.” I bit down on my lip as two of his fingers dipped under the strap. “Beth’s pregnant.”

His head dipped to my bare shoulder. “I know.”

My jaw dropped. “What?” He didn’t answer, because he was too busy licking my shoulder— Sweet Jesus. I grabbed a handful of hair and lifted his head. “You didn’t tell me?”

He captured my mouth in a deep, searing kiss that almost made me forget what we were talking about and where we were. His kisses had that kind of magical power. “I didn’t get a chance to tell you.” He hooked his pinkie under one of the straps, easing it down an inch or two. “Remember. Holy alien invasion everywhere.”

“Oh. Yeah. That.” My lashes lowered as his lips chased after the strap. Tension curled low in my stomach. “Beth’s been sick, though. I don’t know if it’s normal or not. That’s . . . that’s why we were at the grocery store. We were getting her stuff.”

“Archer should’ve never let you leave that house.” Daemon’s head jerked up suddenly, swiveling toward the closed bathroom door. His pupils gleamed like diamonds. “Someone’s coming.”

I stiffened in his arms, heart lurching into my throat.

He turned his attention back to me. Cupping my cheek, he lowered his mouth once more, kissing me deeply and spinning my senses so fast and so furiously that when he lifted his head, I whimpered. Actually whimpered. “Act like you’re mad at me. Fight me.”

Still lost from the last kiss, I stared at him. “What?”

Suddenly, I was on my back, dangerously close to the broken glass. Globs of spilled conditioner and shampoo splattered. Daemon hovered over me, his hands capturing my wrists and holding them to the floor as one of his legs shoved in between mine.

My chest lurched. “What in the—?”

He dipped his head to mine, voice low. “Pretend I’m Sadi.”

If I did that, I might cut him.

My eyes narrowed, but the bathroom door swung open, and a Luxen male—the quiet one from the office—stood in the doorway. Heat swept across my face, partly due to how I was undressed, and partly because of how we must’ve looked at that moment.

“Everything okay here?” he asked in that strange, lilting way.

“Just spending a little one-on-one time with her,” Daemon answered, and my breath caught at the change in his voice. It was back to that smug, mocking way of his that made me want to introduce my knee to an important part of his body.

Over Daemon’s head, I saw the Luxen tilt his head to the side. “Doesn’t look like it’s going too well.”

“Well . . .” He flashed a grin. “It would be easier if she wasn’t so upset. Isn’t that right?” he asked me. “But that’s okay. I like the way she tries to fight.”

“Tries?” I spat, my fingers curled inward. “I’m going to—”

“Shush it,” he murmured lazily. And then he moved lightning fast, and from an angle the Luxen could see, he nipped my ear again. I had to bite down on my lip to stop myself from crying out and punching him in the gonads.

I was so going to kick his butt later.

Daemon made a show of eyeing me like I was an all-you-can-eat buffet, then glanced at the other Luxen. “Do you mind? Or are you planning to watch?”

The flicker of interest on the Luxen’s face turned my stomach. “As alluring as that sounds, I’ll need to pass. This time.”

Oh, yuck. Wiggling a leg free, I slammed the heel of my foot into Daemon’s calf for starting that line of conversation.

“Ouch.” He shot me a look.

My lips twitched as satisfaction rolled over me.

“Rolland just wanted to make sure everything was fine,” the Luxen said, his cool, crystallized gaze straying to areas I was so not happy about.

Daemon shifted, casually blocking a good portion of my body. “Is that all?”

“No,” was the response. “Rolland would like you to attend the press conference tomorrow. And he wants you to bring the girl with you.”

Press conference? Bring me? Oh . . . a shiver danced over my skin. I so did not like the sound of all of this.

Daemon managed a smirk. “Sounds like fun.”

The Luxen hesitated, and then nodded. After one more way-too-long look in my direction, he backed out of the bathroom. “Have fun.”

Neither of us moved or spoke for a good minute after the Luxen had left the bathroom, and then Daemon glanced down at me.

I drew in a deep breath. “I don’t like the way tomorrow is looking.”

“I don’t either.”

I wet my lips. “You don’t think Rolland knows you’re faking?”

“No.” He sounded so sure. “I’ve been more than careful.”

“Then what do you think they’re planning?”

He shook his head, causing several black waves to brush against his eyebrows. “He videoed a press release earlier. He’s pretending to be the mayor . . .”

As Daemon trailed off, he released my wrists and rocked up, his expression far off, and I had a feeling he was thinking the same thing I was. Sitting up, I wrapped my arms around my waist. He looked over and our gazes locked.

“Do you think he’s pretending?” I asked. “That he’s really pretending to be the mayor, as in . . .” As in working from the inside to take over. “What if there are more like him? Ones who have taken over the bodies of important people?”

He cursed under his breath as he shoved both hands through his hair. “I should’ve seen it right away. I mean, I got that he was pretending to be mayor, but I didn’t think beyond that. They’re only killing some people without assimilating them. They’re targeting certain people. Same age group. People old enough to have . . .”

“Families,” I whispered. And that would be even worse than assimilating those in positions of power, because if they pretended to be mothers and fathers and teachers, they’d be everywhere, and no one would be able to tell, even if there were witnesses. Accounts of the Luxen snatching bodies couldn’t stop something this huge.

I looked at Daemon.

The Luxen had already been on this planet for decades and then some, and no one knew.

“Does the TV in that room work?” I asked.

“I think so.”

“I think we need to turn it on.”

After helping me up, Daemon rubbed his hands up and down my arms, chasing away the chill. “Take a shower, and I’ll find something for you to wear.”

I glanced at the door, hesitating. Stripping naked with a bunch of Luxen nearby who had no concept of personal space made me want to hurl.

Daemon dipped his head, brushing his lips across mine. “I won’t let anyone come in here. You’re safe.”

You’re safe.

Two words I couldn’t wait until I never had to hear again. Closing my eyes, I stretched up and kissed him softly. “Okay.”

He pulled me in for a quick hug, and then he started for the door. Stopping, he twisted at the waist, and his gaze drifted over me, warming my cold skin. “Kitten?”

“Yeah?”

His eyes were beautiful when they met mine, luminous and clear, and a long moment stretched out between us. “I love you.”