Opposition

8

{ Katy }

I kept my lips sealed tight as the Luxen male—the same one who’d shown up in the bathroom to check on Daemon the night before—led me away from the vehicle Daemon and Dawson piled into along with their sister.

Police surrounded the fleet of cars, and while that seemed like a normal thing during a war or alien invasion, every officer I saw who wasn’t wearing sunglasses was rocking Luxen eyes.

Of course.

When I realized the dark-haired Luxen was steering me toward the tinted-out black limo, tight knots formed in the pit of my stomach. I dared a quick glance down the line of cars and saw Daemon stopped beside a Hummer. The look on his face told me he was seconds from dropping the act and rectifying the car assignments, and that would be bad, very bad.

I gave a little shake of my head and then hurried toward the waiting car’s open door. The pressure against the center of my back from the dark-haired Luxen was not on the gentle side, and I all but toppled onto the leather seat. He climbed in beside me as I straightened myself, pushing strands of hair out of my face.

Sitting across from me was Rolland and the bitch, Sadi, whose cheek was completely unblemished. Damn Luxen and their ability to heal. I’d love to see my mark on her face instead of the syrupy-sweet smile directed at me.

The door closed, and I felt like it was a coffin shutting on me.

Rolland sat with one knee hooked over the other, hands folded in his lap like a perfect politician in a navy suit. Beside him, Sadi was dressed like she had been the day before, pinstripe skirt suit, hair in a neat twist. They looked perfect in a creepy plastic way.

A fine sheen of sweat covered my palms as I glanced at the window, wondering how fast I could summon the Source and bust out a window if I needed to make a hasty escape.

“You’re probably wondering why you’re riding with us,” Rolland stated.

I shifted my gaze back to his, meeting the startling azure eyes. There wasn’t an ounce of humanity in that cold stare. “I am.”

A slow smile pulled at his lips. “I’m curious about your kind, Katy Swartz, about you and Daemon. He feels such a strong physical connection with you. What do you feel for him?”

The limo started to move, and I figured it was probably best that I was as honest as I could be with Rolland. None of us really knew how much information he actually had about us, what Dee or the brothers might have inadvertently shared with him.

“I feel a strong connection with him,” I said, and thinking of how he’d been this morning, that so wasn’t a lie.

“You were fighting him last night, though.” Rolland nodded at the quiet Luxen beside me. “Why was that?”

“I didn’t like how he treated me in the office.” That was also the truth.

“You love him,” Sadi added, and the way she said it made it sound like loving someone was tantamount to walking in front of a bus.

Taking a deep breath, I nodded. “I do.”

“And do you think he loves you?” Rolland straightened his tie.

“I did, but . . .” I forced tears to my eyes, which wasn’t hard considering the way he’d acted before I knew what was going on. It still burned like a sting from a hornet. “But I don’t know anymore. The things he said and . . . and how he acted afterward.” I added in a shudder for show. Someone hand me an Oscar. “I don’t know anything anymore.”

There was a moment of silence, and then Rolland laughed deeply.

That wasn’t what I was expecting.

“You’re cute,” he said finally.

Uh.

He chuckled again. “You sit there, so demure and so small, but you made Sadi bleed a handful of hours ago.”

Sadi scowled, and her look promised retribution. My hands clenched in my lap, and I so wanted to scream bring it at her. Better yet, I wanted to launch myself across the space and wrap my hands around her thin neck.

“You stood before me and tapped into the Source so easily, and yet you sit across from me like a timid little creature,” he continued as he leaned back, stretching his legs out until his calf was pressed against mine.

I stiffened.

His smile spread. “I just wanted to point that out to you.”

The limo jarred over a pothole, jostling me against the silent Luxen. Right now, I felt like a mouse that was being stalked by a cat. A very large and very hungry cat. My heart pounded in my chest. Perhaps I shouldn’t be mentally writing my Oscar acceptance speech. “Okay.”

“I want to know more about the Origin who was with you in the store,” he ordered. “Who is he?”

I didn’t respond.

Shaking his head with a humored smile, he glanced at the Luxen beside me. Before I could take a breath, a hand encased my throat, fingers digging into my skin and cutting off air. A jolt of panic zipped up my sternum as my eyes widened. I’d taken my last breath before I’d even realized it.

Rolland leaned forward, placing both his hands on my knees. “I want this to be easy and not messy. All you have to do is answer my questions.”

I clawed at the Luxen’s hand, but he started to shift, and the heat seared my skin, the light blinding me.

“And if you want to keep Daemon alive, you better value your life,” he said in a tone that sounded like we were discussing what to have for dinner. “Okay?”

I nodded as best I could.

The Luxen let go and his light receded. Sitting back into the seat beside me, he readjusted his sleeves calmly. Rolland didn’t move. Still leaning forward, his hands curled around my knees, forcing a wave of disgust over me.

“Who was he?”

I hated what I was about to do, but it wasn’t just me I had to consider. Even though I was protecting Daemon by saving my own neck, I knew I could potentially be tossing Archer and Lord knows who else under the bus.

“His name is Archer. I don’t know his last name or if he even has one.” My skin crawled.

“And how did you come into contact with him?” Rolland asked. When he leaned back, Sadi shifted from the seat next to him to the one beside me.

Every muscle in my body locked up as her hand replaced his. “Don’t lie, Katy.” She leaned in, her mouth near my ear. “We know more than you think.”

“Because you’ve been here this whole time?” I asked.

She laughed softly. “Well, aren’t you the astute one?” Her sharp nails seemed to dig through the thin material of my pants. “Come on, don’t be shy.”

I drew in a short breath. “I met him in Daedalus.”

“And what would that be?” Rolland asked.

As much as I wanted to shift away from Sadi, I remained where I was sitting. “They are a group within the government that has worked at assimilating the Luxen. They watch over them, keep tabs on them—”

“Control them?”

“To some extent.” I sucked in a breath as Sadi extended an arm behind me and leaned in, getting all up in my personal space. “They’ve done experiments.” As I told them about Daedalus, I fought back the urge to sink my nails into her face.

Rolland listened as the limo rolled along. “Thank you for being so forthcoming, Katy. I would’ve been so disappointed if you’d lied.”

“And we would’ve known.” Sadi’s hand was somewhere around my navel. “You see, we know about their little weapons and the onyx. Those things may still affect us, but we know they are there. We will be prepared for them.”

Confused, I flicked my gaze from her to Rolland. He spread his arms out over the back of his seat, getting all kinds of comfy. “We’ve had help here. I’m pretty sure you’ve realized that by now.”

Pressure seized my chest as I got a real bad feeling about everything. “Someone like her?”

Her throaty laugh raised the hairs on my arms. “Yes, someone like me. Like your Archer. Oh. And who else haven’t you told us about?”

Air leaked out of my lungs.

Rolland tsked softly. “Are you keeping something or someone from us, Katy?”

“She is.” Sadi drew a finger up my arm. Tiny bumps chased the disturbing caress. “His name is Luc, I think.”

Oh God.

“But that’s not all.” Sadi looked over at Rolland.

He grinned. “Of course it isn’t.”

Sadi’s finger trailed over my jaw. “There’s Beth . . . and the baby.”

“Oh dear,” Rolland murmured.

I stared at him, my brain refusing to compute the twist.

He tapped his fingers on the back of the seat. “Did you all really think we’d come here without an invite? That humans, with all their intelligence and advancements, wouldn’t be the source of their own destruction in the end?”

“After all, naming a serum after Prometheus?” Sadi’s breath danced against my cheek. “I mean, isn’t that like self-fulfillment?”

Because in Greek mythology, Prometheus had created man out of clay and, disobeying the gods, gave mankind fire, therefore starting civilization. He had been punished for his own ingenuity.

Just like Daedalus, Sadi’s voice whispered among my turbulent thoughts.

Horror swamped me as I slowly turned my head toward her. Her eyes, the brilliant blue, they weren’t real. Contacts. Just like Archer had hidden his eyes from us, making them appear human. Sadi had gone in the opposite direction, donning lenses that made her look Luxen.

But she wasn’t.

She was an Origin.

And not only had she been able to pick up my thoughts the entire time, she would’ve heard Dawson’s and Daemon’s, in and out of their true forms.

“Yes,” she whispered, her lips brushing the curve of my cheek, sending a shiver down my spine. “You are all so screwed.”

The inside of the limo was suddenly too small. “Why?” I gasped out the only thing I could think.

“Why tell you?” Rolland raised his arms idly. “Or why ask you questions? You see, we couldn’t figure it out. The two brothers were smart. Even when they were in their human forms, they didn’t think anything.”

“They are extraordinarily beautiful, and while most aren’t blessed with good looks and intelligence,” Sadi said, laughing when my jaw clamped down, “I doubted their heads were that empty.”

“There were things that Sadi could pick up every once in a while—brief flashes of thoughts that raised our suspicions when it came to how honest they were being with us,” Rolland went on. “But we couldn’t figure it out—what made those two so resistant to our cause when their sister fell into line so quickly. But then you came along.”

Sadi tapped a nail off the tip of my nose. “How lucky for us.”

“You are the answer. Because you were mutated, an unbreakable bond was formed between you and Daemon.”

“And we knew that Dawson was hiding something from us,” Sadi added. “Or someone. That would be Beth.”

“So now we know that there will be other Luxen out there, some like Daemon and Dawson, who may be bonded to humans in a way that will be problematic to our cause. It’s not like the four of you are unique. There has to be more, and that is what today is all about.”

Crap. Crap. Crap.

Sadi giggled.

“We need to calm the poor little humans, get them to think that their leaders are protecting them, but you and me, well, we know that’s not really going to happen.” He smiled that charming smile of his. “But we also need to give a message to any other Luxen out there who may be thinking that our cause is not something they wish to support.”

My pulse in my throat felt like a hummingbird trying to peck its way out. “And that’s what we are? A message.”

“Smart girl,” he replied as the limo hung a sharp right.

“She wants to know how,” Sadi interjected, and I shot her a dark look. She patted my cheek. “Should we tell her?”

He shrugged.

“You see, there will be Luxen who will be watching, and even through the TV and all the channels it’s broadcast on, they will know what we are,” she explained. “We will toss the brothers right under that bus you were worried about earlier. We’ll expose them as Luxen.”

Holy crap.

“Takes care of two things.” Rolland leaned forward again. “When the humans see beyond a doubt that the Luxen look just like them and that there are humans working alongside some of them, it will cause panic.”

Making it easier for them to take control.

“Exactly,” Sadi murmured, tracing my lower lip with her finger.

“And it also sends a clear message to the Luxen that we will not tolerate any who may have the smallest inkling to stand against us.” The smile slipped from Rolland’s face as his pupils turned to light. “Like I said, serves two interests.”

Good God. The panic they would incite would be astronomical. Even if only a small percentage of the world saw the video at first, it would go viral. If there were Luxen out there like Daemon and Dawson, they’d get the message.

There had to be something I could do.

“There is nothing you can do,” Sadi said, reading my thoughts.

But there was.

She tipped her head back and started laughing, and I started picturing people twerking—everyone in the limo. Quiet Luxen Dude. Rolland. Sadi. All of them bent over, butts in the air, looking like damn fools.

Sadi drew back, frowning. “What are—?”

Twisting in the seat, I acted without much thought behind it, letting instinct take over. The risk was great, but I couldn’t let them reach their destination.

Sadi shouted something as I summoned the Source, pulled from deep within me. Quiet Luxen Dude slammed his hand around my throat as energy rolled down my arm, spinning rapidly as I let the bolt loose.

Air was cut off, and I couldn’t breathe, but the bolt of energy had struck true, slamming into the back of the driver’s head.

The limo swerved sharply to the right and kept going, speeding up when the driver slumped over the wheel. The car went up on two wheels, and as the grip around my throat tightened, the limo went airborne.