Origin

Chapter 25

Katy

Time stopped. My heart skipped a beat and then took several leaps. My stomach felt like I was hurdling mountains. I stared at him so long that one single dark brow rose.

“Kitten…?” He tipped his head to the side. Strands of wet hair fell across his forehead. “Are you breathing?”

Was I? I wasn’t sure. All I could do was stare at him. He couldn’t have said what I thought he had. Let’s get married. The statement, because I was pretty sure it wasn’t a question, came so far out of left field that I was stunned.

A lopsided grin appeared on his face. “Okay. Your silence is stretching out further than I’d thought it would.”

I blinked. “Sorry. It’s just…what did you ask me?”

He chuckled deeply and reached over, threading his fingers through mine. “I said: let’s get married.”

Sucking in another deep breath, I squeezed his hand as my heart did another flip. “Are you serious?”

“Serious as I’ll ever be,” he replied.

“Did you hit your head in the bathroom? Because you were in there a long time.”

Daemon barked out a laugh. “No. Should I be offended by that question?”

I flushed. “No. It’s just…you want to marry me? Like, really get married?”

“Is there more than one kind of marriage, Kitten?” His lips were tilting up again. “It wouldn’t be legal, because we’d have to use our new IDs, so in a way, it wouldn’t be real, but it would be real to me—to us. I want to do this. Right now. I don’t have a ring, but I promise I’ll get you one worthy of you when things…things die down. We’re in Vegas. No better place. I want to marry you, Kat. Today.”

“Today?” My voice came out a squeak. I thought I might faint.

“Yes. Today.”

“But we’re…” We were young, but really, was there such a thing as too young for us? I was eighteen, months shy from turning nineteen. I had always pictured being at least in my mid-twenties before I tied the knot, but our future was so unknown to us. And it wasn’t the common world that people faced every day, not knowing how short their lives may very well be. We were on the sucky statistic side of things not working in our favor. If we didn’t manage to make it into hiding and were captured again, I doubted Daedalus would be so keen on allowing us to be together. That is, if we survived any of this. We didn’t have the guarantee of years to figure out our relationship.

“But what?” he asked softly.

I wasn’t sure we needed those years to determine if we wanted to be together. I knew right that second that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Daemon, but it wasn’t that simple. Something else could be driving this decision of his.

He squeezed my hand. “Kat?”

My heart was going crazy fast. I felt like I was on top of a roller coaster. “Are you wanting to do this because tomorrow may never come? Is that why you want to marry me? Because there might not be a later to do this?”

He leaned back. “Can I say that doesn’t play some role in wanting to do this now? No. It does. But it’s not the sole reason or even the major reason why I want to marry you. It’s more like the catalyst.”

“The catalyst,” I whispered.

He nodded. “I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure nothing bad happens. I will do anything to make sure we have the time for everything that we want, but I’m not stupid enough to disregard the fact that something may happen that I can’t control. And, dammit, I don’t want to look back and see that I didn’t seize the chance to make you mine, to really prove that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. That I lost that opportunity.”

Air hitched around the sudden lump in my throat. Tears burned my eyes.

“I want to marry you because I’m in love with you, Kat. I will always be in love with you. That’s not going to change today or two weeks from now. I will be just as in love with you in twenty years as I am today.” He let go of my hand and rose slightly, cupping my cheek. “That’s why I want to marry you.”

The tears welled up, and a few snuck out. He caught each one with his thumb. “Are the tears a good or a bad thing?”

“It’s just…that was such a beautiful thing to say.” I wiped at my face, feeling like an overemotional fool on the verge of having a stroke. “So you really want to get married today?”

“Yes, Kat, I really want to get married.”

“In a towel?”

His head tipped back, and he let out a deep laugh. “Maybe I’ll put some clothes on.”

My thoughts raced. “But where?”

“There are tons of places in Vegas.”

“Is it safe to go out there?”

He nodded. “I think so, if we’re quick about this.”

A quickie marriage in Vegas? I almost laughed because we would be just one in a million who came to Vegas and got married. Some of the numbness faded with the acknowledgment of how…common it was to do this.

To get married.

My heart did a backflip.

“If you’re not ready, that’s okay. We don’t need to do this,” he said, his eyes meeting mine. “I’m not going to be upset if you don’t feel it’s the right time, but I am going to ask one more time. You don’t even have to say no. Just don’t say anything. Okay?” He took a little breath. “Will you make me the luckiest bastard on Earth and marry me, Katy Swartz?”

My breath shuddered. Tension rolled through my entire body. I’d imagined a proposal being very different than this. It never involved a towel, and I’d have a long engagement, plan a wedding, and have family and friends witness the moment, but…

But I was in love with Daemon. And like he’d said, I’d be in love with him tomorrow and twenty years from now. That was never going to change. The emotions were complex, but the answer was simple.

I took a breath, and it felt like the first breath I’d ever taken. “Yes.”

He stared at me in wonder. “Yes?”

I nodded vigorously, like a seal. “Yes. I will marry you. Today. Tomorrow. Whenever.”

In the blink of an eye, he was standing, and I was captured in his strong embrace. His arms were tight around me, my feet several inches off the floor, and his mouth was on mine. That kiss was more a stake of claim than any marriage certificate could be.

I came up for air, clutching his shoulders. He’d started to glow a beautiful soft white as he stared back at me with a look of awe in his expression. I smiled. “Well, let’s get this show on the road.”

…

Daemon

I wouldn’t let Kat change her shirt. I had a fondness for it. After all, it was the first shirt I’d seen her in, and I thought it was fitting.

Feeling like I might have just climbed Mount Everest in a second, I quickly changed into a pair of jeans and a shirt. Okay. Maybe not quickly. I kept getting distracted with Kat’s lips, because those lips had said yes, which made them suddenly something I couldn’t stop touching.

They were swollen by the time we made it downstairs. Still early, only Lyla was up. I had no qualms about asking her to borrow a car, because I didn’t want Kat to hoof it into Vegas. Lyla easily gave up her keys to a Jag, which I traded in for a Volkswagen I saw in the garage, along with two more cars she owned. My fingers itched to get behind the wheel of a Jag, but that would draw way too much attention.

I honestly didn’t think we’d run into any problems. The last place Daedalus would be looking for us would be at a place we could get married, but I took the same appearance of the guy I’d used in the motel, and we found a floppy sun hat and glasses for Katy.

“I look like a fake celebrity,” she said, staring at herself in the side mirror. She twisted toward me. “And you’re kind of hot.”

I snorted. “I’m not sure if I should be bothered by that.”

She giggled. “You know, Dee is going to kill us.”

We’d decided not to tell anyone. Mainly because Matthew would probably object, Dee would freak out, and, honestly, we wanted to do this alone. It was our moment. Our little slice of pie that we weren’t sharing.

“She’ll get over it,” I said, knowing that was doubtful. Dee would probably kill me for not being able to take part. Coasting the VW out of the driveway and down the access road, I reached over and patted Kat’s thigh. “Serious moment, okay? When all of this crap is settled, if you want the big wedding and all that jazz, I’ll make it work. You just need to tell me.”

She took off her oversize sunglasses. “Big weddings cost a lot of money.”

“And I have a lot of money stashed away. Enough to make sure we have nothing to worry about until we figure out what we’re doing, so more than enough to cover a wedding.”

She shook her head. “I don’t want the big wedding. I just want you.”

I almost stopped the VW right there and crawled all over her. “Just keep it in mind for later if you change your mind.” I wanted to give her everything—the ring that weighed her finger down and the wedding to end all weddings. Neither was feasible right now—and, I had to admit, I was turned on by the fact she didn’t seem to care about either of those things.

Okay. I was almost always turned on by her, but that was beside the point.

“You know where I want to get married? Married. Wow. I can’t believe I just said that. Anyway,” Kat said, her eyes lighting up under the brim of her hat. “I want to do the little church—the one everyone goes to Vegas to get married at.”

It took me a moment. “You mean The Little White Wedding Chapel? The one in The Hangover?”

Kat laughed. “It’s sad that’s how you know the church, but yes. I think there are a couple of them in Vegas. And it should be perfect. I doubt they require much but the fee and an ID.”

I shot her a grin. “If that’s what you want, you got it.”

It didn’t take us long to get into Vegas and to stop at one of the tourist vendors. Kat hopped out and grabbed a handful of brochures. One of them was about the chapel. Apparently impromptu weddings were a big theme. Duh.

We had to get a marriage license.

She frowned. “I don’t want to do it under our fake names.”

“Neither do I.” I pulled up in front of the courthouse, letting the engine run. “But it’s too risky to use our real names. Besides, we’ll need the marriage license under our useable ID. You and I will always know the difference.”

She nodded and grabbed the door handle, but her fingers slipped off. “You’re right. Well, let’s do this.”

“Hey.” I stopped her. “You’re sure, right? You want this?”

She faced me. “I’m positive. I want this. I’m just nervous.” Leaning in, she tipped her head to the side and kissed me. The edge of her hat brushed my cheek. “I love you. This…this feels right.”

Air punched from my lungs. “It does.”

Sixty dollars later, we had a marriage license in hand, and we were en route to the chapel on the Boulevard. Since our fake IDs were under the images of our real selves, I’d have to change back over once we pulled into the parking lot.

The whole drive, I kept an eye out for anyone suspicious. The problem with that was that everyone looked suspicious to me at the moment. Even as early as it was, the streets were teeming with tourists and people heading to work. I knew there could be implants anywhere, but I doubted there’d be one dressed as Elvis or hidden in a chapel.

Kat squeezed my arm when the sign for the chapel came into view. The heart on the side was a nice, gaudy touch. “The Little White Wedding Chapel isn’t so little,” she said as I turned into the parking lot.

I parked the car, and as I pulled the keys out of the ignition, I slid back into the form Kat was accustomed to.

An amused smile lit her face. “Better.”

“I thought the other guy was hot?”

“Not as hot as you.” She patted my knee, then pulled back. “I’ve got the license.”

Turning to the window, I almost couldn’t believe that we were here. Not that I was having second thoughts or anything, but I couldn’t believe we were actually doing this, that in an hour or so, we’d be man and wife.

Or Luxen and hybrid.

We hurried inside and met with the “wedding planner.” Handing over our license, IDs, and the fee, we got the ball rolling. The bleach-blonde behind the counter tried selling us every package they had, including the ones where we could rent a tux and gown.

Kat shook her head. She’d taken off the hat and sunglasses. “We just need someone to marry us. That’s all.”

The blonde flashed an ultra-white smile as she leaned against the counter. “You two lovebirds in a hurry?”

I dropped an arm over Kat’s shoulders. “You could say that.”

“If you just want something quick, no bells and whistles or a witness, then we have Minister Lincoln. He’s not included in the fee, so we do ask for a donation.”

“Sounds good.” I bent down, brushing my lips along Kat’s temple. “You want anything else? If so, we’ll do it. Whatever it is.”

Kat shook her head. “I just want you. That’s all we need.”

I smiled and glanced at the blonde. “Well, there you go.”

The woman stood. “You two are adorable. Follow me.”

Kat bumped me with her hip as we trailed behind the blonde entering the “Tunnel of Love”—and boy did I have a ton of nasty comments building up in me about the name of that. I’d save them for later.

Minister Lincoln was an older man who looked more like a grandfather than some guy who married people on a whim in Vegas. We chatted with him for a few minutes, and then we had to wait for another twenty while he finished up a few things. The delays were starting to make me paranoid, and I expected an army to storm the chapel any second. I needed a distraction.

I pulled Kat onto my lap and circled my arms around her waist. While we waited, I told her about the ceremonies my kind did, which were very much like a human wedding with the exception of rings.

“Is there anything you do in its place?” she asked.

Tucking her hair back behind her ear, I smiled a little. “You’ll think it’s gross.”

“I want to know.”

My hand lingered along the curve of her neck. “It’s kind of like a blood oath. We’re in our true form.” I kept my voice low, just in case anyone was listening, though I was sure stranger things were heard in the Tunnel of Love. “Our fingers are pricked and pressed together. That’s about it.”

She lightly stroked my hand. “That’s not too gross. I was expecting you to say something like you have to run around naked or consummate the relationship in front of everyone.”

I dropped my head to her shoulder and laughed. “You have such a dirty mind, Kitten. That’s why I love you.”

“That’s all?” She wiggled down so that her cheek was beside mine.

My grip tightened. “You know better than that.”

“Can we do it—what your kind does—later?” she asked, tapping her finger on my chest. “When things die down?”

“If that’s what you want.”

“It is. I think that would make it more real, you know?”

“Miss Whitt? Mr. Rowe?” The blonde appeared at the opened doors. I was sure the tan chick had a name but couldn’t recall it for the life of me. “We’re ready when you are.”

Hoisting Kat to her feet, I took her hand. The chapel portion was actually pretty nice. Enough room if you wanted people to be there. White roses were everywhere—on the ends of the pews, bouquets of them in the corners and hanging from the ceiling and placed upon the pedestals at the front. Minister Lincoln stood between the pedestals, holding a bible in his hand. He smiled when he saw us.

Our steps made no sound on the red carpet. Actually, we could’ve been stomping our feet and I wouldn’t have heard it over the pounding of my heart. We stopped in front of the minister. He said something. I nodded. God only knew what it was. We were told to face each other, and we did, our hands joined.

Minister Lincoln kept talking, but it was like Charlie Brown’s teacher, because I didn’t understand a single word of it. My gaze was locked on Kat’s face, my attention focused on the feel of her hands in mine and the warmth of her body next to me. At some point I heard the important words.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

I think my heart exploded. Kat was staring up at me, her gray eyes wide and misty. For a moment, I couldn’t move. Like I was frozen for a precious few seconds, and then I was moving, cupping her cheeks and tilting her head back. I kissed her. I’d kissed her at least a thousand times before this, but this one—oh, yeah—this one was different. The touch and taste of her reached down into me and branded my soul.

“I love you,” I said, kissing her. “I love you so very much.”

She gripped my sides. “And I love you.”

Before I knew it, I was smiling, and then I was laughing like an idiot, but I didn’t care. I pulled her into my arms, cradling her head against my chest. Our hearts were racing, beating in tandem—we were in tandem. And in that moment, it seemed like everything we’d been through, everything we’d lost and had to give up, was worth it. This was what mattered—would always matter the most.