Oblivion

“We do.”

We headed back to Kat’s house. Everyone was there—Dee along with Andrew and Ash. Their being inside her house had to be hard. When I walked in, both of them were staring at the spot where Adam had fallen.

Dawson was by the window, where the Christmas tree used to be, staring out of it. He shoved his hands into his pockets and pressed his forehead against the glass. Lost. He looked lost, and hell, it killed me that there was nothing I could do to change that. Dee was perched on the arm of the couch, her watchful gaze never leaving Dawson.

We took care of the broken window upstairs. Matthew had brought the necessary items with him—a tarp, a hammer, and nails. It wasn’t the best replacement, but it was the only option at the moment.

Back downstairs, I went to where Kat sat. She scooted closer to me, nestling into my side as I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. She shivered even though she hadn’t been out in the cold. Reaching over with my other hand, I tugged on the strings of her hoodie. “It’s been taken care of.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, resting her head against my shoulder.

My gaze slid to Dawson. “Did anyone find a vehicle?”

“There was an Expedition near the access road,” Andrew said. “I torched it.”

Matthew sat on the edge of the recliner, looking like he needed something hard to drink. “That’s good, but it’s not good.”

“No shit,” Ash snapped. I looked at her, really looked at her. Her hair was greasy and hung limp around her pale face. She was in sweats, and I had never seen Ash look anything short of perfect. Or in anything other than short skirts or skintight jeans. “That’s another dead DOD officer. How many does that make it? Two?”

Apparently she hadn’t heard about the other two.

Ash tucked her hair back behind her ear. “They’re going to wonder where they are, you know? People don’t disappear.”

“People disappear all the time,” Dawson said quietly, without turning around, his words sucking the oxygen from the air, because he was right.

Ash’s bright sapphire eyes slid to him. Her mouth opened, but she clamped her lips shut and then shook her head slowly.

“What about the camera?” Matthew asked.

Kat leaned forward, picking up the melted camera. “If there were pictures, they’re gone now.”

Dawson turned around. “He was watching this house.”

“We know,” I said, shifting forward so I was in line with Kat.

He tilted his head to the side. “Does it matter what was on the camera? They were watching you—her. All of us.”

Kat shuddered.

“But next time, we need to kind of…oh, I don’t know, talk first and then throw people through windows later.” I crossed my arms. “Can we try that?”

“And we can just let killers go?” Dee said, voice shaking as her eyes flashed with fury. “Because that’s apparently what should happen. I mean, that officer could’ve killed one of us, and you would have just let him go.”

“Dee,” I said, standing and stepping toward her. “I know—”

“Don’t ‘I know, Dee’ me.” Her lower lip trembled. “You let Blake go.” Her gaze shot to Kat. “Both of you let Blake go.”

I shook my head as I unfolded my arms. “Dee, there was enough killing that night. Enough death.”

Dee flinched. Without speaking, she wrapped her arms around her waist. It was Ash who spoke, and what she said surprised the hell out of me. “Adam wouldn’t have wanted that. More deaths. He was such a pacifist.”

“Too bad we can’t ask him how he really feels about it, isn’t it?” Dee’s spine stiffened. “He’s dead.”

“Not only did you guys let Blake go, you lied to us. From her?” Andrew gestured at Kat. “I don’t expect loyalty. But you? Daemon, you kept everything from us, and Adam died.”

Kat stood. “Adam’s death isn’t Daemon’s fault. Don’t put that on him.”

I stilled. “Kat—”

“Then whose is it?” Dee demanded. “Yours?”

She sucked in a sharp breath, but met my sister’s gaze. “Yeah, it is.”

Shit.

Matthew jumped in. “All right, guys, that’s enough. Fighting and casting blame isn’t helping anyone.”

“It makes us feel better,” Ash muttered, closing her eyes.

Kat lowered her chin as she sat back down, this time on the edge of the coffee table. She blinked rapidly as she folded her hands over her knees, squeezing so tightly that her knuckles bleached white.

“Right now, we need to get along,” Matthew went on. “All of us.”

No one spoke, and I thought the likelihood of everyone getting along was somewhere between not going to happen and hell no.

Then Dawson spoke. “I’m going after Beth.”

All of us turned to him, everyone struck silent, and then voices rose. Only Kat remained quiet as she stared at him. I spoke up, moving toward him. “Absolutely not, Dawson—no way.”

“It’s too dangerous.” Dee was standing, too, her hands clasped together as if she were pleading with him. “You’ll get captured, and I won’t survive that. Not again.”

Dawson’s lips tipped up a little at the corners. “I have to get her back. Sorry.”

“He’s insane,” Ash whispered, her eyes wide with disbelief. “Freaking insane.”

My brother shrugged as Matthew leaned forward. “Dawson, I know, we all know, that Beth means a lot to you, but there’s no way you can get her. Not until we know what we’re dealing with.”

Raw anger flashed in Dawson’s eyes, turning them forest green, and it was the first show of emotion I’d seen from him, and it was hot, powerful anger. “I know what I’m dealing with. And I know what they are doing to her.”

I couldn’t believe I was hearing this. Prowling forward, I stopped in front of my brother, prepared to keep him standing there forever if need be. “I ca

Dawson didn’t back down. “You don’t have a say over it. You never did.”

“I’m not trying to control you, Dawson. It’s never been about that, but you just got back from hell. We just got you back.”

“I’m still in hell,” he replied, his eyes meeting mine. There. I almost saw a part of my brother in his stare, the one who left to go to the movies and never returned. “And if you get in my way, I will drag you down with me.”

And that small fragment of Dawson was gone.

“Dawson…”

A wind blew through the living room, fluffing the curtains and flipping the pages of all of the books and magazines in the room. Kat was suddenly standing next to me, her small hand on my arm.

“All right,” she said. “The alien testosterone right now is a little too much, and I really don’t want to have an alien brawl in my house on top of the broken window and the dead body that came through it. But if you two don’t knock it off, I’ll kick both of your asses.”

I looked at her, my brows raised, and I wasn’t the only one staring at her.

“What?” Her cheeks flushed pink.

A wry smiled tugged at the corners of my lips. “Simmer down, Kitten, before I have to get you a ball of yarn to play with.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t start with me, jerk-face.”

I smirked and then focused on my brother. My chest lurched. There was another emotion playing across his mouth. Amusement. He watched Kat with a look of amusement, and damn… A knot formed in the back of my throat.

Dawson’s gaze moved from her to me, and his expression went blank, eyes shuttered. He was as impenetrable as thick glacial ice. He turned and stalked out of the room. The door slammed shut behind him.

And I knew in that moment that Dawson hadn’t just changed. He’d become…he’d become me, and like me, he would do anything to get Bethany back.

He would risk all of us.

Dawson was currently upstairs, sequestered in his bedroom by his own doing. At least he wasn’t out roaming around in the cold, so that was good news, right?

Hell. You knew shit was bad when that was considered good news.