Oblivion

It was my turn to smirk.

Matthew eyed me closely. “Is that all?”

I shook my head as I kept an eye on Andrew. “No. Kat was attacked by an Arum Tuesday night.”

“Damn,” Matthew muttered, ru

Surprise flicked through me. I hadn’t expected Matthew to care. “Yes. She’s okay.” The memory of her struggling to get air into her bruised throat surfaced. “She’s going to be okay. I killed the Arum, and she doesn’t know what it was. She thinks it was a mugger.”

Ash stood fluidly and moved to the window overlooking the porch. She didn’t say anything, but she was antsy and that was never a good thing.

“The trace is still on her. It should fade in a couple of days, but we need to be on the lookout for the other Arum.”

The conversation steered toward patrolling and how Matthew was going to notify the Elders that we had confirmation of Arum in the vicinity. We needed to train some new recruits to help with the doubled patrols, which was my, Adam, and Andrew’s job. Yay us. It wasn’t long before everything cycled back to Kat and what we were going to do about it.

“I’m handling it with her,” I said, pretty much over this conversation.

Andrew looked like he wanted to say something smart, but one look from his brother shut him up. It was Dee who ended up bringing our little meet-and-greet to a screeching halt. “Why don’t we just tell her the truth?” she asked.

I stared at her, unsure I had heard correctly.

Matthew stood, turning to Dee. “You ca

“Why not?” Dee raised her hands, her expression earnest. “She’s a good person, and she’s logical. She’s not going to freak out or call the media. Frankly, who would believe her? She’ll understand. Trust me.”

“Dee,” Adam said quietly, kneeling beside her. “You can’t tell her what we are.”

Anger flashed across her face, deepening the hue of her eyes. “I’m telling you, Adam, she can be—”

“Okay, Dee. Let’s say she can be trusted and that she doesn’t tell anyone,” I said, meeting my sister’s gaze. “She takes this shit to her grave, but that’s not the only problem. You might trust her. That doesn’t mean everyone in this room does.”

“Namely me,” Andrew commented.

“And what do you think will happen if the Elders find out about Kat knowing the truth?” I persisted, hoping to reason with Dee on a different level. Ash finally faced us again, her expression blank as she watched us. “Or what do you think the government will do? They don’t know her. They have no reason to trust her. She’ll disappear. Hello. Bethany, anyone?”

Dee sucked in a sharp, audible breath at the reminder of our brother’s human girlfriend who “disappeared” along with him last year.

“You don’t want to put her in that position, do you?” I asked. “Because that’s what you’re also risking by telling her the truth.”

For a moment, she held my gaze but then lowered it. She shook her head. “No. I wouldn’t want to risk that.”

A little bit of relief coursed through me. At least I didn’t have to worry about her telling Kat the truth.

Ash folded her slender arms across her chest. “I can’t believe you.”

Dee glanced up. “What?”

“You have no problem risking our safety, but you worry about hers? Like we mean absolutely nothing?”

“That’s not what I feel or what I’ve said,” Dee argued as she glanced back and forth between us. “We can take care of ourselves. And Katy wouldn’t throw us in front of a bus. That’s all I was trying to say.”

I didn’t step in as they continued to argue, because Dee needed to wise up. She needed to hear what Ash was saying. Not that it really changed anything. I trusted that Dee wouldn’t tell Kat the truth, but she wouldn’t stay away from her.

I walked the Thompsons out while Matthew remained inside, talking to Dee. Probably lecturing her, so there was a good chance I was going to be out here a while. Standing on the porch, I watched Adam and Andrew cross the lawn toward their car. The latter was eyeing Kat’s house like he wanted to nuke it.

Andrew might be a problem.

“Daemon?”

Twisting around, I found Ash standing there. “Hey.”

“I’m sorry about being such a bitch to your sister in there.”

I gri

She glanced up and to the right, and then laughed. “Okay. You’re right. I’m not. She needed to hear it.” Two car doors shut. The brothers were waiting for her. “But I’m surprised. I never thought you’d be the one to mess up.”

“Well, if I was perfect all the time, no one else would have a chance.”

Ash arched a brow and ignored what I said. “How exactly have you been keeping an eye on her?”

Warning bells started going off. I knew what she was getting at, but what the hell? Ash and I had broken up a while ago. Sure, we messed around like exes do from time to time, but she knew the score and even set the rules. “Not sure what you mean by that question?”

Her smile was sugary sweet and sharp as glass. “I think you know exactly what I mean.” There was a pause, and I pictured her sharpening her fangs on my bones. “You haven’t come around in a couple of weeks. I’m betting if I asked Dee when that girl moved in, it’s going to fall around that same time. What do you have to say about that?”

Laughing under my breath, I looked away, my gaze narrowing on the car. “What do I have to say about that? Well, if it were actually your business when it came to what I do, which it’s not, I’d have to say you are way off the mark when it comes to why I haven’t been around. The reasoning hasn’t changed. You know that.”

She appeared to mull that over. “Yeah, you don’t see us long-term, but that’s never stopped us from spending some one-on-one time together.”

“She has nothing to do with that.”

Ash stopped at the top of the porch steps, half turned away. She wasn’t smiling anymore as she looked over her shoulder at me. Challenge burned in her cobalt gaze.

A challenge I had no intention of meeting.

“Prove it,” she said.

I stared at the two Luxen males who rarely ventured out of the colony. They weren’t very much older than me, but they stood in front of me like two fresh recruits about to enter the marines.

“We’re r-ready to begin patrolling,” one said, looking everywhere but at my eyes. Yeah, I was going to have to do a hard pass on this guy being ready.

Beside me, Adam chuckled as he eyed the two guys. “An Arum would eat you alive, spit you back out, and then suck you down like a smoothie.”

The other Luxen blanched, and I thought he might hurl.

I sighed.

Helping prepare these two asshats on how to patrol for Arum and not get killed in the process was not how I wanted to spend my afternoon.

Especially when Kat was with Dee, and even though I’d asked Dee to make sure they stayed home, since Kat was virtually a glow stick, I knew that my sister ultimately did whatever she wanted.

As did Kat.

But stepping in and making sure members of the colony were able to help with the doubling of patrols would keep them both alive, so I was going to have to deal. And really, it wasn’t that bad if I was being honest with myself. I got to be in my true form, and damn, that was like stripping off clothes on a too-hot day. There was nothing like the wind glancing off your essence when you hit speeds that broke the sound barrier. Superman had nothing on a Luxen.

Just thinking about it got my heart pumping.

“This is boring,” muttered Andrew.

I smirked.

It had also been damn amusing to drag Adam and Andrew along to help out. Neither wanted to be there. Adam stayed relatively quiet as we ran the newbies around the whole damn mountain, pushing them to run harder and faster. Andrew bitched the entire time. No big surprise there.

The one who looked like he was going to puke stepped forward. I think his name was Mitchell. Maybe Mikey. I was going to go with Mitchell. “I know we’re not as strong or fast as any of you, but we are ready.”