Oblivion

“Daemon?”

Stopping, I twisted around.

She was nibbling on her lower lip. “Thank you for saving my life tonight. I would be a pancake if you hadn’t.”

I didn’t respond to that, because there was really wasn’t a reason for her to thank me.

“And…” She stepped forward, lowering the tote. “And thank you for telling me the truth. You can trust me with it.”

My lashes lifted and I met her earnest stare. I wanted to believe her. “Prove it.”

It wasn’t lost on me as I left the room, closing the door behind me, that I had parroted Ash’s words. Heading down the hall, I stopped at Dee’s door and gently rapped my knuckles on it.

The door flew open, and my sister was standing there, eyes shining. “Does she hate me?” she whispered.

“What?” I frowned, stepping inside and closing the door. “God. No. She doesn’t hate you.”

Dee folded her hands together. “Are you sure? I’ve been lying to her, and how can she like me when all I’ve done—”

Wrapping my arm around her shoulders, I drew her in for a hug. “She understands why you couldn’t be honest, Dee. She doesn’t hate you for it.”

She face-planted in my chest, and when she spoke, her voice was muffled. “You told her?”

“Yeah.” I lowered my cheek to the top of her head and quickly told her what had happened with the truck. “I didn’t have a choice.”

Dee was quiet for a moment. “Yeah. Yeah, you did, Daemon.”

I knew what she was referencing, and I hated that Dee believed if it had come down to it, that I would do that.

“I also think it’s nice you brought her over here,” she continued.

No response to that.

“She thinks I’m a freak, doesn’t she?” she muttered.

I laughed as I pulled back. “No. She doesn’t.”

She didn’t look like she believed me. “Kat’s tired. She’s barely standing on her feet. Give her till tomorrow and then you can jump all over her, okay?”

Dee relented, and after chatting with her for a few moments, I headed back to my bedroom. Burned the hell out, I changed into a pair of sleep pants and was about the throw myself on the bed but was dying of thirst.

I really needed to put a small fridge up here.

Sighing, I walked out of the room. The hallway bathroom light was on as I headed downstairs. I grabbed a bottle of water and made my way back up, my brain strangely empty of all concerns, which proved just how tired I was.

As I neared my door, the bathroom door opened and Kat stepped out in the hallway. She froze. I froze. Shit. I became a damn statue.

Kat clutched a toothbrush and toothpaste in her hands. Her hair was up in a messy knot and the thin wisps around her face were damp. She’d washed her face, and looked like she’d gotten more water on the dark blue shirt she wore than she did her face. Speaking of that shirt…

It was all that she was wearing. And it was thin. And I was getting an eyeful that I very much appreciated.

The visual packed an intense punch and there was no stopping the way my body, which could be so freaking human at times, reacted. The shirt was loose and bulky, ending at midthigh, and good Lord, those thighs…

Who knew a shirt could be so damn sexy?

Her face was as red as a ripe tomato, but she…she was checking me out in the same way I was checking her out. Her eyes were most definitely not on my face, so I didn’t feel too much of an ass for staring at certain areas of her. Not when her gaze was trained on my stomach and then my chest…and then back down to where the pajama bottoms hung.

Kat sucked her lower lip in between her teeth.

Aw, hell.

I swallowed a groan, and she must’ve heard the noise, because her gaze flew to my face, and that blush deepened like a sunburn. She darted for the extra bedroom. “G-Good night.”

“Night,” was all I managed.

I walked into my bedroom and quietly closed the door behind me. Making it to the bed, I flopped down on it and stared at the ceiling.

It was going to be another long night.

It was weird, how I felt after telling Kat the truth. I thought I’d be more ill at ease. I’d never told a human before, and it had been bad enough when Dawson told Bethany the truth. I don’t know why I wasn’t as pissed off or panicked this time around.

Instead, I was more…relieved. I didn’t have to pretend anymore or hide what I really was around her. I didn’t have to be the constant douchebag she liked to call me. Sure, I needed to keep her at a distance, but at least I could explain the stakes in a way she could understand now. Home had once again become the sanctuary it had been before Kat moved in next door.

Like I said, it was weird.

I’d stayed MIA Saturday morning while Dee talked to Kat. I figured they needed their time to work through the big discovery, and when Kat finally headed next door sometime that afternoon, Dee explained that she’d actually shown Kat one of Dee’s strongest abilities.

In her true form, Dee had a knack at mirroring the image of another person. Most of us could do it, but for only short times. Dee could hold the mirror image for a hell of a lot longer than all of us.

Dee had apparently made herself look like Kat.

I kind of felt bad for Kat at that point.

I stood in the kitchen, rinsing off plates before placing them in the dishwasher as Dee bounced around. Excitement buzzed in her voice as she went over every detail from her talk with Kat. I couldn’t hide my grin, just like Dee couldn’t hide her relief.

“I told her that you can do just about anything,” she said. “She asked what you could do after I mirrored her.”

My grin spread. I bet Kat loved hearing that.

“I totally reinforced the fact that the government doesn’t know about all our abilities and how important it is that they never find out.” She bounded over, grabbing the plate out of my hand and placing it in the dishwasher. “It didn’t seem like you told her much about the Arum.”

The grin on my face started to slip.

Dee closed the dishwasher door and danced over to the kitchen table. “I explained what happened to our planet and how the government doesn’t realize that the Arum are a totally different species.”

I slowly turned around. “What else did you tell her?”

“I elaborated on the whole trace thing.” Her forehead scrunched. “She didn’t seem surprised by that, so I’m guessing you talked to her about some of it. I told her she didn’t have to worry. We would keep an eye on her, and now since she knows what she’s dealing with, I think it will be easier to keep her safe.”

“Yeah.” I shoved my fingers through my hair. I didn’t mind that Dee had talked to Kat about this stuff. After all, I had started the conversation last night, but I wondered how Kat was handling all of this.

“She can really be trusted,” Dee continued on as I lowered my hand. She picked up the jug of tea and walked it to the fridge. “She knows what will happen if the DOD finds out that she knows about us. She’s not going to say anything, Daemon.”

I nodded as I folded my arms across my chest. “No one else needs to know that she knows the truth. Not even Adam.”

Dee opened her mouth.

“I mean it, sis. Adam is a good guy. He’s not like Andrew, but you know this is a big deal, especially after…after Dawson and Bethany. The others will worry, especially Matthew. We can’t take the risk that one of them will panic and report Kat.”

Her eyes widened as she closed the fridge door. “Do you think one of them would do that?”

I considered that question. “I don’t know. I want to say no, but…anything’s possible. And there’s always the risk that one of them might accidentally say something in front of the other Luxen. We just need to be careful.”

Dee fiddled with the hem of her shirt. “Okay. No one else needs to know.”

Pushing away from the sink, I started toward the stairs and then changed my mind. “I’m going to go check on Kat. You want to come?”