A thousand images flashed. Thank God reading thoughts wasn’t one of his alien powers. Such a strange thickness invaded the air around me, and this overwhelming yearning from deep inside sprung to life.
“Why not hand me over to the DOD?” I blurted out.
Daemon took a step back, surprised. “What?”
I wished I hadn’t gone there, but I did, and there was no coming back from it. “Wouldn’t everything have been easier for you if you handed me over to the DOD? Then you wouldn’t have to worry about Dee or anything.” Daemon stood in silence. The color of his eyes went up a notch, becoming brighter. I wanted to take a step back, but there was nowhere to go.
Voice low, he said, “I don’t know, Kitten.”
“You don’t know? You risk everything and you don’t know why?”
“That’s what I said.”
I stared at him, bewildered by the fact that he’d put everything on the line and seemed to have no idea why. That was crazy to me. Absurd. Admittedly, it was unnerving, because it could mean many things.
Things I didn’t dare acknowledge.
His arms quickly shot out, landing heavily against the counter. Bands of muscle created a very successful trap, pinning me in place without even touching. He lowered his head and dark waves spilled over his eyes. “Okay. I do know why.” At first I had no idea what he was talking about. “You do?”
Daemon nodded. “You wouldn’t survive a day without us.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Oh, I know.” He tilted his head to the side. “Do you know how many Arum I have faced? Hundreds. And there have been times I barely escaped. A human doesn’t stand a chance against them or the DOD.”
“Fine. Whatever. Can you move?”
Standing his ground, Daemon smiled. God, he was exasperating. I could either stand here, stare at him like an idiot, or I could move past him. I opted for the latter. My plan was to muscle my way around him as quickly as possible.
Not that I got very far.
He was like a brick wall only a freight train could knock out of the way. He grinned wider, entertained by my lack of progress. “Asshole,” I muttered.
Daemon laughed. “You have such a mouth on you. Do you kiss boys with that thing?”
My cheeks heated. “Do you kiss Ash with yours?”
“Ash?” His smile disappeared and his eyes were suddenly hooded, less clear. “You would like to know that, wouldn’t you?”
An unreasonable spark of jealousy flared in me, but I pushed it aside. I smirked. “No, thank you.”
Daemon leaned in even more. His spicy and earthy scent surrounded me. “You aren’t a very good liar, Kitten. Your cheeks get red whenever you lie.”
Do they? Aw, hell. I tried pushing past him again, but he reached out, taking ahold of my arm. It wasn’t a tight grip, but I still felt it down to my bone. His hand hummed. Tingles were sharp and startling, yet pleasant. I didn’t want to look at him but I didn’t seem capable of stopping myself.
We were too close and there was too much tension between us. His gaze burned as it latched onto mine. He lowered his head, and I forgot how to breathe. Fascinated, I watched his lips slowly curved into a smile. It was hard to pay attention to his words when he spoke, but they somehow made it through the strange fog clouding my brain.
“I have a strange idea that I should test this out.”
“Test what?” My eyes dropped to his lips. I felt myself sway.
“I think you would like to know.” He moved closer, his hand sliding up my arm and resting carefully at the nape of my neck. “You have beautiful hair.”
“What?”
“Nothing.” His fingers spread along the back of my neck, slowly weaving themselves through strands of loose hair.
His deft fingers moved against the base of my skull. My lips parted, and I waited.
He dropped his hand and reached out again as I stood there, eager — maybe too eager — to discover if he felt the same unexpected ache. If he was any bit as affected as I was.
Instead, Daemon plucked up a bottled water off the counter.
I slumped against the counter. What the holy hell.
His eyes danced with laughter as he turned back to the table. “What was it that you were asking, Kitten?”
“Stop calling me that.”
He took a drink. “Did Dee pick up a movie or something?”
I nodded. “Yeah, she mentioned it earlier in class.”
“Well, come on. Let’s go watch a movie.”
I pushed away from the counter and followed behind him. I lingered by the door as he held the DVD up and frowned. “Whose idea was this?”
I shrugged and then watched his brows rise as he read the blurb on the back. “Whatever,” he muttered.
Clearing my throat, I took one step into the room “Look, Daemon, you don’t have to sit and watch a movie with me. If you have other things you want to do, I’m sure I will be fine.”
He glanced up from the movie and then shrugged. “I have nothing to do.”
“Okay.” I was still unsure. Imagining him enjoying a movie night with me was more farfetched than the idea of aliens living among humans.
I dragged myself across the room and sat on the couch as he fiddled with the movie. After sliding the disc in, he approached the couch and sat down on the far end. Then the television came on, and I would swear he’d left the remote by the T.V. It was probably a good thing I didn’t have his power. I’d be beyond lazy.
He glanced at me, and I immediately faced the television.
“If you fall asleep during this movie, you’ll owe me.”
I turned to him with a frown. “Why?”
Daemon spared me a wolfish smile. “Just watch the movie.”
I made a face, but remained quiet. Daemon shifted. The couch dipped and the distance between us grew smaller. I held my breath until I had to come up for air. He didn’t seem to notice as the open credits rolled over the screen.
I stared at his profile and wondered for the hundredth time what he could be thinking and, like always, I came up empty. Out of frustration, I turned back to the movie and decided the strange pull I felt for him had to be my imagination. It couldn’t be anything more.
Tense and unused to what I was feeling, I counted the minutes until Dee returned.
Chapter 20
Daemon was surprisingly subdued in math on Wednesday. The inevitable pen poke only came once, and that was to remind me the only plans I had after school were with him.
Yeah, whatever, like I could forget.
In bio, like the day before, Mr. Garrison’s keen stare kept going back to me. I knew he saw the trace, and I had no clue what he was thinking. Daemon hadn’t mentioned if he and Dee had said anything to the other Luxen. Throughout the day before, several teachers had given me weird looks. Today, one of the coaches I passed on the way to the cafeteria stopped in the middle of the hall and looked me up and down. Either he was a perv or an alien. Or both, which would be a winning combination.
While standing in the lunch line, I did everything in my power to not look toward the back of the cafeteria. Staring at the food, I stepped forward and nearly bounced off the back of a walking mountain.
Simon Cutters turned around and then looked down. He smiled when he saw me. “Hey there, Katy.”
I handed my money to the checkout lady, and turned to Simon. “Sorry about that.”
