I knew what that meant. He’d do anything to get his brother. Some people might think that’s wrong, but I understood. If that were my mom or something, no one would be safe. “When are you going back?”
Again, he was silent. And I knew that meant he didn’t want to tell me because he was planning to do this on his own. I pushed the issue the entire way home, but he didn’t cave.
“So are you going to Ash’s party?” he asked, changing the subject eventually.
“I don’t know.” I fiddled with the button on my sweater. “I can’t imagine her wanting me there, but back to—”
“I want you there.”
I glanced at him, my chest swelling to the point of bursting. Way to knock me off track in such a deliciously tender way.
Daemon’s eyes slid toward me. “Kitten?”
“Okay. I’ll go.” At least I’d be able to keep an eye on him there, because I knew he wouldn’t wait past tonight to check out the offices. Or at least that’s what I was telling myself. The fact he wanted me there didn’t outweigh the importance of my keeping an eye on him.
The party wasn’t starting until nine, and he was heading over early to help Adam with a few things. I was supposed to drive over with Dee, and with a sly wink, he said he was taking me home.
When I got back, I chatted with Mom before she left for work. She appeared happy to hear that I was spending New Year’s Eve with Dee. Of course, I left the part out about Daemon taking me home.
Grabbing a book off the counter, I headed upstairs to unwind. Surprisingly, I passed out about twenty-five pages into the urban fantasy novel.
Some time later, the sound of my bedroom door closing woke me up. I rolled onto my side, frowning as my eyes drifted from my door, then across my dresser, past the closet door, and over the silent, stiff form of Blake.
Blake?
I jerked up, but in a burst of alarming speed, he shot forward and clamped his hand over my arm. Fear dug in with razor-sharp barbs. Rearing up, I knocked his hand away and twisted, scrambling across the bed.
“Whoa! Whoa, calm down, Katy.” Blake darted around the bed, hands raised in a harmless gesture. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
My pulse was all over the place as I backed up against my desk, heart pounding. Seeing him in my bedroom was unexpected, terrifying. “How…how did you get in here?”
He winced as he ran a hand through his spiky hair. “I knocked for a couple of minutes, but you didn’t answer. I…sort of let myself in.”
The same way I’d let myself into Vaughn’s house. My eyes darted to the door behind him, and all I could think about was who his uncle was, how deeply involved he must be with the DOD…and how dangerous he could be.
“Katy, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He crept closer, and I felt the rush of static moving up my arms in response to the perceived threat. Somehow, he sensed it and blanched. “Okay. What is your deal? I’m not going to hurt you.”
“You already have,” I said, swallowing.
He looked wounded as he lowered his hands. “That’s why I came here as soon as I got back into town. I’ve had this whole week to think about what happened with the Arum, and I’m sorry. I understand why you’re upset.” He paused, looking contrite. “That’s why I’m here. I just wanted to talk things out with you.”
Was he telling the truth? My hands opened and closed at my sides. I felt like a caged animal with no way out.
“Obviously coming into your house like this wasn’t a good idea.” Blake smiled. “I just wanted to talk to you.”
I forced myself to calm down. “Okay. Um, can you give me a few seconds?”
Blake nodded as he backed out of the room, and I slumped against my desk, dizzy with adrenaline. He didn’t know that I’d discovered his relationship with Vaughn, and that meant I had the upper hand. And if he really was working with the DOD, I needed to calm the hell down. He wasn’t nearly as dangerous believing I didn’t have a clue about anything than if he did know.
I quickly changed into a pair of skinny jeans and a turtleneck. The whole way downstairs, I took deep, even breaths. Blake waited in the living room, sitting on the couch. I gave him a smile I didn’t feel. “Sorry. You just caught me off guard. I don’t like when people…just show up in my bedroom like that.”
“Understandable.” He rose slowly, and I noticed then a pallor clung to his skin, heightening the shadows under his eyes. “I won’t do it again.”
My eyes went to my laptop, and I suddenly wished I’d cleared the search history. I moved into the room, feeling like I was stepping into quicksand. I didn’t know how to talk to him, to even look at him. He was a stranger to me now. Someone that, no matter how harmless he looked right this second, I couldn’t trust. Part of me wanted to rage at him and the other wanted to run.
“We need to talk,” he said awkwardly. “Maybe it would be better if we went to get something to eat?”
My distrust spiked.
He laughed grimly. “I was thinking the Smoke Hole Diner.”
I hesitated, not wanting to go anywhere with him, but I also didn’t want to be in the house alone with him, and being out in public had to be a better choice. I glanced at the clock on the wall. It was near seven. “I have to be back here in an hour.”
“Doable.” He grinned.
I slid on my boots and snatched my phone. It was still snowing, so we opted for his truck. I glanced next door as I climbed in. Daemon’s SUV was gone and so was Dee’s car. She’d mentioned something about getting party favors.
“Did you have a good Christmas?” he asked, sliding the key into the ignition.
“Yeah, you?” My seat belt was stuck, as usual, and I tugged on it. “Do anything exciting?” Like go on a covert mission for the DOD?
“I spent some time with my uncle. Really boring.”
I froze at the mention of Vaughn, and the strap slipped away from my fingers, snapping back into the holder.
“Are you okay, Katy?”
“Yeah,” I said, taking a deep breath. “This damn seat belt is stuck. I don’t know why I have so many problems with seat belts, but they are always giving me crap.” I tugged on it, cursing under my breath. Finally I got it unstuck and twisted around. My gaze drifted over the dashboard and dipped to the floor.
Something gleamed under the exterior light, peeking out from the corner of the mat. I let go of the strap and bent, grabbing the cool metal off the floor while he fiddled with the wipers, brushing a thin coating of snow from the windshield.
I stared down at the strip of goldish blue metal, struck by the familiarity of it. I’d seen it before on someone. Turning it over, I saw the engraved shape of the state. A flakey reddish substance, kind of like rust, covered half of the state and the lettering. I smoothed my finger over it, revealing the name engraved on the band. Comprehension crept in slowly, mainly out of disbelief, because I knew who half this watch belonged to.
Simon…Simon Cutters…
I’d seen him wear this before. And…and the stuff on the band wasn’t rust. My stomach tilted and a violent shudder rolled through me. It was blood. Simon’s blood, most likely. My heart leaped into my throat, and I squeezed my hand over the band, hoping Blake hadn’t seen me pick it up.
My breath halted in my chest as I glanced at him.
Blake was staring back at me. His gaze dropped to my hand and then flicked up, meeting my eyes again. Our gazes locked. Pure, raw fear dug at me.
“Shit,” I whispered.
A small, weak smile crawled across his lips. “Dammit, Katy…”
I spun around in my seat, reaching for the door handle with my free hand. I threw it open and got half of my body out of the truck before his hand clamped down on my arm.
“Katy! Wait! I can explain.”
There was nothing to explain. The bloodied watch belonged to Simon—Simon who’d been missing. Add that onto everything else, and I was so out of there. I threw my weight forward, breaking his hold. Scrambling to my feet, I darted around the front of the truck.
Blake was fast, on me before I even reached the first step of the porch. He grabbed my shoulders and whirled me around. I went, swinging at him. He dodged the blows, catching my arms, pinning them to my sides in a brutal bear hug.
“Let me go!” I screamed, knowing there was no one who would hear me. I only had myself to get out of this mess. “Let me go, Blake!”
“I can explain.” He grunted as I managed to jab an elbow into his stomach, but he held on. “I didn’t kill Simon!”
I struggled, throwing my weight from one side to the next. Of course he’d lie. “Let go!”
“You don’t understand.”
Static rushed over my skin in response to the threat. Red-white light clouded the corners of my vision. Blake’s eyes widened slightly. “Don’t do it, Katy.”
“Let me go,” I growled, feeling the explosion of heated lightning zinging through my veins.
“I don’t want to hurt you, but I will,” he warned.
“So will I.” And I would—I could.
Blake let go, pushing me back. My boots slipped over the ice and snow, and my arms flailed wildly. Then he charged me. A flash of intense blue light blinded me. Pain reverberated off my skull, tearing through me, splintering my grasp on the Source. I screamed out, feeling my legs go out from underneath me.
He swooped in, catching me before I fell, half dragging me up the stairs. “I told you not to do it. You didn’t listen to me.”
Something was wrong with my motor function skills. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out except soft moans. My legs wouldn’t work. I couldn’t feel my feet. A metallic taste was in the back of my mouth; blood leaked out of my nose and, I think, my ears, too.
The door swung open in front of us, and he dragged me in. It slammed shut, shaking the pictures on the walls. I kept trying to talk, but only garbled words came out. What did he do to me?
“It’ll wear off,” he said, as if reading my mind. “Hurts, doesn’t it? One of the first things they teach us is to control a concentrated blast of Source so it’s like getting hit with a super-charged Taser. We all have to take a hit, just to know how bad it feels.”
He dropped me on the couch, and my head lolled to the side as I blinked slowly. His face blurred in and out, and then steadied. He looked grim as he leaned over me, brushing the strands of hair off my face. I tried to knock his hand away, but my arm wouldn’t cooperate.
“I know you can hear me. Just give it a couple more minutes, and it will wear off.” He sat back, one hand moving up my leg that was off the couch. He positioned it beside the other. My heart pounded, and I whimpered.
Shaking his head, he slipped his hand into my front pocket and slid out my cell phone. Holding it up between us, the Source flared in his hand, obliterating the fragile piece of electronics. He tossed the remains to the floor. “Now, listen to me, Katy.”
I squeezed my eyes shut against the rush of tears. That quickly, he had subdued me. And I’d been planning on training and fighting Arum—plus the DOD? I was so foolish.