Oblivion

  is…different.”

  I nodded. “Do you feel tired or anything?”

  “No.” Pivoting, she walked to the bank of the lake. “I could never do the heat-to-fire thing. Burned my fingers pretty bad the last time I tried it.”

  “Should you be trying it now, then?”

  “But you’re here to heal me.”

  I frowned, moving closer to her. “Worst logic ever, Kitten.”

  Kat grinned as she focused on a slender crooked branch. The ripple of energy washed over my skin. The scent of burned ozone filled the air. White light flared over her knuckles and within a second, the stick collapsed into an ash replica. “Uh.”

  “That wasn’t fire,” I said, “but it was pretty damn close.

  “Let me have it,” I said. “I want to see if it has any effect on the onyx.”

  Handing it over, she followed me to the pile of onyx. I held the opal in one hand and then unearthed the pile of onyx. Preparing myself for the very unpleasant sensation, I picked up one of the shards.

  Nothing. No burn or sting. Just nothing.

  “What’s happening?” she asked.

  I lifted my gaze to hers. “Nothing—I don’t feel anything.”

  “Let me try.”

  It was the same for Kat. The onyx had no effect on her while she held the piece of the opal. Both of us knew what that meant. Whoever carried the opal would have no reaction to the onyx, and they got a nice power-up.

  Of course, I would make damn sure that Kat carried it.

  The others arrived, and I slipped the piece of opal in my pocket. With Blake there, I didn’t want him to know we had it. Since it was in my pocket, I quickly discovered that unless it was against my skin, it had no effect on the onyx. In my mind, I saw Luc’s cuff. No doubt the opal was sewn in so it was always touching his skin.

  As the night wound down and everyone else headed back, Kat stayed behind with me. “It didn’t work in your pocket, did it?”

  “No.” I dug the opal out. “I’m going to hide this somewhere. Right now, I don’t think we need anyone fighting over it or it getting into the wrong hands.”

  “Do you think we’re ready for next Sunday?”

  Nervousness gathered in her voice. We had a little over a week before we headed to Mount Weather.

  I slipped the opal back into my pocket and then gathered her in my arms. “We’re going to be ready as we ever will be, and I don’t think we can keep Dawson off much longer.”

  Kat agreed with the last part. Truth was, even if we weren’t ready, we were going to have to do it, because I’d been right about Dawson. He hadn’t said anything, but we couldn’t hold him back much longer.

  No matter what, we’d be ready for Mount Weather on Sunday.

  While the girls went dress shopping on Saturday, I headed out with the guys to grab an early dinner. I was wondering how the whole thing was going down for Kat. It was the first time she was hanging out with Dee since Adam died, and Ash was also with them.

  I was pretty sure Ash still hadn’t forgiven Kat for spaghetti-gate.

  We piled into a booth in the back of Smoke Hole. Dawson immediately grabbed the menu. Every time he came here now, he wanted to try something new. Luckily, the menu was absurdly large, and he usually found something on it he hadn’t tried. It was strange. He’d never done that before.

  After ordering our drinks, I checked my phone and found a text from Kat.

  What R U doing?

  With Andrew, Matthew & Dawson, getting dinner. Want smthing?

  Andrew stared at me. I ignored him. My phone dinged.

  You.

  Hell, that made me sit up straighter. Standing, I ignored the way Matthew sighed. “Be right back.”

  Dawson grinned slightly as he focused on his menu. “Watch. He’s going to leave our asses here.”

  Shooting him a look, I texted back Really? Then I added of course, I alrdy knew that. Stepping outside, I called her before she could respond.

  Kat answered on the first ring. “Hey.”

  “I wish I were home,” I said as a car in the street honked. “I can be there in seconds.”

  “No. You rarely get guy time,” she said. “Stay with them.”

  I glanced back at the windowed front of the restaurant. “I don’t need guy time. I need Kitten time.”

  There was a pause, and when she spoke again, I thought she sounded a little breathless. “Well, you can get Kitten time when you come home.”

  Walking down the cracked pavement, I decided that I would have to wait. “Did you get a dress?”

  “Yes.”

  “Will I like it?” I asked, squinting up at the weakening sun.

  “It’s red,” she said. “So I think so.”

  My lips tipped up at the corners. “Hot damn.”

  “Daemon,” Andrew yelled from the door. I turned, flipping him off. He returned the gesture. “If you don’t come back in, I’m going to order a salad for you.”

  I sighed. “Okay. I’m going back in. Want me to pick you up anything? Andrew, Dawson, and I are at Smoke Hole.”

  “Do they have chicken-fried steak?”

  “Yes.”

  “With homemade gravy?”

  I laughed as I started back toward the door, where Andrew waited like he needed to escort me. “The best gravy around.”

  “Perfect. I want that.”

  “I’ll bring you more than you can eat.” When she laughed, my smile spread. “See you in the little bit.”

  “Bye,” Kat said, hanging up.

  Andrew smirked as I slid my phone back into my pocket. “If you need help finding your balls,” he said, reaching for the door, “I’m sure Katy knows where they are.”

  Snickering, I stopped beside him. “She knows where they are, because that’s where they belong.” Flicking him in the cheek with my finger, I laughed when he jerked back, stumbling into the wall. I might’ve put a little bit of the Source behind that flick. “Whoops.”

  Andrew placed his hand over his cheek. “Jesus, man. Asshole.”

  Still chuckling, I made my way back to our booth and slid into the seat next to Dawson. He glanced at me. “I ordered you meat loaf.”

  “Perfect.”

  Matthew’s brows rose as Andrew sat down, and he eyed his red cheek. “What happened to your face?”

  “My balls,” I replied, sitting back.

  Dawson choked on his drink.

  On the other side of the table, Matthew slowly looked over in my direction while Andrew raised his middle finger again. “You know,” Matthew said, “I don’t even want to know.”

  I chuckled as I tossed my arm over the back of the booth. My gaze flickered over everyone at the table. It had been a long time since we’d done anything like this. It was so damn normal that I could almost forget about the fact that next Sunday, we’d be raiding a government facility again, you know, like ordinary teenagers would do.

  “We heading to the lake when we’re done?” Dawson asked.

  Aaand the sense of normalcy ended right there.

  Matthew took a drink of his water as he eyed my brother with a level of patience I couldn’t even fathom. “I think we all can afford to take the rest of the day off.”

  Beside me, Dawson stiffened. “I don’t think so. We need—”

  “We can handle the onyx for about fifty seconds,” Andrew replied, voice low so we weren’t overheard.

  “Another five seconds isn’t going to make a difference, bud. Either we can walk through those shields or we can’t.”

  “He’s got a point, Dawson. Taking a day off isn’t going to change anything. We all need—” A sharp, startling pain in my chest cut my words off.

  “You need—whoa, dude, what’s wrong?” Dawson twisted toward me.

  “I…” The red-hot, oxygen-stealing pain shot across my chest once more. Jerking forward, I clutched my chest. Opening my mouth, I couldn’t get my tongue to form words for a moment.

  Matthew’s face blurred. “Daem
on, what’s going on?”

  Blood drained from my face as the pain amped up in my chest, spreading throughout my arms and legs. I started to stand, but my legs gave out. I slid back into the booth. My name was called out again, but the voice sounded so very distant. Terror dug its way up my throat as my chest seized—my heart seized frantically, and I knew what was happening.

  “Kat,” I gasped out. “It’s…Kat.”

  Chapter 21

  My legs weren’t working right. The muscles in them, usually so damn strong, had gone soft and useless. I couldn’t walk. Couldn’t even stand on my own. Eyes followed us as Andrew and Matthew all but carried me outside.

  Dawson was on the phone with Dee, and the words he spoke sounded a million miles away. “I don’t know what’s happened. He can’t walk or stand—I don’t know. We’re bringing him—”

  “Kat,” I croaked out, struggling to think around the burning fire spreading through my chest. “It’s Kat.”

  Matthew sucked in a shrill breath as he tightened his arm around my waist. “Tell her to go check on Katy. It has to be her.”

  Dawson did just that. His body wobbled as he moved in front of me. We were standing near my SUV. “Dee is going to check on her. We—”

  “Get me there,” I rasped as the sky blinked out for a second. “Get me there now.”

  No one was moving fast enough. Or at least it felt that way. I had to get there—to Kat. I couldn’t fail her, and I was failing her, right now. I tried to take a step forward, but I would’ve face-planted in the parking lot if it hadn’t been for Dawson and Matthew. The ground waved in a weird way, as if it were pulsating.

  “Get him in the car now.” Dawson shifted, his voice strained with panic. “Shit. We need to get him there now.” Hefted up into the backseat, I slumped against the side, barely able to hold myself up in the sitting position. My heart labored painfully with every passing second. Dawson clutched the front of my shirt and he was talking fast—too fast. The inside of the car blurred. Tires squealed. Voices, so many voices, but all I could focus on was Kat’s face. This was her—she was hurt, very badly. She was dying. Oh God, she was dying, and I wasn’t there for her. A shudder rolled through me as my chest labored for breath.

  Was this it? It couldn’t be. Dammit, it would not be it. I would see Kat again. I would hear her voice—those lush lips speaking my name. I would kiss her again. I would feel her breathe against me. I would touch her again.

  I would love her.

  This wasn’t it.

  The SUV jerked to the stop. Things were fuzzy. Dawson shifted out of the backseat, grabbing me by the legs. What was happening? I thought I asked that out loud, but no one answered. He dragged me out of the car. My hold on my human form slipped. I felt that. Someone cursed.

  Kat.

  And then there were trees whirling above me. The sky was down and the ground was up. Warm wind tore about my clothing. Someone was carrying me—no. It was Dawson and Andrew. They were racing over the ground and through the trees.

  Time slowed to infinity, and then finally, their footfalls thumped off of wood. A door opened, and I felt the warm tingle along the back of my neck. Cool air reached out, wrapping itself around us.

  I forced my eyes open and for my body to shift back into my human form, and I dug in, held on to the waning strength. I needed to for her—for us. Dawson and Andrew placed me down on the floor, and I saw her then. My vision cleared, and a thousand fears were confirmed.

  Kat was lying on the floor, her beautiful face pale and strained. The front of her shirt was covered in red. The blood was under her, on her mouth and chin.

  “Daemon…” she whispered.

  “Shh…” I forced a smile as I willed my arm to move. Dee was on the other side, her luminous light flickering in and out. She was keeping Kat alive—keeping me alive.

  “Don’t talk. It’s okay. Everything is okay.” I grabbed Dee’s bloodied hands, pulling them away from Kat. “You can stop now.”

  I can do this. I can fix her, Dee responded.

  “We can’t risk you doing this,” I told her, shifting onto my side. Or Dawson shifted me. He was holding me up. “You have to stop.”

  “Man, you’re too weak to do this.” Andrew moved to where Dee was kneeling, grabbing Kat’s limp hand. “Let Dee do this,” Andrew urged.

  I couldn’t allow her to do this. If she saved Kat, she would be bonded to her—to Kat and me, and that was too risky.

  Dee slipped back into her human form as she scrambled back. Her arms were shaking. “He’s crazy. He’s absolutely crazy.”

  I might be crazy, but I knew I could heal Kat. There was no doubt in my mind. Slipping into my true from, I placed my hand on her nearly-still chest. Using every ounce of Source I had in me, I funneled everything into Kat, because she was my everything.

  It’s going to be okay. I’ve got you, Kitten. It’s going to be okay.

  Heat flowed from me and into her, and I heard her saying my name over and over, and I felt her heart stuttering, and then it picked up, beating stronger and steadier. Her chest inflated, and the oxygen she needed so badly to survive rushed in, filling all of her starved lungs.

  You can let go now, I told her.

  Kat did.

  “Everything has been taken care of,” Dawson said, his voice low.

  Leaning against the wall outside my bedroom, I exhaled softly. “Thank you.”

  He stepped in, placing his hand on my shoulder. “You don’t ever need to thank me for any of that.” Concern filled eyes identical to mine. “Man, should you even be up? The fact that you healed Katy after how badly it affected you? You should be out cold.”

  “I was out cold while Ash and Dee cleaned Kat up.” I scrubbed a hand over my face. “And I just woke up a little bit ago.”

  Dawson glanced at the closed door beside me. “Has she woken up?”

  I knew he’d been worried about her, and I was…yeah, I was happy to know that Kat had come to mean a lot to Dawson, and I…I should’ve been like that with Bethany. I realized that now. Realized a lot of shit now. “She hasn’t yet, but she will.”

  “Yeah,” he murmured, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “I can’t believe he came back—that Will came back and did that to her.”

  Closing my eyes, I nodded. Will’s body had been found after Kat was healed. She’d killed him, but somehow he’d managed to shoot her with the gun he’d brought. Seconds—mere seconds—and Kat and I wouldn’t be here. That’s how close we’d come.

  The dread that Will Michaels was going to reappear had been valid. We’d been so focused on going back to Mount Weather that we—or at least I—hadn’t taken the threat of him seriously enough. Guilt churned in my stomach.

  “Did he…did he look that bad before?” Dawson asked.

  I shook my head. I’d only caught a brief glimpse of Will before Matthew had taken his body outside and destroyed it, but the messed-up doctor looked like he’d aged by decades. Obviously, the mutation hadn’t held, but I didn’t know why he’d looked as bad off as he had.

  “Everything is cleaned up next door.” Dawson pushed off the wall and turned to the stairs. “Dee is with Ash and Andrew, and Matthew just left a little while ago. I’m going to grab something to eat. You need anything?”

  I shook my head. What I needed, Dawson couldn’t provide, because right now, I needed Kat to open her eyes.

  Dawson turned and then stopped, facing me. His voice was hoarse