Origin

Page 21

 

  The door opened, and I tumbled forward. Strong arms and a hard chest caught me before I toppled right over.

  “Whoa, Kitten…”

  I looked up, heart pounding. “We share a bathroom!”

  “I see. ” A small grin appeared, his eyes sparkling.

  Grabbing fistfuls of his shirt, I rocked back on the heels of my sneakers. “I can’t believe it. You’re in the cell beside me! All we—”

  Daemon’s hands landed on my hips, his grip tight and sure, and then his mouth was on mine, picking up that soul-shattering kiss we’d started in the hallway. He was moving me backward at the same time. Somehow, and I really didn’t know how other than that he had skills, he managed to shut the door behind us without taking his hands off me.

  Those lips of his…they moved over mine, tantalizingly slow and deep, as if we were kissing for the very first time. His hands slid around, and when my back hit the sink, he lifted me so that I perched on the edge, and he kept pressing forward, pushing my knees apart with his hips. The smoldering heat was back, a flame that burned brighter at the slow, thorough kiss.

  My chest rose and fell rapidly as I clutched his shoulders, almost completely lost in him. I’d read enough romance novels in my day to know that a bathroom and Daemon were things fantasies were made of, but…

  I managed to break contact—though not much. Our lips brushed when I spoke. “Wait. We need to—”

  “I know,” he cut in.

  “Good. ” I placed my trembling hands on his chest. “We’re on the same page—”

  Daemon kissed me again, spinning my senses. He was leisurely in his exploration of the kiss, pulling back and nipping at my lip until a breathy moan that would’ve embarrassed me any other time escaped me.

  “Daemon—”

  He caught whatever else I was going to say with his mouth. His hands slid up my waist, stopping when the tips of his fingers brushed the underside of my chest. My whole body jerked, and I knew right then that if I didn’t stop this, we were going to waste very valuable time.

  I pulled back, dragging in air that tasted of Daemon. “We really should be talking. ”

  “I know. ” That half grin appeared. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. ”

  My mouth dropped open. “What? You haven’t been talking! You’ve been—”

  “Kissing you senseless?” he asked innocently. “Sorry. It’s all I want to do while you’re here. Well, not all I want to do, but pretty close to everything else I—”

  “I get it. ” I groaned, wanting to fan my face. Leaning back against the plastic mirror, I dropped my hands into my lap. Touching him wasn’t helping, either. Neither was that smug half grin of his. “Wow. ”

  With his hands exactly where they stopped under my chest, he leaned in and pressed his forehead against mine. In a low voice he said, “I want to make sure your hand is okay. ”

  I frowned. “It is. ”

  “I need to make sure. ” He leaned back a little, his eyes meeting mine meaningfully, and then I got it. When he saw the understanding cross my face, he grinned. A second later, he was in his true form—so bright in the small room, I had to close my eyes. They say there are no cameras in here, but I know the room has to be bugged, he said. Besides, I also don’t trust the fact that they’re letting us have access to each other. They have to know we’ll do this, so there’s probably a reason.

  I shuddered. I know, but they did let Dawson and Bethany stay together until… I forced that thought out of my head. We were wasting time. What did Luc tell you?

  He said he can help us get out of here, but he really didn’t go into detail. He apparently has people on the payroll here and said they’d find me once I get something for him—something you’ve mentioned. LH-11.

  Shock rippled through me. Why would he want that?

  Don’t know. Daemon’s hands moved back to my hips, and then he tugged me off the sink. Moving too fast for me to comprehend, he sat on the closed lid of the toilet and settled me in his lap. His hand came up my back, pressing down on the nape of my neck until my cheek rested against his shoulder. The heat from him in his true form wasn’t overwhelming like it had been the first time. And it doesn’t really matter, right?

  I savored his embrace. Does it? That stuff is being given to humans who are sick. Why would Luc want that?

  Honestly, it can’t be any worse than what Daedalus is doing with it, no matter how many good things they claim to be using it for.

  Very true. I sighed. I didn’t dare be hopeful about this. If Luc really was on our side and he could help us, there were still a lot of obstacles in our way. Almost impossible ones. I’ve seen it before. Maybe we’ll be close to it again.

  We need to be. A couple of moments passed, and then he said, We can’t stay in here forever. I have a feeling they are allowing this, and if we abuse it, then they’ll separate us.

  I nodded. What I didn’t understand was why they would allow this unsupervised visit? Something that we could do whenever we wanted. Were they trying to show us that they weren’t going to keep us apart? After all, they’d claimed they weren’t the enemies here, but there was so much about Daedalus I didn’t understand, like with Blake…

  Shuddering, I turned my head in to his shoulder and breathed deeply. I wanted to force the memory of Blake out of my head, make as if he never existed.

  “Kat?”

  Lifting my head, I opened my eyes and realized he was no longer in his true form. “Daemon?”

  His eyes drifted over my face. “What have they been doing to you in here?”

  I froze, our gazes locking for an instant, and then I pushed off him, retreating a couple of steps. “Nothing really. Just tests. ”

  He dropped his hands to his bent knees and softly said, “I know it’s more than that, Kat. How did you get those bruises on your face?”

  I glanced at the mirror. My complexion was pale, but there wasn’t a trace left from the fights. “We shouldn’t talk about this. ”

  “I don’t think they care that we’re talking about this. The bruises are gone now, from when I healed you, but they were there before—faint but there. ” He stood, though he didn’t come any closer. “You can talk to me. You should know that by now. ”

  My eyes swung back to him. God, I did know that. I’d learned the hard way over the past winter. If I had trusted him with my secrets, Adam would still be alive and neither of us would probably be in this situation.

  Guilt soured my stomach, but this was different. Telling him about the exams and the stress tests would only upset him, and he’d act upon it. Plus, admitting that I had killed Blake—and not so much in self-defense—was horrifying to even consider. I didn’t want to think about it, let alone talk about it.

  Daemon sighed. “Don’t you trust me?”

  “I do. ” My eyes went wide. “I trust you with my life, but I just… There’s nothing to say about what has been going on in here. ”

  “I think there’s a lot to say. ”

  I shook my head. “I don’t want to argue about this. ”

  “We’re not arguing. ” He crossed the distance, placing his hands on my shoulders. “You’re just being stubborn as hell, as usual. ”

  “Look who’s talking. ”

  “Great movie,” he replied. “I watched a lot of old movies in my spare time. ”

  I rolled my eyes but cracked a grin.

  He cupped my cheek as he lowered his chin, peering at me through thick lashes. “I’m worried about you, Kitten. ”

  Pressure clamped down on my chest. Rarely did he admit to being worried about anything, and that was the last thing I wanted him to be doing. “I’m okay. I promise. ”

  He continued to stare, as if he could see right through me, right through my lies.

  …

  Daemon

  Hours had passed since Kat and I parted ways and some poor excuse for dinner had been brought to my room. I tried to watch TV
and even tried to sleep, but it was damn hard when I knew she was right next door, or when I heard her moving around in the bathroom. Once, in what might have been the middle of the night, I’d heard her footsteps at the door, and I knew she had been standing there, fighting the same need I was. But we had to be careful. Whatever reason they had for putting us in a space we could share couldn’t be a good thing, and I didn’t want to risk them relocating us, forcing us apart.

  But I was worried about her. I knew she was hiding stuff, keeping whatever had gone on there before I arrived to herself. So like an idiot with no self-control whatsoever, I had gotten up and opened the bathroom door.

  It had been dark and quiet, but I’d been correct. Kat was standing there, arms at her sides and so incredibly still. Seeing her like that punched a hole in my chest. She couldn’t stand or sit still for longer than twenty seconds, but now…

  I’d kissed her gently and had said, “Go to sleep, Kitten. So we both can rest. ”

  She nodded and then said those three little words that never failed to bring me to my knees. “I love you. ”

  And then she was back in her room, and I was in mine. Finally, I did sleep.

  When morning came, so did Nancy. Nothing like seeing her prim face and plastic smile first thing to start the day off right.

  I’d expected to be reunited with Kat, but I was taken to the med floor for more blood tests and then shown the hospital room Kat had spoken of.

  “Where is the little girl?” I asked, scanning the chairs for the small child Kat had mentioned but not seeing one. “I think her name was Lori or something. ”

  Nancy’s expression remained blank. “Unfortunately, she didn’t respond as we’d hoped. She passed a few days ago. ”

  Shit. I hoped Kat didn’t learn that. “You guys were giving her the LH-11?”

  “Yes. ”

  “And it didn’t work?”

  Her gaze sharpened. “You’re asking a lot of questions, Daemon. ”

  “Hey, you have me here, most likely using my DNA for this. Don’t you think I’m going to be a little curious about it?”

  She held my stare for a moment and then turned back to one of the patients who was having a fluid bag changed out. “You think too much, and you know what they say about curiosity. ”

  “That it’s possibly the most cliché and stupid saying ever?”

  One side of her lips tipped up. “I like you, Daemon. You’re a pain in the ass and a smart-mouth, but I like you. ”

  I smiled tightly. “No one can deny my charm. ”

  “I’m sure that’s true. ” She paused as the sergeant entered the room, conversing quietly with one of the doctors. “Lori was given LH-11, but her reaction was not favorable. ”

  “What?” he asked. “It didn’t heal the cancer?”

  Nancy didn’t respond, and that was that. Somehow I figured the unfavorable reaction was due to more than the cancer not healing. “You know what I think?” I said.