Her lips brushed mine. Colors swirled around me—bright reds and whites. It was like there wasn’t me or her…it was us, only us. And I could feel an indiscernible pull toward her, a give and take. This was forbidden—healing her as many times I had, but this…this was more, because she had been on the verge of the unknown, teetering into oblivion and I’d pulled her back.
What am I doing? If they find out what I’ve done…but I can’t lose her. I can’t. Please. Please. I can’t lose you. Please open your eyes. Please don’t leave me.
I’m here, she said, but not out loud, and opened her eyes. I’m here.
Shocked, I jerked back, the light fading out of her. But something…something had been left behind. I could feel it. I didn’t know what exactly, and I didn’t care right then. She was alive. We all were alive, and that was what mattered.
“Kat,” I whispered, and she shivered in my arms. I sat back, nestling her close to my chest and holding her up.
Her eyes were filled with wonder and a dose of confusion. “Daemon, what did you do?”
“You need to rest.” I paused, bone-tired, weary to my core. Even I had my physical limits, and I’d blown past them tonight. “You’re not a hundred percent. It will take a couple of minutes. I think. I haven’t healed anyone on this level before.”
“You did at the library,” she murmured, spreading her hands up my arms. Like it was the first time she’d ever touched me. “And at the car…”
I smiled tiredly. “That was just to help with a sprain and bruises. That was nothing like this.”
Kat turned her head, staring over my shoulder. Her cheek brushed mine slightly, but it felt like a thousand soft-as-silk touches to me. I felt her stiffen.
“How did I do that?” she whispered. “I don’t understand.”
Good question. I buried my head in her neck, breathing in her vanilla and peach scent, committing it to memory. “I must’ve done something to you when I healed you. I don’t know what. It doesn’t make sense, but something happened when our energies joined. It shouldn’t have affected you—you’re human.”
My words didn’t seem to calm her. No shit. They weren’t calming me much, either. My hand shook as I smoothed a strand of hair from her face. “How are you feeling?”
“Okay. Sleepy. You?”
“The same.” But I felt amazing in a weird way. I ran my thumb over her chin and then her lower lip. I kind of felt like a kid going to Disney World for the first time and that was odd, because I’d never been to the land of mouse ears. Never wanted to go.
“I think, for now, it would be best if we kept this between ourselves—the whole healing thing and what you did back there,” I said. “Okay?”
She nodded but otherwise remained still as my hands traced the lines of her face, removing the smudges and dark spots. Our gazes met and I smiled, really smiled in a way I hadn’t in a long time.
And I stopped thinking.
Splaying my fingers across her cheeks, I kissed her softly. Keeping it gentle and slow, something I never really practiced before but wanted with her. Parts of me, places hidden from most, opened up. I tipped her head back and it was like the first time—was the first time, because this was what I wanted, perhaps even needed. The innocent touch left me breathless—a first.
I pulled back, laughing. “I was worried that we’d broken you.”
“Not quite.” Full of concern, her eyes searched my face. “Did you break yourself?”
I snorted. “Almost.”
She took a little breath, her lips forming a faint smile. “What now?”
My lips responded to hers, and I breathed in the late-night air, the scent of damp grass, and rich soil. I breathed in her. “We go home.”
Chapter 24
Colonies were all the same.
Human. Luxen. Arum. Ant.
Nothing but a whole ton of crazy Kool-Aid I didn’t want to come within five miles of, and I wouldn’t be, but they had something I needed—that Kat needed.
She really owed me for this.
Picturing some of the ways she could repay me for this visit…that movie would never end. I kicked back in the sterile living room. All white—couches, carpet, walls, and pillows. It was like they had something against color. It made me want to spill something on purpose.
When Ethan Smith returned, he carried a small leather pouch in his hands. He took one look at me and his dark brows arched over eyes the shade of violets. “I know you’re not the most patient of our kind, but it does take time to craft these things.”
Yeah, almost three whole days of my life I’d never live again. Most of it had been spent searching the state for more Arum and an entire day looking for the perfect piece of obsidian, but I was itchy to get back to Dee…and Kat. I didn’t like the idea that she was glowing like a disco ball on steroids.
Ethan didn’t hand the bundle over. Of course not, because that would be too easy at this point. “May I ask why you need this?”
“May I say no and you’ll drop the conversation?”
A small, tight smile appeared on the older Luxen’s face. “Your arrogance will one day be your downfall.”
That among other things, not that I was mentioning any names or anything.