“Blake, I really think you should leave,” she said. “Okay? I think you need to go.”
He stared at her for a moment and then nodded. “All right.” With a quick look in my direction, he started toward the door and stopped. “But you did great, Katy. I don’t think you realize how awesome that was.”
The fury rolled off me, rattling the floors. Douche Bag got the hell out of the house at that point. Part of me was disappointed. I was kind of hoping he’d be stupid enough to try something with me. At least then I could claim self-defense.
Silence fell in his wake until I finally spoke. “No more. Absolutely no more.” My voice was low as Kat faced me. “He could have killed you, Kat. I’m not okay with that. I won’t be okay with that.”
“Daemon, he wasn’t trying to kill me.”
Disbelief flooded me. “Are you insane?”
“No.” She bent and picked up the wickedly sharp knife.
“I don’t want you doing any more training with him. I don’t even want you near him. That boy’s got a few screws loose. I’m going to give him back-alley plastic surgery. I can’t—”
“Daemon,” she whispered.
“—believe he did that.” It hit me again, just how close she came to taking a knife wound to the chest. Stepping forward, I wrapped my arms around her and hauled her against me. I held her tight. “Jesus, Kat, he could have hurt you.” I lifted my hand, wrapping it around the back of my head. Good God, she could’ve died tonight, and I might not have been here to help her. I would’ve been out, chasing down a damn Arum.
Or sulking around my house like a loser.
A tremor rocked me. “Look, you’ve obviously got some control. I can help you work on it.” I rested my chin against the top of her head. “This can’t happen again.”
“Daemon.” Her voice was muffled.
“What?” I pulled back, lowering my chin.
“I froze it.”
My brows slammed together. “Huh?”
“I froze the knife.” She shimmied free, waving the knife around. “I didn’t just stop it, but I froze it. The thing was just hovering in air.”
Then it struck me. She was right. She didn’t stop it. She froze it, and that was one of the most difficult talents for even a fully grown Luxen to master. “Holy…”
She laughed. “God, that’s pretty huge, isn’t it?”
I nodded. “It is. That’s…that’s a big deal.”
Excitement flushed her pretty face. “We can’t stop training.”
No. No way. “Kat—”
“We can’t! Look, throwing a knife at me isn’t cool. And God knows, I’m not exactly thrilled that he did it, but it worked. It really worked. We’re getting somewhere—”
“What part of ‘He could’ve killed you’ don’t you understand?” I backed away before I shook some common sense into her. “I don’t want you training with him. Not when he’s putting your life in danger.”
“He’s not putting my life in danger.” She shook her head. “We can’t stop. I’ll be able to control it and use the Source, just like you and Dee can. I can help you—”
“Help me with what?” I stared at her, then laughed harshly. “Help me to fight Arum?”
Crossing her arms over her chest, she tapped the edge of the knife on her arm as her eyes narrowed on me. “Yeah, what if I wanted to?”
I laughed again. “Kitten, you’re not helping me fight Arum.”
“Why not? If I can control the Source and help, why not? I could fight.”
“I think the reasons are pretty huge,” I yelled, losing some of my patience. “First off, you’re a human.”
“Not really.”
“Granted, you’re a mutated human, but a human who’s a hell of a lot weaker and more vulnerable than a Luxen.”
She exhaled slowly. “You don’t know how weak or vulnerable I’ll be fully trained.”
“Whatever. Secondly, you have no business going up against the Arum. That will never happen.”
“Daemon—”
“It won’t if I’m still alive. Do you understand that? You will never go after an Arum. I don’t care if you can stop the world from spinning.”
Her cheeks flushed with anger. “You don’t own me, Daemon.”
“It’s not about ownership, you little nut.”
“Nut?” She glared at me. “I wouldn’t call me names when I have a knife in my hand.”
I almost laughed again. “Thirdly, there is something off about Blake. You can’t tell me you don’t see or sense that.”
“Oh, don’t—”
“You know nothing about him—nothing deeper than that he likes to surf and blog. Big deal.”
“These aren’t good enough reasons,” she fired back
“Because I don’t want you in danger—how about that? Is that damn good enough for you?” I shouted.
Kat jumped, her eyes widening slightly.
Hands on my hips, I looked away. I counted to ten. Still pissed, I counted to twenty. Didn’t work.
“Daemon,” she said, her voice softer. “You can’t stop me just to protect me.”
My head swung back to her. “I need to protect you.”