“I know what you said.” Dragging my hands through my hair, I couldn’t believe what she had just said. “How can you be sure it was her, Kat? You’ve never seen her.”
“I’ve seen her missing persons flyer. It’s a face I can’t forget.” She sat down, rubbing her hands over her knees. “It was her.”
“Holy shit…” I sat beside her on the couch, dropping my hands between my legs. I couldn’t process this. “Where did you see her?”
“At the post office after school,” she said.
“And you waited until now to tell me?” I laughed under my breath. “Because you were training with Bilbo Baggins and you had to wait until he left to talk to me?”
Her mouth opened and then she nodded. She squeezed her knees. “I’m sorry, but I’m telling you now.”
I nodded as my gaze swung around the room, landing on the Christmas tree I’d help put together. God, that seemed like forever ago. “Man, I don’t…I don’t even know what to say. Beth’s alive?”
She cleared her throat. “Daemon, I saw her with Brian Vaughn. She’s with the DOD. They’d pulled over on the side of the road and the car door had opened. That’s how I saw them. He was closing the door and he looked angry.”
Slowly, I looked at her, and our gazes locked. Time stretched out as the shocking news gave way to understanding. My entire world shattered in an instant and then rapidly rebuilt itself. I’d been 99 percent sure that something had happened with Bethany, and Dawson had healed her. Knowing how that changed Kat and if what Blake had said was true about the DOD searching for humans like Kat, then it took no leap of logic to figure out that what had happened to Dawson and Bethany was because of the DOD and not the Arum.
Somehow, the DOD figured out that Dawson had done the forbidden. How? I didn’t know. But at that moment, it didn’t matter, because they had come into my house and they had—they had fucking lied to Dee and me. They had ripped the world out from underneath our feet and it had been a lie.
Maybe all of it had been a lie.
Because if Bethany was still alive, and with the DOD, then Dawson…he could be alive.
I shot to my feet, switching into my true form unintentionally. Rage pounded like the beat of a steel drum. Bulbs on the Christmas tree rattled as a wind picked up inside the room.
I spoke to Kat, each word punctuated with fury. She was with the DOD? The DOD is responsible for this?
“I don’t know, Daemon, but that’s not the worst part of this. How would the DOD know what happened between Dawson and Bethany unless…?”
Unless someone told them? My light pulsed, and a blast of heat filled the room. But Dawson didn’t even tell me he’d healed her or that anything happened. How would anyone know? Unless someone had seen them other than me, suspected what happened, and betrayed us…
She nodded as she stared at me with wide eyes. “That’s what I’ve been thinking. It had to be someone who knew, and that probably really limits the pool of suspects.”
Meaning it was someone that I knew, that I trusted. Someone Dawson had trusted. Heat poured off me. I’d never felt such anger before. It was a living, breathing entity in the room. I need to know who betrayed us. Then I’ll make them wish they’d never landed on this planet.
Kat stood, pushing the sleeves of her sweater up her arms. Daemon?
Surprised to hear her voice in my head, because it was something she didn’t seem to enjoy doing, I focused on her. I hear you.
There was a pause. I know you’re hell-bent on revenge, but most importantly, what if Dawson is still alive?
I drifted closer to her. Then I don’t know if I should be happy or sad. He’d be alive, but where? The DOD has him, and if that’s the case, what kind of life has he had? For two years? A ball of bitter emotion formed in my throat. What have they been doing to him?
I’m sorry, Daemon. I’m really sorry. But if he’s alive, then he’s alive. Kat reached out, placing her hand through the light, finding my chest and touching it. My light pulsed erratically, then calmed. My body hummed at the contact. That’s got to mean something, right? she said.
Yes, yes it does. Stepping back, I willed myself into my human form. “I need to find out if my brother is alive—and if he’s not…” I looked away, my jaw working. “I need to know how and why he died. It’s obvious why they would want Beth, but my brother?”
Kat sat down, wiping a palm over her forehead. Her wrist turned, revealing a deep purplish bruise circling the skin. “I don’t know—” She gasped when I grasped her hand. “What are you doing?”
I turned her hand over, my brows furrowing. “What is this?”