“About what?”
“About everything—about not hanging out with Dee and being a terrible friend to Lesa and Carissa.” She pulled my hand away as she returned to staring out the windshield, blinking several times. “And I’m sorry about not being able to stop training. I get why you don’t want me to. I really do. I understand that you don’t want me in danger and that you don’t trust Blake. Most of all, I do know you fear that I’m going to end up like Bethany and Dawson—whatever really did happen to them—and you want to protect me from that. I understand. And it…it kills me knowing that it hurts you, but you’ve got to understand why I need to be able to control and use my abilities.”
“Kat—”
“Let me finish, okay?” She glanced at me, and when I nodded, she went on. “This isn’t just about you and what you want. Or what you’re afraid of. This is about me—my future and my life. Granted, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life when it came to college, but now I face a future where if I step out of the range of the beta quartz, I’m going to be hunted. Like you. My mom will be in danger if an Arum sees me and follows me home. And then there’s this whole DOD mess.”
Her hand squeezed the obsidian. “I have to be able to defend myself and the people I care about. Because I can’t expect you to always be there to protect me. It’s not right or fair to either of us. That’s why I’m training with Blake. Not to piss you off. Not to get with him. I’m doing it so that I can stand beside you, as your equal, and not be someone you need to protect. And I’m doing this for myself, so that I don’t have to rely on anyone to save me.”
I sat back, closing my eyes. All the terrible things I’d said to her when I first met her, about her being weak and not being good enough, smacked me right in my face. I had caused this need to grow and fester in her.
“I know,” I said after a few minutes, realizing that I probably knew this whole time, but I’d been too stuck up my own ass to accept it. “I know why you want to do this. And I respect that. I do, but it’s hard to stand back and let this happen.”
“You don’t know what’s going to happen, Daemon.”
Rubbing my jaw, I stared out the windshield. Tiny flakes of snow drifted down, melting the moment they hit the hood. “It’s hard. That’s all I can say about this. I’ll respect what you want to do, but it’s hard.”
A long stretch of silence passed, and then Kat moved on. “Anyway, what are we going to do if we see Vaughn?”
“Haven’t thought that far ahead yet.”
“Wow. This was a good plan.” She paused. “I really doubt Bethany is in one of these houses. That would just be too dangerous.”
“I agree, but why did they have her out in public like that? Where anyone could see her?”
She shook her head. “I got the distinct impression that Vaughn wasn’t too happy. Maybe she escaped.”
I looked at her. “That would make sense. But Vaughn, well, he’s always been a punk.”
“You know him?”
“Not extremely well, but he started working with Lane a few months before Dawson ‘disappeared.’” The last word was hard to say and wrap my head around. “Lane had been our handler for God knows how long, and then Vaughn showed up with him. He was there when they told us about Dawson and Bethany.” Bitter memories clogged my throat. “Lane seemed genuinely upset. Like Dawson wasn’t just a thing that had died, but a person. Maybe he grew attached to Dawson over the years. See…” I cleared my throat. “Dawson had that kind of effect on people. Even when he was being a smart-ass, you couldn’t help but like him. Anyway, Vaughn couldn’t have cared less.”
Kat reached over the small space between us and squeezed my arm. I looked at her, and after a moment, I placed my hand over hers. Something infinite flared between us—stronger than physical, much deeper. I pulled back, watching the snow fall in larger flakes. “You know what I’ve been thinking?”
“What?” she asked after a moment.
I leaned back against the seat to keep my legs from cramping. “If the DOD knows what we can do, then none of us are really safe. Not that we’ve ever been safe, but this changes everything.” I looked over at her. “I don’t think I said thank you.”
“For what?”
“For telling me about Bethany.” I smiled slightly.
“You needed to know. I would—wait. We’ve got one.”
Two headlights turned onto the street. It was at least the fifth car to hit the road, but this was an SUV. I squinted. “It’s an Expedition.”
The black Expedition slowed down and pulled into the driveway of a single-story home two houses in. The driver’s door opened and Vaughn stepped out, frowning as he lifted his gaze to the sky. My hands balled into fists. Another car door closed and a figure moved into the light.
“Dammit,” I said, recognizing the woman. “Nancy’s with him.”