“I’m sorry,” she whispered, voice wavering, and that did a funny thing to my consciousness, made it take notice. “But I don’t know what’s going on here. We were just swimming.”
I squared my shoulders. “It’s not what you’re thinking. Give me some credit. Dee hid my keys, forced me to take her out to get them back.”
Kat sucked in a breath.
Recognition flickered across Matthew’s face. “So this is Dee’s little friend?”
“That would be me,” she said from behind me.
“I thought you had this under control.” Matthew gestured at her. “That you’d make your sister understand.”
“Yeah, well, why don’t you try to make her understand,” I retorted, my patience wearing thin. “So far, I’m not having much luck.”
Matthew’s lips hardened. “Both of you should know better.”
And my patience snapped. I was tired. A certain area of my body was aching, and being scolded wasn’t going to work for me. Energy crackled over my skin, invisible to the human eye, but it leaked out, charging the air. Thunder cracked. Lightning streaked overhead, bright and near blinding. When the light receded, Matthew’s eyes widened for a second and then he spun around, walking back into my house.
Warning received.
I started to turn to Kat, but there was really nothing to say, and so I said nothing as I stalked toward my house. I thought I heard her speak, but it didn’t matter.
Nothing that had happened with her mattered.
Chapter 6
Matthew started the moment I walked into the kitchen. “What is going on with that girl, Daemon? You have never acted that way.”
I passed him on the way to the fridge, beyond irritated and hungry. “Acted like what?”
He turned to me. “You know what I mean.”
Opening the fridge, I eyed everything needed to make a kickass sandwich. Waving my hand, I got all Beauty and the Beast up in here and danced the items over to the counter. “Want a sandwich?”
Matthew sighed. “Already ate.”
“More for me.” I grabbed a plate and moved to the counter.
“Daemon, we need to talk about this.”
I snatched up a knife and the jar of mayo. “We don’t need to talk about shit, Matthew. I already told you what was going on when we were outside. The story isn’t going to get any more interesting.”
“You’re making sure Dee doesn’t get too close to her by hanging out with her?” he asked, disbelief coloring his words. “Swimming together? Is this a new tactic?”
Slapping the slice of bread on the plate, I glanced over to where he stood near the table. My voice was deadly calm. “Let it go, Matthew.”
“I can’t let it go.”
My eyes met his. “You might want to try.”
He ran a hand over his short brown hair. “I don’t want to argue with you, Daemon.”
I almost laughed as I slapped deli meat onto the bread. He was doing a shitty job at not arguing. Tension had stiffened the muscles of my neck and back. Matthew was right about one thing. I’d never acted like I had outside a few minutes ago, not over a human and not against one of my own kind. I don’t even know why his presence or his words had grated on me so badly.
Maybe because deep down I knew I passed up the chance to either find out something about Kat I could use against her or scare her off enough that she’d stay away from Dee. I really hadn’t done either of those things.
Instead, we’d talked about school and gardening and stupid shit like we…like we were normal.
“This is different,” Matthew continued quietly. “We live among the humans, but we don’t get close to them, not for any extended period of time. If we do, something always happens. They either find out about us, because we let our guard down, or we trace them and the Arum hunt us down. It never ends well. Never.”
I faced him, my hands at my sides. “You think I don’t know that? What do you expect me to do about her? There’s only so much I can do unless you expect me to take her ass out.”
Matthew’s blue eyes deepened, going from ocean blue to dark skies at dusk. “I don’t want to see a young woman harmed, and I don’t expect you to be the one who would take care of that if it came to that point. If that girl proves a risk, I will handle it. It won’t be like with Bethany, where all of us let it slide until it was too late. I won’t let that happen this time.”
Energy charged my skin as I stared at him. Realization slipped in and it left me cold. “Her name is Kat,” I heard myself say as I stepped toward him, my chin dipping down. “And I will handle her.”
“You know I would do anything to protect you all.” Matthew planted his hands on the table and took a deep breath. “All of you—you’re my family.”
Thrusting my hand through my hair, I struggled with my patience. “I know that. We feel the same way, but you do not need to step in here. I will make sure she isn’t a risk to us.”