Dawson glanced at the closed door beside me. “Has she woken up?”
I knew he’d been worried about her, and I was…yeah, I was happy to know that Kat had come to mean a lot to Dawson, and I…I should’ve been like that with Bethany. I realized that now. Realized a lot of shit now. “She hasn’t yet, but she will.”
“Yeah,” he murmured, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “I can’t believe he came back—that Will came back and did that to her.”
Closing my eyes, I nodded. Will’s body had been found after Kat was healed. She’d killed him, but somehow he’d managed to shoot her with the gun he’d brought. Seconds—mere seconds—and Kat and I wouldn’t be here. That’s how close we’d come.
The dread that Will Michaels was going to reappear had been valid. We’d been so focused on going back to Mount Weather that we—or at least I—hadn’t taken the threat of him seriously enough. Guilt churned in my stomach.
“Did he…did he look that bad before?” Dawson asked.
I shook my head. I’d only caught a brief glimpse of Will before Matthew had taken his body outside and destroyed it, but the messed-up doctor looked like he’d aged by decades. Obviously, the mutation hadn’t held, but I didn’t know why he’d looked as bad off as he had.
“Everything is cleaned up next door.” Dawson pushed off the wall and turned to the stairs. “Dee is with Ash and Andrew, and Matthew just left a little while ago. I’m going to grab something to eat. You need anything?”
I shook my head. What I needed, Dawson couldn’t provide, because right now, I needed Kat to open her eyes.
Dawson turned and then stopped, facing me. His voice was hoarse when he spoke. “I’m glad you’re okay. I…I couldn’t deal with losing you,” he said, and it sounded so strange to be on the other end of those words. “And I’m glad Katy’s going to be okay.”
Unable to find the right words, I hugged my brother. There was a moment when neither of us moved, and then Dawson stepped away. As he went downstairs, I stepped back into the room lit with just a candle I’d placed on the desk.
“Daemon?”
Kat’s voice was hoarse, but it was the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard. Walking to the bed, I sat down beside her. Shit, my throat clogged a little. “I’m here. Right beside you.”
She turned her head, and her gaze focused on me. “I can’t move my arms.”
I chuckled. “Here, let me fix that for you.” Either Ash or Dee had tucked her in to the point she was practically sealed to the bed. I found the edges of the blankets and loosened them. “There you go.”
“Oh.” Her arms appeared, and the blanket slipped down her bare shoulders. Her eyes widened, and then she winced as she clasped the edge of the blanket. “Why am I naked?”
“You don’t remember?”
Kat stared back at me for a moment, and then she sat up suddenly. Dark hair tumbled over her shoulders. She moved to yank the blanket down, but I stopped her. “You’re fine. There’s just a tiny mark—a scar, but it’s really faint.” I closed my hand over hers. “Honestly, I doubt anyone would notice it unless they were looking really close, and I’d be perturbed if anyone was looking that close.”
Shock flickered across her face. Her mouth moved without words, and I knew she had to be remembering everything, even the things I didn’t know about yet.
“Dee helped get you cleaned up. So did Ash.” I paused. “They put you in the bed. I didn’t…help then.” I started to touch her but stopped. Her silence was starting to worry me. A lot. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Kat nodded slowly. “I shouldn’t be sitting up and talking to you. This is…”
“I know. It’s a lot.” I touched her then, placing the tips of my fingers on her lips. Feeling her warm breath on my fingers was like touching the sun. “It’s really a lot.”
She closed her eyes for a moment. “How did you know?”
“I felt short of breath all of a sudden.” I dropped my hand and inched closer to her. “And there was this red-hot feeling in my chest. My muscles wouldn’t work right. I knew something had happened. Luckily, Andrew and Dawson were able to get me outside without causing a scene. Sorry, no chicken-fried steak.”
I smiled faintly. “I’d never been so scared in my life. I had Dawson call Dee to check on you. I…was too weak to get here myself.”
“How do you feel now?”
“Perfect. You?”
“I feel fine. You saved my life—our lives.”
“It was nothing.” And it should’ve never happened.
Kat gaped at me before twisting on the bed. She looked at the nightstand clock. It was past one in the morning. Panic flashed across her face as she gathered the blanket around her. “I have to go home. There has to be blood, and when my mom comes home in the morning, I don’t—”