Lack of sleep was getting to me.
Kat suddenly stiffened, and my gaze flew to her face. Her lashes were up. I couldn’t see her eyes, but her chest rose sharply. Was she in pain? “You okay, Kitten?”
“Daemon?” Her voice was hoarse, throaty with sleep and sort of, okay, really kind of sexy. “I… Sorry. I didn’t mean to sleep on you.”
“It’s okay,” I told her and helped her sit up. Her face was too pale and the purplish bruise around her eye pissed me off. I didn’t even want to check out her neck at this point. “Are you okay?” I repeated, eyeing her closer.
Her gaze found mine. “Yeah. You stayed here all night?”
“Yeah.” Seemed pretty obvious.
Kat looked at Dee and then swallowed. She lifted the arm in the cast but lowered it back to her lap as she slowly refocused on me. I couldn’t zero in on what she was thinking. She looked shocked. Confused. Sleepy. Cute.
Goddammit with the cute shit.
I needed to focus. “Do you remember anything?”
She nodded and then winced. “I was attacked last night.”
“Someone tried to mug you.” I resisted the urge to ask if she was okay yet again.
Her brows knitted. “He wasn’t trying to mug me.”
Hell. “Kat—”
“No.” She started to stand up, but I circled my arm around her waist, keeping her in place. I didn’t want her standing too quickly and falling, cracking her head open, and bleeding all over her precious books. “He didn’t want my money, Daemon. He wanted them.”
Dammit. I stiffened, thoughts racing. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“No shit.” She frowned down at her injured arm. “But he kept asking about where they were and about a trace or something.”
“Clearly the guy was insane,” I said, keeping my voice low while I willed her to brush it off as such. “You realize that, right? That he wasn’t right in the head? Nothing he said means anything.”
“I don’t know. He didn’t seem crazy.”
“Trying to beat the crap out of a girl isn’t crazy enough for you?” I asked, shaking my head. “I’m curious what you think is crazy.”
Her frown deepened. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Then what did you mean?” I twisted toward her, careful not to jar her arm. “He was a random lunatic, but you’re going to make it bigger than it is, aren’t you?”
Kat drew in a sharp breath. “I’m not making this anything. Daemon, that wasn’t a normal lunatic.”
Frustration thinned my patience. The thing was, she was right. There had been nothing normal about the “man” who had attacked her, but I couldn’t let her know that. I needed her to drop this. “Oh, you’re an expert on crazy people now?”
“A month with you and I feel I have a master’s degree in the subject.” She glared at me as she scooted away. She swayed a little.
“You okay?” I touched her good arm. “Kat?”
She shook my hand off, good and angry. “Yeah, I’m okay.”
I looked away, tense. She didn’t need my shit right now. Obviously she wasn’t up for a throw-down between us, and I was actually, legitimately worried about her. She looked worn the hell out, but I had to shut this down. “I know you’re probably messed up after what happened last night, but don’t make this into something it’s not.”
“Daemon—”
“I don’t want Dee worried that there is an idiot out there attacking girls.” My jaw hardened and my voice turned icy. “Do you understand me?”
Her lower lip trembled, and seeing that was like taking a kick to the gut. Yeah, I was an ass. I sucked at empathy and sympathy. The whole assimilation into human society the DOD had forced us into really hadn’t worked out that well for me, but that didn’t mean I enjoyed kicking someone when she was down.
I started to get up, but when I lifted my gaze from her mouth, our gazes locked. In that moment, I wished I had the ability to change someone’s thoughts. That was also probably terrible, but I would remove the memory of the assault. Not just to protect what we were and my family, but to also erase those shadows that lingered in her gray eyes. What happened last night was going to haunt her for a long time, I could tell.
From the recliner, Dee yawned loudly, obnoxiously so.
Kat jerked back, looking over at my sister, who apparently had been awake for a while.
“Good morning!” She chirped like a bird and all but slammed her feet onto the floor. “Have you guys been awake long?”
I sighed heavily. “No, Dee, we just woke up and were talking. You were snoring so loudly we couldn’t stay asleep any longer.”
She snorted like a little pink pig. “I doubt that. Katy, are you feeling…okay this morning?”
“Yeah, I’m a little sore and stiff, but overall okay.”
Dee’s smile was forced as she reached up, pushing the disheveled waves of hair out of her face.
“I think I’m going to make you breakfast.” Without waiting for an answer, she sprang onto her feet and bolted into the kitchen. Doors opened. Pots clanged off one another.