I started toward my own house, but Daemon cut me off and guided me toward his. “You’re not leaving yet,” he said.

My brows rose at that and the glint in his eyes, but I wasn’t in the mood to argue. It was late, school was tomorrow, and tonight had been one giant fail boat.

I went into their house, still shrouded in Matthew’s blanket. My skin was so chilled underneath my damp clothes that I was numb. Exhausted, my legs shook to keep me standing, but everyone was talking—Dee, Andrew, Ash, and Dawson. Matthew was trying to keep them calm, but that wasn’t happening. Everyone was hyped up on anger and residual adrenaline, and I think Dawson kept talking because if he stopped then he had to deal with what happened tonight.

Beth was still with Daedalus.

“Let’s get you into some dry clothes,” Daemon said quietly, taking my hand.

At the bottom of the stairs, Daemon went to pick me up, but I waved him off. “I’m fine.”

He made a sound in the back of his throat that reminded me of a disgruntled lion, but he followed my slow ascension. Once inside his bedroom, he closed his door. Determination seeped from his pores.

I sighed. Tonight had been a tragedy. “We kind of deserved this.”

He prowled over to me, catching the edges of the blanket, pulling it off. Then he took ahold of my borrowed thermal. “How so?”

It seemed obvious to me. “We’re a bunch of teenagers, and we thought we could break into a facility run by Homeland Security and the DOD? I mean, come on. This was bound to go wrong— Wait!” The thermal was halfway up my stomach. My chilled fingers circled his wrists. “What are you doing?”

“Getting you naked.”

My mouth dropped open at the same time my heart did a backflip. A heady warmth cascaded through my veins. “Uh, wow. Way to cut to the point.”

A lopsided grin teased his lips. “Your shirt and pants are soaked and cold. And there are probably traces of onyx still on them. You need to get out of your clothes.”

I smacked his hands away. “I can do that myself.”

Daemon leaned in, speaking into my ear. “Where’s the fun in that?” He let go, though, and headed for his dresser. “You really think we were doomed to fail?”

Since he’d turned his back, I made haste with removing my clothes. Everything beside the cold piece of obsidian hanging around my neck was ruined and had to come off. The clothing smelled like musky river water. Shivering, I folded my arms across my chest. “Don’t…don’t turn around.”

His shoulders shook with silent laughter as he rummaged around for something for me to wear. Hopefully.

“I don’t know,” I said, finally answering his question. “It was a huge undertaking for trained spies. We’re in over our heads.”

“But we were fine until we hit those doors.” He pulled out a shirt. “I hate to say this, but I really don’t think Blake knew about them. The look on his face when you and Dawson went down—it was too real.”

“Then why did you punch him in the face?”

“I wanted to.” He turned around, one hand over his eyes as he offered me a shirt. “Here you go.”

I snatched it away and quickly tugged it over my head. The soft, worn material billowed around me, ending at my thighs. When I glanced up, I saw his fingers split over his eyes. “You were peeking.”

“Maybe.” He took my hand, pulling me toward his bed. “Get in. I’m going to check on Dawson and I’ll be back.”

I really should have headed next door to my own bed, but I reasoned that tonight was different. Besides, Mom wouldn’t be home before school started and I didn’t want to be alone. Doing as he requested, I climbed in and yanked the comforter up to my chin. It smelled of fresh linen and Daemon. He wasn’t gone long, but in that short time, my lids fluttered shut. The onyx had zapped most of my energy, as it was meant to. We’d been so damn lucky to even make it out of there before the guard came to.

Daemon returned, moving around the room silently, and I was feeling way too lazy to open my eyes and see what he was up to. Clothing rustled to the floor and my temperature went up a degree. Another drawer opened and then he was tugging back the covers, sliding in.

Lying on his side, he wrapped an arm around my waist and tucked me against his bare chest. The flannel of his pajama bottoms teased my legs, and I let out a contented sigh.

“How’s Dawson?” I asked, wiggling closer so I was pretty much plastered to him.

“He’s doing okay.” Daemon brushed the hair back from my cheek, his hand lingering. “He’s not a happy camper, though.”

I could imagine. We’d come so close to Beth only to have to turn around. That is, if Beth had really been there. Blake may’ve not known about the onyx defense system from hell, but I didn’t trust him. None of us did.

“Thank you for getting us out of there.” I tilted my head back, searching out his face in the darkness. His eyes glowed softly.

“I had help.” He pressed his lips against my forehead and his arm tightened around me. “You feeling okay?”

“I feel fine. Stop worrying about me.”

His eyes met mine. “Don’t ever walk through a door first again, okay? And don’t argue with me about it or accuse me of being chauvinistic. I don’t ever want to see you in that kind of pain again.”

Instead of arguing, I twisted in his embrace and placed my lips on his, kissing him softly. His lashes lowered, shielding his eyes. He returned the kiss and it was sweet and tender and so perfect that there was a good chance I’d start bawling like a baby.




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