Opposition (Lux 5)

“Rough day or not, I can’t imagine she cleans up well.” Sadi looked at Daemon as she placed a hand on his chest. “I’m kind of disappointed.”

“Are you?” Daemon replied.

Every hair on my body rose as my arms unfolded.

“Yes,” she purred. “I really think you can do better. Lots better.” As she spoke, she trailed a red-painted finger down the center of his chest, over his abdomen, heading straight for the button on his jeans.

And oh, hell to the no. “Get your hands off him.”

Sadi’s head snapped in my direction. “Excuse me?”

“I don’t think I stuttered.” I took a step forward. “But it looks like you need me to repeat it. Get your freaking hands off him.”

One side of her plump red lips curled up. “You want to make me?”

In the back of my head, I was aware that Sadi didn’t move or speak like the other Luxen. Her mannerisms were too human, but then that thought was quickly chased away when Daemon reached down and pulled her hand away.

“Stop it,” he murmured, voice dropped low in that teasing way of his.

I saw red.

The pictures on the wall rattled and the papers on the desk started to lift up. Static charged over my skin. I was about to pull a Beth right here, seconds away from floating to the ceiling and ripping out every strand of red—

“And you stop it,” Daemon said, but the teasing quality was gone from his words. There was a warning in them that took the wind right out of my pissed-off sails.

The pictures settled as I gaped at him. Being slapped in the face would’ve been better.

“Amazing,” said Rolland, eyeing me like I imagined all the scientists at Daedalus had done when they first came into contact with the Luxen. “You have adapted many of his abilities. Amazing and yet disturbing.”

“I have to agree with that,” said one of the male Luxen.

Rolland inclined his head. “We are a higher life-form, and to mix so intimately with something like you is . . . well, an abomination of sorts. You shouldn’t exist. Whatever injury you suffered should’ve taken you.”

A muscle started to tick along Daemon’s jaw.

“After all, it is the survival of the fittest, is that not what humans say? You were not fit to survive without our interference.”

Well, that was all kinds of insulting.

“And yet it cannot be undone, can it?” His gaze flickered to Daemon. “There is so much we are unaware of. All of us were too young when our planet was destroyed and we were split among the universes. We have never been here, and apparently, there is a lot our kind who have been residing on Earth were also unaware of.”

Most Luxen didn’t know about hybrids. Daemon hadn’t until I was mutated, so it didn’t take a genius to think those who hadn’t been to Earth had no idea. It also made me wonder if they were aware of the weaknesses that existed here—the onyx and diamond shields? Did these things exist on whatever hellhole they’d crawled out of? I doubted they had PEP weapons, the kind the government had created that could nuke a Luxen into the afterlife with one blast.

“We are curious by nature. Did you know that?” he asked, and then he slid a knowing look in Daemon’s direction. “I’m sure you did. After all, was that what drew him to you? Or was it more?”

Daemon’s lips thinned, but if there was bait dangling in front of his face, he didn’t take it.

“Love,” muttered Rolland with a laugh.

Dee glanced at her brother. “That was before.”

“Was it?” he asked.

A moment passed as Daemon held Rolland’s gaze. “It was before.”

The thunderous cracking in my chest should’ve been heard in the nearby towns. I sucked in a sharp breath, and Daemon finally looked at me. His back was unnaturally stiff as his eyes met mine, but it was like he saw right through me.

“I wonder if that’s truly in the past,” Sadi challenged, and when Daemon outright ignored her, a tension pulled at her features, turning them sour.

The hair on the back of my neck was standing again, but for a very different reason as Rolland’s smile grew. “As I said, we are curious creatures. Quincy?” He glanced over his shoulder, and after a moment passed, the other man nodded.

My eyes widened as the other Luxen strolled forward. He wasn’t as tall as Daemon, but he was broader, and he walked like he was gliding over water. When he passed Daemon, he sent him a mocking smile.

I took a step back, my hands opening and closing at my sides. I had no idea what to expect from any of them, even Daemon at this point. Horror churned in my stomach.

Quincy was wide like a linebacker, and the look in his eyes sent an icy whirl of wind over me. My feet slipped over the cool wood floor as energy balled low in my stomach. I glanced at Daemon, my heart thumping. His eyes met mine as Quincy stopped in front of me, his striking features stark. Quincy’s smile creeped me out as he reached forward. Jumping back, I knocked his arm away.

“Don’t touch me,” I warned, feeling a rush of static over my skin.

The smile slipped off Quincy’s face as his eyes narrowed.

“What is this about?” Daemon asked.

“I’m curious,” said Rolland, his voice almost syrupy sweet as his gaze flickered over to Daemon. “Restrain her.”

My heart dropped as my gaze bounced between Daemon and the Luxen. There was a moment when Daemon didn’t move as he stared at Rolland, and then he pivoted on his heel. I locked up, throat dry, as he stalked toward us.