Well, shit balls for dinner on Sunday.
That was the worst-case-scenario response.
I moved forward, positioning Kat between Archer and me. If I had to light this room up to get her out of here, so be it. And then what? This mission would be an absolute failure, the government would start e-bombing the crap out of cities, the world would decline into a place I sure as hell didn’t want to be in, and worse yet, I would lose my sister. Forever.
Perhaps I should’ve just kept my mouth shut?
Lotho stood to his full height, which had to be damn near seven feet tall, and he eyeballed me like he wanted to chew me up and spit me back out. “Did you actually expect a different response from me?” He tipped his head back and laughed. Several of the Arum snickered around us. “That any of us would help a Luxen? Or a hybrid or whatever the hell that thing is?” He gestured at Archer. “You’re either incredibly arrogant or seriously stupid.”
Irritation pricked at the back of my neck, causing my skin to hum with electricity. I knew I needed to keep it cool, at least until they made a real move against us. As much as it sucked, we needed them.
“What?” Lotho came down a step, and I stiffened. “You don’t have something smartass you want to add?”
My eyes narrowed. “Give me a second. I’ll come up with something.”
Hunter groaned.
Small hands pushed into my back in warning. “I didn’t expect any of you to hold our hands and sing ‘Kumbaya,’” I said, and Lotho arched a brow. “I didn’t expect any of you to actually welcome us here, but I did expect you all not to be a bunch of idiots.”
“Oh God,” Kat murmured behind me as she dug her nails into my back.
“That’s not going to win you any friends.” Hunter looked at me as if I were a few brain cells short of a complete set.
His brother, Pinky or Binky—I had no clue because I’d forgotten both of their names—appeared as if he was ready to go find himself a bib.
I took a deep breath. “You guys do realize what’s going to happen once the Luxen take over Earth, right?”
Lotho’s expression said he couldn’t give two craps. “Do you think we care about humans? They are . . . useless to us.”
I seriously began to question his intelligence. “Once they take over and subjugate every human here, they’re going to come after you guys. They may not be worried about you now, but they will. And the last time I checked, the Luxen owned the Arum.”
Lotho snorted. “They did not own us.”
“Is that so?” Archer chimed in. “Because you’re here on Earth, underground, living in subway tunnels. Just thought I’d point that out.”
“He kind of has a point there,” I added, smirking. “By then, they’ll have learned how to fight your kind,” I continued, hoping at least one of the Arum down here could make sense of logic. “Right now, they have no clue. It will be like a damn buffet for you. But later? After they’ve dealt with an Arum here and there? History is going to repeat itself.”
“History will not ever repeat itself,” sneered a female Arum. “They will never have control of us again.”
“Keep telling yourself that while you hide down here,” I retorted.
Pinky—I think it was Pinky—started to shift. “We are not hiding.”
“Totally looks like you guys are hiding.” Kat peeked around my shoulder, and Lotho’s gaze slammed into her in a way that made me want to pull out his larynx and shove it down his mouth. “I mean, from an outside observer, I’d say you guys were hiding.”
Hunter squeezed his eyes shut like he suddenly had a headache.
A heavy footfall later, Lotho was within ass-kicking range. He wasn’t looking at me. My hands curled into fists.
Cool it, Archer warned me.
“You’re not just a casual observer,” Lotho said to Kat, voice as thick as the shadows gathering around him. “You’re a whore of the Luxen who hides behind them.”
I stiffened. “What—”
“Hold up. Excuse me.” Kat darted out from behind me and raised one hand. “First off, the last time I checked, I’m not a whore for anyone. Secondly, I didn’t cower behind him. Unlike some people.”
Lotho cocked his head to the side.
“And thirdly? Not one of you in this room—not a single one of you—caused the destruction of your planets, right? Is anyone in here old enough that they had a hand in that war between your two kinds?” When no one answered, she shook her head. “You guys are ridiculous! All of you.”
Cold blasts of air hit from several directions. Not good. “Uh, Kitten . . .”
“Shut up,” she snapped, and my eyes widened. “You’re just as bad as they are.”
“What the what?” I said.
Hunter’s clone raised his brows. “I kind of want to hear where this is going.”
More snickers from the peanut gallery.
“You two hate each other just because of what you are,” Kat all but shouted.
“Well, they were kind of created to destroy us, so. . . .” I trailed off.
“And they committed genocide on our kind and enssslaved our people,” Lotho said, his voice becoming snakelike.
“Waah, waah, waah. Whine. That’s all I hear.” Kat threw her hands up. “Let me give you a brief history of mankind. We have constantly, systematically screwed one another over religion and race, doing far worse than what your two kinds have done to each other, more often than a history teacher has time to cover in class. Since the beginning, we have hurt one another over the stupidest things.”