Origin (Lux 4)

A muscle flexed in Daemon’s jaw, and my heart ached for him. They’d grown up with the Thompsons, and I knew a part of Daemon did love Ash. Not the same way he loved me, but no less important.

“I don’t want to leave Paris here,” Luc said, catching Daemon’s eyes. “He doesn’t deserve to be left behind, but we have no choice.”

Something must’ve connected in Daemon’s head, because he laid Ash down gently and stood. I followed his lead. “Where’s the car?” he asked, his voice hard.

Luc gestured down the road.

I reached out to Daemon, and he took my hand. There had been ten of us however many minutes ago. Now only seven raced across the dark road strewn with burned-out cars, bodies, and debris. I kept my legs moving, refusing to allow myself to really think about things.

Luc had found a Dodge Journey and a truck, but we only needed one of them now. That realization sent a pang of grief through me. Archer got in the driver’s seat of the Journey and Luc in the front.

“Hurry,” Luc urged. “There’s still some traffic up ahead, but it’s moving, and the blockade is gone. People are fleeing the city. We should get lost among them.”

Dawson helped Beth into one side while Daemon and I went to the other. We climbed into the very back, and Dee joined Dawson and Beth in the middle row. The doors weren’t even shut before Archer peeled off.

Numbness settled into my body as I twisted in the seat, staring out the back window as we raced around cars and narrowly avoided panicked people in the streets. We were leaving the city behind—leaving Paris, Andrew, and Ash behind.

I kept staring out the back window, watching Vegas burn.

Chapter 30

Katy

The ride was silent and tense. Besides the fact that all of us were looking over our shoulders, expecting the entire military to be on our tails, none of us knew what to say or if anything could be said.

Turning in Daemon’s arms, I pressed my face into his chest and inhaled the rich, woodsy scent. The scent of death and destruction hadn’t lingered on him, and I was grateful. If I closed my eyes and held my breath until I lost a few brain cells, I could almost imagine that we were just taking a ride in the desert.

He hadn’t bothered with the buckling stuff. At some point, he had pulled me away from the back window and nestled me between his thighs. I didn’t mind. More than anything, his embrace was grounding in the aftermath. And I think he needed it, too. I wished I could be inside his head, knowing what he was thinking right now.

I smoothed my thumb over the spot above his heart, mindlessly tracing odd shapes against his chest. I hoped guilt wasn’t eating away at him. None of what happened—the deaths—had been his fault. I wanted to tell him that, but I didn’t want to break the silence, either. It seemed that everyone in the car was mourning someone.

I hadn’t been close with Andrew and Ash, and I hadn’t known Paris that well, but their deaths hurt nonetheless. Each of them had died saving someone else, and most people would never know their names or what they’d sacrificed. But we would. Their loss would leave a mark on all of us for a long time coming, if not for eternity.

Daemon’s hand smoothed up my back and threaded through my messy hair until his fingers brushed the back of my neck. He shifted slightly, and I felt his lips on my forehead. My grip on his shirt constricted along with my chest.

I stretched up, my lips brushing against his ear. “I love you so very much.”

His body tensed and then relaxed. “Thank you.”

Unsure of what he was thanking me for, I curled against him, listening to his heart beat steadily. Every part of me ached, and I was tired, but sleep seemed impossible. Two hours in, Luc had said that heading to Arizona would be too risky and too close to Vegas. I hadn’t even noticed in which direction we were heading. There was another place he had—in one of the largest towns in Idaho, something called Coeur d’Alene. Another fifteen hours from where we were.

Dee had spoken up then, asking how he had so many properties when he was barely pushing fifteen. I thought that was a very good question.

“There’s a lot of money in the kind of club I run, and favors don’t come cheap,” he said. “So I like to keep my options open, own a couple of hidey holes around the States. You never know when you’ll need them.”

Dee seemed to accept the answer. And really, what choice did we have?

We stopped once to get gas somewhere in northern Utah the following morning. Dawson and Daemon went in to pick up some drinks and food, but not before changing their appearances. The rest of us stayed behind the tinted windows while Archer filled the tank, keeping his head low under a baseball cap that had been in the car.

Too anxious to sit still, I leaned forward and checked on Bethany.

“She’s sleeping,” Dee said quietly. “I don’t know how she can sleep. I don’t think I’ll ever sleep again.”

“I’m sorry.” I placed my hand on the back of her seat. “I really am. I know you were close to them, and I wish…I wish a lot of things were different.”

“Me, too,” she said, placing her hand over mine. She laid her cheek on the seat and blinked several times. Her eyes were misty. “None of this seems real. Or is it just me?”

“It’s not just you.” I squeezed her hand. “I keep thinking I’m going to wake up.”

“And it’ll be months ago, right before prom, huh?”

I nodded, but that kind of wishful thinking was a one-way ticket to Downersville. Daemon and Dawson returned, their arms full of bags.