Origin (Lux 4)

Matthew shook his head. “You know what they do to Luxen who break the rules. They are never heard from again. They threatened to take you all in.” He spun toward Ash and Andrew. “Even you. I had no choice.”

Energy crackled through the room.

“Yeah, they end up in Daedalus,” Archer said, his hands flexing. “Right to the same place you just sent Daemon and Katy.”

“You told them about Beth and me?” Dawson’s voice broke halfway through.

Matthew nodded his head again. “I’m sorry, but you exposed everyone to them.”

Daemon looked stricken, as if he’d been sucker punched, but the sudden heat rising in the room wasn’t coming from him. It was from Dawson. A fine current of energy rolled out from him.

“It’s the same now.” Matthew pressed his hands together, as if he were about to pray. “All they want is Daemon and Katy. Everyone else, including you and Beth, will walk away from this. I had to do it. I have to protect—”

Dawson reacted so quickly that if anyone in the room wanted to stop him, he or she didn’t have a chance. Rearing back, he sent a blast of pure, unstable energy straight into Matthew. The bolt slammed into Matthew’s chest, spinning him around.

I knew Matthew was dead before he hit the ground.

I knew it was Dee who screamed.

I knew it was Daemon who grabbed my arm and pulled me from the room.

I knew it was Archer’s voice that rose above the chaos, joining Daemon’s in issuing orders.

And I knew we had to get out of there. Fast.

But I never expected that Matthew would do something like this, or that Dawson would kill him without so much as blinking an eye.

“Stay with me, Kitten.” Daemon’s deep voice glided over my skin. We were passing the kitchen. “I need you to—”

“I’m fine,” I cut in, watching Luc spin around to pull a thunderstruck Ash into the foyer. “They’re coming. Now.”

“You can bet your little behind on that,” Archer said, reaching behind him. He pulled out a gun.

“I don’t like you talking about Kat’s behind, but besides that, where are we going?” Daemon asked, his grip on my hand tightening. “What’s the plan? Run out of here like we’re insane?”

“Sounds about right,” Andrew said. “Unless we all want to get carted away.”

“No.” Luc kept a careful eye on Dawson and Beth. The Luxen was still sprouting some major rage face. “We head out of town, toward Arizona. I got a place those ass**les won’t find. But we have to get out of the city.”

Daemon glanced at his brother. “Sound good to you?” When Dawson nodded, Daemon let go of my hand and stepped up to his brother, clasping him on the shoulder. “You did what you had to do.”

Dawson placed a hand over Daemon’s. “I’d do it again.”

“All right, family bonding time aside, anyone who gets into one of these cars outside is in it for the long haul,” Paris said, shaking a set of car keys. “If you even think you’re not ready to put your life on the line for everyone here, then you stay behind. If you screw us out there, I will end you.” He flashed a rather charming smile. “And I will probably enjoy it.”

Daemon cut him a dark look but said, “I second that.”

“I’m already in it this far,” Andrew said, shrugging. “Might as well go all the way.”

Everyone looked at Ash.

“What?” she said, tucking short strands of hair behind her ears. “Look. If I didn’t want to take part in this craziness, I would’ve stayed home, but I’m here.”

She had a point, but I wanted to ask why she or Andrew would risk everything when they weren’t fans of Beth or me. Then it hit me. It wasn’t about us. It was about Daemon and Dawson—it was about family.

I could get behind that.

We hurried toward the front door, but at the last second, I grabbed Daemon’s arm. “Wait a minute! I need to go upstairs.”

Archer whirled around. “Whatever it is, we can leave it. It’s not important.”

“Daemon…” My fingers dug in. I assumed everyone else had their IDs. I didn’t know, but we needed our papers. We had to have them.

“Shit.” He got what I was talking about. “Go ahead outside. I’ll be faster.”

Nodding, I darted around him and rejoined Archer. “Really?” he growled in a low voice. “Those papers are that important.”

“Yes.” We didn’t have rings. We didn’t have a certificate under our real names and, yeah, it wasn’t real, but we had that license, our fake IDs, and right now those things meant everything. They were our future.

Dawson already had Beth loaded in the backseat of an SUV. Ash and Andrew were climbing in with them.

“Go with them,” I told Archer, knowing he’d keep them safe. “We’ll go with Paris and Luc.”

Archer didn’t hesitate. He intercepted Dawson and got behind the wheel. “You want me driving in case stuff goes down. Trust me.”

Dawson didn’t look convinced, and in that moment he was an exact replica of his brother, but he did something Daemon pretty much never did. He didn’t argue. Just got in the passenger side and shut up.

A second later, Daemon appeared behind me. “They’re in my back pocket.”

“Thank you.”

We climbed into the Hummer, Paris behind the wheel and Luc in the front. Luc twisted around as we slammed the doors shut. “Sorry about Matthew,” he said to Daemon. “I know you were close. He was family. That sucked. But people do sucky things when they’re desperate.”