That kind of look happened a lot when people saw Daemon and him together for the first time. They were identical, after all. Black wavy hair, same swimmer’s build, both of them well over six feet. They shared the same features: broad cheekbones, full mouths, and extraordinarily bright green eyes. Other than their own kind, no one could tell them apart. Something both boys loved using to their advantage.
Dawson grinded his molars until his jaw ached.
For the first time, he wished there wasn’t a carbon-copy image of him. That someone would look at him—really see him and not the mirror image right beside him. And that was a completely unexpected reaction.
But then her gaze found his again and she smiled.
The pen slipped from his suddenly limp fingers, rolled across the desk, and clattered onto the floor. Heat swept across his cheeks, but his own lips responded, and there was nothing fake or forced about his reaction.
Daemon snickered as he leaned over, smacking down on the pen with his sneaker. Embarrassed to the nth degree, Dawson swiped his pen from under his brother’s shoe.
Mr. Patterson said something to her, drawing her attention, and she laughed. Feeling that husky sound all the way to his toes, he sat straighter in his seat. A prickly feeling spread over his skin.
As the tardy bell rang, she headed straight for the seat in front of him. Screw hiking in the snow. This was so not going to be another boring Tuesday.
She started digging around in her bag, searching for a pen, he guessed. Part of him knew it was a perfect excuse to break the ice. He could just offer her a pen, say hello, and go from there. But he was frozen in his seat, torn between wanting to lean forward to see what kind of perfume she was wearing and not wanting to look like a total creep.
He kept his ass planted firmly in the chair.
And…stared at the chocolate strands of her hair where they curled over the back of her seat.
Dawson scratched his neck, shoulders twitching. What was her name? And why in the hell did he care so much? This wasn’t the first time he was attracted to a human girl. Hell, many of their kind hooked up with them, since males outnumbered their females two to one. He had. Even his usually superior-complex-ridden brother had when he wasn’t with his on-and-off-again girlfriend, but still…
Glancing over her shoulder, the girl swept up her lashes, and she locked eyes with him.
Strangest thing happened then. Dawson felt the years peel away. Years of moving, of making and losing friends. Of seeing those of his kind he had grown to care for die at the hands of the Arum or the DOD. Years of trying to fit in with humans but never really becoming one of them. All of it just…slipped away.
Dazed by the sudden lifting of weight, all he could do was stare. Stare like a freaking idiot. But she stared right back.
The new girl shifted her gaze, but those warm, whiskey-colored eyes came right back to his. Her lips tipped up at the corners in a small smile, and then she faced the front of the class again.
Daemon cleared his throat and shifted his desk. His brother demanded in a low voice, “What are you thinking?”
Most of the time, Daemon knew what he was thinking. Same with Dee. They were triplets, closer than most of the Luxen. But right now, Dawson knew without a doubt that Daemon had no clue what he was thinking. ’Cuz if he did, he would’ve fallen out of his chair.
Dawson let out a breath. “Nothing—I’m not thinking anything.”
“Yeah,” his brother said, sitting back. “That’s what I thought.”
…
After the bell rang, Bethany Williams gathered up her bag and headed into the hallway without hanging around. Being the new kid sucked. There were no friends to chat with or walk to the next class with. Strangers surrounded her, which was just perfect considering she was living in a strange house and she was seeing a lot of her uncle, who was also a complete stranger to her.
And she needed to find her next class. Glancing down at her schedule, her eyes narrowed at the faded printout. Room 20…3? Or was it room 208? Great. West Virginia was where printers went to die.
Shouldering her bag, she dodged around a group of girls huddled across from her English class. No stretch of the imagination to think they were waiting on the incredibly hot duo in her class to come out. Good God, she’d lived in Nevada her whole life and never once saw anyone who looked like that, let alone two of them.
Who knew West Virginia was hiding such hotness?
And those eyes, they were…wow. A vibrant, untarnished green that reminded her of fresh spring grass. Those peepers were something else.
If she’d known this before, she would’ve begged her parents to move here a hell of a lot sooner just for the eye candy. Shame snapped on the heels of that thought. Her family was here because her uncle was sick, because it was the right thing to do, and not—
“Hey, hold up.”
The unfamiliar deep timbre of a boy’s voice rolled down her spine, and she slowed, glancing over her shoulder. She came to an abrupt stop.
It was half of the incredibly hot duo. Calling to her, right? Because he was looking straight at her with those eyes, grinning with lips that were full on the bottom, almost too perfect.
She suddenly had a mad desire to start painting his face with the new oil colors her mom had bought her. Snapping out of it, she forced her mouth to work.
“Hi,” she squeaked. Hot, really hot…
The boy grinned, and her chest did a little flutter. “I wanted to introduce myself,” he said, catching up to her. “My name is Dawson Black. I’m the—”
“You were the twin sitting behind me in English.”