Oblivion

Scoping out the groups huddled around the fire, unease formed in my gut when I didn’t see Kat or Simon among them. I headed to my right, eyeing the smaller groups near the thick outcropping of trees. Couples. Lots of couples. If Kat was among them, I’d…

What would I do?

I stopped walking right then, standing in front of the truck with its doors open, blasting music. What would I do if I saw Kat with Simon, doing those things the couples were doing in the shadows of the bare trees? What could I do? She had every right to be with him. She wasn’t…

Kat wasn’t mine.

Acid churned in my gut as I wheeled around. Dee was standing there, the light from the fire reflecting off the angles of her face. Her eyes were unnaturally bright. “Have you seen Kat?” she asked.

The unease exploded. “You haven’t?”

“I saw her about five minutes ago. She was heading over to me, but then I lost track of her. She was with Simon, but…” Her nose wrinkled. “I just need to find her.” My hands curled into loose fists. “I thought you weren’t worried about Kat being with Simon.”

Adam appeared at Dee’s side. “I don’t think there will be a problem—we don’t think that, but Simon is pretty trashed, so…”

I didn’t like what I was hearing. “Where did you see her last?”

“She was over there.” Dee pointed to the other side of the fire, closer to the woods. “But she’s not there anymore.”

No shit.

We split up at that point and it took a couple of minutes to find someone who was about 70 percent certain that they had seen Kat head into the woods with Simon. That little piece of knowledge made me want to bang my head off the rough tree bark. I wanted to shake my sister. Whatever happened to the all-touted girl code? Wasn’t it some kind of unspoken law that required them not to let one another roam off with questionable dudes?

I followed a worn man-made trail, preparing myself for the fact that I just may find Kat and she might not want to be found. Actually, that was the high likelihood here. Just because Simon was a touchy jackass who was currently trashed, didn’t mean Kat needed rescuing or that she wanted rescuing.

If she was fine, I was going to walk away. She didn’t even need to know that I was here. If she was okay, I needed to—

“Simon, stop !” Kat’s shriek cut through the muted hum of music.

Instinct flared and I shot off like a bullet. A second was too long, but I found her and rage erupted inside me like a violent volcano. The son of a bitch had her pinned against a tree. His hands were on her. His body . His mouth .

They didn’t hear me or see me, but that bastard felt me when I slammed my hand down on his shoulder and tore him away from her. Cocking back my arm, I nailed him in the face. His feet left the ground and for a very happy moment he was airborne. He hit the ground, legs and arms sprawled, with a not so satisfying thud .

I bent over him, grabbing the collar of his wrinkled dress shirt. “Do you have a problem understanding simple English?”

“Man, I’m sorry,” Simon slurred, grasping my wrist. “I thought she—”

“You thought what?” I hauled him up with little effort, recognizing and enjoying the flare of fear in the human boy’s eyes. I wanted to rip the motherfucker apart, limb from limb. Then I wanted to piece his ass back together. Rinse and repeat about a half a million times. “That no meant yes?”

“No! Yes! I thought—”

Close to absolutely destroying him, I raised my hand and froze him. Simon was a statue, his hands in front of his face. Blood pooled under his nose. Eyes wide and unblinking. Stepping back, I dragged in a deep breath.

“Daemon,” Kat said from behind me. “What…what did you do?”

I glared at the frozen idiot. “It was either this, or I’d kill him.”

Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Kat step around me. Her back was to me as she poked Simon’s arm. “Is he alive?”

“Should he be?” I asked.

Kat looked over her shoulder at me, her eyes shadowed, but I saw what she was thinking in that moment, and I wanted to murder his ass. It didn’t matter that I had warned her about him. This wasn’t her fault. She didn’t ask for it. Those things shouldn’t be crossing her mind.

I tensed. “He’s fine. Right now, it’s like he’s sleeping.”

“God, what a mess.” She backed up, wrapping her arms across her chest. “How long will he stay like this?”

“As long as I want. I could leave him out here. Let the deer piss on him and the crows crap on him.”

A laugh choked out of her. “You can’t…do that, you know that? Right?”

I shrugged.

“You need to turn him back, but first, I’d like to do something.”

While I waited to see what she wanted to do, she unfolded her arms and walked right up to Simon. Without saying a word, she kicked him right between the legs.

“Whoa.” I let out a strangled half laugh. “Maybe I should’ve killed him.”

Kat shot me a look.

Frowning, I waved a hand, unfreezing Simon. He doubled over, cupping his hands between his legs as he moaned, “Shit,” over and over again.

I pushed Simon back a few steps. “Get the fuck out of my face, and I swear if you so much as look at her again, it will be the last thing you do.”

The idiot wiped a hand under his bloodied nose as he looked over at her. “Katy, I’m sorry—”

He had a death wish.

“Get. Out. Of. Here,” I warned, taking a threatening step forward.