Opposition (Lux #5)(24)
Author: J. Lynn

“Two minutes?” she asked.

I grinned against her mouth, and then forged a path of kisses to her ear. “Mmm, I like the way you think.”

“I’m not surprised.”

“You know me well.”

Kat drew back, slipping out of my grasp. Meeting my eyes and wearing a mischievous grin, she reached down and pulled her sweater off over her head.

Hells yeah.

Then all rational thought fled when the pants came next, along with everything else she’d been wearing. The prettiest pink swept over her body, but she didn’t duck her chin or hide from me.

Man, Kat fascinated me, every aspect of her. She was beautiful, but it went so beyond that. She was so incredibly strong, and she bore the scars of her strength like a prizefighter. She was smart and stubborn, but most of all, she was kind, and she’d given me the ultimate gift when she loved me in return.

That was the most important thing I’d always take from this.

Love was a gift.

Joining her in the buff, I wrapped my arms around her. I didn’t need to tell her that I loved her. The words were meaningless because they were spoken so much. Actions were always louder, always more potent.

I showed her.

On my knees, and then on the narrow bed, with her br**sts flush against my chest, and then I moved lower again. I wanted to do more, a whole lot more, but I hadn’t had the forethought to bring any protection from the mayor’s mansion with me, and the last thing either of us needed to worry about was a little Kat or Daemon on the way.

But like before, there were other . . . things we could do. And we did them until my senses were completely short-circuited, and I fell for her over and over again. We were greedy, pushing it until we were almost foolish in the way we felt for each other, pulling back at the last moment, and then falling over the edge together with our hands on each other and our mouths fused together.

It was perfect.

She was perfect.

And I was the luckiest guy.

When we finally left to meet up with Archer, Dawson was waiting at the exit doors, one arm over Beth’s shoulders. I really didn’t know what to say to him. Good-bye was wrong, too unforgiving. So I stopped and just stared at the two, hoping that even if we failed in the worst kind of way, my brother and his girl would go on. They’d be safe. They’d be okay.

Kat approached them first. She gave Dawson a hug and then Beth. The girl said something to her and Kat smiled in return.

I had to take a deep breath when I walked over to Dawson and clapped my hand down on his shoulder. “You’re going to be okay here.”

He leaned in until his forehead pressed against mine. “So are you.”

“You know it.”

Dawson grinned, and then he hugged me. We both knew the risks and how this could all play out. But we didn’t voice it to each other as we said good-bye. Walking away from Dawson, leaving him in the same building with the woman who’d messed up his life so badly, went against everything I knew.

But I had to do it.

I had to let Dawson take care of himself, Beth, and his child. That was his job now.

My skin itched with the need to go back when I walked out those damn doors, but I ignored it and focused ahead. General Eaton was waiting for us beside a black Explorer, the kind of car Daedalus used to roll around in.

I sort of wanted to blow that bitch up, but that wouldn’t go over well. Impulse control. I was proud of myself.

“We’ll be waiting to hear from you,” he said, meeting our gazes. “I don’t think I need to remind you guys of how important this is and what is riding on you, but if you manage to pull this off, you’ll spend the rest of your lives not worrying about any of us. I will make sure that no matter what precautions are taken in the future, you will have immunity to all laws and sanctions. You’ll be free from all of this.”

It took me a moment to process what he was saying as I met Kat’s surprised stare. Once my brain kicked back into gear, I knew what she was thinking. “Not just for us.”

The general eyed me.

“I want my family and friends to fall under that,” I told him, glancing at Archer. I didn’t know what he had planned when this was all said and done, but I didn’t care. “And I also want Kat’s family—her mom—safe from ever having to deal with any of this crap because of what we are.”

Kat’s lips trembled as she pressed them together. A fine mist covered her eyes.

“You get what I’m saying?” I asked.

“I do.” He gave me a curt nod. “I can do that for you.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

There was another quick nod, and then there was no more time to hang out. I walked around the general and opened the passenger door for Kat. Whether or not Archer liked it, he was gonna be a backseat rider.

“What did Beth say to you?” I asked as I gripped the car door.

Kat smiled slightly as her gaze met mine. “She said the same thing I want to say to you.”

“That I’m awesome?”

She laughed, and that sound brought a smile to my face. “No. She said thank you.”

15

{ Katy }

“Did you know . . .” started Archer, and I closed my eyes, biting back a sigh. Here they go. Ten hours into the drive, my butt was starting to hurt and they bickered like an old married couple. “That typically there’s a speed limit on these roads?” he finished.

“Yep,” came Daemon’s reply.

“I’m just curious.” Archer was currently sitting behind us, but he might as well be in our laps. He’d positioned himself so he was right between our seats, his arms hanging off the back of them. “Because I’m pretty sure that sign over there reads fifty-five. Not eighty-five.”

“You can read?” Daemon looked into the rearview mirror. “Holy shit. I’m so surprised.”

Archer sighed. “Well, that was clever.” There was a pause. “I just don’t want to end up crashing into a fiery ball.”

“You’re an Origin. You’ll be fine.”

“I don’t want to be a skid-mark Origin or a crispy Origin.”

“Mmm,” Daemon murmured. “Crispy Origin reminds me of fried chicken. I could go for some of that right now.”

“KFC?” Archer asked, and I was surprised that he even knew what KFC chicken tasted like. “Or Popeye’s?”

Huh. He also knew Popeye’s.

Daemon’s lip curled. “No. I’m talking homemade fried chicken. Dipped in egg and flour, fried up in a skillet. Dee can fry some bomb chicken.”

“I’ve never had homemade fried chicken before.”

His eyes rolled. “God, you’re such a freak.”

“I wonder if I can get Dee to make me some,” Archer replied casually, ignoring Daemon. “You know, when she’s not on Team Kill Everyone.”

“She won’t make you any chicken,” Daemon retorted.

“Oh, she’ll make me fried chicken.” Archer laughed deeply. “She’ll make me all the chicken I want.”

A low sound of warning rumbled from Daemon, and I couldn’t believe they were now arguing over the hypothetical situation of Dee making fried chicken or not. But I shouldn’t be surprised. An hour or so ago, they were in a heated discussion over whether or not Shane would’ve been a better father than Rick on The Walking Dead. Somehow that had digressed into Daemon arguing that the governor, sociopathic tendencies aside, was a better father figure. The fact that Archer had never eaten at Olive Garden but knew about The Walking Dead absolutely befuddled me.

Archer sighed like a petulant teenager stuck in a car for too long. There was a beat of silence. “Are we there yet?”

Daemon groaned. “I’m going to sew your damn lips together.”

I covered my smile with my hand as I stared out the window. That smile faded, though, as I took in the scenery. I had no idea what state we were in. Everything from about a hundred miles outside of Billings had all looked the same.

Wastelands.

Absolute destruction.

For the last two hours, we hadn’t seen another car on the major highway. Not a single moving car. There were a lot along the road. Some were abandoned with their backseats piled with personal items, as if the owners pulled over on the side of the road, got out, and left everything behind for the great unknown.

The others . . . the others were scary.

Burned-out shells of cars. A sad and twisted graveyard of wrecked and charred metal. I’d never seen anything like this. Read about it in books, seen it in movies, but viewing mile after mile of it in real life was something else.

“What do you think happened to them?” I asked when there was a lull in the arguing.

Archer pushed back from the seats, bending over so he could see out his own window. “Looks like some of them met up with unfriendly aliens. Others ran.”

We passed an SUV with its back open. Clothing was strewn about it. A small brown teddy bear lay forgotten on the road behind it. I thought about that little girl in the grocery store, and I wanted to ask if they thought those who’d run for it made it to safety, but I didn’t, because I was sure I already knew the answer.

Humans couldn’t outrun Luxen.

“While you guys were doing things I don’t want to know about in your room, some things were happening out here.”

Daemon didn’t look fazed by that statement, but my face turned into a ripe tomato. “Do tell.”

“You know how they were saying there were cities completely lost, under the Luxen control? Well, those cities are functioning—TV is up, internet is blasting, and phone lines are working. It’s like nothing happened there, except that more than half the population is made of human-hating aliens,” Archer said, returning to his perch between our seats. “But there are a lot of cities that just . . . have been destroyed.”

“Why would they do that?” I leaned back, shifting in the seat. “Wouldn’t they want the cities virtually untouched so they were livable?”

“They do.” Daemon glanced in the rearview mirror. “But if the humans found a way to fight back, even if the fighting back was pointless, then . . .”

“The cities get taken out in the process,” Archer finished. “Things are going to be rough afterward, even if we stop them. A lot of rebuilding. There’s going to be a lot of changes.”

“Not a lot,” I said as we coasted past a burned-out school bus that was more black than orange. I didn’t want to even think about if the bus had been full or not, but the backs of my eyes still burned. “Everything will change.”

We took the long way around Kansas City, since we didn’t want to get within a billion miles of the Luxen-controlled city, and we ended up stopping outside of a small, unknown town in Missouri for Daemon and Archer to switch off driving.

Sleep was fitful over the next couple of hours, and it wasn’t just the uncomfortable seating or Archer’s questionable taste in music. My body was a bundle of nerves stretched too thin. We were about to literally drive into an Arum stronghold, and while Luc swore up and down that Hunter was cool, I hadn’t met an Arum yet I didn’t want to run from. But it was more than that.

I missed my mom. I missed Dee and Lesa. I missed my books and my blog, and in the hours when I couldn’t sleep and Daemon had passed out in the backseat, I stared out the window and I couldn’t imagine what tomorrow would be like or what a month from now would look like.

“You okay?” Archer asked quietly.

I hadn’t realized that I’d been shifting restlessly. “Yeah.”

“Can’t sleep?”

“Nope.”

“He doesn’t seem to be having any problems.”

Glancing behind me, I smiled. Daemon was stretched out on his back, one arm tossed over his face. His chest rose and fell in deep, steady breaths. I flipped around. “He needs it.”

“So do you.”

I shrugged. “What about you?”

He passed me a knowing look. “I didn’t spend all my free time making out like the world was ending the next day.”

My cheeks flamed. “You really don’t need to keep reminding me that there’s no such thing as privacy around you.”

A quick grin flashed across his face as he focused on the dark road, but it disappeared as quickly as the star I’d been tracking in the sky earlier. I studied him out of the corner of my eye, the strong jaw and profile.

“Stop staring at me,” he huffed.

“Sorry.” But I looked at him fully, and I thought of—

“Yes.”

I frowned.

“Like I told you before, I worry about her and I think about her. A lot.” His fingers tapped the steering wheel. “I like her. The girl is . . . well, she’s special.”

Probably a good thing Daemon was passed out while we were having this conversation. “She likes you, too.”

“I know.” He chuckled under his breath. “Dee’s not really good at hiding her thoughts. Actually, I don’t even think she tries. That’s one of the things I like about her.”