“Shush it,” he murmured lazily. And then he moved lightning fast, and from an angle the Luxen could see, he nipped my ear again. I had to bite down on my lip to stop myself from crying out and punching him in the gonads.

I was so going to kick his butt later.

Daemon made a show of eyeing me like I was an all-you-can-eat buffet, then glanced at the other Luxen. “Do you mind? Or are you planning to watch?”

The flicker of interest on the Luxen’s face turned my stomach. “As alluring as that sounds, I’ll need to pass. This time.”

Oh, yuck. Wiggling a leg free, I slammed the heel of my foot into Daemon’s calf for starting that line of conversation.

“Ouch.” He shot me a look.

My lips twitched as satisfaction rolled over me.

“Rolland just wanted to make sure everything was fine,” the Luxen said, his cool, crystallized gaze straying to areas I was so not happy about.

Daemon shifted, casually blocking a good portion of my body. “Is that all?”

“No,” was the response. “Rolland would like you to attend the press conference tomorrow. And he wants you to bring the girl with you.”

Press conference? Bring me? Oh . . . a shiver danced over my skin. I so did not like the sound of all of this.

Daemon managed a smirk. “Sounds like fun.”

The Luxen hesitated, and then nodded. After one more way-too-long look in my direction, he backed out of the bathroom. “Have fun.”

Neither of us moved or spoke for a good minute after the Luxen had left the bathroom, and then Daemon glanced down at me.

I drew in a deep breath. “I don’t like the way tomorrow is looking.”

“I don’t either.”

I wet my lips. “You don’t think Rolland knows you’re faking?”

“No.” He sounded so sure. “I’ve been more than careful.”

“Then what do you think they’re planning?”

He shook his head, causing several black waves to brush against his eyebrows. “He videoed a press release earlier. He’s pretending to be the mayor . . .”

As Daemon trailed off, he released my wrists and rocked up, his expression far off, and I had a feeling he was thinking the same thing I was. Sitting up, I wrapped my arms around my waist. He looked over and our gazes locked.

“Do you think he’s pretending?” I asked. “That he’s really pretending to be the mayor, as in . . .” As in working from the inside to take over. “What if there are more like him? Ones who have taken over the bodies of important people?”

He cursed under his breath as he shoved both hands through his hair. “I should’ve seen it right away. I mean, I got that he was pretending to be mayor, but I didn’t think beyond that. They’re only killing some people without assimilating them. They’re targeting certain people. Same age group. People old enough to have . . .”

“Families,” I whispered. And that would be even worse than assimilating those in positions of power, because if they pretended to be mothers and fathers and teachers, they’d be everywhere, and no one would be able to tell, even if there were witnesses. Accounts of the Luxen snatching bodies couldn’t stop something this huge.

I looked at Daemon.

The Luxen had already been on this planet for decades and then some, and no one knew.

“Does the TV in that room work?” I asked.

“I think so.”

“I think we need to turn it on.”

After helping me up, Daemon rubbed his hands up and down my arms, chasing away the chill. “Take a shower, and I’ll find something for you to wear.”

I glanced at the door, hesitating. Stripping naked with a bunch of Luxen nearby who had no concept of personal space made me want to hurl.

Daemon dipped his head, brushing his lips across mine. “I won’t let anyone come in here. You’re safe.”

You’re safe.

Two words I couldn’t wait until I never had to hear again. Closing my eyes, I stretched up and kissed him softly. “Okay.”

He pulled me in for a quick hug, and then he started for the door. Stopping, he twisted at the waist, and his gaze drifted over me, warming my cold skin. “Kitten?”

“Yeah?”

His eyes were beautiful when they met mine, luminous and clear, and a long moment stretched out between us. “I love you.”

7

{ Katy }

Daemon had the TV turned on in the bedroom, volume low, when I walked in with a towel wrapped around me.

He glanced over at me, and his lashes lowered as his gaze moved from the tip of my now-clean toes, all the way to the top of my wet head. “Hey there.”

It seemed like he’d forgotten what he was watching, which was one of the world news channels. I hadn’t seen any reports since I’d left the cabin.

“Come here.” He extended an arm from where he sat on the edge of the bed.

The room had been restored to how it had looked before Sadi and I had gotten into it, with the exception of the curtains and the chair. They still lay in a pile on the floor. The sheets and pillowcases had been replaced.

Holding the towel where it was knotted, I padded over to the bed. I started to sit beside him, but he looped an arm around my waist and tugged me onto his lap. The room was chilly, but his body heat immediately seeped into me. He was like a walking, talking electric blanket.

On the TV, a silvery-haired newscaster solemnly stared into the camera as he spoke. At the top of the screen, there was a live video of an affiliated station in L.A. Filmed from what appeared to be a helicopter circling the distressed city, the snapshots of smoking buildings, bumper-to-bumper traffic on the major highways, and streets crowded with people didn’t bode well. Then the tiny screen on the right switched to a live stream of New York City, spitting out the same kind of images.