“I do trust—”

“Bullshit!” I shot forward, in her face. “Don’t say you trust me when it’s apparent you never did!”

Kat said nothing, because there wasn’t anything to say. I was right.

A burst of energy left me, slamming into an oak tree. It cracked with a loud snapping sound and then folded into a tree beside it. Kat jumped, gasping for air.

“All of this could’ve been prevented. Why couldn’t you trust me?” My voice cracked, and a fresh wave of tears coursed down her cheeks. I started forward, but stopped. Our eyes met. “I would’ve kept you safe.”

Pain flared in her eyes. She lifted her hand, reaching for me, but I stepped back. I turned and I left her there, in the barren coldness that had invaded my chest.

Chapter 27

Dee was awake when I returned to the house. She was on her knees, her cheek pressed to Adam’s still chest. Her entire body shook with the force of her sobs. Seeing her so broken killed me.

I walked over to her and knelt down, placing my hands on her shoulders. She didn’t seem aware of me. Ash was in Andrew’s arms on the other side of Adam. Matthew stood above them, and I could barely look at him.

It was Adam my gaze settled on and stayed there for a while. Adam hadn’t deserved this. God, none of us deserved this. Not even Kat.

“Come on.” My voice was gruff as I tugged Dee away from Adam. Her blotchy red face crumpled a second before she wrapped her arms around my neck. “Shh,” I whispered as I picked her up. “It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be all right.”

Her tears were already soaking my shirt.

I looked at Matthew. “I’m going to take her next door, and then I’ll take care of everything outside.”

He nodded without looking at me. “I’ll…I’ll take care of this.”

“Can you stay with Dee first?” I didn’t want her alone.

Dragging his gaze from Adam, he looked dazed. “Yes.” Matthew followed me next door. I kept Dee’s face pinned to my chest so she didn’t see Vaughn’s body. Warm air rushed at us as I walked into my house. I gently placed Dee on the couch. She immediately rolled onto her side, away from me.

I pressed my forehead to her cheek, my hands shaking. “I’m sorry, Dee. I’m so damn sorry.”

Dee cried louder.

Matthew sat by her legs, his head hanging. “God…”

Pushing away from the couch, I knocked the hair off my forehead and pivoted around. Energy rippled through me. I wanted to destroy something, but shit, there was already a mess outside.

“Where is he?” Matthew asked, his voice hoarse. “Blake?”

“Gone,” I answered after a moment. “He’s gone. He won’t be back.”

“You let him go?” Surprise filled his tone.

I closed my eyes. “We’ll talk when I get back, okay?”

None of this needed to be said in front of Dee.

I walked back outside. Ash was standing near the body of Vaughn. She didn’t look up as I went to her side. “Andrew is taking Adam back…back to the house.” Her voice was shaky, fragile. “I…don’t know what to do.”

“I’m sorry,” I said again, the words nowhere near adequate.

“I thought it would be you.” Her teary gaze met mine. “I thought she would get you killed, but it was my brother.”

Despite what I knew and what I didn’t know yet, I defended Kat. “She didn’t want this to happen. If anything…” I sighed, weary as my gaze fell to Vaughn. “If anything, she was trying to avoid this.”

“But it did happen, didn’t—” Her voice broke off.

The next thing I knew, white light swallowed Vaughn’s body. The Source was coming from Ash. I didn’t stop her. Nothing but ash remained where Vaughn once lay. “I want to kill them all,” she gritted out. “All of them.”

Ash brushed past me, and I turned halfway, watching her head into my house. I knew what she was feeling. I’d gone through it before, and there would be nothing that I could say that would make it okay.

I took care of Vaughn’s Expedition and Blake’s truck, moving them both farther down the road before I tapped into the Source and lit them up. I fed the fire that engulfed them, the flames turning white. After several minutes, there was nothing left of them, not even a burned-out shell.

Exhausted and raw, I returned to the house. Ash was sitting on the couch with Dee’s head in her lap. I went straight to my sister, picked her up, and held her in my lap. Her sobs had quieted, but every so often, she trembled.

“I’m going to go next door,” Matthew announced. He’d been standing near the window. “She’s going to need help.”

I closed my eyes against the fresh wave of anger and damn near crushing disappointment. Ash didn’t say anything. None of us did. All I could think about as the three of us sat there was how lucky I was right then. Because no matter how pissed off I was at Kat, she was alive, and it had nothing to do with the life-and-death connection between us.

I had no idea how much time passed before Matthew returned. Then it was the four of us. At some point, I passed out while holding my sister, and I knew Ash slept, but I didn’t think Matthew did. In the morning, Andrew returned. When Dee woke, she didn’t want to stay here, and I didn’t really want to let her go with Ash and Andrew, but she wanted to be with them. I couldn’t refuse her. I watched the three of them leave and then turned to where Matthew sat on the arm of the couch.

He rested his hands on his knees. “I helped Katy clean up.”

Feeling as if I were a hundred years old, I sat in the recliner. I opened my mouth, but I couldn’t find anything to say.

“She thinks all of this is her fault,” he continued when I said nothing. “I…I don’t know all the details, Daemon, but I think…I think she was trying to prevent this.”

I scrubbed my hand over my face. “I know. I know that, Matthew.”

He drew in a stuttered breath. “She’s hurting.”

Closing my eyes, my hand formed a fist against my forehead. Everybody was hurting. All of us. But I knew Kat’s was a different kind of pain.

“She told me that you two let Blake go,” Matthew said. “And she told me that he claimed the DOD was forcing him to work for them. That they had one of ours, the one who…who changed him, in their custody.”

“That’s what he claims,” I said tiredly, lifting my head. “I don’t know if any of it is true, but a Luxen had to have…changed him. Killing him would’ve…”

“Killed the Luxen.”

I nodded. “That wasn’t the only reason, Matthew. I was just…I was done. Killing a human, even him…I was just done.”

A few moments passed while Matthew stared at the blank TV screen. “He won’t get far if what he claims is true. The DOD will be after him.”

“They’ll be after all of us.”

Matthew shook his head. “It sounded like Vaughn went rogue. From what I gathered from Katy, he was taking her somewhere, and it had nothing to do with the DOD. Blake might’ve been sent here by Husher or other DOD members, but with him on the run, maybe they don’t know about Katy. From what he told her, Vaughn wasn’t telling Husher anything Blake was reporting back to him. Something else was or is going on.”

“I guess we’ll find out.” I sighed. “Is it messed up that I’m not even worried about that right now?” I laughed, because that sounded crazy. It was crazy. “It feels like no matter what we do, everything is already set in motion. Nothing…nothing will change it.”

“Do you really believe that?”

I shrugged. I wasn’t sure what I believed anymore.

Matthew was quiet for several moments. “You…changed Katy, didn’t you? That was why you were asking all those questions?”

Nodding, I didn’t see any point at the moment to mention Dawson or Bethany, which was a huge freaking wake-up call, because Kat hadn’t been the only one lying.