“Daemon, I can help you. I can go—”

“Please.” I grasped her face once more and kissed her hard. “Go home.”

Trusting that she’d listen to me, I let go and then I moved faster than anyone could track. I had a feeling I knew where Dawson was heading. Dammit. He waited until I was out with Kat to make a run for the office building where he’d last been kept.

I darted across the highway, narrowly missing getting taken out by a truck. I hit the heavily wooded area and slipped into my true form so I could move even faster.

We had maybe two hours together, Kat and I, before the real world intruded and I had to chase down my brother. Fury was like red-hot lava pumping through my veins. It wasn’t so much that the date had been ruined that infuriated me. It was the fact that I had to leave Kat in a parking lot alone. It was because I had to chase down my brother and stop him from ending up in the DOD’s clutches once more. It was because I knew this wasn’t going to be the last time.

Several miles out from the office building, I caught sight of Dawson. He was in his human form when he skidded to a stop, facing me. “What are you doing here?” he demanded. “You’re supposed to be with Katy.”

Half tempted to pick him up and throw him through a tree, I struggled to keep a tight leash on my fury as I shifted back. “Yeah. I was with Kat, up until the moment Dee called me and told me you made a run for it.” Dawson’s hands curled into fists. “You didn’t need to leave her. You shouldn’t have left her. Not with—”

“Don’t,” I warned, lifting my hand. “Don’t you dare think I don’t know how dangerous it is for her to be out there when I’m chasing your ass around.”

“Then why are you here?” he fired back, his eyes turning luminous. Off in the distance, thunder cracked in response to the violent energy he was throwing off.

I stepped toward him. “You really going to ask that question? Seriously? Did they knock a few brain cells out when the DOD had you?”

“I’m going to knock a few out of your head.”

Fighting my brother was the last thing I wanted. No. It was actually the first thing I wanted right now. I lifted my arms. “Try it.”

Dawson didn’t need any further coaxing. Shifting into his Luxen form, his light tinged in blue, he lunged at me. I changed as I caught him. He was out of practice, because he wasn’t able to break my hold as I lifted him up and threw him back several feet. He landed in a nimble crouch and slammed his hand down in the snow.

A wall of snow flew into the air, coming at me with speed of a racing train. I spun out to the side, but wasn’t fast enough. The heavy snow came down on me, burying me several feet.

Son of a bitch.

A burst of energy left me, throwing snow up in the air in a shower of light. I sprang out, furious as icicles fell from the elm trees. Jesus, those things could’ve impaled someone. Dawson was on the run again, racing over the fallen trees and mounds of snow.

I took off after him, easily catching up to him. He tried to turn to the left, but I caught him around the shoulders, taking him to the ground. Dawson bucked, nearly tossing me over his shoulders, but I wasn’t letting go.

Just stop, I told him. Just freaking stop.

A shout of rage bounced around my skull. He rolled, and I almost lost my hold. I dug in, kicking up snow as I wrapped my arms around his neck. Standing, I forced him onto his feet. Don’t do this, I told him. Don’t put us through losing you all over again.

You need to let me go. He gripped my arms as I felt a warm tingle along the base of my neck, but before I could investigate that, he broke my hold, managing to shove me back a foot.

Oh, I was so done with this.

I shot forward, wrapping my arms around his waist, and then I launched both of us into the air. I brought him back down into the snow, slamming him through the layers. Icicles and clumps of snow rained down all around us. Whitish-blue light pulsed out from Dawson, slamming into the trees around us.

Jesus, Dawson grunted. That wasn’t necessary.

I held him down, hands on his shoulders. It was necessary.

Dawson tried to roll me, but we both froze as a voice spoke loud and clear. “You have got to be kidding me.”

Kat.

Well, that explained the warm and fuzzy feeling along the back of my neck.

We both shifted into our human forms as we looked over to where Kat stood.

“I thought I told you to go home and stay there,” I said, voice thin with warning.

“And the last time I checked, you don’t get to tell me to go home and stay.” She took a step toward us. “Look, I was worried. I thought I’d come and help.”

My lips pulled back in a sneer. “And how would’ve you helped?”

“I think I did. I got you two idiots to stop fighting.”

I stared at her in a way that promised we’d be talking about this later.

Dawson pushed at me. “Let me up, brother.”

I looked down at him. “I don’t know. You’re probably going to run and make me chase you again.”

“You can’t stop me,” he said, voice apathetic.

Muscles in my arms and back flexed as I held him down. “I can and I will. I’m not letting you do this to yourself. She—”

“She’s what? Not worth it?”

“She wouldn’t want you to do this,” I seethed. “If the situation were flipped, you wouldn’t want her doing this.”

Dawson reared up and got to his feet. “If they had Katy—”

“Don’t go there.” My hands curled into fists.

He went there. “If they had her, you’d be doing the same thing. Don’t lie.”

I opened my mouth, but he was right. I wouldn’t lie. I already knew this. I glanced to where Kat stood, her arms wrapped around her waist, shielding her from the cold wind whipping through the trees. If they had her, nothing, and I mean nothing, would stop me from going after her. I stepped back, thrusting both hands through my hair.

Kat inched closer. “We can’t stop you. You’re right.”

Dawson jerked toward her. “Then let me go.”

“But we can’t do that, either.” She glanced at me before she continued. “Dee and your brother have spent the last year believing you were dead. That killed them. You have no idea.”

“You have no idea what I went through,” he said, and then looked away from her. “Okay, maybe you do a little. What was done to you is being done a thousand times over to Beth. I can’t just forget about her even though I love my brother and sister.”

I inhaled sharply. It was the first time Dawson had even acknowledged that he gave two shits about us since we had him back.

“And they know that,” Kat rushed on. “I know that. No one expects you to forget about Beth, but running off and getting yourself captured isn’t helping anyone.”

“What are the alternatives?” Dawson asked.

Kat drew in a deep breath as she glanced at me again. I stiffened, having a feeling I wasn’t going to like what was about to come out of her mouth.

“Let us help you.”

“What?” I demanded.

She ignored me, like always, it seemed. “You know bum-rushing the DOD isn’t going to work. We need to find out where Beth is, if they are even keeping her here, and we need a plan to get to her. A really thought-out plan with low fail potential.”

Both of us stared at her. I had no idea what Dawson was thinking, but I wanted to throttle Kat…in the gentlest way possible. How could she offer to help him when we had no idea where to even begin looking for Beth? Because I doubted she was being kept where Dawson had been. The DOD couldn’t be that stupid. But most importantly, I didn’t want her anywhere near the DOD or this issue with Dawson. No way.

Dawson turned away from Kat, his back straight as he stared up at the trees. “I can’t stand the idea of them having her. It hurts to breathe just thinking about it.”

“I know,” she whispered.