Kat twisted around in my arms and stared up at me with an earnest gleam in her eyes. “You are a good person.”

“Kitten, you and I both know that’s incredibly rare.”

“No—”

I placed a finger over her lips. “I make terrible decisions. I can be a dickhead, and I do it on purpose. I tend to bully people into doing what I want. And I let everything that had happened with Dawson amplify those…uh, personality traits. But—” I removed my finger and smiled at her. “But you…you make me want to be different. That’s why I didn’t kill Blake. It’s why I don’t want you making those decisions or for you to be around me if I am choosing those things.”

Then I kissed her, and for a little while, not nearly long enough, there wasn’t need for any words to be spoken.

Chapter 8

After catching one-on-one time with Kat that wasn’t nearly enough time, we headed to the Smoke Hole diner Saturday evening. Kat was like a live wire as we were seated in a booth in the back, near the crackling fire. I knew she expected this to be a trap and for us to be seconds away from the DOD bum-rushing the place.

I wasn’t going to let anything happen to her.

Besides, the DOD wouldn’t come at us in such a public manner, and we hadn’t come to the diner alone. Matthew and crew were hanging back in the parking lot, and some of the staff here were of the extraterrestrial persuasion, including our waitress, Jocelyn.

Quite a bit of the Luxen living in the colony worked outside of it. Obviously the football coach and some of the administrative staff at the high school lived in the colony but were employed in the human world; however, I was kind of surprised to see that Jocelyn was still working here since she just had her babies and had to have her hands full.

Kat was busy making kitten litter out of the napkin she was frantically ripping apart while Jocelyn appeared at our table. “Daemon, how are you doing? Haven’t seen you in ages.”

“Good. How about you, Jocelyn?”

Kat’s fingers stilled as she eyed the redhead curiously.

“I’ve been real good,” Jocelyn said. “I’ve stepped down from managing since the babies. Working part time instead, since they’re a handful, but you and your family should visit soon, especially since…” She looked at Kat and her smile faded just a little. “Since Dawson has come back. Roland would love to see both of you.”

“We’d love to do that.” I winked at Kat. “By the way, Jocelyn, this is my girlfriend, Katy.”

Kat’s lips split in a wide smile as she extended her hand to the Luxen female. “Hi.”

Jocelyn blinked and paled. “Girlfriend?”

“Girlfriend,” I repeated.

She gave a little shake of her head and then shook Kat’s hand before quickly releasing it. “Nice…nice to meet you. Uh, what can I get you two?”

“Two Cokes,” I ordered, and Jocelyn rushed off to place the order.

“Jocelyn…?” Kat asked.

I slid over another napkin for her pile. “Are you jealous, Kitten?”

“Pfft. Whatever,” she said. “Okay, maybe a little until I realized she was in the ARP.”

“ARP?” I stood, moving to her side instead of sitting across from her. “Scoot.”

She wiggled over. “Alien Relocation Program.”

“Ha.” I dropped my arm over the back of the booth and stretched my legs out. “Yeah, she’s good people.”

Jocelyn returned with our drinks, and I placed an order for a meat loaf sandwich. Kat didn’t order anything, and I knew she was too nervous to eat. When Jocelyn left, I angled my body toward hers and lowered my voice. “Nothing’s going to happen. Okay?”

Kat drew in a deep breath and nodded. “I just want to get this over with.”

No sooner did those words come out of her lush little mouth than Blake walked into the restaurant, his gaze zeroing in on where we waited for him. The punk-ass swaggered up to our table like he wasn’t at all concerned with the fact that the last time I’d seen him I wanted to kill him.

Behind Kat’s head, my hand curled into a fist along the back of the booth. “Bart,” I drawled, forcing my hand out of the clench. “It’s been so long.”

“I see you still haven’t figured out my name.” He slid into the seat across from us, frowning at the pile of torn napkins. “Hey, Katy.”

I leaned forward, smiling coldly. “You don’t talk to her.” Kat pinched my leg under the table, but I ignored it. “At all.”

Blake raised a brow. “Well, only talking to you is going to make this conversation real rough.”

“Like I care?” I said.

Kat exhaled slowly. “Okay. Let’s get to the point. Where are Beth and Chris, Blake?”

Blake’s gaze slid to Kat again. “I—”

Placing my hand on the table, I allowed a current of electricity to course across the table, shocking Blake. He lifted his hand with a hiss, his eyes narrowing on me.

I smiled.

“Look, you tool, you can’t intimidate me this time.” Blake’s voice dripped contempt. “So you’re just wasting time and pissing me off.”

“We’ll see about that,” I replied.

Jocelyn returned with the meat loaf sandwich and took Blake’s drink order. The moment she left, Kat refocused. “Where are they?”

“If I tell you, I’d have to trust that you two, plus anyone else, aren’t going to give me a cement swim.”

She rolled her eyes, and I almost laughed at the lame reference. “Trust is a two-way street,” she said.

“And we don’t trust you,” I threw out.

Blake drew in a long breath. “I don’t blame you. I’ve given you no reason to trust me other than the fact that I didn’t tell Daedalus about how well the mutation held.”

“And I bet either your uncle stopped you from turning me over, or you thought he was doing his job,” she countered. “But he screwed you over for money.”

Blake’s jaw hardened. “He did. And he put Chris in danger. But it’s not like I haven’t had to convince them otherwise after the fact. They think I’m happy to be an implant. That I’ve drunk the Kool-Aid and asked for seconds.”

I snickered. “To save your own ass, I’m sure.”

“The fact is, Daedalus doesn’t believe you’re a viable subject,” Blake said.

“How do you know?” I picked up the fork, resisting the urge to implant it in his eyeball.

“The only real wild card here is Will. Obviously, he knew and used that knowledge.”

“Will isn’t our biggest or most annoying problem right now.” I took a bite, chewing slowly. “You either have a lot of courage or are incredibly stupid. I’m going to go with the incredibly stupid part.”

Blake snorted. “Yeah. Okay.”

I did not like his attitude. Once he had his drink in front of him and Jocelyn was gone, I leaned forward. Blake’s gaze met mine, and the stupid ass had the brains to recognize his mistake. “We gave you a chance and you came back here after you killed one of our own. You think I’m the only person you have to look over your shoulder and watch out for? You’re so wrong.”

Fear churned in his eyes, but he hid it when he spoke. “The same goes for you, buddy.”

I sat back, eyes hooded. “As long as we’re on the same page.”

“Back to Daedalus,” Kat said. “How do you know they’re watching Dawson?”

“I’ve been watching you guys, and I’ve seen them hanging around.” He folded his arms. “I don’t know how much work Will did to get him free, but I doubt he pulled the wool over anyone’s eyes. Dawson is free because they wanted him to be free.” He paused. “Here’s the deal. I know where they’re keeping Beth and Chris. I’ve never been there, but I know someone who has and can give us the security codes to get into the facility.”

“Hold up.” Kat shook her head. “So you can’t really get us in. Someone else can?”