“I don’t want to leave.”

“Then get your happy little hybrid butt over here.”

Kat laughed as she scooted over and lay down beside me. I moved the pillow so it was under her head. “I had fun at the dance, but this…this was way better.”

I played with one of her fat curls, twining the hair around my finger. “I’m glad. I wanted tonight to be special.”

“It is.” She idly flicked a button on my dress shirt. “Best senior prom ever.”

Chuckling, I let go of the curl. “It’s your only senior prom.”

“Still…” She tipped her head back and smiled at me. “So I looked over the applications to the University of Colorado. Even mentioned it to my mom.”

Pleased to hear that, we talked about the college until well after midnight. It was late, and the temps had definitely dropped again, but neither of us wanted to leave yet.

“Are you worried about tomorrow at all?” she asked, running the tips of her fingers along the curve of my jaw.

Her fingers drifted close to my lips, and I kissed them. “I’m worried—but I’d be insane not to be—but not about what you think.”

“What then?” She slid her hand down my neck, over my shirt.

I shifted closer. “I worry that Beth won’t be like Dawson remembered.”

“Me, too.”

“I know he can handle it, though.” Because I was getting jealous, I slipped my hand under the blanket. “I just want the best for him. He deserves it.”

“He does.” Her chest rose sharply as I followed the curve of her waist and hip. “I hope she’s okay—that everyone is okay, even Chris.”

I nodded as I gently eased her onto her back, smoothing my hand over the skirt of her dress, all the way down to her knee. “Something else is bothering you.”

There was a moment of hesitation. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.” Her voice cracked. “I don’t want anything to happen to anyone.”

“Shh.” I kissed her, wanting to wipe away that fear. “Nothing will happen to me or anyone.”

Kat’s hands fisted in my shirt, holding me close. “What happens if we do succeed tomorrow night?”

“You mean when we do?” I settled over her. “We go back to school on Monday—boring, I know. Then we hopefully pass our classes, which we will. Then we graduate. And then we have all summer…”

“Daedalus will come looking for Beth and Chris.”

“And they won’t find them.” I kissed her temple and then the curve of her brow. “That is, if they get close enough.”

“Daemon…”

“It’ll be okay. Don’t worry.” It had to be. I would make sure of it, one way or another. “Let’s not think about tomorrow. Let’s not think about next week or the next night. It’s just us right now and nothing else.”

Kat’s heart rate kicked up. Her eyes drifted shut, and her arms tightened around me. The distant call of some nighttime bird echoed around us as the small, slow kisses became longer and faster.

Our clothing shifted. Our hands followed familiar paths. Flames crackled from the fire as we stripped away everything between us and we moved together, a tangle of limbs and blankets. Kat shuddering in my arms was one of the most shattering experiences, and hours later, as she and I stared up at the dark blue sky, watching the stars blink out, one by one.

Just like the minutes and hours was ticking by, fading away into forever, counting down until there was just Mount Weather and us.

Succeed or fail.

Chapter 24

Time sped up, and before any of us knew it, we needed to get to Mount Weather. Kat had spent the morning with her mom, and I’d monopolized her afternoon. I’d given her the opal I’d fashioned into a necklace, slipping it around her neck. She’d wanted me to wear it, but that wasn’t going down.

We’d just lain together, both of us awake. Nothing like last night…or this morning, but I really couldn’t think about that at this moment.

Right now, Kat was inside her house. She’d be out in minutes, along with Ash and Dee, because we needed to hit the road.

“Andrew is staying behind this time, at the farm. He’ll be waiting with Ash and Dee,” Matthew explained. “But since he’s been working on and off with the onyx, he should be able to come in in case…”

In case shit went bad, which was why I wanted to talk to them before we headed out. “I need a promise from each of you,” I said, meeting Matthew’s and Dawson’s gazes.

Matthew sighed as he leaned against my SUV. “Why do I have a feeling I’m not going to like what you’re about to say?”

“You’re not.” I folded my arms. “If things start to go bad there tonight, no matter what, I want both of you to promise me you will get Kat out of there.”

The older Luxen’s brows flew up. “Daemon—”

“I know you’re going to be focused on Bethany. I get that,” I said to Dawson. “But please, I’m begging both of you, if something happens, I want you focused on Kat. Not me.”

My brother stared at me for a long moment, and then he nodded. “I feel ya.”

I knew he did, because he got it.

Matthew cursed under his breath as he looked away, eyeing the woods. “I’m not okay with this.”

“Matt—”

“Let me finish,” he said, flipping his crystalline gaze to mine. “I don’t like this—this whole idea that somehow I’ll have to pick between you and Katy. I don’t even want to think of that happening.”

“Me neither,” I assured him. “And I don’t think that’s going to happen, but if shit starts to go bad, I want you to get her out of there. No matter what. I want to make sure we all have her back. She can hold her own, but I want…”

“You want us to protect her.” Dawson clapped his hand on my shoulder. “We understand.” He looked over at Matthew. “And we will do that.”

Placing his hands on his hips, he nodded after a moment. I exhaled roughly, relieved. “Thank you.”

Matthew dipped his chin. “Please don’t thank us for this.”

“None of this will probably be needed,” Dawson reasoned, running his hand through his hair.

I hoped so. Turning to the porch, my chest clenched as Kat stepped out, dressed in black leggings and a matching shirt. She smiled when she saw me, her gray eyes lighting up.

Damn, I really hoped so.

We arrived at the farm at the base of the darken access road with a few minutes to spare. Like before, we’d taken two SUVs, and when we all climbed out, Blake got the text from Luc.

Then it was go.

We raced up the mountain again, nearing the gate, and I was the one who took out the guard this time. Tense, I approached the gate and entered the first code. Icarus. No problem. Racing across the lawn, we headed straight for the three doors.

This was the first big one. Kat would make it through the doors because she had the opal—we believed—but the rest of us? There was no guarantee the training was going to work. Working with the onyx in an attempt to be able to walk through the doors had been a theory—a theory held together with duct tape and a Hail Mary.

I glanced over at Kat. The necklace was under her shirt, the opal against her skin.

My brother keyed in the word “labyrinth.”

The door slid open with an airlock sound, and I stepped forward, being the first one through. Air puffed, and I felt it. Instead of it dropping me to the ground, it was like standing too close to an open flame. I forced one leg in front of the other and then I was on the other side, standing in the wide hallway highlighted in orange. Looking over my shoulder, I smiled.

Matthew exhaled roughly. It had worked.

Dawson and Blake followed Matthew and Kat through the onyx-protected doors. She stuck close to me as Blake, who’d been here before, moved out in front of the pack. He led the way. The hall was shadowed, lit every twenty feet or so by small wall lamps. I kept an eye out for the emergency doors he’d mentioned before, the ones that could supposedly cut us into bite-size pieces.