Kat’s lips parted, and her wide gaze fixed on mine as I swept my thumb along her cheek, smoothing away the tiny piece of batter. My hand lingered even though the spot was long gone, fingers spreading along the side of her neck. The way we stood, so close to each other, with her head tilted back and my hand on her, made it appear as if we were seconds from kissing. All I would have to do is lower my mouth a couple of inches. I stilled just thinking of that.

God, I wanted to taste her mouth again.

Doubted she’d be down for that, though. Probably punch me. Those thick lashes lowered, shielding her eyes. On second thought, she would be all over it, but when we came up for air, she’d be spitting mad.

Kat wanted me, but she wasn’t ready to admit it. Nowhere near it. She thought what I felt for her wasn’t as strong as what her parents had felt for each other, and she didn’t want to settle. Couldn’t blame her for that. Truth be told, I wasn’t exactly sure what it was that I did feel for her. Lust? Hell yes. I wanted all over her and in her, but it was more than that. There was a deep fondness for her. I respected her. My chest did damn strange things when I was around her, thought about her. I cared about her. Strongly.

I just didn’t know what all that spelled exactly.

But I wanted to find out, needed to find out. One thing I knew, whatever I was feeling had nothing to do with the fact that our hearts were beating in tandem—whatever that meant—or anything that I might’ve done to her when I’d healed her.

“Kitten?” I slid my fingers along the nape of her neck.

“Don’t call me that,” she said with a shiver.

I lowered my chin, and we were so close that when I tilted my head to the side, my nose grazed hers. She didn’t pull back or push me away. “But I like calling you that.”

“But I don’t care,” she replied.

I grinned. “Kat?”

“What?” she whispered.

There was a lot I wanted to say to her, so much, and I knew all of it would send her running. Ignoring the near-primal need to really get all up in her personal space was harder than facing down a hungry Arum. I pulled back just enough to see her pretty face, letting my hand slip off her neck. “I’ll clean up.”

Kat blinked. “Huh?”

My grin kicked up a notch. “I’ll clean up. You can go start your homework or whatever.”

The flash of disappointment was so quick I might’ve imagined it. “Okay. Sounds good to me.” She darted out from between the counter and me. “Have fun!”

Looking over my shoulder, I watched her shuffle out of the kitchen, the bounce and sway from earlier out of her step. Sighing, I turned back to the mess.

Why in the hell had I offered to clean up?

I was half tempted to just fry everything as I grabbed the bottle of dish detergent and squirted some of the blue liquid into the bowl too big to go in the dishwasher. My mind wandered as I cleaned up. We needed to work on getting the trace off for pure safety’s sake. When I was done, I was going to have to pull her away from her homework and get her physical.

My mind immediately swan-dived into certain activities that were physical.

I pushed those thoughts aside as I waved my hand, drawing the griddle over to the sink. Kat and I hadn’t talked about what had gone down at Homecoming since the day I returned. I knew she was holding it together, because damn, that girl was strong, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t worried about how she was dealing with everything.

And that wasn’t even taking into consideration the fact that something had most definitely happened when I’d tried to heal her when Baruck was coming down on us. Somehow she had tapped into the Source, and no human could do that.

None that I knew of.

It had changed her. How? I didn’t know yet. All I could hope for was that whenever the trace faded, anything that I might’ve done to her disappeared also.

Cleaning up the kitchen took about fifteen minutes. When I was done, I headed out, turning the ceiling light off as I went. The low murmur from the TV lured me to the living room. Kat was going to hate me, but she was going to have to stop whatever she was doing, get up, and get…

I stopped midstep and stared.

Kat was tucked into the corner of the couch, her bio textbook open in her lap. Tiny toes peeked out from the hem of her jeans, brushing the gap between the cushions. Her arms were folded against her stomach, and the side of her head was resting against the cushion. The obsidian necklace had crept out from under her sweater and had slid to the side, resting against her arm.

She was out cold.

Knowing there was no way I could wake her, I walked over to her. Carefully, I picked up the textbook and closed it, placing it on the coffee table. Grabbing the quilt off the back of the couch, I placed it over her legs.

Then, without really thinking about it, I placed one hand on the arm of the couch, braced myself, and then bent down. I pressed my lips to her cool cheek and then drew back. Fiddling with the quilt for a few moments, I made sure it covered her and then stepped away.

I could leave now. Kat wasn’t going anywhere.

But as I stared down at her, even as the tension in my face softened, I let myself go there. For just a second, I let the full weight of what had happened, what I had done, settle on my shoulders.

I closed my eyes.

I’d broken so many rules. Exposed what I really was. Told Kat the truth. Healed her, not once but countless times. I almost laughed, but none of it was funny. Her life was in danger, would continuously be in danger, especially if she remained around us—around me—and I was such a selfish prick, because now…

Now I wasn’t staying away from her.

Chapter 2

I waited about ten seconds before I leaned forward and poked Kat with my pen. Her shoulders rose on a sigh, and then she twisted around in her seat. Gray eyes met mine. “Good morning, Kitten.”

She eyed me warily. “Good morning, Daemon.”

As I tilted my head, hair fell forward, almost into my eyes. I needed to get a haircut someday. “Don’t forget we have plans tonight.”

“Yeah, I know. Looking forward to it,” she said drily.

The excitement almost knocked me over.

I leaned forward, tipping my desk down as I did so. To my right, I could see Carissa and Lesa watching us. The corner of my lips curved up.

“What?” she said when the silence increased between us.

“We need to work off your trace,” I said, low enough that only she could hear. We’d lost yesterday when it came to working the trace off. We couldn’t lose tonight.

Kat picked up her pen. “Yeah, I figured as much.”

Because I liked getting a rise out of her, watching her get all feisty, I said, “And I have this really fun idea of how we can do it.”

She surprised me when she smiled.

“Liking the idea?” My gaze dropped to her full lips.

“Not in this lifetime, buddy,” she replied.

I almost laughed. “Resistance is futile, Kitten.”

“So is your charm.”

“We’ll see.”

Rolling her eyes, she faced the front of the classroom. Our teacher strolled in, looking older than he had yesterday. I wasn’t done with Kat. I poked her again.

Turning around, she glared at me. “What, Daemon?”

I moved lightning quick. With a grin, I swiped my fingers along her cheek, like I’d done last night when she had pancake batter on her face. This time I got a tiny piece of fuzz out of her hair. I was so damn helpful.

Kat stared at me.

“After school,” I reminded her.