She leaned in, her legs brushing mine. “Really?”

“Really.” Gently, I guided her back a few feet and then sidestepped her. Bending down, I grabbed my shirt off the floor and tugged it on over my head.

Ash watched me for a moment and then laughed. “Well, shit, I just lost a bet.”

Straightening the hem of my shirt, I frowned at her. “What bet?”

“Andrew is convinced that you have it bad for that girl,” she said, and I could only assume “that girl” was code for “Kat.” “And I told him that you’re not that stupid.”

“Oh really?” I folded my arms.

“So I told him that I could prove that you weren’t caught up in that human girl.”

My brows rose. “You made a bet with your brother about hooking up with me? That’s kind of disturbing on about a hundred different levels.”

Ash ignored that with a roll of her eyes. “Apparently I was wrong.” She plopped down on the end of the bed. “He’s right.”

“And why do you think he’s right?”

She looked down at herself and then pinned me with a befuddled look. “Seriously? You’ll pass this up? You’ve got it bad.”

I stared at her and then laughed. “Nice logic you have going there.”

“You can laugh all you want, but it’s messed up—and no, I’m not talking about the fact that you just passed this up.” She crossed her legs and sighed. “What’s going on with her is what’s messed up.”

I sighed. “Ash—”

“She’s human, Daemon. You get that, right? And yeah, she knows what we are and she’s cool about it. She saved your life and let’s give her a damn gold medal, but that doesn’t change that she’s human,” she went on, meeting my stare. “Do you think you have a future with her? That the Elders are going to just leave you alone? That the DOD is going to be okay with you making a future with a human? Do you think Kat’s going to be happy living a lie her whole entire life, because that’s what it’s going to take to make this relationship work. That is, if both of you don’t end up dead because of it.”

To be honest, I hadn’t gotten that far, to think about a future.

“Do you know what else that it doesn’t change? She’s downstairs right now with a human boy.”

My gaze sharpened as I exhaled slowly. I didn’t say anything, because all it would involve was an atrocity of curse words. Slipping my feet into a pair of old leather flip-flops, I started for the door.

“I’m not going to help you do this,” she warned.

I opened the door, and the laughter from downstairs grew louder. “I don’t need your help.”

“Daemon—”

Looking over my shoulder at her, I smiled slightly. “But I appreciate that you care enough to offer, and I mean that.” I held her gaze, hoping she got it. “I really do.”

Ash rolled her eyes again.

Stepping out of my bedroom, I headed down the hall. Music and voices drifted up. At the top of the stairway, I felt the warm tingle across the back of my neck. Kat was here, and everything Ash had said about us, about a future between us, was totally true.

But it didn’t change what I wanted.

It didn’t change anything, even though it should.

I was as dumb as Dawson.

Taking the steps two at a time, I spotted Kat the moment the foyer came into view. She was at the door with the bronze-haired dork. He was smiling at her as he looked up. Our gazes locked. I smirked, and the smile slowly inched off his face.

Kat turned, and her gaze immediately found mine, and I immediately lost the ability to remember how to get my lungs to work. Holy shit, what was she wearing?

It was a black dress tight around the bust and then loose all the way down to her knees. She was wearing some kind of red sweater over the dress, buttoned up, but it did nothing to distract from the soft swells drawing my attention.

Holy shit, that dress…

I wanted to take it off with my teeth.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw someone approaching me, but they stopped for whatever reason. Maybe they sensed they shouldn’t get between me and what I had my sights on. I brushed a strand of hair out of my eyes, and my lips formed a wolfish grin when someone mentioned exactly what I thought. That I looked like I was on the warpath.

I sort of was.

Skirting clusters of people I only vaguely recognized, I saw that the douche bag’s hand was somewhere behind Kat. I stopped in front of them, telling myself not to break his arm. Kat wouldn’t be happy about that. “Hey there…”

“I don’t think we got the chance to introduce ourselves the other night at the diner. My name is Blake Saunders.” He offered his free hand.

I glanced at Blake’s hand and then turned my attention to Kat. “I know who you are.”

She was all gray eyes. “This is Daemon Black.”

Douche bag’s smile faltered. “Yeah, I know who he is, too.”

Laughing under my breath, I straightened to my full height, putting me a good head taller than the guy. “It’s always nice to meet another fan.”

He shook his head slightly and then turned to Kat. “Well, I need to get going.”

She smiled tentatively. “All right. Thanks for…everything.”

Everything? What the hell did that mean? Better yet, was he seriously leaning into her while I was standing here? Yep. He was. Boy had a death wish. I folded my arms across my chest as I watched him hug her stiffly.

Then Kat kissed his cheek.

I cleared my throat.

Douche bag pulled back, laughing softly. “I’ll call you. Behave.”

“Always,” she said, letting go.

He grinned at me and then walked out the door, obviously not at all intimidated.

Fiddling with the necklace, Kat faced me with a scowl. “You know, you couldn’t have been much more of a jerk if you tried.”

I arched a brow. “Thought I told you not to hang out with him.”

“Thought I explained that just because you say I can’t doesn’t mean I won’t.”

“You did?” My gaze followed the obsidian, right where it nestled in a very happy place. I lowered my head to hers. “You look really nice tonight, Kitten.”

She took a moment to respond. “I think Dee has her hands full, but she did a great job decorating the house.”

“Don’t let her fool you into believing she did all of this herself. She recruited me from the moment I got home.”

“Oh.” Surprise flickered across her face. “You both did a great job.”

I was trying and failing to keep my eyes above the neck. Holy shit, that dress answered the question on whether or not her blushes traveled south when she flushed. They did. “Where did you get this dress?”

“Your sister,” she replied blandly.

Well hell. Frowning, I shuddered as the mental image of my sister wearing the dress formed.

“I don’t even know what to say about that.”

“Say about what, babe?”

I stiffened at the sound of Ash’s voice. A second later, she had her arm around my waist. Instinct demanded that I remove it, but then again, did I not just witness Kat kissing the douche bag? It was on the cheek, but still. Lowering my lashes, I watched Kat as Ash fitted the front of her body against my side.

Brief, but it was there, a flicker of anger, a slight darkening in her eyes as she eyed Ash. Anger could only exist if there was jealousy, and if Kat was jealous…?

I smiled lazily.

“That’s a cute dress. It’s Dee’s, right?” Ash asked. “I think she got it when we went shopping together, but it usually looks looser on her.”

Oh dammit. I started to respond, but Kat snapped right to it, which I should’ve known. She didn’t need me to defend her always. “I think,” she said, “you forgot some jeans or the bottom part of your dress.”

Ash smirked, but then turned back to me. “Babe, you rushed off so fast. I had to search the entire upstairs for you. Why don’t we go back to your room and finish what we started?”

Oh dammit all to hell. I exhaled out of my nose as I stepped out of Ash’s loose embrace. I glanced at Kat, and that anger…it was gone, and there was another all-too-quick shimmer of emotion before she raised her brows at me. Before I could say a word, she spun around, slipping between a couple who looked like they were seconds away from getting pregnant and two laughing girls.