“You sound like a father, Lane.” My tone was nonchalant, but that wasn’t what I was feeling.

Lane’s grin was small. “Sometimes I feel like that. I’m not asking what is going on with you two. You’re both young and the differences don’t matter in the…heat of the moment. She’s a pretty girl. Be smart, Daemon.”

I wasn’t being smart when it came to Kat, and I had all but given up on that.

Pulling into the driveway, I parked my car and opened the door. There wasn’t a light on at Kat’s house, but as I neared my porch, I felt the warm tingle along the back of my neck. I almost hit my knees. She was here. She was okay. I climbed the steps.

The front door swung open, and Kat was a blur as she raced out. I barely had time to prepare myself. She threw herself at me, wrapping her arms around my neck and squeezing tight. My heart was racing, just like hers, and the greeting stunned me, so much so that I froze for a second.

Then I wrapped my arms around her waist, sealing her to me. I was aware of Dee stepping outside. “Whoa there, Kitten, what’s going on?”

Face-planting in my chest, she didn’t respond for a moment. “I thought the DOD carted you off to some lab to keep you in a cage.”

“Cage?” I laughed a bit unsteadily. “No. No cages. They just wanted to talk. It took longer than I thought. Everything’s okay.”

Dee cleared her throat. “Ahem.”

Kat stiffened in my embrace and seemed to realize what she was doing. She wiggled free, backing up a step. “I…I was just excited.”

“Yeah, I’d say you were,” Dee said.

I stared at Kat, my lips slowly curving up. “I kind of like this level of excitement. Makes me think of—”

“Daemon!” both of them shouted.

“What?” I stepped toward my sister, tousling her hair in the way I knew annoyed the crap out of her. “I was only suggesting—”

“We know what you were suggesting.” Dee dodged my hand. “And I really want to keep my food down tonight.” She smiled at Kat. “See. I told you. Daemon is fine.”

Kat had obviously been very, very worried about me. Awesome. Right now, she looked pretty embarrassed. “They didn’t suspect anything?”

I shook my head. “Nothing out of the norm, but they’re always paranoid.” I figured there was no point going into details right now. “Really, you don’t need to worry. You’re safe.”

She stared at me and then shook her head, like I wasn’t getting something. “All right, I need to go home.”

“Kat…”

“No.” She waved me off, starting down the steps. “I really need to go home. Blake called, and I need to call him back.”

“Boris can wait,” I said as Dee slipped back inside.

“Blake,” she said, stopping on the sidewalk. A shaky hand rose and smoothed back the wayward strands around her face. “They asked me a lot of questions—especially the lady.”

“Nancy Husher.” I frowned as I went down the steps. “She’s apparently a big deal within the DOD. They wanted to know what happened Homecoming weekend. I gave them the Daemon-edited version.”

“Did they believe you?”

I nodded. “Hook, line, and sinker.”

She shivered. “But it wasn’t you, Daemon. It was me. Or it was all of us.”

“I know, but they don’t know that.” I lowered my voice as I cupped her cool cheek in my hand. “They won’t ever know that.”

Her eyes closed as she turned her cheek into my hand. “It’s not me I’m worried about. If they think you blew a satellite out of orbit, they could see you as a threat.”

“Or they could just think I’m that awesome.”

“It’s not funny,” she whispered.

“I know.” I moved closer and, drawing in a deep breath, I drew her back into my arms. “Don’t worry about me or Dee. We can handle the DOD. Trust me.”

Kat placed her hands on my sides and stayed there for a handful of precious moments, and during that time, the world quieted a little. Then she slipped free. “I didn’t tell that lady anything. And the damn phone rang as I was getting out of the car. She knew we were lying about why we were there.”

Shit. Talk about bad timing with the phone. “They’re not going to care about us lying over the phone. They probably think we were out there getting it on or something. You don’t need to worry, Kat.”

She lifted her eyes, meeting mine. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

I smiled. “I know.”

Chapter 16

“All the kids were basically like X-Men in that book you told me to read. I still really liked it, though,” Dee said, placing her hand over a cup of butter. “But if I could pick a superpower, it would be the ability to read minds.”

Kat stared at her as my sister melted the cup of butter with her hands. Slowly, Kat looked over to where I was leaned against the counter. She raised her brows at me and then said, “Dee, you are basically already a mutant. I mean, you just melted butter with your hands.”

“Can’t read minds though, now can I?” Dee poured the butter over the chopped potatoes. “Or see through walls.”

“Or control objects,” I mused, and then grinned when they both looked at me. “Oh, wait, we can do that.”

“It’s not the same,” Dee reasoned, waving her hand. The tray of potatoes lifted and slid into the open oven door. The door closed without her touching it.

Kat shook her head. “This is so weird.”

Spinning around, Dee hopped up on the counter and crossed her ankles. “God, I wish we had more than the week off for Thanksgiving.”

“I’m pretty sure we’re getting more time off than most,” Kat said, sitting in the kitchen chair. She had come over just before Dee decided she wanted to do a test run on Thanksgiving potatoes. “At my old high school, we only got a half day on Wednesday and Thursday and Friday off.”

“I think we should get two weeks off.” Dee shrugged. “It’s only Tuesday, and I already feel like it’s almost over.”

I raised a brow as I pushed away from the counter. “Probably because you slept half of Monday and Tuesday away.”

“Whatever,” she said, grinning. “I’m preparing for the Wednesday grocery shopping trip from hell. Can’t wait.”

Kat’s eyes widened. “You actually want to go out there the day before Thanksgiving?”

My sister, who was crazy, nodded. “I love it. People are insane, running around and grabbing stuff. I love the excitement.”

“I bet you love Black Friday shopping, too.”

“Uh, yes. I can move lightning-fast. I get those deals.” Dee popped off the counter. “I’m gonna hop in the shower. You’re not leaving soon, right?”

Kat glanced over at me. “You haven’t showered yet? It’s like five in the evening.”

A sheepish look crossed her face. “I sort of slept in today, like Daemon said.”

“I’ll be here.”

Dee shot me a look that warned behave as she darted out of the kitchen. I grabbed a Coke for Kat and then joined her at the table.

“Thanks,” she said, taking the can and popping the lid. She glanced up at me and then quickly turned her gaze to her red can. Kat had holed herself up in her house since Saturday night. She sat back, glancing at the kitchen door. “Sometimes the only logical explanation for why your sister enjoys the things she does is because she’s an alien.”

I laughed as I stretched out my legs. “I don’t even think she’s from my planet.”

Kat smiled at that. “Are you going shopping with her?”

My brows flew up. “Hell no. I would not subject myself to that kind of torture. Adam’s going with her.”

“I bet he’s happy about that.” She took a sip and then reached up, brushing a loose strand of hair back from her face. “Nice of him to do that.”

“Yeah.” I toyed with the can. “Have you been displaying any mutant abilities?”