The Brightest Night (Origin #3) - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,147

not feeding off you.”

He cocked his head to the side but said nothing.

“Then I’m sure you can find a willing Luxen to step in.” Hunter dipped his chin. “You know, it doesn’t have to be painful—”

“It’s painful?” I whispered, clasping my hands against my chest.

“Only if you want it to be.” Dropping his foot the floor, he tipped forward. “But you can make it so that the willing donor thoroughly enjoys themselves.”

Warmth flared across my face. “I don’t even know how to feed.”

Hunter slid a knowing look in Luc’s direction. “I know an Arum or two who would be more than happy to walk you through it.”

Luc’s gaze snapped in his direction. “That won’t be necessary.”

“You sure? Sin should be here soon.” Hunter bit down on his lip. The Arum was clearly enjoying himself, the jerk. “And you know how helpful he is.”

Luc’s smile was all fire. “I also know how painful my fist in your face is about to be.”

“It’s just a suggestion.”

“Oh yeah, you’re being really helpful.”

Chuckling, Hunter leaned back in the chair. “That’s my middle name.”

“And if I don’t feed?” I sat back down. “I end up in a coma for days again?”

“Seems like that’s the case. You sleep until your body can replenish what you’ve lost.” Hunter put his foot back onto the coffee table. “In a way, you’re lucky. If you were Arum, your only option would be to feed unless you wanted to lose the ability to harness the Source completely.”

“Lucky?” I coughed out a dry laugh. “I guess.”

“There is something else,” Hunter said. “Opal.”

“Opal?” I looked between them. “Like the gemstone?”

Luc nodded. “Remember how I told you beta quartz can hide the Luxen, neutralizing their wavelengths? That’s not the only naturally occurring stone that has an impact. Some are good. Some are bad.”

“Like onyx? I know that can hurt Luxen.” It was everywhere outside these walls, installed like sprinkler systems in many of the public buildings, emitting a fine burst of onyx. The mixture had a bizarre effect on the alien DNA, causing Luxen to feel like their very cells were bouncing off one another. I’d forgotten about that. Would it affect me?

I shook my head. Focus on one WTF at a time.

Luc must’ve picked up on my thoughts, because he said, “Onyx and diamond mixtures have no effect on Origins. I imagine it will be the same for you.”

“Diamonds?” I hadn’t heard anything about diamonds before.

Luc nodded. “Diamonds have the highest index of light refraction. It won’t hurt a Luxen or hybrid, but in large quantities, it can drain them of the Source.”

“But opal is entirely different.” Hunter let his head rest on the back of the chair. “It refracts and reflects specific wavelengths of light, changing the speed and direction. For anyone with Luxen DNA, it’s a power booster. And for an Arum, if we have one, it gives us more power and limits how much we have to feed.”

“Do you have a stray piece of opal lying around?” I asked Luc, hopeful.

He shook his head. “Ever since President McHugh took office, opal has been hard to come by. Most of it has been seized or destroyed.”

“You don’t have a stash of it?” Surprise filled Hunter’s tone.

“I did,” he replied dryly. “Two places, actually. One of them I had to leave rather unexpectedly from, and the other is quite the distance from here. Trust me, if I had one, Evie would be wearing it.”

“Well, then, that’s a shame.” Hunter’s gaze slid to me. “Feed or sleep. Those are your choices.”

* * *

“There is no choice,” argued Luc. “You need to feed.”

Hands planted on my hips, I glared at where he was all but sprawled on the couch, one arm tossed along the back of the cushion, a bare foot resting on the edge of the coffee table. He looked mighty comfortable for someone who was five seconds away from getting smacked upside the head.

We’d been at it since we’d stopped by to see the doc, which was right after we’d left Hunter’s place. I’d wanted to see if she thought there was anything I could do. Like, I don’t know, a diet of all red meat or raw veggies. Maybe she had some vitamin B shots lying around. Luc humored me with the visit. There was nothing Viv could do or suggest. Apparently, she hadn’t seen an Arum who didn’t feed before. All the ones here, which weren’t many, had willing Luxen donors.

Which had led to me asking Luc on the