The Brightest Night (Origin #3) - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,170

her face. “Evie! Oh my God! Evie!”

I crossed the distance in a nanosecond. Like, for real. Fast enough that I caught the wide-eyed look of surprise right before I crashed into Heidi, throwing my arms around her. “I’ve been so worried about you and Emery! Oh my God, you have no idea! I was so afraid something happened and I wouldn’t know what to do. Wait. Where is Emery?”

“Right here,” came the familiar voice, and my eyes flew open. Emery was standing just inside the mudroom, her raven-hued hair pulled back. The buzzed hair on one side of her head had started to grow out. She waved.

“Hi!” I yelled.

She grinned. “Hi, Evie.”

“I missed you, too,” Heidi whispered. “You and Zoe and Luc and everyone—” She pulled back, clasping my cheeks in her cool hands. “Girl, you moved fast. Like, superfast. I think I’ve missed a lot.”

“Well, yes. There’s a lot.”

“Wait. What were those names again?” asked one of the guys behind us.

Heidi let go as she glanced over to Emery. “Oh, crap. After all this time, I slipped up and said names.”

“I just shouted your name to the whole world,” I told her, blinking back happy tears. In my excitement, I’d totally forgotten that those traveling were not allowed to share even the basic information such as names.

“It’s okay now that we’re here.” Jeremy appeared behind Emery, pulling a black skullcap off. “Everyone can introduce themselves.”

“What were those names?” the guy repeated, and I turned to him, still clutching Heidi like she’d possibly disappear.

The male Luxen wasn’t who had spoken. He looked too terrified to do so as he stared at the man beside him. Light brown hair was swept back from the ruggedly handsome face of a hybrid. There was a network of faint white scars etched into his cheeks and on his nose, almost like a spiderweb of lines. Eyes a mixture of brown and muted green met mine. Recognition flared as he stumbled back in shock, his face paling.

“Oh God,” he whispered.

My arms slipped away from Heidi as I became vaguely aware of Grayson entering the room. “You recognize me, don’t you?”

“Jesus,” he uttered.

Grayson struck like lightning striking past me. In a blink of an eye, he had grabbed the front of the man’s shirt. Dishes rattled as Grayson shoved the hybrid against the cabinets. The new Luxen shouted, starting toward them as the glow of the Source surrounded him.

I didn’t stop to think.

Summoning the Source, I stopped the Luxen. His body jerked as if his feet were glued to the floor. It wouldn’t stop him from striking out with the Source, but I hoped it was a warning he’d heed. “Please don’t attack Grayson,” I said, and the Luxen’s head swung in my direction. His lips parted on a sharp inhale. “I don’t want to have to hurt you.”

“Holy guacamole,” Heidi whispered. “You’re … Evie, you have black glitter all over you.”

“I know.” I kept my eyes trained on the Luxen. “That’s one of the things you’ve missed.”

“I don’t want to hurt anyone, either,” the Luxen responded. “Neither does he.”

“You sure about that?” I asked. “You’re starting to glow like a lightning bug.”

“Sorry. It’s a knee-jerk response,” he said, and the glow faded until nothing surrounded him.

I nodded, but I didn’t ease up on him, keeping him in place.

“Who are you?” Grayson demanded.

Beyond Grayson’s shoulder, the hybrid’s wide eyes were fixed on me. A cold chill knotted my muscles as he swallowed. “A dead man. I’m a dead man.”

34

“That’s a strange-as-hell name,” Grayson said, lifting the hybrid off his feet. “So you may want to think that answer over.”

Georgie, the old farmer, walked in from the dining area, a woven basket tucked under his arm as he jerked to a stop. He took one look at the room and sighed. “Not again. Doris,” he called out, setting the basket down. Straightening, he opened the old refrigerator door.

My eyes nearly popped out of my head. The insides had been hollowed out to hold yet another stash of rifles.

“What?” came Doris’s voice.

Pulling out a rifle, he leveled it directly at the hybrid’s head. “You may as well wait outside for a bit. We’ve got an issue in here.”

Grayson lifted the hybrid even higher as the Source started to bleed into the air around him. “I’m starting to get impatient, and just so you know, I’m not known for my patience.”

“I know their names.” Jeremy had also grabbed one of the rifles from the mudroom. With one quick glance,