The Brightest Night (Origin #3) - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,193

eye, his skin was a deep purple and an angry shade of red. The Source pulsed in the center of my chest, flashing through my body. “Who did that to you?”

Nate drew back, planting himself against the back of the building. “Your skin.” The one eye of his widened. “It’s moving.”

I didn’t have to look at my arms to know the Source was making its presence known and he was scared. Who could blame him? Besides all the nonsense he’d been fed about the Luxen, I was sure I looked like something straight out of a low-budget science fiction movie.

“It’s okay.” I lifted my hands, and Nate flinched. Stupid move. I willed myself to calm. The Source pulsed and then returned to a steady hum. “I’m not going to hurt you. You have to know that. Right?”

Nate was still for several long heartbeats, and then he nodded. “You really aren’t like them—like the ones who’d invaded.”

“I’m not. Neither are the ones here.” I managed a calming breath. “Who did this to you?”

His silence was an answer.

“Was it Morton?”

He folded scrawny arms over his frail chest and gave me one more nod.

The fact I didn’t lose my shit right there showed just how much control I truly had, because now it was me who wanted to blow something up.

Namely, Morton.

Funny how I had just walked away from people arguing about whether it was right or wrong to kill someone, and here I was, fully ready to commit murder. Nate was just a child. All of them were just children. How in the hell could a grown man hit one of them? And I knew this wasn’t the first time.

“Your eyes,” Nate whispered.

“Sorry. I’m just upset for you. No one has the right to hit you, Nate. That’s not okay.” Surprised by how level my voice was, I slowly lowered my hands. “Please tell me you’re here because you want our help. Please.”

His head bowed. “After you left, Jamal and Nia … I think they wanted to go with you. So, I talked to the others. They’re ready,” he said. “They want out.”

I almost hit the ground. Only a few hours ago, Luc and I were talking about this. Never did I dare to hope that Nate would come to us so quickly. “Okay. That’s good. That’s great. We can go now—”

“Not right now.” Nate’s chin jerked up. “It has to be later. Tonight. When it’s dark. We’ll flash our lights when we’re at the Galleria. It’s the mall.”

I had no idea where that was, but he peeled away from the wall. “Do you have to go back?” I asked, not wanting him to. “You can stay here. You’ll be safe, and we’ll go get the rest of them. You don’t have to go back there.”

“But I do.” Nate straightened as he took a step, and that’s when I saw him limp.

He wasn’t limping before.

“Did he do that, too?” I jerked my chin at his leg.

“He kicked me when I went down.”

I was so going to kill Morton. “Stay,” I urged. “I can take you to the doc. She can give you something—”

“I have to go back. The younger ones. They get scared easy at night. Jamal and Nia can’t handle them all by themselves.”

“But—”

“Please. Just come tonight. Okay? When it’s dark. I’ll signal you from inside the Galleria. We’ll be near the entrance.”

Realizing there was nothing I could do to stop him that wouldn’t scare him, I took a step back. “We’ll be there.”

“We?”

I nodded. I might have done a lot of stupid things, but there was no way I was going back into that city by myself again and trying to wrangle up a bunch of frightened children.

Plus, someone needed to lead them out while Morton was dealt with.

“Your boyfriend?” he asked.

“He’ll be there. You’ll like him. He wears really stupid shirts.”

A tentative smile appeared, but it didn’t last. He’d seen too much, been through too much. “Tonight.”

“Tonight,” I promised.

Watching him leave was one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do. A hundred different things could happen between now and when it was dark enough that the kids could make their presence known. Morton could go at Nate again, could go at any of the other kids.

My hands curled into fists.

But I knew if Nate didn’t go back there, the kids wouldn’t come to the mall. They’d scatter in a city they knew like the backs of their hands. We’d never find them.

Now I just had to convince