The Brightest Night (Origin #3) - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,70

was going down.

I didn’t really know Kat, and Daemon would probably rather see me anywhere other than where I was, but I hoped with every fiber of my being that both the mother and child came out of this whole and healthy.

They had to.

Kat was a hybrid, nowhere near as weak or prone to death as a human. Plus, if medical intervention failed, she had Daemon, his siblings, and also had Luc, who could harness the Source into a healing energy.

Kat and the baby had to be okay.

That’s what I kept telling myself as I sat on one of the brilliant blue cushions of the wicker couches seated under the twinkling warm white light of solar string lights hanging from the top of the carport. I watched the breeze toy with the canopy, alone at the moment. Zoe had left with a young man I’d pegged as a Luxen before he’d even parted the canopy. Cekiah had sent him for Zoe, and I apparently wasn’t privy to why.

I glanced down at the quilt. If she had been the one to bring the blanket, where was she now? I guessed it could’ve been anyone. People had come and gone throughout the evening and into the night. Luxen and hybrids I’d never met and humans who sometimes accompanied a Luxen. I kept feeling that weird cobweb-type sensation, but at the moment I was too tired for the brain energy required to truly consider it might be the Source inside me recognizing it in others … or the possibility that I was continuously walking through actual cobwebs or lying in a giant one.

If it turned out I was covered in cobwebs, I’d set myself on fire. For real.

Anyway, all of them quieted when they saw me. Not a single one approached me as they stopped by to see how Kat and Daemon were doing and if there were any news or anything they could do. Only a few brave people sent a tentative smile in my direction, which I returned, probably a little too eagerly.

There was such a sense of community here. I doubted Kat and Daemon were best friends forever with all who stopped by, but people cared enough about them to show up, and I thought that said something amazing about both Daemon and Kat and those who came by.

I knew that Nate and whoever else was in the city would be welcome here, cared for, and would have access to all the food they needed. They would be accepted, and I just hoped I was given a chance to convince the kid of that.

But me?

Would these same people become more comfortable with me once I’d been here awhile? Once I proved I didn’t fall into the stranger-danger category?

I hoped so, because for the foreseeable future, this was my home. Our home. Luc and I actually had a home together. Sort of. Wasn’t like we went out and picked out an apartment or something, but it was just us. Either way, the flutter in my chest had pterodactyl-size wings.

Zone 3 had to become my home, because not only did I need to be somewhere where I could continue to work on the Source, neither the Daedalus nor the Sons of Liberty could find me here.

Hopefully.

Right now, I was safe here. It took no leap of logic to know I wouldn’t be if I were out there. I needed to make this work.

I had Zoe, and Heidi would be here soon, and they were more than enough, but I needed to make friends here, too. Connections. Something that led to something other than a half-scared smile. Hell, I’d be happy with a hello. Seemed silly in the big scheme of things, but I wanted to feel like I was a part of what they were doing here and not like an unwanted guest.

They just needed time. That’s all.

I added that thought to the “Kat and baby would be a-okay” record and hit the mental Repeat button.

Shifting on the couch, I unfurled my legs. My stomach ached a little. The quick dinner Zoe and I had ended up eating while we’d waited for news had only tempered my appetite. Maybe I was having sympathy contractions.

Man, Kat was a boss. When Dee had given us an update, she’d briefly mentioned there were no pain meds. Kat had opted out of them in case someone else needed them more than she did. Like, who needed it more than someone pushing out a tiny person? Au