"But if I had my way, you wouldn't be anywhere near us." I sucked in a sharp breath, pulling my hand free. "Gee, don't be honest or anything."
"You don't understand," Daemon replied.
"Right now, you can lead an Arum right to my sister. And I have to protect her. She's all I have left. And I have to protect the others here. I'm the strongest. That is what I do. And while you're carrying the trace on you, I don't want you going anywhere with Dee if I'm not with you." Sitting up, I glanced toward the shore. "I think it's time I head back."
His fingers wrapped around my arm. The skin tingled. "Right now, you can't be out there by yourself. I need to be with you until the trace fades."
"I don't need you to play babysitter." My jaw ached from how hard I was clenching it. The whole staying away from Dee pissed me off, but I understood. Doesn't mean his words didn't hurt. "I'll stay away from Dee until it fades."
"You're still not getting it." His grip didn't tighten, but I had a feeling he wanted to shake the crap out of me even though I knew he never would. "If an Arum gets ahold of you, they aren't going to kill you. The one at the library -
he was playing with you. He was going to get you to the point that you'd beg for your life and then force you to take him back to one of us." I swallowed. "Daemon - "
"You don't have a choice. Right now, you're a huge risk with the trace. You are a danger to my sister. I will not let anything happen to her."
His love for his sister was admirable, but did nothing to stop the flow of anger rushing through my veins. "And then after the trace fades? Then what?"
"I prefer that you'd stay the hell away from all of us, but I doubt that's going to happen. And my sister does care for you." He let go of my arm and leaned back, resting on his elbows. "As long as you don't end up with another trace, then I don't have a problem with you being friends with her." My hands balled into fists. "I'm so grateful to have your approval." His little half smile didn't reach his eyes.
His smiles rarely did. "I've already lost one sibling because of how he felt for a human. I'm not going to lose another."
Anger was still simmering in me, but his words caught my attention. "You're talking about your brother and Bethany." There was a pause and then, "My brother fell in love with a human...and now they're both dead."
Chapter 19
Like he'd turned off my bitch switch, all I could do was stare at him. There was a feeling in my gut that told me I already knew this stuff but hadn't wanted to acknowledge it. God, he was such a jerk, but my anger eased off, lessening and leaving uncertainty in its wake.
"What happened?" I asked.
He was staring over my shoulder, focused on the trees behind me. "Dawson met Bethany, and I swear to you, it was like love at first sight.
Everything for him became about her.
Matthew - Mr. Garrison - warned him. I warned him that it wasn't going to work. There was no way we can have a relationship with a human." Pressing his lips together, he took a moment.
"You don't know how hard it is, Kat. We have to hide what we are all the time, and even among our own kind, we have to be careful. There are many rules. The DOD and Luxen don't like the idea of us messing with humans." He paused, shaking his head. "It's as if they think we're animals, beneath them."
"But you're not animals," I said. They were definitely not like us, but they weren't beneath us.
"Do you know anytime we apply for something, it's tracked by the DOD?" He glanced at me, eyes troubled. Angry. "Driver's license, they know. If we apply for college, they see it. Marriage license to a human? Forget it.
We even have a registration we have to go through if we want to move." I blinked. "Can they do that?"
He laughed humorlessly. "This is your planet, not ours. You even said it. And they keep us in place by funding our lives. We have random check-ins, so we can't hide or anything.
Once they know we're here, that's it." Not sure what to say, I