Archer wrapped a hand around her shoulder. “I told you the Arum were helping us.”

“I know, but it’s one thing hearing it versus seeing it with my own eyes,” she replied.

Lore frowned as he folded his arms. “You destroyed my house.”

Dee flushed. “I’m sorry. Really, I am! It’s a lovely house and I love all the plants and—”

“He gets that,” I interrupted before this broke down into one of Dee’s long-winded rambles. “What did you need to talk about?”

She glanced back at Archer, and then it all spilled out of her. Everything in one giant breath. “It’s Ethan—he’s an Origin and the whole colony knew it. He was working with a senator and a group of Luxen in Pennsylvania. He thinks if they can get the capital under control, they’ll have everything. He wants you and Dawson either brought in or taken out.”

Ethan Smith.

Elder extraordinaire.

The memory of the first time he’d met Kat rippled through my thoughts—the way he’d looked at her with barely contained distaste. He’d never been a big fan of humans, limiting interactions with them, and while I suspected Ethan was an Origin, it still rocked me. The Luxen we grew up with had been working to take out mankind for how long? Right under our noses from the beginning?

“I bet we know who that senator is,” Serena said, visibly pale.

“That doesn’t matter.” Hunter’s voice was hard. “Because that senator is no longer an issue, courtesy of me.”

“Why?” Kat asked. “Do you know why Ethan has done this?”

Hunter snorted. “World domination? After all, it’s in a Luxen’s blood to rule and dominate.”

I shot him a look.

“I don’t know,” Dee responded, twisting a large section of her hair between her hands. “But I got the feeling it was more than just that.”

“Well, hell . . .” I dropped my hand and glanced up at the ceiling.

“Archer told me about the Arum.” Excitement hummed in her voice. “You were right, Daemon. None of the invading Luxen has fought the Arum. They’ll be able to take those bastards out like nothing.”

Archer’s brow rose at her curse word.

“But Ethan has, right?” Kat stared down at her sneakers, expression tense. “And the colony back home and the one in Pennsylvania will know how to fight the Arum—they will sense them coming, and they will—”

“They will run,” Lore finished for her.

She closed her eyes, shoulders sinking in realization. “They will hide.”

In other words, our brilliant plan of using the Arum wasn’t so brilliant anymore. It had a big old hole in it a mile wide.

Hunter looked around the group. “If you asked me for my opinion—which you didn’t, but I’m going to give it to you anyway—I’d say don’t wait on Lotho to get up there. Take out this guy before they see you coming. Because if this Ethan is as smooth and smart as you all are saying, he’s going to run when the shit hits the fan. Then what? Lotho and crew might take out most of the Luxen, but if he’s still alive, that’s a huge problem.”

Archer nodded in agreement. “It would be like slapping a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound and hoping for the best.”

He was right—both of them were. I looked over at Kat, and our gazes collided. “Going after Ethan isn’t a part of the deal,” I said to her, and I really didn’t care what the rest of the group thought. I cared about what she thought. “We were to secure the Arum and then we can go back—hell, we could go anywhere. You know what Eaton promised us. We don’t have to do this.”

Her lips parted. “I know.”

“But . . .”

Kat drew in a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “We don’t have to do this. But if Ethan hits the road before anyone gets there or if he escapes, then what? We’re done. So you know what? Let’s finish this.”

21

{ Katy }

Freshly showered and rested enough that the aches from my battle royale with Dee had faded, I joined everyone in the living room. Before I’d left to scrape the blood and gross off me and take a nap, we’d put the living room and den back together.

Minus the missing door, busted-out windows, smashed furniture, and shattered potted plants—oh, and of course the hole in the wall.

I really felt bad about all of this. Lore was nice. His house had been nice. Actually, he was really nice, considering he didn’t yell at us or try to eat us after discovering what happened to his house.

I was beginning to like the Arum.

Well, at least these two Arum. The rest of them, especially Lotho, still freaked me out.

Dee had already apologized a million times, from the second we were done talking about Ethan up to the moment I’d left to shower and take a power nap. So I wasn’t surprised when she immediately turned those big green eyes on me when I entered the living room.

“Katy,” she began, starting to rise, and I knew what was going to happen next. She was going to start crying, and then she would start apologizing.

I walked over to where she sat on the only piece of furniture not destroyed—an ottoman—and hugged her. “It’s all right,” I whispered into her ear. “Everything is okay between us.”

And I meant it.

Life was really too short and twisted to hold grudges, especially over something she truly had no control over.