The Burning Shadow (Origin 2)

“Cool,” I murmured, thinking about how dangerous it was, what they did, and the risks they were taking. “Have I met your—”

“Wife. Her name is Kat, and you two have met a couple of times.” Daemon’s gaze flickered away. “Luc will probably be pissed at me for telling you this, but the first time Kat and I saw you, you were dancing.”

My heart stuttered. Daemon had seen me dancing? I couldn’t believe it. I loved dancing, but I only did it in the privacy of my bedroom, where I could flail around like a cracked-out Muppet baby and no one could judge me. But Nadia danced in front of people—people like Daemon?

“I was?” I asked, throat parched.

He nodded.

I guessed Nadia—the old, unfamiliar me—had larger lady balls than I did.

Go figure.

What little I did know of Nadia’s life told me she was a braver, stronger, and all-around more badass version of me.

He nodded. “It was at Harbinger, another club Luc owned. It’s no more now, destroyed after the invasion, but we saw you there. You were a couple of years younger than Luc, and you were up on a stage just dancing away. You were really good. That was before…”

I nodded slowly, processing this little tidbit of information. I knew what before meant. Before the other Luxen, the ones who hadn’t been living here for decades unknown among the human populace, had invaded. Before millions of people and Luxen were killed in an all-out war. Before, when I was known as Nadia Holliday, and before I became so sick that I had been dying of a blood cancer that no Luxen or Origin could heal.

I hadn’t known there had been another club, and based on the timeline that I knew, I quickly did the math. My eyes widened as I shook my head. “Luc owned a club at thirteen or fourteen?”

A wry grin appeared. “Yeah, that was about my reaction when I first learned who Luc was. But that was before I even knew Origins existed. Anyway, later that night, while Kat and I were talking with Luc, you popped your head into the room. The way he reacted to us seeing you, to us learning you existed, I knew right then and there, Luc and I had something in common.”

My brows pinched. “What? Mind-numbing good looks?”

Daemon’s response was a slow curl of the lips that hinted at deep dimples.

Wait. I said that out loud?

I sort of wanted to smack myself. Hard.

“Well, we do have that in common, but that’s not what I was thinking,” he replied smoothly. His grin faded. “Can I give you some unasked-for advice?”

“Sure,” I said, curious. Probably had to do with my driving since I almost ran him over once before. Totally not my fault, though. He had appeared directly in front of my car without warning.

Daemon was quiet for a long moment. “Luc and I would do anything to protect the people we love.”

I stilled, unable to take more than a shallow breath as I stared at the male Luxen. I didn’t know how to respond to that.

“I would beg, plead, barter, and kill to protect Kat,” he continued, voice low, but every word struck me like thunder. “Nothing in this world would stop me, and there’s nothing that I wouldn’t do—and it’s the same for Luc when it comes to you.”

The next breath I took got caught in my throat as a brightness whirled through my veins. An undefinable amount of joy became a balloon in the center of my sternum, filling me up. I felt like I could float right up to the ceiling. To be loved like that? I’d seen that kind of all-consuming powerful love whenever Emery looked at my friend Heidi, so I knew that was real, and to know that Luc felt—

Luc felt that way about Nadia, though.

The reminder popped that whole balloon and sent me whizzing back to reality.

Things between Luc and me were complicated, and it had nothing to do with the fact that I was a human and he was an Origin, and everything to do with who I used to be.

A girl Luc had loved and lost—a girl he still loved.

A girl who used to be me.

A girl I couldn’t remember no matter how hard I tried.

“Luc loves Nadia, and I’m not her,” I said, sliding my suddenly damp hands over my jeans. “I may have been her once upon a time and I might look like her, but we’re not the same person.”

Daemon fell quiet as he studied me. “You might not have those memories, but that doesn’t mean you’re not her and that Luc doesn’t feel the same about you as he did when he knew you as Nadia. And he was a kid then, Evie, and he already was willing to sacrifice everyone around him to save you.”