Making my way out of the bedroom, I hurried down the hall and was halfway down the stairs when I heard Luc’s voice.
“How’s Katy?” he was asking.
“Not entirely happy that I’m not with her. She’s due any day now, so I need to get home,” a deep voice I recognized answered immediately. Daemon. “But you knew that when you left your message.”
I pressed my lips together. The last time I’d talked to Daemon, he’d said he wasn’t leaving his wife again, but here he was.
“I needed your help,” came Luc’s response. “All of you. I don’t ask for that often.” There was a pause. “I’ve never asked, to be honest.”
“And that’s why we’re here,” Daemon replied. “Plus, Kat is excited that she’s going to get to see you.”
“It will be cool to spend some time with her,” Luc said. “Can’t say the same about you.”
Daemon chuckled, apparently unbothered by Luc’s statement. “And here I thought you loved hanging out with me.”
“I’d rather watch C-SPAN than hang out with you.” There was another pause. “Not you, Dawson. I like hanging out with you.”
There was a snort, and then another voice intruded, one slightly raspy. “What about me?”
“I can’t even look at Olive Garden because of you, and I loved their stuffed mushrooms, so no, I’m not happy to see you,” Luc said as I crept down another step.
“I thought you were never going to bring that up again,” the raspy voice stated. That voice was vaguely familiar.
“What happened at Olive Garden?” Zoe asked.
“Well…” Luc started. “Let’s just say that Archer takes things a little too literally. Anyway, what took you all so long to get here?”
“Ran into trouble outside of Texas,” answered Daemon. “Saw something pretty messed up, actually.”
I reached the opening in the stairwell, quiet as I took in everyone in the room.
Zoe was sitting on the edge of the couch, and Luc was standing before the mounted TV, his arms crossed. Between the way my stomach dipped when I spotted him, and the flutter in my chest, I felt like I had wings.
I looked away from him and then did a double take as my gaze coasted over the two tall, dark-haired guys standing side by side. They had wavy hair and eyes the color of emerald jewels, and their faces could have launched a million fantasies across the world. One of them, the one with shorter hair, was grinning. They had dimples.
Dimples.
Luxen twins. I’d seen both Daemon and Dawson separately, but seeing them now was a bit unnerving. It took me a moment to realize which one was Dawson. He had longer hair, if I remembered correctly.
They weren’t alone.
Stretched out on the couch as if he’d always been there was a sandy-haired man who I’d met once before. Archer.
Luc turned to me. Our gazes met. His eyes widened. “Evie—”
Several things happened at once.
One of the twins swore.
“Holy shit!” Archer exclaimed. He sat up, his face draining of all color so fast, I worried he might faint. Could Origins faint? I looked behind me, half expecting Bigfoot to be standing there.
No one was there.
Understanding seeped into Zoe’s face, and she paled as she launched to her feet.
“Oh my God.” Archer rose, turning to where Luc stood. “Oh my God, Luc.”
“I heard you the first time, Archer,” Luc snapped. “And I would suggest everyone think very wisely before they overreact or say anything. I can explain.” There was a pause. “Maybe.”
“What’s going on?” I asked, starting to get nervous.
Archer’s gaze swung back to me. His mouth opened.
“I mean it.” The pupils of Luc’s eyes turned white.
Archer snapped his mouth shut.
Stepping down from the landing, I stopped because everyone else stopped.
“Daemon…” His brother took a step to the side.
Daemon followed his brother’s gaze. His head tilted to the side as he eyed me. Veins under his skin turned bright white. “What in the hell, Luc?”
Luc moved as fast as lightning striking. Within a blink of an eye, he was standing between Daemon and me. Tension rippled off Luc, charging the air with static. “Back off, Daemon.”
“Back off?” Disbelief thundered through Daemon’s voice. “What in the hell is that, Luc?”
“Me?” I squeaked. He was talking about me? “We’ve met a couple of times. Don’t you remember?”
“I remember, but you didn’t look like that last time,” he said, the white light spreading through his cheeks, down his throat as Zoe moved, darting around the couch and coming close to the stairwell.
“Look like what?” I grasped the back of Luc’s shirt, tugging on it. “What do I look like?”
“It’s okay,” he said, placing one hand on my hip. “And it’ll be really okay the moment Daemon backs the hell off.”
A whitish glow surrounded Daemon. “What did you do, Luc?” he demanded. “Is this how you saved her?”
I sucked in a startled gasp.
“What I’m about to do is going to be something really bad,” Luc warned. Crackling white light appeared from Luc’s knuckles, spitting into the air. “Let me remind you, Daemon. You may be an alpha, but I’m the omega. Back down, or someone will be very pissed at me, and that someone is named Katy. And I like her. A lot. I don’t want to make her cry.”