The Brightest Night (Origin 3)

We had an amazing ability to find logical answers for the illogical.

Wait.

I couldn’t quite include myself in that whole we part of mankind now.

Grayson’s gaze coasted back to mine, stare eerily intense. “I met Kent when I was sixteen.”

Mentally repeating what he’d said, I put two and two together, adding in that look he was giving me, and ending up with holy evil Luxen, Grayson was one of the invading—

Ghost fingers danced over the nape of my neck, the sensation startling me enough that I reached back and smacked my hand down on my skin. Nothing but flesh greeted me. I looked over my shoulder.

The door opened, and all thoughts of what Grayson could’ve possibly admitted slipped aside. Daemon’s brother came out, and even though half of his face was in shadows, there was no mistaking the tension lining Dawson’s features.

Every muscle in my body tightened, my lips and tongue unable to form the words I wanted to ask.

Luckily—and God, I would never admit this—Grayson was there and had absolutely no filter whatsoever. “Are they still alive?”

I shot Grayson a wide-eyed look.

Okay, maybe I wasn’t that grateful for his lack of tact.

Dawson must’ve been used to the other Luxen, because all he did was nod and say, “For now.”

That wasn’t exactly the best of responses, but it wasn’t the worst.

“Daemon is watching out for Kat, and Luc is there for the baby. I need to check on Ash. Zouhour is watching her,” he explained. I had no idea who that was. “She normally wakes up around this time wanting a glass of water and…”

Wanting her daddy.

He started past the carport and then stopped. “Beth’s labor wasn’t easy, either.” His voice was full of gravel, the kind that could hurt. “She’s in there with Kat. I think it’s helping, you know, seeing Beth? It’s a reminder that someone else went through the same as what she’s doing now and came out on the other side.”

I didn’t know if that helped or not, but I nodded and then realized Dawson couldn’t see it with his back to me. “I think so.”

“Yeah.” His voice was barely above a whisper, his hands clenched at his sides, and I knew he had to be beside himself with fear for his brother and for Kat. “I’ll be back.”

Leaning against the back of the couch, I watched him disappear into the night. All of them had been through so much. It would be too unfair, too cruel to take Kat and Daemon or the baby. “What do you think he meant by Luc is there for the baby?”

“Luc’s probably keeping the baby from going into distress while Daemon does the same for Kat.”

“He can do that with the Source—for a baby?” A baby that was still inside its mama?

“Luc can do almost anything with the Source,” Grayson answered, and I was awed by that. “Evie.”

Still staring at where Dawson disappeared to, I wondered why I hadn’t heard another labor-induced scream. “What?”

“Why are you rubbing your neck?”

I was? I frowned. Yep. I still was even though the odd feeling had faded shortly after Dawson appeared. Surprised that he noticed that and unsure of how to answer, I faced him. “I don’t know. Why?”

His eyes were narrowed as he watched me. “If you’re anything remotely like an Origin or a hybrid, you didn’t get a cramp in the neck.”

“Uh…” I drew the word out. “No. I didn’t.”

The stick jutting out from his lips had stilled again. “Did you feel something there?”

Curling my hands inward, I shrugged.

“How do you not know?” He took a step toward me.

Wariness returned, seeping into me. “Why do you care?”

“You know Luxen can sense other Luxen, right?” he said. “Hybrids always know where the one who mutated them is. Origins sense both and feel when an Arum nears. The proximity of when they feel the other varies from Luxen to Luxen, Origin to Origin, hybrid to hybrid. But when an Origin or hybrid feels the presence of a Luxen, they say it’s like the touch of invisible fingers along their neck or between their shoulders.”

I was tracking what he was saying, but I suddenly felt weird. Not ghost-fingers or cobwebs-on-the-neck weird, but as if my body were moving even though I was sure I wasn’t.

Was the couch moving?

“It would make sense,” Grayson was saying as I placed my hands on the couch. Nope. It felt like it was steady. “You felt it right before I walked into the carport, didn’t you? I saw you wiggle your shoulders like something was crawling on you, and just now, you looked right at that door the same time I felt Dawson drawing near.”

“Wait.” That caught my attention, and I asked the least important question possible. “You were watching me?”

“I’m always watching.” He stated that WTF bomb like he’d only just admitted to liking tea in the afternoon.