He put his hand on the bed beside my bare feet and leaned in. “I had to take care of them, Peaches.” Slowly, he lifted his gaze to mine, and I sucked in an unsteady breath. “Do you understand what that means?”
Stomach churning, I wanted to look away, but I didn’t. “I think I do. You had to . . . terminate them?”
Pain filled those beautiful eyes. “I did, and it was possibly the worse thing I’d ever had to do. I had no choice, Peaches. They were hurting people. They were killing, and they were only children. I couldn’t fathom what they would become as they grew older.”
I slowly shook my head. “That’s . . . Luc, I don’t want to say. I really don’t.”
He held my gaze for a long moment and then looked away. “Daemon and Archer were two of the people I left them with.” His jaw worked as his gaze trekked over the corkboard of pictures. “It was Daemon’s wife who had been thrown through the window. It was one of their friends who was killed. They knew what I’d done. It’s . . . it’s one of the reasons why I haven’t gone back to see them since then. I don’t like being reminded of all that.”
I remembered Daemon asking about why Luc hadn’t visited, and of course, Luc had given some vague-as-hell answer. Now I understood why. How could he have explained that to me before?
How was he able to do it now?
“The one who I thought was okay? He . . . he got away. His name was Micah.” A wry twist pulled at his lip. “That kid was like a brother to me. No idea where he is now. It’s probably a good thing, but what that Origin said to you today reminded me of Micah. He was always trying to get people to play with him. He was just in desperate need for attention or something.”
My brows knitted. “The Origin I saw today was a teen.”
“I know. It can’t be Micah. He’d only be about ten now, but it’s obviously an Origin who knows what I did. Perhaps one who has come across Micah or something, but I . . . I’m not surprised. When Chas was attacked, I knew it had to be an Origin to get the upper hand on him. I think that’s why he tried to warn you away.”
Holy crap . . .
“And I began to suspect that one was around. We can sense one another, but that isn’t always perfect, especially when other Origins are around.”
“Like Archer?”
He was still for a moment and nodded. “I didn’t think what happened to the girls had anything to do with what happened to Chas. Not at first, but when I saw you in the park, I sensed an Origin.”
I stilled. Probably even stopped breathing.
“From there, I tried to keep an eye on you. If not me, then Grayson.” He didn’t look at me. “Or Emery. I know you probably hate hearing that, but I was worried whoever was around was going to come after you. I was right, and obviously I didn’t do a good enough job at keeping an eye on you. He still got to you. More than once.”
I didn’t even know what to think as I stared at the hard cut of his profile. He’d been watching me? Had people watching me? Part of me wanted to be pissed off. A huge part, because that was just freaking creepy. “Did you guys set off the motion detector before?”
He raised a brow as he glanced over at me. “I didn’t, but I’m pretty sure Grayson did.”
“So, that’s why you’ve been hanging out with me? The same reason Emery and Heidi—”
“No, that is not the reason why I’ve been hanging out with you.” His gaze met mine. “I could keep watch and you’d never know I was there.”
“Well, that’s creepy.”
“You’re mad.”
“I’m—I don’t know. I mean, yeah. I think anyone would be freaked out by the idea that people have been watching over them.”
“But?”
“But I kind of get it. Okay. I do get it. It’s still creepy.” I looked away. “But I also may be a target of a psychotic Origin, so there’s that.”
“There is that.”
A long moment passed before I spoke again. “Do you think he’s out for revenge?”
“I think its something like that. I think now he’s just messing with me.”
“Why? If he hates you because of what you had to do with the other Origins, then why doesn’t he come for you?” I asked. “Why go after other people?”
“Like I said, to mess with me.” His throat worked on a swallow. “I think with high levels of intelligences also comes the high level of sociopathic tendencies. Sometimes I think with each batch of Origin, they were getting closer and closer to creating the perfect serial killer and not human.”