The Burning Shadow (Origin 2)

“Home.” I stalked across the room. “You know, where my mom lives.”

“Evie,” he called out, and I stopped, turning back to him. “I’m serious. Don’t say anything to your mother.”

My hand tightened on the knob, and if I could tear it off the door, there was a good chance I would’ve thrown it at him. “You don’t have to repeat yourself, Luc. I get it. Peace out.”

Then I slammed the door behind me with enough force I was sure everyone in the club could hear it.* * *My lungs were burning as I shoved through the exterior doors of Foretoken, keys in hand, stepping out in the cool October night. Taking in deep breaths of the chilly air, I welcomed the breeze that washed over my stinging skin.

I couldn’t believe Luc had said that to me.

I couldn’t believe what I’d said to him.

And I really hoped Sarah didn’t pop out of nowhere and try to eat my face off.

Anger buzzed through my veins as I forced myself to keep walking, my free hand open and closing. Part of me totally understood why Luc had trust issues when it came to Mom. That didn’t surprise me at all. Look at what happened during #grilledcheesegate. But she’d apologized, and so had he, and he wasn’t even giving her a chance. Worse yet, he didn’t trust me, and that was a shock.

Heading down the block to where I was parked, I passed several closed-up shops, many of them with HUMANS ONLY signs. I shook my head as I stomped down the sidewalk. What a—

The streetlamp flickered above me, and then the one across the street did the same. My steps slowed and then stopped as the lamp at the end of the block, near where my car was parked, also flickered.

That wasn’t normal.

And the last time the streetlamps had done that, I’d found the dead body of a classmate.

Nope. Not about to repeat that traumatic event.

Spinning on my heel, I found myself standing eye to chest. I gasped as I jerked back a step. A man stood before me, so close that I could feel the … iciness radiating off him.

He was older, maybe in his late twenties. His hair was a deep black, blending into the starless sky above, and his skin was the color of alabaster. His eyes …

They were the palest shade of blue I’d ever seen, as if the irises had almost been leached of all color.

A chill invaded my skin. “Excuse me.” I stepped back, heart racing.

The man cocked his head to the side, his slash of a mouth thinning even further as he sniffed the air.

Oh no.

Oh hell no.

When people started smelling the air, I didn’t want anything to do with that. Muscles in my legs tensed as I prepared to run back to the club just in case—

The chest, covered in a dark button-down shirt, scattered. His entire body broke apart in a puff of inky-black smoke that rose several feet off the ground. Thick tendrils of midnight mist pulsed as the thing drew back several feet.

Pure terror exploded in my stomach as my mouth opened but no sound came out. I stared up at the creature.

Oh my God, I knew what this was. Emery and Kent had described this to me before.

An Arum stood in front of me.

They were archenemies of the Luxen, another alien race that had battled Luxen for eons before both of their planets were destroyed in their war, forcing them to seek shelter on Earth. They were just as deadly as Luxen could be, but for very different reasons.

I’d never seen one, but I knew this was what I was staring up at, and that meant I needed to get the hell out of here.

The shadowy mass pieced back together, rapidly taking the shape and form of a man. For the briefest second, he was nothing but sleek obsidian, an opaque darkness, and then he looked like a man once more.

He took a step, lips peeling back to reveal straight, oddly sharp-looking teeth. “What are you?”15Did he seriously ask me what I was when he’d just turned into a freaking blob of pulsing smoke?

“I’m human,” I said, clenching my keys. I was prepared to shove them deep into his face if he moved one inch toward me.

The Arum’s pale gaze flickered over me. “Are you sure?”

I gaped at him. Was I sure? “Yes, I’m totally, 100 percent…”

Wait.

I wasn’t 100 percent human, now was I? I did have a little bit of alien DNA in me, thanks to the Andromeda serum. Could the Arum sense that? That kind of made sense since I’d been told that they could sense the Luxen, and there was a teeny, tiny bit of that in me.

But if he could pick that up in me, wouldn’t the RAC drone have hit on the DNA? Or were the Arum more sensitive?