Something the invading Luxen, those who’d managed to escape the Arum, had learned quickly. Days after the battle, while our little group had holed up in Northern Virginia trying to decide how and where to move on, the remaining invading Luxen left.
It had been like a reverse D-Day.
Lights had flashed upward in steady streams, all across the world, for several hours. It had been a sight to see, just like it had been when they’d come. Something I would never forget.
But we all knew that there still could be some here, and there was no stopping them from coming back. Maybe one day they would, but if I’d learned anything in the last two years, it was that I could not look toward the future if I lived in the past.
It was hard.
Not a day went by that I didn’t think of my mom. Like with my dad, it got a little easier, but there were days when something would happen or I’d just get bored or want to talk to her, and I’d reach for my phone, seconds away from calling her when I’d realize she wasn’t there, that she’d never be there.
Those days were rough, full of tears and anger. I wanted to resurrect Ethan just so I could kick him in his junk and kill him all over again. The fury and helplessness and, oh God, the hurt could be so raw some days. If it weren’t for Daemon and my friends—my new family—it would be unbearable.
I glanced over my shoulder.
Daemon rested against the headboard of the king-size bed—a bed big enough for half of my economics class. His arms were folded behind his head, one leg bent at the knee. No shirt. Just faded denim jeans, and I knew for a fact that that seriously was all. The corded biceps drew my gaze and I soaked in the naturally tan expanse of his chest and the tightly rolled muscles of his stomach. To this day, I had no idea how he got that dip on either side of his hips. Like what kind of sit-ups does one do for that? The only time I sat up from lying down was to get out of bed.
Or get some chocolate.
Or a book.
But yeah, Daemon Black . . . well, he totally made it bearable.
He winked one green eye, and somehow, when most guys would look all kinds of douchey, he made it look sexy. “Like what you see?”
I didn’t even dignify that with a response. Instead I faced my computer, my fingers hovering over the keys—the enter button to be exact. My heart was racing like it had been when Daemon and I had submitted our applications, the day the University of Colorado had finally opened their enrollment and resumed classes.
That had been major.
Still felt epic.
We both were doing something I thought we’d never be able to do. Going to college had seemed like a fantasy, but it had come true.
We were college students—Daemon and me.
Neither of us had declared a major yet. We had no idea what we wanted to do, but that was okay. We’d figure it out eventually.
“Just do it,” Daemon said, his voice closer than I expected, causing me to jump. His chuckle stirred loose strands of hair around my temple. He tugged my ponytail, tipping my head back. He kissed me softly, almost making me forget what I was doing, and when he lifted his head, he grinned down at me from behind. “You’ve been obsessing over it for weeks. Do it.”
I bit my lip, still tasting him.
“Come on.” He picked up a pen off my desk and tapped the tip of my nose with it. I swatted at his hand, and he laughed. “Your inner book nerd will have a book nerd orgasm.”
My brows knitted. “That just . . . sounds weird and kind of gross.”
He snickered as he let go of my ponytail. His gaze landed on the screen of my brand-spanking-new MacBook that I’d protect with my last dying breath. I’d even named her Brittany, because she had to be a girl, and she was shiny and red and perfect and she might not have ten toes and ten fingers, but she was my baby.
And I loved her.
Taking a deep breath, I flexed my fingers. Daemon dropped his hands onto the arms of my chair and leaned over me. The warmth that rolled off him and trailed down my back turned the corners of my mouth up.
I hit publish and then sucked in a sharp breath as everything on the screen refreshed into a brand-spanking-new blog.
“Katy’s Krazy Book Obsession is alive once more.” He kissed my cheek. “You nerd.”
I laughed as some kind of weight drifted off my shoulders. “I think the pink and brown go well together.”
He grunted some sort of reply as my smile grew into creepy proportions. I almost clapped. And I almost got up, knocked Daemon over, and raced into our extra bedroom, where all my books—all my pretties—were.
After everything had gone down, Daemon and I had traveled back to my house. Archer had shown up with Dee, and the four of us had packed up all of the stuff. We’d managed to get my books shipped to Colorado once we decided that was where we were going to try to put down some roots.
The blog was a big deal to me. It wasn’t just pretending everything was fine or grasping at normalcy, but grabbing it by the ears and making it my bitch. Blogging about books was something I’d loved to do and missed fiercely. Books were a part of me that I was going to get back, starting now.
“Hey.” Daemon pointed at the screen. “You already have a follower.” A dark eyebrow cocked up. “The YA Sisterhood? Hmm. That kind of sounds like fun.”
I rolled my eyes so far it actually hurt. “You’re so perverted.”
He nipped my ear, causing me to wiggle in my chair. Leaning forward, I closed my laptop so I didn’t obsessively start following every blogger out there. I’d leave that for another day when I had more time.
As Daemon backed off and I pushed out of the chair, my gaze danced over the stack of magazines piled on the corner of the desk, wedding gown after wedding gown staring back at me, stealing my breath a little.