He ducked under the arm, shooting up behind the Arum. Leaning back, Daemon planted his foot in the Arum’s spine. Funny thing about taking human form was that skin bled and bones broke. Both of their kinds would have to flip back to their real form to heal, and then they’d be at their weakest. Hopefully this Arum would be stupid enough to fall for it. Daemon had a blade dying to make friends.
But the Arum wasn’t.
It whipped around, rearing back with one hand. Dark energy shot forth, narrowly missing Daemon as he darted to the side.
You’re going to be tasssty, the Arum taunted.
“If I had a dollar every time I heard that.” Daemon threw his hand out. A streak of light hit a thick branch, breaking it off. He raced forward, catching the massive limb and holding it like a bat. He smiled. “Batter up, mofo.”
The Arum hissed—literally hissed at him. What. The. Hell.
He came at Daemon like a train, and Daemon swung. The crack shook his entire body, and the sickening thud pleased him in ways he should be worried about.
But the Arum didn’t go down.
Pulling into himself like someone had shoved a vacuum into his back, the Arum retreated into a small black ball and shot off through the trees, running like a pansy.
Daemon started to give chase, but he knew from experience when an Arum ran, there was no capturing him. Tossing the splintered limb aside, he pivoted around, ignoring the raw pain shooting through his hip. Once he was at home, he would change and heal. Until then, he would deal with the bruises and aches.
But once he got back to his house and took care of that, all he was going to do was just chill. Like everyone else in this damn world did.
…
God, Dawson had never felt this way before. Every part of his body burned as he tasted her kiss and familiarized himself with the way she felt beneath him. Intense white light seared his eyes. The breathy, little feminine sounds she was making were music to his ears, a beautiful melody of sighs.
And then his song stopped.
Beth’s hand jerked off his shoulder, and she gasped against his mouth. “Oh my God…”
He lifted his head and opened his eyes. Oh, hell… All he saw was white glow that bathed Beth’s face, reflected off the walls, covered the entire bed…
Oh, holy shit.
Dawson sprang off the bed, but his feet never touched the floor beside it. He hovered, staring down at himself. He was glowing.
Like in full motherfreaking alien mode up in her house, in her bedroom.
Bethany skittered across the bed and pressed against the headboard. Her eyes were wide as she stared at him, her mouth working but no words coming out.
Shock suspended time. Everything seemed surreal to him. He wasn’t in Bethany’s bedroom. He hadn’t exposed what he truly was. And this girl—this beautiful human he was falling for wasn’t staring at him like he was king freak.
Grasping the edge of her comforter, she shook her head back and forth. Like she was having trouble processing what she was seeing, which was understandable.
Dawson was glowing like a star.
His heart was racing so fast he could feel it in his fingertips. Partly due to the whole kissing thing and partly because he was still in his true form. And she was glowing faintly, like someone had dipped a paintbrush into white paint and shaded her edges. Of course, Bethany couldn’t see it. No human could. The trace surrounding her was a reaction of the high EMF surrounding him when he was in his real skin.
Crap—she was glowing.
Bethany blinked slowly, her fingers easing off the blanket. “Dawson?”
Do something, he ordered himself. But his control had slipped, and he couldn’t pull it back. Light radiated from him, filling every inch of the room.
She rose to her knees little by little. He was certain he could see her heart pounding through her sweater, could smell her fear. She was seconds from bolting from the room, screaming. Bethany inched across the bed, making her way toward him.
Dawson drifted back, wanting to say something, but in his true form, he didn’t speak like a human. Luxen used…different paths.
At the edge of the bed, she peered up at him. In her brown eyes, he could see his reflection, and he hated what he saw.
“Dawson,” she whispered, clasping her hands under her chin. “Is that you?”
Yes, he said. But she couldn’t hear him.
When the silence stretched, became unbearable, she swung her legs off the bed and stood. Instead of running for the door like any sane person would, she reached out, bringing her fingers within inches of touching his light.
Dawson jerked back.
Bethany yanked her hand to her chest. “What…what are you?”
God, wasn’t that a loaded question? The whole telling part seemed a moot point now, but how could he explain what happened? Hey, honey, I’m an alien and apparently I just doused you with some radioactive loving! Wanna catch a movie? Yeah, not cool.
So many things were rushing through his thoughts. He’d exposed his kind—his family, putting them in danger, risking Beth. There was no stopping her if she decided to scream alien or giant light bug.
But he needed to rein it in. Her parents were downstairs, and he had a feeling the longer he stayed in this form, the stronger her trace would be.
Moving to the far side of the room, away from Beth, he willed his out-of-control emotions to stabilize. It was hard as hell, but eventually he managed to take his human form, and the room was cast in shadows again.
Everything except Beth—there was a soft halo around her.
“I’m sorry,” he croaked.
Bethany’s legs seemed to collapse beneath her. She plopped down on the bed, shaking her head again. “What are you?”