REX CURSED AND yanked the covers up to my chin.  My heart pounded, and I remained frozen next to him.  Jack had just walked in on us.  In bed.  Together.  Naked.  There was no denying what had just happened between us.

I wanted to die.

“Holy shit.”  The rest of the door swung open as Jack stood there, his eyes wide as saucers.  The piece of ham he was holding slipped from his fingers, hitting the floor with a loud flop.

My cheeks flamed bright red, and Rex’s body was tense as a bowstring.

“Why are you just standing there?”  Sven’s voice resonated through the apartment.  “What’s going on?”  His head appeared behind Jack, his stubble coated jaw dropping to his chest.  He said something in Swedish, probably a curse word.  “What the hell is going on?”

Please kill me now. 

I wanted to hide under the covers and never see the light of day again.

“You’re sleeping with Kory?”  Sven’s voice had grown three octaves higher and cracked like a prepubescent boy’s.  “After all the hell you gave me about flirting with her.”

Rex’s nostrils flared.  “It’s not what you think.”

Jack flicked his hand toward us.  “Uh, I’m pretty sure it’s exactly what we think.”

“Guys, shut up,” I hissed.  “You don’t know anything.”  I glanced at Rex, waiting on him to tell me what the hell we were supposed to do.  We couldn’t have the boys thinking he was some douche bag.

Rex tossed a pillow at the door.  “Get out so we can get dressed.  Call Mik and Bryson.  We need to talk.”

Jack gave a quick nod and shut the door.

I buried my face in a pillow and groaned.  “That was not supposed to happen.”

Rex’s hand laid on my back.  “I know.”  A long, tired sigh drifted from his mouth.  “I wanted to wait until after you graduated, but we have to tell them now.  Once they know what we are, they’ll understand.”

I sure as hell hoped so.  It felt as if my two big brothers caught me getting it on with their best friend.  This was going to go down as one of my single most embarrassing moments.  Ever.

 

The guys were crammed onto the couch, staring at everything but us.  The air was thick with tension and I wanted to crawl back to Rex’s room and hide under the covers.  No.  Screw that.  That wasn’t enough.  I’d have to slither under the bed to escape the cloud of embarrassment hanging over my head. 

Mik was the only one who had known Rex and I were caeteras.  All those strange glances and whispered words between the two made sense now.  He was convinced even before Rex was.

“It’s about damn time,” the massive Russian blurted, shattering the awkward silence.  “I was getting tired of watching you two pine for each other.”

I made a face from my spot on the loveseat.  “We weren’t pining.”

Bryson lifted his hand.  “So, let me get this straight.  You guys are caeteras, and even though Kory’s only seventeen, the bond has shown itself.”

Rex gave a quick nod as he stood in front of the fireplace, his arms crossed against his chest and body stiff.  “It’s kind of difficult to stay away from each other once you know.”

Bryson’s clap echoed loudly in the tense room.  “I always knew there was something going on between you two.” 

My brow arched.  “You did?”

A grin stretched all the way to his hazel eyes.  “Of course.  I’ve got five sisters.  They’ve tried and failed to hide every boyfriend from me.”  He motioned between us.  “Plus, you guys are perfect for each other.  You’re going to make some killer ferrum babies.”

“Woah!”  I threw my hands up.  “Let’s not bring that up ever again.”  I loved Rex, but having kids was so far in the future I needed a spaceship to get there.

Sven laughed.  “Now all the times you nearly kicked my ass make sense.  Why didn’t you just tell us?”

Rex’s thick shoulders lifted.  “Well, it was a touchy subject and…”  His eyes landed on me, guilt swirling in them.

I flicked my dark hair from my face with a little more attitude.  “I just found out not too long ago so don’t feel bad about it.” 

Sven absentmindedly rubbed the blonde stubble on his chin as his lips puckered.  “Have you two been sneaking around Amarose Academy, shacking up at night?”  He wiggled his brows.

Rex’s expression hardened, but the flush coloring my cheeks didn’t go unnoticed.

The evil Swede laughed.

Jack smacked his chest, a hollow sound interrupting Sven’s deep chuckles.  “Knock it off, idiot.”

He made a face and rubbed his chest.  “Ouch.  Someone’s been eating their spinach.”

“Yeah, and everything else,” Bryson blurted.  “Ham, chicken, cookies, pizza, burgers—he’s going to eat us out of house and home one day.”

A ghost of a smile curled my lips.  I’d missed these guys more than I realized.  We didn’t have to share blood to be family. 

Actually, I preferred they didn’t come from the same tainted bloodline as I had.

Jack stood.  “Speaking of food, I want cake.”

I smirked.  “I’m sure there’s some more of that chocolate crap downstairs.”

He stuck his tongue out.  “Cute.”

Rex’s cell phone rang.  He snatched it off the table, his brow furrowed at the number before answering it.  A long pause stretched and then his features hardened to stone. “Who is this?” he hissed.  “Why shouldn’t we go back to Amarose?”

My pulse spiked, and I stood.  “Who is that?”

Rex shook his head.  “I’m not listening to a damn thing you say until you tell me who this is.”

I snatched the phone from him.  “Who is this?”

“Don’t go back to Amarose.”  The male voice sounded familiar and it only took a few moments to figure out why.  “Enemies are hidden at that school.  It’s too dangerous.  Run.  Hide before it’s too late.”

I scoffed.  “I’m not one to run or hide.”

The line ended.

I handed Rex the phone.  “They’ve called me before.”

Rex’s eyes flashed.  “When?”

“It was the same voice who told me to stop looking when I found that box of things in the wall at my parents’ house,” I said, clenching and unclenching my fists.

Rex cursed.  “It sounded like the same person who called me at the hotel on the way back to Amarose after we wrecked.  I’d thought it was Kye, but you would have recognized his voice.”

“What box of things?” Mik asked, crossing his arms.  “What’s going on?”

I glanced at Rex, shooting him a covert message.  The boys couldn’t know who Lorne and Kye really were and what they wanted.  The truth would put them in too much danger and I wasn’t willing to risk their lives. 

He gave a quick nod.  “It’s just more of this Kye mystery,” Rex said.  “Maybe we should listen to the voice and not return.”

My lips curled into a sneer.  “I’m not leaving school.  Kye is still taking ferrums and as long as we have a chance to stop him, I’m going to try.”

 

∞∞∞

 

I stood on a chair in our kitchen, slicing my plastic knife through the air and pretending I was beheading a few dozen dragons.  “But I don’t want to go to Aunt Maggie’s.”

“Why not?” my mother asked, deftly flipping a pancake over.  “You always like spending time with your aunt.”

My lips puckered.  “You only want me to leave so you guys can go off and slay that dragon you were talking about yesterday.”  I pointed to my chest.  “I want to help.  I can handle it.”

A line creased my mother’s brow.  “Kory, what did I tell you about eavesdropping.”

I shrugged innocently.  “Don’t get caught?”

She wasn’t amused.

“I smell pancakes.”  My father caught me around the waist and picked me up, dangling me upside down.  “How many dragons have you slayed today, hunter?” he asked, tickling my stomach.

“Owen,” my mother chided.  “What did we talk about?”

I giggled.  “A hundred.”

“A hundred?  That’s a lot.”  He flipped me right side up and sat me in a chair.  “But remember, it’s a secret.”  He put his finger to his lips.  “No one’s supposed to know.”

My face turned serious, and I mimicked his motions.  “I won’t tell a soul,” I whispered.

“Do you miss them?”

My head snapped around, meeting a pair of glacier blue eyes.  “Kye?”  My voice was older, and I glanced down to see my teenage self sitting in my kitchen, watching my parents cook breakfast.

My brows knit.  “Of course I miss them.  They’re my parents.”

“But they kept so many things from you,” he pointed out.  “Aren’t you mad?”

“Yeah, but I’d give anything to have them back.”  I watched them quietly laugh with each other as they moved in sync.  Would Rex and I be like that one day?

“I didn’t think you could forgive people that easily,” Kye said, running a hand through his pale blonde locks.  “Rex?  Sure because he’s your caetera, but others?”

I stared at him, blinking.  It took me a moment to realize I wasn’t just dreaming about Kye.  He was actually in my dream.

Hot anger billowed from the depths of my core, and I slammed my fist on the table.  “Why would you take my friend?”

Kye’s head slowly turned in my direction, a line forming between his blonde brows.  “What?”

My nostrils flared.  “You abducted Brett.”

“The quarterback?”  He shook his head.  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You weren’t the one to actually do it.  You had that blue haired-skank Mariska take him.”  I stabbed my finger in his chest.  “She bit him.”  My hand went to my neck where my own healing wound was.  “And me.”

“She bit you?”  His voice was a low, dangerous cadence.

“Yes,” I hissed.  “Right before I shoved my knife in her chest.”

“You killed her?  That must be why I haven’t heard from her in a while…” he trailed off, muttering to himself. 

“And I killed Nate.”  My fingers curled into tight fists, wishing I could have prolonged his death.  “Right along with Reddick and the other female demon.”

“When was this?” he asked, lines deepening across his forehead. 

“A few days ago.” 

He shook his head.  “That can’t be right.”

My hand gripped his shoulder, and I shook him.  “Why would you do that?  You didn’t even show up.  Were you trying to teach me a lesson, show me you could get to the people I care about any time you want?”

Kye’s eyes narrowed.  “I didn’t have anything to do with taking your friend, Kory.”

A humorless laugh slipped out.  “Right.”

His jaw ticked, and he stood so fast the chair toppled to the ground, the sound echoing like the crack of a whip.  “I’m telling the truth.  It wasn’t me.”

Something was off about this whole thing, but Brett said it was Kye.  Brett had no reason to lie.  “Why should I believe you?”

He leaned down so close the sharp winter scent beneath the sweet demon one flooded my nose.  “I’ve stopped taking ferrums, Kory.  For you.  What else do you want from me?”

 

My lids snapped open, the ceiling of my dorm coming into focus.  I sat up, yanking the blanket off.  The clock on my bedside table said 7 PM.  When I laid down after class, I hadn’t meant to sleep that long. 

Talking with Kye in my dream hadn’t been my intention either.

We’d arrived back at Amarose Academy last night.  I refused to stay in Bishop, and Rex knew it was a lost cause to make me run and hide.  It wasn’t in my nature any more than it was in his. 

I swung my legs toward the floor and began pacing the length of my room, Kye’s words whirling through my mind.  Was he telling the truth?  Did he have nothing to do with Brett’s abduction?  Did he really stop taking ferrums?  For me?

Nothing was making sense anymore, least of all Kye’s sudden loss of interest in his diabolical plan.  When I was trapped in his apartment below the club, he’d seemed so sure, so adamant about this new world he wanted to create.  Why would he suddenly stop?  It couldn’t just be for me.

Just when I thought my life was going in one direction, it was turned upside down.  Again.

Dark rage coiled through my veins and I picked up a book, tossing it across the room.  It smacked into the wall with a loud thud and slid to the ground.

A knock resonated on the door, and I growled.  I was not in the mood to talk to anyone.

“Kory, it’s Kelsey.”

“And Braelyn!”

“Geez, Brae,” Kelsey hissed.  “I don’t think the entire dorm heard you.”

I stifled a groan and marched toward the door.  Avoiding demon Barbie hunter was useless.  She’d talk to my door for hours if I didn’t let her in.  I opened it, motioning them in with a quick wave of my hand.

Kelsey’s keen eyes searched my room.  “What was that loud thud?”

“I threw a book at the wall,” I admitted, striding over and snatching it off the floor.  I tossed it on the desk. 

“What’s wrong?” Braelyn asked as she plopped on my bed, jumbling the pillows. 

I shook my head.  “I can’t say.”

Their eyes met, a secret message flashing between them.

I planted my hands on my hips.  “Spit it out, whatever it is.”

Braelyn nervously chewed on her bottom lip.  “Well, I guess you saw.  I mean, I’d be upset too.”

Kelsey shrugged.  “I’m sure it’s nothing.  Just dinner.  They’re not even leaving campus.”

My brow puckered, and I crossed my arms over my chest.  “What are you guys talking about?”  They were nowhere near the mark, but their worried expressions had me curious. 

Kelsey swallowed and perched on the edge of my desk.  “We saw Rex and Annabeth dressed up, heading to the faculty dining room for dinner—arm in arm.”

I blinked, processing their words.  And the silence continued.

My jaw clenched as I choked back the curses my mouth wanted to unleash.  First, I knew Rex loved me and wasn’t really going on a date with Annabeth.  And yet, it still pissed me off he didn’t know how to tell her to back the hell off.  He was too damn nice to her.  Second, why would Braelyn and Kelsey think this would anger me—even though it kind of was?

“Why would I care?” I asked, my voice clipped.

They traded glances again.

“Well…”  Kelsey pushed her glasses up her nose, stalling.  “We thought you—”

“We know you like Rex,” Braelyn blurted.  “Of course you do.  You guys spend all that time together, and we know you’re close and stuff.”

This was a freaking nightmare.

“I don’t like Rex,” I snapped.

Nope.  I loved him.

Kelsey held her hand up.  “Okay, okay.  We just thought that’s why you were mad.”  She scurried toward Braelyn and snatched her off my bed.

“Hey!  What’s the deal, Kelsey?”  Braelyn’s lips puckered, oblivious to the tense atmosphere.

“We should go, Brae.”  Lois Lane could feel the anger rising off me.  She shot me a sympathetic look.

At this point, I couldn’t care less if they thought I had a crush on Rex.  As they closed the door behind them, I began to stew in my own bad mood.  Having that dream with Kye didn’t help one bit.

I cracked my knuckles and paced my room again.  Having my caetera out—even if they were still on campus—with his ex was not what I needed.  I just told Rex I loved him and we had our first time a few days ago.

Hot anger began to turn to that demon darkness I struggled to control.  Inky blackness swirled beneath the surface.  If I didn’t gain control of myself, it could lash out at someone.

That someone was Annabeth.

I didn’t want to control it.  I wanted to put her in her place—far from my caetera.