“Billy Crump’s in your—”

“Trig class? Yeah, I know that already.”

“He was talking in history about you flirting with the new girl,” Adam said, sliding past a group of girls who were openly staring at us. “Ash overheard him.”

With each passing second, my annoyance was hitting an all-new high.

“I know you and Ash aren’t seeing each other anymore.”

“Yep.” I grit my teeth.

“But you know how she gets,” Adam continued quickly. “You better be careful with your little human—”

I stopped in the middle of the hall, two seconds from throwing Adam through a wall. Kids shuffled around us as I spoke barely above a whisper. “She’s not my little human.”

Adam’s gaze was unflinching. “Fine. Whatever. Out of everyone, I don’t care if you took her into the locker room and did her, but she’s glowing…and so are your eyes,” he added, voice low. “And all of this is familiar.”

Shit. On. A. Brick. My eyes were doing the diamond thing? Great. Glowing eyes were one step away from a Luxen shifting into their true form. Wouldn’t that be fun if I turned into a glowing alien in the middle of a high school hallway? Striving for patience I wasn’t known for, I started walking, leaving Adam behind.

I needed to get my shit together.

This back-and-forth crap had to stop. I was beginning to wonder if I had a split personality. Jesus. I needed to stay the hell away from Kat. And that would keep her away from the rest of the Luxen, namely Ash.

When was the moment Katy became different from the herd—from the rest of the humans? Someone I wanted to know? The day at the lake? When we went for a walk? The night the Arum got a hold of her? Or one of the many times she told me off?

Shit.

Adam was right. All of this was familiar, except we’d had this conversation with Dawson over Bethany.

Dammit. This was not happening.

I glided through the rest of my classes bored out of my freaking mind. Many times last year, I tried to convince Matthew to get me a forged high school diploma. No such luck there. The DOD probably thought school was a privilege for us, but what they taught couldn’t keep my interest. We learned at an accelerated rate, leaving most humans in the dust. And the DOD would have to approve my request to go to college if that’s what I decided. Hell, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to go to college. I’d rather find a job where I got to work outside—something that didn’t include four small walls.

When lunch rolled around, I was half tempted to call it a day. School wasn’t the same without Dawson. His exuberance for everything, even the mundane, had been contagious.

Not hungry, I grabbed a bottle of water and headed to our regular table. I sat beside Ash and leaned back, picking at the label on the bottle.

“You know,” Ash said, leaning against my arm, “they say what you’re doing is a sign of sexual frustration.”

I winked at her.

She grinned and then turned back to her brother. That was the thing about Ash. Even though we’d dated on and off for years, she could be cool…when she wanted to be. Truth was, I think she knew deep down that she really wasn’t that into me either. Not like Dawson and Bethany had felt about each other.

God, I was thinking a lot about him today.

He should be here, the first day of our last year. He should’ve been here.

Lifting my eyes, I immediately found Kat in the lunch line. She was talking to Cassie—no, Carissa—the quieter of the two girls in trig. My gaze dropped down to her flip-flops and slowly worked my way back up.

I think I loved those jeans. Tight in all the right places.

It was amazing really—how long Kat’s legs looked for someone so short. I couldn’t figure out why it seemed that way.

Ash’s hand dropped to my thigh, drawing my attention. Warning bells went off again. She was so up to something. “What?” I asked.

Her bright eyes fixed on mine. “What are you looking at?”

“Nothing.” I focused on her, anything to keep her interest off Kat. As feisty as the little kitten was, Kat was absolutely no match for Ash. I set the bottle aside, swinging my legs toward her. “You look nice today.”

“Don’t I?” Ash beamed. “So do you. But you always look yumtastic.” Glancing over her shoulder, she then turned back and slid into my lap faster than she should have in public.

A couple of the boys at a neighboring table looked like they would’ve traded in their moms to be in my position.

“What are you up to?” I kept my hands to myself.

“Why do you think I’m up to anything?” She pressed her chest against mine, speaking in my ear. “I miss you.”

I grinned, seeing right through her. “No, you don’t.”

Pouting, she slapped my shoulder playfully. “Okay. There are some things I miss.”

About to tell her that I had a good idea of what that thing was, Dee’s jubilant shriek cut me off. “Katy!” she yelled.

Cursing under my breath, I felt Ash stiffen against me.

“Sit,” Dee said, smacking the top of the table. “We were talking about—”

“Wait.” Ash twisted around. I could picture the look on her face. Lips turned down, eyes narrowed. All that equaled bad, bad times. “You did not invite her to sit with us? Really?”

I focused on the painting of the PHS mascot—a red-and-black Viking, complete with horns. Please don’t sit down.

“Shut up, Ash,” Adam said. “You’re going to make a scene.”

“I’m not ‘going to make’ anything happen.” Ash’s arm tightened around my neck like a boa constrictor. “She doesn’t need to sit with us.”

Dee sighed. “Ash, stop being a bitch. She’s not trying to steal Daemon from you.”

My eyebrows shot up, but I kept up the prayer. Please don’t sit down. My jaw locked. Please don’t sit here. If she did, Ash would eat her alive out of pure spite. I’d never understand girls. Ash didn’t want me anymore, not really, but holy hell if she’d allow someone else to go there.

Ash’s body started to vibrate softly. “That’s not what I’m worried about. For real.”

“Just sit,” Dee said to Katy, her voice tight with exasperation. “She’ll get over it.”

“Be nice,” I whispered in Ash’s ear, low enough for only her to hear. Ash smacked my arm hard. That’d leave a bruise. I pressed my cheek into her neck. “I mean it.”

“I’ll do what I want,” she hissed back. And she would, too. Worse than what she was doing now.

“I don’t know if I should,” Kat said, sounding incredibly small and unsure.

Every stupid, idiotic thought in my head demanded that I dump Ash out of my lap and get Kat out of here, away from what surely was going to end up being horrible.

“You shouldn’t,” Ash snapped.

“Shut up,” Dee said. “I’m sorry I know such hideous bitches.”

“Are you sure?” Kat asked.

Ash’s body trembled and heated up. Her skin would be too warm for a human to touch without realizing something was different, wrong even. I could feel her control slipping away. Exposing herself wasn’t likely, but she appeared mad enough to do some damage.

I turned my head to look at Kat for the first time since I’d seen her in the line. I thought about the conversation on the porch, when she grinned at me. I thought about how she reacted when I’d told her about the legend of Snowbird. And I already knew I was going to hate myself for what I was about to say, because she didn’t deserve this. “I think it’s obvious if you’re wanted here or not.”

“Daemon!” My sister’s eyes filled with tears, and now it was official. I was irrevocably a dick. “He’s not being serious.”

“Are you being serious, Daemon?” Ash twisted toward me.

My gaze held Kat’s, and I clamped down on every confusing and contradictory thought I was having. She needed to leave before something shitty happened. “Actually, I was being serious. You’re not wanted here.”

Kat opened her mouth, but she didn’t say anything. Her cheeks had been pink—the way I liked them—but the color faded quickly. Anger and embarrassment filled her gray eyes. They glistened under the harsh lights of the cafeteria. A sharp pierce sliced through my chest, and I had to look away—because I had put that look in her eyes. Clenching my jaw, I focused over Ash’s shoulder on that stupid mascot again.