“Bad little Kitten,” he murmured.
Grinning, I stretched up and kissed him. It was an innocent one—or maybe it was on my end, but Daemon totally took it there. When we parted, I was breathless.
Leaving the group behind, we danced again, so closely that I kept waiting for a teacher to come around and break us apart. Several times I danced with Lesa and even Dee joined in once. We all looked ridiculous, flailing around and having fun.
By the time I was back in Daemon’s arms, we’d been at the prom for about two hours. Some of the kids were already leaving, heading out to the notorious field parties held on farms.
“You ready to leave yet?” he said.
“Do you have something planned?” Oh gosh, did my mind go wild then.
“I do.” He smiled mischievously. “I have a surprise.”
And my mind went far, far south at that point. Daemon and the word surprise in the same sentence usually was an entertaining adventure.
“All right,” I said, hoping I sounded adult and cool while my heart was doing the stupid happy-girl dance.
Finding Lesa, I told her we were leaving and gave her a hug. “Did you guys get a hotel room?” she asked, eyes glittering in the white lights.
I slapped her arm. “No. God. Well…I don’t think so. He says he has a surprise for me.”
“Totally the hotel room,” she yelled. “Oh my God, you guys are going to have, you know, the three-letter word.”
I smiled.
Lesa’s eyes narrowed and then flew open. “Wait. Did you guys—”
“I’ve got to go.” I started to pull away, but she followed.
“You have to tell me! I need to know.” Behind her, Chad watched on curiously.
Getting away, I shook my head. “I really need to go. I’ll talk to you later. Have fun.”
“Oh, we’d better talk later. I demand it.”
Promising to call her, I then looked for Dee but all I found was Ash, and after I zapped her earlier, she was looking like she wanted payback. I veered in the other direction, scanning the floor for the willowy raven-haired girl.
I gave up when I saw Daemon again. “Have you seen Dee?”
He nodded. “I think she left with Andrew. They decided to go to the diner or something and eat.”
I stared.
Daemon shrugged.
Now I was unsure about my earlier conviction when it came to their relationship. Adam and Dee were notorious for doing things like that. Then again, Luxen liked to eat…all the time. “You don’t think they’re…?”
“I don’t even want to know.”
Me neither, I decided. Taking his offered hand, we headed back out of the steamy gymnasium and down the streamer-laden hallway. The temps had dropped outside, but the cold air felt good against my flushed skin.
“Are you going to tell me about the surprise?”
“If I did, then it won’t be a surprise,” he replied.
I pouted. “But it’s a surprise now.”
“Nice try.” He laughed, opening the door for me. “Get in and behave yourself.”
“Whatever.” But I climbed in, primly crossing my legs. Daemon laughed again as he loped around the front of his car and got in.
Casting me a glance, he shook his head. “You’re dying to know, aren’t you?”
“Yes. You should tell me.”
He said nothing and remained quiet the whole way home, much to my surprise. Nervous excitement built inside me. There’d only been a few minutes here and there of being alone together since that fateful Saturday night.
Strange how something so terrible and so beautiful could happen in one night—the best and the worst day of my life, I realized.
I didn’t want to think of Will.
Daemon parked the car in his driveway. The living room light was on in his house. “Stay in the car, okay?”
When I nodded, he got out and disappeared—gone in a flash. Curious, I twisted around in the seat, but I didn’t see him or anyone. What could he be up to?
Suddenly, my car door opened and Daemon extended his hand. “Ready?”
A little knocked off-kilter by his reappearance, I gave him my hand and let him swoop me out of the SUV. “So my surprise…?”
“You’ll see.”
Hand in hand, we started walking. I thought he was going to lead me to his house, but he didn’t, and when we passed mine and made our way down the road, I had no idea what he had planned. That was, until I saw that we were heading to the main road and when we stopped there, I was taken back several months to the first time I learned about Daemon’s kind.
I’d walked out in front of a truck.
Yeah, idiotic move, but I’d been upset and hadn’t been thinking. Douche-version of Daemon had been to blame.
Crossing the road, I got a general idea of where we were heading. The lake. Squeezing Daemon’s hand, I fought back a stupid grin.
“Do you think you can walk in those heels?” he asked, frowning as if he’d just thought of it.
Doubtful, but I didn’t want to ruin any of this for him. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
He took it slowly anyway, making sure I didn’t fall flat on my face or break my neck. Incredibly sweet, actually, as he made sure to get all the low-hanging branches out of the way and at one point, he even let a part of his true form take hold. White light surrounded his hand, casting over the uneven ground.
Who needed a flashlight when you had Daemon?
It took a little longer than normal to get to the lake, but I enjoyed the walk and his company. And when we stepped out of the last stand of trees and the scene before me unfolded, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.