Paris stood there, his arms folded. His gaze dropped to where Hunter’s hand joined with mine. He let out a soft, little laugh.

Hunter’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t drop my hand. “You’re making me feel like I need to rebel against the rules.”

“Try it,” Paris replied, leaning against the closed door. “But I doubt your lady friend would want to witness the kind of mess we’ll leave in our wake.”

It hit me then, and my heart tripped over itself.

“You’re a Luxen.”

Paris winked.

“And you’re a human.”

My mouth worked on a response, but Hunter squeezed my hand. “He’s not going to try anything,”

he said in a low voice, but his eyes were trained on the Luxen. “Isn’t that right, Paris.”

“Depends on what you do, Arum.” Paris looked at me and smiled. It was a nice smile, charming even, but fear trickled through my veins like ice. “But you, my dear, have nothing to fear from me. I won’t judge you for your obvious lapse in judgment when it comes to who you associate with.”

“There’s nothing wrong with my judgment,”

I snapped. “But thanks for your input.”

“Oh.” Paris’ brows rose.

“She’s defending you, Hunter. How sweet.”

“Shut up,”

Hunter replied.

Paris snickered.

In spite of their exchange, I realized Hunter wasn’t tense or preparing to break out a bundle of kickass.

It seemed like they were just mouthing off at each other…for the fun of it. I relaxed a little.

“Well, wrap me up and call me a Christmas baby.

Hunter with a female—a human female.”

I startled at the voice and turned to the door behind the desk. I hadn’t even heard it open, but there stood a tall teenage boy no older than fifteen or so. His blond hair was pulled back into a short ponytail, showing off an angelic face that was asymmetrically perfect, but his eyes…whoa.

They were purple.

Who in the hell had purple eyes?

Aliens. Duh.

Hunter let out a long- suffering breath. “Luc.”

My mouth dropped open.

Holy shit, Luc was a kid.

Chapter 23

Luc sauntered to the desk and hopped up on it, propping his chin on his fist. The opal on his leather cuff glittered in the light. I was half tempted to knock him over and take it, but Luc… Yeah, Luc wasn’t normal.

Not even in the world of Luxen, Arum, and hybrids.

He was something else entirely and knocking him over wouldn’t be like kicking a kid on a playground, because this kid could knock just about anyone and anything into another galaxy.

Sometimes it was hard to remember that when talking to the little punk.

Luc smiled broadly.

“What brings you here? I hear this ‘little fuck’ owes you.”

“You know you owe me.

And if you need a reminder, all I need to say is Sharpe.”

“Ah, yes. That does remind me of a lot of things.”

“Sharpe?”

Serena murmured, her eyes bouncing back and forth.

I let go of her hand and found myself stepping in front of her. Luc noted this with a mischievous glint. “I need my money.”

Luc leaned slightly to the side, as if he was trying to see Serena. Man, this kid loved to push buttons.

“You can have your money whenever you need it.

Paris could’ve gotten that for you. So I doubt that’s the only thing you need.”

“I also need a piece of opal.”

His brows rose as he leaned onto his side completely, supporting himself on one arm. He smiled at Serena. “And why would you, an Arum who works for the lovely DOD, be in need of a piece of opal? Don’t they hand that out with their ‘I was bought out by the man’ badges? Oh! Wait…wait a second, Hunter.”

Luc’s wide eyes blinked innocently, and I had a strong urge to knock those eyes into the back of his head. “Are you no longer playing with the DOD?”

“What do you think?” I stepped to the side, blocking Serena.

“Interesting.” He sat up, putting him right back in front of Serena.

“And who’s this?”

“None of your business,”

I growled.

Luc slid me a sideways glance. “She’s in my office, in my club, therefore she is my business.”

“This is your club?”

Serena asked. “How old are you?”

“Old enough to appreciate a good-looking woman.” Luc winked.

Serena’s mouth dropped open.

“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” I asked, my hands curling into fists.

Paris stepped forward, the perpetual bodyguard, but Luc just laughed. “Oh, simmer down, Hunter.

You’re too testy. How many times have I’ve told you that you need to chill out, take a vacay. Disney World is really fun this time of year. You should check it out.”

I drew in a long, deep breath. “Luc.”

He was focused on Serena. “So how did you get mixed up with this lump of joyful personality?”

Serena glanced at me, questioning, and I shook my head. The less Luc knew, the better.

Luc tapped his fingers on the desk. “Al’ right, kiddies, you don’t want to play, then I don’t want to play.

Paris will get your money and you can get the hell out.”

“Whoa. Wait a sec. You owe me, Luc. I need a piece of opal—”

“And I’m assuming you’ll also need a Luxen or a hybrid to feed off, too. And you’re right. I do owe you.

You took care of a problem for me and I’ll be forever grateful for that. I can help you, but I want to know who she is and how she ended up with you.”

Son of a rat bastard.

Serena stepped forward.

“My name is Serena Cross. My best friend was killed by a Luxen after she witnessed them take their, um, true form. I saw it happen and Hunter was brought in by the DOD to keep me safe.”

I turned to her slowly.

“What?” She raised her hands. “We weren’t getting anywhere.”

Anger flashed through me, but I stamped it down.

Serena didn’t know Luc, didn’t understand what the kid was capable of. Hell, there was a lot I didn’t know about him, but I knew enough.

Luc’s gaze traveled to a very interested-looking Paris. “Keep you safe from the Luxen?”

She nodded as she worried her lower lip.

“All because your friend witnessed a Luxen do their shiny thing? They killed her for that?” A calculating look appeared in his amethyst eyes.

“That sounds drastic.”

“This sounds familiar,”

Paris interjected.

“This wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with Senator Vanderson, would it?”

“Ah…” Luc murmured.

Serena became very still and the aura around her turned a deeper shade of blue. “How do you know about that?”

“Good question,” I said.

Paris shrugged one shoulder. “I keep my ear to the ground. The senator flipped his shit because the DOD hauled in one of his boys and then the other.

The Luxen are in a tizzy over it.

Getting re- assimilated is like walking the green mile, baby.”

My eyes narrowed.

Paris grinned as his gaze slid back to Luc. “But that doesn’t explain why they would come after you, now does it? I mean, you’re not the first to see us in our true form. You won’t be the last. You seem like a smart lady. You know to keep quiet. So…”

“So there has to be more,” Luc finished. He clapped his hands together. “And there is always more to a story.

Spill it.”

Serena had wisely gone quiet, but it was a little late for that. I folded my arms.

“Her friend overheard the brothers talking about something called Project Eagle and children in Pennsylvania. Whatever it is, it seems like it’s worth killing to keep a lid on it.”

Luc blinked slowly. “And does the DOD know about this?”

“Yes,” Serena answered, and cleared her throat. “I told them what my friend had said, but…”

“But you two are here and Hunter is without his opal, which means he’s without his nifty tracking device.

How did that happen?”

Luc asked.

“Don’t be shy, Serena. I’m not the bad guy here.”

I snorted. “Yeah, and I’m fucking Santa Claus.”

“Okay.” Luc flashed a winning smile. “All things considered, I’m the least of your worries at this point, eh? There are three things in life that I just cannot stand and, in no particular order, they are: the DOD, the Arum, and the Luxen.

Humans are pretty damn okay in my book.”

Serena glanced back in shock at a grinning Paris, and I rubbed my temple. I was starting to get a headache.

“The DOD decided that what Mel overheard isn’t important,” I said.

Luc cocked his head to the side. “And do you believe that?”

I barked out a short laugh. “Hell no. I’m sure they’ve been trying to dig up everything on this Project Eagle bullshit, but they don’t know about Pennsylvania.

Serena remembered that after she’d spoken to the officers.” The letter in the PO box was staying a secret. “The senator and the community of Luxen raised all kinds of shit about the exposure risk and pushed for Serena’s death. The DOD caved.”

“Exposure risk?” Paris headed to the desk and sat in the chair behind Luc.

“Does the senator honestly believe that the DOD will release his sons if Serena is gone?”

“I don’t think so,” I admitted. “I think that whatever Mel overheard and may or may not have said to Serena is worth them killing to keep it quiet.

Even if Serena doesn’t know anything, they don’t want to take that risk. The DOD came to take her out and, well, I didn’t agree with that.”

“I wish you guys would stop talking about people wanting to kill me,” Serena said, but she was staring at me in a way that said we’d be talking later. “It’s really starting to freak me out.”

“True,” Luc said, shaking his head. “So you stopped the DOD? Protected a human even knowing that they’d put price on your head that even I couldn’t afford?”

I shifted my weight from one foot to the next.

“Yeah.”

“Interesting,”

Luc murmured.

“He doesn’t know why he did it, so don’t even ask him.” Serena sent me a tight smile, and I couldn’t even find it in me to be measurably annoyed. She turned back to the kid. “Do you know anything about Project Eagle?”

Luc met her stare. “I know a lot of things, Serena. I also have a lot of suspicions. Some people think I’m paranoid, but I like to say I’m realistically prepared for when the shit hits the fan.”

Serena frowned. “That really didn’t tell me anything.”

“I don’t know about Project Eagle,” he said, “but I’d be curious to learn more.”

“Okay, well now that we’ve done the whole caring and sharing routine,” I interrupted, “you owe me.”