"Fine!" I threw my hands up in the air. "Yes, you mean something to me. What you did for me on Thanksgiving--that made me..." My voice cracked. "That made me happy. You made me happy. And I still care about you. Okay? You mean something to me--something I can't really even put into words because everything seems too lame in comparison. I've always wanted you, even when I hated you. I want you even though you drive me freaking insane. And I know I screwed everything up. Not just for you and me, but for Dee." My breath caught on a sob. The words rushed from me, one after another. "And I never felt this way with anyone else. Like I'm falling every time I'm around you, like I can't catch my breath, and I feel alive --not just standing around and letting my life walk past me. There's been nothing like that with anyone else." Tears pricked my eyes as I stepped back. My chest was swelling so fast it hurt. "But none of this matters, because I know you really hate me now . I understand that. I just wish I could go back and change everything! I--" Daemon was suddenly in front of me, clasping my cheeks in his warm hands. "I never hated you." I blinked back the wetness gathering in my eyes. "But--" "I don't hate you now , Kat." He stared intently into my eyes. "I'm mad at you--at myself. I'm so angry, I can taste it. I want to find Blake and rearrange parts of his body. But do you know w hat I thought about all day yesterday? All night? The one single thought I couldn't escape, no matter how pissed off I am at you?" "No," I whispered. "That I'm lucky, because the person I can't get out of my head, the person who means more to me than I can stand, is still alive. She's still there. And that's you."