Ember

I've been attacked in all sorts of ways: with words courtesy of Kane, Helen, Darius, my mom and the league of werewolf bullies that decided I was easy pickings because I didn't fight back. There were the punches and kicks from fighting in the cage, the knife in the throat from Alpha and worst of all, the punch in the gut I always got lately when I found something I wanted to talk to Aster about but realized I couldn't tell her anything ever again. All of these things painful, and I was expecting Arius to be in for a greater world of pain when Kane bypassed me and went after him because Kane didn't look like he had any intention of stopping at all.

Was he going after Arius without waiting to hear my side of the story?

Wrong.

The wolf's stride slowed to a trot before he halted in front of me, chest heaving from running although he sounded a lot less winded than me.

I held up both hands, breathing through my mouth and trying to speak at the same time. "Let...me...explain."

He pushed against my side gently, snout rubbing against my very vulnerable stomach. I would've thought he was picking a fight with me, giving me a taunting shove in challenge until I heard his voice in my head, roughened by irritation. Lie down.

Lie down?

I gave both him and the sidewalk a skeptical look. "Here? Right now?"

Another shove.

"You're not going to gut me or something, are you?" I asked.

He glowered.

"I was kidding." Partly.

I almost didn't do it, but I guessed complying this time couldn't hurt after all the worry I'd caused. Maybe it was a smoke screen and he was going to follow Arius as soon as I lowered my guard. Maybe he was going to grab my feet and drag me away, a captive caught and off to face judgment in front of the rest of the pack.

Trust. I had to trust him and stop expecting the worst. Trust that he'd be understanding. Trust that he wouldn't hurt me. Trust that he wouldn't humiliate me despite the fact that it appeared like I'd already done precisely that to him. Because Arius was right, if I did nothing but doubt him, how could I call him my mate?

Taking the leap of faith, I sat down and lied back, praying nobody came along and happened to see me in the middle of the street like this. Kane was safe because pack magic would disguise him as a dog but I was on my own. I peered up at him. "Now what?"

Now stay, he replied. And plopped down right on top of me.

What the hell?

***

Thirty minutes of Jett telling him I wasn't going to skip off into the sunset with Arius was what finally got him off me. But Kane still wasn't convinced I wasn't going to leave him eventually, I could feel it. Could see it in the slump of his shoulders, walking behind me with his head lowered. As if he was coming back from a battle he'd lost.

I wanted to blurt everything out then and there but Jett suggested we get the unconscious girl back to Kane's place first. "He's been in wolf form for weeks, I'm not sure he'll be able to understand you anyway," Jett said. "Darius will help him change back, you can fill me in on what happened while he does."

I nodded mutely, feeling like a wayward teenager that had snuck out to party all night but had been found out and was being driven back home. It wasn't fair when I hadn't even set out to Faerie on my own, and even less fair that the two people who had been responsible had been the only ones to escape. Yet I was the one who was subjected to Darius' insultingly smug looks in the car, Jett's quietness as he drove, a quietness I couldn't help but ponder over its quality of usualness, and- the cherry on top- the pity party Kane was suddenly throwing himself.

"Why's he acting like that?" I asked when Jett pulled up at Kane's house and opened the door for me.

Jett glanced over at Kane's retreating figure. He was going to the back of the house to shift, a smirking Darius close behind. "When you first vanished he was getting ready to rip the entire city apart searching for you. May came clean and told him she'd sent you and Arius off to have fun together, and you'd be back within the day. A day turned to days, weeks and then a month." Jett raised a single pierced brow. "How would you feel if Kane went off with another woman without a word and showed up later dressed in matching clothing?"

"You have a point," I acquiesced. "Except about the part where I willingly did everything you've accused me of doing."

He opened the car door and picked up the girl in the white dress, bringing her gently against his chest. "Come on."

He vanished in a blur of movement, leaving me outside with my guilt and the disturbing sounds of bones breaking and low snarling as Kane changed back to his human form.

Strange. Jett leaving me out here like that after I'd practically told him I'd been kidnapped by Arius? The same man who had given me a fancy speech about being my sword- or was it shield?- forever available at my disposal? It was almost like he was more concerned with making sure the dancing girl was alright more than anything else. I could've sworn I saw him glancing more than once in the rear-view mirror at her. It was either her or Darius and I doubted it was the latter.

I crossed my arms over my chest, muttering about the traitorous men in my life as I walked into the house. I didn't fancy staying out there on my own with the possibility of Light lurking around in the shadows.

"Sit down," Jett said as soon as I was inside. His voice came from the kitchen, which I noticed was as empty as the rest of the place. Thank goodness too. I didn't want any pack members present when I confessed my mistakes to Jett.

I sat down at the kitchen counter, watching as Jett moved around, swiftly making me a cup of hot chocolate and presenting me with a plate of cookies. I smiled down at the food, the sight erasing any lingering annoyance towards him. "Thanks."

He nodded slightly. "How bad is it?" he asked.

I picked up a cookie. "We might all die."

He leaned forward at this, expression turning fierce, body coiled for a fight. For an insane moment, I thought he was about to fight me because of what I'd said. "Is there someone trying to kill her?"

I stared blankly at him. "Her?"

His eyes jerked upwards. "The girl sleeping upstairs. Is someone trying to kill her?"

"Oh," I said, relieved. "No, not that I know of."

He relaxed. I gave him a suspicious look. "Do you like her?"

"You should be more worried about your own love life," Jett replied indifferently, pulling up a chair across from me. "Now talk."

I didn't push him further on the topic since life and death was hanging in balance of we didn't find a way to get rid of Light. So I told Jett everything that had happened, leaving nothing out. By the time I was through he was tense again, and angry.

"I'm sorry," I said, tracing the rim of my full mug with a shaky finger. "I didn't know how else to protect them."

"You did well considering the circumstances," Jett said, a reassurance that felt weird when his expression was several shades of scary. Like he was already imagining strangling Light. It wasn't an expression one wore while reassuring someone.

"Do you know what Light is? He said he was half werewolf, half fae," I asked. "You're a hybrid, right?

"I've never heard of a creature like him," Jett said, ignoring my second question. "But that doesn't mean we'll let him take the pack."

The doorbell rang.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Someone very pissed was pounding on the front door.

I frowned. Who could that be?

"I'll get it," Jett stood up. "Get Kane to come in. He's been moping long enough."

I pursed my lips, not looking forward to a confrontation with a human Kane. Once Jett had got him off me it felt like he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. The past came back to me in vivid detail then, at the resentment- the hatred in his gaze whenever it found me. At his arrow-like words that were like poisonous arrows that never failed to hit the mark, spreading their deadly poison no matter how hard I tried to fight it. Would I get another glimpse of the old Kane again? From his point of view, I'd practically cheated on him with Arius, he had every right to say terrible things to me.

I didn't think I could keep it together if I came face-to-face with his hatred again.

"-hate you, you little shit!"

The screeching voice jerked me back to reality with a start, the venom in it raising my guard immediately. But not in time to block the punch aimed at my face. Jett was the one who caught the punch, and the kick directed at my middle.

I stumbled out of my chair, so rattled that my foot caught the wooden leg and I was left in an embarrassing heap on the floor, staring up at the two furious women above me with my face flaming. Why I was embarrassed in front of the two people who'd tried to attack me didn't make much sense, but I couldn't shake it off. Jett pushed them back, helping me to my feet with a look that promised death if the two women tried attacking me again.

"W- what's going on?" I asked nervously, studying the two women. They were werewolves and were vaguely familiar but I couldn't remember their names. "Who are you?"

The one with flaming red hair scoffed, expression shifting from murderous to incredulous and back to murderous again. She turned to the doorway of the kitchen, where another woman I hadn't noticed was huddled, arms wrapped around herself, face streaming with silent tears. Her ruddy complexion, running nose and bloodshot eyes suggested she'd been crying for a while now. "She gets your Kevin killed and mine chased out of the pack and she claims she doesn't even know our names!"

Understanding dawned on me as dreadfully as an apocalypse. These middle-aged ladies were the parents of the guys who'd almost assaulted me in the locker room. Sobbing Lady was the mother of Kevin, who I'd completely forgotten about.

Who Kane had killed.

Another life taken because of me.

"Is that his blood on you?" Sobbing Lady cried out, mouth widening in horror as her gaze locked onto my torso.

Slowly, as if in a murky nightmare, I glanced down. Red paw prints. Kane's wolf when he sat on me.

I raised my head to the snarling faces. "I'm sorry."

The woman closest to the redhead growled, eyes glowing amber. "You're sorry? If you were, you wouldn't have ditched your mate to play around with another man and then lied about our sons to distract Kane from your own loose behavior-"

"That's enough," Jett said stonily, stepping between me and the angry wolves. "Don't make accusations when you have no evidence."

"We know one thing for sure," Redhead said, shifting around Jett to spit at me. The glob of saliva landed on my toe, wet and disgusting. "We'll never accept her as our alpha female. And we'll make sure the rest of the pack- as well as Kane- sees her true colors too. Or we'll die trying."