Ember

"I'm never leaving you alone with Kane ever again," I told Darius, batting away his cellphone when he tried snapping a picture of a sleeping Kane.

He'd fallen asleep sometime during our confrontation, dark eyelashes wet against his cheeks although his expression was peaceful. He was completely out of it.

"Is he a lightweight?" I asked, brushing a lock of hair from his brow. His hair was shorter than it'd been the last time I saw him.

"Give him a break, he has a broken heart," Darius replied.

"I didn't break his heart."

"What do you call eloping-"

"I didn't elope! I just went to a party with Arius because he didn't have anyone else."

"Pointy Ears asked you to be his friend?" Darius asked, tapping his skull ring on the armchair. "Are you forming a loser's club together?"

I deadpanned. "You're going to mock me no matter what I do, aren't you?"

"Bingo. At least until our broken-hearted alpha wakes up and continues the none-shall-sully-my-Ember-and-her-name fiasco. Luckily he shouldn't be waking up anytime soon, I gave him a little something extra."

"That's the last time you're giving him a little something extra," I said, leaning down so I was eye level with him. All the better for him to see the threat in my gaze. "I mean it."

He snorted. "A little less threats and more claws is a little something extra I'd try if I were you. You are in charge now, you know."

"Not right now she isn't," Jett said, startling me with his silent appearance. "She should get some rest first. Go sleep, Ember."

I shook my head. "This isn't the time for sleep, I need to find out what Light is and how to stop him."

"Light is a wave and as far as I know sunglasses and some sunscreen usually keeps it away," Darius said.

I mock applauded him. "Thank you for that bit of information, Einstein."

"Go home, drunkard," Jett told him, then to me, "I made a few phone calls, we'll be up early and spending the entire day interrogating people and reading every book available on Halflings. You've already been through a lot today, you need rest."

It was like my body was waiting for someone else to notice how tired it was before letting me feel the fatigue. The exhaustion hit me the moment he said 'rest', but couldn't help resisting it. It felt like there was so much to do before those two weeks were up, felt like we should be putting up electric fences, stationing tanks outside the house and hiring a hundred snipers instead of sleeping. Not to mention the matter of the angry mothers out for my blood.

"What if Donna comes back with reinforcements?" I asked.

"She tried to hide it but she was scared of me when I dropped them on the curb," Jett said, walking over and sliding open the kitchen screen. "Hybrids are the best detergent for potentially mutinous werewolves. Besides, I'll be walking the perimeter of the house with another pack member."

"I'm not helping you walk the perimeter," Darius protested.

Jett's expression tightened. "I wasn't talking about you. Go home, drunkard."

Darius snorted. "I'm not drunk, I'm intoxicated."

"Ember, if I have to spend another second with him..."

Normally I wouldn't have minded Jett on the verge of murdering Darius, but the idiot had done the first good thing since he was born, it'd be a shame to have him die immediately after.

"Okay," I agreed. "I'll see you in the morning."

***

I'd lost my job and apartment when I vanished for a month.

Kane had my stuff moved into one of the spare rooms in his house.

I'd been so proud of my new job, at the independence it provided me while I did something I loved. At the trust it had been slowly building between me and my estranged pack mates. Now all of it was gone- my job, my apartment and any reluctant respect the pack had been developing towards me. Thanks to Donna, they'd think I was a devious woman who was toying with the alpha and was now taking further advantage by moving into the pack house.

How in the hell was I going to fix this?

The dark thoughts chased off all prospects of sleep so I spent the next hour unbraiding my hair, combing through the curly strands until they were untangled and pulling the entire thing into a low ponytail. I glanced at the clock on the bedside table. Two in the morning. Still tired but not sleepy.

I sighed, got up and flicked off the lights in case Jett happened to spot it from outside.

I'd rested my head against my pillow for approximately a nanosecond when my bedroom door opened, the light from the hall flooding inside and outlining the tall shadow as it stepped inside. His scent- pine with a hint of cologne- mingled with soap and toothpaste told me it was a freshly showered Kane. He shut the door, the lock clicking into place with a finality that had me sitting up automatically.

He stood there, unmoving. I squinted, unable to discern his current mood. There wasn't that frigid cold that spread before his temper erupted, no heated disdain curling around him like tentacles, wearing me down the longer he looked. I couldn't get a read on him.

I bit my lip. "Let's talk. Turn on the light."

He approached the bed, ignoring my request.

Wait, was it really Kane in here?

My mind flashed back to Light's trick with the cockroach, at the mind games he'd been playing on Arius. Whatever his powers were, I had a hunch it had to do with visuals and mind control. It occurred to me that the person walking over to me this moment probably wasn't Kane. Instinctively, I reached for the clock- getting ready to chuck it at him and gain enough time to jump from the bed- but long fingers wrapped around my wrist and put an end to that option.

It wasn't a grip meant to restrain though, I noticed as he placed his other hand on the mattress near my rib cage, the bed creaking under the added weight. Less restraint and more...hypnotizing. At least that's the effect his thumb slowly tracing circles on my palm was inducing. He dipped his head, hair tickling my forehead. He nuzzled my cheek, breath warm and- surprisingly- uneven.

"Let's talk," he agreed.

And that's when the temperature changed to scorching hot- consuming, like he was revealing what had been hidden under the blank mask: a black hole starved from lust and ready to swallow me whole.

The pillow was back under my head. His other hand was under my neck, using it to keep my head in place as his mouth devoured mine. The hand at my wrist was gone, making an appearance shortly after on my waist as he hooked an arm under my torso, bringing me flush against him.

"Pick me," he whispered, voice shaking me out of the haze but the teeth that nipped at my earlobe threatening to pull me back under. I struggled to keep up with what he was saying. "...do I won't break your windows anymore, I won't try to make you angry every chance I get..."

My breath caught in my throat.

He was pleading his case.

He still thought I'd cheated on him.

That effectively brought my head up from the flood of desire I'd been drowning in, literally gasping as I brought the pillow up to stop him from kissing me a second time. He made a muffled sound from behind the pillow which might have been comical if he didn't follow the action with a devastating push of his hips against mine.

Forget the explanation, Temptation urged. It was warring with and winning against my pride, which was insisting I prove my innocence.

I raised my leg and he pressed closer, snatching the pillow away from me and chucking it over his shoulder- when I kicked him off me.

Pride won.

Kane was on the floor, lying on his back as I leapt from the bed, stomping my over to the light and turning it on. "I didn't cheat on you, damn it," I huffed, taking a second to thank the fact that he wasn't moving towards me and letting it all out at once. "May and Ian wanted me to go party and meet other guys before I shackled myself to you but I was scared out of my mind by all the fae anyway so no way was that happening and then Arius demanded I be his partner so he could challenge a fae king so I agreed because he has no other friends but then some other guy came and killed the king and held us hostage until I agreed to arrange a meeting between you and him." I grabbed my knees with both hands, out of breath but still determined to get the rest said. "I'm sorry...Jett said he'll...help me find a way to...kill him tomorrow. Sorry."

"You pity Arius?" Kane asked, sitting up, mouth tight at the corners. "That's why you went with him?"

I winced at the way he put it. "He's Aster's brother and I owed him for saving you. And technically, I didn't go with him to Faerie. May had him kidnap me and he used the situation to his advantage."

He laughed.

I felt my brows shoot up. I frowned. "I've made a mess of things but I promise I'll protect the pack so don't be...mad."

"I'm not mad about the challenge," he said, getting up with a smile. "I'm not mad about anything anymore since you view Arius as nothing more than a charity case."

I straightened, about to defend Arius but decided against it after Kane finally believed I wasn't in love with him. "I can't believe you thought I really ran off with him. You're always going on about how I should trust you but you don't trust me, do you?"

He shook his head, smile disappearing. "I wouldn't blame you if you ran off. I haven't been the best-"

"We got over that part, remember?" I said, rolling my eyes. "I promised I was going to give you a chance. I meant it."

"Sorry."

I smiled, tone turning reluctantly playful. "See? Why would I leave you when you've just learned to be nice to other people?"

"I've always been nice," he replied, blue eyes growing amused as he started to close the distance between us.

A knock at the door stopped his advance.

He glanced at it, glanced at me, then the bed. "I'm not feeling nice anymore."

I would have smiled if the knock hadn't frazzled my nerves, a knock this late couldn't mean good news. Especially when Jett had insisted I rest until morning. I walked over and opened the door, expecting the worst.

"We've got a problem," Jett said, confirming my fears.