Tyra

I felt itchy. Antsy.

Not in a bad way. Definitely not in a bad way.

My head hurt and my forehead and armpits were damp with sweat, prompting me to make a stealthy escape to the rooftop for air. Once there though, I couldn't shake the feeling of being trapped. Confined despite the lack of walls surrounding me.

I let my feet carry the brunt of my anxiety- I mean mixed feelings- and paced briskly, hoping the activity would wear me out and sooth the insistent hunger gnawing at my soul. I ran my tongue across my front teeth. My mouth was dry, my taste buds yearning for a certain sweet taste.

It's been a week since...since my last bite.

It was too soon to be feeling this unhinged.

Too inconvenient a time to have the darkness once again reaching for me when I've just grasped that ray of light.

Coming here was the wrong choice.

Jett trusted me yet it was only a matter of time before I shattered that trust with my destructive habits.

"Are you okay?"

I jolted upright, my back rim-rod straight, feeling not unlike a foot soldier on the verge of deserting the army caught by the commanding officer.

Face not betraying whether he knew what I'd been up to or not, Jett took off his jacket and pulled it around my shoulders. My fingers twitched, nearly throwing it off. I needed the cold to help calm my nervous energy, but I also needed to not act like a jerk to Jett anymore so I held the jacket closer, breathing in the scent of him. A wary but familiar calm settled over me. Magical soul mate effect in action.

"What brings you here?" I asked, managing to at least sound stable thanks to him.

"You're not okay," he observed.

My denial was automatic. "I'm fine."

"You're lying to me. I can tell."

Shit, I kept forgetting that werewolves weren't humans and had their own built-in lie detectors. Their daily lives were so mundane compared to the fae that it was easy to forget they were supernaturals too.

Jett pursed his lips. "You think I'm too human?" Ludicrous, his tone said.

I pounced on the distraction like it was a lifeline. "Yes, actually I do. Cross my heart and hope to die."

"You must be blind to think that," came a female response.

I turned to the woman who had the audacity to call me blind. She approached us with hands stuffed into the pockets of a black coat. The coat was so buffed and her boots were so chunky that her bare legs were two pale lines between the dark outline of them both. Her black hair was styled in a sharp pixie cut, the black eyeliner around her blue eyes thick.

She was tall, which made it easy for her to place an arm around one of Jett's shoulders and lean against him. She chewed the gum in her mouth obnoxiously, only smirking in response to my glare. "Jett says you can dance. Wanna prove it?"

"Wanna keep your hands to yourself?" I shot back. I jerked Jett away from her. "Why do I have to prove anything to you?"

She crossed her arms. "I'm your new dance teacher."

"Give us a moment, Red," Jett said before I could respond.

I let him steer me away but my eyes didn't stray away from 'Red'. "What kind of name is Red?" I asked distastefully.

Jett stopped us besides the railing. "Her twin's name is Fred. It's supposed to rhyme I guess: Fred and Red."

Red, who rhymed with Fred, was currently ogling Jett's butt.

Jaw dropping, I covered his backside with my hands. "What the hell are you staring at?"

Her view impeded, Red shifted her sinful eyes away. She reached into the pocket of her coat and recovered a small portable speaker. "I came here to see if your dancing skills are as good as Jett claims but since you have nothing better to show me..."

Unbelievable.

I threw up my hands. "Fine, play the darn music. I'll dance for you." I shrugged off Jett's jacket and tied it around his waist, patting his butt. "Keep that on like your life depends on it," I warned.

"I'll record your performance," Jett responded, holding up his phone.

I frowned. Faerie was full to bursting with magic yet the one thing it didn't have was modern technology. That being the case, I've never had one of my performances recorded before and wasn't sure how to feel about it.

In fact... I've never danced in front of an audience without consuming faerie fruit either.

Well.

"Yoohoo!" Red called. "Any decade now, sweetheart?"

Darius stepped up beside her, shaking his head. "Your impatience isn't becoming of a teacher," he said.

And to my surprise a small crowd was forming behind Darius, werewolves here to see what tricks the new addition to their pack had up her sleeve. More witnesses, their eyes drilling holes in my already cracked facade of control.

For the first time ever I wasn't certain about dancing.

While I was coming to this jolting realization, Red was threatening to smack Darius with her speaker if he tried to lecture her again. "I don't need advice from someone who thinks his life is over just because he lost his first love," she snorted. She turned on the music and nodded my way. "Show us some moves."

The song was the opposite of what I was used to, which were elegant melodies that began teasingly slow and built towards a dazzling crescendo. This was hip hop. An upbeat song full of swag that only a badass could dance to.

I was throwing smokescreen on it but it was obvious I was going through the beginnings of a withdrawal. Therefore I was very short on any kind of swag and I most certainly did not feel like a badass.

Jett's hand rested on my shoulder. "Forget it, let's go downstairs."

"No!" Red shouted over the music. "She's got this. You've got this, Tyra."

I thought she was being sardonic but there wasn't a drop of sarcasm in her expression, only an unwavering determination. As if she were the one going through my ordeal instead.

Jett was offering me a way out if I wanted.

Red wanted to see what I was made of.

"Start recording," I told Jett, cracking my knuckles.

The first few steps were awkward and clumsy- and drew some raised eyebrows- but I ignored the heaviness of expectation and focused on myself, letting my instincts lead me into familiar territory. Back home my halfing nature may have ensured my lack of magic but music provided me with a magic of its own. That magic never failed to dazzle my audience. And I knew it didn't matter if I'd digested some pink fruit or not, music was just as much a part of me as the blood flowing in my veins and there was nothing that could take that away. Be it my fear of happiness or lack of it.

I let the magic embrace me, spinning a web so enchanting it made my audience willing captives that cheered me on. I threw my excessive energy into the powerful moves until my pounding headache was overcome by the joyful pounding of my heart.

By the time the speaker fell silent I was soaked in sweat, my breaths small puffs of white in front of me.

Out of habit, I waited a tense second for the fatigue to drop me to the floor like a sack of potatoes- but of course that didn't happen. I felt tired but not in an all-consuming way, more like a winded, exhilarating tired you feel after completing a task you originally thought impossible.

I felt great.

"That wasn't bad," Red said.

A woman pushed Red to the side. "Don't listen to that grouch, you were great! Could you-"

Darius pushed the woman to the side. "Everybody party!"

Red turned the music back on with huff. A few whoops were let out before the rooftop suddenly turned into a make-shift dance floor.

Jett came to my side, holding up his screen so I'd see the saved recording of my dancing. The lighting up here actually worked in my favor. Not bad indeed.

"They don't feel the cold like normal humans," Jett said, gesturing towards his fellow pack mates with a fond smile. "Are you cold?"

"A bit but that doesn't matter." I grinned up at him, dragging him towards the center of the chaos. "Dance with me."

Because if dancing put off the shaky feeling and gave me a chance to be closer to him then I could dance the whole night away.

At least until I found another solution.