Tyra

I'd been pitying Darius' pitiful state as a human being (or should I say werewolf) but by Sunday morning I'd somehow joined the same lowly ranks as him. And not as in happily skipping along the path of self-destruction like he was doing, it was the constant check-ups from fellow pack members that we now had in common. In my case it wasn't them giving me a full body search every few hours. What they did was shove tasks at me one after the other. Whenever I felt the craving creeping in there was someone at my side right away, asking me if I could hold their baby for them while they went on an errand, asking me to join a dance game tournament, asking me to help them grab something at the store a few blocks away. There was always something they needed and they made sure to hold my hand whenever they had the chance. The contact had initially baffled me- until I realized their touch had the same calming effect as Jett's. They were literally keeping me from collapsing in on myself.

Precisely like Jett said they would.

Needless to say, I somehow survived Sunday.

But today was Monday and there were no more nosy, well-meaning werewolves at every corner to save me from myself. I was out of luck. I was also supposed to accompany Ember to her classes yet I had no idea how I was going to carry out the role of frightening bodyguard when I kept fidgeting and glancing about like a caged animal. Which is exactly the state I'd be in if I attempted to stay still in a room full of strangers.

"Can I take a day off today?" I asked Jett when he'd returned to the driver's seat after helping Ember out.

"I didn't plan on having you work this week," Jett replied, staring pointedly at my trembling hands. He pushed his seat back, patted his thigh. "Come here."

Saved once again. I unbuckled my seat belt without another thought and straddled him. "I'm causing all of you trouble." Still, I wrapped my arms around him, unable to stop myself from clinging.

He tugged at one of my curls. "The scar on my face, do you want to know how I got it?"

I touched the scar in question, quirking a brow. "You're willing to share the story? Where did Mr. Secretive go to?"

"You don't want to hear it?"

I cupped his face. "You have my undivided attention."

His lips twitched upwards in amusement. "I got the scar while escaping the cage my parents put me in." He paused, not to put a check on any discomfort you'd expect after making that kind of admission, but more like he was searching for the right way to proceed. "If I hadn't gone through the trouble of escaping I would still be locked up in a basement in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes the pain is worth the freedom."

I waited for him to continue with the story. He just stared back at me, apparently finished.

I snorted. "I thought you were going to take the time to explain the story in full detail, instead you go 'I escaped and got the scar on my way out. End of story.'"

Jett shrugged. "I'm not good with words."

I laughed. "Now that I think about it, did you compare me to a scar?"

He ran his hands through my hair, tickled the nape of my neck with his fingertips. "Maybe it's because you've marked me the same way."

Despite being pleased at his comment, I gave him a pointed look. "You really don't want to start a tickling battle in the car. You won't have any room to escape."

His expression turned smug. "I'm not ticklish."

That didn't bode well for me. "Can I ask you another question?" I asked, diverting him.

He shook his head. "Since you said I'm bad at explaining things, how about you guess instead? If you get it wrong..." he wiggle his fingers. "I'll tickle you."

I drew closer, toying with his silver earring. The tremor in my hand had stopped, I noticed. I was so grateful that I couldn't get annoyed at his adamancy to tickle me. "What happens if my guess is right?"

His arms encircled my waist, his expression amused. "Can I kiss you?"

"Hell yes," I said, then wracked my brain for the most obviously correct fact about him. "You have tattoos."

He leaned down, bringing our lips inches apart. "That wasn't an impressive guess. I think you have ulterior motives."

I clenched the front of his shirt, my restlessness returning fiercely. I wiggled, trying to bridge the small gap between us. "Just kiss me."

Jett planted his hands on my hips and stopped my advance. "You need to play by the rules."

I released a frustrated growl.

He nipped at my chin, fingers kneading at my waist in a delicious way. "Go on. Guess. No more cheating."

Counting backwards from ten helped me regain my composure and I gave it a shot again. "Your parents were deranged and tried to use drugs to subdue you because you were way too handsome for them to handle-"

His hands clutched at my sides just before his lips descended upon mine, gentle and probing. A good thing too, he was going easy but I was already feeling overwhelmed. The taste of him, it was something I could willingly get addicted to- the only thing that tasted better than the blasted fae fruit. No wonder he'd been so confident about himself, I thought, moaning into his kiss. He jerked away at the sound, but not because he'd wanted to stop. Judging by the intense way he was staring at my mouth and the way he slowly licked his bottom lip, he was having trouble controlling himself.

It wouldn't be so hard to get him to kiss me after all. Satisfied by this realization, I gave him a sultry smile. "I thought you said kisses were for when I'm right? I said they locked you up because you were too handsome."

"I like how you pointed out my handsomeness," Jett replied, dipping down and stealing a quick kiss.

Breathless, I grinned when he pulled away. Definitely not difficult.

He gave my backside a soft swat. "Stop laughing at the fact that I'm at your mercy. Next guess."

"Unless your parents were murderers, I'm guessing you didn't kill them after escaping."

He raised his eyebrows in question.

I placed a palm on his chest where his heartbeat still hadn't slowed from our kiss. "Don't give me that look. You have a soft heart and this time I'm not fishing for compliments. Or am I wrong?"

"I didn't kill them," he replied quietly. "I wanted to, but I didn't think it was worth it."

I nodded. "They didn't deserve you. I guessed right, where's my kiss?" I tilted my chin upwards and pursed my lips.

He grabbed my cheeks and indulged me until I was the one who broke it off to get some air. "They won't come looking for you wherever they are, will they?" I asked breathlessly.

He shook his head. "I didn't kill them but I gave them a good scare. They won't bother us in any distant future."

"If I see them, I'm kicking their butts."

"On my behalf? I don't think I'd visit such a fate on even them, your butt kicking could kill a person."

I cupped his chin with a laugh. "My parents think otherwise, they were quite against me kicking any kind of butts back home. Controlling myself around the annoying fae was always a trying ordeal."

Concern marred his previously content features. "Were you scared?"

"Sometimes." I could see him getting ready to start down that line of questioning, but I didn't want to share the ugly details of my past just yet. I was already an ugly mess in the present as it was. Plus, I was genuinely curious about what made Jett tick, so I diverted the conversation back his way. "Were you scared of your parents?"

The look he gave me said he was on to what I was doing but he thankfully didn't press the issue further. "I was, in the beginning. Rather than parents, they were two scientists and I was their valued experiment. Hybrid children are very, very rare. They made it clear I was special but still nothing more than a project to them, never a person."

I bristled at that, studying him for any obvious red flags that indicated buried wounds. His hair had grown compared to the first time I'd met him, the short curls gave him a more boyish look, softening his thorny appearance a bit. Not that it mattered much, on the inside he was as soft as a marshmallow. Which meant what his so-called parents had done to him had hurt- and yet there was nothing but peace in his gaze. However monumental it had been, he had moved on from the pain of his scars.

Confident that I wouldn't hurt him with my question, I went ahead and asked, "What did they do to you?"

He chucked me under the chin. "Sold my blood at an unbelievable price to vampires, witches and any other ghastly creature who had steep pockets. There wasn't much time for them to do more than that though, I ran away when I was thirteen."

"I'm glad." I wrapped my arms around him and inhaled the scent that was uniquely his. Closing my eyes to savor the feeling of rightness that was being held in his arms and simply talking to him.

Conversing like this made me see how much Jett was still flesh and blood despite being the 'scary hybrid' everyone was wary to mess with. On a basic level he wasn't that much different from me. That meant overcoming my own past wasn't impossible, that getting a grip on myself and looking forward to the future with open arms could be easier than I'd originally thought.

Andknowing that future included Jett made the struggle to find my inner strengthworthwhile.