IZEL

My heart jolted when I woke up. 

I was in the arms of a vampire, and we were both half-naked. The skin-to-skin contact was on a whole other level. His arms were wrapped tight around me and—

Jaeger cleared his throat. The action tensed his stomach and I could feel the outline of his abs against my stomach, which sent sparks down to unmentionable places.

"I know you're awake now," he said, "I felt your breathing and pulse change."

Were we that close that he could feel that? I quickly removed my hands from around him and brought them against his chest to push myself away from him, but he didn't let me go. My hands were still on his chest, ripples shooting up my arms as I tried to push away from him. Rather than moving away from Jaeger, I suddenly found myself against him again. He had pulled me closer, securing his grip around me so I couldn't escape.

"What are you—?"

"You still want to kill me?" He asked, cutting me off. "If I remember correctly, you said you would wake up before me, and kill me."

"So?" I questioned, trying, and failing, to get away from him.

"I've been awake for almost an hour now, so you failed on the waking up before me part, and as for the killing... how's that going?" I could hear the amusement in his voice.

I growled, squirming, trying to free myself from his hold.

"I wasn't trying to kill you," he said. "I saved you."

"You threw me off a cliff!"

"I did, but I did that to save you."

"I could have saved myself," I snapped, "I'm a Vanquisher, one of the best."

"Yeah well, you were against a Quearus, one of the best. You had no weapons, your hands were tied and it kept trying to come to you. Do you know how hard it was to pull her back with a hand that was almost cut through?"

"I...don't...care." All I cared about was pushing away from him. I was warm enough but I just kept getting hotter the longer he held onto me.

"You wouldn't have been able to do anything weaponless and with your hands bound. The Quearus was relentless so the only way to survive was to—"

"Throw me off of a cliff?!"

"Precisely. You would have died if I hadn't."

"I could have died because you had!"

"But you didn't. I jumped in after you."

"So what? Do you want a thank you? You're a vampire so a fall like that wouldn't have killed you anyway. It's not like you risked your life for me or anything."

"I—" he paused as if being careful to choose his words. "I still jumped in, I could have just let you fall on your own, but I didn't."

I stopped my efforts to get out go his grip. He wasn't wrong. Would he have done that if he had been trying to kill me? Would he have made sure he hit the water first if he had been trying to kill me?

"I didn't want to kill you," he repeated, his voice surprisingly soft.

"Why'd you save me then?" I asked him. "You didn't have to jump in after me, so why'd you do that? You could have just left me to die so you'd know you wouldn't have to deal with me anymore. It probably felt good to toss me anyway, so why did you save me?"

He paused for a moment and I felt his breathing change, "I don't know," he finally said.

"What do you mean you don't know?" I asked.

"Because you're my partner?"

"That sounded more like a question than an answer." I pointed out. "If you want me to trust you then you have to tell me why. The real reason why."

"I don't know," he repeated. "I really don't know why. I stopped thinking. I knew the Quearus wouldn't jump in after us."

"Yeah, because the Quearus is sane," I spat.

"Then I guess I wasn't sane."

"That isn't convincing enough, you didn't give me a proper reason as to why you saved me."

"Why'd you save me then?" He countered.

Well, he got me there. I didn't know why I did that. I didn't know why I had conflicted emotions. I didn't know why I risked myself to save him, and I didn't want to try and figure out the reason why.

"I thought you could break my fall if there were rocks at the bottom," I lied. "There weren't any though, so that was pointless. I should have just let you go as we fell down the waterfall. Oh well."

"Wait, you held onto me as you fell down the waterfall as well?" 

Oh, he wasn't talking about that moment, he had been unconscious when we were thrown.

"How did you even manage that?" He asked, loosening his grip slightly so he could look at me. "I could have just dragged you down."

"But you didn't, and as I said, I wanted you to break my fall."

"So that means you saved me twice," he mused.

I scoffed, "for my well-being. But when was the other time?"

"The mouth-to-mouth."

"I wanted to kill you myself," I said as casually as I could manage, ignoring the heat flooding my face. "I wasn't going to allow the water to take that chance from me."

Jaeger laughed and the reverberations of the sound made something flutter in my stomach. "Interesting," he grinned, and the sight sent more flutters through me.

Was the fluttering because I was too close to him, a vampire? Had the flight or fight reflex activated again, and this was my body's way of getting me to flee?

My body only ever felt weird when I was near him, and I was very near him. I'd never been this close to him before, which was probably why the sensations were more intense.

I planned to keep my distance from now on because I didn't like the warnings I was receiving from my body for being too close to a vampire.

"What's so interesting about that?" I asked, forcing myself to maintain eye contact.

"I can tell you're lying," he narrowed his eyes, "but I don't know why."

"Let's just forget about this conversation," I said, "so can you let me go now? I won't kill you."

"Oh, right."

He released me and I quickly got out of his hold and stood, slightly stumbling when I put pressure on my ankle.

The sun was out, and I intended to shoot Jaeger a menacing glare, but when I looked at him, my breath caught. He looked good. Not good but... gorgeous. As gorgeous as anyone I'd ever seen. He looked like a paragon of beauty.

He was devilishly good-looking.

He was leaning on one hand, looking up at me. His tawny brown skin glowed with the sun despite the mud smearing his body. His hazel eyes were sparkling, reflecting the sun's light. His height made that posture much more striking. He looked so much like a human like this. I wanted to look away, to gauge my eyes out of their sockets for the way they drank in all his features. I was looking at him, and he was looking at me looking at him, but I couldn't stop. I wanted to leave because I had little to no clothes as well, but it was like I was in a trance. I wanted to do anything but stare, so I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but regretted it as soon as I did.

"Whoa," I blurted like an idiot.

His eyebrows shot up when those words left my mouth. I immediately put my hands to my mouth and looked away, something I should have done a long time ago. I'd lost control of my tongue.

"Did you... did you just say 'whoa'"? He asked.

"No!" I shouted, facing him again. "Why would I say 'whoa'? That is so weird."

I nervously chuckled, tempted to jump into the river so that it drowned out my embarrassment. Jaeger's jaw visibly tensed and at first, I thought it was because he was mad or uncomfortable, but then realised he was trying to suppress a laugh.

"I heard you say whoa."

"I did not! You're hearing things."

"And you're seeing things," a crooked smile formed on his lips, and I chastised myself for staring at his lips for longer than I should have. "Do you find me attractive, Izzy?"

"Wha—what do you... I mean I—" 

I was stammering. I never stammered. And yet here I was, stammering in his presence. I didn't know why such a question was making me so nervous and making my heart beat out of control. 

"No." I finally managed. "I think the word you meant to say was unattractive, which, if so, then yes. I do find you unattractive."

His smile grew and he let out a short, amused laugh, not drawing his eyes away from mine, "Do you now?"

"I do," I told him, crossing my arms and forcing myself to look at his face rather than his body.

He laughed again, clearly entertained by the play of events. He gave me a look that made something leap in my chest before saying, "tell me why I don't believe that for a second."

"You tell me."

He stared at me, his gaze unwavering like that of a predator studying its prey. "Because I can't be the only one that finds the other..." he trailed off, thinking of the right word before saying, "whoa."

My jaw slacked and my mouth dropped open before I could stop myself, and I couldn't bring myself to draw my eyes from his gaze. He found me 'whoa'?

The fluttering I'd felt in my stomach earlier was nothing compared to what I felt now. He was doing this on purpose as if he knew what his words did to me. I didn't even know what they did to me.

His expression suddenly turned grave and his gaze flicked to the side as if he didn't mean to say that.

He cleared his throat. "Just put on your clothes and keep quiet before you say anything else you don't want to."

I had completely forgotten I wasn't dressed. Before I said anything else idiotic, I quickly rinsed myself in the river, involuntarily glancing at Jaeger as he did the same. I almost fell into the river in my attempt to remain inconspicuous. Our eyes met once but we both instantly looked away.

I started putting on my clothes, and he did the same. I grabbed and pulled on my slightly damp pants and then started looking for my shirt.

Where was it?

Jaeger suddenly threw his shirt at me, and that was when I noticed a shirt tied around his hand, my shirt.

"Why is my shirt around your hand?" I demanded.

"I was cut remember, I tied it around my hand last night."

"But it would have healed."

"It was still stinging though."

"The stinging would have stopped."

"Just wear mine for now." He said and began walking away, "come on."

I sighed but threw on his shirt. It was pretty oversized but still very comfortable. 

Jaeger looked back to make sure I was following but immediately paused. His eyes glided over me, looking me up and down. His gaze was so intense that everywhere his eyes landed it felt like a physical touch on my body. He swallowed for some reason and I marked the way his jaw tensed before he focused his attention on the forest beyond us and continued walking. I let go of a breath I didn't know I was holding before catching up to him, limping because of my ankle. 

Jaeger slowed down and then looked at me sidelong, his gaze falling to my ankle. He could tell I needed his help, but I didn't want it, especially not when he was shirtless. His touch and his gaze, I didn't like the way they made me feel. I didn't like the way I couldn't stop glancing at his shirtless body. I didn't like the way I kept thinking back to last night. I just didn't like him, and I didn't like the idea of getting help from him either.

"I don't need your help," I found myself saying.

"I don't remember offering it," he retorted.

I sneered and I heard him softly laugh. "What's so funny."

"The fact that you clearly need my help," he said simply.

"I don't, actually," I lied and began walking faster than him to prove my point.

I started fine, walking like a normal person, but then started constantly stumbling, and each time I stumbled, he was suddenly beside me and caught my arm, stabling me.

"Quit touching me," I told him, failing to ignore the jitters that followed each touch.

"You're saying that like I want to touch you," he said, "you keep stumbling, it's a reflex."

"Then turn off your reflex."

He exhaled but continued walking. He stopped touching me like I'd told him not to, but this time it was me touching him. Every time I stumbled I reached out in reflex, catching his arm to stop myself from falling, then chastised myself for doing so each time. After a whole lot of stumbling, Jaeger suddenly stopped walking, turned around and looked me dead in the eyes.

"You're slowing us down," he stated. "Either I support you, or I carry you. Your choice."

"How about just leaving me behind?"

"That's not an option."

"Why not?"

"Because it isn't." He wrapped his hand around me, supporting me so I didn't put pressure on my ankle.

I didn't fight it this time, not wanting to slow us down and not wanting to risk being carried either. My body started feeling weird. The tingles. The flutters. The pulse.

The darn fight or flight reflex.