The large living space of Freya's home was beginning to feel suffocating. I asked if I could have some fresh air and was directed to the second story balcony that doubled as the shop's awning. I half expected Ms. Pierce or Mr. B to follow me out, but I guess they figured I wasn't going to jump off the ledge and try to escape on broken legs.

The balcony wasn't hard to find. I started up the large staircase and once I reached the top floor I was face to face with two hallways, one to the left and one straight ahead. The left side held only a railing, with a large opening looking out over the living space downstairs. Considering the front of the shop was toward the front of the building, I headed down the hall straight ahead of me. This place felt even bigger on the second floor, almost like a hotel, maybe in the past, it was. But it was easy for me to find the French double doors covered in windows that led to the balcony at the end of the hall.

Walking out, I took a deep breath filling my lungs with fresh air before approaching the wrought iron railing and leaning my arms on it. The street Frey's home rested on was pretty quiet. A couple small shops were across the street, with the corner store to one side of the building and the church ruins to the other. I wondered if Freya chose to live here or if this was somehow planned by the organization to keep a watchful eye on the ruin doors. I was willing to bet on the latter.

"Trying to get away?"

I nearly jumped out of my skin from the sound of the velvety deep voice behind me. Turning around, I found none other than Wes stepping out on the balcony and closing the french doors behind him.

"Damn it, Wes!" I shouted placing my hand over my heart. "I didn't hear you open the door. A little warning next time, please."

"I could say the same to you." He mumbled under his breath.

I turned around and leaned my back against the railing to face him.

"And what's that suppose to mean?"

His eyes narrowed on me. "The things you said to Toby and the rest of them at the park, a little warning would have been nice."

"I did what I had to do to keep you safe."

His response to my answer was a disgusted look as his lip pulled over his perfect white teeth in a vicious sneer.

"I don't need you to keep me safe! I could have broken those guys down piece by piece, but I didn't because I didn't want to expose us."

I closed my eyes and shook my head letting him know just how much I didn't believe him. When I opened my eyes he stood just inches from my face.

"We're stronger than them, Chloe. I could have easily taken them down and you could have too. All you had to do was try instead of bending to what they wanted."

I stood there looking at him wide-eyed and speechless. He was probably right, I could have taken big Betty down with my inhuman strength. But I was scared of doing that, I was scared of letting that beast inside of me out and hurting someone. Even if that someone was a monster themselves. So I played week, I let them get the upper hand, and I agreed to Toby's demands all while telling myself I had no other choice. But I had plenty of other choices, I chose the easy way out, and now I was afraid it was going to cost me Wes' affection.

"I'm sorry, your right," I answered lowering my head to look at my feet.

"You know the part that hurt the most?" He asked me.

I shook my head.

"When you screamed that I wasn't your boyfriend."

My head jerked up to look into his pained face. I never thought about my outburst, about the thing I yelled to get them to stop. The fact that it bothered him so much hurt more than the thought of them hurting him physically.

To avoid looking at the pain in his beautiful gray-blue eyes, I pushed off from the rail and began pacing in front of the double doors. He watched me closely like I was a bomb ready to go off.

"I'm sorry Wes. I wasn't thinking, but we never really talked about it so you can't be mad. Besides, you said yourself you didn't do the whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing when we first met!"

My pacing was paused when he reached out and grabbed my hand. But instead of pulling me close, he backed me against the brick wall that covered the outside of the building.

"That was before."

"Before what?" I asked, my breathing getting heavy with the anxiety of his closeness.

"Before everything. I thought I wanted you because you turned me down but that's not it. I want you because you get me, you see all of me and you haven't run for the hills yet. Like you said before, we're a lot alike, and sharing that makes me feel close to you. Besides, I don't know too many girls that would defy someone like Ms. Pierce for me, or agree to go on a date with a creep like Toby just to save me from getting a broken bone. You've fought for me, and no one, not even my own family, has ever done that for me."

I could feel tears starting to pool in my eyes, and it didn't help that he was getting closer. My back was completely against the wall and his body was pressed up against mine. Before I could respond he dipped his head down to whisper in my ear.

"You make me want to be better Chloe."

Pulling back from my ear but moving his face just inches from mine, he continued.

"You say I'm not your boyfriend, and I want to change that. Be mine Chloe and I'll be yours."

I was breathless, speechless. My mind and heart were filled with Wes and I wasn't going to turn him down again and lose him for good. Taking a deep breath I nodded my agreement still unable to form coherent words and was quickly greeted with his lips pressed to mine, his body pressed completely against me. Our mouths moved as one until we were forced to pull away and catch our breaths.

With my eyes closed and my breathing heavy, I asked the first thing that came to mind.

"So what do we do about the dance?"

Wes chuckled as he took a step back and ran his hand through his gorgeous hair.

"Don't worry about that, you're not going with him. If he doesn't like it, then I'll take him out."

"Wes! You can't kill him!"

His laughter deepened but sounded far from humorous.

"I won't, but I'll make sure he doesn't come near you."

Before I could ask him what he meant by that, Lolly appeared out of thin air a few feet away from us.

"Sage is awake." and just like that, she popped out of sight again.

Wes and I walked hand in hand back downstairs to find Sage awake and sitting up on the couch. I let go of his hand and rushed to her side.

Spotting Freya working on something in the kitchen I called out. "I thought she was supposed to be out for a couple of hours?"

"Her demon blood must have burned the medicine out of her system quicker. I've never used that stuff on your kind before so I didn't know." She answered, stirring a steaming pot on the stove.

I turned back to Sage on the couch. She held a damp washcloth to her head but other than that and a bruise I could see forming just beneath the cloth, she looked fine.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just got a headache." She answered, nodding at the same time.

Ms. Pierce stood up from the bar stool she was seated at and approached us.

"Well if she's feeling better we should get you all back to Landry's."

I didn't like the idea of moving Sage so soon but it wasn't really my choice. Besides, we would have to go back sooner or later anyway and at this point, I was sure the on-site nurse would be available if Sage still needed help.

Before we left, Freya spooned the liquid from the pot on the stove into a couple glass vials and handed them to Ms. Pierce. "Make sure she drinks these, once before bed and once more tomorrow morning. It'll help with the pain and the dizziness."

"Thank you." Ms. Pierce said, pocketing the vials inside of her suit jacket.

Mr. B drove us in the van back to Landry's and I was happy to snag a seat in between my sister and my now boyfriend. I wasn't entirely looking forward to returning to the facility but at least I knew I wouldn't be alone.