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13

JACKSON HALE

I looked into Spencer's glossy hazel eyes as she stared, frightened, at me. She searches my face for any answers to what just happened before. Me... shifting from my natural state to my human form and Derek reveals himself as a bloodsucking vampire. The mythical monsters lurking in the shadows. it reminded me of the split between our two species and how little I know about humans. 

Looking away from Spencer, I searched for the tall, blonde boy but he has nowhere to be seen. I let out a low growl at the images of what happened. Derek's fangs on her neck, his grip around her waist, and the dazed scared look on her face. It makes my blood boil. I wanted to kill the fanged asshole.

"He's gone," Spencer whispers, her hand on my chest. I look down at her damp face and smile lightly. My fingers run down her slick straight ponytail and rest them gently on her small waist. The fabric of her yoga pants rubs against my palms as she scoots closer to me. Our chests touched and my arms were around her. 

The wolf within me courted the beautiful human with light, soft touches, and a protective embrace. Once I witnessed Derek and Spencer, I couldn't let her go tonight. Like now, we were so close to each other, I could fan my breath against her cheek just by whispering sweet nothings.

"Spencer," I breathe restlessly.

"Jackson?" She asks lowly, I sigh and press my forehead against hers. "What's happening?"

I decided, in the tense moment, I couldn't continue to lie to her. I respected Spencer too much to treat her like she was clueless. "I'm- uh- a werewolf and Derek was a vampire."

"A vampire?" She pulled away shocked, her eyes widened but still ever so curious. "He's Diego's brother, how?" Spencer's eyes begged me for the answer. "I don't understand, Jackson."

"Diego is one too. His whole family is." I explain; I couldn't really talk about it all right now. Speaking this out in the open of the human town is against the rules, especially speaking to Spencer about it. But I didn't even know how I got from my house to here. I just felt like I had to. Like everything in my body was pulling me to see her. And I did it without thinking.

"I-I- what?" She was in disbelief. I can't have her going home alone and potentially telling the world what she just saw. Do I trust her?

"I need you to come to my house and we can talk about it with my family," I tell her but she instantly tenses.

"No. I want you to tell me alone. We'll go back to my house, my dad's not home tonight." She says, I grin at her suggestion. She really wants to know, not run away but know what's going on.

"Okay, it's up to you," I say. She grabs my hand from behind her and squeezes it.

"My house is only a few blocks away. We can walk but you need to take my jacket." She says making me suddenly aware that I'm completely naked. My face reddens in embarrassment and Spencer chuckles.

She backs away from me while maneuvering her way out of her jogging jacket. Spencer hands it to me and I wrap the jacket's arms around my waist allowing the body of the jacket to cover my crotch. I see her bite the bottom of her lip as her eyes roam my vulnerable body. I smirk at her and she meets my eyes. She doesn't get embarrassed but instead smirks back.

"You like what you see?" I ask cockily.

Spencer smiles widely, "Fuck yes." She whispers under her breath unbelievably. No shame in sight.

Spencer guides me out of the trail with our hands still intact. I felt the cool of her fingers wrapped around my hand and I shiver as a result. I was excited to enter her house but scared by what I'd be telling her.

———

Spencer opened the front of her massive house and stepped inside. Immediately, I heard loud barking erupt in the hall and a familiar dog run up to us. Well to me. He stood firmly in front of Spencer and snarled at me. Is this how I looked when Derek came?

"August! Ruhig!" Spencer yelled in a stern (very sexy) voice. The dog obeyed and sat down with a whimper. "Does he act like that because you're... what you are?"

"Yeah.." I breathe. "It happens a lot."

"Oh," she pauses before pointing down the hall, "My room is down there on the left. I'm going to take Auggie out for a minute."

I nodded awkwardly and slowly made my way down the hall. Spencer took Auggie with her and out to the unknown. I entered her room and looked around. There wasn't much to it, the walls were pretty empty and everything was organized perfectly.

Under her window was a beige desk against white walls. Centered at the wall was her bed, neatly made, and her nightstands with a few stacked cup holders. Her closet door was ajar revealing a small portion of her large clothing collection.

I ran my fingers along the wall and chuckled as it hit nothing. No posters or picture frames. No words of encouragement or whiteboards to doodle on. She has nothing on her walls to show that she was an average teenage girl. Everything looked so bare that if I didn't know any better, I'd say no one lived in here.

"Jackson?" I hear Spencer's small voice call. I turn around to see her with a small kind smile, looking at me like I'm all she ever wants to see again. She walked into the room and her focus stayed on me. 

"Your room looks empty," I tell her and she looks around like she's seeing it for the first time.

"It's only a room. I sleep in here and go on with my day." She explains and walks further inside the room. It wasn't hard to realize that Spencer was a different type of person. The type to only exist because of bad experiences and haunting memories. 

"No pictures?"

"No friends." She says. "No family."

"What about your dad?" I ask and she looks at me sadly. Something I never want to see on her face again.

"He's complicated. I love him but my life has been complicated because of him. Because of my mom." She whispers.

"I'm sorry." And I will am. Sorry in more ways than one. "And what 'bout your mom?" 

This time she looked at me with a small, compassionate smile. She then turned her head away from me and I stared at her side profile as she studied the bare white wall of her bedroom. "My mother was the most beautiful person I have ever seen. I am not even exaggerating." Spencer's attention turned back to me again, "She was so kind and caring, always trying to help out the people she cared deeply about. And she was strong and stubborn, and always driving my dad crazy but he loved her. He loved her like Prince Charming to Cinderella." I smiled at her but she didn't seem finished.

"I can tell you loved her very much," I responded comfortingly. 

 "When she died, my dad got strict and paranoid. He started to become extremely overprotective of me and that is how I got into boxing. He was one himself before he met my mother and he wanted to make sure I knew how to protect myself." The room fell silent, the air conditioning breezing by my bare skin.

"So... your story?" She asks, taking the attention off her, and I smile. The way she looked at me made my heart beat faster than ever, the urge to take her cute cheeks in my hands and kiss her adorable nose tickled agonizingly at my chest. I grab her hand and pull her close to me. Her own hand hits my chest as a barrier between us. She looks up into my eyes and gapes open her mouth in astonishment. "Your eyes." She whispers gently. "They're yellow."

"Because I'm a werewolf," I whisper back, and she shivers under my breath.

"And your family?"

"Yes, and others." I smile and push a piece of her hair behind her ear. "Most of us. A lot are other kinds of creatures."

"Like Derek?" She mumbles. The name sends a jolt of anger down my spine, I held it back as much as I could.

"And his family."

"Diego?"

"Including Diego," I tell her. I almost forgot that they were together but it quickly left my mind; it was insignificant to me at this moment.

"Tell me everything."