Alpha Ember (ALPHA KANE BOOK 2)

36. Rooftop Performance

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.