short.”
He glances over at me in surprise. “You...wanted the fighting to go on for longer?”
He doesn’t understand. I know he doesn’t, because there’s even a tinge of humor in his question. But I’m not amused right now. I feel like my muscles are going to snap if I don’t use them. My entire body is buzzing with violence.
I don’t answer him, my attention staying on the road ahead. When we get back to the Pack Aberrant compound, I so badly need to go run or shift—something to empty out this overflowing well of brutality from my veins. But at the gate, we’re stopped by Luca and Reese.
The pack rat female leans into the truck, her eyes wide. “You came to help?”
I’m so antsy that I shift in my seat. God, I need to go. I need to do about a dozen routines in a row. I need to attack the shadows and run myself into the ground.
“I was bored,” I tell her. It’s bullshit, and we both know it.
Reese grins like a weirdo. “Yeah, right. You’re totally my friend! Admit it.”
Oh God, I should’ve hid in the back of the truck. Or shifted and snuck in. Anything to avoid this awkward exchange. I need to punch something and escape this conversation.
“You’re a tolerable roommate,” I counter, because if she tries to do the thing with the feelings and the hugs, I might puke right now.
Fortunately, Reese knows me at least a little bit, because she just nods. “Thanks, Jetta. I really appreciate it.”
My palms are a sweaty mess from the way she’s looking at me like I’m the best friend ever, because really, I’m the shittiest. I can’t do the talking and the laughing and the girly shit. But I can fight. And when my goddamn roommate gets taken by a prick mongoose pack, you bet your ass I’m going to be there, ready to fuck people up.
Not that I’m going to tell her that or anything. She might try to hug me.
Jericho chuckles at my awkwardness before pulling away, and he drives us down the dirt road, heading toward the warehouses, but instead of parking, he drives right by them.
“Where are you going?”
He glances over at me, one hand on the top of the steering wheel, making driving look way too sexy. “I know that look in your eye.”
“What look?”
“The look that says you’re ready to explode. You still have the fight in you. Let’s go get it out.”
Shock puts me into silence for a few moments before I can get my tongue to work again. “How the hell did you know?”
“Like I said, I know the look,” he says with an easy shrug. “Happens to the enforcers sometimes. We’ve had to do some things in defense of the pack, and it can be hard to turn it off after. Happens in training too. You need to get it out, so that’s what we’re gonna do. You can decide how.”
I’m so floored that Jericho read me and actually understands. An unknown emotion clogs my arteries for a second before my heartbeat shoves it out and starts beating normally again. Looking forward, I notice he’s heading for the gym.
I clear my throat. “Um, can you stop at the cafeteria instead?”
Jericho laughs. “Hungry? I thought you needed to fight.”
“I do. The gym has too much equipment.”
He gives me a strange look. “Um...okay…”
Doing as I asked, he pulls the truck in front of the cafeteria, and I hop out before he even throws it in park.
I walk up and pull the door open, sighing in relief at the sight of the dark, empty room. Already, my body is feeling a sense of relief, because it knows what I’m here for, since I’ve been sneaking in here at night to go through my routines and exercises.
I hear the door open and close, and I turn around to face Jericho. His dark silhouette is rounding with muscles in all the right places, and all hard lines on the rest.
“You got a couple options,” he says, crossing his arms in front of him.
My gaze snaps up to his face, cutting short the appreciative perusal I was having. “What?”
“We could fight. You could spar with me until you run me ragged. You can go through some routines, and I’ll gladly sit here and watch until you stop. Or, you could let me fuck you. Right here, right now,” he says, his voice dark with promise. “And if the aggression still isn’t out of you by the