that’s possible. I gather from the looks of some of the others that they had no idea either.
“Seems they have some entertainment coming.”
“The travelling fighting troupe you ran away from?” Luca asks, his eyes darting to her collar.
Beside me, Jetta nods. “Yep. Looks like my time’s up. Troupe Delirium is coming, and it’s no coincidence. My old master knows I’m here. And he wants me back.”
Addie pushes through the crowd, a fierce expression on her face. “He can’t have you. You can stay here. Finally join our pack,” she says, motioning toward Hugo. “We can keep you safe, Jetta.”
Jetta scoffs. “No. So long as Master Kaazu is alive, I’m never safe,” she says, voice steady. “I’m leaving. Tonight. I never should’ve stayed here in the first place.”
She turns and walks away, and I’m so fucking dumbfounded that I can’t even move or speak. I just watch as she stalks away, blood stained on the skin of her hand as she disappears into the warehouse.
Addie gets her senses back quicker than me, because she starts to go after Jetta, but Hugo stops her. “Not this time, kid. Jetta needs to decide for herself once and for all.”
Addie starts crying, all three of her mates stepping up around her to offer a gentle touch of comfort as emotions choke her.
Me? I’m fucking brewing. Anger the color of tar drips out of me like bitter coffee, collecting in the gaping hole Jetta just tore in my chest, leaving the sting of acid on my tongue.
Everyone is looking at me. I can feel their eyes on my face, waiting for my reaction. Most of them know that we’ve been hooking up, since everything that happens in this pack becomes common knowledge. It’s hard to keep any kinds of secrets here. But right now, I can’t stand the scrutiny.
I stalk away, heading right for the warehouse she just disappeared into, because the hell if she thinks she’s going to slip away without saying anything. She can look me in the face and tell me she’d rather leave me and this pack than stay and fight.
I shove open the door and head for the stairs, going right for her room. “Jetta!”
She’s in her room getting changed, but the sight of her naked body doesn’t even faze me right now. I kick the door shut behind me as she pulls on a long sleeved black shirt.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
She grabs her fishnet tights—the ones I love taking off with my teeth before fucking her—and rolls them on her shapely legs before grabbing a pair of shorts and yanking them on next. “I already said outside. I’m leaving.”
“So that’s it? Kaazu comes to town and you run? We can protect you, Jet.”
“No, you can’t,” she snaps with vicious frustration. She moves, snatching up the brush from the dresser as she starts to rip through the tangles in her hair. “And I’ve said all along I’m not staying. It’s not my problem that you didn’t get that through your pig-head.”
“Listen, you’re just scared. You feel guilty,” I say placatingly. “But we can come up with a plan together. We can figure out how to go in and fuck up Kaazu and rescue Heathcliff—”
“No,” she says fiercely, cutting me off. “I’ve been wanting to leave. This is just the kick in the ass I needed.”
“You’re full of stale shit,” I retort. “You didn’t want to leave then, and you don’t want to leave now.”
“Yes, I do,” she argues. “My collar—”
“Your collar?” I snap, cutting her off. “Your collar was a fucking excuse. A crutch you used. You never once tried to get it off, Jet.”
Fury flashes in the depths of her inky eyes. “Hugo was tracking down a conjurer. Nothing else worked,” she growls.
“Yeah, and you were all too happy to stay here and not try anything else, isn’t that right?”
I watch the muscle in her jaw jump from how hard she’s grinding her teeth. Anger radiates off her so much, filling her eyes with that Fighter Jet fire I love so much.
I want her to cave. To admit she’s choosing wrong. I want her to stay. With us. With me.
I want her to commit so I can take her mouth and then fuck her against this wall, until all of that fight clenches around my cock. I want her to trust me. To have faith in this pack. To let me claim her once and for all so we can help her without her trying