him and asked him directly. “Why did you kill him?”
“He was obsessed with you still.” He turned to me with soulful blue eyes. “And his parents were trying to get him released early.”
My heart plummeted. “What?”
“His mother was trying to bribe his doctors to say he wasn’t a danger to you anymore,” he explained.
I gaped at him. “How do you know that?”
“I kept an eye on the situation at the hospital,” he said.
Stunned, I looked out the windshield. Cars went by on the street as usual. As if we weren’t in my car having a conversation about a murder. Yeah, perfectly normal. Nothing to see here.
“He was going to try again,” I said, just so I could hear it out loud.
“Yes.” His voice was certain.
I shook my head as the situation sunk in. He was going to get out again. “So, you really were protecting me?”
“Why are you so angry with me?” he demanded.
My eyebrows shot up. “Seriously? You killed someone.”
“In your defense,” he countered. “And it can’t be just that.”
“It’s not,” I snapped, my fists tightening around the steering wheel. “You kept seeing things that were private. That should have been between two people.”
He scowled at me. “Like what?”
“Isaac and I for a start. Our first time,” I hissed. “You have no idea how humiliating that is.”
“I’m not a human, Lexie,” he snapped.
I turned to face him.
“I may look it, but I’m not,” he said. “My animal form is my true one. It’s who I am. I protect. That’s all I do. That’s all I care about.”
“Then why do you care if I’m mad at you?” I asked.
He blinked several times before looking out the passenger side window. “I guess I shouldn’t care.”
Something about the set of his shoulders, the way he hung his head, had guilt eating at me, as if I had kicked a puppy. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. “You said you’re not human, what does that mean?”
“My instincts and priorities are more animalistic,” he said. “I protect, hunt, and when needed, kill. I don’t think the way you humans do.”
Yeah, that wasn’t ominous at all. “What does all of that mean exactly?”
He sighed as he turned back to me. “It means that I don’t understand you humans that well. That you and Isaac being together in front of me was of no interest other than you two were vulnerable and I needed to guard the door.”
Wait, back that up. “What?”
His eyes met mine. “I don’t care if you’re naked or having sex, Lexie. I only care about protecting you. Why do you think I was guarding the door that night?”
So, he wasn’t getting his jollies. “You don’t think of sex?”
His eyebrows shot up as a blush spread across his face. “What? No. My species is only sexual with our own kind.” He turned away and started surveying the area around the car.
Tucking that piece of info away for later, I decided to try and dig further. “So, you were a puppy when you came to me. Were you actually a puppy or was it an illusion or something?”
“No illusions,” he said. “Our species doesn’t usually go to our witch until we’re two years old.”
“But I got you at two months.”
“You were a special case,” he said.
“How so?”
“Your Reaper grandmother told my mother the situation and my mother made an exception,” he muttered. “They sent me early.”
“But you were a baby.” It didn’t seem right.
“And you were saving the world,” he countered.
So, we both had jobs that we weren’t ready for. He was just following his instincts and doing the best he could. Perhaps I needed to let this go.
I watched him as he scanned the area around us, looking for threats. If he was telling me the truth, he wasn’t watching me and Isaac. Or my phone calls with Ethan.
I started the Blazer and started for home in silence. I needed to settle this and put down boundaries with Hades, and sooner was better than later.
“Have you ever heard of privacy?” I asked.
“Privacy?” He turned to me. “Is that some human thing?”
I sighed. Of course he didn’t understand privacy. He’d licked his balls in front of us for months. “Okay, it means something that shouldn’t be shared. So, if I’m with one of the guys, I don’t think I want you sleeping in the bedroom anymore.”
“How about on the other side of the door?” he asked. “I can sleep in the hall.”
I thought about it. “Okay, that I can agree to.”
“Deal.” His smile was