My blood approves

“I–I-I want to be,” I stumbled. He had occupied my brain and it was all but impossible for me to form a competent answer. His scent, tangy and tantalizing, washed over me, blinding almost all my other senses.

“You want to be,” Peter repeated flatly. “You want this?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but then I felt his hand around my throat.

There was a rush of air and then I felt something hard slam into my back. It took me a while to realize that he’d picked me up by my neck and pressed me against a wall. His eyes burned with conflicting passions, but all I could really feel were his fingers on my throat, and the way my pulse felt pumping underneath them. His eyes were ravenous, and I knew he had the exact same thought.

“This is really what you want?” he snarled.

This time I couldn’t answer because his hand was so tight on my throat. I couldn’t even breathe, but I barely noticed. He was pressed up against me and I could feel the hard contours of his body against mine, and his intoxicating smell suffocated me. If I stayed like that for too long, I would probably die, but it seemed completely worth it.

Without warning, Jack slammed into Peter, sending him flying across the room. My lungs burned as they filled with air, and I leaned back against the wall, gasping. Peter had stumbled back into the fridge, but he quickly regained his footing and flew at Jack. Jack was ready for it though and lunged back towards Peter, pushing him back away from me once again.

“Jack!” Mae wailed, sounding utterly panicked.

Ezra stepped forward to intervene, so Peter backed down but only slightly.

Jack stood between Peter and I, his body unbearably shielding me from Peter.

For his part, Peter had a look of barely controlled rage contorting his beautiful features. He held his fists tightly clenched at his sides, and he glared past Jack at me.

“He’s not going to hurt her!” Ezra hissed at Jack, and both of them stepped back a little bit, but neither was willing to relinquish his stand entirely.

“He had his hand around her throat! She couldn’t breathe!” Jack insisted.

“I would never let her die!” Peter shouted incredulously. “I could feel her heartbeat and it never waned!” Then something occurred to him, and he took a step closer to Jack. “What do you even care? How did you even know she wasn’t breathing? What did you do?”

“Stop!” Mae screamed and ran in between the two of them. Ezra had still been standing off to the side, trying to let them sort it out on their own, but Mae put one of her hands on each of their chests. “Nothing happened, okay?

Nothing!”

“What the hell is going on?” Peter looked to Ezra for an explanation. “Why does he care about her? Something’s wrong. This isn’t how it’s supposed to be.”

“We don’t really know what’s going on,” Ezra admitted quietly, casting a look back at me. “This is unlike anything I’ve ever encountered.”

Peter studied me curiously, and my heart started to speed up. I saw his eyes register it, and then I heard Jack moan. Instantly, Peter’s eye flicked over to him.

“You’re reacting to her!” Peter didn’t sound angry so much as bewildered.

He leaned in closer to Jack, eyeing him up. “You didn’t bite her?”

“No!” Jack groaned, exasperated.

“How is this even possible?” Peter was totally amazed. When he looked back at me, his eyes softened and grew even more confused. That didn’t help slow my already quickened pulse.

“Alice!” Jack snapped.

“I can’t help it!” I lamented.

“Jack, go over there,” Mae commanded, pointing to the far side of the dining room. He grumbled something in protest but did as he was told. She walked over to me, looping around me and hugging me to her.

“She might have… somehow become attached to Jack,” Ezra explained slowly. Pain and confusion spread over Peter’s face when he looked back and forth from me to Ezra. “She reacts the strongest with you still, but it seems that some of it may have transferred.”

“How is that even possible?” Peter repeated, and Jack scoffed.

“Why do you even care?” Jack growled. “You don’t even want her!” His words sliced through me like a knife, and I flinched, so Mae tightened her arms around me. What hurt the most is that I knew he was right. Peter only felt things for me because his body made him. He didn’t feel anything real for me at all.

Peter snarled, and Ezra took a step closer to him, just to make he sure he wouldn’t lunge at Jack. “Enough!” I shouted. They were going to kill each other over something as stupid as me, and I wouldn’t stand for it. “If one of you could please just take me home, I’ll be happy to leave you all alone for the rest of my miserable life!”

“Alice, none of us want that.” Mae had started stroking my hair again and held as me close to her as I would allow. “We don’t want you to go.”

“We’re just trying to sort this all out.” Ezra had turned towards me, his eyes settling warmly on me.

“I’m going for a drive,” Jack announced suddenly and strode swiftly across the kitchen. “I’m taking the Lamborghini.”