Hey readers! I know I promised this would be up Thursday, but some holiday plans came up & I didn't have internet access for a few days. I even had the story all written and ready to go. Sorry loves! Better late than never?


Chapter 7: Alive

Alek rushed to Chloe, wrapped her in his arms, and pressed his lips against hers so passionately, she couldn't bring herself to push him away. It was Alek who finally broke the kiss. He put his nose in the air and then buried it deep in Chloe's blonde locks.

"That smell!" he shrieked. He recognized Kai's scent or at least the scent of a Jackal. "Chloe, we need to leave, now, before they get back." Then he kissed her one more time and added, "I knew you were alive."

"No, Alek," she answered breathlessly, still wrapped in his arms. "I'm not going back with you. I'm not going back to San Francisco. I'm leaving California."

"What do you mean? Are you saying that you ran away?" he asked in a confused mixture of hurt and anger. He inched himself away from her, slowly taking her all in.

"I had to," she screamed at him, tears streaming down her face. "I killed Brian. I couldn't stay there."

She collapsed onto the bed, reaching for a pillow to bury her face in.

"But Chloe," he told her, "everyone thinks you're dead."

"What?" she answered. "But I left a note for my mom."

"They don't know when you left it, though," he told her. "The cops found bullets and your blood next to Brian's body."

It made Chloe cold the way he said it like that. Brian's body, not just next to Brian because he wasn't Brian anymore; he was just a lifeless body, and she had made him that way.

"There was a lot of blood Chloe," Alek continued. "They said even if you had survived and been kidnapped, there was no way you could have survived the gunshot wound for more than 24 hours."

"But I saw Amy and Paul." she protested.

But, of course, even though they knew she would survive it, they hadn't known she'd already encountered the gunshot wound. From their perspective, even if she wasn't bleeding to death, she could have still been kidnapped. Chloe had only wanted to run away, so no one else would get hurt. Now it seemed she had hurt everyone she cared about. She had been curled into the fetal position on the bed, but now she made herself sit up straight and face Alek.

"How's my mother?"

"How do you think?" Alek responded. "The police have pretty much guaranteed her that her only daughter is dead."

Chloe wished Alek would wrap her up in his arms again, but he showed her no sympathy. Instead, she curled up with her pillow onto the bed again.

"And you're supposed to be our Uniter," Alek spat, disgusted with the girl he had once been in love with.

"I never wanted that!" she screamed back up at him through her tears. "I never asked for any of that. It's not my fault."

"And Valentina never asked to die for you," he hissed at her, "but she did. And now Jasmine is lying in a hospital bed, barely holding on. I came here to bring you home, so you could lead our people, Chloe, and you throw it back in my face. I've spent weeks tracking you down, worried that you had been kidnapped, that someone was hurting you. And now I find you perfectly safe, ordering room service, and stinking like dog."

"I'm sorry," she whimpered. "I would love to give Jasmine the rest of my lives if I could. I would love to give up the title of Uniter to someone more deserving, but I can't Alek. I'm a sixteen-year-old girl; I don't want to be the protector of my people. I just want to be able to go out into public with my boyfriend without either of us being called race traitors."

Alek looked even more confused than he already had been.

"Your boyfriend is dead, Chloe," he muttered.

"Not Brian," she answered.

Suddenly, a voice from the door gave Alek the rest of the explanation.

"She's talking about me," Kai said.

Alek spun around on the offensive, ready to strike.

"This thing," he spat, "this dog is your boyfriend now. You sure did move on fast. Tell me, mutt, did she tell you how she killed her last boyfriend?"

"Get out of here, Alek," Kai barked. "She's done fighting your fight for you."

Chloe moved to stand near Kai but Alek grabbed hold of her. She found herself standing between the two men.

"Let her go!" Kai yelled.

"She's coming home with me, to be with her own kind."

Alek yanked Chloe toward the door, but Kai was blocking the exit.