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TNLOCK 20

Chloe POV

"You know guys," I said while gasping for air. "I know this is for my own protection but I am so done with training." After I said that, I collapsed to the ground and laid down.

"Oh, stop being such a drama queen." Mimi laughed. "It was only a five mile jog. The real training starts as soon as you get off your butt."

"There's more?" I groaned and made no attempt to stand back up. It was so unfair, it seemed like Alek and Mimi weren't even winded all that much by the time we came back to the park.

"What happened to last night Chloe? The one who kicked both of our butts during sparing?" Alek asked.

"She realized that it was a fluke and died." I could practically hear Alek rolling his eyes at that one. Without warning, Alek grabbed my hands and pulled me up so I was standing.

"The earlier we start, the earlier you get to go to bed." It was already one in the morning, and they expected me to keep training, oh joy.

"What are we working on today?" I asked reluctantly, causing Mimi to grin happily as she pulled out ninja stars. "Am I dodging them or throwing them?"

"Throwing them at a practice sheet." Alek sounded insulted. "There's no way we would throw them at you. You could get hurt."

"You didn't seem so concerned with that when you were whacking me with sticks." I pointed out.

"Those wouldn't have hurt you too badly." Mimi was the one who answered me. "Maybe some bruises, but nothing at all compared to these." I should know; I've been hit by one before. Alek started to put up the practice sheet when Mimi showed me how I was suppose to use them. After demonstrating, Mimi threw one at the practice board, which landed straight on the bull's-eye. "Now, you try." Let's just say that my throw was not as good as Mimi's.

"Nice," Alek said sarcastically. I fought the urge to stick my tongue out at him.

"Hey," Alek said while leaning on the counter.

"I'm working."

"Really? I thought you were sleeping. Your eyes have been closed all throughout your shift." He teased.

"I wouldn't be so tired if someone hadn't kept me out so late."

"I was under the impression that you weren't working today. Besides, it's not my fault that it took so long to teach you the basics of throwing ninja stars." He said the last part jokingly. "Do you want me to grab you a coffee?"

"That would be amazing." After Alek had left the shop, a homeless looking male teenager walked through the door.

"Heads up, potential shop-lifter at ten o'clock," Paul came up behind me nodding to the teenager that I had just noticed walking through the door.

"Can I help you find something?" I called over to him.

"No, I'm okay."

"We're closing in a couple of minutes." Right after I said that, I got an 'Empathy hit', as Paul would call it, off of him.

"Chloe?" Paul asked concernedly. "What happened, are you okay?"

"No, heart pounding, palms sweating, He's completely terrified." I walked over to him, hoping that I could figure out what was scaring him so much. "Hey," I tried to say in a tone that would comfort him. "Um, if you're hungry, help yourself. It's oatmeal raisin."

"No, that's okay."

"Are you sure? I'm just going to throw it away."

"Thanks," He reached for the cookie and quickly took a bite.

"Chloe," I introduced myself.

"Kai," I heard the door open behind me so I turned around and saw Alek, Mimi, and Jasmine. All of them looking confused and worried. Kai started to run.

"Go!" Alek yelled and they all chased after him.

"Wait," I called after them before starting to run too. "Don't hurt him!" I chased all of them into a dark alleyway before Mimi tackled him to the ground. "Mimi, don't hurt him!" I was about to pry her off of him before Alek restrained me from behind.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" He hissed into my ear. Somehow, Kai managed to change his position to be on top of Mimi before Jasmine got into the fight. Right after one of them would hit him; the other would hit him again. His nose was bleeding, as well as his lip, and his right eye was swollen shut. There were bruises already forming on his arms.

I knew he had no chance of winning against the both of them, so without thinking, I elbowed Alek in the stomach and as soon as he let go, I rushed between Kai and the others. "Don't hurt him! He's terrified, can't you see that?" I heard the sound of someone running away behind me. Good, I thought. He was able to escape.

"Are you an idiot?" Mimi asked furiously. "Not only did you involve yourself in a very dangerous that could've led to you losing another life, but you let him escape!"

"I wasn't going to let you guys beat up some poor kid!"

"He's not just some poor kid, he's a Jackal!"

"A what?" I asked confused. Mimi let out an angry sigh before turning to Jasmine and Alek.

"You guys haven't taught her about Jackals? Seriously?"

"There's been a lot to cover in the Mai history lessons and we weren't expecting to come across too many Jackals here so we thought that lesson could wait." Alek said defensively. "Look, I don't like Chloe being out here when the Jackals could be near. Can we go to back to the apartment?"

"Yeah, of course. I'm just going to call for backup. You and Jasmine can take Chloe, and I'll go looking for him with some others. We'll take care of him."

"No," I said forcefully. They all turned to stare at me. "You're not going to go after Kai. He's completely terrified of us, not that I blame him after you guys chased him down. You aren't going to hurt him anymore than you already have."

"Chloe," Alek stepped towards me. "You don't understand. Jackals are really dangerous. They wouldn't hesitate to kill a Mai. They would love any chance to slaughter our race. He ha-"

"He wasn't going to hurt me." I interrupted Alek.

"How can you be so sure? I know he looked scared and innocent in the store but that doesn't mean he wasn't playing you. He probably figured out that you didn't notice his smell and was trying to lure you out to harm you." Jasmine pointed out.

"I'm certain because I had an Empathy hit from him."

"You empathized with a Jackal? I thought that only worked on humans." Mimi piped in. "You know what? It doesn't matter. He has to be dealt with quickly. Jasmine, Alek, take her back to the apartment. I'll call you when we've finished and it's safe for her to go home."

"NO," I said forcefully. "You're not going to harm him. I don't care if he's human, or a jackal. He wasn't trying to hurt any of us." Jasmine opened her mouth, about to interrupt me. "How can you guys even consider doing the same thing that the Order has been doing to us? Hunting us down just because we're different. Kai is innocent and will not be harmed any further by Mai while he's done nothing to harm us."

"That's not really your decision. Alek and I are in charge of your safety and the Jackal is dangerous." Mimi told me.

"Really?" I asked bitterly. "I thought I was the Uniter. That my duty is to unite the races so we could live in peace."

"Your job is to unite humans and Mai, not Jackals as well."

"How do you know that? How do we know if the Uniter is supposed to unite all the races, or just humans and Mai? If we want peace, then you can not harm him. Besides, I am not going to allow it." Mimi and I stared at each other for a long time until Alek spoke.

"Chloe, I really don't think this is a safe idea," He started. I opened my mouth to interrupt him but he quickly continued. "But, if you feel this strongly, you have my word that we won't harm the Jackal unless he tries to harm you."

"Thank you," Alek came to me and wrapped his arms around me.

"But we really need to go to the apartment now, and your security detail is increasing." He said quickly. While I would prefer to not have anybody guarding me, I knew that Alek wasn't going to be reasoning with me tonight.

"I need to clean up the store and shut it down for the night. You guys made a huge mess in there while chasing Kai and I really don't want to be fired."

"Then, give me your keys and I'll straighten it up and close for you. That way you can go to the apartment now." Jasmine offered. After a minute of consideration, I handed her the keys. I felt my phone vibrate. It was Amy.

"Hello?" I answered my phone.

"Chloe! Where are you? Are you okay? What happened? Why were they chasing that boy? Did you get hurt? How-"

"Amy, take a deep breath. I'm fine and will explain everything later." Alek motioned to my phone, like he would like to say something. "Hey, Alek wants to talk to you." I handed my phone over to him.

"Hey Amy… Yes, Chloe is fine. She didn't get hurt… You and Paul should come over to my apartment. We'll explain everything then." He hung up and handed my phone back to me.

"You voluntarily asked Paul to come over to your apartment?"

"I figured your going to tell them everything anyways. They might as well come over."