While I like this chapter, it is a bit of a lead up to what's to come the next chapter, so nothing new is introduced. Butttt the next chapter is going to be HUGE (both story wise and length wise). Thank you for the amazing review (you know who you are) It definitely helped me write the next few chapters. And Thank you for everyone else who reads this.

(I have an alternative chapter ending for after Chloe goes up against Scarface which is only around a thousand words, but if you want to read it, just let me know.)

I found TNLOCK ondemand for my TV! Guess who had a tnlock marathon yesterday :D

Read, Love, Review.

Chloe's POV

I had the same exact nightmare as the past few nights, causing me to wake up at around five, only three hours after we finally went to bed. Alek had run in just like all the other times and my attempts at trying to get him to go back to bed didn't work so instead we just watched TV until the others started to wake up.

"So," I started. Amy and Paul had gone home around an hour ago (after spending the night), Jasmine and Derek were on a date, and Mimi was in her room. "Why am I really spending the weekend here?" I asked him. We were sitting on the couch, about to watch a movie when it occurred to me that we were supposed to have history lessons all weekend long.

"What do you mean?" Alek asked almost frantically. As strange as it was, I dismissed it. Why would he be frantic that I asked him that? I must be overthinking things.

"Well, its nine o'clock on Sunday morning and we haven't talked about Mai history at all. I thought that's the whole reason why I was supposed to be here. Not that I'm complaining."

"Oh, well after the Scarface accident, we thought you could use a break from all things stress related."

"That's nice." I started to hatch a plan in my head. "What's the likelihood that I can be taken home early then?"

"Not very, why?"

"I haven't checked in on Kai for a while. It's a little unfair to leave him by himself for such a long time. He must be pretty bored." Maybe the only thing that was going to stop the ridiculous nightmares would be for me to face the fear. Alek was a little hesitant in his response.

"I'm not sure that's the best idea."

"Please?" I begged and Alek started to show the slightest hesitation on his face. "He must be bored out of his mind stuck in an attic all day."

"Chloe… I'm not sure how Mimi and Jasmine would feel about that. They don't like you being near him, and to be honest, I don't either." I let out a little laugh.

"You really don't think I've figured that out already? You constantly staying over, or taking me away. I don't think I've had a minute alone with him since he came over."

"Protecting you is my job Chloe. Besides, Valentina doesn't know about us letting the Jackal stay. If she finds out, there will be hell to pay."

"She's not here, is she?" Alek got that look on his face. The one torn between being my protector, and making me happy. His eyebrows turned down to create a perfect mixture of brooding and cautious.

"I have a condition." He said and my hope soared.

"What is it?" I asked excitedly.

"If you want to visit him, then I'm staying with you the entire time." I looked at him for a minute and then nodded.

"That's reasonable."

A little over an hour later, Alek and I were entering my house. I expected my mother to be here, but luckily she wasn't. I guess she assumed that I would be at Jasmine's the entire weekend, so she probably made plans already. "Hey Kai? Want to come down?" While he might've been all the way in the attic I knew that he could hear. Jackals hearing was just as good as Mai, if not better.

Kai was fully healed now. It took a day for the bruises to fade, and a few days for the broken bones to mend, but now he was good as new. He was smiling when he came down the stairs. While Alec was over protective and tried to keep me away from him, we've had multiple conversations with each other. Kai was intelligent and nice. I couldn't imagine him hurting anyone.

"Chloe, you're back!" He said happily. "It's been a while. How was your weekend?" I grimaced a little and changed the subject.

"Want to watch a movie?" Then one movie turned into two that turned into four movies. Somewhere around the third movie, Jasmine and Mimi came over. I invited Amy and Paul over, but they were on a date.

"Do we want to eat?" I asked them. I still had no idea when my mom was going to be home. When they replied yes, I ordered three large meat lover pizzas. I knew that Alek could down an almost entire pizza by himself, and between Kai, Jasmine, Mimi, and myself we could get through a lot of pizza. Afterwards I sat down on the couch next to Alek. Twenty minutes later, I heard the doorbell ring so I went to answer it.

It was Valentina. She looked professional in a suit, but there was a half-smile on her face- something that I haven't seen for a while or ever from her. "Valentina, hi." What was she doing here? She's never gone to my house before to meet me. Usually, I had to go to Alek's place. Besides, I didn't think she was going to be back in town for a while. Without waiting to be invited, she step in and walked over to the living room.

"Chloe, I wanted to check in with you after what happened on Friday. I'm sorry I couldn't come back earlier. I had some things to take care of." After nodding to her and welcoming her to my house, I went back down to sit next to Alek. I saw her nostrils flail as she sniffed the air. The smile on her face disappeared suddenly and I saw her eyes narrow into slits as anger dominated her face. I heard Alek mutter a swear word under his breath and saw both Mimi and Jasmine look frightened. What was going on?

"Tell me that's not what I think it is." While her voice was not raised fury laced every single word. "Did you guys encounter another one? Why didn't you call me?"

"That's not exactly what happened." Alek said slowly as if he was trying to figure out how to tell her something.

"Then why do you reek of Jackal?" Then it made sense- she smelled Kai on me because of the hug and thought that I was put in danger again. I tried to discreetly smell myself, but didn't smell anything unusual. Why was I the only Mai who couldn't detect the smell?

"That's probably just Kai. There's nothing to be worried about." I told her before I remembered what Alek had told me earlier. Besides, Valentina doesn't know about us letting the Jackal stay. If she finds out, there will be hell to pay. I cringed internally for my big mouth.

"Who is Kai?" Luckily Kai was upstairs taking a shower. After a moment of listening, I realized the shower was off, so he was probably just staying in my room for the moment. Good.

"He's the Jackal that we meet two weeks ago." Alek said, trying to keep his answers as brief as possible.

"The one that Jasmine told me she beat up and then disappeared so they couldn't finish him?" She turned to glare at Jasmine who just said "Yes Mom." I cringed at the tone that Valentina was using. "So why does Chloe smell like she's been with him two weeks later? Someone explain that to me please." This was my fault- I was the one who made them keep this secret from her.

"He's been staying with me, or well, in my attic for a while. He was so badly hurt that-" She didn't give me a chance to finish.

"He's been staying with you?! What were you thinking?" She didn't direct that last part to me but to Alek.

"He's harmless Valentina." Alek echoed what I've said a million times. "And I've never let her be alone with him."

"The Jackal can slit her throat in a second Alek."

"Kai hasn't tried anything." I tried to reason. "And he won't. He's actually a really nice guy."

"Or he's trying to get you to trust him so you won't suspect anything." Instead of waiting for an answer she took out her phone and dialed someone's number.

"Valentina, what are you doing?" Alek asked before I could.

"Solving the problem." It took only a moment for the person to answer their phone and I heard a voice asking her what was needed.

"What does that mean?" I asked her, but when she didn't reply I turned to Alek for an answer. He had a frown on his face like he knew the answer but just continued to stare at her.

"Send Mai to the Uniters house. There's a Jackal that needs to be taken care of."

"NO!" I screamed when standing up, planning on grabbing that phone from her and telling them not to, but she had already hung up.

"You can't do that!" I screamed at her. "He's done nothing to us! And you want to hurt him because of what? Some Jurassic feud that's been going on for century's?!" Somewhere in the back of my mind I noticed that Alek had stood up with me as well as Jasmine, but Mimi had stayed sitting.

"Chloe's right," I heard Jasmine say, surprisingly. "He hasn't done anything, shown any signs of violence, aggressiveness. Chloe has even emphasized with him and got nothing showing that he wanted to hurt her."

"I don't care. I'm not willing to risk it. And you shouldn't have either. It was incredibly stupid of both of you to do this."

"Valentina, you have to pick up that phone and call them back and tell them to stop." I begged her. "Please!"

"The Uniter must be protected at all costs." She said, no sympathy crossing her face at all.

"And attacking an innocent kid is going to help?!" I screamed again. "How are we going to get peace if you go attacking people before thinking?"

"Peace with the Jackals will never be achieved."

"I don't believe that." I said coldly. "Now call them off."

"I'm not going to do that."

"You're the one who wanted me to be the Uniter. This is me doing that. Now. Call. Them. Off." All I saw was red. Kai was going to get hurt, maybe even killed because she was refusing to listen. He had done absolutely nothing. All he wanted to do was see the city. He meant no harm, he's done nothing wrong! I wasn't going to let this happen. I saw her take out her phone and dial a number.

"Do not continue the attack," She said to someone on the phone, clearly unwillingly. "The Jackal will not be harmed, understand?" After an angry sigh, she hung up the phone and walked over to Alek. "If he harms a hair on her head," Her voice threatening. "I'm holding you personally responsible." I let out a breath of relief. Kai was going to be okay.

"No harm will come to her, I promise." Alek swore to her. Valentina nodded and started to walk out of the house, but stopped after opening the door.

"I want three guards on Chloe at all times when it's still here." Before I could complain, she slammed the door and was gone. Her sentence infuriated me. Calling Kai an it. Forcing me to have more guards than usual, but I knew that it would be pointless to argue this one. I considered myself lucky that she let it go.

"Chloe?" I heard Kai say quietly as he came down the stairs. Without thinking I flung my arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug. "Thank you," The doorbell rang, but I didn't move to answer it and then I heard someone move to.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you." I promised to him while still hugging him. "I was so scared." I muttered softly into his shoulder, his arms around me tightened for just a second before we pulled apart.

"You're amazing, Chloe King." There was a large smile on his face. "Thank you. I don't know how I'm going to repay you."

"By coming down and eating pizza while watching a movie." I joked and walked over to Alek with the pizza. After he set it down on the table, I hugged him and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

"What was that for?" He said laughingly.

"For sticking up for Kai." I told him. "I know you don't particularly like him, but you still tried to convince Valentina."

"I'm just surprised it worked." Alek said, clearly confused.

"I agree with Alek. It doesn't make any sense. She wouldn't risk your life, Chloe. I think there's something she's planning." After thinking about it for a few moments, I realized that they were right. Why would she agree with me after it was clear she thought it was a bad idea?

When we were watching the movie, something became clear to me. I couldn't leave Kai alone, because something told me that the instant that I did, Valentina would try to hurt him.