“Mae!” Jack shouted when he got inside. Stupidly, I kept following him. Part of him wanted me to, because so much of him still wanted me. “Mae!”

“What?” Mae rushed into entryway, wrapping a bathrobe tightly around herself. Then she saw his pained expression, and her face went pale. “Jack, you didn’t.”

“Just get her away from me!” Jack snarled, and I saw there were tears in his eyes.

“Just go upstairs,” Mae nodded. “I’ll take care of her.”

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled through my own tears, but Jack was already gone.

“Did he bite you?” Mae rushed over to me, inspecting my neck much the same way Jack had the day before.

“No,” I shook my head fiercely. There was a loud banging upstairs, and Mae looked apprehensively at the ceiling.

“Come on. We need to get you out of here.” She put her arm around me and started ushering me out to the garage.

“You’re wearing a bathrobe.”

“He can’t take much more, love,” Mae whispered. The Jetta was still running, so we got inside of it and pulled out of the garage.

“I’m sorry,” I repeated.

“Oh, love, it’s really not your fault,” Mae smiled reassuringly at me. “Jack should know better, but he’s still so young.” She reached over and stroked my hair. “It’s really not so bad. Honest.”

“I feel what he feels,” I said quietly. “I know how hard that was for him. I felt how much he wanted me, so … I wanted him to, and I was making it harder.”

“You what?” Mae looked at me with a startled expression on her face. “You feel what he feels?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Is that okay?”

“It doesn’t matter if it is or not if that’s the way it is,” Mae replied matter-of-factly and looked straight ahead.

“He told me that I’m meant for Peter.”

“I thought he might,” Mae sighed. Then she smiled at me again. “You would’ve found out eventually. We just didn’t want to surprise you with too much new information, especially with Peter being the way he is.”

“If I’m supposed to be for Peter, then how come Jack is the one that wants me around?” I asked. “And why didn’t Peter just bite me? Why did he run away?”

“Peter is a very complicated man, but he’s a good man.” She swallowed hard, and I could tell there was something she was still keeping from me. “And Jack is very young. And they may not seem like it lately, but they were very close to each other.”

“Would Peter really kill him if he found out Jack bit me?”

“Yes.” She licked her lips and refused to look at me. “And he would know. It’s not something you can hide. He could smell Jack on you.” Then she turned to look at me. “So if something happened, I need to know, so I can try to protect you both.”

“What do you mean? Peter would kill us both?” For the first time since meeting Jack, I felt really scared for my safety. “I don’t understand. If I am meant for Peter…. None of this makes sense, Mae!”

“As soon as I drop you off, I’m going to call Ezra and make him come home to sort this all out.” Her eyes filled with tears and she gripped the steering wheel. “I should’ve never left you alone with Jack. He’s just been alone with you so much, but I knew things were changing.”

“He didn’t bite me. Honest,” I tried to reassure her.

“Everything’s still getting out of control. I told Ezra not to go. That everything is different this time.”

“This time?” I asked.

“Not right now, Alice.” The car suddenly jerked to a stop, and I realized we were in front of my building. I had been so wrapped up in my thoughts that I hadn’t even noticed it. “You need to go home, and Ezra or Jack or somebody will be in contact with you tomorrow.”

“How did you know where I lived?” I looked over at Mae, but she just stared straight ahead.

“I have to get home and take care of Jack before he hurts himself.”

“He might hurt himself?” I gasped.

“I have to go!” Mae pleaded. “We’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay, go!” I jumped out of the car and watched her speed off, praying Jack wouldn’t do something stupid.

Everything about me felt so confused and jumbled, and I collapsed onto the cold sidewalk and sobbed.

One hot bath, two pm Tylenol, and a hot tea and brandy (courtesy of Milo and my mother’s alcohol cabinet) later, I managed to fall asleep. Milo saw the wreck I was when I came home, and I promised him that I would tell him another day, but I couldn’t muster the strength to do it then.

When I woke up, my pillow was soaked, and I knew I had been crying in my sleep. Milo informed me that I’d been moaning all night long, but thankfully, he couldn’t understand anything.

I stumbled around the house most of the day, and I’m surprised that I didn’t bump into any objects. Milo forced me to eat, but swallowing felt like a massive chore.

I put on comfy sweats and a tee shirt and didn’t even bother with showering. It would be too much work, and I didn’t even know if I’d see Jack or Peter today. There was a very good chance that I’d never see either of them again. Peter had run away, and Jack…

“Alice, I don’t think you should go over there anymore.” Milo stood next to the couch, frowning at me. I had curled up in a ball and stared blankly at the TV with my phone gripped in my hand. “You keep coming home looking completely drained. I don’t know what they’re doing to you, but it can’t be good.”

“You should see what I do to them,” I mumbled.

“What?” His brown eyes were filled with concern, so I just looked away from him.

“Nothing.”

“Alice, I’m serious.” Milo had that parental vibe going on, and normally, I’d cave under it, but I was too numb to react to anything. I just pulled the blanket up over my head so I wouldn’t have to look at him.

Eventually, he walked away, and I stayed buried underneath the covers. The horrible truth was that I didn’t really want to be alive anymore. Last night had devastated me too succinctly.

Everything was confusing and it hurt, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was all some kind of bad dream.