Hailey's P. O. V

Panic alarms were wailing in my head.

As the front door closed behind her, it occurred to me that Ari may have set us up.

Tim gave me a look and returned to the couch, picking up on where he left off with his meal. Looking for something to do and not wanting to leave a mess for Ari, I took the unused plates to get cleaned.

Just as I finished and was drying my hands off, he brought his plate into the kitchen and began washing it. When he was done, he used a look to ask where to keep it and I pointed him to the rack.

After several minutes of silence in the sitting room, Opelene decided to chip in, 'You still have to get him settled.'

'Right...' I may need to have a word with Ari later.

Opelene sighed, 'Just get it over with, and you can retreat to your room where you won't need to stew in your own discomfort.'

I huffed, "Tim...?"

He raised his head to look at me.

Why did he have to have such intense eyes?

I cleared my throat, avoiding his eyes, "Ari thinks it would be a good idea to let you stay here - for the time being. Just so you can be comfortable while you look for a good apartment to block the sounds of the city. Or till you get used to it."

My eyes followed the ripples of his exposed arms as he leaned back in the sofa, contemplative, "As much as I hate the thought of taking more help from our underage leader, the noise outside was kinda fucking with my head as we were driving here. And it seems much better in this ridiculous ass mansion."

I stood up, "Good, I'll get you settled. There are about six or seven rooms left that you can choose from."

He raised a brow, "Left?"

"Ari obviously stays in the master bedroom, and I've been here for like a week, so..."

"Great! We're housemates..." He drawled.

I rolled my eyes and started towards the stairs, not bothering to wait for him to follow. After grabbing our bags, he trailed after me up the stairs and to the rooms. I dropped my bags in my room first and proceeded to present the rest of them to him.

After not much deliberation, he asked which of them was closest to the fence bordering the compound.

I shrugged, "You saw the driveway, nothing's close. Just go to that one," I pointed to the door opposite Ari's room, "there should be a tree outside the window, so you can easily make your dramatic escape whenever you feel like."

Since the hallway went in a sort of square round the stairway, his room was also diagonal from mine. Meaning, the farthest it could geometrically be.

He smirked, "Oh, Sunshine, you know me so well."

I rolled my eyes again, "I guess, till Ari returns, you can ask me if you need anything. You know where to find me." Then I stalked off to my room and clicked the door shut behind me, flinging myself onto the bed.

My phone chose that moment to ring. A look at the screen had me groaning.

I had managed to keep my mom off my back by texting her every so often that I was fine, but I guess Keily had finally gotten her paranoid enough to call.

"How long are you going to keep this up?"

I gritted my teeth, "Hello, Mom."

She continued as if I'd said nothing, "Hailey Sight, I've let you have your fun, now get your butt home. Do you know how worried you've made your sister?"

"Mom, I'm fine! I've told you a thousand times, I'm just staying with a friend, and Keily knows this."

The click of her tongue was piercing, "Keily says this friend of yours is an utter hussy. Besides, you know what you are, Hailey."

She didn't say it, but I couldn't help but hear her unspoken words scream "you disgusting burden of a child!" in my brain.

Mom completely distrusted werewolves. Like racism, but supernatural. But having one in my life was good for me, and she knew it, "Mom, Keily doesn't know this, but the friend I'm staying with is a werewolf too."

She was silent for a good minute.

"Hello? Mom?"

"And what happens when you inconvenience this werewolf friend of yours one too many times? Huh? What happens when she gets fed up with you and kicks you out? Or worse, attacks you with her dirty claws? Then you'll come home crying to us."

My grip on my phone dangerously tightened and tears rimmed my eyes.

I fought hard not to let my voice crack, "In the week I've known Ari, she's been more of a sister to me than your precious Keily ever has in all our seventeen miserable years of being twins!" I had to stop and take a shaky breath, then added, "And, I found out that she's actually my sister, so I doubt that'll be happening anytime soon."

"Young lady, watch your tone with me! And what on Earth do you mean by this hussy actually being your sister?"

"I mean, Mother, that we were talking and found out that Clark Lightwood, you know, the jackass that you only talk about when you're black out drunk? The one that you say knocked you up and refused to take responsibility for us, or at least refused to take his werewolf daughter off your hands. That one? Turns out that he was a bigger asshole to someone else and fucking raped her mom. So that makes us half sisters."

She let out a choked sound, then said nothing.

I refused to be the one to break the silence.

"Don't you ever say that name to me again."

"He's an ass, Mom, but I deserve to know about-"

She cut me off, "Do not mention his name to me, are we clear!?"

I said nothing.

She took a breath before speaking again, "Well... if she was raised by that beast, this Ari girl obviously can't be trusted. Get home, now."

"Mom! She was not raised by that asshole! He abused and beat her and she had to run away. I'm as much her sister as she is mine, and she's nothing like him. Despite everything he and the pack did to her, she's kind and generous and compassionate and I love her, Mom. You should understand, he treated you horribly. And, he treated her worse."

She didn't even miss a beat, "Anyone treated like that their whole life must be one damaged person. You can play nurse to her issues all you want, but when she eventually gets tired and pushes you away, you'll come back home. So, you can stay and enjoy your bonding time with your new, broken sister, but your real family will be here, waiting for you."

She hung up.

I threw my phone to a corner. Then I screamed till my lungs wanted to burst out of my chest, the tears that I'd tried to hold off streaming down my face.

'Utterly useless...'

'Burden...'

'Dirty beast...'

'I never wanted you and no one else will...'

My mom's disembodied voice chanted in my head and I couldn't stop the hiccups and sobs. I clutched my head, trying to squeeze the remarks out of my skull.

"Sunshine...?"

I buried my face in my hands, trying to still the sobs and wipe the tears. In my screams, I hadn't even heard him open the door.

I felt the bed dip and his hands were on mine, gently moving them away from my face. He thumbed away the tears and I closed my eyes, just wanting to cry in his arms.

"Truce?" He said, voice half joking.

I remembered just what we were and my eyes snapped open.

"Why?" I snapped, glaring up at him and nearly snarling, "You obviously don't want me, so don't fucking pretend you care!"

You're no better than her...

For once, he had nothing to say.

I wiped my eyes, turning away, "That's what I thought."

"She's wrong." He said finally, "You're not an inconvenience."

"Just go, Tim."

His hand was on my chin, gently nudging me to meet his gaze.

"You're not a fucking inconvenience, Sunshine." He repeated, more force behind his words.

"You have no right to say anything. You've been a jerk to me from day one while you joke about with Kaesha and even respect Ari."

'You couldn't even get your mate to want you...' Mom's voice taunted.

I looked away from him.

"Do you know why I bothered to save you guys at the highway?" His hands came up to cup my face, rubbing the stray tears away, "Cause I didn't want my mate to fucking die, even though I thought you were either a clueless human or sent to kill me. Then you were were bleeding out and I-" He cut himself off, grimacing.

"Even though I'd tried to save you, you were fucking dying right before my eyes... Dammit, I was terrified, Hailey. It just reinforced what I already knew. I've wanted my mate for so damn long, but having you will just put the Lightwood Pack on your tail."

I blinked, "I'm literally helping Ari in her revenge plot against them. I'm gonna have their attention sooner or later."

"You don't think I know that? That just makes it worse! What if Ari's insane plan fails and they catch us? And I can't protect you with this lazy ass gift? With how easily you three beat me, I'd be fucking useless in a full on confrontation. I already lost everything to those fuckers once, I can't get close to you only to lose you too. I just- I can't. Not again..."

"Tim..."

His hands were warm as they framed my face and I found myself wading in the bottomless caramel of his eyes, the evening light illuminating the brown of his face with a deep bronze hue. We inched closer, almost involuntarily, and the kiss seemed inevitable. We let it sweep us up, falling back onto the bed.

Our lips were eager and desperate and wild. His hands left heated shivers in their wake while his kiss evaporated the breath from my lungs. I was drowning in him and air seemed trivial at the moment.

Somewhere in my mind, the notion that this was a bad idea nagged at me.

He moved to my neck and my breath caught. His mouth had my toes curling and body straining towards him like a sunflower to the sun. He continued further down, toying with my nipples, and my moans filled the room.

Abruptly, we pulled apart, breathing heavily.

I scrambled to rearrange my shirt, while he looked away, his face reflecting the awkwardness that I felt.

"We shouldn't-"

"This wasn't-"

My face was flaming. How stupid was I to let this happen?

"I should probably go..." He murmured after heavy silence.

I nodded.

How could I have let this happen? Shacking up with him wasn't going to suddenly fix my insecurities about feeling like a burden on everyone I encountered. It wasn't going to miraculously convince him that he could protect 'his mate' from whatever dangers lurked in the shadows of his peripheral.

It wasn't going to make him want me despite the dangers he feared.

He got up, mumbling something about a shower as he left, but I'd tuned him out.

As soon as I heard his door close, I grabbed the nearest pillow and emptied my lungs into it, hoping he didn't hear me but not caring if he did.

'Well, that complicates things...' Opelene mused.

I groaned, 'No! You don't get to talk about this! You won't even tell me what you and his wolf spoke about during the full moon.'

'Some things need not be said.'

My eyes rolled so hard, I could've seen my skull, 'That's just your 'wise talk' way of saying you're not telling me.'

She snickered, then went sombre, 'I'm sorry about your mom.'

I moved to the window, watching Ari turn a far corner and start towards the gate, 'There's nothing to be sorry about, it's nothing new.'

Part of me didn't blame her. She was hurt by a werewolf and reflexively hated them all. Unfortunately, that included me.

I shook my head, then pulled my lips back over my teeth and lightly slapped my cheeks. Dressing in a smile, I left my room.

............................

Greetings, dear readers!

It's rather late, but Happy Valentine's Day. While I do celebrate the day, the romance for me is during the week after. Hence, the long overdue romance-subplot chapter. There was a comment I read, griping at the lack of romance in the story, but I only saw it after I was done writing this chapter. How truly serendipitous for that particular reader...

As for Ari's love life, we shall wait and see ;) However, keep in mind that she is still fifteen and has a lot more on her mind than who will express their undying feelings for her...

Anyway, here is my loving valentine's gift to y'all: an unexpected second chapter this month! Yay!

Don't forget to vote, share and comment! I truly love getting feedback, even if I don't reply to every one of them. But I will reply to innocent, spoiler-less questions so feel free to ask those :)