Alpha Ember (ALPHA KANE BOOK 2)

25. Bodyguard

Tyra

"Get up."

I grunted, still half asleep. This was the second time Jett was trying to wake me up, the first had been around thirty minutes ago and seeing as I wasn't any less sleepier now than I'd been then, I snuggled closer to my pillow, squeezed my eyelids shut and went about my business.

He poked me on the shoulder with something cold and metallic-like. "You're not cooperating."

"I'm sleeping," I growled.

"Your dad is coming by tonight to check in with me, should I tell him you've been sleeping instead of getting better like you promised?"

I groaned. "I'm tired, just one more hour."

"He'll be disappointed in you."

Furious, I screamed into the pillow.

He kept tapping me with that object.

I raised my head, rubbing at my eyes. "Why are you doing this to me? Shouldn't you be handling me with care?"

His scar moved with his rising eyebrows. "Trust me, I'm handling you with the utmost care."

"If hitting me with an unidentified object is what you call utmost care-" My snarky remark was cut off when I looked over my shoulder and saw that the object in question was in fact a gun. A real life gun.

I raised a brow at him. "I don't think you should be playing with those kinds of toys."

He tilted his head from where he sat on the edge of the bed, studying me with that serious look of his. I studied him back, taking in the gray pullover he wore under a black coat and the muscled thighs covered by gray ripped jeans. Looking tall, dark and dangerous. And smelling as delicious as ever. (I was beginning to the man carried candy on him at all times.)

"The toy is for you," Jett said. "I know iron doesn't bother you but some fae halflings don't have super strength, I wasn't certain if you were one of them."

I sat up, finally noticing that although we weren't touching I wasn't screaming in unbelievable pain. I flexed my fingers, grinning. "I'm cured."

"The craving will be back," Jett said.

I scowled. "What are you, an expert on magical fruit?"

He held out the gun. "I've done my research. Take it."

I ran a hand over my face. "Why? Do I need protection from your pack?"

"Light knows your face, and it's possible you might be targeted by the Canadian alphas we've pissed off."

"How did you piss them off?"

"We took in a werewolf they were abusing."

"What are you running a shelter?"

"You'll need a weapon in case they try to attack you."

I reached out for the wooden bedpost, wrapping my fingers around it and applying a bit of pressure. Crunch. The wood gave out, bits of it falling onto the white sheets.

Jett put away the gun. "We'll focus on hand-to-hand combat then. You'll work out with me for two hours every night."

I dusted the splintered wood off my hands. "Is that part of your master plan to get me out of my...habit?"

"Partly. Mostly it's because I need you in good shape so you can be a better bodyguard."

I pointed at myself. "Me? A bodyguard?"