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"What was the process?"
"You're a demon," Jace stated. "Demons can be located anywhere, even in the depths of someplace unknown, we can still find them."
Madelline hummed as she nodded her head in understanding. "Yet they failed to inform you that I'm a part of both?"
"Yeah, hybrids do not exist in our world, you know?" he looked down at her.
The girl beside him shook her head as she kicked pebbles underneath her. "You have no idea how hybrids are not welcomed in any part of the world," she mumbled.
He opened his mouth to say something only to close it when she stopped in front of an average-sized house. He became distracted at the view in front of him, causing him to lose track of his train of thought.
"Where are we?" he asked, eyeing the entire place. He became cautious as he looked down warily at the girl beside him.
"My friend's house," she briefly answered.
He was about to take a step forward when he felt a hand gripping his arm, tight enough to catch his attention and stop him from any further movement. He glanced down at where her hand was and met her eyes with confusion.
"I highly suggest you don't pull any more stunts like the ones earlier while you're inside," she warned him and glanced at the open door. "If you were barely able to move earlier, once you get inside, you won't be able to forever."
Jace shifted on his feet uncomfortably, watching how Madelline gently removed her grip on his arm. "That's a... nice way to welcome me, I guess?" he chuckled nervously.
He grew serious when he realized that the girl who stood before him looked at him without emotion. He stuffed his hands inside his pockets and faced her entirely. Despite the usual confidence he had in every fight he had encountered, he knew when he was at a disadvantage, and he was not the type to risk himself.
"Not to be rude or anything, but..." he trailed off, running his tongue along his bottom lip as hesitation laced his voice. "Why do you care? I mean, I was about to kill you earlier."
Madelline looked at him with amusement, finding his question ridiculous. "I was letting you interrupt me with your anticipated attacks to get answers from you, blondie," she told him. "I got numerous trainers who got decades, centuries, heck even a millennium of experience in fighting. What you did earlier? It was just the tip of an icing." She patted him on his shoulder and began walking toward the house.
Jace lingered for a bit and stared at her back. Meeting a hybrid should have surprised him, but what surprised him even more was how someone who looks so innocent and fragile can kill someone before they can even blink.
It should have scared him, but for some reason, he found himself not.
Madelline looked over her shoulder and found him lost in his thoughts. She tilted her head as she analyzed him. No one would have known that the boy in front of her can wield blades that are sharper than knives and pierce skins as if they were just paper.
"Hey!" she called out. "Regarding your question, I feel something for you, and it's not in a romantic way because—"
"Yeah, yeah. Because you're spoken for."
Madelline chuckled. "Yeah, that. Anyway, I can't really explain it right now, but my friends can probably explain it to you clearly," she said before turning her back on him.
She walked inside the house, almost skipping toward where the others were.
"I'm home," she sang, earning their attention.
All five of them instantly looked up; a wide smile was about to form until a blonde hair popped out from behind her with two handles that resembled too much of a blade stuck firmly behind him.
Almost immediately, Sam neared Emily as the rest shot up from their seats in alert. The unknown blonde guy looked at them with widened eyes as Madelline entered further, distracted by the number of pastries on the table. Regardless, the boys' attention remained on the new face, causing him to stop where he was and gauge their reaction.
"Who is he?" Paul asked without taking his eyes off him.
Madelline leaned over the counter to grab herself a cinnamon roll and looked up. She halted for a minute, her eyes switching back and forth, before resuming what she was doing.
"That," she started before taking a bite out of the roll.
The sudden taste cuts her train of thought, her eyes widening in a mixture of surprise and amazement. She pointed at the roll and faced Emily with surprise all over her face. "You made this?!"
Despite the serious situation, Emily couldn't help but chuckle upon seeing the amazement on her face. She held back a smile before sending her a nod as a response. She watched the girl in front of her like a satisfied mother who watches her children enjoy her cooking.
Too focused on the addictive cinnamon taste that practically covered her entire tongue, all it took was someone to clear their throat before she straightened herself up.
"Sorry," she sheepishly said. She cleared her throat and gulped down any remaining food in her mouth before nodding her head in Jace's direction. "He's my... failed killer."
"What?!"
"And yet you brought him along with you?!"
"Why is he here then?!"
"Nope. You did not just say that."
Jace sent the girl a blank look, silently asking her if what she did was necessary. Madelline clamped her mouth shut at the realization and slowly let a sheepish smile once again come to her lips.
"Not really the ideal introduction I would go for," Jace said, shifting his weight on his other feet in discomfort at the sight of her angry best friends—werewolves at that one.
"Okay, let's just all relax," Madelline said as she neared them. "He won't try anything else, and I think he's... nice, so I'll befriend him," she told them, innocently smiling at them.
Jared snorted. "Didn't you just say that he tried to kill you?" He cocked an eyebrow at her.
She shrugged and finished her roll in one go. "I'm friendly to whoever's dangerous; I mean, look at you!"
Silence surrounded the Young household as tension eventually eased, yet the boys remained wary of the boy's true intentions. What he did or was about to do to Madelline does not bode lightly with them nor even cease their worry, but they trust Madelline's judge of character. Perhaps there was a reasonable reason why he was still standing in front of them.
"You do not harm anyone in this household, understand?" Sam looked at him with such intent that a mild threat laced his tone.
Jace pursed his lips and nodded. "No more killing Maddy too," Embry added, narrowing his eyes into slits. He waited for his confirmation, and once he did so, he sat down beside Madelline, who was apparently talking with Emily in hushed voices.
"What are you talking about?" he joined in, his voice hushing down as well.
Madelline was about to answer him when she saw that the boys had not sat down yet. She sighed before pulling out a chair beside her. "Come sit with us," she called out to him.
"Hold on," Emily told him. She pointed at his weapons that hung behind him and gestured toward the floor. "Respect the dining table, please. You can leave it anywhere you want."
Jace sent her a small smile and did what he was told. As he did so, the boys gradually continued their conversation, now with Madelline joining in as well. Once he was done, he went back to the table, surprised at how easy it felt to be with them. As if he had known them for a long time already.
Ever since what happened in the clearing, Jace had grown closer to the pack and often visited them whenever he needed a break from his job or whenever he was not doing anything. It was a long trip, one he'll gladly do again just to spend some peaceful time away from his hectic life back in New York.
Eventually, the pack warmed up to him. They were a tough shell to break, but each one eventually gave in to his charms the more they spent time with him.
Thanks to his honed fighting skills, he became Madelline's sparring partner as well as the pack's. He taught them things he knew, and vice versa. Only then did he realize that there really was a different world out there, much different from theirs.
One in which, despite the rivalry of two dominating species, they know how to unite on common grounds for the sake of their shared goal.
Being Madelline's sparring partner meant that he spent most of his afternoons with her. He wasn't complaining, though. Madelline was a great partner to spar with, but not for the weak of heart. Every fight leaves a dent in his ego whenever she strikes him down. After two or three training sessions, though, he got over it.
Amidst it all, he knew being a hybrid came with perks, but he didn't expect what they were. Madelline seems to always be three steps ahead of her enemies. She could anticipate their movements, identify their blind spots, and take advantage of them. Her abilities could even be rendered useless by how advanced her combat skills were.
"Penny for your thoughts?" a voice cuts his train of thought.
He looks up to see Madelline smiling down at him before sitting down beside him. He remained silent, his eyes fixated on her as she looked up at the sky with a small smile.
"The stars are finally out," she mumbled. Her eyes twinkled in delight at the sight of them.
The amount of time she spent honing her skills ever since her school break started, looking at simple things such as this, was a rare occurrence for her.
"You know," Jace started. "I don't think I've said this to you, but I think you're something else, Maddy."
Her nose scrunched as she pondered over his words. Surprise coursed through her as she found his words out of the blue. Nevertheless, she hummed in acknowledgement without meeting his eyes.
"Why's that?" she asked.
"I think, wherever you go, you bring such a bright energy with you that rubs off on people," he responded.
"And people nowadays need people like you," he mumbled.
Madelline looked at him, and an appreciative smile painted her lips. "Thank you, Jace. I'm flattered," she said with such lightness.
Much to her surprise, Jace met her eyes; an unreadable emotion hides behind his eyes. He wanted to say something; he was sure of that. That tugging feeling on his throat as if words were dying to come out, yet he couldn't. He can't. He doesn't know how, and he doesn't want to know how.
The sudden intensity of his stare made her shift uncomfortably in her seat, and she played it off with a chuckle. "Now, don't go falling in love with me, Wayland," she teased in an attempt to lighten the vibes.
"That you are, Madelline," Jace mumbled, fighting the urge to look at the woman beside him. "You're irresistible." His words almost came out as a whisper for himself.
If Madelline heard anything, she didn't. She ignored his words because, deep down, a certain amber-eyed man still invaded her heart. Every ounce of her yearned for that man, despite everything.
"Let's head back," he offered. "I don't know about you, but if the cold never bothered you, it is annoying the life out of me."
He stood up from his seat and dusted his pants off before extending a hand toward her. Madelline looks at his extended arm, a chuckle leaving her lips at his grumbling, before taking it against hers.
"I told you to grab my oversized hoodie from the back seat of my car, you child."
"Are you kidding me? It's pink! It contrasts my aesthetic."
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