Steve wasn't lying. The house party was a long ass drive. I held firm to Justin's warmth while the air grew colder as we rode up the mountain. At one point, my hands got so cold I said 'fuck it' and stuffed my hands into the pocket of Justin's hoodie.

Justin's abs tensed under my touch before he rubbed one hand over mine. Thankful that he was okay with my invasion, I tightened my embrace.

A few minutes later, we pulled down a dirt road and stopped at the end of a long line of parked cars.

I grinned when I spotted Tyler's Challenger and Lucas's black truck parked near the front.

"Holy shit! It's cold up here." Climbing off Justin's bike, I rubbed my arms, trying to warm up. "Why didn't you tell me to bring a heavier jacket?"

Justin chuckled as he removed his helmet. "Lucky for you, I brought something to help you out."

Fumbling with my helmet strap, I huffed in irritation. "My fingers are frozen. It's not even winter yet. Do you ride that thing around in the snow? Because there's no way I'm riding on your bike in winter. There has to be a better way. What do I have to do? Draw a big warm truck in my journal and hope that you dream of it?"

One corner of Justin's lips tipped up as he caught my trembling fingers, calming me. "We'll figure something out. Maybe I'll show you what I want and see how you feel about that. I promise it won't be a death machine, even though I love the hell outta my bike."

"I know, right? The motorcycle was an awesome idea when I saw it in Florida, but it's always warm there." I chuckled.

"Here. Let me see what you got going on." Justin released my cold hands, tilting my chin up with one knuckle to unlatch my helmet.

I studied his spiky hair as he worked. It was a little messed up, but somehow his hair was still sticking out in perfect, crazy directions. "What the hell do you put in your hair? Liquid metal? Because damn, it's still perfect and you've been wearing a helmet for the last forty-five minutes."

Justin vibrated with laughter as he removed my helmet. "How do you always make me laugh?"

"It's a gift," I used my cocky voice. "But you didn't answer my question. For real, what do you use? Superglue?"

Justin turned to open his bike compartment and grabbed something before stashing our helmets. "No. It's just the stiffest gel on the shelf. I could legit sleep with my hair like this, and wake up with it still looking the same."

"Really? There's something really wrong with that." I smirked and crossed my cold arms. "How am I ever gonna be able to touch your spiky hair if I'm afraid it'll stab me?"

Justin spun to face me. His expression was dead serious as his eyes flamed bright gold. "You wanna touch my hair?"

My cheeks warmed under his intense stare. Suddenly feeling self-conscious, I shrugged as my gaze fell to the ground. "I mean... yeah. Someday."

"Ember," My name was barely a whisper on his lips, and I couldn't help but lift my head, meeting my gaze with his. He held out a very familiar black sweatshirt. "Will you wear it? For me?"

Glancing at their trademark jacket, I sighed. For whatever reason, it was imperative to all of them that I wore it, so I nodded with a small grin. "Sure. Beats freezing my ass off."

Justin beamed with the biggest smile ever, showing off his deep dimples and straight white teeth. "I should warn you. If you wear it, everyone will know you're under our protection. That you're under my protection."

"I figured." I shivered and nodded. "Wait. So, you're the one who told Tyler to give me his sweatshirt yesterday?"

Justin smirked. "Guilty."

I pushed my finger into his hard chest. "What game are you playing?"

Justin caught my hand and tugged me forward. "I don't play games unless they involve you."

I chuckled nervously as I snatched the sweatshirt from him. Whipping it over my head, I fixed my ponytail before I did a weird-ass model pose. "How do I look? Does it show off my butt?"

Justin's eyes began to glow brighter if that was even possible. "Yeah, it shows off everything. And you look good enough to eat."

I planted my hands on my hips. "Hey, none of that, mister. We're here to have fun. So, take me to this thing you call a party."

"Follow me to paradise, princess." Justin spun and propped out his elbow, waiting for me to lace my arm through.

I grinned to myself. Justin was playing along, and I loved it. Fuck it. I was already wearing their fucking mark, so I might as well arrive in style.

Looping my arm through his, I let him lead me down the path. My jaw dropped once the house came into full view. The house was, how do I say this? Fucking kuh-mazing. It was a massive log cabin with three floors. I could only assume that during the day there had to be a badass view.

"Holy hell. This place is huge." My eyes widened as I took in the sight before me.

The enormous windows on the first floor were basically walls. I could literally see the whole interior of the first floor from the front of the house. Music pounded through the glass as people danced and drank from red plastic cups.

I pointed at a group of guys inside who were idiotically dancing like cavemen. "Uh... isn't that like a health hazard? Glass walls with a bunch of drunk teenagers doesn't equal safe."

"They're thick. It would take a car to take those windows out." Justin smoothed his hand down my arm, slowly lacing his fingers through mine. His fingers trembled slightly, telling me he was unsure if I would accept the gesture.

Instead of shaking him off, I surprised myself and squeezed, caressing his thumb. A rush of warm sparks traveled through every part of my body. It was incredible.

Justin grinned, tugging me to the side as his gaze roamed over me. "I need to tell you something. There's gonna be some people here that may not like the fact that we're together. It might get dirty, and they might try some shit."

I scoffed. "Yeah? Like who? The cheerleaders? I already know."

Justin's eyes shot to the left before they landed back on mine. "No. It's much deeper than that. You're kind of... a celebrity in our world and a lot of guys are just finding out about you. A few might get handsy and try to stake a claim."

I blinked, trying to understand. "Like Griffin?"

"Yeah," Justin nodded, sighing. "And others. Life won't be easy for us, but we'll always take care of you. You're ours to protect."

"You can't just say that and not tell me more. I'm even more confused now than I was before." I said.

"I know. I'm sorry. I just want you to be prepared. If any guys come on to you hard or somehow corner you, then you need to call for me. In here," Justin tapped my forehead softly. "Remember what I did at lunch? When I spoke to you?"

I nodded. "Okay? So, I just talk in my head like I'm talking to you now?"

"Yeah, that'll work." Justin glanced around uncomfortably.

"What aren't you telling me?" I laughed at my silly question. "I mean... obviously, that's an open-ended question since there's apparently a lot I don't know, but what aren't you telling me about the mind thing."

"We can hear your thoughts." Justin rubbed my thumb with his.

"What?" I dropped his hand and backed up a step. "That's fucked up, Justin. You should've told me. How long?"

Justin pressed a finger to his lips, waving me over to a tree where we were out of sight. Justin lowered his voice before he spoke. "Since you first connected with us."

I folded my arms and searched the ground. "Connected with you? You mean when you first touched me?"

"Yeah," Justin nodded, massaging his shoulder. "I mean, it's not as bad as you think. You have to be nearby, and like our dreams, we each hear different things without even trying, but when we want to hear you, we can tune in whenever we want."

"Tune in?" I ran a hand over my ponytail, imagining what a radio signal from my brain must sound like. "If we supposedly connected, then why can't I hear your thoughts?"

Justin cleared his throat, smoothing a worried hand over his chin. "Uh... we know how to block you."

Narrowing my brow, I crossed my arms angrily. "Well, isn't that nice for you? Meanwhile, you guys have been rooting around my brain, listening to whatever you want? This is so wrong. I feel fucking violated."

"Angel, you have to understand. This isn't something that any of us anticipated. We were all taken by surprise, and none of us knew how to handle this. We never want you to feel like we're violating you. I mean... shit, I had to track down the fucking Timeweaver last night to figure out what the hell was happening."

"Timeweaver?" I asked.

"Timeweavers are our most powerful seers." Justin's eyes flicked between mine.

"So, that's what you were doing last night?" I asked, remembering how Lucy said he was never apart from Lucas and Tyler, but he'd still been missing until choir today.

Justin rubbed his hands together. "Yeah."

He sounded like he wanted to say more, but given the circumstances, this wasn't the time or place, and I knew it.

I shrugged. "Okay."

"That's it? No more questions?" Justin's eyebrows raised.

"Well, since you obviously don't want to talk about this in mixed company. I can't just ask you to spill the beans here, can I? It would be stupid to make you say anything else, so yeah... no more questions. Tonight. Tomorrow's a different story." I grabbed his hand and laced my fingers through his, pulling him toward the party before I stopped, facing him. "But, for real, how do we stop the tuning into my mind thing? It needs to stop, or I want inside your minds too because that's just unfair and totally fucked up."

Justin chuckled as he glanced down at my hand in his. "I promise we'll work on that tomorrow, okay?"

I nodded, knowing that whatever they'd heard in my thoughts spoke volumes about how crazy I really was. There was no way of knowing what they'd heard, but honestly, I just wanted some alcohol. I needed to relax. This was all fucking overwhelming, to say the least.

"Come on," Justin's smile didn't falter as he tugged me toward the door. "Let's go have some fun."

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