The Predator and His Prey

Chapter Thirty- Six

Dominik sat on the edge of the bed in silence, his head hanging in his hands. He could hear the women talking in the living room, his heart racing with emotions as he listened.

"You asked me once why I am doing this, helping Dominik." Gina's voice breaking the silence after he left the room.

He had left because he could feel his armor chipping away, his heart was breaking all over again, reliving his past. He was so close to the end, so close to his plan, a plan he hadn't even shared with Gina. A plan he never wanted to share with Jade, he never wanted to be the monster his beast could allow him to be, not in her eyes. His plan was the work of his beast and his beast alone, years of plotting it, years of dreaming of it. Jade could never know.

He heard no other voice but Gina's, "It's because I know what it's like to lose everything. I know what it's like to have to start all over again with only a memory of what your life was. So, do you." Dominik knew what Gina meant, her own history so close to his, that was what had bonded them all those years before.

Gina had been pack like he was, loyal and true to the nature of their kind. Until the pack turned on her, until the ones who were supposed to protect and help her, tried to destroy her. She had left, her own history so close to Jade's that Dominik often wondered if that was why they hated each other. Too much alike, too closely connected. Gina would know Jade's pain of the people who were supposed to love and protect being the very ones who hurt an innocent girl.

"I don't have memories, I have nightmares." Kitten's voice broke through his thoughts, strong and sure as she spoke, the Tiger he knew her to be showing its claws and strength. She was stronger than she even knew, something that made his feelings for her grow more.

"We all do. You are helping him for the same reason I am, Jade. Because at least one of us deserves revenge for the life we could have had." His whole life was about revenge, he had no plan for his life past his revenge. All he had ever wanted since the day he watched his family die was revenge for the life that was lost to him, the love that was lost. He knew nothing else but that need for blood and death, that was before Jade.

"You love him." It wasn't a question, his Kitten's voice steady and sure as she said it, his heart pounded in his chest hearing the word love. He knew the depth of the bond he had with Gina, the human had feelings for the human female as much as the female did him. But the beast would never bond with her, the beast would never want her. She was flawed, but the human knew he was flawed too. He never loved Gina, not in that roses and rainbows sort of way, he never would. But there was no word for the way he felt about her, so complex and intricate yet never fulfilling.

"I have always loved him in my own twisted way. But I am too fucked up to ever really love someone. But then again, aren't we all?" He scoffed as he listened, knowing how true Gina's words were.

He waited, listening for more to be said, but nothing was. He heard footsteps and the closing of the door that belonged to Gina, he waited. Either Jade would leave or she would come find him. Part of him wanted to be the guy that would respect her choice to just leave, but he would never be that guy, not when he needed her. He had given her what she asked for, giving her enough information to clue her in. In doing so he knew he could never take back how much she knew, how deep into his world she was traveling. He knew, like Loco had said months before, she was in his world now. He looked up as the door opened, Jade stepping into the room and closing the door behind her.

She sat beside him, her hands in her lap as she stared straight ahead and refused to look at him. He wasn't going to rush her, he could see there was so much on her mind. He wasn't going to push her to talk about what she had learned, no matter how much he wanted to. She had the right to take the time to process it, he had never given her that right up until that point. But that was before.