Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters - Ignition

4. Shattered

        "Why?" I asked, my faceplate wrinkling a bit in suspicion. I was consistently cautious of NightFang and his motives.

        He was . . . "I felt like it. And why shouldn't I keep an eye on you? You're still unpredictable." Unpredictable. How had he chosen the word I was going to use to describe him? More so, how did he have any right to claim I was unpredictable after everything that had already happened?

        "Yeah. I'm the unpredictable one,” I muttered sarcastically.

        The comment actually made NightFang laugh. And it was . . . Nice. Surprisingly so for someone who had had his fangs so close to my throat so many times. "You may have a point. But I was concerned. You just played referee between old and new alliances,” NightFang admitted gently.

        "So?" I asked defensively, still questioning his motives.

        "So, it was stressful. I know it was, Blade,” NightFang insisted calmly. He truly was concerned. He'd never called me that before -- Blade. He always called me JewelFang to put us on an eerily similar level. Right now, his desire to comfort me was stronger than his desire to make me one of . . . Them.

        I wanted to change the subject to hide how unsettled I actually  was by this. "Well, what about you? Why'd you growl at JumpStart?" It was a valid enough point to question him over it. Jay hadn’t done anything wrong.

        "He was touching my alpha,” NightFang replied easily. I suppose, in Fang's optics, he had made an offense.

        "Your alpha?” I asked, crossing my arms. “Excuse me, but I don't belong to anyone!" I was outraged at the presumption that I belonged to anyone, ‘Bot or wolf. It was a ridiculous, primitive notion.

        "So you're saying that if Lithium was overly-affectionate towards me, you'd have no problem with it?" Fang questioned coyly, watching for my reaction.

        "Why would I?" I shot back skeptically. I couldn't understand what he was getting at. I was feeling distracted, spacey, like gravity was letting up . . .

        And then all I knew was Optimus. I was reliving every moment with him in fast forward, starting with the day I'd crashed into his ped, ending with our goodbye in the cave hours before. It was over almost as quickly as it had begun, but it was so vivid that it felt like a knife had been twisted in my spark.

        "That's the reason, then?” NightFang asked, his gaze all too cunning for my comfort. “Optimus?"

        "What?" It was inconceivable for this mech to possibly know what had just flashed through my processor, and yet it certainly appeared he knew it to the exact detail. The way he looked at me . . .

        "He's the reason you don't actually care for JumpStart. Or me,” NightFang concluded, watching me. “He's the reason you don't trust me."

        I vented slowly, calming myself before I spoke. "You saw that?"

        "I did that,” NightFang affirmed. “I was going through your processor to figure out why you're so reserved. It's because of him. You love him." I winced at his words. While I had wondered before, I was figuring out rather quickly just how much of my processor NightFang was capable of accessing. And he had no qualms about poking around every corner he possibly could.

        "Stay out of my mind,” I warned him, and a growl laced my words. I didn't appreciate having someone go through my thoughts, searching for the whatever ones they deemed desirable and tossing aside the rest.