Eyebrows high, I leaned away from the table. I knew the I.S. hadn’t taught Jenks the skills that landed him his job with them, but this was unexpected.

“I was never a thief,” he said, shooting me a quick look. “But I know things. I found them out the hard way, and Jax doesn’t need to.”

Jax fidgeted, turning defensive. “I tried,” he said, his voice small. “But you wanted me to be a gardener. I didn’t want to disappoint you, and it was easier to just go.”

Jenks slumped. “I’m sorry,” he said, making me wish I was somewhere else. “I only wanted you to be safe. It’s not an easy way to live. Look at me; I’m scarred and old, and if I didn’t have a garden now, I’d be worthless. I don’t want that for you.”

Wings blurring, Jax dropped to land before his dad. “Half your scars are from the garden,” he protested. “The ones you almost died from. The seasons make me think of death, not life, a slow circle that means nothing. And when Nick asked me to help him, I said yes. I didn’t want to tend his stupid plants, I wanted to help him.”

I glanced at Jenks in sympathy. He looked like he was dying inside, seeing his son want what he had and knowing how hard it was going to be.

“Dad,” Jax said, rising up until Jenks put up a hand for him to land on. “I know you and Mom want me to be safe, but a garden isn’t safe, it’s only a more convenient place to die. I want the thrill of the run. I want every day to be different. I don’t expect you to understand.”

“I understand more than you know,” he said, his words shifting his son’s wings.

Rex skulked to the pizza box on the floor and stole a crust, running to the kitchen. She hunkered down, gnawing on it as if it was a bone and watching us with big, black, evil eyes. Seeing her, Jenks took a deep breath, and tension brought me straight. He had decided to help me. “Tell me what you two got caught doing. I’ll help get Nick out under two conditions.”

My pulse quickened, and I found myself tapping my pencil on the table.

“What are they?” Jax asked, a healthy tone of caution mixing with hope.

“One, that you don’t take another run until I give you the skills to keep your wings untattered. Nick is dangerous, and I don’t want you taken advantage of. I may have raised a runner, but I did not raise a thief.”

Pixy dust sifted from Jax as he looked from his dad to me and back again in wide-eyed amazement. “What’s the other?”

Jenks winced, his ears reddening. “That you don’t tell your mother.”

I stopped my snicker just in time.

Jax’s wings blurred into motion. “Okay,” he said, and a zing of adrenaline brought me back to the map. “Nick and I were contracted by a Were pack. These guys.”