Jared recoiled from my touch. “You don’t know what you’re saying. You have no idea what I’ve caused. Shax won’t stop until he has the book, and even then there’s a good chance he’ll retaliate. Hell wants us dead and Heaven won’t help us, Nina. I don’t know what to do.”

“This isn’t your fault. If Jack hadn’t taken the book, none of this would have happened.”

Jared laughed once. “Including us.”

I frowned. “Didn’t we agree we had to get through the nightmare to get our miracle?”

Jared smiled infinitesimally. “Yeah.” He parted his knees and pulled me to him, hugging me to his chest.

“What are we going to do about what we saw today?” I whispered into his neck.

“Right now we’re just dealing with humans. We have to make sure it stays that way.”Jared shifted and stood up, bringing me along with him. He brought me to the middle of his room and took in a deep cleansing breath, pressing his forehead against mine.

“I’m sorry I’ve been so….” he shook his head, clearly in full self-loathing mode.

I inched up on the balls of my feet and touched my lips to his. He cautiously kissed me back, and then sighed again.

“You’re under a lot of pressure right now,” I said, running my fingers through the sides of his hair.

“The last person I should be taking that out on is you. The way I treated you this morning is unforgiveable,” he frowned.

“It was unforgiveable,” I said. “But I forgive you.”

“We know what they want; we’re just not sure how far they’ll go to get it. Claire and I can handle the humans. The hardest part will be waiting for their next move.”

I nodded and wrapped my arms around him. “Can we start this day over?”

Jared kissed the top of my head. “Why don’t we start with getting you to class? You have a test today, don’t you?”

I shook my head. “I have a paper to turn in at ten thirty.”

Jared released me, disappearing to the bathroom. He emerged in a light grey t-shirt and black soccer shorts, with his ratty running shoes. He looked dramatically different than the more professional attire he wore to the bank.

I stood by the door and waited while he pulled a hooded sweatshirt over his head.

“Get your stuff together and I’ll take you to school. I need to finish setting up for next week, so I’ll meet you later, okay? Claire will be close,” he said, almost in passing.

“Jared?” My fists gripped the fabric of his shirt, holding him tightly to me just as he began to walk away. He looked down at me and tucked my hair behind my ear.

“Yes?” he smiled, the softness finally returning to his eyes.