And she wanted him with a bone-deep yearning she'd never had for a man before. Logically, she shouldn't want him. She'd promised herself, promised, that she would have nothing to do with men for at least a year, until she had a chance to regain her footing after the divorce. Yet here she was, lusting after a man who seemed conflicted at best and dangerous at worst.

She needed to get a handle on herself. She couldn't let this attraction between air and fire get the better of her.

Jack seemed to be handling it more effectively than she was, in his stoic, stomping way.

The only good thing about the last couple of days was that her bruise had almost completely healed. And even though he still insisted she sleep with him, at least he wasn't tying her to the bed at night anymore.

That was a good thing, she reminded herself.

She picked at the couch with her thumb and forefinger. "Jack, I have questions.”

He mumbled something at her in response.

She sighed. "Jack, I need you to stop brooding and talk to me.”

He turned. "I don't brood.”

"Oh, really? Then you're doing a really good impression of a man who does.”

He blinked.

She patted the couch beside her. "Come and sit down a little? I promise I won't bite, though I'm not sure you won't.”

He gave her a dark look and took the chair near the couch instead.

She flicked her hair out of her eyes and angled her gaze downward. "How did Crane kidnap my parents?”

He shrugged. "We don't know much. We know it was well planned and well executed. It's hard to sneak up on an air witch, and Crane managed to kidnap two at once. We suspect your parents were overwhelmed by warlocks and then drugged somehow." He paused and his voice grew softer. "We do know that your father fought them and was badly injured in the process.”

She looked up at him. "How was he injured?”

Jack held her gaze. "Fire. Probably from Crane. He has an ability to kindle white-hot fire that even powerful air and water witches are hard-pressed to extinguish.”

"And my mother?”

Jack looked away, out the window. "The story goes that she was forced to watch your father in the first demon circle. That it sucked away her will to live so she was very pliant when it came for her turn the next day.”

Mira shot from the couch and walked to the window, hugging herself against a sudden chill. Her mother had lost her will to live? But Mira had only been a baby then. Hadn't Mira been enough to make her mother want to survive?

Jack's body heat warmed her from behind. "You asked.”

"I needed to know." Resolved, she turned toward him. "Tell me more about Crane.”