Spitfire ━ Jasper Hale

20 ━ NO CONTROL

  "I was her executioner, Shadow. Killing was all I knew. I didn't think about leaving or escaping, not until my friend convinced me to."

"Why?" Was all Shadow could think to ask. Her mind was reeling with the onslaught of information.

"Because I thought that what I felt for her was love," he admitted. "And I thought that if I gave her everything she wanted, she would love me back." He didn't look pained that it turned out that way, only ashamed.

Shadow couldn't help the way her heart writhed in her chest. A jealousy so vivid, it hurt. She didn't want to imagine him in love with someone else. Shadow didn't want to think that he had shared his smile— her smile— with any other person.

Jasper laughed so abruptly, it made her jump. "Are you actually jealous?"

Shadow gave a gasp, realizing what he'd done. "You asshole! You said you wouldn't do that!"

  He laughed some more, his expression lit up with pure delight. She immediately forgot her annoyance. It made Shadow so much happier, seeing him like this. He didn't deserve to carry the pain of someone else's crimes.

  "It's not funny," she said as she nestled closer on the couch.

  Jasper wrapped his arm around her. "Of course not," he replied and that smile was on his face again. The smile he shared only with her.

  "Shaden Swan," he spoke softly. "What I feel for you is beyond anything I will ever feel for another person, for the rest of my long life," he promised.

  "I won't hold you to that," she told him, simply because she couldn't.

  It was enough to know that he would be there for her in one lifetime, regardless of the length of that life. Shadow didn't wish for him to live on miserably without her and she could only hope that he would want the same for her.

  "Don't be annoying," Jasper sneered, leaning in to steal a kiss. Shadow smiled against his lips, enjoying the proximity.

The moment was over when a pillow was launched at their heads. "You are both so disgusting," Rosalie complained. She laughed only when Shadow shot back from Jasper's embrace.

  "Come on, you have training to get to."

→

Shadow glared at Emmett and Edward from where she stood in the middle of the Cullen estate. They were outside, in the yard, surrounded by the trees and damp grass. Carlisle and Esme were setting up distance markers, while their two idiot son's sang, 'Shadow and Jasper, sitting in a tree.'

"Are they meant to be helping?" She asked, irritated by their childishness.

"You could use them as target practice," Jasper offered. The suggestion immediately silenced the pair, much to Shadow's delight.

Carlisle finished putting up the last marker, right along the edge of the furthest tree line. When Shadow blinked, he was already back at her side. Their speed did little to surprise her now, but it was annoying being unable to track their movement.

"We're all target practice," Dr. Cullen explained. "We need to test out the radius of her scream before she learns to control it."