Jace looked up at me with confusion. “Seriously? Cayden, you know she is my charge and nothing more. Why would you even think that?”

He called me by my name. Now he was speaking as my friend, not my beta. I knew without a doubt that my words had taken him by surprise because he stood there staring at me with his mouth partially open.

I sat back and relaxed my body a bit, waiting for his reply. Granted, I had known Jace since we were boys, but I was still the ...