The sky was streaked with the coming dawn. From the living room window, the view was spectacular. Jenna awakened with Caspian's arms tight around her, but she managed to extricate herself without awakening him fully. They were not lovers, they were something different, and it was exactly what she needed. It seemed to be what he needed as well. Perhaps it was a tiger thing, that was definitely a part of it, but it was also an understanding. A mutual need. .
She knew Geller was on the mend. It was not as if Jenna had no friends in the mix. She knew that there would likely be an investigation into his disappearance, questions would arise, there would be another level of hell to walk through. How she rued the day he walked into that bathroom. God help her, she had not seen a moment's peace since. She had been so foolish in her hope that things could work out, when all along he had been gently pushing her away. What ironic timing that just when he managed to do that, he was taken. That could not have been more unfortunate. Had she only tried to call him, or went to see him. If she'd only called to see how his business was. But she was too hurt and too angry to even attempt a call. She would see this through, give the answers she was asked, though there was no way the full truth could be told. It was rare that that was the case. Once she saw this thing through, she had plans, plans that would likely surprise many. She blinked back to the current problems.
Her eyes watched the sun as it came over the horizon, the smell of coffee brewing from the kitchen, the sound of birds as they chirped their happiness at a new day. She killed Max last night. It was more a mercy killing than anything. His mind was a tabula rasa, and not even his tiger could be located by the man himself. It was there, Jenna felt it, but stumbling and unsure of itself. Santana did what Max wanted, but the price still had to be paid. Now it was. She'd never quite got the taste for killing her own kind. They were so rare, so precious. Few people would understand the grief, even though by her own hand she took his life, it was still not a thing desired. Max went a little crazy after what happened, that alone was enough to confirm in her mind that he was unstable from the beginning. Dangerous, and unstable. A tiger of Max's strength without control was a ticking time bomb.
Alex and she had run their course, though they were still close, they both knew it was not going to last. It was too strange, too out there, but then that was part of the fascination. At least for her. His phone call, he was so drunk, she hoped he remembered talking to her, she was pretty sure he wasn't that drunk.
She needed to talk with Evening and Avery. She knew Caspian would help her with that, but she also knew a new tiger was in the city. Faint whiffs caught here and there. She was not the kind to hunt and drag them in as was done when she was a young tigress in a new city, but she was going to offer the safety of the group to the male.
Musing over this, she heard the beep indicate the coffee was ready. She filled a cup, then went back to the window, watching each stage of the sunrise until it was spilling its light over the city in full. A sip of her coffee, she swallowed it down. Just as she did the pain, the grief, and the hurt. Where was the joy in her life? Where had it gone? Had it ever existed in any real form? Yes. It had once. In the form of Isabella. That had been real joy, real happiness. A profound sense of doing something right. With all the death surrounding her, to have that spark of a living being, so tiny, so dependent, so innocent ....it had been the highlight of her very existence.
And it could be again. She just had to figure out when, and how to proceed. She had cried all she could cry, tears were in short supply now. Things were not always as they seemed, no matter what presumptions and assumptions others made. Jenna was not locked into anything. Not any man, not this city, not anything. That was the beauty of freedom and choice. You always had another. Make no mistake, the lady was well aware of them all.
