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 There was no way...      She couldn't possibly be...

    { He was sure he'd left that life behind. that now back in Beacon, he wouldn't be reminded of everything he'd built and left behind in London. Yet, he couldn't deny that this girl looked familiar, almost exactly like Darcy. A friend of his, she'd known him and his pack.

                 --Jackson didn't want it to be her, because it meant remembering everything that had happened there. But he had to be sure. }

             "Darcy?"

    { Her name was soft and tentative on his lips, calling out to her from across the parking lot. }

 ❝ Long time no see Lahey. ❞

    The words hung rather listless in the space between them, a fragility to them given the way their last foray had gone. Not something that Jackson regretted, just something he didn't know how to talk about or even voice aloud. He was back to his stoic, naturally cocky self. It was simply easier that way.

               ❝ Surprised you haven't been scratching at my door like a wounded puppy. ❞

 --Is that bitterness I hear Jackson Whittemore?