Hey guys! Here is my third chapter and I'm happy to put it up. I'm actually pretty happy with how it ended so I hope you like it too :) Big thanks to Lauren, Anna-Marie and Brianna :D You guys, I was so happy to see your reviews so thank you so much! They meant a lot to me and definitely had me writing even though I hadn't really planned to cause school just started up. My best friend had been nagging me to write soon and then I saw you guys' reviews and knew I had to write a third chapter ASAP ;) The power of reviews! ;P Anyways, as always excuse any grammar and spelling mistakes and I hope you enjoy it. :)


Ronin took a good look at the guy standing next to Acacia. He was taller than her by some and had short, black hair. The man had some obvious muscle packed on him and ice, blue eyes that put his own eyes to shame.

"Acacia, who is this?" Nod asked, noticing that Acacia hadn't said a word yet. He had expected her to rant at Ronin after he mentioned 'black magic', but she said nothing at all. Nod could tell that the fact that Ronin had said it all had been a shock to Acacia, but his curiosity concerning the man with Acacia was driving him nuts.

"Acacia" Nod spoke after Acacia said nothing, his voice low in warning. He knew that he did not scare her, but he was getting impatient. Ronin however, did not take his eyes off of the stranger. The stranger was not in any way intimidated, but stood very confused and obviously concerned for Acacia.

"My name is Tyler" the stranger said, answering for Acacia. He took the time to quickly glance at Nod before looking back at Ronin.

"Tyler… What is your business here Tyler?" Ronin said, voice commanding.

"Cassie is my business here" Tyler responded. He then looked to Acacia who stood stiff and staring at the ground.

"I haven't heard anyone call Acacia 'Cassie' in years" Nod whispered to himself. Kallan, Acacia's brother, used to call her Cassie, and after he passed away she barely let anyone call her Cassie. Nod, for one, was not allowed to. On the other hand, they had had their own issues at the time and those issues and more still stood between them now.

"Are you the reason why she went into the Budding Meadows?" Ronin asked, automatic blame coming into play. Ronin didn't know what else to think. It was obvious that this meeting between Tyler and Acacia was meant to be secret, private. What else was he supposed to think?

"She did what? You went where?" Tyler almost yelled. Nod and Ronin both did not expect that reaction and looked startled. Tyler was now looking solely at Acacia. Acacia seemed to shrink under his glare.

"Cassie, spit it out, now. What did you go do?" Tyler said, voice raised. His sudden anger had Ronin and Nod stepping forward in case of anything. They both felt the need to keep Acacia safe, and if that meant manhandling Tyler then so be it. Reluctant was an understatement. Acacia didn't just look reluctant, she looked as if she was about to cry under his intense scrutiny. Tyler was not about to let up and they all knew it.

"She came back with a bunch of small vials with white, whispy things in them" Ronin said finally, trying to take the pressure off Acacia. Tyler on the other hand looked shocked.

"How many?" He asked immediately.

"About 10 or more" Ronin answered, starting to get curious himself. Tyler didn't ask what they were because he knew. Tyler knew what those things were.

"What are those things?" Ronin asked, placing the pressure on Tyler. Nod's eyes narrowed while he looked at Tyler. Now he also needed to know what Tyler knew. Tyler had vital information, because if Nod and Ronin could figure out what those vials were then they could look into what exactly went down in Budding Meadows.

"10…10 vials or more…" Tyler repeated, "How did you get so many?" Acacia looked up from the ground to Tyler's confused face. She knew what was going to come after. The realization would hit Tyler and it would get her into a load of trouble with him.

"What did you trade for them?" Tyler said suddenly, grabbing onto Acacia's arms so she was forced to face him, "Acacia, this is no joke. What did you give up? What did you do?" And there it was, the realization Acacia was hoping would not come up so quickly. Tyler's hands on her upper arms tightened on her as he asked her again and again. It got to the point where he started to shake her, and Ronin and Nod could no longer stand by and watch Tyler's rough questioning.

"Hands off" Nod growled at Tyler while he pushed Tyler in the chest as hard as possible to get him away from Acacia. Nod knew Ronin would back him up if things went south, though he so hoped they wouldn't. He had pushed Tyler hard enough to have him let go of Acacia, but now Tyler looked even angrier than he was before.

"Don't touch me" Tyler growled back, giving Nod a hard shove. In the background, Tyler could hear Acacia yell at him. Nod was shoved back into Acacia, making them both fall back. Before Acacia could fall Ronin grabbed her under the arms, but for Nod there was no one to catch him. Nod fell right on his backside, looking up at a fuming Tyler.

"TYLER!" Acacia yelled to get Tyler's attention off of Nod. When Tyler looked up at her the anger seemed to disappear from his eyes and he suddenly looked concerned. Acacia stood holding a hand to her stomach, teeth clenched in pain.

"Tyler" she said softly. Tyler's look of concern molded into a look of shame. Nod in the meantime got up to stand next to Ronin who stood behind Acacia. Acacia started to make her way towards Tyler when Ronin took her wrist in his large hand. Acacia turned to look at Ronin and smiled, assuring him she was fine and Tyler would not hurt her. Ronin slowly and reluctantly let go of her wrist. The moment Acacia reached Tyler she gripped onto his shirt to keep herself upright. Tyler could see her struggle and automatically put his hands around her waist to steady her.

"She needs to get back to the healing center" Nod declared, eyebrows knit together in worry. He could see that she was having a hard time, and it bothered him that she was even out of the healing center. Tyler could not argue with that so he swiftly picked Acacia up causing her to groan. Ronin lead the way to the healing center with Tyler holding Acacia behind him, and Nod walking behind Tyler.

Once they got into the healing center and put Acacia down on a bed, Mother Lorellei came into view. She was holding herbs in her hands and had dirt all over her shoes and the bottom of her dress. Most likely she had gone into her herbal garden to get what she needed. Mother Lorellei, seeing Tyler, Ronin and Nod next to a bed with a pained Acacia, quickly put away her herbs before she walked over to the bed.

"Let me see dear child" she urged while tugging Acacia's hands away from her stomach. When Acacia's hands were removed from her stomach there was a blood stain on her dress and blood on her hands. Tyler gasped at the blood and Ronin and Nod stepped back to give Mother Lorellei some space to work. Seeing that Tyler wasn't moving, Ronin and Nod yanked him back getting them an angry glare from Tyler.

The three men watched as Mother Lorellei made a whole in Acacia's dress to get better access to her stomach. She had patched it up, but almost falling must have caused Acacia to pop to stitches. Acacia hissed loudly and cursed a blue streak under her breath when Mother Lorellei put pressure on the wound trying to staunch the bleeding while she listed herbs that she would need to herself.

"Nod, dear boy, put pressure on the wound for me" Mother Lorellei demanded, already starting to move towards her herb cabinet. Nod quickly took over and soon regretted it. Acacia's blood seeping through his hands was making him feel helpless. It was like being a caged animal. Ronin understood that Mother Lorellei had asked Nod to do it instead of him because she wanted him to keep Tyler in check. Tyler was starting to get antsy and she had noticed. Mother Lorellei came back up to the other side of the bed with a brown, mushy-looking paste.

"This is going to burn" Mother Lorellei warned before moving Nod's hands slightly away from part of the wound and smearing a thick layer of the paste onto it. The moment Acacia screamed and started to move underneath Nod's hands Ronin and Tyler both lurched forward to hold her down. Tyler stood next to Nod holding Acacia down on one side while Ronin stood next to Mother Lorellei holding her down on the other.

Nod again moved his hands away from part of her wound and Mother Lorellei again smeared some of the paste onto it. And again, Acacia screamed and yelled under their hands. Tyler was going crazy with all her screaming. He hated that she was in so much, that he couldn't take the pain from her and that he didn't even know what had happened to cause this pain.

"Shhh, it's okay Cassie, shhh" Tyler whispered in Acacia's ear trying to soothe her. It didn't seem to work though because Acacia continued to scream and thrash.

"Can't you give her something for the pain?" Nod yelled desperately over Acacia's screams. Tears were streaming down his face as he did his best to keep pressure on the wound.

"Keep moving your hands for me" was all Mother Lorellei said before she continued to apply the brown paste to the wound.

Darkness had come upon them and the stars shone bright. Mother Lorellei had just finished applying the paste while Acacia took harsh, shallow breaths. Nod stood staring at the blood on his hands while Tyler held Acacia's hand and caressed her hair.

"Come on, let's get going" Ronin said quietly taking Nod to wash his hands at a small stream before making his way to Nod and MK's home. Before Nod and Ronin left, Ronin made sure to thank Mother Lorellei with a gentle kiss on the cheek and glare at Tyler.

Ronin and Nod were both silent as they walked towards MK and Nod's home. It occurred to Nod that Ronin hadn't split to go to his own home and was still walking with him.

"Thank you" Nod said to Ronin knowing that Ronin would know what he meant. Ronin nodded but didn't say a word. Reaching MK and Nod's home Ronin realized that Nod coming home with blood all over his clothes was going to put MK into overdrive. Nod looked down at his clothes and sighed before walking into the hut type home that MK and himself had grown to love. The moment Ronin and Nod walked into the hut they saw MK standing in the kitchen cooking dinner. Nod couldn't help but smile at the sight. MK always did her best to cook before he got home so that he could come home to dinner on the table and a cozy, warm atmosphere.

"Hey sweetheart, how was your da—" MK said turning towards them and stopping midsentence. The blood on Nod's shirt was dark and sticky, stopping her in her place.

"Nod…I…Is that…NOD!" MK stuttered before rushing over to Nod and pulling up his shirt. Relief washed over her at the sight of Nod's not-bleeding stomach. MK sighed and fell forward onto Nod's chest. If Nod hadn't held onto her, she would've fallen.

"Woah hey, you alright there?" Nod asked, worried for the woman he loved like no other. He felt MK nod into his chest and held onto her hugging her. Nod knew he had scared her, and he hadn't meant to but he hadn't thought about washing his shirt in the stream before coming home. He was lucky to have MK in his life. She meant so much to him, and what made it better was the fact that most probably she didn't even realize that he couldn't live without her. They weren't even married and yet Nod knew he would never leave her.

"I…um…made dinner" MK said quietly, struggling to get her words out. The shock was still registering, as was the fact that Nod was perfectly healthy and that the blood was not his.

"Would you like to stay Ronin?" MK asked Ronin, finally untangling herself from Nod's arms. Ronin smiled gratefully and nodded causing MK to smile kindly at him. MK walked back into the kitchen, a bit wobbly still, and continued stirring whatever was on the stove type mechanism they had in their little home.

"What's for dinner?" Nod asked casually, trying to ignore the tension that had been created.

"Whose blood is it?" MK asked in response.

"Acacia's" Ronin answered simply. MK turned around to face them so fast that both Ronin and Nod thought she would fall.

"Did something else happen? Is she alright?" MK questioned both men. MK seemed truly concerned over the girl that she had never met and it made Nod wonder why. She turned back around just as quickly as she had before, making Nod wonder what she knew or had heard. MK hadn't heard him say that he was Acacia's brother, right? Nod knew that if MK knew, she would treat Acacia like her own sister and that warmed his heart, but she couldn't know, not yet. There was a lot attached to the fact that Acacia was his sister and Nod was just not ready to get into it.

Nod then remembered that Ronin had never mentioned it again, and that other than being hard on him today, it had not come up anymore. It also struck him that Ronin helped him get the blood off his hands, and that Ronin walked him home even though he was obviously angry at him that day. Ronin was loyal to a fault and that's what Nod liked about him. For those who had Ronin as a friend, they never had to worry about his loyalty for it was always there and it never faltered.

"She's fine, someone's staying with her" Ronin answered, seeing that Nod was deep in thought. He also wondered at MK's interest in Acacia, but knew that Nod was bound to ask MK about it. Ronin was not going to be the one to tick her off with such a questioning.

"Why do you ask?" Nod asked slowly, knowing that asking this question could get him a lot of defensiveness on MK's part.

"There is a lot of blood on your shirt" MK responded, not turning to look at him. The answer made Nod even more curious because he had expected a rant from her part. A rant all about how it was right for her to worry about someone else's well-being, and that she had the right to be curious and wonder. MK's response seemed so…cold.

"Dinner might take a while longer, wash up before dinner please?" MK asked quietly. Nod just nodded to her back and walked away to wash up and get out of the bloody shirt and into clean pants.

Ronin stood staring at MK's back. The response she had given Nod was a strange one. He expected more from MK, but she didn't even turn to look at Nod when she answered. When MK had stayed behind to protect the pod she had not only gained Ronin's respect and trust, but also his friendship. Ronin knew how much MK loved Nod and how much Nod loved her, and he couldn't help but envy it and feel the need to protect her for Nod. To Ronin it was like watching a son of his own be in love. Nod had become like a son to him and if MK was Nod's world and stability, then that was who he would protect and care for if and when needed. Either way, MK was his friend and he worried over her cold way of answering. Ronin had never seen her like that.

"Mary Katherine…is something going on?" Ronin asked carefully, walking to stand at the counter next to the stove. He stood with his back to the counter so that he could see her face clearly. MK seemed to be mulling something over in her mind while she cooked. Ronin knew she had heard him so he said nothing while he waited for her to speak.

"Does Nod love her?" MK asked, looking at Ronin with tears shining in her eyes. Ronin was surprised by the question, and shocked that that was what was going through MK's mind.

"Does Nod love Acacia? Mary Katherine…No! He loves you like no other and you should not doubt his love for you" Ronin said very sure of himself. Ronin could understand how MK had come to that conclusion, but he felt sorry that it was this that was bothering her. He could see that something else was still bothering MK and decided to try his luck.

"Is there something else?" Ronin pushed, stepping closer to MK so that he was facing her. Just then, Nod walked into the living room area and MK turned to look at Nod and then at Ronin.

"It's nothing" she said smiling lightly before sighing, turning off the stove and walking towards a cabinet to get plates and cups.

Ronin knew better than that but figured it was better not to continue pushing MK. Whatever it was that was still eating at her, he would have to figure out when Nod was not around.


So... What'd you guys think? Any requests on what MK's other issue or secret should be? Hope you enjoyed and please review :D