Chapter 6

After Steph and I ran back to the bar the following afternoon, we found Reynold at the bar top. I stopped dead at the sight of him, trying to backtrack to the exit when she pulled me back.

"Oh no you don't little maggot. You dragged me shopping with you, so now you have to pay up." She pulled me in the direction of the stools, thankfully taking the open one next to Reynold. I sat on the other side of her, and the man that was taking up the stool to my left suddenly had to get up and leave. I was getting sick of being treated like a leper, maybe I wasn't showering enough.

I noticed another girl was working the bar. I wondered where Gus was, but shook off my paranoid concerns, he couldn't work the bar all the time.

"Hey Reynold, whatcha doing here so early?" Steph asked him. He looked more relaxed than normal. I could see several glasses of empty drinks in front of him, I had noticed his intake of alcohol was almost matching my own.

"Aurielle's gone for the day, she had to run into town with Gus to pick up some more supplies. I have the night free," he said cheerily, words slurring a bit. He must have gotten a doozy of a lecture from my mother after our bath the other night, and I didn't blame him for trying to blow off some steam. The girl came over to take everyone's order, giving me a glare when her eyes landed on me.

"I'll take a double tequila, ice, and small amount of lime juice," I ordered when it was clear she wasn't going to ask what I wanted. Reynold got another drink, and Steph ordered a scotch.

"Do you drink anything besides scotch? I don't think I have ever seen you order anything else," I asked her, tapping my fingers on the wood as I waited for my order.

"Everything else pales in comparison, I can't just drink anything in front of me like you can. I have standards." She seemed more teasing than anything, and I breathed a sigh of relief her mood wasn't in the toilet after what happened earlier.

"It's one of my special skills," I told her dryly. She laughed a little and we settled in for the long haul, I could tell we all were going to spend the rest of the day here.

We got up and played some darts, after spending ten minutes getting her to agree to it, and in the end I lost out to her. Her vampire was very strong, her senses were off the charts, and she hit her target almost every time. After a few more scotches, I had decided to join in with her, both of us were having a hard time hitting anything. I laughed when one of the patrons pulled a dart out of his ass, admittedly I may have aimed a little with that one.

Reynold was beyond gone by this point, he was laughing with us and talking like we were all old friends. We never talked about anything important, but it was clear we were trying to be friendly with one another. With all the tequila, on top of the scotch, I could almost pretend it was real. Almost.

By the time it had gotten dark outside, I was getting bored with sitting here. Bored meant my mind would wander, and that was a dangerous thing for someone with my past, as I would prove later on.

"How about we make a little wager," I asked Steph, a smile hitting my face at the idea. I needed to close this day out with some fun, I wasn't wrong when I told Ari it was dark here.

"Alright maggot, I'll call your bet. What are you thinking?" Her face lit up just a touch. She looked like she needed a distraction too, and I was all too happy to provide it.

"You win against me in poker, and I will drink scotch the rest of the month. I win, and you have to drink whatever I order you." I had been dying to play some poker for a while, but no one would play with me.

"Make it strip poker, and I'll fill the table," came a deep rich voice behind me. Steph and I swung around and found Cy staring back at where we were sitting. He had honed in one me, and was roaming his gaze over my cuves. I could feel him tracing the lines of my breasts, and it sent a shiver over my skin. I shook away some of my inappropriate thoughts, he smelled too damn good tonight.

"Ryann Stone," I told him as I held out my hand for him to shake, deciding to break the silence first.

"I know who you are," he told me, a breathtaking smile on his face. I think I might have gasped, the effect made him even more beautiful. I should never have let Steph talk me into drinking like this today, I had terrible restrait against gorgeous men. I looked over at her, she was shaking her head at me. It didn't seem like she was mad.

"Cy Zhang," he said back to me, firmly shaking my hand, lingering a second too long.

"So about that game?" He asked with a smirk when it was obvious I was staring at him. He was so pretty, my drunken brain was having a hard time concentrating. I should move away from him, distance would help, right? I looked over, and found Steph managed to keep her face even with him so close. I raised my eyebrow at her and she drunkenly shrugged, I took it as a thumbs up. Clearly what they had wasn't romantic.

"Your're on," I told him leaving to get up from the stool. I threw the rest of my drink back ,and headed to where the bartender was standing. I gave her the last of my money, far more than necessary, and asked for one bottle of scotch and one bottle of tequila. I grabbed a stack of glasses while she searched for the liquor. She reluctantly gave them to me, a menacing glare accompanying the drinks. I could care less what she thought of me. I would take the good times when I could, even if this idea was possibly the dumbest in the history of man.

I walked back to the group, bottle in each hand with two glasses stacked on each, and motioned for them to follow me. Steph looked for a second like she wanted to run far away, but ended up towing the line with everyone else. When we got to my tent I moved my round desk table to the middle of the room and pulled in the five chairs from Steph's tent. I looked and found Reynold picking up the guitar from the ground by my bed.

"If I win, you play for us," he told me, staring at the instrument like he wasn't sure what end was up. It was only fair, and it was a safe punishment.

"Deal, now go and shuffle while I play bartender," I said to him while I went to the dresser to make our drinks, managing only to fall once too. I could hear Steph and Cy talking as they sat down at the table, I couldn't make out what they were saying, but they used non serious tones and both of them looked more at ease than they did at the bar.

They immediately stopped talking as I approached the table, which wasn't so good for my theory they were just catching up. Must be important rogue talk, or she was warning him about me.

I almost forgot where I was for a second, it was a depressing thought that I was here, about to play strip poker with four enemies. It was getting tough to spot the bad guys now, they didn't seem so bad sometimes. I'm sure I was crossing a line having them in here, in fact I think this whole two and half months here I had crossed the line. Damn, but the lines were so blurry they were almost nonexistent.

With everyone seated, we got down to it. We talked and laughed some, the details of it all got lost in the haze of alcohol. I won, I lost, and in the end we all ended up in our underwear. Playing while that drunk, was a challenge to say the least. The hardest parts were making sure that you played on your correct turn and the bets were the right amount. Half the time I think we were completely out of turn.

"Gods, I am down to almost nothing but it's still hot as hell out here," I said to the table, feeling another drop of sweat travel down my back to the base of my spine. I had on my underwear and tank top. I chose that over sitting in my bra. It felt like I was slightly more covered up, which was ridiculous considering what would happen when I lost the next hand.

"Why Aurielle picked Cambodia is beyond me, outside of Cy here I don't know what the advantage is," Reynold said, finally giving me a good reason to stay at the table. I only had to get them smashed to all hell before they spilled some information, not that I was complaining.

"And what a fine advantage he is," I said turning my gaze towards Cy and raking my eyes over his chest. It was a finely sculpted chest and set of abs, it would have any artist drooling.

His flashed a fiery red for a second at my suggestive comment. I only partially wanted to flirt with him, the other reason was so that everyone would skim over Reynolds slip up. I wanted to keep the information flowing, I didn't want anyone to clam up now.

I started to shift my feet a little to try and counteract the alcohol. I was afraid someone would notice if I tried my legs, we were all sitting fairly close to one another. I looked to Steph, but thankfully she was even more intoxicated than I was, and currently was staring at her cards like they were the a treasure map she had to decipher.

"I am starting to see what all the fuss is about Reynold, she is magnificent," Cy said as he reached out across the table to touch a wayward strand of hair. I reached out and put the piece of hair back into the bun on the top of my head and got up from the table, not liking what his touch did to me.

"I'm going to play for a while, you all can finish up with the game. My head is starting to spin anyway," I lied. I didn't need to admit Cy was a little too tempting at the moment, they could probably smell my lust if they paid enough attention. If I was in exile I would have had him already, and that knowledge was burning through my brain.

"I'm going to shift some to burn some of this tequila off, otherwise my playing is going to sound like crap. Just a heads up," I said as I started to shift my arms back and forth as I tuned up the guitar. It felt like a surge of soberity flashing through my bloodstream, almost as nice as feeling drunk.

I didn't need to look up to know that they were all watching, it wasn't done rudely so I let them. I did my legs next, it felt so good I stood up and stretched as I did it. All of a sudden I saw Steph in front of me. She looked at me with her mouth hanging a little open, and reached out to touch the fur on my arm, eyes glazed and focused at the same time.

"That is the most amazing thing I have ever seen Ryann. I didn't know you could isolate like that. You really weren't kidding when you said that you dismantled that shapeshifter cage were you? I thought you were just flat out lying, no one can do that. But you can, can't you?" She was backing away from me now, eyes a little wild at the thought. I think I awoke her vampire a little more than she wanted. I stayed where I was, I needed her to see I was no threat to her.

"Yes Steph, unfortunately most everything you hear about me is true," I told her in a placating tone. She looked to me again, I was in the exact same position and it seemed to be helping her. She stopped just beside Reynold and sat back down shaking her head a bit, putting her face in her hands.

"Like what happened with Swift?" Reynold asked me, suddenly interested again in me. Great.

"Why out of all the stories you ask about the mob king? It always comes back to him," I murmured more to myself than anyone else. I didn't understand the fascination with him. No one made a move to change the subject, I felt like a teacher at story time, they were all raptly waiting for me to continue.

"I was with Swift was a good two years of my life, during one of the worst times of my life no less," I told them as I continued to strum on the guitar. My fingers were deftly hitting my notes. It was so much easier with my vampire senses to control, it was a wonder I could work it at all with the chip in. I played some of my favorite Zeppelin songs, I knew the words so well I could talk and get distracted, but still play well enough to keep the song going.

"So you really did that to his car?" Reynold asked, I could barely understand him, I wasn't even sure he was opening his mouth all the way.

"Of course I did, I needed him to pay attention to what I was saying, and he only loved two things at that time," I told him. He responded with a confused expression.

"He loved me and that car. I wasn't going to do anything to myself, so it had to be the car. The hardest part was getting someone to agree to do it in the first place. I had to go all the way to Mexico to get it done, no one on the west coast would so much as touch Swifts baby." I could feel the sadistic smile on my face. It really was my finest prank, and I realized that all three of them were laughing. Not just laughing but really cracking up. I didn't get what was so funny about it, maybe they were way more gone than I thought.

"Swift didn't think it was that funny," I told them as I started playing another song, "He destroyed my Ducati!" I told them it with such an indignant tone. I knew I sounded like a child but I loved that bike.

"You rode a bike?" Cy asked, a dangerous look on his face.

"Yes and she was beautiful, custom built just for me," I told him tipping my chin up, if I closed my eyes I could still feel her between my legs.

"Let me guess pink?" Steph asked on a choked laugh.

"Of course it wasn't pink, it was customized to my height. No she was pure black, and a dream to ride," I said, feeling my eyes unfocused and the song I was playing miss a few notes when I thought about her.

"I don't think I would be able to handle seeing that. What about you Reynold?" Cy asked him, a smirk on his face as he whistled.

"Oh I'm not going there Cy, her mother is pissed as hell at me right now. I am going to plead the fifth, though I'm sure that's why Swift got it for you. I heard he paid a pretty penny to have it customized." He was not wrong, but my warning bells were going off a bit. How on earth did they know all this stuff about our relationship?

"Swift bought me many gifts, the Ducati was nice but it wasn't what made me fall in love with him." Well as much as I was capable of at that moment in my life. I always got confused when it came to him, I started to go through some blues songs I was writing, echoing my inner turmoil.

"Ghost? Out of everything he gave you, that was what you liked the best? Swift would shit himself if he knew that old horse was your favorite." Cy asked me. I almost dropped the fucking guitar, no one knew about my horse.

"How the hell do you know about my horse?" I said as I looked right at him, the song ended and the tent descended in tense silence.

"Swift talks about you often, even after all this time he is still very fond of you. I thought he was just being a bravo, but he was right, you would be worth the trouble," Cy said. Of course I would run in to someone who knows Swift, it was a miracle I hadn't already here.

"I didn't know he still felt that way. Sometimes I think it would be nice to see him again, but he brings as many bad memories as he does good. I still think of him from time to time," I admitted, not nearly getting to the heart of things. I picked up my guitar and started to play again, I wanted to keep calm and try to get some more information flowing. It was then I noticed they were exchanging glances back and forth. Nervous glances, which didn't mean good things for me.

"Well that's good seeing as he is coming with his crew tomorrow. You're going to help me train them," Cy told me, and despite my iron stomach, I almost fell off the bench and threw up. Was it possible that every part of my past was going to reappear at the worst possible moment.

"I'm so sorry Cy, you are going to have to repeat that for me. It almost sounded like you said he was coming here, to train, with me." I gave him my thousand yard stare, daring him to repeat it.

"I must say after hearing everything about you, most especially from Swift, I couldn't wait to get back here and see you for myself." I could only focus on the fact that he ignored my question, I was choosing to forget the compliments.

"Can I see your hybrid form?" Steph asked from the table, interrupting Cy's line of thoughts. I almost forgot she was there she was being so quiet. She didn't look surprised at Swifts travel plans, she must have known. Some 'friend' she was, an irrational anger was building in me.

I shifted in all of two seconds, violently and dramatically. I managed not to lose grip of the guitar either, I knew I looked ridiculous still holding it but I couldn't help it. I just reacted to her question, and here I was in all my beastly glory. All three of them were staring again, this time with a range of reactions. I needed to get it under control. I retracted my fangs and Cy leapt from his table to come my way, a look of pure wonder on his face. I backed up until my legs hit the bed, not wanting him to get closer.

"Do that again," he said in a mix of command and a request. I obliged him anyhow, shifting one more time from full to beast. "That's amazing. Do you think you can teach me that?" I didn't know if it was possible to teach something that I considered more of an instinct.

"I can try, but right now you need to get out of my personal space Cy." I was sitting on the bed and he was kneeling in front of me, staring up at me like a shrine. I pushed him back gently and walked to the dresser to get my clothes. I was furry and naked walking through the room, but I couldn't muster up the shame to feel bad about it.

"I'm about at my limit everyone," I told them as I threw a towel around myself "Tonight has been...fun. I'll see you all tomorrow." I left them all, looking like statues, as I went to take another shower.

Chapter 7

"Anything?" I asked London and Ari who were sitting facing each other on the sofa, hands gripping each other with a fierce force.

"We couldn't reach her Cole, I didn't sense anything at all," Ari said to me. That meant she was probably smashed tonight, like it was most nights, gods what a mess this whole thing was. It was likely she never would be sober enough to reach her. We weren't getting anywhere and I wasn't sure I could keep putting London through this. She was almost seven and half months pregnant now, and I knew she missed having Ryann here with her. They had spent the better part of their teenage years planning their lives together, they wanted to have babies at the same time, giving them a family from the start. I looked over to my mate and saw she was tired and frustrated, I pulled her to my side and kissed the top of her head to comfort her.

"But you did the other night Ari? Are you sure?" I asked. I needed to know if I was hoping for nothing.

"Oh I was with her, I woke up with sand in my toes and the smell of jasmine everywhere. I can still feel her on my skin, it's the strangest feeling. It was her Cole, but she wasn't doing well. I could just tell she is struggling with something. The Ryann we know is slowly losing her grip, she kept saying she needed to be there and that everything was dark. Then I saw a woman come at me with a knife from down the beach. Do you have any more ideas on what she is talking about, about the woman?" he asked London. It was all most of us could think about, and some of the answers were not pretty.

"I don't think she has joined them if that is what you are asking. Ryann always goes with her gut, so I believe she is just rolling with the options she has. But," I said sighing, "we can't forget what Marcus did to her that night, it would be enough for anyone to consider siding with those that seek to dethrone him." Ari grimaced, and I was sure my face betrayed the same feelings. If she went with them willingly, I had no clue what I was going to do. We would be on two sides that were on a collision course.

"As for the other visitor, London thinks it was a part of the illusion in Ryann's dream. I was there too, but she never brought me in to be part of it, so I'm betting the other lady was imaginary." There was a small part of me that had a very uneasy feeling about that detail of the dream, it just didn't sit well with me. Then again not that much did these days.

I head my front door slam open, with a brooding Dominic and Juke coming through it at an alarming pace. Luca followed in from the rear, looking like he was about to explode.

"Swifts gone," Juke said, interrupting Dom as he was about to speak. I was glad it was him talking, Dom didn't need to rile his beast anymore, I could see fur sticking out from the ends of his dress shirt.

"Okay, you want to fill in some dots here?" I asked, not understanding what he had to do with it. I was tired and I needed them to get down to it.

"Swift and his crew are gone from the human plane. His beta, Carlos, is chipped. They go everywhere together, and he just disappeared from the human plane. He dropped off the council radar, completely. All of them are gone from their Cali base, every last one," Juke said. Holy shit, I could hardly believe it.

"All of them? Does this mean what I think?" London asked them. This could be the break we need, a link to some concrete facts.

"If you think they left to help in the rogue fight, I'm not so sure. I can't see a situation in which Swift would be tempted to join, he likes the position he holds too much to ever leave. He has been there for almost two centuries running his operation, so I don't think I buy it. Something's not right here," Luca said. I had almost forgot they knew each other, and most of their history wasn't so friendly.

"We need to think about every possibility, I'm not saying we need to jump to conclusions, but we need to consider it," I told everyone. It took so much for me to say those words out loud. Everyone looked to their feet, avoiding any kind of eye contact with each other.

"There is only one reason Swift would come aboard and help them out." I said what everyone was thinking, it was what I was good at, honesty.

"She would never do that," Luca said to us. "I know we need to address it, but you all weren't there when I found her. It was one of the worst acts of violence I had ever seen on another shape shifter. Blood in and blood out, they spared no consideration for the fact that she was chipped either. I had to re break her arm because it didn't heal right. She wouldn't make contact like that on her own, she wouldn't reach out and bring him in to help. I think the most likely case, is whoever is running it thought of the connection and sought out an alliance to coerce her," Luca said defiantly. He was shaking his head back and forth, but I knew he didn't totally believe what he was saying, none of us did. When it came to Ryann, I don't think any of us could predict what she would do. I saw red for a minute before I regained control, London was holding her own but I knew this was a possibility that was breaking her to hear.

"I hope to the gods that you are right Luca. I really do, but who else would know to get him on board? Say we disregard who brought him in, they are together again. They are going to be possibly going against Marcus, and with the history he has with Swift, it would be a bloodbath if they sought vengeance on the councils. Between the two of them, they have more motive than anyone I know to kill the lot of them." I looked to each of my friends and saw the same concern echoed in their faces. All but Ari, it seemed whenever Ryann was in question, he was the first one to stick up for her. Interesting human.

"We have to take this information to Marcus, you all know we have no choice. For the safety of everyone, we have to let him know what is going on. Ryann and Marcus, fighting together, could be cataclysmic. If she were here, Ryann would insist upon it too," I told them, continuing with my rant seeing as no one wanted to talk about this.

Each of them looked at each other, no one was willing to break the silence. It was as if we never said anything, time could stop in that minute and nothing bad would happen.

"I'll tell him," Dominic said finally. "He will be less likely to ignore it coming from me," he said, raking his hand through his hair. I nodded my head at him, agreeing, as I pulled in London closer to me. I hoped we were doing the right thing involving Marcus.

"I'm going to go back to California and check to make sure Swift didn't leave anyone behind, it would be incredibly stupid of him to, but maybe we will get lucky and I can find someone to squeeze," Luca said as he rose to leave. I shook his hand goodbye, he would leave tonight, there was no time to waste.

Everyone was shifting to leave, hopefully no one would notice that Ari would be staying here for the week. I wanted London to work with him on trying to reach Ryann more, he had good luck getting through before. I had a feeling it might take a while, but that it would work eventually. She seemed to have good luck bringing him in to help, and they had been making slow but steady progress. For some reason, Ari seemed to be a missing piece in this giant puzzle, which confused the hell out of me.

Once everyone was gone, and in bed, I pulled London to me. I was cuddling behind her, one hand to her ever changing stomach. It seemed to have doubled in size lately. I closed my eyes and kissed her hair, then kissed down her neck. She backed up into my own space, clearly liking the direction I was going in. I felt her stop suddenly, I knew her mind was going a mile a minute thinking about Ryann. I didn't take it personally, I wanted to help her work through this any way I could.

"We can't get to her yet love," I told her in a calm voice. "But we will. You have to have faith we will get a break, and when we do we are all going to bring her home." I was playing with the back ends of her pale hair. I hoped little Banksy got her coloring, it was stunning.

"This is going to end badly Cole, I have dreamt of it," she told me with a shaking voice, absently rubbing her stomach to calm herself.

"It might Lon, and we can only do so much. But we will all be there for her and sometimes that can make all the difference," I told her, the same phrase I had repeated the last couple of months.

"Ari is in every one of my dreams Cole. He will play his part in this, and I am going to ask you to look out for him," she said to me, turning to face me. She had her serious face on, with the pleading big blue eyes, I could never deny her when she gave me those eyes.

"He's helping out Ryann, of course I will look out for him. Look at what he's done for her so far. I could never turn my back on him now, he's family." She looked so sad when I said it, and it made me wonder what she had seen.

"He loves her, I just hope it's enough," she said back to me ominously.

I woke up the next morning, a familiar pattern of my former life. I felt like my brain was melting, this was quite a hangover even for me. I looked around me in the bed and was beyond relieved that I was in it alone. Last night could have been a monumental mistake, I shook my head at my stupidity. If I wasn't careful I was never going to get back home. Home, I let myself linger on the feelings that one word brought to my head.

I panicked and checked my watch to find out all I had time to do was to take a quick shower before heading to the combat classes. Hopefully I could shift enough to burn off the headache.

I ran out, in my towel, and started the shower. I was thinking back to the day before, specifically the night, and the dream I had. It still wasn't sitting right with me. There was something so desperate about it. I didn't remember dreaming last night, but if anyone was trying to reach me, it would have been pointless. I was too tanked to respond to anyone, dream weaving or not.

I stretched as the hot water hit my body, it was almost too hot outside to be taking a hot shower, but I needed to make my muscles as pliable as I could. I realized I was nervous, not for the combat training, but for finally seeing Swift again. My relationship with him was so complicated it made all the others seem mundane in comparison.

I thought back to the first time we met, I felt our connection even in the beginning. The first time I saw him I almost couldn't believe it was the person everyone was always talking about. He was tall and lean, with long light blonde hair and sharp features. He looked like he could be a Scandinavian prince, instead of a mob lord. He held himself with such grace, but it was the cold ice blue that got to me. They were so knowing, so calculating. He was always looking at the big picture. I shivered even now thinking back to that night.

He must have thought I was a lunatic, I came to him ranting and raving, piss drunk and covered in my own blood after yet another attack. He just listened to me, and then asked what my name was.

I knew his history with Marcus and I knew he would know who I was, I could delay it by lying but it would only buy me so much time. I think in the back of my head, I was wishing he would just kill me when he found out I was his daughter, and end everything for good. Instead, he picked me up in his arms and got a good look at me. He took in my scent and a flash of recognition and amazement flared in his eyes. He locked stares with my own, and then turned and took me to his personal quarters. He sat with me in the shower and got me clean, as we waited for the doctor to come in and stitch me up. I needed around fifty stitches on my shoulders and back, and I had my ankle put into a boot because it was so messed up. The jackals that attacked me the night before really did a number on me. I almost didn't survive, and when I woke up the next morning I decided I couldn't sit around and wait for more challenges to come. I needed protection. That's when I went to Swift.

After they patched me up that night, he fed me by his own hand, which in shape shifter terms means he was offering me protection and a place to stay. I knew it meant he was claiming me too, but I took it along with his protection. He dressed me and placed me in a room right next to him. He watched over me from a chair in the room the whole night, he told me later he was worried about one of the females challenging me if he left my side. It was so sweet, it caught me off guard, that it sent me on a path I never thought I would take.

I wouldn't take back what I did those years, it got me through my own head enough to believe it was worth it for me to keep fighting. If it wasn't for Swift, I wouldn't be here. I shook off the water from my fur covered arms and took some deep breaths. I heard a noise and I went to my tip toes to find Steph's head poking out the top of her own shower.

"Morning sunshine!" I yelled at her, knowing it would get to her, and she flinched at my volume.

"Ryann, if you wish to live to see tomorrow you, will whisper anything you wish to say to me this morning," she said with deadly intent. I was laughing at her, this was so much fun.

"Sure thing maggot, you coming to class?" I asked her, realizing I wanted her there with me.

"Nope, got errands to run for Aurielle the next three days, I'm going topside for a while," she told me, with a hint of nervousness in her tone. I didn't like that tone one bit. I needed to find out what had Steph so spooked, she was an iron lady.

"Oh, well you have a good trip Steph. See you later then!" I said, with as much cheerfulness I could muster as I went to change into my clothes.

I pulled on my new pants, perfectly tailored to my height. They were paired with my grey yoga tank that crossed straps in the back, giving me perfect range of motion for today. I had perfect fluid grace in them, and just enough stretch to accommodate my hybrid form. Now if only the pants could stop my hands from shaking, I would be all set.

I walked over to the dining tent and grabbed a quick bagel to scarf down as I made my way towards the stables. I wanted a horse to ride in. It gave me height advantage, and if things went bad, or if I was injured, I could make my way back on my own.

I found DaVinci, we called him Vinnie, and saddled him up. I pulled myself up and stopped for a minute to appreciate him, he was large and grand looking, with a gait that was steady and true. I took the liberty of riding him around the rink for a few laps to warm him up, and then took off at a nice cantor towards the fighting grounds.

The area I was supposed to go to was located off on the side of the main camp. I knew I wasn't late, in fact I was running right on time, but hopefully I would be the last to arrive. I didn't want to be waiting around for Swift to show up, my nerves couldn't handle it.

I saw the fighters tent first, it had to be about as large as the food tent, and it was packed with about fifty people this morning. Most that I saw were men, but there were some women mixed in, maybe about ten in all. They were all warming up their choice of weapons, the armory was located near here, so most stopped off to load up. I should have done the same, but I still wasn't sure what they were going to ask me to do today, or if anyone authorized that for me.

As I got closer, most everyone came out to see me ride in. I was searching for a post to tie him to, eventually finding one on the south side of the tent, and I directed Vinnie towards it. I could feel every eye on me, some were trying to be discreet about it, but most didn't bother to hide it. As I closed in, I saw some that I remembered from my days in California. One I could clearly identify, a tall hispanic man named Carlos, stood almost a head above everyone else. He was Swifts beta, and unless something major happened, he most likely still was. He gave me a small head nod as I passed where he was standing, it was more of a greeting than I had expected from him.

I approached the pole and looked around for a second before dismounting. I grabbed my bag from the saddle compartment, as a horse hand came out with some feed and water. I gave Vinnie a little pat, rubbing his flank and touching my nose to his. He blew out a breath into my face and butted into my forehead with his nose. I hummed some sweet nothings at him, and turned around, finding swift right across from where I was.

He was maybe about twenty yards from where I was standing with Vinnie. I had the sudden urge to run, not into his arms but back the way I came. I could just remount Vin and we could be out of here in a flash. Then I remembered I had survived far worse, I was done with all the fucking hiding.

"Alexander," I said with a soft voice to him, still rooted to my spot. I usually reserved calling him that in private, but I missed calling him that. Not so much the Swift part of his life, but I missed Alexander. I noticed Carlos and two of his best about ten feet from him, I didn't take offense to it. They knew what I could do, even if they had never seen it.

"Ry," he said back with a smile. I loved that smile, it transformed his whole face from night to day. Gods, he looked the same, he had a regal quality to the way he held himself. I decided to hell with it, I could be gone later, tomorrow, next week, in an hour. I was going to go with my gut and my gut was telling me to go to him.