AUTHOR'S NOTE

So, according to some of y'all amazing followers, you DO read these notes, so I'm NOT talking to myself! This is excellent. c: Anyhoo, I know it's been ages, but that's due to high school being a pain in the bosom. But I'm surviving and I have managed a 3.88 GPA and played soccer as my fall sport! I hope you guys are prioritizing and doing well, too. :) On another note, this is a pretty long chapter, and I hope it was worth the terrible, agonizing wait you've had. :( I appreciate all the love you give me over your reviews and messages. They inspire me to keep going! You guys are such a blessing and I can only thank God for making me come this far. I remember when I just had, like, fifteen views and one review. :D Now I have, at this second that I'm writing this note, 15735 views and 159 reviews. YOu guys are awesome. Okay, so he's chapter 34.

I'VE REACHED 200 PAGES OF ANA! (We have 203 pages total of ALH)

ALH = ANA in the LAND of HEARTS. Get it?

OKAY. Start reading. Please review. Please. Love. Yes.

Chapter 34

By 11:00 we all had to go back to our rooms and get settled in again. Aster and Will remained on the second floor while Halil, Auspicio, Von, and I made our way up to the last floor. We parted ways; then we entered red-K-1 while Halil went into yellow-K-5. That was definitely a low rank. Yellow shield is already low, but then that 5 meant that there are four sets of twelve yellow shields who are considered higher in rank. That's really degrading.

Auspicio said that he'd be right back, and he walked down the hallway to the right wing.

I was turning the knob when I felt Von poke me in the ribs. It didn't hurt or tickle considering I was still in armor, but I did recognize the touch.

Von pointed towards the locker room at the end of the hall. "We don't sleep in our armor," he said quietly.

Oh…right. I nodded and the both of us headed into the locker room.

Auspicio met us in the room and drew out bandages from his sword belt.. "These are for you," he told me.

I put the bandages on the bench.

Von reached into a black cubby and pulled out a white t-shirt and crimson, striped boxers. He tossed them onto the bench for me. Then he started to take off his armor.

I blinked and glanced over at Auspicio. He too was taking off his armor.

Did they expect me to change in front of them? I just stood there.

Von put his armor in his cubby and waved at me. "You gonna change?" He gestured towards his half-naked body. He was only wearing black shorts.

Auspicio ended up just wearing boxers and these dark gray sweatpants. That's it. He blushed slightly. "Sorry, that completely slipped my mind. There's a shower room to the right of here; you can change there," he said sheepishly.

I smiled. Might as well rinse off my body a bit, right? I left them and stepped into the shower room. The shower room was very humid. It was as small as the barrack. There were shower stalls against the left wall with, thank the Queen, a curtain in each one. There were six stalls total, and on the right wall were sinks and one full-body mirror. There were towels, rags, shampoo, and soap stored in shelves that were installed on the opposite wall.

I turned the shower faucet on. While it was heating up, I stripped off my armor piece by piece. The shining plates fell to the floor… And so did my bra. It was a push-up bra, meaning it made my breasts a bit perkier, and I'm trying to avoid that there. You can't notice curves when you're suited up in armor, but in pajamas? Oh, yes you can. I cupped water into my hands and rinses off my legs and torso. I splattered some on my face and other parts I don't feel like mentioning, all the while making sure my wig didn't get too wet (a little dampness would be fine and expected). I snatched a plain white towel on one of the shelves and dried myself off. Then I wrapped my upper body in the bandages, making it tighter across my chest as I went. I tucked the end in and slipped on Von's boxers. I had to wear them instead of my own underwear. His boxers smelled clean—yes, I checked—so I didn't feel too weird about this. I scrubbed my bra and underwear under the running water, but not too much for it to be soaked. I put my t-shirt on and looked in the mirror. Not bad. I was flat for the most part.

I picked up my underwear and armor and ran from the shower room back to the locker room. I rushed past Von and Auspicio, putting my bra and underwear on a hook in one of the free cubbies and rested my armor right in front of it so no one could actually see my secrets. My secrets should be dry by tomorrow morning.

Von squinted a bit and then gave me a lazy thumbs up. "Good. That cubby was free."

I patted my chest. I felt very constrained but confident that no one could tell I was female. "How's this?"

"Perfect," Auspicio chuckled.

"You look so cute in my boxers," Von cooed amusingly.

I rolled my eyes. "Come on, it's past your bed times."

We walked into our room and Von dived for his bunk. He saluted me and turned to face the wall.

Yup. Way past his bed time.

All the knights in the room were sound asleep. There were about four of them missing—they were probably out working or something.

After explaining to me that eye covers don't need to be taken off in order to sleep, Auspicio strolled to the bunk near the window with a terrible view and patted the top bunk. "Have a good night," he said with a small smile.

I returned the smile. "You too," I whispered. I quickly gave him a goodnight hug and climbed up to the top bunk. I pulled the blankets over me and stared up at the ceiling. Not the comfiest of beds, but it'll do. I had no choice anyways.

I heard movement under me. It was Auspicio trying to find a comfortable position, most likely. "Try to sleep well, squire," I heard him murmur. "It gets hot very quickly in here."

That was either flirtatious or literal.

But after a few seconds of lying there, I concluded that it was indeed literal. I was sweating like an athlete's sock. The room itself was already warm, but with the layers of bandages on me, I felt like I couldn't breathe. Plus the t-shirt didn't help.

I'm pretty sure it was past midnight when I decided to sit up. I was too wimpy to pull the sheets off of me because I felt exposed without them. I hugged myself and sighed.

The sigh must have been pretty loud because Auspicio jostled the bed and stood to his feet. I saw him from his shoulders and up.

"What's wrong?" he asked quietly.

I wiped my forehead. "You weren't lying when you said it gets hot," I mentioned.

He gave me a light chuckle and shrugged. "I'm used to it but you'll be out of here sometime tomorrow, so just hang in there," he assured me.

I frowned. I forgot that I couldn't stay here… I was starting to like it… Being a squire undercover was a thrill, and the gang here was wonderful to hang with…

But the gang outside the castle was wonderful to hang with too.

"Ana…" Auspicio said.

I slowly allowed myself to look at him again.

"Maybe, if you want, that is, you could…" he trailed off. I couldn't really make out his face very well because it was pretty dark, but my eyes had adjusted, so I could see general outlines and movement. "Never mind. You need sleep," he suddenly blurted. "Keep the blanket off of you; it helps."

"But I'm not comfo-"

"No monster is going to attack you. I'm right here," he stated.

I laughed lightly. "Alright, alright," I exhaled as I gradually laid my head back onto my pillow.

I didn't hear him move away until I shut my eyes closed. I felt something warm rest on my arm for a few second, then heard more movement.

Then it was silent once more.

And that short-lived warm touch put me right to sleep.

…

I woke up to someone shaking me. My eyes burst open and I stared at the shaker. It was that redhead. Von. I smiled and slipped off of the bed.

"Morning, Ace!" Von chirped. His energy has been refilled, clearly.

I nodded at him and peeked under my bunk. Auspicio wasn't there.

"Oh, your mentor?" Von questioned loudly. He was emphasizing my squireness because there were about five other knights in here, walking about and chattering. "'e's in the locker room, changing. 'ow about we meet up with 'im?"

I didn't like talking more than necessary. The longer you heard my male voice, the easier it was to recognize that it was fake. I just nodded again.

We left the room casually and walked into the locker room. Auspicio was taking off his sweatpants.

"Where's everybody else?" I wondered as I walked to the cubby I claimed last night.

"Showering, working their shift, oversleeping, talking in the 'allway or barrack," Von listed thoughtfully. "'urry up, Ace, you never know when one of them is going to pop up in 'ere."

Darn. I felt rushed, but it wasn't so bad. I threw off my t-shirt and reached my hand past my armor to retrieve my under garments. I wanted to put them on so that when I escape the castle life, I won't have to come back and collect my belongings. That'd be awkward. I didn't want to take my bandages off and put my bra on in front of them, so I excused myself from the room, taking my armor with me, and walked into the shower room. There were three other knights in there. I didn't recognize any of them. I made sure not to catch any attention to myself as I leaped into a shower stall and pulled the curtain closed. I unwrapped my bandages, put my bra on, exchanged my boxer's for my clean underwear, and put my armor on securely. It was a little bit heavy, but tolerable. I walked out of the stall and glanced at the mirror to see if I looked boyish enough.

I did.

I found myself back in the locker room, throwing Von's clothes at him.

Von caught them and put them in his cubby. "'ow'd you sleep?" he asked.

I looked around cautiously. There was one extra knight in here. "Rough night," I said, my voice slightly husky. Not bad.

"First night is always a disaster," Auspicio chuckled. He was all suited up. "You'll get used to it."

"I hope so," I answered, my voice still low.

The knight that was in the room was the blonde guy that slept in the same barrack with us. The same guy in maroon boxers who asked me where I was from. Now he was suited up. He was holding a helmet in his hand. "How's it goin', squire?" he asked.

I realized I was staring at him. "Pretty okay so far," I chuckled awkwardly.

"Heard you've been keeping up with Auspicio. That's impressive," the blonde said as he put his helmet on. "Last night must have been crazy."

"Where's your post today, Tuck?" Auspicio suddenly questioned.

So his name was Tuck. "I've got a shift by the castle front entrance today," he replied.

Von waved him away. "'ave fun," he laughed.

"It's more interesting to stand by the kingdom gates. The castle doors are boring," Tuck grumbled as he exited the room.

I clasped my hands together. "When's breakfast?"

"The Queen is served breakfast at 10," Von explained. "She gets lots of well-deserved sleep," he sarcastically added. "Staff can come in any time between 6:30 and 9:30 to eat breakfast."

"It's 8 right now. Let's eat together before Von leaves for his shift," Auspicio suggested.

We agreed on this and jogged through the castle until we were in the dining hall. The table closest to the corner where Halil had been locked up the night before served as the buffet table. It held trays of breakfast assortments: scrambled eggs, Danishes, fruits, bread, muffins, and strips of meat that sort of looked like bacon but I knew it wasn't. I helped myself to a plate of scrambled eggs that I stuffed between two slices of bread and took a Danish. We sat at the same exact spot where we sat when we ate dinner and ate in silence. There were some other random staff people in line at the buffet or stuffing their faces by their table.

It took a couple minutes for me to notice that Chef Cruz was standing by the doorway to the kitchen. He was looking at me. When I made eye contact with him, he gave me a pleasant smile of respect. I grinned and dug into my food once more.

As I bit into my Danish, I realized my breath didn't alter the sweet taste. There was something about Wonderland that caused my breath to not rotten after sleeping. You don't get morning breath here. Trust me, that was a good thing.

"You're really fitting in," Auspicio told me while dabbing his fork into his scrambled eggs. "I'm really proud of you."

Before I could respond, Von was standing behind me. "I'm done eating," he announced. "I gotta get out of 'ere. It was real nice meeting you, Ace." The boy turned to me and put his hand out.

I turned my body in the chair to face him. I stuck my hand out and gave him a firm squeeze. "The pleasure was all mine, Sir," I croaked.

This was how we were saying good bye. I had to leave the castle soon, and so I wouldn't be seeing Von for quite some time. It was a little depressing, but I knew I would come back, just not as Ace. Our eye contact lingered for some time, yet Von yanked his hand away when he realized the time that was passing. He gave me a stern nod and jogged out of the hall.

I looked back at Auspicio. "That was strange," I muttered. Maybe he was in a rush?

"Don't worry about it," he assured me as he finished up his meal. "Von always thinks about his actions after the fact. Suddenly stopping what he's doing is typical of him."

"Understood," I answered, eating the last bit of my Danish.

"Let's go for a walk. Some further investigation of that wishing pond should be good," he suggested in an official tone.

Just go with it, Ana. Er, Ace. "Yes, Sir."

…

We either had to walk to the very end of the first floor or go through the throne room where the Queen was to get to the garden. We played it smart and took the first option. Weaving through the mass of staff at hard work was a walk in the park. They didn't acknowledge us much, except for the occasional good morning or something along those lines. We reached the back door and entered the garden.

Auspicio took the liberty to scan the place with his red eyes. "We're clear. It's the morning, lots of work to do, no one's back here yet," he informed me.

He led me to that same circle of bushes that were the same size as adult tigers. We crawled through the plastic leaves and found ourselves sitting in the safety of the circle. He pulled out a familiar sack that was tucked away previously and slid it over to me. "There you go."

I dug through the bag and took out Shire's purple shirt and Claudine's shorts. To make things go quicker, Auspicio helped me unfasten the armor from each other. I slipped it off piece by piece until I was down to my underwear. I would've been shy but I remembered that he had seen me like this before when he had first helped me put on the armor. Why be shy now?

The only reason I was being shy in the locker room last night was because I had to strip off everything in order to be clean and in Von's hand-me-downs.

I swiftly put on the oversized shirt and well-fitted shorts. "Thanks for everything, Auspicio," I said gratefully as I put the armor in the sack.

"Don't forget about your eyes and your hair," he pointed out quietly.

"Oh!" I carefully pinched out the eye covers and put them in the little white container that was in the sack. Then I took off my wig and hairnet, rustling my blonde hair. Phew, it was nice to let my real hair out. I put them in the sack as well and gave the boy a thumbs-up. "So what's the story?"

He smiled. Of course he figured out a plan. "You can go on and be yourself, but I'm going to take a quick trip to the pond and come back. The story will be that Ace and I went to the pond to check if the murderer's body ever made it back to the water's surface. Then I'll say that that's when Ace claimed that he wished the murder was a success. Suddenly you trip right into the pond and get swallowed up as well. I'll say it was as if you were pulled into it."

"I love this mystery the pond is creating," I snickered.

Everyone believed what Auspicio says because he seemed like a reliable source, and he was the knave. Even though he'll be lying, it's for a good cause…

The knave laughed in agreement. "Let's get you out of here," he glanced over at the back wall of the castle. Above the door we went through was a wall clock the size of window. Of course it was heart-shaped. "It's 8:55," he announced. "The yellow shields are switching shifts at the Watch Tower now. It's time to go."

Wow, he really thought all of this through, right down to the minute. I crawled over to him and gave him a hug. "Thank you for risking your career and the Queen's trust to help me," I whispered.

His hands made it to my back in a matter of seconds. "You know where to find me, Ana."

I pulled away and nodded quickly. "Trust me, I'll be visiting again."

He took my right hand and looked at it for a moment. He leaned in for a second, pressing his lips on it, and then gave me my hand back. "To remember me, I guess," he chuckled.

I didn't need that to remember him, but it was surely appreciated. I smiled. "See ya."

He opened the back gate for me and I walked out of the garden. I looked back at him and waved. He's giving me a head start before he leaves for wishing pond.

For some reason, I was so happy, I started to skip.

…

I stood by the fruit stand. There was one customer other than myself. The overweight man behind the counter was my buddy. He handed me a 'bunch of purple', which, if you haven't guessed, was a generous bag of grapes. I gratefully took them. "Any gossip today?" I asked.

It was supposed to be a little ironic joke, that's all.

But apparently there was some gossip. It already made it to the kingdom.

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I hear bad man fall in pond," he said, this Russian, exotic accent as heavy as ever. "I always knew it was suspicious, but now it confirmed!"

I smiled and tilted my head to the side in mock curiosity. "How interesting."

There was a skinny guy leaning down to pick up a bunch of strawberries he dropped to my left. "I think he meant to murder the Queen."

"Murder Queen?" the merchant parroted. He must have heard a different story.

The boy stood to his feet and placed the fruit on the countertop, turned away from me as he counted them. "It was bound to happen," he yawned.

That yawn was so familiar.

I leaned over a bit and squinted. I still couldn't see his face yet. Then I arched back a bit and I saw the evidence I needed. The thin mouse tail. "Demetrix!" I cheered.

Mouse Boy slowly but surely made eye contact with me. His sleepy eyes widened and his mouth curled into a lazy smile. "I should have recognized your voice by now," he said sheepishly.

He had a point. He was always a little slow. And right now he seemed tired. He must have been working again since Tarrant got back. He pointed at the strawberries and nodded at the merchant. "Sorry about dropping these. I guess I'll take them," he said awkwardly.

I held back a laugh as he plopped five black coins into the merchant's palm.

The merchant eyed the coin and tossed them in a basket behind him. "Good boy."

I smiled and waved at the man as Demetix motioned to exit. "Nice chatting with you."

"Same to you, Miss."

We strolled away from the fruit stand. I nibbled on my grapes while Demetrix studied one of his strawberries. "What's wrong?" I asked him.

He shrugged and squeezed the little red fruit. "They're awfully squishy."

"Well you did drop them," I commented.

"Only because I got grossed out at the squishiness of it," he replied after a few seconds.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, Demetrix," I murmured under my breath. "So, where you headed?"

"I came to get some reds for Tarrant but I guess these will have to do," Demetrix chuckled lightly. "I'm a clutz."

We traveled in silence as we weaved through the marketplace. All the working adults and elderly. Even children were working—they were collecting water from the outdoor pipes. I even spotted one little boy picking up trash off of the paths. They worked harder than children from my world. I saw a line of boys and girls walking together and holding hands. They had bags and satchels with them. Looked like they were going to school.

Demetrix must have caught me staring at the children because he then said, "There are two schools in the kingdom. Junior School is for ages four to nine; and then Senior School goes from nine to thirteen."

"That's it? Two schools? But there are so much kids and the kingdom is pretty big," I gaped. I was able to get from the main gates to the castle within thirty minutes. I always thought of the kingdom as an oval, but maybe it really was a huge circle. This was only because I never made it beyond, like completely south, of the castle. I always went southwest and not even that far. Or I remained in the northern part where the marketplace and villages were scattered.

"Not too much of them could afford it," he replied quietly. "I'm sure if there were more schools, the tuition would be a lot lower." Mouse Boy shrugged his shoulders. "Junior School is located in the farmlands while Senior School is a good mile from that pond."

And they have to walk? Well, okay, Senior School wasn't that far but Junior School was quite the walk…especially for four to nine year olds! I doubted the parents walked with them either.

One question seemed to boggle my mind as we passed a horse stable. "Hey, Demetrix?" I called out.

"Yes?"

"Did you go to school?"

"Yes…"

"Junior and Senior?"

"Yes…"

"Your family could afford it?"

"Only Junior School, but then I started working for Tarrant's family and I made some more coins. Eventually Tarrant's family got arrested and I started working for Tarrant himself the minute he turned thirteen."

Did he just say…arrested? Ouch. Poor Tarrant.

"Could we, maybe, talk about something else, if that's alright?" Demetrix requested uncertainly.

I supposed it was a touchy subject. I should find out more information from someone else. "Of course," I replied quietly.

He tipped his head forward slightly and continued onward. We reached the gates of the kingdom and the knights standing by it turned and studied me for a moment. They said nothing, even after spotting my bag of grapes, but then turned back to Demetrix and pointed at his bag. That's when Demetrix explained why he was there and what he's taking with him, along with an approximate value of how much he spent on his trip. The knights seemed to have written some of it down, too.

After a few minutes, we were finally let out. Demetrix waited for us to be far enough away from the walls before he decided to speak up again.

"Tarrant and Nettle are back at the garden," he mentioned. "They threw this feast for me. The food was really good."

I nodded. "I bet."

He stopped walking and held out the bag of reds for me. "They told me you gave them access to the castle kitchen to cater."

I glanced at the bag. Was he offering his strawberries? I love strawberries, but I wasn't going to take them from him—especially because they were originally for Tarrant. "Keep them," I insisted. "You're a real hard worker, Demetrix. You spent your time trying to find Tarrant when he went missing, too. You don't need to thank me at all."

We passed a couple trees here and there, walking in more silence. After I offered him the thank you, he went a little red. I knew not to push it.

But suddenly his typically unnoticeable mouse ears were up and out, showing signs of alertness through his brown hair. He paused his walk. His thin tail flew straight up in the air and remained there.

"Demetrix?" I called in a hushed voice so I wouldn't scare him even more. He was always a little jumpy.

"Darn…" he murmured. "I should get out of here…"

Two dark, lean figures dropped from one of the many trees of the outskirts.

Demetrix and I grabbed each other's' arms and leaped back.

A Cat Man and a Raccoon Bandit. Excellent.

"Aye, we got fresh meat, Shire," Jax hooted, rubbing his one-gloved-one-bare hands together. "And he's with the kink. Bonus."

"I see your plan was a success?" Shire questioned.

My eyes trailed left and right. Then I realized his attention was directed to me. "Oh, yeah, I guess it was," I blurted. What was I saying? I knew it was a success.

"How many knights did you sleep with?"

I frowned. One of those painful frowns that you do anyways because you just feel that bitter.

Jax choked on his own laughter, I swear.

I'm pretty sure he was saying something, but my mind was focused back to Mouse Boy. Demetrix was shivering, his once-sleepy eyes were now widening. His pupils dilated as he didn't take his eyes off of Shire. I watched him shift diagonally behind me. Then his strawberries found themselves tucked behind his back.

Something shoved me hard on the shoulder.

"What the heck!" I squeaked, my fists clenching out of habit.

"I called your name five freakin' times, Dunce!" Jax yelled back, matching my exact volume, if not, a little bit louder. He paused and glanced at my hands. "What'd you plan on doing, eh? You wanna fight me, Liddell?" he asked. It wasn't a threat, more like a seductive, bad-boy call.

Of course, I didn't pick up. He doesn't deserve my cooperation.

"Why fight when you can just kill?" Shire snickered as he stepped right beside me and put a hand on his fake hip.

"Get your act together, Shire," Jax snarled. "I know you wouldn't-"

"Do you know what I wanna know?" I blurted.

"What the hell? Hey, Dunce, I was talkin'! Ya fr-"

"Oh, shut the hell up, Jax. You need some air," Shire scoffed. "What is it, Ana?"

I crossed my arms. "Why did the gate guards let you two in? Especially the bandit?"

"He's not a very good one," Cat Boy pointed out with a smirk.

"That's beside the point. I thought they give you guys trouble for being…" Mixed? Cross-bred? Freaks? What did they go by again?

"Hybrids?" Jax finally said something in a calm voice. "Yeah, they give us lots of trouble. Had to give them our names and what we're crossed with. We tell them our reason for enterin' and then they'll give us our time limit for bein' in the kingdom. But, uh, we're not even in the kingdom right now, Liddell."

"I know we're not in the kingdom right this second," I scoffed. I'm not stupid.

"Then why'd you ask why the guards let us in?" Shire quickly asked.

Oh. "Because Demetrix and I left not too long ago, and the guards gave him some trouble, and we all know that Demetrix isn't much of a troublemaker. You two, on the other hand?" I raised my eyebrows. "You guys are a mess. I could imagine the trouble they'd give you if you tried to enter."

"It's a hell of a lot harder for Jax to get in there than me," Shire commented with a quiet huff. "It's still a stupid process nonetheless. They record what we bring in and bring out, our reason for entering, and how long we were inside. But the difference between us and Demetrix?" He paused and grinded the ball of hit foot against the dirt beneath us. "We're given a short time limit no matter the reason for entering, and we can't spend a night there either."

I found myself staring at the ground. "So what you're saying is… If both of you told the gate guard that you want to get some food from the market-"

"Squeaky over here will get a much longer time limit than us," Jax finished without hesitation.

I felt something shift behind me. It was just Demetrix, whose face was bright red at the moment. He felt self-conscious; I know it. He was scared to death, after all. I cleared my throat so the attention would stray back to me. "I get it now." It was prejudice against those who looked like they wanted to cause trouble.

"Sir Hops A Lot gets to pop in and out any time he wants," he added bitterly.

"You can't hate the guy," Shire quietly stated. "He's achieving something that we all probably want."

The boys stood in silence, most likely agreeing with the last comment. I grasped my bag of strawberries a bit harder and sighed. I have so many complaints for the Queen. I just wanted to write up a list and read it to her. If she decided to amputate my lips off? I wouldn't care—everything that was necessary was said, and if she doesn't listen, then action is next, and I don't need my lips to restore the equality Heart Kingdom once had… You know, before the Queen took over.

I felt a sudden warm breath tickle my ear.

"I have to get back t-to Tarrant. Are you safe h-here, Ana?" Demetrix whispered.

I nodded and gave him a thumbs up. The boy bolted away like a train, empty-handed.

"Wimp," Jax snarled. "Ya think by now he'd get used to us."

"Can't be that scary, right Ana?" Shire asked me with a wink.

I rolled my eyes. "Believe it or not, you two can be very intimidating." I reached into my bag of reds and took out a nice, juicy strawberry. "And annoying. Can't forget annoying," I added before stuffing it in my mouth and smacking my lips.

Jax's green eyes widened just a little and he placed his lean hands on my back, pushing me towards Shire. "She's cute. Can we keep her?"

Shire smirked and placed his hands on either side of my waist teasingly. "I don't think so. She's too much of a diva, don't you think?"

Jax pulled me back towards him, but, oddly enough, Shire kept his hand firmly where they were on me. "We'll just keep her in a cage. Easy."

"That could be arranged," Shire snickered as his grip tightened.

I squeaked at the sudden pressure in my torso. And the closeness. "Don't I have a say in this?" I snapped as I side-stepped away from the both of them.

As if on cue, both boys rolled their eyes.

"What're you guys doing out here anyways?"

"Oh damn, she's got a point. I got to find my crew," Jax grumbled. I think he was referring to his spunky bodyguards. He started marching past us.

I glanced over at Shire. "What's he need his crew for?"

Shire returned my look and took me by my wrist. "What do you think?"

That was such a noncommittal answer. I frowned and stared at his back while he dragged me with him, following the raccoon. "So you're just going to take me?"

"Isn't this your dream?" Shire questioned. The boy looked over his bony shoulder, his spiky collar turning slightly as he did so. "To be kidnapped by yours truly?"

I didn't answer.