Kai stopped and looked down at the bundle of clothes he had noticed beside a tree trunk and instantly recognised them as Tala's 'why are they…' Kai just shook his head slightly and picked them up. He'd give them back to Tala when he next saw him… he had been meaning to talk to him ever since he had saw him the morning they had arrived. He looked around for the wolf, it had been there only a minute before but now… now there was no trace of it or any more of its kind.

……….

Bryan snapped his eyes opened listening as he gazed at the roof above him and then he heard it; distinctively familiar scratching and whining. The lavender haired boy smirked to himself turning his head slightly over towards the window to see the head and front paws of an unusually coloured wolf glaring at him from behind the glass.
"Tala, what have you gone and gotten yourself into now," Bryan mumbled getting up off the bed as the wolf dropped back onto four paws and out of view. Bryan approached the window where Tala now stood in human form, his arms folded tightly over his bare chest.
"So…what happened to you? When you left you had clothes on," Bryan smirked, his eyes roaming over Tala's naked body through the window glass.

…Tala's POV…

I glare sternly at Bryan but he just smirks his eyes continuing to roam freely over my naked body, he has the upper hand knowing full well I wont go in through the front door like this. I shake my head in slight agitation, I'm the leader, shit like this isn't supposed to happen to me…
"I was following Kai, it was easier as a wolf but he double tracked and found my clothes," I tell him quickly, looking anxiously around the woods that surround this corner of the cabin, Kai could come this way any minute and what was I supposed to say to explain this? I glare at Bryan my anger rising, its cold out here!
"Let me in!" I snarl at him and he unlocks and opens the window for me. I glare at him and climb in shivering slightly as the wind blows freely in through the window and over my body sending chills up my spine.

I close the window and feel Bryans hands trailing over my back, I push him away and swing around hitting him across the face. I stop suddenly, staring from my hand to Bryan as he sits on the floor one hand running over the side of his face. 'Damn it' I curse in my head, covering my face with my hand and heading for the bathroom.

…Normal POV…

Bryan sighed softly getting up off the floor still rubbing his face where he had been hit; Tala hadn't struck out at any of them for along time. 'He's defiantly stressing too much,' he thought as he walked over and into the bathroom, Tala, now clothed, was leaning against the wall head bowed, hands folded over his chest.
"I didn't mean to hit you…" Tala began as he felt Bryan's presence, looking up to see the boy standing beside him one hand now resting on his shoulder.
"It doesn't matter, I don't hold it against you, none of us would ever hold it against you… anyway it's not like we haven't bean beaten before," Bryan said coldly glaring at the floor as he remembered their years spent locked away within the confines of the Abbey.
"At least it will all be over soon," Bryan told the older boy.

"Do you think he'll want to come back… I mean he left us already…" Tala sighed pushing himself of the wall with his hands as Bryan followed him into their room.
"He left because of Biovolt and his grandfather… we just happened to be with the wrong side. Anyway this new team… they'll never understand him. You can give him much more then they could ever, starting with the fact that you know more about what he's been through then anyone," Bryan confirmed as sat on the floor looking up at the bed where Tala lay.
"We'll know tomorrow night…" Tala said more so to himself than to Bryan as he gazed up at the roof…Tomorrow night would be the night of Kai's 16th birthday, he'd under go his first transformation into a wolf just like him and the others and he was planing to be there for him… he had made a promise that he would be there to help him adjust when he first found out Kai was to be like them.

……….

Kai slipped in through the large oak front doors closing them as quietly as possible behind him as he looked around the living room and Kitchen. No one was around, 'must be outside or locked in their rooms' Kai thought, the last part referring more to the Demolition boys.
"Hey Kai, where have you been?" Rei asked as he walked down the stairs his book in one hand.

Kai looked over and up at Rei from where he stood in the lounge room.
"Out," he told the raven-haired boy as he dropped Tala's clothes on one of the lounges so as not to draw unwanted questions from Rei about why he had Tala's clothes.
"You missed lunch, did you want me to make you something?" Rei asked as Kai ascended the stairs towards him.
"No… thankyou," Kai said as he walked past Rei and up towards his bedroom.