Two hours later, I found myself walking with Wolf around the busy boardwalk.

"So, what is it that you do?" Wolf asked as he stopped and leaned back against one of the rails dividing the walkways and the beach. "I forgot to ask before."

"I'm a singer," I answered after a moment's hesitation. "I'm just… taking some time off."

"Hm," Wolf hummed as he took a swig from the beer in his hand. "Why is that?"

"I have a boyfriend," I admitted – I had long since stopped wearing my ring, but the eternal burn remained. "He doesn't like me to work."

"You have a boyfriend?" Wolf repeated. "If he doesn't like you to work, he really wouldn't like you going off to talk to another man, would he?"

I pulled a face and laughed, "He'll deal. It's not like I'm doing anything wrong; I'm simply enjoying conversation."

It was a conversation that flowed quite naturally, too.

"True," Wolf smirked and nodded. He was quiet for a minute before he angled his body closer to mine. "I guess it would be out of the question to ask to go somewhere… a little quieter, then?"

That question had me pushing my tongue against the back of my clenched teeth while I breathed strictly from the small part between my lips. I could do it. I could take him off into an alley and be done with it. But… there was just something.

There was something that I felt like I didn't know and I wanted to.

"Actually…" I started before a new voice and the sound of a motorcycle interrupted me.

"Rhiannon."

My head whipped around to find Dwayne at a standstill behind me on his bike, "What?"

Wolf leaned forward and whispered into my ear, "So, is this the mysterious boyfriend?"

"No," I gave a small shake of my head as I ignored the chill on my spine. "This is the older brother." I turned my focus back on him. "Sorry. Go ahead."

Dwayne inched his motorcycle closer and motioned behind him, "It's time to go home."

I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth as I straightened my back, "it's still early."

Wolf placed a hand on my shoulder, "Are you her warden?"

Dwayne eyed the touch and reached his hand out towards me while keeping his eyes on Wolf, "I am right now." He turned his gaze to me and his voice hardened. "Come on."

After a few moments of silent conversation with only our eyes – we were too good at it – I turned back to Wolf, "I hope to see you around."

"You're actually going?" Wolf looked surprised.

I gave a short nod, "I probably should. It's, er…" I paused and tried to think of something better to say than 'it is for your protection.' I had a hard time. "It's for the best." I took Dwayne's hand and climbed on behind him. My hands wrapped lightly around his waist and I shot Wolf a smile. "Enjoy Santa Carla."

Dwayne revved the motorcycle's engine and sped away before Wolf could reply.

Wolf moved away from the railing and let out a low whistle, "Now, here's the question. Why are we both still alive?"

xoxox

I quickly climbed off of the motorcycle when Dwayne stopped it near the entrance to the caves, "What the hell was that?"

Dwayne swung his leg over and moved so that he was staring straight down at me, "I was saving your ass."

"Saving?" I scoffed. "How do you think that you –"

Dwayne slammed a hand over my mouth, "You were getting too close. You're lucky I'm the only one that was paying any attention to you tonight."

I wrapped one hand over his wrist and pulled his hand away, "I was going to kill him."

"Were you?" Dwayne shot back instantly. "You can lie to everyone else and yourself… but not me."

I released my hold on him and frowned, "I wanted to kill him."

"You weren't going to," Dwayne said and I nodded. "I'm not going to judge you, you know."

I didn't respond to that as I looked around to see that the other motorcycles were gone, "I'm not going to cause complications in this family. I'll handle this. I'll kill him."

Dwayne placed one of his large hands on my cheek and tilted my head up. He seemed to be searching for the right words to say. After a few moments, he just leaned down and pressed a kiss to the skin right next to the corner of my mouth, "I'm here for you."

I wasn't sure what to say back to that. The tone of Dwayne's voice was strange and unable to be placed.

I just nodded and stepped away from him to walk to the edge of one of the cliffs. When I reached it, I leaned forward to look down at the jutting out rocks and the dark waves crashing against them. It was one of those areas where if a human tried to jump, they would be killed on impact.

As I removed my sweater and the dress underneath – modesty wasn't an issue in this life – so that I was only left in my black underwear and tall heels, a smile crossed my lips.

It couldn't kill me if I jumped, but I loved the rush.

I turned my head just enough to look at Dwayne, "Do you want to come?"

Dwayne smirked and walked over to sit down on the side of the broken earth near my feet, "I'll just watch."

I nodded and turned my attention back out to the ocean and the clouded night sky it mirrored. It looked and smelled like a storm was on its way.

The metaphor of that was not lost of me.

With a deep, unneeded breath, I arched my back and kicked away so that I was sailing through the air down to the water. I landed just inches from the sharp rocks and the icy waves bit at my skin in a way that only someone without life could find relaxing rather than painful. I didn't bother breaking the surface once I had landed. I let myself be dragged and pulled by the waves so that I kept sinking.

It was safe in the water.