Village. Blood. Torn. Family. Fire. Flames licking at her fur. And those awful screams …

Sera's eyes flew open wide with a loud gasp and she broke away from Dev's arms, sitting on the side of the bed gratefully sucking in fresh air of the early morning.

Sera willed away tears but it was no use, last night with Dev had been a boiling pot of emotions, the way he had fought for her, rescued her and held her; she was open from it. Raw. Wounds that had never truly healed but had been neatly stitched up and concealed this past year like unsightly scars under clothing tore open on awakening from her dream. She hated that its ugliness had once again found her, when she was at her happiest, locked away here with Dev she felt like no one could touch her, like the world beyond his modest little cabin was simply a myth. She hated even more that she was forced to endure remembering while in bed with Dev, her sweet, handsome, brave mate so wonderful and courageous had never been touched by what true betrayal really was. Sera hated his family for showing him a fraction of what betrayal from a loved one felt like, but she also respected and esteemed them for having that kind of love for him. This act of mild deceitfulness, well perhaps mild was going a bit to far, began because of their unconditional love for him and concern for his feelings. Even if they ended up hurting others and the object of their love in the process, after a restless nights contemplation, with Dev sleeping soundly beside her, Sera felt her heart soften towards the Peltiers and their zealous ways.

She had had that once.

Hot tears long over due leaked from her eyes and Sera tried her hardest to hold back a painful sob in her aching chest. Just when she felt at her most alone and unloved, two tough, steely, compassionate arms wrapped themselves around her from behind and pulled her back towards a hard body. Warm skin met her back not fur and for some reason the effort he had gone to, small though it may be, to turn into a human and comfort her was all the more precious. Just when she needed it the most a chaste kiss meant for kindness not arousal brushed her shoulder.

"Why the tears, Mon amour?" A sleep roughened voice breathed against the nape of her neck, rustling her curls. Sera didn't answer for a long while and Dev had trouble breathing, wondering whether she would confide in him. The silence went on for so long Dev thought she had gone back to sleep but then.

"You want to know why I lied to you?"

Her voice was torn and young and lost, Dev's heart physically ached; he had no idea it could be this way. Dev made sure to keep his voice mild, neutral, yet all the time strangely soothing to Sera's ears.

"Only if you want to, Cher."

"You want to know why I have the mark of a sentinel but the warrior design of a Strati?"

"Your just a walking contradiction, Cherie."

"Dev." That was all she had to say, his name sounding so solemn on her lips would have had him on bended knee in front of her taking blame for any and everything if she but asked. He forgot all attempts at humour.

"Tell me."

"You'll believe me?"

"I know you won't lie to me, not now. Not after this night."

Sera breathed out a sigh of … relief? Regret? But she cleared her throat and began, talking to the darkness, she couldn't see Dev and that made it easier. But she felt him; his sturdy frame behind her reassuring and safe and that made it better.

"Several centuries ago a clan of Arcadian bears settled in a very isolated part of the English countryside, we lived there in relative peace. We didn't involve ourselves with humans, ever. Not until more recent times. Anyway, we lived in a type of valley, with a long, dangerous, winding river separating it into two halves."

Dev remained silent listening intently, wondering where this story was going, already knowing it had no happy ending.

"The Arcadians never crossed that river, there was no real need to and even if they did, what was over there was no different from our own land. Then one summer day, so I'm told, a few of the women and children were down by the river and one looked up and saw an approaching line of Katagaria bears. They called for their men and to cut a long story short years of war followed."

Dev felt uneasiness creep into his body though he kept his hold on her still as tight and loving. His race had animal hearts while Arcadians had human hearts, as a Katagaria Dev was essentially an animal that could change into a human. But when it came down to it the bear in him ruled not the man.

For all their blithering about having human hearts, Dev had not known Arcadians to be anymore kinder then their animal cousins. In fact they were even more ruthless, they cheated, they lied, they betrayed; animals didn't do that. Dev had been pronounced a slayer the day he hit puberty simply because … But there were the odd horror story or two that came back to him when groups of his own kind had slaughtered innocent clans and defenceless women and children because they were Arcadian.

Dev noticed Sera had grown quiet and he kissed her shoulder blade to prompt her to continue.

"Then after so many years of bitter war and hate, where morale was low and the numbers of both clans had dropped so low they were practically non-existent, something wonderful happened. An Arcadian female was walking through the forest and met a Strati warrior on her side of the river, he was injured and dying and he was all alone. She was a sentinel and it was her duty to kill him, he was her enemy after all. But she couldn't do it, she tended to him and they ended up making love and were mated. It caused quite a stir as you can imagine and a truce was called between the two enemies. While this happened it became apparent that many of the unmated males and females on both sides were mating with each other. Our clans combined and miraculous as it sounds we became a clan of hybrids really, we were Arcadian and Katagaria but most of us were related by blood or marriage, so there could be no more war between us.'

"The sentinel wandering in the woods was my great-great-grandmother. By the time I was born, none of my generation had ever knew of a life where Arcadians and Katagaria did not live together in harmony."

"That is truly miraculous, peu d'amour." Dev was shocked, he'd never even heard rumours of such things, he was born and raised to know that Arcadians, their sentinels especially were the mortal enemy and you were honour bound by your race to kill them all as a Strati, like he was.

Sera gave a very unfeminine sniff and a watery laugh before she continued. "Yes it is. So miraculous." She said her last word with a surge of acidic venom that Dev was surprised at, he'd known she'd had a bit of a temper but it hadn't concealed the heart of genuine goodness that he knew was the core of her being.

"Then what happened?"

"Life happened. For so many long, happy years, my life went on. And your so right I was a walking contradiction, a pure born sentinel that was trained by Strati's. I can't count how many times we came under attack from outside clans and every time our sentinels stood shoulder to shoulder with our Strati."

The tears in her voice were killing him, Dev was broken in front of those wet trails leading down her cheeks; with a deep breath Sera tried to strengthen her voice but it only quaked more and she didn't try again. She let it be, if she could not tell her mate what was in her heart and show him her tears who else in the world could she show them to. No one touched her fractured heart quite like he did.

"My favourite cousin, Blake, one day came before us and said that he wanted to leave our community, he wanted to explore the Katagaria part of our heritage. Our elders were worried but in the end relented knowing they couldn't keep him against his will. Our fathers were brothers, my father was Katagaria while his father was Arcadian, my mother was Arcadian while his was Katagaria. You see how mixed we were? Anyway he was gone three years and when he returned he was … different."

"Different how, Cher?"

"He was hateful towards us, the Arcadians in our village and his own family. He said we were killers and that we destroyed everything, we had no idea what he was talking about and my father threatened to have him exiled from our clan if he persisted trying to rally support against the Arcadians and he called him, his beloved uncle a traitor to his blood. Most of the younger Katagaria but surprisingly very few of the elders joined forces, there was a backlash against them by the Arcadians in our village joining together. My father took us away from it, he refused to fight his family he said."

Sera drew in a deep shuddering breath and conjured the night to her mind, the one when in there hide out in the mountains away from the valley and its troubles there was a sudden pounding at the door. Sera watched her father try to block her mother as she rushed to it, Elowen flung open the door thinking it was Sera's two Katagaria brothers; Hammett and Tremayne. Both had been sucked in by Blake's pernicious trouble making, they had even gone as far as to abjure their Arcadian mother who begged them to see sense and come away with them.

As the door opened Sera had felt a shards of unease pierce her mind, it that turned into a sickening feeling of dread and before she call out a warning to her mother what was about to happen, a sword struck a fatal blow. Her mother had died instantly along with her father, Merryn who was bonded to her mother. Sera and her Katagaria twin, Aden had stepped in front of their many younger siblings, both human and animal and drawn their swords.

Sera was a renowned fighter, a born sentinel trained by the best of the Strati warriors, but even she could not combat the shock and heartache it caused seeing her brother Hammett cutting through the door next to Blake and seeing Tremayne laying dead outside the door, slain because he refused to kill his family even if some were Arcadian.

It was a night of utter bloodshed and pain, an unbelievable pain that no one can truly comprehend. That same night Sera was transformed, she took her fathers sword and tore into her enemies that had once been her beloved family, killing indiscriminately, Aden had been cut down somewhere amid the madness and Sera was pretty sure he was dead. She disposed of Blake with a cold efficiency that chilled the bones of those watching 'little' Sera as she was known reborn into a warrior of unequalled skill, fuelled by unrivalled rage and livid, burning white hatred.

Dev listened in absolute shock, it was a story unlike any he'd ever known, more like a legend told by firelight. Sera voice cracked and she sobbed in earnest now, her body racked with sobs so violent the bed moved with them. No one other then herself, the survivors of her clan and Dev knew what happened in the summer of last year.

"You left no one alive, Sera?" Dev asked, his voice soothing in the darkness and Sera stilled suddenly unable to catch her breath, when she had begun her tale not seeing his face had lessened the hardship of having to relate her past to him, now however she wished to turn and see it, yet feared doing so. In case she saw judgement and condemnation there, if all at once his loving eyes turned cold and his mouth hardened its sensual lips to her. She tried to move away from him but Dev held fast.

"Do you hate me now?" Sera wept, gasping for breath through the relentless stream, she moved away from him and Dev with a growl caught her shoulder and rolled her beneath him trapping her with his body, so he could stare down into her sad, broken eyes. How he wished to erase that tremendous pain, how he wished he could knock some sense into her asshole brothers, her murderous brothers. What kind of animals or humans murdered their parents and siblings?

"Never!" Dev's voice rumbled out in a low, furious growl and he gave her a small shake, "I have nothing but utter respect for you. You honour me by being with me and laying with me as I have never met anyone, animal or human; man or woman. Who could possibly match the valour and bravery you have shown, in not only protecting your family but then protecting yourself. You moved away from your homeland, alone and lost, yet you did it. It impossible for me to feel anything but admiration and love for you!"

Sera's breath caught at the word love. She hoped to God her meant it but refused to respond, she couldn't face false promises or rejection just now. He deserved to know everything before he could commit to her the way she desperately wanted him to, for once she didn't want to be a warrior or a fighter or Arcadian or a hybrid. She simply wanted to be wanted by her mate, loved once more, for herself before she moved out of this world. Sera buried her face in Dev's hair.

"I left some alive," Sera whispered to Dev, "It wasn't mercy, I simply did it so they would go back and let them all know what had gone on that night. They were weak ones, ones who had no mind of their own but simply wanted power and discord amongst our people. I didn't have it in me to kill my brother Hammett. I just wounded him badly and hoped he died of it, I told a close friend of our family, Bowen who is married to my cousin Lenipia, that I despised them all. Arcadian and Katagaria. He had remained neutral throughout the whole thing as my father had because he came from mixed heritage, then turned in last moments and offered Blake his support."

A grey light was seeping into the room through the wide windows of the bedroom, they illuminated Sera's red, puffy eyes and her cute raw looking nose. Her tears had dried and in their place was a look of utter defeated weariness that was harder to endure then her tears had been. Why did love have to hurt so much? Dev completely understood her reluctance to stay with him now, to tell any of them who she really was. She had been betrayed in the most vile way, yet she was a marvel to him, she still had a heart, she still accepted his Katagaria ways, she still knew how to love and trust and that was the most precious of all the things about her.

"My family name," Sera whispered, her hand playing lovingly in Dev's hair, "was Cowen-Archer. Now I have no name, I have no family."

"I'm your family, Sera. I know you love me, I can see it in your eyes and you know I love you. And if you didn't, amour cheri, then you know now."

Dev's eyes so bright and sincere were free of any deception, he desired only to give and never take but he had a right to all of her. Sera turned her head so she looked at him straight on and let her sentinel markings appear, the strange faded green birthmark that covered one side of her face was intricate and beautiful; she had always been proud of it but if would cause Dev to hate her she would rather not have it.

"Even with this?" Sera asked quietly, her eyes willing an answer, "I'm your enemy."

Dev gave a light, sad chuckle and leaned down to trace the tattoo on her cheek with his tongue, the touch of its wet tip made Sera shiver and his whispered words broke any resistance she may still have had against him.

"Beautiful Sera, you break my heart," he murmured, "you're my lover and my mate."

"Your everything."

"I know."

Sera laughed smoothing her finger tip over his lips, he kissed the velvet pad and sighed when he once again saw Sera's eyes darken, what he would give to remove those shadows.

"What do you want of your mate, Dev?"

"I want her to be everything that you are."

Sera let out her breath in a great whoosh, Sera wanted to thank him, in anyway she could. Arcing her back she opened, welcoming him in if he should want it. She'd never done anything of the sort for a man before and was shocked at how much she realised she would actually do to keep Dev. But Dev simply rolled off her and pulled her to his side, placing a hand on her head he lowered it over his heart once more and then ran a hand through her silky hair.

"Dev?"

"Not now, Sera. Now I'll hold you."

"Are you sure?" Dev's heart skipped a beat and his stomach quivered, a sensation he was becoming accustomed to when she was near him. He laughed.

"Sleep beautiful."

Sera slept and felt loved, she dreamed and saw Dev.