Disclaimer: I'm not Stepenie Meyer because I wouldn't write my book, have something go wrong and throw a fit and say I'm not putting out a book for another so many years... oh wait...

Disclaimer Deuce: Vince Flynn writes one book a year, he's a best selling author and right now he has cancer. he had an operation and is in recovery... He's in recovery for cancer that he's had over the last three years (all of which he released a book) and in recovery he's releasing another only three months later... That's Minnesota strong for you.

Mike's POV

"A small shield and a short sword?" I asked moving easily with both.

"Yes... simple but effective, Surprisingly fast, defensible, very learable." Abhash explained. He wielded the sword and shield.

I nodded and he beckoned me forward. I lunged forward with a stab and he easily blocked it away. I took a different approach slicing, and he blocked it away.

"Your left hadn isn't dead, use your shield." Abhash said. I charged at Abhash and quickly batted his sword away with my shield hand and pulled back for a big swing. Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement then I feld a thud and went down like a bag of hammers. I groggily got back to my feet.

"People see a sword and shield and think one wepaon, one defense... but they're wrong." I rolled back my head and shook the cobwebs out and smiled. Abhash grinned.

"Again!"

Mike's POV

I still felt pain where Abhash had assaulted me repeatedly with the shield. I tried to loosen my body up. Felix was waiting for me outside. It was three in the morning, he stood, his rob tossed to the side and his pants rolled up. He was in a low stream.

"It's time for you to master your energy ablities." He said as I approached. I removed my shoes, socks and rolled up my pants.

"Take off your shirt as well."

"Why?"

"Without your shirt you'll be more natural... you can feel your energy better... you said you studied a martial art?"

"Yes Soo Bahk Do." I said

"That's Korean right?" I nodded.

"Okay so let's start with Chil Sung Sam." I blinked

"You know Soo Bahk?" Felix nodded.

"Yes... now relax... feel the energy with every breath... let's take each move slowly." I followed his command and pushed my breath deep in to my stomach, focusing on it. I felt something. I pulled it in to my chest. I focused soely on the warmth. I couldn't see it, but I knew it was there. I let my breath out then it was gone.

Themba's POV

"I can't believe you're interested in Pantera." My friend Zuri pestered. she was also my guardian on this trip. We'd been best friends since I could remember but I was the princess of the tribe and she wasn't so she came along to protect me.

"And who do you like? Wolf?" I snickered.

"Anything's better than pantera. What about Rhino?" she asked. I shurgged.

"Rhino is a good guy and I like him but he's not my type... and before you ask Sher doesn't really talk much. I don't know he makes me a little uncomfortable." I sighed looking in the mirror.

"What is it Themba?" Zuri asked me. I stared out the window of our room.

"Is this right? Is any of this right? I mean we're basically siring them for a child."

"Who knows maybe you'll fall in love like one of those bad American romantic comedies." Zuri joked.

"What about you? maybe you'll fall in love with one of them, or better yet you'll find a "star crossed lover" in one of the vampires of the Volturi." Zuri made a gagging noise.

"I couldn't ever love one of those murderers." I shrugged peeling an orange to eat.

"I'm worried about the tribe though." I said honestly.

"Why?"

"If I dont have a son my grandfather will need to stay hpasing. he doesn't say it but he's ready to stop, his wife died three years ago and he still looks young, he wants to retire and live out his days and I'm his only hope of that. if I don't bear a prince of lions strong enough to overcome the trails he'll never be free."

"Wow, the Chief told you all that?" Zuri asked. I shook my head.

"No... i can see it in his eyes... The way he looks longingly in o the picture of grandma he has... everything, no he'd never say it but it's my job to make sure he's no longer forced to be the leader."

"You know my mother died in childbirth and my dad never remarried... I was supposed to be the future king." I tried to hide how much pain it caused me.

"You know your grandpa loves you." I would never say it out loud but I feel like he resents me for not being a male. Zuri sensed I wasn't thinking good thoughts.

"Hey that's why we're here... Women of our tribe can't pass down the gene on their own, they need to mate an active shifter to produce a lion... and our only other lion is sterile." Zuri you have such a nice way of saying I'm leaving my boyfriend because he can't put a baby in me and I'm looking to get knocked up.

"Whatever I don't want to think about it. I just need to get pregnant off one of these animals and hope I have a son." I I said in frustration.

"Why don't you just bed Pantera then? he's jumping at the chance to have sex with you." Zuri asked. I shook my head.

"No... If I need to do this I'm going to do it with the best alpha male in the world."

"And how will you figure that out?"

"The Volturi are planning on testing them seeing how fast and how strong they are... I'll just watch them and draw up my own assessments."

Felix's POV

"Why do you want me to evaluate him psychologically? He seems stable, if A little timid." I shook my head.

"No... it doesn't all add up."

"What doesn't add up?" Evelyn asked. I looked in to her beautiful eyes and lost myself for a moment and recovered hoping she wouldn't notice.

"Everything... Everything about Iverson. Today when we were trying to get his power I noticed something."

"What?" Evelyn asked impatiently.

"The water." I said still trying to figure it out in my head.

"What about it?"

"It wasn't flowing naturally... it was flowing around Iverson's ankles... like he was summoning it to him."

"What do you mean?"

"I think he can pull energy from everything." I surmised.

"Really?" I nodded.

"Yes I believe so."

"But what does that mean then?"

"Remember what he did to us when we first met him?" I asked. How could she not. She warily nodded in response.

"Yes... it was horrible, it was amazing, he reached the height of his potential through anger." I shook my head.

"No... I think we've just seen the beginning of his potential." I said gravely.

"But he isn't more powerful than you is he?" I shook my head.

"No... I'm stronger and faster than him for now... but I won't be for long."

Mike's POV

It was one of my breaks... my very few. I was informed they had a room with musical equipment made because they knew that Embry and I were muscians. I stepped in to the room. Dang... this is too much.They had a double bass drum drumset set up in the corner, three keyboards, a wall full of guitars and microphones. I shook my head. sitting down behind the piano. My fingers gently slid up and down the keys refamiliarizing myself with the soft keys. I closed my eyes and started playing a simple song, Cannon in D. I closed my eyes and felt the music swaying with the soft song. Years ago this song had challenged but looking back now it seemed silly. I took in the sound of feet walking outside the room as i continued to play. How long had it been since I got to play piano? Months at least... I didn't miss it until I was a vampire. I heard heavy footsteps distracting me from outside but not enough to stop me. The steps echoed in the long halls, hard floor. whoever it was it wasn't a vampire. the steps stopped, I heard the doorknob turning and the door open. His scent came in with a draft as I continued playing.

"Hello Embry." I said to him. I didn't look up i didn't even stop playing just continued.

"So this is the room?" Embry asked. I nodded.

"Grab a guitar, acoustic." He gave me a look then grabbed one. I turned the laptop between us to him and he nodded. he strummed softly. i breathed in deeply instantly regretting it. the pain screamed in my throat, followed by the dulling smell of Embry. The smell of wolves didn't bug me anymore... it just was annoying and slightly helpful. I could breath in his scent and I wasn't hungry anymore. I focused and sang behind the keyboard playing some chords.

"She never mentions the word addiction
in certain company
yes, she'll tell you she's an orphan
after you meet her family

she paints her eyes as black as night now
pulls those shades down tight
yeah she gives a smile when the pain comes
the pain gonna make everything alright

says she talks to angels
they call her out by her name
oh yeah, she talks to angels
says they call her out by her name"

Themba's POV

"Why won't you ever tell me what happened with Embry?"

"Because nothing happened, He doesn't care, I swear he has the emotions of a rock." I heard something quiet but didn't say anything at first until I heard it continue.

"He can't be that bad." I snorted at her.

"I'll hook up with him when you do with a vampire." I said defiantly.

"ugh, you can't be serious? They're all monsters... just slaughtering humans to survive... I could never love a vampire." I had started walking toward the sounds without even knowing it. I could just make a voice

"What is that?" Zuri finally asked catching on. We made our way down a hallway. I peeked in the room and was more than slightly surprised at what I saw. I saw Embry strumming along with a smile on his face. It wasn't a face smile, it wasn't a cheap smirk, it wasn't anything like that. Zuri

"Whose the guy playing piano?" Zuri asked.

"Is he another shifter?" I asked Zuri.

"I don't know but he's kind of hot."

"I didn't hear them say Embry brought another shifter with him but he needs to be someone he knows... he doesn't seem to hate him." I said.

"You jealous?" Zuri teased.

"I will slap you." I warned. She giggled and turned away.

"says she talks to angels
they call her out by her name
oh yeah, she talks to angels
says they all know her name

she don't know no lover
none that I ever see
yet to her that ain't nothing
but to me it means, means everything

she paints her eyes as black as night now
she pulls those shades down tight
oh yeah, there's a smile when the pain comes
the pain gonna make everything alright, all right"

"That guy was hot." Zuri said again. As we walked away. Embry... why the hell are you hiding the real you?

Thanks for your patience. To those who kept count, I've missed a couple weeks. There are reasons for that. One I don't have a word processor... writing is much harder without one. two thanksgiving, enough said. Thanks for reading. Remember reviews push me forward to write, it was two people starting reading and reading and reviewing that got me to finally finish this chapter (First I couldn't copy paste to notepad so I had to rewrite half of it by copying it over word for word, then i switched to the fanfic document editor and when I saved it told me I needed to log in and lost an entire POV and then my engine went down and I lost the same POV again... this chapter has been very frustrating and i've written it over three weeks so you'll have to forgive me if it seems a bit more disjointed than usual) Thanks for reading, remember to give High fives, knucks, rolls of twenties, and reviews. Catch you on the flip side