Prosper was like a substitute teacher. He had the best intentions, but the real teacher forgot to leave a lesson plan, and he couldn't find the television remote to turn on some dumb movie for the day. So, he decided to get a head start in spending our time with the guard, calling it a change of scenery.

The decision to have Prosper take over my protection had been made just in time, as Prosper was prepared to leave and meet with John that very hour. He assured me he would still go, just after Jane returned. Alec refused to call a meeting before his sister's return, but Prosper suggested the team touch base after such groundbreaking news. Luckily, Alec agreed to hold one the following day, but he had to be talked into allowing the three Reserve Guard members to attend. Prosper did that too.

Alec was rather moody when we all parted ways.

The others always said the guard's half entertainment room, half sparring arena, was where everyone hung out in their free time. I thought they were lying because it was practically empty every time we were there. Aside from the tryouts Alec forced Demetri and Felix to hold. Though forced was the wrong word, seeing as they had a little too much fun bossing the other guards around.

This time, however, it was a hub of activity. Most of the shiny wooden tables were taken, the Victorian style allowing for more private and individual work. These tables were occupied by individuals engrossed in their own semi-solitary activities. The coffee table in front of the television had been overtaken by an upside-down puzzle, which two guards were taking their time to put together. It was such a menial, mindless task that I couldn't help but find it charming and almost humanizing.

Prosper led me into the room and right down the center, but the only attention we received was brief glances. Normally, they stared.

"It's Alec they're afraid of. Not you."

We had come to a stop at a sectioned-off area that I was positive had not been here before. It gave the impression of increased privacy, being cut off from the path. Two velvet couches faced each other and were adorned by double armchairs on either side. I glanced back and forth over the room, realizing this was where the rounded tables had been before Talib threw Felix off the sparring mat. The table had been destroyed, which apparently meant they all had to go.

Three laptops were spaced out equally on the coffee table in the center, and Renata sat crossed-legged on the floor, leaning against the couch as she scanned them. Papers and folders were neatly organized around her and slipped under the table. I blinked, realizing it was Renata who had spoken. Her eyes were intensely focused on one of the screens while she typed on another computer.

Prosper gave a fake cough, and she looked up. "No offense."

I smiled gratefully but thought it was better not to excuse the statement for Alec's sake. I was certain the existing state of affairs was something he would like to change once I had the power.

Once she was satisfied I wouldn't run and tell Aro on her, she addressed Prosper. "Is this a good idea?"

I sat beside her at the corner of the table, entranced by the multiple screens. The one she'd been focused on was zoomed in on a news article in another language – Urdu, I think – and where she'd been typing was a formatted document. Which was in bloody Italian.

Prosper shrugged, taking his own seat in a velvet chair, his military persona unusually relaxed. "Aro's orders."

A burst of wind came across the table not a second later. Hamzah seemed to almost stumble as he joined us, the most unvampire-like thing I could imagine. He rubbed the back of his neck, almost too eager for his own good. "Does that mean we can say hi?"

Prosper knit his eyebrows as if trying to gauge Hamzah's intentions. But I liked Hamzah. Demetri had mentioned his slight fascination with Alec, and I didn't believe him till my mate first complimented him during one of their meetings. His face had spread into a wide grin, and he repeated different versions of phrases that belonged in a thank you note until Kiara kicked him under the table. Hamzah did struggle to take things seriously, but he understood the weight of his actions at least. This is more than could be said for Dorian, who was on the sparring pad diagonal from us and very purposefully ignoring our existence.

"Within reason."

I ignored Prosper's wariness, leaning forward on my elbows, "Hi, Hamzah."

He flashed a gleeful smile, like a child being offered a lolly by a doctor. "Wanna arm wrestle?"

Renata snorted as Prosper grumbled. "I said within reason."

"What do you mean? It's bonding!"

Kiara arrived in a blink, flopping into a chair and resting her shoes on the coffee table. "She's human, you mucker." Her ebony hair was brushed back, save for two strands that framed her face and emphasized her cheekbones.

"She's allowed to have fun – mucker," Hamzah shot back.

"Kids, behave, or I'll ground you both," Renata commented, shoving Kiara's legs off the table and returning to her work. Though she didn't seem closed to the conversation around her. She almost seemed to anchor the others, like they weren't drawn to us because I would be entertainment but because of Renata's presence.

I frowned at Prosper. "I want to play."

"Well, if fun is off the table – and no offense Saffiya, but what is she doing here? And where's you know who?"

Before Prosper could answer, Kiara scoffed, "You think Alec's gonna let the Luci cousins around his human mate."

Hamzah opened his mouth with a no doubt, equally sassy response, but Prosper finally got through. "Our new guests will not be privy to Saffiya's situation. Not yet, at least." He said it casually, but the orotund clarity in his voice ensured the entire room heard the order. From there, he could be assured it would spread to the rest of the Guard. I glanced back, peeking between the furniture. Maybe some of the guards, seeing as it looked like the entire room had slowly lost its occupants.

"Again, not you," Renata stated. "Shift change." I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and pray that she wasn't lying. Except Renata didn't seem like much of a liar.

Kiara kicked up the conversation. "The blood situation or the fragile one?" Should I be offended?

"The one no one was supposed to tell me."

Kiara and Hamzah each paused, faces contorting into their individual forms of confusion before the latter checked, "Is this a test? Cause I thought we were all out of secrets."

Prosper maintained his professionalism, "All of it, for now. They will spend very little time near her either way."

"Is that good or bad for us?"

"So long as Dorian keeps his mouth shut in meetings, I'd say we're safe from Alec's moods." Amaya had joined us, but I scanned the rest of the guards in the room instead of acknowledging her, searching for the remaining member of Alec's team, but Maliq was absent. Dorian was missing as well, so he must have left with the others. As if answering me, Amaya continued, but her tone lifted like she was sharing a secret, "Maliq is with Jane. Dorian is on break. With Thalia." I nodded my head like I knew what it meant, but by the gleam in Kiara's eyes, I did not.

Surprisingly, Prosper picked it up. "Again?"

Hamzah cut in dramatically, "The heart wants, what the heart wants, my good man." I turned away from the conversation, uncomfortable discussing the private affairs of two vampires I'd hardly spoken to.

"Speaking of," Amaya started, playing catch up and seeking to satisfy her skepticism about the previous topic. "How is this," she indicated towards me, "supposed to work?"

Kiara snorted, "Prosper babysits, duh." I sent her a glare that she had no intention of noticing, too blunt for the topic at hand.

"But why lie at all?" Nobody answered her, and it seemed like they hadn't considered the question yet. Prosper folded his hands across his lap and leaned back in the chair as they started to expect him to answer. His relaxed position and firm resolve made it clear they would get nothing from him. "They're gonna notice," Amaya insisted hotly, upset with Prosper's unwillingness to contribute to the guard's sharing circle.

"Oh, come on, Amaya." Hamzah started to defend the plan. "They won't –"

"Really? Because this one has been staring at the door like a lost puppy since before I walked over," my head snapped to her fierce warrior eyes as if she'd been waiting to see if this would get my attention. She raised her brows, crossing her arms over her chest as the others put it together. I wanted to protest, but I couldn't remember exactly when she'd arrived. Amaya seemed to bring logic and seriousness into the fun times, but clearly, she liked to gossip. She just had strong opinions. "And we all know what Alec is like without –"

"Careful," Prosper said, but it was something of a mix between a warning and a threat.

Amaya wasn't finished, her determination to get her thoughts out was near to diplomatic but almost too intense to make her point. "Garrow's got a short attention span but if Oakley's like a dog with a bone –"

Renata cut in, her voice firm but patient. "It has been decided, Amaya."

She huffed, and a dull sort of silence fell over the group. Amaya's words prompted something in their minds, and it looked like they all had something they wanted to say. Like the elephant in the room, only it left them tongue tied with duty and respect. It took me a second to figure out what question they might want to ask.

So, I gave it up. "Why doesn't Alec trust them?"

"What was that we were saying about secrets?" Kiara turned to Prosper accusingly. Prosper shrugged and didn't intervene as Kiara took it as permission. "Alec didn't tell you anything?"

My response was immediate, somewhat defensive of the implication. "They got here like an hour ago."

She hesitated, and I couldn't help but notice that they all seemed to be holding their tongues. For a different reason this time. They were comfortable with me – to a point. But as Renata suggested earlier, Alec had much more sway than me.

"Alec doesn't have to know this conversation ever took place." Hamzah and Kiara exchanged looks, and I think I could get them to break with the right prompting. "Look, no one warned me about the psycho leaf blood eater and her creepy lie detector mother in law, and I'm sure you know what happened there." From their expressions, I assumed they had. I could hardly remember who was in the room at the time. I was sort of busy. "I'd like to be prepared this time."

Surprisingly, my speech had roused Prosper to agree.

"The cousins and the twins share a certain trait."

"They're all sadistic as hell." Prosper shot her a glare, but let Kiara take over. "Garrow likes to play with his food."

I glanced at Hamzah, who was looking conflicted as hell-o. Like he wanted to be a part of this, but didn't want to disappoint Alec. His admiration for Alec was expressed in an odd form. It wasn't through mimicry nor was it a mentor type relationship. He was several years older than us, but it was like he got off the bus in New York City from Oklahoma and got sucked into every tourist trap and Alec was some billboard. God, that would inflate his ego. Though I suspected he kept Hamzah around for more than this.

I shrugged, forgetting for a second that their version of food was human beings. "So?"

"He prefers to pick…creative humans. Magicians, dancers, humans with dreams." Amaya explained offhandedly. "Humans who will believe him when he claims he's a vampire."

I tilted my head. "Isn't that, like, illegal for you guys?" I couldn't imagine the Volturi would welcome someone who consistently broke their most sacred and central law.

"Not if we kill them. Which he does." Kiara reclaimed the story. "He spent the mid 1920's in America, going from speakeasy to speakeasy, finding the perfect targets. He'd promise them a fantasy world and the love of a vampire, only to –"

"That's enough, Kiara." Renata brushed tight curls of auburn off her eyelashes. "You can tell her, just take it away from me."

Amaya smirked, now teasing, "Renata's our resident human lover."

"I'd rather drink from a pigeon than take on that title," Renata corrected, then turned to me and said, "no offense."

But I was already past it. "What about Oakley?"

Kiara waved me off. "Garrow's the real trouble maker, pushes boundaries. I heard he used to flirt with Jane until Alec caught him." She threw her hands up as if to rid herself of any wrongdoing before steepling her fingers and leaning back casually. She went to lift her shoes back on the table, but thought better of it. "Or so I've been told. Never lucky enough to witness Alec get that pissed off."

Prosper sighed, leaning forward as if to keep what he was saying more private. "It is heavily gossip, however,"

I almost stopped him, because I knew the twins valued their privacy and reputation and he could tell me later. But maybe he felt comfortable saying it in front of this group, seeing as they were somewhat trusted by Alec. A perspective I would contest. Alec behaved with me in a way no one else in the castle would believe, but the mere glimpses they had been privy to – especially his team – might give them the impression that they were different from the guards who knew nothing.

They were not.

Prosper continued, "in the short time they were with the Volturi, he and Alec must have engaged in dozens of fights under the guise of sparring sessions."

This didn't sound like something Alec would humor. Not when he could simply use his gift and shut Garrow down for good. Maybe the man was gifted? Something that could counter Alec. But then, Aro never would have let him leave Volterra if he was that powerful. And no one had mentioned anything so far. Usually, people's gifts were tied in with their identities in the vampire world. I would have asked, but the others were so involved with the topic that they didn't think to clue me in to these details before they'd moved on.

"Now, that is a fight I wouldn't want to miss."

"So it goes," Prosper added with his hands raised, reminding us that it was only gossip. I sometimes forgot how much lower on the totem pole Prosper was before I'd nearly got him killed. No wonder the others thought things were changing. Jane would be even less pleased than her brother.

"And Oakley?" I repeated.

Renata decided it was time for her to step in, and part of me believed she was the only one that heard me ask. My eyes caught sight of her pure black cloak. She was the only one in the room who might actually know the truth behind their rumors. I had hardly spent any time with her, but Heidi mentioned her occasionally. I think Jane even mentioned her once, but then I could be manipulating my own memory with that possibility.

"Listen, Oakley's petite and two faced till you put her up against Jane. Then, she's like a cricket." A cricket?

I bit my bottom lip, releasing it when I recognized frustration had caused the action. It was an emotion that did not pair well with my condition. "Jane's not here."

She nodded, and my eyes flickered behind her. She shifted to block my view from the others. "Which is why we'll keep you away from her."

Behind her, Kiara's voice perked up. "Yeah, but if she tries anything, you'll probably get to step on her."

The vampires often made comments like this, and I'd grown wise enough to attribute the violence to their sense of humor as a species. But this time, it was a little more unsettling. I couldn't help but focus on what she would try rather than the why. I always searched for the why, but the way they talked about her cousin had me second guessing my first impressions.

"So, arm wrestle?" Hamzah tried again.

Prosper spoke up before I could slip in a yes, wanting to release some of the building tension in my body. "Maybe next time, Hamzah. I actually brought her here today to see Renata's work."

Renata pointed at the far computer, saying to no one in particular. "Close that one, then, would you?"

"Why?" I asked immediately, frowning as Amaya promptly let the laptop snap shut. Renata shrugged. "That's not an answer."

Renata, having returned to her earlier task, tossed out a useless rationale. "Some of the things on there are rather gruesome. I doubt your mate would want you looking at them." My chest tightened with a mute growl.

"Alec is not my keeper." A deafening silence followed my claim, catching the room off guard.

"Who's gonna tell her?"

Whether Hamzah had identified the awkwardness in the room or not, he was definitely banking on his humor to pull him out of the pit. It backfired.

My frustration gave way and something slipped. Snapped. Broke through. It turned into something demure and impassive as my tone exposed the cold with the bitterness of a pure cocoa. A well-disguised guise. I was unimpressed. "Try it."

If Amaya had dimmed the conversation before, it was nothing compared to the reaction my outburst received.

Hamzah's eyes widened, and his features gave a small wince when I tilted my head. Was he alright? I quickly turned to Kiara, who had pressed her lips together and gone stoic. Amaya's eyes had narrowed on the coffee table. Even Prosper had dropped his head, so I turned back to Hamzah. He ducked, leaving me to process the silence. A silence that was eerily familiar, and reeked of hostility.

I sucked in a breath, tasting silk that made my heart beat with the drum of a hunt. Steady. This felt like power. The kind of power I had only seen the twins wield.

"Next time I find something interesting, you can see it." Renata cooed, but even she seemed somewhat cautious. Her typing had slowed, but she hadn't looked away from her computer even once. Her intervention still cooled the temperature of the group. "But right now, it's just a bunch of stupid humans stringing together useless words."

I was appeased, and the atmosphere tested the waters. It was like hanging a picture frame, stepping away to see it secure on the wall as everyone tried to wash away whatever emotion had momentarily gripped at them.

Kiara hit Hamzah in the arm. "Sparring pad is open!" They disappeared as soon as they could, avoiding my attention. The sparring pad had been open since Dorian left.

Amaya's expression had completely flipped as she eyed me with a look I couldn't quite place. She wouldn't look away, so I sent her an automatic, scathing glare. She was gone a second later.

I didn't mean to snap at Hamzah. He never meant any harm.

I slouched against the couch, wringing my hands together as I pulled them tight against my stomach. After a moment, Renata's slender hand slowly covered mine. "It's okay. You're not meant to be friends."

I caught my lower lip between my teeth as Renata pulled me forward, directing me to read an article on her laptop. I was genuinely curious about her work, so I tried to pull myself out of that headspace and focus on the article she'd chosen for me – something about art. I was hooked. I could feel her hand gently petting my hair, as if soothing me.

I was too focused to catch the look she exchanged with Prosper over my head.

"He has nothing to worry about," she murmured. "She's just like them."

"She's still human, Renata."

Renata smiled encouragingly when I looked up, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

"Even better."