Thalion thought about it for several minutes. He hadn’t dealt with the wolves much, and the few occasions that he had were a long time ago.

“What should we do?” He asked.

“I’ll go first.”

“No,” Thalion shook his head.

Cyn shrugged. “Too late.” Then she was gone.

Thalion growled in frustration. “Females,” he muttered.

Cypher had heard the sound of his warriors approach, though he kept the pretense of being asleep. His arms were wrapped securely around Lilly, who, to his amusement, was snoring loudly. He waited until finally Gerick stepped in close enough. He moved swiftly grabbing the warrior’s ankle and tossing him back. Gerick landed on the ground with a loud thud and a gasp as the wind was knocked out of him.

Cypher smiled at his general. “Gerick,” he nodded.

“My King,” Gerick coughed as he climbed to his feet. Gerick made a motion with his hand. Silently, Cypher’s warriors stepped forward from the trees.

“Nice work,” Thalion said, as he walked back into the circle. He made a series of clicking noises and suddenly the sky was raining elves as they fell from the tree tops.

Cypher looked up at the Elf Prince, who shrugged. “You never know who might be lurking in the woods.”

Cypher laughed. “True enough.”

The morning light began to break through the heavy covering of the trees and Lilly finally began to stir. She yawned and blinked a few times. Her eyes widened as she saw eyes, lots of them, staring at her.

“Cypher?” She sat up and pushed away from his chest.

“Lilly, these are my warriors,” he motioned to the large men staring at her.

“Why are they staring at me?” She asked, as she tried to smile and look friendly.

“They’re curious about you. I’ve just told them that you are my mate and human.”

“Hi,” Lilly said, weakly as she waved.

A few gave her smiles. Others continued to stare at her as if she were a bug they were trying to visually dissect.

“You ready to stand up?” Cypher asked her, drawing her attention away from the others. She looked up at him and nodded.

“Definitely, I seriously need to p...” She stopped in mid-sentence as she considered her company. Cypher laughed. “Do you need some privacy?”

“That would be good,” she told him. She walked off into the trees, promising not to go too far and making Cypher promise not to follow, though she could tell that he didn’t like her going off alone.

When Lilly returned she saw that Thalion and Cypher were deep in conversation. She wasn’t really sure what to do with herself so she leaned against a tree and tried not to stare at the warlock warriors, while at the same time trying to take in as much as she could by nonchalantly casting glances in their direction.

“You’re a good fit.”

Lilly jumped at the deep voice that had come from right beside her. She turned and had to look up to see a tall, wide man, with short dark hair, big green eyes, and a sweet smile.

“I’m Gerick,” he told her. “I’m Cypher’s general.”

Lilly nodded. “It’s nice to meet you Gerick. Um, what did you mean, I’m a good fit?”

“For him,” he nodded towards Cypher. “You bring him balance.”

“How can you tell,” Lilly asked, as her forehead wrinkled in question.

“There is a peace about him that I have not seen since he was very, very young.”

Lilly watched Cypher talk to Thalion and she thought about how he had looked when she first met him. He was still incredibly handsome, but she had to agree that some of the stress that had been on his face then, was no longer present. Even with everything they had been through and would undoubtedly be going through soon, Cypher did seem oddly relaxed. His eyes came up and met hers and he smiled at her. She smiled back and she agreed with Gerick, she and Cypher, for whatever messed up reason, were a good fit.

Q

“Peri.”

Peri jumped at the voice behind her. She pressed her hand to her heart as she turned and met Cyn’s stare.

“Are you trying to kill me? Crap, give me a warning or something next time.”

A single eyebrow rose on Cyn’s face. “I asked you to show me where you were.”

“Yes, but you didn’t say you were coming now,” Peri snapped. She stood in the field where only a day ago, a massacre between the packs was at its beginning. Vasile had once again proven why he was the strongest of their race. When other Alphas had tried to get their wolves under control and failed, Vasile’s power alone brought them to their knees.

“What are you doing out here?” Cyn asked.

Peri glanced back at the field that she had been staring at before the other fae had arrived. “It’s a long story,” Peri answered.

“Isn’t it always,” Cyn retorted as she walked over to stand next to her mentor and longtime friend.

Cyn waited quietly, knowing that sometimes Peri just needed a captive audience for her to start a tale.

“Okay, so the damn wolves can’t keep themselves out of trouble,” she began and Cyn grinned to herself as Peri told her, in only a way that Peri could, the events that had taken place. Cyn listened quietly and when Peri was finished relaying her story, she decided that she would take her battle with the Draheim over the wolves and their mates any day.

“So, that’s my mess,” Peri told her, as she folded her arms across her chest. “How goes it with the Warlock King and the human?”

Cyn smiled. “Well, they’re not near as bad as your wolves,”

Peri snorted. “For some reason I believe you.”

“I told you that I had a surprise for you,” Cyn reminded her.

“Yes, and you know how I hate surprises, so please tell me that Lilly isn’t somehow knocked up, or that Cypher hasn’t been surreptitiously plotting with Mona all along because she’s having his secret love child.”

Cyn rolled her eyes. “What’s with all the baby talk?”

“Jen’s pregnant, the Fates want her kid, and Decebel just might kill anything or anyone who comes near her at any time. Sorry it’s a touchy subject.”

“Okay, well breathe easy then because no one is having anyone’s love child. However,” Cyn paused and cleared her throat, “Thalion is sort of involved.”