Ari stared at me as the boy once again fell into unconsciousness, this time not at the end of my beak. Clearly he had worked himself up into a panic over Ari, well not exactly Ari, but the lion--Death. I quickly pulled the rest of my clothes back on and began picking up the boy's feet. "Help me, Ari."

Ari wrinkled his nose at me. "Why?"

I gave him a look. "We can't just leave him here."

Ari looked baffled. "Yes we can." At my look he sighed. "Where would we even take him?"

"To our apartment."

"Hell no."

I settled him with a look. "I didn't want to have to do this, but I'll tell Lya about--"

"Lya doesn't care about what I do with other people, so don't even try to pull that bullshit, Shaw."

I rolled my brown eyes at him. "I wasn't talking about the other people you fuck. I was talking about you eating her last ponchik."

Ari's light brown face turned pale. "You wouldn't dare. Last time she held out on me for weeks."

I crossed my arms. "Oh, I would." When you messed with Lya's food, your life would become literal hell.

Ari chewed on his lip, remembering the last time he ate something of Lya's and she had given him blue balls for nearly a month. I remembered it as being hilarious to watch. Not wanting to risk Lya's wrath, Ari conceded: "Fine."

Ari stalked over and swatted my hand away and threw the boy over his shoulder like nothing more than a sack of potatoes.

When we got back to the apartment, Lya was in the living room practicing turns. She didn't seem to notice us as we entered. She whipped her leg to the side, spinning around thrice before her leg kicked out again. She was practicing her fouettes, I realized.

Ari deposited the boy onto the couch before slinking up behind Orsolya to capture her waist and claim her mouth in a kiss. Lya came down off the tip of her toe and glared at Ari. "Seriously? No note? No nothing? You worried me half to death, you could have been dead for all I knew!"

Ari shrugged and leaned in hungrily again in attempts to kiss her. Lya ducked his lips and started at the boy on our couch. "What the fuck? Who is this?"

"Found him in the woods." Ari said grumpily at being refused by Lya.

"He may have seen use changed." I scratched at the back of my neck. "I also may have knocked him out."

Lya eyed him and then gently probed his head in the spot my beak had made contact. She stood up and wet a cloth, dabbing it gently against the gash my sharp beak had caused. When she pulled back the cloth, it was stained pink. The sight made me feel like shit. Rarely did I ever personally cause physical harm to someone, seeing blood be drawn at my hand (well beak) made something hurt in my chest that had not smarted in this acute way since I was first taken by the dictator.

Suddenly, the boy gasped and his eyes flew open, panicking at the unknown surroundings. "What..." His blue eyes settled on Ari and Shaw and he whispered to himself: "Oh, the lovers."

My cheeks heated as Ari took a giant step away from me and Lya burst out laughing, the cackle of her laugh startling the boy on their couch. "They're not lovers." Lya managed to say in between laughs as Ari shook his head.

"Then why were they naked?" The boy asked, a flush high on his cheeks as his eyes darted in between Ari and myself.

Lya stopped laughing and looked at us deadly severity in her light green eyes. I saw the words in her eyes: you were caught on a run! For me, Ari, and Lya running meant something entirely different than most people's definition of the horrible action of moving your body at an ungodly pace. For us it meant changing into our animal forms and simply enjoying our other form without the bonds of servitude from the Collars.

Lya never joined them on runs, it was mostly Ari's thing. Lya hated her bear, blamed her for Lya's more or less imprisonment. She detested every second she wore the she-bear's skin. Ari on the other hand adored his lion and of the three of them was the closest to his second form. He loved the power and grace of his lion and tended to believe that the lion was a part of him whereas Lya believed that she was removed from the bear--that Orsolya Petrov and the she-bear were two separate entities combined only by the fact that they happened to be embodied together. I was somewhere in between, my relationship with my raven could be considered love-hate. I adored the feeling flying as my raven could give me, the fake feeling of freedom his wings offered me; I hated him too, for without him, I would truly be free and not just taste the idea of it in flight.

"We were going for a run." Ari's unamused deep rumble explained. He was annoyed, the clenching of his jaw told me so. He changed the subject quickly. "What were you doing out there? Run into a tree?"

The boy frowned as Ari smirked. "It was the fucking Triad." He shook his head, lovely eyes wide. My brows furrowed at that thought, but I shook it away as quickly as it came. "They were just there, in the woods. Well, Spy and Death were there. Damnation was missing. They were so close to me, I thought I was going to die."

Only I could hear the response Ari half muttered, half chuckled under his breath. "So scared he almost pissed himself."

I resisted the urge to elbow him. Trying to hit Ari was never a good idea, he always hit back twice as hard.

Lya placed a dramatic hand over her mouth, her shock a bit overdone in the manner that she was used to from displaying emotion on the stage. Every movement and action was smaller on the stage, to make an emotion known to the audience it had to be overdone. "Holy shit."

Ari chuckled his eyes fixed on Lya. "Ever the lady, cub." He only ever called Orsolya that.

The boy looked between the two of them, eyes confused before his blue orbs settled on me. "I apologize for my rudeness. I haven't introduced myself. I'm Kylan Farre."

Lya waved a hand, sending away his apologies. "Hardly rude, you nearly died. Orsolya Petrov, but you can call me Lya, everyone does." Lya did hate her full name and insisted most people call her by the shortened version she preferred.

I approached the boy--Kylan--and extended my hand to him. "Shaw," I said, hesitating before giving him my last name. "Shaw Zhang." I always hesitated when giving my name. Shaw was fine enough but my last name screamed my eastern heritage, not that I was ashamed of it but people tended to stare at me in this city from the slant of my eyes and hue of my skin, my name just seemed to shine a light on a sign pointing to me that said outsider.

The capital, Vyten, was in the north west of the country and while there were many of different coloring and history, in this part of the country they would always be the other, visitors instead of residents not matter how long they lived in the city, no matter if they had been born there.

But Kylan smiled at me and I found that I didn't want him to stop. Kylan turned his face to Ari, expectant. Ari gave him only a blank stare, brown arms crossed, his air threatening. Kylan's smile faltered and it stirred the urge to hit Ari again as the smile slipped from Kylan's face entirely.

"That's Ari Lewis." Explained Lya with a stern look in Ari's direction. "He's a brute, ignore him."

Ari bristled at that but said in a voice devoid of anything friendly. "Where do you live? We'll take you there."

Kylan looked slightly taken aback. "Mother's Way."

Next to Kylan, Lya's eyes flashed and I knew she was remembering tearing into that man not too long ago on the same street Kylan lived. "Were you there that night?" Lya asked quietly, wringing the cloth in her hands, a nervous gesture of hers.

Ari's dark eyes flashed as his head whipped around his eyes speaking words only Lya and I could understand. Despite his rough exterior, Ari truly was caring, but only about those he loved. Those people were limited to Lya and myself. Ari didn't take kindly to people upsetting Lya and he was glaring at Kylan, looking for all the world like he might start swinging.

"Are you well enough to move?" I asked hastily to keep Ari from giving Kylan another physical memento from the Triad of Hell.

Kylan nodded and Ari rumbled in his deep baritone: "You should go home, then."

Kylan's eyes grew wide at Ari's blatant rudeness, but nodding, rising up onto his elbows. Lya rose to her feet as well and helped Kylan onto his. He wobbled slightly.

"I'll help you get there." I said hastily, then worried at my lip. Lya and Ari made no move to include themselves in helping Kylan home.

Kylan considered, looking nervous but eventually agreed. I wasn't sure if I should hold onto him or not, so I settled for walking next to him, slightly closer than would have been normal had Kylan not been hurt. It was already late into the night, nearing two o'clock in the morning and even the drunkest were beginning to stumble their way into their beds or someone else's.