Serix watched the exchange between Ryan and Cassie in silence. After being verbally assaulted by Ryan, he was in no mood to speak with the male again. Even if he tried, he would probably just make his own situation worse by insulting the human leader, and he couldn’t afford to do anything to risk being separated from Cassie. It was clear that she felt the same way, threatening to go with him to the hold if Ryan was determined to send him there.

It was then that Ryan revealed something that piqued Serix’s interest: All of the humans here were part Lunairan. He looked again at each of the guards that stood around them. He could definitely see some similarities in one of the males. He had dark hair and a light complexion, although his eyes were a pale shade of green rather than the characteristic violet of the Lunairan people. Serix marveled that he had written off the human’s features until now.

This new detail also explained why this group had survived the Plague. They had been saved by the hardy genes of their Lunairan parents. Looking at their numbers, Serix wondered just how many human sympathizers there had really been before the first invasion. He had seen around fifteen half-bloods in the compound alone. There was a possibility that some of the survivors were siblings, but even so, that meant there were many more Lunairan-human relationships than Serix originally thought. How had his leaders been able to hide the large number of changing alliances from the rest of the population? He still had so many unanswered questions.

[b]“Then you don’t trust me Ryan?”[/b] Serix tuned back into Cassie and Ryan’s conversation.

[b]“Fine,”[/b] the light-haired male looked frustrated. [b]“He’s under a trial period. But if he does one thing, that’s it. I’ll take him out myself.”[/b]

[i]‘If’ you can take me out,[/i] Serix thought, rolling his eyes. This human was really underestimating his abilities. However, he had no reason to reveal what he was capable of yet, so he kept his mouth shut. Ryan could think he was a helpless captive if he wanted to. He would see just how well Serix could handle himself in a fight when the time came.

[b]“I can assure you, that won’t happen,”[/b] Cassie retorted, loyally coming to Serix’s defense. [b]“And even if it did, I would protect him with my life.”[/b]

[b]“I’ll show you where you’ll be staying,”[/b] Ryan said, ignoring Cassie. He led them down one of the carved out hallways. Serix looked around as they walked, trying to create a mental blueprint of the compound layout. He wanted to be prepared in case he and Cassie ever needed to make a quick getaway. He only partly listened when Ryan continued to speak. [b]“There are, as you can see, a lot of different halls and rooms. There aren’t many of us here in the caves. With you two that makes twenty one of us so far. So it’s not too hard to find one of the spare rooms.”[/b]

Serix rolled his wrists, which rubbed uncomfortably against the rope that tied them. He hoped the ‘trial period’ Ryan had put him on included the removal of these bindings. The course material was starting to chafe his skin, leaving him sore and even more irritable. Fortunately, it seemed that they had arrived at their assigned room at last. It was small, with only a set of lanterns and one bed inside. That was all they really needed, though, so Serix could appreciate its simplicity.

[b]“This is where you will be staying,”[/b] Ryan said, stepping over to hug Cassie again. Serix winced. He definitely did not like how friendly this male was getting with [i]his[/i] mate. Even with the differences between Lunairan and human cultures, it didn’t seem appropriate for Ryan to be so close to her when she was already taken by another male. The human continued to ignore him and proceeded to speak to Cassie as if Serix wasn’t even there. [b]“Good to have you back Cassie.”[/b] He pressed something into her palm that Serix couldn’t see. [b]“If you have any problems out of the alien, use that and come get me straight away.”[/b] With that, he exited the room, leaving Serix and Cassie alone.

Cassie turned to him, smiling apologetically, [b]“I swear, he can be such a jerk sometimes. I’m....really sorry about that, Serix. He’s really not as bad as he seems. He just... sometimes does the wrong things. But I will never let him or anyone else here harm you.”[/b] She stepped over with the object Ryan had given her, which Serix could now see was a small knife. He couldn’t help but smile at that. Ryan really thought a weapon like that would be enough to stop him if he wanted to turn on the humans?

Instead of using the knife as she had been instructed, Cassie stepped around behind him and cut the ropes off of his hands. Serix let out a sigh of relief and rubbed his sore wrists, “That’s much better. Thank you.” He met her embrace and kissed her on the forehead. “I won’t let anyone harm you either, Cassie, although I think these people have already accepted you as one of their own.” He took her hands and guided her to the mattress on the floor, so they could sit down to rest.

“Whatever you say about him, I still don’t like this ‘Ryan’ character,” Serix scoffed, shaking his head. “I don’t like his attitude, and I don’t like the way he keeps looking at you.” He placed his hand on top of Cassie’s and looked concernedly into her eyes. “But how are you doing? This has to be a lot for you to take in… You’re not the last human anymore.”