Serix closed his eyes as Cassie rested her forehead against his to show him what had happened between her and Ryan. He watched the events unfold in his mind like a moving picture, while Cassie sorted through which parts she wanted to show him. He felt a pang of irritation when he caught a glimpse of a fast-paced scene where Ryan moved uncomfortably close to Cassie, but he seemed to back off quickly enough, so Serix relaxed.

After a few minutes, Cassie closed off the connection. Serix opened his eyes again and looked at her. She had maintained the link a bit longer than she normally did, but she didn’t seem too exhausted. He smiled and kissed her lightly. She had come a long way since he first started teaching her to expand her Lunairan abilities. To relay an entire hour of her memories to him like that was a big achievement.

[b]“Like I said, we talked a lot,”[/b] Cassie said. [b]“And I found out a lot of things that I’ve been searching for the answers to for years. I finally found out what happened to my parents and where Ryan and his family had gone. On top of finding out I’m not the last of my kind, I have to say that today has been a very informative day.”[/b] Serix just nodded in response. The day had been ‘informative’ to the point of overwhelming. He wasn’t sure if Cassie felt the same way, but Serix was completely drained. He had been captured twice, saw some his people get shot and killed, discovered a hidden society of human survivors —none of whom seemed to like him very much— and been attacked by one of them. On top of that, he couldn’t even let himself get a good night’s sleep for fear of being ambushed while he was unconscious.

[b]“I’m honestly also surprised he actually agreed to lay off a little,”[/b] Cassie continued. Serix stared at her for a moment before he realized she was talking about Ryan. [b]“I mean, even as kids he was very possessive over me.”[/b] She laughed. [b]“You aren’t the first guy he’s hated being around me. When we were kids he’d beat up any guy that tried to be my friend. I told him he can’t beat you up though. He should be a little less... vicious toward you. Hopefully. And if I catch him being otherwise toward you I’ll just put him in his place again.”[/b]

“Oh, I’m sure that will stop him cold,” Serix teased, placing a hand on Cassie’s head. “You’re such a frightening little thing.” He shifted his hand down to the back of her neck and closed his eyes when she leaned in to kiss him. He returned the kiss, smiling contentedly, and stole one more peck when she moved to pull away.

[b]“Okay,”[/b] Cassie said, resting her forehead against his. [b]“So tomorrow, we need to make sure we stay together. We also need to find out exactly which of the people here we can trust and which ones we need to stay away from. Obviously this ‘Hunter’ is one we need to keep away from and Emily and Jake are ones we can be around. All the others are up in the air right now. I haven’t seen much of any of them to really see if we can trust them or not.”[/b] She lay down on the mattress and looked up at him. [b]“Serix? Before we go to bed, will you tell me what you think of all this? I mean, you’ve heard how I feel about seeing all these people and being here with my own kind, but you never told me how you feel about being here.”[/b]

“It’s… a lot to take in,” Serix said honestly. He kicked off his shoes and lay down beside her, drawing the blanket over them. “I mean, I’m happy that we found more humans. It’s great that you’re not the last one, but you know as well as I do what they think of me. I’m not very welcome here, Cassie.” He reached to put out the lantern beside the bed and then turned back to her. They were close enough that her features were dimly illuminated from the glow of his eyes in the dark. He leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips once more. “I’m just glad you’re here. I can tolerate the others as long as you’re still beside me. Now, let’s try to get some sleep. I have a feeling that tomorrow’s going to be a busy day.”