Serix spent the majority of the night tossing and turning in bed. He continually woke up after what felt like only a few minutes of sleep at a time, and he always found himself glancing at the curtain that hung across the doorway as if he expected someone to burst into the room with a gun. Even when he did manage to fall into a deep enough sleep to stir up some dreams, they always turned into nightmarish scenes of humans gathering outside the room with weapons poised, waiting for Ryan to give the signal to attack. When this happened, Serix awoke in a cold sweat with a racing heart, his eyes focusing on the curtain the instant they opened. He had to lie still and remind himself that he was just being paranoid and stifle the urge to get up and search the room so he wouldn’t wake Cassie.

Because he slept so fitfully, Serix woke up the instant the curtain slid open and one of the humans stepped inside. He opened one eye to verify that the male was unarmed, and then closed it again. He was far too tired to bother with the human. He felt Cassie bury her head against his neck. She obviously felt the same way. Unfortunately, the male didn’t leave them alone.

[b]“Hey, you two, Ryan says it’s time to wake up,”[/b] the half-blood sounded amused. [b]“Come on; don’t want Ryan to see you two all snuggled up like that. He might get mad.”[/b]

[b]“I don't care,”[/b] Cassie replied moodily, although she did sit up. [b]“It’s none of his business anyway.”[/b]

[b]“Ah, so that spunk wasn’t an act,”[/b] the human said. [b]“My name’s Quincy by the way. Just figured I’d say welcome to you two. Breakfast starts in a few so I would get there fast before Jake eats all the good stuff.”[/b] Following his own advice, he left the room to head down to the dining hall, leaving the choice to go after him up to them.

Once they were alone again, Cassie leaned over to kiss Serix and then got up from the mattress. Serix didn’t want to get up yet, though. He had hardly slept at all, so he was still exhausted. He rolled over and threw the pillow over his head, “Ten more minutes…” Despite his request, he knew they shouldn’t wait long to join the humans for breakfast. The longer they stayed in the room, the more impatient Ryan would get, and Serix didn’t want to face him this early in the day. He climbed out of bed, yawning wearily, and walked down to the dining hall with Cassie.

They found a place to sit at a table with the group they had met the day before. Only this time, there were two new children amongst them. Cassie’s eyes lit up in recognition of one of them, whom she revealed to be Ryan’s younger sibling, Sally. Serix looked at the young female curiously. Like Hunter’s child, Sally was much more pleasant company than her older relation. However, Serix’s good humor faded slightly when she mentioned Ryan’s obsession with his mate. He impulsively slipped his arm around Cassie’s waist, even though he knew the kid was just innocently relaying information.

The two children went on to torment Sarah until she left and a pair of new humans arrived at the table. The friendlier of the two introduced himself as Ray, and Serix recalled what Jacob said about him being a medic. The second male, Monty, was blatantly hostile, looking down at Serix with obvious dislike. The Lunairan privately decided that this human was one to be avoided in the future.

Serix startled when he saw a dog trot over to the group. How had the animal gotten so far inside the compound? More importantly, how had none of the others noticed it? Then, to his surprise, Cassie smiled at the beast and moved to touch it. The dog further confused him by tamely licking her hand and crawling into her lap.

[b]“Dogs used to be tamed as pets by humans,”[/b] Cassie explained, noticing Serix’s baffled expression. [b]“This one isn’t like the wild ones we saw on the streets.”[/b]

“Oh,” Serix still didn’t move from his spot at the table. Humans domesticated wild animals? It was clever, but he didn’t understand why it was necessary to keep a dog around. It was just another mouth to feed, and he wasn’t certain that the beast could be fully cleansed of its feral tendencies.

[b]“Some were even trained to do jobs, like I did with Gizmo here.”[/b] Ray grinned at Serix. [b]“Go ahead, you can pet him. He won’t bite.”[/b]

“Um, okay,” Serix said hesitantly. He crouched down beside Cassie and reached a tentative hand towards the dog. The animal immediately turned and licked it, and then proceeded to waddle over to sniff at him. Serix frowned, “What? I don’t smell that bad, right?” He glanced at Cassie, and his expression darkened when he saw Ryan walking up behind her.

“G’morning, Cass,” Ryan said, completely ignoring Serix as usual. “Did you sleep well?”