A soft sweet man’s voice replied from the back, “You late what happened, bro.”
Clare followed the voice, it was the guy who was walking towards her. Pulling her into a bear hug, her
response was automatic.
Adam smelt like Chinese food, his blue hair is shorter than the other shifters, and his blue eyebrow hair
thicker than average. He had brown eyes and a tattoo on his neck. She couldn’t make out what it was,
beside the v shape peeking out.
Adam queried, “Clare right? Your brother hasn’t shut up about meeting you for the past week.”
Nathan laughed and walked to stand next to the guy, he was several inches shorter than Nathan,
“Don’t scare my sister away.”
Adam looked around Clare, curious about what he was looking for, she turned around to see what he
was so interested in, but she was lost,
Adam looked at Nathan, “Where’s Calub, I made chow mien for him, with the blue cheese he likes.”
Nathan’s happiness left him as quickly as it came. Clare could see that pain and sorrow on her
brother's expression, but there was also something else, that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.
She decided, and blurted it out, “He’s been kidnapped.”
Adam was undoubtedly puzzled, “What? Serious? We should go find him, come on.” he hurried out the
kitchen.
Nathan going after him, “Adam, there’s no use, word is that he’s in the Demon realms, and the Garde
won’t send any of their own.”
Clare was shocked, and puzzled, “What? I didn’t know that, I thought..”
Nathan interrupted, “You thought wrong Clare, Caidrian would’ve told you anything to get you here.”
Adam added clearly worried, “Rumor has it that Calub’s not your brother.”
Clare laughed at him, but uncertainty filled inside her just as sudden, “What? No, Caidrian would have
told me, you would’ve told me.”
She looked at Nathan, who just shrugged, “Of course Calub’s my brother, he’s a Draiken, right.”
Nathan stared at her, if she guessed by his expression, he was angry, her eyes searched for clues in
his frown, waiting, “Yes, he’s a Draiken, this isn’t the time to talk about this, that’s only speculation.”
Adam scratched his head. He was wearing a black t-shirt and black jeans, no apron. The kitchen smelt
flavoursome, first the steak, and then noodles and hot cheese, even chicken, it was making her
stomach burn-in hunger, her mouth watery, she conceded, “Fine, we can talk about it later, but I want to
know the truth, no more bullshit.”
Nathan dropped his head, the lines between his eyebrows still squashed together forcefully, “It
shouldn’t matter if he’s biological or not, he’s still missing.”
She figured maybe it was a good time to just drop it, she would find out eventually, “I’m starved, I need
to eat.”
Clare gulped her food down, which consisted of steak and fries, in minutes. She sat in the corner on
one of the couches, ignoring the other’s who were clearly preoccupied talking amongst themselves.
Since they had left the kitchen, Nathan and she hadn’t spoken much.
Kalbreal was still missing in action, but it didn’t bother her, in fact, she was more at ease eating when
he wasn’t there, she knew he’d probably stare at her. What he’d said in the bathroom made her
cautious and worried her, but knowing parts of her were confused because not only had she lost her
mother, her brother was missing.
She wasn’t really in the mood for romance, but with it said, she couldn’t help the images of the stranger
playing up in her mind, William, and his hands splayed on her breast. The way he brushed the sides,
and the touch of his skin on her fingers, just the thought of it now made her want to just say his name
aloud, find excuses to bring him up.
Finding out she was a Lightwatcher, and sitting with a bunch of new faces, not knowing who truly to
trust, was enough to focus on. She thought of William and the intensity of their encounters. It was as if
she feared to acknowledge or deciphering what she felt, her mind purposefully shutting out thoughts of
him, with everything else going on in it. He had saved her, twice in one day, yet had no interest in
meeting her, no want or attempt to tell her his name. But his words hung on her like a wind chime,
made to move in the direction it was pushed, “See you soon princess”, why,
“CLARE.” Nathan screamed, making her jerk back into her seat, and squirmed, “FOCUS.”
He kept his eyes on her until she rolled hers, and mumbled an apology, “The Orderian are arriving,
they’re going to want to speak with you.”
She faced him, her plate empty on her lap. The purple light in the room making her eyes droop, her
naturally dry voice seemed more distinct, when she said, “So what should I do?”
Nathan smiled, “Well sister.” He handed her a glass of soda, “That’s the reason why we’re here, to
discuss our plan of action, unfortunately, I’m banned from speaking to the Orderian, don’t ask me why.”
“Fine, but first I wanna know why you and Caidrian are fighting?” He sat back, sinking in the chair, “We
agree to disagree that’s all.”
“That’s it? for a brother I really know nothing about you, besides that you surely know how to keep up
with a mystery.”
He sat up straight, Alonso and Nadia clearly arguing about something, “Clare people change, you
should remember that, that’s all you need to know about Caidrian and me.”
She was distracted by a young guy who approached them, bronzed skin, with distinctive light almost
yellowish-green eyes. His walk tailored to his narrow build. He acknowledged Nathan with a courteous
bow of the head and ignored the others. He was attractive, not as tall as her brother, but strikingly
gorgeous, in a beautiful way. He looked like what one thought an Angel should look like, except for the
bands around his wrist and the huge ring on his index finger, “Hello, Clare, I’m Vincent Ipswich.” His
accent was thick medieval, maybe a bit British.
He extended his hand, which she took almost immediately, stumbling on her words, “hi, uh..I’m Clare.”
seating himself directly next to Nathan, he smirked.
She rolled her eyes, ‘I’m Clare.’ How much more of an idiot, can I sound, jeez, She thought.
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