I poured myself a whisky as he approached the house. "So you do live here. I'm kind of surprised you dared to stay."

"Why is that?"

He stopped a short distance from me. Burt stopped growing and laid low on his hunches ready to pounce. "You read the signs didn't you?"

"They were a little obscured by the members of sky."

He laughed. "Then maybe you shouldn't have annoyed so many different groups."

I took a sip of my whisky. "Why expose yourself to me like this?"

His smile faded and he glared at me. "You must pay for what you did to Alpha, but he wants to give you a chance. A wolf enjoys hunting the prey on the run."

"And a pack with a bad leader dies off quickly! I've already outwitted you once, why not go and hunt leaves with the other cubs?"

He took a step and Burt lurched towards him growling. He eyed Burt and moved back a bit. "You need to pay for what you did!"

"Why didn't your alpha come for me? Oh right, that's it. He couldn't because the last time he did, he caught fire."

Kaleb snarled at me. "He will take your strength for his own!"

"He would have to kill me first wouldn't he?" I took another sip of my whisky.

"You think I don't know your weakness? That boy in there with you, for example, that policeman and his brother that have disappeared. We will get you or we will get them."

"I see. So you are all still cowards. Why not come after me directly and stop being so yellow-bellied?"

He grinned. "I want to get these people to show you how much pain I can give you. I will break you."

"Many have tried all have failed." I poured myself another glass of whisky.

"We will see. Maybe I will go looking for your other child."

"Yes, my husband never did learn self-control. Please tell me he begged for his life."

I took a sip of the whisky. "Oh yes, he did. He told us about your child. Before we kill you, I will find your child and kill her in front of you! Then I will wash you in the blood of everyone you care for. That will make you a tasty treat for the alpha."

"Your threats would work better if you showed me one of those people." I finished my drink and put my glass down.

"What a brilliant idea. Why don't I bring you, your child."

He turned and walked away it didn't take long to slip into the shadows with his full-length black coat. "Good. I'll be waiting!" I called after him.

Burt looked up at me and grumbled. "I think we should go in don't you?"

Burt stood and watched the treeline while I opened the door and put my gun in the umbrella stand by the door. I collected my whisky bottle and glass then Burt followed me inside.

I entered the number into the panel and the shutter started closing again. Maverick stood from his hiding place. "What was that all about?"

"I was prodding him to see what he knew. He's not the brightest member but their brightest is rather disabled these days."

We both kept our voices low and I left my whisky on the table, grabbed my gun and headed for the basement.

Once we were down there Maverick asked. "What did you mean when you said the alpha caught fire?"

I stopped in undoing my coat and met his eyes. "He was trying to kill me. So I threw an oil lantern at him."

Maverick walked over to me and finished undoing my coat. "So you set him on fire, then what happened?"

"The police came in and put him out. Then everyone got arrested."

He started on the gear. "It would seem like they shouldn't be free."

No, they shouldn't, it means they have some dangerous friends.... but I doubt they are in that cult. It wouldn't allow for that many alpha's. No the one thing they don't do is bring in rich people. Sky on the other hand... Maverick stood and looked at me when I didn't answer him. "What's going on Tia?" He looked very worried as he asked.

"It's not just one cult. Sky knew where I was and the only way they could be free was if they had some powerful friends. So they gathered up enough other cults to work with to give them numbers quickly. This works for us Maverick!"

He looked at me with shock as I grabbed him and kissed him on the lips then went to fetch the phone. "What works for us? Tia stop and get out of your gear first Explain what you mean then we can work on the next bit."

I came back to his side and waited. He smiled as he took my coat off. "Cults don't team up. They don't work well together. They killed the leader of sky and now the others will be less trusting. We can use this against them."

He folded the chest peace and put it to one side "How?"

"My moles. My charity has moles in many of these cults and we can use them to spread seeds of discontent. They can argue with each other and fight. It will raise hostility within their ranks. It will cause them to splinter. If they fight each other then they aren't fighting us."

I sat on the bed with the phone in my hand. "Let's think this through Tia. If we make a misstep it's our lives." He has a point. Alright, let's hash this out.

"Your sure this will work?" She nodded putting the number into the phone.

"I'll do this upstairs. You make brunch."

"You want me to cook?"

She stood smiling up at me. "Can't you cook?"

"Well, not really can't... more don't."

She laughed and headed for the stairs. "Well, I don't expect a Michelin star meal."

She closed the door. She wants me to cook now? I stood and walked to the kitchen. Looking through all the cupboards I found a tin of beans, a bag of dried pasta and cheese in the fridge. I started working on making these ingredients into something. Well, it's not going to be something you would order at a restaurant but it will fill a space.

I was done when she came back down. I turned with the bowls in my hands and saw Tia had a bottle of whisky. That's not the bottle she was drinking earlier. "You want to drink?" She sat on the bed and waved two glasses.

"We are celebrating the destruction of five cults. According to my charity, they are sure that there are five of them working together. Sky has disbanded now because they lost their leader. It seems they were given a join-or-die choice. Your people won't find too many bodies out there as most joined the wolves."

Walking over to her I handed her a bowl. "You think drinking is a good idea?"

"They just revealed they are out there. They know I won't show myself again tonight, and they will send their scouts out to watch us. The proximity alarm will tell us where they are."

I looked at Burt who was glaring at the bottle as she poured. "I meant are you meant to drink with your medication?"

"I can drink." She said smiling then handed me a glass and put hers down to try her food.

The proximity alarm went off and she looked up. "Scout's. Four of them."

I looked at the screen and the camera showed four different views of the people walking towards the house. The men were picked up on the next set of cameras. They took up a position to watch the house. "They are going to have a very boring night." Tia sounded as bright as she looked.

She took a bite of the meal I made. "This is good." She smiled at me.

Is she kidding me? It's beans and pasta with cheese. I watched her and she seemed to be enjoying it. She picked up her glass. "You look worried Maverick."

"A little stunned. You're really happy."

She smiled warmly at me. "I will tone it down if it's unnerved you." She was still smiling but her voice had lost some of its warmth.

"No.. you're right we should be celebrating. They can't creep up on us and I think we will stay sober enough to counter anything they do."

Her smile grew again and she took a sip of whisky. I took a small sip of my own. "This is a good whisky."

She chuckled. "You know your whisky then. Yes, I thought I'd bring the expensive stuff out."

"I'll have to be careful not to get too drunk." I ate a month full of the food I'd made.

It wasn't bad after all. I'd cooked the beans so the sauce was thick and then added it to the cooked pasta. I think that is what's making it nicer.

We ate and enjoyed our drink while watching the cultists watch the house. As the afternoon wore on I was starting to feel comfortably tipsy. Tia sat with her book in her hand and I sat at the foot of the bed watching the scouts. Every time one of them shifted the view would centre on them. Which meant the screen changed all the time.

"Tia, why do I get the feeling tonight's celebrating, was not just for the reasons you gave me?"

I turned and saw her smiling at me. "What if it is?"

"What else is it for?" She put her book down and patted the bed next to her. So I'm right?

I slid myself up the bed so I was sitting next to her. "I'm celebrating being happy, I mean really happy again. It's been so long since I smiled this much that my face hurts."

"What's made you so happy?"

She blushed and took my hand. "Being able to trust someone... waking up to another human next to me. You never know how much you miss that until it happens again."

That made her blush! Was she going to say something else? I get the feeling there's more than she is saying. "Why are you blushing?"

"I was telling you, I'm enjoying your company." She leaned her head on my shoulder.

"I enjoy your company too."

We lapsed into silence and sat watching the screen as it moved between the four people watching the house. After a long time of holding hands and leaning into each other, Tia stood and walked upstairs. She returned a while later with a box and another bottle of whisky.

Burt saw the whiskey and grumbled. "Hush you. Maverick I've brought you something you might enjoy." I frowned as she brought the box over and sat it next to me.

I opened it. Inside was a pad of paper, some pencils, watercolour paint and brushes. "I'm afraid I don't have much in the way of art supplies, but this is what I have. So your not ether watching nothing happen or having to read."

She's brought me art supplies so I'm not bored. That's sweet. I looked down at the watercolour paints and brushes. These are all new... did she buy these to paint a cover for that books sequel? She pulled out another box from her pocket. She offered it to me. I took it, opened it and my eyes widened. The box was full of photographs of scenery.

I flicked through the images. There were photographs of beaches, woodlands, deserts and the Arctic. "Wow... did you take these?"

"Yes. I love the outdoors."

She was looking at them as I flipped through them. "When did you go to the Arctic?"

"Last year. It was a great place to hide. Do you like them?" I nodded picking out one of the ones from the Arctic.

I settled into drawing it. Tia watched me for a while before going to the kitchen and coming back with a jar of water and some kitchen roll. I smiled at her as she left them on the floor. That was us for the rest of the day. Tia read and I painted until Tia made dinner.

She returned with a plate of egg-fried rice and lemon chicken. "Well, that's not fair?"

She smiled. "What?"

"You can make that because it's dinner. You don't have very much for making breakfast and lunch."

She laughed and poured me another whisky. "Then tomorrow I'll make brunch and you make dinner."

I sat back on the bed next to her and looked down at my half-done painting.

"This feels like a holiday. Which is weird because we are sitting here waiting to be attacked."

Tia nodded swallowing her mouthful. "I try to entertain my guests well, while we are waiting for impending doom. Are you enjoying your time here?"

"Yes apart from the impending doom." I tucked into my dinner. She can cook too!

I finished my whisky and Tia refilled it. "I probably shouldn't drink too much."

"Why?"

She filled her glass and shifted so she could look at me. "I don't drink much anymore I used to when I was married."

"I see. Well, I don't drink often either, although I've been drinking more recently. I tend to drink more when people are after me or I'm stressed. This time I'm drinking for pleasure, hence the good stuff."

I nodded and took a sip. "It is very nice."

She smiled and moved back so she was sitting next to me. We had another drink then Tia got under the covers and watched me. I slipped under the covers and to my surprise she put her head on my chest. I put my arm around her and was waiting for her to flinch, but she didn't.

I ran my hand up and down her side and she fell asleep quickly. I kept rubbing her back watching the four men on the screen. My eyes got heavier and heavier until I couldn't keep them open any more.

***

"Maverick." I felt something stroking my hair. "Hay wake up Maverick." I groaned as the voice intruded on my sleep. "Maverick." There was an odd sensation of something substantial and warm in my arms, I found myself clinging to. "You don't have to wake up just loosen your grip." Tia's voice! Why does it sound strangled?

I opened my eyes. Tia was next to me and I held her in a crushing grip. "Are you OK?" I loosened my grip on her and she looked at me worried.

"I'm fine. Are you OK, did I hurt you?"

"No.. I think you were having a nightmare. You were mumbling about stopping the bleeding." I looked around the room and saw no way of orienting myself. I don't remember a nightmare. What time is it?"

Shaking her head at me she ran her hand down my chest. "It's only been about two hours. You really don't remember your dream?"

"No."

She sighed and shifted a bit so she was comfortable. "Let's go back to sleep."

She continued to run her hand across my chest and that had a soporific effect on me. My eyes drifted shut. This time on waking I would remember the dream. I know it even as I relived the stabbing, but it was not the way I remembered it.

The two large men were rolling around the floor so I grabbed the top bloke. I wrestled him to the floor and reached for my cuffs. Movement behind me followed the sharp pain in my side. "Pig!" The man grunted in my ear as I looked down at the blade he was pulling free of me.

He managed to aim at the side of the vest where it straps down. Grabbing the arm with the knife I struggled to get it from him without letting the other man up. I failed as the man shoved me to the ground and the other guy got up. The one with the knife sat on my legs stabbing me again as the man he had been fighting kicked and punched me. I covered my head with my arms and saw the bodies of my colleagues lying motionless on the ground, their fluorescent jackets reflecting the harsh light of the nearby street lamp.

My skin started to crawl. "You gonna die this time pig! No beating me unconscious this time." I screamed as the knife slid inside me again. "That's right piggy. Squeal for us."

The other man started laughing as he held my arms down. The man with the knife sliced my throat and I started to gargle blood. The pool around me grew as I drowned in my own life.

Sitting bolt upright I was breathing hard. Tia sat up a moment later and took my hand. "It's OK Maverick. I'm here for you."

I let go of her hand pulling my shirt up and looking at the cluster of scars. The lack of blood calmed me so I shifted so I could hold her. She gently ran her hand up my arm saying comforting things to me. There was only one kind of comfort I wanted right then, now I knew I wasn't bleeding to death. I loosened my grip on her and she looked up at me. I kissed her.

She smiled as we stopped kissing. "Do you feel better?" I shook my head and she nodded. "Lay down let's..."

At her words, I gripped her arm. Her eyes widened and she looked at the hand holding her. "Maverick.... that hurts." Her words were soft and gentle like she knew I wasn't exactly in control. She reached up and stroked my cheek. "Let go of me please." My hand opened at her soft voice and I felt more like myself.

Her soft touch calmed my nerves as much as her voice did. "Are you a little less disorientated?"

I nodded. "Sorry..."

"Never mind that. I assume you have these dreams every so often?" She continued to stroke my face and it soothed me more.

"I do..."

"Will you tell me?" I shook my head and she smiled. "That's alright."

She gave me a soft kiss on my cheek and as she pulled back I kissed her on the lips. She didn't pull away, in fact, she held the back of my head to stop me from ending it.

When it did end she looked in my eyes, flushed and breathless. Those eyes were full of life. I wasn't confused any more, her warmth and soft touch on my neck brought my mind back from the horrors of the past and the more distressing dreams of death. "Tia..." As I said her name I put my hand on her side.

She didn't flinch or pull away.

"Yes?" My hand slipped under her shirt and I felt her soft skin.

She blushed but never broke eye contact with me. "Do you want me to stop?"

She smiled shaking her head. I laid her back and indulged myself in the softness of her skin. She didn't flinch or pull away from me. She didn't stop my hand when it brushed her more sensitive areas, or stop me when I took her shirt off and trailed kisses down her body.