I sit at the small diner, thanking the woman for the cup of coffee she provides me. "Would you like cream?" I pull my lips into a thin line and offer the smallest smile. 

"No.. black is fine." I wrinkle my nose at the taste but it feels right to have it as I would have served it. Coffee in this time is strange, almost stale in taste even when it's fresh but it does have its merits in its strength.

"I took you as a tea drinker." David sits across from me, ordering a plate of pancakes and a coffee which he loads with sugar and cream.  

"Not so much anymore. Ever since I had a proper English tea, I can't find a love for it any other way." I cross one leg over the other, folding myself into as small of a spot as possible. 

The chill from the impending storm has me in a long sleeve, the heat of the smog long since passed. We were drifting towards fall, losing the consistent warm temperature and drifting into our first winter out of Romanian. 

Just in time to lay waste to all the progress made on the crops and planting. But, hopefully, next year will bring plentiful growth. By this time next year, we might be well on our way to an everyday life. 

I order just a fruit bowl, not much in the mood for pancakes. "Ya know, they make an English blend." He takes a long sip and I gesture for him to move on. "So, you wanted to talk business?"

"There's a hurricane coming, says Rhea. I'm hoping to capitalize on that. I think if it would be a real show of power of what we're capable of if we could redirect it towards the drought-stricken areas down the coast. It could potentially cure the ailment of the land, at least on this side of the country. A proof of concept, that if we could restore proper cloud formations it might set things on the right path."

 The pancakes and fruit are set down in front of us, and I thank the waitress, downing a hefty swallow of my coffee to stave off the remaining hangover that plagues my left temple. Digging through my pockets, I find the flask and dunk a generous pour of whiskey to chase off the burnt taste.

Mr.Malcom says nothing as he cuts his pancakes up much like a child would, without care or consideration to the sizes and shapes of the pieces. It'd been so long since I ate with someone. Marcello was good, quiet company, but we weren't necessarily friends. When we traveled together, it was mostly in separate rooms brought together only by meetings. 

It was the first time I hadn't been befriended by a 'team', though if I genuinely think about it, I don't really have a team anymore. He takes large, manful bites that cause me to avert my eyes and exhale, reminding me of my location and my lack of status. "Do you have a mother, Mr.Malcom?"

"I do. She lives in Seattle." 

"Hmm, so very little excuse then, I'd say. For your table manners." 

He chuckles, dabbing his mouth with a napkin. "My apologies, your majesty, I missed dinner." The first time he said it, I thought he had figured me out and it had almost stopped me in my tracks. But, Marcello had been quick to save me from myself and point out that it was sarcasm, not a truth of his knowledge. 

"So. This hurricane. You think you can redirect it?"

"Yes. With Tyler's help of course. But, I will need my lycans returned if I want to assure the plan's success." He chokes on his coffee and gives me a stern look that chills me to my core. I set my mug down. "You do intend to return my lycans, Mr.Malcom?"

Taking another bite, he chews it over as he seems to come to terms with my question.

 "You haven't spoken about 'em since you left the compound. You think that'll be enough to bring you the president's trust?"

I scoff, raising my eyebrows. "I should say so? Considering all the other things I've been doing without so much as questioning the 'payment'. I work on my own, with minimal resources to you; the least you can do is give me back what you've taken from me. The male, in particular, is who I need. The female, if she must be detained for crimes, then that's another matter, but the male is the priority."

 I can't say his name, not here, not now. The expression that fell over David's face only began to confirm my suspicions, but I waited, willing him to prove me wrong, willing him to give me something that indicated my fears hadn't been realized. 

"There's paperwork, we could put it in front of the boss, see what he thinks-"

"Mr.Malcom-" I demand. 

"It's been a long time; they're tied up in the system. It could be months-"

"David!" I shout, silencing the restaurant. I lower my voice and sigh. "I need my lycans back."

Setting his fork down, he folds his hands in front of him. "They're gone, Nicolas. You didn't express any interest in them after you left, and it's been six months. When you didn't bring them up again, other parties were interested, and we moved them to a different department. I could look but two undocumented lycans aren't going to necessarily show up on the tax forms... They are extinct, you have many of them, four active lycans are unheard of. You should be very grateful you got to keep two." 

My body slumps, and I stare at the table. 

Is this my fault? My body rejects my brain, wanting to place the blame solely on my shoulders, yet I don't know what to feel. I had a feeling, when I left, that the would be the last time I would ever see him for more reasons than just emotional. 

I should never have left him there. In this vast, uncharted world, he could be anywhere. I could use Artifice to track him, potentially, if he hadn't disabled its ability to follow him and if he were wearing one. 

"What is my motivation to keep helping you?" I ask him, my voice hardly audible. "Why should I do anything when you have broken what little trust I had for you?" 

"The cause, these people who depend on you, the world? Do you need more than that? I think I know you by now, Nicolas; you care for these people. You and your friend, I don't think some missing dogs are going to stop you. Look, I know you think I'm like the bad guy here, but it's just business. 

If I can find them, I will find them. You can ask Marcello; people disappear all the time." 

I can't help but feel the laugh bubbling up into my throat, leaving me to snicker like a deranged person at the conclusion he's come to. No, he's not the bad guy. He's just a mercenary, a ploy for someone bigger who I don't perceive as a villain but as an entity. People were a number in this time, as dictated by those starving in the lower regions. 

"Lycans don't have any rights here.. we couldn't just let them go."

"I'm afraid you don't know me at all, Mr.Malcom. Without that male lycan, we will have much bigger problems than a storm on our hands. Find him, while I clean up another mess. They should have every right given to us, they are people just as we are."

Mr.Malcom stifles the slightest, sarcastic laugh and I narrow my eyes at him. 

"I'm sorry, you call 'em 'your' lycans? Don't you think that gives off the impression that you own them? Ya know I did some research; your country had a pretty big thing with lycans a couple of hundred years ago. Looks like they were almost freed but the law was unwritten. Maybe you should go after those people before you get angry with us for the treatment of an extinct species.

 I'll do what I can, Nicolas. I always do. Do yer job, and I'll do mine." He takes another bite of his pancake, and I excuse myself, not wishing to be here any longer. I did unwrite that law, didn't I? For what reason, I can't even recall. 

I don't even know my own history anymore; between my brain being rewritten by Corina and my talent for blocking out unpleasant things, sometimes it feels as if I've lived multiple different lives. 

As I enter the apartment complex, I see Tyler sitting on the couch with the whisp of Helen lying in his lap. His eyes are red, his arm draped over her side. He glances at me, holding a hand to plead with me to close the door quietly. I walk the negligible distance across the room and seeing her now, I feel somewhat selfish. 

"We have to make a trip to the coast, there's a hurricane about to touch down that could wipe this city out in its current state. We need to turn it, redirect it."

"And then they'll give us back Verando? He can help Helen?" The desperation in his voice is raw, it's killing him to see her this way. Seeing the two of them together, I recall thinking that Solomonari and lycans were linked in a way. 

I had always wondered why I was so powerful, why I had been able to do things other solomonari had failed to do on such a scale. A peaceful creation turned into a weapon, indeed my breeding had something to do with it, but Tyler seemed to be following in my footsteps. Red had told me that the universe sends Solomonari trials, to remove their loved ones from their lives and often times they failed those trials as she had. 

Yet, Tyler had Helen and seemed quite content with her. Yes, I had had trials with Verando, but none that were inflicted by the universe. I found that if I had been with a human man, my own problems might have been difficult if not impossible, it was unsustainable to live as I did with a 'human'. 

Perhaps she had mistaken common problems a solomonari faced for judgment; maybe the reality was we were meant to be with something that we couldn't explain. Our home country had birthed the lycan, the first werewolves broke off from our people and what remained became Romania. Yet, my theory crashes and burns on the realization that lycans can reproduce with humans. 

"Do you ever feel drawn to her?" I ask. "As if... there is no one else that could exist for you so perfectly?"

His fingers slowly ran over her side, hoping to calm her rapid breathing. "Not at first. Helen is very different from anyone I was with; she wasn't always like.. this. Not the wolf but so timid. Helen is brave and kind; when I saw her at first, I hated her. She was so... certain. I had no idea who I was, or what I was; I was just a country boy who couldn't find a bit of sense in what I was 'spose to do. 

Returning to your time, it changed it; something happened to her there that hasn't been set right yet. I don't know if it's this wolf thing or maybe she just isn't fit to tell me what went on. What I'm gettin' at is, yes, I do feel drawn to her, and I would do anything to protect her. I would do anything to take this away from her, I've been readin' back in the history books and in your spell book. You were workin' on a cure?"

As Solomonari, we find ourselves in these creatures. Something that is our opposite, something that is strong enough to help us through our trials. Oftentimes, we courted dragons and found peace among the beasts. It would only make sense that we found ourselves in the wolf that had broken away from our people so long ago. 

"I gave up on a cure, I found that I was so much stronger when I was with Verando that he slowly became happy with the wolf. We had to... tame.. his wolf. We had made peace with it, and in doing that, I found-" I slow my words and shake my head at myself. "Helen needs Verando to show her wolf how to survive, but she needs you to help her cope. The wolf is alive; it's not just a form, it is its own being. I actually used to ride Alpha; it was great bonding."

"Ride them?" Tyler gives Helen a hard look as if he can't picture it. "I think that thing would tear me in half."

"She might." I laugh. "She truly might, wolves live in packs, and they're happiest when they can run and function as one. You have to become that for her, I... I've left you alone in this. I've been so busy trapped in being on my own that I've totally forgotten you are both people, too. 

For that, I'm sorry. When you ride the wolf the first time she very much would like to get you on the ground. I did it with Tonic running alongside; we were ambushed, so I never had the 'true' experience, but from then on, he trusted me. Now, he still was an ass." I find that I'm smiling, genuinely smiling. 

"He would keep me in check, he would get unbelievably angry, and I'd think he'd kill me where I stood, but he would also protect me from anything. He would come at the slightest indication that I needed help; he saved my life more times than once."

Tyler's expression softens as he watches me, stroking Helen's hair now. "Is this Verando or 'Alpha'?"

"Well.. both." I chuckle, folding my legs under me. "They communicate inside; it's truly amazing. Each has their own opinion." I enlightened him, reliving a past life as I went through the early days. The rage, the heat, and how he would shake as the wolf wanted his say. 

I recall for him the time I was overtaken by Haryek, and Alpha blamed me for hurting Verando; I talk about how there were times when Alpha was all I could manage. Over and over, I talk about his eyes to the point where I know I'm repeating myself but can't stop. "It's as if.."

"They're looking right into your very soul," Tyler concludes.

I nod. "Yes. Just like that." I didn't expect this to come out in such a way. "Pack tonight; we'll head for the coast in the morning and get ready. I'll have Mr.Malcom arrange for us to stay nearby and have a car. Let's take Reid, and maybe we can get his wolf to exercise Helen on the coast, where we will have access to the beach. 

I know it's not allowed, but there should be very few people around; I will have Mr.Malcom call for an evacuation."  

Tyler nods in response, and I know he will be right here for the night. 

"Thank you, Nic. You have done so much as far as teaching me the trade, but.. this, helping with Helen, has been the most valuable. Any advice you have on how to make her happier, I will take." 

 I force a small smile, standing to go into the kitchen and snag my bottle of whiskey. Tonight is going to be rough; I can feel it building in my chest, my mind preparing me for nightmares and brutal dreams. "Any time, Tyler. I'll see you in the morning."