As Grace is helping the kitchen staff set up the tables in the dining hall and they temporarily part ways from there, Cyrus follows the sound of Ram's laughter drifting overhead. It seems his second-in-command is already out in the back patio, where they secure the firewood for the pack's nightly bonfire.

When he pushes past a glass pane and arrives at the scene, his eyes catch onto Ram grinning as he heaves a bulk of firewood on both shoulders. While standing near a chopping block, he belts out a hearty laugh, staring down at a petite woman with hazelnut curls cascading down to her lower back.

The woman in question tilts her chin up to look up at Ram, who's at least a foot taller than her, before hissing like an aggravated feline, the ends of her hair standing on end. A symmetric set of fangs protrudes from the top layer of her mouth.

Eliza Jeralt.

Instead of summoning his claws to swing down on the vampire he'd been hunting a few hours ago, Cyrus approaches Eliza with a grin of his own. He matches Ram's relaxed demeanor, at ease and ready to tease.

"Eliza, you bitch!" he yelps out playfully.

In the background, Ram is shuffling out of the way to arrange the firewood in a neat pile.

Meanwhile, Cyrus draws near the small vampire and anchors a hand on top of her head, ruffling up her hair with good-natured intent. "You finally made it back! What took you so long? Was it really that hard to outrun those shit stains?"

She smacks his arm away with one of her baby soft hands, directing another hiss in his direction now. "Ack, not my fault! It would've been a lot easier to get away if Ram hadn't freaking tackled me to the ground and tried to maul me like his latest chew toy during the chase."

"Can't help it if I'm a good actor!" Ram's indignant voice echoes behind them.

Cyrus also shrugs, in full agreement. "Grave Shadow isn't supposed to know about us, remember?"

"I didn't exactly appreciate being headbutted by Mr. Dude-Bro."

Ram lets out a protesting squawk. "Dude, I don't say dude or bro that much!"

Eliza briefly shoots him a flat stare in response, her doe-like amber brown eyes slanted into slits.

Cyrus barks out a laugh of his own. "Ha! You vampires, always so damn dramatic! You're fine, Eliza. At least we play the part well, yeah?"

She grimaces like she just swallowed something sour. "Ah, you mutts... Don't make me regret this alliance."

Sighing, she unfurls her crossed arms and finally proceeds to pick up the rest of the firewood, like she's done plenty of times before. After all, she also lives here, currently taking residence in Blood Moon territory. The least she and the rest of her vampires can do is chip in with the housework—so they do. They have for the past three years now.

Joining her and Ram, Cyrus lugs behind a few bright red axes for them. After supplying one to Ram, he nonchalantly drops one in Eliza's open palms. Despite how she looks, with her thin arms and delicate frame, she latches onto the handle of the ax with ease, fluently wielding it and posing for action.

Cyrus decides to let the two of them, Ram and Eliza, run through the chopping block before doing so himself. As he takes turns giving them wood to split through, he resumes his exchange with her.

"Were you able to get anything out of spying on Grave Shadow? Before Jax somehow found out you were there and 'stealing' his shit?"

With a frosty huff of air expelled from gritted teeth, she brings her entire body into the first swing of her ax. She cleanly halves a stump of wood. The two separate and smaller parts, as symmetrical as her fangs, both drop down to the white ground beneath them. She picks them up and chucks them in the shared pile with Ram.

After getting tossed the next set of firewood to rip apart on her chopping block, she turns to Cyrus and says, "So, uh, bad news. They've gotten their hands on some more silver again. Still don't really know how or where, but they're manufacturing it right now as we speak in their factories."

He scowls, a snarl threatening to tear through his sharp teeth. "Fucking cowards."

Eliza goes in for a second successful swing. The ax breaks through wood again, a precise center in the middle. He throws her one more to go through. One more, three in a row.

"Listen, Cyrus, I don't know if I can get away with sneaking around in Grave Shadow headquarters again," she admits, her voice lowering down to a wary whisper.

Despite her awkward and cautious tone, she confidently finishes off the third and final lump of wood because it's ingrained in her as muscle memory by now. She then redirects the blade downwards before placing it into Cyrus's waiting hand.

"I feel like somehow, Jax just knows. About us. About the alliance." She nearly shudders at her own words, a wobble to her step. "Sure, I could also just be paranoid. But what if he does?"

"If he does, he would've acted like it. He can't resist being a smartass."

As he pushes a calloused hand through his silver hair, Cyrus gestures for her to throw him some wood to splinter through. Tensions coil in the broad muscles of his back as he slashes through the first one with a solid crack, his ice-blue eyes wide and wild with focus.

"Well, for our sake, I hope you're right," Eliza replies.

After fetching a dry towel for Ram, who needs a quick break, she returns back to Cyrus's side, watching as he rips apart another log with his bare hands this time. A crooked smirk splits his tanned face, an unhinged gleam in those same wide-blown eyes, as fragments of wood spray past his scarred arms.

"But even if he does already know about us, I think I wouldn't mind," he says darkly. "All the more reason to not hold back, right? If he's already a fucking cheater with all that silver crap, then why not let him know the truth? I'd like to see him try!"

Then, he hurls the shattered planks of wood down to the snow, his mouth steaming from the cold with heavy pants. Wisps of frigid air materialize into sharp winter smoke. It's almost as if he's ecstatic, downright giddy and gleeful, at the idea of his next fight with Jax. He anticipates whatever's to come next, riding high off the waves of exhilaration that surge through him.

In the background, Eliza and Ram swap skeptical looks before mutually shrugging and resuming the natural order of business. By this point, they've long come to terms with the fact that their leader is clearly insane.