hence why they were so eager to please caia.

caia shrugged, smiling. "you know i'm in awe of you people." she swept her arm around the room, trying not to be embarrassed that she was the center of attention. she really should be used to it by now. "i just wanted to stop by, thought you could introduce me to your class?"

in truth, i just wanted to stop by and see if there was a tall, cute scandinavian kid hanging around.

desi laughed excitedly. "uh ye-uh!"

with that she found herself doing the uncomfortable task of pretending to be the most sociable person on the planet. but while investigating, it suddenly occurred to her that dropping by had its added upside.

allies.

the whispering that met her sensitive ears told her she had just become the coolest kid on the block for these guys. no other vip magik had ever taken an interest in them before. that she had, for some reason gave them hope that maybe things could change around the center. maybe people would open their minds and stop clinging to traditional thought.

i couldn't agree more.

moving on to another group of magiks, caia began to feel... good?

yeah, good.

she almost laughed out loud at the thought. these guys were exactly the kind of people she needed on her side: non-traditionalists who were prepared to welcome a new outlook.

ok, so maybe they were only referring to the inner workings of the daylight coven, but if they weren't completely satisfied with how things were running at present, then who knew... maybe they would be the first to believe the war with the midnights was based on misinformation and misunderstanding. she smiled brightly, genuinely, as she talked with the travellers, a small weight lifting from her shoulders.

she could do this.

she had to believe she could do this.

"and, caia, this is vil." ophelia turned her around to face a tall magik. "he's my secret crush," she giggly whispered in her ear.

her heart began to pound immediately as she took in the sight of the scandinavian. his ice blues eyes were nothing like their color; instead they were soft and shy, as was his smile as he reached out a nervous hand to shake hers.

"it's an honor." he shrugged uncomfortably and quickly pulled back from her clasped hand.

"vil?" caia breathed. "is that short for vilhelm?"

he nodded, blushing as ophelia sidled up to him to squeeze his arm affectionately. "vilhelm is the best traveller here. we can all go places we've never been before, but we can't track a person or anything using the communication spell. vil can." her eyes glittered with awe.

caia's mouth fell open a little as her eyes washed over him. "like trace?"

"no, no," he was quick to refute, his eyes wandering around nervously, "i can't feel a person's thoughts or energy... but if you tell me to go to someone in particular, i get the impression of them from you and i can travel to wherever they are."

was that right? caia mused. well that might just come in handy. "impressive."

"i told you he was, like, totally cool."

a queasy, icy feeling suddenly enveloped her as desi and her sister chattered away, and her brain and all her senses were battered by new information from nikolai. jeez! she sucked in a huge gulp of air. she fought to catch her breath. this was good news, she shook her head, good news. or was it? it kind of meant her time at the center was up.

her eyes snapped up to vilhelm and the girls, who were staring at her wide-eyed.

"caia, are you ok?" desi whispered.

she managed to nod, throwing them a tremulous smile. "just tired. it was nice meeting you, vilhelm. girls, it was nice to see you again, but i'm going to go lie down for a while."

"do you need anything-?"

"can i get you-?"

"no!" she raised her hands in supplication. "please. no. i'm just... gonna... go."

outside of the communication hall, caia strode determinedly to the telecom system mounted on the wall next to the elevator.

"center reception, chloe speaking."

"chloe, it's caia ribeiro. i need to speak with marita immediately."

"one second, please."

this gave her very little time to rescue laila. ok, she had to think fast, think fast, think fast, think fast, think fast....

"miss ribeiro, marita will see you. if you please make your way to the reception someone will be there to escort you up."

that someone was marion.

"what's going on?" she asked immediately, her pixie face creased in concern.

"i'll explain once we get there."

"lucien and anders were with me when marita called to say you had news. lucien is already up there waiting. i didn't know what it was about so i didn't see the point of letting anders in on it."

"this affects anders."

"the maclachlans then?"

"the maclachlans."

marita and vanne were standing around the dining table in their suite, lucien standing off to the side, his dark face brooding and troubled. caia had only seen him during training sessions for the defense of the maclachlans and had skillfully avoided talking to him. not that it mattered since rose was constantly attached to his side. in fact, this was the first time she had seen him alone since rose's arrival.

avoiding his eyes, she strode resolutely to stand at the head of the table, marion's soothing presence right beside her.

"what has happened?" marita frowned impatiently.

"the attack is off."

a shocked silence resonated around the room.

"how?" lucien asked, bewildered.

"nikolai must have become aware of du bois' plan. he's rounded up du bois' rebels and given them immunity in exchange for their evidence against du bois. du bois is now in prison and the attack has been stopped."

marita moved forward, her lips pinched together in anger and confusion. "and you can't feel any plans from any other midnight for the go ahead on the maclachlans?"

caia shook her head. "i've been searching, but there is nothing. the attack is definitely not going forward."

lucien shrugged now. "well, that's good news."

marion seemed to agree. "indeed."

"caia and i will return to the pack tomorrow." lucien strode towards her, and at his declaration she couldn't stop herself from raising her eyes. they clashed with his. he seemed tired, angry, frustrated, and concerned all at the same time. surprised at his words, she could only stand gaping at him with her jaw slightly dropped. she thought he'd want to stay for rose. his impatient bristling, however, told her that lucien was clearly missing the pack and ready to get back to them as soon as he could.

the problem was that no matter how much she might want to go back with him, she had a little prison break she needed to orchestrate, and leaving before that wasn't really part of the plan.

"leave?" marita snapped. "i don't think so."

lucien felt his hands curl involuntarily into fists at her tone.

"we came here to do what were asked to do... now we're leaving," he said between clenched teeth, watching in annoyance as the head sauntered past him with barely a glance and came to a stop before caia. her usually frozen face had softened in a way he hadn't seen before, as her eyes washed over his mate imploringly.

"caia, you can't leave yet without considering a proposition i have for you."

"proposition?" this was asked by himself, as well as marion and caia.

the witch nodded, never taking that sharp gaze from caia. "i wasn't going to mention it until after the defense of the maclachlans, but since that's not happening... anyway i wished to sit down and discuss the possibility of you staying at the center."

caia narrowed her eyes. "for what?"

relief washed over lucien. it was good she was just as suspicious and unsure of the magik as he was. he didn't want her rushing into anything that might say... take her away from the pack. and these days who knew what was going on in her head. he hadn't been able to get a hold of her for one second to discuss, well anything. caia was constantly bombarded by magiks, lykans and vampyres alike, all eager to befriend her. not to mention the fact that she had been avoiding him. something more than just the rose situation was plaguing caia and the fact that she wouldn't talk to him, confide in him, trust him... killed him. that she might be running to her precious pretty boy, mordecai, with all her troubles made him want to go for the jugular, but he was holding back until he had hard evidence that his mate was really slipping from his grasp.

"i would prefer if we discussed this is in private."

"surely we can all be trusted here."

the witch pinched her lips but didn't dispute it. instead she sighed and nodded. "very well. i want you to stay and help me train an elite force of lykans i'm working with."

lucien felt his gut twist.

"elite force?" caia raised an eyebrow.

"an elite force. i won't go into specifics until you agree to aid me."

"how can i agree to help if i don't know the specifics?"

lucien felt himself growling. "exactly."

"the special training these lykans will undertake is highly classified. all caia needs to know is that i think she has the abilities needed to not only train them, but to lead them into battle."

red washed over his eyes. "no way!" he ripped out, his chest heaving with anger at the mere suggestion. for the first time in what felt like forever caia's soft touch wrapped around his wrist, squeezing it reassuringly, asking him silently to calm down.

vanne had taken up beside marita, glaring at him. marita herself was not impressed. "may i remind you to whom you are talking, mr. l