Sunlight glinted off the metal as it descended, almost blinding her momentarily, but Lyra was already moving. She rolled to one side, dodging the almost amateurish strike with a practiced ease. Pushing herself to her feet, she edged away from the insane knife-wielding man. Distance. That was the first thing she needed when dealing with a new threat. Step back and analyse. Swallowing, she fixed her eyes on him, keeping the knife in her sight.

Something squelched under her feet, and Lyra really wished she had boots to wear – because she was fairly sure that was an organ of some description, spilled out from his last victim. Carefully moving her feet to a more snowy patch of ground, she waited and watched. Patience was a key asset of any assassin worth their salt.

"You're no fun," the man remarked, lunging towards her yet again. "You could've at least screamed."

She dodged him with ease, eyeing up the ground she had to work with, careful to keep her feet away from anything that would slip her up. Slipping, or any other single careless mistake, would result in her blood spilling. And blood could be used for tracking, as well as other locater gifts. "No thank you," she said, slipping under his next strike, slamming a lightning-reinforced punch to his stomach. A smirk curled at her lips as he gasped for breath, winded from the blow, but he was persistent.

"Once you have the advantage, use it."

Lyra felt her eyes narrow even further at the memory of that voice, her body moving almost instinctively as she built up speed. Her feet dug into the earth, and she dodged his halfway decent blade work with an arm, positioning herself behind him in an instant. She had the upper hand thanks to her training, and it was that training which left her with no hesitation as she leapt onto his back. Her legs wrapped around his chest like a constrictor snake, arms going to his neck and twisting until she heard the snap of bone.

"Strike only if you are certain you can win, and strike to kill. No hesitation."

He crumpled underneath her, and Lyra stiffened – feeling eyes on her. She looked up, blinking as brown eyes met blue.

"I see you dealt with him," the newcomer spoke, voice low and undoubtedly masculine, no matter how feminine his eyelashes and lips seemed. "You aren't one of mine... nor are you one of Blaine's or Blaze's..." His hand went to his chin. "A civilian?" he mused, eyes snapping back to her as she pulled herself away from the corpse she'd made.

His eyes were a ridiculously bright blue, his hair a darker tone of that same colour, and Lyra felt a shudder creeping up her spine as she kept her gaze fixed on his predatory one.

She felt like a lion in front of a lamb, and she soon realised why. She'd seen his face before, though thankfully never in person – otherwise she would have no doubt been locked up years ago. He was an alpha – one of the thirteen who called a castle back in Blagmoor their main home – and coincidently one of the last people she would have wanted to see at that particular moment in time. He was the Alpha of Judgement, and he judged criminals, those who broke the law, and Lyra fell right into that category.

"Blu!" Rustling in the bushes gave way to a green-eyed blonde, dressed in a similar manner to the blue-haired one. Their coats and heavy-duty trousers looked wonderfully warm, if rather plain with only a simple black colouring to them. "Did you—?"

"He's been dealt with by this civilian," Blu remarked, ignorant of the way the hairs on the back of Lyra's neck rose with the addition of another alpha. Yet another one she had been warned about, because if Alpha Blaze were here, then his troublesome shadow wouldn't be far behind – the alpha who had the gift of teleportation, and if that wasn't a pain to escape from she didn't know what would be.

"Oh goodie... wait, no, that's bad," Blaze mumbled, turning his green-eyed gaze on her. "Are you alright, Miss?"

Lyra smiled blandly. "I'm... fine?"

"Where is Blaine?" Blu questioned, leaving no time for niceties as he glared sharply at the other alpha.

"Ah, my buddy found a couple of civilians in the forest still – despite it being cordoned off... so he went to take them to safety," Blaze explained, a pleasant smile still on his face. "Though it seems that wasn't necessary..." he said, bending down to examine the corpse's face. "This is definitely our guy."

Lyra stepped back, almost flinching when icy bright blue eyes immediately snapped onto her. "Your name, please."

"Uh..."

Blu sighed. "You aren't in trouble, but I will need your name. I will also need you to accompany me to the nearest enforcer station to fill out a report, and there we can put you in touch with any counselling services you may require," he said, pulling out a thin tablet, typing away quickly on the keypad. "So... Name please."

"Lyra," she mumbled.

"Last name being?"

She froze, and a wave of longing crashed down on her. She didn't even know her own surname. No doubt Gwen and Three probably did. Bitterness welled up inside her, and Lyra looked down at the ground. Going to the nearest enforcer station would bring up questions. Ones which she couldn't answer. She'd dwelled in the darkness for too long, and she was fairly sure no records of her still existed on any sort of database. Inwardly, she cursed.

There was no easy way out of her situation.

It was either she attempted to escape right then and there or she waited until they were in an inescapable location before answering their questions as best as she could. As it was, she doubted her chances of escaping scot-free in one way or another, but she'd worked hard to grasp her freedom and she wasn't about to let it go without a fight.

Or, in this case, an escape attempt.

But her opponents were alphas this time around, not people she'd studied up close or for very long, so half measures weren't acceptable. Her eyes burnt an even brighter red as Lyra called upon the lightning under her skin. Crimson sparks flickered over her skin, the intensity much greater than before. Backlash or not, she was making the best of her chances.

"Blaze!" Blu barked.

Lyra leapt away, time seeming to slow as she ran as fast as she could. Her heart pounded in her chest, nervousness making her legs pump as quickly as she was able. Risking a glance backwards, she swallowed at the sight of the green eyes locked on her. Blaze wasn't moving as fast as her – but she had a time limit on how long she could run for, and at full power it wasn't very much.

Though that time-limit was abruptly shortened by the low, baritone voice that rippled through the air. "Counter."

She barely had time to yelp as her lightning was stripped away from her skin, eyes widening as they met the pale blue ones behind the outstretched hand before a loud buzzing filled her ears. The backlash from pushing herself to her limits. Her feet slowed, knees giving way all of a sudden as all her strength left her, and she collapsed to the ground, too tired to even keep her eyes open.

"Did you catch her?" Blu's voice reached her from under what felt like water.

"Our trusty Ry did instead," Blaze spoke, and Lyra was fairly sure she heard him skipping about rather than walking like any normal person would.

The buzzing in her head ratcheted up a notch, bringing with it an odd sense of numbness as she lay there in the snow. Everything was foggy, her hearing distant. It felt as though her skull was stuffed with cotton wool, and with the wool came a cold pain in her chest. She needed to recharge herself. That was all that was needed. Nothing more, nothing less. Her eyes flickered back open, the scant amount of energy she had remaining allowing her to stagger to her feet.

Languid, her gaze rose to meet those icy pale blue eyes that refused to be concealed by the few errant inky locks which had escaped the gentle spiky style the rest of his hair had been forced into. Bright and unnerving, they gazed back at her, cutting into her like ice, and she shivered where she stood. A connection sparked between them right there and then, and she chose on her metaphorical battery. Her arms came up, and Lyra ignored the shouts from behind as she wrapped her arms around his middle, skin brushing against skin as his hands came up to push at her shoulders.

Almost instantly warmth flooded through her, and Lyra sighed in content. It felt so very warm and comfortable there, and this time there wouldn't be that mean man to pry her away from her comfort.

"Rylan, did she get you?" Blaze was there in an instant, and Lyra felt more hands grab at her. "Do we need to call Hunter? Where does it hurt?"

Bright blue eyes peered down at her in confusion instead of annoyance and worry. "What is she actually doing?"

"She's... hugging me?"

His teeth sunk into his own lip, chewing while he mulled over the situation silently. "She appears to be a bit out of it..." Blu said, nodding at Blaze as they focused their efforts on trying to extricate her from whom Lyra assumed to be their friend. "Nevertheless, let's detach her before something else happens..." he said, turning his attention onto her. "Are you listening? Let go of him already! Hugging the Alpha King won't get you out of trouble—"

With a harsh jerk, her arms slipped and she lost her grip. A wordless cry left her lips, hands scrabbling to regain their contact with that wonderful warmth. Tears rolled down her cheeks. The mean man wasn't there, but there were plenty more out in the world it seemed. It was so cold without the warmth, like ice biting into her skin, and the sheer loneliness swallowed her whole. She'd never felt the isolation to that degree when she was in her right mind, but Lyra was fairly certain she wasn't in her right mind as she struggled against the hands holding her back.

"That mark..." Blu's voice sounded, bright blue eyes peering down at her neck – where that delightful warmth had first touched. "That was not there before..." His gaze on her neck broke, replaced for one that stared into the icy eyes. "Rylan, your hand?"

Rylan held up his arm that time, and Lyra frantically reached for it. She didn't want to stay cold and empty inside. "A mark..." he whispered, staring at the swirl of spiralling black patterns woven over his skin like ink. "You," he breathed, and Lyra pushed her face into the wonderfully warm hand that cupped at her cheek.

"I guess that means you're the first then," Blaze mumbled, peering over his shoulder as best as he could, but Lyra only had eyes for Rylan. He kept the cold emptiness of her gift's backlash at bay, so she was very much content as the hands holding her back released her. She wasted no time in snuggling back into the warmth. "She seems rather happy... almost too happy... Do you think it has something to do with her ability?"

"Her gift is an elemental type, is it not?" Blu mused, still hovering nearby.

Blaze sighed. "I wish Finn were here... he knows all about abilities and their weird drawbacks."

"Well, he is the Alpha of the Gifted for a reason," Blu said matter-of-factly, clicking his tongue at the other alpha. "Though I do believe this right here is the phenomenon known as Imprinting... though I can't be certain," he continued. "Just don't try to do anything until it wears off – she's unlikely to remember everything that happens in this period very clearly – and that's about as much as I know regarding this. We can contact Finn once we're on our way back. He'll know more."

Lyra yawned. The pull of her eyelids was only growing stronger by the second, and she felt strangely safe there thanks to the comforting warmth surrounding her. She saw no problems with falling asleep right then and there.

So that was what she did.