Kai and I were left to eye Jeff uncomfortably. The rogues seemed to be heading to the water, although I didn't know or care why. I wondered when Nate would arrive to glare them into check. I decided it couldn't be soon enough. And the rest of the patrol... How would they react to our newest allies? Not well, I guessed.

Obnoxious splashing drew my attention. Since I had last looked, the rogues had waded into the ocean and were now doing their best to drown each other, all the while spooking at waves as if they were the devil himself. Maybe Kai had been right, I realised, about their knowledge of the ocean, and that was soon confirmed when Skye spat out a mouthful of seawater.

"Shit," she said, "it really is salty."

A lot more obnoxious splashing followed. They didn't appear to care how soaked they got, let alone if any of the spray reached us. I found myself retreating alongside the shade to escape a drenching.

Kai's hazel eyes found mine and stilled. He confided, "I've wanted a word with you since we left Evarlin. And never found the right time or place...somehow."

"And now," I said with a quirked eyebrow, "is the right time and place?"

"No," Kai admitted. Jeff was, after all, just feet away from us. "But later - we'll find a minute, alright?"

I agreed, but not very convincingly. I knew what he wanted to talk about - Natalia - and I didn't share that desire. There wasn't anything left to discuss in my opinion; whatever we had begun was over now. I had always known it was only a matter of time until I lost him. I just hadn't expected it to be so soon.

Space - that was what I needed. Space to think and catch up with the world around me. The cave entrance looked more and more tempting by the second, so I unzipped my backpack and rummaged for a torch. It was buried beneath spare clothes, but I found it quickly and turned it on. A beam of light appeared, flickered wildly and then vanished.

Okay then. Darkness was fine, I supposed. Kai was digging into the sand with the heel of his shoe somewhere behind me as I walked forwards, slow and steady. Both hands ended up fumbling at the rocks above my head just to give me some semblance of navigation. Unending pitch black in every direction except backwards. A squelching sound underfoot, the steady drip of falling water and the sting of cold air on my exposed skin.

Then, all too suddenly, a hand caught the back of my harness, stopping me dead in my tracks. It tugged and my resistance was rendered useless: I was dragged into the light like a pup hanging by its scruff. My attacker let go and I found my balance with no shortage of frustration.

"That's enough exploring for today, Dora," a male voice grumbled. I shaded my eyes against the blinding glare and wheeled to give him a piece of my mind. Then stopped. My mouth closed without spewing any of the outraged words in my mind, and in fact, that anger was draining away into meek acceptance.

Kai was on his feet in seconds, moving in front of me and staring down his cousin. He seemed to disapprove of the manhandling, however mild it had been. Rhys showed his palms, grinning, of course. "Chill, kay? I wasn't trying to hurt her."

My friend growled, "Then what the hell were you trying to do?"

With an exaggerated eye roll, he backed into the cave, stooped, and lifted a brace of dead rabbits from the ground. "I prefer my dinner untrampled, thank you very much."

Then came a flicker of annoyance which I tried and failed to suppress. "So just tell me next time. Did asking nicely even occur to you?"

"No," Rhys said sincerely, "not really."

Someone hollered loudly from the cliff. And I recognised that overloud, boisterous voice. The others had caught up. At last. I happily left the boys to squabble and scrambled onto a high rock. There - high above us, was a tight-knit group. Nate in the lead, Ben and Alex flanking him and Becky smack in the middle.

"Who the hell are they?" she bellowed.

I didn't answer; shouting wasn't really my thing. I didn't need to, anyway, because Rhys had followed me. Eyes narrowed, he bellowed straight back, "Who the hell are you?"

Becky muttered words which didn't reach us, even as she entered a staring contest with the rogues, who were all bunching up into a pack like they were about to maul someone. Okay, so they didn't like strangers. Noted. To prove it beyond doubt, they turned and retreated into the darkness of the cave, taking Jeff and the dead rabbits with them.

The patrol took a few minutes to clamber down the cliff, during which time I found myself grinning like an idiot. That happiness faded as soon as I saw the scowls on all their faces. Becky was the first to land beside me, and her mouth was a thin, hard line.

"I'm serious. Who are they and why are we traipsing across the island for them?"

I felt myself retreating from her obviously short temper, and asked in a small voice, "Nate didn't tell you?"

"He didn't tell us jack," she snarled. "Sav, your boyfriend's a prick, if you didn't already know."

"He's not my-"

"Keep telling yourself that," Becky snorted before I could finish, packed with derision. I decided she wasn't in the best mood, and wisely shut my mouth.

Kai stepped between us, his eyes wide with alarm. His mind made tugging flicks at mine. No doubt ordering me to back away before a real fight could start, to let him handle it. Although I didn't move, I was more than willing to let Kai diffuse her temper; let her argue with someone who wanted to argue back.

"They're rogues from the mainland and they're here to help us. Do you guys want to come out and introduce yourselves?" he asked. Silence and darkness were his answer. "No? Okay. I mean - that's cool, I guess."

Her slitted eyes scanned the entrance sceptically. "Why would rogues from the mainland want to help us?"

"That's what I want to know," Ben added, shocking me because he had never voiced an objection to anything in my hearing.

"The tall one is my cousin, you know, one of the Llewellyns. The others... To be honest I don't have a clue who they are. But they're going to help us, so I suggest you avoid pissing them off right now."

Dark pupils and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. His words were directed entirely at the Rochester girl. Kai's wolf was making an appearance, just enough to scare away Becky's. They locked gazes for almost a full minute before Becky let her eyes drop.

"Okay," she mumbled. "Is there any food?"

Oh. She was hungry. It happened to the best of us, the foodless rage.

I judged it safe to return to the conversation. "We don't have any, no, unless Ben goes fishing. But" -I jerked a thumb at the cave- "they've got enough rabbits for everyone."

"Yeah, except we're not sharing," someone called loudly from within. I couldn't tell who.

Kai snorted. "You won't ever eat it all by yourselves."

"I earnt these!" This time it was definitely Rhys answering. I recognised his voice despite the distorted echoing.

"That was a boy," Becky said eagerly. She took a step towards the cliff. "There are boys in there?"

I groaned. "Don't do it. I'm pretty sure it isn't even going to work: they both have mates-"

But it was too late - she was already halfway across the sand. I sank to my haunches to watch what I was sure would be an amusing attempt at flirting with someone in front of their soulmate, but there was nothing to see. Becky vanished into the darkness, fumbling at the rocks, too-quiet words were exchanged, then she emerged with a flushed face and no inclination to ever explain what had happened, no matter how much the gossipy teenager in me prodded at the mind-link. No - she just sat down and glared at empty space.

Rhys came out in his own time, a few minutes later, with three of the rabbits slung over his shoulder. The lead rogue was at his flank. And there was a glint in both their eyes which promised trouble. I shuffled, immediately worried - and for good reason, as it turned out.

"You want dinner?" He paused to grin at Kai. "Fight me for it."

"Oh, Goddess," I heard myself mutter.

Kai eyed the rabbits. He glanced at me in an apologetic sort of way before nodding - as if that made up for the pure idiocy of this idea. "Deal. If I win, I get all of them. If you win, you'll take pity on my friends."

The last sentence was phrased as a question.

"They might get a snack," Rhys agreed grudgingly.

That vague promise was enough, apparently, for Kai to risk his wellbeing. He knew he didn't really stand a chance - one look at the rogues could convince anyone of that - but he had to try. And maybe he wanted to, I reflected, given his unresolvable frustration about his mother's death.

I found a good seat on the rocks to watch them spar. The patrol was arrayed around me, grumbling under their breaths that we shouldn't be letting the future King fight a mainland criminal. As if we could stop him. Becky, in particular, was quick to overlook that they were cousins before anything else. I didn't think Rhys would hurt him, but I seemed to be the only one to have that thought.

They fought until sweat drenched their shirts, then went ahead and fought without them. It was at that point that Becky forgot she'd ever disapproved of this and I found myself blushing openly. The fight itself was obviously one-sided - the rogue had a natural talent for combat and the strength to back it up. But what Kai lacked in raw experience, he made up for in spirit. No matter how many times he was dumped onto his back, he never failed to get up again.

Near the end, having given up on ever winning in hand-to-hand, Kai found a pair of driftwood sticks and suggested a different type of sparring. That went abysmally: Rhys couldn't grasp the concept of rules and spend most of the time using his 'sword' to get far enough inside Kai's guard to push him over. But it amused the other rogues to no end.

As it turned out, Kai's effort were worthwhile. When the fight ended with both boys sprawled on the sand, panting and grinning like hellions, the nicer two rogues insisted on splitting the rabbits evenly between us. We shared their campfire, too - a blaze in the back of the cave. I was still chewing rabbit kebabs when the sun finally dipped below the horizon.

"Don't wait up for us," Rhys drawled suddenly. "It's already past your bedtimes."

"You're leaving now?" Kai asked. If I didn't know better, I'd have thought he sounded worried.

He got a flat stare in reply. The rogue moved with silent efficiency, taking off any unnecessary clothing and strapping knives onto their belts. The females ended up in singlets and shorts; the males simply stripped to their waists. I felt my cheeks heating up all over again.

"Shit," Alex breathed. He was open ogling the bare skin, which both surprised and alarmed me until I realised what had caught his attention. Specks and streaks - although barely visible in the fading light - were stark against their skin. Scars, I realised, and a lot of them. Embodied echoes of pain. I didn't have a single one.

Silence smothered the beach, and the four rogues were all too aware of it, by the way their eyes swept around, challenging and angry. Until Kai asked, "How many fights did you lose to earn that collection?"

It was as barbed a comment as I'd ever heard. And I felt my heart sink for a moment, wondering what kind of fury that would wake. But all Rhys did was laugh. Then I knew Kai had finally got the measure of his cousin, and I still hadn't.

"If I had ever lost a fight, I wouldn't still be breathing. These are just tokens of messy victories."

A chill ran through me. Because it sounded a lot like they fought to the death on the mainland - and I was terrified that I'd end up in the same situation before this feud was over. I didn't want to kill anyone...but I didn't want to die either.

Kai snorted. "Then you must make one hell of a mess."

They were so related - I could see that now.

The next few minutes flew by. The rescue squad was getting ready to leave, all of us were volunteering to go along and being denied, and Jeff was quietly rocking back and forth in a corner. After Rhys had explained for the fifth time that we would only get in the way, they waded into the sea just to escape the argument.

"You're idiots," Ben announced quietly - the first thing he had said in over an hour, "and you're going to drown."

"Then we'll drown!" Skye retorted. "There are worse deaths."

I watched sceptically as they started swimming, their strokes cutting through the water in short, neat slices. At least they could swim, I reasoned. It could be worse.

"Do they even know how to drive a boat?" Ben demanded of us. He seemed to be taking this personally, thanks to his seafarer upbringing.

Kai grimaced. "Probably not. Just...try not to worry about it."

We worried about it. There wasn't really anything else to do on that narrow beach. It had changed from boisterous and cheerful to sullen and brittle in the blink of an eye. I wondered exactly when we had started relying on strangers to ease the mood. Then I stopped wondering because it was depressing me.

After an hour or so, I noticed Nate for the first time. He was still where he had first sat down, having refused all offers of food or company, and staring at Jeff - who was happily devouring his own (disgustingly raw) rabbit - with a rigid grip on his knife hilt. I worried about that instead.

The moon was climbing into the canopy of stars, and it was barely a sliver. Shifting tonight would be difficult, unpractically difficult. And in another few nights, it would be fully impossible. Which would put us entirely at the mercy of the shifters who weren't restrained by the moon, like Rhys Llewellyn and every single Shadowcat. It didn't take much of a brain to realise that any attack on Isaiah's part would take place then.

Kai sat down wearily beside me while I was still lost in those thoughts. We could - and probably should - have talked. Instead, we sat in comfortable silence, my head resting on his shoulder. Some things, I realised, didn't need words. I knew I had forgiven him long ago, so why was an apology necessary? The two of us had been friends before we had been anything more, after all.

The waiting began to wear me down, even long after the rogues must have reached Holyhead...if they had reached it at all... I would have slept, if I hadn't been too nervous of the crazy old man. So I struggled to keep my eyes open and warmed myself from Kai's body heat for hour after hour.

Until lights flickered into existence on the distant strip of land, sudden and bright.

Still, we waited...

A terrible, echoing scream split the night air like a knife.

...and waited...

The next gust of wind was heavy with a metallic stench - blood.

...and waited.