Poet’s arm wrapped around Emma’s waist, and he shot the man a smile. He hadn’t bothered to pull his wedding ring off, so Poet was a tiny bit hopeful that the other would jump to conclusions. 

                 Ki HATED it to see people distraught and lost, he just hated the feel of it, the panic in their eyes when they seemed to look for something, when they seemed to just need HELP and he could never just pass by someone - he could never just ignore it when people obviously needed someone to help them. Even if it was just something SMALL. That was why he had approached the woman, that was the only reason -- 

                 ❝your purse? we can just walk back the way you came, maybe you lost it there❞ he said calmly, a small smile on his lips while he nodded slowly. ❝I will help you find it, you just have to tell me how it looks... and then you guide the way back from where you came from... don’t worry, we will find it again. I will not LEAVE before you have it back, I promise!❞ 

Her father was gone. 

It wasn’t something Kara thought she’d be experiencing any time soon - her father had been in the best of health, expected to live many more years. In the month since he died in his sleep, she still couldn’t get herself together. And it was something she needed to do immediately. Her mother had been gone for several years already. Her uncle and cousins were in Greece and wouldn’t come to help her - they were severely estranged, and the fact that Miko Nicharos left his fortune and estate to his only daughter only made the situation worse. 

She’d been cooped up for too long.  Desperate for fresh air, she’d gone out to think, to figure out what to do next. There was the werewolf inside her, insisting she find pack, protection. There was the logical part of her brain, demanding she make an alliance with another criminal family like her own, again, for protection. But both had their potential risks. 

Kara had been so busy thinking that she hadn’t been paying attention and when she lifted her head, she was surrounded. The circle was loose for now, but it was starting to tighten. Just what she needed. Finding what she hoped was a space for her to dart through, she tried to make a break for it, only to be caught and held tightly. 

“You’re so gonna pay for this,” Kara muttered before she began to put up the fight of her life. She couldn’t say she was winning, but she was definitely giving back almost as good as she was getting. She kicked, clawed, scratched. But she was one, and there were at least four. Her odds weren’t looking too good.

Confused didn’t even begin to cover it. 

He’d been on some wild rides before in his life, but usually there was something about them he remembered -- even if only in blurred flashes, like some shitty sidereal moving too fast for the pictures to focus... but his head was clear. Just... empty. Nothing. He’d gone to sleep behind some lonely pit stop pub’s building next to his bike in buttfuck nowhere, South Dakota, and next thing he knew, his eardrums were near popping under the pressure of the sounds around him... sounds he eventually discerned to be boat engines, and the smell of the exhaust of a couple dozen cars coming to life around him and this...  giant gate, like a moat’s bridge lowering in front of him... he’d been sat upright in his bike, and his body had moved without him even realizing it, starting the engine and... 

Now he was standing here in front of a community bulletin board, trying to figure out just where the hell he was. A blonde haired woman was hanging something up, her torso covering some of the map, but the lettering above the board read ‘Grand Manan Island' and fuck if that told him anything. He’d never so much as seen the ocean and suddenly that was all he could smell and he was literally surrounded by it. In... Canada, apparently, judging by the flag flying by the ticket station. 

Noah loved birthdays. His own more than anything - and Emma’s. It was completely normal to be more excited about another person’s birthday than the person itself, wasn’t it? Yeah, he was sure of it.

Either way - Noah had obsessed over the perfect present for weeks, as well as the perfect cake, lunch and dinner. It was all perfectly planned, and Noah couldn’t wait for Emma to wake up and see it all with her own eyes.

No, really, he couldn’t wait.

Having woken hours ago, Noah was pretty damn proud that he only started waking her at 8am, rather than at 4am, like he had meant to do, originally. Now, however, he was by her side, one arm around her middle, giddy to get her birthday started.

Imelda had only meant to snap la mujer out of the constant stare, quizás a quick apology for staring in the first place; she did not expect a bow to apologise and Imelda looked at the folded over form with a bewildered expression, still blinking in disbelief even as the woman stood up straight again. 

Jade was hardly used to playing the victim quite so willingly considering the fact that weak was far from a trait that she had cared for. However, if the years had taught her anything, it was that sometimes life would require a certain amount of sacrifice. This lesson was learned again in the weeks that were spent playing pretend in captivity, trying to convince the rival pack that there was something worth saving. Just when the irritation had started to rise, in rode a white knight that she hadn’t exactly asked for. 

This was conflict that he clearly hadn’t expected, but she certainly couldn’t manage to stay mad for long. After all, they had been able to spend many nights wrapped up in forging a different kind of bond. It was one that she hadn’t felt in some time, which explained why it was so easy to find herself perched back in his home, invading personal space. Fingers danced across a picture frame in the bedroom, before turning back to look at him.