"So then you can heal people too with your," Elle hesitated when Asher's brow arched in warning, "magic?"

He gave her a nod and his lips curved upwards into a pleased smile. "Thank you for not allowing your quick wit to call me yet another clever name."

"Well my minds a little clevered out I guess." Elle removed her hand as Asher's moved in over the bandana. She sat back on her legs and shrugged, since again he was observing her as though he wanted her to continue on with her thought. "I couldn't come up with a retort even if I wanted to. Not after getting a good look at your eyes. Now my thoughts are preoccupied with that old Bonnie Tyler song."

The narrow-eyed frown of confusion on Asher face told Elle he didn't seem to know what to make of her comment, but Nixon covered his face with his hands and laughed. Even though he attempted to muffle the fact he was, his voice still slipped through his fingers.

Asher's red glare returned and Nixon flinched under his touch. "Easy Asher, I was just kidding, besides she said it."

"Yes, and at my expense." His glare fell on Elle and she suddenly felt scrutinized and judged.

"I'm sorry." She lowered her gaze. "I don't always think before I talk. I guess that's obvious." She patted Nixon on the arm. "Well, it was nice to meet you and thanks for defending me and Mary against the Blackbirds. That was a very brave thing to do and you're a very pretty falcon." She turned to Asher then but didn't look at him directly. "Thank you for watching over me." Getting up, Elle started walking away.

"I can give you a room at the Plaza and some money to help you get back on your feet," Asher called after her.

Elle stopped, and turned around. "Do you mean the Plaza hotel downtown?"

Asher nodded, hair falling forward as he moved a hand over the top of Nixon's head. Where his hand traveled the blue light followed. "I own it," he casually said.

Elle dropped her eyes, when he looked up. The very second Asher said the words the vision of the huge Lake Inc. skyscraper across the street from the Plaza hotel came to mind and she knew. Everything made sense now. Asher Lake was above her type, and everything within his demeanor from the instant they met expressed that.

She recalled her words downstairs and her desperation made her cringe all the more. She suddenly felt silly for thinking either he or Ari had noticed her, when they were only being kind. Now because she had gotten caught up in their mess Asher felt responsible for her.

Never again though, did Elle wish to fall captive to a man, not if she can help it.

"Thank you but I'll be fine." Without waiting for a reaction or answer, Elle hurried on her way.

Chapter Seventeen.

Choices Elle was halfway down the stairs when she suddenly noticed a man sitting on a step below. One of the tenants had turned on their security light so she could clearly see that it was Ari, but still her breath caught out of habit. Hearing her, he turned around and fixed her with his gaze. She had one hand on her heart and the other gripped the railing tight.

"Easy neighbor lady, there's no reason to be afraid of your loyal watchdog." Ari patted the step. "Come sit with me and keep me company."

Elle took a deep breath and let it out slow. "You startled me."

Ari faced the front when she sat down on the step next to him. "You thought it was him, didn't you, the guy responsible for those bruises?" he softly asked. Unlike his gruff brother, Ari had a caring and sympathetic voice.

Elle didn't answer. She didn't want to cry. "I already thanked the others Ari but I wanted to especially thank you for preventing that bird guy from carrying me off."

"I shouldn't have let that happen. I wasn't planning on leaving you behind. I just wanted a chance to explain Asher's rules about outsiders. That's always been something he's truly insistent upon, but that doesn't seem to matter much tonight. I think you should come with us, at least for the night." Ari smiled at her. "I think we've proven to be trustworthy."

"Asher offered." She noticed his eyes widened at her words but before he had the chance to ask her to explain she continued. "But I think I should go. You guys have been nice but you don't owe me anything."

Ari's stare had proven uncomfortable enough in dim lighting, but now he could clearly see her. Her hair was a mess. Her shirt was a plain white tee-shirt. Her jeans were worn and the jacket belonged to Julio, a chain smoking gangster that liked to write gang-signs up and down the arms. And lastly, how could she forget the fact that Asher said she smelled.

All things considered the image she had of herself didn't exactly conjure up self-confidence. To make matters worse, Ari turned his body so that he was facing her, and very boldly began to study her face.

"Is Mary Okay?" she asked before he could say the words perched on his partially opened mouth. "I mean I should have asked already but things moved really fast when I was with, him upstairs."

"Him's my brother and Mary's fine. She's giving Kennedy-tiger-girl some hassle, but Kennedy's real good with kid's, so she'll eventually be all right." Ari continued to visually analyze her, causing Elle to tighten the collar on the jacket, and keep her eyes trained on the entrance door. "You're so young and pretty. There's just so much you don't understand, and neither do I." Reaching up he took hold of Elle's chin and forced her to look up, and she let him.

Elle wasn't in the right mind to do otherwise. The shock of hearing Mea say the words was one thing but for a man-a man as handsome as Ari Lake to speak the words with such force was startling. Julio had said he was the best she would ever know, and yet this night she was in the presence of three remarkable specimens of men, each with their own appeal, and one of them had just called her pretty.

Elle was in a dream, a very real dream that she did not wish to wake up from, but on the other hand, knew that she should.

He pushed a lock of stray hair back. "You have big beautiful blue eyes and I swear I've seen them before."

Elle pulled from his hold, both physically and mentally. "Aren't you the charmer? I would have decked anyone else for what you just did. And," she quickly added with a laugh to play off the affect his words had on her, "the jury's still out. I'm still deciding."

Men like Ari were charismatic and likable but they had come far too accustomed to relying on their abilities to lure susceptible women. And at the precise time after her crush on the imaginary image of Grant, Elle knew she was in a dangerous position.

She felt anything but what Ari implied. She was poor, pathetic and uneducated, everything that the rich Lake's weren't. She didn't belong in their world. Elle looked to his hand, muscular and strong with the expensive watch. No matter how vulnerable she was, she had to keep her head.

"I'm not meaning to make you uncomfortable." Leaning back, Ari repositioned himself so that he was resting on his elbows in a less threatening posture, but his eyes were still dangerously working her over. "Here's the deal," he said. "There are things about you that shouldn't be and I just think for the time you should hang with us. You need us Elle and if Asher asked you to stay-"

"But Asher didn't ask me to stay. He offered me a room for the night at the hotel he said he owns, but I'm quite sure he doesn't share your hang with us mentality."

"Well, you don't know my brother. He doesn't offer anything to anyone, let alone a woman and an outsider woman at that, so the fact that he did means something."

"Mea should be here with you now, not me. I know what that must have looked like, me with Mary in the alley but I was just watching over her because she was frightened. And I also know what that must have looked like when I put my hand on Asher. I saw Julio and I freaked. I stole money from him and he's looking for me but I'm not that kind of a person, usually. This was different. I don't want you or-"

"Hey, no one's saying or thinking anything." Ari stopped her. "We have eyes sweetie, but out of curiosity why did you take the money from Julio, a guy who apparently has a short fuse by the looks of you?"

"I was running away. I would have anyway but when I was packing I saw the money. All I had was sixty bucks saved so you can understand the temptation." She heavily exhaled. "Oh, I was stupid. I should have left it inside his boot where I found it. He'll be angry when he finds it gone and he won't stop until he finds me and makes me pay back every cent." Elle wiped away a tear before Ari could see. She didn't want him to know just how lost and hopeless she felt. "I would have gone someplace warm, someplace without snow because I hate walking home in the snow. My feet get so cold walking home from work."

"Didn't your guy ever offer to come get you when it snowed and you were working?" Ari sympathetically looked down at her feet.

"No, but that doesn't matter now. The money and my suitcase burned up in the fire."

"Then you have nothing?" Ari asked.

"Anyway," Elle disregarded the question, "I should probably go."

"Where will you go?"

"There's a shelter down the street. I've gone there a few times. I won't tell anyone what I saw tonight. People would just think I'm crazy anyway." Elle turned around and looked at the apartment door behind them. "I'm sure if someone sees me talking to myself that won't be all that hard to believe, since in fact no one else can see you," she chuckled.

Ari put a hand on her elbow to keep her in place when she started to get up. "Please, we're not worried about you telling anyone. I'm just not sure that leaving our protection's a wise thing to do, especially when Steve the bird-guy seems to have it in for you."

"I can take care of myself." She said, more in assurance to herself.

Ari faced her on the step again. "I can see that since you seem to handle my brother well enough." His eyes flecked over her face. "But I tend to wonder if sometimes you don't unnecessarily put yourself in harm's way. I wonder if you did go to that shelter down the street, how long it will be before Julio finds you and demands to know where his money is."

Elle looked away-away from his thoughtful eyes and handsome smile. She didn't have to answer that question because she already knew. The shelter was the first place Julio always looked. "How well do you know bird-guy Steve?" she asked.

"I know him well enough but not as well as I know his wife." Ari cast a devious wink her way and Elle rolled her eyes in response. "Oh that's right," he laughed, "I'm one of those guys."

"Seriously Ari, he did manhandle me. I'm used to it from Julio but I don't even know bird-guy Steve."

"Hello?" Ari waved a hand up the stairs. "You met him my brother-the one with the weird glowing eyes and blue lightening fingers that likes to shove people out of the way for no apparent reason, and you're afraid of a bird?"

Elle shrugged, "Asher may not like me or want me around but..."

"But what?" Ari encouraged her to finish.

"He took care of me. I'm not afraid of him."

A serious expression crossed Ari's face. "That he did neighbor lady." Hesitating on a thought, he looked up. "You wanna know some Asher trivia since we're on the subject?" The question was rhetorical and Elle knew that the second he didn't give her the chance to answer, but she was curious.

"The red you saw radiates from the black rings around his irises. We don't know what they are but Nixon calls them mood rings and that's because they tend to change color with his moods. Red is a bad color though," Ari stressed. "Very bad and if he flashes you without being invoked through anger or something similar, just like he did to you on the street corner, when you were teasing him, think of it as a warning. Asher doesn't like to be tested or teased."

"Well thank you Ari," Elle forced a grin his way, "but I'm not sure that's gonna matter after tonight." Elle avoided his gaze and rubbed her hands on the tops of her jeans. The stairwell wasn't exactly heated. "But let's get back to the bird-guy. What do you know about him?"

"Steve Barton is quick tempered but I truly do know his wife. She's been my secretary for the last year. I know he's not exactly the most caring man but he's not the heavy-handed kind either. According to her, his chosen weapon manifests itself in the nature of verbal abuse. Up until now, Steve's only problem has been in the fact he disagrees with some of the laws within the Union, and when I say Union I mean the organized body of ani-shift all over the world. Right now Steve has issues with Asher and everyone that serves him, so I'm not sure I can answer that question properly. I've never known Steve to act like this with anyone else, and I'm not sure what he wanted with Mary either."

"So Asher's some kind of a leader?"

"He's the leader of the Union-our leader. We call him and all those before him our Keeper. He protects and takes care of us...well he's supposed to. He hasn't done the best job, and that's another problem on many levels. Steve Barton is just one example of a band of rebels trying to overthrow my brother's reign. He was kicked out of the Union but Steve wants a pardon bad enough that if Asher asked him to leave you alone, in spite of whatever his complaint is, he probably would listen. At least it's worth a try."

Elle exhaled a deep breath-one she had held all during Ari's words. The thought that some stranger might come after her because she bruised his ego made her apprehensive. She had enough to worry about with Julio. "But do you think Asher would, for me?"

Ari warmly smiled. "I think it's worth a shot. I think you don't know him like I do."

"That's good news." Again, she rubbed her legs and Ari surprised her by taking off his coat. "No I couldn't."

"I insist." He boldly reached for her and Elle jerked back out of the way. "Relax, neighbor lady, you can trust me. I'm not trying to be fresh, it's just this coat. It's really got to go." Realizing his intentions, Elle pulled off Julio's jacket and traded Ari for his. She felt awkward and clumsy as he helped her on with it, and then proceeded to zip it up to her neck. The fabric was warm from his body and caused her to shiver. "There is that better?" He leaned back observing her.

Elle nodded an answer. She had to redirect. "I was wondering. Hatori Matasuto's book series refers to the Union, just how much of his book is accurate?"

"You've got to be kidding me?" Ari laughed and slapped his leg. Elle looked at him, completely confused by his sudden outburst as footsteps and voices could be heard on the stairs above. "Of all the books out there on ani-shifts and morphers," he emphasized the latter, "you chose the one series out there that is not only nonfictional it's written-"

"Arimus," Asher's voice sounded on the steps above them, "please do shut up."

Ari nodded in submission but Elle could tell by the glint in his brown eyes and the way his mouth quirked up at the corners that the matter wasn't over. He waited till Asher neared, worked around them and headed down the steps before he unleashed.

"Yes Hatori whatever you say." He exploded in laughter. Behind them Nixon snickered. Turning slowly around Asher fixed his eyes on his brother, which Elle soon realized were a fire red. Apparently Ari didn't heed to his own advice. Asher's eyes flicked over to her, and downward over Ari's coat, then back to his brother's laughing face. "I'm sorry Asher," Ari said in between lame attempts to stop laughing, "but why do you have to be such an-"

"Ari," Nixon stopped him. Unlike Ari, he had stopped laughing the second Asher turned around with flames for eyes. Without saying a word Asher spun around, quickly downed the remaining stairs, and crashed through the door.

Elle reflected back on Ari's words. "Wait...are you telling me Asher and Hatori Matasuto are the same person?"

"Oh the irony," Ari rose to his feet. "Life never ceases to amaze me."

"The car's here. I saw it from the roof." Nixon moved alongside them and regarded Ari as he spoke. Other than a quick glance her way he disregarded her presence. Nixon was healed but his short cropped hair stuck up in odd ways with matted blood. He wore a black hooded sweatshirt, red shirt under that and jeans, and he reminded Elle of a high school jock. The kind of boy all the girl's wanted to date. "You will be lucky if you don't have to walk to the Plaza now," he said.

"Come on, you have to admit that was funny."

"Ari," Nixon rolled his eyes, gesturing with his finger upward in an exaggerated manner, "I found Asher listening up there to you guys down here. Kennedy called Asher and she wanted to talk to me so I stayed behind long enough to catch her up on things. I'm not sure what you two were talking about but he wasn't in the best of moods when I showed up."

"How do you know?"

"Oh I know the signs, the breathing, the clenched jaw and that ever so pensive peel the paint off the walls frown. He was mad dude and when he heard you talking about the book, that's when he took off."

"All right, I'll back off." Ari applied a hand to Nixon's head. He roughed up his messy hair even more. "You look horrible." They started down the stairs and by the bottom Ari had his arm around Nixon's shoulders. Once they were outside he gave him a hug. Elle felt like an intruder so she stayed back. She couldn't take her eyes off the two. She had always wanted a sibling to care about as they obviously cared about one another.

"You scared me when I couldn't find you. You know I can't pick up your scent," Ari told him. "That's why you shifted back wasn't it?"

"I thought I could give you a holler but I blacked out."

"Nixon that's dangerous." Ari sounded truly worried. "What happened?"

"I saw Steve go after her," Nixon glanced back and then put his back to her again, "so I took off and that big hawk happened. He bomb-dived me and sent me head first into the billboard. I hit my head on a lamp thing and smacked the rooftop. Asher fixed me up though. It doesn't hurt anymore."

"I'm just glad we found you. The Gothi were in the neighborhood."

Nixon's footsteps faltered. "It seems they share a lot in common with Steve and his Blackbirds lately."

"Yeah, we'll talk about that later," Ari said.

Up until the point Ari turned back to regard Elle, she had been moving slowly in the opposite direction up the street. Without his coat he wore nothing but a thin blue dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and jeans. Suddenly remembering she was wearing his coat she stopped just as the lights of a vehicle parked along the curb shone in her eyes. Ari hurriedly came back to where she stood and snatched her hand away from the zipper.

Firmly holding her hand in his he started urging her alongside him towards the curb. "Don't be silly. The car's warm inside. Besides, I'm a dog. I have a higher tolerance for cold."

Any other time she would have jumped on a chance to volley back some clever retort as she had proven to Asher, especially when it was delivered with such a devious invitation but she suddenly felt very miserable. She didn't want to say goodbye to any of them. She didn't want to be alone again.

"Then how will I give it back to you. I may never see you again."

She noticed a white headed man, in a chauffeur's uniform getting out of the parked vehicle, and hesitated. Up until then, she hadn't noticed the car was a limousine and that the limo was for them, the Lakes with their huge skyscraper and hotel.

"Hello George," Ari greeted him, "good to see you again."

Nixon stood back as the chauffeur opened the door on the limo. Elle didn't understand why he just couldn't have opened it himself. She pulled her hand free of Ari's and started working on the zipper again. When Ari realized what she was doing, he positioned his body behind her, placed his hands firmly on her shoulders, and gently pushed her in the direction of the opened door of the limo.

"He'll just find you Elle," he whispered in her ear. "Make the right choice and get inside."

She could see Asher sitting on the seat, head lowered and looking just as agitated as before. She didn't want to get inside. She didn't want to go into their expensive hotel where she didn't belong. Asher didn't appear to care if she got in or not which only accentuated the vibe she had previously picked up. On the stairs Ari seemed to be reasoning with her but now that the time had come, he acted far more forceful in the matter of her coming with them.

"Come on, shake it or break it!" Nixon called out.

"I can pick you up?" Ari taunted in a singsong voice, mouth close enough to her ear she could feel the warmth of his breath. "I can make the choice for you."