The scent of fire mixed with something so sweet hit me as soon as Lorna’s head rested against me. The soft brown waves of her hair trickled over my arms as we made our way down the stairs and out into the night. Bart took a bit of pleasure pushing people out of our way, happy to be getting out of there. He truly didn’t understand the notion of pets, and normally I'd laugh at his discomfort, but Lorna was hurt, and I had to get her healed before she returned to Empyrean. Both of our fathers would kill me if anything happened to her.

Standing in front of our motorcycles, Bart hopped on his ready to peel out, but he stopped to look back at me, “What do you want to do now? We got her, per orders.”

“Orders?” Lorna looked up at me. She shoved me and forced me to put her down. The moment she stepped onto that twisted ankle, she yelped in pain.

I held my hand out to the bike for her to get on.

She shoved it away and shouted at me through clenched teeth, “You were ordered to come and get me? By who? My father? Is he here? Is he in Black Harbor?!”

“No,” I told her, “Relax, Lorna. My father sent me. You can’t just sneak into Black Harbor. Not without him or anyone else finding out. You know that right? And especially after what happened the last time Argos came looking for you. Just come on.”

“I’m not going anywhere! I’m tired of people telling me where to go and what to do! I can do whatever I want!” she argued.

And just like that, all the warm fuzzy feelings I had for her began to evaporate with every screeching complaint and question. Yet, no matter how angry she'd get, the urge to help her, to protect her, it never left me.

“Do you want to come with me so I can help you get your ankle fixed?” I asked her.

“Where?” she huffed with her arms folded across her chest. I had to stop myself from laughing as she tried not to put pressure on her injured leg.

“To see Aya,” I told her.

“Oh you’re on your own with that,” Bart shook his head as he sat on his bike, “I’m not going anywhere near those damn docks. I hate the water anyway. I’ll head out on patrol and after you get her back home, come and find me.”

“Will do,” I nodded to him.

“Aya? The docks?” she tilted her head to the side.

“Yes,” I said hopping on the bike. I turned toward her, holding my arm out for her to get on. She continued to stand there. I shook my head, “Why do you have to be so damn difficult all of the time? I don’t want you going back home and having to explain that ankle with the scent of Skinner dripping off of you.”

Her eyes lowered to her body and then she brought the crux of her elbow up and sniffed. Pulling her shirt out from her chest, she also inhaled the inside of the collar.

“Can I shower at the Aya too?”

“No,” I laughed, “You can’t shower at Aya, but you can come back to the Towers and shower if you want. I really just want you fixed up before you go back home. Not to mention I need some healing help too.”

The simple act of opening and closing my hand was becoming increasingly painful. It didn’t matter how powerful we were, scales and all, it still took an obnoxiously long time to heal. Not as long as an Anthro, but still long enough to be annoying.

“So you’re not just -”

I cut her off, “I’m not trying to do anything but keep my own neck out of the very hot line of fire. You shouldn’t want your Dad breathing down your neck either. If he finds out what happened tonight, what do you think he’s going to do to you? You think you’re going to be able to sneak out of that castle anymore?”

Lorna’s reluctance to agree with my line of thinking annoyed me more than I wished, but she still slinked her way toward me. The amount of restraint in her steps as she tried desperately to keep the weight off that injured leg was entertaining. I held a laugh back as she threaded her leg over my bike and under my arm. She didn’t speak another word until she was sitting comfortably in front of me.

“Why do you always get on like this?” I groaned under my breath.

Granted the distance between my seat and the handlebars gave the illusion like another person could fit there. It was just uncomfortable for steering purposes. She leaned forward gripping the metal emblem, a decorative piece, between the bars. Bart went out of his way to add it. Two wings sprouting from a tornado of burning flames… it was a masterpiece. A masterpiece that was now blocked by the dainty hands of Lorna Ornopolis, daughter of the Great Argos.

The way her hair fell over her shoulder, especially as she turned her head slightly to look back at me, sent a feeling from one head to the other. She smirked as she answered, “Because it feels better this way.”

I couldn’t stand it. One minute I’m pummeling the bloody pulp out of an Onyx Skull, the next I’m dreadfully annoyed with her, and now I’m craving her touch. I wanted, needed, yearned to have her bare ass pushed back on me just as it was now, but without the clothes and motorcycle in the way. Revving the bike into action and switching its gears reminded me of exactly where we were going. I couldn’t daydream about the frustration and ecstasy of Lorna Cane… Shit.

It sounded better that way anyway.

We rode the bike over the debris-filled streets, reaching the docks in a matter of minutes. When I finally stopped and shut its engine off, I gazed around wondering where exactly I was supposed to go. It all seemed familiar but foreign at the same time.

“Are we here or not?” Lorna finally asked.

I couldn’t remember which one of these abandoned doorways led to Aya, but thankfully enough I didn’t need to. She walked out of one, just beside a dark warehouse. Her white dress clung to the contours of her frame. That honey complexion with hair down to her knees always seemed to glow, especially in the moonlight. Freckles wrapped around her eyes and spiraled down her body, made her stand out from every Scaler and Anthro alike. There was no one like Aya.

“What are you doing here, Preston?” she said calmly practically gliding toward us. It wasn’t until she got closer that she realized Lorna stood beside me. Her face lit up as she grasped her by the cheeks and pulled her in close, “My sweet Darling, you’ve gotten so big I barely recognized you.”

“Um,” Lorna pulled away confused, “I’m sorry. I just don’t remember you.”

“Of course you wouldn’t,” Aya sighed, “I ain’t seen ya since you were a wee little thing. You were just learning to spit fire and had the hiccups. You almost burned down your nursery. How’s my sweet Lavender doing? She’s been having some troubles with her scales lately, yes?”

Lorna shook her head, “No. My mother is fine. You must be mistaken.”

I could feel how sensitive that topic was and appeased my urge to change the subject.

“Aya,” I interjected, “We need your help.”

I held out my bruised hands and then motioned down to Lorna’s wrapped ankle still tied with the torn sleeve off my shirt. The softness of Aya’s touch shocked me slightly as she rubbed her delicate fingertips over my scabbing knuckles. Her beautiful light blue eyes with flecks of green shifted to Lorna’s foot. She leaned toward her and inhaled briefly only to scrunch her face up.

“Ugh!” she stuck her tongue out in disgust, “Jax is brutal. Stay away from him. He’s not right in the head.”

I didn’t know how to take that exactly as I had no intention of ever interacting with the brutish Onyx Skull again. On the other hand, with the way Lorna continued sneaking into the city, that wasn’t a guarantee.

“Well don’t just stand there! Come! Come! You must come and let me fix you up. No one needs Argos coming down here,” she commanded waving for us to follow her. Aya led us into her home through an abandoned building and into an underground dwelling. It looked very different from the last time I was there. She’d taped off a dark area that looked like a tunnel was being built. I couldn’t help but poke my head into the empty space.

“No, no, no,” she grabbed me, “Not for you. Come let’s go.”

Aya constantly kept everyone guessing. Being an Emerald Siren, no one expected her to be loyal to any clan in particular, but we didn’t anticipate her soft spot for the Anthros. The rumors were circulating. She’d been helping a few and even healed some. However, the true power of her Scaler had never been seen nor did anyone want to lure it out.

The way my parents told me, Emerald Sirens were secretive about everything, from the depths of their abilities to where they lived. They were rare and hard to find. Thinking about it, no one actually knew where Aya came from. She just showed up to Black Harbor. Well, my mother said she lived here during The Uprising of the Scalers. I didn’t know how truthful that was, but at the moment, it didn’t seem to matter where Aya came from, or how she arrived in Black Harbor. I was just grateful for her being there.

She took care of Lorna first, telling her to sit on top of a table. With her bad ankle stretched out in front of her, Aya removed the torn fabric tossing it to me. At the size of a baseball, Lorna’s swollen ankle embodied a shade closer to that of me and Bart’s Scalers rather than her usual sun-kissed glow.

Aya’s hands hovered around the injury without actually touching it. She lowered her face close to it as well. It all looked weird to me, but I wasn’t the healer. She didn’t speak either. Instead, she snapped her fingers at Lorna to which Lorna gave the Emerald Siren her hand. With Lorna’s palm faced down on her own, she stroked the top of her hand. Softly at first until she worked up to kneading her flesh. Lorna grimaced in discomfort until we both saw what Aya was doing.

The more she massaged and worked Lorna’s hand, the yellower Lorna’s skin grew. From her elbow down to her wrist began to scale and force her golden talons out of her fingertips. I was fascinated as I watched Aya stroke out the scales without forcing Lorna to change entirely. To watch someone else do something only we were supposed to be able to do to ourselves made me look at Aya differently than before. My awe of her continued to grow.

Aya stopped abruptly by tapping the top of Lorna’s hand. Her scales stood erect like the tiny hairs that would typically grace her skin. The golden talons remained poised as if waiting for Lorna to pull them back in or force them completely out. The sound of Aya scraping the blade against the claw made my skin tingle. The blade sparked as it released several flakes of the talon along the serrated edge. Aya then moved the blade to the swollen ankle, wiped the flakes onto the wound and then lightly pricked an opening for them to seep inside. She then plucked one of Lorna’s scales and used it as a bandage to cover the hole she’d just pricked.

Within minutes, the swelling had gone down, and the color was beginning to subside. She began stroking Lorna’s hand again which allowed her forearm to return to its Anthro state. I wondered what magic trick she was going to do for me.

Once Aya was satisfied with Lorna’s treatment, she moved toward me with a small vial practically swallowed by her fingers. I held my hands out only to see flashes of the rage I unleashed on the Onyx Skull. Defending Lorna wasn’t something I could help. No matter what our relationship was, I would always be there for her. I remembered that feeling from the moment I first laid eyes on her. Staring at my battered knuckles, the skin was broken over the areas that connected with Jax's face.

What she did next took me by surprise. The fluid in the vial dripped over my injuries but the amount of excruciating pain coursing through my arms made me see white. My breaths came in short. My head started spinning. Lorna rushed to me but her face, her beautiful face, it vanished.