It’s too much. Too fast.

When Sawyer and Lark finish their kiss, I feel the need to intervene. Sure, I initiated the pillow fight–but a kiss the day we meet? The last thing I want to do is scare her away.

When birds get scared, they fly away and never return.

So, when Brecken steps toward her, as if wanting to get into the action too, I know I need to intervene. He’s the biggest player I know. A guy who would sleep with any woman in this casino. To imagine him with Lark? I can’t; it just screams trouble.

“We should call it a night,” I say, knowing my tone is abrupt, but that’s okay. I don’t need to be everyone’s best friend. God knows I’ve never been before. The instructions Gaia gave us were clear-cut. Protect Lark at all costs.

Kissing her will make us lose focus. Distract us from the goal: Keeping her safe.

“So soon?” Lark asks, pulling in her bottom lip. She looks so damn sexy and the thing is, she has no idea. The strap of her flimsy sundress falls off her shoulder. Her jet-black hair is a tousled mess. Everything about her begs for a protective man to watch over her. And I’m not saying that in some male chauvinistic way. I mean, this woman is fragile and small and needs people watching over her.

That is why we are here.

Not so we can kiss her or whatever else. But from the way Brecken is looking at Lark, I’m guessing he has other ideas.

“No, Lark, we’re not ending the night,” Vaughn says. Okay, I guess more than one of us has other ideas.

“Like hell we aren’t,” I say. I lost the popular vote already: yesterday the guys voted to tell her why we came all the way out here in the first place. Wanted to tell her not only why we are here, but what we are.

I shut that shit down quickly. And it looks like I’m gonna need to be the buzz kill again.

“It’s not a question. She’s leaving. Now.” My word is final and they know it. When it comes to the performance, we may be equals – but when it comes to who oversees the flock as a whole – that role was given to me. And I’m not messing around.

The men are pissed, but that’s not my concern. Lark’s safety is all that matters. The men shake their heads and quickly say goodbye to Lark, who looks both disappointed and embarrassed.

“Can I take you home?” Vaughn asks, stepping forward.

Lark looks at the ground. “I’m fine. I know my way back to where I belong.”

Feeling dejected, the other guys leave the foyer of our suite and I take an extra second, wanting to tell her something... anything that will take that look off her face.

“It’s not you–” I start but she cuts me off.

“Don’t,” she says pushing up a hand. “I don’t want to hear it.”

I scowl. “You don’t understand,” I try again, looking at this woman and suddenly feeling like even though she is a tiny thing, she is stronger than she knows.

“Let me guess, you know what’s best for me, you have my best intentions at heart, you don’t want me to get hurt?” She twists her lips, looking up at me with those dark eyes of hers. Eyes that cover a pain in her heart. A pain she doesn’t even know yet, can’t begin to fathom. Gaia, mother-fucking-Earth, has a purpose for her, but she doesn’t know that yet. And until she does, she won’t be able to understand herself.

I wish I knew the secrets Gaia keeps. The things about Lark that would make everything click into place. Why we are here and why she is here and why she can fly without wings, but of course, I don’t have those answers, so saying anything at all would only confuse Lark more. And God knows that my fast end to the party is confusing enough.

“I’m just gonna go home now, North,” she says softly. Then she grabs her purse from a chair. “See you tomorrow at rehearsal, okay?”

I nod, following her out the door to the elevator. Once she is safely in it, I head back to the suite, where the guys are all ready to pounce.

“You’re a real piece of work, you know that, North?” Vaughn starts.

I shake my head. “Not now. She’s leaving the hotel. We need to follow her.”

“Obviously,” Sawyer says, looking at me as if I’ve lost it. “That is the only thing that matters.”

The seriousness of our task trumps any feelings they may have toward me at the moment.

“Let’s go to the balcony, we can fly from there,” Arrow suggests.

I nod, and seconds later the door to the balcony is flung open, and we stand on the metal railing separating the hotel from the ground below.

Then we leap, all five of us, knowing Lark is our target. We need to find her, and once one of us does, the rest of us will fly back around and form a circle around her. Making sure she is safe.

As we jump, we spread our arms, our bodies shifting as we move. Our arms turn to wings, our bodies turn to smooth muscles, feathers, and beaks. We are no longer men.

We are hawks.

And we aren’t looking for our prey, we’ve already found the one thing that matters.

Lark.

I fly downward, arms outreached, headed to the front of the hotel.

I spot her, getting into a yellow cab, and I contact the hawks, signaling them to follow.

We may not know why we’ve been sent to keep her safe, but that changes nothing.

The fact she is the most gorgeous creature we’ve ever seen can’t distract us from our mission.

We must keep her safe at all costs.