Red String {EDITING}

Chapter Eight | Cypher Division

"Idiot?"

"You broke into my apartment to cook me breakfast. I think that should speak for itself," Lyra said, yawning as she climbed out of bed. "Now, could you please go and wait in the other room?" Her eyes flickered about the room, finally landing on the neatly folded pile of clothes on top of the small dresser. "I need to get changed."

Rylan was out of the room in a flash, and Lyra finally breathed a sigh of relief at the space she had to herself. Somehow she had a feeling it would become a precious commodity with her mate hovering around like a mother hen. His presence reassured her and brought her an eerie sense of calmness – an effect Lyra knew to blame on the tenuous link between them. That same link would strengthen over time, alongside her feelings for him... or so the stories went.

She'd read some of those once, while out on a mission, and Lyra wouldn't have minded reading more. Sometimes it was nice to escape reality. As of late, though, her reality had become nicer. Still, she wondered if Blagmoor Castle happened to have a library. She cast a glance out of her bedroom window, sighing as she spied the gigantic structure. It loomed over her like some sort of sentence.

Sighing once again, she pulled on a fresh pair of clothes. One of the alphas had slipped some sets of the standard uniform of Cypher Division into her wardrobe whilst she had been dining at the castle. It unnerved her that they could all seemingly break into her flat with ease. She only hoped none of them abused that ability. Though the one most likely to do that, she mused, was currently hovering around her flat like a semi-annoying fly. Why he had thought it OK to barge into her flat was something Lyra would never understand. He didn't seem to have too much common sense – but, then again, Lyra wasn't exactly the shining example of just that. Being raised by rogues had done that much.

But she had warned him against doing just that, and she only hoped he took it to heart. He certainly seemed sincere enough.

"Done," she proclaimed, standing in front of the full-length mirror tucked in the corner of the room. It was surrounded by a maple wood frame – the same wood which had been used for almost all the rest of the apartment, from flooring to bed frames. Locally sourced wood no doubt.

The outfit was a simple buttoned white shirt, tucked neatly into black slacks covering the similarly coloured boots she wore. They were alarmingly comfy on her feet, considering they were brand new, and Lyra hoped her feet wouldn't ache too much after the day was through.

Dressed and ready, she walked back out of her bedroom, smiling tightly at Rylan as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "You look nice," he said, and Lyra couldn't detect any hint of a lie so she nodded in thanks, chewing on her lip at the warm flutter those words brought. "Shall we get going?" he asked, after a few moments of silence. "I wouldn't want you to be late... Arrow would probably blame it on me."

Lyra tilted her head, sizing him up, mentally comparing him to the far more lithe form of the assassin she had met the day before. "Would he?"

"I've made my fair share of mistakes which the others have had to clean up for me... distracting my mate from her first day of work wouldn't be the worst of them." He shrugged, straightening up all of a sudden as the clocks struck. "Shall we?" One eyebrow rose, lips quirking into a confident smile as he guided her towards the door.

"Let's go," she said, concealing the shiver of excitement and apprehension that wanted to roll down her skin. "I have a job to do..."

"It's an important one too," Rylan said, leaning against the wall of the corridor as she locked the door behind her. "Information is what keeps everything ticking over in times of peace."

"So don't screw up... I got that," she mumbled, biting her lip.

"Just do your best." The words followed her as they trundled down the stairs together, and out into the cold morning sunshine. "That's all anyone can ask of you."

Lyra sighed. "Believe me, people have tried to ask for more," she muttered, bitter memories rising to the surface before she quashed them like an ant under her boots.

"Some people are like that," Rylan said, eyes flickering to the floor momentarily, before his lips twitched up into a smile. "But I figured out its best to ignore those kinds of people, and just do what you can. There's a limit to what we can do."

"I suppose there is," she acknowledged, lapsing into silence as Rylan let her towards the castle, her stomach twisting into knots as she stepped inside.

She really hated the damned castle.

Cypher Division was... noisier than she had expected. She had expected a silent workroom, perhaps scattered with various hi-tech equipment, but instead she was greeted with the sight of a normal office. There were numerous cubicles dotted about the open room, the harsh, bright light making the room seem larger than what the glossy black tiling on the columns and archways led one to believe. Lyra swallowed, remembering similar-looking places she had broken into – whether it be to kill or steal some important-looking documents.

"About time you showed up," Arrow remarked, leaning against the nearest column. Lyra almost jumped, and it was only her training which prevented it from showing. Mostly, if the smug grin on the other alpha's face was anything to go by. "I was starting to worry you'd gotten lost."

"Well, I did promise to guide her here," Rylan said.

Arrow sniffed. "I, for one, recall exactly how many times you managed to get yourself in the maze out back."

"That was back when I was a child," Rylan grumbled, folding his arms and glaring at the man. "I'm not a child anymore."

"Hmm." Arrow hummed, pink eyes darting up to his face and down the rest of his body, an eyebrow raised contemplatively, before he turned to face her. "Lyra, dear, you'll be helping out in the processing room – sorting out the various cyphers according to who they're for. Georgia will tell you more," he said, gesturing to the woman walking over towards them. "Rylan, get your backside to my office. Zen and Blythe are coming over, and no doubt they'll want to see you for one reason or another."

"Joy," Rylan muttered, gloom written all over his face until he caught sight of her stare in his direction. His lips turned up in a smile. "I'll see you later, I guess? Maybe after Arrow is done with you?"

"OK...?" she questioned, ignoring the nervous twist to her stomach at those words. Maybe she should have some alone time... It was just too bad she didn't have any female friends. She had always wanted to have a 'girls' night'. Like a slumber party. Those had always sounded fun.

"Will she be dining with us tonight then?" Arrow questioned, staring hard and long at his fellow alpha. "You might want to inform whoever's cooking tonight. Zen and Blythe will likely stay over as well..."

Lyra swallowed. "Uh. I was kind of hoping to cook for myself tonight... in my apartment, after I get some food in my fridge."

Rylan nodded. "I'll take you down to the shops after you're finished here then. Does that sound alright to you?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said, nodding. "That sounds... fine by me."

"I guess that's a date then," Arrow muttered snidely, rolling his eyes before he turned to his subordinate – who'd been quietly waiting there all the while. "Show her how things work around here, Georgia."

"That hardly counts as a date," Rylan grumbled, even as she turned away from the brewing argument.

"And since when did you become a romance expert?" he asked, voice as dry as the desert plains. "You've barely spoken a word to women outside of—"

"You're such an arse sometimes, Row."

Georgia inclined her head towards a doorway on the other side of the room. "Shall we leave these two bickering fools behind and get on with our jobs?"

Lyra was only too happy to smile in response, happy to get to work in her new setting. A less painful setting. "Sounds like a plan."