Cities Of The Shifters ( Book Cover Done And Credit Goes To @MeowSniper Thanks)

A Hostage at the Diviners Mansion First Chapter

The tranquility of the day was a stark contrast to the sudden shock thrown Jason's way. It was supposed to be a peaceful day out Kira, a day to let some of the piled on stress sweep off his shoulders into the calm breeze. But no. He had to pick the same day and hour and park as , the until-recently-captive of the d'Fierros; more specifically, to his Ambassador, . The Phoenix had no idea why the Diviner was held hostage in one of the mansion's rooms. In fact, he hadn't known Aaliyah was even there until he stumbled across an exchange one night. It wasn't that Jason had involved himself in the Diviner's detainment, it was quite the opposite. Instead of playing along, he simply did nothing. The Phoenix ignored her best he could, and avoided the subject altogether. Whatever the Aaliyah and the d'Fierros had, it wasn't his business to deal with, and Jason had enough on his plate at the time.

Jason knew she resented him to a degree. A grudge he couldn't really blame her for. He'd chosen to turn a blind eye, and in a captive's perspective, that just as worse as the people who kept you there. It would have been easy enough to avoid the Diviner after she escaped with Quinn Hunt, the Diviner's Ambassador. But as fate would have it, the two ended up sharing the same gorgeous blonde Phoenix, Roxanne. Jason knew they would eventually have to tackle the rather large obstacle of properly meeting each other at some point, but he was kind of hoping Roxy would be there to soften the blow. And not just the two of them left to fend off the awkwardness on their own.

The Phoenix had taken a particular interest in the leaves hanging from the tree he was leaned against, observing just about every detail he could; from the amount of leaves, the the colour of them, to the way the intermittent sunlight filtered in through the canopy of green, turning the leaves translucent and showcasing the network of veins running through them-

Jason's frantic train of thought was cut off when he heard his name, turning with a little-too-obvious plastered smile on his face as he faced the Diviner herself. "Hey, there... Aaliyah, right? It's so, really, it's... great to finally meet you. Roxy talks about you all the time, you know? She really adores you..." he trailed off, trying to lean as casually as he could against the tree. So much for a peaceful day.

Something akin to a sigh of relief escaped his lips when Aaliyah ensured him not to stand on ceremony. The Phoenix didn't do awkward encounters very well, but he knew if he left this one, he'd be hearing about it later. Jason had done well at avoiding Roxanne's best friend so far, but this was the inevitable fact. He just wished it could have turned out better. But this was reality now, and they only thing they could do was role with the punches. It wasn't a lie though, Roxanne really did tell him all about the Diviner. And Jason loved to listen. He was grateful, out of everyone, that she had such a friend to rely on.

The bounding white dog caught Jason's attention as it tangled around her legs. A softer, genuine smile pulled at his lips as he watched the scene, able to relax a bit against the rough bark. "May I?" Jason asked put of formality as he held his hand out to the dog named 'Sam', crouching down as the wet nose snuffled across his palm. "Yeah," Jason agreed as he scratched under Sam's chin, "Kira over there has too much energy for her own good. And that black coat of hers doesn't help," the Phoenix nodded in the direction of his large Rottweiler bounding around stupidly with the other dogs, her wagging tail wapping everything unfortunate to cross its path. "I'm setting up to get her a friend real soon."

Dogs. They always fixed everything.

"Oh, right, you guys are taking off to Scotland." Jason's scratches had moved to the back of Sam's ears, and by now, Kira was bounding over to meet the dog who'd gained her owner's attention. The Phoenix gave a small shrug to her question, offering another genuine smile. "Nothing aside from the usual, really." Aaliyah had lived in the d'Fierro mansion and was his girlfriend's best friend. But she didn't need to know about the work he did, so Jason just left it at that.

"Got anything planned in Scotland?" Jason asked. Kira had slowed her gate as she approached them, her nose pressing curiously around Aaliyah's legs and hands, moving over to snuffle around Sam. "Don't worry, she's friendly." It was an automatic response. Living with a mislabelled breed does that to a person.