"Of course he is."
Sera found herself unable to meet his gaze. "He's been gone a long time Mike, I'm worried."
"There's nothing to worry about, now come on, get up."
She had to gather her courage for her next question. It was something that had been nagging at her all day. Finally deciding that the best way to ask was to just say it, she turned back to him. "Do you think he might stay with her?" she whispered.
Her distress finally seemed to penetrate through to Mike as he sat in the snow next to her. "Are you serious?"
"Yeah."
"No Sera, he will not stay with her. He's more than likely going to kill her if he finds her."
"But she said that she was stronger than him."
He ran a hand through his tangled hair. "She knows more about her powers, and she's more adept at using them than we are, but he will kill her."
"He seemed so unhappy when he left this morning," she whispered forlornly.
Mike titled her chin up with his finger. "Trust me, he will be back. I've known Liam my entire life, and I've never seen him as happy as he is with you, or as possessive. He would walk through Hell to get back here for you, okay?"
She gnawed on her lower lip as she nodded. David burst out of the woods beside them. He was panting as he glowered at them. "Are you two trying to freeze to death? Get out of the freaking snow!"
Mike laughed and laid back. "I don't know, I think Sera's got the right idea. That cabin was driving me crazy too. The infuriated estrogen level was getting a little too high."
"Hey!" She punched him in the arm as he grinned up at her.
"You two have lost it," David muttered. "This shit sucks! I should know I've been stuck in it for hours!"
"It's worse in there," Mike said. "Trust me."
"Yeah," Sera agreed. "I don't want to go back."
"You two are going to freeze to death out here, and then Liam is going to kill Doug and me."
"Oh, stop bitching," she said. "I'll freeze to death, not you, you don't die."
David gaped at her as Mike burst out laughing. "She's got you there!" Mike cried.
Sera laughed and picked up a handful of snow to throw at him. She caught him square in the face, stopping his laughter in mid tirade. He blinked in surprise and then grabbed a handful of snow. She tried to scramble away, but it was too late, he grabbed the back of her shirt, and shoved snow down her sweater. She squealed as a freezing tremor wracked through her. She jumped on him and began tossing and throwing snow.
"Children!" David yelled.
Sera stopped attacking Mike, and lay panting on the ground. "I say we get him," she whispered.
Mike grinned at her, and they both hopped up and sprinted toward him. David didn't have enough time to get out of the way before Mike knocked him into the snow. Sera grabbed handfuls of snow as she charged forward to help Mike. They rolled around, shoving snow at each other as they squealed and laughed away some of their tension.
"What are you doing?" Liam roared.
They all froze, snow fell from their hands as they stared guilty at one another, and then at him. Liam and Jack stood a few feet from them. Sera's delight at seeing him vanished in the face of his obvious wrath. Jack looked extremely uncomfortable as he glanced at the three of them, and then at Liam. He took a small step away from Liam. Liam's eyes burned with fire as they landed on Mike's hand upon her arm. Mike instantly released her.
"I told you to watch her!" he barked at Mike.
Mike ran a hand through his wet hair. "I am watching her."
"Hey, I do have a mind of my own! I'm not a child!" Sera yelled indignantly.
"You're acting like one!"
