Days after his meeting with Donovan, Neve stayed away from the apartment and Seth. Although his cousin remained polite, the damage had been done and Seth was only being courteous out of respect for what he was, not who he was anymore. He had also heard from his mother, who concerned for Neve, was not at liberty to speak with him about what occurred because of her position on the council. It relieved Neve he continued to have his mother’s support and optimistically he hoped after the council meeting she would not choose to disown him.

To occupy himself, Neve spent much of his time walking around Sydney reflecting on his misfortune. Yet, he didn’t regret helping Cory, his only hope Cory made it to safety. Neve’s family's influence reached around the world but not so much that Cory might be somewhere safe.

Neve couldn’t be sure; he was still in the phase they called juvenile, which meant until he reached maturity he was not permitted to be involved with any of the family organisations dealing with their security. Even though he had been educated about the history of his family and the reasons why they remained their autonomy; the politics and means of their existence had yet to be passed onto Neve. That information would not come until he married and fulfilled his duty and matured into an adult.

The very idea of getting married and having sex to deter the transformation from sane to insane frightened Neve. However, he had little choice. His desire to live remained strong; and he would never go against his family.

He arrived home late again and made his way to his room to avoid both his cousins who were currently occupying the lounge room. In the smallest of the three bedrooms, Neve sat on the end of his single bed and once more reflected on his situation. The thoughts could not be drowned out and Neve decided to get ready for bed. With the light out, he climbed into bed and lay looking at the ceiling, listening to the faint sound of the television.

From the other room, Neve heard one of his cousin’s rise and the footsteps towards his room. The last thing he wanted was to speak to Dale, knowing he’d be the only one to want to speak with him.

He didn’t answer the knock at the door, choosing to ignore it but when the door opened and Dale looked in, he said, “Can I come in?”

“Sure.” Neve replied as Dale turned the bedroom light back on. Neve sat up against the bedhead as Dale sat on the bed beside him.

“How are you feeling?” Dale asked.

Neve shrugged, “Like I messed up.”

“Yeah, but I doubt you would be the first who has.”

“Really because you would think if anyone else in this family messed up we’d know about it right. Teach us a lesson or something like that. Or maybe in the past they would get rid of the problem and be done with it that way.”

“No, Neve I can’t believe the family would take such drastic measures. We have to keep what we are a secret, that part makes sense in this day and age, but I can’t believe they would punish you for wanting to be friends with another of our kind outside the family.”

“You do realise we’re not permitted to interact with any of our kind outside our family. We’re not even allowed to leave the country until we’ve had sex. How is that even going to work for me?”

“Well, you’re going to have to do it with a woman.” Dale joked, then seeing the look on Neve’s face said, “It will only be the once.”

Neve pulled a face as if Dale’s words tasted bad.

“Come on Neve it’s not really that bad.”

“Oh sure, easy for you, you’re straight and have had enough sex that when the time comes, you’ll ease right into it.”

Dale let out a laugh and Neve gave a half smile when he realised when he’d said.

“Yeah, you laugh. I know what I have to do, I’m not going to be the one who defies the family and goes feral.”

“Maybe if you did, you might grow some balls.” Dale was still smirking at him.

“Ha, ha, very funny.”

It fell quiet for a moment and then Dale asked, “Do you ever consider what might happen if one of us did go feral.”

“The family would never let it happen. If I don’t have sex before I matured they’ll kill me for sure. If they don’t kill me for what happened with Cory.”

“They won’t do that, your mother is on the council and I doubt she would let them make that decision.”

“I doubt my mother would be able to pull enough votes to save me.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong Neve.”

Neve sighed; if Dale learned the truth would he ever forgive him.

“So you had a moment of weakness, you weren’t to know Nikali was going to find him when he did.”

“Do you know what happened with Nikali?”

Neve wanted to ask Seth about Nikali’s involvement but he had been too scared to bring it up with him again.

“No one knows how Nikali came across Cory but from the time he booked the flight until they left was only a few days. What the council doesn’t understand is why they left in such a hurry.”

“What do you mean?” Neve feigned interest.

“They were aware Nikali was here to investigate us but he’s never been able to get close. So why would he, when he found Cory, feel the need to leave the country so fast?”

“Maybe it wasn’t fast at all.”

“That’s what the council wants to understand. Cory never said anything to you about Nikali.”

“No, never.”

Dale looked at Neve, and said, “My thoughts are Nikali might be using Cory to get to us.”

“But no one knows about us.”

“They know we’re here, if they could get their hands on even one of us, imagine what that would do to our standing as we know it.”

“So getting Cory out of the country was his way of securing a connection to us.” Neve suggested. If he directed the connection away from himself, he had a fighting chance of distancing himself from the mess he had created.

“That might be it.” Dale agreed. “But why would Cory go along with something like that, he doesn’t know anything about us?”

“I don’t know, unless he told Nikali about me and he hoped I might follow.”

The room went silent for a moment and then Dale asked, “Cory knows you loved him right.”

Neve nodded.

“So Nikali hoped by removing Cory you would follow.”

“But it ended badly between us, and Cory wasn’t gay to begin with.”

“Perhaps that’s it then.” Dale brightened up. “Cory left because he knew you were gay and he wasn’t. He was trying to get away from you.”

“Thank you, Dale.” Neve replied like he’d been punched in the gut.

“I’m sorry Neve, I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Yeah, I know, it’s alright.”

They lapsed into silence until Neve rubbed his face with his hands and murmured, “This is such a mess. Either way it all comes back to me and being gay. I don’t see a way out of this without the truth coming out.”

“Don’t give up yet Neve. If no one asks, don’t tell but it might be worth mentioning you had a falling out with him. Come up with something plausible, it might help explain why he left with Nikali.” Dale suggested.

Neve stared at Dale in thought. He was grateful his cousin was on his side, he wasn’t confident enough to get through it without him.

Dale stood. “I’ll let you get some sleep. I’m sure everything will be alright. No one’s been put to death yet in the family.”

“You don’t know that.” Neve told him.

Dale shrugged, “You’ll be fine. Tell them the truth that’s the best you can do.”

Neve nodded and Dale left the room leaving the light on. Neve stared at the door and getting up he turned the light off and climbed back into bed.

Tell the truth. The truth was the one thing he couldn’t tell anyone.

Three days before the council meeting Seth pulled Neve up before he left the apartment.

“What do you intend to tell the council?”

Neve stared up at Seth expecting to see anger but instead he saw concern.

Neve sighed, “That he found me first, and we discussed what was happening to us. That he wanted to understand what happened to him but I couldn’t help him.”

“How many times will you tell them you met?”

“Twice. The first time he found me and one other time after that.”

“What do you intend to tell them about why you met a second time?”

“That he was easy going and a nice person and that he became a friend.”

“Even though you knew he would die.”

“I didn’t want to admit that would happen.”

“Yet you knew he had to die?”

“Yes, that was why I decided to stay away and let someone else find him.”

“You should have told Tom where the boy was, or one of us.”

“I couldn’t bring myself to do that.”

“Did you know Nikali found him?”

“No, I didn’t. It must have happened after the second time I saw him.”

“Did he know your name?”

“Yes, but only my first name.”

“Did you talk about us at all?”

“No, never.”

Neve met Seth’s questions with immediate confident answers.

“I’m meeting with the council before you. Because it took too long to find the boy Tom became suspicious. He took a guess one of us must have made contact and the easiest conclusion was you, given you’d miss hunts with us and we’d covered for you. They monitored us. They traced your scent. Found where you’d vanished too. It didn’t take them long after that to find the boy.

“Will Tom be at the council meeting?”

“Yes but they won’t be calling on him, he’ll be there to observe only.”

Neve nodded. Tom took his job seriously, but he never thought the man would be so untrusting of them.

Seth continued, “I intend telling them that I didn’t know you were friends with this boy, nor did I know this boy had contact with Nikali. If they ask why I think you would do something like this, I’m going to tell them you are a weak and struggled with the hunts.”

Neve lowered his head and nodded, “Thank you.”

“I don’t give a toss about who you have sex with Neve but at least wait until after you’ve matured and for our sake make sure they aren’t a bloody half breed.”

With that, Seth turned and walked back into the lounge room. Neve stood a moment, thinking about what Seth had said. He had collaborated his story with Neve’s and for the first time in those three weeks leading up to the council meeting he had both his cousins on his side. Even with Seth still angry with him Neve was relieved Seth talked to him.

Neve left the apartment. All he had to do was get through the council meeting and hopefully he could start getting his life back together again.