I had lived with the clan for six months, but I felt that I didn't know them very well, nor they me. I was loyal to the bone. I backed them up one hundred percent if there was a street fight or any kind of confrontation, just as they would do for me, if I needed it. But, they were little more than strangers to me. I felt as though I were standing outside a window, looking in on the close knit, family-like group.

One thing was definitely sure. I owed them my life. If it wasn't for the clan, I could very well have been killed six months earlier. For no apparent reason, the clan stepped in and saved me when I had been attacked by a group of thugs on one of the cities dark, back alleys. The clan had arrived and put a stop to the kicks and punches to my head, back, and abdomen. They didn't just stop me from being beat to death, either. They picked me up, took me to their home, and then nursed me back to the land of the living.

When I had healed and was up on my feat again, I expected to be kicked back out onto the streets again. Who, in their right minds, would not only save and take care of a total stranger, much less, want one to tag along with them? Not anyone I had known. The clan didn't kick me out, though. They gave me a choice. Stay with them and be safe or leave and risk another attack. Of course, I stayed.

I indeed felt safe. The clan asked nothing of me, expecting only that I earn my keep. They never pried into me life, or asked about me past. They accepted me as I was, content with the girl that had come into their lives in a back alley, barely alive.

Those six months went by fast for me. I had no doubt that I was one of them. I just wished that I had known them longer, felt the closeness that they had with each other. But, I would live with the fact that they were people I could trust, friends. It was more than I had ever had in my whole life.

The clan ruled the streets of the city. They had an iron, yet caring hand when dealing with the people they ruled. The people in the city were family and family was everything. It worked out quite well for everyone involved, especially in the after math of the Second Civil War. There was not government to speak of. The politicians, which were still living, tried in vain to put back a corrupt system that no one wanted.

I had been a part of that government at one point in my life. I had been a soldier in the government's army. I was just a kid on the streets when they grabbed me, drafted me and taught me to shoot a gun. In my youthful ignorance, I actually though I had been doing the right thing.

A lot of good the army did for me. I couldn't even protect myself against a group of street thugs looking to beat down the first person they saw. All I could do was shoot. It was one of the few things I prided myself on.

The clan taught me how to protect myself, the whole time telling me that I would never be alone in a fight for as long as they were around, for as long as I was around.

I never told them of my past. I wasn't proud, not at all, of the things I had done and seen during the war, or of the people I was fighting for. I didn't want anyone to know what I had been, not even myself.

The clan gave me my name. They didn't bother even asking me what my real name was. They came up with the name as they were saving me from the attack. They told me that as I "keeled" over, I was screaming "Rahh!" Although I remembered that "Rahh!" was a battle cry I learned while in the army, I actually liked it when it applied to a name. It was supposed to scare and startle the enemy during a fight. It sure did me a lot of good that night.

"We should have named you Mouse, as in quiet as . . . " A voice spoke from the door way of my night-darkened bedroom.

I was sitting on the window sill of my third story room, looking out at the war-damaged city. I turned my head to see the leader of the clan, Rhys Kincaid. He was leaning on the door jam, looking across the nearly bare room. I turned my head to look back out of the window. I said, "I was just doing some thinking, is all. It is just one of those melancholy days, I guess."

"You're quiet all the time, Rahkeel," he said, walking into the room to stand next to me, my face pretty much blank of emotion. "You always seem as if you have got a lot on your mind. You're always so concentrated in your thoughts. I've been standing here for nearly fifteen minutes and you have hardly moved at all. Are you all right?"

Looking up at him over my shoulder, I gave a little laugh and said, "You have this amazing ability to read everyone like a book, Kincaid. Yea, I do have a lot of things on my mind, tonight. Private stuff. I have a lot of weight on my shoulders from the past and I need to sort it all out."

"The past doesn't mean anything, Rahkeel," he said, "It has no baring whatsoever on what we do today or in the future. Whatever it is that is bothering you, which has been bothering you, I think you should just let it go."

I looked down to the ground, away from Kincaid's all knowing eyes, and said, "It isn't as easy and all that, Kincaid. But, I am sure I will work it all out in time. Some days are better than others."

There was a brief, yet eternal, moment of silence and us both looked out that broken and empty window that reminded me so much of me. That window, stained and almost useless, was a good picture of what my life had been like.

"Come with us tonight," Kincaid said, "It will do you some good to get out and have a little fun. You're one of us now, but you won't truly be considered family until you get shit-faced fucking drunk at one of Alexander's parties."

I had to chuckle. Alexander's parties were the topic of nearly all the conversations around the inner circle. Nothing the same ever happened twice.

"Sure, I'll go." And, I really did want to go. It would be the first time I had ever publically partied with any of the family and it was about time that I did. Not only that, I really wanted to get shit-faced fucking drunk.

Kincaid patted me on the shoulder and then headed back out of the room. As he left, he said, "Someone will swing by to pick you up at about 8:00. And Rahkeel? I am ordering you to have fun tonight."

"Yes sir!" I said with a laugh.

I held her breath until I was sure that Kincaid was no longer within hearing distance. Then I let it out with a rush and a quick squeal. If the attraction I felt was any stronger, I certainly would have been strangled by it. This was the first time I had felt giddy over another person. Even with all the turmoil that I was going through emotionally, I was finally bowled over by an emotion I had never experienced before. I figured it to be a lustful attraction, knowing that I wasn't capable of really loving anyone. But, who wouldn't feel that way over Kincaid? The man was leader, through and through. Respectful of his position and fair to all those around him, yet strong and commanding. Those traits alone were enough to attract her. But, he was not just those things. He was six feet four inches of muscle that looked to be carved from stone. His long, dark hair, and all-knowing ice, blue eyes were like a magnet for any female eye that passed by him. As far as I could tell, the man had no flaws whatsoever.

Well, maybe there was one flaw. Kincaid had a girlfriend by the name of Amanda. A perfectly beautiful blonde with a perfect body and a perfect personality. It was hard not to like the girl, who had no control over her constant smile and cheerful attitude.

I felt that I didn't hold a candle to Amanda at all, with personality and with looks. I had a long, nasty scar on my face that went from the top of my right cheek bone, near my ear, and ended at my chin. Mixed with other scars on my body from the wars and from the attack, they all served to reminder me that I was nothing and that I would always be nothing.

One of Kincaid's men picked me up right on time. I recognized him and one of the many "runners" that worked for the clan. On the back of a Harley, we drove across town to Alexander's house. The house was an ugly, two story house that served its purpose as party central. There were no other parties that could compare to those of Alexander Cross. Everyone who was everyone went to his parties.

People were crowded everywhere outside of the house. It made me wonder just how crowded it would be inside.