~ ZEV ~

He woke with a start when the fire popped, pushing himself up to sit, wincing as his side sent a lightening jolt of heat through his side and ribs.

His heart was thumping. Sasha was gone. Where was she?

"Sasha? SASH?" he called, pushing to his feet, frantic.

But then the most beautiful sound in the world bloomed in his mind.

Just relax. I'm coming. I just needed to find a place to pee.

Zev winced again—not because he cared about her peeing, but because she had no idea how that scent would be a red flag to any Chimera who came through the City. He would have to tell her to make sure and show her the bathing pools and toilets… well, they weren't toilets. He prayed she come become accustomed to straddling a water stream when they moved here. The city wasn't equipped with the more-human amenities that her tree house had.

Where are you? he asked carefully in her head, trying not to communicate his fear about how far away she was. He heard her as clearly as if she stood beside him.

Just a few buildings away, she replied. I didn't want to get out of sight. How are you feeling?

Better now that I've had a rest, he said quickly, and mostly honestly. He did feel better in the sense that he didn't feel as exhausted as he had. Not quite.

But the pain… the pain was getting worse. His side felt like his bones burned. And his heart rate was up, his blood pressure high. He could tell. His head throbbed slightly in time with his pulse—which he heard as a rushing in his ears.

They were going to have to make this a quick tour so that he could see a healer before dinner. The idea of eating made his stomach turn. That wasn't a good sign—especially when he still had an hour's hike ahead of him.

Listening carefully he could hear Sasha approaching from the north, and he turned, looking for her, waiting for her to emerge from the shadows of the building or out from behind a tree.

Sure enough, her foot scraped on the stone of the open building in that direction, and then he could see her, smiling and waving, though she looked a little pale.

"You know," she said as she crossed the grassy stones toward him, "the more I see of this place, the more I wonder how Xar convinced everyone to leave."

"Maybe he didn't," Zev said as she stepped up close to him and hugged his waist. "Maybe the humans—"

"They left because they were lonely and afraid, and false promises were made. They all wanted to be closer to the place where their mates and mothers and sisters would appear."

Zev whirled, shoving Sasha behind him, Zev cursing himself for not paying closer attention beyond the thudding in his ears, as a young male appeared from the direction they'd entered, his chin low and eyes intent on Zev.

He had blond hair and golden eyes, his skin where it poked out of the furs, tanned and weathered. But his face was still fine. He hadn't found his fullness as a male yet, though he could look Zev in the eye if they stood toe-to-toe.

He was handsome, and graceful as he approached cautiously. But his finer bones and nearly-smooth cheeks gave away that he hadn't yet celebrated twenty summers.

That didn't mean he wasn't deadly.

Zev's heart throbbed and Sasha's too. He could feel hers pattering away at his chest—feel it echo in his chest.

Zev stood, wary. As Sasha peered carefully around him.

Who is that? She asked in his head.

Xar's son.

"Where's your sister, Axe?" he asked as the male stopped fifteen or twenty feet from them, his hands at his sides.

"She's not far away," he said carefully, examining Zev.

Zev's jaw tightened and he raised his voice so it could be heard in all the surrounding buildings. "You tell her if she touches a hair on my mate's head I will take her throat."

Axe's expression didn't change. For good or ill. "Your mate killed our father," he said bluntly.

Well, he was obviously too late to take the sting out of that news.

Zev nodded slowly. "Your father tried to take her from me when he already had a mate. During our fight for Alpha, he attacked her with a knife."

"Your fight for Alpha?" Axe asked, the first expression finally passing his handsome features—anger, but hesitation as well.

Zev nodded. "When he tried to take my mate by his claim as Alpha, I challenged him for Alpha."

Axe frowned and looked at Sasha, then back at Zev. "But… she's Alpha."

*****

~ SASHA ~

Her heart pounded in her ears. She could feel her pulse throbbing in her skin. This male had appeared from nowhere in that silent way the Chimera had. She was having trouble reading Zev, and she didn't want to distract him by talking in his head if this guy was dangerous.

But fear bubbled in her chest and she kept her eyes on this kid who was, apparently, Xar's son.

The question was, where was his twin sister?

The skin on the back of Sasha's neck crawled, feeling eyes on her that she couldn't see. She whirled, still gripping Zev's shirt, but trying desperately to see anything that might help identify the woman.

But Zev kept his focus on the guy. He nodded again, one hand sliding back to hold Sasha's waist, to push her behind him, she was sure, if this guy decided to attack with the knife hanging in a sheath at his belt.

"Sasha's Alpha because Xar ran from me to attack her. She defended herself and killed him. I'm sorry, Axe. I take no pleasure in it, but your father was… there was something wrong. He had lost his mind. Everything he'd done… it broke every tradition of our people."

Sasha's heart went out to the young man when his shoulders slumped and his chin dropped further, as if grief had suddenly weighed his shoulders. But his eyes snapped right back up. Sasha thought he was looking at her, but his gaze shifted, past her, higher than her shoulder.

"I knew it," a soft, female voice hissed from behind them.

Sasha whirled as a female appeared on the second story of the building behind them, holding a long bow, with an arrow nocked and ready to fire. She stared down it at Sasha.

Zev turned quickly, trying to put Sasha behind him while positioning both of them so there was a twin on either side of them. She didn't think he could protect her from both that arrow, and the knife though. Her heart hammered mercilessly.

But they'd barely backed up before the woman's voice rang out.

"One more step and I'll take her heart!"

Zev stopped dead, his hands still back, boxing Sasha in behind him.

"You really, really shouldn't have killed him," the young man said from their right.. "She's been waiting for you."