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*****

~ SASHA ~

No one moved or breathed. Sasha knew without Zev telling her that her response here was critical. She could give this woman no reason to snap—and no reason to see her as weak.

Dear Lord, how was she supposed to walk that line?

Sasha swallowed her fear. "The humans came looking for me, Aurelia. They wanted to take me out of here because they understand that I'm dangerous to them."

"How are you dangerous to them?"

"Because I can walk in their world, and reveal their secrets without being a secret myself, because I'm just a plain human."

Zev sucked in hard like he'd been sucker-punched and Sasha froze again. She wondered what he saw that she didn't, but she was too scared to take her eyes off the young woman to find out.

"Plain is right," Aurelia sneered.

Sasha raised her eyebrows. "I'm guessing if you're taking the time to be mean… maybe you want to drop that arrow so we can talk?"

"Lia… please," Axe said softly. "No more death."

The woman's lips pulled back from her teeth and Sasha braced, certain there would be a twang and she'd feel the slide of that stone arrowhead in her skin.

"I don't want to talk to you," Aurelia growled. But then, without warning, she sighed and slumped her shoulders. The arrow wavered, then swung down to point at the ground, and she loosened the tension on the string. "But I also don't want to kill another female."

Sasha blew out a breath as the calm she'd felt whooshed out of her. She began to tremble. Zev was at her side immediately, babbling in her mind, demanding to know if she was safe. But Sasha couldn't focus.

She could feel the heat of him through his furs.

"Zev," she whispered, alarmed.

Are you okay? Fuck, Sash, I was ready to shift and tear out her throat…

He didn't stop babbling in her head, checking her, running his hands over her hair, her body, checking her for injury or… she wasn't sure what he thought he'd find. All she knew was that he was sick, and they were wasting time.

Still trembling, she made herself turn to him. "Zev, we need to go. You need to get to a—"

Zev grabbed her face and forced her to look at him. KEEP THAT QUIET! He hissed in her head. Then he looked at the twins over her shoulder, then back to her.

They can't be trusted. Not yet. Don't tell them I'm weak. They'll smell the infection, but if they can't see my weakness, they'll think I'm fighting it off.

Okay. Okay. Sasha reached up with a shaking hand to kiss him, then every alarm in her head began to scream. His skin was hot—hot!

But his eyes flashed with the warning and he didn't let go of her face until she nodded, then he turned back to the twins—Axe was comforting Aurelia, who still looked very angry. Sasha was glad they'd been distracted too.

Zev worked hard to stand casually, but she could see the pinch of weariness and pain around his eyes. And she could feel the heat coming off him in waves.

She was no longer concerned that he might be seriously ill. She was convinced. They had to get away from there and get him to the healers. But Zev turned back to the twins like they were there on a visit. Being social!

"Sasha's never seen the City before. I was showing her—but you two would know better what kind of shape everything's in now. We're talking about bringing everyone back. Can you see any issues with that?"

Axe's eyes widened. "No. That would be… great."

"Have you two really been here alone for three years?" Sasha asked. "And the humans didn't come for you?"

"They came a couple of times, but always with Dad and Lhars and… they never found us," Axe shrugged.

"Xar and Lhars would have made sure of that," Zev said, just loud enough for her to hear.

Sasha shook her head. "Why would they trust him to find his own children for them? Why wouldn't they keep him out of the search?"

"I don't think they really cared about the twins," Zev said. "When they're determined, they don't give up. I think it was just… just to keep Xar on his toes. Keep him working to keep them happy."

Sasha needed to move this along, to get them out there. She sighed and turned to face Aurelia personally. "It has to have been hard, being alone that long. I'm sorry it's… I'm sorry it ended this way."

Aurelia blinked several times, but nodded once, tightly, her jaw twitching.

"I want to bring everyone back here. Immediately. Or, as immediately as we can. Before the humans return. Is there enough food and resources here? Anything we'll need to make sure and bring or be prepared to deal with when they come?"

Axe looked at Aurelia, who was still blinking, her eyes shining with unshed tears. Then he answered for her.

"There's plenty of space. A couple of the buildings are caving in, but even without them there's more than enough space for the current population. And food. There's more now, actually, since there's fewer hunters this far out."

Sasha asked a few more questions—things they needed to know, but her mind was only half on the answers. Now that the tension of the danger from Aurelia had passed, Zev seemed to be sagging and she worried that the twins would notice. They needed to get moving.

"Well, thank you, that's all really helpful. If there's nothing else that you think we need to know—"

"What about the humans?" Aurelia asked sullenly.

Sasha blinked. "The whole point of coming here is to avoid them."

The woman snorted. "You think they won't follow you? They dealt with us here for generations before…"

The specter of Xar and his death made everyone tense. Zev's eyes went wolf, zeroing in on Aurelia as he shifted his weight so he half-blocked Sasha from her line of sight.

The woman gave him a flat look. "I'm talking about when everyone's here," she snarled. "We don't want everyone coming back if they're bringing the humans with them. We want to keep our freedom!"

"You think you have a right to tell the Alpha what she can and can't do with the City?" Zev asked, his voice low and threatening.

Sasha put a hand to his arm and almost sobbed. Even his forearm was burning.

"We want you to keep your freedom too, Aurelia," she said quietly. "So help me. Help me understand how we make it hard for them. And how we keep everyone else safe. The only human that will be here, if I have anything to do with it, is me."

Zev snapped his head to look at her, and his voice bloomed in her head.

How exactly do you propose to do that when the gateway's still open?

I don't know yet, she admitted. But we're going to figure it out.

*****

If you're a King of Beasts fan, it's Reth's Birthday (Anniversary?) this Sunday! If you'd like to join me for the LIVE voicechat with Reth Merch giveaways, and some fun surprises, visit linktr.ee/aimeelynn and join my discord chat.. The event will be there at 1pm PST, Sunday, 6 February (Los Angeles date and time!) See you there! (This message added after publication so you aren't charged for the words.)