~ ZEV ~

He must have fallen asleep. He'd been dreaming that Sasha was running, crying, running away from him, but trying to help him. It made no sense.

But then he tried to roll over, to tell her about the dream, and his entire body lit up in fire and pain.

"Stupid fucking puppy… convinced he's a big dog." The low, muttered voice was familiar, but jolted him awake properly, and he tried to sit up, but his body wouldn't let him.

Zev grunted and caught himself, shivering and alight with pain.

When he blinked a few times, only able to keep his eyes open in a squint because the light hurt them, it was to find Skhal kneeling over him, shaking his head.

"Can you see me?" the older wolf asked quietly.

"Yes. I have a fever. I'm not blind."

"Yet," Skhal said ominously.

Zev opened his eyes again, wincing at the pain and sighed. "You have to keep Sasha safe. She's running. Really slowly."

Skhal snorted. "She's crashing through the forest like an angry boar, screaming for Yhet. If he isn't close, the entire village will find her pretty soon."

"You didn't meet her? Tell her you were here?"

"I came from behind you. I thought you'd be coming back later in the day. I was hunting, but caught your scent—and could smell that you were sick. What the fuck were you thinking, Zev? Staying away when you had an infection?"

"I didn't realize until yesterday. And I thought… I thought I'd be fine. But we got delayed."

Skhal growled and dug into a foraging pouch at his belt. "Chew on this," he said, holding out a couple dark green leaves.

Zev recoiled. "I can't eat… even the idea—"

"Don't eat. Chew. Let the nectar work through your mouth. You'll swallow enough to help. It'll bring the fever down until they get a healer here."

Zev nodded and opened his mouth, let Skhal put the leaves on his tongue.

"Now don't choke or do anything else stupid. I'm going to beat her back to the village and get the healers. She's going to get herself killed running like that. She sounds like panicked prey."

Zev huffed. "I'll teach her."

"You better. We can't have an Alpha that our enemies can hear coming from a mile."

He sighed as Skhal straightened. "Thank you, friend," he said quietly. "I'm grateful."

"You're welcome. Just remember this next time I tell you you're being stupid. Because it means you are."

Zev nodded and smiled, chewing the leaves carefully as Skhal stepped back, shifted, and darted silently down the trail.

*****

~ SASHA ~

She didn't know how long she'd been running—she thought it was only fifteen minutes or so—when the trail wove around a large tree and as she rounded its trunk, she found a man standing there, staring.

Sasha slid to a halt, blinking and panting. She didn't recognize this one, hadn't met him before. But the male, his eyes wide, scanned her face, then dropped his chin and eyes to the dirt at his feet and nodded a bow.

Sasha wasn't sure what the greeting was from an Alpha to an unknown male, but Zev's instructions echoed in her head and as she leaned on her elbows, her entire body heaving with her breath as she shoved the words out.

"Zev is… infection… he's back on the trail… need the healers… NOW!"

The male's eyes went wide, then he nodded once and turned back towards the village, leaping into an Ibex, like Dunken except his horns were half the length, and galloped back down the trail.

Sasha hoped he was going to notify the healers. But realized she had to keep running. She couldn't risk.

"YHET!" she screamed as loud as she able, then swallowed, desperate to wet her throat, before pushing herself back into a run. "Yhet, where are you?!"

Just a handful of minutes later she saw shadows moving further up the trail, and soon they materialized into several bodies—including a owl, flying over the backs of the others. Then, just as she could make them out they all shifted back into their human forms—most with faces she didn't recognize, but Skhal and Kyelle jogging on either side of those at the front.

Sasha almost cried with relief, but reminded herself that she had to be Alpha. She stumbled to a halt in the middle of the trail and let them come to her as she caught her breath again.

"Zev!" she gasped, "he's—"

"We know," Kyelle said quickly. "Skhal found him and came in his wolf, running as the crow flies. You've done well to get this far, Sasha-don. You can rest now."

She waved the woman off. "Don't worry about me. Get to Zev. Now. He's got an infection and he's going down fast. His fever is… really bad."

They all bowed their heads, then started past her on the trail, which was when she noticed Lhars directly behind Kyelle, his face solemn. He nodded to her as he passed, but Kyelle reached the trail behind her and shifted again, Sasha caught his elbow.

His lips peeled back as if he would growl, but he caught himself and turned to face her, shifting so the followers had room to pass on the trail, his eyes bright and jaw tight. "Yes… Sasha-don?" he added as an afterthought.

She thought of what Zev would do, and gave him a warning look, never breaking the eye-contact. "Aware of the others still shuffling past before they shifted, one by one, to run down the trail, she kept her voice calm and determined. "Do you want the humans out of Thana? For real?"

Lhars' throat bobbed, and he nodded once, the edge going out of his gaze. "Yes. What do you need?"

"I need you to bring together the Alphas… or, or whatever council that comes together to lead the clans."

"I can make that happen. How quickly do you need them?"

"How quickly will Zev heal from a serious infection?"

Lhars' brows pinched over his forehead. "If it's bad, he'll need two days to be functional. Another one or two before he's not weary anymore."

Sasha nodded, she prayed Lhars wasn't exaggerating. Zev had assured her he would heal the wounds while they were gone—just four days. It seemed like this had t be worse. But he'd have help too…

"Okay, set it for three days from now. In the meantime, can you get the Wolf Council together for me tonight? I have an idea and I need their input to refine it."

Lhars' eyebrows shot up. "Yes. Do you want to meet them at the cave again?"

Sasha blinked. She hadn't thought of that. "I'm not sure… I want to be close to Zev. Is there somewhere more central we can meet privately?"

Lhars nodded. "Yes. I'll sort it out. After the evening meal?"

"Sure."

He nodded once and turned as if he would leave, then hesitated. Looking back up the trail, over her shoulder, he frowned. Then met her eyes again.

"My brother is a good male," he said, as if the words hurt him to say. "And I would have followed him. But… but I see there might have been unique challenges to having him in control again. Hearts that might have struggled to trust, you understand?"

Sasha nodded. Yes, she did.

Lhars raked a hand through his hair. "Perhaps… perhaps you being here is a provision we didn't foresee, but I don't question it." Sasha raised a skeptical eyebrow at that, but Lhars just grinned. "Well, no more than I would for anyone who wasn't me," he said with a dry chuckle.

Sasha wasn't sure how to respond to that, but in the end she didn't have to.. Lhars ducked his chin once, muttering, "Sasha-don," then shifted into his wolf between one stride and the next, and took off down the trail towards the village.