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*****

~ SASHA ~

Zev went rigid under her hand and Lhars immediately stopped smirking.

Sasha kept her hand firm on Zev's chest. It was a measure of how weak he still was that she was confident she didn't need help keeping him down.

"Who's on the team?" Zev asked, his hand tightening on hers.

"No team," the Sentry said. "Just a single male. I don't know this one."

Lhars and Zev looked at each other.

Who would it be? Sasha asked Zev in his head.

I don't know. I've never seen any of them come alone before.

Sasha frowned. It couldn't be a coincidence that they were looking for her and Zev and this was the first time they did something different.

"What's our risks, with just one of them?" she asked them all quickly.

Lhars frowned. "My guess is that someone has come through ahead of the others and is just waiting for them to arrive. They don't brave the walk alone."

The Sentry shook his head again. "Dunken sent me running," the male said, and Sasha realized his shoulders and chest were heaving. He spoke quickly and calmly, but his body was clearly still recovering from something. "The male arrived and immediately started towards the village. He's moving slowly, clearly afraid. But he's coming. The Captain's moved to intercept if he reaches the branch of trails before you've made a decision. But he's not waiting for anyone else."

Zev growled and Lhars cursed.

Sasha looked at Lhars. "You said Yhet's outside?"

"Yes."

"Okay, let's move. We'll go see who it is and make sure they're alone. If they are, I'll talk to them."

"What? No!" Zev growled, bracing on the bed.

She shot him a look. "This is exactly what we talked about. The strength I can bring is in dealing with the humans. What better way to start than with a single one?"

"They can't be trusted—they know who you are to me, Sash!"

"I know. It's why I said we'll make sure he's alone." She turned to Lhars again. "We need two or three of your most silent, most reliable fighter types. I want them to get him without warning and remove his weapons, then free him. Just make sure he's completely disarmed—they'll need to smell him and search him for hidden blades."

Lhars nodded. "I know exactly who to ask."

"Good. Who's the best organizer and… who can get most of the people moving quickly and keep them moving?"

"To what end?"

Sasha looked at Zev, who was glaring, but not interrupting. "We're moving back to the City. Temporarily, under this circumstance. But get the males out of the village and heading for the City with just enough to keep them going for two or three days."

"Sash," Zev growled.

"Keep thirty or forty of the best fighters here—doing normal things. Not like they're ready for a fight. Just… living. If this guy makes it to the village, I want to hide that we've had everyone else move. So we need males that can look casual and do… whatever normal daily things are for you guys."

Zev sighed. "Use the hunters. They're strong, but most of them have other trades and responsibilities as well, for the months when there's plenty."

Sasha looked at Lhars, who nodded again. "I can pass the word."

"Okay. Tell them that anyone who can move is take what they can carry and head for the City." Then she had a flash of inspiration. "Yhet?" she called, pulling her hand out from under Zev's and stalking for the door.

"Yes?" his deep rumble answered from outside before she got the door open. He beamed when he saw her, and Sasha smiled back, forcing herself not to hug him. She didn't want to create more tension with Zev just then. "It's good to see you, Yhet. Can you get a message to Oksa, or… whoever heads up the messengers? We need to get some information moving quickly."

"I just saw Oska near the trough. I can find him again."

"Great. Tell him we need a couple to head to the City—ahead of everyone else arriving—and let the twins know that things are moving faster than we anticipated. That the people will start arriving today."

Yhet looked surprised but nodded. "I'll go now."

"Thank you, then find us—if we aren't here we'll be moving towards the trail to meet the human."

He nodded again. "I'll see you there, Sasah-don," he said quietly and saluted once before turning on his heel and pounding off across the clearing, his running steps shaking the entire building.

When she got back inside, the three males were gaping at her.

"What?" she asked. Had they been talking? What had she missed.

"You," Zev said, his shock giving way to a smile. "Being all… Alpha."

Sasha snorted, but inside her chest fizzed. He was right. She was.

Holy shit.

"I have a question," Lhars said, rolling his eyes.

"What is it?"

"Why are you making everyone leave now? If more humans are here, travelling is more dangerous. We can't know who they'll head off or get their hands on. We won't know until we have everyone together again and they're missing. The team always comes in threes or fours. Just one is… an anomaly."

Sasha nodded. "Good point. Have the Clans use the buddy contact system. We'll keep track of everyone who leaves and make sure they all arrive."

"But why now?"

"If we can fool them into thinking nothing has changed, we will," Sasha said shortly. "If it's me they want to talk to, that'll happen without interfering with anyone else. But if they figure out I've sent everyone else to the City, then they know it's going to be harder and harder to come back here. I'm not closing down communications with them, but I'm making it clear that they don't get to just walk in and run the place. And the easiest way to do that is to limit their access until we know how they've been controlling Xar. Just in case… in case they can do it to me."

Zev growled, but Sasha didn't waver.

"I want all of you to be completely clear with everyone you speak with: If anything happens to me, Zev is Alpha and Lhars, you're second. Dunken remains Captain. I don't know how you've done it in the past, but we don't have time for rituals or—"

"It's fine, Sasha," Zev said quietly. In her head he said, nothing's going to happen. You're going to be fine.

Sasha took a deep breath.. She hoped he was right.