~ SASHA ~

"Let him go," she said, ignoring Nick and giving all her attention to the two wolves that were holding him.

Lhars hissed something behind her, but she didn't look away from the two males until they both dropped their chins and released Nick's arms.

He stepped forward, closer to Sasha, but stopped abruptly and put his hands up when Yhet pressed in behind her, growling a low, shuddering snarl that made the hair on Sasha's neck stand up.

"I'm not… I'm not going to touch her. I'm just surprised," Nick said, his eyes darting back and forth from Sasha to Yhet and Lhars behind her.

"I find that hard to believe. You knew I was here with him," Sasha said coldly.

Nick nodded. "I didn't know you'd be here, here," he said pointedly, gesturing towards the Chimera around her. "I thought they'd hide you."

"We'd never hide our—" Yhet began, but Sasha snapped her head around glared at him to stop. He snapped his mouth shut, but his expression was surprised.

"Your what?" Nick asked carefully.

Sasha sighed. "I suppose you're going to find out anyway. I'm Zev's mate. We're bonded. You won't be using him for the breeding program anymore."

Nick's brows popped high and his face lit up. "Already? That's wonderful!"

Sasha narrowed her eyes. "You'll forgive me if I'm not ready to believe you're celebrating with us," she muttered.

"No, seriously, that's… that's part of what I was… where's Zev? Is he here? He'll understand, he'll tell you I'm telling the truth—"

"My mate has no desire to see you, Nick," Sasha snapped. "You'd done enough damage to his life and his position here in Thana."

"Sasha, I'm not here to hurt him. For goodness sake, do you think I would have come alone if I was trying to do harm? I could have led an entire team in here and taken you all the moment you showed your faces—I didn't even need to come if that's what we were doing. I'm not trying to hurt Zev, I'm trying to help him! So they won't hurt him! And if we don't get moving the team really will show up and then we'll have a clusterfuck of proportions none of you prepared for. So please… take me to Zev. Or bring him here. I need to talk to him, to explain—"

"Zev would be the first one to kick your ass out of Thana, Nick," she said curtly.

"Only because he thinks I'll hurt you—which I won't. That's why I'm here. He needs to know what they're planning so he can work around it. So you stay safe!"

"Well, then, why don't you tell me what they're planning and I'll pass it on to him."

Nick gave her a patronizing look, like she was a teenager speaking about things she didn't understand. "Sasha, I understand that you care about him. I really do. But I do too—there's no way you understand enough of his life to accurately communicate this to him. I need to do it."

Sasha huffed a humorless laugh. "I'm not giving you another chance to manipulate him."

"Manipulate him? Now, you wait just one fucking second, Sasha, you weren't even there—" Nick stepped forward, apparently forgetting where he was for a moment, because one of the two wolves who had stepped back when Sasha gave them the look, stepped forward and stopped him cold. Then the other slid between him and Sasha.

Nick shuddered and raised his hands. "I'm not… okay, okay, I won't go any closer to her. Dear Lord you people are so fucking twitchy."

"No, Nick, They're sick of being deceived and used and stolen from. It's not happening anymore. Period."

Nick snapped his head to look at her, his eyes alight with anger and although the wolf man stood between them, he raised a hand to point at her.

"You've been here what, a week? You be careful deciding you understand any of this." Sasha was about to put him in his place, but he kept talking. "Zev is my son. I don't care about anyone as much as I care about him. If it weren't for me he wouldn't even be here—and neither would you. I've saved his life more than once—you ask him! For that matter I've saved both your lives."

Sasha folded her arms. "When it suited you. You also threatened my life in a dozen ways to control him."

"For his own good. It got you here, didn't it?"

Sasha narrowed her eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"C'mon Sasha, you really think you're here by accident? You think I just lost track of Zev? He's the most valuable asset we own. We don't lose him, ever."

Something about the ring of truth in those words turned her stomach. Remembering all their technology, she made a mental note to find out if he'd had any shots, might have a microchip or some kind of tracker on his body.

But if that was the case, why would Nick be asking where he was?

"Nick, no one here is going to trust you. And I won't be bringing you to Zev. I might not know everything that's happened, but I know you're in his head. I'm not going to let you keep using him."

"I'm not using him! I'm helping him!"

"If you really want me to believe that, tell me the message, and I'll take it to him."

Nick shook his head, his jaw tight and twitching. "It doesn't work that way. They're too used to seeing Xar in the flesh. They aren't going to settle for a message or—"

"They? Who is 'they'?"

"The team. Xar's been visiting with them and working with them for years. If Zev's taking over as Alpha he'll need to do the same, or they'll exterminate him. It's that simple. The moment they think they've lost control here, they'll kill you all. And none of us wants that. But they're already nervous, they don't trust him. He needs to come back with me and negotiate how we're going to do this. They'll leave you all alone if they're sure they have the Alpha under their control. But if they aren't sure, it's the death knell of every single Chimera that looks human.. Period."