~ SASHA ~

When they started up the trail to the cave mouth, Sasha could barely breathe. She had to force herself to focus on the others. Inside she wanted to scream. Fear of what was happening. Fear of leaving Zev. Leaving Thana. Fear of... she didn't even know this man. All that fear underlined by Zev, the echoes of his pleading and demands. He was still scratching at her mind, pleading with her. The piece of him inside her pulling back, threatening to suck out of her heart and through her spine, to flee back to him. She was beginning to tremble.

With Yhet on one side and Dunken on the other—both silent, though Yhet's face made his opinion on this whole situation very clear—Sasha decided to let the creatures torture Nick because she didn't have energy to do anything else. Ernie scuttled along, just inside the tree line, just in their peripheral vision. Every time he moved, Nick twitched.

When she spoke to Dunken and Yhet, it was the quietest breath of a whisper she could manage so Nick wouldn't hear it. "You both need to go straight back to Zev once I leave. He's… he's going to be falling apart. He doesn't trust Lhars yet. He'll need you."

"Sasha," Yhet sighed, casting a dark look at Nick. "Are you certain?"

"Utterly," she said, shaking her head and rubbing Yhet's broad arm. "This is our only chance. I can convince them to let the females go, or learn how we'll steal them back. I'm certain of it."

Dunken's face didn't move, but she could sense his skepticism. She was grateful that the man didn't give voice to his thoughts. She didn't want to worry Yhet any more than he already was.

"You two need to make sure Zev doesn't hurt himself. He's going to want to come after me. Don't let him do it until he's healed—by which time I'll hopefully be back. But just… you know. Don't let him travel until it's safe."

They both nodded.

Sasha was going to thank them, but just then, a pattering of feet and paws sounded behind them, and they all stopped and turned.

A swathe of dark gray and brown wolves was running up the trail behind them, silently, their eyes fixed on Sasha. She'd told them not to come! Not to interfere! What were they doing there?

She stopped walking, head spinning, asking herself how she was going to handle this when they all reached just a few feet down the trail and slowed, shifting back to their human forms.

And they were all naked.

Sasha felt her cheeks heat, but she didn't let herself think about it. Just locked eyes with Jhon, who was at the front, and told herself not to look down.

"I told you," she said through her teeth, "Stand down."

Jhon nodded, dropping his chin and shoulders in submission. "We don't come to interfere, but to… guard. Make sure you travel safely."

Sasha pressed her lips thin. She was skeptical. But at least they weren't trying to stop her.

"Okay," she said carefully. Then she lit on an inspiration. "It's good that you're here. When I'm gone, you all stay guarding the cave. Make sure the team doesn't come through. We've been told that all that's needed is for the Alpha to speak with them. That there's no need for them to come through if I go. Isn't that right, Nick?"

Nick, swallowed hard, but nodded. "If we catch them before they cross—which we will if we hurry—no one else will come through."

"We'll make sure you're telling the truth," Jhon said, his voice hard. Then he turned back to Sasha. "Do you have any further instructions?"

She didn't, of course. Could barely think straight. But she didn't miss the look of stunned disbelief on Nick's face.

When he turned to her, she just raised an eyebrow. "You're really Alpha?" he croaked. "How the hell?"

"I'll explain later," she muttered.

They reached the mouth of the cave, and Sasha almost cried—her mind full of that moment when Zev had led her out of here, so proud and excited to bring her to his home. And she'd been so uncertain, but so ready to be close to him…

She'd watched him step out into the snow while she tried to take in the vista in front of her, and the look on his face—the sheer joy—had sucked her back into that day when she'd given herself to him. She'd last seen that expression when they lay curled up in her tiny bed and he was holding her.

She'd blinked away the memory and made herself focus on the present, and this incredible winter wonderland.

"Thana?" she asked stupidly.

Zev nodded, his eyes sparkling. Then he looked away from her to scan the gorgeous purple-blue, snowcapped mountain across the valley, the forest sprinkled in snow that reminded her of a Christmas scene, and that rushing river on the valley floor.

"I've wanted to bring you here for so long, Sasha. I can't believe it's finally happening."

"Where is here, exactly?" she asked hesitantly.

He tensed then and it took a minute for him bring his gaze back to hers. "It's… nowhere you're familiar with," he said. "And I can't tell you how to get here because you won't be safe if you know. Just… just trust me, being here makes you as safe as it's possible to be in my world…"

His world. He'd meant that so much more literally than she'd taken it at the time.

And she'd been so grateful to be back in his arms. To have him again. To be close. The last few days of their solitude had been a dream come true.

So, how was it possible she was the one walking away now?

She cleared her throat and stopped before they entered the cave, turning to talk to the Chimera that all pressed in, their eyes dark and sharp on Nick, but attentive when they turned to her.

She almost laughed hysterically, but she swallowed it back.

"Okay, so we're going to go now," she said to the gathered Chimera. Yhet made a low, puttering growl in his throat, but she turned and put her hand on his arm. "I'm going to be safe. Zev is the one who needs you, okay? I'm going to my home—I know how it works. I have support there. I'm not as… helpless as I am here."

Many of the Chimera shifted on their feet.

"I'm far more confident over there than I am here, so don't worry about me. But worry about Zev. Keep him resting and healing until I get back, okay?"

Dunken bowed low, one fist on his chest. "We'll do as you say," he said, his voice rough and tight. "Do you have any other tasks for us while you're gone?"

"Just that one," she said sadly. "Don't let him hurt himself."

Dunken thumped his chest. "I vow it."

Sasha sucked in a breath as Yhet edged forward his eyes cutting to Nick with a flat glare, but when he put his arms around her and patted her hair. Sasha almost squawked when he pulled her into his stomach and his fur went up her nose, but she just patted his sides—which were all she could reach—while Yhet rumbled at Nick.

"If she does not return safely. If she does not return quickly… I will hunt you down," the huge man said, his voice a low, rumbling growl "If you hurt her, if you cause her pain, if you do not return her… I will snap your neck—but only after I have feasted on your guts."

Sasha was so startled, the hair on the back of her neck standing at the sight of Yhet, his teeth bared and that low growl that seemed to make the very dirt vibrate.

Nick raised his hands in surrender. "I don't… I won't hurt her. I want her safe too."

Yhet's upper lip curled away form his teeth and for a moment she saw the creature that humans would see if they ran into Yhet in her world—a humongous, feral man with teeth wider than her fingers and an unpredictable light in his eyes…

If she didn't do something quickly, this wasn't going to go well. So she stepped out of Yhet's arms and urged him to step back from Nick.

"Thank you," she said, then turned to look at Dunken and the wolves. "Thank you, all of you. Please don't worry. Just keep things calm while I'm gone. And hopefully I'll return with good news. Are you ready, Nick?" she said, clasping her hands together to stop them shaking as the man backed away from Ernie, who'd scuttled right up behind him again.

"Yes, yes. Let's do this. I'll go first if you aren't prepared yet."

"Prepared?"

"To cross the Gateway. You remember when you came through? The certainty? The…" he trailed off frowning at her look of confusion.

"I have no idea what you're talking about?" Sasha said. "Certainty of what?"

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