~ SASHA ~

It had been such a battle not to respond to the woman's word. To give no reaction, to not allow Nick to see her stiffen, or her expression change.

She rubbed her face on the woman's hair again, then stepped back and clasped her hands together, as if she was happy—but in truth, it was to stop Nick from seeing her hands shake.

Nick suggested they all sit down, so as a group they moved around to the large, sectional couch. Sasha sat on the end, Nick standing behind her, leaning on the couch back, while all the others took various places alongside. Bayley sat where she could see Sasha clearly, and the others gathered around her.

Feeling Nick behind her shoulder gave Sasha an eerie feeling that soon turned to nausea. But she wanted to know these women, so she did her best to stay relaxed.

"If you don't mind," she said carefully, "I don't share your senses… can you tell me which clans you're from?"

Bayley grimaced. "I am a Tiger," she said, then looked at Penny—a wolf. Then the others one by one, until Sasha knew there were three each of the tigers and wolves, and two goats.

No fliers, Sasha noted mentally, and no hares.

Interesting.

"How did you all come to be here?" Sasha asked, innocently, wondering if the women's stories would gel with Nick's.

"This is our home," Bayley said quickly, watching her intently. "We have all been here since our making."

That explained the odd stiffness to their rituals, Sasha thought. These Chimera were… domesticated. Trying to fulfill their instincts, but not being given opportunity to do it. It turned her stomach. She thought about the Chimera in Thana and how… free they were by comparison. Then she realized that the females here had been taken from that freedom and placed in tiny spaces like this, and she wanted to shudder.

But before she could find out any more about the women—females, she reminded herself—Nick clapped his hands and everyone startled. "I still have a lot to show Sasha, but I wanted you all to have a chance to meet her. I'll bring her back later, or tomorrow, so you can get to know each other better."

Sasha wanted to protest—she wanted to know these women better, to try to find some way to help them! But she knew she couldn't become resistant on Nick so soon. So she stood reluctantly, catching Bayley's eye. Under her breath—far too quiet for Nick to ever hear it—she breathed, "I heard you. I'll help."

Bayley didn't respond so Sasha had to hope that she'd heard as she followed Nick from the room, promising to be back soon.

When they stepped back into the hallway and the door clicked behind them, Nick smiled. "That went well."

"Did it?"

"Yes. They're a much harder audience, I think. So you'll find the others easier. They're from Thana. And they know Zev."

Sasha's stomach went cold. They knew Zev? How did they know him? As Alpha? Or as… she was about to ask, but Nick was already pushing the door across the hall open. They were already there?

He walked in, calling much more casually this time for the women to come meet her, holding the door open for her. As Sasha stepped in she was once again greeted by a group of females—only five this time—all tall, but this group was very obviously less healthy. Their eyes were slightly sunken and they all had dark circles under them, as if they hadn't slept. Their faces were gaunt, and their skin sallow. Their hair—blond, brunette, straight, curly—was dull and limp.

Sasha wanted to gather each of them in for a hug, then feed them a burger, but they reminded her of the friend she'd had in college who had suffered through chemotherapy. They looked like if she squeezed too hard, they might break under her hands.

Sasha looked uneasily at Nick—did he see how unhealthy these females were?—but he didn't meet her gaze, only gave the others a small smile.

"This is Sasha," he said significantly.

All five sets of eyes snapped to Sasha's face—none of them with smiles. Sasha's adrenalin jangled at the spike of tension in the room, but before she could think of what to say, one of the females stepped forward and offered her hand—as a human would, to shake.

"I'm Shayn," she said stiffly. "I am pack alpha here."

Sasha blinked. "Would you… like to share scents?" she asked carefully, uncertain of the etiquette.

The female stared at her for a moment, then nodded and stepped in, brushing her face against Sasha's hair briefly, as Sasha did the same.

"You've met the others already," she said quietly, her tone giving no indication whether that was a good thing or not.

"Yes, I—"

"You're Zev's?" a small, quavering voice asked from behind the alpha. Sasha looked past her to the smallest of the four, blond and very pretty, but also very frail.

"I… yes," Sasha confirmed.

The female's brow furrowed. "His chosen mate?"

"Yes."

"You walked the ritual?" Her voice got higher with each question, and Sasha felt terrible. Clearly this female either had feelings for Zev, or found something horrifying in Sasha's being human, because terror seemed to coat her thicker with each confirmation from Sasha.

"Yes, and we had the Solitude," she said quietly before the woman could ask.

The females all went very still, staring at her. She looked back and forth between them. "Are you all… wolves?" she asked, her voice hushed, as the reality of this situation came home to her.

"Yes—" Shayn began, but she was cut off by an ear-piercing shriek from the smaller blonde.

"You cannot take my mate! You cannot! I will not survive it!"

She was the smallest of the females, but she launched forward, the sound of fabric snapping and tearing the only warning as she shifted into her wolf in a blink.. Sasha screamed as the animal pounced, bearing her to the ground.