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Elreth stared the wolf down, teeth bared and breath tearing through a throat narrowed by his grip. If she died, she would die making certain he knew she had not been cowed.

But to her disbelief, the moment came. The wolf-with a snarl, and movements as sharp and fast as a whip-shoved her away from the bars, and stole the soldier’s spear.

Elreth sucked in a deep, necessary breath, her entire body trembling so hard that her knees threatened to give out. But she couldn’t give in to that chittering terror again. As Aaryn rushed to her side, his scent painted in fear and rage, she put a hand up to stop him taking hold of her. Because if he touched her, she would crumble. She knew it.

She could not crumble.

“Leave. All of you,” Tarkyn ordered so sharply Elreth almost overrode him-he dared order her? But she was afraid to speak, afraid she could crack into pieces and reveal her fear. “Leave us alone completely. I’ll tell Harth through the bond when we’re done talking and she can bring a guard to unlock the door. Let us talk. Let me hear him. Let him be heard.”

There was a silent moment where everyone considered his words-including Elreth. But she couldn’t breathe. She could barely think beyond the sudden, insistent need to be gone from that place, from these people.

And so, holding herself in quiet, trembling check, she swallowed hard then began to issue the necessary orders to make certain that Tarkyn would be given the opportunity to make up for his betrayal. She prayed the Creator would keep him safe as she told the guards to leave the prison, and her brother and mate to move with them.

She held her chin high and didn’t let her eyes waver from the enemy wolf’s until everyone else had gone. And then she walked out slowly, letting her gaze catch on Tarkyn as she passed, wondering if she would ever truly trust him again.

.....

And wondering whose fault it was if she didn’t.

Then she stepped out of the prison tree into the glaring sunlight of the clearing outside and closed the door firmly behind her.

The temptation to hold onto the door, just to have a grip on something solid was overwhelming, but she made herself turn away and face them all.

Everyone stared-her brother, her mate, the healers, the guards.

Aaryn stepped forward, one hand raised, his face a mask of grief and fear. “El-”

“Not. Here,” she snapped.

Forcing herself to meet the eyes of the guards she made certain they would watch over Sasha and the baby, and Harth-though the female looked like she’d rather crawl back inside the Prison Tree where her mate was currently held by her Alpha.

Then Elreth finally let herself meet Aaryn’s eyes.

‘I need a moment,’ she signed. Then without even waiting for his shocked response, she turned, sucking in a great, gulping sob of air, and threw herself into her beast, galloping away from the stunned expressions of everyone who’d seen her stripped so easily of her power.

*****

She tore out of her beast in the clearing where the Weeping Tree grew-that great, hulking trunk that spread it’s long branches and grew vines of leaves that dangled in a thick, impenetrable curtain, all the way to the ground.

Shaking like one of those leaves, she shoved between the shimmering wave of green to the space under the boughs, stumbling into the great, wide circle in the shadow of the tree, like a tent covering nothing but dry earth and leaves and the twisted roots of the tree.

She staggered to a halt, her breath wheezing until she felt like there was no more air. She turned a circle, stunned, unable to focus on anything except the next breath, but as she cast mindlessly around, her neck stung and she touched it thoughtlessly-her fingers coming away with a smear of red where she’d been cut. Right over her artery.

Nausea tumbled her like a wave. She threw herself to the edge of the tree’s cover, emptying her stomach under its leaves over and over, until her body ached.

But her throat wouldn’t close. She couldn’t breathe. Her body convulsing as she was left standing there, gaping, grasping for something, anything to hold onto as she desperately tried to draw breath-

“EL!”

Her mate hit her from the side, sweeping her up into his arms, his voice a ragged cry. The impact shoved the last of the air from her lungs, making her cough. But as he pulled her up and into his chest, burying his face in her neck and sobbing his relief, Elreth could finally breathe.

Clinging to him as tightly as he held her, she let her head drop back and sucked at the air, tears trailing from her eyes to drip into her hair.

“El, thank the Creator. My god, I thought he was going to kill you.”

Aaryn trembled under her hands, his entire body shaking, his fingers digging into her side and thigh so sharply he would leave bruises, but she didn’t care. She didn’t care.

She’d thought she was going to die too, and all she could think was about how close it had been. How desperately, needlessly close she’d come to-

“El, look at me. Look at me!” Aaryn dropped her legs so she could stand, but she was so shaky, she almost fell. She stumbled, then grabbed at his iron arms as he clutched at hers and put himself in her face. “Look at me, El.”

She made herself look up. A sob broke in her throat at the screaming terror in his eyes and she put a trembling, uncoordinated hand to his gorgeous, loving face. “I’m ok-okay,” she said, her teeth chattering.

“You’re in shock. You need to sit down.”

“I’m okay!” she whispered. But she didn’t protest when he wrapped an arm around her waist and led her to the trunk of the tree where he sat in the bowl at its roots, and helped her down to sit between his thighs, with her back to him so she was surrounded by his arms, his warmth, his scent.

And as she gripped his arms circling her and her breath came in gasps, she prayed for her incredible mate, too. Because without him, she might just have lost her grip on this world.