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Jayah was immediately humbled, and filled with guilt that she hadn’t been utterly clear on her role in freeing Zev.

She wondered if Elreth would still have said those wonderful things if she knew?

But, as if he sensed her temptation to offer the information, Skhal took one step forward and drew Elreth’s attention to him. As he offered gruff, but genuine gratitude and assurance to Elreth that he would pass on everything she’d said, he spoke to Jayah through the bond.

‘Is this for my benefit? Is this a ruse? Is she offering so much because she’s trying to lower our defenses?’

Jayah sighed. ‘No. She’s always been this way—stubborn and headstrong. Prone to pride. But she was raised in strength and humility. When her eyes open and she recognizes her fault, when she sees that she’s hurt or harmed… she always turns around. And she means it. She’ll stay the course. She won’t give up the Anima for the Chimera, but she will do anything she can to smooth the road between them.’

She felt the hope rise in Skhal’s heart, the way his body lightened with it. She only hoped that Zev had found a lightening of his own load since he’d returned to his people. Skhal’s earlier reports on him had not been good.

“I will let you both go to make your preparations soon, but tell me, Skhal,” Elreth said, “I understand that you are close to Zev and Sasha, is that true?”

Skhal nodded. “I’ve known Zev and treated him as family since he was a pup.”

.....

Elreth nodded too. “Then tell me, what can we do to make Zev more likely to listen? More specifically, what can I do to make him hear me?”

Skhal opened his hands. “Save his son.” He said simply. “I don’t know of anything else that would convince him. He’s… steeped in rage right now. His experiences before arriving here and the things that were done to restrain him here… they’ve dredged up pain and fear he’s never really dealt with. He doesn’t have the wisdom of age that some of us do, to understand how to let go. So he’s carrying that. Blinded by it. but his mate… his son… they’re precious to him. Providing for them, saving them… I think that’ll open his eyes.”

Elreth nodded. “Let’s hope so,” she said quietly, then smiled at Jayah. “Okay, you can go. I’ll just leave you to it. Take whatever you need. But tell him… he only needs to name the time and place and I’ll be there. I just need his signal.”

Elreth hurried forward to hug Elreth, grateful that finally she didn’t need to hide her scent. Then she hugged Gar for good measure, and whispered in his ear, “Whatever it is, I’m praying. And I wish I could help. Truly.”

Gar’s arms tightened around her back in a squeeze, but he didn’t speak, and didn’t meet her eyes as she pulled out of his massive arms and turned back to her mate who immediately drew her against his side.

Her mate.

The male she prayed she would never be separated from again.

*****

~ GAR ~

Gar darted out of his and Rika’s home in the Great Tree across the meadow from the Royal Cave, watching over his shoulder to ensure no one was nearby or watching.

He was already an hour later than he’d wanted to be. It had taken forever to get away after the security council meeting and then Jayah’s revelation.

Rika didn’t know he was coming—he wasn’t supposed to be coming. But he needed her. He needed to be close and just… know. The pressure in his chest was growing with every hour that passed, and if he didn’t get out to see her now, he wasn’t going to before the peace talks.

Thoughts of leaving her tomorrow so that he could be there made him want to vomit. But he knew it was unavoidable.

Rika was as safe as she could be, and as far from the potential conflict as he could possibly place her comfortably. She was going to be fine, either way, he reminded himself. But guilt squeezed his chest as he darted into the shadows of the WildWood behind his home and headed south and slightly west.

It was a direction, a road he’d taken more times than he could count before the war, though for an entirely different destination. This was only the second time he’d headed this way since, and his skin crawled, his body pulling at him to remain back and safe in the WildWood, while his heart and soul tugged him forward towards his mate.

It was a terrible time to leave and he knew it. But he thought he’d covered everything that was needed from him before morning, and just in case, he’d left a note for Elreth in their secret hiding place that they’d had since they were teens.

No matter how things had been between them, Elreth had insisted that they have a spot where, if one of them ran or got up to trouble, they would tell the other where they were and when they’d left, so that if anything happened to them they’d know where to search.

Gar knew she’d established it for him, because Elreth had been sickeningly responsible since the day she left their mother’s womb. But no matter how annoyingly reliable his sister may have been before, he was grateful for the backup plan now. He didn’t want Elreth thinking he’d been taken or attacked and roaring into the Chimera while he was snuggling with his mate.

His mate… dear god. The moment he was certain to be far enough out from the City to make it unlikely he’d run into anyone he knew, he strapped his bag around his chest and shifted, running as fast as four legs could take him, urging his beast forward, forward, forward.

It normally took an hour and a half to walk to his father’s fishing cave in his human form. He ran it in barely forty minutes, racing into the little clearing in the shadow of the mountain, with the river to his right and that wide cave mouth in the foot of the mountainside at its western edge.

His mate was here, and now he was too. And that was the way it should be… no matter what was happening.

The fishing cave was nestled in the mountains not too far from the old portal where the Anima used to cross into the human world. It was no longer accessible to them, and yet, most of the population who’d known of its existence still avoided this entire area where so much had happened—and been lost—in the previous years.

Gar blew out a breath and shook himself. He wasn’t going to the portal. He was here. The fishing cave was where he and Rika had had their honeymoon. It was a special place, he reminded himself. The cave had a master-fitted door that looked like the thick bark of a tree had grown to perfectly fit the mouth. His father had asked the masters to make it in his early years as King—one of his few personal indulgences, he claimed.

And that thought led to the image of the twinkle in his father’s eye when he’d spoken of the fishing cave when Gar was young, which sent a pang of grief to his guts. Even in his beast, Gar flinched.

Shoving the difficult memories away, he wrestled back control and made himself stop in the clearing for just a moment, just to catch his breath. He was already going to surprise Rika when he arrived. He didn’t want to frighten her.

Night was falling in the WildWood and Gar took a moment to stand there, watching the sky turn purple, then indigo behind the mountain peak high overhead, his heart pounding in his chest—and pulling him towards the cave.

She was in there, waiting. She might have sensed him approaching. Their bond was odd that way, sometimes allowing them greater access to each other. Especially when emotions ran high.

High emotions.

Right.

Gar nodded to himself, and watched the stars above begin to blink into existence as true dark fell.

He would find out soon. And then… then he would be strong. No matter what. No matter where this took them or… anything. He would be there for her and he would take care of them both and she needed to know that. He just needed a second to prepare. That was all.

He’d been doing his best, putting aside his worry and fear and hope and… everything else to keep his eyes on what was happening back at the Tree City. Rika had wanted privacy, and frankly, he wasn’t ready to talk about it yet, either. Especially now.

That thought, quavering in his bowels, almost had him turning on his heel and running back home. But he wouldn’t. Of course he wouldn’t. Rika was strong. He would tell her the news here, where she could… do whatever she needed to do with it, and then when she came home and this complete clusterfuck with the Chimera was solved… then… well, he didn’t know what then. Only the Creator did. So he would just deal with it. But he would be strong. He wouldn’t put more on his mate than she was already dealing with.

Nodding to himself and shoving down the tangled, fizzing feelings that wanted to eat underneath his skin, he took a deep breath, then walked quickly to the cave, swinging the door open to the warm glow of a fire and pasting a mischievous smile on his face.