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“I… I hear your challenge,” she said breathlessly, pressing the words between her teeth. “But I would hope that we could find a peaceful way to—”

“I was told that you Anima respected the traditions. That you fought when fighting was necessary to determine dominance,” Zev said, his lips curling up in warning.

“We do. I do!” Elreth said, her voice growing stronger, even as her heart pounded so hard she could barely hear anything else. “But we have traditions that must be… I cannot fight you right now. My second isn’t here,” she said, grasping at straws—Aaryn was likely still nearby, though she’d asked him to position himself well beyond the reach of an advancing Chimeran horde.

But to her surprise, Zev didn’t argue, or get annoyed.

He smiled.

He was very handsome when he smiled.

And very coldly terrifying.

“Oh, but he is,” he said quietly. Then turned to look at the woods behind him and gave a sharp, piercing whistle.

.....

Sasha looked at her mate, her expression confused.

Zev caught Sasha’s eye. Elreth wasn’t sure what passed between them, but Sasha’s face paled right before Zev gestured to his right—and Elreth’s left—where four Chimera were emerging from between the trees, poles over their shoulders and some kind of box or…

Cage. It was a cage.

And within it, lips peeled back to bare his teeth, all four legs braced for action, and silver eyes fierce, was a wolf.

A beautiful, strong, very familiar wolf.

“Aaryn?” Elreth whispered as every molecule in her body screamed. And then snarled.

Her body went rigid as Aaryn’s eyes snapped to hers and a whine broke from his chest as Zev looked back and forth between them.

“Zev, what have you done?” Sasha breathed, her tone terrified and angry and so, so sad.

“I’ve done nothing,” Zev growled. “I agreed to come for peace talks and I did. But this male broke through our ranks and was brought to me. I wasn’t the one to break ranks—he was. And yet, I didn’t kill him!” he snarled. “Do you see, Elreth, that I am not the loose screw or hair-trigger you think I am. I’m standing here at your request, I’m playing by your rules—and I’m not even hurting your mate when he comes after me.”

“He would never have—” but she broke off, because Aaryn had been so angry this morning. So upset that she wouldn’t allow them to know she was pregnant. So scared for her—and with good reason, it would seem. Was that… Had he really done this to try and draw attention away from her? Or to remove Zev?

Had her mate tried to kill him? She prayed not.

“So, you see,” Zev continued, everyone staring at him in shock, “Your second is here. You can take a challenge. You are witnessed and supported—just like I am. Our people will all watch, and whoever wins takes all… isn’t that how you do it?”

Elreth swallowed, her head spinning and gut twisted with a tornado of rage and fear as Zev stared at her, and everyone else looked back and forth between them. Waiting.

She couldn’t let herself go. Not by a hair. If she did…

“Yes,” she said faintly. “That is… that is how we do it.”

Aaryn’s wolf snarled, leaping for the bars of the cage, his pure rage echoing across the valley and piercing her heart.

She turned and met his eye, pleading with him, and signed, ‘I will free you.’

“But she can’t!” a voice rose from behind Zev, in among the trees.

A murmur rippled through the people across the valley and everyone turned to see who’d spoken.

To Elreth’s surprise, it was Harth, rushing out from beneath the trees, sweat on her brow making her hair stick to her skin, and Tarkyn right behind her, his face stern and angry—his eyes locked on Zev.

Elreth’s breath caught. She knew that face. Knew that posture.

Tarkyn was on the verge of violence. He must have learned about Aaryn.

Aaryn, dear God. Elreth closed her eyes for the briefest moment, throwing up a prayer for her mate. They had to let him go. Had to. She had to make certain they did. And she couldn’t, under any circumstance, vent her rage until they had.

She raised a hand to stop Harth, but the female rushed forward, sprinting to Zev’s side, her breath heaving, her chest rising and falling, swallowing hard as she tried to speak.

“You can’t fight her. You can’t. She’s pregnant.”

A new gasp—this time on both sides of the valley—rushed through the valley, threatening to ripple the grass with its force.

Elreth’s heart sank as Zev turned his eyes back to her, his brows pinched to a V, and his eyes fierce.

She met his gaze evenly. But neither of them had a chance to speak, because it was Sasha who gasped, “What?!” then turned to face her mate.

When he didn’t immediately look at her, she stepped between him and Elreth, putting herself with her back to Elreth.

Elreth was humbled and a little scandalized. Did this woman know nothing about combat and risk? She turned her back to El who could have kicked her legs out from under her and had her back in a chokehold before Sasha even knew what happened.

A low growl began, so quiet and soft, at first Elreth didn’t register it, until she closed her hand to a fist, and Zev was snarling.

Elreth looked up from Sasha’s vulnerable back to meet his eyes and shook her head.

She might see the vulnerability. It didn’t mean she would exploit it.

His eyes narrowed, but then he looked down at his mate who was gesturing with both hands.

“No! Zev! No! No more! This is done! You cannot fight her!”

Zev’s lips went tight, but Sasha shook her head vehemently. “Done. This is over—half the reason you’re angry at her is because of her potentially hurting Zan—you said it, you said that was unforgivable. Well, live by your own rules, Zev! If she can’t harm your child, you can’t harm hers.”

Elreth’s brows popped up—her enemy’s mate standing in the gap for her? The woman should have been Anima.

“I would never have hurt her if she’s pregnant,” Zev growled. “That is… new information,” he said bluntly, his expression sullen.

Sasha’s shoulders rose and fell once. “Well thank God for that much, at least.” She had her hands on his chest to hold him back, but Zev just leaned around her to meet Elreth’s eyes.

“But that doesn’t solve our problem,” he said, leveling a finger at Elreth’s chest.

El nodded, and sighed. She could certainly see that that was true.

“So, choose your Champion,” he growled. “And I’ll fight him—since it will obviously be a him.”

Elreth froze at the same time Sasha gasped, “No! Zev—”

“I’ll do it.”

There was a still moment where it seemed even the air in the valley didn’t move, then all eyes and ears turned—including Elreth’s.

Tarkyn stood at his mate’s side, Harth who was bent forward, panting heavily, obviously panicked at the idea of Zev attacking a pregnant woman.

He put his hand on his mate’s shoulder who was staring at him in confusion, but he just locked eyes with Zev.

“I’ll do it. I’ll represent the Anima on Elreth’s behalf. I’ll accept your challenge.”

“Tarkyn, NO!” Harth shrieked, grabbing for his arm.

Murmurs and conversation bubbled around the valley on both sides, punctuated by Harth’s pleas.

But the two males only stared at each other, tension crackling between them. And Elreth’s heart sank. Because Tarkyn was right. He was absolutely the right male to stand in her stead.

For more reasons that he would probably ever realize.