~ SASHA ~

Sasha gaped at the strange, naked man who stared at her like he was only speaking sense. “What are you talking about? I don’t have anything to do with the Chimera.”

Zev stepped forward, between her and the man. “Dunken, please don’t frighten her. She’s new to all of this. And she’s mine. There won’t be any challenges.”

The man turned to Zev, shaking his head. “I don’t know what they told you out there, Zev, but I wasn’t joking when I said you were sorely misinformed. You have to know that the tigers won’t roll over for this?”

“Tigers?!” Sasha cried. “What tigers?”

Zev tensed, putting a hand back to stop her from pressing forward.

He and Dunken glared at each other, that tension she’d felt back at the house with Rob shimmering in the air. It seemed like they were poised for violence. She cursed, realizing her gun was in the duffel bag on Zev’s shoulder and she wasn’t likely to get to it quickly.

“Please don’t be scared, Sasha,” a low, gentle voice said from behind her, taking her arm and tugging her back away from the two males. “The Tigers are really mostly safe—and you’re human, so they’ll listen to you.”

“Yhet, stop filling her head. Let me handle this please,” Zev snapped without looking away from Dunken.

The goat-man smiled at Zev. She’d thought by what they said that they were friends. But the his smile was cold. “You didn’t prepare her?”

“There was no time,” Zev growled.

“Prepare me for what?!”

“Sasha, relax,” Zev said. “Dunken’s going to fill me in on all the… new dynamics, and then we’ll figure it out. We still have a walk ahead of us. So just… don’t worry. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

The words were spoken with calm reassurance. Once again she wanted to just sink into Zev’s voice and pull it over herself like a soft blanket, to give her heart over to it.

But he left! She reminded herself. He left. He left her alone and without word. And now he was… this.

She started to drop her face into her hands, but Yhet took hold of her wrist and shook his head when she looked up at him in surprise. “That will make Dunken think you are only weak, and I can see your heart. You are not weak, Sasha. Do not let them undervalue you. Those who fight should be the biggest and strongest—”

“There will be no fighting! She is mine!” Zev snarled.

Dunken took a step forward, his foot landing on the dirt between them with a shuddering thud and even though he was shorter, he leaned into Zev’s face. “Brother, you have been cocky. You have arrived without the knowledge, without the position. And you have brought her—which puts you both at risk. So either listen and prepare, or I will step aside and let you walk into the bloodbath that will await you. The choice is yours.”

Sasha’s blood ran cold at the sheer certainty in the man’s voice.

Zev shoulders rose and fell once, then his hands unclenched. “Tell me,” he said. “I will listen. But we have to keep walking. She needs a slower pace than we’re accustomed to.”

Dunken nodded, then turned on his heel and began to walk as if nothing had happened. Sasha stared between Zev and the man, but Zev turned once to put a soothing hand up to her. “Walk with Yhet,” he said quietly. “Let me figure this out. And don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.”

So… she did. Shaking her head. Not entirely certain any of this was real. She walked the trail, pushing herself to keep up as brisk of a pace as she could, painfully aware that every male was slowing his natural pace to avoid leaving her in their dust. And that Yhet, with his huge feet and long strides, probably could have crawled faster.

“Don’t worry,” he kept saying, too brightly. “Zev is very clever. He will figure it out.”

Sasha walked with her arms folded just because she felt tense and vulnerable, and uncertain what to do. Zev and Dunken strode ahead, their voices too low for her to hear what they were saying, but obviously Yhet could hear them. Because he kept wincing and pursing his lips. And then every time he’d catch her watching him, he would gently pat her shoulder and force a too-wide smile.

“It’s going to be fine!” he said. “You don’t have anything to worry about!”

And the more insistent his reassurances became, the more nervous Sasha got.

But there was nothing she could do except follow and marvel at this place.

Zev had to have flown her to Colorado, or Canada, or something. She couldn’t think where else the mountains would be so remote that there was no sign of any life at all—no road sound, no lights or marked trails. The entire place seemed utterly natural and, when she looked at Yhet, she realized that’s what it had to be.

This man couldn’t possibly function anywhere within miles of any human settlement. He would have been discovered.

Although it sounds like that might have already happened.

“Have you ever been to New York? Or Philadelphia, Yhet?” she asked at one point in a desperate attempt to get him to stop trying to reassure her.

“I… no. I haven’t,” he said sadly. “I have only been in your world once and that ended so poorly… well, it would be very unwise for me to go back,” he said with a nervous laugh, scratching the back of his neck. His massive arm curled up when he reached back and Sasha swallowed hard. His wavy hair fluttered around his face and neck with the movement of the wind of his passage.

Suddenly struck with bone-chilling fear, Sasha murmured something meant to be agreement, then fixed her eyes on Zev’s back.

Zev was here. That was what she had to focus on.. All the rest… all of the rest they’d figure out.