GAR

Gar stormed out of the cave and through the clearing outside where Aaryn stood, nervous but determined, waiting for him. Gar slapped the paper Rika had written into his chest and Aaryn grabbed it with a low growl, stuffing it into the pocket of his leathers.

They glared at each other, but Gar knew he wasn’t really angry at Aaryn. He was angry about losing time with Rika—that the Creator always seemed determined to make him hunt for happiness.

“I’m going to shift, and you’re going to ride me to the cave,” he said through his teeth.

Aaryn’s jaw pushed forward and his face got tight. It was humiliating for a Protector to be carried by someone else’s beast. They avoided it in every situation that wasn’t an absolute emergency.

“There’s no one else here to see,” Gar snapped. “And I’m not spending a minute away from her that I don’t have to.”

They stared a moment longer. Gar hadn’t put his Alpha authority behind the words and a part of him was curious what would happen if he did. Technically Aaryn outranked him. He wondered which of their wills was stronger.

Then he remembered that he was the one leaving his mate at Aaryn’s urging, and huffed his irritation.

“Fine,” Aaryn said. It was a small victory, but Gar needed one so he took it. He stepped aside and shifting, urging his beast to stillness and calm as a dominant male climbed aboard his back.

Then his beast launched into a run, claws out and gripping the dirt to power through the forest as quickly as he was able.

*****

Gar took himself back when they were a few minutes walk from the portal cave clearing, tumbling Aaryn to the dirt because he didn’t warn him.

Aaryn got to his feet, brushing off his leathers and growling in his throat, but Gar was too pissed even to grin about that. He couldn’t believe this was how he was spending this morning.

Fuck he was tired.

“We aren’t there yet,” Aaryn said as Gar started walking and Aaryn fell in step with him.

“I want the guards to hear us coming, and apparently you need some coaching,” Gar growled.

“Oh, right,” Aaryn said, then sighed heavily.

Gar looked at him from the side and softened a bit. His brother was so pale he was almost glowing in the dimly growing light of almost-dawn in the forest.

“You’re going to be fine, Aaryn,” Gar said, trying to keep his tone reassuring. “You’ve got the spine for this. You’re going to stay safe.”

“It’s not me I’m worried about, it’s Elreth,” Aaryn mumbled.

Gar nodded. “That’s good. That’s where a Protector’s heart should be. Your love for her is your shield. Just don’t let them turn your head. Focus on what you gain by staying true, not on whatever they spew at you.”

“It’s all lies, right?” Aaryn said carefully.

“Not all of it. They have a fucking annoying habit of mixing truth and lies until you can’t keep them straight. But the thing to remember is that they are evil. Even if they tell you the truth, they aren’t telling you all of it. And… frankly I think they usually don’t even know if what they’re telling you is true or… I don’t know. I’ve just heard so many stories at this point. And they don’t all come true, and the ones that do, they don’t come true the way you fear.”

“What does that mean?”

Gar raked a hand through his hair. “Well, like Uncle Gahrye for example—when he went through the first time they told him Kalle was his mate, which was true, but they said he couldn’t have her unless he gave over to them. Now, did they mean he couldn’t get her in the traverse and get her over to Anima? Because that’s true. But he got to have her as his mate by staying with her in the human world. So were they lying? Did they know they were lying? Or did they think they’d get him and… I don’t know. And it turns my head in loops when I try to figure it out. All I know is, you can’t believe all of what they say. And even what’s true probably won’t work out the way they try to make  you fear. So just… don’t listen. Just don’t listen. It’s not true!” he said, a little more forcefully than was needed.

Aaryn looked at him strangely. “What do they tell you?”

“Doesn’t matter because it’s not true.”

Aaryn looked at him skeptically, but thankfully for Gar they reached the cave clearing then, the trail fading out into the thin grass. The river curving off to their right, behind the trees, the cave squatting in the mountainside to their left.

Gar never failed to have to take an extra breath when he came here. He’d heard all the stories—his father killing the she-wolf that had almost killed his mom and had killed Candace. The confrontations with Lerrin. And Gahrye’s terrifying argument with the Bear Alpha, Gawhr. All the disformed had stories about this place—hearing from the Creator, big decisions suddenly becoming clear. And then there was Gar’s own experiences. His father’s words to him when they’d all come here last time…

He shook his head. He couldn’t afford to give his thoughts to those things now. Aaryn was going to cross the traverse for the first time and—

Two equine guards materialized from within the trees, both holding spears, but their faces surprised.

“Gar? Aaryn?”

“It’s an emergency,” Gar said quietly. “We couldn’t give you warning, sorry. We had to just come. Orders of the Queen.”

Aaryn looked at him sharply and Gar frowned. Elreth knew he was here… didn’t she?

Both the guards looked at each other, but one of them shrugged, then turned and whistled a signal to whoever else was posted nearby and watching them.

“Any other activity?” Aaryn asked them quietly.

The first male shook his head. “Nothing.”

“That’s good. That’s good,” Aaryn said, his voice trailing off to a mutter. With a nod to the guards, Gar clapped him on the back and started walking towards the cave mouth

Neither of them spoke as they walked into the vine-trailed darkness of the cave.

Gar knew this cave like the back of his hand at his point. He could have walked to the portal with his eyes closed. But there was no need. Two more guards stood either side of the side-tunnel that held the portal, but they’d been set down by the whistle and were squatting on their heels, backs to the cave wall, talking softly when Gar and Aaryn approached.

They offered submission to both of them, using the salute for Alphas. It took Gar a moment to realize that was for him, not Aaryn.

His guts twisted, half in pride, and half in discomfort.

That was going to take some getting used to.

But he and Aaryn both acknowledged the salutes, then turned into the tunnel and were soon standing outside the portal.

Aaryn stared at it, his face drawn and tight.

Gar watched him carefully. “You know I can’t do this for you, right? Tell me what you have to do.”

“Slit my skin so I bleed. Focus on what’s right and true. Walk towards the light at the other end—never turn from it. Deny anything they offer. Deny anything they threaten.”

Gar nodded. “And don’t forget to keep breathing, and keep walking.”

Aaryn nodded. “There’s got to be more to it than that?”

Gar shook his head. “Nope. That’s what I’m telling you, Aaryn. This isn’t about what you do. This is about who you are. You make it through this, you can make it through anything.”

Aaryn took a deep breath and clapped his hands together, swinging his arms. “Well then… let’s do this.”

“You sure? You feel certain about what you’re here to do?”

“Absolutely.”

Gar gave his brother a smile and clapped his back again. “Then let’s do it.”

Aaryn pulled his knife from it’s sheath at his hip and blew out a breath as he drew it along his inner forearm.. When it was dripping and the portal in front of them began to glow with that eerie blue light, he wiped the blade on his thigh, then resheathed it, looked at Gar who clasped his shoulder with a proud squeeze, then followed him through the portal.