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AARYN

A moment later Aaryn followed all of their gazes to find Gar sitting, sullen, but shifting uncomfortably, and staring at his own hands.

"Gar?" Aaryn asked carefully.

"I need to speak with you privately," Gar muttered.

Anger flashed. The urge was there to force Gar to admit whatever he was about to say in front of the others. But given their glances, Aaryn figured they already knew, or suspected. And he didn\'t want to have to filter himself if he inadvertently invited something from Gar that the others shouldn\'t be involved in.

So with a muttered curse, he got up from the chair and started stalking back to the sleeping cave—a tunnel that branched off the back of the main cave where several sleeping platforms had been caved into the walls, and the disformed were allowed to stay if there were problems at home.

Aaryn stalked in first, relieved to see and scent that Marryk and Hannah\'s things were still here. They\'d been living here since he and Elreth brought them back to the cave that last morning of their honeymoon.

Was that really less than a week ago? It seemed like he\'d lived a lifetime since then.

Aaryn rubbed a hand over his face and tried to breathe and release some of the tension in his chest. Then he turned to face Gar who came to stand in front of him, his massive arms crossed across his broad chest.

"Where are they?" Aaryn, growled.

"They needed some time. I took them to a hideout. I\'ll bring them back in a couple days. When Elreth\'s decided what to do with them. Or if they are going to have to leave, I\'ll take their things to them."

Aaryn couldn\'t believe what he was hearing. He stood, feet shoulder-width apart, glaring at Gar. "You were out in the forest… with a human… when the guard were patrolling for humans?!"

Gar gave him a flat look. "I\'m not stupid. I took them in the opposite direction from the patrols. No one\'s going to find them—"

"You can\'t know that! Security is getting tighter ever day—every hour! Gar! What the fuck were you thinking?!" he hissed.

"I was thinking that they are true mates and they\'ve had no time to themselves—you know what the young males are like. She\'s new and interesting. And human. She has no idea what those smiles and submission can do to a male coming into himself. Poor Marryk was about to bite out someone\'s throat."

Aaryn\'s blood was boiling, the lid of that pot fluttering and clanking, threatening to blow. "That was not your call to make!"

"Well you weren\'t here to make it!" Gar snarled. "That poor girl was ready to fall apart, she was so tense, and Marryk was murderous. Something needed to change or we were going to have much bigger problems."

"Bigger than humans in Anima while we hide one from the Elders?"

"I told you, I didn\'t risk going—"

"YOU RISKED EVERYTHING!" Something inside Aaryn snapped. His fingers curled to claws and he gripped Gar\'s shirt, yanking the male closer. "YOU RISKED ALL OF US!"

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Gar exclaimed, wrestling with Aaryn, trying to release his grip.

Aaryn shook him. "What\'s wrong with me is that I can\'t seem to trust you! Every time I turn my back you\'re doing something without telling me, putting obstacles in my way—or taking it on yourself to move others in directions that could harm all of us!"

"No, Aaryn, I just have the balls to make the calls you\'re scared to make!" Gar growled.

Aaryn bit back the surge of anger that threatened to overwhelm him and pulled Gar\'s face into his until they were nose to nose. "You think I don\'t have the balls, Gar? Who\'s the one facing the elders, and the security council? Because it\'s not you. I\'m sitting there, taking crap for the shit you pull, hiding your secrets from your sister—my mate!—and owning all of it. While you sleep half the day away then come here and decide you know what\'s best for everyone because why? Because you showed up?"

"I know what\'s needed because I\'m here!" Gar growled. "You get one whiff of my sister and you\'re gone—someone has to be here to pick up the slack." Gar seemed to grow bigger, somehow, but Aaryn wasn\'t frightened. Gar was stronger than him, it was true, but he was faster, and he\'d dedicated himself to the training more.

He knew he could take his Brother in the Flames—and if that\'s what it was going to take to stop Gar from pitching the disformed headlong into conflict with the crown, that\'s what he would do. "I am doing everything in my fucking power to make these people safe. To give them what they\'ve deserved all along."

"Except you," Gar growled. "You\'re the one they want here. You\'re the one they\'re following. Where are you, Aaryn? Other than in bed with my sister?"

Aaryn shoved him and Gar barely rocked back on his heels, his eyes lighting with the flame of anger that sparked on Aaryn\'s own.

"Don\'t pick a fight you can\'t win, Aaryn," Gar growled.

"Stop telling yourself you\'re filling the gap," Aaryn bit back. "You show up when you feel like it and tell yourself you\'re the good guy because you meet a need? Good for you, Gar—now show up when it\'s hard, or you\'re tired, or you failed. Show up and face them then and tell me then that you\'re the leader they need."

"I already do, and you know it," Gar muttered through his teeth. "You\'re a hypocrite if you say otherwise."

They stared at each other then, both of them acknowledging the things they\'d sacrificed to stand for the disformed. A tiny part of Aaryn\'s anger crumbled away—he had failed them. Half of his anger was for himself, was because some of what Gar was saying was true. But it was rich coming from this male who only took responsibility when he chose, and who was willing to tell anyone—even the King or Queen—to go fuck themselves when he didn\'t.

"What are you up to, Gar?" Aaryn murmured. "What game are you playing? Why do you care?"

Gar\'s upper lip lifted. "That\'s the difference between you and me, Aaryn. I don\'t play games. I do what I do because it\'s the right thing to do. And if you disagree, you can go fuck yourself."

Aaryn would have laughed at the echo of his own thoughts a moment earlier, but there was something in Gar\'s gaze, something in his tension that gave Aaryn pause.

Gar really was up to something. What was it?

"What haven\'t you told me?" Aaryn snapped. "What are you hiding?"

Gar\'s gaze shadowed and he turned his head to check over his shoulder for others before turning back. "There\'s something… Hholdyn found something that could make things difficult if he caves under the pressure and tells Tarkyn."

Aaryn\'s hands on Gar\'s shirt tightened. "What?"

Gar\'s throat bobbed, but his jaw was set. "The cave Hholdyn found… the one where the human visited… my scent was all over it too. As soon as Tarkyn or Tobe, or anyone who knows me goes out there they\'ll come for me."

Aaryn went very, very still, his mind whirring, buzzing with questions. "Gar… what the fuck did you do?"

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Zev prowled towards her, all shining, brutal beauty, his chin low and those incredible, piercing eyes fixed on her. He didn\'t stop until they were toe-to-toe and he blocked her view of every other male in the circle. 

His eyes dipped to her mouth as he leaned in, his whisper playing on her skin. 

"You. Are. Mine." 

His deep voice twanged in her belly as the howls of the wolf pack rose from behind him to echo across the mountains of Thana, while the other Chimera protested his claim. 

Fighting the urge to stroke his broad, bare chest with her shaking hands, Sasha forced herself to tilt her head and raise an eyebrow. "So bold for a pup who just found his fangs."

The other males hooted with laughter.

Ignoring their taunts, Zev\'s eyes sparked and he leaned even closer, the scruff on his jaw tickling her cheek as he smiled. "So bold for a human who already knows the pleasure of gasping my name."

  She shivered when his teeth grazed her ear. 

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