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ELRETH

"She has to have lied," Elreth said urgently. "If they found the outsiders, the outsiders are either dead or they would have warned my dad, right?"

Aaryn frowned. "I guess? They never had direct contact with the disformed. I didn\'t know they even communicated with anyone in WildWood until Reth told us—"

"I have to ask him," Elreth said, throwing the furs back and darting out of bed to dress. Aaryn followed her quickly, both of them dressing silently, then racing out of the cave and into the meadow. Elreth prayed her parents were home and Gar hadn\'t had to go find them. Though she could probably follow his trail if he went to the house first.

But as soon as they got out of the cave, it was apparent that Gar wasn\'t with her parents—he was busy with his mate in the meadow.

Had she been more relaxed she would have made a gagging noise and a joke about Gar being as bad as their father, groping his mate in broad daylight like that. But instead, rage simmered in her chest.

If Rika was lying… if her brother had been taken in by the enemy…

She growled in her throat, turning to face Aaryn, still walking backwards, but needing to slow to sign so Gar wouldn\'t hear her instructions.

\'Get everyone for the meeting now. And send guards. Just in case.\'

Aaryn\'s forehead pinched, but he nodded and took off, sprinting towards the trail to the Tree City as Elreth turned on her heel and ran for her parent\'s door.

She didn\'t even knock, just threw the door open and rushed in, calling for  her father—who had obviously been standing at the window in the dining room, holding her mother. Because he\'d just turned and started towards the door when she rushed in, his face concerned.

"El? What\'s wrong?"

Her mother stepped out of the dining area and came to stand alongside him, both of them looking worried.

"Dad, what happened to the outsiders? The ones you banished. You haven\'t heard from them recently, right? In the past couple months?"

Her father\'s frown deepened. "No, but that\'s not uncommon. We usually only communicate once a season, and sometimes not at all when it\'s cold. It\'s quite a trip for them to take—"

"Do they have a way to contact you if there\'s an emergency? Outside of the normal schedule, I mean?"

He nodded. "El, why are you asking this? What\'s going on?"

Elreth growled. "When Rika told us her story, she said that another human came through the portal before she did and located other Anima. It has to be the outsiders! But that was weeks ago, almost two months. Surely if they\'d had contact with humans they would have sent someone to tell you?"

Her father blinked. "I would think so… but it could depend how the human treated them. If they didn\'t see a threat—"

"Come on, Dad! Something has to have happened. If they found a human studying them they have to be either captured or dead, otherwise they would have told you by now!"

Her father\'s face hardened, he looked at her mother whose forehead was lined with worry.

"It seems likely, yes," he said quietly. "But we need more information—"

"No, Dad. She\'s got to be lying! Either the others have been killed, or captured. Something is stopping them from reaching you—or me."

"I\'m not saying it\'s not possible, El. You\'re right to look into this. But we should ask her how it all happened—"

"We already asked! She said humans found Anima in the canyon beyond the desert. Yet, they returned to the human world to warn her and set her up to come here—she\'s here to be bait for the rest of us!"

"I don\'t know, El, I don\'t think Gar would ever—"

"Gar doesn\'t have a clue. He\'s besotted and she\'s lying!"

She caught a flash at the edge of the window—two guards entering the meadow and looking around, uncertain. Elreth ran back to the door and threw it open, throwing them the gesture that Tarkyn used while tracking to indicate a threat.

And she indicated Rika.

The guards nodded and trotted forward towards the couple.

*****

GAR

Rika whimpered when he made his declaration. He\'d meant to lead her back to the Tree, but when she looked up at him with those beautiful, big eyes and her fingers tightened on his shirt, he\'d groaned and taken her mouth again.

Rika sucked in, arching back, pressing her hips into him and pulling him closer, their lips and tongues dancing until Gar was consumed.

She was intoxicating. Her every scent, every touch like fuel to the fire within him that roared and crackled, aching for her, yearning to possess her, to hold her safe.

He groaned the mating call and Rika gave a sharp little intake of breath. Before he could explain, light lit in his veins. A pulsing, throbbing energy that curled and coiled, sparkling inside him—and reaching for her.

He wasn\'t sure how long they kissed, but the world disappeared—the wind that fluttered her hair, the rustle of the grass, even the quiet footsteps of his sister and brother of flame as they crossed the meadow at a run.

He should have stopped. Should have turned. Found out what was happening, but he couldn\'t find it in himself.

With a shuddering breath he slid his hands down Rika\'s back to grasp her ass and pull her close. And to his delight, she responded, a low moan rolling in the back of her throat as she tilted her head to deepen the kiss.

He could feel it, that light, in her as well and his heart sang, as if it had fingers—and its fingers were his veins, filling, reaching, stretching towards her.

And something within her responded, pulling towards him. He could feel it.

"Rika…" he breathed her name into the kiss and that energy in his blood jangled with anticipation, coiling and curling, pressing to the surface of his skin where they touched. It called to her, shimmering on every nerve ending as she groaned his name and Gar\'s body jolted.

But then, just as that light seemed to press through his skin, to reach for her in truth, heavy footsteps sounded behind Rika and the hair rose on the back of Gar\'s neck.

It all happened far too fast.

That light pressed out of him, stretching, reaching, tendrils curling like grasping fingers—

Rika gasped—in shock this time, rather than pleasure and she broke the kiss, turning to pull away.

The scent of two males slammed home to Gar in the same moment a hand landed on her shoulder. Elreth\'s voice rose in the background, but Gar didn\'t take it in because Rika shrieked and whipped around to break the startling grip.

All thoughts of love and desire fled him as everything within Gar screamed that his mate was in danger.

As she was turned away from him, he roared and swiped, thoughtless, tugging Rika behind him by one hand as the other flashed like lightening over that forearm that had a grip on her.

Gar heard the bone snap when the heel of his hand landed on it with all the force available to him.