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GAR

Assassins. That\'s what she meant. Gar nodded to his sister, but his mind fought.

This was all happening too quickly.

They couldn\'t take this route yet.

It was too fast—he hadn\'t had enough time with Rika. They hadn\'t even cemented the bond! He couldn\'t leave her—

"Excuse me, El," Rika said, pressing forward to stand at his side. "But you can\'t forget the technology, if—"

"I\'m aware of where you stand on this, Rika. You\'ve been heard. But it\'s out of our hands now. They\'re here. We have no choice but to fight."

His sister\'s scent spiked with that statement in a way he didn\'t like. What was she uncertain about?

"But," Rika insisted, "You\'ve forgotten about me. I could go, negotiate with them. Slow them anyway."

"Absolutely not!" Gar snarled.

But Elreth paused, her brows rising as she considered Rika thoughtfully.

"No, El. She\'s a traitor. They\'ll kill her the moment they find her."

"No—as far as they know I was taken against my will. They think Gar kidnapped me. It looked that way. They\'ll listen if they think I\'ve gotten free and come back to them."

Elreth looked from Rika to Gar, a question in her eyes.

Gar let a growl roll in his throat. "She\'s… it\'s not safe! She\'s can\'t protect herself against them, and she can\'t take any of us with her. It does no good to send her if they\'ll just lock her up—"

"I can delay them if you need time. I might even be able to convince them to stop an advance. Try negotiating—give us time where they aren\'t using their tech to bring Anima down, because that is exactly what they\'ll do the moment you show up, El. If you\'re a threat, they\'ll kill you. If you aren\'t, they\'ll capture you. And they won\'t negotiate. They believe you\'re… animals."

Growls and snaps rippled around the cave, Elreth\'s among them. But Gar was entirely focused on Rika, his hands twitching at his sides. He wanted to shake her—how could she suggest this?

"…I know how the tech works. I  might be able to sabotage it—or harm some of it, at least. Every device and weapon we can remove from their hands will save Anima live!" Rika said earnestly.

Elreth went quiet. Thoughtful.

Gar wanted to roar.

How could she even consider this? But as Elreth asked questions and Rika had answers for all of them, he could only stand there, helpless, while his sister was convinced. She began to nod and glance at Tarkyn for any questions or resistance in his mind.

Tarkyn? Why was she asking only Tarkyn? Gar was the War Chief!

"We can\'t do this!" he growled when it looked like Elreth was being persuaded.

"We may not have a choice," Elreth snapped back.

"She\'s my mate and she\'s their traitor. We can\'t afford for them to hold her—"

"This is war, Gar. If you can\'t separate your personal wishes from the greater need of the people, tell me now."

Gar bristled, but Rika took hold of his arm and he looked down at her, wanting to roar. But though Rika\'s heart beat quickly, she was calm.

"Gar, this is the thing I can do. No one else has this chance. It has to be me. They\'ll listen to me because they think you stole me. They\'ll believe I have a motive to help them find you."

"You can\'t take the risk."

"Gar…" Rika breathed. "I can do this. Let me help."

He felt himself wavering and shook his head. Fuck, he wanted to bite something—not Rika. Just…

Then his father\'s words came back to him, his face so pale and tormented—wisdom at the most inconvenient time.

"When your mom was at risk I just… fell apart. But the Creator wouldn\'t let me go. Wouldn\'t stop telling me in my own heart, and through my brothers, that He had a plan. And in the end… I just couldn\'t stand in the way of that. If He wants to do something incredible through my mate, am I going to steal that from her?"

Gar had to look away from Rika because he wanted to fight. He wanted to resist. He wanted to tear her away from his sister and his people and hold her away, in safety.

"Gar," Rika said. "You\'re going. How would you feel if I told you you couldn\'t do your job because I was too scared of losing you?"

Well, fuck. Gar clawed a hand through his hair and ignored his sister\'s hawkish gaze.

"You stay with me," he muttered finally. "You come as a soldier, you listen to your War Chief and you don\'t put yourself in danger until I tell you to."

"Yes, Gar, of course." She hugged his arm. She wasn\'t smiling and her scent spiked with fear, but then, so had his.

They both turned to Elreth whose eyes softened on his and she nodded, then with a glance at Aaryn—whose expression was unreadable—she turned back to Tarkyn.

"Do we have any idea how fast the humans are travelling?"

Tarkyn shook his head. "As far as I know, the messengers only saw them camped on this side of the traverse. If they\'ve already crossed the desert, we\'ll know by dawn. We sent birds to spy out their progress and report back. If they\'re further away, our teams will let us know, but it\'ll take time. We\'ll learn any more that we can from the messengers by this evening, but don\'t forget that if they hadn\'t even broken camp three days ago, it\'s unlikely they could have crossed the desert yet. Especially in numbers."

"Don\'t underestimate their technology," Rika interrupted before Elreth could answer. "Even though they\'d travel slower than you on foot, they have vehicles and… if they\'re getting those kinds of numbers through, they\'ve brought everything. Be very, very careful sending scouts. And if the land around them isn\'t forested, they can probably see you coming for close to a mile."

Gar watched his sister\'s shoulders sag at that, but then Elreth took a deep breath and made herself big again.

"A wise man once told me that at some point we have to just make the decisions as best we can, and trust the Creator to take care of the rest. I think we can all agree that right now, this is that time." She looked around the cave, meeting eyes with each of them, ending on Gar. "Anima, attend," she said solemnly. "We are called to save our world."