The wielders are coming, and they're ready for violence.
With a cub in her arms, Arietta James, a dedicated vet technician in training, flees for her life and the life of the little shifter she's ready to die to protect. Her escape lands her right i...
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"Are you out of your mind?"
Gavriel crossed his arms and settled further against the aerie's main support beam. The rough tree bark dug into the skin on his back through his t-shirt. In the aerie's tight, modern yet rustic kitchen, Talia paced back and forth. "You can't bring an outsider here."
Gavriel's lip twitched. "I can."
Talia, their territory's only healer, huffed. "That wasn't a literal statement, and you know it."
He did. But the leopard side of him always did like playing with her. Because of her role as healer, she was one of the very few outside their hierarchy. His leopard always relaxed around the healer—there were no challenges, no dominance plays with Talia. Though considered a rank almost equal to Gavriel, there was no threat from her. It relaxed his animal side enough that he could tease her.
Leopards did, after all, like to play.
Plus, the territory's healer always was a fun one to rile up.
Gavriel's gaze turned upward at the ceiling. He had left them alone in the room while he made a call to Ronan to check on the border. When he returned, the human slept with Naya, the tiny leopard cub. A peaceful sleep had overtaken them. He had softly closed the door, the human side of him jealous at the easy way they had embraced the quiet solitude. The leopard side was satisfied; they trusted him enough to keep them safe while they slumbered.
"Are you not the least bit curious," Gavriel mused, "about how one of them ended up on our territory?"
Talia's lips thinned. "No. No, I'm not. And you shouldn't be either. You very well remember what happened ten years ago. We're still dealing with the fallout."
Gavriel felt like their roles should be reversed. After losing his family ten years ago, he should be the one reasoning why this young woman could not be allowed in their territory. And yet...
His leopard told him to look at this one carefully. To treat it with delicate paws. Something had set his animal side running when she was walking off their territory. Though neither his human nor animal side could place what it was.
He had ignored his instinct before, and it had disastrous consequences. He would be damned if he did it again.
"I will be the last one to forget what happened," he told Talia through gritted teeth. His animal flashed to the surface, angry that she implied he was minimizing his and his people's loss.
Talia closed her mouth and took a small step back.
"I am not proposing we welcome the woman in as one of our own. I am merely advising that we cannot turn a blind eye to how this cub ended up with her."
"She probably stole her."
Gavriel rubbed at the scruff along his jaw. "Cubs have a natural sense about others. That cub would never have let herself be taken this far if she did not have some type of intrinsic trust in that woman."
