Black, churning smoke weaved through the trees. Arietta flew as fast as her feet could take her. She wasn't a runner by nature—or at all, really—but in that moment, a bundle clutched close to her chest, she flew.

Fire licked at her back, heating the shadows of her footsteps and swallowing them whole. She choked on her own breath, the smoke in her eyes. She was running. Running desperately from her own death.

The crackling roar of fire behind her drowned her eardrums.

She pressed the delicate bundle closer to her chest, bringing it as close to her as possible.

"It's okay. It's okay," she soothed. She put on a new burst of speed. There was a river a mile ahead that marked the border into Shifter territory. While it might not be any safer, at least the water would slow it down and give her more of a chance.

She just had to make it there.

"There she is!"

She scrambled impossibly faster, her heart going a million miles. "No, no, no, no, no," she muttered. She couldn't hide behind the trees. Couldn't make use of the caves near the river.

The flame hounds—burning dog-like beasts composed of fire magic—barked behind her. Their snaps turning to crackling growls.

She was going to die here.

Rapid pops sounded out behind her. She gasped, took a hard left and weaved through the trees. She didn't have an out. Nothing besides the hope that the river would halt those chasing her.

The sun had begun to set, but the fire behind her was still bright enough to sear her retinas. Her mind was more alive than ever, the adrenaline like lightning in her veins. She scanned the trees, the ground, looking for anything. Truth was, even if she outran the people chasing her, she couldn't outrun the flame beasts for long. She didn't have the stamina. Not like them.

"It's okay, it's okay," she told the bundle. And herself.

And then...

A bright miracle.

The river! Putting on a burst of speed despite her exhaustion, Arietta hopped a fallen log, her shoulder catching hard on a thick branch in her path. She shifted the covered bundle, holding it for all she was worth.

Another round of pops echoed around her. She zigzagged, darting through the brush. Her breaths were an entirely different flame in her throat.

Something sharp cut her shoulder. She wheezed, almost stumbling. Get to the river.

Otherwise, this would be the last thing she'd do.

It was right there, the clear sound of water rushing over rocks despite the roar of cracking flames at her back. 30 yards...

7 yards...

3 yards.

She stepped over the dirt and grass along the edge of the river and ran into the bitter cold water; the bundle held high at her neck.

The river water was fast, but not strong enough to pull her away towards the waterfall about a mile west. As it was, the water came up to her belly, yanking at her jeans, her shirt.

Behind her, the flame hounds howled. The sound pierced through the air.

Arietta hit the other side of the river. Her clothes were heavy on her frame, but she kept moving. Her throat tasted of iron. She risked a glance back.

The hounds paced at the other edge of the river, their moving bodies bright bursts of oranges and yellows, their eyes impossibly white as they whined.

She sped around a large tree. The ground sloped downward. She kept going. Her shoes slid along the damp dirt, smaller green roots snagging at her ankles. The bundle in her arms shifted.

"Shh," she tried to say. It was more of a gasp. Already she was slowing, her exhaustion reaching its peak. Darkness teased the edge of her vision.

Only when the ground plateaued did she stop. Next to a large pine, she fell to her knees, shifted to her butt, and backed until the bark dug into the back of her shirt. The bundle whined.

"We're good," she said. "We're..." The rest of her sentence drifted as she tried to catch her breath.

The surrounding trees went quiet. A sort of sudden silence that had her mustering whatever energy she had left and pooling it together.

The bundle at her chest made a sharp sound.

A grey and white wolf stalked through the brush. Its eyes were cold, its teeth bared as it approached on silent paws.

Arietta would have to be blind not to see it. Or the tall, deep orange leopard at its back. A hawk soared above and landed, its large tan claws wrapping around a branch in a tree to the right.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood straight. This was it. She had one chance. One sentence before they ripped her to shreds. She had to make it count.

Her every breath hurt. She knew she would fade off—she'd inhaled too much smoke. Maybe she'd be blessed and her death wouldn't be painful.

But she couldn't go anywhere until the bundle was safe.

So, she carefully held out the bundle and, with a hoarse voice, said, "please."

The shifters froze as the bundle moved. The blanket, once white, was now covered in ash and mud. The bundle shifted again, a small throaty noise entering the air. A tiny black paw appeared. Then Naya poked her head out.

A muted curse came from her left. A man stepped out among the trees. In his right hand he held a long, sleek sniper rifle. He stared hard at the bundle, then told the leopard. "Get Gavriel."

The leopard loped away.

Neither the man, the wolf, nor the hawk got closer. They just sat there, ready to wait for Gavriel.

Arietta wasn't sure she had time to wait for him. A cough wracked her. Already her airways felt tight, and without some type of treatment, she wouldn't have many hours left. "Please," she said, "you have to help her." They'd gone through fire and flames to get to shifter territory, but doing so meant battling smoke. While she'd covered Naya with the blanket hoping to offer as much protection as possible, she wasn't sure if some of it got through.

"She may have inhaled smoke," Arietta wheezed. "She needs to be treated."

Little Naya made a distressed sound and climbed out of the child's blanket and down to her lap. She nuzzled Arietta's stomach.

The man's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing as he watched Arietta and the cub.

How could she make them see? "If you don't help her, she'll die."

"It is not the cub that will die," a deep voice said.

The leopard returned, this time with another man. He was a large, broad-shouldered male in jeans and plaid. At his approach, the wolf and the other male shifted slightly. Some instinctual part of her instantly recognized the sign for what it was—a gesture of respect for authority.

"Explain," the man ordered the shifters around them. Arietta shuddered at the molten steel of his tone. His expression, his voice, everything was a closed door.

"Ronan?"

The man with the sniper, Ronan, looked to Gavriel. "They entered the territory nineteen minutes ago. Chased by the flame hounds that are currently pacing the border and damaging the surrounding area. Seven wielders are with them, but are holding formation. The fires have stopped right at the border, under control and fading fast."

Gavriel nodded, crouching down in front of Arietta. He tilted his head slightly as he looked her over, and Arietta had the distinct feeling she was being not only analyzed but categorized. And was found lacking. "You have trespassed into our territory and brought danger to our border."

When she didn't respond immediately, Gavriel narrowed his eyes. "It is illegal to enter shifter territory without prior consent."

A wet cough had her shuddering. Even her adrenaline at this point had been exhausted. Her entire body ached. Every nick and wound burned. "I will go back..." she said, then coughed violently again. "I will deal with them. But, please, take Naya. I need to know she will be safe."

Gavriel held a hand out to Naya who cowered at his presence. She tried to bury herself as close to Arietta's stomach as possible.

"Naya," Arietta said, "go with him. Please."

The little cub made a noise of distress. A sound that echoes the tightness in her chest. Fear bubbled like liquid nitrogen under the surface of her skin. Everything she'd been taught about these people...

And yet, she'd never had proof.

"You trust us not to harm her," Gavriel said, though it was more of an observation. "Despite what we are?"

Trust was not quite the word she would have used. She looked him in the eyes and responded, "She has done nothing wrong."

Gavriel's attention was a heavy weight on her. "And you?"

She didn't answer.

Seeming to find the answer in her expression, Gavriel nodded and stood. "Ronan, alert Talia. Finn, Lianna, Cael, I think our friends at the border need a warning."

The wolf, leopard, and hawk drifted off towards the direction Arietta had fled from.

Gavriel's hand was warm and firm under her elbow as he helped her up. She grabbed Naya as she stood and clutched her tight. Naya purred and snuggled closer.

Arietta huffed out breaths as they trekked further into the shifter's territory. An ache had settled behind her eyes and more than once she had to stop as coughing wracked her frame. But still they kept going, through the brush and over the uneven landscape. She let Gavriel guide her. Even though he was dangerous.

They were all dangerous. She'd run straight to the enemy, but she'd done it intending to keep Naya alive.

Staying alive herself hadn't been in her plans.

Gavriel guided them deeper into the territory, as if following an invisible path to wherever they were going. Arietta wasn't dumb—she knew there were other shifters patrolling around them, close enough to react should there be need, but not so close they'd be able to prevent her from doing damage if she were a threat to Gavriel. Which meant one of two things: either the shifters did not consider her a genuine threat—

—or Gavriel was strong enough he could subdue her. Easily.

Her toe caught on a jutting tree root. She stumbled, but caught herself. Against her chest, Naya whined.

Gavriel stopped. Just halted. Like this random spot in the first was exactly their destination.

Whether it was the quick disappearance of adrenaline, or her own body working against her, Arietta's vision tunneled. She stumbled again, this time to a stop, and waited.

Please not here. The last thing she needed was to lose consciousness here, in enemy territory, before she made sure they'd take Naya.

"Please take her," she begged at Gavriel's back.

Gavriel didn't answer. As the frustration turned to electricity in her veins, her vision still tunneled.

She was unbalanced. Overwhelmed. Exhausted.

Behind her, the brush moved. Was this it? Did they bring her further into the territory so no one would hear her screams when they killed her?

Heart thundering, bracing for her own death, Arietta turned.