"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."

"Or that woman stole that cub right from her mother and brought her here."

He had not gotten to be the leader of their territory by ignoring information and the viewpoint of those around him. So, despite the confidence he had that that was not why, he still said, "For what purpose?"

"Could be as a spy," Talia said. "It's no secret we protect our young. We need to keep that cub safe. But that does not make us responsible for the woman who brought the cub here."

Talia was right.

Still... "If she is responsible for the death of that cub's parents, we will punish her according to our laws. If not, we need to know what happened. I cannot rest knowing there may be shifters out there looking for their cubling."

Talia's frown somehow deepened. "And if the other heads vote against you keeping her here?"

Gavriel exhaled. "I will be the one to walk her to the border myself."

"They'll hold you to that."

"As they should," Gavriel responded. He went over to the faucet and turned on the water to fill the kettle. At this rate, he could forget about sleeping tonight. Which meant he would need at least a cup or two of tea. "Tea?"

"I need to get back to the infirmary. Niles has a fever, and I've got Lianna watching him."

Gavriel imagined the spitfire wolf was just about to claw her fur off by now. "Let her know to gather the lieutenants first thing tomorrow."

"And the heads?"

They could damn well wait until Gavriel was good and ready. "They will wait."

Talia nodded and took the few steps over to the aerie's exit ladder. "I hope you know what you're doing, Gavriel."

He hoped so, too.

***

Gavriel had never been one for torture. Not unless it was absolutely necessary to keep his people safe. So, while he did not have active plans to punish this woman who had come running to his people with a baby leopard cub clutched to her chest, he also wasn't afraid to use a heavy paw to get her to talk.

In the room upstairs, the woman was already awake. The small leopard cub, Naya, still slept soundly against the woman's chest.

The sight had Gavriel's leopard side relaxing. However, the human side would be harder to convince. The human side understood concepts. Concepts like hostages that sympathize with their kidnappers. The leopard side only understood instincts.

Gavriel dropped quietly into a wooden chair in the corner.

"Have you decided yet?" The woman asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Although not voiced, he heard the full extent of her question. Have you decided yet if I'm to be kicked from the territory? "I have not," he said back. His gaze flipped to the tiny sleeping cub. "You can make this easy."

"I suppose I could." The woman didn't sound teasing or coy, but tired.

He recognized that kind of exhaustion. It had been the same that had plagued him and his leopard almost ten years ago, when they had to rebuild their territory from scratch.

Despite the window tint, the sun cast clear, bright light into the room, its rays gently pressing against the woman. Yesterday, he had cared little about her looks other than to categorize them. His leopard had done the same with her scent, but only to identify if this woman was a threat to his people. Today was a different day. Today he wanted to remember this woman and know everything about her, so that when the time came, he could decide if she was worth remembering.

Her hair was shorter, the tips of the curled brown locks just tracing the edge of her shoulders. Her bangs, wild in their curls, lined up against dark eyebrows that traced down to a small tip-tilted nose and across dark turned eyes. Her skin was a warm olive—not one that spoke of time outside, but a natural pigmenting.

In any other context, he would have thought her beautiful in an understated way. Not the type of beauty that grabbed attention, but one that kept it.

Gavriel leaned forward in his chair and rested his forearms on his knees. "Let's start with a name."

The woman shifted slightly with a wince, putting a hand to the tiny cub, as if to protect the leopard from even the minuscule movement. "Arietta," she finally said.

Arietta. Gavriel found the name fit her well.

He let his leopard come to the surface. Although Gavriel would do the questioning, the leopard needed to be present. To sense a shift in her scent—either from a lie or the presence of magic.

"Arietta," Gavriel repeated. "I'm Gavriel."

"Gavriel O'Connor."

His leopard perked up. The way she spoke alluded to some potential play. And oh, how the leopard liked to play with its prey.

"There are few who would run directly into our territory, Arietta."

"There aren't many places, other than this territory, that would help keep Naya safe."

He followed her lead. "Why this one?"

The woman froze, not more than one second, but his leopard immediately locked onto it. Interesting.

"It's no secret that you lead this territory," Arietta said quietly. Even as they spoke, exhaustion pulled at her eyelids. The leopard tilted its head, wary as something odd entered her scent. Something so small he couldn't distinguish it. "Last week, they mentioned you on the daily newscast. You're the only shifter I knew about."

It did not surprise him. As the acting leader of this territory, he was the one who had to play nice with all the outside parties. The neighboring territory's police force, businessmen, politicians. He had the joyous pleasure of representing his people out in the rest of the world. Because of it, his name had, unfortunately, become known across the continent. People asked after him often.

But none of them ever dared running to him. "And so you came here."

Arietta put a gentle hand under Naya's body and lifted her up so that she could sit. Then she placed the cub down on her pillow and tucked the edge of the light sheet around her.

"The wielders would kill her," Arietta said softly. "I couldn't let that happen."

Wielders had been responsible for the death of many of theirs. Unlike the shifters who knew how to control the beasts inside them, the wielders had no such control. In the city and across the continent, wielders couldn't just kill a shifter in the open. Especially not a cub. There were laws in place now. Rules that prevented an all-out war and kept both peoples safe.

"I made a promise," Arietta said when Gavriel stayed quiet. "I told her mother I would keep her safe, no matter what."

His leopard could feel the truth in her statement. The woman at least believed in what she was saying.

"Naya is special. One of a kind. That is why the wielders are after her." Arietta smoothed a hand over the cub's fur. At the moment, the cub stretched, her tiny front paws shaking with the full stretch.

"And you?"

"I am merely her temporary protector," the woman said. There was a somberness that coated her tone. "When she is safe and adjusted, I will leave."

Gavriel believed her. As much as he was hesitant to admit it to himself, he appreciated her honesty. Even if it was only presented in little pieces. "You have still brought danger to my border." He sat up in his chair. "Are my people safe?"

Arietta hesitated. He braced himself for a lie, to hear the gentle wavering shake in her voice and a shift in her scent when she lied. But what she said was, "For now."

She blinked dark bangs out of her eyes. "There is a shift on the horizon," she whispered. "Be careful, Gavriel."

The warning was not news to him. Since the attack ten years ago, since the moment a group of mercenary wielders snuck into their territory to kill many of his people, the shifters knew the future was a dangerous place. The laws had been nothing but a bandage. A tool to both parties, a mask of peace. But peace would never be in their future. The head elders knew it, his lieutenants knew it. The only ones who didn't know it were the regular humans walking their world.

Who was she? This woman who ran from one danger to another. This woman who cared enough to warn a stranger.

She knew more than she let on. There was steel under those freckles. Hardened knowledge tucked under that coppery skin.

His leopard would enjoy the challenge of coaxing it out of her.

But for now, he had collected what information he could. He did not sense that this woman, in particular, was a threat to him and his. Up to this point, she had told him nothing but truths. And as he watched, she had cared for the small cub she had been tasked with. She had not asked him questions or peppered him for information. Instead, she answered his own questions, and kept her tone quiet so as not to wake the youngling.

Most importantly, she had been willing to cross the border. To go back to her people, even if it meant she'd put herself in harm's way.

He would watch, wait, and see what else he could learn from this woman willing to face death to save one of theirs.

***

Gavriel left Arietta in the same room, off to see to the tasks she imagined he had many of. Exhaustion lining every muscle, Arietta settled back with Naya and spent the day in and out of sleep.

She never slept well. The last few years of her life were so high stress her sleep schedule had permanently altered itself. She usually caught 20 minutes here and there when she could.

It was no surprise to her she woke up frequently in the 'aerie,' as Gavriel called it. Made of three levels and hidden among the trees, the wooden construction was more like three rooms stacked on top of each other.

When Gavriel had led her and Naya up the small, skinny ladder to the treehouse, Arietta had been surprised at how much the little space felt like a home.

The first level was a balcony that overlooked the trees and was high enough that Arietta could spot the jutting, beautifully uneven mountains in the distance. The same mountains that marked the center of shifter territory.

There was another ladder leading to each additional level, the second level kitchen and small breakfast nook and the third a small set of bedrooms divided by a thin wall. It was one of these rooms, a small bunk bed rested.

Arietta hadn't bothered with the top bunk. She'd settled instead on the bottom so that Naya could nestle in next to her. And nestle she had. Naya immediately curled herself into a ball on Arietta's chest the way a kitten would.

Day turned to night and, eventually, the morning light streamed again through the window. As she laid there, her back aching and Naya sleeping heavily on her chest, she stared at the light.

Low voices filled into the small room through the cracks in the floorboards. Although she couldn't distinguish the rest of the voices, she recognized the low timbre of Gavriel's powerful voice.

No doubt they were talking about her. And rightfully so. She still could not comprehend why Gavriel had stopped her from leaving the other day.

With a shaking hand, Arietta smoothed over Naya's soft, silk-like fur. These were the cub's people. This was the cub's home.

This is where you belong, Arietta thought at the sleeping cub.

She didn't know why Gavriel had kept her from leaving. But she wasn't stupid. She would give herself an extra day or so. Just enough to see Naya settled.

Then she would leave. Like she was supposed to from the beginning.

Before they figured out her biggest secret, and her greatest regret.