A woman slipped gracefully from the brush, her gait silent and strong—something similar to that of a great cat's.

Arietta tried to calm her thundering heart. It wasn't a team of shifters here to kill her. The more she thought about it, the more she realized if they had wanted her dead, Gavriel had had plenty of opportunities already.

The woman's eyes went straight to Arietta, focusing with a sharp prick against Arietta's skin. An emotion settled over her expression; one she couldn't pinpoint.

The woman tucked the emotion under hollow concern. "What happened?"

Gavriel made a noise in his throat, a growl that sent goosebumps spiking over her skin. That was not a human noise. "We will find out," he told the woman. "Until then..." he waved a hand in Arietta and Naya's direction.

Arietta coughed, the wracking motion zapping the very energy from her bones. She sat down on the forest floor.

Glancing upward, she finally spotted it in the distance. There, tucked among the other trees, was a treehouse that all but moulded itself into its surroundings. Brown, covered with ivy, and nestled neatly into the brush, it was a large structure hiding in plain sight.

Had this been their destination?

Naya untucked herself from her bundle, mewed, and burrowed into Arietta's lap. Arietta absently stroked along the creature's ears, delight warring with the anxiety inside her as the cat purred.

From the side, Gavriel leaned against the thick, burly trunk of a large tree, his pose relaxed as he watched her. His gaze was a weighted blanket against her skin. Beneath it was the heavy stone of packed questions left unvoiced.

She'd be happy to answer all of his questions should they be about Naya. Assuming she'd live long enough to actually answer them.

The woman approached, a small pack over her left shoulder. She settled in front of Arietta, right there on the forest floor, and began pulling items out. Her movements were quick and swift in a way that spoke of familiarity. "Any pain?"

Arietta automatically shook her head and gathered Naya up. She held the black leopard cub out to the woman. "Naya first. Please." If she wasn't in the condition she was in, she'd have checked for herself. But right now, it took too much of her focus just to remind herself to keep breathing.

The woman frowned, but nodded. "Has she been hurt? Injured?"

"I don't think so. Just smoke inhalation. Please—" another cough, the sound wet and loud, interrupted her.

"Did you come from the city?" The woman asked.

Slowly, Arietta shook her head.

The woman scooped Naya up and held her tiny body near her ear for a prolonged moment. "Her heart rate is normal," the woman determined. "No signs of smoke inhalation or strain on her lungs."

The relief of her words smoothed a relaxing cold balm over Arietta's chest. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you so much."

The woman nodded, then pulled out a long stethoscope from her case. Having shifter's hearing meant the woman only needed to get close enough to assess her heart rate. But this woman didn't want to get too close to her. Not only was she the enemy, but she'd brought danger to their doorstep.

The cool metal of the stethoscope felt like a burn on her already heated skin. She tried to take a few breaths and cursed inwardly when her breathing stuttered.

The woman frowned. "You're going to need a heavy dose of oxygen. I don't have much else with me, but if any additional signs of bronchospasm after oxygen, I'll give you an albuterol treatment to loosen your airways." At the last word, the woman glanced at Gavriel, who nodded.

Gavriel picked up his phone. Someone on the other line spoke, then he muttered something back, too low for her hearing. After a moment, he snapped the device closed and tucked it away.

Arietta knew she should argue as the woman began pulling out more supplies. She wouldn't stay. Couldn't stay. Nor should she take treatment from them. But another part of her wanted her to take what she could get.

The second part, the selfish part, won out. She would take anything the shifters would give her if it provided her more time.

Barely a few moments later, a young boy trotted out from the brush, a small machine tucked under his arm. He placed it carefully next to the woman across from her, shot Arietta a look, and loped away.

A clear circular dome piece appeared from the woman's bag, attached to a hose from the machine the boy had left. One that fed her oxygen. "Put this securely over your nose and mouth and try to take deep, even breaths.

Arietta did just that.

"What was your plan?" Gavriel finally spoke up. "Surely you knew what would happen when you crossed the territory border."

Arietta took another deep breath. The air both stung and soothed her aching lungs. "I didn't," she said through the mask.

Gavriel had no problem hearing her. "We have killed for less."

Arietta nodded. She was well aware. "Naya is more important."

"'Naya'," the woman repeated the name. "Where did she come from?"

"Talia," Gavriel said her name with a bit of steel. A soft chiding.

Talia rolled her eyes, but continued to root through her case until she came up with a few sealed cotton balls and some gauze. Arietta bit her lip against the sting as Talia dotted a soaked cotton ball against a cut on her cheek.

"Is there another territory out there looking for this cubling?" Gavriel asked. His voice was like smooth river rock.

Arietta looked down at Naya, biting back the heavy feeling in her chest. After a moment, she simply shook her head.

"What about parents?" Talia asked. She'd moved from the cleaning solution to placing a small sheet of skin gauze over Arietta's cheek. The self-sealing gauze fitted itself easily against her skin. "Shifters would never leave their cub alone."

Again, Arietta shook her head. "Gone."

It was only because she was looking at his face that she noticed Gavriel's jaw turn to steel. He folded his muscular arms over his chest. "Let's wrap this up, Talia."

"That's it?" Talia asked as she started folding everything back up and placing it into the case. "You don't want more details?"

"What I want and what we will get are two entirely different things," Gavriel said.

Arietta flinched, though she knew Gavriel was right. It alarmed her how quick this man knew how much information he could get out of her. Although she didn't ally herself with the wielders—hated them even—she wasn't sure she could tell Gavriel everything and would live to see another day.

But then again, what did it matter? She was good as dead either way.

"Let us be on our way," Gavriel said. He came forward and, without hesitation, scooped up Naya. Although usually distressed around others, Naya appeared to have no problem with Talia and Gavriel. Especially Gavriel. The little cub even purred and burrowed herself deeper into the nook of his arm.

Gavriel glanced down at Naya, his eyes softening. He smoothed a thumb over the top of Naya's head. "There's a good cub."

Talia stood, leaving her case on the forest floor. She tucked a strand of her long brown hair behind her ear. "We'll want to monitor the cub for the first day or so," she told Gavriel. "I'm not sure what else she's been exposed to out there." Talia glanced at Arietta, her expression unforgiving, "or what emotional damage has been done."

Arietta took the hit and pulled in shallow breaths of cool air. Talia was right to be worried. Arietta only hoped, prayed, that Naya would be too small to remember. That she'd gotten her out in time to prevent any major damage to the little shifter's emotional well-being.

***

Gavriel passed little Naya off to Talia. "Watch over her in the meantime."

Talia nodded, then gave Naya a small half-smile. "Let's go, little one."

Arietta curled her hands into such tight fists she left thin half-moon indents on her palms. A stabbing pain appeared in her stomach and radiated upward to her chest.

She'd known this moment would arrive. Since the very first moment she and Naya had escaped. And yet, Naya's departure still felt as if she was losing a piece of her.

How could such a small creature have such a large impact on her that quickly?

"Take care of her," Arietta told Talia. "Please."

Naya half-climbed on Talia's shoulder and mewed.

She's too small, Arietta's brain reminded her. She won't remember you when you're gone.

It hurt. Like hot pokers on her skin. And yet, Arietta knew that Naya would grow up big and strong. She would grow to be a beautiful woman and an even more beautiful leopard.

And she wouldn't be a captive any longer.

Gavriel gestured over Arietta's shoulder with his chin. He wouldn't stop looking at her. She could even feel it as she turned around and walked the way he wanted her to.

Other than the sound of Arietta's loud footsteps, the two of them were silent on the way to... wherever Gavriel wanted her to go. He continued to trail behind her. In fact, if it weren't for the occasional murmur of "left" and "turn", she'd have thought Gavriel had left her to wander around the shifter territory on her own.

But of course, she knew they would never let her do that. Just as she knew the hawk soaring above them wasn't a regular hawk. She knew there were others too—animals she couldn't see hidden in the forest. Shifters that served as protectors for the little ones like Naya.

"Are there others here?" Arietta whispered into the gentle breeze. "Like Naya?"

"Yes."

Arietta's shoulders dropped. Her eyes burned, though there were no tears. "Good," she whispered back.

Gavriel led them to a gravel road that twisted through the trees. Further down, a dark, all-terrain vehicle poked out of a break in the forest. Gavriel opened it and had her get into the passenger seat.

There was a black box and a walkie on the dash. Once he started up the car, he grabbed the walkie and clicked a side button. "Status report?"

A female answered not even a moment later. "Wielders are still along the border. We've pushed them back, but they're in no rush to leave."

"They are waiting for orders," Gavriel surmised. His gaze flicked to Arietta. "Or for us to spit our catch back out."

Arietta stared out the window as the vehicle bounced over uneven gravel.

"Is that what we're doing?" The female asked.

"Yes."

Arietta's guard went right back up. She knew it would happen. Knew that the shifters would take Naya and leave her to face the wielders.

Don't be so shocked, Ari. She scolded herself.

It only took them five minutes of driving before Gavriel stopped and parked the car.

He turned, put one elbow on top of the back of the seat, and put the full weight of his attention on her. "It's a three-mile walk that way to the border."

Arietta followed where he pointed with her own gaze, but all that was there were more trees.

"Cael will see you out," Gavriel said.

The moment he finished his sentence, a hawk landed on the hood of the car and stared right through the windshield at her.

Goodness. Where Gavriel's gaze was heavy and intimidating, Cael's gaze was like large steel nails shooting right at her head.

Arietta did her best to ignore it. Instead, she unbuckled her seat belt and put a hand on the door handle. "Promise me you'll take care of her," she said.

And Gavriel, shifter and, most likely one of the most influential people in their chaotic world, said, "We treat all cubs as our own. No matter where they come from."

Arietta bit her lip to hold back the overwhelming relief. This. This right here was why she'd risked everything to bring Naya here.

Because the wielders would never do the same.

Hadn't done the same.

Arietta nodded and stepped from the vehicle. The gravel crunched against the soles of her shoes as she headed in the direction Gavriel pointed her.

Above her, Cael soared, his outline dark as he passed under the sun's rays.

Behind her, just barely, she heard the stutter and smooth thrum of Gavriel's vehicle starting.

Would the wielders be waiting there for her still? Or had Gavriel sent her to another spot? In all the chaos, she'd gotten completely turned around.

What if the wielders weren't waiting for her? She hadn't planned past this moment. She didn't think she'd have this moment.

This life. Just for a little while longer.

Her next steps may not be obvious, but her goals were. She needed to find a place to hold out for some time. Find some food, and find what safety this world, in its cruel misplacement of her, had to offer.

And then, somehow, she had to move on from the tiny black leopard cub that had wrapped her paw around Arietta's heart.

The gravel crunched loudly behind her as Gavriel's truck got closer, then—

Stopped.

Gavriel's window came down. "Get in."

Had he heard something over the walkie? "Is Naya alright?"

Something played across his expression. She'd seen that emotion before. On her mother when she was young and did something her mother didn't expect.

"She is fine," Gavriel said. "Now get in."

If Naya was fine — "I don't understand."

"Me neither," Gavriel said through tight lips. "Are you getting in or not?"

Did she have a choice? Although they wouldn't appreciate her presence, the shifters wouldn't kill her. Maybe.

But out there, past the border...

Arietta got into the vehicle.