Blood soaked the white cement walls of her cell. It dripped from the ceiling and oozed from unseen cracks hidden amongst the paint. Iron and decay soured the air, filling her nose until she gagged. Her gut upended, trying to expel something. Anything.

There was nothing to throw up. She hadn't eaten in days.

A loud plop of blood from the ceiling had her glancing up. Blood again today. Maybe tomorrow she'd go back to bugs...or shadows.

The shadows were the worst. She kept searching through them. Looking for black fur or yellow-green eyes.

Her heart was still telling her brain to keep an eye out. But her brain knew better.

No one would come for her. The shadows were and would always be just shadows.

I told you not to tell them, her mother's voice cooed from the distance. As the days passed, her mother's voice had taken on an edgier tone. A mocking one.

I told you—

The door to her room opened. Two individuals walked through the blood, their boots sliding through puddles of the thick red liquid. One had a white lab coat that matched what small spots of her cell walls she could see. The other was in plain black gear that had her heart racing.

They glanced over at where she huddled in the corner, knees pressed to her chest. It was the only spot in the entire room that was clean. The only spot that, occasionally, didn't smell like death and decay.

So she clung to it.

The white lab coat went to the small cot in the room and picked up the chart hanging from the top of the metal railing. As she flipped up the first page, the wet, sucking sound made Arietta wince. Deep red liquid matted the entire clipboard.

The guard only watched from near the door. Arietta found it odd that the blood from the ceiling didn't touch the female guard as it dribbled towards the floor.

"No change since yesterday," the lab coat said in a low voice. "No food yet either. We'll need to bring in an IV."

A large glob dropped onto the lab coat's shoulder, right where her dark hair draped across the collar. Arietta found herself unable to look away.

"Arietta?"

It was mesmerizing, the way it seeped slowly, carefully into the lab coat's clothes.

"Arietta, my name is Sophie," the lab coat said. "Can you hear me?"

"You have blood on your shoulder," Arietta murmured.

The lab coat and the guard shared a look.

"I'll let Reison know," the guard said.

In the corner across from her, something squirmed from one puddle. Warily, Arietta curled her legs tighter to her chest. Was that...?

A large, black cockroach squirmed and darted from the puddle. It shifted and swayed until—

Bugs.

Cockroaches, beetles, flying gnats, all dark bodies and small legs. Arietta whimpered and screwed her eyes shut tight.

Just your imagination. Just your imagination. It's not there. It's not there.

Yet she heard the chirp and hiss, the buzzing flap of wings as the bugs crawled over each other. They got closer and closer—

Arietta screamed.

***

"Anything?"

Lianna shook her head. "Nothing. We've combed the woods for days, but any initial survivors have since died."

Gavriel's fist met the heavy wood of his desk. Nothing, nothing, nothing. They searched for days for anything that might have told them more about the attack on their territory, and what happened to Arietta afterwards.

Gavriel pressed his fist to the top of his thigh. If only he had been stronger. If only he had been quicker. If only, if only...

His leopard hissed inside him.

Lianna stepped forward and placed a hand on the desk in front of him. Her dark eyebrows came together as she took in his face. "Gavriel, when's the last time you slept?"

He did not answer. Standing, he rounded the desk.

Her smile haunted his evenings. He could still feel her dark hair between his fingers and smell her delicate vanilla and moss scent. Her soft chuckle echoed in his ears each morning.

Everything—every memory, every moment—replayed on repeat in his head. Until even running in his leopard form was not enough to run away from the memory of her.

"I need to patrol," Gavriel told Lianna. Inside him, his leopard raked its claws against the cage he had around the beast.

It wanted to be free. To follow every scent trail, every whisper of a lead, even if it meant chasing them until he died of exhaustion.

But that would not help Arietta. Which meant he was very careful with how and when he let his leopard free.

"I will take your patrol," Lianna said. "Go get some rest."

Gavriel shook his head. "I would rather be working."

"You can't work until you run yourself into the ground, either." Lianna's hand rested on his arm.

His leopard wanted to bare his teeth at her. Did she think they were weak?

The thought made him stop. This was Lianna. His lieutenant. His third in command.

Gavriel sunk into the couch by the door and speared his fingers through his hair.

Arietta had, unknowingly, buried herself so deep in his heart that, without her, he felt absolutely feral. Completely unhinged.

As if she could hear his thoughts, Lianna sat down carefully next to him. "She was your mate, Gav. You're allowed to be emotional about the entire situation."

"Is." He corrected automatically. In his head, she had to be alive and healthy. She was waiting for him out there. Waiting for him to rescue her from the wielders that sought to use her magic for their own gain.

Because if she was not— If she was anything but safe—

His soul screamed.

"Is," Lianna corrected herself. Her box braids fell smoothly over one shoulder. "We will find her. Whatever it takes."

***

Shifters left the world the same way the stories foretold they entered it—through fire and nature. They wrapped their dead in soft cotton, sometimes blankets or their favorite clothes, then they built a pyre from the earth, covered it in lumber, twigs, and dry leaves.

Three days after the attack, Brynn built more pyres than she'd ever had before in her lifetime. Although she would never consider the attack a massacre—Arietta had made sure it wouldn't be—seven pyres were still seven too many.

And these were only those they had not laid to rest the day before.

Her arm brushed against Ronan's denim-covered calf as she bent to gather more twigs into her growing pile. Those that were close to the deceased would collect flowers and arrange a nice display around the body after Brynn and the others built the base of the pyre.

Ronan had not left her side for the last three days. At first, she assumed it was a simple matter of him being assigned guard duty after she'd requested an extension to stay in the Southern Shifter Territory from Daedre.

Now, she wasn't sure what it was. Even guards gave their charges some personal space.

Frustration bubbled beneath her skin like a pot set on simmer. "I can collect twigs without being a danger to your people," she mumbled. "At least give me five feet of breathing room, yeah?"

Ronan stepped an inch away.

Not much, but better. "When do we have to be back at the aerie?"

He glanced up towards the blinding sun dead-center in the painfully clear sky. It was unfair the sky was beautiful today when these people still suffered such a jagged wound. "An hour."

Brynn used the back of her hand to wipe at the sweat building at her hairline. Already the back of her neck was damp, sticking her blond locks to her skin.

She rounded a large oak, spotting a cluster of dry sticks beneath a twisting strand of developing ivy.

"For a security and technology expert, you're very good at manual labor," Ronan drawled as he collected material of his own.

Brynn almost dropped the stick she'd grabbed. Instead, she feigned nonchalance as she added it to the pile in her other arm. The sharp, uneven edges of her collection poked at her arm and the skin beneath her thin, long-sleeved t-shirt.

"Even technology experts help with territory work," she piped back.

It must've been the right answer, because he dropped the topic and switched to another.

"When is your next check in with Daedre?" Ronan asked in his gruff tone. He wasn't a chatty person—not that she'd have the patience for that anyway—but she liked the way syllables fell from his lips. There was something about the gravel and steel of his tone that made her hyper focused on every word that came from his mouth.

"Dawn," she supplied. Daedre, "D" for those that were close to her, was the leader of the Western Territory. Her leader. After the attack on the Southern Territory, D had offered Gavriel added people and supplies as needed. When Brynn had asked for an extension to stay in the Southern Territory, D had immediately approved. "I suppose Gavriel is going to need a security and tech expert for a few more weeks," her leader had said. "I'll approve. But you will check in with Nyal or I every other day at least."

Brynn had assumed she'd have to fight harder to stay. D was very territorial about her people and their safety. But if that was the extent of the stipulations...Brynn had been quick to agree.

It gave her more time here with Gavriel and Ronan, and kept her closer to her potential lead.

Brynn swiped up another branch. Three days and he'd still not said a word to her about the attack. Though he had kept close to her side. She kept waiting and waiting; her excuses were prepped and ready for use.

And yet, nothing.

There were definitely plenty of opportunities for him to ask her why she moved so fast during the attack. Or how she knew how to fight. Or even how she knew Arietta—

A soft whip was the only sound. Brynn whirled, hand up in front of her face. Her hands closed around the tough green outer shell of a...was that a walnut?

Her eyebrows came together. "What was that?" No bigger than the size of a tennis ball, the bumpy uneven edges of the walnut shell fit in her palm.

The sound that escaped Ronan was not a growl but not a purr. "I was curious about your reflexes." He had another in his own hand now, as if ready to lob it at her.

She narrowed her eyes at Gavriel's second in command. "And? What did you find out?"

Ronan shrugged in that lazy way leopards did, as if even the weight of their shoulders going up was too much work.

Hidden beneath the relaxed stance, Brynn finally spotted it.

Beneath that gaze was the molten steel and glint of the sharp blade. There. That was the Ronan that took out over seven wielders on his own during the attack on the territory. That was Gavriel's second. The deadly killer.

In that moment, she knew. He had questions.

But he wouldn't ask them.

Instead, he would test her. Try to learn the answers his own way.

Brynn reached into her bag of masks and put on her favorite one. The teasing one. Relaxing her shoulders, she tilted her head at Ronan. "Do you think I sat around in the Western Territory as I grew up? If you'd like to play, Mr. Leopard, all you have to do is ask."

Ronan's eyes flashed yellow green and back. His leopard showing her he was ready to do just that.

She kept her flirtatious mask on, even as they continued collecting materials. The walnut she'd slipped into the pocket of her track pants. Ready to launch it back at him when the time was right. If the leopard wanted to play a game, she would play.

And if not—well, then she'd break open the outer shell of the walnut later and enjoy another snack.

***

Ronan's gaze followed the short blonde woman as she eased her pile of twigs, branches, and other kindling onto the ever-growing pile near the edge of the inner home. The sunlight above them had her hair all but glowing, like a halo around her head.

His own pile crashed and tumbled as he added it to their stock of materials. His attention was only partially on what he was doing. The other half was on the woman who'd moved to crouch in front of Kris, one of their young hawk shifters, as he sobbed next to a tree.

Brynn patted the little shifters' knee, whispering soothing words. Her lips turned up into a kind grin as Kris reached up to knock fists with her.

She played the game well. But he knew. During the attack, and even earlier, when he'd tested her reflexes, he spotted it. The disconnection. Security and technology experts—normal human security and technology experts—did not know how to fight like she did. Nor did they have the reaction time she did.

Brynn was hiding a secret. And he would not rest until he discovered what was underneath that smooth skin and warm smile.