NAME PRONOUNCIATIONS:
- Gar rhymes with car.
- Rika is REE-kah.
*****
~ HARTH ~
Harth had been consumed by the cave when they entered. She knew she should pay attention to the conversation between the soldiers, but her entire body reacted to being closed in so completely.
No matter how she searched, she found no windows, no air, no light, except the large door they'd entered through, her access to which was blocked by the soldiers. Her heart began to pound painfully, her breath shallow and quick.
She needed to get out of this place that closed in on her like a fist. She needed to breathe. She needed air. She needed to escape!
Tarkyn's warmth brushed her arm and something within her clenched. She wanted to grab him, to plead that he take her outside. But she knew she couldn't show this weakness to these males who might use this against her.
She began to tremble. But she swallowed her fear, made herself stand tall, to defend her people.
They had no intent to harm or invade! The fact that these people assumed it spoke volumes about their own motives, and Harth found her heart slamming even harder at the thought that perhaps her mate was part of a people who were violent and controlling like the humans had been.
Silently she prayed, fighting to keep her eyes on the soldiers and stand up for her people. Then one of them mentioned a pup.
"Wait—pup?" she asked breathlessly. "Did you say pup?"
Tarkyn touched her arm and leaned close. "Yes, I did. Why?"
Harth was about to tell him when she caught herself, her heart suddenly torn.
This was her mate. She'd vowed herself to protect him, could sense the good and strength in him. She would tell him anything! But his people?
"I…" she swallowed, eyes darting back and forth between Tarkyn and the soldiers. "It's only that there are very few Chimera with young. Very few. So it means, I probably know who they are."
It had to be Zev and Sasha. They had returned! They'd successfully freed their son! But they'd been taken by these people?
She was so deep in thought she didn't immediately notice the tension in the males around her.
But Tarkyn's eyes had focused like the eagle on prey. "Harth, please… if you know who the prisoners are, tell us. We can take that information to the Queen as proof that you mean no harm to the Anima."
"I do mean no harm to you," she said, bluntly. But she couldn't breathe for fearing their intentions for her people—they'd called Zev a warrior? They'd imprisoned him?
Tarkyn sighed. "I know, but—"
"But from the way you all speak, how can I be sure you mean no harm to my… my people?" They all stared at her but none of them had an answer.
"Harth…" he pleaded with his eyes. He had to find a way to bring her to Elreth without the Queen marking her an invader. "Please—"
"Please don't say another word," a deep voice growled from behind him and every hair on Harth's body stood up.
The male who'd appeared in the doorway had skin a deep, warm brown, and near-black hair. He was massive—of a height with Zev, though perhaps like Tarkyn, slightly taller. But Harth was pretty sure he was the largest male she'd ever seen, except for a few of the creatures.
Broad and muscular, he looked like what the humans would describe as a barbarian—as if he could crack melons in the crook of an elbow.
And he looked at her as if she was the enemy.
Harth sucked in a breath and sank her weight lower, ready to shift and dart out of his grip when he went for her. But Tarkyn growled, and as if it had been a starter gun for the other males, everyone braced—the soldiers slipping back to give the two dominant males room as Tarkyn threatened to shift, his attention fully on the other male.
Instinctively, Harth expected a clash of titans. That these two males would launch and fight and fear jangled through her veins—could her mate, weakened as he was—have any hope of beating this guy?
But oddly, instead of sinking into a defensive stance, the male's head snapped back and his brows rose in surprise. "Tarkyn, I'm glad to see you safe, brother, but why would you stand in defense of an enemy? She is clearly a wolf, but not one of ours. That marks her one of these Chimera, and—"
"And she's my mate!"
Gar stared at him for a moment in stunned disbelief, then threw back his head and laughed.
Adrenalin flooded Harth at the sudden noise, but though her heart pounded, she found she could breathe just a touch easier, as the male wiped tears from his eyes and beamed at them.
"Your mate? You finally found your mate… and she's an enemy?" he wheezed, using the heels of his massive hands to wipe his eyes.
Harth looked at Tarkyn, who was still in a defensive stance, but his body no longer rippling towards the shift.
"You find this amusing?" Tarkyn growled.
The male opened his eyes, still smiling, but there was something very wry in his expression. But instead of answering Tarkyn, the male straightened his face and turned to the soldiers who'd given him space.
"I'm going to need to, uh, interrogate the invader," he said with a glance at Tarkyn. Harth had the impression he was swallowing more laughter. Please leave us—you can guard the door. But send someone to get the Queen, and please ask Behryn very gently if he'll come over to act as Advisor. I believe he's home.
There was some back and forth between the males, and Harth found her chest growing tighter and tighter as the males began to move out of the cave—a relief—but then turned to close the door behind them.
No. No! She couldn't be shut in here with all this darkness and this huge male and—
Tarkyn's hand was suddenly on her arm, but she startled when he touched her. "Harth, what's wrong? Gar can be trusted. He's—"
She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. She needed to get out, but this male blocked her view of the door and—
"Let her go, Tark," the male—Gar?—ordered.
Harth shrank back from him, but Tarkyn's grip on her arm loosened, and he looked back and forth between them. "Harth, what—"
"She's having a panic attack. Rika was the same when she arrived. Just give her some space."
"But, Harth, you're safe. I promise you—" Tarkyn shifted to put himself closer to her and even though her heart thrummed and she wanted to embrace him, her body went stiff and her breath stopped.
"What is it with you guys and the Alpha Male bullshit, honestly," a feminine voice sighed.
Harth stumbled back as a small woman appeared at the massive male's side. She smiled up at him, but her eyes quickly cut to Harth and Harth's breath stopped completely.
Because even though the female smiled, and even though Harth could scent her calm… she was human.
There was a fucking human here with these creatures?