Taming the Queen of Beasts

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*****

GAHRYE

It was always strange to him when his people came through. Even though, over the years, it had happened more frequently as disformed entered training—some of them to be Protectors, others just to find a second life in a different world—it still never ceased to leave Gahrye with a weird sense of the surreal. As if his two worlds collided and pieces of each fell into the other. Because they did, he realized.

That made him think of the prophecy, and he turned his mind from that and back to the stilted conversation happening around him.

They'd settled in the living area of the suite, Gar and Aaryn on the couch, Gahrye in the armchair that sat at the end of the coffee table, Kalle sitting on the arm of it, and Reece pacing the room at the other end, keeping himself between the door and the rest of them.

It was instinct, Gahrye knew. Though his son had been raised in the human world, his Anima blood was true. When Anima felt caged, they watched exits and paced. When dominant prey Anima felt protective, they used their own bodies as shields.

Gahrye's throat pinched. His son was a good male. He looked up at Kalle, stroking her back where she sat on the arm of his chair. She was trying to be welcoming to their allies, thoughtful, kind. But her eyes were pinched, and she swallowed too often. He was desperate to comfort her but didn't want to have to explain to any of the males in the room what he and his mate suspected her role would be when the worlds collided in truth.

His dark thoughts were interrupted by Aaryn's voice.

"… the one thing we're more concerned about than a few humans in Anima is their technology. We only saw one example—"

"I saw more," Gar interjected. "They've found ways to cover scents, to find us at a distance, and apparently they have the means to fell even a male before we've even gotten within arm's length. I saw what a bullet did to a Pricklepig."

Kalle dropped her face into one hand and Gahrye flattened his hand against her back. It was their worst nightmare. The worst of their fears when they'd studied the prophecies. And it was happening. Already happening.

"They're coming," Aaryn said quietly. "There's only a handful now, but the rest are coming."

"We know," Gahrye sighed. "Or at least, we suspected. I was preparing to come warn you."

Aaryn looked up and held his gaze, a slight smile appearing on his face. "Did you know that the disformed have been revealed as Protectors, and last night we walked the Rite of Veneration? We're a tribe, finally. And El… she named us Protectors."

Gahrye's jaw dropped. He looked back and forth between Aaryn and Gar, to find both males grinning.

"You're serious?"

"Deadly," Gar said, sounding just like Reth.

Gahrye leaped to his feet to pull first Gar into a thumping embrace, then Aaryn. When he turned to the wolf, Aaryn smiled and returned his hug. Then tipped his head at Gar. "Guess who's the Alpha?"

Gahrye turned again, gaping at Gar. This was a day for unending surprises. "You?"

Gar flapped a hand. "By default. It was going to be Aaryn, but he's King now, so—"

"Wait, what?!"

Gahrye and Kalle both stared between the two.

Aaryn spluttered, scratching the back of his neck. "Elreth challenged Reth… and won. She's Dominant Queen. I'm her mate. That makes me King. It's all been a little bit weird."

Gahrye stumbled back to his seat, blinking, his mind spinning. "So… Elreth is Alpha of All?"

"Yep."

"Where's Reth?"

Gar snorted. "Still around, don't worry. They moved into Elreth's tree so El and Aaryn could have the cave. But he's still Alpha of the Leonine, and an elder. He's just keeping a low profile to give El time to… sort everything out."

"He's helping us a lot," Aaryn said. "There's been a lot of problems. We've never had a female dominant before. We have to… adjust a lot of traditions."

"Also, my sister is a hurricane," Gar said good-naturedly. "So there's that."

Gahrye snorted, sharing a grin with Gar. Kalle shushed them both, but Aaryn smiled. "Yes, she is."

"Wow, this is… amazing," Gahrye said, pulling Kalle back to the arm of the chair so he could touch her while they talked. "I never imagined… that's wonderful news. All of it."

"Not all of it," Gar said, his voice dark again.

Gahrye sighed. "Yeah… I wish I'd warned you sooner, now." Then he huffed a deep breath. "So, tell me what's going on, and why you're here. Is it to call the Anima back? We've got them gathered. They're ready to come through when we make the call. I just figured we wanted to do them all at once, and you'd want a warning, so I was going to come—"

"El will be glad to hear that," Aaryn interrupted him. "But we're here to make sure I can get her through safely. She wants to come see you, to hear your thoughts herself and bring you what we know. Because they're coming, probably in the next few days. She wants… we need to know how to close the traverses completely. So they can't be used."

"Wait, traverses? Plural?" Gahrye said, his heart hammering in his chest. Kalle's hand went to his shoulder, gripping hard.

Aaryn nodded sadly. "There's a second traverse. On the other side of the desert. The humans have been coming through it for months—only in small numbers. Apparently they discovered Lerrin and Suhle's Outsiders first, but when their way was blocked by flooding, they came deeper into the land and found the rest of us."

Gahrye could barely breathe. "The second traverse… you're certain? We've been guarding this one, but we couldn't guarantee… there've been attempts—"

Gar raised a hand to stop him. "I… it turns out my mate is human," he said, his face softening on the word.. Gahrye's heart leaped again and he wondered if he was going to end up in hospital before he could get over and light a fire under this shitshow.