Rhani (Dragons of Kratak Book 3) by Ruth Anne Scott (9)

Chapter 1

Aimee Sandoval stuck her head through the door and called. “Are you ready to go, Marissa?”

Marissa stood up from her place by the fire. “I’m ready. You don’t have to shout.”

Aimee looked her up and down. “I didn’t know you were here.”

“You could see me if you looked around,” Marissa pointed.

Aimee’s head whipped around. “What’s the matter?”

Marissa walked away into the Lycaon village. “Nothing. Let’s go.”

Aimee fell in at her side. At the edge of the village, Aimee crouched to bound forward, but Marissa laid a hand on her arm to stop her. “I don’t feel like running. Let’s just walk.”

Aimee’s mouth fell open. “What? It’s ten miles up into the mountains.” She pointed to the summit towering over them. “It will take all day to walk up there.”

“Half the day, maybe,” Marissa replied. “Anyway, I don’t feel like running. Let’s take our time. Besides, we won’t be able to talk if we’re running.”

Aimee blinked at her. Then she shrugged. “Okay. I thought you would want to run to get there faster, but I guess we can walk.”

They set off through the trees at an easy pace. “Are you in a hurry? Do you have to get back soon to join the warriors?”

“I don’t have to get back,” Aimee replied. “I’m on leave for the next three days.”

Marissa eyed her. “How did you manage to take three day’s leave? The warriors needed every hand right now.”

“They’ll be all right without me for a few days,” Aimee replied. “I wanted to take time for this visit without rushing back.”

Marissa threw back her shoulders. “Good for you. This visit means a lot to me, too.”

The leaves around them showed their bright colors with the changing seasons and fluttered in a brisk breeze. Cold weather would settle in soon. “Have you heard from Chris since she moved back up the mountain?”

Marissa shook her head. “She hasn’t been down, but Turk came to visit Caleb. I wasn’t there. He had something to report from the border. I didn’t ask what it was.”

“It’s nothing we haven’t talked about already,” Aimee told her. “All the factions are cutting their border patrols. The Ursidreans have almost no one on the border anymore—certainly no armed patrols. Only the Avitras keep a full complement of Guards on the border, and I don’t see how they can keep that up for much longer.”

“That explains why the warriors don’t need you right now,” Marissa replied. “Soon they won’t need you at all. What would you do with yourself then?”

“I wouldn’t mind.” Aimee ran her fingers through her short auburn hair to comb it out of her eyes. “I only joined because they needed me. I’m sure I’ll find something to do.”

Marissa shot her a sidelong glance. “Your hair is growing back.”

Aimee blushed. “I meant to cut it again before we went up the mountain, but I let it slip.”

“It looks nice this way,” Marissa told her. “You looked so severe with it shaved.”

Aimee smiled. “Emily sure was surprised when she saw me.”

“Is that why you did it?” Marissa asked. “To shock your relatives?”

“I did it to keep it out of my way when I went on patrol,” Aimee replied. “It’s so much more convenient that way.”

“You looked nicer the way you were before,” Marissa told her. “When you first came, you had your hair down to your waist. You were softer around your face, too. Now.....”

Aimee studied her. “And now?”

Marissa turned away and shook her head.

“You don’t have to tell me,” Aimee went on. “I was fat and soft then. Now I’m hard and lean and dangerous. I discovered a different part of myself when I joined the warriors. I learned to run and fight and hunt with them. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to the way I was before.”

“What if you find a mate and have children?” Marissa asked. “What will you do then?”

“Why can’t I have a mate and children the way I am now?” Aimee returned. “I’m still me, whether or not I have hair on my head. I’m just a different version of myself. I can still love. My heart hasn’t changed. Besides....”

“Besides,” Marissa interrupted, “you might find a mate on the warriors.”

Aimee didn’t take up the joke. “Is that why you think I joined the warriors—to find a man?”

Marissa dropped her eyes. “No one is saying that.”

“But you’re thinking it, aren’t you?” Aimee asked.

“No one thinks it, either.” Marissa replied. “Everybody knows you joined the warriors to help our faction, and we all appreciate it.”

Aimee followed her gaze into the dense foliage. “Right. Everybody thinks I shaved my head and joined the warriors to avoid finding a mate, but that’s not the reason, either. I wasn’t happy with myself. I was useless. I couldn’t run. I was so weak and out of shape I couldn’t even haul firewood. I couldn’t stand myself.”

“You’ve been happy with the warriors,” Marissa replied. “Everyone can see that. You’re different, but you have a strange fire burning in you now that wasn’t there before. Everybody can see you’ve found your place.”

Aimee beamed at her. “Thanks. That means a lot coming from you.”

Marissa stretched. “Now let’s talk about something else. Let’s talk about Chris.”

“I’m sure she’s happy now, too, since she moved back up to her beloved mountain,” Aimee replied. “I’m surprised she stayed in the village as long as she did. You could see she wasn’t happy there.”

Marissa laughed. “Ever since the twins started running, she couldn’t keep her eyes off that mountain. She never belonged in the village at all.”

“Is Turk happy up there, too?” Aimee asked. “I can never tell if he’s happy to be back in the village with his family or if he’s itching to get out on the trail again.”

“He’s just like Chris,” Marissa replied. “He loves his family and the village community, but his heart is on the mountain. I understand why those two spent almost a year out there before they came down to have the twins.”

The sun broke over the mountain rim, and a fan of sunbeams shot through the trees. The leaves glowed golden, and steam rose from the damp earth. Marissa lifted her face to the light.

Aimee peered at her. “Are you sure you don’t want to run?”

Marissa turned red. “I can’t.”

Aimee’s eyes popped open. “Why not?”

“I’m pregnant,” Marissa told her.

“That’s wonderful!” Aimee paused. “That doesn’t mean you can’t run. Chris ran when she was pregnant, and I know some others who have done it, too.”

Marissa shook her head. “It isn’t that. I just don’t have the energy for it. I’m tired all the time, and I feel like I’m going to pass out every time I exert myself.”

Aimee sighed. “All right. I understand now. We’ll take it slow.”

Marissa hooked her arm through Aimee’s elbow. “Thanks.”

Chapter 2

A little hut perched among the high cliffs with the wind howling through the branches of its roof. Two twisted trees clung to the rocks with gnarled roots, and their tortured trunks formed the tiny structure’s twin backbones. Bundles of thatch tied onto their branches kept out the wind and rain.

Aimee and Marissa found Chris Sebastiani standing in the doorway. She shouted toward the shadows where the forest undergrowth swayed in the wind. “And don’t go too near the cliffs. And be home by dark. Your father will be back tonight.”

Aimee glanced toward the forest. “Was that the twins?”

Chris nodded. “They disappear at dawn and don’t come back until after dark most days. I hardly see them anymore.”

“They must be growing up fast,” Aimee remarked.

“I was hoping to see them,” Marissa told her. “I haven’t seen them since you moved up here.”

“None of us have.” Chris waved toward the door. “Come inside and sit down. What took you so long to get here? It isn’t that far to run.”

Aimee and Marissa exchanged glances. “We didn’t run. We walked.”

Chris’s head whipped around. “What for?”

Marissa hesitated, but Aimee replied, “Marissa didn’t feel like rushing. The woods are so beautiful at this time of year.”

Chris went back to her work. Aimee and Marissa sat down in two chairs opposite the little fireplace in the back wall of the house. “How have you been, Chris? I can see the mountain air agrees with you.”

“Everything about it agrees with me,” Chris replied. “It agrees with me, and it agrees with the twins. I don’t know how I stayed in the village as long as I did.”

“That’s what I just said,” Aimee told her. “You never should have come down in the first place.”

“Yes, we should have,” Chris countered. “Turk’s mother is getting old. If she hadn’t seen the twins when they were small, she probably never would have seen them. Now that they are running through the woods all day, they don’t want to sit around the village. Besides, it gave me a chance to get to know Turk’s family. I won’t get that chance again.”

“How is Turk?” Aimee looked around. “Where is he?”

“He joined a patrol to the Ursidrean border,” Chris replied. “He still has duties with the warriors even though he lives up here.”

Aimee frowned. “I wonder why I didn’t hear about that.”

“He’s on his own assignment,” Chris told her. “He doesn’t travel with a detachment of warriors the way he used to. He travels alone most of the time and answers directly to Caleb.”

“What does he do out there all by himself?” Aimee asked.

“He carries communications from Caleb to Donen and back again,” Chris replied. “He meets Faruk, who is Donen’s right hand man, on the border. Faruk hands off Donen’s messages to Turk, and Turk carries them to Caleb. Then he carries the answers back and delivers them to Faruk, who carries them to the Ursidrean capitol to give to Donen.”

“That’s an awfully complicated way of communicating,” Aimee remarked. “There must be a faster way.”

“Do you mean like whipping out your cell phone and sending the person a text?” Chris asked. “This is Angondra, not Seattle. The Ursidreans have advanced communications technology, but the Lycaon don’t, and none of the other factions do, either. If they want to communicate, they have to do it the old fashioned way, and Lycaon runners are the fastest on the planet.”

“Don’t forget,” Marissa added, “these factions have been at war for centuries. They’ve never communicated at all before. Maybe when the peace negotiations get a little farther advanced, the Ursidreans will share their technology with the rest of us to make communications faster.”

Chris prepared them a meal, and they caught up on news from the village. “Carmen is pregnant now,” Marissa told her.

“Really?” Chris exclaimed. “I hadn’t heard.”

Marissa laughed. “How could you hear? You’ve been in self-imposed isolation up here for who knows how long.”

“I haven’t been in isolation,” Chris argued. “I’m just not living in the village where every tidbit of news gets passed from hand to hand in seconds. How did you find out?”

“Caleb told me,” Marissa replied. “He found out from Faruk, who found out from Donen, who is in negotiations with Renier.”

Aimee laughed. “Now that’s what I call the bush telephone.”

Marissa smiled. “Don’t laugh. He also told me your cousin Anna is with the Ursidreans now. She’s mated to a friend of Faruk’s named Menlo. She’s with Emily in the Ursidrean capitol.”

Aimee gasped. “How did that happen? Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“We were too busy talking about Chris,” Marissa replied. “And I only found out this morning. The Avitras captured Menlo off the Ursidrean border. They were going to hold him for ransom and then kill him. Anna helped him escape, and they traveled together back to Ursidrean territory.”

Aimee shook her head in wonder. “Amazing. I always knew Anna and Frieda didn’t belong with the Avitras. There’s something shifty about those people.”

“They’re all right,” Marissa told her. “We just have the same prejudices against them that all Angondran factions have against each other. I’m sure Aquilla had a good reason for doing what he did.”

“That’s not the only news from your cousins,” Chris interrupted. “Your cousin Frieda has been found.”

Aimee started out of her chair. She couldn’t contain herself any longer. “What? When? How? Where?”

Chris held up her hand. “Slow down. She’s with the Aqinas. That’s all I can tell you.”

Aimee stared at her. “If she’s with the Aqinas, how can she be found?”

“The Aqinas came out of the water when Donen and Renier met on the frontier,” Chris told her. “There was another human woman there. I met her at the Romarie crash site, but one of the Romarie survived the crash long enough and attacked her. I thought she was dead, and we left her there when the Lycaon rescued us. Maybe you remember her from the ship. She was a Latina woman from Texas. Her name is Sasha Marquez.”

Aimee nodded. “I didn’t think she survived the crash.”

“You don’t know how surprised I was to see her with the Aqinas,” Chris went on, “but they said they had another human woman with them who just came to them a few days before. They described her, and Emily recognized her. Frieda is living with the Aqinas. She’s found happiness there, and she’s not coming back.”

Aimee scratched her head. “This is amazing. I thought Frieda was gone for good.”

“That’s what we all thought,” Chris replied. “But she’s alive and well. Don’t ask me when we’ll ever see her again, but at least she’s happy where she is.”

A twig snapped outside. Chris frowned toward the forest.

“Is it the twins again?” Marissa asked.

“It’s Turk.” Chris waved toward the trees. “What’s he’s doing back so soon?”

A shadow fell across the doorway, and Turk crossed the threshold. He nodded to the two visitors. “Good to see you, again, Turk.”

“What are you doing here, Aimee?” he asked. “Shouldn’t you be on patrol?”

“I took a leave of absence to visit Chris,” she replied.

He gave Chris a kiss. “I can’t stay, darling. I have to run back to the Ursidrean border before dark.”

Chris’s eyes popped open. “Why? Can’t you stay even one night?”

He shook his head. “This is an emergency. Donen, Faruk, and Menlo are on their way to rendezvous with Renier. They're all going to Avitras territory.”

Aimee stiffened. “The Avitras? What can they do there?”

“They’re going to try to talk Aquilla into joining their peace agreement,” Turk replied. “The Lycaon have to be there. I wish there was some way to send a message to Caleb. He should be there instead of me, but there isn’t time. I have to leave right away.”

Marissa stood up. “I’ll go back and tell him.”

“There isn’t time to walk back,” Aimee told her. “By the time you got there, the other Alphas would be long gone.”

“I won’t walk,” Marissa replied. “I’ll run it. Then Caleb can run out to the border and meet up with you, Turk.”

“But you said....” Aimee began.

Marissa cut her off with a chop of her hand. “This is too important. I’ll make it.”

Chris looked back and forth between her friends. “Do you mind telling me what the dickens is going on?”

Marissa faced her. “I’m pregnant. That’s why we walked here instead of running, but I’ll be fine. I can still run as fast as I ever did, and Turk’s right. Caleb shouldn’t miss this meeting. If you can convince Aquilla to join your peace agreement, this could be the biggest thing to happen to Angondra in years. We’ve all waited so long for peace and been through so much. We can’t miss this chance.”

Turk hesitated. “Are you sure?”

Marissa headed for the door. “I’m sure. I’ll be there in no time, and Caleb will meet you on the border.”

Turk turned to Chris and Aimee. “Aria is coming with Donen, Emily and Anna are coming with the Ursidreans, and Carmen is coming with Renier. They think all these human women will help convince the Avitras to bid for peace.”

Chris stepped forward. “That settles it. I’m coming with you. You come, too, Aimee. The men won’t turn their backs on the chance at peace with all of us there to convince them.”

Aimee nodded. “All right. I’ll come with you, but what about the twins? They’re out there in the woods somewhere. What will happen when they come back and find both you and Turk gone?”

Chris tore a strip of bright red cloth off a bundle by the door. She tied it to the crooked tree branch over the doorpost. “This is our signal to the twins to go back to the village. Marissa can tell Turk’s mother and sister the twins are on their way down to the village. The twins will go to their grandmother’s house until we get back.”

Chapter 3

Turk stopped running on a hill north of the Lycaon village. Enormous expanses of forest stretched to the horizon beyond. “Can you see anything from here?” Aimee asked.

“There’s a dust cloud rising over the plain,” he replied. “That must be the Felsite column approaching the border.”

“If they’re raising dust,” Chris told him, “it’s the Ursidreans in their armored vehicles. The Felsite travel on palanquins carried by huge snails. They don’t raise dust.”

Turk nodded. “That explains why they’re moving so fast.”

“Can you see anything coming from the west?” Chris asked. “That’s Felsite territory.”

“There’s nothing moving,” he replied, “but there is a smudge cloud closer to the border. The Felsite must already be camped there and waiting for the Ursidreans.”

“Did they plan to travel to Avitras territory together?” Aimee asked. “Why are they camping and meeting there when they could meet so much closer to their destination?”

“No one wants to risk a confrontation with Aquilla,” Turk told them. “They’ll hammer out a concrete strategy before they move closer to the Avitras.”

Chris nodded. “That makes sense. Aquilla hates the Ursidreans, and he isn’t too keen on the Felsite, either.”

“The Avitras are the only faction that hasn’t come around to the idea of peace,” Turk replied. “Convincing Aquilla to put aside decades of hostilities could be harder than we think.”

“Well, we aren’t getting any closer standing here,” Aimee pointed out. “Let’s get down there and find out what they have in mind.”

Aimee set off down the hill, and the others followed single file. The wind tugged at Aimee’s hair and the fringe of her buckskin jacket, and it brought the rich scent of the forest to her nostrils. She had never run like this before, with the wind in her hair. She shaved her head bald when she joined the Lycaon warriors, and she never ran in her life before she came to Angondra.

What was her life becoming? Only a few months ago, she thought she’d found her bliss patrolling the border with the warriors. Now, with peace on the horizon, all that could end in a heartbeat. She vowed in her heart never to give up the happiness she won when she joined the warriors. Now she let her hair grow and turned her eyes toward the village and the hearth. Who was she, after all, if she wasn’t a warrior? What would she be after this peace negotiation? How would she recognize herself?

Unlike the other survivors of the Romarie space ship crash, she didn’t hang onto her old self or grieve the loss of her old life. She dropped her past like a hot potato, much to the distress of her cousins. Anna and Frieda left the Lycaon partly as a reaction to losing the Aimee they knew on Earth. They couldn’t relate to the new Aimee—hard, spare, distant, warlike. They winced when they saw her. And Emily barely recognized her when they met again.

Aimee ran and ran. She could run and never stop running. She could never thank the Lycaon enough for the gift of flight she learned. All these women found their places in Angondran society when they found men to love and settled down, but Aimee found her place running under the trees with the wind stroking her bare scalp. She would never give that up.

In a few hours, the trio entered the narrow canyon cutting between Ursidrean territory and Felsite territory. Aimee never knew the canyon was there, but Chris and Turk knew it well. Felsite and Ursidrean rendezvoused in the no-man’s land between their territories to discuss peace no one ever dreamed possible.

Aimee didn’t see the narrow trail leading up out of the canyon to the plain until Chris turned around a big rock and climbed to the flat land above. Sure enough, a huge band of Felsite camped on the canyon rim. One big Felsite with a bushy orange mane rose from his place by the fire and approached them. He extended his arms, and his voice boomed. “So you made it after all. I hoped you would. We couldn’t conduct this negotiation without you.”

Turk clapped him on the shoulder. “It’s good to see you again, Renier. You know my mate, Chris, and this is Aimee Sandoval. She’s Anna and Emily’s cousin.”

Renier nodded and shook Aimee’s hand. “I’ve heard about you.”

“My brother is on his way,” Turk told him. “His mate has gone to get him, so he won’t be long in coming.”

“We will wait for him here, then,” Renier replied. “We have much to discuss, and the more of us appeal to Aquilla for peace, the less likely he will be to turn us away.”

Turk looked around. “Where are the Ursidreans? From the peak up there it looked as though they were right on top of you.”

Renier pointed back over his shoulder. “They are coming. Have no doubt of that. We have look-outs stationed to keep an eye on their progress, but they travel so slowly in their giant contraptions. I don’t know how they can stand it.”

Turk clenched his teeth. “I’m sure Aquilla will be delighted when we turn up on his border with all those siege guns trained on his territory. That won’t make much of an introduction to the peace process.”

Renier frowned. “Perhaps Donen could be convinced to leave them behind.”

Turk muttered something under his breath.

Renier waved toward the Felsite camp. “Come and join us while we wait.” He conducted them to the circle of Felsite sitting around the fire. He sat down next to a slight woman with short black hair. Chris sat on her other side. “How are you, Carmen? I heard you were pregnant.”

Carmen smiled. “I was. That’s my baby sleeping in the basket over there.”

Chris peered into the basket. “Congratulations. She’s beautiful.”

“What about your young ones?” Carmen asked. “Aren’t they too young to stay home alone?”

“They can run through the woods all day by themselves now,” Chris told her. “They stayed with Turk’s family in the village.”

Carmen gazed down at her daughter’s sleeping face. A fringe of bright orange hair rimmed her porcelain cheeks. “They grow up so fast.”

“This is my friend Aimee,” Chris told her.

Carmen shook Aimee’s hand. Then she handed both women bowls of steaming tea and plates of food. “You must be tired after your journey.”

“I enjoyed the run,” Aimee replied.

At that moment, a shout went up outside the camp, and Renier started to his feet. “The Ursidreans! They’re here!”

The company hurried to the canyon rim, but Renier waved his people back so only he and Carmen, and Turk, Chris and Aimee, representing the Lycaon, faced the east to welcome the Ursidreans.

The sun struck Aimee’s back and sent long shadows across the ground to meet the advancing army. Her heart skipped a beat. She’d never seen Ursidreans before, and now she would join their army advancing on the Avitras. The Avitras wouldn’t know they came to discuss peace. This adventure could spark the very war they hoped to avoid.

A gust of wind blew the dust away, and the army halted. The setting sun flashed on metal, and three men and three women broke away from the army. Renier moved forward with Carmen at his side. Turk nodded to Chris, and Aimee joined them. They dropped into the narrow path leading down to the canyon bottom, and the Ursidrean group did the same. They met at the stream in the bottom of the canyon. Renier clapped Donen on the back. Turk shook Donen’s hand, and then Faruk’s and Menlo’s.

The six women embraced with laughter and tears of joy. Emily brushed Aimee’s hair away from her forehead and petted her cheek. “You don’t know how good it is to see you. I didn’t think I would ever see you again.”

Carmen hugged Aria. “You look amazing. Happiness agrees with you.”

Aria laughed. “Where are you hiding that baby of yours?”

“Is Marissa coming?” Carmen asked.

“I don’t think so,” Chris told her. “She’s pregnant, and she can’t travel very well.”

Renier waved his hand. “Come to my camp, everyone. We’ll make you comfortable tonight while we wait for Caleb.”

The group climbed out of the canyon to the Felsite camp. The Ursidrean column broke up, and the general noise of camp-making floated over the canyon to the Felsite fires. The friends ate and talked and joked until the moon rose.

Donen stood up. “I better go back to my officers. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Aria stood up, and Emily hugged Chris, when a bellow and snarl erupted at the edge of the camp. The Felsite guards leapt to their feet and brandished their weapons. A hideous shriek tore through the night, and Renier’s hand flew to the blade at waist. “Stand back! Let him through!”

The guards didn’t hear him. They surged into the dark and bared their teeth. Renier launched himself forward and planted his legs in front of them. He swung his hooked blade at his own men to drive them back. Saliva flew from his teeth, and his eyes flashed fire. “I said let him through! Any man who lays a finger on him will answer to me.”

Aimee’s warrior training took over, and she found herself rushing forward with her own short blade in her hand. Turk appeared at her side, but the fight was over before it started. The Felsite fell back before Renier, and a shadow emerged from the darkness. “Caleb!”

The black ridge of fur on Caleb’s neck and shoulders stood on end, and he growled and hissed at the Felsite guards. Renier laid his hand on Caleb’s arm. “They didn’t attack you, did they?”

Caleb relaxed. “I would have ripped them to shreds if they had.”

Renier sheathed his weapon. “I expected something like this. Centuries of warfare can’t be wiped out in a day. We should all be ready to fight at a moment’s notice.”

Aimee couldn’t loosen her hold on her blade so easily. Anna appeared at her side. “It’s okay. It’s only Caleb.” Aimee nodded and drifted back to the fire. “You would have fought them, wouldn’t you?”

Aimee sat down in the warm glow of the flames. “They would have killed Caleb. He might be strong and brave, but he couldn’t stand against all those Felsite. No one could.”

“I would have fought, too,” Turk added. “I wouldn’t stand by.”

Aimee shuddered. “This meeting could’ve been disaster. If we had fought now, both these armies would have been drawn into battle. We might have wiped each other out before the peace negotiations got started.”

Anna laughed, and Aimee’s head shot up to stare at her. “What’s so funny?”

Anna stopped laughing. “Nothing. I’m just nervous, the same as the rest of you. It seems so crazy that the first real chance of peace could end this way. I can’t imagine it.”

Aimee stared into the fire. “I can.”

Renier led Caleb to the fire and sat down next to him. “We’ll all have to be on our guard not to let this happen. I should have cautioned my men more carefully to expect you.”

“You did,” Carmen told him.

“I told them to expect the Lycaon Alpha,” Renier replied. “They must have expected something like the Ursidrean army showing up here, not a shadow creeping alone out of the dark.”

Caleb stood up. “Not alone.” He whistled over his shoulder toward the path, and Marissa appeared.

Aimee jumped up. “What are you doing here?”

Marissa sat down next to her. “The same thing you’re doing here. I couldn’t let all of you take part in this negotiation without seeing it for myself.”

“But I thought....” Aimee stammered.

Marissa didn’t smile. “I threw up once on the way here, but other than that, I held up pretty well. At least I didn’t slow Caleb down.”

“She ran very well,” Caleb said. “I told her to wait out there in the dark while I approached the camp.” He nudged Renier. “I expected something like this, too.”

“So what are we going to do, now that Caleb is here?” Chris asked. “How are we going to approach the Avitras?”

“I really don’t know,” Donen replied. “Aquilla is likely to cut my throat the instant he sees me. Maybe the Felsite and the Lycaon should go without us.”

“Aquilla hates the Felsite as much as he hates the Ursidreans,” Renier countered, “and I don’t want to face the Avitras alone. The only way to stop him launching an all-out attack is for all of us to approach him at the same time. He wouldn’t dare attack any of us with the others standing by.”

Anna spoke up. “I’ve been thinking about this a lot on the way here, and I think I have an idea.”

Donen pricked up his ears. “What’s that?”

“Instead of approaching Aquilla,” Anna replied, “we should approach Piwaka instead.”

“Who’s Piwaka?” Aimee asked.

“He’s the Captain of the Avitras Border Guard,” Anna replied. “He helped me free Menlo from Aquilla. I couldn’t have done it without Piwaka—and Penelope Ann.”

“Has anyone thought of contacting Penelope Ann?” Carmen asked. “Maybe she’s the one we should be working with instead of the men.”

“We’re here because we can work together in a way the Angondrans can’t,” Emily added. “Maybe Penelope Ann can get through to Aquilla.”

“If anybody can get through to Aquilla,” Anna replied, “you can bet Penelope Ann is doing everything she can to do it. But we can do more by approaching Piwaka. We should at least try it.”

Menlo spoke up for the first time. “I don’t like it. The Avitras are dangerous at the best of times. Going behind Aquilla’s back will only aggravate him more.”

“You’re still wary after your experience,” Anna told him.

“You bet I’m wary,” he shot back. “Anybody would be wary after what they did to me.”

“But you know as well as anybody that Piwaka is a reasonable man,” Anna pointed out. “He wants peace as much as we do, and he’s the one person who actually has some pull with Aquilla—except Penelope Ann, of course. If we can convince Piwaka, Aquilla’s bound to go along with us.”

“Not necessarily,” Menlo countered. “If Aquilla wants to dig in his heels, nothing will move him. Renier is right. We should all be prepared to fight.”

Anna shook her head. “I say we at least try to convince Piwaka. He controls the Guard, so he’s the real power behind the Avitras.”

“Piwaka’s an old man,” Menlo told her. “He won’t be around forever, and when he goes, we’ll have no one to deal with but Aquilla. If we’re going to negotiate for peace with the Avitras, we have to approach Aquilla head on and not sneak around behind his back.”

“I understand both your points of view,” Renier remarked. “Both have merits, and we still have no idea what we’ll find when we get to Avitras territory. We might find only Aquilla. Piwaka could have resigned as Captain of the Guard. Or we might find Piwaka alone on the border without Aquilla, in which case we would still have to explain our mission to him.”

“Don’t forget,” Emily added, “Piwaka is the one who let me cross the border to visit Anna, even though I had an Ursidrean and two Lycaon with me at the time. Aquilla would never have done that.”

Renier stood up. “We’ll all get a good night’s sleep tonight. In the morning, we’ll move to the Avitras border. Once we get there, we’ll have a better idea how to proceed. Maybe an opportunity will present itself that we can’t see from here.”

Chapter 4

The sun beat down on the plain. The Felsite column snaked over the sun-baked earth, and the Ursidrean column followed. Aimee and the other Lycaon rode on the Ursidrean battle machines with Donen and his entourage. They wound their way south toward the Eastern Divide separating Avitras and Ursidrean territory. Aimee shielded her eyes from the sun and sighed.

“Are you okay?” Emily asked.

“I’m fine,” Aimee replied. “I would have preferred to run.”

“In this heat?” Emily asked. “You’re crazy.”

“At least I wouldn’t be sitting still under this sun,” Aimee replied. “The wind keeps you cool. I’m just worried about Marissa. She shouldn’t be out in this heat.”

“I’m all right,” Marissa replied from the other side of the vehicle. “I’m glad I don’t have to run. I think I spent my last ounce of energy getting here last night.”

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Aimee told her. “You should have stayed home.”

“And miss these negotiations? No way,” Marissa replied. “Carmen and Aria and I were the first human women on this planet, and I’ll be there at the end if it’s the last thing I do.”

Aria spoke up from her place next to Donen. “I wonder if we’ll see Penelope Ann before this is all done.”

“I’m sure we will,” Anna chimed in. “She’s as much a part of this as any of us. Where Aquilla will be, she will be.”

The sun quashed further conversation, and most of the party dozed or at least kept their eyes closed. They hadn’t even reached the base of the Divide before the sun set and brought welcome relief from the relentless glare.

Aimee hopped to the ground. Emily sat up. “Where are you going?”

Aimee nodded toward the slope. “I’m going to run up. I’ll see you at the top.”

“But how will you find your way?” Emily asked.

“I’ll find it.” Aimee tightened her boot laces. “What about you, Chris? Do you want to come along and stretch your legs?”

Chris shot her a grin. “Don’t mind if I do. I can’t stand sitting still. Come on, Turk. Let’s race ‘em.”

Turk leapt to the ground and nodded up to Caleb. “We’ll see you up there.”

Caleb laughed, and in an instant, the sound dwindled to nothing behind them. Aimee led the way, and the wind stripped the torpor and tension from her mind. Treetops whipped past overhead, and her feet barely touched the ground.

A few minutes later, Chris inched up next to her. Aimee put on a fresh burst of speed. Chris matched her, and Turk dropped back to let them race up the mountain. The track jutted up steep escarpments to peaks high above, but Aimee pumped her legs harder and inhaled the crisp mountain air. She flew over the ground with Chris at her side.

The track narrowed until it forced them to run single file. Aimee didn’t stop until she broke through the escarpment and ran out onto a pinnacle of rock. She looked back down the mountain to the column far below.

The sun shone on the mountain peak, but the mountain cast the column into shadow. The Ursidrean machines carried lights powered by their engines, and the long line of fireflies threaded across the plain to the foot of the Divide.

Chris chuckled at her side. “Did you see the looks on their faces when you said you were going to run up the mountain? It was priceless.”

“I don’t know how they can sit there, hour after hour,” Aimee replied. “I wish I’d run the whole way, but I didn’t want to offend Donen after he offered to let us ride with him.”

“They won’t be here for hours,” Turk remarked. “Where should we camp?”

Aimee gazed down the other side of the mountain. Vast forests stretched as far as the eye could see. “The Avitras are around down there somewhere. We probably shouldn’t approach their border if we can help it.”

“We already have,” Turk replied. “The top of these mountains is the border between the Avitras and the Ursidreans. As soon as they detect us here, they’ll send out their Guards to confront us.”

“We better stay here, then.” Chris looked around. “There’s nothing to build a shelter or a fire. Maybe we should wait for the others down in the trees.”

Aimee sat down on the rock. “It’s a warm night. I’m going to stay here and watch until they come.”

“Let’s stay up here,” Turk agreed. “It could be dawn by the time they come.”

Sure enough, the stream of lights took all night to wind through the defiles and up the steep Divide. The first streaks of dawn lightened the sky when Renier stepped of his palanquin and looked around. “Where should we camp?”

Aimee stretched her stiff legs. “That’s what we were wondering. There’s nowhere to camp up here—nowhere big enough for all of us, anyway.”

Menlo strode up from the Ursidrean column and pointed down the Divide. “There’s a flat place farther down that might work. It’s rock, but it’s sheltered from the wind and close enough to the forest to build a fire.”

He led the way to an expanse of rock set between two mountain peaks. Renier nodded. “This will do. We can collect firewood from those trees, and I can hear water running down in the forest.”

Aimee listened. “Those trees and that water are on the Avitras side of the border. What if the Avitras consider our camping here an intrusion on their territory?”

Renier frowned. “You’re right. We can’t start our negotiation that way.”

“What’s the alternative?” Anna asked. “There’s nowhere else to camp.”

Aimee kept her voice low. “There are plenty of places to camp. There just aren’t any other places to camp for this many people.”

Turk stepped forward. “Aimee’s right. We shouldn’t have all these soldiers and warriors so close to the border. It looks dangerous because it is.”

Donen threw back his shoulders. “Right. Faruk, order the Ursidrean troops to fall back to the forest below the escarpment. They’ll find plenty of firewood and water down there, and they’ll be out of the wind.”

Renier gave a shrill whistle. “My people will fall back with you. The Alphas and their mates, and Faruk and Menlo, Anna and Emily and Aimee, will all stay up here to keep an eye on the border in case any Avitras show up and start asking questions.”

He waved his arm to his men, but before anyone could move, a gust of wind burst through the trees. Aimee barely had time to glance in that direction when an enormous band of Avitras soared out of the trees. Their wings spread behind them in bright colored fans that reflected the rising sun and blinded everyone. They rose over the assembled armies and landed in a line stretching from one end of the rock to the other.

Faruk and Menlo whirled around with their phase reciprocators pointed at the Avitras. A murmur rippled through the Ursidrean ranks, and the siege guns crackled to life. Renier’s hand flew to his blade, but he stopped himself from drawing it. His men didn’t show the same restraint, though. They rushed toward the Avitras with every sinew tensed and ready to fight.

One Avitras darted forward to confront them. He looked younger than the others and slighter built, but his eyes blazed with fury and he swung his double-bladed staff at his aggressors. “What are you doing, amassing for attack inside our border? This is an act of war, and I will respond in kind.”

Menlo bellowed back at him. “We aren’t inside your border, Aquilla. We’re west of the Divide and well within Ursidrean territory. You know that.”

Aquilla bared his teeth at the burly Ursidrean. “You! I should have known you were behind this. I never should have let you leave my territory alive. I won’t make the same mistake again, and the Ursidreans will regret the day they provoked me.”

Menlo drew his lips back from his teeth in a snarl, but Donen laid his hand on Menlo’s arm. “Don’t waste your breath. It won’t do any good.”

Anna stepped forward. “What about me, Aquilla? Will you kill me, too, for crossing your border?”

Aquilla rounded on her. “You’re the one who let that....that creature loose when I had him prisoner. You’re dead to me already.”

Carmen stepped forward. “What about me, Aquilla? Do you remember me? I came to visit you and Penelope Ann when we first landed on this planet. Am I dead to you, too?”

Aquilla ran his eye down the battle line. “Did the Felsite come to invade my territory, too?”

“No one came to invade your territory,” Carmen replied. “We came to discuss peace with you.”

He glared at her. “Peace—between the Avitras and....who? The Ursidreans? The Felsite? Don’t make me choke.”

Emily joined her friends in front of the two armies. “Where’s Piwaka? Does he feel the same way you do?”

Aquilla frowned. “What does Piwaka have to do with this?”

A taller, thicker-set Avitras moved to Aquilla’s side. “I’m right here. If you have anything to say to me, say it now.”

Chris took Aimee by the hand, and they and Aria walked forward. The seven women formed their own line blocking the three armies from each other.

“We came to talk peace with you,” Carmen told him. “All of us have made our homes on Angondra, but we’ve remained close friends, even though we belong to different factions. The Angondran factions could accomplish the same thing. You’re one people, even though you have different ways of living and different adaptations to your habitats. You could live in peace with each other and respect each other, instead of slaughtering each other in these senseless wars and threatening your entire race.”

“None of the factions has enough warriors to guard the borders anymore,” Emily added. “When we came to live here, all the factions were desperate for females to rebuild their populations after the plague. Another war would devastate your population and you would never recover. Make peace now, and work together to make Angondra thrive.”

Aquilla didn’t slacken his stance in the slightest, but Aimee noticed a sparkle in Piwaka’s eyes. Their arguments made sense to him. He was listening. He noticed her watching him, and his eyes gravitated to her face. Her heart fluttered, and she looked away.

Aquilla pointed at a spot behind them. “Avitras territory extends to the edge of that rock. You’re all trespassing on my territory. I have the sovereign right to slaughter all of you right here and now.”

Emily sighed. Chris turned to her friends and spoke in an undertone. “Obviously there’s some misunderstanding about the border.”

“No wonder they’ve had so many wars,” Aimee added.

“If only Penelope Ann was here,” Carmen exclaimed. “She could smooth this over.”

Piwaka interrupted their conversation. “She is here.”

The women spun around and found him staring at them with curious intensity. Then he turned toward the treeline and made a clicking noise with his tongue. A tall woman with long blonde hair stepped out of the trees and approached the line.

Carmen gasped. “Penelope Ann!” Marissa started forward, but Chris held her back. “Not yet.”

Penelope Ann took her place at Aquilla’s side. “It’s good to see you all again.”

“We’ve come to negotiate peace between all the factions,” Marissa told her. “Help us, Penelope Ann. Help us bring peace to Angondra.”

Penelope Ann regarded them with cool detachment. The sight of her made Aimee shiver. “How can you negotiate peace at the same time you’re invading our territory?”

The women glanced at each other. Their plans couldn’t end like this. Donen rounded on his troops and waved his arm in the air. “Fall back! Faruk, take the troops down past the escarpment. Take the cannon and the transporters all the way down to the plain so the Avitras can see them from the Divide. Let no doubt remain in anyone’s mind that we’re on our own side of the border.”

Renier joined him giving orders to his men. “Take everyone back and camp next to the Ursidreans. Don’t leave even one person behind but me and Carmen.”

His lieutenant said something Aimee didn’t catch, but Renier cut him off. “Do as I say. No questions.”

Donen bellowed to his troops. “Fall back!”

The clash of metal and the pounding of feet crossed the rock and dropped down the track the way they came. In a moment, only Donen, Renier, Turk, and Caleb remained of the two armies. The seven women faced the Avitras.

Aquilla held firm, but Penelope Ann wavered. Her eyes skipped from Marissa to Carmen to Aria and back again. She even cast a glance toward Anna.

“We came with entirely peaceful intentions,” Marissa told them. “We’ve just sent all our troops back into our own territory to prove it to you. If you really want to slaughter us all, we won’t be able to defend ourselves, and you’ll have to start with us. You have no reason not to believe us.”

“I won’t make peace with the Ursidreans,” Aquilla growled.

“Then make peace with us,” Chris told him. “We’re neutral.”

“You’re Lycaon,” he shot back. “And that one is Felsite, and those three belong to the Ursidreans. You might be a different species, but you belong to your factions, just like Penelope Ann belongs to the Avitras. You can’t change that, and you can’t erase the past because you don’t have enough men to guard your border.”

“You don’t have enough men to guard your border, either.” Anna turned to Penelope Ann. “Help us, Penelope Ann. Don’t let these hostilities go on any longer.”

Penelope Ann shifted from one foot to the other, but, Piwaka spoke up before she could respond. “We should listen to them. We have nothing to lose and plenty to gain.”

Aquilla pursed his lips. “Keep silent.”

“These women aren’t our enemies,” Piwaka replied. “What harm can it do to listen to them?”

Aquilla glared at his Captain. “How dare you undermine me at a time like this!”

“I’m not undermining you. I’m helping you.” Piwaka motioned to Penelope Ann. “Ask her. She’ll tell you the same thing.”

Aquilla rounded on Penelope Ann. “Tell me you’re not taking their side in this.”

Penelope Ann glanced one way and then the other. “Listen to them. They’re right. We can’t afford these quarrels any longer. Let’s make peace and prosper.”

“You don’t have to agree with them or join their peace agreement, but at least listen,” Piwaka urged. “They might have some valuable concessions to offer.”

Aquilla spun away. “Talk all you want. I won’t agree to anything.”

Piwaka raised his hand to the Avitras Guards. “We’ll camp on this rock, just to make sure the enemy troops don’t return. If you want to negotiate with us, then fall back with your troops. We will meet on neutral ground to discuss this further.”

The Avitras line broke up. Aria turned her back on them and waved her friends back. “Come on. We’ve won this round—for now, anyway.”

“I told you Piwaka would help us,” Anna murmured.

Aimee glanced back over her shoulder and spotted the big Captain watching them retreat. “He succeeded in driving us back. He made us all cower in fright.”

“We’re not cowering in fright,” Chris told her. “They agreed to stay and negotiate with us. That’s a step in the right direction.”

“And we’ve got Penelope Ann working for us on the other side, too,” Carmen pointed out. “We’re halfway there.”

Chapter 5

Aimee crouched in the angle of a tree branch. Marissa, Carmen, and Aria sat with Penelope Ann in a sunny patch of grass on the bank of a stream below her. What were they talking about?

Smoke rose from the fires of the Felsite camp on the plain to the east. No smoke came from the Ursidrean camp. They used some strange technology to cook their food and generate heat to keep themselves warm at night. Emily and Anna explained it all to her, but their explanations went right over Aimee’s head. The Ursidrean technology surpassed anything Aimee ever saw on Earth.

No smoke came from the Avitras on the big rock, either. Anna said the Avitras never ate cooked food, and their feathers kept them warm when temperatures dropped. Aimee shuddered at the thought of them. If Aquilla had his way, all their efforts and hopes would be dashed, and they would go home with nothing, if they were lucky. Their peace negotiations could still end in bloodshed.

In the clearing by the stream, Aria waved her hand, and Penelope Ann nodded. At least they were talking. Those four came to Angondra together, and they’d barely seen each other since. Now, Aria and Carmen had children from their Alpha mates, and Marissa was pregnant. Did they ever dream of going back to Earth? Did they miss their families and their pasts?

Aimee tightened her jacket around her shoulders. The sun inched lower over the Divide toward night, and it would be another cold one. None of the men had negotiated with each other. Only the women came together, and who knew how successful that would be? Aimee would have to ask Marissa what they talked about. Sitting in a tree watching those women in conversation wasn’t accomplishing anything. Aimee shimmied down the tree and set her feet on solid ground.

“What are you doing, spying on them?” The voice made her jump out of her skin. She spun around and found herself face to face with Piwaka.

Aimee covered her heart with her hand. “You scared me.”

He arched his eyebrows. “You didn’t answer my question. What were you doing, spying on those women? They’re supposed to be meeting alone.”

“Marissa asked me to make sure no one interrupted their conversation.” Aimee narrowed her eyes at him. “She was worried someone would take advantage of the situation and maybe try to kidnap one of them the way Aquilla kidnapped Menlo. So what are you doing out here, lurking around?”

“I’m monitoring the well-being of my Alpha’s mate,” he shot back. “What else would I be doing?”

Aimee snorted. “That’s a laugh.”

He shrugged. “I have as much right to take a walk through the woods as you do.”

“I’m their friend,” she pointed out. “You’re Captain of the Guard of....”

“Of what?” he interrupted. “Of the enemy army? Is that what you were about to say?”

“Of course not,” she snapped. “But you’re the Captain of the Guard of the one faction opposed to this peace negotiation. How do I know you didn’t come here to kidnap me or kill me, just to sabotage the negotiation?”

His eyes gave her no rest. She couldn’t hide anything from him. “I don’t have to kidnap you or kill you or anybody else to sabotage this negotiation. This negotiation is dead in the water without me. If I don’t want it to happen, I just have to sit back and let it fail. I’m the only person who can save it.”

She stared at him. “What about Penelope Ann? She can convince Aquilla to go along with it.”

Piwaka shook his head. “He loves her, but he wouldn’t take her advice on a political matter like this. He’s already hostile enough to the whole notion of peace, I would only have to drop a few choice words in his ear and we would be at war with....well, with the Ursidreans for certain, possibly the Felsite, too, and the Lycaon would get dragged into it for good measure.”

“If that’s true,” Aimee asked, “why are you still here? Why don’t you let it fail? Why keep it going?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” he asked. “I’m here because I want the negotiation to succeed. I want the factions to be at peace, once and for all.”

She blinked. “You do?”

He gazed into the distance. “I’ve seen war. I’ve seen a lot of war. I’ve seen a lot more of war than Aquilla, or anyone else on the Guard, for that matter. I’m finished with war. I’ll do anything to stop it.”

“Then why didn’t you say so when the Avitras confronted us up on the mountain?” she asked. “Why didn’t you tell Aquilla then that you supported us?”

His face bent in a wry smile. “You women have so many noble qualities, but political acuity isn’t one of them. If I had told Aquilla outright I supported your embassy, and that I would do anything in my power to avoid another war—even to the detriment of the Avitras—he would have turned on me. He never would have trusted a word I say, and all our hopes would have been lost.”

“So how can we convince him?” she asked.

“Our only chance,” he replied, “is to let him have his hostilities. You can’t talk him out of them. You have to let them fall away from him naturally. No one can speed up that process, not even Penelope Ann, and anyone who tries will only make him their enemy. I’m the only person who can support Aquilla, who can agree with him and give his hatred and prejudice their full latitude. That’s the only way we’ll get him to change.”

Aimee studied him. He was a lot older than she first realized. His feathers gleamed brighter than any Avitras she’d ever seen—not that she’d seen many. But she’d seen the Guard in formation on the mountain. Not only did Piwaka dwarf them in size and bulk, but his feathers outshone theirs. He was older. He was old enough to be Aquilla’s father.

Still, something drew her to him, something deeper than his appearance. He possessed that magnetic quality of setting everyone around him at ease. That’s what he meant by supporting Aquilla in his hatred and hostility. What better way to convince him than to make him believe they agreed with him?

He noticed her watching him and cocked his head. “What is it?”

“Nothing.” She shook herself. “I was just thinking.”

“What were you thinking?” he asked.

“I was wondering if there was anything we could do—I mean us women,” she told him. “We came all this way for peace. There must be something we can do.”

“You’re doing it.” He waved his hand toward the four women on the knoll. “They’re doing it.”

“What are we doing?” she asked. “We haven’t done anything.”

“We wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t for you,” he told her. “You brought the Ursidreans and the Lycaon together, and now you’re bringing them together with the Felsite. That in itself is something to be proud of.”

Aimee made a face. “Chris and Emily brought the Lycaon together with the Ursidreans, but it was Donen who made the first overture of peace toward Renier. It’s him we should be thanking.”

He put his head on one side. “Do you really think he would have considered making that overture if his mate and Renier’s mate weren’t the same species, and even from the same transport? I’m sure that had something to do with it.”

“That’s not my understanding of events at all,” she returned. “The hostilities between the Felsite and the Ursidreans dragged their factions into two disastrous wars. Donen didn’t want to repeat them, and he even overrode the Ursidreans’ Supreme Council by sending Renier a message of peace.”

Piwaka turned away. “It doesn’t matter. You’re here now, and the three factions are prepared to work together to convince Aquilla.”

“From what you say, though,” she pointed out, “none of us will have as much influence on him as you. Maybe it would be better if we weren’t here.”

He pointed at her. “Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong. It was your friend Anna who originally convinced me to take this step. She convinced me to go against Aquilla’s express orders to free Menlo. If I hadn’t done that, none of us would be here now. The Ursidreans would be arming for war to avenge Menlo’s death.”

She thought that over. Then she nodded. “She’s not my friend.”

His head shot up. “What?”

“Anna,” she replied. “She’s not my friend. She’s my cousin.”

He opened his mouth. Then he shut it. Then he laughed. “My mistake.”

She glanced down the hill. The sun slanted over the Divide and struck the Ursidrean battle machines. “I better get back. They’ll be wondering where I am.”

He didn’t seem to hear. “Why are you here?”

Her head whipped around. “What?”

“Why are you here?” he repeated. “All the others are mated with someone involved in the negotiation, but you’re not. So far as I can tell, you’re the one person totally unconnected to this whole process.”

“I suppose I came to support my cousins and my friends,” she replied.

Piwaka shook his head. “That can’t be the reason. Emily traveled over three factions’ territory to find her cousins, and in the process, she brought news to all three of them that they were ripe for peace. Anna confronted Aquilla with his own reckless policy of capturing an innocent Ursidrean and holding him hostage in revenge for something that essentially never happened. She succeeded, and then she left with Menlo to join the Ursidreans. Even Aria started with the Felsite and went to the Ursidreans to mate with Donen.”

“So what’s that got to do with me?” she asked.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” he replied. “It doesn’t. You don’t have anything to do with this process. Even Chris was instrumental in taking Emily across the Lycaon border in search of her sisters and you. What have you done? You’ve been a warrior with the Lycaon since they rescued you from the Romarie crash. What part do you play in all this?”

“Can’t I just be here to help my friends?” she asked. “Do I have to be part of it?”

“You are part of it,” he told her. “If you weren’t, you wouldn’t have traveled all the way here to put yourself in the line of fire with a hostile faction. I just can’t figure out what part you do play in all this.”

“Don’t break your head over it,” she growled. “When Turk told us the Ursidreans and the Felsite were meeting to negotiate peace with Aquilla, he said all the other women were coming along in the hopes that they could help sway the men in favor of peace. He suggested we all come to tip the balance.”

He peered into her eyes. “So that’s why you came?”

She shrugged. “That, and the possibility of seeing my cousins and my friends again. That’s as complicated as it gets.”

He knit his eyebrows. “Are you sure?”

Now she laughed at him. “Quite sure. Don’t think too much. You’ll give yourself an aneurism.”

He frowned. “A what?”

She turned away. “Forget it. I have to go. I’ll see you later.”

He called after her. “That’s not the reason.”

She stopped walking and glanced at him over her shoulder. “What is the reason, then? If you know so much, why don’t you tell me the reason?”

He stayed where he was. “I don’t know the reason, but I’m quite certain that isn’t it.”

She rounded him. “You must have some idea.”

“I told you I don’t know the reason,” he replied, “but it can’t be that. Supporting your cousins and your friends is too shallow a reason. I’ve seen enough of life to trust my instincts, and the real reason is something much deeper. Something tells me you’re the lynchpin on which this whole process rests. You’ll be the one to bring this negotiation to fruition, not any of the others.”

She gestured toward the four friends sitting together in the fading sunlight. “What about them? Are you telling me they don’t have anything to do with this?”

“They certainly have something to do with it,” he replied. “But you’ll be the hammer that drives the last spike home. You’ll be the one to seal the deal and deliver all these factions from the danger of future war.”

“And what about the Aqinas?” she asked. “They aren’t even part of this negotiation. How am I going to deliver them?”

He smiled. “Ah, the Aqinas. You’re the first person I’ve heard mention them.”

“Do you have any plan to include them in this negotiation?” she asked.

“Plan?” he repeated. “I have no plan. This negotiation belongs to you and your friends. It has nothing to do with me.”

Aimee smacked her lips. “Of course it has something to do with you. You just said you could make it succeed or fail as you please. It has more to do with you than it does with me.”

He shook his head. “You’ll see I’m right.”

She glared at him. “I’ll see you know more about me than I know about myself. I can’t wait.” She spun on her heel and set off down the hill.

She didn’t think about him, and she didn’t realize he was following her until he spoke to her again. “Tell your friends they can do more in their own factions than they can by talking to Penelope Ann.”

She spun around and confronted him. “What’s that supposed to mean? Do you think you’ll make an ally of me by speaking in riddles?”

“The more they talk to Penelope Ann,” he told her, “the more they’ll alienate Aquilla from their purpose. The more he sees them trying to win her over, the more he’ll mistrust them and her. They would do better to work on their own mates.”

“Their own mates aren’t hostile to peace,” she pointed out. “Aquilla is the one Alpha standing in the way of complete planetary peace.”

Piwaka shook his head. “Don’t believe it. You won’t make peace by overcoming Aquilla’s hatred. Do you think his intransigence could stop these men from fighting each other if they wanted to? Think about it.”

Dread crept into Aimee’s heart. She stared at him, but a distant nightmare played out before her eyes. “What are you saying?”

“Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that these men do make peace,” he told her. “Let’s say they all embrace and go home in perfect harmony. What then?”

“What do you mean, what then?” she asked. “They’ll live the rest of their lives in security and safety, and their women and children won’t have to worry about random invasions and attacks from other factions. What else could possibly happen?”

“You’re a Lycaon warrior,” he pointed out. “Do you really think Caleb will disband the warriors and send them all back to their villages? Do you think Donen will decommission the border patrols and withdraw them all to the city? Of course not. The border patrols will continue. The warriors will continue to train.”

“Are you saying nothing will change?” she asked.

“I’m saying there’s a lot more blocking the factions from achieving true peace than Aquilla’s intransigence. You’re not likely to get him to embrace these men and go home in perfect harmony, but even if he did, there would still be a lot of work to do before you get true peace.”

“So what do you propose?” she asked. “That we all throw up our hands and quit? Are you suggesting we shouldn’t even try to negotiate peace?”

“Of course not,” he replied. “I’m just telling you to warn your friends. They should talk to their own men and work between themselves and concentrate less on Aquilla and Penelope Ann. They would accomplish more.”

Aimee lowered her eyes. His words stung, but he was right. He saw a lot farther and more clearly than anyone else. How would she pass his message on to her friends, though? She blushed at the thought of returning to camp and telling them she’d met him in the woods.

Why did she blush? All they’d done was talk, and he was old enough to be her own father, too. Why was she even thinking about him that way?

He startled her by speaking directly into her ear. How did he get that close to her without her noticing? “One thing is certain, though, Aimee. You can do this negotiation more good than you realize by carrying my message to your friends. You might be the only person here who can do that.”

She looked up into his face, but when she noticed his eyes hovering so close to her, her mind went into a tailspin. She stammered out the first words that popped into her mind. “Why is that?”

“Because you’re not attached to anybody else. That’s why,” he replied. “Only the human women are truly neutral in this negotiation, but all the other women here belong to some man from the various factions. That means they belong to those factions, too.”

“It doesn’t make them not neutral,” she pointed out. “Look at Anna, or Emily. They might belong to the Ursidreans, but they’ve been in contact with the other factions enough to stand between them.”

He shook his head. “These women only truly settled on Angondra when they mated with the men in their lives. Look at Anna. She traveled to two other factions and never found a home and family for herself until she mated with Menlo. That’s the way it works. None of you can truly take your place as members of our people until you meet and mate with an Angondran man.”

“So are you saying I’m not Angondran?” she asked. “I’m Lycaon. I always have been.”

“You can’t be Lycaon,” he replied. “You might be a warrior, but you haven’t made the Lycaon your true home and faction. If you had, you would have found a mate among the warriors. Angondra is dangerously low on females. I’m sure there are countless Lycaon men who would love to mate with you. You’re so beautiful and young and healthy.”

She blushed again. Why hadn’t she let herself fall for one of her warrior companions? Why had she found fulfillment in a sexless existence running through the woods?

A part of herself she’d never acknowledged rose up inside her and confronted her for the first time. Stirrings she couldn’t contain threatened to break through her carefully constructed facade. Every instinct screamed at her to run, to run as far away from this man as she could. She would run until that part of herself fell beneath the surface, never to rise again.

He didn’t wait for her to answer. Did he realize the effect his words had on her? “You haven’t fully joined any faction, Aimee. You’re the one person on this mountain who remains truly neutral. You can give my message to your friends. You can act as a go-between between me and the others.”

Her voice came out as a whisper. “And what about Aquilla?”

“I’ll handle Aquilla the same way you’ll handle your people down there,” he replied. “He trusts me the way your friends trust you. We can work together to make this peace agreement a reality.”

She didn’t notice when he vanished into the trees. When she shook herself and looked around, she was halfway down the mountain and Piwaka was nowhere nearby. She frowned. What had he done to her?

The sun dropped below the mountain, and the Ursidrean and Felsite camps fell into shadow. Only the Avitras remained in the sunshine up on the Divide. Aimee set off down the mountain with Piwaka’s words buzzing through her head.

Chapter 6

Anna glanced up from her thermal transmogrifier when Aimee entered the camp. “Where have you been? You’ve been gone all day.”

Aimee waved her hand up the hill. “I went to keep an eye on those four. Marissa asked me to make sure no one disturbed them.”

Anna looked around. “Where are they? Are they still up there?”

“If they haven’t come down, they must be still there,” Aimee replied. “They were there when I left.”

“If they’re still there,” Anna asked, “why did you leave? Someone could have come after you left.”

Aimee turned toward her tent. “No one will bother them.”

Anna snorted. “I wouldn’t be so sure. Aquilla could be planning to capture someone else to get his revenge against the Ursidreans. He could be planning to capture Aria, for all we know.”

Aimee sat down next to Emily across the circle from Anna. “The Avitras won’t do anything while we’re here. You don’t have to worry about that.”

Anna frowned at her. “What makes you so sure? He’s done it before. He might do it again.”

“I’m just sure,” she muttered.

At that moment, Marissa, Carmen, Aria, and Penelope Ann stepped out of the trees. Penelope Ann walked her friends to the edge of the circle and stopped. “I better get back before Aquilla starts to get suspicious.”

Marissa turned around. “Are you sure you can convince him to go along with our plan?”

“I can’t promise anything,” Penelope Ann replied, “but I’ll do the best I can. He’s not as stubborn as you think. He’s just careful. He doesn’t want the other factions taking advantage of the Avitras.”

Anna made a face. “No one is taking advantage of anybody.”

Penelope Ann faced her. “Aquilla has good reason to feel the way he does. None of the factions is innocent in this. You would do better to concentrate on your own factions instead of blaming Aquilla for everything all the time.”

“That’s what....” Aimee stopped herself just in time.

Anna looked at her, but the others didn’t seem to notice. Aria pressed Penelope Ann’s hand. “You’re right, Penelope Ann. We all have a lot of work to do to achieve a lasting peace. We all appreciate your efforts. We’ll do our best on this end to make the men more receptive to Aquilla when they come to negotiate.”

Penelope Ann burst into a grateful smile and gave her a hug before hurrying back up the hill. Marissa watched her go. “I’m worried about her. I wish she’d stay down here with us.”

Carmen turned away. “I’m sure any of us would do the same in her situation. Aquilla isn’t the bad guy in this, and we shouldn’t treat him as such. The other Alphas overcame their prejudices and made peace first. That’s all. We can’t blame Aquilla for mistrusting them or us.”

“There’s nothing we can do on our end,” Marissa pointed out. “Our men are all at peace. Look. We’re camping side by side. What more is there to do but wait for Aquilla to see reason?”

Aimee couldn’t hold back any longer. “Not necessarily. Even if these men do agree to peace, they won’t disband their border patrols. All the old prejudices will remain for a long time. Aquilla is only expressing the unspoken reservations we all feel toward tearing down the barriers between our factions.”

Aria sat down next to Aimee. “I don’t think any peace agreement will ever fully remove those barriers. Show me one faction that will willingly give up their unique identity, their sovereign territory, just because they made peace with the other factions. No one will. The Ursidreans will still live in their mountain city caves, and they’ll have to maintain the border patrols to make sure the Lycaon don’t take back large tracks of forest.”

Marissa spun around. “Who said the Lycaon would take back large tracks of forest? Don’t go bad-mouthing the Lycaon.”

Aria smiled at her. “You see what I mean? Not even we can talk about it without jumping to the defense of our own factions. We’ve only been on this planet a short time, and yet we think and act the same as the rest of Angondran society.”

“Aimee is right,” Carmen added. “No peace agreement can overcome those prejudices. It isn’t about Aquilla at all.”

“Then it’s all hopeless,” Anna put in. “We should all pack up and go home.”

“Not at all,” Aimee argued. “We came here to help sway the men in favor of peace. We can still do that. Each of us—I mean, each of you—can approach your mates and pass on the message to them that we need to work together among ourselves instead of concentrating on convincing Aquilla. That will do more for peace than anything else.”

“And what about you, Aimee?” Emily asked. “You’re the only one of us without a mate to approach. What will you do?”

Aimee gazed up the hill. “I don’t know, but I have a feeling it will come to me before too long.”

That night, Aimee lay awake on her Ursidrean army cot and stared up into the blackness. After hours reviewing her conversation with Piwaka, his words no longer played in her head. Instead, his face, with his burning eyes and penetrating stare, hovered before her eyes. His eyes locked on hers and never let her go. Whatever she thought of, he always drew her back.

In her mind’s eye, she gazed into his face, and he awoke that forgotten part of herself lying dormant beneath her warrior persona. How could she fail, all these months, even to recognize that it was there? How could such an essential part of herself lie disused and festering without giving her the slightest disturbance? Why did it take a complete stranger to awaken that part of herself and bring it to the surface?

One question disturbed her more than all the others. Why him? What made him the one to awaken her? What unique gift of sight allowed him to see that part of her lurking below the surface and draw it out into the light of day? Why him, of all people? Why couldn’t it have been one of her cousins, or one of her Lycaon friends?

He was beyond strange to her. He was another faction, another species. And he was older—much older. She couldn’t stand exposed before him—could she? The thought made her shudder, but there he stayed, right in front of her. When he looked into her eyes, he saw that part of her. He barely noticed her warrior identity. To him, it was so much window dressing. It didn’t exist to him. The real Aimee, the Aimee no one else knew was there—that was the person he saw when he looked into her eyes.

In her vision, she stood before him uncovered. She wore none of the skins of the Lycaon, but she wasn’t naked. Her hair hung down to her shoulders and beyond instead of cropped short, the way she wore it with the warriors for the better part of the last year. Her skin, her face, even her fingernails glowed with electric energy. She throbbed with life from every pore. What had he done to her?

She had only to think of herself past, the way she was with the warriors, to find the answer. When she ran through the woods on patrol, she ran from herself. Far from finding herself and her life’s purpose defending the faction she thought was her own, she lost herself in the company of people she could never connect with. They were automatons, empty shells who touched her life in the most superficial way, if at all.

She’d walked through a nightmare of half-existence, without purpose, without intimacy, without a body. She never let anyone touch her, physically or in any other way. To be touched would have shattered her carefully constructed mask of happiness. Even her cousins, who should have known her best, mistook her fervor for happiness. Frieda and Anna were too engrossed in their own struggles and dramas to notice, and Emily only saw Aimee after months away, and she barely recognized her cousin when they did meet.

In the dark, Aimee let her hand trail down her body under the blankets, exploring the vibrant sensations of her skin come alive. Every cell ached with life yet to be embraced. She had only to reach...just a little further...She stopped herself and threw her arm over her eyes to hide from all that life. If only she could turn her feelings on and off at will, she could tolerate the unstoppable torrent of emotions and sensations coursing through her, but the fateful vision left her no peace. What would become of her? Who would she become? She would certainly see Piwaka again. She ought to get out of bed right now and run back to Lycaon territory before he devastated her in some other, more dreadful way.

But she didn’t leave. She lay awake all night with his face haunting her, waking and sleeping, until the dawn and the noise of the camp drove her out of bed. She swung her legs over the side of the cot with a sigh. What could she do but get up and keep moving? Yet she shivered at the thought of seeing him again, even at a distance. She couldn’t trust herself near him. She might fly apart at the seams at any moment.

Outside the tent, she found Chris and Marissa studying the thermal transmogrifier. They glanced up at her and went back to frowning at it. “How do you work this thing?”

Aimee peered down at the thing. “I have no idea. Anna says it’s some kind of oven that cooks food, but don’t ask me how it works. Ask her or Emily or Aria.”

Chris puffed out her cheeks. “Why can’t we get a fire going like any sensible people?” She waved toward the Felsite camp, where columns of smoke rose into the grey air. “The Felsite are doing it.”

“Maybe we should camp with them,” Aimee suggested.

Chris and Marissa looked at each other. Then they laughed. “I’ll ask Carmen if we can.”

“Donen would be offended,” Chris pointed out. “He was very generous to invite us to stay with the Ursidreans, seeing as Aimee is Emily and Anna’s cousin.”

“That wasn’t the only reason,” Aimee told her. “He thought we would be most comfortable here, since the Ursidreans have the most advanced technology. He probably thought, since we come from a planet with high technology, that we would want to use it again.”

Chris kicked the transmogrifier. “I’ve been with the Lycaon too long to appreciate some metal box that pulverizes my food. Give me a spit-roast any day of the week.”

Marissa sat down on a stool in front of the box. “I’m not hungry. I can wait for one of the others to come along and make breakfast.”

Chris shook her head. “You need to eat if you’re going to grow a baby. Stay here. I’ll get a fire going and cook you a nice meal cake with a side of knackle-bones.”

Marissa smiled up at her. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

Chris started to turn away when the flap of Emily and Faruk’s tent flew back and Emily stepped out. Her eye flicked around the circle. “Hey, guys. What’s for breakfast?”

Chris frowned. “Nothing, because none of us know how to work this infernal contraption of yours. I was just about to go collect some wood to make a fire so Marissa here can eat something before she perishes with hunger.”

Emily’s eyes widened. “If you didn’t know how to work the infernal contraption, all you had to do was say so. I’ll show you how to use it so you don’t have to build a fire.”

Chris set her hands on her hips. “I want to build a fire. I would rather build a fire than learn how to use this thing.”

Emily stared at her. “You want to build a fire? But why? It takes so long to find wood, and it wastes a lot of energy. The transmogrifier makes cooking so much easier.”

“Then you use it,” Chris returned. “I would rather take the time to gather the wood to build a fire to cook my food the old-fashioned Lycaon way, thank you very much.”

Emily opened her mouth, but she closed it again without saying anything. The others listened to this exchange in mute astonishment. At last, Emily smiled down at Marissa and winked. She walked over to a giant metal box standing between her own tent and Donen’s. She punched the buttons on a digital panel next to the locked door, and the panel beeped. Then it let out a ping, and the door locks popped open.

Emily opened the door and took from a metal shelf inside a round metal tray with a white enamel surface. It look like any standard dinner plate. She handed it to Marissa, and all the women craned their necks to inhale the most heavenly aroma of two poached eggs, two sizzling slices of bacon, and hash-browned potatoes. A steaming cup of fragrant tea sat in the corner of the tray.

Emily stood back and crossed her arms over her chest. “The Ursidreans’ technology is designed to make our lives easier, not harder. Anna hasn’t had any difficulty learning to use it, and neither will you if you try. Look. I’ll show you right now how to use the transmogrifier, and then I’ll show you how to use the store chamber over there. Then you can order up any food you can possibly imagine in a couple of seconds.”

She swept the group with one last triumphant look and turned away. Chris glared at her and humphed. Aimee watched Marissa pounce on her breakfast. “I wouldn’t mind getting me some of that bacon. Where do you think they got it?”

“That store chamber thing must have constructed it out of random subatomic particles,” Chris replied. “Emily and Anna and Aria must have programmed it to produce all their favorite foods from Earth.”

Aimee gazed into the distance. “Mocha ice cream with caramel sauce.”

Chris sighed. “Anchovy pizza with mushrooms and green bell peppers.”

Marissa tore a chunk off her bacon. “This is pretty good. I could be satisfied with this for a long time.”

Chris snapped out of her reverie and looked down at the plate. “Here comes Emily. Let’s find out how to use these machines. Then we can eat.”

Chapter 7

The women sat together in a line and watched Donen, Caleb, and Renier talking at the base of the hill. “What do you think they’re talking about?”

“I sure hope it’s the peace negotiation,” Anna remarked. “I hate to think of them discussing the weather at a time like this.”

“They are discussing the peace negotiation,” Emily told them. “That’s why Faruk and Menlo and Turk weren’t invited. They wanted to discuss it between themselves, just the Alphas, without anybody else.”

“And without us,” Marissa pointed out. “They didn’t want to give the impression anybody was influencing their decisions.”

“What are they going to do about Aquilla?” Chris asked.

“I’m sure that’s exactly what they’re discussing,” Emily replied. “Without him, this peace negotiation doesn’t exist.”

“Not necessarily,” Anna told her. “That’s three factions in agreement over there. A few years ago, no one could have anticipated this. That in itself is a huge accomplishment. Even if we walk away from here without bringing Aquilla around, we’ve still achieved an enormous victory for the Angondran people. At least our three factions will live in peace with each other.”

Aimee sighed and sat back in her seat. Her mind hadn’t stopped working since last night. Emily studied her. “You’re very quiet this morning. What’s on your mind?”

“If I knew that,” Aimee replied, “I wouldn’t have to be quiet about it.”

“You were right about one thing,” Aria told her. “You were right about us talking to our mates about peace.”

“What do you mean?” Aimee asked.

“I talked to Donen last night,” Aria replied. “He said some things about the Avitras that made me think maybe Aquilla is right not to trust this negotiation. What you said yesterday kept coming back to me. Even if they agree to peace here, the old prejudices still exist below the surface, waiting to flare up.”

The group sat in silence for a while. Then Marissa spoke up in such a low murmur the others could barely hear her. “Caleb is the same. He’s not ready to make peace with......well, with anybody.”

Chris spun around. “What do you mean by that? I thought he supported this negotiation.”

“He does,” Marissa replied. “He sees the logic of disarming the borders, since none of the factions have the resources to guard them anymore. But he doesn’t trust any of the other factions. It isn’t just the Avitras. He doesn’t trust the Felsite or the Ursidreans, either.”

“But they’re standing together right over there.” Chris pointed across the land at the three men.

“That’s one Felsite and one Ursidrean,” Marissa replied. “One man is easy to talk to. A whole faction is something else entirely, and the Avitras are openly hostile to all of us. Guarding the Avitras border would still put a strain on the Lycaon we can’t afford.”

“So what are we going to do?” Emily asked. “Those prejudices could take generations to fade.”

“They won’t fade,” Aimee told her. “They’ll continue to be handed down from one generation to the next, and as long as the prejudice remains, the wars will continue.” She stood up and stretched. Then she turned away.

“Hey!” Chris called after her. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going for a walk.” She didn’t look back.

She didn’t go straight up the hill. That would be too obvious. She walked along the base of the Divide until a pile of rocks hid her from her friends’ view. Then and only then did she veer off and strike out for the mountain.

The farther she walked, the faster her heart beat. The physical exertion of climbing the slope didn’t faze her at all. She’d run up steeper mountains than this many times, but the memory of Piwaka kept her moving with a shiver of excitement. Would she meet him again somewhere between the trees?

What was she doing, coming up here to look for him like a giddy schoolgirl? Maybe he didn’t feel the same way about her. Maybe he didn’t think about her at all. He might laugh in her face if he met her coming to look for him.

She shook those doubts out of her head. She couldn’t rest until she found out for certain if her fevered vision had any basis in reality. Had she imagined the magnetic charge passing between them? Was he something special, something she’d searched for her whole life and only just wakened to find, or was he just a charming man with a persuasive way of talking to people? She had to find out. She wouldn’t go back until she put this demon to rest. If he laughed her down the mountain, at least she’d know she imagined the whole thing.

She came back to the same tree, but she didn’t climb it. She ought to go back before he spotted her. She walked away from the tree, but she didn’t go down the mountain. She headed for the big rock where the Avitras pitched their camp. A ways down the hill from the rock, she scaled another tree. To her surprise, not one Avitras remained on the rock. It was completely deserted. The Avitras had retreated into their own territory. There would be no negotiation with them for a long time, if ever.

Her heart pounded in her head. What would the other Alphas do when they found out? She swung around the tree trunk to climb down, but at that moment, a gust of wind shook the treetop. The trunk swayed, and a winged creature swooped at Aimee’s face. She threw up her arm to protect herself, but when she looked again, she found Piwaka balanced on the branch in front of her. “Were you looking for me?”

Aimee stared at him. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to find out if you were looking for me,” he replied.

She pointed toward the rock. “There’s no one here. I thought you were gone. Where are all the Avitras?”

“We aren’t gone. We camp in trees, not on the ground.” He pointed to the forest beyond the rock. “We’re camped over there.” He squatted on the branch, and the feathers along the sides of his arms and down his legs lay down flat. “I’m glad you’re here, because I want you to carry a message to your friends down there.”

Aimee frowned. “What is it?”

“Aquilla wants to talk to the other Alphas,” he told her. “Not about peace, you understand. He wants to discuss the disposition of the borders. It seems there’s some confusion about where Avitras territory ends and Ursidrean territory begins. He thinks there may be discrepancies with the other borders as well. This may be what’s causing all these wars.”

“And you believe that?” Aimee shot back.

He cocked his head and blinked at her with his big iridescent eyes. “I’m surprised at you. I thought you were more astute than that.”

“Than what?” she asked. “More astute than thinking Aquilla would concoct this pathetic excuse to lure the other Alphas into some mock negotiation over the borders? I wouldn’t stoop so low as to carry that message back to them. I’ll tell them Aquilla is trying to manipulate the borders, and he wants to draw them into some kind of trap with this invitation to talk?”

He sighed and shook his head. “You’ve been listening to your friend Anna too much—excuse me, your cousin—and her mate Menlo. Aquilla is not trying to draw anyone into a trap.”

“How can I be sure of that?” she asked. “Why should I carry a message from him when he’s trying to subvert our peace process with his ridiculous demands?”

“Because, Aimee,” Piwaka replied, “I am the one who suggested this discussion to him. Do you think he could come up with something like this on his own? This is the best way I could convince him to enter into a rational dialogue with the other Alphas. You have to admit there is some misunderstanding about the location of this border. It only makes sense that, after generations of hostility, other discrepancies exist on the other borders as well. If the other Alphas don’t address them now, they are bound to stumble into another conflict later in spite of any peace negotiation.”

She stared at him. “You....you suggested it?”

“Of course I did,” he told her. “I told you I would play on Aquilla’s need to remain sovereign within his own faction to bring him to the negotiation. Did you think I was just talking to hear my own voice? I wouldn’t say I was going to do it unless I planned to follow it through.”

She lowered her eyes. “I’m sorry for doubting you. I should have known you would come up with something like this.”

“If I hadn’t,” he went on, “Aquilla would have ordered all the Guard back to our villages. He never would have talked to the other Alphas about anything. He never would have shown his face to them again except in war.”

She stole a glance at him. “Is that what you came here to tell me—that you want me to carry the message?”

He nodded. “I told you I consider you instrumental in sealing this peace process. You’re the only one who could carry the message.”

“What makes you say that?” she asked. “Any of the others could carry it.”

He studied her with his intense flickering eyes. “And which of the others would come up here to talk to me—or any other Avitras—to get the message to carry it? None of them. Only you would come up here.”

“The only reason I came up here....” she began, but she didn’t finish.

He waited and watched her. “Did you come up here looking for me?”

She took a deep breath. “Yes.”

“Did you come because of what I said about you aiding the negotiation?” he asked.

“No,” she replied.

A hint of uncertainty flashed across his face and disappeared just as fast. “Did one of the Alphas send you up here to find me?”

She snorted. “No. None of the Alphas knows I’m having anything to do with you.”

He frowned. “Then why did you come?”

“To see you, of course,” she blurted out. “You know that.”

His eyes flew open. Then he regained his composure and settled lower on the branch. He inched closer to her. “I thought we would be able to talk to each other.”

“We are talking to each other,” she told him. “What else would we be doing?”

He studied her. “For someone who came up here to see me, you don’t seem very happy about it.”

Her anger flared. “What are you doing to me? I didn’t come along on this trip to find a mate.”

“No one ever said you did,” he replied.

She waved her hand. “Then why do you keep looking at me like that?”

“Like what?” he asked.

She pointed at him. “Like that. You keep looking at me like... like you can see right through me. You keep looking at me like I’m not even there.”

“Oh, you’re there, all right,” he returned. “You are very there. There’s no doubt about that.”

“You know what I mean,” she shot back. “You keep looking at me like the person everyone thinks is there, isn’t there, and the person you think is there, no one else knows is there.” She glared at him. “I know it doesn’t make any sense.”

“Oh, it makes perfect sense,” he replied. “What else do I do by looking at you?”

Her words tumbled out of her. “It isn’t just everybody else. You keep looking at me like the person I think I am isn’t there, and the person you think is there, I didn’t know was there.”

He listened to all that gibberish with a perfectly straight face. “But it was there. The person I think is there, is there. You might not have known it was there, but it was, and now you can’t hide from it. Or rather, I should say, you can’t deny that she is there. Is that about the size of it?”

Her eyes flashed. “How can you be so nonchalant about this? This is my...my soul we’re talking about. How can you say what I don’t think is there, is there, and what I think is there, isn’t there? Confound you, will you stop looking at me like that?”

He didn’t answer, and he stopped looking at her like that. In a heartbeat, he sailed across the branch and kissed her. She didn’t even hear the rustle of his feathers. Her mind exploded, and the rest of her world crumbled at the seams.

Chapter 8

His lips dallied on hers. A thousand possible outcomes crowded into her mind. What should she do? Should she sit still and wait for him to finish? Then she could make some intelligible remark and beat a hasty retreat. She could return to the Ursidrean camp and pretend this never happened.

Then all of a sudden, unbidden, a silhouette rose against the bright background of her mind. A blinding white landscape set off the indistinct outline of a woman. The light hid her features, but she stood tall and straight in the center of a perfectly flat white landscape. The horizon surrounded her in a perfect circle in all directions, and she could see everything around her to the limit of the sky.

That woman’s destiny rested in the palm of her own hand. She had only to whisper her desire to the universe for it to appear at her bidding. She radiated power from her core to the wide expanse around her, a power so bright and true it cast no shadow. This was the vision she’d seen in Piwaka’s eyes. That woman was her, and radiant power welled up within her to dominate her own world. She had only to grasp it, to own it, to claim it, and it would be hers for the asking.

Did she dare become that woman? His lips never gave her a chance to question. The power surged up from the bottoms of her feet, through her blood and bones, and over her head. The tidal wave. It smashed her old self, her nonexistent self, to smithereens. She closed her eyes against it. She couldn’t think anymore. She couldn’t decide anything. The wave carried her away, toward him.

Unstoppable passion threw her at him. Her weight knocked him off balance. If he hadn’t caught her, they would have fallen out of the tree. She consumed his mouth, and he met her with equal force in a desperate, ravenous kiss. They clawed at each other’s clothes, and at their own, in a race to tear away the barriers between them. Nothing remained of the woman Aimee used to be. She no longer cared who she would be or what she would do or what her cousins and friends would say when this was all over. The dry, lifeless husk of her old self was gone for good.

Piwaka held her against his chest, and her legs caught him around the waist, but their combined weight couldn’t balance on the narrow branch. They teetered. Aimee closed her eyes. She would die in his arms rather than return to her old, hollow self. She held him with all her might, and they tumbled off the branch.

The air hit Aimee’s cheeks, and her hair tussled in the breeze. They fell through the air. Then her eyes popped open. Her hair fell forward over her eyes, not upward away from her face. They were rising, not falling. The treetops sailed downward, out of sight. He was flying with her up through the canopy into higher treetops, and her arms and lips and legs remained locked around him for better of for worse. She sought out the bottomless pools of his eyes, with their iridescent margins streaked with microscopic fibers, and all her cares and worries vanished.

Piwaka floated beyond the last branches into the sky. Where would he take her, with her whole self wrapped around him? Before she could wonder, he descended again. His feathers tilted downward, and the air rustled off them in soft murmurs. His hips moved under her legs, and he extended his feet to land.

Her gaze never wavered from his eyes. She would never doubt him again. Wherever her took her, she would go with a glad heart. Something hard dug into her back, and he laid her against an inclined surface. A bed of soft vegetation formed a bowl under her, with tree trunks rising on all sides. Those trunks joined together into a single tree. The tree must have snapped off in a storm, and several trunks sprouted from the site of the break. Treetops swayed across the sky, and moving air whispered through the branches. Creatures scuttled and chattered in the distance. She was a long way from the ground.

This was the Avitras world, in the canopy beyond the reach of solid ground, where your feet never touched the forest floor. The Avitras lived their whole lives up here. Most never laid eyes on the ground, much less walked on it.

How did Piwaka know about this place to bring her here? Those questions belonging to her rational mind, the part she put away on a shelf for good. She wouldn’t answer those questions. She would swim in the ocean of his eyes and the commotion of his touch. Nothing else mattered.

His hands on her brought her back to her senses. He lifted the corner of her leather jacket and peeled it back to reveal her milk-white skin. The air pricked her skin, and it tightened and stood to attention. Then he lifted back the other side of the jacket. Those clothes formed an armor over her skin to keep the eruption of passion buried where no one could see it.

Every nerve shrieked to heaven. How long had she worn those clothes, the rough furs of the Lycaon? She always thought they were comfortable, but now, at the touch of Piwaka’s hand, they grated on her nerves. When did she become sensitive? She was always the tough one, the reserved one.

Piwaka loomed over her with the sky outlining the feathers behind his head. His eyes flashed, and the sun shimmered on his feathers. His shoulders jutted out from his chest in sharp angles, and his muscles flexed in fine chiseled lines. His face bore none of the wear and tear of age. He wore his experience with strength and power.

Aimee gazed up at him with wide eyes. No man ever struck her with such a sense of awe and wonder. What was he? Who was he? What had he seen and done in his life? She knew nothing about him, yet she could delve into every recess of his soul and never lose interest. What drove him? What brought him to her like this? What attracted him to a woman like her?

The rush of wind through the trees broke the silence. This belonged to the Avitras alone. The other factions dwelt on the ground, far removed from the rare air of the canopy. Anna never connected with the Avitras, or she wouldn’t have run off with Menlo the way she did. None of the others except Penelope Ann fully assimilated into the Avitras and made their ways their own.

What secrets remained hidden in the vast forests beyond the border? Those secrets hovered in Piwaka’s eyes, and his eyes traveled down to the white triangle of skin between the lapels of her jacket. He peeled away the years, the crumbling remnant of a thousand useless inhibitions, and the weight of crushing fear and doubt, along with her clothes. She floated on a cushion of cloud that protected her newborn skin from the rough bark and twigs underneath her. The keen breeze and Piwaka’s hands on her skin welcomed her back to life. Her jacket fell away, her shirt underneath, and then her pants and boots until she lay naked on her back for him to see. Her warrior persona dropped away with them to reveal soft female flesh.

Piwaka’s feathers shifted in the wind. Was he flying, up there above her? Was he hovering over her on drafts of air? She could believe his feet never touched the ground. He was too rare for that. He descended to her from atmospheric heights to lift her out of her misery to joy and contentment. He belonged to some heavenly species beyond mortal reach.

He drew closer, and smoldering power radiated off him. He took her in his arms, and the heavenly aura erupted in flames. He was no untouchable spirit from on high. His passion met hers in matched ferocity, and they exploded together in fiery bursts of heat and desire.

He slid his arms under her, and she enclosed him in her arms and legs again. His legs supported her from below, and in a heartbeat, he was inside her. Aimee couldn’t tell the moment it happened. She was one with him from her eyes down to her toes. Their bodies only expressed the reality already accomplished through their gaze and their kiss and their touch.

Out of the corner of her eye, Aimee caught sight of the tree trunks gliding past her. Nothing could surprise her now, not even the realization she was moving through the air in a primal embrace with him. They tumbled over and over in the air, and trees sailed around her in every direction. One minute she was under him and he penetrated into the center of her being with powerful thrusts. The next minute, he fell under her weight, and she bore down on top of him with all her might.

Was this the way the Avitras made love, in mid-air? They didn’t need beds, and they shunned the ground. They could fly, so why not this coupling flight? The Aqinas lived in water. The Avitras lived in the air, and everything they did, they did in the air.

Birds did it in the air. Some engaged in elaborate mating flights. Male and female fluttered around each other in mid-flight for hours until, at long last, they bumped into each other for a split second and transferred the male’s sperm to the female. Then they flew away, and that was the end of that.

Her time with Piwaka wouldn’t be like that. Her body throbbed with insatiable desire for his body. She inhaled him deeper into her, ever deeper, as deep as she could, but she could never get enough of him.

Every move she made to bring him closer, to consume him, he answered with greater desire of his own. He consumed her with the insatiable hunger. His passion destroyed the measured rationality that made him such an asset to Aquilla. The power of his desire astonished even Aimee, until she found herself locked in carnal oneness with a man she’d never seen before. Buried physical desire annihilated the old Piwaka the same way it did Aimee, leaving another vision of him, the avatar standing in the white expanse of pure authenticity. The two souls met in that landscape. They met, they merged, they embraced, and they became one. Their two old selves ceased to exist, and left two bright beings standing in their place, side by side for the first time.

Aimee fell down toward the ground, while Piwaka’s feathers caught him and held him aloft. His shaft slid out of her. The air chilled the film of juice on her thighs and made her suck her breath through her teeth. Then he caught her again and she stopped falling. He supported her, and her weight pulled him down beneath her. His shaft slid back into her, and its heat filled her up. Nothing could disturb her contentment as long as he was there, inside her, with her flesh enfolding him on all sides. Then she rolled around below him, and gravity tore her away from him.

When did it stop? When did they stop tumbling and twisting and rolling in mid-air, sliding together and falling apart and snatching each other again? Faster and faster they rolled with nothing but their own weight to keep the endless tumult going. They might have gone on like that forever if their own hunger for each other hadn’t driven them to fulfillment. Each turn of the wheel with its thrust and withdrawal brought them to the peak of frenzy until not even Piwaka’s feathers could keep them in the air.

They no longer kissed. Their lips crushed against each other in a howl of mutual ecstasy. A combined roar to heaven of soul fire unleashed tore from their mouths. The last tumble of the wheel brought Piwaka down on top of Aimee with a powerful thrust of his shaft into her very depths. She cried out, but not in pain. That fall punctuated the long-awaited completion of her rebirth and seared the new reality into her flesh.

A fiery jet of superheated elixir shot through her insides, and she clapped her eyes closed against the orgasmic tornado sweeping toward her over the horizon. The silhouette in the plain was the only self she had left.

Chapter 9

Aimee sat up inside the treetop bowl. The evening breeze played over her bare skin, but she no longer hid her body from the elements. The wind never made her cold, and it couldn’t touch her bright burnished soul.

She cast a sidelong glance at her clothes. She touched the corner of her heavy leather jacket with the shaggy hair still covering the outside. A curious reaction traveled up her arm, and she pulled her hand back.

“You should get back,” Piwaka told her. “They’ll be wondering where you are, and when you deliver the message, they’ll have a long negotiation ahead of them to decide what to do about it.”

She turned away from her clothes and stretched out next to him. “Are you worried they won’t accept the invitation?”

“Not at all,” he replied. “They’ll accept it.”

“What makes you so sure?” she asked.

“They came up here to negotiate with Aquilla,” he replied. “They won’t turn down an opportunity to talk to him, even if the topic isn’t directly related to their peace mission. They’ll start talking about the borders, and that will naturally lead them into talking about other things.”

She folded on arm under her head and gazed up at the sky. “I wish I was as confident as you.”

“I’m only confident because I know Aquilla,” he replied. “There’s no other way to draw him into the negotiation. It’s the only way to get him to trust the other Alphas.”

“What if he never trusts them?” she asked. “What if he balks at the whole discussion? What if he won’t be drawn into discussing peace at all? What if he gets hostile and storms off?”

“I’m sure he will,” Piwaka replied. “I’m sure it will take him a long time to trust anyone here—except me, of course.”

“So how’s he supposed to negotiate peace with people he doesn’t trust?” she asked. “It sounds hopeless.”

He cocked his head. “I can’t really blame him. I don’t trust the others, either.”

Her head whipped around. “You don’t? Then why are you going to such lengths to throw them together with Aquilla?”

He rolled over on his side and faced her. “Do you want to know the truth? I’m doing it for you.”

“Me!” she gasped. “I don’t deserve....”

He closed his eyes. “Don’t even say it.”

“But I....” she began.

“Do you want to know the reason I’m doing this?” He trailed his fingertips over her collarbone and down her chest, between her breasts. “I’m doing it for this.”

Aimee shuddered and her eyes rolled back in her head. His fingers trialed off somewhere between her sternum and her navel, and her eyes popped open. Her voice croaked. “What are you doing to me?”

“Do you think we would have any chance at all together if this negotiation fails?” he asked. “What do you think will happen if Aquilla leaves here without coming to some agreement with the other Alphas? I’ll never see you again.”

“But I thought....” she stammered. “You helped Anna, and that was long before we ever met.”

He lowered his eyes. “That was then. I thought peace was a good idea. Now I know it’s a necessity.”

She hesitated. “I didn’t know....”

He finished her sentence for her. “You didn’t know I felt that way about you? Do you remember what you said to me this morning—about seeing a part of you that wasn’t there? Well, you’ve seen a part of me that wasn’t there, too—at least, it wasn’t there until you saw it.”

Her eyes flew open. “You too? I thought you were so strong and in control.”

“I was,” he replied. “I’ve always been in control. I’ve been in control of the whole Avitras faction for decades, at least as long as Aquilla has been Alpha—probably longer.”

“How can you be in control when someone else is Alpha?” she asked. “If that was true, you would be Alpha instead of him.”

He nodded. “I’ve been Captain of the Guard, and the Captain always has more power than the Alpha. My father was Captain before me, and Aquilla’s father was Alpha before him. My father told me I would take over for him when he retired to the village, and he explained the whole thing. He said I would be the power behind the Alpha, that the Alpha would never make any decision or take any action without my approval, and he was right.”

“And you want to give that up—for me?” she whispered.

“I don’t have to give it up,” he replied. “At least, I won’t give up the power. I couldn’t give it up if I wanted to. The Avitras depend on me to control our faction. Aquilla couldn’t do it without me, or someone to take over for me, and I’ve been doing it so long I’m the best man for the job.”

“So what changed?” she asked. “What did I see that wasn’t there before?”

He rolled onto his back and looked up into the sky. “You saw me, for the first time. No one else has ever seen me before.”

“You?” she asked.

He shot her a smile. “It sounds crazy, doesn’t it? I’ve been Captain of the Guard. I’ve been Aquilla’s shadow Alpha since I first learned to fly, but no one has ever seen me for who I really am. I could patrol the borders for years and never feel hunger or pain or loneliness. I never dreamed of a life in the village with a mate and children and friends. I’ve never been a flesh and blood man, who felt heat and cold and sadness and joy—until today. You gave me that. I was living death, and you brought me to life.”

Aimee tucked her head into his chest and closed her eyes. “Me, too. I was never a living woman until you came.”

They lay in their nest for hours until the sun fell behind the treetops. Aimee raised her head first. “I guess I better go.”

She glanced at her clothes again, but she turned away without touching them.

He watched her. “Don’t forget to put your clothes on.”

She stole a look at his face. Then they both laughed. “That would give them a shock if I showed up like this.”

She sat up. Her skin chilled without the sun to warm it. She picked up her pants. “I don’t want to put these on again.”

“They look warm enough,” he remarked.

“They’re warm,” she replied, “but too rough. They remind me of the person I was before. They make me the person I was before.”

“What was that?” he asked.

“A warrior,” she replied.

He nodded and sat up, too. “We have some work to do before we can shed these shells of the past.”

She sighed and slipped the jacket around her shoulders. “When did you say Aquilla wants to meet the other Alphas?”

“Sunrise tomorrow,” he replied. “At the big rock.”

She set her teeth and pulled the pants up her legs. The skins scratched her, and she shuddered. “We’ll be there.”

He stood up next to her. Without a word, he took her in his arms and kissed her. Her feet left the firm surface of the tree bark, and they floated into the air. A moment later, their lips separated, and Aimee’s feet touched the ground.

She stepped down hard on the solid soil under her feet. Not even this felt right anymore. She didn’t belong to the ground anymore. She belonged to the treetops, to the pure air. What would become of her? Who was she? Was she Avitras now, now that she’d mated with an Avitras man in mid-air? No wonder the other women didn’t understand.

How different the ground felt to her now compared to the way her heart used to soar when she ran through the forest with the Lycaon. Maybe her heart only longed for flight, and running was the closest she ever came to it. Now she had another way to fly.

He gave her one last kiss, and his eyes peered into her soul. He didn’t ask what was bothering her. Maybe he already understood. Maybe he felt as strange and out of place on the ground as she did.

“See you tomorrow morning,” she murmured.

He nodded, and she turned away. She walked down the hill without looking back, but her ears stayed tuned to any sound behind her. No rush of air rustled the trees, and no footsteps trod the leafy tangle of underbrush. He hadn’t moved. He stood there and watched her out of sight.

She found Chris and Marissa sitting in the same place in front of the transmogrifier, except this time, they looked satisfied and comfortable. “Did Emily show you how to use that thing?”

Chris nodded. “It’s great. Are you hungry? Where have you been all day.”

She sighed and sat down next to her friends. “I went for a walk up on the mountain, and I ran into Piwaka. He asked me to carry a message to the other Alphas. Aquilla wants to meet with them on the big rock tomorrow morning at sunrise.”

Marissa’s eyes flew open. “What for? So he can ambush us?”

“That’s what I thought at first,” Aimee replied, “but I think the invitation is genuine. There’s some discrepancy with the border up there. We all saw that for ourselves, so it only stands to reason the other borders might not be so well defined, either. That could be what’s causing all the wars.”

Chris snorted. “If we make peace, we won’t have to worry about that.”

“It’s just like Aquilla to come up with some nonsense like that to draw us into a trap,” Marissa muttered.

Chris turned to her. “Honestly, I don’t know how Penelope Ann can stand to live with him.”

Aimee took a deep breath. “Actually, I’m beginning to understand it a little better myself. And even if we can’t trust Aquilla completely, I’m certain we can trust Piwaka.”

Chris frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Think about it,” Aimee replied. “If there are problems with the borders now, a peace agreement won’t solve them. We better get all those the problems straightened out now, when all the Alphas are in the same place, or any peace agreement we come up with won’t have a snowball’s chance in hell.”

Chris and Marissa exchanged glances. “What do you suggest we do?”

“I’m quite certain the other Alphas will jump at the chance to negotiate with Aquilla,” Aimee replied. “That’s the reason we came here, and now he’s inviting us to come and meet with him. The question is whether the meeting will lead to any constructive conclusion or if we’ll all leave here to prepare for another war.”

Marissa shuddered. “Don’t talk like that, Aimee.”

“If we’re going to have any chance at success,” Aimee replied, “we better be prepared for the worst case scenario, and if the Alphas meet Aquilla at the big rock tomorrow morning, the worst case scenario is exactly what we’ll get.”

“There must be a way to prevent that,” Chris told her.

“The only way,” Aimee replied, “is for all of us—all of us women—to use our influence with them beforehand, whatever influence that may be, to sway them in favor of peace.”

“But all our mates already favor peace,” Marissa pointed out.

“They favor peace,” Aimee replied, “but they still mistrust the Avitras. It’s our job to break down that mistrust so the negotiation has a chance to succeed.”

Chapter 10

The sun touched the treetops and set them on fire. A line of people stood on one side of the wide rock on top of the Eastern Divide. Donen stood with Aria, Renier stood with Carmen, Caleb with Marissa, Turk with Chris, Faruk with Emily, and Anna stood with Menlo.

Only Aimee stood alone at the far end of the line, but for the first time in her life, she no longer felt out of place among all these powerful couples. She no longer belonged on the desolate frontier between people and the trackless wilderness. She had a place in the universe, and that place was Angondra.

She scanned the trees on the other side of the rock. The Avitras was in there somewhere, watching them, and Piwaka was with them. Her heart skipped a beat. She would see him again in a minute, but she wouldn’t be able to rush into his arms and kiss him the way she wanted to. She had to hold her place and keep the facade of separation going—at least for a little while longer.

The branches swayed. A ripple of tension traveled down the line, and even Menlo shifted from one foot to the other. His hand moved to the weapon at his waist. “Here goes.”

Donen spoke low, but he didn’t move. “Keep your hands away from your weapons.”

Menlo lowered his hand, but the tension didn’t fade. The branches parted, and the Avitras emerged from their hiding places. Penelope Ann stood at Aquilla’s side, and Piwaka stood at the other. Aimee swallowed hard, but Piwaka showed no sign of recognition. His face remained impassive. He surveyed his adversaries with a practiced eye.

The events of last night flashed through Aimee’s mind. After the evening meal, Donen met with Renier and Caleb according to their habit, only this time, Aimee walked over to them in the middle of their meeting. Donen’s eyes widened. “What is it?”

Caleb waved his hand. “I’ll handle this.” He rounded on Aimee. “You know this is a private meeting just between the Alphas. Go back to the Ursidrean camp with the other women.”

Aimee pursed her lips and swallowed her irritation. “I wouldn’t presume to interrupt your meeting, but I have a message for you from the Avitras.”

Once they heard the message, of course there was no more talk about her going back to the camp with the other women, but Aimee didn’t stick around to listen to the rest of their conversation. She’d delivered her message, and Piwaka filled her mind too full to think about anything else. She went back on her own.

The Alphas talked strategy late into the night, but around the thermal transmogrifier, Aimee and her friends discussed a different strategy. One after another, the men wandered back to camp, and her friends drifted away to talk to them in private. They disappeared into their tents one after the other and didn’t come back. In the end, Emily and Aimee remained in front of the box.

The transmogrifier radiated golden light and heat in a six-foot radius circle, and they sat in its glow for comfort. Emily rubbed her eyes. “I’m exhausted, but I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to walk out into the cold to find my tent.”

“Where’s Faruk?” Aimee asked. “He hasn’t come back from meeting Donen.”

Just then, footsteps crunched through the gravel and Faruk sank down on the bench next to Emily. His shoulders sagged. “I’m beat, and we have an early morning tomorrow, too. Let’s turn in.”

Emily nodded and touched his arm, but her eyes found Aimee’s. The two women nodded to each other. “Aquilla has taken a big step, inviting us to this meeting.”

Faruk shrugged. “He’s only done the reasonable thing. He’s intractable. We shouldn’t bother with him. Donen should seal a peace deal with Renier and Caleb and call it quits. Let the Avitras wallow in their own squalor. We’re better off without them.”

Emily kept her eyes locked on Aimee’s face. No doubt the others were having conversations exactly like this one at this very moment. “This peace process hasn’t got a prayer if everyone feels the way you do. We have to give Aquilla some concessions if we expect him to soften.”

“We don’t have to give him anything,” Faruk shot back. “He’s the one who should be giving us concessions.”

Emily shook her head. “He has every right to want to keep his sovereignty. He’s been in two disastrous wars with the Ursidreans in recent memory. He has no more reason to trust us than we have to trust him. Someone has to take the first step to break the stalemate. We’re the ones who came here to make peace with him, so we should take the first step.”

Faruk shrugged. “You might be right.”

Emily pressed her advantage, and Aimee heard her own words coming out of Emily’s mouth. They just might have a chance with the Avitras tomorrow. “You might not trust Aquilla, but what about Piwaka? Do you trust him?”

Exhaustion pulled Faruk’s shoulders down. He could barely rouse himself to move. “I guess he’s all right. At least he’s not as hostile as Aquilla.”

“He’s Captain of the Guard,” Emily pointed out. “He’s got Aquilla’s ear, so he’ll use his influence to swing Aquilla around to our way of thinking. Not all the Avitras are intractable.”

Faruk didn’t look up. “I never said they were. They’re Angondrans just like we are. They’re our own people.”

Emily burst into a glorious smile. “Then we can talk to them as such tomorrow.”

Faruk’s head shot up. “I never said that. We’re going up there to get our border established with them, once and for all. There won’t be any room for wavering.”

“But you have to admit,” Emily argued, “the Avitras thought their border was significantly over this side of the Divide. Who’s to say they were wrong and we were right? They could have been right all along, and the Ursidreans were the ones who provoke the wars by invading their borders without meaning to.”

“You just said it yourself we didn’t mean to,” Faruk countered. “We honestly thought our border was at the top of the peak. Now we find out the Avitras think it’s farther down here. Misunderstandings were bound to happen.”

“Then it only makes sense to agree on the border now,” Emily told him. “We have to go into tomorrow’s meeting with the thought that the Avitras aren’t any more wrong than we are. They’re people, just like we are, and they have as much right to defend the border as we do.”

“Of course they do,” he replied, “but....”

“We should be thanking Aquilla for giving us the opportunity to negotiate with him,” Emily concluded, “instead of throwing the negotiation out the window before it’s even started.”

Faruk didn’t answer. Aimee could have thrown her arms around her cousin then and there, but those arguments had to appear to come from Emily herself. All the women agreed on that.

Faruk sighed. Emily took his hand. “Come on. Let’s go to bed. You’re too tired to talk about this anymore tonight.”

She led Faruk away toward their tent, and Aimee sat alone in front of the transmogrifier. One more reinforcing conversation between each of her friends and their Alpha mates in the morning before the meeting, and her job was done.

She didn’t know how long she sat in the heat, but the transmogrifier wasn’t as comforting as a blazing fire on a cold night in the open. She finally went to her own tent and climbed into her own bed, but she didn’t sleep. She stared into the dark and floated in the depths of Piwaka’s eyes again. She could float there forever and need no other rest.

Now it was morning, and here they were, face to face with the Avitras. Aimee would be reaching for her own weapon at a time like this if Piwaka wasn’t standing across the rock from her right now. He anchored the whole meeting. Even the Avitras seemed calmer and less anxious with him here.

Aquilla stepped forward, and Penelope Ann and Piwaka joined him. Donen took a step, and the whole line matched him until they faced Aquilla in the middle of the rock. “Here we all are.”

Donen nodded. “Thank you for inviting us.”

Aquilla cocked his head. “Don’t thank me until you’ve heard what I have to say. You might not like it very much.”

“I’ll thank you no matter what you have to say,” Donen replied. “I didn’t think you would negotiate with us, and I’m grateful to you for the opportunity. I’m happy to hear whatever you have to say. It’s better for us to talk about our differences openly than to fight each other.”

Aquilla frowned. He wasn’t expecting this. “You want to hear what I have to say? All right. Here it is. This rock is in my territory. The border between our territories is over there, where the hill falls down steep, not back there on the mountain peak where you thought it was. You coming onto this rock was an act of war, and I intent to respond accordingly.”

Donen didn’t flinch. “I had no idea you considered the border farther down the hill until we arrived here. I have no trouble establishing the border down the hill if that will set your mind at ease and give our factions a chance at peace.”

Aquilla glared at him. “So you concede the point—just like that? What’s in it for you?”

“I’m happy to concede a few feet of territory,” Donen replied. “I consider such a concession a small price to pay for equanimity between our factions. I would have done it a long time ago if I had only known you considered this land yours. If we discuss these things in a rational way instead of jumping to war, we can solve our problems without so much destruction and loss of life.”

Aquilla blinked once. Then he turned away toward the Renier. “And the Felsite will have to destroy their city on our northern border. It’s overhanging our territory by a quarter of a mile.”

Renier frowned. “Which city do you mean? None of our cities is anywhere close to your border.”

Aquilla waved his hand. “The city sits on a slope between two mountains at the bend in the Borlass River where it exits these mountains on its way to the southern ocean. If you refuse to remove it, I have no choice but to consider this an act of open aggression.”

Carmen whispered something into Renier’s ear and he nodded. “Oh, of course. I know the city you mean, and we can remove it if it bothers you. We considered that stretch of land unused by anyone, so we built a city there. We never would have done so if we had known the Avitras claimed it as their own.”

Aquilla’s eyes flashed. He said something to Piwaka, and Piwaka murmured back to him. Then Penelope Ann said something.

Aimee caught her breath. It was really working. Kindness and concessions defused Aquilla’s hostility. He came armed with impossible demands, and the other Alphas bowed to his will and gave him what he wanted. He wasn’t prepared for that, but Piwaka was. He spoke up for the first time. “If there are no further difficulties with the borders, perhaps we can move on to the question of how you plan to maintain this peace once you establish it.”

“Once we establish peace, we won’t have to do anything to maintain it, Caleb replied. “That’s the primary reason for us to establish it. We can live in peace without wasting our resources guarding our borders and fighting each other.”

“So you won’t guard your borders anymore?” Piwaka asked. “Will the borders become totally porous, with Felsite and Ursidrean free to cross and hunt in Lycaon territory whenever they wish? Will the Lycaon run through the Ursidrean mountains and sleep in the caves for shelter? Will the Ursidreans share their technology with the other factions so we can all benefit from their labors? Is that what you mean by living in peace?”

“Of course not,” Caleb shot back. “I only meant.....”

“Which part of it did you not mean?” Piwaka asked. “Did you mean you would shoot on sight any Felsite hunting in Lycaon territory? Did you mean the Ursidreans would have the right to track down and exterminate anyone who comes into their caves and takes their technology without permission? Did you mean anyone who wants to cross the border will have to carry a token of permission from the other faction giving him a pass to enter your territory? What exactly did you mean?”

Caleb blustered, and Turk spoke up. “You’re doing everything you can to undermine our negotiation by throwing these impossible scenarios in our faces. We all know none of that would ever happen.”

Chris spoke to him under her breath, but everyone heard her. “It could happen, and it will happen if we don’t agree here and now how we’ll deal with it when it does happen. Piwaka is right, and so is Aquilla. Our borders aren’t firm enough to be secure, and our factions are still too far apart to leave the borders unguarded. We have a long way to go before we can live in peace.”

Piwaka’s eyes flickered over the company. “The Avitras suggest all our border patrols meet and walk along the borders together. The Avitras will meet the Felsite along our shared border, and we will travel it all the way from one end to the other, just to make sure we agree where it is. Then we will do the same with the other borders. You will each meet with the other factions and do the same thing.”

Menlo snarled at the other end of the line. “That could take years.”

Penelope Ann answered him. “It’s the only way we can all be certain the borders are where we think they are and we agree on them. It’s the only chance for any really lasting peace.”

Emily nodded. “Good fences make good neighbors.”

“In the meantime,” Piwaka went on, “we can think about what measures we intend to place on our borders for the other factions to cross into our territory—or not, as we deem fit. We can meet here again and discuss the next phase of the peace process.”

Chapter 11

The Alphas started to withdraw, but Aquilla turned on Piwaka. “We can’t just let them walk away, with no consequences.”

Piwaka faced him. “There is a consequence. They’ve lost the territory they thought was theirs on this side of the rock, and their peace process is delayed by years, maybe even decades. If no one can decide and agree on the location of their borders, the peace process is dead.”

Aquilla thought it over. Then he nodded. “All right. Let’s go.”

Faruk leaned toward Donen, but he kept his voice low. “So that’s it? That’s the end of it? Are we going to let him kill our peace agreement without even a squeak of protest?”

Donen laid his hand on Faruk’s shoulder. “You heard what he said. He said when we finish establishing the borders, we will meet here and discuss the next phase of our peace process.”

Emily came to Faruk’s side. “That means the peace process is still alive. All we have to do is meet each other along the border and make sure we agree where it is. Since the Ursidreans, the Lycaon, and the Felsite are already at peace, that shouldn’t be a problem.”

“If it is a problem,” Chris added, “we’d better get any disagreements out in the open now. We have to resolve any border disputes before we can discuss anything else. It’s the perfect test of the peace we’ve already won.”

The whole company turned away, and the Avitras started to retreat. Renier cast a glance over his shoulder at Piwaka and Aquilla still watching them. “I don’t like leaving like this. We’ve come so far. It seems a terrible waste of all we’ve accomplished to be sent packing at his whim.”

“This could be the end of the negotiation with the Avitras,” Carmen told him, “but no one is making us leave. The Felsite, the Ursidreans, and the Lycaon can stay here, well inside Ursidrean territory, and discuss our own plans to settle conflicts across our borders. Aquilla can’t stop us from negotiating with each other.”

Renier’s laugh rolled across the rock, and he threw his arm around Carmen’s shoulder. “You’re right, as always. By golly, we’ll go all the way. We won’t let him stop us from building peace between our three factions. If he wants to drag his heels, let him. He can patrol his border alone for the next ten years while the rest of us live and thrive.”

The company broke up and headed down the hill. Donen called over his shoulder. “Everyone come back to the Ursidrean camp. I want to celebrate our victory.”

Anna glanced at Emily. “Victory? What victory? He sent us packing.”

“At least he didn’t declare war on us,” Emily replied. “The peace process isn’t over. He only gave us some homework to do.”

The Avitras fell back to the treeline and vanished into the foliage the way they’d come. The Ursidreans led the way down to the camp on the plain. No one noticed Aimee standing in the same place. Piwaka, Aquilla, and Penelope Ann stood still while the Avitras Guard withdrew. Then Aquilla took Penelope Ann by the hand and followed the Guard into the trees. Piwaka stayed where he was, and he and Aimee gazed into each other’s eyes until the last Avitras disappeared. Then he, too, withdrew and vanished between the swaying branches.

Aimee watched until she lost sight of him. The negotiation was neither a success or a failure, but that didn’t matter to her. She’d seen him. The connection between them remained alive. When would she see him again? Would Aquilla order the Avitras back to their own territory and leave the other factions to their own devices? She might not see him again for years.

She couldn’t believe that, though. Piwaka pulled the strings behind the Avitras. If he wanted to see her again, he would find a way to turn this negotiation around. He would give Aquilla some hint to keep the Avitras here, where she could find him and where the other factions could convince Aquilla to agree to peace.

The sun rode high in the clear sky. The rock radiated heat, and Aimee turned away into the cool forest. She walked between the trees instead of running. She didn’t want to hurry back to the camp for Donen’s celebration. He and Renier executed to perfection the arguments Aimee gave their mates to suggest to them. But what next?

She had no more suggestions to give her friends on how to swing this negotiation. She wandered in the fog, just like them. She couldn’t face their questioning eyes, but she couldn’t stay away forever. She got back in the late afternoon and found everyone standing around the giant metal box Emily called the store chamber. They all held plates of food in their hands and mingled like colleagues at a cocktail party.

Aimee strolled up to Anna and Aria. Donen, Caleb, and Turk stood on the other side of the circle. “What’s going on?”

“We were just talking about the meeting with Aquilla,” Anna replied. “Some of us think it’s the worst defeat we could possibly suffer. Others think it’s a sign of hope. What do you think?”

Aimee shrugged and looked back up the hill. “It’s hard to tell. I wonder, though, whether the Avitras are still up there somewhere.”

“Why would they stick around?” Aria asked. “Piwaka said we should all go back to our own territories until we have a chance to confirm our borders.”

“That’s what he said,” Aimee replied, “but he could have been saying that for Aquilla’s benefit. He may have other plans.”

Anna and Aria glanced at each other. Donen put down the fruit he was eating. “What do you mean?”

Aimee shifted from one foot to the other. “I didn’t say anything before because I didn’t want to confuse the situation. I delivered the message about Aquilla’s invitation to dialogue, but I didn’t tell you everything.”

Caleb’s eyes widened, and Turk frowned. “What didn’t you tell us?”

“It was Piwaka who suggested the meeting to Aquilla,” Aimee replied. “He’s manipulating Aquilla to bring him around to accept the peace agreement. We shouldn’t leave without giving him a chance.”

Donen cleared his throat. “How are we supposed to find out if they’re still there? We can’t exactly walk across the border and check.”

“I’ll go up,” Aimee replied. “I can cross the border and find out if the Avitras are still there or if they’ve gone back to their own territory. Then we’ll know whether it’s truly hopeless or not.”

“It would only be hopeless for the Avitras,” Anna pointed out. “There’s nothing stopping the rest of us from continuing our negotiation.”

“Give them a chance to join us,” Aimee told her. “If they’re still here, it means Piwaka still thinks there’s a chance to sway Aquilla toward peace. We shouldn’t leave before they do.”

Donen put down his plate. “Okay. You go find out if they’re here. We’ll wait until you get back before we make any decision.”

Aimee studied Anna’s plate. “What are you eating?”

Anna stared at her. “Aren’t you going up the mountain?”

“Not right now. I’ll go later tonight.” She nodded toward the plate again. “Is that spare ribs?”

Anna waved her plate toward the store chamber. “Go get some. They’re divine.”

Aimee turned away, but she couldn’t help overhear Anna and Aria talking behind her. “What do you make of that?”

“She’s spending a lot of time up there,” Aria replied.

“You don’t think....?” Anna asked.

“Why would she?” Aria replied. “She brought that message from Piwaka. We wouldn’t be here now if she hadn’t.”

Her ears burned, and she hurried away. She couldn’t keep her activities secret forever, and she didn’t want to hide them, anyway. Better for everyone to find out the truth sooner rather than later.

She studied the control panel on the store chamber. She’d spent so much time away from camp, she hadn’t learned how to use it. Emily came to her rescue. “Let me show you how to use it.” She punched the control panel, and the unit came to life. “You must be hungry.”

“Starving,” Aimee replied.

“What are you hungry for?” Emily asked.

Aimee blushed. “Something simple. Maybe some trail mix and a bowl of walnuts.”

Emily frowned. “Are you sure? There’s a really good recipe for skidhopper jerky in here. Marissa swears by it.”

“I never really liked jerky all that much,” Aimee replied. “I’ve always been something of a vegetarian.”

“I know,” Emily replied. “It boggles the mind how you survived in Lycaon territory all these months.”

Aimee smiled. “Well, you know, maybe I didn’t. Maybe some part of me had to die in order to get through it.”

Emily cast a sidelong glance in her direction. “You’ve been spending a lot of time away from camp.”

Aimee’s cheeks burned. “I’ll bet you’re all wondering where I’ve been.”

“Sure, we’ve wondered,” Emily replied, “but it’s for you to tell us when the time comes. Here’s your trail mix.”

“Thanks,” Aimee exclaimed. “Thanks for not asking.”

Emily smiled. “Every one of us has taken a different road to get here. I hope someday you feel comfortable enough telling me about yours.”

Chapter 12

Aimee lay awake on her cot and listened to the camp noises die out beyond the walls of her tent. Under the blankets, she lay fully clothed in her Lycaon skins. They dug into her skin, but her body burned under them. How long would she have to lie here in agony before she got up?

What was she waiting for? Why did she insist on hiding what she was doing from her friends? Why did she have to sneak back to Piwaka under cover of darkness instead of walking straight up the mountain in broad daylight for everyone to see? What was she ashamed of?

The camp settled into silence. What were the others doing? Were they lying awake in their own beds, listening with bated breath for any sound of her guilty departure? What did she have to feel guilty about, anyway? Nothing. She wasn’t ashamed of meeting Piwaka. Why should she be? She told Donen exactly what she planned to do and when. But she hadn’t told him exactly what she planned to do, had she? She hadn’t told him she planned to rendezvous with Piwaka and give her body to him in a frenzy of unbridled passion. Hot blood rushed to her cheeks at the thought of it.

She held her breath and sat up in bed. What was she doing? She laid back down and closed her eyes. She would wait until morning and let them all watch her walk away. They would never suspect anything if she did. But she couldn’t wait. Her burning flesh forced her to sit up again. She had to find him, to be filled up by him again. She had to go to him no matter where he was, even if he’d journeyed all the way back south to the heart of Avitras territory.

And what would she tell him then? Would she throw herself at his feet and ask the Avitras to take her in? Anna and Frieda went to live with the Avitras, and look how that turned out. Frieda was gone, and Anna had fled the Avitras to rescue Menlo. Some similar fate might await her there.

She pushed herself up onto her feet. Whatever fate awaited her, she had to find out what it was. Whatever destiny awaited her, Piwaka remained at the center of it. She had to go to him and meet her destiny. She paused to listen at the tent door. Then she strode out into the camp.

She placed her feet in all the right places to stop her footsteps making any noise. She’d learned her lessons with the Lycaon warriors well. Only a few guards patrolled the outskirts of the camp. Everyone else slept in their tents. She set off up the hill.

She stopped next to the tree where she met Piwaka the first time. He wouldn’t come to meet her here—not now. He didn’t even know she was there. He might be a hundred miles away by now. She might be the last thing on his mind. She glanced toward the border. Was he waiting over there for her to make the first move? He might be sound asleep right now. He might be annoyed to see her at this time of night.

She waited—who knows how long. Of course he didn’t come. She turned back, but she didn’t leave. She went on to the big rock and waited again. Even if Aquilla ordered the Avitras back to their own territory, Piwaka was over there, in that direction. Her way lay toward him. She could never go back the way she came, toward her past.

Still, she hesitated to cross the border. She kept up the appearance of confidence in front of Donen, but how could she cross into Avitras territory? She was Lycaon. They might hunt her down. Why should they treat her differently because she was human? Did she dare risk it? In the end, overwhelming passion drove her forward. She had to see him. She couldn’t rest until he touched her, soothed her, and cooled her.

She set off across the rock. The closer she came to the trees, the faster she walked. The trees closed over her head, and she broke into a run. She couldn’t hesitate or she would lose her nerve. Her feet found their own places between rocks and fallen branches, but the wind in her face gave her no relief. Only moving closer to him calmed her anxious heart.

The Eastern Divide peaked and fell away into a downward slope, downward toward Avitras territory. She’d crossed to the western side of the mountains. She was over the border. Her senses tingled at every nuance of the forest. Where were the Avitras?

Her ears caught the first sound and drew her to her left. Voices rang through the canopy overhead. Aimee slowed down and listened. She crept closer, and at last, scaled a tree. A dozen Avitras perched in the branches. They ate something out of wooden bowls, and the conversation echoed back and forth from one branch to the other. Aimee settled in the crook of her tree nearby and watched them unseen. The Avitras didn’t practice forest camouflage the way the Lycaon did. She could sit there all night and they would never know she was there.

Piwaka sat on the edge of the circle. He engaged his fellow Guards in conversation and laughed at their jokes. Neither Aquilla nor Penelope Ann was anywhere in sight. Aimee was safe as long as they didn’t see her. She could sneak away and tell the Alphas the Avitras were still here, within sight of the border. Piwaka must have some plan up his sleeve to bring Aquilla back to the negotiation. But sitting here in the dark wasn’t bringing her any closer to Piwaka. He would look out for her if she showed herself.

She stood up and balanced on the branch. Then she stepped out onto it. She pushed it down with her feet at every step until it bounced. The leaves rustled and interrupted the Guards’ conversation. They jumped up with a shout. They snatched their weapons and rounded on her. One young Guard menaced her with his spear jabbed in her face. “State you business!” She kept her eyes fixed on Piwaka, and his eyes met hers.

Piwaka waved to the Guard. “I’ll handle this.”

The Guard glanced over his shoulder, but no one argued with Piwaka. At a gesture from him, the Guard moved away. He took hold of her arm and turned her away. In a flash, he flew away with her into the trees.

He landed on the ground out of sight of the group. He peered into her face, but said nothing. She gazed up at him, but she couldn’t speak. The aurora flickered over the trees and lit their faces with a ghostly glow.

Piwaka took her hand and led her through the forest. She didn’t care where he led her. She was with him, and all her tension vanished at last. He welcomed her. That’s all that mattered. He led her into a remote part of the forest, through unfamiliar sounds and smells, deeper into Avitras territory. Her feet moving on the ground struck her as odd. They should be flying, or at least moving through the treetops.

He stopped in a patch of trees shading the ground from the aurora’s light. Pitch dark surrounded them. Then, out of the darkness, his mouth found hers. Even at close range, she could see nothing of him but blackness. She felt him with her lips, and her arms went around his body. Their bodies came together in calm and quiet, without the struggling passion of their first union.

Their hands and arms explored parts of each other they’d left neglected in their rush last time, and their lips anchored them together so they couldn’t be lost in the dark. Aimee could take all the time she needed to explore him, to discover him, to find out how he reacted to her touch the way she never had time to do last time. Her senses tuned to him in the dark. She strained to listen to his breath when she ran her fingers through his feathers. She smelled his rich aroma and tasted his skin and tongue until she recognized every inch of him.

Leaves and twigs cushioned them when they sank to the ground. His hands slipped inside her clothes, and his fingertips tantalized her skin. She arched her back, and he slid his warm palm up her ribcage to her breasts. She pushed her straining nipples into his hand and gasped with relief when he pricked her skin with his fingers.

She drank in his kiss. Her body craved his touch, but she could hold herself in reserve now. Desire no longer drove her to ravenous excess. She drifted at ease in this new reality without fear. She relaxed into his embrace, but he didn’t lift her off the ground. He stroked her hair back from her forehead, and his heartbeat vibrated through her. That rhythm pulsed down her body to her feet and out to her fingertips.

She slipped into a timeless dream where nothing existed but the two of them. They could spend forever like this. Hours passed in mingled bliss before he rolled over on top of her. Her legs didn’t strap themselves around him in desperation. Her hands didn’t claw at his clothes. No craven need drove her to consume his very essence. She already knew him. She was one with him, just being here. Their bodies already existed in a nexus of mutual being between one territory and another, between one faction and another, belonging to no one.

Somehow, he found his way inside her clothes and she inside his. She lost track of time and place until not even the night air touched her skin. Eternal harmony continued unbroken when he slipped inside her. She moved against him with the same smooth undulations as he moved against her.

One wave of misty ecstasy broke over them, but they continued in conjoined bliss with no rupture. Their flesh sealed in warm, wet pleasure, and he stayed firm inside her. Even their lips continued uninterrupted the dance of endless communication beyond words, beyond time, beyond being.

Aimee swam in the hypnotic pools of his eyes. How did she live before she restored herself in those deep wells? What did she look at? Who did she talk to? She no longer remembered a past where anything else occupied her mind.

His weight slipped down to her side, and her legs rotated sideways with him. He lay at her side for long moments, with their bodies still joined and their souls passing back and forth between their lips. He rested his head on his arm, and she propped her cheek on her hand.

When did she roll up on top of him? She couldn’t say, but it seemed the most natural place in the world to be. His shaft found the deepest, warmest place inside her and brought her senses back to life. She breathed into him, but their rhythm never changed. Free flowing communication neither ebbed nor flowed. They remained bound in seamless flesh.

On it went, all night. When did he rise above her, and when did he fall beneath her? She remembered nothing but the aurora shining in his eyes, the endless tide of breath, of perfect interchange of soul information back and forth from his cells to hers. No other memories interfered with that blessed fusion of him with her and her with him. She never wanted to be aware of anything else again.

Chapter 13

Breaking dawn brought them out of their reverie, so Aimee saw his whole face. She sighed. The transition was inevitable, but she didn’t mind. He was still there. His body still rested on top of hers. Sweat still merged his flesh with hers. Not even walking away from each other to different territories could change that now.

How would they come together again? She couldn’t say, but they would come together. Of that she was certain. The negotiations might fail. The Avitras might go back to their own territory and she might go back to the Lycaon without Piwaka, but she would be with him. She was part of him now, never to be separated.

Even when he peeled back from her, when his lips unlocked from hers and the chill air touched her juice-spattered thighs, she only sighed. This was destined to happen eons ago. She simply followed a script set out for her. Her fate would bring her back to him somehow. She got up and arranged her clothes. She ran her fingers through her hair. Piwaka didn’t speak, either. There was nothing to say. She would tell Donen the Avitras were still here.

He took her hand, and they wandered through the brightening woods the same way they wandered here in the first place. Would she walk back down that hill as though nothing had happened? No, she was forever changed. Her very flesh carried the imprint of his touch. His juice trickled down between her thighs and sent surges of ecstasy through her. His sizzling hot essence spread from her deepest core, coursed through her veins, and reorganized her body to its purpose. She no longer had to speak, to him or to anyone else. She knew her place in this world, and nothing and no one could take that away from her.

Her friends and relatives would see a different person from the woman who came from the Lycaon. How could anyone look at her and see the same person, even if she still wore the same clothes? Her hair hadn’t grown, but she no longer carried a hard warrior shell around her soft living center. Anyone could see that.

Piwaka only walked a short distance before he stopped and faced her. He drew her to him and kissed her long and slow and deep. The sun broke above the trees and lit up his feathers. Aimee didn’t notice. She stared in his eyes as long as she could. This pleasure, like the others, would be over soon enough. Who knew how long she would have to carry these treasured moments with her before she experienced them again?

At last he tore himself away and set off again, but he didn’t make it very far before he stopped again. His eyes searched her face, and his mouth sought some certainty in her lips. The third time he stopped and lost himself in her embrace, he sank into a resigned solidity with a sigh. He wouldn’t stop again. He would deliver her to the Divide, and he would go back to the Avitras.

A dozen questions flooded her mind, but she quieted them. He knew best how to handle Aquilla and his people. She had her own side of the bargain to keep, and a long walk back to camp in front of her. She would tell the simple truth to anyone who asked. She wouldn’t hide herself anymore.

He compressed his lips and nodded without a word. He started to turn away. Then he gave her one last long, tender kiss, but at that moment, a branch snapped and Aquilla flew down through the canopy. He landed right in front of Piwaka. Aimee drew back in alarm. She pulled her hand out of Piwaka’s grasp, but Aquilla paid no attention to her. He rushed at Piwaka. “Where have you been? I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

Piwaka opened his mouth to answer, but Aquilla cut him off. “How could you offer them those concessions? Do you know what this will do to us? You’ve left me wide open to attack from three hostile factions.”

Piwaka tried again to answer. “Did you see the other Alphas.....”

Aquilla waved his arms and spun away. “Did you see them? Did you see the look on Donen’s face? He gloated all the way down the hill. You sold me out. How can I trust you again?”

Piwaka listened with his usual calm. “The other Alphas think they gave you concessions, not the other way around.”

Aquilla cocked an eyebrow at him. “What concessions did they give me? I gave more ground than I should have. I should have walked away without giving anything instead of giving in.”

Piwaka’s shoulders relaxed. Maybe only Aimee noticed. “All the Alphas caved to your demand to re-examine the borders. That will take months—maybe even years. They won’t go any further with their peace process until they do it. They’ll give in to any obstacle you can throw in their path. You hold all the power here, and they know it.”

Aquilla’s eyes blazed. Then, to Aimee’s surprise, he wilted in front of her eyes. His chin fell down on his chest, and his shoulders slumped. “I don’t want all the power. I don’t want any of it.”

Piwaka raised his eyebrows. “What do you mean? What could you want if you don’t want power? You want the other Alphas eating out of your hand, and that’s what you got. They won’t move a muscle without your permission.”

Aquilla shook his head. “I’m no good at this political stuff. You’re the one with all the ideas. You should negotiate with them instead of me.”

Piwaka shrugged. “You’re Alpha. It’s your job to negotiate with them. I’m your Captain. It’s my job to give you ideas and support you.”

Aquilla looked away. “I don’t want to be Alpha. The pressure is killing me. I want to spend my time with my mate and my family. You’ll make a better Alpha than me. You take over.”

Piwaka shot a glance at Aimee. It was the first time she’d ever seen anything catch him off guard. “I can’t take over. You know that. You’re Alpha by inheritance through your father and your older brother. My family has always been Captains. We can’t change that now.”

Aquilla waved his arm. “Who says we can’t change it? If one man makes a better Alpha, why shouldn’t he hold the reins? I never wanted to be Alpha. I never wanted any of this.”

Piwaka stared at him. Then he sighed and laid his hand on Aquilla’s shoulder. “You’re tired. We’ve traveled two hundred miles, and the pressure of the negotiation is wearing on you. We’ll go back to the village where you can rest. Then you’ll be ready to face another round with a clear head.”

“I’ve felt this way for a long time,” Aquilla told him. “It started long before we came here, even before we took that Ursidrean hostage. It even started when my father was still alive. I never wanted the Alpha position. It was only bad luck that my brother died and I had to become Alpha.”

Piwaka’s eyes flew open. “As long ago as that? You never said anything.”

“If I said anything,” Aquilla replied, “you would have been as startled then as you are now. You would have told me I had no choice but to become Alpha whether I wanted to or not.” He glared down at the ground. “You’re doing the same thing now.”

Piwaka opened his mouth and shut it again. Then he sighed again. “I had no idea. I’m sorry I didn’t give you a safe harbor to confide in me. I know now.”

Aquilla’s head shot up. “But you still think there’s nothing we can do. I’ll continue to be Alpha, I’ll keep making mistakes like I always have, and I’ll still be miserable. I’ll never be free and happy as long as I’m Alpha. My family will suffer. I’ll live a life of isolation and hardship on the frontier, away from the village and my mate and children, the same way my father did. I’m doomed.”

Piwaka smiled at him. “Don’t worry. We’ll find a solution to this one way or the other.”

“There is no solution,” Aquilla shot back. “I’ll never be happy as long as I’m Alpha.”

“You said that,” Piwaka murmured.

“I’m terrible as Alpha,” Aquilla went on. “I can’t make good decisions like you can. Kidnapping that Ursidrean seemed like a good idea at the time. Why didn’t you tell me you objected when we brought him back from the frontier?”

Piwaka hesitated. “I did tell you. I told you you shouldn’t beat him the way you did. I told you to feed him and treat him well, or Donen would never have anything to do with us.”

Aquilla threw up his hands. “All the decisions I make turn out to be disasters. I can’t do anything right.”

Piwaka squeezed his shoulder again. “That’s not true.”

“You know it is,” Aquilla returned. “You should be Alpha. I resign. You take over.”

Piwaka snorted. “And what about the negotiation? What will the others say when I show up to negotiate with them and you aren’t there?”

Aquilla brooded for a moment. Then he straightened up, and a weight lifted off his shoulders. “We won’t tell them. We’ll keep it a secret.”

Piwaka started back. “What?”

“You’re already doing all the negotiating,” Aquilla pointed out. “You already do most of the talking, if not all of it. I’ll come with you to the negotiations, but you talk to them. You make the decisions. I don’t want to have anything to do with it anymore.”

Piwaka frowned. “Are you sure?”

Aquilla nodded. “You do it. I don’t want to be Alpha anymore.”

Piwaka studied him. Then he nodded, too. He clapped Aquilla on both shoulders. “Go back to camp. Your mate is still here, isn’t she? Good. Go back to your mate and try to rest. I’ll call you when we have another negotiation to attend.”

Aimee waited until Aquilla disappeared into the trees. “Are you sure about this?”

Piwaka turned to her with a smile. “He is. That’s what important.”

“So what are we going to do?” she asked.

He guided her by the elbow away from the Avitras camp toward the Divide. “This is the best thing that could happen. I can steer the Avitras toward peace.”

Aimee couldn’t suppress a smile. “Wait until the other Alphas find out.”

He stopped short. “You heard what he said. You can’t tell anybody about this. He could take back the Alpha position at the snap of his fingers if anybody finds out. Let him save face, and keep his secret. I’ll negotiate with the other Alphas, and we’ll come to a peace agreement—at least, as solid a peace agreement as we can come to at short notice.”

“And then what?” she asked.

He started walking. “Then all bets are off.”

Chapter 14

Aimee and her friends stood inside the tree line at the top of the Eastern Divide. Sunlight streamed through the canopy and twinkled on the water flowing over a little waterfall into a sparkling pool.

Caleb sniffed the air. “Well, this is all very charming, but where are our friends?”

Aimee shifted from one foot to the other. “Piwaka said they would be here.”

Caleb grumbled under his breath to Turk on his other side. “Piwaka said.”

Turk snorted. Chris fidgeted. “Maybe it’s a trap.”

“It’s not a trap,” Aimee snapped. “Just wait a minute. They’ll be here.”

“We’ve waited a lot longer than a minute already,” Renier added. “We’ll look like fools if we waited any longer.”

Carmen touched his hand. “Just a little longer. Then we’ll go.”

Rustles and clicks echoed through the trees. Donen scanned the surroundings. “I don’t like the location. I wish he’d chosen to meet at the big rock. At least there we could see what’s coming.”

A rustle of feathers broke the silence, and Piwaka and Aquilla flew down through the trees. Aquilla held Penelope Ann around the waist and set her on her feet next to him.

The other Alphas started back, but when they saw so few Avitras, they relaxed. “Where are the rest of your Guards?” Faruk asked.

Piwaka nodded to him. “We don’t need them, do we? You didn’t bring your soldiers, and we don’t need ours to have a civil conversation.”

Donen frowned. “Is that what we’re having?”

“I hope so,” Piwaka replied. “It’s a shame we’ve had so few, don’t you think?”

Donen stiffened. “I don’t like this.”

Anna spoke up. “We can trust Piwaka. We won’t lose anything by talking to him.”

Caleb crossed his arms. “All right. What do you want to talk about?”

Piwaka shrugged. “After due consideration, we are willing to postpone the inspection of the borders. Each faction can arrange the inspection, together with their neighbor factions, at their own convenience.”

Turk frowned. “What brought on this change of heart?”

“Does it really matter?” Emily asked. “As long as it doesn’t stand in the way of peace, we’ll be happy to go along with it.”

Caleb grumbled under his breath. “We’ll be the ones to decide what we go along with, not you.”

Somehow, no one heard him, and Piwaka went on. “And as to the numbers of warriors and Guards and patrols guarding the borders, this, too, can be negotiated individually between factions. If the Ursidreans and the Felsite agree to reduce their patrols to twenty individuals on each side, why shouldn’t they do so? If, on the other hand, the Avitras choose to maintain the numbers of Guards along their borders, no one can speak against it.”

“What’s the point of negotiating peace then?” Chris snapped. “If all the border patrols remain the same, and the level of hostility remains the same, we don’t have peace. We’re in exactly the same situation we were in before.”

Aimee dropped her voice so only her friends could hear. “I think he means we can choose to make peace with our neighbors if we want to. The Ursidreans and the Felsite already agreed to reduce their patrols over the next five years, eventually reducing them to nothing. Once the threat of war disappears, the Avitras will do the same.”

Piwaka waved his hand. “The relations across borders affects no one but the factions involved. No one should dictate to anyone what they do. Such matters are better handled privately.”

“Are the Avitras willing to enter into private negotiations with their neighbor factions about the borders?” Donen asked. “How can I reduce my border patrols if the Avitras maintain theirs? The Avitras might invade my territory at any moment if I left the border unguarded.”

Piwaka’s eyes flashed. “As I understand it, the Ursidreans have already unilaterally reduced their border patrols out of necessity, and the Avitras have not attacked. As long as the Ursidreans and the Avitras agree on the exact location of the border, neither faction has any reason to attack the other. The Ursidreans could reduce their patrols to nil, and the Avitras would not attack.”

“We have only your word for that,” Donen replied. “You could be luring us into reducing our patrols so we couldn’t repel an attack if it came.”

“The Avitras would not attack,” Piwaka replied. “We don’t have the numbers to attack. We suffer the same population strain you do. If you reduce your patrols, we will reduce ours.”

Donen shook his head. “You’ll excuse me if I don’t trust you.”

Piwaka inclined his head. “I don’t ask you to trust me. I don’t trust you, either. Go along as you have been, and see if the Avitras exploit your reduced border patrols. In a few years, when the Avitras haven’t attacked and no further incidents take place along the border, reduce your patrols again and see what happens. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”

“You haven’t attacked,” Donen returned, “but you did kidnap one of our people off the border. What’s to stop you from doing the same thing?”

“Reducing your patrols would prevent that. There would be no people along the border to kidnap.” Piwaka waved his hand. “I can give you as many assurances as you want that it won’t happen, but the truth remains that none of us can trust each other. We can only judge by future actions. If you agree to peace with the Felsite, you can only watch your border and see if they attack you over the next few years. They can only watch and see if you do the same thing. That’s as good as this peace agreement is to any of us.”

“We still have one problem,” Caleb told him.

“What’s that?” Piwaka asked.

“The Aqinas,” Caleb replied. “No one has consulted them.”

“We don’t have to consult them,” Renier added. “They don’t dictate terms on Angondra.”

“The Aqinas have arbitrated every peace agreement in Angondran history,” Caleb replied.

“They’ve also instigated every war in Angondran history,” Turk grumbled.

“We don’t know that for certain,” Emily argued. “That’s an old prejudice that might not be true.”

“Either way,” Chris added, “we should consult them about our plans. They might have something to contribute.”

“They might undermine us,” Carmen suggested.

“They travel through the water,” Emily told her. “They can touch every inch of Angondran territory in an instant. They might be able to help us in ways we can’t foresee.”

Chris took a step forward. Aquilla stiffened and moved back, but Piwaka held up his hand for calm. Chris took another step forward. “I have an idea.”

Turk put out his hand and tried to grab her, but she moved away toward the spring. She squatted beside the water and put her fingertips into the foaming current.

“What are you doing?” Marissa asked.

“I’m calling Sasha,” Chris replied. “All of us—all of us women—came along on this mission to help make peace between the factions. There’s a human woman living with the Aqinas. If we can bring her here, she can help us negotiate with the Aqinas.”

The group watched her in silence. She trailed her fingers back and forth through the shimmering water. Then Emily stepped forward. She squatted at Chris’s side. “What are you doing?” Anna asked.

“I’m calling Frieda,” Emily replied. “Sasha isn’t the only human woman living with the Aqinas. Frieda’s our sister. She can help us, too.” She dipped her fingers into the spring water. No one moved or even breathed.

All at once, a mighty explosion shot the spring water out of its bed. Chris and Emily stumbled back, and a curtain of water showered down on the grassy bank. A wall of black figures rose out of the spring and formed a line across the surface of the water.

The Avitras drew back in horror, but the others stood their ground. The film of black slime fell away from the indistinct shapes to reveal well-formed people of every age and sex. A young man with angular features and long black hair hanging in ropes down his back stepped out of the water up onto the bank. He surveyed the group. “Alpha Caleb. Alpha Renier. It’s been too long. And Alpha Aquilla, if I’m not mistaken.”

Aquilla bared his teeth at the Aqinas. “I don’t know you.”

Piwaka stepped in front of Aquilla. “But I do. You’re Fritz, aren’t you? I knew your father. I am Piwaka, Captain of the Guard.”

Fritz bowed and smiled. “I remember you now. Happily met. To what do we owe the honor of your call?”

Emily stepped forward. “We called Sasha and Frieda. Frieda is my sister, and Sasha is our friend. We need their help to finalize a peace agreement between all the Angondran factions.”

Fritz waved his hand toward the line of people behind him. “They are here. They will speak to you if they wish it.”

Emily glanced toward the line, and Aimee followed her gaze. She didn’t recognize anyone. All the Aqinas looked the same. They wore long white gowns with long ropey dark hair hanging down their backs. None of them had Frieda’s short crop of curls or her sharp black eyes.

At Fritz’s signal, another man came forward. He towered over Fritz, and his features showed a depth of understanding and experience Fritz couldn’t match. “This is my secondary. His name is Deek. He will speak for the people.”

Emily’s head whipped around. “Why will he speak for the people? You’re Alpha, not him.”

“The Aqinas acknowledge no Alpha,” Fritz replied. “Every Aqinas governs his own life. Deek speaks for the families in our world who have not come. They have empowered him to represent them here.”

Deek swept the group with his eyes. He nodded at Emily. “I recognize you from last time. You’re Frieda’s sister.”

Emily frowned. “What last time?”

Deek waved his hand toward the north. “The last time we met, near the canyon.”

Emily brightened up. “Do you mean when Fritz told us Frieda was with you? I didn’t know you were there.”

He nodded. “I was there. We were all there.”

Chris frowned. “Who was there?”

“Everyone,” he repeated.

Emily held up her hand between them. “Never mind. You speak for the Aqinas. These Alphas have been told all their lives the Aqinas instigate wars between their factions, only to create peace deals to manipulate others and further their own interests. We can’t make peace until we break down those old prejudices.”

Aquilla’s voice rang out over all the others. “We can make peace with anyone we choose. We don’t need them to do it.”

Piwaka stopped him with a hand on his arm. “We’ve waited a long time to clear the air with the Aqinas. Now is our chance to do it.”

“The Aqinas never wanted war between the factions,” Deek replied. “We never instigated anything. Those stories date back to the years when the Aqinas came to live in the water. The other factions made up those stories to explain why we left.”

“You can’t deny negotiating peace between warring factions,” Renier pointed out. “Some of us are old enough to remember that.”

“We don’t deny it,” Deek replied. “We negotiate peace when the factions asked us to do it.”

“And you can’t deny you benefited from those negotiations,” Donen put in.

Deek cocked his head. “When did we benefit from them? I challenge you to name one benefit we received for negotiating peace. The only benefit we received was to look out at our planet and see the factions living side by side with one another instead of slaughtering families and children and innocent bystanders.”

Donen flexed his arms and clenched his fists. “So you looked on and watched us, did you? I always knew it.”

Aria murmured something to him under her breath, but he rounded on her in a rage. “Don’t try to explain it away. They’ve been spying on us all these years. How do you think they know exactly where to find us when they want to twist us around their little fingers? They’ve been hiding out in their underwater caves and watching and waiting for the chance to use us.”

“Donen is right,” Renier added. “We don’t need the Aqinas. Let them crawl back under whatever rock they came out of. We can negotiate with the Avitras without them.”

“You can negotiate with the Avitras,” Anna replied, “but what’s the good of a peace agreement that doesn’t cover the whole planet? The Aqinas are Angondran, the same as you, and if they have some reason to instigate wars between the factions, the peace agreement won’t last. They should be included in this negotiation even if they don’t agree to our conditions.”

“What conditions?” Chris asked. “As far as I know, we haven’t set out any conditions for anybody.”

Aquilla stepped forward. “No one can negotiate with the Aqinas. They care only for themselves. They don’t care who gets killed or who fights whom. We can accomplish much more without them. You never should have called them.”

Piwaka spoke low to Aquilla. “It might be a good idea....”

Aquilla cut him off with a chop of his hand. “Forget it. I’m Alpha here, and the Avitras won’t be party to any agreement involving the Aqinas. If my Guards were here now, the way I wanted them to be, I would order them to wipe out the Aqinas here and now. Angondra would be better off without them.”

Deek rounded on Aquilla. “The Aqinas never wanted anything but peace for Angondra. You have only our history to prove it. The Aqinas never made war on anyone, and we’ve lived in peace in the water ever since our people broke into separate factions.”

“Please don’t fight here” Emily broke in. “We’ve had a hard time bringing the Avitras to this negotiation. Maybe you should go back to the water to avoid a fight. Then we could make peace with the Avitras. We can make peace with the Aqinas later.”

Aquilla whirled around and raised his hand to his mouth

Piwaka flew at him and tried to rip his hand away from his face, but he couldn’t reach Aquilla in time to stop a shrill screech echoing through the trees. “No!”

Chapter 15

In an instant, hundreds of Avitras swarmed out of the trees. Where had they been hiding? They flooded the glade and surrounded everyone, including the Avitras. Aquilla raised his hand to signal to them, but this time Piwaka was ready. He knocked Aquilla’s hand down and spun around to face the Guards. He positioned himself between them and Deek to shield the Aqinas with his body. He only spoke one word, but his hand signaled to the Guard in ways no one else could understand. “No!”

Aimee rushed forward. She faced the other Alphas and swept Donen, Caleb, and Renier with her eyes. She took in Faruk, Menlo, and Turk standing nearby. “The Aqinas came here because we called them. We came here to negotiate peace for all Angondra, and that includes the Aqinas. Are you going to stand by and let the Avitras wipe them out?”

She took her place at Piwaka’s side between the Aqinas and the Guards. “No one will lay a finger on the Aqinas as long as we’re here. They’re our invited guests. If you attack them, you’ll have to go through us first.”

The Avitras paid no attention to her, but at least she got the words out. They rang through the clearing with more force and determination than she felt in her heart. At first, no one made a move, and Aimee’s courage faltered. None of the others would stand up for the Aqinas. She and Piwaka would face the Avitras alone, and the Guard would obey Aquilla. He would override his decision to hand over power to Piwaka, and he would destroy their chance at peace.

Something shifted in the corner of her eye, and Renier moved out of line. He planted his legs wide next to Piwaka and pulled his short, curved blade from his belt. He chopped the air with it and let it dangle from his hand at his side. “We came here for peace, but the Aqinas are the only people here not carrying weapons.” He nodded to the Avitras Guards. “If you want to fight someone, you can fight me. You won’t fight a bunch of unarmed men and women.”

One by one, the others joined him. Caleb and Turk, Faruk and Emily, Aria and Carmen and Marissa—they all came forward and formed ranks between the Aqinas and Aquilla’s Guards. Aimee’s spirits soared, but in the end, it was Piwaka’s hand signals that drove the Avitras back. No words passed between the Guard and their Captain, but he told them something that made them turn against Aquilla.

Aquilla saw his advantage flagging, and he waved his arm to his Guards. “Attack!”

Piwaka made one more signal with his hand. The Guard stayed where they were, but the tension dissipated. They wouldn’t attack, no matter what Aquilla said. Piwaka was in charge for good now. Aquilla fumed and ranted, but no one moved or said a word.

A murmur rippled down the row of Aqinas. Then something made her spin around with a gasp. A short woman with black hair stepped out of the water onto the grass. The instant her foot hit the ground, she shivered and huddled over on herself. Her eyes took on a glassy sheen, and her face went blank. Chris turned around at the same moment. “Sasha! You came!”

Sasha nodded, but she barely looked Chris in the face. “I told you I would come if you called.”

Chris took her hand. “Help us. All we want is to make peace.”

“You have it already,” Sasha replied. “You don’t need the Aqinas for that.”

Aimee dropped her voice to keep Aquilla from hearing her. “There must be something we can do to avoid all this hostility.”

Just then, another figure broke out of the Aqinas line. Taller than Sasha, the same long ropes of hair hung down past the person’s shoulders, but the hips widened to reveal a female shape. Aimee looked closer and noticed a bump protruding under the white robe. She was pregnant.

Anna and Emily rushed forward, but Aimee got there first. “Frieda!”

Frieda put her foot on the grass and pulled it back as though it was burned. She hesitated to leave the water. She scanned the scene, and a shadow of doubt crossed her face.

“How have you been, Frieda?” Emily asked. “We’ve been so worried about you.”

“You had nothing to worry about. I’m fine.” Frieda spoke so softly they leaned forward to hear her.

“We thought you got stuck with the Aqinas,” Anna told her. “We didn’t know what to think.”

Frieda shook herself. “Fritz told you I was happy where I was. He told you I chose to stay with the Aqinas of my own free will. You can believe him.”

Anna frowned. “How did you know that?”

Frieda fixed her sister with a piercing stare. “I was there.”

Emily gasped. “You were there? You were there when Fritz told us you were alive and living with the Aqinas? Why didn’t you say something? Why didn’t you speak to me? I traveled all that way to find you....”

Frieda cut her off with a shake of her head. “I couldn’t leave the water. I won’t leave the water, not even for you.”

Emily dropped her eyes to the ground where Frieda stood up to her ankles in the foaming spring. “How can we trust the Aqinas when we don’t understand them? We need you and Sasha to explain them to us.”

“Nothing we could say would make sense to you,” Frieda replied. “The Aqinas are the only people on this planet capable of living in peace. The water gives them the peace you all crave so much. You can’t understand it on land. Everything is warm and comfortable there, and the water gives you everything you need.”

Emily looked around. “That’s what Sasha said last time.”

“You didn’t believe her then, either, did you?” Frieda asked. “The Aqinas world is too different from this world to understand. It has to be experienced to be understood. I found that out for myself.”

Anna surveyed Frieda’s pregnant body from her feet up to her hair. “You certainly look well, Frieda. Whatever they’re feeding you there agrees with you. I can see that.”

Frieda shook her head. Not even Anna’s compliments could penetrate the veil separating her from her own family. Chris shot a glance at Fritz. “How can we be certain the Aqinas won’t interfere in our affairs in the future?”

Sasha shuddered. Her lips trembled with cold, and her teeth chattered. “We would never interfere in your affairs if you didn’t call us to do it. No Aqinas would leave the water if they could avoid it. Ask anyone.” She nodded toward the line, but she didn’t gesture with her hands. She clutched her arms around her in bitter cold, even though the air was mild.

“You and your people will never understand the Aqinas,” Deek broke in. “Frieda said you would misinterpret our watching you as a hostile act.”

“I tried to explain it many times,” Frieda added. “Only another person who came from the land could make you understand.” A sob escaped her. “I thought I would have to leave the water to explain it to you.”

Emily surveyed her sister up and down. Her lips turned blue, and she shivered, too. “Why don’t you explain it to us now?”

Frieda shook her head. “You think the Aqinas spied on you by watching you when you didn’t know they were looking, but it doesn’t work that way. The water brings us information about everything it touches. The water creates a seamless connection between everyone so nothing is hidden. It does the same thing with the people on land.”

“How can it do that?” Aimee asked. “The water isn’t touching us.”

“The rain falls on you and runs into the rivers,” Frieda replied. “The same water evaporates from the ocean and rises into the clouds and falls again as rain. It’s all one water. It touches you and carries your signal to us in the ocean.”

“So you understand everything about us,” Anna remarked. “Nothing we do or say or think is hidden from you.”

Frieda closed her eyes. Every word required a superhuman effort. “We can’t stop it. We couldn’t close our eyes to it even if we wanted to. The water surrounds us and touches every inch of our skin. It penetrates our cells and brings its signal into our minds and into our blood.”

Chris shuddered. “It sounds awful. I couldn’t stand to live that way.”

Aquilla leaned toward Penelope Ann. “We’ll fall back to the village. We’ll raise other Guards who are loyal. Then we’ll....”

Aimee whipped around. She couldn’t let him leave. Piwaka glared at Aquilla and moved forward at Aimee’s side. They would stop him together.

A microscopic movement from Deek stopped them. How could such a subtle movement mean so much? It stopped them in their tracks, and Aimee stared in amazement. Sasha glided over the ground in ghostly silence. Her white gown hovered over the grass and hid her feet from view. Frieda floated at her side, and the two women approached Aquilla.

Some queer magic rooted his feet to the ground. He and Penelope Ann stared at the two women in wonder. They ceased their shivering and gazed directly into Aquilla’s eyes. “You have nothing to fear from the Aqinas,” Sasha told him. “They are Angondran, just like you.”

Aquilla shifted from one foot to the other. “You don’t have to stay with them.” His eyes flickered to Frieda’s face. “You are human. You can come back to the Avitras. We would welcome you the way we did the first time.”

“The Aqinas always counted the Avitras their friends,” Frieda answered. “The Avitras did more to bring peace to Angondra than any other faction.”

“Your father trusted the Aqinas,” Sasha added. “Your father protected the Aqinas.”

Piwaka’s head spun around. “What did you say?”

Aquilla frowned. “That was a long time ago. That has nothing to do with this.”

Sasha shook her head. “Your father’s deeds remain alive with the Aqinas. In the water, he continues to act each and every day, as if for the first time. You could be a hero like your father.”

Everyone stared at her. Aimee swallowed hard to make her voice work. “What are you talking about?”

Sasha gazed at Aquilla. “The Ursidreans and the Avitras both lost countless people in the last war. Toward the end, the Alphas called on the Aqinas to broker a peace agreement so both factions could lay down their weapons without losing face or seeming to admit defeat. The Alphas met over there, at the top of the Eastern Divide, along with their Aqinas representatives.”

“They didn’t know it was a trap,” Frieda went on. “The Ursidrean Alpha sent word to the Felsite that this was their best chance to annihilate the Aqinas once and for all.”

All eyes turned toward Donen. He dropped his eyes to the ground. “That was in my father’s day. Many horrible things happened then.”

“The Felsite moved in on the meeting site,” Sasha told them. “They would have wiped out the Aqinas, but the Avitras Alpha, Aquilla’s father, found out about the plan beforehand. He ordered his personal Guard to lie in wait on the north side of the Divide. When the Felsite moved in to attack, the Avitras jumped out and surprised them. They forced the Felsite to retreat back to their own side of the border, and the Felsite never attempted another attack.”

Donen raised his eyes. “My father never related that story. He must have been ashamed of what he’d done, and rightly so.”

Aquilla frowned. “My father never related that story, either. It sounds like a fairy tale to to get me to fall in love with the Aqinas.”

Piwaka broke in. “It is all true.”

Aquilla’s head shot up, and Aimee gasped.

Piwaka nodded. “It’s true. Your father never told a soul what he had done, but I remember.”

“How could you remember?” Aquilla asked.

“I was there,” Piwaka murmured. “I led the assault on the Felsite.”

Sasha touched Aquilla’s hand. “Your father was a friend to us. Let us count you as our friend, too.”

He didn’t stop frowning, but he didn’t recoil from her, either. He pursed his lips together and didn’t answer. Penelope Ann moved to his side. “We value peace. That’s what we came here for. If the Aqinas want peace, they won’t have anything to worry about from the Avitras.”

Frieda smiled at her. “You were always kind to me when I lived with the Avitras. We won’t forget you, either.”

Penelope Ann passed her hand through Aquilla’s arm. “Let’s put the hateful stories of the past behind us. We can count on the Aqinas to help us establish a lasting peace between the factions. Communicating through the water will be very useful, even if that communication only goes one way.”

Sasha smiled. “The Aqinas will do everything possible to help establish peace on Angondra.”

Penelope Ann pulled Aquilla back. “Excellent.”

Aquilla held back, but his eyes slid sideways to Piwaka. An unspoken signal passed between them, and Piwaka answered for him. “The Avitras will be friends to the Aqinas, the way they always have been.”

Penelope Ann pressed Aquilla’s arm one more time, and this time, they stepped backward together toward the trees. In a moment, all the Avitras were gone—except Piwaka.

Frieda muttered under her breath to Sasha. “It’s so cold here.”

Sasha nodded, and they both retreated to the spring. Emily followed them. “Don’t leave yet, Frieda. Stay a little longer.”

Frieda shook her head. She barely looked at her sister. “I have to get back to the water or the connection will be broken.”

Emily put out her hand to her sister. “Just tell me you’re happy there. Tell me you’ve found your place there.”

Frieda didn’t hesitate. She stepped into the water and joined the other Aqinas. The anxiety and dread fell away from her, and she relaxed in relief. She didn’t look at either of her sisters or her cousin. She kept her eyes on Deek. “You don’t have to worry about me. Everyone is happy in that world. It’s the most beautiful, most peaceful world you can imagine. I only wish you could experience it for yourselves. Come with me, and I’ll show you.”

Emily shrank back. Her hand fell to her side. “I don’t think so.”

Deek turned to Aimee. “We won’t forget what you did for us today.”

Aimee blushed. “I didn’t do anything.”

Deek shook his head. “The Aqinas don’t forget.”

He and Fritz stepped into the water with the others. “Call on us when you need our help, and we will come.”

Chapter 16

Aimee stood at the door of her tent. Her friends sat around the transmogrifier with their evening meal. The men talked in low tones, and the women laughed together on the bench in front of the store chamber. Tension no longer hung over the camp, and the soldiers and warriors relaxed their watches. Word spread through the armies. The Avitras had made peace. Everyone would leave here in the morning for their own homes.

Aimee couldn’t join them, though, and she wasn’t hungry. She looked around, but nothing appealed to her. Her eyes wandered up to the mountain, and she slipped away unnoticed. She walked slowly through the woods knowing what she was looking for and what she would find, but the old compulsion no longer drove her. She found him waiting for her under the tree where they’d first talked. “I thought you’d come here.”

“I suppose you’ll be leaving in the morning with the Avitras,” she remarked.

He nodded. “There’s a lot of work to do. You’ll be going back to the Lycaon. What will you do, now that the warriors no longer have to patrol the border?”

She didn’t answer. She gazed at the sun through the trees. “I’ve never heard the woods so quiet. Even the animals seem quieter.”

“Everyone is more relaxed,” he replied. “They all know what you did here today. You’ve given them peace.”

Her eyes widened. “Me? I didn’t give them peace. If anyone did it, it was you.”

He shook his head. “You stepped between the Avitras and the Aqinas.”