Eden’s panther stretched against Eden’s body, jarring her from a catnap. Eden laid her hand on the panther’s chest, felt for her heartbeat.

It was strong. Much stronger than it had been when they’d first awoken in the cave.

“She’s healing,” Piria said from her corner of the cave.

Eden nodded, wanting to say, no thanks to you. But she kept her lips zipped. She noticed the sound of the wind had died down. “Think perhaps we can take that walk outside the cave?”

Piria shrugged. “Is your panther well enough?”

“Why do you hate her?”

“Why does any elemental have a problem with a shifter animal,” Piria countered.

“That’s not an answer. And I’m not asking about any elemental. I’m asking about you. You, specifically.”

“Shifter animals compete with elementals for space and control.” She shrugged, as though it were that simple and not a big deal.

“Elementals kill shifter animals.” Eden fought to keep her voice from becoming shrill.

“I’m aware. But I never have.”

“Have you ever been in a host that you had to share space with a shifter animal?”

Piria’s smile was terse, as though she was tiring of the conversation. “No.” She rose to her feet. “Do you want to go out, or not?”

The feline rose to her feet, silent. There was no snarl, no rumbling, nothing.

Eden wondered if she were processing what Piria had said. Could she understand? She’d never stopped to think whether her panther would understand language when she wasn’t in her body.

Piria began to walk toward the cave’s exit. Then stopped, and bent down, reaching behind a large boulder. She took out a folded garment and set it on the boulder.

“A cloak.”

Eden frowned. She could have given her the cloak earlier, when she was cold but didn’t. Did Piria suddenly have a change of heart? Why did she yield to kindness?

It occurred to Eden how little she really understood her elemental, though they’d been in the same body for more than two decades.

Piria started toward the cave’s exit again.

The panther took two steps in that direction, then looked over her shoulder at Eden, as though waiting to see if she were going to join her.

Eden nodded, snatching the cloak along the way, unfurling it and tossing it around her shoulders.

The first thing that struck Eden as she exited the dim cave was the low light of the desert. She looked overhead. The sun was out in all its glory, and yet their surroundings were as though cast in shade.

The ground shimmered in areas where the snow had yet to melt, but the temperature around them, surprisingly, was nowhere near what needed to sustain snow.

Could Piria control the elements and temperatures and sunshine in her world? Is that how it worked? Eden would have thought the elemental simply existed in the world their own world, but now she was more apt to believe that she created the world.

Directly about them the land was barren, but in the near distance a dark forest came into view. Gnarled trunks and gloominess loomed foreboding and ominous.

And Piria was walking directly toward that sinister forest.

Eden picked up her pace, catching up to Piria. “Where are we going?”

Piria pointed toward the trees.

Just great, the last place I’d want to go.

“You seem to feel we don’t know each other very well. I thought I’d show you more of me.”

“And the only way to do that is by going in there?” Eden shuddered.

The panther released a low snarl.

And yet the three of them kept walking.

They were almost at the forest’s perimeter. Eden could see an opening between two trees. A path, but barely.

Eden released a breath, and hoped Piria wasn’t so damaged that she’d risk hurting all three of them in this quest of hers to getting Eden to understand her.

She kept her gaze on her feet to keep from looking in the shadowy forest. It was the panther that alerted Eden that something had changed. Out of her peripheral vision, Eden picked up the twitching of the panther’s tail. And then the feline stiffened, her muscles on her neck and back bunching, seeming poised to leap into action.

Suddenly, the panther’s muscles and posture relaxed.

Eden looked at the forest.

From the very path she’d been dreading entering, her sister Circe stepped out. Next to Circe’s side, her flank touching Circe’s thigh, was Circe’s panther. On the other side of Circe, was a tall, slim, dark-skinned woman attired in the robes of crimson and eyes of an obsidian hue, widely placed, and offset her high cheekbones. Eden knew immediately this was Albani. Circe had once described Albani, a high priestess in blood-colored robes.

A smile flew to Eden’s face, one she wouldn’t have been able to contain, pure joy that her sister was here. Circe was more than a sister to Eden. Circe was her hero. Not that Eden had ever told Circe so.

Nor will I.

Circe’s gaze was locked on Eden, assessing her wellbeing. She glanced at Eden’s panther, gave a slight nod, then turned her gaze to Piria, her face not giving the tiniest hint of horror at the awful scar on Piria’s face.

“Circe,” Piria said in greeting.

“You don’t seem surprised to see me.” Circe’s tone was measured and controlled.

“Your protective instinct is strong. I think that’s no secret,” Piria said, then pointed to Circe’s elemental. “Albani.”

Eden gasped. “You know each other? From before?”

Piria nodded.

Albani’s visage was calm. “You’ve been hiding from me, Piria. You didn’t want to talk.” Her eyes took in Piria’s face, her scar, then she raised an arm and waved it about, indicating the surroundings. “I see the world you’ve created reflects your life’s circumstances.”

Piria tilted her head, studying Albani. “Is that so uncommon?”

“No, child, it is not.”

Eden frowned in confusion. Child? Albani hardly seemed older than Piria.

Circe caught the frown, and explained. “Albani was her mentor. Before…”

Another woman stepped out from behind Circe. Pale, with the lightest eyes Eden had ever seen set in dusky skin. The woman was in a long flowing dress and emanated calmness.

Piria released a light chuckle. “So, you brought Ciara the Intuitive.” She nudged Eden as though they shared a secret. “I told you she had an Intuitive.”

Ciara nodded at Piria, then turned to Eden. “It’s nice to meet you, Eden, though it could be under better circumstances.”

“I don’t need an Intuitive.” Piria’s voice was peevish, as though a child proclaiming she didn’t need to go to school or learn.

Again, it was the panther that told Eden. The panther’s tail twitched. Her muscular body leaned forward.

From Circe’s other side, stepped Sean.

Eden felt like the planet had started to spin uncontrollably, and that there were only two people on that planet. Her and Sean. His intense gaze was locked on her face.

She felt his pulse beating, though how that was possible without being joined by her panther, she had no idea. She’d thought that was only possible between their shifter animals.

He nodded a greeting to her.

She nodded back, emotions overwhelming her. He’d come here for her.

A scream ripped through the air.

Eden turned to look at the source.

Piria’s eye had grown wide. Her face was a mask of sheer horror. She raised her arms, and tiny flames licked forward from her fingertips.

Eden turned to see what she was pointing at.

Behind Sean, a large grizzly lumbered.

Shit.

Eden hadn’t thought that through. Of course, Sean’s bear would be there. She froze. How was she to help Piria through this? What was she to do?

A flame, much like what would be sent from a flamethrower surged from Piria’s outfacing palm, directly toward the bear.

Eden floundered. She wanted to grab Piria and put a stop to this, but knew she could not. Only an elemental could counter and elemental’s show of force in this realm.

The dilemma was taken from Eden’s hands.

Albani raised her hands, and between them rose a wall of sheer electricity.

The flames were blocked, diffused, and rendered nonexistent when they hit the wall.

Albani stepped forward. She put her arms around Piria. “Stop, little one. Stop.”

Piria burst into tears and buried her face in Albani’s shoulder.

Sean lunged forward and put his arms around Eden. “I’ve been so worried. Are you okay?”

Eden nodded. Near her, her panther joined Sean’s bear, nuzzling the large ursine.

“Isn’t this a cozy little scene.”

Eden snapped her head in the direction of the new voice.

A woman, clad in black, dark-haired, skin so fair it was translucent, and eyes the color of midnight had approached them from behind.

Who was this woman?

Circe released her hold on Piria and put her behind her. She and Albani stepped forward.

“Who are you?” Circe asked.

“How did she get here?” Piria’s voice shook.

Eden was caught off-guard by Piria’s question. She’d thought Piria had brought her here. Or if not Piria, then Circe.

But clearly it was neither as both of them seemed to be surprised by her presence and didn’t recognize her.

“What do you want?” Piria asked, because that question alone was the one that plagued her most. Second to that was the question regarding how the woman managed to get there. How did she enter Piria’s realm?