Safety

~ TARKYN ~

"We need to get her outside in the fresh air," Rika said. "If she wakes up in here with you two oafs hanging over her, she's just going to panic again."

Tarkyn's grip on his mate tightened. His head spun, his heart hammering. What was happening? Why couldn't she breathe? Was it sheer fear?

But Gar had calmed and was keeping his distance, and Rika bustled around them, chastising them both for overreacting.

"—throwing her like that, Gar, really? No wonder the poor thing fainted."

"She would have taken your throat," the male rumbled.

"You wouldn't let her," Rika said simply.

"Hence the throwing?" Gar pointed out.

Tarkyn struggled to his feet, still holding Harth to his chest, horrified with himself for how weak he felt.

Her burden wasn't anything that he should have struggled with. But he almost didn't make it upright, and he had to stand a moment to make sure his knees wouldn't give out when he walked.

Rika whipped one of the soft blankets from the back of a couch, then ran ahead to open the cave door, Gar—still tense and protective—kept himself between Rika and Tarkyn. But he did glance back at Harth in Tarkyn's arms, worry shadowing his gaze.

When they got out of the tunnel to the meadow, the guards were out there and turned, surprised, when Tarkyn stumbled out of the cave with Harth unconscious in his arms.

But Rika urged them to move deeper into the meadow and spread the blanket out in the shadow of the mountainside, then stepped back so Tarkyn could lay her down.

She was already beginning to blink and flutter, but her eyes were unfocused.

Tarkyn knelt next to her, holding her hand and combing back her hair as she slowly came back to herself.

When she finally focused on him, he tried to smile. "Just breathe," he said quietly, still touching her face. "Just breathe."

"I… what happened. I thought—"

"You fainted because you weren't breathing," Rika said from behind him. "It's happened to me before too. Don't worry."

Harth's eyes flew wide and she sat bolt-upright, searching for the source of the voice, but Tarkyn put his hand to her elbow.

"Be easy," he murmured.

It took a few minutes for her head to clear enough, but soon Harth was back on her feet, though still pale.

Tarkyn held her arm and put himself between her and the others. At first Rika was insisting that he needed to give her space, but Harth shook her head. "It was… not you. The cave. Being closed in. That's… that's hard."

Tarkyn frowned. She panicked when she was enclosed by a cave? He'd seen soldiers struggle in similar ways after war, if they'd been attacked or imprisoned in a building. But… what had happened to her?

Harth's eyes never stopped scanning the others that stood behind him. But he did his best to make sure she heard him.

"Let us tell you the story. Rika is one of us."

Harth's breathing was still too fast and shallow, but at least she was breathing. "But… she's human."

Tarkyn nodded. "She is Gar's mate. He is Anima. Rika is… Anima at heart."

"But—they hold me captive because I smell of humans, yet she's—"

"My mate has proven her loyalty," Gar growled from behind Tarkyn. "And if you are truly Tarkyn's mate, you'll have an opportunity to do the same. But… if you shift again in threat against her, I will take your throat myself."

Tarkyn's heart sank. Gar had laughed when he'd said Harth was his mate. He would have been an ally for them. But there was no faster way to raise his rage than to speak or raise violence against his mate.

Tarkyn and the other soldiers had been witness to Rika's assistance in defeating the humans. But that wasn't true for most of the Anima. All they knew was that the deadly threat that stole so many lives had come from the human world. And Rika stank of humanity.

The soldiers and warriors trusted her because they'd been there to see her loyalty to the Anima to help them win. But there were still suspicious Anima. Gar was understandably defensive on her behalf.

"Harth," Tarkyn said quietly, waiting until she met his eyes. "I saw her battle humans with my own eyes. Believe me. I would not deceive you. She can be trusted."

Harth's brows pinched over her nose as she searched his gaze, obviously reading him for reassurance, and he loved that she did. He cupped her precious face in one hand, wishing he could speak in her head as she could speak in his. He'd tell her every way she could trust him—and Rika, and Gar. But then, behind him, Rika cleared her throat.

"I started as a part of the human Team," she said hesitantly to Harth, who tensed at the word. "But when I watched the Anima and met Gar… I knew… I knew they were good and my people… weren't." There was a pause and Tarkyn held Harth's gaze, pleading with her to believe. "I have human blood, but my heart is with Anima," Rika finished softly.

A soft purr vibrated in Gar's chest, a noise that made Tarkyn's chest constrict because he yearned to offer it to his mate—it was a sound of comfort, and pleasure.

"My mate is as Anima as I am," Gar rumbled a moment later, the edge of defensiveness still in his tone.

Harth blinked, then finally looked past Tarkyn. "Then why are you questioning me? I'm not even human, but your guards are saying I'm deceiving Tarkyn and… and calling me an invader. I'm not an invader! None of my people are! The Creator brought us here to find safety, but now we'll have to fight you instead?"

Tarkyn shook his head, but Gar answered her.

"You stink of humans—and not like us. You can shift, but you aren't Anima. When your people were discovered, one of yours almost killed three of ours. You'll forgive us, Harth, if there's some suspicion. Our portals are supposed to be closed. And yet, somehow, your people have shown up here anyway."

Tarkyn tensed as Harth's face went hard.