Page 112 of Vengeance of the Gods

Everyone stared at her, no longer concerned with anything else they’d been doing or talking about prior.

Leo held up an index finger. “And before you say you’re not the only person with a fox as a companion, I’m over 100 years old and I’ve never seen a fox like yours.”

Tilie stood out with her deep red and midnight black coat. She wasn’t the standard red fox people were accustomed to seeing.

Octavia groaned. “Ugh, okay, fine.” She sat up from her relaxed position and criss-crossed her legs. “The shifters obviously haven’t been able to leave, but I, on the other hand, can. You get bored, growing up in a place without many other kids.”

Vega could feel the tightness in Khort’s chest. She wanted to crawl over to him and give him a big hug—but what once felt normal didn’t anymore.

Boundaries. How had it taken her so long to realize what she’d been doing to Khort?

Gods, too many emotions right now.

Arlet grabbed his hand instead, scooting closer to him. She winked at Vega, who smiled at her knowingly.

“I did what any kid looking to escape would do. I snuck out and then eventually bugged my father until he caved and let me go with him on his trips to Solum. It became routine for me to be his sidekick. My dad was a rebel. From day one.” She smiled to herself, a glassiness coating her eyes.

Vega knew that look… Her dad was dead.

“When he got killed, I kept contact with his people in Solum. Sometimes it’s the only way my family and our group have any food. The winters in Demuto are rough, as you all know, and food is scarce when shifters are stuck in their forms and ravaging anything they can get their paws on.” Octavia didn’t have trouble looking people in the eyes when she talked. The confidence she had in herself and the words she spoke could be a dangerous combination. “I find myself in many situations where I want to jump in and join the fight, but I can’t. I have a family and people I care about to keep alive. I do what I can.”

The sun began to rise, slowly brightening the sky. “When I’m on trips, I come across fights where rebels are outnumbered and they’ll surely die if someone doesn’t step in. I attack from the shadows where Tilie and I like to stay. If I don’t get too close, don't let myself be seen, even by those I save, then I can keep doing it.” Octavia bit her lip. “I guess I haven’t been as discreet as I thought.” She puffed out a faint laugh, but her face fell in the blink of an eye, and she whipped her head to the tree line.

Her connection to Tilie…

Octavia jumped to her feet at the sound of ruffling leaves, abandoning her bow when a man with no clothes wandered out. Everyone stared, not because the man was naked, but because he trembled with wide eyes, looking lost—like he was seeing the world for the first time.

She stripped out of her cloak and wrapped it around his shoulders at the same moment he stepped out of Demuto and into Pax. He crumpled to the ground and cried out, tears smearing the dirt on his cheeks.

“Poe,” Arlet said, voice fading into a wisp. “He was one of Marlena’s guards in Amora.”

Before.

Everyone stood, making sure not to crowd. Poe must have been back in his human form for the first time in what surely felt like an eternity for him.

Octavia wiped away his tears. “I almost forgot what you looked like under all that fur.” She smiled so wide, tears welled in her eyes.

Khort pulled a pack off the back of a horse and rummaged through to find a blanket Poe could wrap around his waist. “Let’s get you warm.”

Poe nodded a thanks, his hands shaking too much to take the blanket from Khort’s extended hand.

Octavia slipped it around his waist, tucking the corner in tight before she helped him to a seated position by the fire.

Distracted by Poe, no one noticed the second figure step out of Demuto’s confines. The movement of her long coat caught Vega’s attention, eyes landing on a young woman with dark curly hair and eyes the same color as Octavia’s… the same color as Khort’s. The same as…

No.

Dots connected.

Tilie trotted beside the girl, looking comfortable in her presence.

Octavia followed Vega’s gaze before anyone else noticed her staring. “Oh gods, Nora.” Vega could feel her relief as she ran to her sister and wrapped her arms around her. “You’re okay,” she stated instead of asking.

Vega glanced at her friends, who both wore the same uneasy expression.

“She came in the middle of the night. Got Mom out of bed and said it was time,” Nora said, looking up with her big green eyes the few inches Octavia had on her.

“Did she see you? Gods, tell me she didn’t see you.” Octavia shared the same wide-eyed look as Poe.