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I felt a tug on my sleeve and turned to Aria. “I’m on it,” she said, a glossy look to her eyes. “Just… stay with him.”
We both gave my brother worried looks before she took off.
“Auren,” I started.
He shook his head, a hand coming up to rest over his eyes. I already knew he was crying, but instead of trying to address the reason, I gently turned him and led him a little ways away from everyone.
I stood at his back to block the view while he faced the trees and trembled. I had no idea what to do to help him other than protect his image from his people. His sobs were silent, but each shake of his shoulders was like a knife twisting in my chest.
Aria finally returned and started rattling off numbers and names, but I was finding it hard to think about anything except how much Auren was hurting.Again.
When would the universe cut him a fucking break? It wasn’t fair.
“We’re missing a lot of people,” she concluded, her voice quiet. “People we shouldn’t be missing. Like Jack, Zuzanna, Reese, Harry, Johnny, and Marilyn. The twins haven’t come back yet, either, and they’reallcapable.”
The news that Johnny wasn’t here andsafechoked me for a moment. I couldn’t lose anyone else—it would kill me. He better be out there, hebetterbe still alive…
Then again, maybe that was the entire point of this. They were hitting us where it hurt, and maybe even using Aria’s stories to check specific names off their lists.
Not that I would mention that to her. She’d already felt guilty enough with what Tarragon had done; if I told her my theory, she’d probably join Auren in a spiral.
A weirdly familiar sound of the air being split apart suddenly cut in from above us, and a tangled mess of limbs landed at our feet with a thump, momentarily distracting us all from our moping.
“For the love of—Ashe, get off me!” a familiar voice shouted.
Four things registered at once. One, there was a red-and-black portal closing above the newcomers that gave me harrowing flashbacks to how I’d been kidnapped. Two, I recognized them as Zuzanna and Jack. Three, Atlan and Kiran were nowhere to be seen. Four, there was a grizzly bear currently half-pinning Jack down, its paws and maw covered in blood.
Before I could run to help, the bear climbed off of him, backed up on its hind legs, and then—to everyone’s surprise—began to rapidly shrink.
It took barely even a second for its form to melt into a humanoid one, its brown fur turning into clothes, tanned skin, and a dark braid, and its muzzle transforming into a familiar face.
It was… Ashe?
Fully morphed, he quickly went over to the two still struggling on the ground to help them up, ignoring how Aria and I were gaping at the display. When he inadvertently turned to see Auren while helping Zuzanna up, his eyes widened briefly at how my brother was hunched in on himself, doing his best to keep his sobs down.
I saw his face soften, after which some complicated emotions crossed it. Eventually, he seemed to come to some kind of conclusion, then made his way over to Auren’s side.
His arms wrapped around Auren. My brother leaned into the embrace, clinging to the lanky man and burying his face in his shoulder despite his silent crying. Ashe mumbled something quietly; I couldn’t hear the exact words from here, but I could hear the tenderness in them.
It made my stomach clench to witness.
He’s a shapeshifter,Aria silently commented, wonder in her tone.That explains one thing, but… how is that possible?
Right. This meant my brotherhadn’tbeen going completely insane, then—all of the random people he’d been chasing around and accusing of being his mate, and all of those random animals he’d been talking to, had been one being the whole time.
But that portal hadn’t been made by Atlan or Kiran, nor could either of the witches have made it. No species I knew of could shapeshift like that, either, except for…
“Where’s Elias?” Jack cried out, pulling me out of my uncomfortable thoughts. He sounded almost strangled as he brushed off his clothes and searched our faces for any indication. Zuzanna began looking around as well, brows furrowed.
“There!” she exclaimed, pointing.
Jack zeroed in on where she’d indicated before jogging across the grass. Elias was currently crouched down and talking to some of the kids I’d seen earlier when Jack reached them, nearly toppling him over with the force of his hug. The kids laughed, and the witch beamed an almost uncharacteristically bright smile at them.
“We need to find somewhere safe,” Ashe spoke up. His head was turned to look at us; he was still rubbing Auren’s back as my brother worked through his grief. “We’re too exposed here.”
I shook my head. I needed to set my misgivings aside; now wasn’t the time to be suspicious of an ally. “The twins didn’t point us in a direction when they dropped us. They just said we were safe here.”
Zuzanna closed her eyes, arms extending, and then smiled a bit sadly. “I know where we are. One of our compounds is through this forest; it’s mostly abandoned, though, except for the skeleton crew we keep out here to make sure it stays secure in the event we need it.”
