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Jayah, the healer, stood at the back of the prison tree, her stomach cold.

She’d stood by while the Alphas debated and challenged.

She’d helped this little child who was ignorant of every stress and drama that surrounded his appearance.

She’d tried to soothe the Queen, Elreth, who she’d known since the day she was born. But her Queen was strangely defensive.

Jayah had watched and listened, understood exactly what was happening, and seen where it would take them all if someone didn’t do something.

While the others argued and fought to win each other’s minds, she’d observed their hearts-the matebond between Tarkyn and Harth was unique. But undeniable.

And that was when she was certain. There could be no mistakes. The Creator had brought these two peoples together for reasons only He knew-but she trusted that. And yet, she’d spent almost her entire adult life around the Royals and Alphas of power in the Anima. She knew that while their hearts were driven to protect and guide, they often lost sight of themselves, of their humanity in the process.

In over twenty-five years as a healer, Jayah had observed one truth that crossed tribes, and species: Power stripped the individual of perspective. About themselves, and about their people.

.....

And the defense of power stripped many of their compassion.

Jayah suspected she knew what drove her Queen-and she prayed daily that those around her would help her see the right of it. But that morning’s events had turned deadly.

If something didn’t change soon, these people were going to clash and everyone-the Alphas included, and their offspring-would pay the price.

Jayah had been considering it for days, but that morning, when the Queen was almost killed, she knew the time had come. Leaving Tarkyn in the cell with that rabid wolf had raised every hair on her body-did he not know what happened to a wolf in fear? Was there a more dangerous animal alive?

Jayah wasn’t sure. All she knew with certainty was that if things continued as they were, many would die.

She was a healer. Of persons. Of peoples. And she knew, having come out of the rebellion of the wolves, that when animals were cornered, they often could not see sense.

Someone needed to cross this bridge, to reach out to these unknowns, to broker peace.

Someone who had no responsibility if the attempt failed. And who held no animosity towards them. Someone who wished to heal the wounds of their people.

Someone like Jayah. Because the more she listened and watched, the more Jayah understood-these Chimera reacted from pain and fear. And so did Jayah’s Queen.

This conflict needed someone unafraid of death. And as an Anima who’d never found a true mate, and never sought to take a male to forge a bond, or build a family, if something happened to her, the loss was minimal.

At least if she was killed, she was the only one affected.

So, certain now of her purpose, Jayah quietly assisted the Chimeran Alpha female in getting her son fed by the wet nurse. She pretended to ignore the drama unfolding in the prison between the Chimeran Alpha male and Tarkyn.

But as she worked, she planned.

And, when finally Tarkyn and his mate left under the watch of Gar, and the female and her son were returned to the wolf, and the guards and servants went their separate ways to their various tasks, Jayah turned calmly away from the prison tree to the trail and without a word to anyone, she followed it north.

Jayah was a healer. It was her Creator-given role to help. And as her leaders and their servants watched all of this unfold from the perspective of war, Jayah saw it differently.

These people were dangerous, certainly. But not because of a desire for power. They were dangerous because they were in pain. And an animal in pain would always fight until they understood that the hands reaching for them came to heal.

Jayah was a healer, so she would reach out.

As soon as she was out of sight and sound of the prison tree clearing, she darted into the forest and shifted to her wolf.

And then she began to run.

*****

Two hours later, Jayah wolf crept through the forest, eyes and ears peeled for sight or sound of the Anima patrols.

Being near the royals and Tarkyn when the Chimera were discussed, she knew the paths the patrols were taking, and the rough route to the Chimeran territory. Her beast understood the need to avoid the guards. But at this point in the land, foothills and crags from the mountains encroached on the WildWood. Without adding hours to travel, the only way to reach the area the Chimera had settled was through a wide ravine. But the guards were keeping a heavy presence in the area in case the Chimera decided to move towards the Tree City.

So, Jayah battled with her wolf, whose instinct was to rush. They crouched behind bushes, crawled up tributaries, and waited for winds to change as she approached the ravine to stay out of the sight and scent of the guards. Now they waited at its narrowest point. A patrol would pass through here soon. She would wait for them before continuing.

But as she lay behind a thick log that had once been a majestic tree, but was now a mossy border on the trail, her wolf’s coat blending perfectly with the forest, her beast tensed.

The wind was changing.

This ravine curved. If she stayed where she was and the patrol was heading east, she would be scented.

Swallowing a growl of frustration, she turned and darted towards the steep walls that rose, clifflike through the forest, curving overhead.

Her wolf remembered the ravine. There was a natural den on this side. A dark cave. They could rest there while they waited for the wind to change once more, then try again.

The place had overgrown more since she was last there, but her beast knew the fall of the land and trotted almost directly to the spot in the ferns and underbrush that now hid the cluster of rocks, fallen from the ravine walls, that marked the entrance to the cave.

Jayah, separated somewhat from reality by her wolf, still felt a sense of relief as her beast pushed through the brush and vines to enter the dim confines of the cave-but then drew to a startled, breathless halt. She’d been right that being in the cave would stop the scent from drifting...

But the cave wasn’t empty.

A large, silver-gray male wolf crouched near the back, its lips peeled back from its teeth and a growl so low it seemed to come from the rock under its feet rolled in its chest.

Jayah’s beast froze. She had a split second to decide whether to wrestle back control and face this thing as a human-which it might find less intimidating, when suddenly the males ears flickered forward, then back and he began to lick his lips.

Jayah shifted, returning to human form, crouched on the floor, one hand raised in a gesture to soothe.

The wolf’s eyes locked on hers and something in Jayah’s chest unfurled, stealing her already shallow breath.

Then the male whined and tossed his head.

Jayah fell backwards on her ass in shock, blinking wide-eyed, as a deep, male voice echoed in her head, resonant and awed.

‘Mate...?’