READER SHOUT OUT! This chapter is dedicated to TWO of the readers from my July Privilege discord group:

Firstly, thank you Trindisco for suggesting the name "Hannah" which is perfect for our new friend (and even more perfect that it's your real name!) I hope you enjoy her adventures!

Secondly, thanks to PbMamaRae/Raichyl for suggesting the name "Marrok" which means a Knight thought to be a werewolf. Thanks for the suggestion, Raichyl! I hope you like our new friend!

*****

AARYN

It took Aaryn a long time to fall asleep.

Her pain broke his heart for her—on top of his own. It seemed like all they were doing was hurting themselves and each other, yet neither of them knew how to make it stop.

He'd only barely been asleep when she stirred in the furs, and he'd hoped she was going to roll over and curl into him. But instead she'd gotten up and gone outside.

He understood the need to be alone, so he hadn't followed. But after she'd gotten out there her breath caught in that pathetic whimper that meant she was crying.

Elreth didn't cry a lot, though he seemed the one most able to make her crack. But the sound of her tears had always been a spear to his heart, whether he caused them, or not. He'd tried to stay away, but hearing her out there, trying to stifle her own pain…

He'd lifted his hand to claw it through his hair, and the cuff on his wrist caught on the edge of the pillow. Then he remembered the words like they burned on his skin.

Love. Trust. Submit. Forever.

That was his vow. Yet he knew... he knew his mate thought he had abandoned her already.

He'd cursed himself and gotten up quickly to go to her.

He was still terrified, and still angry. But he knew at that moment that they both needed comfort and some kind of reassurance. When he found her outside, weeping up at the moon, her lips moving silently, he'd almost wept himself. He'd hugged her as much to soothe his own pain, as to soothe hers. But it was such a relief when she turned and stared into his eyes and they were able to embrace.

She wanted to talk--tried to. But he knew they would only damage each other just then. So he begged her to wait until the next day. And she gave in.

They settled into the furs together and she rolled over, her back to him. But she drew his arm over her waist and entwined their fingers.

Not too long later, she went to sleep.

He wished he could. Despite being exhausted, he felt wide awake, and instead spent an hour turning the events over in his mind, wondering how they's gotten this far without realizing they saw this so differently. Wondering how he would ever make this right if he couldn't give her what she wanted. Wondering how she'd ever make it right for him.

He suspected dawn wasn't far away when he finally began to drift, his last thought for the disformed, a question about what they would do if he were to decide that peace with her was more important than remaining as the Alpha of the disformed pack…

*****

ELRETH

She dreamed that the guards had come looking for her, that she'd been pursued to the clearing because there was an emergency—the most dire of emergencies, to threaten the whole of Anima, but no one would tell her what it was.

In her dream she lay in the cave, hearing the Guards approach, needing her, needing to protect her, but also not knowing why, and she didn't call for them. Didn't tell them where she was, even when they spoke to each other about looking for the cave.

She stayed curled up, hidden, terrified and she didn't know why.

Then suddenly she was aware—the furs at her chin, the weight of Aaryn's arm on her waist, his chest pressing into hers whenever he breathed, and voices. Outside the cave. In the clearing.

Elreth sat bolt-upright, startling Aaryn out of sleep.

"Mmm, what? What is it?" he mumbled. "Too early—"

"Aaryn, someone's here!" she hissed.

He came awake fully then and leaped up, crouching on the platform, putting himself between her and the door. If he'd been in beast form, his ears would have been perked so hard they twitched.

"…so beautiful here!"

"We can only stay a day, but yeah, it's a nice spot. Did you bring something to swim in? It should get warm enough—"

The door to the cave swung open letting the morning light sweep so the half of the cave closest to the door seemed to glow.

Aaryn snarled as two figures appeared in silhouette—and both froze when the chilling roll of his growl echoed through the cave.

Elreth's heart pounded and she clutched the furs to her chest, her mind spinning as she braced herself to fight naked.

But then the figure closest to them—taller, broader, and with a hand still on the handle of the door—sucked in a breath.

"Aaryn?"

Aaryn went very still, the growl still rumbling in his chest, but not raising to a snarl.

Then his nostrils flared and he blinked. "Marryk?"

"What are you doing here?" the male said, his voice heavy with relief.

But Aaryn wasn't relieved. At all. His mate was behind him, her heart racing, vulnerable and afraid because she was naked, and this male decided to invite himself in?

Growling, Aaryn leaped off the platform and flowed over to meet the male near the door where he'd started to enter, but froze quickly when he saw Aaryn—naked—prowling towards him. "Get out of this cave!" he snarled.

Marryk submitted immediately, rolling his shoulders forward and dropping his chin, eyes to the ground. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I didn't realize your mate was—"

"Get out!" Aaryn was about to make a threat when there was a sharp intake of breath and a female behind Marryk squeaked.

Aaryn's senses exploded, his head spinning with confusion, alarms, and the instinct to snap, to tear apart the threat. He surged forward and Marryk suddenly snapped out of submission and jumped into his path, snarling and screaming at him to stop.

"YOU CAN'T! SHE'S MY MATE! STOP!"

Aaryn shuddered to a halt, his hands already on Marryk, his breath heaving, nostrils flaring. It couldn't be… it couldn't—"

"Come out, he won't hurt you now," a soft voice said from behind him.

Aaryn couldn't turn away from Marryk's dead-on gaze, though the male's gaze held as much pleading as it did challenge. "El, stay back!" he commanded without thinking.

But Elreth snorted, though her voice was shaking. "Calm down, Aaryn. She's not going to hurt me. She couldn't."

"Don't underestimate a female, El—"

"No, Aaryn, smell her. She's… she's human."

Everything snapped into place then—the reason the female smelled entirely familiar, and all at once, completely alien. Why she was so small and frail looking. The reason she was cowering, trying to hide herself behind the doorway of the cave.

Why she smelled like she might wet herself.

The poor female had curled almost in half and stood just behind the doorway, her entire body shaking so her blonde hair quivered in the early morning light. Her eyes were wide—so wide they seemed to engulf her face—and she looked back and forth between Aaryn and his Mate who was approaching from behind him.

"Don't mind him, you're safe," Elreth said, though there was a hesitance in her tone, a shaking fear he couldn't place. She was right, this female would never be a threat. So why did Elreth smell like her entire world had just shifted on its axis and she was trying to hide it? "The males always bite first and ask questions later," Elreth said dryly. "But he's back in his right mind now, so don't worry. You won't be hurt. What's your name?"

"H-Hannah?" the female responded, slowly straightening and peering at both of them. "W-we didn't know y-you'd be here."

Elreth nodded. She'd put on his shirt, Aaryn realized, the one he'd thrown on the end of the platform during the night when he hadn't wanted to wake her. It fell almost to her knees and was baggy, but somehow, having her covered so completely, except for her legs, just made Aaryn salivate.

"Don't be scared, Hannah, we won't hurt you. I promise."

"El," he said, his voice low and gruff. "Don't get too close."

She tsked and shot a look at him over her shoulder as she approached the human slowly, offering a hand in the tradition of the humans that had always made Aaryn shake his head. Why hold hands rather than just smelling each other?

The female took Elreth's hand—her own trembling like a leaf in the wind—then nodded. "Thank you. I'm s-sorry we interrupted you."

Elreth shrugged, but cast another significant look at Aaryn. "Is this your first time in Anima?" she asked the female kindly.

Then it hit Aaryn, like boulder falling from a cliff. He still had a grip on Marryk's shirt and he yanked the startled male close, snarling through his teeth. "You brought a human… into Anima?!"

***** END OF VOLUME 1 *****

Thank you SO MUCH for your support of Elreth, Aaryn, and the whole Anima Crew! At the time of writing, QUEEN is currently in the Top 5 romance books for the Webnovel Spirity Awards 2021, and that's ALL because of you! September 2021 is the final trial before the finalists are chosen. Please continue your support (including Golden Tickets--show Webnovel that you want to see MORE of Elreth & Aaryn!) And thank you, thank you, thank you for all your support and encouragement of me as the Author. I am truly humbled!

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