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*****

AARYN

It was two, torturous days before Aaryn was brave enough to show his face with the Outsiders. On the third morning after Elreth had challenged her father he climbed towards the cave the Outsiders had adopted as an unofficial meeting place when he was still adolescent. He was going to have some explaining to do. But he was distracted. He knew Elreth was scheduled to meet with the Security Council that day and it was making him tense. He had no doubt the females would give her a chance. But the males? They'd been a headache even for Reth. How were they going to take a young female?

He reached the trail that cut out of the side of the mountain just below the cave and pulled himself up. No one was outside, but he knew they'd be in there—and probably pissed that he hadn't come the day before.

What was he going to tell them? He'd been too busy feeling sorry for himself?

Shrugging off the discomfort, he rolled his shoulders and braced himself. He hadn't done the wrong thing. They were just going to have to deal with it.

But as soon as he stepped inside the cave, they stood. His disformed brothers. More of a family than he'd ever had—except with Elreth and her Pride. But there were only the primary six there this morning. Because the others were angry and didn't want to see him? Or was everyone just busy?

He stood just inside the cave entrance and let them smell him—a tradition among them. Adult disformed could always be identified by their scent that most Anima simply described as "wrong" and the primary reason they didn't trust those who were disformed.

Aaryn had other theories, but it wasn't the time to figure out if he was right.

"Well met," he said quietly, measuring them.

They all stared at him for a moment, then Garthe, one of the Leonine pride, and his second among the disformed, stepped forward. "You have much to answer for," he growled.

That cut deep—they wouldn't even greet him first? But there was no point feeling sorry for himself. Garthe was right. Aaryn nodded. "I'll answer anything you want," he said, striding over to his seat at the head of the room. He was about to sit when Garthe growled again and he froze. Then turned very slowly with his chin low. "Really? You would take my seat when I haven't even answered the charges?"

The long-running joke was that Aaryn was the King of the Outsiders. In truth, while he was no king and would never raise a banner against the throne, the Outsiders were a society prepared and equipped to defend themselves in the event of attack from the tribes. They secretly followed a true pack hierarchy among themselves. A structure they would follow if they were ever banished or forced to flee. And Aaryn was Alpha.

Or at least, he had been.

The others gave ground as Garthe prowled closer to him and Aaryn stood to his full height, holding his brother's gaze, a warning in his eyes.

"I do not take your seat," Garthe snarled. "Yet. But you do need to answer the questions before I'll concede it to you. You betrayed us!"

"I did no such thing!"

"You were offered a role—a real role. Real power in the tribes. And you turned it down! Do you have any idea—"

"No one knows better than me what I was offered, and what I turned down," Aaryn snarled, closing the space between them. "Ask me why. Ask me."

"We know why," Kinn, one of the few Goat disformed that had joined their ranks spoke up from behind Garthe, his face and voice hard. "The question is whether you should have accepted it anyway."

Aaryn gaped at them. "You expect me to deny my true mate?"

"We don't even know if she is your true mate. This whole thing could be your imagination," Garthe growled. "There's been no sign—and now she's sniffing around that other Leonine.

"He's sniffing around her," Aaryn growled.

"She's welcoming the attention!"

She wasn't welcoming it, exactly, though he knew it looked that way to those who didn't know her intimately. And apparently she was considering welcoming Dargyn anyway, so should he even argue the point?

He glared at each of the males in the cave, but returned his attention to Garthe when the male shifted on his feet.

"Speak it," Aaryn snapped. "Whatever you would accuse, speak it now before the witnesses, or hold your tongue. We will end this today."

*****

ELRETH

Their various pieces of advice on how to manage these men swam in her head. But the truth was, it was unprecedented for a female dominant to be a part of the security council. And neither the males, nor Elreth, really knew what to do.

After the greetings, she and Lhern kind of stared at each other for a moment. He looked more confused than upset.

"I understand this is strange, and we're all going to have to get used to it," Elreth began. "But I know my father trusted your judgment, and encouraged me to trust it also. Please, just… tell me what threats we face, or what concerns you have and we will discuss it until we have found a solution."

Lhern smiled. It held a touch too much of the parent looking down on the child for Elreth's taste, but she let it go to see how this would play out.

"There are no current threats we don't already have a strategy in place to meet. It's spring, our most peaceful time of year. We're feeing very comfortable with... everything."

Elreth tipped her head. "Then, perhaps you could outline for me what strategies we're currently employing, and against which possible threats? Then I might discover if I, too, feel comfortable?" she said sweetly, through her teeth.

The males all turned to stare at Lhern.