Chapter Seventeen

In the Green, Near Clanhome

“What does Amanda have to do with this?” she persisted, switching her gaze between Aidan and Fionn. As one, they turned to stare at her with more than a little suspicion. Seeing the distrust in Fionn’s gaze didn’t surprise her, but from Aidan… Her heart cracked just a little bit. He shouldn’t have had the ability to hurt her like that. He didn’t have that ability. She wouldn’t allow it.

Fionn gave Aidan a glance filled with meaning she didn’t understand and wasn’t meant to. And then he walked over to where Cristobal was recovering from a fast shift back to human.

She looked after him, not really wanting to hang around Aidan. “Whatever,” she said dismissively. “I need to check on Cristobal’s—”

“He’s fine,” Aidan interrupted. “With every shift, his body will heal a little more. He’ll be tired after each one, because his injuries were severe. But with enough food and some rest, he’ll be back to nearly full strength by morning. Sooner, if the situation demands it. He’s a strong shifter.”

“All right. So, I guess we’re making camp here. I’ll find a—”

“Rachel.”

“—spot where I can set up. I know you all prefer privacy, so—”

“Rachel,” he repeated, taking her arms and turning her to face him. “There’s no rush to set up camp. We’ll wait until Cristobal recovers enough, and then it’s up to him.”

“What’s up to him?”

Aidan shrugged. “Some of us will probably race ahead to the city to warn the others. If Wolfrum is still at large, there’s no telling what he’ll do.”

“But you think there’s some danger to Amanda. From me. Why?”

His gaze went carefully blank, as it had before, but this time, it was just the two of them, and her reaction was more anger than hurt.

“For fuck’s sake, Aidan. I’ve read the First Contact reports. Hell, Amanda wrote some of them. It’s no secret she stayed behind, or that she resigned her commission after only a few months to remain here.”

He stared back at her with no expression, and she could practically see the shutters sliding over his eyes, concealing his thoughts, his emotions…and whatever truth he and Fionn held between them.

Her heart squeezed a little harder. “Fine. As long as we’re waiting on Cristobal, I’m going to take a break. You all might not need it, but I sure do.” She turned away without waiting for his response. Whatever it was probably wouldn’t be the truth anyway, so what did it matter?

“Rachel.”

She stopped walking and turned her head just enough that he’d know she was listening.

“Don’t go far. It’s not safe for you.”

She smiled a little. She already knew Harp wasn’t safe for her. She’d known that going in. What she hadn’t known was that the greatest danger would be to her heart.

…

Aidan tracked Rachel as she disappeared into the thick brush, even tuning in to the murmur of the trees as they responded to her presence. It wasn’t the same as the way they were with Amanda. Rachel couldn’t hear their song. But the trees didn’t react to Rachel as they did to most Earthers, either, like the fleet techs who staffed the science center in the city, for example. Or Guy Wolfrum.

“You and Rhodry marching in step again?” Fionn asked, his voice low and not meant to carry.

Aidan turned. “I don’t know what you mean.” That wasn’t true. He knew exactly what Fionn meant.

Fionn snorted dismissively. “First, Rhodry and Amanda, and now you and Rachel. You’ve both fallen for Earthers. Mind you,” he hurried to add before Aidan could protest, “I’m half in love with Amanda myself, or at least I was, before she started making little shifters. Now, I’m fully in love with her,” he added, laughing. “She’s a remarkable woman, just like that one.” He nodded in the direction Rachel had disappeared. They couldn’t see her any longer, but Fionn probably knew just as well as Aidan how far she’d gone and what was happening around her. “I wonder if they breed them that way on Earth. Do you think it’s the fleet training? Or something in the water?”

Aidan followed Fionn’s gaze. “It’s neither one. Amanda was never on Earth, and Rachel was never fleet. It’s just…them.”

“See, that’s what I thought. You’re as far gone as your cousin.”

Aidan spun to face him, deliberately turning his back on Rachel’s path. “Was there something you wanted, Fionn? Something other than fucking with me, I mean.”

Fionn chuckled. “Totally gone, my friend,” he repeated, but sobered quickly enough. “Rhodry needs to be warned that Wolfrum’s still at large.”

Aidan scanned the shifters moving around their makeshift encampment. Cristobal’s personal guard were there, all of them fully healed and functional. But they were outnumbered by clan shifters. “I’ll send word.”

Fionn tilted his head curiously. “You’re not going yourself?” The question was serious enough, but there was a light in his eyes that told Aidan the real reason for the question.

“No, you ass, I’m not going myself. But I’m sending cousins who are sworn to Rhodry by both blood and oath, and who’ll get the warning there or die trying. And in the meantime, I’m going to make sure that Rachel reaches the city alive, so she can confront Wolfrum and we can get the truth out of him. I want everyone to know him for the belly-crawling zillah he really is.”

“Wolfrum has a Harp wife. She may want to speak for him.”

“And I’m the one who was captured and caged like a fucking animal by his personal militia,” he growled viciously. “I’ll have something to say, too.”

Fionn blinked in surprise. No one except Aidan’s fellow clansmen—the ones who’d taken down the first ship and who’d been at Clanhome when he’d arrived—had known about his capture.

“Fair enough,” Fionn said. “Dispatch your cousins to Rhodry. I’ll tell my father.”

“Fionn,” Aidan said, when the other shifter would have turned away. “You know who got me out of that cage?”

Fionn shook his head. “I’m assuming it was Rhodry and—”

“It was Rachel. She risked her life, walked away from everything she knew, to save the life of a cat. She didn’t even know shifters existed.”

Fionn’s eyes lit with understanding. “With your permission,” he said, tipping his head to emphasize the request, “I’ll make sure the Ardrigh knows the full story.”

“Of course. And I’ll go find Rachel before something eats her.”

…

Rachel sat back against the trunk of a big tree—possibly the biggest she’d seen in her many travels—and watched Aidan wind through the trees toward her. She scowled, knowing that if he’d wanted to he could have shifted into his cat form and crawled down the tree right on top of her head. She was incredibly jealous of that. How great would it be to be able to shift into something as beautiful and deadly as a giant hunting cat? Or anything else, for that matter. Maybe not that rat-like creature that they called a rabbit here on Harp. It wouldn’t be good at all to turn into something that people ate for dinner, and Santino had cooked a few of those the night they’d fought off the banshee pack. No, it would have to be something big. A predator for sure.

“Are you just going to ignore me?”

His voice interrupted her musings on the best shifter animal to be. She glanced up, moving only her eyes. He was standing right in front of her. “Is there a problem with Cristobal?” she asked, mostly to piss him off. But he’d pissed her off first. Or rather, he’d bruised her heart, but she’d never admit that. “Or does one of the others need something?” she asked, adding some frosting on the cake of his anger. His eyes narrowed predictably.

“Come back to camp, Rachel. It’s not safe for you to be alone out here.”

“You all keep telling me that. And yet here I am, still alive and well. What’s the plan? Are we staying here for the night or moving on?” She could see his jaw clenching. It was almost entertaining.

“We’re staying. We’ll get an early start in the morning.”

Rachel stood, ignoring the hand he held out to help her. She didn’t need Aidan Devlin’s help to stand up, for fuck’s sake. “Good,” she said briskly. “I’m going to wash up. If there’s anything I can do to help set up camp, I’m willing to work. Just let me know.” She turned her back on him and started for the river she’d been hearing for the last couple of hours. They’d been following its path, but the banks were so dense with growth that she hadn’t yet seen the water.

“Goddamn it, Rachel.”

She raised her eyebrows at Aidan’s outburst but kept walking. He’d made his position clear. He didn’t trust her with whatever big secret everyone else knew. Something to do with Amanda. Was she dead? Was that it? Had she contracted some awful Harp disease that her Earth-born immune system couldn’t fight? Whatever it was, Aidan didn’t trust her with it. So what the hell did he expect from her? Did he think she was going to continue fucking a man who so patently distrusted her? And maybe she would have if he’d been someone else. If they’d been somewhere else. But they weren’t. She’d earned his trust. She’d saved his life. She’d betrayed her fellow Earthers to help him, and it didn’t matter that they’d been scum-sucking lowlifes. She’d left behind everything she knew to help Harp—human, animal, and everything in between—and he didn’t trust her? Well, fuck him. And not in the literal sense, either.

He grabbed her from behind, spinning her around and trapping her against his chest when she tried to fight back. She hadn’t even heard him coming.

“Let go of me.”

“Not until you listen.”

“Let go of me, Aidan,” she said again, wishing she’d had the foresight to load a syringe with something nasty, something she could shove into his thigh. The same thigh that was sliding its way between her legs.

Oh hell no.

“Listen to me,” he insisted. Like she had a choice. “Shifters have good reasons not to trust people.”

“Bullshit,” she snapped. “You guys run the fucking planet. You think I haven’t figured that out?”

“You have us all figured out, then? Based on what? A few days in the Green? We were all born on Harp, shifters and norms both. We’ve lived and died here for more than five hundred years. Raised families, fought to keep them safe.”

That caught Rachel’s attention. “What aren’t you telling me? What are you afraid of?” She leaned back to see his face and saw his expression shut down yet again. What little warmth had been left in her heart cooled to ice. “Nice chat,” she snarled. “But you know what? Never mind.” She flexed her arms and pushed against his iron-hard chest. Or she tried to. “Let go of me.”

“Listen to me,” he demanded. “You think that just because you saved my life, saved Cristobal’s life, that you have the right to know everything there is about us? You think you deserve our blind trust?”

“No,” she said softly, meeting his beautiful eyes. “Not because I saved anyone’s life. But because I survived that damn swamp with you, because we fought side by side to get this far, because we… I don’t think I deserve blind trust. But I know I deserve more than a fucking cold shoulder. Let…go of me.”

His arms tightened briefly. Long enough that she began listing the options in her head of what weapons she had handy and how to get to them. But then his arms opened, and she almost stumbled as he turned and walked away from her.

Rachel focused on breathing as she filled her canteen with icy river water, then settled for a quick wash of her face and neck, her arms and hands. It was far too cold for anything else. Running wet fingers through her hair, she re-braided it tightly, then headed back to where the others were setting up for the night. As she walked, she repeated a mantra in her head. Breathe in, breathe out. And whatever you do, don’t let him see the hurt on your face, the pain in your heart. Don’t give him the satisfaction.

By the time she reached the main camp, she was back in control. She had more important things to worry about than Aidan. Wolfrum was still out there, and everyone seemed to agree that he’d returned to the city. She wasn’t sure he’d ever left. It was possible he’d sent his goon squads out to do the dirty work and was still waiting for them to report back with their captives, so they could all rendezvous and leave Harp together. That would explain how he’d known about the first ship, despite Harp’s comm issues. Population-wise, Harp was a small place, and as with all such communities, gossip was probably a competitive sport. No matter how hard Aidan and the others had worked to keep a lid on the arrival of the invaders, it would have gotten out. These things always did.

But now, she considered the logistical problem Wolfrum would have faced in getting not just himself, but his two crews and their captives off-planet. She and the rest of the crew from her ship had piggybacked on a big transport for most of the journey here. Which meant that Wolfrum must have made some similar accommodation for their departure with the captured shifters. In fact, it would have been even more crucial to his plan at that point, because he’d be sneaking unwilling captives off-planet. She scrolled back through her memories of the commercial vessel that had brought them here, but there was nothing. No hint of to whom it had belonged, no logos, no stray cargo stencils. Whoever it was had been very careful to keep her and the rest of her crew locked up on their own little shuttle.

For now, it seemed she’d have to settle for stopping Wolfrum, and maybe getting him to spill his guts. But despite whatever he told them, she’d investigate the rest of it herself once she returned home. He’d lied to her from the very beginning. She wasn’t inclined to believe anything he said at this point. But once back on Earth, she’d have the full resources of a major university at her disposal. It would be much easier to discover Wolfrum’s industrial backer, then. And her brother would help her, too. He was a genius at uncovering all sorts of records that people tried to hide.

It suddenly hit her that she’d be going home after this. In the past, after an arduous trek through some dangerous environment, those words had always made her heart feel lighter. She was sure the feelings would come this time, too, once her task was complete and Wolfrum had been stopped. She’d feel better about all of this then. She was sure of it.

She happened to glance up and see Aidan on the other side of the fire, conferring with Fionn and Cristobal, who was looking remarkably well, albeit not yet at full strength. All three men looked over at her at the same time, and she stared back at them, refusing to be cowed by their alpha stares. Cristobal smiled and said something to Aidan that made him scowl, even as Fionn shot her an amused grin. It was possibly the first time he’d ever looked at her with anything other than a snarl on his face.

Whatever. She was so done with these guys.

…

“God knows I’m no expert on women,” Cristobal said cheerfully, “but I think she’s pissed at you, Aidan.”

Great, Aidan thought. Now the whole damn family were sticking their noses into his love life. He caught Fionn grinning over at Rachel as if they were sharing the greatest jest of all time. Asshole. He’d almost taken her head off when she’d tried to help his father, and now suddenly they were best friends.

“Yes, sir,” Aidan said, tired of being the source of Fionn’s amusement and pissed that Rachel had put him in this position. She wouldn’t even try to understand. Not that he’d done much explaining. He believed in his heart that she could be trusted with the truth about Amanda’s pregnancy. But it wasn’t his decision. Was it? If Rachel was his, wasn’t it his choice whether to trust her or not? And if he didn’t take that step, wouldn’t he lose her?

“There’s no reason for everyone to take the slow route back to the city,” he told Cristobal. “You and your guard can take the tree road, travel at your own pace. I’ve already tasked several clansmen to race ahead and warn Rhodry that Wolfrum’s still at large. The others will return with word for Clanhome, and I’ll bring Rachel to the city. She travels fast for a norm, so we won’t be more than a day or two behind you.”

Privately he was thinking he could use the time to bring Rachel around, to make her understand… He glanced over and saw Santino being a little too helpful. What the hell?

…

“You should set your bedroll over here.”

Rachel looked where Santino was pointing and saw that the area that had been cleared of the worst bits of loose forest debris, the kind that could torment even the most exhausted traveler’s sleep and leave them with some nasty bruises.

“Take the spot nearest the fire. You’ll need it more than the rest of us will,” he said.

She saw him wince, as if wishing he could take the words back. After all, if she’d still been Aidan’s lover, she’d have been bedding down with him. Warmth wouldn’t have been an issue. “My cousins and I will be leaving during the night,” he hurried to add. “A couple hours’ rest and we can travel straight through to the city.”

“That’s where I’m heading, too,” she said casually, taking his advice and spreading her bedroll close enough to the fire for warmth.

Santino grimaced. “I’d let you come with us, but we’ll be moving nonstop and full speed. I don’t think—”

“No, that’s okay,” she assured him. “I know you’re all worried about Amanda.”

He snorted. “Rhodry’s crazed enough about her safety. The last thing he needs is that fucker Wolfrum stirring up more trouble.”

A sudden unwelcome thought made Rachel’s breath catch in her throat, but she strove to keep her response casual, her movements easy. “I hear that.”

Santino suddenly glanced over her shoulder and grinned. “Looks like someone wants a word,” he said and strode off to join a pair of shifters who welcomed him with low words and jabs at his shoulders that would have felled an ordinary man. Rachel’s gaze slid sideways and wasn’t surprised to see Aidan strolling around the fire.

She watched him, unable to do anything but admire the easy play of muscle and grace as he moved, avoiding every obstacle in his path as if it wasn’t there. If they’d been on a space station, or somewhere with an artificial gravity, she’d have suspected he’d been artificially enhanced. But Aidan’s grace was owed to a shifter’s inborn strength and prowess, which only made it more appealing, not less.

“Trying to suborn my cousin?” he inquired.

“He was just being friendly, showing me where to drop my stuff. We spent two days traveling together, you know.”

Judging by the look on his face, that didn’t make him happy. Too bad. They had more important things to discuss. “Tell me something.” She stared up at him, daring him to lie. “Is Amanda married to Wolfrum?”

His reaction was immediate and very telling. “What? Fuck, no!”

She tilted her head thoughtfully, remembering Santino’s comment about how Rhodry was “crazed” with worry for Amanda. She met Aidan’s gaze. “She’s married to your cousin Rhodry, isn’t she?”

His expression tightened. “I’m going to kill Santino.”

She shook her head dismissively. “Santino didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. You’re all tiptoeing around Amanda so carefully. You won’t even say her name. It was obvious she’s more to you than just some novelty Earther.”

“She’s a member of the Guild. That alone gives her status on Harp. It’s the Guild who keeps everyone safe, and does most of the hunting, too.”

Rachel hummed wordlessly. “Maybe,” she conceded. “Or maybe it’s just that she’s female. Are all shifters such asshole dominants?”

Aidan’s eyes flashed. “You weren’t complaining about dominance when I got you through the damn swamp.”

“That’s because you didn’t,” she said sweetly. “I seem to recall killing a snake that was trying to eat you. Maybe I should have let it.”

“What the hell, Rachel?”

She gave him a narrow stare. “The hell is that after everything we went through together, after—” No, she thought. She wasn’t going to bare her soul like that. Wasn’t going to tell him how she’d thought they were building something between them that had nothing to do with anyone else. And she sure as hell wasn’t going to admit that she had feelings for him. Feelings that, in her most private of private thoughts, she’d been ready to admit might be…love. But you didn’t lie to someone you loved. If there was something he didn’t want to tell her, something he maybe couldn’t because it involved more than just him, a secret crucial to Harp’s safety, even—that she’d understand. Every state had its secrets. Harp probably more than most, given its history. But why couldn’t he just come out and tell her that’s what it was?

“Never mind,” she said now. “I’ll stay out of your way until we get to the city. And then I’ll do everything I can to help you catch Wolfrum and prosecute him, or however Harp handles it.” A new possibility hit her. “If you’re worried about the fleet or Earth authorities or whatever, don’t be,” she assured him. “First of all, they won’t want anything to do with his scheme. Not publicly, anyway. But, more important, the crime happened on Harp, against Harp interests, which means it’s subject to your laws. That rule goes back to the original colonies, probably about the same time as your ancestors took off from Earth.”

Aidan was watching her, but he seemed impatient. As if he was being polite, rather than interested in what she was saying. When she finished, he studied her a moment longer then took her arm and said, “Let’s take a walk.”

She started to pull her arm away, but he tightened his hold, and she didn’t want to make a scene, especially since she didn’t have a chance of breaking away if he didn’t want her to.

“Why are we walking?” she demanded in an angry whisper.

“Because you need to know some things, and we need privacy for this conversation.”

She glanced over to see his jaw clenched as he stared straight ahead. “You could have asked,” she muttered, but stopped struggling.

“Please,” he said insincerely.

Rachel wanted to tell him to shove it, but she wanted to know what was going on even more, so she held her silence and kept walking.

…

Aidan had made his decision, but it hadn’t been easy. His loyalty to Rhodry, to family and clan, was in the very blood that ran through his veins. But Rachel…she was important, too. It was new to him, these feelings he had for her. It had never happened with any other woman. But his gut, and maybe his heart, was telling him she was just as important as those other loyalties. It wrecked him to know that she didn’t think he cared, that she thought she didn’t matter. And he wasn’t willing to let that go. He’d lived this long by trusting his instincts. He knew Rhodry would understand.

They finally stopped in the deep shadows beneath an ancient grandfather tree, the branches so heavy that they drooped almost to the ground. Aidan pulled Rachel into the quiet beneath that canopy and pressed her up against the trunk. She gave him a hostile stare, but didn’t try to get away, which he took as a positive sign.

Resting his forearms against the rough bark to either side of her head, he leaned close enough to feel her breath on his skin, to feel the humming tension in her stance. “I know you think we’re secretive, probably too much. But Harp has good reasons for that. You’ve seen what would happen if news of our existence got out.”

“You mean shifters,” she said quietly, her eyes reflecting horror at what the invaders had tried to do to him. “I’d like to say it was an aberration, a few Earthers willing to undertake unspeakable activities for money.” Her eyes closed briefly as she shook her head. “But it wasn’t. It they’d succeeded…”

“But they didn’t,” he reminded her. “Because of you, and because we don’t tolerate invaders of any kind, but especially not those who mean us harm.”

“I get all of that, but what’s it got to do with Amanda Sumner? I know she’s here, for Christ’s sake. What’s the big deal?”

“The big deal, as you say…” He paused, knowing his decision was the right one, but still struggling with going against Rhodry’s last position on the matter. “She’s pregnant,” he snapped out, and felt an odd rush of relief. “Amanda’s pregnant.”

Rachel stared at him, her heart beating faster against his chest. “Pregnant?” she whispered. “How far…”

“A few more weeks, if she holds out that long.”

She swallowed audibly, but her words were dry, as if she needed water. “Is it a boy? A shifter?”

“Here,” he said, offering her water from the canteen on his belt. “Drink.”

She shook her head but took a long sip, swishing the water around in her mouth before swallowing. “Answer the question,” she said, sounding even more stressed than she’d been before.

He studied her a moment, but decided what the hell? He’d already given away the most critical information. “Twins. Both boys.”

“Oh no,” she murmured, lowering her head, eyes wild, as if faced with a terrible choice.

“What? I don’t get it. A pregnancy is good news. And twins, double that. Especially twin shifters.”

When she looked back up at him, he’d have sworn the dark gold of her skin had lost a full shade. “You don’t understand. Those babies, and Amanda, too, are terrible danger if Wolfrum’s still alive. Especially if he really is in the city. Wait. Where’s Amanda?”

“In the city, but she’s with Rhodry and Cullen, not to mention a whole damn Guild hall full of shifters.”

“Maybe,” she said, nodding rapidly. “That might be enough. But you have to tell them, you have to let Amanda know.”

“Know what? Explain,” he demanded.

“Wolfrum will go after her!” she practically shouted, as if he should have figured that out already.

“After Amanda? But— Oh shit. The twins.” He grabbed her hand and started pulling her back to the main camp.

“The babies are shifters, but they’re gestating in her body, and she was born in space,” she continued. “She’s the perfect incubator. They’ll have all her adaptations to space travel, which means they might even travel better than you would have.” She almost tripped. Aidan caught her but didn’t slow down. Rachel kept talking, to herself more than him. “But Amanda’s well connected. That might save her,” she muttered. “Her mother’s way up in fleet and all but married to Vice-Admiral Leveque. Rumor has it he’s a good guy. Difficult to work with, but honest. Which is saying something, coming from that family.”

They’d reached the camp now, though she didn’t seem to realize it. Her attention was all for Aidan, who was staring at her, hands scraping long hair back from his face, eyes flashing from blue to gold as his body fought the urge to shift in the face of a danger he couldn’t yet attack.

Rachel lowered her gaze, her expression blank, as if she were processing her own thoughts. She glanced up. “Does Wolfrum know she’s pregnant?”

Aidan shrugged. “I’m sure. Everyone knows.”

“He has to have a ship waiting. Nothing else makes sense. He had to have a way to get off-planet. And now that he’s failed to capture one of you…he’ll go after Amanda. And if he gets her on a ship, she’ll disappear with her babies, and you’ll never see them again.”

…

Ten minutes later, Rachel watched the camp dissolve around her. The fire still burned, banked to white-hot embers for the night. But nothing else was the same. No one was getting ready to sleep anymore. She’d noted the departure of Santino and a few of the others a while ago, foregoing even the two hours’ rest they’d planned. Everyone in camp was on the move, either stripping down and shifting, or already shifted and prowling the campsite restlessly, as if waiting for the order to depart.

She felt Aidan’s presence behind her. “What’s the plan?” she asked without turning. He seemed to be the only person, other than her, who wasn’t getting ready to leave.

“I’ve sent all the cousins to the city to warn Rhodry and to hunt down that fucker Wolfrum, if it comes to it. Cristobal and his guard are leaving in a few hours. They’ll take the tree road, too, but he won’t be able to match the cousins’ pace. Not at first, anyway.”

She knelt and silently began gathering her things. If everyone else was leaving, she might as well, too. She couldn’t keep up with them and didn’t intend to try. But if Wolfrum was in the city, then that’s where she needed to be. The evidence was piling up against him, but she wanted to hear it from his own mouth.

“We don’t have to leave yet, Rachel,” Aidan said. He hadn’t moved from where he’d been standing. “You can’t keep up with Cristobal’s group anyway.”

“Thanks for reminding me.” Again. She ignored everything else he’d said and tied her bedroll to the bottom of her pack. Her other gear was already inside. She did a quick check of her weapons. She’d retrieved the crossbow bolts she’d fired at the banshees. Two had been slightly warped, which would affect accuracy, but at short range, they’d work, and she still had all her knives. That was the good thing about knives, they were always ready. She also still had the tranquilizer gun she’d used in getting off the ship—it seemed like months ago, not weeks—and plenty of tranq darts.

Her canteen was full from her earlier trip to the river, and before he left, Santino had topped off her supply of Harp-style trail bars, along with some dried meat from the provisions brought by his Clanhome cousins. She’d decided it was a hard, four-day walk back to the city for her. She could shave that closer to three if she hustled, and if nothing ate her in the meantime. Cristobal and his shifter guard would make it in half that time, Santino’s group even faster. But she wasn’t trying to compete with them.

She shouldered her pack and walked around the fire pit to take off in the direction she’d seen Santino go earlier, with the river on her left. Since she had no knowledge of the surrounding terrain, she’d have to stick to the tried and true method of following the river, which ran all the way to the city. She knew it wound around before getting there, but hopefully not too much. Her map didn’t give enough detail to know for sure.

“Where are you going?” Aidan demanded.

“To find Wolfrum,” she said without looking back at him. “Make sure you douse the fire before you leave. I think you’re the last one here.”

“Goddamn it,” he growled.

Rachel grinned viciously when she heard the crack of big rocks and the swish of dirt as he buried the fire before starting after her.

“Stop, Rachel.”

She kept walking. Yes, he’d told her the truth about Amanda, clearly going against his clan in doing so. She had to give him credit for that. But anger would give her a much-needed burst of energy, so she’d decided to nurse it a while.

Of course, he caught up with her in about two seconds, but he made no attempt to stop her or make conversation. So, she did the same, focusing instead on heading in the right direction.

…

It was a silent march through the Green the first night. Rachel was forced to stop after only a few hours. She’d been on the move with Aidan for weeks getting through the swamp, finally reaching the site of the second ship, and then the adrenaline rush and stress of dealing with Cristobal’s injuries, and the fire and smoke on top of that. She’d have run all the way back to the city if she could have, but her body wasn’t going to cooperate. She needed sleep, and she needed food. Or, at least protein. The dried meat took almost as much energy to chew as it provided in nutrition, but the trail bars were sticky and sweet, and the river provided plenty of water. She’d been ready to share her food with Aidan, her anger long dissipated. But he’d shifted soon after they left the camp site and had remained up in the trees the entire time.

She didn’t fool herself into believing his presence wasn’t making a difference, and she was grateful for it. She sensed the difference in the forest as they traveled. It was a pocket of silence that followed everywhere they went, while thirty or so feet beyond them in any direction, the Green was still alive with the sounds of nocturnal hunters and their prey. It was an odd sensation, but comforting, too. When she slid into her bedroll, she missed him for all of two minutes, before she fell deeply asleep.

She woke with the sun the next morning, feeling its heat on her back, soaking it up…before her brain kicked in and reminded her of the hard facts, which were confirmed by other hard things that were pressed up against her body. She slowly extricated herself from Aidan’s clutches, which wasn’t easy. Generously, one could say he was a cuddler. One could also say it was simply more evidence of his domineering personality. But whatever description she used, he was all over her, with one muscled leg hooked over both of hers, and a heavy arm draped over her waist. The fact that she was cocooned in her bedroll, with that fabric between them, only made escaping him more difficult. Especially since he wasn’t inclined to help.

She finally gave up on subterfuge, jabbed an elbow into his gut, and sat up. “Aren’t you ever cold?” she asked, noting he wore nothing but the usual drawstring pants. She was surprised he’d put on that much. He stretched behind her, and she caught glimpses of golden skin over muscle but refused to turn and look.

“If I was cold, I’d shift.”

“Give me ten minutes to freshen up, and I’ll be ready to go. There’s trail bars and dried meat in my pack, if you want. She turned finally to look at him, focusing on his face, which was distracting enough. “Do you need to hunt?”

He gave her an indecipherable look. “No. Be careful when you go to the river. The banks are steep in this area, and we’re in the middle of spring run-off. The water’s high and fast.”

She didn’t really need his warning. She’d heard the difference in the sound of the river for herself last night. It had kept her from attempting to get down there in the dark. This morning she could see the incredible pounding of whitewater as it slammed its way through a series of narrow rock formations. She had friends back home who lived for the adrenaline rush of riding high-risk whitewater like this. She’d even accompanied them on a few of their trips. But she doubted even they would take on this one. The banks were high and steep, just as they’d been near the hut where they’d stayed, but this part of the river was cluttered with jagged rocks and far too narrow for even the most daring of risk-takers.

Lying on her stomach, she scooted forward until she could stretch her arms down to the water just as she had before, settling for another quick splash of her face and hands. She filled her canteen, then rinsed her mouth quickly, the water so cold that it made her teeth and entire face ache.

She inched back and climbed to her feet, brushing away the dirt and bits of detritus that clung to her clothes. It was more from habit than anything else. She wouldn’t be clean until they reached the city and she could finagle a hot shower. If nothing else, there was a fleet science center there, with a small contingent of live-in techs. There were no more than two or three of them, but enough that they’d have all the amenities, and bunks for visitors, too. She wondered if that was where Wolfrum was hiding. Could he be that stupid? Someone at that center must have looked the other way when the two ships landed. And fleet center or not, if the shifters wanted Wolfrum or whoever had helped him, they’d walk in and take them.

Aidan was waiting when she returned to their cold camp. “I’m ready,” she said. She hooked her canteen onto her pack, broke off half a protein bar and zipped the rest into her pack. She then swung the pack onto her back and eyed Aidan expectantly, waiting for him to give her a direction.

Instead, he pulled the drawstring on his pants and let them drop to his ankles, giving her an almost challenging look with eyes gone completely gold, and then he shifted.

Rachel sighed. Asshole or not, he was still a beautiful sight.

He leaped into the trees and raced a few yards along the branches, remaining low enough that she could get a bearing before he disappeared into the Green’s impenetrable canopy.

“Right,” she muttered, then, out of habit, folded his pants into her pack and started walking at a rapid, but sustainable, pace.

The morning was oddly peaceful. Again, she was sure that this was Aidan’s doing. More than once—in fact, several times—she saw signs of small animal habitation that she normally would have stopped to study. But her only goal right now was to reach the city. With luck, she’d have a little time to explore the Green before she left Harp. When she wasn’t running for her life or anyone else’s. A surge of sadness swept through her at the idea of leaving, but she told herself it was simply the scientist in her that was reluctant to leave such an unexplored treasure trove of life-forms.

She’d just convinced herself that’s what it was when she heard the soft scratch of claws on bark and the even softer thump of padded feet on the forest floor, telling her Aidan was on the ground. She supposed it could have been some other shifter, but anyone else would have approached silently, while Aidan wanted to give her warning. And besides, he’d never have let anyone or anything else get that close.

“You never asked why,” he said from behind her.

She frowned as she kept walking. “Why what?”

“You claim to be a scientist, but you never asked why we’re so reluctant to trust. Why I’m so reluctant.”

Rachel shrugged. “I didn’t think you’d tell me.”

Silence. And then, “Fair enough.”

They traveled another fifty yards before Rachel finally surrendered. Still without turning, she asked, “So, why are you all so short on trust? I mean, I know about the explosion when the fleet was here the first time, but honestly, I think I’ve proven I’m not like those idiots. And the habit is too ingrained to be a recent development. It has to be something older.”

“See, you’re a scientist, after all.”

Rachel refused to ask again. He’d brought it up, so it was up to him to keep the ball rolling. A strong arm snuck around her waist, stopping her forward progress by simply lifting her off the ground.

“Put me down.”

“Stop, sweetheart. Take a break and talk to me.” His voice was a low purr of sound in her ear that made every feminine nerve in her body stand up and take notice. Especially since his pants were still in her pack.

He put her back on her feet and turned her to face him.

She looked up and met his gaze thoughtfully. The last thing she needed was more vague answers and stonewalling. On the other hand, she could use the break to hydrate and eat another trail bar. “All right. We’ll talk. But put these on first.” She retrieved the pants and shoved them at is chest.

He gave her a knowing smirk but put them on. “We’ve been isolated here on Harp since its founding,” he began. “The original colony ship was intended to land on a habitable planet and never leave. It wasn’t designed to escape atmosphere. It wasn’t even built in atmosphere back on Earth. But even if it had been, it was already damaged before the landing, which was how the colonists ended up here in the first place. This was the only suitable planet they could find that was close enough for a controlled landing. Although, in the end, it was more crash than control. But all of that’s probably in your fleet’s First Contact report.”

Rachel nodded. “It took some work, but the contact ship managed to extract the colony ship’s technical data from the beacon. I’m not an engineer, but I studied the report in preparation for this mission, so I know the ship was beyond recovery. It’s a miracle they managed to land safely at all.”

He nodded, then took her hand and tugged her over to sit on a fallen log that was completely overgrown with vines. She eyed it carefully—all sorts of little beasties could be hiding in there—but she finally decided it was probably safe enough to sit since Aidan had suggested it.

“Right, so you don’t need me for a history lesson,” he continued, “and that’s not the point, anyway. What you need to know is that as catastrophic as that crash was, between the recovered databanks and the oral histories of the colonists, much of human knowledge up to that point survived intact. So, while Harpers have been isolated, we know the full history of human expansion into space, including all the genetic modifications designed to make space exploration, and eventually life itself, possible in many of the artificial environments created to support that expansion. And we also know how those genetically modified people were treated. Hell, it’s how they’re still treated…like machines rather than people. And what happened here? With Wolfrum betraying us, trying to kidnap a few living lab specimens for money? That’s exactly what we’re afraid of. It’s the real reason that we insist on Harp remaining a closed planet.”

“I get that, Aidan. I really do, but I already knew about shifters. Hell, I didn’t even question your decision that everyone on that ship had to die. You think I don’t know that the only way to keep you safe, to keep everyone here safe is to make sure shifters remain a secret? After everything we’ve been through, did you really think that I’d betray Amanda and her babies? Or did your cousin plan to make sure I couldn’t?”

His head shot up. “Never,” he snarled, then added. “Rhodry wouldn’t do that.”

She gave a little laugh, not believing him. She didn’t even know cousin Rhodry, but she believed he’d do whatever he felt necessary to protect his family. She couldn’t even blame him for it. “Forget it. Let’s just go.”

“Rachel.”

She ignored him, standing and shrugging her pack into place. “We need to pick up the pace. I can’t keep up with the rest of you, but I can make better time than this. And I’d like to reach the city before Wolfrum’s dead.”

Aidan stood and stared down at her. “All right. How fast can you travel?”

“As fast as I need to. It doesn’t matter if I’m half dead myself by the time we get there.”

His eyes shifted all the way to gold, narrowed with irritation. “It matters to me,” he said abruptly, and then he pulled her close and kissed her. Not a fast kiss, either. It was deep and long and wet. When he finally released her—pulling his mouth away then gently licking her lips and brushing a final touch of his lips over her mouth—Rachel’s body was aroused and confused in equal measure, tossed between the adrenaline rush of their decision to hurry back to the city, and the scorching desire that only Aidan had ever stirred in her.

“How long can you go without rest, and how much do you need?” he asked. He was still holding on to her arms, bracing her against the aftereffects of their kiss. And for once he wasn’t being smug about it.

She blinked, focusing on what mattered. “I can travel straight through today and most of the night. Four hours rest before daybreak, and it’ll keep me going until we hit the city.” She didn’t tell him she’d be using stimulant tabs to make that pace possible. She rarely used the little white pills. They were just short of an adrenaline shot to the heart and had originally been designed for battlefield use. But there was no way she was going miss Wolfrum’s takedown.

“Right, then. We should be there tomorrow night,” he said, then leaned back to study her face, “Are you sure about the pace?”

“I know my limits. I’m sure.”

“Good enough. One rule—you don’t fight me. I’m going to be helping you run a good part of the way, picking you up on the fly when necessary to jump over obstacles. If you fight me, we’ll both get hurt. Understood?”

“Understood, but I have a rule of my own. When we get close to the city, you leave me behind. If your cousin has everything under control, then great. But if not, you’ll be there for him.”

“Stubborn woman. Define close.”

“Right, I’m the stubborn one. Within a day’s walk of the city. Your pace, not mine.”

“Damn you. All right. Let’s move.”

…

Ten hours later, they were flying low to the ground, with trees speeding past, along with bushes and rocks and everything else Rachel could imagine. She was mostly running; he wasn’t carrying her. Her legs were pumping, and her feet touched the ground, but Aidan’s strength was all around her, gripping the strap of her pack, or her arm, leaping over some obstacles and running over others, his arm sometimes circling her waist when they jumped higher than she would have thought possible. It was exhilarating, but also chilling once the sun faded and shadows took over. Then it became something entirely different, beyond terrifying.

Aidan didn’t seem to notice. He ran easily, smoothly. His breathing was unstressed and even, his eyes twin sparks of gold, gleaming in the night and seeing everything. His arm around her grew tighter, knowing without being told that she was practically blind. But she kept running, kept pumping her arms and lifting her knees. She refused to be a burden, refused to be the weak link.

It took her a moment to realize when they stopped running. Like a person leaving a boat for dry land, her brain needed some time to catch up to this new reality.

“Okay?” Aidan asked, holding out her canteen. “Drink.”

Rachel nodded wordless thanks. Taking the canteen, she drank slowly, small sips. Anything else and she’d just throw it up when they started up again. She frowned when he slipped his hands under the straps of her pack and pulled them down her arms.

“Wait,” she protested. “I need that.”

“Not right now, sweetheart. It’s time to rest.”

Oh. Right. They’d discussed this earlier. It felt like a year, maybe two, but it had been only hours, though she couldn’t really say exactly how many hours.

“Already?” she asked.

He smiled. “Already.”

She watched sluggishly as he untied her bedroll and spread it out on a smooth patch of loam-covered ground.

“Come on,” he said, guiding her to the bedroll and pulling her down with him. “It’s a few hours until dawn.”

How did he know that? Had he memorized the Farmer’s Almanac? Did they have that out here? And why the hell was she worrying about it?

“Sleep,” she murmured and curled into his heat, her head pillowed on his chest.

…

The weather changed while they slept, becoming colder, with a touch of moisture that told him it would rain by morning. It wasn’t what they needed. He could run for days more, but Rachel was already using all her strength just to keep up with him. She hadn’t said a word of complaint, but he could feel the twitches in her muscles as she slept that told him her body was draining its resources for the effort.

She had no way of knowing—and he was beginning to think he should have told her—but ever since she’d told him about the possibility that Wolfrum would go after the twins, he’d been sending a warning through the trees, using the unique connection to the Green that only shifters could tap into. He knew from Amanda that the trees felt a special bond with Rhodry’s unborn sons, and he was confident that the message would get through. Hell, there were more shifters in the city right now than in all of Clanhome, and every one of them would die to protect a child. Any child, but especially one of their own.

That didn’t stop him from wanting to get there himself. The drive to protect was in his DNA, the belief that no one could safeguard those he cared about as well as he could. But for the first time in his life, he was conflicted. Rhodry was his brother, his children like Aidan’s own. But Rachel was his. He pulled her closer, keeping her warm. A body could chill easily under wet conditions like this, and he didn’t want to risk it. Plus, he liked the way she felt in his arms. He stroked a soothing hand over her back, brushing the side of her breast with one thumb as his fingers molded to her waist before resting possessively over her hip.

She murmured in her sleep, and stretched against him, her arms slipping around to hug him tightly. Soft breasts pushed against his chest, her nipples firm and plump enough that he wondered what she was dreaming, and if he was included. She hummed softly as her breath brushed his neck, a moment before her lips coasted over his skin, her mouth warm and wet.

He slipped his hand over her back to the curve of her ass and pressed her against his fully aroused cock.

She sucked in a breath. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

He chuckled. “Don’t worry, it’ll keep until everyone’s safe. But then…you’re mine, sweetheart.” He rolled her, putting her back to his chest. “Now, sleep. Tomorrow will be even tougher.”