~ SASHA ~

Sasha swallowed hard.

"Okay, fine,

" she said when she could trust her voice.

"I want to stay alive. I want to be with Zev. I want to have his babies—eventually. I want to help the Chimera. I want to get the other females back to Thana so me and Kyelle have more than a handful of girls to hang out with. You tell me how we make those things happen, and I'll do whatever you want. But I won't lie to Zev. And I won't betray them. I didn't see much of Xar, but what I did see was… **ed up. I'm not taking steroids or whatever they were handing to him. That man was losing his mind.

"

"That man was deep in the loss of his mate, terrified of losing his kids, and living with a near-constant sense of inadequacy. We had to juice him just to keep him from falling apart.

"

"Why not let him fall apart? Why not let Zev go back—the people love him! All you've done by keeping him away was create more conflict for them. Do you just not care?

"

"Of course we care—happy people are healthy people. You think we want the Chimera dying after everything we've invested in them? No, we don't. But there's logistics at play that you won't understand yet. We had to be utterly certain about Zev. We had to be certain he was truly bonded to you. And that he couldn't mate with others. That sort of testing takes time, Sasha.

"

"Three years?

"

"It should have been five.

"

Sasha shook her head in disgust.

"You people are sick.

"

"Exactly. That's what I'm saying, Sasha. Own your life. Own your choices. Own your goals. If you do, we're all going to get along fine.

"

Sasha was stunned by his seeming complete lack of concern. He was a sick individual and… okay with that? Then why try to pretend he cared about Zev? And what was that bull** about never lying—hadn't Nick been the one to tell him he'd go back to Thana? Then that he had to stay away for the safety of the others?

She stared at the back of his head wondering if she was going to walk out of this alive. She prayed she would. She needed Zev to keep walking this earth. Or the other earth. Whatever.

"Fine, then tell me. How do I get them to listen to me? How do I reach my goals?

"

"You tell them exactly what you just told me: What you want, and where your lines are.

"

Sasha huffed.

"I have a feeling setting boundaries with these people doesn't do a helluva lot of good.

"

"It will if you can prove to them that by sticking to your boundaries they're going to gain something. These are smart people, Sasha. You think they haven't had to work with others who have integrity before?

"

Sasha doubted it, but she wasn't about to say that.

Nick continued to provide advice for how she should handle herself as they drove. When they finally turned off the highway on what appeared to be a rural exit her heart began to pound. The exit had no named location, only a

"WARNING, NO THOROUGHFARE

" sign before they rolled off the highway. The connecting road was single lane and hugged first by fenced pastures, then by thick forest. In the distance beyond, foothills and mountains rose out of the trees. But except for the roads and the fences that had been on the pastures when they first turned off the highway, Sasha couldn't see any sign of any kind of habitation.

"How long until we get there?

" Sasha asked quietly when they'd been driving for a couple minutes.

"Just a few more minutes, so listen up.

" Nick continued, his voice seeming almost to drone as he listed all the ways she needed to watch herself. Then he gave her more caution against lying—she was better to admit where she resisted than try to hide it.

"They have behavioral scientists and every kind of technology you can imagine, Sasha. You aren't a pro. You aren't going to deceive these guys. Not for the long term. Be up front and name your goals. Name your boundaries. If you do have wiggle room, still fight for your ideal. Don't let them sway you quickly or you'll start sliding down the slope before you know it…

" One and on he went. By the time he slowed the vehicle and turned onto a muddy, rutted dirt road with trees thick and branches making a tunnel overhead, his words were echoing in her head in loops.

She expected to see buildings, or something. She wasn't sure. Just some kind of indication of the lives and people that Nick was driving her into. But there was nothing. Just dirt road, and trees. If she hadn't been crammed into the back seat of a vehicle filled with equipment, the roar of its engine making everything shake, she would have felt like she was in the middle of nowhere.

A nowhere that just kept going. Sasha was surprised when the big suburban continued to rock and jolt over ruts and bumps for several more minutes, until finally the road took a sharp turn around a thicket of trees that stopped suddenly so the afternoon light blazed through the windscreen of the car.

Sasha had to blink until her eyes adjusted to sudden shift in lighting. Then, as the vehicle rolled to a stop in front of a massive wire fence and Nick opened his window to touch what Sasha first thought was a mailbox, but she realized there was only space underneath the black metal hood, and a screen.

Out here, in the middle of nowhere, Nick placed his hand on the screen and something beeped, and lit up underneath it.

A moment later there was a clang, and the massive, functional gate in front of them began to slowly roll back to reveal the space beyond.. Sasha's mouth fell open as the space was revealed and she realized that this forest was nothing more than a screen to keep eyes away from this place.