The following several days were hectic and stressful and more than once Sasha wondered if she was going to lose her mind. But every time she would feel like she was hitting her limit, there would be a little victory that gave her hope.

Every day a new group of females would gain confidence and venture out of the hall to interact with the males. Most of them returned to the hall to sleep among the females, but a handful returned to their clans and began working towards a normal life.

Sasha continued to check with them and invite them back to the female’s quarters whenever they needed a break. But most seemed to thrive once they got beyond their initial fear.

It only made Sasha more convinced that the females needed the males. That they needed their clans—even though most had no mates. There were Chimera they considered family, whether they were related by blood or not. And Sasha could see, the sooner the females got back among those they knew and loved, the faster they began to smile.

Skhal confirmed that the Creatures would spread the word to the furthest reaches of Thana and meet them all in the valley below Yhet’s cave in a few days.

While Sasha was excited that things were beginning to settle, there were still so many little details and niggling concerns.

Nick was beginning to ask questions.

Yhet was gone a lot of the time—which Zev didn’t seem to think was unusual, but whenever Sasha saw him, she couldn’t shake the feeling that he wasn’t his usual sunny self. But when she asked him he just made excuses.

”I like to move, Sasha-don,” he said with a thick hand resting on her shoulder. “Lately there have been many reasons to stay in one place. Now that things are calming, I’m stretching my legs as much as I can. But I’m keeping an ear on things here. Don’t worry. If you need me, just yell.”

”I’m not worried because I need you, Yhet, I’m worried because you don’t seem—”

But they’d been joined then by some of the other males, needing Sasha’s input on who should be patrolling the village that day, and when she’d turned back, Yhet was gone.

Then she’d been distracted by the made females. The two had clung tightly to each other and been the most afraid of leaving the hall—except Mae, who wasn’t afraid but avoiding her mate.

Sasha had realized that those women had lived their entire life in apartments and labs. They had no clue how to function in this environment.

Well, she struggled with the lack of conveniences, too. So she spent a couple of days showing them the things she’d learned and helping them grow in courage to step out among the males.

It didn’t work. One of them was crying before she got to the bottom of the stairs, and the other trembled until Sasha took them back up to the hall.

She was at a loss. How would they ever assimilate these females who had been torn from an already traumatic life into something so completely unknown—and a home overwhelmingly male? And not just the Made females who’d never been there—all of them. While the others had all lived in Thana before, more than half of them had been made in the lab and brought here as little more than children. The bulk of their lives had been spent in the compound and though they didn’t want to go back, they didn’t feel safe here anymore either.

Sasha was at a loss.

Surprisingly, Mae proved to be the most effective in pulling these females out of their funks and helping them prepare to venture back out into the City. Because she didn’t fear the environment itself, she was great at explaining to them what they could find and where. She communicated with authority and calm. And she spoke highly of the males.

”Chimeran males are different to the humans,” she’d assured those that remained in the hall. “They see the choice of your body and function as entirely yours. They will attempt to draw your attention and even share touch and smell. But they will not force themselves on you, and if you give the right signals, they will leave you alone entirely.”

She gave them reminders—for those who’d lived there before—of how to signal both interest in a male, and how to ensure they didn’t accidentally invite attention.

A few days after Sasha’s meeting with the Alphas, Mae held one of these sessions in the afternoon, and afterward, six of the females spent the evening returning to their clans.

Sasha hugged Mae and thanked her.

”Are you certain you can’t give it a try, Mae? I’ll help in any way I can. I want to see you with this kind of freedom for yourself.”

For the first time, she saw uncertainty in Mae’s eyes. Her mate was still spending most of his time sitting in the courtyard below—occasionally calling to her.

Whenever he did, Sasha saw Mae close her eyes as if she was fixing the sound in her mind. More than once, Sasha had seen tears slip out from under her lashes. It broke her heart.

But her mate wasn’t out there right now. Mae looked around the hall. They were down to about twenty females now and Sasha worried that Mae would end up the last of them, and still living in this space that was safe and warm but not designed for it. She needed a home and a bed and her mate!

But Mae just shrugged. “If I can help right now, I want to,” she said. “At least then I’m doing something good.”

Sasha tried to protest, but Mae wouldn’t hear it.

Sasha wept in Zev’s arms that night, just in sheer frustration and anger for all the pain the humans had brought on these people. But once she was calm and Zev was holding her, Sasha calmed.

Tears helped nothing. She was determined to see Mae and her mate reunited.

They just had to figure out how.