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nZev’s entire skin hummed. It explained so much and it made him sick. But Sasha was very obviously trying not to let herself be derailed. He put a hand on her back as she cleared her throat and shook off her shock.

n”Do, uh, do any of you want to move to the new land where the humans can’t reach you? Because if you do, you’ll need to go through the Gateway within the next five days. We’ll all be leaving within the next two or three weeks, and I don’t want any of you here once the humans figure out what we’re doing. I really believe when they come through and realize we’re gone they’re going to level this place and anything left alive. I went over there and met the men who run this program. They have no hearts. They have no consciences. They will use you or kill you. I don’t want any of you left here.”

nShe was doing so well. He was so proud, watching her control her fear and speak to them as if they had value.

n”But with that said, if you don’t think that you want to go through… I’d ask you to leave this gathering, far enough away that you can’t hear the instructions. Everything that we’re doing needs to be held to complete secrecy. We cannot risk this information reaching the humans.”

nThere was a ripple of grating and grunting laughter from every side.

n”Trust me, Sasha, no one here wants to see the humans succeed in anything,” Norm said, glancing around the circle. “I could tell if they were lying. We may not socialize like the rest of you, but we are just as committed to seeing them defeated. If they come here looking for you, they will find those of us who stay to contend with.”

n”No!” Sasha hurried to try to soothe them, looking around the gathering of the most monstrous creatures she’d ever seen. “I don’t want you in danger. If you don’t go through, please hide. Leave. Be as far from the Gateway as you can be. Don’t try to fight them—flee them. Stay away. Perhaps if they don’t find you, they’ll leave you alone. I want you safe, not fighting.

n”I know that you’ve been hurt and… and… isolated by what they’ve done to you. If you don’t want to cross to the safe place now, but you change your mind in the next few days, please, talk to Skhal or Yhet. We’ll get the information to you. I just want to make sure we control it as much as we can to guard it from the humans because I don’t believe they know about this.”

n”But… You’re human, and you know,” a dark, rough voice called from her left.

nSasha nodded and grimaced. Zev would have answered for her again as he had with the others, but she seemed to know what she wanted to say this time. “I know it must seem confusing. But please be certain: I’m human by birth, but I’m not part of this… organization. There is a massive population of humans that have no idea what these men and women are doing and wouldn’t support it. I am not a part of the team.”

n”But you have the smell.”

n”What smell?”

n”The smell that happens when they alter you. All the Team members have it.”

nSasha’s entire body went cold. He felt her body temperature drop under his hand and tightened his fingers at her back, turning to look at her.

nNo. Fucking, no.

nSasha’s face paled. “What do you mean?”

nThe, one of the hulking crossbreeds between human and ape that gave him the odd proportions of short legs and long arms, got to his feet and shuffled closer, sniffing her.

nZev could hear Sasha’s heart pounding as the male moved around her. Zev stayed at her side to let her know he was there. The male meant no harm. He was only checking that he was correct before he answered her.

nWhen he’d sniffed at Sasha’s hair, he lifted his eyes to meet Zev’s and Zev read a sadness in his gaze that he didn’t understand.

nThen the male turned to Sasha. “I understand now, thank you for sharing scent. I’m sorry, I hadn’t realized… you lost a babe. Did they assist you in the pain? That is what I was smelling. You have had their… procedures.” Then, as Zev struggled to breathe, the male turned to him. “A true tragedy for both of you, but it will work again. She is healthy and her body is alive. Her scent isn’t dead. She’ll have others.”

nZev’s ears began to buzz. Sasha made a strange noise in her throat. This couldn’t be. This couldn’t be!

n”I… I haven’t been pregnant, you must be mistaken,” she said, licking her lips.

nThe creature stared at her, grief lining his face, then he turned to Zev again—some of the Creatures had strange customs about the roles of males and females. He prayed Sasha wouldn’t be offended.

n”She lost a babe in her last cycle. The scents are there—her body was just beginning to grow the young, but it never took. It was lost. Her body still returns to normal. Her cycle will be late this month, but then it will be normal again. A good time to try again—there is a burst of life after a loss like that—”

nZev cut him off, the words snapped between his teeth. “Are you certain? Absolutely certain?” He could hardly breathe.

nThe male nodded. “I’ve smelled this many times. It’s not uncommon. All species have a similar reaction, it is easy to identify when I can smell closely. Do not be afraid, it is common among all.”

nSuddenly Sasha’s voice was in his head.

nThat’s why my cycle was late and… strange. Probably why the team seemed so uncertain about my pregnancy. I must have been in the process of losing it and I didn’t even know?!

nHer voice rose into a jagged wail at the end, and Zev wanted to just pull her into his arms and carry her away from all these males—he had to get her alone and out from under these eyes.

nBut when he shifted his weight, Sasha shook her head and despite the tears he could see threatening, she cleared her throat and turned back to the creatures.

nHe was so proud—and so sad—that she made it through the rest of the gathering without giving away how broken she was feeling. He could feel the tension under his hand. She cried her rage in his head, but only in broken, garbled sentences between answers to the Creatures. She was trying so desperately to focus on them, yet her mind kept turning back to her baby.

nTheir baby.

nHoly **, they’d made a baby?

n”…those of you who choose to go, just know… there is no way out. Make your choice and be sure that you’re certain of it,” she said, taking a deep breath as if bracing. “When the gateway opened to the safe place, it opened above ground for me—if I’d stepped through I wouldn’t have been able to get back to it. I think… I believe this is because there’s no access to this place any other way. Once you go through, that will be your home forever. So… be certain. But as soon as you are, go. Don’t wait. Please. We don’t know… we don’t know what’s going on or what’s going to happen and we need that Gateway clear from the fifth day, you understand?”

nThe creatures nodded and called their affirmation.

nWithin minutes Sasha, trembling, was turning to him. They farewelled the creatures together, thanking Norm for his help, and with her shoulders back and fighting tears, Sasha turned to walk away. Zev put himself at her shoulder, one arm at her lower back as she led him away.

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