Chapter 13 #2
“That one.” I gave Tavian a long look before refusing to give him anything else to work with. The cracked wall behind Malek drew my attention next, stone disappearing beneath moss and tangled roots as the rainforest continued reclaiming everything humans—or shifters—had once built here.
“And this place belongs to leopard shifters?” I motioned around the courtyard, taking in the carving and the ruined walls.
“It’s part of an old sanctuary.” Malek turned enough to indicate the surrounding structures. “Some sections are generations old.”
“But you actually live here.” I looked toward the narrow path vanishing beneath vines farther east.
“Deeper in.” Luca pushed away from the wall and indicated the direction with one hand. “There are maintained buildings beyond this section. Living spaces, gardens, storage. This outer part hasn’t been used for a long time.”
I studied the trees, trying to picture an inhabited place hidden somewhere beyond the dense vegetation. Nothing on Mara’s maps or anything I’d seen during the assignment had suggested there was more out here than rainforest.
“So why hasn’t anyone found it?” I tapped the waterproof map sleeve protruding from my bag. “Something this large should show up somewhere.”
“There are protections around the sanctuary.” Luca’s attention moved briefly toward the surrounding forest as his voice lost some of its earlier amusement. “Old ones. They make it difficult for outsiders to notice more than they’re meant to.”
“You’re telling me this place hides itself.” I frowned at Luca, trying to decide how literally I was supposed to take that.
“Not exactly.” Luca shook his head before glancing toward the vine-covered path. “Nothing disappears. People overlook paths. Choose another direction. Equipment doesn’t always give useful results.”
“That sounds suspiciously like magic.” I folded my arms and waited for him to contradict me.
“It is.” Luca met my stare without hesitation.
“Of course it is.” I let my arms fall and rubbed one hand over my forehead before looking up through the broken canopy, where damp leaves shifted against a strip of pale afternoon sky.
“Taking that remarkably well.” Tavian leaned back against the wall again, his grin beginning to return.
“I stopped trying to decide what was impossible on my first day here.” I lowered my hand as the memory of a different clearing surfaced. “That was around the time a tayra I rescued turned into a person.”
Every trace of humor disappeared from Malek’s face. His arms dropped from his chest as he straightened.
“A tayra turned into a person?” Malek’s brows pulled together, genuine surprise settling across features that were normally much harder to read.
“You’ve been sitting on that story this entire time?” Tavian pushed away from the wall, his amber eyes widening.
“There have been a few other things happening.” I gave Tavian a pointed look before motioning between the three of them. “Including three leopards following me around while neglecting to mention the fact that they could turn into men.”
“What happened?” Malek asked me, his voice quieter now as his focus settled fully on me.
“I found the tayra caught in a wire snare on my first afternoon here.” I rested my hands loosely between my knees as I pictured the dark body twisting against the wire again.
Malek’s entire expression changed.
“Snare?” Malek’s voice sharpened, the reaction immediate enough that Tavian’s amusement vanished too.
“Yes.” I nodded toward Malek, understanding exactly why that part had caught his attention. “Thin wire around one of its legs. I cut it free and checked the injury before I let it go.”
Malek’s jaw tightened. His gaze shifted briefly into the trees before returning to me, and I could almost see him filing the information away alongside the snare he’d broken.
“The tayra didn’t leave.” I continued before the traps dragged us too far away from the rest of the story. “It walked a little way, stopped, and looked back at me. Then it did it again. Eventually I realized it wanted me to follow.”
“You followed an injured wild animal deeper into unfamiliar rainforest on your first afternoon here.” Malek’s voice dropped into the same displeased tone he’d used whenever Cat thought I was making a terrible decision.
“Oh, absolutely not.” I lifted one hand toward Malek before the lecture could get any farther. “You do not get retroactive authority over my choices just because I discovered you have hands.”
Tavian made a choked sound beside Luca, while Luca lowered his head and failed completely to hide his laugh. Malek stared at me for another second before releasing a quiet breath through his nose.
“Go on.” Malek motioned once with one large hand, though the tight set of his jaw told me the argument had only been postponed.
“The tayra led me to a clearing.” I settled my forearms against my thighs again. “There was a huge tree, a pool, flowers growing everywhere. It stepped into the water, and golden light started moving around it. A few seconds later, the animal was gone and a figure was standing in the pool instead.”
Luca straightened, all traces of amusement disappearing from his face.
“What did they look like?” Luca asked me, genuine interest sharpening his features.
“Human-shaped.” I searched my memory for details I hadn’t thought about much since that afternoon.
“Warm brown skin. Long dark hair almost to the ground. Gold eyes—the same ones the tayra had. Leaves and white flowers tangled through their hair, and feathers that changed color when the light hit them. They looked human enough at first glance, but nothing about them felt human.”
“A nature spirit.” Luca’s posture shifted as recognition crossed his face.
“That was the easiest description they gave me.” I nodded toward Luca, relieved at least one of them knew what I was talking about. “Spirit. Nature spirit. They weren’t particularly interested in explaining much beyond that.”
“What did they want?” Malek asked me, watching me closely enough that I had the odd feeling he wanted to go find the spirit and question them himself.
“They didn’t want anything.” I shook my head. “That was the strange part. They kept asking why I’d helped when I didn’t know what they were and wasn’t getting anything in return.”
“And?” Tavian tilted his head, his expression losing some of its teasing.
“I told them they were hurt.” I lifted one shoulder. “It wasn’t complicated.”
Something in Tavian’s face softened. Malek’s did too, though his change was much harder to see.
“Then they decided to give me something anyway.” I lifted two fingers and touched the center of my forehead. “They touched me here. There was this rush of sound, and suddenly everything in the forest stopped sounding like noise.”
Luca’s brows drew together as several pieces seemed to fall into place.
“So that’s where it came from.” Luca glanced briefly toward the trees before returning his attention to me.
“Yep.” I lowered my hand into my lap. “One minute I was listening to normal rainforest noise. The next, every animal around me had something to say.”
“I wondered how a human ended up having conversations with half the forest.” Tavian rubbed his thumb along his jaw, amusement creeping back into his expression.
“You could have asked.” I gave Tavian a look as a heavy drop of water struck one of the broad leaves behind him and rolled toward the ground.
“You were already talking to us.” Tavian lifted one shoulder. “I figured whatever caused it was working in our favor.”
“Very considerate of you.” I rested my forearms against my thighs again. “Some animals communicate more clearly than others. Birds and mammals usually give me actual words. Insects are more like impressions, but I still understand what they mean.”
Luca glanced toward the trees surrounding the ruins.
“A spirit giving that kind of gift to a human is unusual.” Luca’s expression had gone thoughtful as he absently brushed a bit of moss from the stone beside him. “I’ve heard stories about nature spirits helping people, but nothing quite like that.”
“So even the supernatural people think this is strange.” I leaned back slightly against the stone, strangely comforted by that.
“We think Tavian is strange too.” Malek delivered the observation without changing his expression.
Tavian turned toward him.
“That was unnecessary.” Tavian pressed one hand to his chest, looking genuinely offended for all of two seconds. I laughed before I could stop myself.
“Actually, that helped.” I looked toward Malek as the corner of his mouth moved.
The conversation should have made things feel less strange.
Instead, now that my brain had stopped shouting leopard men long enough to pay attention to anything else, I became much more aware of the three scents filling the damp courtyard.
Malek’s was the easiest to recognize. Cedar, rain-dark earth, and a faint trace of smoke. I’d known that scent for days. It had clung to his fur while I changed his bandages and filled the cramped shelter beneath the roots during the storm.
Standing in front of him now, though, there was something beneath those familiar notes that I hadn’t known how to interpret when he’d been a leopard.
Alpha.
I’d been around enough Alphas in my life to recognize the designation immediately. What caught me off guard was the difference beneath it. Malek still smelled unmistakably Alpha, but there was a richer, wilder edge threaded through his scent that I’d never noticed around human Alphas.
My attention moved to Tavian.
Sun-warmed wood, crushed citrus leaves, spice.
Alpha.
Then Luca. Sandalwood, fresh herbs, and something warmer underneath.
Alpha.
Three of them.
“Well, that explains something else.” I breathed in carefully, trying to separate what was familiar from what wasn’t.
“Explains what?” Tavian’s eyebrows lifted, though the twitch at the corner of his mouth suggested he already suspected.
“You’re all Alphas.” I looked between the three men. “I can smell it now.”