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RIKA

After, when she and Gar had recovered but were still laying together, Rika\'s stomach growled, which was embarrassing, but made Gar laugh. He made a big fuss of having not taken care of his mate, and announced that he would make a late breakfast. Pushing back the furs he told her to take her time getting up. He\'d cook. It was a new experience for her to have a guy who not only knew how to cook, but would do so willingly. She kind of stared at him for a minute, stunned.

"You… know how?" she asked carefully.

Gar snorted. "I\'m pretty sure I\'ve cooked for you before… haven\'t I?"

Rika blinked. Had he? The entire previous months were a blur. Sometimes they didn\'t even feel real.

Swallowing her skepticism, she smiled and kissed him quickly. "Thank you, that would be lovely," she said.

After all, if it was horrible, she could just eat enough to keep her going until she suggested a lunch.

But after a quick sponge bath in the cave with freezing cold water that made her entire body goosebump, she got dressed and went outside to join Gar beside fire.

It was almost lunchtime already, she realized. Being in the dark cave and sleep deprived had made her lose track of time.

So while Gar worked on the food, burying what looked like sausages in the coals and glimmering wood of the fire he\'d built, Rika took in the clearing.

It was a beautiful spot with the gurgling river and high trees making it feel very closed in and cozy, when in truth they were surrounded by endless forest and mountains. It reminded her a lot of the area around the water near her main campsite when she\'d still been doing her job.

Her stomach clenched as her mind turned back over everything that had happened, and was likely coming in the next few days. She knew the Anima still had no idea what they were facing in terms of the technology her colleagues had at their disposal, not to mention the weapons.

Thoughts of her work and time alone in Anima inevitably led to thoughts of Pegg, and she cursed herself for begin a terrible friend. She couldn\'t believe she\'d just left him like that—not that she\'d had a lot of choice, to be fair. He\'d run off when Tarkyn and the others came for them. But she\'d assumed he\'d stay close—unless he\'d been scared off by the smell of all the predators in the Tree City.

He could defend himself hand to hand—or hand to hoof, she supposed. But he was no match for the human weapons. Or an archer\'s bow.

Walking to the edge of the clearing nearest the trail where they\'d entered, she gave an experimental whistle and waited, but there was no answering wuffle, or snap of a twig as he approached.

Nerves twisted in her belly. What if something had happened to him?

It wasn\'t unlike Pegg to disappear for a few days at time if he found something interesting, or just got bored following her around. He\'d been her only friend here before Gar, but she\'d brought him with her. It hadn\'t really occurred to her that the Anima might misunderstand and hunt him.

Did they eat horse? She\'d have to ask Gar.

She whistled again. She needed to tell him to reveal himself if he ever found an Anima on his tail. She understood why he didn\'t reveal himself here—he was no more a part of these people than he had been back in his own world. But still… given what she knew of the Anima now, she was confident if they understood what he was, they\'d leave him in peace.

Wouldn\'t they?

She whistled again, then listened.

"Gar," she said quietly.

"Yeah?" he called from back at the fire.

"Do Anima eat horses?"

Gar snorted, obviously about to make a joke about the Equine, but then he caught himself. "The Silent Ones, you mean? We don\'t have many of them here," he said. "We don\'t hunt them from the Tree City, but the bears might."

She turned, eyes wide. "There\'s bears here?"

Gar nodded, using sticks to move things in the flames. "They stay to themselves. There\'s been a lot of conflict. They aren\'t part of the WildWood Kingdom. But yes, they exist. They disapprove, but they exist."

"Disapprove of what?"

Gar stood and turned to look at her, his eyes apologetic. "Of our connections with the humans and how we use the traverse. Traverses," he corrected himself. "They\'re kind of… zealous about the voices and they think anyone who crosses at all is tainted. So they avoid us because we use it. Especially the disformed. They say they have none. I don\'t know if it\'s true, or if they just ignore the fact that some of their people don\'t shift. I\'ve never spent enough time with them to know."

Rika shook her head. Everything about this place was forever surprising her. The complexity of their society. Their history.

Their beauty.

Her belly twirled again, but this time with appreciation for Gar\'s broad shoulders and trim waist, and the way his furs hugged his biceps when he folded his arms like that.

"Rika, I think—"

"Do you think they\'d eat Pegg?" she asked quickly, bracing herself for the answer. "I haven\'t seen him since we went into the City, and I get it—he couldn\'t get close to me. I hope he\'s found a nice place to call home and just live his life, but I\'m worried—"

Gar\'s eyes cut suddenly over her shoulder and he tensed, his eyes flashing with that predatory instinct as he dropped his arms loose and half-crouched, defensive.

Rika whirled, expecting to see a human, or maybe one of these bears he\'d been talking about—but instead she found a long, pale face, nostrils flared, and surprisingly dainty hooves picking their way out of the forest, only his shoulders, chest, and front legs actually revealed.

"Pegg!" she cried and ran to him, throwing her arm around his neck.

Pegg snorted and ruffled his wings, his tail swishing as he bent his neck and lipped her arm, nickering and shaking his mane when she clung to him.

"I\'m so glad you\'re safe!" she whispered. "I\'m sorry I\'ve been away."

He shook his head so hard his ears snapped, but then he sighed and his long neck dropped, resting on her shoulder.

She scratched her hands up and down his neck and withers the way she knew he loved and quickly filled him in on everything that had been happening.

"He\'s my mate!" she said, hushed, but thrilled. "For real. I know it\'s crazy, but it\'s real. Just like your—"

Pegg snorted and backed out of her arms, stamping one foot as he did so, but when he\'d moved away, it wasn\'t her that pricked his ears and his eyes were following.

Rika looked over her shoulder to find Gar standing there, clearly urged to be protecting her. When she looked back at Pegg, he had his ears pinned back and his nostrils wrinkled.

Rika rolled her eyes. "Oh please, with the Alpha Male Bullcrap," she groaned. "We have so much more important things to talk about."