Chapter 374 Spiders  

~ SASHA ~

Sasha sighed and Zev's eyes sharpened.

"What is it?"

Sasha chastised herself for even thinking in those terms.

"Nothing." She wasn't going to be that selfish. She was already Alpha, with a stunning mate who loved her, and the chance for a family. Her energy and focus needed to go into the females, into the Chimera as a whole. Because if they could get them out safe, the rest was going to work out for all of them.

Thoughts of the females inevitably led to talk of the plan and getting the rest of them back. "We have to be so careful," Sasha breathed, nerves fluttering in her stomach at the thought. "We'll only have one shot to get the females out of there because as soon as any are discovered missing the team will know that we must be taking them to Thana. And they'll come over, right?"

Zev agreed.

"So we can't have any delays. We have to get them and get them to the new place in one single night."

"What we need," Zev said, "is to get Nick into some kind of routine. He'll be harmless if he's distracted. I mean, he won't notice the creatures going through since he doesn't know most of them. Ernie will have to stay until the end, but I don't think that will be a hard sell. I'm pretty sure at this point Ernie enjoys freaking Nick out."

Sasha couldn't help but giggle. "He really did seem to be relishing it a bit when we were walking back," she said.

Zev nodded. "I've never seen him so engaged. He's usually a real loner. He and Skhal get along great, and it's apparently because both of them barely talk, and hardly ever ask the other to.

"What, they're friends?"

"Sort of, they hunt together."

Sasha swallowed. "Ernie… hunts?"

Zev, apparently unaware of her uneasiness, smiled. "It's really amazing what he can do—he can make webs that you can't even see in the right light, but it's strong enough to hold you. He could catch you like a bug and—"

"That's… super awesome," Sasha said shakily. "But I think it's better if I keep thinking about Ernie as the playful friend who wants to scare people, but is secretly just a cuddly teddy bear."

Zev snorted. "Ernie is not cuddly."

"Cuddly teddy bear! Please! Leave me with my dreams, Zev!"

Zev looked at her, surprised, then smiled and finally let her change the subject. He relayed that Skhal was already organizing for them to meet with any creatures who were willing. They'd travel to Yhet's cave in a few days to meet them.

"Once the creatures are through we'll need to choose the date for the females," Sasha said, her excitement rising. "I tried to talk to Vayl about that when I checked that I could reach them, but Vayl didn't know days or weeks. She seemed to think every day was the same for them unless the humans decided to do something new. So she just said they'd be willing to run the moment it was possible. She was making them keep bags ready and hidden. That was what gave me the idea for the Alphas."

Zev nodded. "It's what I would have done too," he said with a proud smile. But the smile faltered quickly.

"What is it?" Sasha asked.

"I don't know. I just feel like this is all too simple. Like there must be something we're not seeing. Is it really only Nick we have to avoid? I don't know," he said, frowning. "I'm afraid there must be more to this picture and we just aren't seeing it. I really think we should get some of the others involved. See what they say."

"I really don't want to risk the news of this getting out," Sasha said. "I mean, not just to protect us from them stopping us, but… I assume the humans haven't figured out the gateway can be used this way. I don't want to give them that idea. What if they use it to find other worlds and other Chimera in other places?

"I feel like we can trust the Creatures because they avoid everyone except each other. But Chimera might talk, even in well-meaning ways. And Nick is too smart. If he gets even a hint of this, he's going to figure it out, and then we're screwed."

*****

~ ZEV ~

They lay together for hours, talking, planning, trying to find holes in their own plans, and figure out what the humans were up to.

But even when the conversation was hard, Zev couldn't stop touching her, pulling her into his side when he rolled onto his back, stroking one hand up and down her side.

"I'm so glad you're here, Sash," he said as they grew quiet. "And I'm so glad you're mine."

Sasha, her head on his shoulder, turned it up to stare at him. "I still have trouble believing it sometimes," she admitted. "But I don't doubt you anymore. I know this is real for both of us, I can feel it."

She put her hand to his chest, right over the spot where he could feel that piece of her that lived inside him. Neither of them spoke as they both listened and felt their heartbeats align. Then, without breaking her contact with his chest, he turned onto his side to face her and slid a hand up her arm to cup her face.

"No matter how this goes or what happens, I'll do everything I can to keep you safe, Sash," he whispered. "No matter what."

"Me too," she whispered back, her palm still against his chest as his heart began to pound with fear at the thoughts of everything that could go wrong. "We're in this together, right?"

Then she leaned in to kiss him, and Zev just breathed her in.

Then Sasha pulled back, her eyes wide and shining. "You promise, even if…"

"Anything," he rasped and was about to pull her into a kiss. But Sasha blew out a breath.

"Even if Ernie catches me in a web?"

Zev snorted and pulled her into his chest, kissing her hair and trying not to laugh. "Even if Ernie miraculously has a thousand little babies and they're crawling all over your skin and—"

"OH STOP!" Sasha groaned. "Don't put THAT in my head. I do want to sleep at some point."

But Zev just kept holding her and grinning. Because he meant every word.