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"The hierarchy remains!" the man roared over the noise of the crowd. "Our ranks are unchanged. We are at peace, brothers. Tonight we feast! Prepare the fires! Prepare yourselves! There is a female to entice."

Sasha blinked. He was talking about her.

But then the entire crowd went bananas—some men leaping forward, yelling or growling, others holding them back, tussling to get their attention.

Zev stood among them, utterly still in a way she\'d never seen any human able to do. Then a snarl ripped from his throat. Yet, even though the men closest to him flinched or moved quickly away, none of them looked at him. None of them spoke to him.

It was as if he wasn\'t even there.

"ZE—" she started to call to him, but Yhet clapped a hand over her mouth.

"No, no, no, you can\'t, Sasha. I\'m sorry, but you can\'t," he rumbled, turning to step between her and Zev, even as Zev\'s voice bloomed in her head again.

You have to listen to Yhet. You can\'t look at me, or touch me. If you do, they will turn on you. Please, Sasha. Don\'t worry. I will work this out. I promise. I will work this out and we\'ll be back together. Just… just pretend you don\'t see me. I will have to hide for a while. Some of them will help me. Don\'t worry about me. Just ignore me if you see me. I will fight my way back.

What did he mean she had to pretend not to see him? Where was he going? Why would she ignore him?!

She tried to press Yhet aside so she could see him again, but the massive man\'s arms were like cast iron. No matter how soft his expression, she couldn\'t move.

I\'m not leaving you, Sasha, Zev whispered in her head. Just be patient. I\'m still here. I will work this out. Just be patient.

She heard him snarl again, but couldn\'t see him as Yhet held her shoulders and insisted that she look at him.

"What the hell is going on?" she demanded in a hissed whisper.

"Xar has cast Zev out," Yhet said, his forehead crinkled into lines.

"What does that even mean?"

"It means he\'s, uh, officially no longer a part of the Clans." Yhet\'s face was a picture of anguish. When her eyes widened, he hurried to reassure her. "Don\'t worry, don\'t worry! He can come back… eventually."

"How?" she pleaded. Zev had to leave? He was leaving her here? With these strange men? These… these creatures?

"He just has to fight his way back up the hierarchy to be recognized again. Don\'t worry. He\'s strong enough to do it. He\'s been Alpha before. He can do it again. He\'s probably even stronger now," Yhet said, that awful, brittle smile on his face that he\'d had earlier when he wanted her to think there was nothing to worry about.

She breathed a little easier then. Zev was a fighter—she\'d seen him fight more than she wanted to. Yhet was right. He would be good at this.

When she relaxed, Yhet let go of her shoulders and started patting her hair. "Don\'t worry. It\'s good that you worry about him, but he can do this, Sasha."

She nodded, swallowing hard. "Okay, so he has to fight. He can do that."

"Yes, yes, he can."

"But you\'re saying he has to fight a lot of people?"

"Yes, he has to fight every male—if they want to oppose him. Some will submit. Especially those at the bottom of the hierarchy."

"Okay, okay…" She blew out a heavy breath to calm her racing heart. Zev was strong and smart, she reminded herself. And bigger than most of the males she could see in the clearing. He could take them, right? She blinked. "Does he have to fight them all at once?"

"No! No, just… through the levels of the hierarchy of the wolves first. Then, once he\'s recognized by the Alpha of his own tribe he can fight the others. It\'s okay, Sasha, don\'t cry. He can do this."

"Yes, he can. He can. But…" Then her stomach clenched remembering what Xar had said to her and what she\'d agreed to. She thought she had about ten days until her next cycle started. Maybe if Zev wasn\'t back to his position by then she could hide or something—

"How long does it usually take, Yhet?" she asked quietly. "I mean, how long did it take him last time?"

"Oh, only a few months!" Yhet said with another big, breakable smile.

"A few months?!" she shrieked. Zev might take months to get his position back?

She didn\'t even think, just darted around Yhet heading for the center of the clearing where Zev had been. But she stopped dead even before his huge hand clamped like a manacle on her upper arm.

The crowd was fading away, the males all hurrying to tasks, or walking in clusters, talking animatedly to each other.

But no matter how she looked she didn\'t find ice-blue eyes fixed on her below near-black hair. No shadowed jaw, twitching with tension. No hands reaching for her.

Zev was gone. There was no sign of him at all.

"Where did he go?" she asked in a tiny voice.

Yhet sighed. "He has to get away from us. If he\'s around someone might slip and talk to him and then they\'ll get cast out too. So he\'s protecting us by going away. But don\'t worry, it\'s not forever."

"Wait, what?!" Sasha whirled on the huge man, whose face filled with worry. "He can\'t even talk to us?"

"No, Sasha," Yhet explained kindly, petting her hair again. "You can\'t talk to him. You can\'t look at him. You can\'t be near him.. If they smell him on you, they\'ll throw you out, too.