Chapter 86: Friend

~ ZEV ~

Sasha gasped and Zev whipped around to face the bank, pulling her behind him and growling, even as he registered the voice, and who owned it.

"Jhon, we didn't plan this. She came to bathe when others wouldn't be here. She didn't know I would be."

"A likely story," his best friend chuckled. "Better not let the pack get wind of this, Zev. They'll have your hide."

"I know. I was just explaining—she doesn't understand the hierarchy and the mating rituals."

His best friend, tall, muscular, and light everywhere that Zev was dark, finally stepped out of the bushes that rimmed the mineral pools. He was grinning from ear to ear, and Zev internally groaned. He was not going to live this one down soon.

Especially since Jhon knew how he'd pined for her after he'd left the human world. His friend had been a needed support and encouragement during those years. But now there was an edge in his smile that Zev understood.

It must have seemed very unfair that Zev left and threw the rest of the Chimera into chaos, and yet still ended up mated first. Jhon wasn't a complainer—Zev would have trusted Sasha's life in his hands. And her mating ritual. But that didn't mean he wanted to twist the knife in his friend's heart. Jhon had yearned for a mate just as strongly as Zev ever did.

"It's good to see you, brother. I wasn't sure if you'd remember."

"Of course I remembered. I just had to make sure to avoid actually seeing anyone. I don't want to be the reason Xar decides to slit your throat."

"Wait, is that a risk?" Sasha piped up from behind him. She'd pressed herself into his back again, covering herself with his body. And he loved it. But his body loved it too.

Jhon was going to mock him until his hair turned gray.

"You know you can't do this, right, Zev?" Jhon said a moment later.

"Like I said, it wasn't planned. And we're already bonded, Jhon. Do you have any clue how hard it is to stay away from her?"

He could have kicked himself as soon as the words were out of his mouth. Of course Jhon didn't. He'd never found his mate.

"Well, you're going to have to say goodbye, Zev. You can't risk this. For her sake."

"I know, I know."

"Why don't you let her out and I'll walk her back to the house Kyelle found for her."

"Thank you," Zev said, mourning that he wouldn't have any more time alone with her for now. But he turned to face her and took hold of her head, leaning into her ear. "Same time, same place, any day that you can." Then he kissed her quickly, then turned away to start walking out of the water.

Jhon raised an eyebrow at the squawks and hissed whispers of Sasha behind him, reminding him that she was naked.

"Do me a favor and turn around?" Zev asked him. "The humans are different about this stuff. She needs to get herself dried and dressed before you look."

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His friend sucked in a long breath, but he'd been around the humans from the Team enough to know that they had strange ideas about many things, so he just shrugged and turned his back, folding his arms to wait.

Sasha was still hissing at Zev that she couldn't get out of the water with him there, when Zev trotted out of the water and crossed the bank to pick up her towel and put himself on the back between Jhon's back and Sasha, holding it open for her.

Sasha glowered at him, but knowing anything she said could be heard by his friend, she covered her chest and thighs as best she could and darted out of the water into Zev's wide-open arms. He wrapped her in the towel and began to dry her carefully—being wet in the winter air was no joke. Even Chimera could fall to serious illness if hypothermia set in.

So he rubbed her skin vigorously, all over, until it was blushing and pink everywhere, then threw the cotton shirt over her head and growled. "Next time you bring dry clothes or another blanket to wrap around you for the trip home. This towel is damp now."

Sasha grumbled about men who disappeared for years then turned up being bossy, but he could hear her teeth beginning to chatter before she'd muttered the words.

"Get her back to the tree, now," he said, quickly to Jhon. "I'll wait here for you. I need to talk to you."

Jhon nodded then leaned down until he was almost nose to nose with Sasha, catching himself before he actually rubbed on her which was a relief. "I know this has been quite the day for you," he said with a slow smile. "But you are my best friend's mate. You are safe with me. And I will ensure that you are safe with anyone else while you're in my presence. I would rub you to show you my truth, but I understand you humans don't do that. So, please, take my word for it."

Sasha's eyes went wide. She stared at Zev, who smiled around gritted teeth. Jhon had always been the charmer, and having the golden wolf so close to his mate made Zev want to bite something. But he knew he couldn't put her in safer hands.

"I'll see you soon," he whispered to Sasha as she nodded at Jhon. "And don't worry. I've got this under control."

Jhon snorted, but didn't say anything when Zev shot him a glare.

Sasha put her hand out of the damp towel to hold his face. "I don't want to leave you," she admitted after a second.

Zev knew he couldn't embrace her. Some of his scent would have been diluted by her being in the water, but there was already enough of him on her to raise eyebrows in the morning if anyone who cared to pay attention got close.

"Remember everything I said," he said with a glance towards Jhon, as if that were the reason he wasn't touching her. "It remains true. Rest and enjoy yourself as much as you can. We'll be together soon."

Jhon was frowning when he turned away to walk back into the hot pool. But he didn't say anything and Jhon obviously thought better of confronting him then, because he only turned, offered his arm for Sasha to hold in the way they'd been taught that the older humans used to do. Then led her away from the pool and into the dark, until he couldn't see her anymore, or smell anything except the trail she left.

Sinking back into the pool, Zev sighed and let himself lay back and float, staring at the stars and moon glowing high above.

And then he started praying.

*****

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