Page 58 of All's Fair in Lion and War
“Yes, Owen was the really big bearded guy. He’s hitched to Tara, over there. He’s a bear.” She pointed to the redhead rocking a baby next to the line of cribs they’d had brought down here at her request. Most everything that was here was here at Penny’s and Katherine’s request. They were the over-prepared survivalist preppers in the tribe.
The woman nodded. “No shit. Good to know. He was very kind. They both were. Nothing like the assholes who’ve been dragging me through the wilderness.”
Penny approached slowly and extended her hand. “I’m Penny. You know you’re in Alaska now, right?”
“Mary. And yes, I had seen a couple of signs that hinted we were in Alaska.” She shook her hand and then pulled it back, crossing both arms over her chest protectively. “I’m going to go look for those showers that were mentioned. I can’t remember the last time I got to use soap. It’s been months for sure.”
“Of course. We’ll have some food laid out too when you get back. But no rush.”
“Thanks.” Mary took the sweats Ava had given her and headed off.
Penny turned to the remaining group. There were two more dirty, malnourished women to tend to. Mary seemed like she had a pretty good handle on things, mentally anyway, especially for being a human.
Tara put the baby she’d been rocking in one of the cribs and walked over.
Penny leaned closer to Tara and whispered. “Can you tell if they’re human or something else?”
“I don’t know. I can’t smell an animal on either one. But there’s somethingnothuman about them. Be careful, yeah?”
“I will. Would you make some sandwiches. I know it’s the wee hours of the morning, but we’re all still awake and probably should go ahead and eat.”
“Sure.”
Penny gave Tara a quick sideways hug and then approached the two women still sitting alone near the wall. “I’m Penny. Can you tell me your names?”
One of the women made eye contact with her. She had dark curly hair and dark skin. “I am called Mira.”
“Mira, that’s a pretty name. Do you know the name of your friend there?” The other woman was lighter skinned, but still had the same dark tightly curled hair. Their facial features were similar and Penny assumed they were from the same area and possibly related.
“This is my younger sister, her name is Dyna. We came through a portal into a place just south of a large city called Seattle. There were several tribes we helped through our portal on Exodus Day.”
“I’m familiar with Seattle. You’ve traveled a long way, but you’re from Reylea?”
Mira nodded her head. “We opened the portal for our region.”
“So are you what Novik was talking about, a magick-bender?”
“Yes, we both are.” Mira tipped her head to the side and studied her for a moment. “You’re a soul match, but you aren’t Reylean. You’re human.”
“Kann, one of the males who brought you here. He’s my mate. We just had babies.”
“The lion? Multiple children? Like twins?”
Penny laughed out loud. “Actually, we had four. It called quadruplets.”
“How did you carry them all? Were they tiny?”
“They were pretty good size, not as big as normal when there’s only one baby. They’re doing great though. Growing like weeds.” She pointed to the cribs where hers and Naomi’s babies were chilling like pros. Through everyone’s stress with the situation, they’d been so calm and chill. It’d been a huge blessing.
“Fate has blessed you and your mate in a huge way. Multiple births are not common on Reylea.”
“The guys said that. It’s good to know they were being honest. Can I get you something to eat? Tara is making some sandwiches. Or I can show you where you can change and bathe?”
“A bath would be most appreciated. It’s been weeks, or longer, since we had access to a body of water that wasn’t frozen or too cold to get into. The Ka’Lagh didn’t let us move on our own much at all. Food sounds good too, but if I eat too much too fast, I worry about it making me sick.”
“Shower first and clean clothes. I’ll show you where I sent Mary a moment before.”
“Mary was the human who came in with us, yes?”
