Felicity’s back shivered because in front of them there were eyes. Hundreds of them, hell, maybe thousands. Beastmen lined the main street in clusters, perched on rooftops, leaning out of windows in the half-collapsed buildings that still stood. The air smelled of smoke and pine and something sweeter underneath, like wildflowers crushed underfoot.

She heard the murmuring before she saw all of it. A ripple of sound moves through the crowd like wind through tall grass.

Her fox ears flattened against her skull. Her tail was tucked tight against her lower back. Every instinct she had screamed hide.

Then Exile’s arms were around her, scooping her up against his chest like she weighed nothing, which she nearly didn’t. His body was warm and solid and blocked out half the world. Before she could even blink, Ivan and Lucan closed ranks on either side, their broad shoulders forming a wall between her and the street. Ivan’s scarred hand settled on the small of her back through her jacket. Lucan shifted so his shadow fell across her face.

"Don’t look," Ivan said quietly.

She didn’t look. She pressed her cheek against Exile’s collarbone instead and breathed in the scent of eucalyptus gum sap and dried rosemary.

The tiger guard, striped orange and black, with a scar splitting one eyebrow, walked ahead of them with an easy stride, either oblivious or accustomed to the attention. He’d introduced himself as Kael at the gate, and his tail had done a full circuit when he had spotted Felicity. She’d noticed. She’d noticed everything about the way he’d looked at her, the way his pupils had gone round and dark, the way he’d stammered through his own name.

Now he walked backward, talking to Victor, who walked at the head of their group with his wings half-flared and his red eyes sweeping the rooftops in slow, predatory arcs.

"About twenty thousand beastmen in Bowral at last count," Kael was saying, his voice carrying just enough for Felicity to catch. "Hundred females, well." He glanced over his shoulder toward Felicity and Alice, and his ears twitched. "Hundred and two now, if you’ll both be staying and not counting the cubs, of course. We’ve got..."

Something small and warm collided with Felicity’s left leg.

She looked down.

Luna’s white curls and pointed arctic fox ears appeared first, then Frost’s white blond hair and t. They’d broken free from Dimitri’s grip somewhere behind them and now clung to Felicity’s thighs like koalas to a tree, their little faces pressed into the fabric of her dress.

"Mama Fel," Luna whispered.

"I’m scared, Mummy," Frost said, not whispering at all.

Felicity’s chest did something complicated and warm. She tried to bend down, but Exile’s grip didn’t loosen, and Ivan’s hand on her back kept her upright.

Kael had stopped walking. He stared at the cubs, his mouth slightly open, his striped tail going very still. Then something shifted in his face, a softening around his amber eyes, a real smile breaking through the professional guard mask.

"Oh," he said. "Oh, and you have cubs."

Felicity smiled at Kael, noticing he was happy to see the cubs and his voice was warmer now, almost eager.

"Wonderful. We have schools here, proper ones, with teachers and everything. And about three hundred cubs in the settlement, though..." His smile faltered. His gaze drifted to something over Felicity’s shoulder, she couldn’t see what, still bracketed between Exile and Ivan, and his ears drooped slightly. "Not all of them have homes. Or families. A lot of them lost people during the fall, or getting here..."

He caught himself and then straightened. Cleared his throat.

"Anyway. Follow me, and I’ll show you to the homes we have available for women and their families." He gestured to another guard, a lean wolf beastman with grey fur who had fallen into step beside them. "Bren here will show the rest of your team where they can stay. We’ve got barracks near the eastern wall that..."

"No."

The word came out of Felicity before she’d fully decided to say it. She felt Exile’s arms tighten reflexively, felt Ivan’s hand press firmer against her spine. But she’d made up her mind somewhere between barracks and eastern wall, and her fox ears were already pricking forward, her tail untucking from its defensive curl.

She wiggled. Exile’s grip was iron, but she was small and slippery and determined, and after a moment of ungraceful squirming, she dropped to her feet between Ivan and Lucan. Luna and Frost immediately transferred their grip to her hands.

"Excuse me," Felicity said.

Kael turned. His amber eyes found hers, and something happened to his face, a flush that started at his neck and climbed all the way to the tips of his orange-striped ears. They went dark red. Actually dark red, like two embarrassed flags on either side of his head.

She heard Damien’s hiss before she saw him move, a low, vicious sound that came from somewhere to her right, the kind of sound that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up even though she knew it wasn’t directed at her. Kael’s ears flattened. He swallowed visibly, his Adam’s apple bobbing, and when he spoke again, his voice was higher than it had been a moment ago.

"Y-yes? Ma’am?"

Felicity kept her expression neutral, though her tail was giving away everything, swishing behind her in short, irritated flicks. "I’d like our teams with us if possible." She squeezed Luna and Frost’s hands. "I’m used to having them close."

She didn’t elaborate, and hell, she didn’t need to. The weight of what she was asking settled over the conversation like a stone dropping into still water.

Kael opened his mouth. Closed it. His gaze slid past Felicity to the group behind her, Snow Team and Leaf Team, spread out in a loose defensive formation, every single one of them watching the tiger guard with expressions that ranged from unimpressed to murderous. Sarge had his arms crossed, his jaw set. Dawn stood with his claws out, ready for a fight, and one hand resting on the knife on his belt. Even gentle Sam had gone still, his body rigid, his dark eyes unblinking.

The message was not subtle.

Kael coughed, actually coughed, into his fist, like a man buying time.