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***** SPOILER ALERT FOR READERS OF KING OF BEASTS *****

The following chapter reveals plot twists at the end of Volume 1 and Volume 2 of FALLING IN LOVE WITH THE KING OF BEASTS. If you haven\'t read to at least Chapter 523 and don\'t want spoilers, do not move further in this book until you have read the conversation in that chapter between Aymora and Reth! But NOTE: The reveals in this book are different sides or angles of the same issues. If or when this book would correlate or reveal twists in KING, I will warn you so you can make the choice whether to continue reading, but rest assured, each book contains information and reveals that the other does not. 

***** 

ELRETH

Her mother looked at Elreth, then at Gar, and for a moment Elreth thought she might cry. Her face began to crumple. Her father\'s hand on the back of the couch slid forward to cup her shoulder and he squeezed. But he, too, was looking at his children—and then his eyes fell on Aaryn with the same serious, protective stare.

Elreth\'s heart swelled with gratitude. A quick glance revealed Aaryn swallowing convulsively. She prayed he understood that her father was standing by him. Including him in their pride.

She prayed that wouldn\'t change after tonight. She feared they were all about to discover secrets none of them were comfortable with.

Then her mother opened her mouth and started to speak, and Elreth\'s entire world got realigned.

"When I was pregnant with Elreth we were under attack from the wolves," she said, her voice low and quiet, shaky, but strengthening with every word. She looked around the room, meeting eyes with each person. "You all know, I think, that Reth sent me back to the human world for a time after the wolves abducted and almost killed me. We thought… we thought that was only a physical safety precaution. But the Creator had other plans.

"On our way to the Portal I was injured. Again. I\'d already been severely wounded days earlier by the wolves and the wise women had a Leonine share blood with me to help me heal. It worked… very quickly. Very well." She took a deep breath and seemed to brace herself before she continued. Elreth\'s father watched her, concerned.

"The day I was being sent back to the human world a wolf female hunted me and attacked me. Reth arrived just in time to save me, but she\'d almost taken my arm off. In order to save me he… he bled onto my wound, using his own blood to heal me. And again, it worked. Even better than before.

"But I wasn\'t aware of how dire my injury had been until later. The healing was so fast, so complete, and I was too consumed with leaving my mate and Anima… I arrived in the human world a wreck.

"It wasn\'t until the days and weeks that followed that I became aware something within me had changed. And my pregnancy was advancing quickly. Very quickly. Three or four times faster than it should have.

"At the same time, my cohort was with me. Gahrye. My advisor. He was disformed. When we finally realized just how much affect Reth\'s blood and the blood of the other leonine had had on my body, I was already in danger.

"During our time in the human world we learned a great deal about secrets that had been hidden by the Anima themselves about their own history—and we discovered one of the Guardians had attempted to cross the traverse and been infected by the voices. By the time we were returning to Anima, he was actively trying to hurt—or kill—us both.

"But by then we knew. Gahrye could read the winds. The Creator had already informed him: We knew that the disformed were not… they had never been disformed. That entire idea, that they were somehow Anima who lacked… that there was something wrong with them… it was wrong. It was a lie told over generations to hide the truth, even from the Anima. Because only if no one knew could the secret be kept.

"The Creator made it clear, hundreds of years ago, that the Anima must not know the truth about the disformed—they weren\'t called disformed then. They were called Protectors in those days, because the Anima knew of them, and knew what they could do. They were… prized.

"But the Protectors alive in those days, and the King of the time, received the prophecy. And they conspired—for good reason—to hide the truth about the Protectors from everyone else. The histories were changed. The society… shifted. And from that day on, the truth of the Protectors was lost.

"That is, until we went to the human world. Between the revealing of the hidden histories, and Gahrye receiving the prophecy… we knew. We understood what the disformed truly were and what purpose they served within the Anima. We also knew, without question, that to tell anyone the truth—even in good heart, in good intent—would lead to events that would allow the humans to invade and destroy our world before the disformed had been trained and strengthened to face the threat.

"Gahrye and I… we carried that secret for over a decade. We worked together to train the disformed and… we tested… it was… there was a lot going on. But only in small numbers. We were concerned that we weren\'t doing enough. But without telling others the truth, we didn\'t see what else we could do. We\'d organized the disformed, brought them together in a group. They called themselves the Outsiders. We trained them to hunt and track and battle. We trained them in character—teaching them how to endure temptation and… and challenge. But it wasn\'t until the last few years… when the disformed numbers grew and they began to appoint an Alpha and… it has all grown. They are something now that they weren\'t before. And everyone involved in training and strengthening them has been impressed. Because… because when you do what the Creator designed you to do, you\'re always successful in the end.

"Now we have an army, of sorts. Anima who can not only protect and provide within Anima, but who are capable of taking others through the Portal safely. Who have the strength of character to resist the voices. They have… established ties with the humans. The good ones. And some of them…many more than we anticipated, have found their true mates from among the humans."

Everyone\'s jaws dropped.

Her mother swallowed, but went on firmly. "They are uniquely equipped. There is something within their blood that holds off the evil of the traverse. When they are single-minded, and driven by love, not ambition, they\'re virtually untouchable. And those that are in the human world… they seem particularly good at reading the humans and identifying the good among them. The disformed—the Protectors—they put themselves on the line for others every time they cross. And they win. They are amazing.. And all of us should be admiring them and what they do."